Road to Summer Slam 2007 - 5

Part 4 is here.

Very briefly.

The matter, of course, that we haven't covered from the road to Summer Slam '07 is Benoit.

For purposes of the Counterfactual, there's not much to say. Benoit left the storyline after XXII; I brought him back just after XXIII for the surprise farewell, so he could give up the Triple Crown title and say goodbye.

There's not much addressing of it that we'd do on the TV shows. A ten bell, I think, for the whole family, a commentary from the studio, away from arenas, not part of programs. If there were wrestlers who wanted to wear armbands, that would be fine.

Right after Owen died, Jericho arrived. The Clique had a "this is our sandbox" now moment; I tried as best I could to not have that be about Owen, but instead about the seeming end of the Clique/Hart feud, given that Bret and Davey Boy had also left. I didn't have any desire to use "win one for Owen" in the storyline, that doesn't appeal to me, but I am committed to this Clique/Harts throughline; I like it in the same way that a soap opera family feud might exist for generations. Coincidentally (spoiler alert) Jericho's about to come back, and he's coming back in a Hart/Clique context (double spoiler alert) and the subtext of Jericho once again riding in after the death of a Hart babyface is unavoidable.

Probably, in Counterfactual world, Summer Slam occurring when it does means a toned down product in terms of the level of violence which would be tasteful. Hard to see a way a throat slash gesture is salvageable, for example, for the foreseeable future. I do have a violent conclusion coming to a current program and I think the narrative requires it - my thought is it can happen after Summer Slam, however.

Benoit doesn't disappear from the record books - doesn't vanish from Counterfactual history; hard to do that with arguably the greatest wrestler who ever lived and solidly the greatest in Counterfactual history.

Beyond that - a year after the events, I'm unsure my thoughts have changed that much. I think the science on concussions is fairly embryonic, but there is some data that's worth taking into account in considering the last days of Benoit. That aside, I assume I think about it in a way similar to most of you. Sort of hard to squarely consider. Meltzer wrote really emotionally about Flair's retirement; he clearly identified his own life in wrestling with Flair's career - and took personally the moments when Flair was given less respect, less due, than Meltzer thought he was due. Like an athlete you might follow from college to the pros to the HOF, Meltzer rode the ups and downs with Flair and had a heartfelt reaction to his retirement.

I didn't. For me, Flair was just a guy. No disrespect - Flair was a very good worker, but I didn't have the emotional attachment that others did. His last match didn't make me cry; Eddy and Benoit hugging after XX made me cry; they were the guys whose careers I followed, they were the ones whose careers my interest in wrestling tracked, and through Japan and ECW and WCW and the years in the WWF middle, they were the ones I formed an attachment to. That they're both gone (and Owen and Pillman and Davey and Rude and Hennig and you know the list) is hard to look at.

It didn't end wrestling for me though, both because while the type of wrestling I like, stiff, bump-filled, high impact - takes a physical toll in a way that a career in the NFL leaves its retirees broken - the death toll in Japan, which has a far more physical style than worked here, just isn't there. So, it's not really the suplexes that are killing people - it's the drugs, recreational, pain killing, performance enhancing - it's the North American wrestling cocktail that's led to the body count. Wrestling doesn't kill more people than football does. The North American wrestling lifestyle has.

And the second reason is that at the turn of the millennium, I found new guys - like tape trading is where I found Benoit/Eddy in the early 90s - a new round of tape trading, facilitated by DVDs and the internet, led to my finding the east coast indie circuit in the late 90s and the turn of the millennium, where I could follow guys like Punk and Joe and Danielson and AJ from their first days in the ring. I feel invested in their careers like I did in Benoit's and Eddy's; I didn't cry when Punk won the big gold belt the other week (seriously, did that happen? that's a weird moment given how I've structured the Counterfactual) but I popped big. And while I know the most likely result is a wild decrease in his match quality, a downturn in ROH (which is my favorite North American promotion ever) and maybe a burial of his place in history -- the mark in me really wants Danielson to sign with WWE. Both because I'd get to use him, and because I want to see him holding up the belt, maybe hugging Joe, after XXX.

That's it.

Summer Slam 2007 will be posted in August. Punk v. London is your main event.

Road to Summer Slam 2007 - 4

Part 3 is here.

In the previous posts, we've set up the following:

ECW Title: CM Punk v. Paul London

WWF Title: Booker T v. Rey Mysterio

Worldwide Titles: Randy Orton v. Brian Kendrick

Perejas Increibles: Punk/London v. Orton/Kendrick

In Part 3, the tag title was set up without revealing who the challengers are - as the LWO had its summerlong feud with Heat turn into a new feud with a team we didn't name.

