2011 WWE Supplemental Draft Results

As promised guys, here are the results from yesterday's supplemental draft that took place on WWE's website. Most of the people who were drafted are mid-carder, with the exception of a couple of well-known wrestlers...I mean entertainers. And sadly Zach Ryder's wish to be drafted away from WWE Superstars was not granted. Sorry internet wrestling community.

DRAFTED TO RAW:

-- Jack Swagger
-- Kelly Kelly
-- JTG
-- Drew McIntyre
-- Curt Hawkins
-- Chris Masters
-- Kofi Kingston
-- Tyler Reks
-- Beth Phoenix

DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN!:

-- Daniel Bryan
-- The Great Khali
-- Ranjin Singh
-- Jimmy Uso
-- Alicia Fox
-- William Regal
-- Yoshi Tatsu
-- Natalya
-- Jey Uso
-- Ted DiBiase
-- Tyson Kidd
-- Tamina
-- Alex Riley
-- Sheamus

-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me on Twitter: @xfactor7806

2011 WWE Draft Results

As many of you guys know, the WWE had their annual draft tonight. The concept of the draft was to shake up things in the company, create new rivals and see different talent on different shows. This first started after Wrestlemania 20, and has been a recurring theme ever since. In case you missed it, here is how things shaped up earlier tonight. For more information visit WWE.com

Raw Draftees
-- Rey Mysterio (former luchador)
-- The Big Show
-- Alberto Del Rio (former luchador)
-- John Cena (Back To RAW)

Smackdown Draftees
-- John Cena
-- Randy Orton
-- Mark Henry
-- Sin Cara (former luchador)
*Results courtesy of ewrestlingnews.com*

Also don't forget about the supplemental draft that happens tomorrow on WWE's website. Check back here tomorrow all the developments and happenings of the draft.

-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me on Twitter: @xfactor7806

Who is Sangriento?

In my previous post, I blogged that TNA Wrestling has a new masked Mexican wrestler by the name of Sangriento. At the time of my post, I really could not find much about this masked warrior. But as more details came about, I realized something very interesting about this whole matter.

For starters, this wrestler is billed from Tijuana, Mexico (and not Tiguana, Mexico as I first typed the previous blog, but later changed it; thanks to Joseph Hepp for that one). So one would think he is an authentic luchador, right...WRONG. It turns out that is wrestler is just playing a gimmick. Sangriento, originally known as Amazing Red in TNA Wrestling until his recent change in character, was billed from Brooklyn, New York. Nowhere near Mexico (by the way, I learned that in social studies class back in elementary school).

As ewrestlingnews.com is reporting, the reason for this change is because of one man, Sin Cara.

According to the website, "Sangriento was brainstormed by Spike TV officials as they wanted TNA to introduce a character that would counteract Sin Cara of WWE. TNA considered various independent wrestlers for the role but decided on Amazing Red."

So the secret comes out, TNA is trying to compete with the WWE. Ok it's not much of a secret, but the fact of the matter is that they are trying to become as successful as the WWE is. But there is one flaw, at least in this incident. They should try to get a luchador from Mexico rather than turning one of their own into one.

Granted Amazing Red is from Puerto Rico, but the point is they are lazy. Why not try to get someone with roots tied to lucha libre? Why not have some talent personnel scout luchadors in Mexico to enhance your product or hire someone to do that?

There is a reason for all this. They want a piece of the Hispanic viewership in wrestling. They see the success the WWE has had with the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara; and they want a piece of the pie. When you look at the roster of TNA, there are a couple of wrestlers who have ties to Mexico; but the problem is none of them are big names.

I guess the company is hoping with the emergence of a wrestler like Sangriento, it will bring more Spanish viewers to their product. After all, he has won a couple of titles while he was under the character of Amazing Red (one-time NWA world tag team champion and three-time X Division champion).

But only time will time if this move will garner more Hispanic viewership or if it would have been better to bring in someone from Mexico to fill in that spot...

On another note, in case some of you didn't catch it, check out the video below of Sin Cara teaming up with John Cena from last week's Monday Night Raw. And this time, no botch from Sin Cara while entering the ring.

*Photo courtesy of unifiedwrestling.com*



-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me on Twitter: @xfactor7806

New Masked Warrior for TNA

According to the ewrestlingnews.com, TNA debuted a new masked Mexican wrestler. Sangriento, who is from Tijuana, Mexico, made his debut earlier this week during a taped television program for the company. To learn more about this masked wrestler, click here.

