Long Overdue

My classes have ended, my semester is over, and a blog of mine is long, long overdue. I have started many projects here at the blog that have gone unfinished, and for that I apologize. What I hope to accomplish, in what is near a month until I have to go back to school is keep it updated.

The reason for my lack of blogging, also has a lot to do with a lack of inspiration since WWE’s product has been somewhat stale of late, however after watching TLC this past Sunday, and seeing Daniel Bryan win the World Heavyweight Championship, CM Punk retain his championship despite being handcuffed twice, and Zack Ryder finally getting his shot, and having what was a pretty decent match with Dolph Ziggler, all during a PPV free of John Cena, I am once again inspired.

I watched RAW this past night, and witnessed something I could have never imagined, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan- Brian Danielson, standing in a WWE ring, as the two top champions in WWE. Not to mention Zack Ryder, an internet star, not just any internet star-the internet champion, as the United States Champion, it was pretty surreal.

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan as the WWE Champion, and World Heavyweight Champion, respectively, brings me back to a time where Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit; or as WWE refers to him “          “ ; reigned as champions.

Some of the highlights over the past couple of weeks, for me, have been the building of Dolph Ziggler, and giving him a chance to shine, week after week he has the best match, and makes whoever he is working with look as if they are the best in the world. Not only is that, but the build of his character is fun to watch.

My favorite part of Z! TLIS every week is his hacking of the show, and I find myself hating the shows, he does not hack. His character has become one of the best heels going, and I wish he could cut the type of promos he cuts on Z!TLIS on TV. #HEEL

 I am a different type of Smark, I look for someone who can wrestle, cut a promo, and has a good character, heel or face. Heel characters often are better, but if a wrestler can wrestle but can’t cut a promo, I don’t really care about them, hence why I don’t like Del Rio, and why I love Ryder, because to me the art of wrestling lies in being able to accomplish both.

Another thing I’ve liked is Mark Henry’s build up, and persona, and feud with the Big Show. The Booker T/Cody Rhodes angle seems very forced, and I don’t see Booker T just loosing, but the only possible reason for this angle should be to put over Rhodes? Right?

I like how they are finally using Zack Ryder, and it seems like they are ready to push him to the moon, but strangely I felt like the best outcome of Ryder winning the US Title, is Ziggler now being able to challenge for the WWE Championship. Ziggler/Punk would to me, provide a better feud than Punk/Miz or Punk/Del Rio, and obviously better matches. It brought me back to Bret Hart dropping the Intercontinental Title to Davey Boy, and it being more of Hart’s moment, than Davey Boy’s.

So many stars are catching fire, so quickly that I feel it’s time to start a third brand. Imagine a third brand, with its own World Championship, and secondary championship, and a spot for low/mid carders to get over. Right now with RAW Supershow, the spots some of those types of talents would have gotten, are going to put over SmackDown storylines, and maybe, just maybe with a third brand, we could find everyone’s long lost cousin, Brodus Clay.

Speaking of lost cousins, I feel like right now, creative has nothing for John Cena, until WrestleMania. (I may have just won a Slammy for Worst Segway of the Year). So they decide to have Kane hand him his ass, which I like, although their attempt to build Kane as a super heel by beating the crap out of John Cena, might end up making him the biggest face going….

If you’ve read my blog, or know anything about wrestling fans, you know that me as a wrestling fan hates TNA. However, I have been surprised of late of how TNA is finally progressing-knock on Hacksaw’s 2x4-with some of their storylines. TNA’s problem, just like WCW’s, was the lack of ability to build new stars, however TNA has turned arguably their most over act, Beer Money, into a very over baby face in James Storm, and a hated heel in Robert Roode. Then having the sense to not feud them immediately, having Storm get, hopefully, put over by Kurt Angle, and Roode make himself with AJ Styles.

I for one loved the finish of the Iron Man match; it made Roode look like the biggest jackass in TNA, and pissed everyone off, which was perfect. When Roode and Storm are done being put over, they will finally have their big feud, which should be a huge draw for TNA if done correctly, and Beer Money, could end up with no Jannetty.

So this brief recap of recent events brings me to what I witnessed Monday, with one of the most awesome moments since Money in the Bank, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk and Zack Ryder holding prominent WWE Championships. Even more awesome than RAW was the night previous. I can’t recall marking out hard, multiple times in a night, and I marked out hard a lot during TLC.

I marked out for Vickie being thrown out at ringside, number one because I called it, and number two because I knew that they don’t do the manager being thrown out spot unless the heel is going to lose. Then I marked out again for the Rough Ryder, and again when the ref counted to three.

