Thursday, May 19, 2011

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-Ace & Jack

What I Would Do: An in depth look at Tag Team Wrestling by Jack Hart

The style of my article is pretty simple. I’m going to take a new topic every week and explain what I would do with it. Most of the time it will be something that I think needs fixing, but it could also be more of a fantasy article based around a wrestler (oops, I mean entertainer) or around a PPV. Maybe once in awhile I’ll even give props to the WWE… maybe. I’d like to start with something that sticks out to me as the most obvious problem with the WWE today. I’m speaking of course about Hornswoggle. No I’m kidding, I’m actually talking about the Tag Team division.

What I’d do with the Tag Team Division: Man I don’t even know where to start. I mean I’m struggling to think of 4 tag teams right now. You’ve got Santino and Kozlov, Big Show and Kane (although they literally just won the titles), Gabriel and Slater, and… The Usos! Boom that’s four! Unfortunately that means there is only four, unless you count whatever Zach Ryder and Primo have been doing on Superstars. Which I don’t.
Think of the tag teams that used to be in the WWE just over ten years ago. Off the top of my head, I can think of the Hardy Boys, Edge and Christian, APA, The Dudley Boyz, Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett, Too Cool, Right to Censor, T & A, the New Age Outlaws… Al Snow and Steve Blackman? (Go Head Cheese!) Heck even 4 years ago there were enough teams to have two 10 team battle royals for the tag team championships. London and Kendrick, Regal and Taylor, Benjamin and Hass, Cade and Murdoch, Cryme Tyme, Deuce and Domino, Hardy Boys again to name a few. Even teams like DX and Rated RKO revamped the tag division for a while.

More recently we’ve seen teams that have given more of a spotlight to the titles, but they haven’t necessarily brought the tag team division up. Chris Jericho and Big Show were on every show weekly, so we were constantly seeing the tag team champions, but that didn’t cause a tag team explosion. The focus seems to be more on two superstars placed together on a team, rather than on a team dynamic. Which is poor booking in my opinion, because it seemed more exciting growing up that a team like the New Age Outlaws would actually have a shot against a team like The Rock and Stonecold, simply because they were an established team. It adds more excitement to a match like that. So again where exactly do I start?

First off what I think the WWE needs is some actual tag teams that are similar to the Usos, but to not break them up. It’s gotten to the point that I no longer care about how successful the tag team might be, but I start trying to figure out which superstar will be more successful. Which is very difficult when you’re watching twins. (trust me, I’m a twin.) They need more tag teams like the Hart Dynasty or, for crying out loud, even the ridiculously named Dudebusters. It felt like there was actually a reason these teams were together, even if the only reason was that they sat up late one night and decided that Dudebusters would be a good name for a tag team. I’m only gonna say it one more time, but the Dudebusters? My first step is to bring up some teams from FCW right away and start developing them. I’d say maybe a face team and a heel team for each brand, and already you’ve doubled the number of tag teams you have on your roster. I don’t know all the guys in developmental, but for example, how about they bring up Brett Dibiase and pair him with his brother… wait does Ted still work for the WWE?
Second I would find a reason to have a tag team title tournament similar to what they did on Smackdown when they first added the tag team titles. Sure the only established team that came out of there was Los Guerreros, but it brought a lot of excitement to the division and some great matches, specifically between Angle and Benoit, Edge and Mysterio, and the aforementioned Guerreros. Not to mention it is an easy way to get some teams together without just throwing Mark Henry with whoever you want on a daily basis and claiming they are a tag team. I mean hasn’t he been paired with MVP, Evan Bourne, and Yoshi Tatsu just this last year alone? What’s that reader? Who exactly would I pair together? Well I’m glad you asked because I happen to have five teams already ready.

