Black Widow
02-14-2009, 07:34 PM
AT the Royal Rumble, the world was waiting for someone to reveal themselves as Jeff Hardy’s mystery assailant.
Although many were expecting the return to WWE of Jay Reso, better known as Christian Cage, it turned out to be Matt Hardy turning on his brother.
As things turned out, Christian was not involved in the break up of Team Extreme. This week, though, he finally reappeared – in a very different place to most expected.
ECW Champion Jack Swagger opened this week’s show with standard heel rhetoric, belittling his No Way Out opponent Finlay and calling out the Irishman’s sidekick Hornswoggle.
However, it was not the leprechaun that answered the All-American American’s call, it was Christian.
In typical style, the Canadian proceeded to run down Swagger and challenged the victor of his match with Finlay to a future title encounter.
It wouldn’t be the last time Christian would appear on the show, either.
As Swagger was explaining to Teddy Long that he was taking the night off, the ECW GM had other ideas. He booked Swagger into a non-title match with Christian.
The ensuing contest was decent fare, but was not made to feel like the big deal Christian’s return ought to have done.
The presence of Finlay and Hornswoggle on commentary made it sound like a poor comedy skit at times, and the finish, involving Fit striking Swagger with his shillelagh, trivialised the match and tainted the comeback.
When the man who likes to be known as Captain Charisma shunned a new TNA contract it was obvious that he would head back to the WWE, but no-one knew exactly in what capacity.
The situation he found himself in was unprecedented.
Plenty of big name stars such as Booker T, Mick Foley and indeed Cage himself had made the jump to bolster the roster of rivals TNA, but Christian is the first individual of such status to make the return journey.
Midcarders have leapt from Dixie Carter’s organisation to Vince McMahon’s, but with mixed results.
Monty Brown headed to ECW as Marcus Cor Von, but personal issues meant his tenure came to a premature halt. Chris Harris aka Braden Walker lasted mere weeks before being embarrassingly let go.
Ron Killings, known now in WWE as R-Truth, has fared well, being pushed as a strong act on Smackdown, around the US Title level.
In time, we will find out whether Christian’s return is a successful one, but his initial re-appearance is somewhat underwhelming.
An unannounced appearance on ECW is not quite the grand stage that a supposed “world champion” may expect.
This may well be Vince McMahon sending a dual message to the wrestling world.
On one hand he is sure to be unhappy that initial plans for Christian to be culpable for Jeff Hardy’s troubles, and as a second vexation he may be trying to indicate that whatever your success in TNA, it does not automatically guarantee a spot in WWE’s upper echelons.
When the news broke that he was headed back to WWE, the imagination of the fans was entitled to go wild.
Aside from the implied attacks on Jeff Hardy, thoughts turned to whether he might ally with his storyline brother Edge, or perhaps feud with him.
A rerun of the famous Hardys v Edge and Christian feud was also a possibility, with a TLC WrestleMania match even being mentioned. Instead, his destination could be being lost in the sprawl of Money in the Bank.
Indeed it seems that Christian may well be forced to climb the WWE ladder the hard way.
The Sun
Although many were expecting the return to WWE of Jay Reso, better known as Christian Cage, it turned out to be Matt Hardy turning on his brother.
As things turned out, Christian was not involved in the break up of Team Extreme. This week, though, he finally reappeared – in a very different place to most expected.
ECW Champion Jack Swagger opened this week’s show with standard heel rhetoric, belittling his No Way Out opponent Finlay and calling out the Irishman’s sidekick Hornswoggle.
However, it was not the leprechaun that answered the All-American American’s call, it was Christian.
In typical style, the Canadian proceeded to run down Swagger and challenged the victor of his match with Finlay to a future title encounter.
It wouldn’t be the last time Christian would appear on the show, either.
As Swagger was explaining to Teddy Long that he was taking the night off, the ECW GM had other ideas. He booked Swagger into a non-title match with Christian.
The ensuing contest was decent fare, but was not made to feel like the big deal Christian’s return ought to have done.
The presence of Finlay and Hornswoggle on commentary made it sound like a poor comedy skit at times, and the finish, involving Fit striking Swagger with his shillelagh, trivialised the match and tainted the comeback.
When the man who likes to be known as Captain Charisma shunned a new TNA contract it was obvious that he would head back to the WWE, but no-one knew exactly in what capacity.
The situation he found himself in was unprecedented.
Plenty of big name stars such as Booker T, Mick Foley and indeed Cage himself had made the jump to bolster the roster of rivals TNA, but Christian is the first individual of such status to make the return journey.
Midcarders have leapt from Dixie Carter’s organisation to Vince McMahon’s, but with mixed results.
Monty Brown headed to ECW as Marcus Cor Von, but personal issues meant his tenure came to a premature halt. Chris Harris aka Braden Walker lasted mere weeks before being embarrassingly let go.
Ron Killings, known now in WWE as R-Truth, has fared well, being pushed as a strong act on Smackdown, around the US Title level.
In time, we will find out whether Christian’s return is a successful one, but his initial re-appearance is somewhat underwhelming.
An unannounced appearance on ECW is not quite the grand stage that a supposed “world champion” may expect.
This may well be Vince McMahon sending a dual message to the wrestling world.
On one hand he is sure to be unhappy that initial plans for Christian to be culpable for Jeff Hardy’s troubles, and as a second vexation he may be trying to indicate that whatever your success in TNA, it does not automatically guarantee a spot in WWE’s upper echelons.
When the news broke that he was headed back to WWE, the imagination of the fans was entitled to go wild.
Aside from the implied attacks on Jeff Hardy, thoughts turned to whether he might ally with his storyline brother Edge, or perhaps feud with him.
A rerun of the famous Hardys v Edge and Christian feud was also a possibility, with a TLC WrestleMania match even being mentioned. Instead, his destination could be being lost in the sprawl of Money in the Bank.
Indeed it seems that Christian may well be forced to climb the WWE ladder the hard way.
The Sun