Christian PPV Poster Boy

[Sedition: Gladiator]

WWE has released the poster for their June PPV Fatal Four Way with Christian as the poster boy. With him being drafted to Smackdown could this mean that he finally gets a run at the top. Considering Swagger is the World Heavyweight Champion, and Christian defeated Swagger last year for the ECW Title I am hoping so.

It would especially make sense since all the big main eventers are now on Raw. The supplemental draft is still in progress, but I expect few of the top guns to be shifted in the supplemental draft.

Smackdown has been left with very few guys who have been proven in the main event level. With Edge, and Jericho both moving to Raw now it seems the main guys on Smackdown will be Swagger, CM Punk, Christian, and The Big Show, all former ECW champions.

I expect Christian to have a run with the World Heavyweight Championship sometime before Summerslam. Here is the poster.

[DC Antonio]

My take on it is smackdown is being made into the official second-hand brand. Pretty much always was, but now I think they are making that official..I think that is a great way to go with it though, making RAW the biggest show with all of the greatest superstars and having smackdown be a partially developmental territory, in a way, while still having championships and having meanings.

[Sedition: Gladiator]

I agree completely. Since NXT isn't going to last now that Smackdown will be moving to SyFy they need somewhere to prepare stars of tomorrow. They just need to make sure they don't cheapen the Smackdown brand titles. I was worried they were going to make Swagger's run as champion a joke, but they gave him a pretty clean win against Orton which added legitimacy to his reign.

They did the same thing with Smackdown back in the day when they launched Eddie Guerrero and JBL as main eventers and it worked really well, becuase they didn't cheapen the titles. Here's hoping they do the same this time. I for one would love to see a rivalry between Christian and CM Punk.

[DC Antonio]

A christian/cm punk feud would be awesome. CM Punk, a technical guy but usually tries to keep it at a submission standpoint, and Christian who is also technical but loves to get up and fly. They really both can bring something to the table.

As far as Jack Swagger...he already is a complete joke. If that is what the next generation of wrestlers consists of, I am no longer a fan. He is the most boring person to cut a promo, even worse than Chris Benoit (no offense), and so I think he needs to give up that title to someone who can actually deliver a match or a promo worth your time to watch.

I personally think it is time to give Kofi Kingston, or maybe even Matt Hardy a shot at Swaggers championship. Either one would contrast Swagger completely and could set up something worth watching. Also, I think it will be very interesting to see what the WWE does with MVP on smackdown, if anything at all, although he has talent...and also, I know this may be a shocker, but JTG. JTG has a knack for wrestling, you can just tell. His gimmick is pretty dry, but seeing as how he just went through the typical "tag-team seperation" storyline, he handled it well.

The Straight Edge Society has to go. Absolutely the stupidest attempt at a faction I have ever seen. Luke Gallows really has no place in the WWE, IMO.

Finally, for smackdown, I would like to see what McIntyre can do with that gold. I could see him going a long way, if he keeps it up. He is deffinitely one of Smackdowns bright spots, a guy that may have what it takes to carry a brand 5-10 years down the road. Then again, we will just have to see.

[Miss Mina]

His name, is Jack Thwagger

[Michael Saint]

I too would love to see the Punk vs Christian thing go down the matches would be good and I like both guys.

I once agan agree that Christian needs a run as a major champion he is the most deserving person on Smackdown IMO.

As for Swagger his promos lack. His in ring skills are hit and miss. His moves usually look good, but he always looks like he is trying to not screw up. When I think of him I picture him backstage going over his matches move for move with his opponents, memorizing them, and then only doing what they talk about in the match. His stuff looks good, but he looks like he is afraid to mess up. Which is good cause you do not want him to hurt someone, but bad because you are aware that you are watching a performance. I watch CM Punk or Christian who are professionals to the point where yeah I know they are concentrating enough to not hurt someone, but I can still suspend my belief and find it entertaining. Swagger puts too much thought into stuff in a bad way.

MVP is a mixed bag the man has talent and is good, but WWE for whatever reason does not pull the trigger and make him a major champion for some reason. Given the right push he can be the current era's version of The Rock.

Matt Hardy as much as I like him is screwed. WWE refuses to push him. It seems like the only reason WWE keeps him around is cause they do not want him and Jeff to reunite in TNA. Matt and Jeff as partners will draw money despite Matt turning on Jeff on more than one occasion in storylines. I also see Hardy's vs Helms/Moore as a good tag feud.


Drew McIntyre is the future of WWE if he is used right. Build him up slower than they are now though. It looks like WWE wants to put a major belt on him by Wrestlemania 27, but that is not a good idea IMO. People will resent him and if you read most message boards a lot of people like his talent, but do not like his quick push. I like his talent and think he will be WWE's guy in a couple years, but he needs some key wins over some big names on some big shows.

[Sedition: Gladiator]

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of Thwagger. He's one of those guys that I watched and thought, he'll be great in a couple of years, but he still needs some work. That's why I was so shocked when they had him win MITB and then win the title the same week. If Thwagger can come out of this title reign with some dignity he'll have a bright future, but I fear his reign will be about as memorable as the Great Khali's. I agree about his in ring work seeming a little to studied. Maybe he's just so embarassed that he flubbed the ending of the MITB match when he couldn't get the briefcase down so now he's oversompensating.

