The High Five and Down Low

Welcome to the very first edition of High Five and Down Low. This will occur every Monday morning/afternoon, and will basically be three lists with each list containing 5 subjects. The High Five portion will be the 5 wrestling matches I enjoyed the most in the past week and 5 stars that either caught my eye, entertained me, or that I just enjoyed for one reason or another. The 5 stars list will not necessarily be a top 5 list, nor a list of the 5 breakout performances of the last week (so theoretically, someone having a very awesome performance could be bumped off the list for a Goldust segment). The Down Low portion will be 5 things from the past week that I thought sucked, was stupid, or just didnt like/care for. It can be matches, segments, internet reports, anything. So with that said, lets get on with the very first edition.


The High Five: Matches
Honorable Mention) Eve Torres and Melina vs Layla and Michelle McCool: If only for the time Melina was in the ring. It wasn't a long match, but I highly enjoyed seeing Melina work, and McCool pulled off a great finisher reversal into her own finisher for the ending. A nice little divas match which I felt was better than RAWs and Impacts womens matches.

5) The Hart Dynasty def. Christian and Jack Swagger, ECW: The original match was supposed to be Tommy Dreamer partnering up with Christian, but due to Christian putting the new ECW Champion through a table at the beginning of the show, Swagger was appointed his new partner. The match served as a great way to continue the triple threat feud between Dreamer, Swagger, and Christian, and the ending not just being Swagger dropping off the apron while Christian looked for a tag was a nice change of pace. The match also gave The Hart Dynasty some credibility, not only by defeating Christian (following a little help from Swagger), but also by letting them hang with two of the top ECW stars like that.

4) Evan Bourne def. Zach Ryder, Superstars: A slower pace for Bourne, but it was still an entertaining match between two wrestlers that I love seeing appear. Bourne sold the ribs from Mark Henrys attack on ECW a couple days before, and Ryder played his gimmick well throughout the match. It wasnt a masterpiece, but it held its own against some of the other matches that occured this week. This match made me want to see a little mini feud between the two, just to see what they could do with some more time and some heat to the match.

3) Edge def. Jeff Hardy, Smackdown!: I personally didnt find it to be a great match, but I still enjoyed it. Some may think it deserves the top spot, but I personally don't. It was a good match that helped sell Jeffs hurt body from Extreme Rules and it also helped put Punk over at the end of it all.

2) Chris Jericho def. John Morrison, Superstars: Another feud I would like to see. Morrison evolving into a face has worked extremely well for the guy, and he is still as exciting to watch (maybe more) than ever.

1) John Morrison and R-Truth def. WGTT, Smackdown!: The top match of the week was indeed a tag match. I think this match was just a lot more entertaining than any other match last week. Even Haas and Benjamin were enjoyable, with Haas being nice and aggressive. I highly recommend seeing this match. It was exciting and it had nice spots throughout.

The High Five: Stars

Honorable Mention) The Beautiful People: I rather enjoyed their little interview with Borash on Impact, and like how they pull off the pretty but dumb look. Plus Velvet Sky called Borash an Idiothole. Major points for that one.

Christian: Him powerbombing Dreamer and calling Swagger a dork was good to see, but his role in the main event of ECW this week was very good. It wasn't as if two opponents were put together and they tried to keep from themselves the entire match. Shoving eachother for tags was a nice touch, and it didn't really seem like a 3 on 1 altercation for most of the time either.

John Morrison: His matches this week I just loved. The guy is definitely a future World Champion, as he is downright entertaining in the ring.

R-Truth: His short promo on Smackdown! was delivered well and made me laugh when he called WGTT MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. He was also good in the match. Ive always enjoyed the man, but never really thought he should be pushed more than a midcard spot. As of now, that has changed. I would rather enjoy seeing R-Truth pushed to the upper midcard, and Im sure the fans would enjoy it as well based on the reaction he got.

Randy Orton: Despite being mishandled at Extreme Rules, the man pulled a very convincing and brutal beatdown to Batista in the opening of RAW. The pilmanization of the mans arm, and then just snapping the arm back was just so good to see.

The Miz: Probably RAWs breakout star right now. His interactions with Maryse are great, and his promo before his match with Cena was nice. Seeing him jump in with a chair to beat the hell out of Big Show with made me want to see him get involved with the Cena/Show feud so badly. I never thought I would enjoy Miz this much, but his move to RAW has been just as good as Morrisons move to SD!.


Down Low

Rumors of WWE Covering Up Batista Failing a Drug Test: Well, as we all know by now Batista went into surgery for a torn bicep or a tendon or one of those fancy names, and it was a success. But was Batista really injured? According to some dirtsheets, the WWE just may be covering up a drug failure Batista received with this "injury" of his. What do I think? I think this is nothing more than some more baseless, factless, bullshit internet speculation. There is no reason to believe Batista failed a drug test. Are there reasons to believe he might be using some sort of drug that leads to his constant muscle tears? Sure, but we still do not know if it is fact, and trying to put it over as fact or even going to the lengths of saying, "well look at him! look how much he gets injured! he is obviously on something!" is just stupid. Again, what facts are there? Even these reports are saying something along the lines of, "None of this is proven to be true," which should give everyone little bells going off with a nice announcement in their head saying, "Move along." I dont care how much of an expert you claim to be, or whether you think you know your shit just because you lift weights or whatever. You dont know the facts, so quit throwing the guy under the bus. Not to mention, WWE covering up a drug failure for the guy would be incredibly stupid and would do a lot more damage to them than admitting the guy failed a drug test and suspending him for 30-90 days (depending on how many strikes he has). Pretty sure the WWE is a lot smarter than that these days. I actually dont know what is worse: the dirtsheets making a stupid article like this, or people buying into it just to feed their ego and to use it as "proof" that a wrestler is on drugs.

Kurt Angle vs Sting, TNA Impact: I'm not saying this match was horrible. I really enjoyed seeing Sting and Angle shake hands at the beginning of the match, because it really gave me some relief that TNA werent going to have the two feud over Angle having an ego again. The match just suffered from the commercial breaks, so it really couldnt pick up any momentum or keep it. For a match that could have been great, it was really just average and could have been placed in the middle of the show and gotten the same effect.

Samoa Joes Thirst for Blood: This, on the other hand, I thought was bad. The way Joe made Booker and Steiner bleed was nice, yes, but the 'match' was just bad. A First Blood match shouldnt last all of 5-10 minutes, and two first blood matches in a row shouldnt last a total time of 7-12 minutes. I get that TNA want to make Joe seem like a total badass monster and all, but just throwing the Mafia under the bus like this isn't the right way to me. They should have at least have Joe have little mini feuds with these guys for a couple weeks, have the Mafia seem like a threat instead of just being taken out so easily. These two 'matches' are proof that TNA need to stop doing gimmick matches on free tv. They should only be done if they have a good enough build, or if the match can actually be good and live up to the match types name. This, did not accomplish either one. Note: Joe is in the right direction, though.

Edge Verbally Bitch Chokes Vickie Guerrero: Okay. There is having Edge dump Vickie and tell her that he just used her for her power, which everyone was waiting for, but holy shit. Edge just tore Vickie a new asshole in every square inch of her body with that promo he pulled. I just found it disturbing to listen to. I wasn't even going "Awwww yeah Edge you tell that bitch!" Instead, I said to myself, "Uh... Okay Edge. You can just say you want a divorce already..." I actually felt bad for Vickie as a person, not as a character, for having to sit through that. For all I know she was okay with it, but still. Damn was that little promo from Edge way more harsh than it needed to be. Calling her a she beast? Saying kissing her made you vomit? Saying you were glad you two didnt have sex? This was just ten times worse than the WWE going on an 'oink fest' the past few weeks by making horrid jokes about Vickies 'weight' (she is not that big of a girl, WWE). The entire segment was unsettling and classless to me.

ODB and Cody Deaner: ODB needs to get canned this second. I dont see why people are a fan of hers. It comes off as her trying too hard some times, and the gimmick just comes off as badly done. Okay, I get it. She likes slapping her tits and drinks from a flask and does everything a 'lady' wouldnt do. I dont like her matches, I dont like her talking, and I dont like her as a character. The whole "ODB Gets a Date" game show that TNA did was fucking horrid and took up way more time than it needed to ever take up. I just hate her character and cant wait for her to dissapear from television again.