Uh-oh - It's one of THOSE Wrestlemanias!

Hello there.

It looks like WWE is continuing the tradition that I've found they've been following since Wrestlemania 16 where every other Wrestlemania is pretty bad with a few good matches.

If you need me to break that down for you I will.

OK, I was doing a little thinking because lately the news in wrestling has been stale and there hasn't been anything to really talk about so I thought about this year's Wrestlemania and I was thinking it's shaping up to be another one of THOSE Wrestlemanias.

If you've noticed, pretty much every other Wrestlemania since Wrestlemania 16 has been a lackluster event. Here's my logic:

• Wrestlemania 15 was a great event with a great feud going into it and a great Main Event.
• Wrestlemania 16 was a terrible event. It felt like a glorified Judgment Day Pay Per View instead of Wrestlemania! This stands in history as the only Wrestlemania to not have a classic one on one singles match! The closest it came was The Kat vs. Terri in a "Cat Fight". The matches that saved this show was the Triangle Ladder Match for the Tag Team Championship and Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho. Excellent matches.
• Wrestlemania 17 - One of the greatest Wrestlemanias of all time.
• Wrestlemania 18 was a good one but certainly not one of the best. It had Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock but other than that it was a stale Wrestlemania. The lowest point of it had Booker T and Edge feuding over a fake Japanese hair endorsement. That and Maven from Tough Enough actually competed on it.
• Wrestlemania 19 was a fantastic Wrestlemania emanating from Safeco Field. One of my favorites of all time.
• Wrestlemania 20 was a good one. I was there for it and I'd hate to say it but it wasn't the best Wrestlemania of all time. Only good match really was the Triple Threat Main Event. Honorable mention goes to Kurt Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero and The Rock N' Sock Connection vs. Evolution.
• Wrestlemania 21 - Wrestlemania goes Hollywood. Another one of my all time favorites!!!
• Wrestlemania 22 was terrible. Nothing about it got me excited except John Cena vs. Triple H and Mick Foley vs. Edge.
• Wrestlemania 23 was a fantastic Wrestlemania! ANOTHER one of my favorites of all time!

Can you follow my logic now? That was exhausting to write out that history!

This year's Wrestlemania truly IS shaping up to be "one of those". The build for this year's 'Mania has been pretty bad. There's only three matches I really want to see: Money in the Bank, Undertaker vs. Edge and Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels. The rest is really hit or miss.

The build for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show match has been horrible. The feud itself has gone over like a fart in a windstorm. It's really bad and the audience isn't responding at all. Floyd Mayweather isn't getting paid $20 Million but he is getting a substantial amount of money to appear at Wrestlemania and he can't even appear on any of the shows to promote the match. It's always "Live via Satellite" or some crap with him. Big Show is carrying this feud and he won't get any payoff from it. Are we really supposed to believe that a 150 pound boxer can beat a 450 pound wrestler like the Big Show? I feel bad for Show - first Akebono now Floyd Mayweather. What's worse is that Mayweather can't even talk. He keeps getting bitched out by the Big Show! Oh, now there's a guy I want to see go over! I can really get behind him!! (Note the sarcasm). Pathetic.

One match I am looking forward to seeing is Batista vs. Umaga (or U-man-ga) in a battle for brand supremacy. However the build for this match has been terrible at best. It's really just been relegated to one minute backstage segments and one Umaga squash match. This should be a big deal match, especially because it's for the supremacy of RAW and Smackdown. Maybe WWE is realizing that the lines between the two brands is almost invisible. Oh, and last time I checked wasn't ECW a brand too?! Oh yeah, WWE doesn't care about that. It should be a Triple Threat Match with CM Punk but according to Joey Styles, ECW isn't going to have a presence at Wrestlemania. ECW doesn't have a presence anyway - who's he kidding?

