Marks Talking Out Of Their Asses #1 - First Defence Title Change



Randy Orton hitting the RKO to finish Christian off in his first defence.

Okay, I'll be the first to admit it. 'Marks' as a collective really are the one-eyed supporters of wrestling. We are either right, or you're wrong. We go ballistic that CM Punk has an "official" five snowflake-rated match in WWE, but we refuse to acknowledge that John Cena was a part of it, until we get to the point where most of us sound like five year old children arguing over toys in the sandbox. Even for those who can't face the facts, there needs to be a realisation that not everything we say or do is right. One of the worst things about this, is when two companies, of different personal or global popularity, do a very similar match/angle/booking decision. The most recent one happened this Saturday, which I'm sure 100% of my readers (that'd be you ,TH) would've heard about by now. But I'll build up to that. If you don't want any spoilers regarding the ROH TV Tapings, I'd suggest you bail out now (and read one of my non-spoiled posts!)

Let's go back to May 3rd 2011, when a huge news story had broken out of the Smackdown! tapings. Just two days after winning the World Heavyweight Championship, Christian had been defeated by Randy Orton, after a fan poll at the start of the night by GM Teddy Long. The Internet exploded. It went off like the 4th of July on Twitter, Facebook, carrier pigeon, smoke signals, anything any fan could get their hands on to display their disgust that "WWE was just falling back on the same pattern" and "They just see Christian as another vanilla midget". I couldn't agree more honestly, it really upset me that they couldn't just run with this amazing win. Obviously, we all know how that story goes, with Christian and Orton working some fantastic matches together for over 3 months now, and basically everyone forgetting the whole incident happened (I think Razor might still be upset...) Looking back at it, it was probably for the best. We've had an amazing series of matches out of it, a revamped heel Christian (which is pretty damn awesome), and also a feud that helped Sheamus turn face (another fantastic move). So then, what's my big issue?



Tina Turner posing with the Television Title.

My big issue came, when an equally as frustrating booking decision (if not more so...) came into fruition. El Generico, in his first defence of his newly won ROH Television Title, lost to the only recently returned, Jay Lethal. And from the same people who tore apart furniture about the Christian debacle, made not a single squeak about Generico's instant loss to a man who only just had his second match back in the company. This really shows that with a big target like WWE, we can all take potshots at it, without fear of hatred or annoying any of the brass. If a company we really like (ROH/PWG/CHIKARA) does it, we kind of let it slide into the gutter, because we can just turn a blind eye to it. It's really ridiculous if you look at it like that. Let's just compare the two situations here:

- Christian (WWF turned TNA turned WWE superstar who could never quite crack the main event in WWE, despite a great run as champion in TNA) lost his newly won World Heavyweight Championship to Randy Orton (6 time WWE Champion, 1 time World Heavyweight Champion, and arguably the most popular wrestler of 2010).

- El Generico (ROH/PWG Indy darling, coming off of a possible MOTY with 1-2-3 Kid, and also the 2010 Feud of The Year) lost his newly won World Television Championship to Jay Lethal (recently released TNA superstar, multiple time X-Division champion, and only making his 2nd appearance in ROH since 2006).

... Am I insane for thinking that the second scenario sounds a lot worse than the first? I like Jay Lethal as an in-ring competitor and as a person (his Art of Wrestling appearance sealed that). But I am also one of the biggest El Generico marks out there, and I couldn't be more upset with ROH. Generico has been working his butt of every year for the company, and the title should be a reward for all that hard work. Instead, ROH do a very Russo-esque thing, and slap the title on a guy who only has just landed back in the company. Yes, Lethal does have a past with ROH, but at least make him fight for a shot at the title, or at least let them have a short competitive rivalry for the title. It's this knee-jerk reaction booking which can really upset fans, and cause them to get frustrated with your product.

Predictions of A Mark: Cena over Punk? Oh dear god...

