I didn't expect anything major to happen tonight, being that holiday RAWs rarely ever do anything. I was somewhat wrong, at least towards the beginning of the show, although the end reinforced the notion that nothing ever happens except for standard "faces win out" on these kinds of shows. I guess that's why I could palate John Cena standing tall over both Jack SWAGGAH and Alberto del Rio here. There would be plenty of time next week when more people presumably are watching to give del Rio some shine. Plus, the context surrounding the Swagger counter and tap was pretty good. In the main event, they managed to further one of my favorite stories, Dolph Ziggler and SWAGGAH's rivalry for the affections of Vickie Guerrero. del Rio, who was the other star of the show through his Sean O'Haire-esque backstage segments trying to rally troops to do his bidding for him, played into that as well, planting seeds into Ziggler's head about what Swagger's true intentions for Vickie were. Lost in the trailers for shitty movies and the Triple H/Kevin Nash/CM Punk top storyline spinning wheels, there's a really good midcard angle going on here.
That being said, when one top storyline is glossed over and the other gets the standard SuperCena Über Alles ending, it might seem like a terrible RAW. Let's look at the former now. The show started off with a lacking start, even though Punk did his best to save it. I thought he was much better actually wrestling, which people seem to discount because of the whole PIPEBOMB shtick. We know he's great on the mic, but when he gets people to care about a match with R-Truth that doesn't have a whole lot of context around it other than "Hey, he wrestled his tag partner last week", then that's mastery. I do like Punk's paranoia here concerning Trips' intentions towards Nash, but I think a lot of the peripheral stuff has come off pretty badly. One, the narrative still has Punk coming off as, well, a punk to some of the audience. Two, Trips putting his COO position on the line so soon into the narrative? Maybe I can dig it, but it feels too soon for me, even if I feel like the match itself isn't too soon. Third, if Nash is really gone (and with him getting in Funkhauser's limo in the second segment means he's not, more than likely), then it's been spinning wheels since his reintroduction at SummerSlam. Four, there is no four, only Zuul. Finally, the payoff that Nash was the one who sent the text was lame. Like, beyond lame. It pretty much insisted that he's a main player when he's not, and really, no one watching the show for the last three months buys that Trips, if he's a fair arbiter (and to their credit, he has been portrayed as such), is going to choose a guy who showed up, waltzed in and gave an ultimatum over the guy who has sold out a shit-ton of t-shirts and gotten Trips a lot of positive press, if we can blur the lines between kayfabe and "real" for a moment.
Also, I couldn't help but smile at the video package for Zack Ryder, and letting him get the win to a deafening pop was proof enough for me that the guy has arrived and that the fans do have a voice. When Michael Cole is ripping on a guy, you know they've arrived. Ryder's exuberance with Cena afterwards was really cool too, almost like it was as real as it was supposed to be part of the narrative. I really like a good success story. That being said, the pretense behind the match, that Lawler doesn't like David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty because they have "no charisma", is starting to grate on me. I think I see what all these people who think that "personality" is a funny thing to kayfabe feud over.
Also, the sooner they get Eve out of an active wrestler role, the better. Beth Phoenix may have flubbed the Glama-Slam, but she at least looks like a pro wrestler in there. Eve does not. I do find it funny though that they're using that Katie Raymond article as a talking point on TV. Again, K. Sawyer Paul is a guru at this kind of thing. Speaking of people who shouldn't be on camera? Jinder Mahal and Great Khali suck out loud in the ring. Not even Evan Bourne's masterful bumping could make them look good. Also, when Heath Slater and Randy Orton is a RAW match? Well, let's backtrack on that. It was a decent match. And I get the reasoning for it. However, it's something that might have been better suited for Superstars. Then again, what match would replace it? A Mark Henry squash? No better. Eh, I guess I can't complain, especially since Orton, I feel, has started becoming more comfortable wrestling as a good guy. I really like that he's actually setting up spots, especially his stump DDT, rather than, oops, guy's on the apron, let's drag him in and DDT him. Forcing the setup just looks cool.
But if we're going back to the wrestling, the main event tag match was as good a wrestling match as you'll get on a RAW main event. Just excellent pacing and storytelling all around. I liked the interplay between Ziggler and Swagger, the fact that Swagger got to attain beast mode early on, Sheamus taking out centuries of Irish frustration on the proxy for English oppression, Wade Barrett, and especially the spot where Christian's slap enraged Sheamus so much that it got both of them counted out. Really solid action for a show that was actually better than the impression I gave off on Twitter tonight. It was very much a holiday RAW, but it was a somewhat well-executed holiday RAW. It had its flaws, but I enjoyed it for the most part.
Showing posts with label CM Punk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CM Punk. Show all posts
Monday, September 5, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 18: Michael Tunison/Christmas Ape
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| Photo Credit: KSK Spreadshirt shop |
This week's podcast is your NFL preview podcast, and who better to run down the upcoming season than Michael Tunison (aka Christmas Ape) of Kissing Suzy Kolber? We run down each division, talk about the Steelers, Peyton Manning, both races in the AFC East, the big three in the NFC, whether Cam Newton is the new Brett Favre and who the Super Bowl teams might be come February. We also talk about CM Punk, the Attitude Era, our favorite wrestlers, WrestleMania each year and of course, KSK.
Direct link for your downloading pleasure
Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Vince Morales
Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?