How about that vomit inducing storyline between JBL and Finlay? All August we kept hearing Mr. McMahon has an illegitimate son. We even have a lawyer from the mother of the bastard WWE Superstar appear to tell us the bastard of Vince McMahon's loins is the midget leprechaun Hornswoggle. Months later (after many terrible segments) we find out from JBL that Hornswoggle isn't Vince's son - he's FINLAY'S!! Oh wow what a swerve on us!!! (Sarcasm) Next week Finlay comes out and admits it's true and he's proud of it and then JBL attacks Hornswoggle while Finlay fakes caring. That whole segment invalidated a half a years worth of a storyline. If Finlay knew the whole time why did he allow this to happen? What would be the reason for Vince's family to trick him like that? That would ruin their inheritance. Nothing of this storyline makes sense. It's way too complicated for wrestling. This is very reminiscent of the hideous "Custody of Dominick" storyline from the Summer of 2005. How horrible was that?! A ladder match for the custody of a small child. That was a terrible storyline. So is this one. I know I'll be seeing this on Online World of Wrestling's Hall of Shame for 2008. Hopefully the match will be good.

How about this for looking bleak - The Triple Threat Main Event for the WWE Championship. Hopefully if WWE is smart (unlike last year) they'll put Undertaker vs. Edge as the Main Event and put this as the Co-Main Event because Undertaker has a tendency for stealing the show, especially at Wrestlemania. I don't know why but this feud doesn't really seem to have any real heat going into it. It doesn't feel like a Wrestlemania Main Event, which is odd because it has three huge superstars. I guess I'm just not really behind this match because I'd rather have seen Triple H vs. John Cena. Oh well can't get what you want all the time I guess. They need to do something big for this match and quick!

I really hope I'm wrong about Wrestlemania XXIV but I have a sneaking suspicion I'm not.

Until next time, wrestling fans.

Introducing myself and thoughts on WWE's ECW (or WWECW)

Hello there.

Welcome to Behind The Barricade, my blog.

Who am I? I'm Mike Tedesco - a wrestling fan for as long as I can remember. I started watching wrestling at a very young age. I've attended numerous wrestling events all around the Tri-State area. I've attended many RAWs (I was there when Bischoff debuted and when Kane unmasked) and Smackdowns (I was there for the ill-fated Al Wilson funeral, unfortunately). I've attended shows for many local promotions, even an NWA event down in Wildwood, NJ. I was there at WrestleMania XX and Summerslam 2007 - I even sat front row at King of the Ring 2001! If you have the video I'm dead center in the ring wearing the red shirt and black hat, right in front of the legendary Tye Dye Guy.

I also run a Fantasy Wrestling website with my friends. If you'd like to join up with that I'll be sure to post when we'll be starting another season. In addition to that I'm a well of useless wrestling knowledge.

Having watched wrestling for so long and surfing the "dirt sheet" websites and reading columns written by fellow wrestling fans it's only natural that I'd want to follow in that trend and post my opinions for the world to see.

OK, now that I've clarified my wrestling credentials, we can get on with this.

Behind The Barricade begins NOW.

So what should be my first discussion? That's a tough question. Whatever I discuss first will be the first impression you people get of me and a first impression is a lasting impression... or so I've learned from selling cars.

OK, for my first column I'm going to discuss what went wrong with Vince McMahon's version of ECW. I know, I know. It's a topic that's been discussed over and over again by many wrestling journalists but dammit this is my blog and I want to get my opinions on it out there.

There's numerous points I'd like to bring up on why I play "Funeral For A Friend" on my piano every time I watch ECW but first I'll offer a brief history of how this ECW came into fruition.

It all started in 2004 when WWE produced the documentary "The Rise and Fall of ECW", probably one of the best DVDs they've ever come out with that isn't a Pay Per View. It sold like hotcakes and if I'm not mistaken it's still one of the best selling wrestling DVDs that has ever been produced. That showed Vince that there is an audience out there that still loves ECW and would want to see it back.

McMahon took the cue and BAM - we have an ECW reunion show titled "ECW: One Night Stand" in 2005. What a show it was! I still remember like it was yesterday racing to my friend's house just to see it (I'm too cheap to buy an actual Pay Per View, but that's another column). Awesome show even with WWE trying to throw it's stars in there and, from my understanding, it did awesome buyrates - probably beyond what WWE was expecting.

Towards the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 there were rumblings on the Internet community that ECW was going to come back and get a TV deal. Finally we'd have our ECW back! Our ECW that TNN robbed us of before ECW went bankrupt.

