Wednesday, APRIL 29 – 2:36 PM (CT)

-After watching ECW and listening to Christian tell the fans that winning the ECW Championship was the greatest moment of his career, I cringed at the thought that WWE refuses to acknowledge certain history. Of course, since the empire was able to purchase many video libraries, some pieces of wrestling history is fair game to talk about, even though WWE has put their spin on everything.

Christian's statement got me to thinking about a few things. First of all, would it kill WWE to refer to him as a former world champion? They do not have to ever mention the letters "TNA," but I would think referring to someone on your roster as a former world champion would make that particular wrestler and WWE in general look stronger for having him (or her).

Years ago when kayfabe was alive and well, the WWF would often refer to Adrian Adonis as a former tag team partner of Jesse "The Body" Ventura. This was very odd at the time because Adonis and Ventura teamed together in the AWA but never in the WWF. In fact, that is the only time I can recall something like that happening until many lines were blurred in 1991/92, when Ric Flair brought the big gold belt to the WWF.

Back to Christian, I guess I can overlook the omission that he is a former world champion. However, his statement really bothered me because I thought to myself, "Is this the best WWE has planned for him?" I hope not, but let's face it, Christian is not a main event level talent to those who matter in WWE. While we could see him work main events with or against Edge, I would be very surprised to see him win one of the two major WWE Championships.

Anyone that listens to Dot Net Weekly on any kind of a regular basis knows I am a huge fan of Christian. In fact, I have gone as far to say I prefer Christian to Edge, and that is not a slight on Edge. I think Edge has earned and deserves everything he has. However, I just think Christian is a more complete and better overall superstar.

Calling a spade a spade, while the ECW Championship is (probably) the third most prestigious title in WWE and some would even consider it a "world championship," the ECW Title has been put on wrestlers that will most likely never win the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship. Matt Hardy, Mark Henry, Chavo Guerrero, and Kane were all very good ECW Champions, but none of them would ever win one of the two big titles. Please, no emails about how Kane was WWE Champion for a day back in 1998.

So, the problem I have with Christian winning the title and the announcers making comments like, "His comeback is complete now," means that Christian may suffer the same fate as the four names I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Granted, it is inevitable he will work a program with Edge, but will Christian ever be presented as a legit main event talent in WWE? I doubt it, but I hope I'm wrong. Nothing against the current ECW Championship, but Christian deserves better than this.

Tuesday, APRIL 28 – 10:36 AM (CT)

-I have two personal notes before I dive into the wrestling aspect of this blog. First of all, today is my Grandmother's birthday. She passed away on Christmas Day 2007 and would have been 87 years old today. Secondly, thank you to everyone who sent along get well wishes stemming from my accident. I feel fortunate that a concussion was the worst of my injuries. If you listened to the WWE Backlash post show audio with Jason and I, you know I was much more coherent than my infamous "cold medicine" episode of Dot Net Weekly.

-Sunday's Backlash pay-per-view produced matches and finishes that many felt should have taken place at WrestleMania 25. Most notably, Triple H and John Cena lost their matches (and their championships). On top of that, they were both taken out of the arena on stretchers. I would never wish for someone to get injured, but the "Goodbye song" chants directed at Triple H should have woken up the brass in WWE.

Triple H is a valuable member of the roster. However, while he does deserve his spot on the card, he could be used so much more effectively than he is. It is amazing that in a world where kayfabe is all but dead, wrestlers still "need" wins more than other wrestlers do. Randy Orton has been one of the three best heels in the business (Chris Jericho and Edge being the other two) and he needed to win at WrestleMania. Of course, he lost.

I cannot pinpoint exactly when it happened, but Triple H and John Cena do not need to win in order to keep their main event standing with the audience. A victory (and the post match footage) for Orton at WrestleMania would have been priceless (no pun intended). Instead, the fans took a shit all over the finish that saw Triple H retain the WWE Championship. Granted, Orton looks pretty damn strong right now and honestly, I don't know who to credit for that, so I'll say Orton himself, but nonetheless, he would have benefited very much from a WrestleMania victory.

Case in point: Triple H lost the title at WrestleMania XX, 21, and lost championship matches as a challenger at 22 and XXIV. Despite these losses, Triple H is still the top guy, or one of them, in the company. If it makes sense, I would not mind seeing him win the championship, but it did not make any sense this time around. If WWE is reluctant to turn one of their biggest stars into the star, what hope do the upper mid card guys have?

I was curious to see if someone would emerge as a potential new top guy last night and frankly, two people stepped up. MVP and Ted DiBiase are two stars that many people feel could be (or should be) main eventing. Granted, they gave away a MVP vs. Randy Orton match that served as a backdrop for Shane McMahon, but the important factor remains that MVP was involved in the opening promo segment, and he had a match with Orton. That is progress right there.

DiBiase stepped up as the guy who wants to take out MVP. That is solid booking. For weeks, Jason and I both have been wondering when DiBiase and Cody Rhodes were going to develop personalities of their own as opposed to simply being Orton's minions. A feud between MVP and DiBiase will hopefully lead to a pay-per-view match and television main event. Said program should elevate both guys.

Vince McMahon has said on more than one occasion that the fans dictate what the creative team does. While that has been true in the past (Batista, instead of Randy Orton, vs. Triple H at WrestleMania 21), lately, that statement could not be further from the truth. I do not want to see Cena and/or Triple H disappear forever. They both belong in high profile positions, however, they can keep their spots while elevating others to a similar level. That is the progression that has been the staple of wrestling as far back as it goes. Current stars make new stars. Well, the current stars need to start doing so and perhaps Sunday night was the beginning. Stay tuned.

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