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Archive for June 12th, 2007

OK, someone has to speak up before an opportunity is blown.

The Great Khali-John Cena feud has the potential to be the biggest thing since Hulk Hogan-Andre the Giant, but not at the pace it’s going.

For two PPVs in a row, Cena’s managed victories over the Great Khali, despite dramatic size differences. Cena no-selling a fear of Khali in the latest chapter might make Cena seem tough, but it hurts the necessary fear that any Cena-Khali match should inspire.

Something’s needed. Something has to change the tide of this feud or it won’t even last until SummerSlam, let alone next year’s WrestleMania. Unless something dramatic is done, by the time next year’s WrestleMania comes around, the Great Khali might be no more frightening and imposing than a round of golf at Firestone using Ping Golf equipment.

There are some legit ways to take the feud.

1) Change belts. Put the strap on Khali and have Cena “injured” and our of action for a while, at the hands of Khali. That’d give Cena some time off to make The Marine 2 or something, and turn some of this negative, “Cena sucks” fan heat back into cheers upon his return. In the meantime, Khali could have some squash matches and dominate in a way that makes the audience wonder if anyone will ever defeat Khali. Keep it this way until at least SummerSlam, or maybe even until the Royal Rumble as the point of Cena’s return. Having Khali hold off Cena until a final WM showdown would be a better way to promote a Cena-Khali main event at WM.

2) Use the multi-brand draft to separate the two for a few months, until the big push toward WM starts, around the time of the Royal Rumble… or maybe a bit sooner, at Survivor Series.

3) Have Khali banned for some reason, and maybe even wrestle in disguise for a while. Hey… it worked for Andre!

When it was born a couple years ago, ECW One Night Stand was a breath of fresh air among WWE PPV events. It was the world series of ECW events, considering that the promotion had been dead for years, bought out by Vinny Mac.

Sure, everyone knew that ECW was still WWE-owned, but for one night a year fans could see Paul Heyman in control, struggling against the McMahon oligarchy. One could hear RVD given lines more significant than “that’s cool” or “sweet.” For a while, ECW was ECW again.

No more. In this post-WrestleMania calender year, all the WWE PPVs that were single-branded are now multi-brand, including One Night Stand, which isn’t even called ECW One Night Stand anymore.

ECW is swiftly becoming just another generic WWE brand. Rest in peace, ECW fans.

I realize that from a WWE perspective, putting the ECW belt on Vince McMahon was a classic retread of the Stone Cold Steve Austin storyline template: rebellious employee faces off with evil owner. But that formula is wearing a bit thin, carrying the luggage of overuse in recent years, and while WWE’s defenders may say it was all about pushing ECW’s Bobby Lashley as much as possible, the backlash of the move certainly carried with it substantial risks related to alienating ECW lovers.

ECW has been the subject of a McMahon-centric makeover ever since ECW creator Paul Heyman was bounced from WWE last December, but what such a Vince-centric storyline really needed was an opposing force manipulating from behind the scenes who could go toe-to-toe with Vince. That’s right: ECW needs Heyman to really sell this “ECW Originals vs. The New Breed” storyline that has become central to each Tuesday night broadcast on SciFi.

The New Breed has Vince pulling the strings, which is fine, but who is the unmovable object to Vince’s irresistible force? Bringing Heyman back would take this storyline to the next level, and open of the possibility of an “ECW Walkout” in which ECW seems to go independent again, under Heyman’s leadership, even though it would be in storyline only.

Something like that is needed to fix the current ECW, which in the months since Heyman’s ouster has become just another identity-less WWE brand, not distinguishably different from Raw or Smackdown, except that the show’s an hour shorter.

Heck, even One Night Stand has become a multi-brand PPV event. Sure, the belt was put back on Lashley, but anyone who think’s McMahon’s reign is over is fooling only themselves. Yawn.