The Good: Sweet jumping Jesus Samoa Joe debuted in NXT!
Joe didn’t just debut in NXT, Joe exploded onto the scene by going nose to nose with the clearly out of control NXT Champion Kevin Owens (more on him later). It had been rumored for months that Joe might be signing a contract with WWE, but both sides were mum on any actual details. In a conference call before the latest NXT Takeover event, a shareholder asked HHH if Joe had been signed. HHH responded that Joe had been at the Performance Center working out, but no deal had been done. *In Vince Russo’s voice * It was a swerve, bro! Kudos to HHH for note spilling the beans on Joe’s signing. Conference calls usually aren’t used to further storylines, but in this case it definitely helped everyone ease off of the “Joe is going to debut at Takeover” talk.
Joe being in WWE opens the doors for all types of dream matches. This writer has his fingers crossed for a Brock Lesnar/Samoa Joe feud. That may be unlikely, but knowing there is a chance is enough to get excited about. Much like Kevin Owens debut, Joe arrived and immediately thrust himself into the NXT main event picture. One would venture to think the reason for this is Joe is ready for the main roster, but he will work in NXT just to get accustom to the much ballyhooed “WWE Style”. We would be remiss if we did not mention the jaw dropping shape Joe seems to be in. He clearly decided it was time to hit the gym before gracing a WWE ring with his presence. At this point, there should be nothing holding Joe back.
The Bad: Rumors of TNA Wrestling being cancelled.
Say what you will about TNA and their nonsensical storylines and overbooked gimmick matches, if this is true, it is terrible news. Every wrestling website has been reporting that Destination America has cancelled all TNA programing. There has not been a press release confirming this, but it is interesting to note that instead of a new episode of Impact this week they aired the Slammiversary ppv from last year. TNA is categorically denying these reports are true. They have gone as far to threaten legal action against all who are reporting it.
The best thing for the wrestling business is for there to be as many mainwrestling organizations as possible. The business only thrives when there is parity, plus the idea of all of the wrestlers employed with the company being out of work is awful. It’s hard to understand why Destination America would cancel Impact (Impact is the highest rated show on the channel… never mind the fact that most of us had no idea the station existed until they started airing TNA). If it is a matter of how much the show cost to air, make some cuts. Cancelling this early into the deal is not only silly, but also extremely short sighted.
The Good: Global Force Wrestling signing Shelton Benjamin.
Shelton Benjamin is one of the more underrated wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling. He may have not been the greatest on the mic, but his athletic ability more than makes up for it. WWE never properly utilized him, but lets hope Jeff Jarrett has the wherewithal to strap a rocket to Benjamin’s back and out the GFW title on him. Let’s wait and see how this plays out, but given Jarrett’s track record, this writer likes Benjamin’s chances.
The Ugly: The Mega Powers unite… and the crowd goes mild.
Not going to spend a lot of time on this but whoever came up with this “brilliant” idea needs to be taken out back of Titan Towers and beat with a bag of doorknobs. That is all.
The Good: Kevin Owen powerboming John Cena out of his shoes.
Who say this coming? Yeah no one, but man what a moment. Owens seemed a little jittery on the mic but that is to be expected. If you are going to debut on RAW that is the way you want to do it. We all need to give Cena a round of applause for putting Owens over in the manner that he did. Taking Owens finish and selling it as if a car had hit him made Owens looks like a million bucks. This writer has never been a fan of the Pop-Up Powerbomb, but this one looked great.
The most interesting part in this equation is the fact that Cena will be facing Owens at Elimination Chamber. It seems the U.S. title will not be on the line, but knowing Owens he could totally bait Cena into defending the belt. It is a long shot, but if Owens defeats Cena at the pay per view he will be a made man. NXT clearly has Vince McMahon’s attention at this point. Can’t wait to see how this one turns out.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section or on our Twitter @AboveAverageLLP and @Wrestling_Vavel.
Previous The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly:
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Pro Wrestling: Revenge Of The Smark (Part 4)
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Pro Wrestling Part 2
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Pro Wrestling Part 1