The Good
The rebirth of ECW
For years, fans have been clamoring to see the return of ECW. In 2006, their wish has come true. While it can never be like it was, it is still better than nothing at all.
New Talent
One of the problems that WWE creative ran into in the 2002-2003 era was that once Foley, Austin, and The Rock left there was no one there to replace them. This year, they have been working hard on creating the next generation of superstars. A year ago, no one knew who Lashley or any members of The Spirit Squad were. Lashley has made the most of his opportunities caused by the roster problems on SmackDown! to become the U.S. Champion and has held his own in feuds with men like Booker T, Finlay, and JBL. The members of The Spirit Squad have had the opportunity to work in the biggest feud on RAW. These five men have had the opportunity to work alongside the biggest names in the sport in the main event of RAW and on PPV.
Old School Wrestling
In the world of sports entertainment, old school wrestling seemed to be out of style. Thanks to the return of Finlay and possibly the return to a safer style of wrestling on SmackDown! due to injuries, fans have seen some great wrestling with psychology instead of the spotfests that have dominated wrestling for the past few years.
Video Collection
The WWE has continued to purchase wrestling libraries this year and now own the Florida and WCCW territories tapes. The Florida tapes have already been used on the Dusty Rhodes DVD. The WCCW footage will hopefully be used in a similar style package. That footage, while used incredibly in a documentary about WCCW, needs to be made available to a much broader audience. The WWE already has a plan to use the AWA footage they own as part of an AWA documentary due out this fall. With the increasing availability of WWE 24/7, this footage can now be seen by a new generation of wrestling fans.
John Cena
Never before has a champion been so hated and loved at the same time. Instead of letting this get to him, Cena has proven to be able to handle this pressure and deliver some good wrestling matches in the process. His ability to handle the ECW crowd at One Night Stand and still put on a great match is a great sign for the future of the WWE.
The Bad
Too Many A***S
The biggest feud on RAW has involved people kissing each others butts. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen midgets with writing on their butts, a man in a thong caned, D-X spray painting another man’s butt, and the first ever ascial.
Rey Mysterio Title Reign
I blame this one totally on the booker’s and not Rey himself. His matches have been good but the way he is presented is a joke. He has been portrayed to be a fluke champion and has been losing televised non-title matches with a frequency never seen before in the WWE. As a matter of fact, the only time I remember a champion losing this many non-title matches was Nick Bockwinkle in the AWA after being awarded the title. That title suffered so much credibility damage that they went out of business a few years later. While the belt is only a prop, it is the most important prop. Once that prop loses credibility, the death of the company is usually imminent (ex: WCW after David Arquette won the title).
The Depletion of the SmackDown! Roster
There is no doubt that the SmackDown! talent drained started with the death of Eddie Guerrero and the injuries suffered by Batista. Since then, many wrestlers have had to take some time off to injury or other reasons. However, even with all these problems, the WWE still is taking even more talent from SmackDown! and moving it over to RAW. The worst examples of this are Kurt Angle, Randy Orton and Johnny Nitro.
Injuries
The WWE talent roster has been hit by the injury bug. Batista, Booker T, Trish Stratus, and Mr. Kennedy have all missed a lot of time due to injuries suffered in the ring. Many of the veterans are thankfully taking some time off to heal from their accumulated injuries. In all fairness to WWE, they have taken this negative and turned it into a positive by giving some new wrestlers a chance.
What a Terrible Ending to a Great Feud
One of the highlights of the WWE this year was the feud between Trish Stratus and Mickie James. These two wrestlers have had a few good matches in the ring and a strange set of circumstances outside the ring. After Trish was legitimately injured in a match with Mickie you would think that the return of Trish would be a big event or PPV match. Instead it was an unannounced opening on RAW that was a squash win by Mickie James and ended with Trish starting a new feud with Melina. This feud should have ended with a bang, not a little whimper.
