The Return of Bryan Danielson

So, for most of you, last night's episode of WWE NXT was a bit of a shocker. Due to statements by Michael Tarver and Daniel Bryan, both were eliminated this week when asked last week, "Who do you think should be eliminated next week?" They had both answered that they should be eliminated. It was later stated that the decision came directly from WWE Management and that if they don't have the drive to stay in the competition, they should be eliminated. All of this is pure storyline, of course (I believe that all of these contestants already have contracts with the WWE and NXT is just a different way of introducing new talent).

I could care less about Tarver, who, to his credit, did develop a great heel character in the later episodes. The story here is Daniel Bryan. Bryan was later interviewed by Matt Striker where he said (paraphrased, of course):

"Daniel Bryan's never wrestled in the independent scene. If you YouTube Daniel Bryan, all you see is WWE stuff. He could bring Batista to the limit but couldn't beat a rookie. As far as I'm concerned, Daniel Bryan's done in the WWE. But I do know this guy, Bryan Danielson. He could kick a person's head in, was considered one of the best technical wrestlers in the world, and held championships in Japan, Mexico, and Europe."

This seems to be a very well contrived and well timed scheme to have Bryan Danielson show up on Raw's 3 hour commercial free night next week. Why do I say this? Well, if you had watched last week's Raw, The Miz called out Bret Hart to face him for the US Title on next week's Raw. If you're even in the least bit in the know, you'd know that Bret Hart, even though he performed at WM 26, suffered from a stroke and is unable to truly perform in a match. What does this have to do with Bryan Danielson? Well, it was not a secret that Bryan had an issue with the Miz. It was also not a secret that he was an indy scene monster. My theory is that Bryan Danielson shows up as Bret Hart's proxy for his match against The Miz.

This satisfies four things:

1) Bryan Danielson finally gets to display what he's truly made of.
2) BD vs The Miz would finally satisfy the fans' need to see BD finally beat The Miz's ass and get that title.
3) BD truly gets his shot in the pros for paying the most dues out of anyone in NXT (and some in the WWE, for that matter).
4) BD doesn't have to prove anything anymore in NXT since he's spent 10 years already proving it.

So we're finally going to see the "real" Brian Danielson show up, get the title, kick The Miz's ass, and show the world who he truly is.

If you don't think so, let me know!

WWE Releases 6 Wrestlers

It was announced today that the WWE released 6 of their roster. While this isn't something new, and cutbacks are always being announced, this has been another one of those "Man, I wish they didn't get rid of them" moments. Here's my reaction:

-Mickie James - One of the few Divas on the roster that can actually wrestle and is not a product of the whole "Next WWE Diva" contests. Previously known as Alexis Laree, she was known on the indy circuit as one of those females who just had the skillset and drive to make it up the ladder rather quickly. It was previously reported on sites such as Wrestlezone.com that the WWE had issues with her weight. While this can be more a part of the rumor mill, it should hardly be a reason to get rid of someone. All they really have left now as far as legit Divas is Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, and Nattie "Natalya" Neidhart. I, personally, think that they totally missed the ball with this one.

-Shelton Benjamin - Shelton's one of those guys that just had the skillset to make it, but didn't know how to utilize it to it's full potential. Earlier reports suggested that Shelton was liked backstage, but the WWE had growing concern in regards to his mic skills and his ability to take part in main event. While I would've liked to have seen him "work it out" and bring himself up, I'm not too upset that he's gone.

On a side note, this totally busts Jon Mart's prediction as him winning the "Money in the Bank" match at every Wrestlemania from now on. LOL!

-Kung Fu Naki - Funaki's been around for what seems to be AGES. He seemed to be a very loyal WWE wrestler, and did whatever was asked of him, but it only lead him to be a huge jobber in the company. It's quite sad to see the last of Kaientai leave the WWE.

-Jimmy Wang Yang - This is one talent that I know was underutilized. He was an awesome cruiserweight in WCW, and I was lucky enough to see his matches in NJPW and the short-lived Bape (yes, the super-exclusive clothing line) promotion. I guess you can say he's a victim of WWE's policy of toning down matches to keep them safe in the long run. Gone are the high-flying arsenal of wrestlers of his caliber. I'm such a huge fan (I even have an email response from him dating back to 2005) and I'm sad to see this guy go. On a brighter note, I bet he'd be perfect in TNA.

-Slam Master J - I really don't know too much about this guy besides his previous gimmick as Luke Gallows' keeper, so I really can't tell you how I feel about this one. All I can say is that he's been off of TV for so long that it was like waiting for a balloon to pop. You knew it was coming any second and you were just waiting for it to happen.

-Katie Lea Burchill - Katie's one of those talents that I didn't care what happened to her, so with that, I say, "blaaaaaah".

At any rate, it's sad to see anyone for that matter get let go from their job. Good luck to all of them! You know what they say: "When one door closes, another one opens."

NXT 4/13

Some real quick thoughts on last night's show:

• That "Talk Challenge" from last night was horrendous. 20 minutes of talking about nonsense? Yes, part of being a star is being able to talk, but to take up a third of the show by talking instead of wrestling is unacceptable!
• Is it me, or does Darren Young look like a super obnoxiously tanned John Cena?
• Mixing outdated Hip Hop slang with Cowboy slang is not the business....Skip Sheffield.
• Wade Barret's starting to be one of my favorites
• I see Darren shaving his head on his own, and not because the SES wants him to.
• Great, great backstage verbal ass-whooping by The Miz to Daniel Bryan.
• Daniel Bryan vs William Regal was a pretty good match. Just not enough to whet my appetite.
• Daniel Bryan's continuous loss record is beginning to slow down his progress. We all hear that he's this awesome technical wrestler, but we haven't been really shown him for the skillful guy he is. One of these days, they should give him a convincing win over 2 other guys in a triple threat.
• After watching Darren Young beat Luke Gallows, are we seeing a wole faction turning face and leaving Luke Gallows to revert back to the wrestling machine/idiot he was before?

Overall, it was an ok show. The talking portion in the beginning killed me, though. Don't do it again!!

Jeff Hardy Fireball'd

Jeff Hardy had a fireball "thrown" in his face by one of the guys in Beer Money, Inc. This is waaaay too crazy!

TNA Moving to 8PM

Just a quick little "drive by" blog.

So TNA's moving to 8pm instead of trying to go head to head with RAW at 9pm. Is this TNA already admitting defeat?

In a way, I think they just found that, according to DVR ratings, TNA's just not getting that "special attention" Monday nights because a lot of people are DVR'ing Impact and actually watching RAW every Monday.

What are your thoughts?

4/5 TNA Review From a "Legit" Website

I thought this was a very concise review of last night's TNA Impact. I caught some of the action and just felt that it was all too "thrown together".

Please check out James Caldwell's review from PWTorch.com:

James Caldwell's Report via PWTorch.com

ESPN's Coverage of Wrestlemania 26

I know I may not be a writing superstar, and probably half as entertaining, but I came across this great article on ESPN.com covering Wrestlemania 26. Check it out!

ESPN.com - Wrestlemania 26