-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me at Twitter: @xfactor7806

Analysis of Sin Cara's Debut

As some of you guys know, this past Monday night Sin Cara made his in-ring debut. His match was against Primo. Now Primo isn't the greatest wrestler in the world. He mainly jobs most of the young talent and really isn't in any title hunt. Certainly not for the WWE or World Heavyweight Championships, or the Intercontinental or U.S. Championships. To me, the only reason he was really there was to partner with his brother, Carlito. But since he was released, he serves no purpose. Sorry Primo, just my opinion. But enough of this talk about Primo and his non-existence as formidable wrestler.

There are two things I took away from this match regarding Sin Cara. One, the guy has a high-flying move set. When I saw this match live on television, he was doing things I had never seen any other wrestler perform in WWE. Now before I get ahead of myself, there were a couple of moves he did that resembled things Rey Mysterio did when he first entered the company. For instance the head scissors tilt-a-whirl he did on Primo is something I seen from Rey; as well as the counter from the powerbomb Primo was trying to execute. But the one thing I saw from Sin Cara that left me speechless was his finishing move.

When you first break into the business of wrestling, the one thing most people will want to know about you is finishing move. Is something unique and spectacular or is something that has been done before too many times? As a wrestler, your job is to entertain the crowd. And if you are not able to do that with a unique finishing move, then you are not going anywhere in the business.

Anyway, Sin Cara's finishing moving was, well...something spectacular. I can't really put it into words, so I'll let the video do the talking for me.



Now that moonsault side slam, or whatever you want to call it, was pretty impressive. For me, that was the first time I had ever seen that move performed (sorry if someone else has performed that move before), so props to Sin Cara.

Even though I was impressed with his move set, there was one troubling thing I saw from him -- the way he sells his moves. Now this will come with more in-ring time, but there were a few instances where he really didn't sell the kicks or the punches from Primo.

At one point during the match, Sin Cara threw Primo back into the ring after he had tossed him a few moments ago. When he rolled him back into the ring and turned away for one moment. When he turned back Primo performed a baseball slide on Sin Cara. Sin Cara was knocked to the ground, but really didn't sell the move. He reacted to the move but really didn't lay on the ground long enough to indicate the power of the slide. You guys can check out what I am talking about in the video I posted a couple of blog posts ago (in case none of that made any sense).

Another thing I have heard from some wrestling websites is that Sin Cara had two botches during the matches. Well one might be kind of his fault, the entrance into the ring, but the other one was not his fault. When Sin Cara was setting up Primo for his finisher, Primo slipped off the top rope and caused Sin Cara to fall outside the ring. Now, Sin Cara has some caught some heat for these two incident, especially from Vince McMahon (according to ewrestlingnews.com).

Well Vince I have a message for you, it's wasn't his fault. Also give this guy some time to adapt to the WWE. This guy has been wrestling around the world some years and this is his first time in the big leagues. I promise, if you give this guy some time, he will be something special. But you have to remember, this guy will have some minor slip ups. Just be patience, he will succeed.

And if we are patience with him, then we will see more luchadors in the WWE in no time.

-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me at Twitter: @xfactor7806

Thanks for the 1000 Views!

Ok, so this blog has nothing to do with wrestling or lucha libre or anything related to the sport of wrestling. This blog is intended for you guys, the readers of my blog. For some strange reason, you guys decide to read my blog and keep coming back for more. Why, I have no clue. So I would like to thank the 12 of you who constantly read my blog, haha.

But seriously, thanks to all you who have read my blog so far. I started this blog at the beginning of the spring semester and it's amazing that I reached 1000 views with a little less than a month in the school year. Can't thank you guys enough. And hopefully the 1000 views will come just as fast. Thanks for the reads guys.

-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me at Twitter: @xfactor7806

Sin Cara's In-Ring Debut

For those of you who missed it yesterday, Sin Cara made his in-ring debut on Monday Night Raw. He faced off against Primo. Despite a couple of botches from both competitors, the match turned out pretty good (at least I think so when I saw it live on television). Sin Cara displayed his high flying ability with moves that left those in attendance speechless. Check out the video below to see the entire match.

