Wrestling News: Why did WWE put the U.S. Title on Bret Hart?
Bret Hart became the U.S. champion for the fifth time on Monday night, defeating The Miz in a chaotic title match. This interference-packed encounter was further evidence that Bret Hart is relishing his return to the spotlight.
It surely won't be long before The Hitman gives the title up. However, it seems strange that WWE would decide to put the title on him in the first place.
At the age of 52, and collecting on an insurance policy that is being paid to him on the basis of him being unable to wrestle, Bret Hart is not capable of having anything more than matches filled with interference. It is a shame for a wrestler whose career comprised an outstanding body of work to be unable to perform at a level he could in his prime.
Nevertheless, it seems that Bret Hart still has something to offer professional wrestling in 2010. As limited as he may be in the ring, The Hitman has been consistently excellent on the microphone since returning to WWE this year. One of the biggest fears about bringing Bret Hart back to WWE was that he would be irrelevant to a new generation of fans who never witnessed him in his prime. That has not been the case.
The Hitman has more than held his own in verbal exchanges with the likes of Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels, and Chris Jericho, and his acting has helped to create sympathy for a character that younger fans may be unfamiliar with. The storyline with Vince McMahon was overbooked, but it had its moments, such as when Bret revealed that he had been faking his injury to get McMahon to agree to a WrestleMania match.
The problem occurred when The Hitman stepped in the ring at WrestleMania 26. Limited by what he could do, Bret Hart beat down McMahon for over ten minutes, which coupled with a contrived storyline about the Hart family, made for arguably the worst match of his career. This inability to wrestle at a decent standard is the main problem with the return of Bret Hart, as there is no point in cutting great promos if the matches they lead to are a disappointment.
Thankfully, his title match was kept short on Monday night, and his shortcomings were covered by a string of run-ins. The crowd was into the match, and reacted with jubilation for Bret Hart's win. Slightly tarnishing The Hitman's victory was the commentary of Michael Cole, who inexplicably started heeling on Bret Hart, saying that he did not deserve the title. We can only speculate as to why he was produced to say this. He is much better on NXT as a heel announcer than he is as an announcer on Raw, so maybe it will be a good thing if Cole brings this aspect of his character to Monday nights.
While the title change was well-executed, there is the question of why they wanted to give The Hitman the title in the first place. He certainly can't go on the road to defend his title, and will be surely giving the title up in the near future. Hopefully he will drop the title back to The Miz rather than vacating it on Monday night.
It seems as though every time The Miz comes close to heading to the next level as a cocky heel, WWE cuts his legs out from underneath him. The loss to Bret Hart this week, Tyson Kidd the week before, and being made to look like a jobber by Big Show recently has not done The Miz any favors. His alliance with Chris Jericho has potential, but the number of times he has been pinned recently suggests that he won't be rising above the mid-card any time soon.
Bret Hart's title win was a nice piece of nostalgia, but TNA has shown that regular nostalgia is not conducive to drawing money for a modern wrestling company. Dropping the title back to The Miz as soon as possible would probably be the best way forward, as Miz would clearly benefit from a pinfall victory over The Hitman.
Bret Hart can't wrestle the way he used to, but as his performance on Monday night showed, he is more than capable of working a crowd. Hopefully there will be a meaningful role for him after he loses the U.S. Title.
(Credit: Pro Wrestling Torch)
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Saturday, May 22, 2010
WWE News: WWE continuing to play up Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole scrap with more "shoot" comments
WWE is continuing to play up the Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole "fight" from NXT on Tuesday with more "shoot comments" from Daniel Bryan after the angle played out.
WWE published a story today on their website with Bryan commenting on Cole "burying" him on commentary, Cole "putting over" David Otunga (who Bryan said "can't even run the ropes right), WWE "pushing" big wrestlers, and WWE trying to "hold him down."
It all adds up to WWE attempting to get a reaction out of hardcore fans by making it seem shocking that insider verbiage would be used in a WWE story and that WWE would "allow" Bryan to criticize WWE.
In actuality, it's a WWE-approved angle meant to get a reaction. One part of Bryan's interview that could point to the future direction of the storyline is Bryan saying in-character that he was "out of line" for attacking Cole on NXT.