Today's entry comes to us from Vince Morales, writer of the Milwaukee Brewers' blog Miller Park Drunk. You may remember Vince on here from an excellent guest blog he submitted after the Money in the Bank PPV, one he was in attendance for. It's funny, aside from the Phillies, the most followers on Twitter/TWB superfans I have from a single fanbase belong to the Brewers. I must be in a weird pocket on the Internet, or maybe I'm just huge in Wisconsin. Anyway, here's his list:
When people say that wrestling is cyclical they usually mean that it goes in cycles of “good” and “bad”, but what they actually mean to say is that it goes in cycles of “popular” and “unpopular”. Wrestling is always good and it is always bad. It always has been and it always will be. To me wrestling is very cyclical in that my favorite wrestlers, the people that keep me tuned in, always change.
When I first discovered wrestling my favorite wrestler was Razor Ramon. He had the best finisher and he exuded coolness. As I grew older his ring work would decline and as I would learn from the internet he was a drug person. As my favorite wrestler he failed me, both in and out of character, and I soon began to wonder why I ever thought he was the best. The same thing happened with the 1-2-3 Kid.
Another early favorite of mine was Hunter Hearst Helmsley. (Seriously.) When he was the Connecticut Blue Blood you could definitely tell that he had “it” and it was fun to watch him grow. When he joined D-X I loved every minute of it. People forget now that it’s been done to death, but when he first came out with HBK because they were “really” friends it meant something. When he ascended to leader and brought in another one of his “real” friends, my old favorite X-Pac, it was great. Now? I cringe when I see him. The young guy trying to get over turned into a legend with extremely low self esteem and I wanted nothing to do with him. Again, a favorite of mine failed me in and out of the ring.
(Quick Triple H tangent: How does he not have more moves? The Undertaker can finish you with a chokeslam, Hells Gate, Last Ride or Tombstone. John Cena has the Attitude Adjustment and the STFU. CM Punk has the Anaconda Vise and the GTS. Even Randy “chinlock” Orton has the punt, RKO and second rope DDT. Triple H has the Pedigree. That’s it. With his ego how did he never say “You know what? I’m going to get the claw over as my new finisher” and just roll with it. I’m convinced this is why his match with Undertaker sucked.)
It never fails me that I find a wrestler to call my favorite and he fails me. Scott Hall let drugs and alcohol run his life. Triple H became the coolest, toughest and smartest. Chris Benoit murdered his family. I realized Raven wasn’t that good. John Cena won too much. Kurt Angle took himself too seriously. Samoa Joe went to TNA. On and on it went and my favorites quickly became people I didn’t want to see. Wrestlers are cyclical.
So when TH asked me who my favorite wrestlers are I didn’t know how to answer it because my favorite wrestlers today probably won’t be my favorite wrestlers tomorrow and one day I’ll probably regret ever calling these guys my favorite. With that being said, here’s my list.
5b. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Steve Austin is the greatest example of the cyclical nature of this list. In his heyday there is no way he’d be left off this list. He was the best wrestler, the best character and the best promo. I loved his heel turn and I loved it even more when the Invasion was over and he just came out as a babyface like nothing ever happened. Then he seemed to stop caring. There was that thing where he hit his wife. I don’t like to comment on things like that so I won’t, but it does make a person seem a lot less heroic. There was also that thing when he refused to job to Brock Lesnar and just went home. He eventually came back, but he was just stale. Drink beer, stun someone, rinse and repeat. Maybe it was the writing, maybe it was a lack of motivation, but Stone Cold just wasn’t Stone Cold anymore and I could live without him. Then Tough Enough happened. During that show I remembered the Stone Cold I loved and why he was one of the best talents I’d ever seen. Stone Cold ripping on reality show punks should win awards. The show seemed to give him his mojo back and made a potential program CM Punk sound like the greatest thing ever.
5a. Randy Savage - I never, ever got sick of the Macho Man and I never will.
4. Bret Hart - In 1997, I had an email newsletter called The Pedigree. It was the dumbest thing ever. I was 15 and I didn’t even know who Dave Meltzer was, but somehow I sent out a twice weekly pro-wrestling “newsletter”. I also had a hotline. When the whole Montreal thing was going down I refused to believe it. I left an angry message on my hotline how there was “no way” Bret Hart would ever leave the WWF and Dave Meltzer doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. (Which, in retrospect, is true most of the time.) I loved Bret Hart and I couldn’t imagine a WWF without him. When it all went down and what happened ended up happening it was the end of my innocence as a fan and the end of my newsletter. I knew that things were pre-determined before, but Montreal showed me just how real and fake the whole thing is.
My feelings on the situation always change (From How could Vince do that? to How could Bret be such a mark for himself? and back), but I always loved Bret Hart. He’s apart of a ton of my favorite matches and he’s the one guy I’ve ever really wanted one more match from.
Montreal question that’s always bothered me: If Bret refused to lose in Montreal because of his legacy (or whatever) then why did he allow them to turn him 200 times in WCW? He said in Wrestling With Shadows that he couldn’t be a heel in Canada, but then he was never that character again. Had he given up? Was WCW only about the money for him? Never made sense to me how he was so worried about his portrayal towards the end of his WWF run and then completely stopped caring about it in WCW.
3. Chris Jericho - I loved Chris Jericho from the moment I saw him as a crappy babyface that turned his back to the crowd in WCW. He was a nerd, but he was one of my favorites based strictly on his ring work. He was also one of the first guys I traded tapes for. As the mic skills came my fandom grew and grew. He was a channel changer in WCW and when he went to WWF that was game over for the Nitro set for me. His handling in WWE dropped him off my radar for awhile like so many wrestlers before him, but he came back strong and his second run in WWE solidified his spot as one of the all-time greats.
He also wrote two excellent books that solidified Chris Jericho as both a guy who gets it and a guy who I would love to hang out with.
