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A Mark's View: #155: Bad Blood 2004 - Point
by: Mark Price
on: 6/12/2004 3:17 pm est
[Yeah, I need a new banner. Someone make me one, dammit.]
See now, this is more like it. I get to preview the PPV of a show I actually enjoy watching. If this PPV ends up being an hour long it’d still be better than Judgment Day. Why do I sound so excited? Because despite a few low points of the show, Raw has been absolutely kicking ass since Wrestlemania. You can blame that on better writing, or better booking, or Chris Benoit, but if one thing is certain, it’s the fact that Wrestlemania, Backlash, and now Bad Blood are all good cards mostly because of the Raw roster. It’s fairly plain to see they have some actual, real, authentic, genuine faith in Chris Benoit as Heavyweight champion, hence the reason they’re booking him in two matches. That, or Triple H is overbooking Benoit so he’ll hurt himself again and let him take his spotlight back. Oh come on, you know the thought’s crossed your mind. Thankfully though, Trips has been a good boy this year so far, so I’m not going to shoot him down.
I’m slightly miffed because I was actually at the last Raw, but I accidentally taped over it so I didn’t get to see if I showed up on camera (I was sitting about 5 or 6 rows behind where Lillian Garcia sits), and I also wanted to see if the show translated well to TV, because live it actually seemed somewhat boring. Though I can attribute that to the fact that I was kind of half paying attention, and half trying to get good pictures, which actually didn’t come out all that well except for a few. All in all though, it was a pretty good setup for all the matches we’re getting on Sunday, just as the whole past month has been. See, this is what happens when you use the time between PPVs to prepare. Each of these matches has a legitimate reason and isn’t thrown on for filler. That’s what I like to see.
You should know the drill by now. I’ve been doing this shtick for years, folks. ‘Point’ is written beforehand, where I preview the PPV and give you my interest levels for each match, along with who I think should win the match, and who I think will win the match. ‘Counterpoint’ is written after the fact, where I give you my reactions to the PPV, and the amount I was actually entertained as opposed to my interest. Then at the end I tally it all up and compare. Good? Good.
This month’s Interest Level theme is: Time Travel Movies
Eugene vs. Jonathan CoachmanInterest Level: Timecop [20%] Coach is no Jean-Claude Van Damme. While this match actually does have a good reason behind it, I’m not all that excited about the match itself. Eugene is a great character, Nick Dinsmore is amazing at playing him, and people love him. That said, if Eugene keeps winning, it’s going to start defying suspension of disbelief (more than it takes to believe a retarded guy can wrestle well, I mean). Poor John Hennigan will now have to show up on Smackdown. I really wish they would dig more into the idea that Eugene knows a crapload about the wrestling business, but I’m fairly certain they only did it once when Eugene mentioned Pat Patterson. They need to push that aspect of the character to Rainman proportions. I’m sure we’ll see Coach go all martial arts on him, Eugene will ‘tard up’ and render himself invincible, and we’ll see some classic retro finisher. I just don’t see it being a good wrestling match though. This will be the crowd cooldown match when they need to get the audience back into it with big face pops.
Who should win: Eugene
Who will win: Eugene
Women’s Title:
Victoria© vs. Gail Kim vs. Trish Stratus vs. LitaInterest Level: Paycheck [40%] Paycheck is the kind of movie where it’s pretty cool action, but the main problems are that you have no idea what the hell is going on, and that it stars Ben Affleck. I suppose Lita is your Affleck for this one, and the part where you don’t know what’s going on is where Trish and Lita were simply tacked on at the end, after they made a somewhat big deal about Gail getting to be #1 contender. Lost in the shuffle is Molly, whose hair is magically under the same haircut rules as Kurt Angle’s in that it never grows back. What I do like is that Trish is more than capable, Lita will probably be regulated to high spots, I like Gail Kim being pushed as a submission wrestler, and Victoria is great lately, other than the stupid dance gimmick. I’d settle for a Victoria/Gail match and then a Lita/Trish/Molly triple threat on Heat to determine the #1 contender, but Trish getting a PPV match where she wouldn’t otherwise gets no real complaint from me. Being that they merely added two extra people in the past week, I don’t see Victoria dropping the belt in anything but a singles match at this point.
