AS of a few weeks ago, Vicki Guerrero (who no longer deserves to call or consider herself a Guerrero) has become general manager of RAw as well as Smackdown. WHAT THE HELL IS WWE THINKING?! As if it wasn't bad enough to have to listen to Vicki poorly delivered promos once a week, now I am burdened with having to put up with her crap two days a week.

Secondly, what in the hell is the rationalle behind putting Kane and Mark Henry in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match? Can either of those men ever hope to climb a ladder and retrieve that breifcase. Does anyone actually want to see Mark Henry or Kane get a shot at the title.

Thridly, what the hell is the rationalle behind giving JBL the Intercontinental Title? I understand wanting to give CM Punk a push as Intercontinental Champion, but is JBL really the guy to do it? How many times has JBL put on boring matches in big-match situations? To say that the answer to that question is "numerous" would be an understatement.

Every single week, the WrestleMania hype gets bigger and bigger, but I seem to care less and less. None of these angles are really that good, with the possible exception of Triple H vs. Orton...and even that really isn't that good.

serious about this Vicki Guerrero business. What the hell are to bookers thinking!!!!!?????

ROH - Upcoming Wars

With the return of Chris Hero to ROH, and seemingly in prime form, we are going to see the renewal of a feud of a few years ago. Chris Hero vs. Eddie Kingston tore up CZW and Chikara for over a year. The matches were some of the most brutal matches in the history of CZW and Chikara, and I can't wait to see the **** hit the fan again.

Secondly, the rivalry between Jerry Lynn and Nigel McGuinness is heating up every week. I think that we are finally going to to see Jerry Lynn get a shot at McGuinness for the tile. Whether or not Lynn wins is relatively immaterial. If he can go out there and hang with Nigel, arguably the best pure wrestler in the world today, I think that Jerry Lynn will finally be able to get the closure and affirmation that he needs and deserves.

At this point, I think that the WWE bookers have been smoking crack in the backstage...while writing the next week's storylines.
With Edge now possessing the thw World Heavyweight Title, and Triple H with the WWE Title, both Titles are SmackDown property. At least that is the case until the draft. Undoubtedly, I think that Edge will be drafted to RAW. But for the purposes of WM25, it makes no sense!!! We have seen Edge vs. Cena about a billion times! They wrestled each other week after week about two years ago. Triple H and Orton just wrestled about 6 months ago. Neither one of these matches seems at all fresh or fidderent. The certainly don't feel like WrestleMania matches. They feel more like throwaway matches form a Monday Night RAW of a SmackDown.
I have no doubt that Triple H and Orton should have a good match, Cena and Edge I'm not sure about. I can't really even elaborate much more on any of this stuff, because it makes no sense.

TNA and the Empty Arena match.

Last week's edition of TNA Impact was the best I have seen in months. The main event, STing vs. Angle in an Empty Arena Fight, was great. My only complaint is that the two men didn't just fight until the cameras had to stop rolling. I think they should have fought off the air. The match was obviously a ratings booster, and it served it's purpose. But if they really wanted to boost ratings they should have had the two men fight off the air and let people wonder about what happened. Let them turn on the show next week to find out. Big ups to all the rest of the wrestlers featured in last week's show. While the promos are still bad, with the possible exception of Roode and Storm's promo, the in-ring action was very good. Angelina Love and Taylor Wilde put on one of the best Knockouts matches I've seen in a while.
Hopefully TNA is heading toward an upswing in quality in the next few months. I will be tuning in this week for the first time in a long while to see what happens.

***SPILER ALERT!!!***

This entry contains info in last night's No Way Out 2009 PPV. Here are your options

1. Don't read this. Find a video sharing site (because your an idiot if you waste your money on the PPV replay) and watch it.

OR

2. Take five minutes to read this and save yourself the 3 hours of agony, disgust, and contempt that you might otherwise feel while watching No Way Out 2009.

There are two words that describe NWO2009: mediocre filler. No Way OUt is (and prettymuch always has) been just a filler PPV leading up to WrestleMania. In past years, however, the show has yeilded some much better matches than this year's show.

The Smackdown Elimination Chamber was entertaining, but not what you usually expect from an Elimination Chamber. It certainly did not live up to the original Elimination Chamber, but then again, not many matches do live up to their original incarnations.

Triple H winning the title was unexpected, but not a shocker. Triple H is a man you can trust to carry a title into WrestleMania. He almost guarantees a good WrestleMania main event (depending on who he wrestles). I had honestly expected WWE to capitalize on Jeff Hardy's huge popularity. Right now, Jeff equals money ($$$), and I figured they'd realize that a Jeff vs. Matt main event at WrestleMania is a dream match for many fans, a match that might get them some more PPV buys come WrestleMania, but apparently the Smackdown bookers are just as confused as the RAW bookers.

Randy Orton vs. Shane was probably the most boring and unnecessary No Holds Barred match of all time. The problem with WWE sometimes is that they do not understand this one simple fact: hardcore does not always equate a good match. This match was boring!!! Neither man (or the crowd for that matter) felt like they gave a crap about the match. This was undoubtedly the worst match Shane has ever been involved in. He has had some entertaining matches in the past, but this was not one of them.