That team is S&S - The Superstar and the Sidekick - Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch.

Cade and Murdoch are in the NWA, on Friday Night Fight Night - and throughout 2007, as that show begins to deveop its identity, they are the core tag act. The dynamic between the two is not dissimilar to the Will Farrell/John C Reilly shtick they did in Talledega Nights - in fact, I'm going to steal a catchphrase from the movie "That Just Happened" and make it the name of Murdoch's finisher (flip piledriver - Petey Williams's Canadian Destroyer).

Cade's the Superstar - he's got the big, fancy robe and the crazy physique and the bronzer and the platinum hair. He carries himself like he's Ric Flair in 1989. Murdoch's the Sidekick, trucker hat, farmer's tan, and his clothes are covered in advertising patches, like a stock car racer. Their promos always include some type of product placement or ad catchphrase, with the idea being that they're getting paid. Cade's not really doing comedy, not really trying to pull off the Ferrell character, he's just being pro wrestling heel - but Murdoch's telling jokes. Unlike the Punk/Colt dynamic that is established this summer, Cade doesn't get irritated with Murdoch, Murdoch's doing his job, selling the product, moving merchandise, keeping them on task.

As mentioned in Part 3 - over the summer - they unexpectedly appear on RAW to take out the LWO during a couple of high profile moments, as the LWO/Heat program comes to an end - to set up the tag title match at Summer Slam.

Unified Tag Titles: LWO v. S&S

That look at Fight Night takes us to the NWA Title - Fit Finlay is, of course, the champ, having retired Flair at XXIII. Fit, with Dean Malenko as his manager, is the face of Fight Night - tough, stiff, humorless, rugged -- Fit's a guy who will kick your ass legit, he's the champ and the locker room enforcer. And he and Dean make it clear after Mania that for Summer Slam, they want to defend the belt against an up and comer - they know they aren't here forever - they bleed NWA, Dean was NWA Champ back before the WWF buyout (clips, so many clips to show) and they set a tone that they want to create a culture on Fight Night where it is clear the man who holds the NWA belt is the real world's champion - the best wrestler on the planet.

So, they look to inculcate that whenever they can - working on the young guys, looking for a new generation who will be the face of Fight Night in the future --

But the guy who keeps blowing them off - who is always more interested in how he looks and photo shoots and his girl Melina - is Johnny Nitro.

I teased this a little in an earlier storyline that was background in 2006 - when Arn took over Haas and Benjamin after XXII, calling them Strong Style, toughening them up - they ran through the WWF tag ranks, clearing out the deadweight - the last team standing was MNM, with Nitro being the one who proved he was tough enough to stay in the company when guys like Bradshaw and Mercury left from the beatings.

But now we reset Nitro a little - he's concerned about his hair and his abs and his girl - he blows Fit off, isn't interested in the Fight Night culture - he's all showbiz -- and that enrages Fit and Dean, who decide its their duty to teach him a lesson.

Nitro stays a step ahead of them, through various chickenshit heel chicanery, all summer -- Nitro and Melina laughing, taunting - saying after Summer Slam it will be the Nitro Wrestling Alliance - that Fit can wrestle in the senior's division - that their vision of the NWA is glitz and glamor and beautiful people. Fit wants everyone to be as personality-free as he and Malenko are - Nitro is the one saving the business - saving the NWA - and looking pretty doing it.

That's the matchup - with Fit vowing not just to beat Nitro - but to beat some respect into him - that the NWA isn't about style, it's about substance, and the Summer Slam clash will be over which vision of the NWA will prevail.

NWA Title: Fit Finlay v. Johnny Nitro

6 matches down - 2 left.

Back to the WWF - recall, on the Road to XXIII, we met Eddie Little (Umaga) - Little is our Kimbo Slice, he was launched in viral internet videos of his streetfighting in late '06, building as much of a following as we can generate - although he was barely controllable, he entered as Steamboat's man against Dusty's man, Monte Brown, in the winner gets a contract match at XXIII -- Little went over, signed the contract - showed contempt for the entire process.

Little's a cross between Kimbo Slice and the Necro Butcher - I see him wrestling in a wifebeater, jeans and no shoes - unleashing rage on his opponents - Little is nicknamed "The Juggernaut" by Taz - and will now be The Juggernaut Eddie Little, and probably, eventually, just The Juggernaut.