1. Tyson Kidd and DH Smith- Yeah I’m aware that their team splitting up has resulted in huge success for both men, but maybe it’s time these two crazy kids got back together. I have no idea why the WWE split them up without having any plans for them. It’s like the writers were a bunch of bored kids with salt and The Hart Dynasty were a couple of snails. Anyway, let’s get them back together. It’s a simple fix. Maybe Tyson Kidd is feuding with a couple wrestlers who start teaming up on him week after week and finally DH Smith runs out and saves him from a beat down and voila… The Hart Dynasty is back. Also you’ve now created two teams. Yeah that’s right, two, because the team that has been beating Tyson Kidd up is…

2. Ted Dibiase and Brett Dibiase- I mentioned this one earlier, but it needed to be pointed out again. I cannot think of another wrestler whose stock has fallen as far as Dibiase’s has. At one point he was actually rumored to be the leader of his own faction, but instead he just hired Virgil, because that was a terrible idea for two generations. So instead of having this guy flounder in singlesville, let’s get him back into tag team action! (I reread that and it sounded a little inappropriate. My bad.) If you don’t want to bring up Brett, then just have Ted hire someone who is actually intimidating like Skip Sheffield or Ezekiel Jackson as his tag team partner. The story writes itself.

3. Daniel Bryan and Evan Bourne- As much as I would love it, these guys are not getting pushed to the main event level anytime soon, so let’s make them into an exciting tag team. Bryan and Bourne even has a nice ring to it. Or how about “Air Submission”? That one gave me goosebumps ladies and gentlemen. I don’t really need much of a story to get these two together, I just think they should be the team that wins that tag team tournament I was talking about. These guys could have great chemistry and you know they could deliver great matches weekly. Let’s get it done.

4. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger- I realize these two are main event level talents and especially with Undertaker barely there, and Edge gone, and HHH doing… whatever it is he’s doing, the WWE probably needs these guys to pick up the ball and run it, but for some reason I just like these two as a team. Maybe a little more so when Dolph was a blonde, but I remember a Survivor Series match where these two were on a team and they just had some really good chemistry together. Plus they both play the part of goofy yet intense heels pretty well. I just think they would work.

5. Zach Ryder and Kofi Kingston- I’m not really sure why I paired Kingston with Ryder, but for the love of everything holy, the WWE needs to use Ryder somehow and Kinsgton’s style seems to work better in the context of a tag team. Yes Ryder is currently a heel, but the fans are obviously digging the stuff he’s putting on Youtube, and he has a lot of comedic potential. I know I said teams should have a reason to be together, but for these guys I just say, “why not?”

Really the only thing the WWE needs to do with the tag team division is actually give a crap. Their tag team champions lost in a two minute match at Wrestlemania to a team that was thrown together. If that gives you any indication of how little they care. The tag teams need to be displayed more with teams that you can invest in and who don’t break up every few months. Not to mention that the matches need more time, although with WWE rebranding itself, I’m not sure if any match is going to get a decent amount of time. But hey, we can always hope. That’s what I would do with tag teams.

High Five

Ace Hart

Hey everyone Ace Hart back with ya! Little different from my usual weekly article, but since you already know how much I love to make rankings I thought I’d throw in just a little simple quick top 5 list. I don’t know if it will be weekly or not (Guess it depends on if people actually enjoy it or not), but I figured it would be some nice mid-week filler. Thanks again for reading and make sure you follow me on Twitter on @acehart1 and check out my articles over at theinfamousjcity.wordpress.com

This week’s list:

Top Five Entrance Themes for Current WWE Superstars

It would be really difficult to distinguish exactly what constitutes a great theme song. The basis I went off of involved a formula of 4 things.

1. Does the song rock (or roll in some cases.)?

2. Is there a general pop (good or bad), that occurs whenever that superstar’s music hits?

3. Does that music fit that superstars current character?

4. For even the casual wrestling fan, when that music hits, do they know they’re about to see someone special?

That’s the Ace Hart requirement for making this list. (p.s. sorry in advance for the exclusion of HHH and the deadman, but they are not eligible since they are both currently off television.)

5. Randy Orton:

He would make it further up the list, except for criteria #3. Randy Orton has the type of music that just screams heel from the rooftops, but he’s currently enjoying an amazing run as one of the company’s top faces. Based on the criteria, since he didn’t match #3, he technically shouldn’t even be on here. However he so far exceeds the other three requirements, it would be a crime to leave him off of the list.

