John Cena, Bobby Lashley and Batista. All three are world champions. All three are also at the very top of every smark's blacklist. Short of launching themselves off the Hell in a Cell roof, these guys will never receive credit for anything they do.All three are undeserving of their spots in the company, and even worse all three are way over with the marks. Stupid marks. They've never even heard the term "work rate" before. Blacklisted.
Lucky for my fellow O-sters, I don't believe in blacklists. I believe in giving credit where credit is due. Last night I thought the Batista/Miz segment was great. Batista is always catching heat with the internet community for being vanilla. He's always catching flack for having no character. Hell, Dan-e-o even hates on his turtlenecks!
I've often tried to explain the Batista character but to no avail. I see the guy as a mafia enforcer type. He shows up, says very little, and casually destroys people when provoked. I loved it when he was a member of Evolution and I like it now. Mind you, it's not nearly as cool coming from a babyface, but I still dig it.
He's the type of guy that likes the finer things in life and has no reason to lose his cool because the dude's chiseled out of granite. But when the shit hits the fan, the Animal becomes unleashed. I saw last night's edition of "Miz TV" as a perfect depiction of the Batista character. Let the O-ster backlash begin.
Why the hell are the members of MNM on different shows? Obviously, they're still a tag team because they compete as such on a damned weekly basis! At first, I thought it would be a great opportunity for Joey Mercury to be on his own. I was wrong. I can't recall a single win by Mercury in singles competition. The only time he seems to shine is when Johnny Nitro and Melina are there with him.So why not send him to "Raw" where MNM could be a tag team whenever creative saw fit without confusing the hell out of the fans? Because London and Kendrick are on "SmackDown!". Let's face it, the only other team that holds a candle to MNM are the Hardy's and they too are on separate shows. The E obviously still values MNM as a team. They definitely value Nitro and Melina. Where's the confidence in Mercury?
Speaking of the MNM/London, Kendrick, and Ashley match, what the hell was up with Cole and JBL's commentary during the first half of the match? I thought I was watching "Jakked". They completely ignored four of the most compelling performers in the E today to put over the McMahon/Trump debacle. Who the hell doesn't know by now this match is headlining WrestleMania. McMahon wants mainstream media coverage. We get it!
When you're this close to Mania, you not going to see too many new storylines develop. I still think we'll see a Carlito/Flair match added to the card. I marked out last night when they finally announced that Benoit and MVP would also compete for the United States strap at Mania. These two are two of my absolute favorites on the "SmackDown!" roster. It should be a hell of a match and I look forward to MVP's first title reign in the E. I went on the record saying he's a future world champ months ago. Keep your eye on MVP.Speaking of my "SmackDown!" favs, what the hell happened to the Regal/Taylor push? I had high hopes for these two. I guess they got lost in the WrestleMania shuffle. Hopefully they will become more prominent after Mania.
Was I the only one who was shocked that Matt Hardy pinned Mr. Kennedy after one hell of an opening match? Matches like this continue to make "SmackDown!" the A Show. Hats off to creative for putting Hardy over in this match, though I feel it only further cements Mr. Kennedy's win at the MITB match at Mania.I know this is off topic, but since the E doesn't feel bad plugging another brand on "SmackDown!", I'll just throw it out there. Does anyone else get the impression that Bobby Lashley is on Team Trump so he wouldn't get booed by 70,000 fans? Fans want to see a bald McMahon.
I can only wonder if that stipulation wasn't on the line if Umaga wouldn't get the Austin/Hart and/or Rock/Hogan treatment at Mania. I'm not so sure Bobby Lashley is over enough to headline WrestleMania in front of 70,000 fans without the bald McMahon stip.
13 comments: on "Talkin' Smack!"
Hey Ben,
yep, I definitely marked out when Hardy won his match...I think it did a lot for him and the product itself...if anyone can win at anytime it makes match outcomes a lot less predictable.
But I disagree with your Batista assessment. He's a living, breathing, walking hunk of shit. (Or monkey crap to paraphrase The Great One).
Why in the world would WWE put him on commentary with JBL and Cole. He is as interesting as dead air...which I'd rather listen to. He has the charisma of sand and the personality of gravel. That's what he must be chiselled out of!
Batista sucks worse than Cena ever had...nuff said.
ive said it before and ill say it again...i like batista he amuses me and i love his tattoo ^^ my like (lol) for him has nothing to do with work rate or anything else... he just amuses me..
*shakes fist* what about the kane thing *shakes fist again* i found that highly amusing especially when he said give a msg to khalia then he threw him against the wall and you could hear everyone laughing ^^
In no way is Batista deserving of his spot, he's got it because H put him over, and H doesn't want his project to suck even though it already does. Thanks for trying to explain the character, I had no clue what it was. I thought it was a walking steroid that could look like shit and do the same to the others around him...maybe we're both right. I don't agree with your credit where credit is due shit either, maybe you don't want heat, maybe you do, but Lashley deserves no credit, Cena deserves a little, but Batista NOPE. Think of his high-profile stuff. HHH carried him for 4 months. JBL carried him for 3. Eddie for another 3. You have 3 top workers to ever grace this business and they drug a decent match out of him. Booker beat the shit out of Batista because Batista is a punk who doesn't love or respect the business, he sees it as a way to make killer money and fuck models. If you have no problem with a leach like that reaping the benifits of the business we all love thats you.