I understand the need to have Ortonon this card. He is probably the best heel in WWE right now, with the possible exception of Jericho. Both men have real "heel heat", while Edge just has "go away heat". That said, couldn't they have picked somebody more skilled than Shane to take out Orton, or rather to make a poor attempt at taking out Orton?

Swagger vs. Finlay was not a bad match. It was pretty much what I expected. It was a descent catch-as-catch-can bout. Swagger is impressive, and I think the ECW title is going to be the least of his career accomplishments in a few years. However, I am damn sick of Hornswaggle. He was entertaining...three years ago, but not anymore.

Shawn Michaels vs. JBL was the second worst match on the card. Not even Michaels could salvage this match from the absolute bordom and contempt that JBL arouses in me. This storyline could have been so much more compelling if it had been anybody but JBL. His character itself is the only thing that facilitated him being involved in this story with Michaels. Other than that, there isn't anything that qualifies JBL to EVER step into a ring with Shawn Michaels. This was a horrible ending to a potentially god storyline.

The RAW Elimination Chamber was without a doubt the most entertaining match of the evening. While I thought it was crap that Edge won the belt, it was not really a shocker to me. The only good things that might come of this is that Vicki Guerrero may have seen her last television appearance (yahoooooo!!!!!!) and maybe Edge can get some legitimate "heel heat" instead of the heat he has from being associated to the disgrace that is Vicki Guerrero.

To be quite honest, I did not expect Triple H and Edge to be leaving No Way Out as Champions. I am hoping that this does not lead to Edge vs. Cena at WM25.

I doubt that Matt or Jeff will be involved with the main event on Smackdown. My money is on Triple H vs. Undertaker. There have been rumors swirling for months about Taker's retirement match at WM25. After being fired from WWE, Bruce Pritchard even posted the original storyline plans for the angle on the internet. Obviously they will not be going forward with those plans (unless the bookers are smoking crack with Jake the Snake), but we may see a similar incarnation involving Taker and Triple H.

It seems lately that both WWE and TNA bookers are unable to do anything that makes a damn bit of sense.

Let's start with the current Randy Orton angle. Randy Orton is undoubtedly the best wrestler on the WWE roster now. He has improved so much over the past few months, solidly establishing himself as top heel over Edge, who seems to me more and more of a joke. The longer Edge is linked to Vicki Guerrero, the less credibility he will be able to retain. However, that is neither here or there. Well, it might be there, but not her.

Pardon my digression.

Randy Orton has been established as the baddest man in the WWE, a sociopath, and potential psychopath. This would be a great way to pump up Cena vs. Orton (or whoever has the belt at WM25). Of course, you have to make sure that Orton has a spot on the No Way Out card. He's hot and he needs to be on that card. So who is it that Stephanie McMahon chooses to take Randy Orton down a peg. Maybe it could be the Undertaker. Maybe it could be Triple H, which would make sense after the comments Orton made about Stephanie. Hell, maybe it could even be Kane, although we've seen that match recently and damn was it boring. Nope, it's none of the above. She picks Shane McMahon!

Shane has not wrestled a match in nearly two years, and while I enjoy his matches when they do happen, this current angle is certainly not to be believed. Especially after seeing Shane toss around the entire Legacy on Raw a few weeks back.

Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to the match, just because Shane is nuts and will do just about anything in a no holds barred situation, but certainly a no holds barred match with Triple H or Taker would have held so much more potential.

TNA's booking has been nothing short of atrocious for over a year now, closer to two years in fact. My current gripe is there misuse and misallocation of talent. Not that word...talent. TNA is releasing (in essence at least) Petey Williams, Lnace Hoyt, and Jimmy Rave. All three of these men have proven themselves to be incredible compitent in the ring. Of course they certainly don't have the charisma of Sting or Scott Steiner, or (ooooooh, oh my god) Kevin Nash. Since text doesn't translate speech that well, let me note that my last comment was sarcastic in the extreme. God forbid that three great WRESTLERS get a descent spot on the TNA roster. Nope, we need to make way for Sting, Booker T, Nash, and Steiner, a bunch of past-their-prime glory hogs. It's idiocy run rampent!!!

While I have my gripes about Kurt Angle's lack of talent in the promo department, he goes all out in the ring, and I'll credit him for that. As far as the rest of the MEM is concerned, they can all take a flying leap.

I read about more petentially horrible TNA booking just a few minutes ago. Stevie Richards has been signed to the TNA roster. That is not my problem. Stevie is a great wrestler. He has reinvented himself in the past few years, as far as his in-ring style goes, and deserves a spot somewhere. My problem is what TNA has planned for him. Stevie is supposedly going to feud with Abyss. With Abyss heading back toward his old monstrous self, this could just be build-up for the possible (and the bookers might be smoking crack if they don't capitalize on this idea) Abyss vs. Mick Foley angle.