Who should win: Gail Kim
Who will win: Victoria
World Tag Team Titles:
La Resistance© vs. Chris Benoit & EdgeInterest Level: Timeline [50%] On one hand, Timeline was written by Michael Crichton. On the other hand, it’s full of plot holes and stars that guy from Fast & The Furious. I love the fact that we’ll see Benoit in action twice, though I imagine he’ll keep his involvement in this one to a minimum, which will probably piss off Edge or something. But it does raise a few questions. Why were Edge and Benoit teaming up in the first place? Why isn’t Evolution trying to get the titles back? Why is Edge so boring in the ring? None of these will be answered I’m sure, and I’m giving this a 50% because I’m only interested in half the participants, those being Benoit and Conway. The tag division is hurting badly at this point, but a win here may elevate La Resistance into credible champions. Now if only they had some actual competition for them that weren’t two high card guys hotshotting the titles to get someone else over.
Who should win: La Resistance
Who will win: La Resistance
Chris Jericho vs. Tyson TomkoInterest Level: Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey [45%] It’s not that it’s a particularly bad movie, just that it lacks the spark and originality of the first, plus it pains me to think Keanu got an acting career out of it and the superior Alex Winter didn’t. Applying that to this feud, Jericho vs. Christian & Trish was great stuff. It built up with a long and interesting angle, but the cage match on Raw should’ve ended it, and yet it just keeps going. With Christian out, Trish continues to feud with Jericho, dragging the new and so far unimpressive Tyson Tomko along as our resident Keanu in the ring. What has Tomko done so far, aside from have the worst screen name ever, and screw up two simple kicks to the head? Nothing but stand there and look ominous, really. Okay, there was that one powerbomb, but pardon me if I don’t put much faith in him for that. He’s a tribal-tattooed hoss that essentially looks like they took every hoss they’ve ever had, and made a genetic cocktail which resulted in the birth of Tomko. A dash of Batista here, a little Nathan Jones there, a sprinkle of Kane... Honestly, considering what crawled out of OVW was Tyson Tomko and Mordecai in singles pushes, I don’t see what the hell was wrong with the Bane & Seven tag team they had going in the first place. Otherwise, Jericho is Jericho, and he always delivers, so there’s not a whole lot to say about him here other than hope that he’ll move onto the main event scene after this. Though Jericho is ‘bulletproof’ in his own words, and they need to put over the new hoss, which gives me a bad feeling.
Who should win: Chris Jericho
Who will win: Tyson Tomko
Intercontinental Title:
Randy Orton© vs. Shelton BenjaminInterest Level: Terminator 2 [80%] Yes, it’s Judgment Day for Shelton Benjamin, and I’m talking the Ahnold kind, not the shitty Smackdown kind. Their encounters on TV have been ‘pretty good’ at best, but if there’s any time for two relative rookies to show their stuff and give us a future to hope for, it’s now. I’m very interested in this one, if only because two promising talents can be a mixed bag, but I think both of them have all the tools right there. I will say though, that the feud has been somewhat unspectacular, reduced mostly to run-ins and Shelton fighting other members of Evolution, and that Shelton’s hot streak isn’t quite as hot as when he was beating Triple H on TV. Sure, it got him established (and what a way to get established), but until this feud began he was on and off TV sporadically. I’m not even quite sure what the feud was over to begin with... Harley Race? Not really, he showed up once. No, and perhaps we should all be thankful for this, it’s now about the Intercontinental title and generally nothing else. To Orton’s credit, he’s made a fine IC champ thus far, and has built up the belt to something important. When he loses it, it’ll be a big deal. Benjamin would do well to win this one, but I don’t think it’s happening yet, call it a hunch. I think he’s almost there, but not quite ready yet. I’d guess Randy will keep it until Summerslam through less than fair methods.