I had already marked out, a lot, so one could imagine how hard I marked out when Daniel Bryan’s music hit. Then I marked out again when the bell rang, and it became official, and then once again when the ref counted the three. I was marking hard because I had a feeling that would happen; I was hoping for a Bryan heel turn, with Bryan almost turning on the man that was trying to help him, in the big show, but no one could hate on Bryan for what he did, even the simplest of marks.  

I thought I had marked out enough of one night, but I was wrong. I didn’t quite mark out during the Triple H/Nash match, but I did enjoy the spot toward the end of the match where Nash tries to hold up the Kliq sign, and Triple H gives him the DX Crotch Chop. I didn’t understand what the deal was with Cody Rhodes and Booker T, they were having the match, then they weren’t, then they were, it made no sense, like they were building for a match, when they already had one?

In the main event, I found myself marking out once again. I marked out for the Ricardo Rodriguez table spot, because I love his character, and that spot was sick. I marked out again, each time Punk escaped the handcuffs. They made CM Punk look like a straight bad ass, by escaping not once but twice. I loved the fact they put over, that usually one would need a tool to get the turnbuckle off, but Punk did it with his bare hands. And of course, I marked out when Punk grabbed the title, and he had retained. I marked out for him winning, but I marked out for what it meant. It meant that Punk will have a long run as champion, that finally John Cena is out of the WWE Championship, picture for now at least, and that times are changing in WWE, or so it seems, that wrestling matters in WWE, and that I am glad to be a fan right now, of something that has so much potential. CM Punk tweeted a picture of all of the current WWE Title holders; CM Punk as the WWE Champion, Daniel Bryan as the World Heavyweight Champion, Zack Ryder as the United States Champion, Cody Rhodes as the Intercontinental Champion, Air Boom as the Tag Team Champions, and Beth Phoenix as the Diva’s Champion; with the picture he wrote “If you can't get behind this, you will be left behind.” That statement is dead on.

I'm Back...Again

Gues who's back.

Back again....

Yes, I'm back for now, my absence was the result of an influx of other projects, and school work, but never fear I am back.

Last night, I made my triumphant return to live tweeting during Raw, and the Milk Carton plant had to cut production on the Milk Carton's with my face on it.

Also I got a mention on WWE.COM's "The Day After Raw" section, itt wasn't my best tweet of the night, but i'll take it, because any way you slice it, that's pretty cool.

Anyway, here's the link:

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2011-12-19/day-after-raw

-Mark X

Secret Mark Forums

I havent blogged in awhile, or tweeted, currently I am working on a website that will have news, rumors, and other cool features. Here is one that i'm currently working on, the Sceret Mark Forums

http://excoboard.com/secretmark

FINALLY............

No the Rock has not come back, at least not yet. However, I have FINALLY found time to post the winners of the second round of #FailedGimmicks matches.

Thanks to @JHorton92 for breaking the tie, The Millionaires Club defeated the New Blood.

50% - 50%

Another Russo venture, Sports Entertainment Xtreme defeated the Natural Born Thrillers

60%

40%

I still don't understand Reno's gear.........

3 Count, who for most of the voting was leading 100% to 0% Held on and defeated Men on a Mission or M.O.M.

  

88%

Still a better gimmick than whatever the hell "DILLIGAF" is, and yes I know what it means....

12%

Big Daddy Purple...........

In a battle of the teams that began with "T's" because there is nothing else to note about them, Teckno Team 2000, with perhaps the hippest name in wrestling defeated the Truth Commision.

86%

14%

In a battle of clean vs dirty, I guess. The Goodwins defeated The Body Donnas

86%

14%

In that period of time, where SmackDown needed to fill time on Velocity, these teams were born. They couldn't even get over on Velocity. The Dicks defeated the Gymini.

75%

25%

That it for this round. Vote on the third round now!

The Problem With TNA (Part 2- Nonsensical Turn of Events)

I will be writing an on-going blog on the problem with TNA as I see it.

Here is part 2, of a however many part it takes me, series.

Paul Heyman once said, in an interview, about TNA, that if he were hired by them, he would cut everyone on the roster that was under 40, or something of the like. He said that while wrestling organization’s need legends, too many legends make the idea of having the legends, pointless.

I couldn’t agree with him more. ECW, prospered with their resident legend, Terry Funk, who unlike other legends of the time, did his job as a legend and got other people over.  While I don’t mean to say that legends should be jobbers, legends in a company like TNA, should help to get the younger guys over.