Onto happier things, it's about time they have Matt Hardy win one and showcase him as a winner. Maybe they're trying to make us believe that nodody is incapable of winning MitB, and I wish MitB would be a shocker if Edge isn't going over.
Back to unhappy things, screw MVP, and the things he's had HANDED to him. Shown nothing, done nothing, wow he got set on fire, HE SHOULD BE THE WORLD CHAMP NOW, I guess. What about the US title reign do you look forward to? The fact that he along with the belt is a joke? The fact that SMACKDOWN will waste air time on him, having him as one of it's champions? Nevermind I'll take back that last statement, SD has only 2 titles with true champions(unless Benoit retains at Mania which he wont)thats Chavo and Helms as the last two CW's and Kendrick and London as it's tag champs.
The E views Nitro as a solid singles competitor and doesnt think that he should be held down in tag team competition on a regular basis. I see what they're saying because Nitro could be $ if given the time and push.
I for one would laugh my ass off if the Battle of the Egonairs was a flop and Lindsey fell on his ass and the crowd booed him out of the building. If a dude puts on a bad enough show, I have a feeling that the fans in the arena will let him know. Especially in Detroit.
Good article, though we disagree.
Here's the thing about Batista; he seems to have completely lost his passion for the business. When you're a guy who is supposed to be the top guy on SmackDown, and you're doing your job half-assed, you don't deserve to have your spot. In 2005, I liked the guy. Hell, he even got named Most Improved Wrestler in PWI. Then, in 2006, he lost his edge, and he was named Most Overrated Wrestler. He needs a swift kick in the ass, and an extended trip back to the midcard may do the trick.
An unexpected trip to the umemployment line may do the trick. No joke I liked him with Evolution, cause he didn't talk and he squashed alot of people. His triple threat with Edge and Jericho for the IC title kind of started his downslide. He was in there with two incredible workers and somewhat held his own, but maybe he realized he was over his head. He looked good with H, but H is in that category with Michaels and Flair, he could make a broomstick look like a million bucks. Batista doesn't have alot of talent, and not that impressive of a move-set. As you said he's lost his passion for the business...if he ever had one. Booker hammering his ass should have been a wake-up call but apparently it wasn't. I'm with Ben I loved him bombing the Miz, but then again, I'd mark out for Gillberg if he beat up Miz. Batista is compared to the Ultimate Warrior, and justifiable so. When all is said and done, after his DVD set comes out in '08, and later when he retires, maybe we'll see a DVD entitled The Self Destruction of the Animal, or Steroids gone Wild, the life and times of Dave Batista.
When a wrestlers best attributes are his tattoos, folks we have a problem.
Looking at the bigger picture, Batista no longer brings to the table what he used to. In 2005, his stuff was stiff and he was feuding with guys who knew how to work and could teach him how to work (Triple H, JBL, Eddie Guerrero, and even Mysterio to an extent). He tried working through a lot of injuries in late 2005, and when WWE finally told him to hit the shelf, I think he was put out and stopped caring.
Also, WWE may have told him to ease off on stiffing guys after the way he beat the living shit out of Kennedy. I don't know if this was ever confirmed, but from what I had heard, Kennedy didn't blade at Great American Bash; Batista straight up scalped the guy.
DJB, I don't know if I would go as far as to get rid of the guy entirely; if they did, he'd be beating off 24/7 thinking about TNA, Russo or not. Think about it...the guy is a two-time champion, he recently was a champ, and he's a mark favorite, and unlike Angle, who faded into obscurity during the end of his WWE run, Batista is well known right now and is keeping a high profile. The publicity that TNA could get if the E handed him a pink slip and Dixie scooped him up would be huge.
Put him back to midcard/curtain jerker status, or make him the whipping bitch of another heel faction again, and maybe he'll straighten out.
I'm going to say this about The Miz...
He sucks in the ring. He doesn't even belong anywhere near the ring.
He got the most scrutiny put on him after the Diva Search, when he constantly got the names wrong. Seriously, though, why would it even matter? Maybe, to some extent, Miz is a smark, thought this Diva Search was a waste of time, and thought if he kayfabed being a horrible host, he'd get replaced the way Coach did in the 2004 edition.
I have no hate for the guy on a personal level, as I have never met him, but straight up, the guy does not belong in a WWE ring until he goes and gets a lot of training.
