WAS SANDOW EVEN A WORTHY MITB WINNER?

I admit I have not been watching wrestling like I usually would be. I use the picture in picture function on the TV and I read up on dirt sheets to stay connected. But I did catch the Damien Sandow cashing in the Money In The Bank on John "Hogan" Cena. Sandow lost and the IWC, Internet Wrestling Community, went into a riot of LA poportions. I mean it was like Cena was the cops that got off beating up Rodney King. I feel like I was the only one sitting back like, "What's the big deal?"

Did you watch the match? It was an instant DVD match in my opinion. The crowd was behind it. It's rare when you hear a "This is awesome" chant during a Monday Night Raw match. Yes Cena was "Super Cena" and no Sandow didn't win the championship like JBL predicted he would. My question for all the IWC is did Sandow deserve to win the MITB in the first place? I remember being at my cousin Travis house in KY watching the MITB PPV, which was overall bland by the way, and I was not happy with Damien Sandow winning the MITB for the WHC. Lets go back to see who was in that match. Of course you had Sandow, Cody Rhodes, Fandango, Swagger,  Antonio Cesaro, Wade Barrett, and Dean Ambrose. Sandow deserved out of all them? Oh shut up.

I think Sandow came out on a very good end even after this lost. Sandow had Cena beat all through the match, Sandow can easily build up from that. Now if Triple H is going to do what he's known to do according to his repuation, then Sandow is in trouble. But I seriously doubt this is the end for Sandow. His ring work is already there. His character needs some tweaking and that's about it. Now of course this is all my opinion.

Daniel Richerson
Twitter.com/big_dusty
Facebook.com/bigdusty

Daniel Byran is on the road to one of the biggest pushes in the modern era

I said last post that wrestling is becoming fun again. Did a little thinking on this. Me being a mark most of my life seeing how business is done and also being a  movie buff. I think Daniel Byran is on route to become one of the biggest stars in the modern era of sports entertainment. Week after week Daniel is getting power bombed by the shield and or RKOed by Randy Orton. It's only a matter of time where the hero fights back, and when Daniel Bryan finally gets that hero's comeback the place is going to go insane.

Triple H is a tremendous heel. He's playing this part well. The mark that's still in me is hating him for how he's "running things," and that lets me know that what he's doing is working. Ok, yes this storyline is a rehash of old storylines but bottom line is that it's working. People are buying into it. It's almost becoming cool to be a wrestling fan again. IF Triple H was really the bad guy the IWC says he his, Daniel Bryan wouldn't have his spot he does now.

Even the Divas division is stepping up a little bit, but with that being said I got my doubts. As of this blog posting, it's booked that at Night Of Champions, it will be a fatal four way for the divas championship featuring Natalya, Brie Bella (smh), Naomi, and AJ. If Natayla or AJ does not win, someone should riot. Naomi has a lot of potential, but she's not ready yet. Her in ring skills are dynamite, but her promo skills are just bad. Brie Bella is all around awful. AWFUL. Natayla and AJ are the only wrestlers in that match. Therefore, one of those two should win the belt. I would have AJ keep the strap. I know they're trying to build the popular Total Divas show but screw that. AJ got the promo of her career a short time ago and I feel deserves to have the strap. Plus AJ could be the first Mrs. Richerson. Hey you know what they say, once you got fat, Michelle Obama hates you.

Now let me go in on the Big Show story going on. That segment with him and Stephanie McMahon was so uncomfortable to watch. Big Show looked so beaten down and worthless and Stephanie looked like the little sister who made it and is now holding over the Big Show's head. I don't have a clue as to where that storyline is going but it's interesting. When Daniel Byran finally gets his comeback, I do think Big Show and Dolph Ziggler will be a part of it. Somehow I think Vince will be part of it too. I've read rumors that this is all building up to a Wrestlemania match with Vince's guy is going up against Triple H's guy. Notice Vince hasn't been on TV much since the "new corporation" if you will started up? Something is brewing. And it's going to be sweet.

Daniel Richerson
@Big_Dusty on Twitter and Instagram
Facebook.com/bigdusty

WRESTLING IS BACK!