The legends in TNA or the haphazard booking of TNA seems as if they are unaware of this. Maybe if they thought;  “Oh hey we can get all these young guys over, by working them with Sting, that way when Sting retires we will still have legitimate stars” then Roode not being ‘ready’ to be “the top guy” wouldn’t be an issue.

TNA throws on TV, on a weekly basis, angles featuring two wrestlers that have already been established. ‘Can this old veteran, that was basically a mid-carder his whole career, beat this other former mid-carder? Buy the PPV to find out!’ It’s like no, I already saw that match, 10 years ago, and it was a throw away match on Raw….

Half of the fun, of watching wrestling on a regular basis is seeing the development of young wrestlers, and watching them eventually become main eventers.

In this world of weekly wrestling programming, that is a necessity. Maybe in the 80s an organization could get away with pushing the same guys all the time, because the big draw back then was the Supercards, which often were spaced out, and some fans wouldn’t even see the buildup for them, if there was any.

Today, however, you’ve got a weekly wrestling program, that while serving as a show to hype a pay per view, in some cases is almost as important as a pay per view. That’s why WWE is successful and TNA toils in the 1.0s. WWE pushes new starts, has somewhat fresh angles, and usually does the basic thing that wrestling is meant to do, entertain.

The entertainment from a wrestling angle comes usually with a bad guy, and a good guy; for those of you who live under the mark-rock, Heels and Faces; and usually the bad guy, throughout the angle is made to look like a jack ass, while the good guy comes out looking like a hero.

TNA, and Eric Bischoff’s WCW are apparently not aware of this. The typical TNA heel usually throughout an angle attempts to make themselves seem righteous, and often buries the face, in the process. Once a typical TNA face has shown that they cannot be buried, they become a Heel, often in a nonsensical turn of events.

Furthermore, it is just lazy booking to just put all of an organization’s heels into one group. It isn’t the Justin League for god sakes, its wrestling…….

To Be Continued...

The Problem With TNA (Part 1)

I will be writing an on-going blog on the problem with TNA as I see it. 

Here is part 1, of a however many part it takes me, series.

Last night, I got home from work, after working a fourteen hour shift, and as I sat down, I took a look at the results for TNA’s version of Wrestlemania, known as Bound For Glory. 

Headlining the show, was a match between a LEGEND, who has already proven himself to be one of the best in the world, as long as he is not drinking, or being “hacked” on his Twitter account.; and a TNA original, that went threw what I would like to refer to as a bat-shit crazy, point based tournament type of thing, known as the Bound For Glory series.

Any kind of self respecting, wrestling organization, that subjected its fans threw said, crazy ass tournament, would likely have the winner of the tournament; which was for the right to compete for the World Championship, sorry TNA Championship; win the championship, in the big payoff match.

TNA, however, it not any kind of self respecting wrestling organization. As I read the results, and subsequently thought to myself how lucky I was, that I hadn’t wasted any money, on the damn thing, I could not believe TNA had done it again. More than that though, I could not believe I was surprised about it.

I did not have to watch the PPV to realize that it was garbage, for one thing ROODE DID NOT GO OVER!

Think about this, TNA spent months, wasting time on this damn thing. Someone actually spent time, coming up with an explanation for this damn thing, and TNA somehow actually stuck to it, and kept continuity in this "tournament".  All of this valuable TV time, and in some cases PPV time, were wasted just so Angle could beat Roode, WITH HIS FOOT ON THE ROPES!

I mean come on.  Even if they wanted Angle to go over, the match should NOT have ended with that kind of a finish.

I understand, I am in the 10% that Bischoff, and TNA, and Country Carter, don’t care about, but I can basically guarantee them, that if they were to cater to the “10%” they would not lose the other 90% because good wrestling is synonymous with good TV.

I understand that I sound like some kind of whiney smark right now, but TNA is the alternative. Whether we like it or not, it’s the other show on TV.

I’ve been watching TNA since the weekly PPV days. I started watching TNA for that same reason, because they were the alternative. TNA in its early days; it’s days before the crusty veterans decided that while they were retiring in Florida, they might as well get a retirement job, for the local promotion; was carried on the backs of the X Division.  TNA took from the late WCW the few still entertaining ideas that were left.

Somewhere along the way, TNA lost its way. In came Hall and Nash, in came Booker T, in came Flair and worst of all, in came Hogan.....

To be continued......

#FailedGimmicks Tag Teams and Stables

So here at the blog, the #FailedGimmicks tournament has been ongoing. The winners for the most ridiculous bracket have been announced, which you can read here. The second bracket is all about the worst Tag Teams and Stables, so vote now! Click here to vote.