Pinky's Perspective: Jeri-Show & Thinking out Loud II

[Pinky]

Pinky’s Perspective

Hi all and welcome to the 16th edition of Pinky’s Perspective. I’m Richard Pincott but as always you can call me Pinky. Today’s column will consist of my view on the new Unified Tag Team Champs and the second edition of Pinky’s Thoughts. So with that said let’s get on with the show.

Jeri-Show

So after 2 weeks of speculation as to who will replace Edge as Chris Jericho’s partner with names such as Christian, Dolph Ziggler, my prediction Jack Swagger and many others being thrown around the WWE decided to go with Big Show. Nobody seemed to predict that Big Show would be announced as Jericho’s new partner and I reckon this is one of the reasons why the WWE decided to choose him. With all the other candidates that could’ve been chosen, to say Big Show was a major letdown would be a big (see what I did there) understatement. At least the WWE were smart about it and had the tag match early on to stop the fans anticipation level growing too high before crushing it like a grape, although having a heel vs. heel bout open the show wasn’t exactly the brightest idea.
So considering how much of a letdown this turned out to be I thought I’d take a look at all the other potential candidates and try to figure out why Vince passed them up before giving my judgment on the Jeri-Show partnership.

Christian:
Obviously when you look at the list of possible candidates Christian would’ve made the most sense as they both have history with each other as well as Edge. It wouldn’t have been too hard to pull off either as the fans in Philly would have had no problem booing Christian if he turned on ‘hometown’ hero Tommy Dreamer after their match. He would then have gotten even more heat if he came out as Jericho’s partner later on in the show. However I do understand why the WWE didn’t go down this route as ECW’s face side is very thin with Tommy Dreamer the only other established face as Hurricane hasn’t returned to the ring yet, Goldust is too old for people to care about and Yoshi Tatsu & Tyler Reks have only just debuted. Also for the Christian & Jericho pairing to work the storyline would have to have seen Christian slag Edge off as well and I think the WWE have realised that an Edge/Christian program is a real money maker so having their feud as just a side story to Edge/Jericho would be a waste.

Dolph Ziggler:
This guy seemed to be pencilled in as Jericho’s partner at one point and was even aiding Jericho in his matches. Ziggler seemed like the perfect fit as he had the look, the arrogance of thinking he’s the ‘reflection of perfection’ and that ever so important ‘it’ factor. Yet for some, still unknown (especially as he didn’t win the Intercontinental Title at Night of Champions), reason those plans were changed. There’s one possible reason that I can think of as to why the plans were changed and that is that they were leaked to the internet a good few weeks before the event and the WWE wanted Jericho’s partner to be a real surprise. If this was the reason then I think the WWE need to learn something from TNA as having Ziggler as Jericho’s partner would’ve been good and just because it was leaked to the internet it doesn’t mean the whole thing is ruined.

Jack Swagger:
The guy I predicted to be revealed as Jericho’s partner. When Jericho announced that he’d be picking a partner to replace Edge he said that he was going to choose someone who is intelligent, cunning and has morals like himself. Swagger’s name came straight to mind after this statement and after some consideration I thought that this would be a good move for Swagger. Since moving to Raw he’d been stuck in the midcard and being Jericho’s partner would’ve elevated him and given him a major rub at the same time. I’m not quite sure why Swagger wasn’t picked as he didn’t win the US Title later on in the evening so I’m guessing they’re planning on having Swagger feud with Kofi Kingston up until SummerSlam where he’ll eventually win the title. Either that or they’re going to have him involve himself in the main event scene right after SummerSlam although I doubt this.

Chris Masters:
When news broke that Chris Masters had resigned with the WWE people began wondering how he’d return and whether he’d return under his original gimmick. So when Jericho began looking for a partner many people thought that The Masterpiece would be a good fit as some of the casual fans may have forgotten about him and introducing him as the top heel’s new partner would create instant interest in him. I am so glad this didn’t happen as Masters just wouldn’t have seemed right in this role. He’s average, at best, in the ring and from what I can remember he wasn’t as good on the mic as some other potential candidates and this is vital when giving a promo with someone as talented as Jericho.

