Indy’d Indeed: Wrestlemania and Beyond

Hello all, I’m Mr. Indianapolis, Mr. Indy for short, and this is just another edition of the Indy’d Indeed (Indeed, Indeed!). I’ve heard that some people don’t like my intro... but I’m still not scared, though I probably should be. :)

Last week I talked about the Lesnar/Lashley complex, and while I’m sure there was something I wanted to expand on there, I finally picked up a copy of Wrestlemania 24. Admittedly, I’m not good at doing that so early in the year (heck, this year I got it while it was still on the “New Releases” shelf!). This week is also going to be a kind of double-issue, since I also intend on talking about this year’s draft while I still have time to do so. We’ll see how it turns out.

For starters, this Wrestlemania was not half-bad. After seeing the video package, I was a little disappointed. After all, the WWE’s video package department is amazing. My favorite to date is the Bobby Lashley/Umaga feud video, especially since the dive through the cage wall onto Umaga is about the coolest thing Lashley did in his entire pro-wrestling career. Seriously, the video packages are about the best thing the WWE has to offer. That’s not saying the rest of the product isn’t quality every now and then, but still.

My number on complaint of the video package for Wrestlemania 24 is the WWE Championship match. For starters, that kick/pin that Orton had was seriously one of the greatest endings I think I’ve ever seen to a WWE Championship match. The video package made it look like a kinda pathetic ending, you really have to watch the match itself to see just how lucky and opportunistic that kick looked.

Also, the end to the Flair/Michaels match is worth buying WM24 in and of itself. Michaels really tried to pull out all the stops to make Flair’s final match the best it could be. The video package was also comparably bad in displaying this match. For starters, outside of the two moonsaults Michaels made to the outside, you didn’t see anything. Apparently the two Superkicks Flair got before the career-ender weren’t important. And while the video package did an excellent job showing the dramatics before the career-ending kick, they missed the wonderful pinfall. I found HBK’s quick pin, and then dramatic hug to be the most awesome thing I’ve seen. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, HBK is the WWE’s “make him do it” boy.

I’m still going to ignore that Big Show was forced to job to Mayweather, so let’s go straight to the main event.

For starters, Edge had the promo to end Undertaker’s undefeated streak. I’m going to call it promo of the year, and I think it was because he got to bring up some serious childhood emotions for it. The very basis of the promo was awesome, and I think Edge going to Wrestlemania all those years ago and “losing his innocence” when he watched his hero Hulk Hogan lose the match is almost the very explanation for why he’s a heel now.

That being said, Edge was never going to end the streak, but he sure did a convincing job of making us worry. Part of the reason I got WM24 was to actually see a match that these two put on together. As far as I’m concerned, they don’t have much chemistry together, though at least they do put on decent matches together. Then again, this was Wrestlemania, so until I turn around and watch the TLC match, I’m not going to be thoroughly convinced this feud was worth extending for as long as they did. Also, I’m glad Edge got the title in the TLC match. Edge did not need back-to-back title losses in his signature match, though I wish he hadn’t cut the “This is not the kind of ba where Undertaker disappears for 4 weeks and shows up on another brand” promo, because he outright lied to us. How will we ever believe kayfabe now?

Also, I haven’t been giving good reviews for Undertaker’s gogoplata, but it actually worked well at Wrestlemania. Part of my issue with using the blood choke is that it replaced the Tombstone piledriver and the Last Ride, both of which we saw during the Wrestlemania main event. And watching Charles Robinson run from the backstage area while Undertaker had Edge pinned after the Tombstone was outright awesome, and maybe the highlight of the match for me. I’ve never seen a ref run so fast (remember, this is down a WRESTLEMANIA ramp), and the look on his face after Edge kicked out was absolutely priceless. It had the “Technically he had the match won” and “Oh dear, now Undertaker is going to kill me because I didn’t run fast enough” all wrapped up in one.

But that’s enough about Wrestlemania. I did watch a bit of the Hall of Fame too, and I gotta tell you, if I was a wrestler in the audience, I would have been mad at The Rock too. The guy spent more time putting himself over than he did inducting. Not to mention taking cheap shots at every wrestler he could. And for what? We’ve pretty much established The Rock is never coming back. He’s Dwayne Johnson now. Now go buy The Rock DVD if you ever hope to see him in-ring again, because that’s the only way it’s gonna happen.

Now... let’s talk draft. With the draft lottery coming up, we get to think about some of the people we want to trade-out. Since I have little idea who is getting traded, consider this more a fantasy draft. And coming from me, that means you know I’ll be sharing with you a better product than the WWE will.

The Big Moves

Move Batista to RAW!

Batista has severed his time dominating and putting over the Smackdown and ECW rosters, and in order to keep him out of the title picture, he needs to rejoin the stars of RAW. Evidence of his being done on Smackdown is shown in his feud with Shawn Michaels. Will they keep it at RAW? Not in my draft... because I got this one.

Move Shawn Michaels to Smackdown!

With one big star going to RAW, Smackdown needs another big star. HBK has voiced that he is considering retirement, and I think moving him to Smackdown could be an opportunity at the World belt. I wouldn’t mind him staying on RAW to feud with HHH for the belt there, but the HHH/HBK thing has been done. If you want to see it again, go to youtube and look up some classics. Also, the key thing here is a feud with The Undertaker. The two of them haven’t really done anything memorable together outside of back-to-back Royal Rumble confrontations, and I think it’s time to finally throw them together. I’ll talk more on this later.