Taz is an interesting comparison, actually - part of his gimmick was he was supposed to be a legit badass, legit miserable, mean, a guy who would fuck you up if you crossed him -- I'd like stories leaked to the sheets about how Little is out of control - he's scary, dangerous, legit fucked up - how he gets into locker room fights, how he beat the hell out of the Brooklyn Brawler. That kinda thing.

The storyline is he v. Steamboat; sometimes, Little no shows RAW. Or he gets DQ'd by beating up a referee - or Howard Finkel. Steamboat threatens to fire him, Little doesn't care - I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH!! - becomes his catchprase.

Steamboat decides to make him wrestle twice at Summer Slam - that he's going to earn his money on PPV. And he's going to wrestle against Cena and Kennedy. Cena and Kennedy have been a bottom card babyface tag act; Cena's a former tag champ, with Orton - but as Orton's gone on to win the IC, Cena's been struggling.

Steamboat brings them into the office, tells them that this is a very competitive time in the WWF, there's a whole universe of talented young wrestlers - and for whatever reason, the two of them aren't getting it done.

So he says there's an ultimatum. If they can't beat Little at Summer Slam, he's going to look hard at trading them away. He doesn't know if there's room for them on Monday nights anymore.

And that's the program - Cena and Kennedy are fighting for their jobs, taking on Little in two separate singles matches at Summer Slam - Steamboat hoping to light a fire under the young wrestlers - and maybe teach Little a lesson.

Coming in August from East Rutherford is Summer Slam 2007:

1. ECW CHAMPIONSHIP: CM PUNK (w/Maria) v. PAUL LONDON

2. WWF CHAMPIONSHIP: BOOKER T. v. REY MYSTERIO

3. NWA CHAMPIONSHIP: FIT FINLAY (w/Malenko) v. JOHNNY NITRO (w/Melina)

4. WORLDWIDE TITLES: RANDY ORTON V. BRIAN KENDRICK

5. UNIFIED TAG TITLES: LWO:CHAVO GUERRERO/CARLITO COLON (w/Crazy) v. S&S THE SUPERSTAR LANCE CADE/THE SIDEKICK TREVOR MURDOCH

6. THE JUGGERNAUT EDDIE LITTLE v. JOHN CENA

7. THE JUGGERNAUT EDDIE LITTLE v. KEN KENNEDY

8. PAREJAS INCREIBLES: PUNK/LONDON V. ORTON/KENDRICK

Call your cable company! We keep building.

Road to Summer Slam 2007, Part 3

Part 2 is here.

We’re a month away from Summer Slam 2007 from East Rutherford; three matches already set up – the main event:

ECW Title: CM PUNK V. PAUL LONDON

The Worldwide Titles:

RANDY ORTON V. BRIAN KENDRICK

And the Summer Slam tradition, perejas increibles PUNK/LONDON V. ORTON/KENDRICK.

5 more to go.

The tag title program most of the summer is the new tag champs coming out of XXIII, the now babyfaced LWO (Carlito, Chavo, w/ Crazy as the 3rd man) against Heat (Montel Porter, Elijah Burke). It begins when Steamboat announces that the legendary Rey Mysterio, a Triple Crown Champion, will be returning after a year on the shelf (he was taken out by Lashley with the Dominator through the table at Summer Slam 06, that was the match where Flair won the Unified Title, which he then dropped to Punk at Survivor Series 06, Punk threw down the WWF and NWA belts, which is what ended the 51% Solution and broke up the company into three pieces) to challenge Booker T for the WWF Championship.

There will be subtle (by the announce and Steamboat) and then not subtle suggestions that Rey is coming to reclaim his belt, that while it was an incredible story that Booker, a career midcarder really, was able to beat Edge at the Rumble and then the previously unbeaten Lashley at XXIII top become the first ever African-American World Heavyweight Champion – that he just isn’t in the class of Rey Mysterio, an all time elite wrestler, a WWF legend.

This will be prodded then by the LWO – who will do some promos cheerleading for Rey – saying that after Summer Slam, the Lation Nation will have totally taken control of the WWF, they will still be tag champs – and obviously Mysterio will be WWF champ.

That draws the ire of Heat as Booker’s protégées – add in some partisan minority fanbases and you get your summer. Tag matches and singles matches among all 5 guys.

