Paul Bearer: The Ultimate Manager ‘Oh Yeah!’

2 weeks ago on Smackdown, in my opinion the greatest manager in WWE returned. It was of course the pale faced former undertaker, Paul Bearer. He arrived in a normal manner for him, from within a coffin. His return was not just surprise to Kane but it was also surprise to most of the fans. His return made almost perfect storyline sense (I will explain later some of the flaws) and it has made sure that the Hell in a Cell PPV will be really interesting.

Now before I get a hundred of emails telling me that Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan or the late Captain Lou Albano were better managers and don’t get me wrong I am not saying they are not good managers. But what I am saying is that Paul Bearer is the best. The reason as far as I am concerned why Bearer is best is because unlike other managers who had lot of wrestler under their control who were all different, Bearer only managed a certain type of Wrestler, for example: Kane, Mankind (during his darker days), Vader and The Undertaker. All of these wrestlers were demonic monsters or dark twisted individuals. Bearers look actually suits the roles of an evil undertaker; he has pale skin amplified by makeup, deep bags under his eyes and an eerie high pitched voice capable of delivering the perfect promos.

Now there is one flaw in the Paul Bearer return angle and that is the fact at the Great American Bash 2004 The Undertaker buried Bearer in a glass crypt full of concrete and attempted to ‘kill him’ apparently Bearer was seriously injured due to the event. In reality he went away for lose lots of weight which was good for him because he looks a lot healthier for it. But I do wonder how storyline wise they cover the whole Concrete crypt situation cause if they do a classic WWE pretend it never happened and moved on it will make the whole situation awful. Although there are lots of our younger fans who probably have no idea what I am talking about as they never followed WWE in 2004. This is a shame because they missed some pretty good times. I recommend that the young fans buy or rent DVDs from the 80s and 90s and the early 00s if they haven’t seen footage from that time. This is something that O’Dea had to do as he was a late to get into WWE.

2009 Dirty Awards: Best PPV Theme Song

Nominations and Winner:
Monster by Skillet (Hell in a Cell) [Winner]
Still Unbroken by Lynard Skynard (Breaking Point)
You gotta’ move by Aerosmith (Summerslam)
You going down by Sick Puppies (Extreme Rules)
So Hott by Kidd Rock (Wrestlemania 25)
This Dirty is really down to choice and to explain why we have picked the songs we have would be pointless cause loads of people will disagree with us, so I am moving on.

NEXT UP: Best Superstar Theme

2009 Dirty Awards: Worst PPV

Nominations and Winner:
- Bragging Rights, 25th October
- Hell in a Cell, 4th October (Winner)
- Judgement Day, 17th May
- The Bash, 28th June
- Summerslam, 23rd August
Where to start with this one? Well SummerSlam is there because it was not a Big Four Pay Per View fact. The problem with the other 4 is that I barely remember then except they sucked. Bragging Rights was a poor concept and despite a few good matches it didn’t have enough. Hell in a Cell however takes the biscuit for being a bad PPV though. Firstly Hell in a Cell matches are special, therefore having 3 in one night was going to be risky. The first Cell match had one positive Taker won. But to be honest the match did not need to be in a Cell as it was not used, nor was the match hardcore. Similar criticisms of Orton vs. Cena. (O’Dea Note: And the fact John Cena dropped a razor blade during the match, plain for everyone to see. Or was just that advertising, hey, Cena does Gillete ads. And considering at Bragging Rights they had an orgasm when John started bleeding I still don’t get it) DX vs. Legacy was good but it was not enough to save the night. Final point on the subject although I am not some blood lusting vampire if you watch Hell in a Cell matches in the past they are bloody affairs and because of PG WWE there was none of that.

NEXT UP: Best PPV (Excluding Wrestlemania)

Oh Dear O'Dea: This Product is Part of the Generic WWE PPV Range

Don't forget to watch Survivor Series on PPV later on this month, as part of the mundane-ity range from World Wrestling Entertainment, now full of Pay Per Views that mean nothing in the history of wrestling, thanks to Breaking Point replacing Unforgiven, Hell in a Cell replacing No Mercy, TLC replacing Armageddon and Elimination Chamber replacing No Way Out. And now the 23rd Edition of Survivor Series, looks like its also going to fall into that bottomless pit. It's meant to be one of their top four PPVs but I'm not feeling it; it might be the fact that only a couple of weeks before the event we've got two meaningless Main Events that really were made up from nothing. In the recent months WWE have been throwing PPVs and Pay Per View Matches at us that really haven't meant anything, not help by the Gimmicks added to the PPVs. Breaking Point turned out well strangely, Hell in a Cell was a massive fail (3 Cell matches and no blood in one night fuck off), Bragging Rights was just a load of advertising with an Ironman Match thrown in there for good measure, which I've forgotten already, not saying it was a bad match, it was a great match.

