v2 Wrestling Podcast 15th April: Evolution, Cena, Kane, Sting, Eric Young's TNA title victory

This week we return to our original format, as Adam is joined by Gavin and Paul to discuss all the week's events in one fell swoop.

We start of with WWE Raw, as it was out with the old and in with the even older: Kane has his mask back, Evolution has reformed, and John Cena's latest copy of Photoshop has arrived in the post. Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, Cody Rhodes and a long-forgotten fellow named CM Punk also get a mention.

We then move on to rumours about Sting's imminent arrival in WWE. His value and legacy are analysed, and The Undertaker's name is naturally brought into the conversation.

Finally, it's on to TNA and more specifically Eric Young's shocking World Title victory. Was it a blatant rip-off of the Daniel Bryan title win? Are there any positives to take from the situation? Is Super Eric the worst world champion of all time?

Listen at http://v2wrestling.podomatic.com/entry/2014-04-15T13_08_00-07_00

You can follow us on twitter @v2wrestlingshow and please email feedback to wrestling@v2journal.com

Do you think its weird that Kane came back with long hair?

Was gonna suggest Pac/Adrian Neville as the new Evolution member but i might look abit short, look at the NXT roster Baron Corbin looks impressive

Worst champ ever is the great khali

TopoftheChops wrote:Worst champ ever is the great khali

I was going to suggest him but at the time, although he is a rubbish wrestler, he was booked as a monster heel.

Khali is undoubtedly a worse wrestler, but was a better choice as world champion

I'd rather Khali as champion than ADR.

You cant really mean that!

100%.

My fridge draws more heat than Del Rio. Sure he’s not too bad in ring but if I wanted a pure wrestling clinic I’d watch NJPW or ROH. I’d take a good storyline over a good wrestling match all day long.

At least when Khali was booked as a monster heel he was believable and looked like a legitimate threat, unlike ADR who looks like a plank of wood with a towel round it.

Does 'The Brian Kendrick' count? It was in a championship scramble match and did only last mere seconds   

I don't think Kendrick counts, but he'd definitely be up there.

I rate Khali as a worse champion than del Rio, all things considered.

Can anyone think of a worse one than Vince Russo?

Alberto Del Rio

There's no way del Rio is a worse champion than Russo!

Vince McMahon has to be up there with Russo, or close behind it. Similar motives with McMahon being slightly more believable due to a better look. Plus, it was on the B show and HHH won the title back on the next PPV so it wasn't even a transitional title reign.

David Arquette?

Eric Young...

Sting could be a Kung Fu Panda

I'd find it hard to say Eric Young is the worst world champion of all time. Its an awful decision, but TNA haven't made a good world title decision in ages.

Jeff Hardy was quite a bad champion, but I think thats because he was booked to never successfully defend his title.

Arquette surely has to be the worst. Along with Russo and Vinny Mac. Bit harsh to call Eric Young the worst. And ADR.

Oh, and I'd take ADR over The Miz every time.

Samo wrote:Jeff Hardy was quite a bad champion, but I think thats because he was booked to never successfully defend his title.

Arquette surely has to be the worst. Along with Russo and Vinny Mac. Bit harsh to call Eric Young the worst. And ADR.

Oh, and I'd take ADR over The Miz every time.

The Miz was great as champion

Was he fluck


he's like a watered down, cheesier, pantomine bad guy version of John Cena, Miz being a World Champion was an embarrassment to the entire business

I know a Tart who liked him

I think he was totally worthy as champ. I hate him now, like any self-respecting person should, but back around 2009/10 he was consistently the best heel on Raw and showed all the signs of being a main eventer for the long haul.

It was only once they gave him the belt that they appeared to suddenly get cold feet, and his career has never recovered.

The build is often so much better than the reign.

I'd go as far as saying the reign is very rarely as good as the build and most often than not the focus moves to how the next guy is going to win the gold

crippledtart wrote:I think he was totally worthy as champ. I hate him now, like any self-respecting person should, but back around 2009/10 he was consistently the best heel on Raw and showed all the signs of being a main eventer for the long haul.

It was only once they gave him the belt that they appeared to suddenly get cold feet, and his career has never recovered.

When everyone was on the Morrison bandwagon while they were teaming I felt like the lone voice saying Miz would be Workd Champion first out of the two, I didn't say that because I felt he was brilliant but he did remind me a lot of a young Cena.

when he broke away from Morrison I felt he had potential but that was it, he's the perfect example of having patience, if the WWE took their time with him they would have realised he was a ridiculous option ias the top man instead of jumping the gun on him ASAP and hoping he'd make it, Miz being the Champ for me made every single person associated with him either directedly or indirectly look considerably weaker.

