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Dot Net Water Cooler: The last ECW, WWE NXT, and final thoughts on the Elimination Chamber PPV

Posted in: Dot Net Water Cooler

By By Chris Shore and Marvin Hermanstyne
Feb 19, 2010 - 03:26 PM

Chris Shore and Marvin Hermanstyne hang out around the DotNet water cooler and discuss the topics of the week. Today, they discuss the final ECW, the new NXT, and give their final thoughts on the Elimination Chamber PPV.

Shore: Well Marv, we survived the server migration without too many problems, and made it to the final ECW on SyFy. I was really let down by that final hour. What did you think?

Marv: I have to agree with your assessment. When they announced the matches, WWE pretty much made the show predictable. There was no way that ShoMiz was going to lose two nights in a row and Vinnie Mac ensured us that Christian was not going to make history by being the last ECW champion.

Shore: It was also just a flat show. Abe Washington was stupid. Kozlov and Benjamin? Really? The matches were flat. And was an overall bust. Even Tiffany's run-in was lame. And why move the title off of Christian after all he did to make it as legitimate as it had ever been (since the WWE version at least)? I just don't get it.

Marv: I really disliked the direction Christian has been on since his return last year. Sure, he is counting the dollars in WWE compared to his tenure in TNA, but diehard fans like myself need to see him excel on another brand (preferably Smackdown).

Shore: Well, it looks like you diehard fans will be seeing a double dose of Christian each week as he is one of the "pros" paired with "rookies" for the new NXT show. The other "pros" are Chris Jericho. CM Punk, The Miz, Matt Hardy, MVP, R-Truth, and Carlito. What do you think about this line up?

Marv: I expected a mixture of upper mid-card and main event talent outside the big guys, so this works fine with me. Some of the teams could of been different, but this is fine in my book. The FCW guys who were selected for the show were good choices also, but I'm a little surprised about two of the eight guys. Dave Otunga, who basically went from a reality star to an developmental wrestler in a snap and Daniel Byran (Danielson) who is going though this process, even though people know he can wrestle better than most guys on the active WWE roster. Danielson will most likely be the ace of this class because of his experience and working with The Miz should be a interesting highlight of the first season. Otunga on the other hand, I am interested to see because he's working with R-Truth. We all know that Truth can work and is over with the crowd, but how can he contribute to Otunga's development? Otunga has the look (which is obvious), but his personality is not the best in the world.

Shore: I'm not totally surprised by Otunga. As you said, he has the look, and his reality background gives him more of a "character" than most of the other guys. I think Truth is there to help him with his in ring skills. And I also think that Danielson is the ringer in the group. He doesn't really need this, but WWE needs someone to break out of the pack so people can get behind the show, and that's the part Danielson needs to play. The two biggest controversies were the aforementioned pairing of The Miz and Daniel Bryan, and the exclusion of Low-Ki from the roster. What do you think about those?

Marv: I agree that Truth could give him some more ring skills. I've met Otunga on multiple occasions, I even have a picture on Facebook at a party in Chicago. He should do fine working with Truth since it seems that he is getting a minor push on Smackdown. But the pairing of The Miz and Danielson is a head scratcher in my opinion, but it should be some interesting TV for the future. Imagine Danielson debuting and feuding against The Miz, that would be a hell of a feud. Low-Ki not being selected is not surprising given that he has talent, but you know how Vinnie Mac is with small guys. Additionally, I think he has enough talent to be brought straight to the main roster and feud with a guy like Mysterio. It's a dream matchup of cruiserweights, but with Mysterio's health issue, it may raise some red flags if we want to see some fireworks between the two.

Shore: I think the Miz and Danielson matchup is genius. Imagine if Miz can teach Danielson how to talk almost as good as he does, and Danielson could teach Miz to wrestle almost as good as he does...you have two HOF candidates right there. I think Low-Ki goes straight to the main roster and feuds with Rey ASAP. Rey has serious mileage and doesn't have to many more high flying matches left in him. I also think that while NXT needed a ringer, two could have screwed it up bad, so he makes the straight jump and Danielson carries the new show. I think Low-Ki ultimately becomes the Mysterio replacement when the high flying dies out for Rey.

Marv: The Miz for HOF?? You are drinking the AWESOME Kool-Aid a little too fast, my friend. When he gets 3-4 world title reigns, then I will add him to the discussion. But as far as your assessment of Low-Ki and Danielson, I agree. Rey Mysterio is like an Toyota, he's on recall mode and after Mania will be the perfect time to debut Low-Ki and have him feud with Mysterio. It will keep Mysterio out of the title picture because after Mania, most of the major guys will be taking time off to heal. Edge and Jericho will be the storyline of Smackdown now and beyond Mania.

Shore:I didn't say Miz was ready for the HOF now. I said if some of Danielson's ability can rub off on him, you have a HOF caliber star. Miz talks as good as the Edge's and Jericho's right now. He's in the top one percent of talkers. He gets better in the ring, he will have several title runs, and THEN be HOF worthy. Speaking of Edge, the Elimination Chamber PPV is this Sunday. Four matches have been announced: Gail Kim vs. Maryse for the Diva's title, Drew McIntyre vs/ Kane for the Intercontinental Championship, and the two EC matches themselves. My guess is we see one more match added before the show starts. What do you think of the card?

Marv: I was just kidding, I just wanted to throw the "Awesome" word out there because its catchy. But as far as the Elimination Chamber card, its not really important to me because its a throwaway PPV with predictable outcomes. They will probably add one more match on Smackdown or we will get an impromptu match. But a quick prediction of the card are as follows: Sheamus will retain the WWE championship, Jericho will win the world heavyweight championship, McIntyre will retain the IC title to stay undefeated and Maryse will regain the Divas title which will be the throwaway match of the night. I'll watch the show, but unless Jericho wins the belt on Sunday, I'm expecting low buyrates. Is this PPV really worth $44.95?

Shore:This PPV doesn't even look to be worth stealing, let alone buying. I cannot believe that they raised the price on PPVs only to put this on. The card is only partly filled, Morrison appears to be screwed out of his spot, and nobody cares about any of the matches except the Smackdown EC, and then only to see if Jericho wins the title. It has been a long time since they did this poor of a job hyping a PPV, which is saying something because they don't hype PPVs as much as they should to start with. Why is Morrison getting screwed? Why not Truth?

Marv: I have the slightest clue, my friend. This "work" makes him look weak and how do you this when his DVD just went on sale? I think this really hurt him because he people won't take him seriously as a rising star and he is just going to get lost in the mid-card shuffle yet again, sigh. But like I say in the Dot Net forum or Facebook, there is a lot of "political stroke" in WWE and unfortunately, Morrison has to bite the bullet this year. Kofi Kingston suffered last year and look how long it took him to get in a relevant program, late 2009. Truth is very over with the crowd and they aren't going to throw any of the main eventers out, so Morrison pulled the short straw unfortunately.

Shore: With the DVD coming out, it just doesn't make sense to bury a guy. So odd. And so stupid. I hope there is a payoff for this, but I am assuming that "the stroke" will hold him down like you said. As far as my picks, I predict you will have to read my PPV preview this weekend.