So here's a few of the thoughts I was having until they were lost...
"Eugene" Dinsmore debuted this past Monday, as Eric Bischoff's "special" cousin, but salvaging this apparent misuse of OVW talent Nick Dinsmore is the fact that William Regal has finally made his return, and his charge this time around...is to handle Eugene, as per Bischoff's request. This should have the effect of bringing out the very best in Regal's character, hence the salvaging of this storyline...
Shelton Benjamin, despite his recent push against Evolution and Triple H, isn't currently scheduled for a PPV appearance at Backlash. And if all he keeps getting is bookings aginst the Evolution machine, I don't see much prospect for a match, unless something against Evolution fillers (and tag team champions) Batista and Rick Flair (who've made a career out of supporting Randy Orton) is cobled together. He can't go up against Intercontinental champion Orton, because Orton is still tangled up with Mick Foley, who has for months now been involved in a feud with Orton, which Batista and Flair have been grafted onto in order to extend it for no particular reason other than to show that Evolution is a bully racket. The numbers game, then. I don't see how Evolution is supposed to be a big deal, however, when all its members ever do is pursue personal vendettas or hog titles. A worthwhile stable it has not been. More like a stepping stone for Orton, a place for Flair, something for Batista to do, and window dressing for Triple H. But what do I know? If Foley achieves a feel-good victory over Orton at Backlash (as he was never able to do four years ago in a protracted feud with Hunter), he captures the IC belt, thus leaving Benjamin nothing to fight for. So I see it likely that Foley won't win, and that the next thing Orton and Benjamin do is feud with each other. But what do I know?
I also talked about Rhyno's woes. He made his name as ECW's final champion, but his WWE career was cut short when he went out with a neck injury. Upon returning, he was relegated to Chris Benoit's tag team partner (thus screwing the both of them for months on monkey work), and then for a while he had nothing to do. Then he became John Cena's whipping boy, ostensibly as Paul Heyman's chosen defender. Then he went to Raw , where he continues to be (like Matt Hardy, as I've feared) nothing but a glorified jobber. Paul heyman, however, is gearing up toward a new ECW, and rumor has it that he'll be appearing on WWE TV again so he can steal some talent. For Rhyno's sake, I hope he's among that lot.
On to some fresh thoughts, because I can't remember if I'm forgetting anything else I might have talked about...Oh wait, there was one more thought. Also at Backlash will be Edge versus Kane. Edge I think is pretty much locked for this victory, making Shane-o-Mac the only wrestler Kane has a decent shot at dominating at a PPV. Kinda sad, isn't it?...Also, Lita was given an assist by Chris Jericho to vault her into a women's title (still suddenly relevant!) match against champion Victoria, owner of legendary half-tights! I don't know if the association is a one-shot deal, as Jericho is still engaged into a feud with Trish Stratus and Christian (and he'll be fighting 'em both in a couple weeks), but it's always nice to see Lita get a push. I've been a fan of hers since the Essai Rios days. Who's Essai Rios? The poor shlub who had the misfortune of being completely eclipsed by the WWE debuting Lita (she'd previously been slightly less foxy in ECW).
Okay, to Smackdown! Bradshaw/JBL/John Bradshaw Layfield continued to get his push, likely to result in either the spotlight match -- whichSmackdown has gotten into the habit of programming in to counterbalance the two-month intervals imposed by the brand splitting of the PPVs -- that could be coming in a few weeks, or at the next Smackdown PPV, which is more than a month away. Can even Kurt Angle, GM, keep Bradshaw interesting that long, as far as a push for the WWE championship is concerned? We might just see...! One thing was made clear, however, and that was John Cena's budding popularity, which will mean sometime this year he'll be making a run for the big belt, if Smackdown has an ounce of sense. But what do I know? (Has it become annoyingly clear that I'm pushing that as a catch phrase? Is it not good enough? Well, how about, "You're fired!")
It was bound to happen. Booker T and Rob Van Dam are going to facing each other next week. Put them on the same show, and you'll be forced to deal with their past, if you can't come up with something better. The danger, of course, is that they'll become isolated from the rest of the roster. Maybe if they just get this obligatory match out of the way, Booker and RVD can finally move on to more productive storylines...?
