Wrestling TV thoughts

So given the fact that I am in training obviously I watch a lot of wrestling.

A lot.

I know some folks around me may get tired of that amount of wrestling they intake on a weekly basis (not naming any names like Mrs. Envi or anything), but it's what I do.

My week consists of :

Sun-AAA on Galavision
Mon-Raw
Tues-ECW
Wed-(open until XCW gets back on MavTV)
Thurs-Impact
Fri-Smackdown
Sat-Ring of Honor on HDnet

And that's not counting the DVD watching I do during the week, though it has slowed as of late. AAA I am just getting into recently though I do need Mrs. Envi around for translation so I can follow the show beyond the action in the ring.

Raw is a show I used to like and look foward to watching but now is crappy show in my eyes. Far too much backstage shananigans, the promos are too long and the matches are too short. The consensus of all the reports I have read is that Vince sees the show as needing to be more entertainment driven. And he sees it as the "A" show and devotes his time and attentiong to that and his roster of HHH, Randy, Cena and Show in the main event scene. That is fine with me.
Why's that? Because it leaves shows like ECW and Smackdown to be driven by wrestling.

I like many old school ECW marks was excited at the thought of ECW coming back to TV after the second one night stand. And then I like many was disgusted when seeing the initial offerings of this WWECW. I was pissed and pissed for a while. But I just came to the realization the old school ECW is dead and this WWECW is being used to groom new talent and then move them on to the other shows. It's worked for Miz, Morrison, Punk, etc. So I like in that regard. ECW of old gave us hardcore shit yeah but it also gave us great technical wrestling and was the debut of many of the stars we came to enjoy in WCW and WWE.

Impact used to be good back in the day. I remember when it was an hour, man you knew you were getting at least a good match out of the X-Division every single show. Then it moved to two hours, started bringing in former WCW/WWE talent and things changed. I am not saying they have been useless or they are washed up or can't contribute, it's just how they are used and how they are pushing down homegrown talent. That's my issue. AJ is a friggan two-time triple crown winner and he is pushing a fake belt when he should be in the thick of it for the heavyweight belt. Daniels too. I understand that Jarrett founded the company and did a lot for it, but damn I am sick of seeing him in the main event seen. I want new, fresh on my TV. Impact was supposed to be the alternative to Vince's shit. The few redeeming spots for me on impact are tag team wrestling with an actual tag team division, the Amazing Red and the Knockouts, women that actually wrestle and have ample talent and not just ample fake assets.

Smackdown has been the best source of WWE wrestling. It's straight forward good wrestling and I like that.

ROH on HDnet I had been waiting for. I love ROH from what I have seen. I won't say I am a rabid hardcore fan like some. I know I have a lot of catch up work to do on my DVD collections, but I am glad they have a show for more people to see it. I have been on the boards and seen the talk of how the show has changed since Gabe left and blah blah. But I like the show. It was a bit rough at first, but I think they have hit their stride and are consistently providing some great matches. It will be interesting to see how they balance TV continuity with suspending PPVs and the other live shows they run. The only thing ROH did bad recently to me was the whole deal with Flair and his ambassador role which I think was some of the dumbest shit. The guy looked bored, looked like he didn't want to be there and could barely remember the name of talent. On interview segments he basically put himself over the whole time. It just wasn't cool. If you believe the sheets it was supposed to be a way in for Reid Flair to wrestle in ROH but then he got busted for heroin and all. So that fucked that up and thus left Flair with no reason to stay there and to go back to the 'E.

So those are my wrestling TV thoughts (man that is a weak concluding sentence) I'll be posting those in addition to my tales of training and my lumps and bruises as I make my way to the XCW ring.