Goodbye, Michael

I don't post about The Office much anymore, and it's not at the soaring heights of its second and third seasons, but I've still never missed an episode, and it was still hard to see Steve Carell leave the show last night.

Indeed.

PANDERING

So here are my thoughts on the 2011 WWE Draft (Lottery) as requested by Ontario's own Amanda.

On the RAW babyface side...

Teasing John Cena going to Smackdown, talking it up for nearly two hours, and then pulling it back at the last minute reeks of "Haha, you smart marks, that'll show you" booking. It doesn't make me angry, but it's a prime example of WWE focusing on stupid things that seem to be on the show to amuse themselves rather than to get someone over or sell a pay per view. I actually really would have liked to see Cena on Smackdown, interacting with a lot of new characters.

Rey Mysterio to RAW I actually really like, especially swapping him for Sin Cara. Rey as the number two babyface on the brand is a great spot for him considering his injuries, and if they want to do an occasional super-team with he and Cena I think that would be a lot of fun. One thing I was hoping for was, after he was "drafted", to have he and Sin Cara team up to take on Slater and Gabriel, or really any two heels. The masked men would do their big spots, win impressively, then IMMEDIATELY have Sin Cara drafted to Smackdown, which was the end result anyway. This way you tease a great new team and have people actually wanting to see them together, which you give them down the line. And Sin Cara on Smackdown, given that it's a taped show, just makes sense while he's still getting the hang of the size of the WWE ring and working with real ropes as opposed to cables.

Big Show is a lateral move, and he's allowed to be on both brands right now as half of the tag team champions.

Kofi over to RAW is tough, because he already wasn't getting pushed on Smackdown, where there's less depth. I don't know what he did or who doesn't like him, but he's woefully underutilized.

Chris Masters to RAW is meaningless.

JTG to RAW is meaningless.

Beth Phoenix seems to be coming over to RAW to set up whatever they're going to do with the incoming Kharma (Amazing/Awesome Kong), so they seem to at least have an idea behind it, which is a positive.

Kelly Kelly moving over is probably good for her, as she's very likable and seems to have star potential in some capacity.

On the RAW heel side...

Alberto Del Rio coming over is a big deal for him and possibly disastrous for The Miz, as he seems poised to take the top spot. He's just more impressive than The Miz in almost every way, and a big part of it is that I believe that he's a bad ass who can back up his talk. Miz is not very imposing, nor does he ever do anything particularly clever, and to be an effective heel, you kind of need at least one of the two. ADR versus Cena is a program I can actually get myself revved up to watch, whereas I'm begging for Cena versus Miz to end already.

Jack Swagger to RAW seems kind of pointless as he's mostly been utilized as Michael Cole's stooge and thus was often on RAW to begin with. Add to that, Cole commentates on both shows. Will we continue to see Swagger on both brands? If so, why move him in the first place?

Drew McIntyre's switch to RAW I see as the heel version of Kofi Kington. He wasn't doing all that well on Smackdown and RAW is a bigger league. He did have a budding romance story going with Kelly Kelly on the old brand, so perhaps they'll follow up on it here and give them both something to do. Probably not.

Tyler Reks to RAW. Didn't even know what brand he was on to begin with as he never appears on TV. Meaningless.

On the Smackdown babyface side...

Randy Orton joins the brand and is immediately in the top spot, something he really couldn't lay claim to while sharing a show with John Cena. Maybe this will light a fire under Randy as he's been killing me lately with his promos and his matches. It does immediately marginalize Christian, but hopefully it will just lead to him going heel and feuding with Orton on top.

I covered Sin Cara in the Rey paragraph above, but I'll reiterate that I think he can really flourish on this show.

Daniel Bryan moving over to Smackdown is, next to the Rey for Cara trade, my favorite move of this year's festivities. Smackdown is a lower pressure environment, and also features longer average matches. Daniel Bryan may actually get a chance to improve his lot and make something of himself on Friday nights. Here's hopin'.

Great Khali is generally only around part time anyway, and pretty much a non-factor at this point.

Yoshi Tatsu is sadly another one that is probably meaningless, but he's very underrated by WWE.

Natalya making the switch might be good for her, but it's hard to say. They seemed to be pushing her fairly well on RAW last year before suddenly giving up.

Tamina moves, nobody cares, her romance with Santino appears to be over. Boo hoo.

And finally, on the Smackdown heel side...

Sheamus moves over as the United States champion in a bit of a surprise, if only because it puts both secondary titles on the same brand. Maybe they'll unify them into one belt soon, though Sheamus versus Wade Barrett would be an odd feud indeed. Generally, I think Sheamus will do well if only because Smackdown really needs good heels and he can be, and has been, a top guy before.