I don't see their reasoning for turning No Way Out into Elimination Chamber, they've already had that gimmick match or two chamber matches happening only at that PPV for the last couple of years, we get it, we aren't that stupid and they do go about quite a bit, why change now. And don't get me started on Armageddon or TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, they've already had a Ladder match and TLC match this year, that's enough!

HIAC 2009 Match Preview - Intercontinental Championship Match

This is a match that has been a long time in the making, it got the build up it needed and I'm glad of that, I just think that John Morrison needs to clean up his babyface mic work, and it hasn't helped and is he or the crowd say "MR ZIGGLES" tonight, I'm going to be so angry! Anyway, these two have shown what they can do on many an occasion and this is one of the reasons I would buy the Pay-Per-View.

There is no doubt that Dolph Ziggler, gained so much whilst working with Rey Mysterio, including mine and others' respect. That all came to a head at SummerSlam, where Dolph had probably the best match of his carrer, yes and I'm including his time in the Spirit Squad in that. I was almost annoyed for Dolph, when Rey Mysteriod got suspended, because there was no doubt that he was going to win at Breaking Point. And believe me, I'm not saying that WWE's choice to put the belt on Morrison was wrong, no way, they had a great match, which helped JoMo's credibility yet again, after his wins over CM Punk during the Summer.

John Morrison has matured and in my view, along with Dolph, is a future main eventer and World Champ, he has it all, my respect from his days as heel, the athletic ability, the drive, the look and the mic skills, no, he still needs to work on them and get them to standard they were when he was a part of the greatest tag team of the twenty-first century.

I expect much from this match and it will not disappoint.

HIAC 2009 Match Preview - United States Championship Triple Threat Match

"I got you where I want you,
Your clock's run out of time
Cause you know I know you, and I'll show you 
That the heat you feel is mine"
Get on Your Knees by Age Against the Machine
(Jack Swagger's Entrance Theme).

Kofi Kingston (now apparently from Ghana, having spent a lot of time in Jamica) has been in so many of these multi-person matches since he won the United States Championship from MVP the week before Extreme Rules, and has prevailed every time, but this time I think his clock has run out of time. As Miz or Jack Swagger will (or at least should) walk out of the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, the new United States Champion.

These three have done well to build this match, but I'm not 100% convinced and they will and should give us a good match tonight. The one thing that I love about this match is that the Miz is instant heat, as soon as his music hits the arena erupts with a chorus of booing. I liked at Breaking Point his French promo, considering they were in Montreal and anyone with half a brain cell could guess where he was going with it.

Jack Swagger proved himself as a main event player earlier this year during his ECW Championship reign, but since he's been on Raw, he hasn't been given the time he really needs and deserves, instead they cram the 2 hours with Hornswoggle. Also the fact that they are in America, where they have to have a ad break every 10 minutes on a live Raw broadcast only one other match except for the main event is allowed to go through an ad break, which is stupid.

Anyway, I digress, these three have everything they need to put on a match of epic proportions, but I think the amount of matches on the card will harm their chances to put on a truly fantastic match. Miz and Swagger are future main event players, and Kofi, I guess, it looks like thy're trying to remove the Jamaican gimmick from him (like announcing him from Ghana, West Africa, which is like announcing William Regal from England, North Europe, Stupid. And taking the Jamaican flag off his entrance video/set thing). So they should be trying to make a real statement tonight, but would WWE really let them do that.

HIAC 2009 Match Preview - Divas Championship Match Preview

I can see how they want to build Alicia Fox as the next big thing and strangely they have been doing just that. I haven't been totally convinced by hear, I don't think she can actually speak and if she can I haven't heard it. Mickie James is a very talented Diva, but hasn't had much to work with recently, we were all expecting Gail Kim to be turning heel, but since Fox beat her to be the #1 Contender, she's kinda not been on TV, a bit like Beth Phoenix before this Friday or like any of the Diva Lumberjacks (or Jills) from this Friday's Smackdown.

For Fox to get any sort of foothold in the title contention and generally to boast the "stock" of Mickie James, I don't even care who wins, if they can have the sort of match that Melina and Michelle McCool at had the Bash earlier this year (I don't think it will happen) they could do well. But sorry I forgot, these are WWE Divas and probably will disappoint us yet again, please don't. And now that Mickie is re-inflated these two should have a good match.