Miz for me was never great in the ring, thats not a major setback though, I don't think he had the best look either, he was vanilla, a blank canvas, and while he could talk I don't think he was ever a good promo, I don't think he drew emotion from the crowd and couldn't dictate the mood of the fans, I'd consider that the most important thing but wouldn't necessarily hold it against anyone if they couldn't do that as it takes time to master that particular talent however id he doesn't have the skill or the look then being able to hold the fans in the palm of your hand becomes more of a necessity.

Lets face it, if Vince didn't get a boner for Miz' legs in Canada that night on RAW he would probably have been Ken Andersons tag team partner in TNA

The Miz in full heel mode though DID have the fans in the palm of his hands. He drew major heat. Especially in the house show I went to in Nottingham. He had the whole crowd going with him as he was pointing to himself when they would boo, then pointing to R Truth when they would boo, then pointing to people like the referee and Justin Roberts and they would get massive pops. It was brilliant. The promo he cut running the crowd down was awesome as well. I remember he used to cut them on TV as well. For me he fell off when they turned him face. But he seems to be going back heel now. I doubt he will ever be main event now, but he will be a great mid-main heel.

I agree, he got heat as a heel. I think it does him a disservice to say that he wasn't over.

But was it real heat or Xpac heat?

Batista heat! :P

Only joking, I think Miz drew real heel heat. He just ended up being marginalised by The Rock and John Cena which was not really his fault.

Like rocket from soccer AM, Miz comes across as insanely smug and as much as you want to like his work heel or no heel you just cant.

I wouldn't say he was a bad champion though, i'd throw booker T in there for that.

I don't think he ever drew severe heat, they let him bag on Jerry Lawler about his num when she died andwhile it got insant heat for the sick factor he was back to normality within minutes.

He's a cheeseball, people cheer for something they percieve to be new and fresh, I think thats why Miz was given the time of day but he was never a Main Eventer, he's a company guy though and he'll have a job for life.

He couldn't look menacing if he was standing above your bed with a chainsaw

Paul Mac 6CW wrote:I'd go as far as saying the reign is very rarely as good as the build and most often than not the focus moves to how the next guy is going to win the gold

Just like mark henry's title reign, they dropped the ball by putting him in an awful fued with the big show after he beat orton cleanly in 2 ppvs. The hall of pain was a great gimmick for him

Too early to say whether EY will be a good champ, but he's off to a bad start due to the way he won the title.

I'm just wondering whether he'll stay as a face, or if TNA will do the usual thing and have him turn heel somehow. That should have a major bearing on how he's booked in future and whether his title reign will be good or not.

Or perhaps he's just going to be another stop-gap and will be screwed out of the title at Sacrifice (leading to a heel turn)? I could very much see that happening.

Wolfie, those ideas all sound awful, so they are probably quite an accurate guess at what is likely to happen

Just listened. Points:

Undertaker's hospitalisation not give him any credit in the "work worse than Sting" conversation?

Any chance Eric Young was booked to be champ by TNA in the hope WWE didnt book Bryan to win and they could show them up not booking the popular bearded face to win the belt?

My defence of Sabin is that it wasnt in any way his fault. It wasnt him as a wrestler or character, like Young etc, but the fact no one should have won the belt at that point

Also think Cody Rhodes is an awful choice for Evolution, and not Vanilla at all

The 4th member of evolution is brad maddox!

Maybe they'll bring back Mark Jindrak to reclaim the spot Batista stole from him

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Just listened. Points:

Undertaker's hospitalisation not give him any credit in the "work worse than Sting" conversation?

Any chance Eric Young was booked to be champ by TNA in the hope WWE didnt book Bryan to win and they could show them up not booking the popular bearded face to win the belt?

My defence of Sabin is that it wasnt in any way his fault. It wasnt him as a wrestler or character, like Young etc, but the fact no one should have won the belt at that point

I tried to make the Undertaker hospital point a couple of times, you could hear me trying to interject but the conversation moved on too quickly.

The problem with picking a new member of Evolution is that its got to be someone that HHH and pals won't feel desperate to make jokes about. I don't think it will be a long term option anyway. They made Orton and Batista stars last time, this time its about making Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose.