With the return of Chris Jericho, I expect the promos around the WWE to be better. Kennedy cut a strong one Monday night and surprisingly, Shelton Benjamin cut a decent one on ECW. Quite frankly, the "Ain't no stoppin' me now!" is a little old. They used that whenever he beat Triple H but we'll get to Shelton later. Santino cuts them but honestly, the only reason he's funny is because of his accent and his dyslexia in saying names and letters. Until Santino starts doing stuff in the ring, he'll just be another Bobby Hennan.

Moving along, there has been an upward swing as far as the overall product is concerned. Yes, ECW still sucks but that's because instead of showcasing your champion, you put Big Flabby V and Kane in the main event. That honestly makes no sense what so ever to me. I'm glad Shelton Benjamin is over on ECW now. It will give him a chance to hone his excellent skills. I'm just hoping this will lead to a feud with Punk. I can't get over Punk not being on ECW. You don't have the champion on his show? That's retarded. That would be like having an episode of RAW and there be no mention of Randy Orton. I'm sure it's happened before but they could probably afford to do that. ECW can't afford to do anything bad right now.

With that said, they make the show about two crappy matches. Kelly and Layla had a very awkward match but it wouldn't come close to the Trish Stratus-Jackie Gayda debacle from a few years ago. They don't look fluent in the ring. It's like they're trying to not mess up their hair and keep their nails in tact. I mean no disrespect at all towards women wrestlers. Just look at TNA. They have some of the best and hottest, minus Awesome Kong, women's wrestlers in the world. But, instead of getting these girls going, they just embarrass the company.

Speaking of embarrassment, Big Flabby V and Kane had probably the worst match in the past few weeks this past Tuesday. I'm still trying to figure out why they are put in the main spots when the people backstage know they're gonna suck it up. It's like Rex Grossman and other crappy QB's. You know they're gonna f*ck up and play like crap, yet you keep putting them out there for the world to see. Once again, there's another "Extreme Rules" match that wasn't extreme at all. If you're going to have "Extreme Rules" matches, have some damn blood! I won't get into the Mark Henry run-in. He's an accident waiting to happen. He might as well have a sign on his chest or something with "CAUTION" like the late great Owen Hart used to have. Mark Henry is pitiful. Be forewarned WWE Superstars, the first ones I'm releasing when I take over if they're still there are Mark Henry, Big Flabby V, The Great Khali, and maybe Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

With all of these inter-promotional matches going on, it's a wonder that the Brand Extension hasn't been called off yet. While I'm still an advocate of the Brand Extension, I like the Smackdown-ECW talent exchange stuff. The only problem with that is no guys on ECW get developed. One thing I've noticed over the past few years in watching WWE is they don't develop guys that much anymore. Take Cody Rhodes for instance. I like Cody and think he's got a lot of potential. But, as JR said one time, "potential won't buy you the groceries." They rushed Cody onto TV for some stuff with Randy Orton. I honestly don't think he was ready yet and should have been given longer to develop. Look at DH Smith, while his past run was certainly short lived, I think they could have developed him a little longer and at least hyped his debut. Sometimes you have to put guys in the fire and see how they react but if they're going to be 2nd or 3rd generation guys, give them a little more time.

I received some e-mails concerning my comments about the Edge-Vickie Guerrero kiss/storyline from last week. I feel that from these, I need to clarify my position. I didn't know Eddie Guerrero, like I don't know hardly any of the wrestlers in today's business. From all accounts I've heard, he was one that he wanted guys to do what they had to do to get their character over. While Vickie isn't the best looking thing I've seen, I think they were doing the right thing with Edge "getting with" the Smackdown GM. This gives him heat in a way that he's got the GM "wrapped around his finger." It's a brilliant thing to get heat on Edge. Edge is the best heel in wrestling right now. Yes, you read that right. He knows how to get people to boo him and pissed off at him. If you don't believe me, check Smackdown out this Friday night or whenever you can and see the title match. I'm a fan of Edge's because I believe he does some of the best work, in-ring and on the mic. He can make a crowd turn on him just like that. He's a good in-ring performer and does everything perfectly. I think the move to Smackdown this past summer was what he needed. Oh, and The Dudleys are probably the best heel tag team ever. You check out their ECW work. They had people waiting for them in the parking lot, wanting to kick their asses.

As we move forward, talking about the best ever, I wanted to comment on the Ric Flair stuff. I believe this is a brilliant move. They started the "Farewell Tour" in Flair's hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. If you saw the show, the live crowd sucked and there's no denying that. However, I think this is going to be a great move. Whether he wins the title or not is up in the air. I could see him going strong and getting a shot at Wrestlemania and losing and calling it quits. I could also see him getting the title before Wrestlemania and lose it there to somebody that may need a push or something. While the thought of an Edge-Undertaker, Streak vs. Streak match seems cool, I wouldn't mind going a different route. Try this on for size. Flair wins the belt and goes on to defend it against Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Flair could drop the belt on the biggest stage to someone who is respected enough to end Flair's career. With the influence that Triple H has, he'll probably be the one to do it, which sucks. It's going to be interesting to see because I couldn't tell you where it would go.

Overall, the product is kicking some ass. They’ve got some big names back and the writing seems to be on it’s way back up. I still question a few booking decisions, i.e. Flabby V & Kane, but everything is on point. I’m looking forward to the next few months!

Before I close, I wanted to give everybody a heads up about this weekend. If you're a college football fan, it's one of the best weekends of the year. It's championship weekend. Things kickoff with the Conference USA title game between Tulsa and UCF squaring off. I won't be watching that one because I'll be watching the classic, Army-Navy Game. I've got an old teammate who's at the Naval Academy and the Navy Head Coach used to be the head coach at my school, Georgia Southern. Things progress with the SEC title game between LSU and Tennessee. I'm partial to Tennessee because I grew up a Tennessee fan. Moving along, somewhere in there, the owners of WNW, Richard & Ryan Gray, have their school, West Virginia, who could play for the national title, playing Pitt somewhere in there. Let's all pull for the Mountaineers! I just wanted to give everybody a heads up on the upcoming college football weekend. I'm a big fan of college football and that's where I'll be Saturday.

Excess Power Rankings
After a long hiatus, I made the decision to bring back the rankings. Nothing was enough to be ranked, except for MVP-Hardy and Batista-Undertaker and maybe Punk-Morrison-Miz. Everything else wasn't any good a few weeks ago and I'm sorry I don't drink the same Kool-Aid as everybody else. Without further ado, here are the rankings:
1. Randy Orton
2. The Undertaker
3. Batista
4. CM Punk
5. Chris Jericho
6. Triple H
7. The Undertaker
8. Jeff Hardy
9. Edge
10. Mr. Kennedy

You can e-mail me at lukeparks@hotmail.com. If you send me spam, I will knock your block off. Just kidding, but seriously, I will. If I don't respond to your e-mail, chances are it got caught up in my junk mail folder.

Wrestling Autism

Velocity Dos – Tuesdays at 10PM on SciFi
Friday Night Smackdown – Fridays at 8PM on the CW

Armageddon – December 16 – 8PM – Only on PPV!