The Heel Turn: Shaping up for Wrestlemania and other news

The Wrestlemania 28 card is slowly taking shape and it looks like it may be somewhat decent. Quality is highly important, as they are coming off an Elimination Chamber pay-per-view that left a lot to be desired. No championship titles changed hands, Natalya was subjected to another backstage skit involving the same grade-school humour and Santino was given a spot in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber match for some reason. It would have made a lot more sense to include Mark Henry in this match, as he has recent history with both Daniel Bryan and the Big Show. Plus it would have been extremely entertaining to see Henry send more opponents to the Hall of Pain.

Perhaps they are planning on pushing Santino as a serious wrestler. If that's the case, then the comedy needs to be dropped. No more cobra finisher, no goofy effeminate powerwalk and certainly no more trombone celebrations. If they can change it up so that Santino is actually taking care of business inside the ring, as opposed to goofing off backstage, then he just may be deserving of a push. Unfortunately, his silly gimmick may be around for awhile, as he was repeatedly referred to as "the sentimental favourite" during his Elimination Chamber appearance.

The Celtic Warrior Sheamus has made brutally clear his intentions concerning which championship belt he will be going after at Wrestlemania. He made his choice known by attacking Daniel Bryan after Bryan successfully retained his championship. This should prove to be a clash of styles, as Sheamus is more of a brute strength brawler compared to Bryan's more technically based ring style.

There was an interesting twist in the feud between Triple H and the Undertaker. Their Wrestlemania rematch is now booked as a Hell in a Cell match. This brings a fresh new angle to the situation, as the two have never gone face to face in such a sadistic and barbaric environment. The sheer carnage of such a match may very well cause the end of Taker's career and may also lead to Hunter's retirement as an active competitor.

The match that could possibly steal the spotlight from the Cena/Rock bout is the showdown between CM Punk and Chris Jericho. Both men are highly talented wrestlers and have tremendous amounts of charisma, so much so that when either of them have a microphone, you definitely do not want to miss what they have to say. Their feud is not just about the WWE championship, though; it's about who really is the best wrestler in the world. This will be an exciting fight, and when the dust clears we will see who truly deserves the above-mentioned moniker.

Former WWE superstar Ron Simmons, more famously known as Farooq of the APA, is the latest inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame. Simmons' wrestling career came on the heels of a career in football, and he wrestled for years in the NWA and WCW before arriving in the WWF and forming the Acolyte Protection Agency with John Bradshaw Layfield. This is the stage of his career that fans will likely remember forever, due to the two men's storyline reputations as hard-drinking, hard-fighting mercenaries who would take on any job if the price was right. Simmons' induction is the third so far this year, after the Four Horsemen and Edge, and if there is any justice, Macho Man Randy Savage's name will be one of the next to receive the honour.

Brian Kendrick, who hasn't been on TV since November, was believed to have been released from his TNA contract, as his photo had been removed from the roster on the Impact website. A source with TNA recently confirmed that Kendrick has indeed parted ways with the company. This is very unfortunate timing, as the X-Division is already shorthanded with Jesse Sorensen being out indefinitely with his neck injury. There are basically only six men left to carry the division: Austin Aries, Zema Ion, Alex Shelley, Shannon Moore, Kid Kash and Anthony Neese. It's been said that Kendrick's current gimmick wasn't catching on with the fans. If that's all it was, then hopefully the door is open for him to return in the future with something that will capture the fans' interest. There's nothing worse than when a talent division starts losing competitors.

A.J. Styles is competing down at the TV title level for some reason. This makes little sense as Styles is undoubtedly the face of TNA, or at least should be pushed as such. He certainly deserves to be in the main event championship picture a lot more than Jeff Hardy does. Perhaps wrestling Robbie E for the TV strap is merely a stop on the road to the Heavyweight Championship. If so, why was Hardy not made to fight his way from the bottom? The Charismatic Enigma was thrown right back into contendership fairly quickly upon his return, but what little time he has spent trying to atone for his mistakes last year has not been long enough in my opinion.