June 2006 comes and we have ECW: One Night Stand Part II. It didn't quite capture the magic of the previous year in my opinion but we now had confirmation that ECW had a TV deal on the Sci Fi channel and Rob Van Dam was WWE Champion.

Everyone expected RVD to do on the first episode what Shane Douglas did in 1994 with the NWA Title - throw it down and declare himself ECW Champion. That would have been awesome and I completely understand why WWE ultimately vetoed that idea but if Vince McMahon was really committed to seeing ECW succeed, why wouldn't he take a chance and allow ECW to make a statement by separating itself from RAW and Smackdown and truly become a separate entity? That was the WWE's first mistake fatal mistake.

The second happening that would ultimately lead to ECW failing was all at the fault of Rob Van Dam and Sabu. RVD, WWE Champion AND ECW Champion, and Sabu, ECW icon, were arrested for Marijuana possession. McMahon, understandably so, was pissed and that Monday's RAW RVD lost the WWE Championship to Edge in a Triple Threat Match also involving John Cena and the next night on ECW he lost the ECW Championship to The Big Show, of all people. Van Dam was then suspended for 30 days and Sabu stayed. What would follow over the next 30 days that RVD was gone were unbelievably terrible title defenses with Big Show facing off against Sabu, the highlight of their terrible feud being at Summerslam 2006. I believe Paul Heyman even dressed up as a purple gorilla during this feud and interfered in a match dressed as such. I'm not kidding.

The next dismal failure of ECW was the unfortunate December To Dismember. It did what it was intended to - completely dismember any hope the fans had of ECW coming back. The undercard, with the exception of The Hardyz vs. MNM, was atrocious. Absolutely unbearable. Then the Main Event - The EXTREME Elimination Chamber. The only thing extreme about that match was how horrible it was. You had Sabu taken out of the match and replaced with the hack Hardcore Holly. The match didn't even have a chance to succeed. You had the fan favorite CM Punk, who was undefeated at the time, being the first one eliminated and then shortly after that Test - yes, the same Test who Mick Foley lambastes in all of his books - eliminates Rob Van Dam. Then Bobby Lashley comes out, tears through everyone in about two minutes and wins the ECW Championship in one of the final straws the broke the camel's back in the eyes of the true fans. This was the Pay Per View that led to Paul Heyman leaving the WWE, sealing ECW's fate.

Since then we've seen Vince McMahon of all people win the ECW Championship, the emergence of the New Breed led by the extremely sloppy Elijah Burke, Johnny Nitro change his name to John Morrison in one of the biggest "WHY?" moments of 2007 and CM Punk get jobbed over and over again and his title run never given the proper due it deserved. How much worse can it get? Paul Heyman deep down must really be upset.

A few weeks ago, The Sun posted an interview with Paul Heyman and in it he discussed what he originally wanted to happen in the Main Event of December To Dismember and if McMahon didn't disagree with it the show would have actually been really good!

That's what makes me think that Vince McMahon, the genius promoter who brought WWE from being a regionally based promotion to a global phenomenon, only brought back ECW because he wanted to vanquish the ECW chants that would occur after a tremendous spot at all the events. He succeeded. I hear no more ECW chants. A sad reminder of that was when I was watching ECW last night and Tommy Dreamer was pounding on his chest to get fans to chant ECW and you couldn't hear a thing. "If the fans want ECW I'll give them MY ECW or they won't get it at all!" is what I can imagine Vince saying. I'd rather not have it.

How do you fix ECW? How do you fix something that is this broken?

I truly believe that you can't. It seems to me that WWE doesn't even want to fix it. They're content with ECW being a show like Heat, only televised. The ECW Championship means absolutely nothing - if it did Chavo Guerrero, ECW Champion, wouldn't have been in the Royal Rumble match. I call it the European Championship because that was another title that was viewed as a joke.

The only way to save ECW is for it to lose it's TV deal and go quietly into the sunset and let those fans of the original ECW keep whatever memories they have left of what it was like in the good ol' days.

Of course that won't happen.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my first column. Please feel free to shoot me some feedback - if you think it was good, if you agree or disagree. Anything would be a big help in helping me make this column be the best it can possibly be.

Until next time, wrestling fans.