2. CM Punk - I don’t know how he ended up here. I was never a CM Punk guy. I liked Samoa Joe. He was the bad ass. He was the one with the Kobashi match. He was the one the people warned in chant about their imminent death. CM Punk was good, but he was never my guy. When he went to WWE I was like “Yeah, cool,” but he was never a guy that I used as a reason the WWE was messed up. He got a good push and he was on TV enough that I appreciated him, but that was it.
Then Straight Edge Society happened and he said “Bring me Jared from Subway.” Then the feud with Randy Orton (the best built match at Wrestlemania imo) happened where he actually made Randy Orton seem somewhat interesting. Then Money in the Bank happened and I don’t know how he could be anywhere else. Money in the Bank was the first PPV I attended live since Over the Edge in 1998, it was my first live WWE show in five years and it was the greatest show I’ve ever been to. Since that show my interest in wrestling has waned quite a bit. Not because I don’t like it anymore, but because in some strange way I feel like I’ve reached the apex of my enjoyment of wrestling at that event and I’m not sure I can ever get that back.
1. Colt Cabana - I just started actively following Colt Cabana about four months ago so his placing on this list might seem a bit suspect to you, but Colt Cabana absolutely belongs here. Colt Cabana is professional wrestling. I’ve watched wrestling for a very long time and I can’t remember a single wrestler who put a smile on my face every single time he stepped into the ring. Jericho and others can make you laugh with their promos, but nobody’s in-ring work is responsible for more smiles and laughs than Colt Cabana.
Cabana’s outside projects help too. The Art of Wrestling is pretty much the greatest thing ever, Wrestling Road Diaries is a great documentary and Creative Has Nothing For You is always good for a laugh. If the Colt Cabana stamp of approval is on something than you can pretty much guarantee quality.
None of this is why he’s here though. Colt Cabana is here because he’s an inspiration. Not to get too inside baseball, but I’ve had a pretty crappy year. Like real crappy. Fired from my job, breaking up with my girlfriend, moving back home for a couple months, it’s been the year of not-Vince. I got depressed and dwelled on that for awhile, but Colt Cabana was always positive and on the Art of Wrestling he talked about that positivity and it really spoke to me. On one episode he spoke about an old story that inspired him about Lanny Poffo where Lanny said there were two buses, the happy bus and the sad bus, and that he was on the happy bus. That story spoke to Colt and Colt telling that story spoke to me. Life is too short. Get off the sad bus and get on the happy bus. It’s much more fun over here.
Today's entry comes to us from Vince Morales, writer of the Milwaukee Brewers' blog Miller Park Drunk. You may remember Vince on here from an excellent guest blog he submitted after the Money in the Bank PPV, one he was in attendance for. It's funny, aside from the Phillies, the most followers on Twitter/TWB superfans I have from a single fanbase belong to the Brewers. I must be in a weird pocket on the Internet, or maybe I'm just huge in Wisconsin. Anyway, here's his list:
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| Two best friends, two top spots on Vince's list Photo Credit: Pro Rasslin.com |
When I first discovered wrestling my favorite wrestler was Razor Ramon. He had the best finisher and he exuded coolness. As I grew older his ring work would decline and as I would learn from the internet he was a drug person. As my favorite wrestler he failed me, both in and out of character, and I soon began to wonder why I ever thought he was the best. The same thing happened with the 1-2-3 Kid.
Another early favorite of mine was Hunter Hearst Helmsley. (Seriously.) When he was the Connecticut Blue Blood you could definitely tell that he had “it” and it was fun to watch him grow. When he joined D-X I loved every minute of it. People forget now that it’s been done to death, but when he first came out with HBK because they were “really” friends it meant something. When he ascended to leader and brought in another one of his “real” friends, my old favorite X-Pac, it was great. Now? I cringe when I see him. The young guy trying to get over turned into a legend with extremely low self esteem and I wanted nothing to do with him. Again, a favorite of mine failed me in and out of the ring.
(Quick Triple H tangent: How does he not have more moves? The Undertaker can finish you with a chokeslam, Hells Gate, Last Ride or Tombstone. John Cena has the Attitude Adjustment and the STFU. CM Punk has the Anaconda Vise and the GTS. Even Randy “chinlock” Orton has the punt, RKO and second rope DDT. Triple H has the Pedigree. That’s it. With his ego how did he never say “You know what? I’m going to get the claw over as my new finisher” and just roll with it. I’m convinced this is why his match with Undertaker sucked.)
It never fails me that I find a wrestler to call my favorite and he fails me. Scott Hall let drugs and alcohol run his life. Triple H became the coolest, toughest and smartest. Chris Benoit murdered his family. I realized Raven wasn’t that good. John Cena won too much. Kurt Angle took himself too seriously. Samoa Joe went to TNA. On and on it went and my favorites quickly became people I didn’t want to see. Wrestlers are cyclical.
So when TH asked me who my favorite wrestlers are I didn’t know how to answer it because my favorite wrestlers today probably won’t be my favorite wrestlers tomorrow and one day I’ll probably regret ever calling these guys my favorite. With that being said, here’s my list.
5b. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Steve Austin is the greatest example of the cyclical nature of this list. In his heyday there is no way he’d be left off this list. He was the best wrestler, the best character and the best promo. I loved his heel turn and I loved it even more when the Invasion was over and he just came out as a babyface like nothing ever happened. Then he seemed to stop caring. There was that thing where he hit his wife. I don’t like to comment on things like that so I won’t, but it does make a person seem a lot less heroic. There was also that thing when he refused to job to Brock Lesnar and just went home. He eventually came back, but he was just stale. Drink beer, stun someone, rinse and repeat. Maybe it was the writing, maybe it was a lack of motivation, but Stone Cold just wasn’t Stone Cold anymore and I could live without him. Then Tough Enough happened. During that show I remembered the Stone Cold I loved and why he was one of the best talents I’d ever seen. Stone Cold ripping on reality show punks should win awards. The show seemed to give him his mojo back and made a potential program CM Punk sound like the greatest thing ever.