Two matters of note in that program: Heat begins to act heelish, taking shortcuts – both because the feud presents them as not as seasoned as the LWO, still young, still a little green – and because they think they’re taking Book’s advice. Recall, Porter loved him some Harlem Heat, and Book would take some shortcuts. And part of this year that we’ve watched Book give advice to Porter and Burke (and, in the storyline, the years that Book’s been training them in Houston, not to mention the years in prison where Book sent tapes and wrote letters to Porter) has involved Book telling them that you gotta press the advantage, take the openings, feel weakness – even when (you may recall) it was time for Book to leave his own brother behind to come to New York to wrestle for the WWF Title against Kurt Angle, he had to do what was best for him.

So – Book, now the veteran babyface symbol of his people WWF Champ takes umbrage at the heel tactics used by Porter and Burke – they’re a little surprised – and Porter eventually responds with video proof that Book’s occasionally gone heel himself. Book is clear, clear that he learned from his mistakes – that he wouldn’t be where he is today wrestling like that – but maybe there’s a little pride as his guys begin to grow up – maybe.

All of that builds the program – getting us to the climax – whenever it is that Lashley walks, his goodbye job has to be to Rey. Lashley disappears after Mania – then returns unannounced, say to bury Crazy when he’s separate from the LWO (maybe they’re already gone, say they were in a parking lot brawl with Heat) Lashley’s as furious as he can be, cutting his own promo – saying that if Mysterio is healthy enough to come back at Summer Slam – he’s healthy enough to come back next week on RAW. He’s still the Executioner, he’s ended careers – and he will end Mysterio’s if he has the guts to face him one on one.

So – Rey comes back early – beats Lashley on RAW – Lashley attacks postmatch – cheapshotting Rey – the LWO comes out for the face save – but they never make it to the ring, attacked by…

Well, we haven’t met that team yet – that’s next –

Lashley’s all over Rey – setting up the table for the Dominator – the announce losing their minds – when Book does the run in.

Book with the face save – he battles Lashley back – Rey recovers for the doubleteam, doing all the finishing moves they can do to definitively bury Lashley – the two opponents for the WWF Title working together to end the Executioner. They do a long Hogan like postmatch thing for the fans, in my head, there’s a good, hot battle between the Hispanic and African-American WWF fans that builds over the summer of ’07, the LWO obviously is doing an explicitly Latino pride gimmick, and with Book’s title push from Rumble on being about the quest to be the first Black champion, there is race consciousness abounding. A summer of LWO and Heat – building to the return of an icon like Mysterio – could get hot, and that would be excellent.

Because Heat’s gonna enter the ring now – Book introduces them to Rey – it’s a thing, Rey’s a legend after all, he’s won the Triple Crown – Burke will shake Rey’s hand as the segment is clearly over and it’s just time for a commercial- until Porter gonna takes out Mysterio’s knee.

Porter stomps Rey out – Book and Burke are shocked – they pull Porter away – Porter is excited – Porter’s all amped up – eventually, we’ll hear from Porter the explanation that he was seizing the advantage – now, Book will be going up against an injured, weakened Mysterio at Summer Slam, giving him a better chance to keep his strap – but Book isn’t hearing it at all – and right now, in the ring – with Porter not stopping his attack on Rey – with the LWO gone, attacked by –

Well, we haven’t met them yet –

Book has to get physical to stop Porter – Book takes one shot at Porter – a slap to draw him back – and that’s the second shock in the ring – the slap stops Porter cold – Porter and Burke staring wide eyed at Book – Book really verbally ripping into Porter right in the middle of the ring. Book yells at Burke to get Porter out of there – he does, ending the segment.

That gets to the blowoff to Heat/LWO, a No DQ tag title match on RAW – with Crazy still out, it will be Book and Mysterio in the corners of the other teams. Burke and Porter are all tension – Burke’s caught in the middle between Book and Porter, Book obviously objects to Porter’s heelishness, particularly the unprovoked attack on the legendary Mysterio – Porter is clearly seething, he was slapped by Book in the ring – and really, all he was trying to do was help.

Carlito and Chavo of course are looking for some payback for Porter’s attack on Rey.

So, it’s full on out of control, with the LWO, who had always been heels, always been aggressive, on the wrong side of too many asskickings recently – and they spill Heat’s blood all over the ring, at one point, they’ve got Porter isolated and are full on assaulting with some sharp, awful object – barbed wire or glass or something bad – when Book saves – Book’s save of Porter leads to Rey’s save of LWO – and that means Book and Rey are full on brawling in the middle of the ring.

Chavo gets the fall on Burke, ending the match – LWO will then be attacked by…

Well, we haven’t gotten to them yet.

