One of my recent consistent criticisms of the WWE has been the fact that lack a long term plan for any aspect of their programming. Since the arrival of Don Callis and Scott D'Amore we have seen a massive change in the creative direction of the company as they have shown a heavy reliance on having longer term plans for top talent specifically which helps keep momentum high and allows there to be a flow between feuds for talent. Also if one person is heavily featured for 6 months to a year it isn't a big deal if they disappear for a little while, because this allows the company to focus on other talent. From his days in the WWE it was clear that Johnny has always been comfortable as a heel then as baby face, because he comes off as a cookie cutter good guy. But as heel I feel like Johnny comes as a more natural and is a more effective heel. Overall story lines that include crooked referees are always tougher to do because everyone compares it to the "Montreal Screwjob," but comparing this to other crooked ref angles I think they did a great job making this seem different and getting more proper heat on Johnny & Taya as well as making people want to see Brian Cage win the title even more.
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It is pretty rare that I actually bring this series to a specific section, but I figured it'd be a nice change of pace for the series. As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Also sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below.
Starting out as a radio broadcaster hosting a show called "Wrestling Insiders" where he would interview wrestlers Jesse Ventura, Jim Cornette, and Sting. It was his work on the show that netted him a job with World Championship Wrestling. Mike Tenay's first announcing job with WCW was as one of the many announcers to work the legendary When Worlds Collide event specifically working with Chris Crusie during the Guerrero/Barr vs Hijo Del Santo/Octagon contest. To start Mike would mostly be seen on the B-Shows like WCW Worldwide and Saturday Night and would occasionally be a guest announcer during luchadore matches on PPV.
Tenay would move up to Monday Nitro and would be able to fully put on display his vast knowledge of the wrestling business, wrestling history, and maneuvers getting the nickname of the "Professor" from his knowledge. Following the debut of Thunder after seeing the announce team pull double duties the company chose to switch things up. Tenay would become the lead announcer of WCW Thunder alongside of Larry Zbyzsko after the change. The change would be short lived though as the company would bring Tony Schiavone back to Thunder in December. Following the closure of WCW in 2001, it was a while before we saw Mike Tenay back in the booth for a wrestling program. Upon the arrival of NWA-TNA it wasn't long before Mike would join the booth to become the lead announcer for the company. To start Mike would click with color commentator Don West who he would partner with for years until he was replaced by Tazz. The one constant through the years even with all the ups and downs that TNA has gone through over the years until he was relieved of his duties and moved back into a different role with the company. When Impact made the change from Spike to Destination America they would give the company a fresh voice in the announce booth with Josh Matthews taking over the lead announce duties. In 2016 while appearing on the Ross Report Mike would announce that he quietly departed TNA Wrestling and is currently retired from professional wrestling. One interesting and fitting note is that Mike Tenay serves on the board of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. With a lot of different things going on and getting in the way we are finally getting back on track with my list of Top 10 Wrestlers from the previous twelve months. At this point we have been focused on mostly top WWE talent and with Wrestlemania taking the focus away from the list. Now we shift our focus back our list but on the honorable mention side of things with a top star in Impact Wrestling. Since the most recent rebirth of Impact Wrestling one name has risen through the muck was Eddie Edwards. With the arrival of Don Callis and Scott D'Amore the company shifted booking philosophies to a more long term booking approach almost like a seasonal story arch for a television show.
Edwards would begin a year long feud very early on in 2018 against Ohio Versus Everything (Sami Callihan, Jake & Dave Crist). This would be the most brutal, back and forth feud in recent memory and it displayed perfectly the change in philosophy for Impact Wrestling. The story arch of Eddie saw layer after layer added to the feud starting with Tommy Dreamer and then his partnership with Moose would be revisited. I said this a few months ago that I never thought that Eddie Edwards could pull off such a gimmick, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well he pulled it off. Overall Eddie has played a massive part in helping Impact find some stable ground to rebuild the promotion on. At this point I have been a fan of Eddie Edwards for over a decade and in seeing the progression of his career I think he has finally been able to put everything together. I do think that Eddie could become a World Champion at some point especially after signing a new multi-year contract with Impact Wrestling. |
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January 2022
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