SETH GREEN IS THE SPECIAL CELEBRITY GUEST HOST
When Donald Trump first announced this idea before he “sold” Raw back to Vince McMahon several weeks ago, I immediately thought it was a good thing that we wouldn’t see The Don’s idea come into fruition, as it seemed to lack logic even though it did hold the promise of some entertaining television from time to time.
The first two weeks of the special guest host gimmick not only worked well, in my opinion, but it made sense from a storyline standpoint as the two guest hosts were wrestling personalities that have an obvious knowledge of the business and a vested interest in the outcome of the events on Raw.
Batista was sidelined with an injury by Randy Orton, so it made sense for Vince McMahon to appoint The Animal as the show’s first guest host as it gave Batista the power to avenge his injury, even if it was just for one night only.
The appointment of “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase as the show’s special guest host made sense as well given that he is the father of Ted DiBiase, Jr, a current member of the Raw roster.
But where’s the logic in making a B-List celebrity actor the special guest host of Raw? It’s my understanding that Seth Green is a big WWE fan, but then again I doubt a company would ever advertise a guest host of their product as “someone who rarely watches it.”
Of course we haven’t seen the show yet, but I think someone like Seth Green as the guest host of Raw is going to ultimately test the real validity of this gimmick, or angle, or whatever you want to call it. It just seems odd to me that WWE would have someone “book” one of their shows when that person is not in anyway affiliated with pro wrestling. Would you have a figure skater manage a pro baseball team? No. Although I don’t think there’s anyway that Oksana Baiul could do any worse than Riggleman’s doing managing The Nationals. But I digress.
The bottom line is that I fear tonight’s show is going to be a bunch of attempts at lame comedy bits that will poke fun at past Seth Green films as opposed to functioning as a serious night of wrestling with a PPV on the horizon in just 2 weeks.
If my hypothesis is correct, then it’s going to seem even more artificial when Seth Green is credited for making matches, etc. We all know that the celebrity guest host isn’t actually booking Raw, but the whole point is that the viewing audience has to believe that the host is capable of doing so, then the show makes sense. It was believable that Batista and Ted DiBiase could book a 2 hour Monday Night Raw broadcast, and I think it’s going to be a tough challenge for WWE to convince me that Seth Green is equal to the task.
THE UNIFIED TAG TITLE SITUATION
Although it is common knowledge at this point that Edge has suffered an ankle injury which will keep him out of the ring until the early part of next year, WWE is still advertising that Edge and Chris Jericho will defend their Unified Tag Team Titles against Legacy at Night of Champions. I would think that WWE has to make some kind of an announcement tonight concerning the direction they will be going in with the titles at the PPV.
I think that Edge should relinquish the title to someone else who will defend it in his absence at the PPV. To me this makes sense because it gives someone the title as a “placeholder” as opposed to someone earning it through some type of a match. Edge is not the kind of character who would willingly “hand” someone one of his titles, so having him come out, or live via satellite, and make an announcement that someone will be replacing him makes more sense in the context of Edge’s character. Edge can say that “so-and-so” will be defending the title in his absence but for us to remember that Edge is the real champion, not his replacement.
As for who his replacement should be is concerned, this is the perfect time for WWE to elevate a younger talent who could benefit from working alongside Chris Jericho in tag matches. Jack Swagger initially comes to mind, but I don’t want to see WWE separate him from what looks like to a great emerging feud between him and MVP. Although it wouldn’t surprise me to see MVP take a bigger push hit as a result of Edge’s injury than Edge himself.
My pick would then have to be The Brian Kendrick. Creative has done nothing of value with this talented kid since he was drafted to Raw, and the little they did do with him saw the cocky heel trying to find a new tag team partner every week. So the ground work has coincidentally already been laid for Kendrick to step up and take over for the injured Edge. He can make a logical claim that since he is a past WWE Tag Team Champion that he deserves the spot, and I think it would be an excellent way to showcase his talents as a tag team wrestler.
Thanks for reading, and as always you can send any and all of your feedback to VOWNick@gmail.com! Enjoy Raw tonight and remember to catch Mark Madden live tonight from 7:30-8:30pm EST as he officially joins the Voice of Wrestling radio show. Also, you can now email your comments and questions to Mark for use in his future WZ.com columns by submitting them to wzmarkmadden@hotmail.com.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
