Things on my Mind: First Edition, Quotes create Controversy, Unforgivable Booking, whither the Lightweight Rankings, More!!!
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Welcome to a column that will become a semiregular feature here where I just talk about some of the things on my mind regardless if they're connected or not. My mind isn't cluttered often, usually it is empty, so I can't say how often you'll see these but I hope you enjoy them.
I'm not saying you need to agree or disagree with these thoughts, I'm just giving you a peak in to my thought processes. Yeah, its dangerous but what would life be like with out a little danger?
Someone and I'm sorry I don't remember who otherwise I'd drop their name did a quick assessment today of the ECW roster. Factoring out injured/suspended wrestlers, women, and announcers there are exactly 12 performers on the roster. If TNA has too many people for a one hour show, ECW has too few.
So you spend your money for a ticket to Unforgiven and while you don't know the main event when you purchase the ticket you get excited when you find out it is John Cena Vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. Then you go to the show, you get a 5 minute match and then a disqualification ending. Then you see Jonathan Coachman book a Last Man Standing match for the next PPV. Talk about not getting what you paid for, perhaps WWE was mad at Memphis for hosting that Hulk Hogan Vs. Big Show match?
The talk has been that when TNA is moved to 2 hours on Spike that we will see an increase of in-ring time. I believe that this will actually be the case but I also believe it won't do any good. The storylines are bad, and the way TNA matches go, instead of getting interference now at the 4 minute mark you'll get it at the 6 minute mark.
On a PPV that will feature: A Women's Gauntlet, a Reverse Battle Royal, A Tables Match, an Ultimate X Match, a Must be a winner match, a Monster's Ball match and that's only what we know so far, the real gimmick match is a singles match with no stipulations. Remember when TNA booked its first ever cage match and then waited another year before having another? Now we get a stip every week and sometimes multiple stips layered on top of one another. Eventually every match will have a gimmick and the real gimmick matches will be singles matches with no stips.
I don't know what the reasoning is behind Triple H beating the tag team champions clean on Raw, then laying out the #1 challengers to those belts. Sad thing is that because of how much cash the WWE has they don't have to know the reasoning either.
If you're Cade/Murdoch and London/Kendrick maybe you breathe a sigh of relief knowing that less people saw you get slaughtered then might otherwise have.
I miss them and the Fantastics and the Rock N' Roll Express, but we can't go back to those days because anyone with the power to try has no desire to do so.
I'm just going to say it. If there is one guy on the WWE roster who deserves the distinction of being WWE champion for more than a year besides John Cena, I don't know who it is.
Cena is a hard worker, he has a unique connection with the crowd, he loves the wrestling business and he does everything the company has asked him to do. If giving him a year rain was their way of rewarding him for hard work and loyalty then I'm glad they decided to award someone for those things. I'm not Cena's biggest fan but in terms of his title reign, I've got no issue with it. In fact, in the age of title changes not meaning anything, Cena keeping the belt an entire year is kind of cool.
Roman's freakout in the Doctor's office will remain funny as long as I'm able to imitate his accent. They didn't bury the guy which makes me suspect that he'll be back.
I don't like the new rule but I'm willing to give it a chance. I don't like that the result of the fight doesn't determine who picks the next fight. I'd love to see Matt Hughes push Matt Serra's buttons in the way Jens Pulver did to BJ Penn last season. Maybe the show will prove me wrong, so I'll wait and see.
Matt Serra is the real prick. I'm sorry but maybe Matt Hughes is cocky and arrogant. If that's really the case, maybe it is because he's Matt Hughes!! Serra's the one that does all the talking and name calling and he's the one we're supposed to be sympathetic for? Also, I love Hughes mastery of Serra's paranoya with Joe in the first episode. Matt had no intention of picking Joe at all but forced Serra to pick him first in order to make sure Hughes couldn't, and it is clear to me that Joe wasn't #1 pick material.
It is tough for me to do those rankings right now. The fact is the division is in a bit of a mess. If we set the limit at 155 LBs what does that mean for Takanori Gomi and Joachim Hansen and guys like that who fought above that in Pride? Add to that the uncertainty around the UFC Lightweight championship and in many ways the class is just too messy to sort out. I may put those on hold for now, see if things straighten out in the next little while before revisiting them. I intend to update my rankings after UFC 77 next month. “I’d like to make out with Gina, but I am here to knock her out. Either way she wants it, though, is fine. with me.”
This one quote at the press conference uttered by Tonya Evinger set off an entire sequence of events for this past weekend's EXC 'Uprising' show which perplexes me.
The quote was brought up during the fight and prompted an exchange between Bill Goldberg and Mauro Ranallo which sparked a lot of debate on internet message boards. Goldberg said: I'm not going to touch that one with a 25 Foot pole.
Ranallo responded with: I'd like to touch it with a 25 Centimeter one.
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I called Ranallo's remark a Jerry Lawler comment since that's the kind of thing you'd hear on Raw. But, when I started to see search after search for Mauro Ranallo 25 CM or Gina Carano 25 CM, I knew people were going to be talking.
Look, people are mad because they think that Ranallo degraded Women's MMA with his comment. There was even speculation that this might cost him his EXC gig which is what would be an outrage to me. First, it isn't as though Showtime is the family friendliest network on the air. Second, the guy made a joke. There seems to be a double standard imposed on men and women. Nobody would think much of it if a room full of women had made sexual remarks relating to the guys involved in any of the other 4 bouts on the card. I know women who watch MMA for the bodies and not the sport, isn't that degrading the athletic accomplishments of the men? If that kind of thing isn't actively discouraged then why is it not ok for the reverse? I should note that I don't even think that Ranallo's comment degraded women's MMA at all but if you did I'd like to hear whether or not you think it would be ok for women to do the same during a men's bout.
However, there was a quote that I thought could have done serious harm to Women's MMA and the sport in general. Gina Carano said after submitting Evinger that: I put her in the choke and I wanted to squeeze her until she couldn't breathe. Why won't you diiiiiiieeeeeee~!!!!
Lets just say scanning referral logs brought up no hits related to that comment yet that was arguably worse than anything uttered by Ranallo or anyone else. Sure, I know that Carano wasn't speaking litterally and trying to join the chris Benoit society for pro athletes and I know she said it in the heat of victory. However, to me neither of those things is a good excuse. Just imagine one of the 6,000,000 talk shows that exist today getting ahold of that clip and leading off an MMA story with it and not providing any context? Comments like that don't do the sport any favors whatsoever and anyone that wants to see the sport thrive should've been complaining about that comment more than anything else.
Hey, I have nothing against Gina Carano at all. I know she's popular, checking my referral logs is always a good reminder of that fact. I'm not even saying that Carano shouldn't be the face of Women's MMA.
I think that if EXC is trying to protect Carano by feeding her opponents they believe she can beat, eventually the bloom will come off the rose and it might not even be Gina's fault. Women's MMA is a relatively new sport and compared to the men there's just not as much top-flight competition. This makes it harder to hide or protect someone because there's fewer trees in that particular forrest.
The Amanda Buckner's, Tara LaRosa's and Shayna Baszler's of the world need to be factored strongly in to Gina Carano's future if EXC wants people to take their women's division seriously.
Well, that's what's on my mind right now. I've hope you've enjoyed this piece. A lot of this was discussed by Art Shimko and myself on the lost podcast so it is good to get this stuff out.
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