Kane:
The only reason the big red machine was being touted as a possible candidate was because Jericho himself revealed on Twitter that his partner was evil. Kane would’ve made some sort of sense as Jericho was shown trying to get other ‘giants’ like Mark Henry & The Great Khali to be his partner so Kane would certainly have fit the bill in that respect. Other than that I can’t see why else Kane would/should have been considered, especially as Kane & Khali are still feuding. I also think that with all the injuries/absences on Smackdown Kane could easily be used as a main event player once Jeff leaves so sticking him in a tag team with Jericho would handicap him slightly.

The Miz:
Everybody though Miz was screwed when he was split from Morrison and drafted to Raw a couple of months ago but he proved everyone wrong by tearing John Cena apart on the mic for weeks on end. Unfortunately it was vice-versa in the ring as Miz got his ass handed to him at The Bash and ever since then he just seems to be hanging around the Raw midcard not really doing anything. Pairing him with Jericho would’ve given him a major rub whilst also hiding his still questionable wrestling ability, not to mention the fact that they’re promos would’ve been awesome. I actually think Miz was going to be paired with Maryse but due to her recent injury they pulled the plug leaving Miz in the same position he has been for a while now.

The above 6 are the guys I considered as potential candidates to replace Edge. I believe I made reasonable cases for all of them so it asks the question: why on earth did Big Show get the gig?
Well I can think of two possible reasons and one of them I have already touched on. The WWE wanted it to be a shock so they picked a guy that no one had even considered as a possible replacement. They may have originally been planning on choosing one of the guys I mentioned but due to it being leaked they changed their plans so as to swerve the IWC and get one over on them. If it is found out that this was indeed the case I’ll be pretty pissed as it will be the third time this year that the WWE have changed what could’ve been a really good storyline just because it was leaked to the internet.
The other reason is that as per usual they couldn’t think of anything to do with Big Show so they decided to just stick him in this tag team. This kind of thing is always happening with Show, just look at his return early last year. Once he had been beaten by Mayweather at WrestleMania he embarked on the inevitable feud with The Great Khali culminating in a match at Backlash. For the next 2 months Show just floated around not doing much before being thrown into the ECW Title picture, despite being on Smackdown. After he had unsuccessfully challenged Kane at Night of Champions he was once again left to flounder for 3 months before they turned him heel and put him in a program with The Undertaker.

Overall I don’t think Big Show was the right choice but having said that I actually don’t mind pairing him with Chris Jericho. Show had lost all credibility after his feud with John Cena and this is a good way of rebuilding him without having him completely destroying the Raw midcard. Their ongoing feud with Cryme Tyme is shaping up nicely with the small man/big man combo. I’d be surprised if Jericho & Show kept the titles throughout this feud as there are no other face tag teams on any brand. You’ve got Legacy, The Hart Dynasty, possibly William Regal & Paul Burchill and if you believe the rumours the one-upmanship between Ezekiel Jackson & Vladimir Kozlov will eventually lead to them teaming as heels. I do think they’ll keep the titles at SummerSlam but lose them soon after leading to a(nother) Big Show face turn and a feud between the two.

Pinky’s Thoughts

As you can tell from the title, this section will include my thoughts on the current affairs in both WWE & TNA over the past few weeks.

Before I get onto wrestling I’d just like to quickly comment on some of the other sports that interest me.
I am buzzing for the start of the Premiership this coming weekend and despite the minor setback of losing the community shield to Chelsea I am still confident that my team ,Manchester United, can create history and win a fourth league title in a row. And if there’s anyone reading this who likes a gamble then bet on Tiger Woods to win the PGA Championship this weekend. He was awesome this previous weekend during the WGC Invitational and is certainly on a roll heading into the last major of the year.

Now onto the wrestling.

I know this is slightly outdated but The Brian Kendrick has been added to the future endeavours club. I’m not sure what’s going on up in WWE Headquarters right now as Kendrick is the third person, along with Mr. Kennedy & Umaga, who 1 year ago were in the upper midcard/flirting with the main event that have been released in the last 2 months. Just under a year ago Kendrick pinned probably the most over guy in the company at the time, Jeff Hardy, in the Scramble Match. A Scramble Match that Mr. Kennedy & Umaga would have almost certainly competed in had they not been injured.
What’s that Ortiz has been released as well? I didn’t even know Tito Ortiz had signed a deal with WWE. I’m only joking, of course I know who Ricky Ortiz was it’s just that I never gave a fuck about him when he was still employed so why would I care now he’s not.