This weekend is more than likely, the most anticipated pay-per-view of 2011, because of one burning question... What the fuck is Punk gonna do? Win and leave? Win and re-sign? Win and the lose to the RAW Money In The Bank contract winner? Lose clean? Honestly, I think we all know that CM Punk is going to this as the number one good guy in the company. Cena, possibly going in as one of the more hated. But more on the main event later. I think as the new kid on the block, I need to throw my two cents in on the first non-Mania pay-per-view I've bought since 2006.

Our version of Stone Cold vs. The Rock? Source: WWE.com

Big Show vs. Mark Henry

Who I want to win: Mark Henry

Somebody gonna get their wig split. Honestly, I can see no real logical reason behind making Big Show look tremendously weak compared to Mizark, other than they are really preparing "The World's Strongest Man" for the big run that has been put in front of him, but never truly run with. I think it's time they pull the trigger on Henry, and a dominating win, leading into a Summerslam program with Randall Keith, is starting to look like the best way to go.

Kelly Kelly (c) vs. Brie Bella, Divas Championship

Who I want to win: Kelly Kelly

Only in WWE, can a bleach blond ex-cheerleader with the "model" figure & the pearl white smile, be the victim of bullying. Nowhere else would that work. I'd rather KK keep the belt here, because she's kind of the divas version of John Cena.

Smackdown! Money In The Bank

Who I want to win: Cody Rhodes

In honest opinion, this is the match with the most potential when it comes to Money In The Bank matches. The two things I want to see out of this match are as follows... 1) Daniel Bryan hitting his hesitation missile dropkick of the top of a ladder. 2) Heath Slater taking the High Cross off the top of a ladder. I will be more than happy with my $25 purchase if either thing happens. I really thinks Rhodes deserves to win this, refresh his character again, maybe give him another layer onto the "Dashing" character, and take a run at the title. Plus, Rhodes vs. Orton does really appeal to me.

RAW Money In The Bank

Who I want to win: Kofi Kingston

I really want Kingston to win this. I want Kingston to pull of some kind of amazing stunt, knock Alberto Del Rio off the top of the ladder, and grab that briefcase. You move Evan Bourne onto Dolph Ziggler after making him look like a million bucks by letting him leap off of everything and crash into everyone. Riley takes out Miz in some type of spectacular move, stretching their feud out until SummerSlam. R-Truth, Swagger and Rey fill out the rest of the match, and you get the lesser of the two Money In The Bank matches filled out quite nicely.

Randy Orton (c) vs. Christian, World Heavyweight Championship Match

Who I want to win: Randy Orton

Sorry Razor (Okay, I doubt Razor reads this... if you're reading this Razor, please address all abuse towards the comment section), but it's time that Randy ends this. Some type of awesome, out-of-nowhere variation of the RKO, after a pretty solid match, would be the perfect end to this program. A clean end, to stop Christian's complaints. Move Randy onto the next feud (hopefully with Mark Henry) and put Christian into a feud with Daniel Bryan after he's done with Cody Rhodes (Come on TH, imagine that feud.)

John Cena (c) vs. CM Punk, WWE Championship

Who I want to win: John Cena

Wow, am I digging my own grave? Orton into Cena for championship retention...

The only way this could work is doing a double-turn. CM Punk, waiting to pounce for the GTS after having his hometown crowd behind him the whole night, goes to hoist Cena up onto his shoulders, Cena will slip out the front, look Punk square in the eyes... and punt for goal. I want to Cena to punt CM Punk so hard below the belt, that for the next three weeks he becomes CP Munk. The Chicago crowd will be whipped into a frenzy, Cena will celebrate like he's just won the World Series, and CM Punk then truly has his Austin 3:16 moment. He is turned into the guy who is the anti-establishment bad ass, who could only be beaten when the good old kiss-ass of the company couldn't do it fair.

Hey, but what do I know, I'm just a mark. I'm sure we'll all be shocked and marking out come the main event this Sunday (Monday technically for me.)