Mark Henry comes to Smackdown on the heels (no pun intended) of a turn Monday night. I like Mark Henry as a heel, actually. I think he can be very effective in that role, but he's been around since1996, and never really gotten over at a high level. I just think he's too associated with being a midcard act to really break through as a main event guy now. Though I'm sure they'll give it a try for a few weeks.

Alex Riley has been moved over, separated from The Miz, his safety net. They'll probably try something with him short-term, it won't work, and he'll be wrestling prelims until being sent back down to developmental for seasoning.

Ted DiBiase, non-factor. He's been buried for months.

Tyson Kidd, ditto that for him. At least Ted's usually on TV.

William Regal being drafted I was surprised by, just because I don't think he actually wrestles anymore, even on Superstars. He's the color commentator for the NXT program. Now, him being drafted may mean someone saw him on an official roster list and just decided to move him, or it could be that someone came up with an idea for him on Smackdown. I'm badly hoping it's the latter as I think there's still plenty of life in Regal as a useful, contributing member of the roster.

Jimmy and Jey Uso: WWE doesn't care about tag teams. They are a tag team. May not be a bright future for them.

And finally, Alicia Fox comes over on the Diva side. Probably better, Smackdown is thin on heel women, especially with LayCool splitting up and one of them presumably coming out on the wrong side of a Loser Leaves Smackdown match at Extreme Rules.

PHEW. There it is, my analysis of every roster member moving around Monday and Tuesday in the 2011 WWE Draft. I hope that's what you were looking for, Amanda.

And for Paul... I'm very sorry, but I just couldn't find a good beauty shot of Mr. Perfect in Wrestlefest. Or in any video game, sadly. This is the best I can do today, my friend.

Limbo King

Awake at 2:52, reading back issues of RetroGamer in pdf format. Can I go any lower?

EDIT: Still at it at 4:30. What is wrong with me? It's a British magazine, and the constant use of the word "Megadrive" is off-putting. I swear to God, not a single mention of "Genesis" in any of the 16 issues I've gone through.

Happy Birthday, Jenny! And other matters

I want to send Blog That Wouldn't Die, etc etc wishes to my girlfriend Jenny, who won't ever read this! She turns 26 today, and has just adopted a six week old puppy.

This is Rory, I think. Jenny's got a list of BBC-inspired names she's sorting through. A fine birthday present to herself, to be sure!

I haven't given a Reds update since they began their season on a record-shattering pace. They have since... regressed, shall we say? They sit at 11-11 as I type. I guess they want to give all of the other teams a chance. They're very sporting.

I'm on my fifth season of Road to the Show in MLB '10. 2 American League MVP Awards and one trip to the World Series later... I can't wait until I"m an unrestricted free agent and can get the heck out of Anaheim. I wish there was a feature where the hometown fan would boo you once you've made it clear that you hate your team and them.

The RAW Draft show is tonight. Which actually hasn't been a draft since 2002. It was sped up to tonight on about one week's notice, originally scheduled for June. So it's had pretty much no promotion, and comes along one week before a pay per view that's going to die from disinterest. Yet... it's a gimmick that appeals to me, so I'll watch very intently starting in about twenty minutes.

I'm buying a Wii from Megan. She's selling me hers for $75, which I figure is about fifteen more than I'd pay for a Roku to do pretty much the same thing AND it plays games. Hard to pass up at that price. Thanks, Megan! You are a pal!

Peace out from Washington Beach, playas!

A Road Trip Proposal

I'm very much wanting to go see Chikara in Lakewood, Ohio on Sunday, June 26th. Anybody have any interest in that? No lineup posted yet or anything, but tickets are 20 bucks. It's an afternoon show so we could get back to Columbus that night without much trouble.

Also, new episode of So We Were Told - Wrestling Radio is up at the corresponding website, link located to your left. We talk about the hottest guys in WWE. And lucha libre. And Angry Birds. And Zack Ryder. It's good times as usual!

Playing catch up

I thought about writing an entry yesterday titled "Raw is Poor" but found that I couldn't even muster the enthusiasm to bury the show. It was pretty bad though.

Nothing much going on in real life. I'm caring for my grandmother this week, so little excitement to be had here on North 4th Street.

I did secure a Jeff Fernengel original painting for Jenny's 26th birthday. She doesn't read my blog so I can give away here that it's a panda and a penguin being friends. Cutest thing ever.

Jason and I are recording another So We Were Told - Wrestling Radio tonight, covering the news of the week as well as Megan's WWE Hot List. Pretty excited about this new feature, as it may effectively out either Jason, myself, or both of us!