But – that will set up the WWF Title match – Booker T v. Rey Mysterio – giving us 4 matches.

And it sets up the tag title, LWO defending against…well, not Heat – that feud’s blown off and they have injuries to sell – but LWO defending against the team that’s attacked them twice – a team from the NWA – we’ll get to that team along with the NWA Title match and the two other singles matches on the card (spoiler alert – one man’s wrestling in each of those two matches) in the next installment on the Road to Summer Slam 2007.

Road to Summer Slam 2007, Part 2

Part 1 is here.

SummerSlam’s coming in August from East Rutherford.

Long view as we march to XXIV from Orlando next March:

Now that there are 3 separate champions, three separate companies with three distinct identities, as often as possible, each looks to proclaim its superiority, specifically the superiority of its champion. Booker (WWF) Fit (NWA) Punk (ECW/GDI) are all put over hard as the real worlds champion – and there is much speculation about if/when the belts will ever be unified again. The push for that unification comes from the WWF side; the motivating element of Steamboat’s character is that his job is to bring the company back together, to bring everyone back under the WWF umbrella and to reassert the WWF Championship as the dominant title belt in the world. It’s the driving force behind all of his decisions. GDI is the rebellious upstart; the NWA sells its UFC-like stiffness – but the WWF doesn’t need to establish brand identity – its struggle is to regain unquestioned control of the wrestling universe.
At XXIII, Steamboat announced that the main event for XXIV would be a TLC match, the first TLC match in the WWF since the bodybag match that ended the E/C v. Hardys v. Dudleys tag feud and saw 5 of the 6 competitors get stretchered from ringside. Unlike the build for the Edge/Matt Cell main event at XXIII, we don’t know the participants yet – but at every arena all year long we see the posters for XXIV, the outline of the tables and chairs – a ladder reaching to the sky – the tag:

Tables. Ladders. Chairs. Titles. Wrestlemania XXIV. March, 2008. Orlando.

Oh, My.

8 matches to set up.

Wrestlemania ended, recall, with the gigantic Cell match between Edge and Matt – Hardy gaining revenge, getting the victory in the main event of XXIII. It was clean and brutal and bloody and definitive and marked the end of the feud.

And, of course, the show didn’t end then. GDI – Punk and his crew – entered to make their mark on the big show, splattering Matt and Edge all over the cage they locked behind them.

The three moments of note – Edge crawling, for some much speculated reason – to protect Matt, shielding him from the blows, taking the chairshots himself to spare Matt. Two, Jeff, after losing the 3 way for the Worldwide Titles earlier in the evening (Randy Orton taking the straps, getting the fall on the champ, Shane Helms) hobbling to ringside, seeing there was no way to get into the cage – except for the hole in the top, made earlier when Edge and Matt crashed through together, falling together through the cage as neither was willing to stop punching in order to save himself. Jeff climbing to the top and diving through, wiping out GDI momentarily in the spot that defined WM XXIII.
And 3 was Paul London. London has never turned heel, never bought fully into Punk’s GDI rap – only joining GDI and leaving the WWF when Punk promised him that he would be the one contesting for the ECW title at XXIII – a spot that Punk cavalierly then gave to RVD and Sabu. London made the big face save at the close of XXIII – cleaning house and putting the spotlight of the wrestling world on himself as Wrestlemania closed.

And that’s where we begin immediately following XXIII as the Road to Summer Slam begins.

Punk is celebratory on GDI Wrestling – he is put over as having kept the ECW belt against both Van Dam and Sabu – in Detroit no less. Punk effectively says that in one night he has established himself as the dominant World Champion in ECW history – that his feat is unmatched in wrestling – RVD and Sabu are gone – gone from the company, gone from wrestling – gone from the world, for all anyone knows. And it is all because of CM Punk and GDI.

Note the changes to the crew over the summer – Colt Cabana is on the roster now, playing his comedy role; he and Punk have a good two man bit, Colt always wanting to inject some levity – Punk always plotting, always serious – Punk carries himself like the top guy, he’s the king – but Colt wants to tell jokes, wants to hang out – wants to have fun. Over the summer, we can see that Punk is loyal to Cabana, that he, Maria, and Colt are a crew within the GDI structure. Joining the roster soon – Matt Sydal, who will be keeping that name. Already on the roster but soon to be able to appear on PPV – Jimmy Yang. When last we saw Yang a few years ago – he had a surfer gimmick, San Diego Jimmy Yang – and feuded with Ultimo and Tajiri. Now, he is just Yang, dropping the Jimmy and going all Yakuza – spiky hair, mirrored sunglasses, black suit. Yang.

