The Wrestling Genius: Even I can be wrong once in a while

Alright so everyone makes mistakes including me; as hard as it is to admit Nexus is now enjoyable to watch, and not just because they saved us from having to see Santino and Vlad defend their tag team titles. Even though that was pretty awesome to see and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  How I ever doubted CM Punk and his ability to raise Nexus to watchable level is beyond me. The initiations were pretty neat although Michael McGillicutty clearly had the worst of all the initiations. Also we may not have to see Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater anymore which is good news because let’s face it they were the wink links (David Otunga is also but you knew they weren’t getting rid of him) of the group. This is just further proof to what my friend Tom and I have been saying for a long time; that CM Punk is the best on the mic and in ring performer in the WWE today. There isn’t a single better heel; as much as I have heaped praise on The Miz (and deservedly so) seeing Punk back in his element has reminded me how much farther The Miz has to come to become the best all around heel in the business today. The Miz is arguably just as good if not slightly better than CM Punk on the mic, but Punk is head and shoulders ahead of Miz in the ring. Both are great heels and both are shaping up to have a great 2011 campaign. I now have to add don’t underestimate CM Punk to my list of sporting rules which include: If Kurt Angle is in the match it will be a great match, you don’t bet against Peyton Manning or Tom Brady at night, and if Hogan is involved it is probably going to be a crappy wrestling angle that gets drawn out over months if not years; just to name a few.

Once again we got to see several young stars have a great Raw and Smackdown, and I love the youth movement in the WWE. Dolph Ziggler has definitely gone farther faster than I thought he would but I’m not upset about it. Kofi Kingston and Ziggler put on a very good match and I was honestly surprised to see Kofi finally beat Ziggler. I was even more surprised when I saw him do it again just moments later, but nothing was as surprising as seem Ziggler win the number one contender’s match. I think a Ziggler vs. Edge feud will work mostly because of Vicky. As much I as I don’t like Vicky she adds an added dimension seeing as Edge was ‘married’ to her before. Should be some good heat between the three and let’s face it Edge is so good he can carry a young star like Ziggler through his first major angle. I think this is a good angle but I would love to see the rumors be true and have Christian come back by Wrestlemania and have a world title angle with Edge. Christian is an amazing talent both on the mic and in the ring; unfortunately he seems to have been lost in the WWE since his return. I know he’s been hurt but before that can anyone remember a major angle he was a part of? I think a program with Edge will prove to be A) An amazing feud B) A great in ring show and C) Sell Wrestlemania to more than a few people on the fence out there. I’ve waited for a great Edge vs. Christian feud for a long, long time and I know that they wouldn’t disappoint.

Well I was wrong when I said the Morrison vs. Sheamus feud had to end with the ladder match because those two again put on another great match. These two have chemistry together that is hard to turn off. Is it time we officially pass the most athletically gifted in ring performer title to Morrison? I mean this may be blasphemous to some but I think he’s the best in the WWE today from an athletic standpoint, and the only other person who comes to mind outside the WWE is AJ Styles. Now I’m counting his ability to fly, kick, sell moves, and his ability to have impactful offense. So many guys have a few of those qualities but it is rare to have all of them, and Morrison clearly has all of them. Sheamus just continues to get better and has added to his offense since this feud started and his moves seem to flow better than ever before partly due I’m sure to Morrison’s ability to sell them so well. Sheamus is a future top heel in the business if he wants but I could easily see him becoming a baby face; becoming the lovable loser everyone likes to make fun of and has no problem being the butt of everyone’s jokes. I think the WWE is approaching a problem where heels far outnumber baby faces, and they need to start turning some of their heels soon. I think Sheamus and Swagger are my top two heels on Raw and SD I’d love to see go babyface in the near future.

The Raw match between Sheamus and Morrison prompted my friend Tom to text me “Man Morrison can sure take some punishment” which is probably the biggest compliment a wrestler can get from my buddy Tom because he’s a huge fan of hardcore wrestling. I just wonder if Morrison’s body will hold up in the long run with the kind of punishment he is taking. I know wrestlers are a special breed of people who can absorb an immense amount of punishment and continue to work, but you have to wonder how long Morrison can fall as hard as he does from as high as he does and keep getting back up. Guys like Morrison, Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles and other fliers defy conventional wisdom with the punishment they take and continue to get back up. That’s why we love guys who take risks like they do because we know deep down there is no way normal people like you or me are getting up from that. Not only do these guys get up but they continue to wrestle for another 10 minutes or more usually. While I respect the size and power of big guys like HHH, Sheamus, and countless others there is something inherently better about the risk taking high fliers that has me tuning in every week.

Now on to Genesis which was the best Pay-per-view TNA has done in a while; which is saying something because while I may be critical of TNA’s storylines if there is one thing TNA does well its put on great matches. Now we’ll just pretend the Angle vs Jarrett and Bully Ray vs. Devon didn’t happen; look if we can all look the other way at Charlie Sheen’s drug addiction and continue to make a terrible show like 2 and a half men the number one comedy I’m pretty sure we can collectively ignore those two matches. *Spoiler Alert* There I was critisised a few months ago for not putting a spoiler alert up when I gave away some of TNAs ppv results so there you go people. With Immortal winning every belt I was at an all time low with TNA. I thought that Immortal having every belt was the worst possible outcome of and that TNA was shooting itself in the foot, but then they came up with the biggest twist we’ve seen in a while. Bischoff out foxed himself by forcing Anderson to wrestle Hardy right after his number one contender’s match. Out came Jeff Hardy as smug and ridiculous looking as ever. Look I just don’t like Hardy’s heel character; I just think he comes off too smug. Anyone who reads my columns know I love a good heel, but Hardy just seems to come off as a giant real life prick as oppose to just playing a prick character, and if anyone has seen some of his youtube videos specifically the one of him drunkenly saying he ‘made’ Punk they would probably agree with me. I thought the World Title match was enjoyable and I was floored to see Anderson won the world title. I might not be as on board with Anderson as a viable superstar as some of you; I was happy to see the belt taken from Jeff Hardy. This was a twist because I thought for sure they would have Immortal win every belt that night and have the storyline for power be taken up or down a notch depending on how you look at it. I for am not a fan of Immortal so I would have rather seen them just fade into oblivion and lose every belt but we all know that won’t happen anytime soon.

Okay one last little bonus for you guys before I go. I had a reader of mine named David email with a pretty interesting question “What past wrestler would you like to see take on a present wrestler if both were in their primes?” Well he had a few good ideas and I have a few good ideas but before I say what mine is I’d love for you guys to email me what you would like to see and why. The best ones will be posted here and then I’ll tell you guys who I’d have loved to see face off. Maybe I’ll even make a tournament out of it and tell you who I think would have won the tournament. Well thanks again for reading and emailing. If you feel like emailing me with any questions, comments, concerns, or hate you do so at jjg672@hotmail.com

Sincerely The Wrestling Genius,

Jared Gebhardt