Close, Colonel, but no cigar

I picked up MLB 10: The Show this afternoon, badly jonesing for some video baseball action. I had the PS2 version of MLB 08 before being Christ-like in giving away my console to someone who needed it more than I, and it was high time I dove into the next generation of baseballery. This brings us to a few months ago, when I learned of the existence of a UConn basketball player named Shabazz Napier. Seriously. He's not my nephew either.

Anyway, this excited me because it meant that the name "Napier" would now be in the announcer database for this season's college basketball video games. For the first time in my sixteen year history of playing sports games featuring commentary, I would be able to hear my name called as I performed various feats of daring-do on the hardwood. I excitedly looked up where I could procure the 2011 edition of either the March Madness or College Hoops series, only to find that they had both been discontinued due to low sales. I think a blood vessel burst. Not in my brain or anything. It wasn't that dire. Probably my leg.

The sad fact is, I had resigned myself to never hearing those six letters strung together in a video game. N-A-P-I-E-R. Until today, when I created my character in MLB 10's "Road to the Show" mode. A decade and a half of hopes, dreams, and controller callouses had built up to this moment as I typed in my last name and the game informed me that it had an audio match.

A match! For MY name. There was no one to high five, and I daren't tell any of my friends because having fresh material for my blog is more important to me than human interaction. So I kept my celebration brief and subdued, anxious to get to the business of making Andy Napier the greatest first baseman on dirt.

Here it was, batting third, the first baseman, Andy... Nap-ier? That's right. Nap-ier. As in "his hair is nappier than mine."

I HATE YOU, BOB. But at least that spelling would reasonably produce the corresponding sound. Unlike Tantalus, I reached and tasted the grapes that had always been just out of my grasp. AND THEY WERE SOUR.

Game's great though. Peace.

Oh, almost forgot. Episode Seven of So We Were Told - Wrestling Radio is up. Click the link over on the left side.

All the good ones are taken

There goes my dream of a gay wedding under the cherry blossoms. Kenta Kobashi, you break my heart.

Seriously though, I've never seen that man happier. Not even when he's chopping somebody into ground chuck.

For Paul

I wanted to make sure that I took a moment to acknowledge my friend Paul Collins, who graduated from the Police Academy on Tuesday afternoon. I remember when he started six months ago he was very nervous and they piled on the homework, but he made it all the way through and I'm really proud of him. Paul, we've known each other for thirteen years and liked each other for at least nine, right? Congratulations, sincerely. "Big ups" as Tazz would say. Big ups indeed, Paul.

In less important news, episode six of So We Were Told - Wrestling Radio is up at the corresponding website! It's a heck of a show this time around, with talk of Edge, Larry Sweeney and zombies! Don't ya dare miss it!

Au revoir, Edge

Monday was just a bummer all around in the wrestling world, as following the Sweeney news, RAW occurred. That's actually not a dig on the WWE product in general, but the sudden and legitimate retirement of Edge in particular. I'm sorry, Amanda. I truly am.

I was talking to my good friend Jason of So We Were Told (cheap plug) about this, and realized that Edge is the first big time star whose entire major league career I've seen. I missed the beginnings of Owen Hart, Eddy Guerrero, and Chris Jericho. I wasn't watching when Bill Goldberg made his WCW debut. But I remember vividly, watching RAW the night after Wrestlemania 14 and seeing the first vignette for a soon to be debuting Edge. Thirteen years later, and it's all over due to spinal stenosis, the same ailment that eventually ended Steve Austin's career.

It's difficult to put Edge's career into context right now, so soon after the news has broken. He is without question one of the biggest wrestling stars of the past five years, perhaps trumped only by John Cena on a worldwide basis. I would actually argue that he was WWE's MVP during that time period, almost like Bret Hart in the mid '90s or Ric Flair in the late '80s. The guy the company didn't really want to be the number one guy but kept going back to because there was nobody better for the job. A work horse who could have a great match almost any time he was called upon to do so. A killer promo in an era of men reading badly scripted tripe.

I have no doubt that Edge will be back at some point in time. Probably never on a full time schedule, but he's only 37 years old and unless he's the rarest of birds in the wrestling business, he'll itch to come back. Trish Stratus, Lita, The Rock, Chris Jericho, all people who left WWE on their own terms and all have been back in some capacity since. Edge's case is of course a little different with the injury, but even Steve Austin is hinting here and there about a comeback. I just don't believe that Edge is done for good.

In short, as his full time career comes to a close, I have almost all fond memories of Edge. A top talent through and through, and I just hope that the voters for the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame see things from my perspective this summer.