-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me on Twitter: @xfactor7806

Those Who Paved the Way

With all the events that happened last week during Wrestlemania 27, there is one event that could get lost within all the festivities. The WWE Hall of Fame. Now I'm not going to talk about the hall of fame ceremony but more about the people who paved the way for the Hispanic influence in the organization.

Now there are a couple of people who I would like to highlight in this blog: Tito Santana and Chavo Classic.

Tito Santana, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004, started wrestling in 1977 in various promotions, until he moved to the WWE in 1979. During this time in the WWE, he won the King of the Ring tournament in 1989, a two-time tag team champion and a two-time intercontinental champion, according to his wikipedia page. In addition, he won the very first match at Wrestlemania 1. After his time in the WWE, he would wrestle in three more organization until his semi-retirement in the 2000s. He would make one more appearance in the WWE during the 'old school' edition of Monday Night Raw in November 2010.

Chavo Classic, or also known as Chavo Guerrero, Sr., is a part of the Guerrero wrestling family that includes Eddie Guerrero and Chavo's son, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. He wrestled in Japan, the World Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance and the American Wrestling Association during the 1970s and 1980s, according to his wikipedia page. He would eventually find his way to the WWE in 2004 when he teamed up with his son, who was feuding the Eddie. During his tenure, he would capture the Cruiserweight title in a triple threat match that included his son. He would only hold the belt for a month when he lost it to Rey Mysterio. Like Santana, he made an appearance during the 'old school' version of Monday Night Raw when he was the driver of Alberto Del Rio's car.

Both of these guys are considered to be pioneers for the influence of Hispanic wrestlers in the WWE. Even though they were not main event talent, like their counterparts today, they did showcase their skills in the ring. They proved that Hispanics could mess with the big boys of the business and be entertaining at the same time. Without these two legends, who really knows if there would be a Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio or Sin Cara in the business today. Santana and Guerrero laid the ground for the Hispanic influence in the WWE. And Mysterio, Del Rio and Sin Cara are adding onto that road. Who knows, maybe someone will be writing a blog post about how these three wrestlers are laying even more of a foundation for future wrestlers down the road.

In other news, Sin Cara made his television debut last Monday on Monday Night Raw. In case you didn't see it or what to watch it again, check out the video below to see his amazing entrance.

-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me on Twitter: @xfactor7806



*Photos courtesy of WWE and gvocom.com*

Wrestlemania 27 Reaction: International Influence

Alright, Wrestlemania 27 ended a few hours ago and I feel I have a duty to give some reaction to it. Now I'm not going to give a complete overview of it, but instead I am going to concentration on the international aspect of it. For those who didn't get to see it, you can check out the live blog below to see what action you missed. Sorry if it is kind of long, but it was a four hour event. I did my best. Anyway...

For starters, the matches that were shown on the pay per view, which was eight, half of them involved a wrestler from other country than the United States. The first match: Edge and Christian from Canada and Alberto Del Rio and his ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, from Mexico. The second match: Rey Mysterio, a former luchador from Mexico. In the third one: Santino Marella (from Canada but billed from Italy), Kofi Kingston (Ghana), Wade Barrett (England), Ezekiel Jackson (Guyana) and Justin Gabriel (South Africa). To tell you the truth, that match felt like the World Cup all over again, haha. The last match that featured an international presence was the mixed tag team match with Trish Stratus from Canada.

In addition to all those names, the Sheamus-Daniel Bryan match, which was cut to due time, involved Sheamus, an Irish born wrestler. That match would eventually to turned into a over the rope elimination match with The Great Khali, who is from India, winning the match.

Another international aspect of WM 27 involved an early blog entry, the Spanish announce table. Sadly, it was not the first thing destroyed at this year's wrestlemania but it did see two men go through it. During the Triple H-Undertaker match, Triple H countered the Undertaker's move and sent him through the table. The first thing destroyed was the Cole Mine, but sadly Michael Cole was not in it. Damn....

Of course like any other pay per view the WWE puts on, it is telecast in other countries. I happen to come along one of them while searching for a good stream, but couldn't tell what language it was. Also going off of that, this event attracts many people from other countries. Wrestlemania Axxess attracts many fans from all over the world to meet their favorite personalities and with the number of people in attendance from the WM 27, I'm sure some were from another country.