4. Christian:

Almost as important as winning the World Heavyweight Championship, Christian also makes this list in a similar fashion. Because Edge retired. Sorry, but you’ve gotten love the ‘Ultimate Opportunist’s” music. But since Christians fast rise on the Smackdown scene, his popularity has grown even further moving him up on the radar that much more for criteria #2. As well as matching up with all the requirements, I often find myself whistling Christians song at random parts of the day, which means it must be a pretty dang good song for THE Ace Hart to get it stuck in his head… Right? Fine, moving on.

3. Rey Mysterio:

How many other Superstars could have their own name implanted into their music? Or a made up word? Or the zip code where that man is from. The whole song is literally just repeating those three things over and over again, until I’m spending an hour researching what Booyaka means. (Don’t waste your time, trust me, it’s not worth it.) The man will have a permanent pop for the rest of his career when his music hits and anytime Rey’s music hits, we all know we’re about to see a legendary, future WWE Hall of Famer.

2. The Miz:

It’s very rare to have a Superstar’s music hit and with the first word, have the entire crowd up and raring to let that man know how much they hate and him and that he does, in fact, suck. Miz has obviously come very far in his wrestling and promo abilities, but nothing has risen as quickly as his amazing catchphrase which spills into his theme music. It’s a fun song, one that you might listen to on its own, and he generates plenty of heat for it before he even steps through the gorilla curtain. And like it or not, but Miz has definitely established himself as a “must-see” WWE superstar.

1. John (I know, I know, sorry.) Cena:

Hard to deny that there’s no one else in the WWE who comes close to matching the criteria I set for this ranking. He matches all impeccably and it doesn’t help that he also currently has the WWE Title to go along with the awesome entrance theme. Cena even gets to sing through most of it. Is there anything this man can’t do? It’s just not fair.

So Close:

- Cody Rhodes

- Kofi Kingston

- CM Punk

- Big Show

- Kane

Like the list? Hate the list? Let’s talk about it in the comments below. Tell me who you would rank near the top. Also what’s your least favorite entrance theme? Tune in next week when I take a sobering look at the Top 5 Saddest WWE Career Ending Injuries (that is, if the infamous JCITY lets me. Just let him know how much you love itJ) Until next time, make sure you check me out at Twitter @acehart1 or email me at twintalkwrestling@gmail.com

Ace Hart Weekly Rankings 5/15/2011

Welcome back to another edition of this week’s WWE Superstar Rankings. Just a quick reminder: In this post we’ll be recapping the last week of all WWE action and ranking who came out on top for the time being and which Superstars are trending downward for the foreseeable future. So let’s get to it!

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The “All-American American” Five

1. R-Truth

Another great week on Raw from “The Truth”. Not to be left out of the World Title discussion, Truth was almost able to interject himself into a number one contenders match. Despite being left out the match, Truth made another great impact with his promo skills and the “losing his mind” body language. He’s currently being given a lot of TV time, even receiving his own backstage interview segment later on Raw. He’s been handed a lot of trust lately from the creative team and he has run wild with it, in a good way. He’s emerged as a top heel in a company that is already loaded with plenty. On top of all of that, he has been planted into a rivalry with Rey Mysterio, which should only gain him more heat with the fans and even more momentum in his career. I doubt the WWE had any idea what would happen if they turned Truth over to the dark side, but everyone has turned out a winner so far with the sudden change, and that includes the WWE Universe.

2. The Miz

I know this is probably going to seem a little biased, since the Miz is my current favorite “Superstar” in the company, but to that I say… Yeah I don’t really have a response to that… I can’t help it, sorry. Miz himself has told the world about his “Awesomeness”, and for the past year he has proven it. Not only has he continued to be included in the main event picture on Raw, but he has also earned himself another shot at the WWE title at Over the Limit(which he is sure to lose, but that’s beside the point). Recent chatter on the interweb is that Vince McMahon has been telling shareholders that Miz will remain a giant part of WWE moving forward, and when you hear that kind of guarantee from the boss, you belong in everybody’s top rankings. Like him or hate him, Miz won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