Batista might get his rocks off thinking about TNA, but I don't think that anything would come of it. I don't know how much of it was true, and what was bullshit, but wasn't he one of the ones trashing A.J. Styles and the X-Division at one point. A.J. I think said something about being able to do what he does and Batista getting hurt hitting the roof of a car. TNA wouldn't have much room for Batista anyway. Russo would be the guy wanting to bring him in. Russo I think sneeks to the bathroom and beats off thinking about guys like Batista. The guys that marks will go apeshit for as soon as they walk out with a WWE-style vidpackage. The WWE has amazing mindcontrol over marks. They sell these guys to them and they love it. Most WWE fans DO NOT know what workrate is like this site has talked about a gillion times, and even if they did they wouldn't care because the E told them to cheer for them.
Back to the TNA thing, I think TNA will fold in the end if they continue to bring in the E guys. Angle was good, Christian was good, Rhyno was too. Bring in guys like Batista, and it officially becomes Diet-WWE. It would be a sad day if that roided up sack of shit went to TNA.
I too would compare Johnson to Warrior, but I'd compare Batista to him in a heartbeat too. Here's a guy whose there for the money, the fame, the girls, and the money. Yes I intentionally mentioned money twice. I will never lay off Batista, if he strikes gold once, he'll have 299 more times to go until he impresses me and something tells me he won't do that. I just hope the entrance ramp at Mania isn't too steep. I'd hate to see the bastard tear another muscle or 7 walking down that incline before his match.
It's easy to sit back and criticize Batista based on a bunch of "he said, she said" crap, even easier to blame Triple H for everything that is wrong with wrestling. You all sound surprised that the average fan ("mark") doesn't consider things like "workrate" - of course they don't! The only people who consider that are the executives and of course know-it-all smarks who will pick on anybody for anything if it backs up their opinion. It's different to hate a guy like Barry Bonds for being an arrogant jerk who doesn't like his teammates because he plays in a sport. "Marks" watch wrestling for the netertainment factor, and could care less how much Batista loves the business, or that Lashley can't cut a promo, or that Cena is white. If everybody who watched WWE was a smark, the whole business would collapse.
Yes, I'll agree, throw both mark and smark out the window, the meanings are so lost in translation, and open to interpretation you can't really classify. Tha O show is full of true fans, who love and study the business. But, if executives truly cared about workrate, and the fact that their audience will love what they tell them too, guys like Kennedy, Benoit, Regal, Punk, London, Kendrick, Sabin, Senshi, Aries(Starr), Cage(even though he is), Joe, and Christopher Daniels would be the top of their companies. Batista losing his love for the business may be he said she said bullshit, but you know, if you watch him from '04 and now there is a big difference, a huge difference. He could do sooooo much more than he does, and he wouldn't catch so much shit. He isn't where he should be on the card, he doesn't deserve the things he has, he isn't that good, and other than sheer size, and selling a few tshirts(I say that because he pales in comparrison to what Cena does, and what DX does, and even what Jeff Hardy does, he doesnt have and hasnt had that big of an impact on the business. If you were to look at it objectively, or get a statistician to look at it, Batista is near the bottom of the charts when it comes to impacting things, and selling ppv's and really the product overall. I think that the only true companies that put over true workers are the indys. RoH, 1PW, NOAH, and places like that are what you watch if you want true wrestling and wrestlers. WWE has a few true greats, and TNA has a few.
All sarcasm aside Ben, Batista is shit, I dont care how stiff you say that is, he's shit, will always be shit unless he makes a dramatic change, and yes at Mania Taker will probably teach him a lesson, I hope he hammers Tista with shots as stiff as he's ever hit anybody. Batista deserves a fall from the top unlike anybody before him.
I'll tell you what, Cena deserves his spot 10X more than Batista does. Cena deserves a spot near the top for the reason that he sells the shit out shirts, hats, shorts, boxers, cards, promo shots, and PPVs. Cena=Ratings and money there I said it. Lashley not so much, but Lashley seems to have a little more love and respect for it all, and has improved tremendously. ECW may just be a vehicle to make Lashley a star, and as much as I hate on Vince, maybe it'll work and if wants to put that much into one guy, maybe he's worth it. Lashley can't cut a promo, but he looks tremendous, and he isn't that bad of a wrestler. He too deserves his spot 10X more than the walking talking roid.
Somehow, it would seem as though Cena has flown under the radar just enough for that to happen.
Batista has always topped my personal hate list. thats just me and my opinions but I'd watch Cena and buy his merch before I'd even acknowledge Batista being a champion.
Hate is a strong word...but I really really really dont like you. I hate that song. Hate is a strong word, so I'll say this. I hate Batista, not personally, professionally. I don't like the fact that Cena sucks is on top, but I don't hate him at all. I don't hate Lashley. I think he blows on the mic, and is somewhat decent in ring. I'd say of the 3 Lindsey would be my pick because give him a mouthpiece and some quality time training with Regal, Finlay, and guys like that he could very well shine in his spot.
My hate list...
1-99 Batista!
100 Miz
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