It seems the Dudleyz are the recent acquisitions with the quickest bee-lines toward Smackdown relevance. If Scotty and Rikishi are still tag team champions after facing them in a title match, I'll eat "Good Ol' JR"'s hat...
It seems as if Smackdown is trying to equate RVD with Triple H. Last night it pushed home the parallel between Hunter's recent battles with Shelton Benjamin with RVD's battles against Charlie Haas. I suppose you could make an analogy between Hunter and RVD, but the difference is how they intersect. Hunter is very popular with the creative end of WWE, while RVD is very popular with the fans. Maybe this is a further attempt to drive home the differences between the two brands? Perhaps, but let's have a feud between RVD and Haas, not RVD and Booker T, then. Benjamin can't have a similarly extended feud with Hunter, because they're ultimately in different ponds. RVD isn't that much elevated from Haas, as far as career prospects are concerned. But what do I...Sorry. I'll stop with that already...
It seems Smackdown actually will continue to acquire new faces, just as Raw is. Rico and the lovely Miss Jackie (the former Tough Enough contestant, not the former Harlem Heat "sister") will be debuting next week! The last time Rico was on Thursdays, he was coaching Chuck Palumbo and Billy Gunn to marriage, which I suppose is further reason for Palumbo to be headed to Raw...
The worst deal of the lottery might have befallen Jamie Noble, who lost Nidia. Now he's lost the essential aspect of his character, as it has been defined for months. And now he'll be dwelling in the pit of jobbers...
Poor Orlando Jordan was used as window dressing again. He and Shannon Moore sat by while Theodore (apparently he doesn't like to be called "Teddy") Long and Spike Dudley engaged in fighting words. Why did Long and Spike have to move to do this? Who knows...But The latest Smackdown Magazine stated that Jordan has made a deal with an unseemly manager character, and that this will soon see the light of day, revealing Jordan for his true colors. Does this mean Paul Heyman? Jordan doesn't seem like an ECW wrestler to me. I hope this doesn't mean Long, because that would go nowhere fast...
Danny Basham (the Basham who was not actually a Bashum until landing on WWE TV) took on Cena in a one-on-one. The match, however, was likely just an excuse to give Cena some easy cred, like last week against Nunzio and The Bull (hm, sounds like Pinky and the Brain :D), which means nothing much for either Basham...
And it's back to Jordan now. He got the opportunity to job to Rene Dupree, who has the benefit of some kind of character. (I'm big on Jordan because I think he can carry a decent match; he did with Brock Lesnar a few months back, anyway. But I'm not sure I can use Lesnar as testamony, because some of the so-called "smart marks" have apparently decided that Brock, as with Goldberg, couldn't wrestle all that well. It's the classic "Let's turn on the guy who's currently favored," of which another example can be seen in Triple H.)
The Long-Spike angle turned out to be an excuse to get Johnny the Bull some more air time, which I suppose is not a bad thing, even if he once again had to job. Why is Spike getting a push, anyway? Has nobody learned a thing from Zack Gowan? Where can he go from here? Then Mark Jindrak made his first appearance since been acquired, as Long's hired thug. But with the apparent flippancy of Smackdown's interest in another big guy, Tough Enough prospect Matt Morgan, how much can Jindrak really look forward to doing? Who knows? I don't.
Eddie Guerrero has more than proved he can run at the head of the pack. It certainly helps that everyone has been so cooperative about it, including Kurt Angle, GM. John Cena might be the guy that takes the title away from him, but for now we have to put up with Bradshaw getting the "Hardcore Holly Push," although admittedly there's a lot more spirit being put into Bradshaw's push than Holly ever enjoyed. All I know is, it's apparently a good time to be a Latino wrestler. Both the WWE Guerreros have been enjoying incredible success in recent months, and the most recent NWA-TNA show had a running tournament involcing a Latino contigent and a UK contigent. The Latinos won, naturally...
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