For me, when everything is right in the world of sports entertainment there's no better television than professional wrestling.
It has all the things that appeal to me as a TV viewer: Great characters, a little comedy and good rasslin'. The current WWE product hasn't hooked me back into its wellbaby-oiled clutches, but there is some promise. The problem is, I also subscribe to WWE 24/7 and amreminded monthly why I fell in love with wrestling some 30years ago.
Be that as it may, tonight the WWE is offering up one of its bigger events of the year in the form of SummerSlam.
And the lead up to this year's card - mistakenly called Summerfest by RAW guest host Jeremy Piven - has sprinkled a little of those three key ingredients into the show.
Will it be a tasty summer stew of violence and intrigue or just another wrestling show that fails to connect with the fans and their tightening wallets?
Personally, I'm saving my PPV dollars for UFC 102 on Saturday. But here's a quick look at the 22nd annual summer sensation:
◊World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk in a tables, ladders and chairs title match: One of thethings the WWE is doing right is the build for this match.
Punk and Hardy have helped make Friday night's Smackdown show the best WWE TV has to offer.
Punk's straightedge arrogance makes him a great
modern-day wrestling bad
guy. These
two shouldsteal the show and probably crack afew bones. It's rumored that Hardy will be taking a leave of absence soon so it probably means he loses the title.
◊WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. John Cena: I don't care for either one of these guys. Nothing personal, they just don't appeal to me. Should be a fine match, but these two are a bit overexposed.
◊Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. vs. D-Generation X: Legacy got the better of DX on Monday so anything other than Shawn Michaels and Triple H beating the snot out of these two would be a surprise. Michaels superkicking children and foreigners in the lead up to this match put a smile on my otherwise sad face. Do I care about the match or the feud? Not really.
But I like HBK, so there ya go.
◊WWE Tag Team Champions Chris Jericho and BigShow vs. Cryme Tyme: Jericho is another one of the WWE guys I love to watch. And he and Big Show as a team are growing on me. I'm not a fan of Cryme Tyme. I don't like the way they work and I hate the way they spell.
◊ECW Champion Christian vs. William Regal: For old-school fans, this actually could be a good match. As long as they give them some time to rassle.
◊MVP vs. Jack Swagger: Technically, should be an OK match, but I'm not sure too many people care.
◊Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler: OK that has to be the most awful name in wrestling right now. Seriously, the best the WWE writing team brain trust can come up with is Dolph Ziggler? In the history of terrible WWE names - Mantar, Duke the Dumpster Droese, Aldo Montoya the Portuguese Man O' War - this is one of the worst.
And the guy stuck with the name is actually a pretty good worker. Maybe the WWE can shorten it like they did for Triple H. How about Super Dolphler or D-Ziggy? It worked for Puff Daddy, sort of.
◊Kane vs. The Great Khali: This could be the pro wrestling equivalent of two trees falling into each other. Enjoy!
UFC 102 bringing the pain to Portland
I like what Saturday's UFC card brings to the table - lots of hard hitters.
The main event features UFC legend Randy Couture against Antonio RodrigoNogueira. Both are coming off respective losses to UFC 100 main eventers Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, but their stories are a little different.
Couture hung with Lesnar and showed he still has a lot left in the tank. Nogueira, who had suffered a staph infection before his fight with Mir, looked sluggish. There's nothing flashy about these two fighters and I expect nothing short of a war.
The winner of this could be in line for a shot at heavyweight title in 2010. It was announced this week that Lesnar will defend his title against the undefeated Shane Carwin at UFC 106 in November. Carwin has publicly stated he doesn't care for Lesnar or his post-match antics after UFC 100. Lesnar has also made it clear he doesn't like people who don't like Lesnar.
Should Couture and Lesnar win their respective fights, I think a rematch between the two would do big business.
Rounding out Saturday's card are potential slugfests between Keith Jardine and Thiago Silva and the always scrappy Chris Leben and Jake Rosholt. Nate Marquardt is one of my favorite fighters to watch and should have a good fight with Demian Maia. The under card also features Brandon Vera vs. Krzysztof Soszynski and Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Chris Tuchscherer.
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Chad Eiler is a page designer for the Benton County Daily Record and was never known as the Fresh Prince of Bella Vista. The opinions are those of the writer.
Entertainment, Pages 9 on 08/23/2009