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Other Voices: Too many Mikes on the Mic, Triple H Rerun, Super Eric, Give TNA a Break
Apr 28, 2008 - 5:11:25 PM


MORE OF THE SAME - ANOTHER TRIPLE H REIGN

There is nothing new or fresh about Tripel H or the Undertaker. I am going to Raw tonight in New Jersey and just can't wait to see another Triple H ceremony. How boring and I can't believe we have to sit through another Triple H title run. Geez. Last time I went to the Meadowlands it was his first match back and I had to sit through a 15 minute ring entrance now this. Is there anybody who wants to see this. Triple H and Edge were fun and different. Why kill it?

Ken Svec

***

SMACKDOWN REAX

Afterw watching Smackdown, I had little to no confidence in Backlash. I didn't need a clairvoyant to see what was coming most of the night. Yang beat Morrison last week; Moore was going to beat Miz this week. Neidhart wins match by way of Sharpshooter, which was credited as "Hart Foundation" as opposed to Bret alone. That just felt so wrong. Hardy and MVP has a really good exchange that felt like their feud of before; MVP got in the only offensive move between them, which all but gives that one away. It is about time to get the strap off MVP, since they've also keep reminding of the duration of his reign. Punk-Edge had a really good match going until yet again, Punk gets punked. Not as bad as has been recently, but Punk obviously isn't being allowed a break. As it is I keep hearing distinct boos when he does his kick series. Maybe it's time to change up his repertoire and bring back Anaconda Vice. Chavo got airtime tonight, and the beatdown on Tuesday; we know where that's going.

When it was declared that the Taker-Batista match was made No DQ, I knew Shawn was going to show up. This in turn told me the Backlash match finish, as Shawn getting in the only move between them was a rehash of Michaels-Cena at Wrestlemania 23. WWE made a huge mistake not turning Batista heel, as he was clearly getting booed during the match, and WWE tried it utmost to cover the fact that Shawn was getting huge cheers for his Sweet Chin Music on Batista at the end. Batista clearly is not over in this feud, as there were blatant attempts to rectify that which backfired miserably (playing to Shawn's past that was comlpetely irrelevant here). And where was Jericho through all this? His insertion was random at best, and there was no followup. So what was the point? If Michaels-Batista becomes transition to Michaels-Jericho, then Batista ends up looking like a chump. Shawn looked about frustrated as I felt, and that can't be good.

Terrie Neilson
Las Vegas, Nev.

***

SUPER ERIC HURTS TNA IMPACT RATINGS

How in the world can anyone say that Super Eric is a good gimmick? We already had the Hurricane, who by the way was a jobber who thought he was strong. Super Eric beats everyone and makes them look weak. I bought the last TNA Pay-Per-View to see Kurt Angle and Joe fight knowning that Joe would become TNA champ. I was afraid they would do something stupid with Super Eric and I was right. How can you even think this gimmick was smart? Noone I know likes it. I cringe every time I see him. Talk about the Triple H effect, what about the Super Eric effect? Eric Young is killing his career by looking like a wimp, who is afraid of everything and needs an alter ego to get the job done, in the mean time making everyone else in the match look weak. I've said enough.

Norm Grimes
Crestview, Fla.

***

GIVE TNA A CHANCE!

It seems people are always ready to rip TNA to shreds. Is it a perfect company? No, far from it. There is illogical booking at times, no enough time given to matches that deserve it, and poor announcing. But let's compare it to some WWE programming. This week, in two hours, TNA Impact featured four matches that were at least 10 minutes each. Smackdown, at two hours, featured five matches, but only two were over ten minutes. The other THREE matches just barely went over ten minutes together. The complaint about TNA is that they move so fast, zipping from a match to backstage to Tenay and West. That's true, but WWE wastes so much of our time with intros, there's little time for the actual matches themselves. I don't know how many times I've waited to get up from my seat for whatever, thinking I'd be missing something, for them to cut to a break after the intros. Too much wasted time.

Let's keep in mind, TNA is only six years old. Yes, you can do a lot in six years, but things happen. One of the positives is they seem to be staying with only decent former WWE and WCW talent (Matt Morgan notwithstanding). Tomko has been a surprise. But not keeping around Andrew Martin and Fatu were smart as was not signing Prince Albert. But any young company would be foolish to not sign up Sting, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Christian and even Rhino. Okay, Dustin Rhodes isn't what he used to be - if he ever was - but they have him as a gimmick monster, not a top tier player. What they need to do now is work those veterans in there with guys like Shelley, Sabin and Kaz to bring them up. Hey, Angle “took one for the team” with Jay Lethal, and everyone loves Lethal now. (Sting going down clean to the Fallen Angel would've been smart too.)

Illogical booking? Yes, at times. Stupid gimmick matches? Yes (although I think Vince Russo's head on a platter match would be good). But TNA has been doing the right things in spots-giving the Machine Guns vs Christian & Rhino plenty of time and letting MCMG look good is a good example. They just need to piece those spots together and Impact can easily be better than Smackdown and ECW.

Adam J. Grammas
Westchester, Ill.

***

TOO MANY BAD ANNOUNCERS NAMED MIKE

Can we just put all the announcers currently named Mike on one show so I don't have to watch it at all?

Seriously, if Cole, Adamle, and Tenay wound up on one show it would almost HAVE to improve all the other shows by their mere absence! I realize they all work hard, but sometimes things just don't fit well. Oh well, I guess I wasn't much into ECW anyway-- one less show to DVR each week now it looks like. Listening to any of the Mikes is like hitting myself in the head with a Louisville slugger (One of the "un-bee-lee-vuh-bull" ones Don West sold me back in the day).

I gave up on Smackdown shortly after the brand split. TNA almost stayed on the DVR when I started listening to Hector's commentary, but then realized I didn't speak Spanish. It was a drastic improvement, though, over Tenay and West. It's weird, I do speak English, but somehow the Spanish team made more sense to me.

Thank god for old Nitro tapes. Schiavone at least steps it down to level of hitting myself in the head with a wiffle ball bat. I'm still the idiot for doing it, but much less painful to myself when it's over. Hell, for that matter, bring back Tony!

Yes, I said it - bring back Tony. I nominate the PWTorch.com website to start the campaign to reform the ranks of the wrestling announcers! I didn't think it could get any worse than the Mongo/Zbyszko/Madden/Schiavone era of WCW, but I said that during the Pettingil era before that, too. It *can't* get worse than today, can it??

My congressman won't do anything about it, Wade-- he said it was a failed attempt at a diversion from his other inquiries into pro wrestling and hung up on me. You're our only hope, Wade. You are the chosen one. You have the power to fulfill your destiny.

No pressure. We're all counting on you.

Okay, I'm sufficiently vented.

Steve Murphy

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