THE SPECIALISTS THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL: 9/5 WWE Smakdown - "Triple H, the Prince of Pricks"
Sep 6, 2008 - 10:36:30 AM
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO BOOKMARK US & VISIT US DAILY
By Shane McKinley, PWTorch Specialist
SMACKDOWN
September 5, 2008
Triple H, The Prince Of Pricks
Usually there is a Hit & Miss article for these wrestling shows, and I would not be surprised if Triple H showed up on the Miss side. Want to know why many people do not like Triple H? Maybe it is the fact that he has two songs. Or the fact that he bashes Joey Styles and his group of nerds for supplying him with info. Or the fact that Triple H can get away with his "Promo" promo and makes MVP and Benjamin look like chumps. Or his lines like "I'm going to be champion for the next century". Dear God I hope not. We sure as hell do not want to hype the other guy; we would rather bury them to make ourselves look cooler. Of course, in the big picture it does not matter what I think. If a large majority of fans love Triple H for these type of actions, then it will continue.
Tonight Triple H always had the coolest lines and everybody else looked like a chump. Everybody sucks but me. Despite this, fans could have digested this trite until the Hardy interview. I sure can root for a champion who claims that his past and future championship matches are nothing special, it is "just another day at the office". Jeff comes in and tries to get some hype, but Triple H shoots him down with his "three strikes and it is game over". Because you know, this is making light of the fact that Jeff Hardy is one strike away from getting suspended. It would have made sense if Triple H was heel and said that Jeff Hardy will never be champion because he is prone to self-destruction (i.e. MVP). Problem is that Triple H is face, and so his logic of "well you will not become champion because you are a screw-up" just stinks. Typically in this situation somebody in Triple H's position would highlight the fact that Jeff would have a chance. But Triple H went the extra mile to remind Jeff that he is one strike away from suspension, even though that has nothing to do with the PPV match. It was an inside shot for no apparent reason other than WWE's ego. Great job. Hope that made you very happy. I rather not tune in to see wrestlers and organizations do shoot interviews on each other. Every once in awhile Triple H's inside lines are funny, but tonight he just looked like a jerk. Triple H was portrayed to be this ultimate badass (really? Pinning Great Khali? Like Triple H really needed to look more dominant before the PPV?) while the rest of his PPV contenders look like chumps.
Will Charlie Haas make fun of Triple H? I wish they would.
Vickie Can Walk Again!
I did like what they did with Vickie. I was not very happy with Vickie being helpless in a locked room last week. Tonight, she punked out that big ol babyface known as the Big Show and reaffirmed that she was the general manager of Smackdown. I would not mind seeing Undertaker facing the odds against the powers of Vickie. Speaking about the Undertaker, he is planning to bury Vickie alive in that fictional place WWE calls hell. And apparently Undertaker has been watching old Steven Segal movies with his anticipation of death quote. If Vickie had a brain in her head she would figure out some way so that this would not happen. Or they could just feed Undertaker so that he could tombstone Triple H. I think that Undertaker spoke about 8 words last year alone.
PPV Contenders Look Good Despite Triple H Burying Them
It really is the little things like MVP and Benjamin selling the actions of the Undertaker. Shelton Benjamin is getting some love from WWE, even though their match was nothing more than a showcase. Kendrick gets a big win over Jeff Hardy. Jim Ross makes it a point that Ezekiel is the X factor for Brian Kendrick, and for anybody to count out The Kendrick would be folly. That is covering your bases, folks.
Other Various Tidbits
Good choice with Bam Neely to fight R-Truth. Bam may not have the face or the body, but is sound in the ring. Convincing win for Truth. Super Crazy gets another TV win, but WWE makes sure that he pays for it by having Kozlov knock him out. Great to hear Vickie one more time. Bee Bella just pisses me off. Nothing wrong with her, but her picking up wins over Victoria (who I like) is just garbage.
SMACKDOWN'S FINAL VERDICT: In The Middle Of Absurdity
Triple H wrecked this show, but they would never admit it. Some solid stuff with R-Truth and Kendrick. Ezekiel even got some hype. Liked what they did with Vickie. Main Event was just garbage.
LEAVING YOU WITH MY ABSURD THOUGHT: I was miffed to see that WWE did not do more with the news of Walter "Killer" Kowalski's death. It would have been great to have Triple H talking about his former mentor (since it's all right to pull down the wrestling curtain and let people know that it is constructed and not essentially "real"), or at least served up a video package of him. To talk about his life and how he impacted the wrestling business. I understand that they ran a dedication to him before the show, but I do not understand why Kowalski did not get the same attention as say, The Fabulous Moolah. I remember those video packages and it was a very well done job on WWE's part. Maybe it is because Kowalski was not seen to be part of the WWE family, or for whatever reason they decided upon. I thought it would be fitting for a substantive tribute of some kind. Pretty sad that on Pardon the Interruption they gave Kowalski more a tribute than WWE did all week on their shows. I suppose they want me to buy a 3 disc set to learn more about him.
"The Absurdity of it All" will appear every Wednesday and Saturday. Email is mckinley.torch@gmail.com.
THE TORCH REACHES MORE COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT FANS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
PWTorch editor Wade Keller has covered pro wrestling full time since 1987 starting with the Pro Wrestling Torch print newsletter. PWTorch.com launched in 1999 and the PWTorch Apps launched in 2008.
He has conducted "Torch Talk" insider interviews with Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff, Jesse Ventura, Lou Thesz, Jerry Lawler, Mick Foley, Jim Ross, Paul Heyman, Bruno Sammartino, Goldberg, more.
He has interviewed big-name players in person incluiding Vince McMahon (at WWE Headquarters), Dana White (in Las Vegas), Eric Bischoff (at the first Nitro at Mall of America), Brock Lesnar (after his first UFC win).
He hosted the weekly Pro Wrestling Focus radio show on KFAN in the early 1990s and hosted the Ultimate Insiders DVD series distributed in retail stories internationally in the mid-2000s including interviews filmed in Los Angeles with Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara and Matt & Jeff Hardy. He currently hosts the most listened to pro wrestling audio show in the world, (the PWTorch Livecast, top ranked in iTunes)
REACHING 1 MILLION+ UNIQUE USERS PER MONTH
500 MILLION CLICKS & LISTENS PER YEAR
MILLIONS OF PWTORCH NEWSLETTERS SOLD
PWTorch offers a VIP membership for $10 a month (or less with an annual sub). It includes nearly 25 years worth of archives from our coverage of pro wrestling dating back to PWTorch Newsletters from the late-'80s filled with insider secrets from every era that are available to VIPers in digital PDF format and Keller's radio show from the early 1990s.
Also, new exclusive top-shelf content every day including a new VIP-exclusive weekly 16 page digital magazine-style (PC and iPad compatible) PDF newsletter packed with exclusive articles and news.
The following features come with a VIP membership which tens of thousands of fans worldwide have enjoyed for many years...
-New Digital PWTorch Newsletter every week
-3 New Digital PDF Back Issues from 5, 10, 20 years ago
-Over 60 new VIP Audio Shows each week
-Ad-free access to all PWTorch.com free articles
-VIP Forum access with daily interaction with PWTorch staff and well-informed fellow wrestling fans
-Tons of archived audio and text articles
-Decades of Torch Talk insider interviews in transcript and audio formats with big name stars.