Around the Ring: “Pathetic” matches in the ring

With Wrestlemania fast approaching, the WWE is still not hyping up more matches or going anywhere with most of their storylines. We saw more of the same with the two billionaires, more HBK/Cena animosity and more blandness.

Are you kidding me that with WM coming up, we can't even have an IC match (because Umaga has the title) and we can't have a tag championship match (because of Cena and HBK are the champs)? The “tag champs” should have lost their belts on Monday night and set up another type of gauntlet match for WM. Speaking of tag teams, where the hell is Cryme Time?

The one thing that I think the WWE is doing well is with the storyline involving Edge and Orton. Orton may have a face turn coming, but I find Edge being the heel is way more fun. I can't wait to see where the fallout from the money in the bank match leads for these two.

I ordered the TNA “Destination X” PPV and I have to say that I was disappointed with the event. Wow, two TNA PPVs in a row that were lackluster and even dull in some spots? If they can't please me, then how are they going to get the casual viewers?

The main event, featuring Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe was OK, but the ending was bland. Feet on the ropes to secure the pin? Man, ever since Joe was defeated, the guy is losing all the time and in some pretty pathetic ways.

Speaking of pathetic, let's just say that the Scott Steiner vs. Kurt Angle match was quite atrocious. My roomie, who enjoys wrestling more as a casual viewer, said it was one of the worst things he's seen in a long time. No matter if you're Kurt Angle or not, when you have to work with a piece of crap like Scott Steiner, you can't polish a turd.

The one thing that I thought was great about the TNA PPV was that the crowd was chanting “Fire Russo” a few times during the event. I agree that the writing, storylines and even the choreography of the matches have totally gone down the tube since last year. I want TNA to succeed, but if we're going to have WCW-type PPVs, I'd rather throw my money over to the Smackdown brand PPVs (and I haven't bought one of those in almost two years).

Coming in the next two issues will be my annual Wrestlemania pre-show where I talk about who I think will win, what will happen and the fallout from the show. If you would like to take part in the round table discussions, let me know and I will send a few lucky readers some questions to answer to make this year's column even better.