Wrestling hasn't been this fun since the attitude era. I was one of the cats that said TNA needs to step it up because that will make wrestling fun again. I've never been more happy to be wrong. The whole Daniel Bryan storyline is an awesome storyline. Daniel Bryan is on the push to become on an Austin level of professional wrestling. Say what you want about Vince McMahon and Triple H, but I'm begging you to look at the current product and find a long run negative about the storyline with Daniel Bryan and the McMahons. This has the potential to be as big or even possibly bigger than the Austin era. That's pretty strong to say, but I'm saying anyway.

How bout that epic CM Punk promo from last night's raw (8/19/2013)? Going after this innocent fat guy in the crowd for booing him was just old school classic wrestling. I loved it. It was attitude era of the WWE/original ECW. Paul Heyman is as good as he ever was. His balding head and that ponytail is a different story all together, but his genius of pro wrestling and his work on the mic is masterful. I love it.

Let me get this out the way. Darren Young. I used to be that guy that would blast this guy for coming out. But I've grown to learn that what you do in your own privacy is none of my business. Darren Young being gay has nothing to do with his performance in the ring. What I think of the gay lifestyle is not important. I hope this is not a "work" but let's look at it this way. The gay/lesbian thing is a big thing right now. So Darren coming out was good for business as far as getting viewers. I've heard rumors that Darren coming out was a "work," and why would one play with this sensitive issue, I don't know. I don't think it's a work. Again what you do in your own bedroom is none of my business.

WWE is doing great business right now. TNA is--WWE is doing great business right now. I'm of the mindset that, again I hope I'm wrong about this, but I think TNA is at the point of no return. I just think there's no chance for them. It's too late. I mean, I want TNA to work, but I just think it's too late. A lot of people may disagree with me, but remember this is my blog. It's my opinion. I don't get many benefits as a mulatto because society sees me as black. Freedom of speech though...just saying.

I titled this Wrestling is back, because this is the most fun this has been since the attitude era. So as far as WWE goes, wrestling is back and fun again. I hope we all enjoy this ride and I hope it continues past the success of WWF attitude.

Thanks for stopping by,

Daniel Richerson
@Big_Dusty on Twitter and Instagram
Facebook.com/bigdusty

THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE AMERICAN DRAGON

This is the year of the dragon…the American dragon if you will, Bryan Danielson aka Daniel Bryan. The momentum this guy is on is going to make him enough money to build a retirement fund. He’s in the Money In The Bank match, I feel he’s a shoe in to win that match. Vince is a business man. Whether we believe it or not, Vince is a smart business man. So here’s what should go down in my opinion. Daniel Bryan should stay face. And go ahead and turn Cena heel. I would say about 85% of the “Universe” is turning on him anyway. Merchandise sells, will they go down? Depends on how bad of a heel Cena is. Back in early 2000s, Cena was a pretty good heel in my opinion. The whole Dr. of Thuganomics gimmick was working. I’m not saying he should go back to that gimmick, but I am saying why not play to the fans a little bit. I say turn Cena heel, let him lose on the microphone, and see what happens. Remember when CM Punk cut the infamous promo in Vegas? The internet exploded. People tuned in to see what Punk was going to say next. Why not Cena? Cena is a good on the mic. One of the better talkers WWE has but he’s in such a bad gimmick right now, that the corny stuff they have him saying is barfable. If Cena ever cuts a Hulk Hogan Bash At The Beach ’96 type promo and tells the Universe to stick it, I think business would pick up. Ratings would possibly go up. On the other hand it might be too little too late. I think try it. I mean using the gimmick that Cena is going to be Cena despite of the fans think of them is just a standard bs way to go. Jalen Rose says it best, “Got to give the people, give the people what they want.”