Also changing is the announce – Josh Matthews remains the principal voice of GDI, but Al Snow is now gone as the color man – coming out of losing the tag titles at XXIII – Tommy Dreamer takes over as the analyst. Dreamer’s gonna turn face here, moving to his real world Dreamer character, the regular guy, true blue ECW character – he can occasionally serve as counterpoint to Punk, as there is no commissioner figure on Tuesday.

Punk’s defending the ECW belt is the main event of Summer Slam – the dominant GDI storyline is that Punk won’t let Paul London in the building. Punk’s on top – he sells GDI as tight knit, as a family, as unbreakable – if they stand together they wind up on top of the wrestling world – where’s Edge – gone – where’s Matt – gone, where’s Jeff – gone – where’s RVD and Sabu – gone – when you cross GDI – you get gone.

London’s not a team player, he’s only in it for himself.

So, London starts running on Punk the same program that Punk ran on the whole WWF when he debuted – London goes to indie shows that aren’t GDI – and somehow (Punk blames Dreamer) his matches wind up getting shown on the grainy videotape on Tuesdays. Punk says London has no job anymore – he’s not GDI – but London matches wind up on the air – and now London, playing even smaller venues then GDI, out-indying the indie alternative – keeps crashing GDI with his tapes.

London, with his crowds behind him – starts cutting promos on Punk – Punk’s the one just in it for himself – he talks about all of GDI becoming stars, champions – the best wrestlers alive – but he’s the only one who seems to be booked on the big shows – where’s the title shots for everyone else - what about the rest of the guys – Noble and Kendrick and Yang and even Colt Cabana.

London trying to ferment some distrust, dissatisfaction – Punk trying to keep them together, saying protecting him, protecting the ECW belt is what GDI is all about.

Eventually it looks like the rubber’s about to meet the road for Punk – the crew seems ready to mutiny – Punk’s kept a psychological hold on this group of wrestlers since his debut – he’s the puppetmaster, the manipulator – he has been constantly positioned as a master of psychological warfare – but now, with London going all guerilla with videotapes, Punk’s promises look hollow – there’s a moment where it looks like there’s gonna be a revolt – “Where are our title shots – what about what Paul says – when are we gonna get our shots – what about us – any of us – any of us, Punk…
When Punk says “you want title shots – you want a title shot at Summer Slam – what about an Intercontinental Title Shot – what about a shot at the Worldwide Titles – what about – a shot against Randy Orton”

And Orton’s music hits – and Randy Orton appears on GDI.

Recall, the way the tag belts and the IC maintain significance in a universe with 3 World Champions is that they’re the wrestlers who defend on all 3 shows – the World Champs and the rest of the rosters are married to their individual shows – but the Worldwide (Orton) and the tags (LWO) work all week, can wrestle against anyone.

Orton’s gimmick is now the same as his real world gimmick – the idea that he would stand at the Hammerstein or some equivalent is clearly beneath him, but Orton says he’s beaten the top contender at WWF (let’s say Helms) and NWA (lets say Haas) and he got a call from Punk saying that there were some boys on Tuesday night who might like a shot at the Champ.

Orton gets into all of their faces – saying that he’ll put up his Worldwide belts against someone from GDI at Summer Slam – and they can work that out among themselves – he’ll be there in East Rutherford in August to get his pinfall and get his check.

That’s enough to win the GDI wrestlers to Punk’s side – fuck that London, he doesn’t know anything – and we get some type of round robin points based tournament on the road to Summer Slam – one of the results of that being that the tag team of Noble and Kendrick gets busted up when the competition between them gets too heated.

It winds up that its Kendrick who comes out on top in the GDI Challenge – Brian Kendrick is going to Summer Slam to challenge Randy Orton for the Worldwide belts.

As that challenge is going on – London steps it up – making forays into the Hammerstein or equivalent to attack individual GDI wrestlers – calling Punk out each time – demanding that Punk faces him man to man. London gets all of them – taking them all out one at a time all summer – there’s a spot, after Kendrick has earned his title shot – where London has a chance to wipe Kendrick out.

There should be drama – London is about to hurt Kendrick – taking away his chance to be Worldwide Champ – taking away the biggest match of his life.