5a. Randy Savage - I never, ever got sick of the Macho Man and I never will.
4. Bret Hart - In 1997, I had an email newsletter called The Pedigree. It was the dumbest thing ever. I was 15 and I didn’t even know who Dave Meltzer was, but somehow I sent out a twice weekly pro-wrestling “newsletter”. I also had a hotline. When the whole Montreal thing was going down I refused to believe it. I left an angry message on my hotline how there was “no way” Bret Hart would ever leave the WWF and Dave Meltzer doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. (Which, in retrospect, is true most of the time.) I loved Bret Hart and I couldn’t imagine a WWF without him. When it all went down and what happened ended up happening it was the end of my innocence as a fan and the end of my newsletter. I knew that things were pre-determined before, but Montreal showed me just how real and fake the whole thing is.
My feelings on the situation always change (From How could Vince do that? to How could Bret be such a mark for himself? and back), but I always loved Bret Hart. He’s apart of a ton of my favorite matches and he’s the one guy I’ve ever really wanted one more match from.
Montreal question that’s always bothered me: If Bret refused to lose in Montreal because of his legacy (or whatever) then why did he allow them to turn him 200 times in WCW? He said in Wrestling With Shadows that he couldn’t be a heel in Canada, but then he was never that character again. Had he given up? Was WCW only about the money for him? Never made sense to me how he was so worried about his portrayal towards the end of his WWF run and then completely stopped caring about it in WCW.
3. Chris Jericho - I loved Chris Jericho from the moment I saw him as a crappy babyface that turned his back to the crowd in WCW. He was a nerd, but he was one of my favorites based strictly on his ring work. He was also one of the first guys I traded tapes for. As the mic skills came my fandom grew and grew. He was a channel changer in WCW and when he went to WWF that was game over for the Nitro set for me. His handling in WWE dropped him off my radar for awhile like so many wrestlers before him, but he came back strong and his second run in WWE solidified his spot as one of the all-time greats.
He also wrote two excellent books that solidified Chris Jericho as both a guy who gets it and a guy who I would love to hang out with.
2. CM Punk - I don’t know how he ended up here. I was never a CM Punk guy. I liked Samoa Joe. He was the bad ass. He was the one with the Kobashi match. He was the one the people warned in chant about their imminent death. CM Punk was good, but he was never my guy. When he went to WWE I was like “Yeah, cool,” but he was never a guy that I used as a reason the WWE was messed up. He got a good push and he was on TV enough that I appreciated him, but that was it.
Then Straight Edge Society happened and he said “Bring me Jared from Subway.” Then the feud with Randy Orton (the best built match at Wrestlemania imo) happened where he actually made Randy Orton seem somewhat interesting. Then Money in the Bank happened and I don’t know how he could be anywhere else. Money in the Bank was the first PPV I attended live since Over the Edge in 1998, it was my first live WWE show in five years and it was the greatest show I’ve ever been to. Since that show my interest in wrestling has waned quite a bit. Not because I don’t like it anymore, but because in some strange way I feel like I’ve reached the apex of my enjoyment of wrestling at that event and I’m not sure I can ever get that back.
1. Colt Cabana - I just started actively following Colt Cabana about four months ago so his placing on this list might seem a bit suspect to you, but Colt Cabana absolutely belongs here. Colt Cabana is professional wrestling. I’ve watched wrestling for a very long time and I can’t remember a single wrestler who put a smile on my face every single time he stepped into the ring. Jericho and others can make you laugh with their promos, but nobody’s in-ring work is responsible for more smiles and laughs than Colt Cabana.
Cabana’s outside projects help too. The Art of Wrestling is pretty much the greatest thing ever, Wrestling Road Diaries is a great documentary and Creative Has Nothing For You is always good for a laugh. If the Colt Cabana stamp of approval is on something than you can pretty much guarantee quality.
None of this is why he’s here though. Colt Cabana is here because he’s an inspiration. Not to get too inside baseball, but I’ve had a pretty crappy year. Like real crappy. Fired from my job, breaking up with my girlfriend, moving back home for a couple months, it’s been the year of not-Vince. I got depressed and dwelled on that for awhile, but Colt Cabana was always positive and on the Art of Wrestling he talked about that positivity and it really spoke to me. On one episode he spoke about an old story that inspired him about Lanny Poffo where Lanny said there were two buses, the happy bus and the sad bus, and that he was on the happy bus. That story spoke to Colt and Colt telling that story spoke to me. Life is too short. Get off the sad bus and get on the happy bus. It’s much more fun over here.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Punk Vs. Waltman - Is It Viable?
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| He's still got the chops, but is he worth the risk? |
Sean Waltman
Waltman has cleaned his act up over the years, and at King of Trios earlier this year, he proved he could still go, gradually building up to an epic Rey de Voladores final where he lost to El Generico in what is many people's match of the year to date. You'd think it'd be a no-brainer to bring him in as a foil for Punk, especially since the match quality would ostensibly be on par with the affairs the Straight Edge Savior had with John Cena. However, there'd be two stumbling blocks. One is his hepatitis. There's no guarantee that with his condition he'd be cleared medically to wrestle in WWE. Two is that even if he was cleared? Punk might balk at wrestling him out of the odd chance that Waltman did get busted open hardway and put him at risk for contacting the disease.