3. Sin Cara

One of the bigger additions to the Smackdown roster has also been one of the most successful. If I could go back in time just a little, you could probably make the case that Cara deserved to be one of the top 5 for the last month. Dating back to even before his debut, he’s been marketed better than anyone to date that I’ve ever seen. Most people say HHH is behind all of those successful vignettes and it that’s true Cara owes all of his current fame to that man. Before he even stepped into the ring, all of those vignettes had us believing that Cara was the next big thing, and it’s worked wonders for him. With all that said, I think that he’s done a fantastic job being worth the hype. There’s a certain aura around him during his matches, and his moves have been breathtaking at times. I have to say that I’ve really enjoyed watching him wrestle and am very much looking forward to seeing his upcoming feud with Chavo Guerrero. Considering how great of a worker Chavo is, we can continue to expect great things from Cara. Now if only he can get rid of that awful in-ring lighting during his matches…

4. Zack Ryder

Woo Woo Woo. Let’s run down the man’s recent success. First, he has become a YouTube phenomenon for his Z! True Long Island story. He has currently produced, written and starred in 13 episodes and according to his Twitter it has already received a collective 1 million views! Second, because of his recent YouTube success, he has garnered a huge amount of fans. So many fans, that despite the WWE’s efforts to literally take away Zack Ryder signs from televised show, they keep showing up. Third, and most importantly, Ryder got a fist pump from THE John Cena on Raw this week. Life doesn’t get much better than that.

5. Ezekiel Jackson

Personally Zeke is making this list purely because he has officially distanced himself from being a member of the Corre (more on them later). Also he’s managed to land himself an Intercontinental title shot at the Over the limit PPV, which is almost as important. But seriously, he needed to get out of the Corre. Had to happen. The Corre is terrible. Ok, I’m jumping the gun again. Just know how much I despise the Corre. They’re just absolutely terrible. Alright I’m done.

Honorable mentions: Ricardo Rodriguez, Cody Rhodes, Jinder Mahal.

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The “Go To Sleep” Five

1. The Corre

I told you I’d get to them. Let me run down the recent run of the Corre, dating back to Wrestlemania:

Wrestlemania 4/3/11: The Corre loses an 8 man tag match in under 2 minutes to the slapped together team of Kane, Big Show, Santino, and Kofi Kingston.
Raw 4/4/11: For some reason the Corre shows up on Raw, just to be that nights personal whipping boys for The Rock and John Cena.
Smackdown 4/8/11: The Corre loses another 8-man tag match to the same exact Wrestlemania team and then receives a beatdown from aforementioned team. Just a reminder, The Corre is a stable that was holding the Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships, at the same time!
Raw 4/11/11: Again, the Corre shows up on Raw to hold a public “I’m better than you” whine-fest between its members. Then they somehow escape Raw with victory over the thrown together “Apple” (get it?!) Stable.
Smackdown 4/15/11: All four Corre members were eliminated from the 20-man battle royal and they continued to argue some more
Smackdown 4/22/11: Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel lose their Tag Team Championships in a match that went less than 3 minutes.
Raw 4/25/11: Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson are both eliminated from the brand vs brand battle royal and Barrett even finds a way to lose another match later in the night to Rey Mysterio.

I’ll save you a little time by telling you that things have only gotten worse since then. Since I’ve already dragged on about this group, I’ll end it by saying this. A stable is supposed to be a strong united front that can only be defeated by some of the best superstars. It’s not supposed to be 4 guys that are easily defeated by the entire rosters of Raw and Smackdown! I’m excited to see that they are slowly dissolving this team and only hope that it will give Barrett the future push that he needs while everyone else fades into the mid-card or lower.

2. CM Punk

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge CM Punk fan. He’s a phenomenal worker, a fantastic athlete, and one the best heel currently in the WWE, but he’s being absolutely wasted on a week to week basis. Despite a 3 month long feud with Randy Orton, a feud that should have been so much more than it was, Punk was never able to escape with a PPV singles win against Orton. That, my dear friends, is poor booking. It can’t be a feud if your babyface just comes out on top week after week. Orton even systematically destroyed the stable that Punk was leading, with hardly any pushback. Finally with one week before Wrestlemania, Punk was able to gain the upper hand for once in the form of a wrench to Orton’s knee, but not once did we actually believe that Punk was capable of beating Orton. He’s got so much potential and in my humble opinion has earned the right to be a top man in the company. I hope he gets that new contract signed soon, and WWE uses him the way he deserves and the way that all of the WWE Universe wants to see. Until then, it looks like he’s stuck managing…

