Bleacher Report - Articles by Brandon Darnell

Raw Getting Knoxed

Brandon Darnell — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:41:36 -0400

ECW's resident big man is headed to Raw. But why? Doesn't Raw already have Kane, Batista, JBL, Snitsky, and I'm sure there's some other giant monster on the roster?

Why are all the big guys getting sent to Raw? Is it simply because Raw is the flagship program of the company and they want "Heavyweight" fights? Or because Mike Knox is so bad that they don't even wanna bog ECW down with him so they're hoping he'll blend in with Snitsky on Raw?

Then again, this could save his career. Knox could have his name botched by Santino and then be known as "Mike Crotch." Maybe that would set up a feud for them. But, maybe John Cena will never win another title ever again. I really don't see any of that happening anytime in the near or far future. Gimme your thoughts on this guys.

Monday Night Raw GM Mike Adamle Needs to Go...NOW!

Brandon Darnell — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:54:23 -0400

This isn’t just a Randy Orton back up speech; this is a personal call to fire Raw GM Mike Adamle.

Has anyone noticed how we get a really exciting Monday Night Raw one week and then we get a very dry, cut-and-paste show the next? I realize that Adamle isn’t in charge of booking and he’s not of major importance in calling the shots on Monday nights, but he just doesn’t deliver. When Adamle speaks, I snore.

Last night on Raw, Randy Orton called Adamle out as a failure. He said Adamle's failed as an interviewer, an announcer, and is currently failing as a general manager. Orton even went as far as to tell Adamle that he’s failing as a husband and as a father. Somewhat uncalled for, but partially the truth.

Since Adamle has taken over, we’ve seen about 30 “Adamle Originals,” and none of them really impressed. The Championship Scramble match didn’t get over the way that Vince McMahon wanted it, the Cena-Batista match at Summerslam wasn’t the best (I’ll hold my opinions on that and I’m asking you to do the same), and his greatest accomplishment before last night had been announcing CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Title.

To finish this up, WWE has set itself up perfectly for this. Orton went on his tirade last night and said if Adamle wasn’t fired next week, he would leave the company. Now, I know this is a work and so do you, but it’s the perfect setup to can Adamle as the GM. Thoughts?

Heels or Faces: Who Gets Over at Wrestlemania?

Brandon Darnell — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:26:54 -0400

Wrestlemania. One word with so much meaning to the wrestling business. It's the biggest event of the year. Friends of mine that don't even like or watch wrestling make plans to watch Wrestlemania. It's incredible. But, there's just one question that's bothered me for awhile: Who goes over? In the first 15 Wrestlemanias, there was not one heel that left the event with the WWF Championship.

It wasn't until Wrestlemania 2000 (Wrestlemania XVI) that a heel won the title, Triple H winning in the Fatal-Four-Way Elimination match with a McMahon in every corner. The following year showed the same trend with Austin aligning himself with McMahon and Triple H, becoming the Two Man Powertrip, only to break yet again when Triple H went over Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon at Wrestlemania X-8.

Then, the year 2002 saw the brand extension. Now what happens with the Mania main event? We have two! The first main event at Wrestlemania XIX was less then desirable, Triple H (C, Heel) beating Booker T (Face) to retain his title, and a Face Vs. Face battle between Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle. No matter how bad WWE wanted Lesnar face and Angle heel, it didn't happen.

In the years since then, we've had Wrestlemania XX, 21, 22, 23, and 24. XX saw Benoit winning his first World title in WWE and Eddie retaining. 21 saw Cena over JBL and Batista ripping the belt off of Triple H.

22 and 23 were dominated by faces. Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Undertaker. Wrestlemania 24 had three "World Title matches." Two of the three dominated by face. Kane and Undertaker winning the ECW and World Heavyweight Title respectively, and Randy Orton retaining his WWE Title in a Triple Threat Match.

So, in all, Wrestlemania has been pretty much run by faces. But it's always exciting, or dissapointing, when your favorite superstar loses. Heels going over big faces for the belt definitely has a certain level of shock value, but should it be done at Wrestlemania? Would it be a dissapointment to the fans to see the guy they hate the most on top of the world at the biggest event of the year? Well, that's for you to decide.

TNA Making All The Wrong Moves

Brandon Darnell — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:23:47 -0400

As it is known, TNA Wrestling signed former WWE Champion Mick Foley to a short-term deal last week. Many questioned this move, more so for Foley's sake, not so much TNA. The interesting part of this is the results and "iMPACT!" it made on the company.

Last week's edition iMPACT! featured the return of Jeff Jarrett to TV, a beauty pageant, a Sting promo, and of course the debut of Mrs. Foley's baby boy.

An interesting note is that more people stayed tune to the final round of the beauty pageant than they did the Jarrett return segment. This included the Matt Morgan and Abyss Vs. Kurt angle and Booker T match, the aforementioned Sting promo along with the debut of Mick Foley, which LOST 193,000. The Samoa Joe segment where he wrestled Lance Rock, Jimmy Rave and Tomko DREW 193,000 viewers with a 1.23 rating.

Does this just go to show that the fans don't want to see WWE's guys in TNA? That Double J screaming at Kurt Angle and introducing a stunt man to the crowd isn't appealing? I'd say it does. TNA needs to continue the push on guys like Joe, Tomko, and AJ Styles. The fans don't want a repeat of WWE or WCW angles, they want Total Nonstop Action Wrestling angles, and that's not what they're getting.