MVP and Kofi are both overdue for pushes as well. The problem with Kofi is that he is much better in the ring than he is on a mic. He's not much of a promo guy. I don't see him ever elevating beyond the point of someone like Rey Mysterio. If they give him a shot at the top it probably won't last long, and he will fade back into the upper midcard zone.

As for MVP, I am very confused why he hasn't gotten a bigger push yet. I remember watching him early in his career going toe to toe with Chris Benoit and not looking pathetic (Benoit was so good in the ring he made everyone else look like an amateur). I get a Booker T vibe from him. He's the kind of guy who against the right opponent can look amazing, but against the wrong opponent he looks average. That being said The Rock, John Cena, Steve Austin all guys who were very average in ring talents. They made it because of their charisma and intensity which MVP has.

I fear that Matt Hardy has already had his biggest push he will ever get. I don't think he will ever rise above U.S. Champion. Right now he doesn't seem to be able to rise above the random tag team partner to a guy who's getting a bigger push status. Too bad because he is a really good talent, and with the right gimmick he is really good on a mic. When he was Matt Hardy version 1 in his original heel run he worked the mic very well. He's just not meant to be a babyface like Jeff. He's meant to be a rude obnoxious heel who abuses his sidekick.

Finally, I really am not that impressed with Drew McIntyre. He has good in ring talent, and good mic abilities, but he needs at least a couple of years before he will be great. He kind of reminds me of Rick Martel right now. He's the guy with all the right tools, but it always seems like he's not giving 100%. Maybe it will change in the future, though it never did with Martel.

All in all of everyone currently on Smackdown I think Christian and CM Punk are the ones who are ready to carry the brand. With Kofi and MVP closely behind. Here's hoping these guys finally get the pushes they deserve.

[Duke Wallace]

I`m scratching my head about Swagger`s title win as much as everyone else, but I also think he could be used very effectively as a heel champion that everyone wants to see taken down. Sometimes having a guy as champ that everyone wants to see lose is the best way to build your faces. That`s the real reason why Edge never got over enough to win at Wrestlemania. People liked him, but they didn`t HATE Jericho enough. If you think about it, what better way to build their new faces than to keep the title on Swagger as long as possible. The fans will be tuning in every week just waiting for him to lose. It`s like way back when Hollywood Hogan had the WCW title forever. Everyone legitimately hated him for having it for so long, yet the ratings kept going up the longer he had it.

[Miss Mina]

Thwagger has a lisp. I can't take anyone with a lisp seriously.

[Sedition: The Rev]

I had a lisp as a kid. You can still hear a very slight lisp if you listen closely enough to me. Good thing I never aim to be taken seriously.

[DC Antonio]

Really, it makes me mad that MVP has not had a big push. I agree with everything that has been said, he has the charisma, and throws out great promos. Not a bad in ring guy either. I think part of the reason they have not pushed MVP to a world title is because the image it would give the WWE. Not sure if any of you know, but MVP spent a lot of time in jail as a kid, and with people knowing this it might give WWE that image.

Kofi is a great in ring guy...but to the WWE it doesnt seem to matter. You can have a guy who can keep you guessing the whole match, but they pass up if they cant cut a promo. Stupid, but that is how it usually goes.

As far as Matt Hardy...I agree to the tee...they will never give Hardy that major push, but they will keep him around simply to keep him from jeff hardy. WWE letting Hardy go was the dumbest thing they could have done...people watched just to see hardy compete, just because he brought a little bit of that intensity that we werent seeing otherwise. Cena, back in the beginning of his second and third title reigns had that, when he feuded with edge, Kurt angle, and a few others, but lost it quickly just because he couldnt put the damn mic down and just wrestle. I have never really liked Cena all that much.

Back to jack swagger...the person I hate more than anyone in the WWE...I usually like the heel personas better than face, but this guy is really WWEs biggest joke in recent years, parallel with Khali. I think Swaggers push was way to soon and very imcomplete at that. There wasnt really any big build up, they just threw him in there with the dogs and for him I think it was sink or swim. And IMO, he has pretty much sunk. I see him losing the championship by summerslam or at summerslam, sometime around august...and then I can see him fading back to midcard, just like the great khali.

Chris Masters...what to say about him...if he could stay off the drugs he would be a great heel to compliment some of Raws faces...like R Truth, Carlito...and speaking of Carlito, what the hell happened? I remember not 2 years ago he was main eventing with John Cena and getting World Championship shots...now he is rarely used with anything besides the occasional tag team match.

Sad really, how the WWE has taken the superstar levels down progressively. All of the superstars who could have big talent have been overlooked and they decided to pick out the guys that everyone is sick of. This really bothers me.

I am starting to get less and less interested with Smackdown. Raw IMO, is still pretty good to watch when they have some of the better guys on, but over all I am getting sick of 3 month world title reigns and terrible talent getting the top slots.

Last year both world titles combined changed hands a total of 16 times, or something like that. Nobody wants to watch that, we get sick of seeing someone win a world title and then all of a sudden losing it and dropping to midcard. This has happened way to much as of late, and if WWE does not correct that it will be a huge burden in terms of ratings and viewers.