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The Cross Report June 11th

Posted in In My Head by Jack at 03:11, Jun 12 2006

By Gareth Cross

Welcome everyone to another Cross Report (yawn.) This week has been filled mostly by ECW hype and I am getting very bored with the whole thing.
I would consider myself an ECW fan, as I always watched ECW when I could and was a very big fan of the product. To me it could never compare with WCW but I always thought it was better than the WWF/E, I was never a big fan of theirs but I thought that the product during the attitude era was very good and regularly watched. Now the promotion I loved most WCW was given a lethal injection of what I call Vince Russo syndrome and died a few years back, ECW died shortly before (although it will return tonight) and now I am here writing a weekly column for a WWE fan site, go figure.
Any of you who saw the WWE v ECW show must have realised how lame it was to have Big Show and Kurt Angle lead the ECW lockeroom in a chant of ECW. Kurt Angle was acceptable as he was one WWE guy but then they added the Big Show and if the trend keeps going the way it is now ECW could just become another WWE brand and that in my opinion would be a disaster. There is talk of turning Show into the new 911 (a big guy who sucked in the ring but got over because he chokeslammed everyone.) As much as I don?t like too many WWE guys being added to ECW I?m not totally against Show because his WWE character is really stale and perhaps Paul?s booking could freshen him up. The whole new ECW has really lost my interest. I was really in to it when it first started but now I have kind of distanced myself from the whole thing, but I am going to give it a chance and save my Judgement until the first few shows and maybe a Pay Per View are done with. As were on the topic of ECW I may as well give my predictions for One Night Stand that takes place tonight live on Pay Per View.

World Heavyweight Championship
Rey Mysterio ? vs. Sabu- I have to go with Rey here, as I don?t think either of the two big WWE belts will be going to ECW, and I can?t see Rey going there either. In my opinion it should be a non-title match and Sabu should go over to establish him as a threat in the new ECW

WWE Championship
John Cena ? vs. Rob Van Dam- some sort of gay screw job finish with about 6000 WWE wrestlers storming the ring to help Cena. If RVD does win I can see him losing it at Raw the next night, I can?t wait for the ECW fans verdict on Cena

Open InVitational
Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton- Put Orton in a feud with Mark Henry, I really hate the guy and think Angle will go over to push the new ECW

WWE vs. ECW
Mick Foley & Edge vs. Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer- I don?t really know who will win this one but I?ll go for Funk and Dreamer anyway just because that?s what I want to see go down

ECW vs. WWE
Tazz vs. Jerry Lawler- squash, Tazz needs to lock in some serious Tazzmission on Jerry Lawler here

ECW Reunion
Super Crazy & Tajiri vs. The F.B.I.- I really hope the F.B.I get a good push in the new ECW as I have always liked Guido, either way it should be a great match.

Verdict: One Night Stand looks like an ok Pay Per View to relaunch the new ECW brand but in my opinion it won?t live up to last years show, as this is not an ECW reunion show, as it has so many WWE competitors in it.