Move Jeff Hardy to ECW!

Jeff is more representative of ECW than Lashley or Big Show was, so throw him to the ECW championship and tell him to hold the belt as tight as he can until Wrestlemania next year. It’s time to make ECW into something, and not just throw all your superstars that are stuck in their careers.

Round Two

Move Chris Jericho to Smackdown!

Y2J has some nice feuds waiting for him on RAW, but he’s currently getting buried by the roster there too, and moving Batista there won’t help. Here, Y2J can start seriously aiming for the world title and also go on to have feuds with some of the up-and-comers, most specifically MVP. I think an MVP/Y2J feud would be money, especially if they fought for who was the better talk show host. Also, with Batista gone, Jericho will bring some much needed star power to the main event.

Move Mark Henry to RAW

Mark is the current big man jobber on Smackdown/ECW, but he doesn’t have to be. Many people have talked about moving Umaga to Smackdown, but I think Umaga is capable enough of making long feuds that he has plenty left to do on RAW. In fact, give Henry a boost by setting him in a feud with Umaga. I bet Umaga could carry Henry to a few good big man matches.

Move Paul London and Brian Kendrick to ECW!

Let ECW be the home to the cruiserweights and the monsters. Londrick can then either re-compete for Smackdown’s tag belts, or the team can break up and Kendrick can finally go on a heel run that will see these two go head-to-head at long last. Give these guys a 30 minute matchup together and you’ll never go back.

My Next Year Fantasy Booking

I only moved seven people, but already the roster is completely replenished. I made these moves based off of my plan for the three brands: RAW is the next big man brand, Smackdown is your classic balanced guys, and ECW has your high-flyers. With having ECW and Smackdown being able to trade freely, I think this allows for a better balance.

So, starting on ECW, Kane needs to lose the belt to someone of mid-size to act as a transitional champ for Jeff Hardy to move and take the ECW title from. Keep Jeff Hardy as ECW champ feuding with everyone you got until Wrestlemania, and then putt Matt as the surprise #1 contender for the belt at the main event. Matt vs. Jeff Hardy for the ECW championship... that i can buy.

Moving on to SD, either Y2J or HBk would be suitable to go straight into a feud with Edge. The main reasons for my moves here are Y2J/MVP and HBK/Undertaker. I hear UT is supposed to return to finish Edge and take back the belt, though I have better plans. Let Y2J grab the belt from Edge, and let the two of them duke it out for the better part of a year. Edge can end with the belt, and move Jericho to face MVP. If Shawn Michaels still decides that he doesn’t want to wrestle in a “Flair-less era” as I’ve heard in the past, give Michaels the belt in a feud with Edge next and let him start next year dealing with Undertaker.Â

Yeah, I’m serious, I want HBK vs. Undertaker for the World title at Wrestlemania 25. Don’t bill the match off title vs. streak, this’ll be year 3 that Undertaker goes for the strap, after all (and this would be the last by my booking, no need to keep it up any longer). Instead, make the match a “Loser Retires” match. One man will walk out with the World title, one man will walk out never to return.

See, as I was watching Wrestlemania 24, I realized just how good of a choice it was for Shawn Michaels to retire Ric Flair. And at this point, if anybody is going to end the streak, it would be HBK, because the fans would love him no matter what. As the streak is getting up there, we need to be more and more convinced every year that we found somebody to end it. Orton did a decent job, Mark Henry was a step backwards, Batista was a step up, Edge really got you wondering...  but HBK? That’s some real worryin’ right there. Besides, most people expect Undertaker to retire when the streak ends, so wouldn’t this be the perfect way to fool us all? Again, it’s contingent on if HBK plans to retire. Thus far, I’ve heard more rumors about that then ‘Taker retiring.

As for the RAW scenario, having HHH, Orton, Batista, and Cena in the main event means there will be plenty of opportunity for feuding. As for the WM25 event for the RAW belt? Give Batista the spinner belt and take your pick. Batista vs. Triple HHH has been done, but would still be much appreciated. Batista vs. Orton has been toyed with, but never really done, especially not on the big stage. And Batista vs. Cena is the all-time money match. They’re all good.

And as for the side feuds? Hey, let Umaga and Mark Henry duke it out, then pair them up (monsters are weird, one day they hate eachother, next day they’re a tag team) to grab the tag titles for a bit. Or, if not tag gold, a feud with Batista/HHH. Batista/Henry was never really revisited as it should have been, and HHH vs. Umaga is a mainstay squash. Even letting Umaga “coach” Mark Henry into taking the Intercontinental title would be awesome. Can you imagine Umaga mentoring Henry into how to be a better monster through a series of grunts and yells? Maybe they could even turn face with it... Henry has a great smile. :)

But anyway...

This is just my fantasy booking. Kind of a different feel from most of my articles, but sometimes you gotta switch it up. Who knows if you got anything out of the Indy’d Indeed this week, but maybe you did.

Anyway, I’m still Mr. Indy. And this is still the Indy’d Indeed (even if some of you do think the title is a horrible pun!), and maybe someday I’ll remember what it was that I was going to talk about this week. Oh wait, I was going to mention RVD--

Until next week.... :P