The upside to this would be that WWE has scaled back its style over the years so that stuff like blading has forcibly become antiquated. Guys bleeding in matches has become somewhat of a rare occurrence anymore, and thus transmission of bloodborne pathogens is reduced to the point where maybe a guy like Waltman would be alright to compete in a one-off match.
However, for a company that is trying so hard to forge a public image of safety and accountability, how risky is too risky? Even something that's relatively "safe" might not be worth it if the end result could be taking out one of the building blocks of its future before he even had a chance to give all he could give. All it would take is one tooth knocked out of Waltman's mouth, one errant punch to bust him open (and even the most careful wrestlers make mistakes) or one botched elbow to the face causing a bloody nose that would create a severely hazardous working environment.
So while I myself was excited for the prospect of what would be, even today, a PHENOMENAL match between one of the best wrestlers in the company and a solid worker who can still go, I'm not sure this is ever going to happen. I'm also not sure I'd blame Punk or WWE for nixing it from the get go. While I think there'd be nothing to worry about, I also don't want to be wrong and have Punk end up with a disease that would put him on the shelf and endanger his life. So yeah, this is a match that'd be best left up to video games and fantasy booking, because I don't think it's happening for good reason.
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Instant Feedback: Okay but Still Not Super
Smackdown was promised to be super tonight. It was live, it was co-branded, it had a loaded lineup. Other than two parts of the show, it was anything but super. That being said, at least the two parts that were really good were the two most important parts of the show. First, there was the contract signing between Triple H and CM Punk. IT was really, really good. Punk had his A-game back after being off the last two editions of RAW. Last night, he came off as a smarmy asshole who begged to get his comeuppance. Tonight, he acquitted himself better as the folk hero he needs to be to be a fan favorite. He was pitch perfect and with his speech about loving WWE and wanting drastic change, he totally rehabbed the damage on his cred when he went out and imitated Chris Jericho, circa 2000. Triple H was really good here too, a perfect counterbalance to Punk. He was sympathetic in his own right, and he had his own narrative. The more I think about it, the more I think the logical move here is going to an alliance between Punk and Trips, but since that is obvious, it's probably not happening.
The other really good part to tonight's show was the main event. It started off slowly, and it was looking like it wouldn't be the best work between Christian and Randy Orton. However, in the last segment of the match, things really picked up. Christian's avoidance of Orton's signature moves was amazing. The best play came when he hopped on the second turnbuckle to go for his diving European uppercut. It looked like Orton would hit him with the RKO, but Christian stopped short and dodged it. That was fucking cool. This was clearly the least best of the matches between the two I've seen, and the narrative from the announcers about it being a scintillating rivalry was just annoying because it was anything but in retrospect. However, it was still good enough to put a positive spin on the show. Well the match plus Mark Henry splitting wigs afterwards. Dude is rough 'n tumble. I really hope they strap him, let him run to WrestleMania and have the story be the smallest but most skilled man on the roster, Daniel Bryan, be Smackdown's last hope. That won't happen, but hey, it's nice to dream.
Speaking of which, while the Bryan/Sin Cara match was one of Bryan's weakest of the year, it bears noting that with the kick to Bryan in the post match? I really think we're going to see a dueling Sin Cara feud. Could be good.
Other than that, there really was nothing to write home about. John Cena reared his ugly head tonight, not only trying to crack wise, but coming off as utterly unlikable. He suckerpunched Ricardo Rodriguez, and then when Wade Barrett called him on it, he claimed he still owed him payback. Really John? You don't call dropping a million chairs on the man payback enough? The writers and/or Cena really must not think all that highly of the fans for us to forget what happened at the end of the TLC PPV in December. Ugh. The match was a turd too. Too short and too one-sided. I'm not saying this as a pedantic smark who thinks that Wade Barrett should be booked to look STRONG ZOMG. I'm saying this from a standpoint that when I see a match billed as a "MAIN EVENT", I want to see more than just token resistance and squash-like results. Compare to the real main event. No one thought Christian was going over. No one except maybe the most deluded Christian fanboys. Okay, but I think they did a really good job of selling the fact that Christian might just win. Barrett and Cena? It was like the people who laid the match out knew that the crowd knew who was going to win and told them to phone it in because they had to get more plugs, recaps and trailers in.
Yep, when you have a co-branded show, you definitely need more trailers and plugs, right? I mean, it's not like there were guys like Cody Rhodes, the Awesome Truth, Justin Gabriel, Ezekiel Jackson and Vickie Guerrero's traveling dysfunctional circus who could have been there instead of the trailer for Trips' next shitty movie or a recap for the most one-sided main event feud in WWE history... oh wait, there was.
Smackdown was better than RAW was last night, but it still felt very warmed over, not befitting the Super Smackdown label. I felt like I was bored for half the show, but thankfully, the other half of it that was worth watching was at least good. All I have to say though is that the magic WWE had over the summer is disappearing rapidly. Hopefully, this is just a hiccup and when RAW rolls around Monday, we get back to the awesomeness that we've been treated to in July and most of August.
The other really good part to tonight's show was the main event. It started off slowly, and it was looking like it wouldn't be the best work between Christian and Randy Orton. However, in the last segment of the match, things really picked up. Christian's avoidance of Orton's signature moves was amazing. The best play came when he hopped on the second turnbuckle to go for his diving European uppercut. It looked like Orton would hit him with the RKO, but Christian stopped short and dodged it. That was fucking cool. This was clearly the least best of the matches between the two I've seen, and the narrative from the announcers about it being a scintillating rivalry was just annoying because it was anything but in retrospect. However, it was still good enough to put a positive spin on the show. Well the match plus Mark Henry splitting wigs afterwards. Dude is rough 'n tumble. I really hope they strap him, let him run to WrestleMania and have the story be the smallest but most skilled man on the roster, Daniel Bryan, be Smackdown's last hope. That won't happen, but hey, it's nice to dream.