But we all know that London really still loves his former tag partner – they’re brothers, they came up together in San Antonio – they were junior Cliquesters under Michaels – they wanted to be tag champs, to rise together – and it’s all gone wrong – but London still has that glimmer of affection for Kendrick down deep like babyfaces do – and despite everything – he can’t pull the trigger on wiping his old partner out – he spares Kendrick, allowing him to keep his shot –

And that’s when Punk finally pounces – Punk and after a little hesitation, Kendrick, take London apart – they stand over him and Punk yells out to London that he’s got himself his world title shot at Summer Slam.

So – we’ve set up 2 matches and actually 3.

ECW Title: CM Punk v. Paul London
Worldwide Titles: Randy Orton v. Brian Kendrick

Also, recall the Summer Slam opening tag tradition is parejas increibles – the mixed partners tag match. This year – the opening tag for Summer Slam will be Paul London and CM Punk against Brian Kendrick and Randy Orton.

3 matches down. 5 to go on the Road to Summer Slam 2007.

Road to Summer Slam 2007

WM 23 is here.


Road to Summer Slam 2007 – 1

Summer Slam 2007 will be coming from East Rutherford in August – all 3 World singles titles on the line, with the story throughout the summer – in fact, the dominant story throughout all of 2007 as we drive to WM 24 being - who is the real World Champion.

In every crevice and corner, the announcers from the 3 shows, the wrestlers, and particularly the champions themselves, look to infuse evidence as to their claims as the real world champion. Ricky Steamboat, virtually every time he appears on television, says he has one goal in life – that being to reunite the 3 belts, to reunite the WWF – to reassert the primacy, the unquestioned superiority, of the World Wrestling Federation.

There will be 8 matches at Summer Slam ’07 – CM Punk, Booker T, Fit Finlay all defending their World Titles. Punk was our last Undisputed Champion, holding all 3 World Title belts (which had been united by Kurt Angle, who defeated the last ever ECW Champion, Rob Van Dam, and then the last ever NWA Champion, Rey Mysterio, when they each brought their title belts to the WWF) when he defeated Ric Flair at Survivor Series ’06.
Punk then threw down both the WWF and NWA belts, he and his valet Maria spitting on them, creating GDI and calling the ECW World Championship the only true title belt in wrestling. Punk kept over Matt Hardy at Royal Rumble ’07 and has just defeated both RVD and Sabu in a Three Way Dance at Wrestlemania XXIII. Joey Mathews and Al Snow, the voices of GDI (until Snow gets released) will put Punk over throughout the summer as having run the two ultimate ECW legends clean out of wrestling after pinning them both cleanly in their hometown at Wrestlemania.

The vacant WWF and NWA belts were filled with new champions at XXIII in the culmination of tournaments that began prior to Rumble ’07. The veteran Booker T, clearly spurred on with his mentorship of the young lions, Montel Porter and Elijah Burke (Heat) caught a fire he had not shown since his NWA days, upsetting Edge at the Rumble and then handing the Executioner Bobby Lashley his first ever defeat to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at XXIII. Book becomes the first African American Heavyweight Champion in wrestling history, a fact noted multiple times by all involved.

The NWA relaunched upon Punk’s throwing down their title belt – Friday Night Fight Night was created, with Dusty Rhodes serving as that company’s GM, and the returning Jim Ross and Bradshaw becoming the voices of the promotion. Whereas the feel of RAW is puroresu, and GDI is designed to ape ROH – NWA Fight Night is supposed to feel like MMA, as shootlike as can be worked.

Fit Finlay became the new NWA Champ – Fit emerged from retirement a couple of years previous with Dean Malenko as his manager, this no-nonsense pair teamed together to take the IC strap (the Worldwide Titles) which he dropped to HHH-M at XXII. Fit rebounded in ’07, going over Randy Orton at Rumble ’07, then retiring Ric Flair to win the NWA World Title at XXIII.

And Ric Flair appears to be retired.

On the Fight Night the week following XXIV, the last half hour of the program is for Flair appreciation. Outside of neither Hunter or Michaels appearing, the in-ring portion is basically the same as the one on real world RAW after XXIV. The boys, the veterans making an appearance – it’s a Flair thing. We add some clips – I like clips – a sort of this is your life montage of Flair’s career.

RIC FLAIR’S CAREER:

Becomes 1st ever US Champion – 4/80 (d Jimmy Snuka)
Wins 1st NWA Title – 9/81 (d. Dusty Rhodes)
Wins 2nd NWA Title – Starrcade ’83 (d. Harley Race, starts the Counterfactual)

Flair holds the title for 4 years, defending against Superstar Graham and Rick Rude. Obviously, Rude can’t attend the ceremony, but as the clips play, everyone else can then come to the ring. Snuka – Dusty – Race – Billy Graham get introduced, one at a time. Clip. Intro. To the ring for the pop.