Now let's be honest, we can all see how this is going to go. Abyss is going to destroy a bunch of guys smaller than he is. He'll go on a tear for the next three or four months, and maybe we'll se Abyss vs. Foley at Slamiversary. This is an incredible uncreative and unoriginal setup. It's essentially exactly what has been done with Abyss for his entire TNA career, Except his recent stint with the incredibly untalented Matt Morgan (who by the way just underwent shoulder surgery, and boy do I not care if he ever returns).

Let's get back to WWE now, since I was on the subject of past-their-primers earlier. Ric Flair is set to return in some capacity at WM25. While I will never deny Flair's talent as an entertainer or a wrestler, isn't he supposed to be retired?! I'll admit that last years retirement match and speech brough a tear to my eye, and that is why he sould not be back so damn soon. I have always hated how Flair can never just step aside and let the new generation do it's thing. God forbid that the youung guys not have the "incomparable" Ric Flair around to tell them what to do. I respect everything flair has done, but his time is over!!!

After the last year of Flair appearing at indy shows and conventions, charging $100 bucks a pop for an autograph or picture, his promo on Monday night rang hollow. "I don't mind giving and autograph...I don't mind taking a picture with them." Sure Ric, as long as theres a C-not in it for you, why the hell not. The progression of pro wrestling has been held back for so long by guys like Flair. People don't want to see 1970s style wrestling every week anymore (somebody please tell that to Adam Pearce and the boys at NWA also). They want to see 70s style wrestling on DVD, no on Monday Night Raw! ROh (yes, I realize I'm getting to be an ROH fanboy) is a perfect example of integration of the new and olds styles. That is what WWE needs to shoot for. Bringing Flair back over and over again does nothing to progress the business. It does nothing to hook new fans. It might bring in some extra money from the older generation, looking to see if Flair's still got "it", but in the end it just screws over the young up-and-comers.

The 2009 edition of WWE's Royal Rumble PPV was much as I expected it to be. It had to be seen, simply because it is the Rumble, but other than that, it was not spectacular.

Matt Hardy and Jack Swagger started off the show. They put on a well-wrestled match, the result of which was no surprise to me. Swagger retained the title in convincing fashion. I like Swagger as ECW Champion and we will be seeing more of it.

Next, Beth Phoenix and Melina put on a marginally interesting match, the results of which were uninteresting to me. Melina was able to pick up a win after being beaten nearly out of her boots for most of the match.

The World Title match between Cena and JBL was nothing spectacular. The story in this match, as everyone knew it would be, was the actions of Shawn Michaels. Michaels delivered a WCM to each man...but in the end decided to place JBL on top of Cena for the pin. However, Cena being the overblown Hulk Hogan reincarnation that he is, kicked out and picked up to win a fews moments later. The ramifications of this match, between Michaels and JBL of course, should be seen tonight on RAW.

Edge and Jeff Hardy put on a good match. Again, the match was not spectacular. In the end, my predictions came true. Matt Hardy screwed his brother out of the WWE Title via a charshot to the head. The reaction from the crowd was HOT. Honestly, I can't believe that everyone hasn't seen this coming since Survivor Series. The ramification of this match should be very interesting.

The Royal Rumble match itself was the best on the card, mostly because of its chaotic nature. It was not the best Rumble of all time, by any stretch of the imagination. Shelton Benjamin put on a good performance, as did Kan and Undertaker. Rey Mysterio lasted over 45 minutes, entering at number 2. Ted DiBiasi Jr. also lasted over a half an hour. Of course, as I predicted (and with no insider help, thank you very much), Randy Orton came away with the win and the shot at WrestleMania 25.

In his most recent blog post, Paul Hayman has been quoted as saying that the Age of Orton is "INDEED UPON US!"

As Paul--and anyone else for that matte-- can see, Orton has raised himself to a level that is unsurpassed by any performer in the current WWE. His win at the Rumble marks yet another step in the "youth movement" in WWE. As Heyman points out, none of the seasoned vets have title at this point, Michaels, Taker, and Triple H included. The titles are all on young guys. Each one of those young guys is an extremely talented performer. WWE finally seemes to be looking toward the future of the business and not the past.

yesterday before the Rumble, Christian Cage was reported as being involved in the match...but was not...unless I'm wrong. My stream cut out for a period of over eight minutes last night when watching on my computer (friggin technology!). I surmised that Finaly and Undertaker enterd during that time...but do not know who else.

I would now assume that Christian will be premiering on a SmackDown some time soon. Something between he and Edge is said to be cooking. Could we possibly see two awesome matches like Edge vs. Christian and Matt vs. Jeff at WrestleMania 25? We shall see.

Ring of Honor has announced that they are entering into a long term partnership with HDNet. Coming soon, ROH will have their own weekly show on HDNet. Owner Mark Cuban and ROh President Carey Silken both seem very pleased with the deal. Could this be the start of a rise for ROH? I sure as hell hope so.

Stay tuned for further developments in the upcoming days.