Speaking of which, while the Bryan/Sin Cara match was one of Bryan's weakest of the year, it bears noting that with the kick to Bryan in the post match? I really think we're going to see a dueling Sin Cara feud. Could be good.
Other than that, there really was nothing to write home about. John Cena reared his ugly head tonight, not only trying to crack wise, but coming off as utterly unlikable. He suckerpunched Ricardo Rodriguez, and then when Wade Barrett called him on it, he claimed he still owed him payback. Really John? You don't call dropping a million chairs on the man payback enough? The writers and/or Cena really must not think all that highly of the fans for us to forget what happened at the end of the TLC PPV in December. Ugh. The match was a turd too. Too short and too one-sided. I'm not saying this as a pedantic smark who thinks that Wade Barrett should be booked to look STRONG ZOMG. I'm saying this from a standpoint that when I see a match billed as a "MAIN EVENT", I want to see more than just token resistance and squash-like results. Compare to the real main event. No one thought Christian was going over. No one except maybe the most deluded Christian fanboys. Okay, but I think they did a really good job of selling the fact that Christian might just win. Barrett and Cena? It was like the people who laid the match out knew that the crowd knew who was going to win and told them to phone it in because they had to get more plugs, recaps and trailers in.
Yep, when you have a co-branded show, you definitely need more trailers and plugs, right? I mean, it's not like there were guys like Cody Rhodes, the Awesome Truth, Justin Gabriel, Ezekiel Jackson and Vickie Guerrero's traveling dysfunctional circus who could have been there instead of the trailer for Trips' next shitty movie or a recap for the most one-sided main event feud in WWE history... oh wait, there was.
Smackdown was better than RAW was last night, but it still felt very warmed over, not befitting the Super Smackdown label. I felt like I was bored for half the show, but thankfully, the other half of it that was worth watching was at least good. All I have to say though is that the magic WWE had over the summer is disappearing rapidly. Hopefully, this is just a hiccup and when RAW rolls around Monday, we get back to the awesomeness that we've been treated to in July and most of August.
Punk/HHH Is a Lot of Things, but Not a Hotshot
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| Is Punk a folk hero or an unlikable dick? Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Now, that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Again, if Triple H was the endgame for Night of Champions, why misdirect with Kevin Nash of all people? Maybe it was a way to get everyone's hopes depressed for the prospect of Punk having to carry his 51-year old carcass around the ring for an extended period of time to the point where Trips would seem like an improvement. While there's reason to believe that this was the story all along (although the reasoning on the surface seems flimsy at best), it comes off so much like swerve storytelling, stuff that gets a company like Impact lambasted (rightfully so, by the way).
Secondly, and most importantly, the narrative is screwed up. How's Punk getting underneath Trips' skin. He's insinuating that his wife keeps his balls in her purse. While that's good for occasional ball-busting among friends in a fratboy douchebag sort of way, the longer it's kept up, the more people are going to want to see Trips deck Punk, not for Punk to prevail over his "evil" boss (who's totally not being portrayed as evil).
Again, the story isn't flawed because it's being rushed. Hardly. Unless the endgame is Punk/Trips at WrestleMania, then a two-to-three PPV arc between the two should start right now if that's the case. Hell, it could end up that the two bury the hatchet and join forces because they're being set up by whoever it was who sent the text to Nash in the first place. The story is fatally flawed because it's a bad story in the context of the direction they've set forth.
Punk is supposed to be a folk hero, right? While this course he's on makes him a folk hero by the very definition of the word, those kinds of niche characters don't get over the way that wrestling characters are SUPPOSED to get over. Wrestling caters to a specific audience, and usually the kinds of people who gravitate to a caustic troll (which is what Punk's character is) don't gravitate to wrestling. Steve Austin was a folk hero, but he was an oxymoronic folk hero who had broad appeal. He raged against his corrupt boss. Triple H hasn't proven himself corrupt, so Punk comes off as a dick. Yeah, he's a dick who got screwed over, but until/unless Triple H is revealed as a liar, the more he goads the Game, the more he seems like he deserves to get screwed.
But as badly framed as the narrative is, it's not too soon for a match between the doofus son-in-law and the pipebomb-wielding future star of the company. To call this a hotshot is to do the same thing that people accuse WWE of doing all the time, ignoring longer-term history. That doesn't mean you have to like the story, but at least be honest in criticizing it instead of using smark buzzwords to frame an argument that doesn't fit the thing you're raging against.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Instant Feedback: Super Dud
It appears brand extension has ended with a whimper rather than a bang, or at least it's been put on hold. Funny, but it makes almost total sense for it to end this way, because it seems some old habits are hard to break. Tonight's show seemed like a placeholder in every sense of the word, but instead of those places being held being current, they felt like they were out of a RAW from last year rather than this year. I understand that it's not really feasible to expect them to launch it out of the park every week, but tonight more than any other show between Money in the Bank and now felt like regression.
For one the sense of dread that I had when CM Punk and Kevin Nash were officially announced to have a match at Night of Champions actually materialized. I thought I'd be alright with it, but really, Kevin Nash wrestling in 2011 is just a losing proposition anymore. So you'd think I'd be alright with them switching out to Punk/Triple H, right? Well, only slightly. From a match quality standpoint, it works, but I don't know. I'm starting to get flashbacks to late 2010 with them rushing the story again. Punk/Trips feels like something that could be stretched out a bit, but then again, I get the feeling that after Night of Champions, the two are going to be aligned. Call me crazy...