"I think my actions were unprofessional and I'd do them all over again," Bryan said. "You can only be pushed so much before you get to that breaking point, you know, and at some point you need to stand up for yourself."
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WWE is continuing to play up the Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole "fight" from NXT on Tuesday with more "shoot comments" from Daniel Bryan after the angle played out.
WWE published a story today on their website with Bryan commenting on Cole "burying" him on commentary, Cole "putting over" David Otunga (who Bryan said "can't even run the ropes right), WWE "pushing" big wrestlers, and WWE trying to "hold him down."
It all adds up to WWE attempting to get a reaction out of hardcore fans by making it seem shocking that insider verbiage would be used in a WWE story and that WWE would "allow" Bryan to criticize WWE.
In actuality, it's a WWE-approved angle meant to get a reaction. One part of Bryan's interview that could point to the future direction of the storyline is Bryan saying in-character that he was "out of line" for attacking Cole on NXT.
"I think my actions were unprofessional and I'd do them all over again," Bryan said. "You can only be pushed so much before you get to that breaking point, you know, and at some point you need to stand up for yourself."
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(Credit: Pro Wrestling Torch)
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Thursday, May 06, 2010
Edge and Randy face off on Raw - 4th May 2010
Tag teams were the focus on Raw this week, as an old duo clashed and a potentially great one formed.
Edge and Randy Orton once comprised the team known as Rated RKO, but after the Ultimate Opportunist speared the Viper to close last week's show, they were booked to face off in Edge's talk show segment, The Cutting Edge.
Hyped throughout the show, it proved to be the quasi-main event, and concluded with Randy standing tall after nailing an RKO on his former comrade.
Prior to this, Edge cut a very strong promo explaining that he tried his hardest to please the fans, but they wouldn't accept him, hence his heel turn.
Adam Copeland is a terrific talker, but hasn't found his groove since his return as a babyface. It's nice to see the wide-eyed, paranoid heel Edge back.
During this confrontation, Orton found time to RKO the Raw Guest Host Wayne Brady, who contributed little else to the show.
It evoked memories of Steve Austin dishing out stunners to all and sundry, suggesting that if Randy showed a similar penchant for hitting his finisher in scattergun fashion it could get him even more over.
We already know the WWE title, currently held by John Cena, will be defended against Batista at Over the Limit. So this show featured the two men wrestling in separate matches, with the man who got a win in the quickest time choosing the stipulation for the bout at the PPV.
Batista was due to face The Miz, but he produced a Doctor's note excusing him from action, and instead allowed his NXT rookie Daniel Bryan to face the Animal.
Batista knocked off the former Ring of Honor champ in about five minutes, although Bryan got some reasonable time to shine.
Later, Cena was supposed to wrestle Chris Jericho, but again a scheduled opponent cried off, with this time Jericho's NXT protégé Wade Barrett taking his place.
Cena beat Batista's time, and was about to announce what stipulation he would like, when he was ambushed by Sheamus, who had earlier got in Batista's face and claimed he should be the No1 contender.
With no obvious opponent for the upcoming PPV, Sheamus may well be inserted into the mix to create a Triple Threat by the time we reach Over the Limit.
Our favourite moment from the show, though, was the realisation that Chris Jericho and The Miz look set to be aligned as a Tag Team.
They have title reigns with Big Show in common, and a backstage segment where they compared note on the giant, who moved to Smackdown last week, gave rise to what seems like a uniting of the pair.
You could put forth a very good argument for Jericho and Miz being the best promo guys in the whole of wrestling right now, so a formation of a team is an exciting prospect.
They sat in on commentary to see the current champions, The Hart Foundation, get their hands raised against William Regal and Vladimir Koslov, and attacked them post-match.
There is only really one question to answer. Do we called them JeriMiz or Mizicho? (Credit: The Sun)
Tag teams were the focus on Raw this week, as an old duo clashed and a potentially great one formed.
Edge and Randy Orton once comprised the team known as Rated RKO, but after the Ultimate Opportunist speared the Viper to close last week's show, they were booked to face off in Edge's talk show segment, The Cutting Edge.
Hyped throughout the show, it proved to be the quasi-main event, and concluded with Randy standing tall after nailing an RKO on his former comrade.