HIAC 2009 Match Preview - R-Truth vs Drew McIntyre

I only found out a couple of minutes ago that this match is on the card, why? They had 6 matches on the card even before they added the Divas Championship Match, with 3 of them being Hell in a Cell Matches what could go to 30 minutes each. I guess that its a feud that could do with some sort of match, but has Drew McIntyre had a proper match at all in this run in the company, he's just ran around beating up people and double-arm DDT'ing them. I'm probably wrong because we haven't seen him in match action, and WWE have to trust him to have his first TV match as a Pay-Per-View, but people won't be buying the PPV tonight because this match is on the card. I guess the storyline progression is there as well with Drew McIntyre getting a beating at the hands of R-Truth this Firday Night gone, whilst also destroying the Smackdown 10th Anniversary Cake and most of the catering. Both of these guys have something to prove, R-Truth has been around just about a year now, and hasn't made that much of an impact, we've heard the grumblings that Vince hasn't been happy with him. Evident by his absence at WrestleMania 25, even though he was on the poster, and the only one on that poster not to appear on the grandest stage of them all. The speak was that he was replaced by Mark Henry in the match, and back then (and personally still for me) that wasn't great for Ron Killings. This match could do well or it could be the throw away match where McIntyre destroys Truth before the match starts and does a John Cena and magically lowers the Cell and leaves him in a bloody heap on the floor (the only blood we might see tonight). For the sake of these two I hope they have a good match, but I probably will be saying after tonight that they could have had a better and long match on Smackdown.

Video.dot.Blog - Steve Austin on Soccer AM

He's in the UK promoting his new movie Damage and WWE Hell in a Cell. I can't make out if he said that he didn't want to be involved in a Hell in a Cell, or if he hasn't been involved, which he has, 2000 at WWE Armageddon in the first and only Armageddon Hell in a Cell Match.

Pay Per View Hell

WWE Hell in a Cell & WWE Tables, Ladders and Chairs what is WWE doing to their PPVs? I dont' care what TNA are doing with their PPVs and I don't want 3 Cell matches in 1 Year, let alone one night. I work on the system (and WWE use to as well) that they have one of big gimmick (Hell in a Cell, TLC, etc) matches used a year, from Wrestlemania to Wrestlemania. So I wanted to see one Hell in a Cell this year and I would have been great with that. It just takes all of build up out of any main event feud, if they weren't stale enough already. Just think about it, In 2005, Randy Orton and the Undertaker faced off in Hell in a Cell at Armageddon, after a feud going back to Wrestlemania 21, going through SummerSlam and a return by the Undertaker at Survivor Series. A feud that had body doubles (I still don't know how they did that, on the video it is so fake, but the pictures that are on WWE.com give another angle which is rather freaky), great matches and burning coffins.

And now what has 'Taker got on his hands, CM Punk (nothing against him, but the feud). There hasn't been really any reasoning to why Undertaker has gone after him, just for the hell of it, and their first PPV match was a submission match (thanks to WWE & the revolutionary PPV concept that is Breaking Point) and now their second PPV is a hell in a cell match, why? I know I'm giving criticism to two of the best in the game today, but WWE couldn't have done it worse and that's why it's getting the heat on the net that it should. See, I can deal with Extreme Rules, I actually like that PPV, but HIAC and WWE TLC are stupid. We've already had a TLC match at SummerSlam remember? And I was little pissed when they had a I Quit match at Breaking Point after the Hardys had one at Backlash.

I don't know bout Bragging Rights havent heard whats gonna happen with that PPV and if they have voting please put it back on WWE.com, meaning people outside the states can vote and meaning the people inside the US don't have to have their hard earn money sucked from a mutli-million dollar company. I want Unforgiven, No Mercy & Armageddon back. Sorry Vince, It's just not working, and it's not Lilian's fought (and you saw sense with that last week).

WWE Changes Both October PPVs

From NoDQ.com: WWE has made changes to their two October PPV events. The No Mercy event will now be known "Hell in A Cell" and will take place on October 4th. Last week, WWE posted a fan survey regarding cage-themed shows this change isn't a big surprise. It's interesting because a Triple H vs. Randy Orton HIAC match was originally planned for Summerslam. After several years of being among the least-purchased WWE PPVs of the year, it appears that Cyber Sunday is finally being put to rest. "WWE Annihilation" will be the new name and will take place on October 25th.