3. Mason Ryan

I should have known it the first time I saw Mason Ryan. While I just see another muscle-headed moron, what I should have noticed was that Ryan had all the physical looks it takes to have Vince McMahon drooling over potential dollar signs and World Title Reigns. And don’t get me wrong, sometimes that works out just fine, but it doesn’t work with everyone and I’m making an early prediction that it’s absolutely not going to work with Ryan (or Batistwo as he’s been dubbed). The man just looks slow and is too green for me. I haven’t been impressed with anything he’s been involved with to date, except for his opponents ability to sell for him. He has very little personality and his facial cues are comical at best. He doesn’t deserve a push right now and to reiterate what I said before: He has a better chance of becoming the next Vladimir Kozlov than he does of becoming the next Batista.

4. Jack Swagger

This is part 2 of my Michael Cole rant from a week ago. I couldn’t agree less with the way Swagger has been used the last few months. This man was holding the World Heavyweight Championship a year ago and is now stuck carrying Cole’s jock strap around week after week. The only way it could get worse is if you were to, I don’t know, have a 61 year old beat him on a weekly basis. Oh, wait that’s right. I know it’s not my place to say “How I would book it” (check out Tony Kegger’s fantastic articles if you want to hear more booking ideas), but I think that right now would be the perfect time to bring back the “All-American American” gimmick, fresh off of Osama Bin Laden’s death. Turn the guy face by having him whoop on Cole at the next pay-per-view and then turn into a metaphorical version of the American flag, week after week, destroying his opponents. I don’t have any idea about how to get this done (any ideas Tony?), but I know a major change needs to take place for Swagger to be taken seriously again.

5. Sheamus

I don’t think I’m the only one who expected Sheamus to receive a big push after heading over to Smackdown, possibly even being plugged into a program for the World Heavyweight Championship with former champion Christian. I may be a little premature in my ranking of him, but since losing the U.S. Title to Kofi Kingston at Extreme Rules two weeks ago, Sheamus has done very little to stand out. Maybe the tide will turn for him following Over the Limit, but right now I see little fresh talent for him to feud with on Smackdown, and because of that, he might stuck in the mid-card a little while longer.

Dis-honorable Mentions: Alex Riley, Alberto Del Rio, Ted DiBiase.

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Like my list? Hate my list? Have different ideas about your top 5 or bottom 5? Let’s talk about it in the comments below, that’s part of the fun! Also tune in next week to see who’s hot and who’s Mae Young.

Follow me on Twitter: @AceHart1

Ace Hart Weekly Rankings 5/8/2011

Hey everyone, welcome to my first weekly rankings of the WWE Superstars. First allow me to introduce myself: My name is Ace Hart. I haven’t been writing for very long, but my twin brother and I are officially launching our blog today. You're actually currently reading it, so enjoy TwinTalkWrestling. Alright, on to the article. It’s a pretty straightforward process. We’re just recapping the last week of the WWE shows and seeing what 5 Superstars came out on top and which ones are stinking the joint up. So without further ado, here we go.

The “Awesome” Five

1. John Cena

I know, I know, feel free to hate me in the comments below, but the guy did just win the WWE title. (You’ll notice in my rankings that championships tend to take precedent, especially the major ones.) Cena, John Morrison and Miz (more on him later) put on a heck of a match at Extreme Rules and after some shenanigans, Cena was able to escape with his tenth World Title. On top of that Cena now has a red hot feud going with the most electrifying man in sports entertainment and a guaranteed main event already lined up for Wrestlemania 28. You know, that little PPV scheduled for 11 MONTHS FROM NOW!! I know that Cena has a lot of haters out there and probably rightfully so for the way that he’s booked, but you can’t deny that the Champ is looking strong for the foreseeable future.