Also, no Alberto del Rio on the show? C'mon now. I want to know how you're going to have a supershow and not have the WWE Champion. I don't know. I really don't know about most of this show. IT was just so confusingly and befuddlingly boring and uneventful. Like, how am I going to comment on something that felt so warmed over? Then again, at least the wrestling was good. It's a big saving grace, and I'm glad that they are really focusing on providing a decent in-ring product. That being said, if you make me feel like I'm wasting my time out of the ring, then it's just so draining as a fan. Ugh.
For one the sense of dread that I had when CM Punk and Kevin Nash were officially announced to have a match at Night of Champions actually materialized. I thought I'd be alright with it, but really, Kevin Nash wrestling in 2011 is just a losing proposition anymore. So you'd think I'd be alright with them switching out to Punk/Triple H, right? Well, only slightly. From a match quality standpoint, it works, but I don't know. I'm starting to get flashbacks to late 2010 with them rushing the story again. Punk/Trips feels like something that could be stretched out a bit, but then again, I get the feeling that after Night of Champions, the two are going to be aligned. Call me crazy...
Also, no Alberto del Rio on the show? C'mon now. I want to know how you're going to have a supershow and not have the WWE Champion. I don't know. I really don't know about most of this show. IT was just so confusingly and befuddlingly boring and uneventful. Like, how am I going to comment on something that felt so warmed over? Then again, at least the wrestling was good. It's a big saving grace, and I'm glad that they are really focusing on providing a decent in-ring product. That being said, if you make me feel like I'm wasting my time out of the ring, then it's just so draining as a fan. Ugh.
Friday, August 26, 2011
From the A1 Message Boards: Me and Jerseyboy on the Money in the Bank Buyrate
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| Don't worry 'bout Punk Photo Credit: WWE.com |
I posted the now-determined-to-be incorrect buyrate for Money in the Bank, which was actually really good, before I was corrected by poster and sometimes TWB commenter KoppoKick bringing up Meltzer's analysis of the sheets bringing the number down a bit. The correct number, 185K as compared to the erroneous number of 276K, was still pretty good, at least I thought. Here's the passage of three posts over there that I think dictates why, regardless of how "good" or "not good" the numbers are, why, again, we shouldn't really worry about the business side when it comes to what they're going to do on the side we SHOULD care about, i.e. the shows themselves. Two of my posts will sandwich one by poster and regular TWB commenter Jerseyboy, with whom I may disagree from time to time. Despite that, he really is smart when it comes to this kind of thing, and I'm glad he reads and comments.
Yes, this will be directly C&Ped from the A1 board, but I think it's worth sharing. At least I hope you think it's worth sharing.
Me:
[Referring to the discrepancy between the originally reported 276K and the real 185K] It just goes to show that wrestling journalism has a long way to go, and wrestling fans such as myself have a long way to go before trusting any of these sites. My bad.Jerseyboy:
That being said, 185K is still a good number.
I agree. To me, it meant that Punk/Cena had some juice.Me again:
The big thing that people need to keep in mind is that if there's going to be business turnaround with Punk as the centerpiece, it isn't going to happen overnight. Again, the things to look at over the next 3-6 months aren't the TV ratings so much, but to see if there's a bump in PPV buyrates and house show attendance and merchandise sales. If Punk means something, that's where the initial bump's [sic] going to come from.
Of course, the WWE might look at ratings and a less than expected PPV number and decide Punk needs to be shunted back down the card. But I'm thinking at this point that they're pretty much out of options and will go all the way with him.
Because if you move Punk back to the mid-card, who do you move up in his place? Exactly.
Yeah, I think you're right in that they won't move him back down for whatever reason. They're already seeing the initial bumps in merch. MitB was slightly up, from this time last year, which is still up. Ratings are ratings, but in the last two months, they've been mostly stable. Plus, as Triple H gets more influence, I think the decision making might turn more rational over the long term. I think Punk will be fine.I think that's a passage worth relaying. Again, numbers are numbers, and even if they do affect what they put on the screen, you always have the option to vote with your own remote control and not watch. Life's not long enough to the point where worrying about the performance indicators of WWE is worth it.
Normally, I don't care about this kind of thing, but I posted the number just to try and allay concerns (before I found out that I had bitten on a bad one, again, my fault there) that something that we found good was going to continue to pay dividends and that really, we should probably stop worrying about the business end of things. 10 million people watch the Jersey Shore. Is that a measurement of how enjoyable that program is going to be to you? Hardly. Therefore, why should it matter how many people consume wrestling if what the company is producing is good? And unlike Fatty, there really isn't a consensus on this angle being good or bad (although most people I interact with have loved the last two months with hiccups here and there).
If WWE was proving to be reactionary, then they wouldn't have put Punk over Cena at MitB, they wouldn't have put him over Cena again at SummerSlam, and they wouldn't have programmed him against someone who is so obviously hateable and polarizing the other way that everyone, not just the "Attitude Era holdovers", men and anti-Cena crowd, would cheer him. Say what you want about Nash and Punk being programmed against him, but again, the logic there isn't to bury Punk or put him out of mind. It's to get everyone to cheer the man, and it's a prelude into a potential feud with the boss. Whether you think Nash should have been the segue into that or whether you think that a boss/employee feud in 2011 is a good idea is one thing, but I think it's undeniable that Punk is a priority to WWE right now.
