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Archive for December 1st, 2008

Is John Cena the new Hulk Hogan? And I don’t mean this necessarily in a good way.

While I enjoy Cena as much as the next guy, this return to the ring at Survivor series was an event that resulted in him regaining his World Title on his first night back. That’s the kind of star treatment few in WWE have enjoyed since Hulk Hogan left the company to join WCW.

Injured and returning twice in the last year, Cena’s made a habit of carrying around Swiss Army luggage, it seems, but apparently the World Heavyweight Title is in that bag and he can have it any time he wants.

At least with Triple H, there are marital ties to the McMahon family to explain it. With Cena, it could be another Hogan nightmare all over again, if he lets it go to his head. Time will tell.

In a recent newspaper interview, Chris Jericho admitted something that may land him on some Wal-Mart promotional bags before too long. Seems that the WWE superstar, when he was just starting out in Jim Coronette’s promotion, whiled his days between wrestling dates and training, by hanging out at a 24/7 Walmart store in Morristown, TN.

Other hangouts for the young Jericho were movie theaters and the local Sizzler steakhouse. Jericho had spent most of his adult life in wrestling up until 2005, when he decided to walk away for a while; he returned, refreshed and revitalized, two years later, about a year ago.

Looking to change his image, Adam Copeland, who wrestles under the name Edge, debuted his new look on Smackdown this past Friday. Sporting a full beard and mustache, and a shorter, less-glam-rock hairstyle, Edge ended up looking like a cross between Triple H and Big John Studd.

A little acne treatment might have been a bigger help. Don’t count me as a fan of Edge’s new look; his old look made him stand out from the crowd while the new hairstyle does nothing but help him blend into the crowd. Big thumbs down.

Mike Bucci, who portrayed the character of Super Nova in the original ECW and went on to be fitness guru Simon Dean in WWE and has been out of wrestling for nearly two years, has resurfaced. Pro Wrestling Torah has tracked Bucci down, and he is now in the real estate game.

Pushing real estate loans in the mortgage industry, Bucci has apparently gained weight since leaving wrestling, but has leveraged his pop culture background to his advantage in his new venture. I guess it pays better than writing Orovo detox reviews.

Kudos to Bucci for realizing there is a life beyond pro wrestling.

Recent episodes of Friday Night Smackdown bear out the notion that although it is the number two show in WWE’s stable, it is the better destination for fans of in-ring action. While Smackdown features a less-star-studded lineup than Monday Night Raw, the average two-hours-and-overrun broadcast of Raw features 30-35 minutes of in-ring wrestling action.

By comparison, recent episodes of Smackdown have featured about 45 minutes of in-ring action. According to Jim Ross, play-by-play man on Smackdown, this is a result of a cost-saving measure on Smackdown during the run-up to WrestleMania; the company is doing one taping every two weeks on Smackdown, with enough wrestling to fill two weeks of shows. Raw, meanwhile, is still broadcast live most weeks out of the year.

Even laptop memory is not sturdy enough to remember the last time Raw or Smackdown featured this much wrestling and so little “entertainment,” but old school wrestling fans are sure to be in for a treat if they tune in.