2. Randy Orton

Only 3 paragraphs in and I’ve probably upset everyone already. Just hear me out. The guy just won a 3 month long feud with one of the best workers in the company. Then he gets moved to Smackdown to essentially be the entire face of that brand. 2 days after his Extreme Rules victory, he wins the World Heavyweight Championship. While there’s definitely a lot of animosity there from the WWE Universe and the IWC, you can’t take that victory away from him. Plus him and Christian put on what I consider to be the greatest non-gimmick match so far in 2011. There’s gonna be plenty of fallout from that match, but Randy Orton is on top of the WWE, yet again.

3. R-Truth

I have literally gotten chills so far watching R-Truth change his career path overnight. 4 weeks ago, he was destined to be a lifetime mid-card face, which by the way is a fantastic way to make a living. Then something snapped. His recent acts of aggression combined with his fantastic and unexpected mic skills have turned Truth into someone that is a believable future World Champion. I am hoping and praying WWE capitalizes on the opportunity they have with Truth and doesn’t just toss him aside after a half-hearted Morrison-Truth feud. They need to feed the fire as much as possible and capture this lightning in a bottle. I hope this brings both men to new heights in their careers. Your move Vince…

4. Kharma

There’s not much I can say about this behemoth of a “Diva” that hasn’t already been said. I’m not much of a TNA fan, but I’ve heard enough about Awesome Kong to be excited about this woman to hopefully bring some respectability back to the very weak and buried Diva division. The build to her has been fantastic and I’m very excited to see her in her debut match.

5. Kofi Kingston

I told you I like to mention new champions. While he’s not necessarily running rampant on the WWE right now, Kingston and Sheamus put on a very respectable match at Extreme Rules and he’s got the title around his waist for the time being, until they find another heel they want to push.

The “Rock Bottom” Five

1. The Miz

Let’s get one thing straight, first off, Miz has a very promising future ahead of him, and he just had one the longest reigns of the WWE Championship in recent history, but these are weekly rankings and the guy just lost to John Cena and almost had his neck broken by a botched double suplex off the top of a cage at Extreme Rules. Then the following night, his rematch clause storyline is rushed into the middle of the card, and although him and Cena had a good match, you can tell they’re ready to move onto Cena’s next opponent (rumored to be Alberto Del Rio). It’s been a rough week wrestling wise for the Miz and I think all we can hope for is that in the weeks that follow he isn’t mishandled by WWE the same way Jack Swagger and Sheamus were after their title reigns.

2. Christian

And yet another reason to hate me. Trust me, I totally marked out at Extreme Rules when Christian grabbed that World Heavyweight Championship and celebrated with his best friend Edge. I was just as excited as you all were to see Christian’s title reign continue into the foreseeable future, and I was just as crushed as all of you when that house of cards came tumbling down on Friday(Tuesday) night Smackdown. Having said all of that… He still lost the World title. I’m really hoping that it’s part of a bigger storyline like Chris Jericho recently tweeted on his twitter, but until then, he belongs on the bottom 5. I’m sorry. Commence hateful comments.

3. Mark Henry

Did you guys know that Mr. Koolaid turned heel recently? Oh, what’s that? You guys don’t care? Fair enough.

4. WWE Divas

Maybe, in the maybe not so soon future, the Divas will sneak into the top 5, but until then: “Attention All Divas, be prepared to be buried under a mountain of Kharma”. And rightfully so. These women have been unable to carry the division for quite a while now and now they must all suffer while Kharma receives her giant (get it? GIANT? Classic…) push.

5. Michael Cole

Time for a mini-rant. There are few things that have gotten me upset over the past few months as much as Michael Cole’s heel push. I understand that Vince sees Cole as a young version of himself, and I can even comprehend the idea that the fans love to hate an authority figure of some kind. I get all that. What I don’t even begin to grasp is why he has to interfere with the matches themselves with his ridiculous back and forth with the other commentators? I love sports. Have my entire life. One of my favorite things about sports is good announcers. They bring alive the game or event to me like something I’ve never experienced before and they take my breath away in important moments. What WWE has allowed Cole to do in the last few months has been inexcusable. He is ruining what would otherwise be great moments with his over the top jackassery and bickering. I pray that is righted very soon, otherwise my brain may explode during a Daniel Bryan match on Smackdown. Did you know that Cole thinks he’s a nerd? Yeah, we don’t care anymore. Thank you everyone for allowing my rant.