TNT: Where Do We Go From Here?

Hot off the heels of the much debated Ar-meh-geddon, or Arma-smark-don, or as I thought I read it, Armageddon. Hell I even hyped it as Armageddon in my articles, did I miss something? Here's something I won’t hype, Taz's commentary. It's about as bad Don West's. Anyone who has ever said that was right.

"Raw" this week was all about superstars getting the pushes they deserved, and people getting packaged as a tag team, and swapping spit with people who aren't cool. It was an awful lot to swallow, even Donnie had a hard time from what I hear, I guess because it wasn't EVO.

So with "Raw" having odd tag teams, I guess TNT figured they should have their fair share too.

The Miz and John Morrison as a tag team, as I have said does not work for me. With Morrison's slow-mo entrance, now Miz seems to be following suit with his slow raising of his championship belt. Not only is that an odd pairing that just doesn't work for me, but their new rivals are...Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore. Yes, Shannon Moore the Prince of Punk. Yes, the guy who was "Bringin' Sexy Back" last summer. Now they both wear cowboy hats and come out to JWY's theme.

So the E decided it was best to put on yet another non-title match. I don't know exactly how Miz and Morrison went from being programmed around the ECW Championship, to being programmed to jobbing to Moore and Yang, but it happened. Another thing that I'm not quite sure about is why Miz and Morrison hold victories over Deuce and Domino, The Major Brothers, AND Jesse and Festus but put over the biggest head-scratcher of a tag team since well, Miz and Morrison.

I'll never quite understand why the E loves non-tag team, tag teams, but they do. Kane and X-Pac were big and why I'll never know. Undertaker and Big Show were tag champs. 1-2-3 Kid and Sparky Plug were tag champs. Holly and Rhodes are far from being a tag team, Matt Hardy and MVP, Bati and Rey-Rey, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, Steve Austin and Dude Love. All these are guys who have been tag teams, and tag team champions, when better teams and more established teams were available. To this, I say why?

Taz in the ring with a mic is never good. So when I saw Shelton Benjamin, who is apparently going to push the "Gold Standard" to eternity, standing in the ring with some guy who looked like he'd already had his ass kicked, I knew it was squash time. I've brought this up in EVERY article I've written since Benjamin came to ECW. Why is he getting wins over nobodies and jobbers if he's supposedly being elevated? It makes about as much sense to me as Fronte not calling off the gimmick back on episode 25. I guess Colin Delaney needed something to do on a Tuesday night in New York.

Shelton Benjamin did get an O from me tonight. The leaping Downward Spiral or "inverted bulldog" as Joey Styles called it looked incredibly sick tonight. Maybe it was Jobber #462 selling it really well, or maybe Shelton just put the right amount of stink on it. I posed this question to Brian Plunkett, and I'll elaborate more on it later, but why would you bring a guy to your brand apparently having the intentions to make him your next main eventer, and then bring in another new guy to the brand and immediately push him? It seems to clusterfuckish, and too rushed to have Shelton still doing what he's doing.

The next match of the night is one that was complete and total parity booking. Kenny Dykstra, the man that loses too much finally went over. Who did he go over on? Nunzio Guido, the only guy who loses more than Dykstra. This match did NOTHING. Well that's not true, I got to look at Victoria, but that was it. It elevated nobody. It buried nobody. The only thing it really did was bore the fans. When Little Nunzio came out in the elf gimmick I immediately thought, Boogeyman return, but hell that didn't even happen. So all in all, this match did absolutely nothing.

The MVP promo video was far and away the best package the E has put together in a long while. Maybe since the History Lessons on Raw episode that Dan marked out so hard for. I think we all marked out for that one, but I digress. MVP definitely deserves the push he's getting. I questioned the E's motives tonight because they were putting two of the hottest things going right now in a match. Mr. 305 vs. Mr. Straight Edge, a match that FIP fans are right now going, damn, could we not have done that first?

Honestly I was expecting to see a super schmoz finish to this match that did nothing for either guy, and I was right, but in the end I was glad it wasn't an overly retarded finish. The match itself was pretty good, but my biggest problem with it was Punk's tights. I know that this is two nights in a row I'm going to bag on someone’s tights, but I can’t help it. Somebody took the MTV Punk'd logo and took the D out and told Punk that those were his new tights and that was his new logo. I'm sure we were both waiting on Kutcher to bring him his old one's and tell him that was part of the show.

I'm going to venture off topic for just a few minutes, but it's something that bears being said. People often say that size matters, and depending on gimmick it does. Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, X-Pac and CM Punk don’t need to be 6'6 to get their gimmick over. To me, the look of the gimmick matters a great deal more. CM Punk has the punk gimmick, so does Shannon Moore, Miz and Ashley. CM takes the gimmick and spins it to a no-image look. He's not flashy, and he's not overly punk. Shannon Moore is the traditional punk look. Both have tattoos, but Moore had the fanned Mohawk and all that jazz.

To me, having too many people with the same gimmick can get tricky. MVP's gimmick is overbearing, half-man/half-amazing. He's the T.O. of wrestling. He conveys that through his promos, his entrance and even his ring gear. MVP stands out, and Punk stands out. Adversely you couldn't have a 5-9 guy as The Undertaker or Kane. The World's strongest man gimmick couldn't go to Jimmy Wang Yang. This may seem to deviate way too far from the topic for some, but I believe it is completely relevant.

Punk put over Big Daddy V at Armageddon and it hasn't hurt him at all. If anything it's going to get him some sympathetic babyface heat. V is so unique that he can miss a show and still matter. The reason I went off on the look tangent is because it's getting increasingly harder for people to stand out, and with the constant shuffle of talent getting a push guys need a way to stand out and not get lost in the shuffle. Guys with unique looks or unique appearance are usually the ones to make it to the top. Rare exceptions include guys with insane charisma, or guys whose ability speaks for itself. In today’s WWE not too many guys with ability get the pushes they deserve.

I touched on this earlier, but Shelton Benjamin was brought to the ECW to get a push, and what we all thought was to be groomed for a run at or with the gold. Well, while Shelton is busy burying jobbers and nobodies Chavo Guerrero made his return to the ring, following his suspension and extended hiatus, to attack CM Punk. What I don't get about this is how Chavo came from nowhere and is being put straight into a program with one of the E's "world" champions. I don't know if Chavo is finally getting his shot at a World Title or what, but this was quite odd.

O-sters, yet again, WWE via TNT has left us with more questions than answers, but stay tuned because we'll try to figure some of this shit out together. Until next time, Oooooooooooooo!

Tha Quick Hits:
*Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore def. WWE Tag Champs Miz and Morrison
*Shelton Benjamin def. Colin Delaney
*Kenny Dykstra w/ Victoria def. Little Guido the Elf
*ECW Champion CM Punk def. U.S. Champion MVP via DQ

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