Wherein I Begin Completely Contradicting Myself

Oh wait! There's some wrestling related stuff I want to blog about.

The Rock Confirms Retirment- Well, given the fact that the guy hasn't wrestled a match since Wrestlemania 20, it doesn't come as that big of a surprise. That said, it's still kind of sad to see, if for no other reason than that there are still a few dream matches I'd like to see him in (HBK, Cena, and Sting are all things I'd mark out for, even if the latter two sound dodgy even to me) and any random compilation of his greatest hits on youtube is enough to make you really bummed out that he's moved on to Hollywood completely, even if no one can begrudge the guy, especially since it's something everyone from Hulk Hogan to Bret Hart's at least contemplated. Well, unless you're this guy, who is probably still doing a victory lap around Chicago. Or died from the joy of it all. Or whatever the hell he's doing instead of writing his incredibly bitter, nasty, insulting, and yet also undeniably insightful wrestling columns for the Pulse. By the way, that was the best example I could find of his hatred of the Rock via Google. Which is one of the reasons I'm sure he'd call me a retard. Beyond the fact that I, you know, really like the Rock.

Daviari and Teddy Hart released- Daivari I was a little bummed by, because I liked him quite a bit; he could work, he drew heat exceptionally well (even if a lot of it was of the cheap, "he's foreign!" variety), and he busted his ass to get Muhamad Hassan, Mark Henry, and the Great Kahli over, which alone should get him nominated for some kind of wrestling saint hood. I mean, could you ever imagine their being a career progression in which you kept getting paired with increasingly worse guys when you started out with Muhammad goddam Hussan? Although he did get to be Kurt Angle's personal ref and manager for a couple months, so that sort of evened things out. So it's a little disappointing to see him leave, even it's probably a good move for him, given how totally lost in the shuffle he was as a singles competitor. A good reason why the Cruiserweight Title should probably be retired? They never tried to extract some cheap heat by giving him a run with it.

Teddy getting fired for being a dick is pretty much a non story. It's on the level of inevitability of Kid Kash getting sacked; you knew it would happen the moment they brought him in. With Harry Smith having had his big debut already (although calling it big is stretching it considerably, given how the guy didn't even get a vignette to hype his debut), it looks like the New Hart Foundation angle may have ended prematurely. Although it may have made for some great heat for all of them and a cool mark out moment, it's probably better they all get to establish themselves in their own right (well, as much as the children of the Bulldog, the Anvil, and maybe Ted Dibiase can being that they'll be as much in their fathers' shadows as Cody Rhodes is right now) before pushing them in to the exact roles their parents made famous.

It is kind of a buzzkill to see someone as talented as Teddy Hart get the boot before he could even get on WWE TV. The guy made a hell of an impression on me in extremely abbreviated circumstances (his WSX matches, and some TNA X-Cup stuff I've seen on youtube); he can certainly do a mean spot fest with the best of them, and has a unique look on top of it. But the guy was first released by the WWE for this kind of thing when he was a teenager, and he's been through pretty much every major promotion you can speak of; although the massive double standard of having Captain Gymbagshitter holding the top belt in the company while letting guys like Hart go exists, I can't get that worked up over it considering I expected the guy to find a way to screw it up for himself again before long.

And there's a fairly newly broken one I feel like commenting on, too; Rikishi's left TNA, apparently over money (at least that's the initial report). While he had some fun matches in this extremely brief return to mainstream U.S. wrestling, I don't think I'll have much time to miss him with the bloated roster of guys that are currently plying their trade in Tampa. Booker's on his way, so they've already got a much bigger name (and proven main event commodity) to take his place. Besides, it was seriously pushing it having him do as many main events as he had since coming in; he always worked best as a midcard comedy act, and while I could handle him get a solid push beyond that, they have way too many people more deserving than he is of that spot to keep him there. They also don't need to be sinking a lot of money in to him.

Man, I totally buried the guy there. I didn't mean to go that far. Even if I think pretty much everything I wrote there is right. I did enjoy his work on Impact lately, I just don't think it's a major loss that he's moved on. I do hope TNA isn't screwing him over, too. Yeah, that seems like the right thing to say there. He does have a gigantic ass and every Samoan wrestler ever as a family member to support, after all.