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Posts Tagged ‘video conferencing’

Following in the footsteps of Randy Orton, it seems like second- and third-generation talent is popping up on WWE like new coffee franchises in a mega-mall. And to be honest, I love the trend.

Last Monday’s RAW gave me my first live (as opposed to watching it on TIVO-delayed recording) performance by Sim Snuka, who has joined the ranks of Cody Rhodes, Manu and Ted DiBiase Jr. as the latest sons of former superstars to make their WWE debut.

Add ECW’s Ricky Ortiz to the list, by the way.

While these young talents will need to prove themselves just as their fathers (and grandfathers, in some cases) did, these prodigies have been quite bankable for WWE over the years; folks such as The Rock and Randy Orton are proof that sometimes, pro wrestling runs in the blood.

Shane McMahon is the exception, by the way, that proves the rule.

As the final RAW before the WWE’s biggest PPV of the year, WrestleMania 23, last night’s show demonstrated just how ill-conceived the main events have been. Michaels taking out John Cena with his Sweet Chin Music move was about as predictable and anticlimactic as it comes.

Truth be told, Cena vs. Michaels just isn’t that interesting. Both Michaels and Cena are too over as faces and neither is getting any genuine heel heat. And Michaels is about 10 years too late in his career to be main eventing WrestleMania against Cena. Far more intriguing would have been to match up Cena against Edge, Orton or The Great Khali, but apparently Vinnie Mac and company decided to play it safe this year. Too safe. And that makes for an uninteresting WrestleMania.

Despite prodigious amounts of promotion, including bringing in Donald Trump to help lend WM23 some outside-of-wrestling star power, the Billionaire’s Hair Match seems to intrigue Vinnie Mac far more than it does the average RAW viewer, and again suffers from utter predictability: does anyone really believe Lashley will lose and that Trump would agree to be shaved bald? Vinnie Mac is a foregone conclusion as the bald billionaire. Yawn.

I could go on, but the rest of the WM23 undercard is just as boring and predictable. And we all know that, whatever happens, the better undercard matches will simply get a RAW, ECW or SmackDown “rematch” next week, anyway, and that Trump will appear for one more video conferencing cameo to gloat over a bald Vinnie Mac on next week’s RAW. What else is new? Certainly nothing coming up at WM23.

About the only way to save WM23 is to throw the fans a curve ball by encouraging Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to come out of “wrestling retirement” to make a surprise guest appearance and grab the WWE title away from Cena after Cena defeats Michaels, as part of what could be perhaps a six-month return that would climax with The Rock as a heel champ surrendering the title back to Cena at SummerSlam so he can go make movies again.

Of course, the likelihood of that is about equal to a “living and dead” reunion of The Beatles at WM23.