Prior to this, Edge cut a very strong promo explaining that he tried his hardest to please the fans, but they wouldn't accept him, hence his heel turn.
Adam Copeland is a terrific talker, but hasn't found his groove since his return as a babyface. It's nice to see the wide-eyed, paranoid heel Edge back.
During this confrontation, Orton found time to RKO the Raw Guest Host Wayne Brady, who contributed little else to the show.
It evoked memories of Steve Austin dishing out stunners to all and sundry, suggesting that if Randy showed a similar penchant for hitting his finisher in scattergun fashion it could get him even more over.
We already know the WWE title, currently held by John Cena, will be defended against Batista at Over the Limit. So this show featured the two men wrestling in separate matches, with the man who got a win in the quickest time choosing the stipulation for the bout at the PPV.
Batista was due to face The Miz, but he produced a Doctor's note excusing him from action, and instead allowed his NXT rookie Daniel Bryan to face the Animal.
Batista knocked off the former Ring of Honor champ in about five minutes, although Bryan got some reasonable time to shine.
Later, Cena was supposed to wrestle Chris Jericho, but again a scheduled opponent cried off, with this time Jericho's NXT protégé Wade Barrett taking his place.
Cena beat Batista's time, and was about to announce what stipulation he would like, when he was ambushed by Sheamus, who had earlier got in Batista's face and claimed he should be the No1 contender.
With no obvious opponent for the upcoming PPV, Sheamus may well be inserted into the mix to create a Triple Threat by the time we reach Over the Limit.
Our favourite moment from the show, though, was the realisation that Chris Jericho and The Miz look set to be aligned as a Tag Team.
They have title reigns with Big Show in common, and a backstage segment where they compared note on the giant, who moved to Smackdown last week, gave rise to what seems like a uniting of the pair.
You could put forth a very good argument for Jericho and Miz being the best promo guys in the whole of wrestling right now, so a formation of a team is an exciting prospect.
They sat in on commentary to see the current champions, The Hart Foundation, get their hands raised against William Regal and Vladimir Koslov, and attacked them post-match.
There is only really one question to answer. Do we called them JeriMiz or Mizicho? (Credit: The Sun)
Hitman drops WWE future hint - 4th May 2010
Bret Hart has raved about his recent return to the WWE and hinted he may extend his stay with the wrestling promotion.
The Hitman returned for a WrestleMania match with Vince McMahon, but remained as part of their programming in the aftermath of the showpiece event to guide the Hart Dynasty to the tag team titles.
And speaking on the Right After Wrestling show on SIRIUS Radio, Hart said: "I thought I'd be done at WrestleMania, but every week there's something else.
"I don't mind. I'm having fun. The return of The Hitman has been good for me, good for the fans and good for the wrestlers.
"There's been nothing but an upside to it all. I'm pretty happy with it."
Canadian Hart's last appearance for the WWE is scheduled to be on WWE Raw from Toronto on May 17.
And although he insists he does not see himself carrying on after that date, he added: "At the same time I wouldn't rule anything out if I can play a useful role.
"It's not like I'm doing that much these days.
"As long as I'm not on the road every day like I used to be.
"The Monday Night Raw role I've had for the last three months was a lot of fun...and I would do it all over again." (Credit: The Sun)
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Bret Hart has raved about his recent return to the WWE and hinted he may extend his stay with the wrestling promotion.
The Hitman returned for a WrestleMania match with Vince McMahon, but remained as part of their programming in the aftermath of the showpiece event to guide the Hart Dynasty to the tag team titles.
And speaking on the Right After Wrestling show on SIRIUS Radio, Hart said: "I thought I'd be done at WrestleMania, but every week there's something else.
"I don't mind. I'm having fun. The return of The Hitman has been good for me, good for the fans and good for the wrestlers.
"There's been nothing but an upside to it all. I'm pretty happy with it."
Canadian Hart's last appearance for the WWE is scheduled to be on WWE Raw from Toronto on May 17.
And although he insists he does not see himself carrying on after that date, he added: "At the same time I wouldn't rule anything out if I can play a useful role.
"It's not like I'm doing that much these days.
"As long as I'm not on the road every day like I used to be.
"The Monday Night Raw role I've had for the last three months was a lot of fun...and I would do it all over again." (Credit: The Sun)
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