The 4 Horsemen were created in this stretch – and along with JJ Dillon come Arn, Tully, and ideally, Ole Anderson. To the ring.

Wins 3rd NWA Title – Starrcade ’88 over Dr. Death Steve Williams. Flair defends over Ricky Steamboat, Great Muta, Lex Luger -- all of them, ideally, to the ring, one at a time, each getting the separate pop.

Flair’s initial WWF run is shown – Flair with Heenan, Flair/Michaels/Piper battling the Harts – Flair defeating Davey Boy Smith to win the WWF Championship at Survivor Series ’91. Heenan comes to the ring – Piper comes to the ring – Harry Smith comes to the ring.

Wins 4th NWA Title – Fall Brawl ’93 over Vader. And in the postmatch – the reformation of the Horsemen – with Arn and the Hollywood Blonds. Vader comes to the ring. And the glass breaks – and here comes Steve Austin.

1995 – Ric Flair and Randy Savage team up to win the NWA tag championship over Harlem Heat --- Booker T, WWF Champion, comes to the ring along with Stevie Ray.

And then comes Randy Savage.

I mean, he didn’t fuck my underage daughter (allegedly) so I’m cool with bringing him back. Randy Motherfucking Savage.

Savage and Flair keep over Kensuki Sasaki and Masahiro Chono – and now they come to the ring. Muta/Chono/Sasaki – all in the ring.

At Slamboree ’96 Flair took the US title over Diamond Dallas Page – and at Superbrawl 2000, his final NWA Title over Jeff Jarrett. DDP comes to the ring – and I’m betting Jarrett would come too.

A clip is shown of Flair’s last two titles – he and Leviathan winning the tag belts over Haas and Benjamin at XX – and then he defeating Rey Mysterio for the WWF Title at Summer Slam 06. Leviathan, now a heel and enemy of Flair, comes to the ring, they break kayfabe for the hugging.

The rest of the roster, as many guys who can come (no Punk/HHH/Michaels – but everyone else, I think) can surround the ring to applaud Flair

A final clip – of the last run of the 4 Horsemen, is shown – Flair/Leviathan/Eddy/Chavo/Benoit.

Chavo comes to the ring with Vicki and as many of the brothers who can come.

And then Chris Benoit comes to the ring.
Benoit’s been gone since XXII, when Lashley sent him through a table following Benoit’s loss to Rey. The working assumption is that Benoit has retired.

Benoit comes to the ring on Fight Night the week after Wrestlemania XXIII. He carries with him the Hart-Guerrero Memorial Triple Crown, which he is in possession of as the most recent man to earn the distinction of winning all WWF belts. Benoit accepts the applause – the chants – waving to the fans as he hugs the wrestlers in the ring, hugs Flair – and hands the Triple Crown to Steamboat.

The announce lays out as the crowd reacts the way that it will – the arena full of wrestlers – the applause for all of them – the wrestlers waving to the fans – the shot momentarily lingering on the smiling faces of Flair, Chavo, and the greatest wrestler who ever lived – Chris Benoit – as the show ends.

I’ll be back to continue the road to Summer Slam ’07.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP CAREER OF CHRIS BENOIT

1996 – NWA Championship (Slamboree, d. Sting)
Defenses: Chris Jericho (Fall Brawl 96) Jushin Thunder Liger (Starrcade 96) Jericho (Superbrawl 97)

1997 – NWA Championship (Starrcade, d. Dean Malenko)
Defenses: Sting (Superbrawl 98)

1999 – NWA Championship (Superbrawl, d. Eddy Guerrero)
Defenses: Malenko (Slamboree 99)

2000 – WWF Championship (WM XVI, d. Cactus Jack)
Defenses – The Rock (Summer Slam 00) Steve Austin (Survivor Series 00) Jericho (Royal Rumble 01)

2002 – WWF Tag Championship (w/Eddy Guerrero) (Summer Slam, d. Jericho/Lance Storm)
Defenses – Jamie Noble/Billy Kidman (Survivor Series 02)

2004 – Undisputed Championship (WM XX, d. Kurt Angle)
Defenses – Angle (Summer Slam 04) Eddy Guerrero (Survivor Series 04) Shawn Michaels (Royal Rumble 05)

2005 – Worldwide Title (Triple Crown) (Survivor Series 05, d. Angle)