So Cena goes heel, then Daniel Bryan goes up against him at Summer Slam and wins the title. The reaction would be…EPIC! Daniel Bryan and Cena could have matches possibly better than the Punk/Cena matches. As far as wrestling ability, Bryan and Punk are neck and neck. Bryan has been stealing the show on every Monday Night Raw for weeks now. Give the man his due. There’s an old Gospel song that says, “Put your time in, pay day is coming after while.” Bryan has definitely put his time in from NXT, to Nexus, to the 18 seconds bull, to the Team Hell No, to now. The man is ready to carry the company. The fans are behind him. The Yes chants are over more than the What chants ever were. It’s time to see Bryan get his Shawn Michaels on, who trained Bryan btw.

To be honest, I have doubts that the Cena heel turn will ever happen. Most of the IWC wants this to happen, but I don’t think Vince has the grapefruits to do it. Hogan was face a bit too long and the fans got tired of him. Hogan went heel and got another huge run out of the deal. Vince is making the same mistake with Cena I believe. Also I’ve read rumors about some backstage are pushing for a triple threat match at Summerslam with Super Cena, Mark Henry, and Ryback. No! No! No! Sorry, Ryback is not ready clearly. His promos suck, and his skills in the ring leave a lot to be desired. Ryback lost at Westlemania, Extreme Rules, and Payback, and some “geniuses, think he deserves a title shot? Am I missing something here? I know Vince is high on Ryback, but Vince needs to give the people what they want. Why the people? Cause we the people, not pun intended to Mr. “Weed the people” Jack Swagger, pay his salary.

That’s all I got to say. I’m not a wrestling guru or anything; I’m just a lifelong wrestling fan with a medium to post my thoughts on the product. Hope you enjoyed it. If you agree or disagree, let me know in the comment section. Thanks for checking the blog.

Daniel Richerson
Facebook.com/bigdusty
Twitter.com/big_dusty

WWE, FINALLY!!

Hey thanks for stopping by.

Just about immediately after the Attitude Era ended in the WWF/E people were complaining about it and wanting the Attitude Era to come back. Most people had nothing good to say about the PG era. For those folks and the rest of us I give you the Monday night Raw 6/17/2013 episode. Most of us call it the best Raw of the year. I put it up there as one of the better ones in the past 5-10 years. I mean actual surprises happening and working. Christian coming back was a complete shock to me. I expected him to come back sometime but never expected it to happen last night. I would have expected some vignettes, but for him to come out as a surprise on Monday Night Raw was just classic.

Speaking of classic, let’s move forward to the Mark Henry segment. Nicely done. Very nicely done. I admit I actually thought it was genuine. I didn’t see a swerve coming at all. Boy was I wrong, and I’ve never been happier to be wrong in my life. When Mark Henry and John Cena hugged, and then Mark gave Cena the World’s Strongest Slam I felt cheated. I felt doped. I haven’t had that feeling in a long time regarding WWE or wrestling in general. But it was a good feeling none the less. I thought it was genius. I thought it was classic. And think about this folks, it wasn’t just the talk of the WWE Universe, it was the talk of the wrestling world as a whole. Look back at the tweets from Matt Hardy, Shane Helms, Axl Rotten, Kevin Steen, etc. It was just a great moment. It made me a Mark Henry fan. I will say this up front, I was not a Mark Henry fan at all. I thought he was a waste of TV time. That segment changed my whole tune for Mark Henry.

Now Raw did have a bad spot in my opinion. The Randy Orton Daniel Bryan ending was just garbage to me. People are worried about WWE going overboard with the concussion thing, you ask me they already did. Especially with the Daniel Bryan Randy Orton ending. Don’t get me wrong, concussions are serious, but don’t overkill it. In my opinion, this didn’t stop the Daniel Bryan momentum but it did slow it down a little bit. Daniel Bryan will be a World Champion before this year is out. I believe that.

Speaking of World Champion let me talk about the Del Rio/Ziggler story. The Heel/Face turn at Payback was Bret Hart/Stone Cold esq. Del Rio is a better heel than a face and turning Ziggler face was just genius. So CM Punk and Del Rio was the main event on Raw. I go in on Punk in a minute, but the match ended with Del Rio doing the classic heel move and leaving the match losing in a count out. As Del Rio was heading backstage, Dolph ran out jumped off the stage and onto Del Rio. Another surprise and it worked. I don’t know if WWE fired the old writers, got new writers, or if the current writers finally wised up. Whatever it is, WWE needs to keep this going.

