After a week of absence here at Cheap-Heat.com, I’m back. Unfortunately, as some of you may or not know, my Uncle Mike passed away last Tuesday. For me, that was enough to take a much needed break. The loss of my uncle was hard on my immediate family, particularly my father, as that was his only brother. I canceled a four day tour of Canada to attend my uncle’s funeral Thursday night, and so that I could be in the States to support my dad in his time of need.
Before I run down a few of the major happenings from this week in wrestling, I’d like to send out aspecial thanks to Rockstar Pro in Dayton, Ohio and Mega Championship Wrestling in Elyria, Ohio. Canceling my Canada bookings meant I was losing my income for the week. Rockstar and Mega made room for me at the last second, and I can’t thank them enough. Not only did it allow me to recoup my financial losses, but I was able to keep my mind off things by doing what I love more than anything in the world. I won’t soon forget their kindness and generosity.
Enough about me! Here’s some stuff that happened in wrestling in the last few days, and my take on it!
WWE Payback
The third annual WWE Payback happened on Sunday night, and I didn’t think it was too shabby. Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus had a helluva opening match, with Ziggy getting busted open the hard way via a headbutt. Cena and Rusev delivered in their “I Quit” match, though I have to agree with Mick Foley who blogged on the event. I, too, found it weird that the ref was asking Cena and Rusev whether they quit or not. Nevertheless, the match itself was solid, and I predicted that Lana would play a role in the finish, setting up her inevitable babyface run.
The New Day being turned into a group of smug, intelligent, well spoken black individuals is the best thing WWE could have done with them– or rather, the WWE Universe, who initiated the turn in the first place. Likewise, it’s refreshing to have Cesaro and Tyson Kidd as the good guys. Between Cesaro’s ungodly strength, Kidd’s aerial maneuvers, and their collective athleticism, the tandem is just too damn good not to like. The match between the two teams at Payback was one of the best of the night, and I loved the fact that the finish came off of a switch-a-roo between Kofi and Woods. I’m very intrigued and excited to see these guys in the first ever Tag Team Elimination Chamber bout on May 31st.
The fatal four way main event between Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, and WWE Champion Seth Rollins delivered. Not only did we see what everyone was clamoring for, a brief interaction, between the former Shield members, but we also got a finish that gives us perhaps one more Orton/Rollins match, with Rollins delivering Triple H’s Pedigree to “The Viper.” It also buys WWE some time with Rollins’ finisher “The Curb Stomp,” as the rumor going around is that the move is banned until the company’s current concussion lawsuit is settled with some of it’s former employees. Personally, I hope The Curb Stomp sticks around. Quite frankly, if you ban that move, you should probably ban, like, 90% of wrestling moves.
DDT. (Dean Ambrose)
GERMAN SUPLEX. (Brock Lesnar)
Superplex. (Randy Orton, John Cena, etc.)
Superkicks/kicks to the head. (Remember– Jack Swagger concussed Dolph Ziggler not too long ago with a simple toe kick to the cranium)
The Piledriver, I get. The Vertabreaker, I get. Those moves have guys getting dumped directing on the top of their head. Mistakes can happen with those moves– but mistakes can happen with almost any wrestling move.
But I digress…
Kevin Owens Lays Out John Cena
The end of Raw left many internet wrestling fans with a pretty surreal sight. Kevin Owens, formerly known as Kevin Steen in Ring of Honor and on the independent wrestling scene, standing over an unconscious John Cena, who has been the unquestionable face of WWE for ten years. At one point and time, Jim Cornette was quoted as saying that Steen would forever be a wrestler working in front of 200 people. On May 31st at Elimination Chamber, Owens is fighting arguably the most dominant and influential wrestler of the last decade for the United States Championship.
I’m interested. The NXT guys, particularly the ones who’ve cut their teeth on the indies for years, are quickly getting big opportunities on the main roster (Neville, Sami Zayn). Steen is in a position where this could turn into a long term program with Cena. Having Owens on the main roster may not be a bad idea. After signing with WWE, his following from the indies crossed over to NXT, and Owens shirts were selling out on WWEShop.com. I would imagine he would make even more merchandise sales on the main roster, and that’s a big deal, as Owens has never had your prototypical wrestler look. He has a charisma about him that appeals to the Average Joe. I’m intrigued to see if Cena plays a role in tomorrow night’s NXT special…
That’s all for today. Share the article if you dig it. Buy a shirt at www.prowrestlingtees.com/GregoryIron.
-Greg