So what?s been happening on WWE TV this week? Well let?s start as always with Raw. It kicked off with Shane O?Mac warning his BIL HHH that he Vince was in a bad mood. Then we went to RVD- John Cena contract signing for ONS which was ok as Cena?s promo was quite good and it put their match and ECW over. In other news Paul Heyman needs to grow back his beard or else this won?t really feel like ECW. Then we had the ?King of Cool? Carlito go over Shelton, I like Shelton?s new heel character as it allows him to come out of his shell more, but im not sure about Carlito?s face turn but im sure he will do his best to make it work as he is a great young superstar. The Steelers enjoyed Raw last week as they attended the show to see all their favourite WWE superstars in action, im glad somebody enjoyed it. Triple H and Show didn?t put on a great match but it was saved from being a complete dud by an injection of Spirit Squad goodness as they beat down HHH meaning that he would have to kiss his FIL?s ass. Jim Duggan came back as Eugene?s manager, I don?t know if he had resigned with the company or what, but he has been working with them on and off for much of the last six months. It is good to have Duggan with Eugene as it fits the Eugene character and people get a kick out of seeing that 50 year old flag waving S.O.B Jim Duggan on national TV. Eugene went over Matt Striker (poor move IMO, I love Striker) but then good old Jim Duggan was ruthlessly taken down by Samoa?, Umaga, I don?t know about you but I am not really calling out for a Umaga-Duggan match myself. Orton then accepted Angle?s open challenge for ONS which made no sense whatsoever (you broke my ankle poor me) and was a poor show by all accounts. More Kane-Kane goodness or badness depending how you look at it as Kane (original) took on Lance Cade but was interrupted by Kane (fake) and they get into it a little, this fake Kane will never be ?Primetime? Brian Lee no matter how hard he tries. What is it with WWE and stereotypes? Some Scottish tag team from OVW are debuting soon the McAllister?s or something this reminds me of Cade and Murdoch?s debut with the horrible vignettes when will WWE learn? Then there was the Lillian incident, poor Jackie Gyada I never knew Hass liked to beat up women, I think this was a work myself but it seems to have got Hass some serious heat with the crowd, it seems the fans care about Lillian, who knew? Some crappy women?s action followed Beth Phoenix beat Victoria continuing her feud with Mickie James etc. Then we again got to see the prestigious McMahon ass! You gotta hand it to Vince he?s a funny guy and I like his KMAC segments although this one ended with no actual ass kissing L and further teased the D-X reunion. This week I would give Raw a C+ but it lacked Goldust and Snitsky.

On to Smackdown which was slightly better than usual, full of Booker/Sharmell/Finley/Regal goodness. The show started with Regal brawling with Black Goldberg and then Teddy Long made a Black Goldberg-Regal match later on and if BG won he would get to face King Booker. No disrespect to Lashley but the guy is such a Goldberg clone it isn?t even funny, they could have at least given him his own finishing move. Batista is coming back isn?t that great? It?s ok I suppose but I hope they have Booker beat his ass. We had a nice little Cruiser match next with Super Crazy (I hope he goes back to ECW) going over Spanky. Then the mood was of course ruined by the arrival of Giant Khali who took the tag champs down, further making Smackdown?s Tag Champs look like crap and devaluing the belts. Finlay?s promo on Rey was pretty funny especially the world cup bit, god I love Finlay. The Nunzio-Vito thing really sucks. I really don?t want to see Vito in a godamn dress no matter how much he sucks and the decision to put him over Nunzio/Little Guido really sucked, I can?t wait to Guido escapes from Vito to the safety of ECW. Lashley beat Regal next in a quite good match, which ended by count out. Having Booker win KOTR was such a smart move im surprised the WWE writer?s thought of it. Then we had a bikini contest which was great, man Ashley is hot, it was only spoiled by the lack of Michelle McCool taking part. Damn that lucky Miz. Next up Henry squashed some guy, there is honestly nothing else to say about this match. Next up Smackdown?s saviour Ken Kennedy returned and squashed Scotty 2 Hotty. Ken is the man and a definite future star in the WWE, he needs a U.S title run at least. Next up Taz quit and said he was going back home to ECW. We all saw it coming and now were looking to who Cole?s new announcer partner will be. The rumour is Simon Dean but I?d rather he went to ECW so I am tipping Miz. Next up Finlay beat Rey in a good match, poor Rey he never wins and he?s the world champion. Afterwards Sabu came in and kicked his ass, and it was really weird to see Sabu on Smackdown. Overall I would give Smackdown a B this week because of the Diva?s, Finlay, Booker, Regal and Mr. Kennedy?.. Kennedy goodness.

I don?t want to end on a sad note this week but feel I can?t finish off without paying tribute to the man that was ?Earthquake? John Tenta. He died this week of cancer aged 42 and this is a sad loss for the whole wrestling world. Tenta was one of the best big men back in the late 80?s early 90?s and will be sadly missed by me and many wrestling fans. Not only was he a great wrestler, but he was widely known as a nice man and friendly human being. Goodbye John you will never be forgotten.

http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/pictures/j/johntenta/01.jpg

R.I.P John ?Earthquake? Tenta 1963-2006

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