Twilling's Blog Twilling's Blog: Some idiot in Denver double booked the Pepsi Center; could this be a blessing in disguise for WWE? By Rich Twilling May 19, 2009 - 01:28 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing Tuesday, MAY 19 – 1:22 PM (CT) -Everything happens for a reason. Everyone has heard the saying. Everyone has most likely uttered those words to somebody about something. Shoot, when my girlfriend broke up with me, the only thing I heard more than, "I didn't want to tell you this before, but I think she would have cheated on you anyway," was, "Everything happens for a reason." Whether you believe the notion or not, it's awfully ironic (and comical) that WWE Raw has a scheduling conflict next week. For those of you who have not heard, WWE Raw, which was slated to take place at the Pepsi Center in Denver next Monday, is in jeopardy of being cancelled or moved because the NBA playoffs are going on, and the Denver Nuggets are hosting my Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals that very night. Oops. Normally, when Vince McMahon overreacts to something, anything, I call him on it. However, I am with him 100% on this one. The Denver Nuggets have not been to the Western Conference Finals since the mid-80s. Not many people expected this season to be any different. However, after an early season trade (robbery) that sent Alan Iverson to the Pistons for Chauncy Billups, the Nuggets' fortunes changed. The point, however, is regardless if we are talking about the Lakers, or the horrible Sacramento Kings, how big of an idiot does it take to double book a building? I can imagine my email box filling up with responses saying, "Yeah, but what are the odds of something like that happening?" Well, the odds are not that good, but damn, it happened. The Nuggets reached the conference finals, the Lakers went to seven games with the Houston Rockets, and now Ric Flair has to share a locker room with Kobe Bryant. Hide your wives Denver fans. Call me crazy, but if I was in charge of the Pepsi Center and the Denver Nuggets, I would not say, "Let's book WWE in mid-May because there probably will not be a conflict." Last night on Raw, WWE took some shots at the Nuggets' owner. He deserved it because he is an idiot. Vince even appeared on ESPN, with former WWE on screen ass-kisser Jonathan Coachman, and stated there was not a lot of confidence in the Nuggets to make it this far in the playoffs given that the Raw was scheduled. Vince was right. Vince has a huge ego. That is obvious. This is another opportunity for him to showcase his ego to an audience that rarely gets to see it. Despite Vince usually coming across as overly cocky, how can anyone not agree with him here? This is a very big mistake. I guarantee the people at the Staples Center in Los Angeles would not encounter this problem, and if they did schedule an event (boxing) during the NBA playoffs, they would have been in contact with the NBA to make sure doubling booking the venue would not be a possibility. As I am writing this, Vince plans to show up in Denver next week ready to broadcast Raw. Let's be real; there is no way game four of the NBA Western Conference Finals is going to be moved. I suppose they could move to another venue (and cash in on a hefty settlement down the road). They could also take a week off. Everything happens for a reason. Raw needs a week off. Maybe this whole thing is a huge blessing in disguise. Hopefully batteries get recharged and ideas start flowing again. I must say though, as a Lakers fan, I would be very scared to see Shane McMahon in a Nuggets uniform on Monday night. Monday, MAY 18 – 6:46 PM (CT) -Last night, the WWE Judgment Day pay-per-view was looking like a very good show four matches and one in ring segment into the show. Umaga defeated Chicago's own CM Punk in a very good opening match. Christian retained the ECW Championship against Jack Swagger in another strong match. John Morrison looked great as a babyface while defeating Shelton Benjamin. Immediately following Morrison's victory, The Miz had the usually inevitable task of trying to get over in an in-ring promo on a pay-per-view. Not only was he successful, but for some, he was the highlight of the show. The usually entertaining Santino Marella was anything but and Miz came out looking like a star. The fourth match of the night was predictably very good with Rey Mysterio defeating Chris Jericho to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Excluding Santino, the nine men I just referred to were responsible for a very good to great pay-per-view up to this point. More important, none of the nine are regular main eventers. Sure, Jericho has been in and out of the main event picture, as has Mysterio (to a lesser extent), but these four matches and Miz's promo was a fantastic example of WWE having the personnel to create new (different) main event stars. The next two matches were the Raw main event and Raw co-main event. Batista defeated Randy Orton by disqualification in a match I probably praised more than most (or all). Of course, Ric Flair made his return to WWE, but he was not met with the huge pop WWE was hoping for. With the speculation that Flair will get back into the ring, it is pretty safe to assume Flair will be teaming with Batista and Triple H to face Legacy sometime down the road. With Flair being in his 60s, Batista, H, and Orton being main event stalwarts, and Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes being role players, this is hardly going to build new stars. Moving on, a very "injured" John Cena faced Big Show, who apparently weighs somewhere between 430 and 485 pounds (thanks Michael Cole). Show dominated the fifteen minute match completely with brief glimpses of hope for Cena and his fans. Of course, like we've seen a million times, Cena hit the Attitude Adjuster and won the match. Where does Show go from here? Where does Cena go from here? Last night on the post show audio, Jason Powell and I could not figure out what was next for Cena. I was (and am) 100% behind a Cena vs. Miz program that results in PPV matches with Miz winning one or more. Powell thought maybe Cena would move into a program with Orton until Triple H comes back. Even though he wouldn't like to see it, he was probably right. My question to WWE is: how do you expect to have new stars if you don't take a few risks? If Miz is put into a program with Cena, it could be seen as risky by some, but damn, I think it is more risky to head down the same road again (and again and again). WWE may not remember this, but they took a risk at the Backlash pay-per-view in 2003. Brock Lesnar had just won the WWE Championship from Kurt Angle. Lesnar defended the title at that PPV against an unproven and first time main eventer. His name? John Cena. HELP SUPPORT DOT NET! BECOME A MEMBER AT OUR CHARTER RATE OF JUST $5 A MONTH - GET THE FIRST LOOK AT EXCLUSIVE INSIDER DOT NET NEWS, TONS OF EXCLUSIVE AUDIO SHOWS, MESSAGE BOARD ACCESS, START YOUR OWN BLOG, AD-FREE MAIN LISTING: SIGN ME UP (or MORE INFO) GOT AN IPHONE OR IPOD TOUCH? THEN BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD OUR NEW FREE iPhone APP: (click here!) (or SEARCH "pro wrestling" in iTunes App Store) FOR MORE BREAKING WWE & TNA NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE PWTORCH.COM (click here!) FOR MORE MMA & UFC NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE MMATORCH.COM (click here!) CLICK TO RETURN TO DOT NET MAIN LISTING OR SELECT A LINK BELOW FROM THIS CATEGORY Twilling's Blog Latest Twelve Articles Twilling's Blog: If you haven't heard yet, Hulk Hogan has signed with TNA and that is a good thing Twilling's Blog: Looking at Shane McMahon leaving WWE, Nigel McGuinness going to TNA, where the best place for Nigel and Bryan Danielson is Twilling's Blog: Less is more; why the WWE Raw guest host gimmick is watering down the overall product Twilling's Blog: Did Chris Jericho make the Tag Team Championships so relevant that DX finally wants them? Twilling's Blog: Was Hulk Hogan's 80s run as bad as John Cena's current run? What was different about the times and why Chris Jericho is so valuable Twilling's Blog: Why are the fans accepting decent as good or great? Why finding the next Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin or The Rock cannot be forced