Stop the press. Raw was actually good for once with Shaquille O’Neal at the helm. After two appalling shows with guest hosts Seth Green & ZZ Top the WWE pulled in someone interesting. I live in England and all I knew about Shaq was that he played basketball yet even I was really looking forward to his appearance. And for once a show with a celebrity appearance actually benefitted some of the wrestlers with Cryme Tyme, Legacy & Evan Bourne getting over in one way or another. However after one successful week Raw was back to it’s usual shitty self with Jeremy Piven taking the hotseat. His movie was plugged more times than 12 Rounds and WWE aren’t even going to make a dime from it. What was the fucking point? Not only that but we saw Jack Swagger completely destroy Evan Bourne just one week after being beaten by him, the US Champ was made to look like Funaki at the hands of Big Show and The Miz...well I’ll get to him in a minute. And worst of all the SummerSlam main event of John Cena/Randy Orton wasn’t plugged once. THEIR MATCH IS IN TWO WEEKS. FUCKING PLUG IT AND NOT PIVEN’S SHITTY FILM. The only good thing to come out of Raw is Piven was that Legacy were FINALLY made to look strong. I expected Triple H to get beaten badly but I didn’t expect him to be pinned cleanly, and by Cody Rhodes of all people. Expect Cody to pay for that one dearly. And judging by what Triple H has said it looks like we’ll be in for the return of Shawn Michaels. That can only be a positive thing but lets face it, there’s not much point in building up Rhodes & DiBiase because we all know that they don’t stand a chance of beating DX on August 23rd now do they.

Now back to The Miz. Three months ago he looked like he was on the verge of becoming a huge star. He was punking out John Cena week after week by vocalising everything that the IWC have been saying about him for the past several years. And why did they do this. So that they could have Cena squash him two nights in a row so as to give a big Fuck You to the IWC. But that wasn’t enough now was it. Of course it wasn’t as they had to have him squashed again by Cena in 4 minutes on Shaq’s Raw before finally putting the nail in the coffin by having Cena beat him for a fourth time and kick him off Raw in the process. What the WWE have done to Miz is like watching a scene from the first episode of series two of The Office. In this scene David Brent is welcoming some new people to his office and he does so by giving a speech in which he dies a slow and painful death as he tries to be funny and tells some awful jokes. He doesn’t actually die in the scene but you know what I mean. The Miz has been slowly and painfully killed in the eyes of the fans and for what. So that Vince thinks he’s got one over on the IWC. Well you haven’t Vince, all you’ve done is completely buried a guy with quite a lot of potential just to inflate your massive ego.

Oh and speaking of The Office during interviews over here in the UK Kane has revealed that Ricky Gervais could be hosting Raw sometime soon. Now I am a huge fan of Gervais but this would be a bad idea. If you watch the outtakes of The Office & Extras or listen to his podcasts you’d know that he can’t help laughing at the smallest things. So when he’s on live TV hosting a wrestling show where there are characters with funny names (Dolph Ziggler is a gay porn star) or in Jack Swagger’s case a character with a speech impediment he will struggle a lot to keep his laughter in.

Ah that’s better. Now that I’ve got that out my system I think it’s time to talk about something a little more positive. John Morrison is on a fucking roll at the moment that could very well see him crowned wrestler of the year if he carries on like this. So far this year he has had two really good TV matches with CM Punk, another really good TV match with Edge and an excellent PPV match against Shelton Benjamin. And he’s followed all these up by having two very good matches with young Tyson Kidd and sandwiched in between these two bouts was a fantastic World-Heavyweight Title match with Jeff Hardy. All three of these matches would not have looked out of place as PPV main events and that’s saying something as these were all on TV for free.

TNA is slowly, yet steadily getting better. It’s weird isn’t it that whenever something ridiculous has happened in TNA for the past year or two people have immediately blamed Vince Russo, yet as soon as Jeff Jarrett is gone for a while TNA suddenly gets a lot better. Victory Road wasn’t spectacular, although Kevin Nash really surprised me in his match against AJ Styles, yet the three shows since have been quite good. Yes there are still too many video packages and dodgy camera work but the rest of it has improved. They’ve finally done something with Eric Young and having him lead The World Elite stable is certainly a good idea. The prospect of a Mick Foley vs. Kevin Nash match at Hard Justice is a little scary, yet as it will be fought under Hardcore Rules I expect it will be better than most people think. I’m not sure why Sting’s getting a title shot, especially considering he lost at Victory Road, butt he two AJ Styles/Matt Morgan matches to determine the other participant have been rather good while the Hernandez/Samoa Joe match wasn’t bad either. I’m also not sure why Joe is facing Homicide at Hard Justice and not Hernandez, but oh well not everything can be perfect. Bobby Lashley’s debut certainly made an impact and it looks like his first PPV match will be against Kurt Angle. That match has the potential to be something special and I hope TNA don’t ruin it by throwing some stupid stipulation into the equation. Just let the two guys fight in a normal match for once.

