Organized Chaos

I was wrong about there being no surprises at the Royal Rumble. There was one huge one.

John Cena returned from a pectoral tear and won the Royal Rumble by tossing Triple H over the top rope. Cena was the 30th entrant in the annual event and I admit I was shocked.

I have made it a rule to not check up on the rumors leading into a pay-per-view. I couldn’t tell you if it was well known that Cena would return or not, though I think it was a surprise to most of the wrestling community. I can tell you his entry saved an otherwise lackluster show.

The Royal Rumble Match is always an intriguing 60 minutes. The end was nothing short of amazing, especially given the fact Cena was reported to miss 6 to 8 weeks when he endured the injury in October. The quick recovery leads me to believe they fudged a bit on the severity of the injury.

The four singles matches on the card were OK. The worst match was a tie between Ric Flair-MVP and Chris Jericho-JBL. The best match was Jeff Hardy-Randy Orton, which came out as expected.

WrestleMania 24 in Orlando likely will feature an Orton-Cena match, with the possibility of adding Triple H for a triple threat.

UPDATE, Jan. 29, 10:24 a.m.: Well, Cena and Orton will battle at No Way Out. Six men will fight inside the Elimination Chamber for the right to face the champ at WrestleMania. I’d say Orton’s time as champ is done, but he may be able to escape No Way Out by DQ or something like that. Triple H should win the Chamber and go on to Mania. The triple threat between Triple H, Cena and Orton is a distinct possibility. However, if that happens, look for Cena to win.

I’ll be honest. It’s tough to be a member of the media, especially with people’s preconceived notions. And yes, we deal with accusations of bias here at The News Herald.

My job is to tell a story, to report the happenings as I see them. I have no allegiance to anyone or any school, and I make sure to quote people accurately, allowing them to say what they want to say without twisting their words.

Apparently CNN doesn’t understand this. A recent interview with John Cena made it appear as if he had taken steroids, but didn’t want to give a straight answer. WWE, quite smartly, had a camera crew in attendance at the interview. They captured the exact answer when he was asked if he took steroids.

He said “absolutely not” but that doesn’t show up on the interview. WWE has the video to prove it. You can watch and decide, but I think it’s awfully shady to do something like this.

Unfortunately, CNN and other networks get away with it all the time. And it makes the rest of us, who take pride in our profession, look bad.

You can view the unedited video by clicking here.

You can view the CNN piece by clicking here.

I had a link to the stuff on WWE’s Web site, but they took the story down. I wouldn’t be surprised if this goes away, too.

SummerSlam just ended (as I wrote this Sunday, of course). Here are my feelings on the event.
It wasn’t as good as past SummerSlams, but it was still worth the purchase. The night featured four championship matches with NO title changes. There also wasn’t a tag team match, which was a letdown, especially with the way Cryme Tyme has performed lately.
The surprise of the night was John Cena pinning Randy Orton. I thought this was the end of Cena’s run given the recent push for Orton.
However, it wasn’t the case as Cena nailed the FU and pinned Orton. I will say I’m happy Cena’s run didn’t end against Orton because Orton’s work on the mic is lackluster and he just doesn’t have what it takes it to carry a long title run, in my opinion.
Of course, I think eventually Orton will win the title and have a program with Triple H. It’s too early for Triple H to be back in the title hunt, so a few more months of the Cena-Orton program are in order.

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A reader from Canada recently called to ask if ECW on SciFi is replayed anytime during the week. A brief discussion revealed something I think would be big down here, if properly organized.

Wrestling pay-per-views are shown at movie theaters in many spots in Canada. I have yet to see that in the places I have lived in the United States, including Colorado, Ohio and Florida.

The caller, who I won’t classify as a Snowbird because I was under the impression that he moved here for good, said each theater charges a nominal fee. He said it was $17, which could have been in Canadian money which is pretty darn cheap.

He said the pay-per-view is shown on three or four screens in the theater and each one is packed with wrestling fans of all ages. Everyone enjoys the show with popcorn, candy or drinks, and the action is displayed on the big screen with booming sound.

I think this would be a great way to spend a few hours. Watching it at home has its merits, but when you have an HDTV like I do, you don’t get the whole effect because pay-per-views aren’t shown in HD.

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