I say I would go in on CM Punk. The Best in the world. CM Punk and Paul Heyman are masters of the wrestling world. Geniuses of the wrestling world. Reading the dirt sheets, I knew there was a possibility of a CM Punk vs Brock Lesnar storyline down the road. Well on this epic Raw, the storyline got started. CM Punk dropped Heyman as a manager. Told Heyman, “I don’t need your help. Stick to helping Brock and Curtis Axel. I’m not your client, I’m your friend.” CM Punk wins via count out and you don’t hear Cult of Personality, you hear Brock Lesnar’s music. They have a face off. Brock gets the microphone like he’s going to say something then F5s Punk. Loved it. It worked. And we know Punk is going to have something to say on this and having Punk and Heyman going at it via the microphone? Yes please!

Let me end by giving WWE props by at least trying to give the Divas something on TV. The AJ/Kaitlyn storyline is interesting to say the least. Stephanie came out last night and got involved in the storyline. It made no sense to me, but at least it’s something. AJ Lee is gorgeous and she is the best worker in that woman’s locker room. Better than Natalya? Who got the belt? Now, you can argue that Kaitlyn had the belt, the Bellas had the belt, and Layla had the belt. Ok I see your point. But this is the first time in a long time that the holder of the Diva’s championship was a good worker. Again props to WWE. Also Kaitlyn had the moment of her career. Her puppies seemed to outgrow the dog house they were in. Call me perverted if you want, but I’m 26. I’m a male. I’m straight. And you know this. WWE with the late black out was great too. Those who missed it, I’m sure you can find it via Google or Bing. I’m not condoning you look at this, but I’m just saying it happened.

Daniel Richerson
Facebook.com/bigdusty
Twitter.com/big_dusty

Impact Wrestling making little Impact...

I know I’m just a mark, and what I say on this blog will change nothing in the wrestling business or probably won’t be mentioned by any dirtsheets as valuable column, but that’s the benefit of living in America. I have the freedom to post my thoughts and opinions on the wrestling business whether anybody likes it or not. So let’s go.

Watching Impact Wrestling last night…no I didn’t lose a bet…but while watching the so called wrestling program, I noticed, like a lot of people, how bad Taz is on commentary. It’s pathetic on how bad he is. I found a solution. Not really found but I just thought of it. If Taz would do less talking, we wouldn’t hate his commentary so much. I know his job is to talk, but what he says is so Mike Adamle bad…’member him? You ‘member, ‘member? And Taz was one of the better talkers in the business at his time. For him to stink so bad at commentary is sad, really. But I have to give him the benefit of the doubt though, he man works with Mike Tenay. Bless his heart.

Ok am I the only one that remembers that the X-Division title was the title to have in TNA or Impact Wrestling? The X-Division was never about weight limits, it was about no limits…hence Samoa Joe once having the title. The X-Division Title was the most “over” championship in the company at one point. Probably because the highly overrated Jeff Jarrett had the TNA or NWA championship for so long. I digress. Watching Kenny King, Petey Williams, and Chris Sabin wrestle for the X-Division champion ship to little or no reaction was disappointing. When Kenny King held on to the title, he got NO reaction. He got the reaction Kaitlyn gets when she goes to the ring as Divas champion. Hogan has buried the X-Division so far down, I don’t know if he can get back up to where it once was. Yes I blame Hogan. Why? Because is easy to do and everybody else does it.

Now let’s get to Sting. I’ve been a fan of Sting for most of my life. From the surfer Sting to the dark Sting. I think Sting hurt his career for never competing in the WWF/E. Digressing again, my bad. So some brain child in the backstage area decided to give Sting a Title Shot against Bully Ray, again burying the likes of Samoa Joe, Magnus, AJ Styles. Sting is 54 years old now. 54. This young fans don’t remember the surfer Sting. Don’t remember the Sting that beat Hogan at Starrcade 1997. Sting can still go a little bit don’t get me wrong, but he’s had his time. Let the Samoa Joes get the spotlight. James Storm. Christopher Daniels…who by the way has become an embarrassment. Sting should not be wrestling for a world title, what he should be doing is help putting the next generation of stars over. Hogan and Sting continue to put themselves in the spotlight thinking they’re still relevant. News Flash! The 80s and 90s are over. WCW is over!

