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Matt "Big Hugg" Lazear

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DROPPING HUGGY BOMBS

Hey all, this is obviously my first (possibly my only...who knows?) column here on this fine site known as [Slash] Wrestling. Those of you who frequent CRZ's message board might know me by the name of bobhollyrules, my alter ego. Basically, I've decided to take the past week of WWF Television and break it into the good and the bad. 5 items in each, nothing too complex, maybe you'll like it, maybe you'll sigh and click the back button on your browser. Anyway, enough of this introduction stuff.

The Good (In no real order)

1. The newfound aggression of Kurt Angle. They really need to stick with it this time. He's got the talent to play a serious character and it's about time they let him do it, full-force. The comedy bits are fun, but it's time for him to become a legitimate World Champion contender in the eyes of everyone and not just the "informed" crowd. Plus, he's getting to try the face game, I'd say his in-ring work passed with flying colors. The mic work should be interesting.

2. The return of Chris Jericho's mic skills. Is it something about Stephanie? He's really been struggling with the stick as of late, not to mention his ring work. He seemed to fix the ring work last week with Lance Storm and then the mic skills come rushing back on Monday when he confronted Stephanie and Booker T. His work wasn't as good on Smackdown, but it certainly wasn't bad. Hopefully, this trend continues.

3. Tajiri. He doesn't have to speak one word of English and he still gets over. He's talented in the ring and that doesn't even seem to be why the fans love him. This guy is an ass outside of the ring and a killer in the ring and I'm loving every minute of it. He may never be World Champion, but I hope he never does speak English, it would ruin his character. The facial expressions and everyone acting like they understand him is priceless. Oh and, contrary to popular belief, his music rules.

4. The Edge & Christian vs. Awesome & Storm feud. The mic work alone makes this feud good, then you throw in 2 solid matches in a row with hot finishes and you've got the single match I'm looking forward to the most this Sunday. Nothing like a mix of great wrestling and offbeat shenanigans to build a match.

5. Freddie Blassie. Talk about making the storyline seem important. That gave it a whole new feel, it gave it the element of the WWF 5 defending their history, not just the food on their table. Maybe I'm a loser, but him standing up and telling them to fight gave me goosebumps.

The Bad (In no real order)

1. People complaining about the WWF destroying Raven's credibility on Monday. Did I miss something? Did Raven putting on an ECW shirt make him great again? News flash: the WWF has been ruining his credibility for 5 months now, at least the Angle segment accomplished something else at the same time. My first thought when Raven walked up to Angle and challenged him was "man Angle's going to destroy him" and I'd bet 75-80% of the people watching said the same. Raven winning that match, or even hanging around, makes no sense and would not make Raven look good, it would make Angle look bad.

2. Rob Van Dam's useless showboating. I'll admit I had never seen RVD in the ring before Smackdown and that's mainly due to my boycott of ECW, I won't go into that here, let's just say it involves the word bootleg. Anyway, this guy appears to have a high amount of talent and good ring presence, so what's the deal with all this extra nonsense? Do his moves hurt more because he does some fancy flip first? I just don't see the point in it. Sure it looks impressive, but it's not "wrestling" and I hear people complain about that enough to wonder why they like this guy.

3. Rhyno in the main event of both shows and the upcoming pay-per-view. This guy does not deserve this. Maybe in the future, sure, but now, no. He's not ready to be main eventing pay-per-views, even if he is only 1 of 10 men. That spot should belong to Lance Storm or Mike Awesome. Rhyno is getting too much, too fast, and sooner or later it's going to catch up to him. He's going to get exposed as the green talent that he is…or he'll shock the hell out of me. I'd bet on the first one.

4. No Big Show & Billy Gunn tag match on either show. Where's my Underachievers fix!? This is just not right, they have too much talent to be being held down like this. Billy Gunn is the best pure athlete in the World Wrestling Federation and look at the pure size and power of Show. Okay, I'm going overboard there, but c'mon these guys are showing potential as a team, use them.

5. The ending of RAW. Stephanie's comment was uncalled for. I usually am the last to rip something like that, but I didn't see any point to it. Usually, lines like that have a purpose, but that served none. Blassie should have caned her.

Huggy Bomb Winner of the Week: Michael Cole. Hey you may hate the guy (I know I do), but he's got 3 shows instead of 2 now, I'd say that's moving up in the world.

Huggy Bomb Loser of the Week: Jerry Lawler. Good for the WWF for turning him down, Loser.

Random Hugg Thought: I posted this on the message board, but some people reading this might not go there so here's my random thought. Am I the only one that sees "IF YA SMELLLL" hitting, Rock running in, monster pop commences, Rock slides in and beats the hell out of the WWF? I mean you want a "swerve", there it is. And get this...it actually makes sense. The Rock was suspended by Vince McMahon, not Shane, not Stephanie. Technically, right now, they're his ticket back in. Vince screwed him out of the WWF Title, why help him? Then Austin stays as a cemented face and we get a Rock heel turn that just might work. I know it's a longshot, but it does make sense and I, for one, would love to see heel Rock again. No Rock for 3 months gives the fans a huge reason to pop for him, but also gives them no solid face work from him in 3 months, they'd boo it. Plus, I guess if they still cheered he has that "I'm a movie star, I'm better than you" card he could throw in. Anyone else see this or am I crazy?

Current Huggy Bomb Top 10 (Based solely on this past week's performance)
1. Freddie Blassie-No explanation needed.
2. Booker T-He's talented, doesn't suck (as others here have claimed), and is willing to look bad on live TV (he tapped to the Walls of Jericho, who really does that anymore?). Plus, he actually said "DING!" on TV, you gotta love that.
3. Kurt Angle-This man went from "goof" to "threat" in less than 10 minutes.
4. Tajiri-This guy cuts better promos than 90% of the company. His expressions alone do it. He also misted an ECW shirt, major points there.
5. DDP-This guy has been the pleasantly surprised me (I thought he sucked in WCW). His promos seem so natural and his in-ring work is good to solid. He even cut a good promo with Rhyno in the same room, that's hard work.
6. Chris Jericho-His best week since winning the tag titles and TLC3. He had 2 good matches and his promos are coming back around.
7. The OLD Stone Cold-Still good, but he's no NEW Stone Cold.
8. Jeff Hardy-Stepping up the in-ring work and he sucker punched RVD on RAW, gotta get him on here for that.
9. Billy Kidman-One match, all he needed.
10. Hardcore Holly-Beat up Hugh Morrus and Mark Jindrak until the cameras cut back to him, got sucker punched. Cheaters.

Well my work here is done and I even found a cheap way to work in Hardcore Holly. Maybe I'll do this again next week, maybe you'll never here from me again. It's one of life's great mysteries (file it under "who cares?'). So, in closing, I'll quote the great philosopher, Jonathan Coachman, and say "PEACE!"

Feel free to throw your thoughts at me: bighugg4life@aol.com

Matt "Big Hugg" Lazear
freelance

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