Who should win: Randy Orton
Who will win: Randy Orton
World Heavyweight Title:
Chris Benoit© vs. KaneInterest Level: Back to the Future [75%] That’s right, Marty. We’re going back. Back where? Back to...ahh, you know. This is no Enchantment Under the Sea dance, but it is a great opportunity to make Benoit seem like a solid champion, and topple the bully by finally making Biff his bitch. What I like about this is that Benoit didn’t have to be caught up in a campy Hollywood storyline with Kane to do this. True, the feud doesn’t have a whole lot of substance, but much like the IC title feud, this is all about the belt and the fact that Kane won a battle royal to get a shot at it. Is it overshadowed by the HIAC match? You’re damn right it is, hence this match not going last in my column. But two factors make me not mind that. First, that the main event is probably going to kick a whole lot of ass, and second, that Benoit is now being put in that champion position where he can afford to have matches against guys who aren’t quite main event, much in the way that Brock defended against Cena or even Hardcore Holly, or for a worse example, Eddy vs. JBL. Kane deserves some credit for playing his character to the hilt no matter what they give him, and if nothing else being consistent in the ring. What does bug me is how sometimes they make people look credible against him, and other times he just squashes people in less than a minute. The BIG thing about this match is, I could be wrong, but I don’t think Kane has ever tapped out before. If Benoit is the man to make Kane finally tap, the Crossface immediately becomes the most rock-solid submission hold in the company, and only a man with Benoit’s intensity could get it as over as it is right now. I’m enjoying Benoit’s run immensely, and this match is probably going to bring the best out in Kane.
Who should win: Chris Benoit
Who will win: Chris Benoit
Hell in a Cell:
Shawn Michaels vs. Triple HInterest Level: Donnie Darko [100%] To coincide with one of my favorite movies, this is practically destined to become one of my favorite matches of the year, and beyond. While I think Shawn Michaels hasn’t really had much of a character as of late, he can still go in the ring and I’m not about to recommend he retire until he, you know, stops putting on phenomenal matches, putting people over, and bumping his ass off, and he’s shown no signs of stopping yet. And hey, I might as well admit it right here, this year I have been reborn as a Triple H fan. You say he’s boring, sure, his promos do get long winded. But in the ring he has improved vastly this year, and is currently having his best year since the run before his quad injury. He’s put over the right people like all hell, he hasn’t feuded with undeserving main eventers, and he’s even out of the title picture at the moment. Add to that the fact that I’ve been itching to see a good HIAC match for a long time, and there you have my anticipation. This is where HIAC matches should be used. The last couple have seemingly been “oh hey, this will get the feud over” types of matches. This one is the end-all, be-all of a long standing feud. What I truly enjoy about this feud is that even if it’s been basically done to death since Michaels returned, it’s that you NEVER see feuds last this long anymore in today’s product. The story behind this has been brewing since Degeneration-X was around. I remember when Trips first got his rise to the top, we always wondered if they were ever going to feud, and now we’ve had it for quite some time. Now, they come to what should prove to be the final final encounter in the feud, with a properly used career-ending gimmick of a stipulation. So hey, I couldn’t be happier. Say what you will about either of these guys, or the feud behind it, or the promos they cut, but this match is going to rock your ass. Hard. I see both men blading, bumping, and Trips keeping his legacy of winning these kinds of matches, with HBK finally passing the full torch even though his opponent probably has a little torch-passing of his own to do.
Who should win: Triple H
Who will win: Triple H
Overall Interest: 410 out of a possible 700, for a total of roughly 59%.
That’s even better than Backlash. This is what happens when you plan ahead, and put people where they deserve to be. My only real gripe is no Matt Hardy or Tajiri, as either one could’ve had a minor feud with Rhyno or something this month, but I’ll live. Raw is still leaps and bounds ahead of Smackdown in terms of quality and entertainment, and you’d think they’d catch on what the reasons for that are sooner or later. I’ll be back with the Counterpoint next week, and for you main page workrate fans, I promise I’ll have at least two non-PPV columns up within the next month. One an opinion piece, another a DVD review. Be warned though, I’ll also have to do Great American Bash fairly soon too, so you’ll have to wade through my torturous screams before you get to the good stuff.
Mark (over and) out.
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