Thanks for reading. Follow the blog so you’ll know when the next one is posted. Share with other wrestling fans if you agree with me. If you disagree let me know your point of view.

~Daniel Richerson
Facebook.com/bigdusty
Twitter.com/big_dusty

I'M BACK WRESTLING FANS. WRESTLEMANIA BUILD UP! GOOD OR BAD?

WWE got us all talking about them again. Once again CM Punk made WWE interesting again like he did 2 years ago with the infamous promo in Las Vegas. All you marks complaining about are the same ones that are going to be buying the show cheering for Taker to beat CM Punk. I admit if I had the money I’d buy Wrestlemania. I think it’s going to be a good show. CM Punk and Paul Heyman just created a storm for WWE and that’s exactly what’s is needed for Wrestmania. People are complaining about the build up, I disagree. The CM Punk/Taker stuff has been classic in my opinion. I personally believe that CM Punk is the next Mr. Wrestlemania. Bold statement I know but I said it anyway.

At first I was against the Cena vs Rock II this year but I’m actually excited for the potential for this match. Let me explain. I’ve read the dirt sheets that Cena may be turning heel. We as the IWC has been begging for this for years. I say this should have happened about 7 years ago when the fans started booing Cena, but the potential of Cena pulling a Stone Cold from Wrestlemania 17 and going heel to get the win, excites me. So Monday, Cena can come out on Monday Night Raw and vent. Cena going heel is a brilliant move. I hear you folks saying that Cena is a great merchandise seller and all that. Let’s take a flash back to July of 1996. When Hogan finally turned heel. How good was the merchandise sell of the nWo shirts? I rest my case.

Alberto vs Swagger. It has potential but the build up for that match has been horrible in my opinion. I’m a fan of Swagger’s work ethic. I like the fact that Zeb is out being the mouth of Swagger, but the build up could be so much better. By the way, does the World Title mean anything anymore? I mean why is it still around? Seriously. Smackdown and Raw are not separated anymore. So what’s the use? Combine the titles again.  Bring back the Undisputed title until or if they decided to split the shows again. Am I right or wrong?

And how impressive is Naomi? I’ve been very vocal of my criticism on the woman’s wrestling of the WWE. But athletes like Naomi gives it promise. The Bellas being former champs, which is a joke, got out worked by both Naomi and Cameron on the recent Raw. AJ Lee should get getting a shot at the Divas title, also. No stupid Lumberjill match. Just give AJ and Kaitlyn time to show off their skills or lack thereof in front of a crowd for the title.

The tag team title match is not a plus for me. Big E has been nothing but a waste of TV. Big E is just pushing Vince McMahon’s love for steroid freaks of nature. Ziggler needs to focus on cashing in the money in the bank rather than going for titles that mean nothing anymore . The tag team titles have come to mean nothing in the WWE’s world of wrestling. Which is a shame. I can remember The Hardy Boyz, The Dudleys, E&C, Too Cool, New Age Outlaws…teams who made the tag team titles mean something. What happened to that? I admit it showed a little life when Kendrick and London got the titles but after that it just died. Again it’s sad. I’m a Daniel Bryan fan or mark if you will. The way Daniel Bryan has turned into a joke is sad. Daniel Bryan is a modern day, dare I say it? Yes I dare. Chris Benoit. (gasp) Yes I mentioned Benoit. Benoit was always known as a wrestling machine, and that’s what I see in Daniel Bryan.

The Intercontinental Title being pushed to pre show shows how important that title has become. Un—

I know it’s been quite some time since I posted my thoughts on professional wrestling but I hope this makes up for it. Thanks for sticking around I’m about to make some Ramen noodles. I’m a fat man, folks. I’m hungry.

Daniel Richerson aka Big Dusty
@Big_Dusty on Twitter and Instagram
Facebook.com/bigdusty