Now we all know TNA is rather hit and miss and although they don’t hit often, when they do they hit it out of the park. Last week on Impact TNA had one of these ‘out of the park’ moments. Their massive prison style brawl halfway through the show was pure genius and had me hooked throughout its 8 minute duration. Now considering Raw has trouble keeping me hooked for longer than 8 seconds I believe this is a step in the right direction for TNA. Just one more thing about TNA before I go. Is it me or is Booker T starting to piss other people off too. He just seems to be taking the piss all the time, whether he’s standing in the background during a promo or whether he’s actually wrestling a match. No matter what he’s doing he seems to be treating it like a complete joke and he acts as if he doesn’t care about anything. He better buck up his act otherwise he may find that a lot of fans lose their respect for him.

Well that’s the sixteenth edition of Pinky's Perspective out there for all to read and I hope you enjoyed it. My next column should be out just before SummerSlam, but for now this is Pinky signing off and this has been my perspective.

[Andy]

Pinky, I'm glad to see that you delved away from your usual topics, and focused on current affairs within the WWE. The first section was well-thought out and I believe that they were discussed in good detail. I have to admit that I though Christain was going to be Jericho's partner, although I would have preferred Ziggler. I disagree with your statements about there being very little face's on ECW if Christain was the partner, because he would have stayed on ECW, but appeared on Smackdown! with Jericho. The same way that TBS is from RAW, but he appears on Smackdown. Your conclusion about TBS being the right choice overall was a good one, and I seriously hope he doesn't go face again and feud with Jericho because it would be such a waste.

You are totally right about your comments on Ortiz, and The Miz. What I think you need to do for next time is give your work a proofread and see if you can eliminate even a few misplaced commas, missed question marks, and I noticed that you failed to space your work out correctly at times. Apart from that, good work, now keep on going. You think that Man Utd will win the league this season? Where do you think Bolton will finish?

[Baba O'Riley]

All that needs to be said, except this was a good column, is , we are winning the league. Rooney will get us the required goals

[Ditz]

Masters would've been a good choice because he could have been tweaked a little to mesh really well with Jericho and Jericho would be a good influence on him to I bet (mic and backstage).
Um, they're both named Chris to.

[Pinky]

Andy
Thanks for the positive feedback. I was really tired when I posted this so I guess I didn't proofread it properly. As for Bolton I'd say somewhere between 12-15.

SenileTurnip
Again thanks for the positive feedback and yes we will be winning the league. Come on you Red Devils.

Ditz
I completely forgot about how Jericho could've helped Masters develop his mic skills and in-ring work. Good spot.

[Mr Chop]

really liked this, especially the possible partner bit. As for the thoughts section, I think it could help to add sub-headings to break it up a bit, just would make it a little easier on the eyes.

as always HOOOOOOOOOOTIEHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[Super Chrisss]

This was a huge improvement from your last column, that's for sure. Everything flowed quite nicely, you kept me interested the whole time, and you made some clever arguments. hard to agree with you on some points. Anyways, really well done column Pinky. Keep it up!

[Mister E]

Hello Pinky,

There was a lot of information in this read. The first thing that stands is your ability to talk. By that I mean you'll say something clearly and back it up sufficiently. That made this very easy to read so well done on that, you've nailed the narrative voice in my opinion.

I think you made fine cases for all of the potential Jericho partners. The only one I'd have omitted from that list would be Dolph Ziggler. He's being built steadily at the moment so I think he needs to remain a singles star. I thought it would've been particularly awesome if Masters was put in!


The thoughts section was interesting also. However if you're going to go into a range of topics perhaps a a heading for each topic would make these flow better. I liked the areas you covered, would have liked to have read more about John Morrisson though. All in all this was very well put together and an entertaining read.