The point is this wrestlemania, whether it was bad or good, had a big international influence on it. But most importantly, the influence of lucha libre and Mexican culture probably had the biggest influence on it. The Spanish announce table was there, which meant Hugo and Carlos were there to call the action. The event started with matches features former luchadors from Mexico; Del Rio and Mysterio. It seems like the company is really trying to push for more viewers from south of the border to watch their product. But the question is, will it work? The answer to that is, we will not know until numbers come out, if any. But the WWE can only hope that will happen with the arrival of Sin Cara tomorrow on Monday Night Raw.

-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me on Twitter: @xfactor7806

Wrestlemania 27 Blog

Follow all the action happening at Wrestlemania 27 live from Atlanta, Georgia. Nine matches as of right now. Four hours of coverage. The Super Bowl of wrestling. Wrestlemania 27 with special host: The Rock.



-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me on Twitter: @xfactor7806

WM XXVII: Thoughts and Predictions

As many of you know, this Sunday Wrestlemania 27 will take place in Atlanta, Ga in the Georgia Dome. Before I get into my prediction for the Super Bowl of wrestling, I wanted to share a couple of thoughts.

The main thing I want to touch on is the significance of luchadors on the event. I remember when I first started watching wrestling on a regular basis, the only wrestler that was of Mexican origin was the late Eddie Guerrero. Now 11 years later, this pay per view will feature two luchadors, one who will be fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship -- Alberto Del Rio.

Not to mention, on the Monday Night Raw following the pay per view, the company will debut Sin Cara on television. According to ewrestlingnews.com, Sin Cara has worked a couple of house shows, but will finally make his debut on April 4.

The point is in a little over a decade, wrestling as a whole is starting to move toward international wrestlers; specifically luchadors. I am willing to bet back in 2000, the only reason Hispanics were watching wrestling is because of the likes of The Rock, Triple H, Stone Cold and the Undertaker. But now, they will be tuning in to watch Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio. And hopefully if put on a good show they will also see the debut of Sin Cara.

And now for the interesting part of this post, the predictions...

Randy Orton vs. CM Punk
I got Orton is this match, mainly because I want to win and he is my favorite wrestler. Also, with the way things to do in the business, most people can pretty much tell Orton is going to win. But this rivalry is far from over.

Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes
Let's go with Rey Mysterio here. Rhodes as had his number in the past couple of weeks, but I see Rey Mysterio coming back with some revenge.

Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan
I'm picking Sheamus here he only became champion a couple of weeks ago. They need to build him as credible champion and having him lose would make him a paper champion.

Kane, Big Show, Santino Marella, and Vladimir Kozlov (with Tamina) vs. The Corre (Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, Justin Gabriel, and Heath Slater)
Not really sure how this match will be played out; as an elimination or just a regular tag team match. But I think The Corre will win. They need to make the credible and what better way than beating two giants and the former tag team champs.

Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Trish Stratus and John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler and LayCool (Layla and Michelle McCool) (with Vickie Guerrero)
This match, like for most people I really don't care for. So I'm picking the team of Trish, Morrison and Snooki. Don't expect much out of this match...seriously.

Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole (with Jack Swagger)
God I hope Lawler beat the crap of Cole. It's not just because I hate Cole, but more because I miss Jim Ross calling the action. I just hope he calls the match. That's would be awesome. But I got Jerry 'The King' Lawler in this one.

Triple H vs. The Undertaker
With the way things went down on last Monday Night Raw, I think Shawn Michaels will play some role in this match. However the steak will continue. 19-0 for the Undertaker at Wrestlemania.

Edge (c) (with Christian) vs. Alberto Del Rio (with Brodus Clay)
Del Rio says its his destiny to win the World Heavyweight Championship. And I just can imagine how his ego will inflate if he wins the match. Well I guess we will have to wait and see on Friday. Del Rio wins this one.

The Miz (c) vs. John Cena
The Rock will cost John Cena the WWE Championship. He will payback for the Attitude Adjustment John Cena gave him on Monday Night and all this will lead to a match at the next pay per view. The Mix retains.

Now for the special blog post on Sunday. In case you will not be able to watch the pay per view, tune in here as I will blogging the whole event (do my best ability of course). So check here Sunday night to see all the happenings of Wrestlemania 27.

-Christopher J. Valverde

Follow me on Twitter: @xfactor7806

*Photo courtesy of WWE*


This was the only promo video I could find with most of the matches