This is program #1 or at least #1a (with Cena/del Rio being #1). The moment that Punk gets thrown back to the Dolph Zigglers and Kanes of the world is when we start panicking, at least in my estimation. But again, I'll be utterly shocked if that happens. Call me myopic. Call me overly optimistic. Call me a "WWE fanboy" (like that means anything among adults in 2011, even if there wasn't a shitload of evidence to prove that I come down on what I feel is bad wrestling regardless of company) even.Just don't call me late for dinner. But I have a really good feeling about the direction of WWE right now, and when it's all said and done, I really feel like come WrestleMania time, CM Punk is going to be fully integrated into the main event firmament.
Also, I encourage you, like I always have, to sign up for an account at A1-Wrestling and post there. It's a really good community with great discussion for wrestling and so much more.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Impromptu Mailbag!
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| My top tag team today, but who are their dream opponents? |
I'm bored, so I took to social media to solicit questions. Here they are!
Tom Warren of Tom Watches Wrestling asked...
Which tag team from the 80's would you want to see have a match with a current tag team that's going now? Both teams in their prime, of course.
Good question. Tag teams are on the verge of becoming the new hotness in WWE, but we have yet to see where they can go. The Ghan-Am Connection, The Awesome Truth and the Usos are all good (and the New Nexus isn't as bad as you think), but the real established teams are in the indies and in Impact. Among those teams, I'm going to go with the Kings of Wrestling because I'm an unabashed superfan of Claudio Castagnoli. Chris Hero's pretty damn good in his own right.
So, who matches up with them? There are a few teams that stand out, but only one that seems perfect. Rick. Scott. The Steiner Brothers. I think you have two teams in the same milieu, only in different eras. They're both big teams that have really good wrestling chops. The Steiners obviously bring the amateur style, and the Kings go with the indie strong-style (although the Steiners in Japan certainly hung with the puro legends). Tell me you wouldn't love to see a pre-blown up Scott and a pre-insanity Rick go up against Claudio and Hero right now? That's the biggest dream match for me.
Next up, Tommy Siegel wanted to know...
Where do you see Punk going angle-wise after he's done with Nash?
The thing about WWE right now is that it's so unpredictable. No one knew that Nash would even show up, so maybe they're proving that they have aces up their sleeves. Here's the overarching point. This is leading up to the reveal of the person behind the text. That's where the angle will go next probably. Now, who'll end up behind the text? It could be Triple H, which might lead to a match between him and the Straight Edge Savior at Survivor Series or WrestleMania. It could be Stephanie McMahon, Larry Middleman or even Vince McMahon.
I talked about it on the podcast, and it's doubtful because he has hepatitis C. However, if they're bringing people from Triple H's past back, Sean Waltman would be the best option from a match quality standpoint. However, if I'm going to put my fantasy booker hat on, I'm going to guess that there'll be some kind of resolution in time for Punk to win the Rumble and claim his first really long hero's title reign at WrestleMania.
Andre Harrison of The Harrison Analysis up next, and he asked...
Do you think Night of Champions is going to fall flat after the big hypes for MITB and Summerslam?
Depends on falling flat. I mean, if you think they're going to do huge buys or have as much buzz for this event as the last two, well, then no, it's not going to measure up. Punk was the new hotness, just breaking through. Him being away from the title and having a distraction may or may not be necessary from where you sit. Personally, the chase is better than the catch, and having a big momentous title win would be way better for Punk at WM than at, say, Night of Champions, ESPECIALLY when it's the culmination of an 8-month story where Punk finally sticks it to the man and gets back what was wrongfully taken from him.
If you're talking match quality? I wouldn't say it's a lock to be worse. That being said, it's not as much of a slam dunk as Money in the Bank was. Cena/del Rio could be great because they're both great workers. That being said, Cena was a lock to have a great match with Punk because the narrative was that the two had so much respect for each other. With Cena blatantly showing disrespect to del Rio in character, there's the fear that we get a SuperCena title win, or some screwy finish where SuperCena is thwarted by MASSIVE interference. Orton/Henry could be alright, but then again, it might fall flat. There'll be some kind of tag team thing, whether it's a straight up tag match or a gauntlet like what is being rumored. I don't know, but generally, WWE has delivered on PPVs from a quality standpoint. So I'll say, if you order it, there's a good chance you'll be happy with it. And that's all that matters.
Jeff Paternostro of Amazin' Avenue chimed in with...
Who's the wrestler on the indy scene right now that you think has the best chance of being successful in the WWE?
This is hard because of all the rumors swirling about the Kings of Wrestling coming to WWE. Obviously, Claudio and Hero are super ready for WWE, so if they're not coming to WWE soon, they're my answer. But for the sake of expediency, let's assume they're coming. Also, Austin Aries is a valid answer, but he's in Impact, and depending on what you think of Impact, well, they have national television on a grander scale than limited syndication.
So, with those guys disqualified, I'm going to have to go with Chuck Taylor. The Kentucky Gentleman is one of the most gifted people at getting fans to hate him that I've ever seen. He's a natural at making children cry, and WWE is keying in on kids. He'd pretty much get boos from the skirts-'n-tykes crowd, although his antics might make him a hit with the CM Punk crowd. His facial expressions too, especially when he's scrunching his face up to look like he's reacting to a smelly fart, are just primo. He's a solid worker as well, and about the only knock he has against him is his bulk. He's 6'1" though, so adding muscle or mass is an easy task.
Plus, I'd totally pay money to see him shank Alex Riley for stealing the idea of working a grenade into his moveset...
Jamey "FATSEXY" Litton came up with this one...
Do you feel sorry for Ric Flair?
He's referring to this article at Grantland today. Anyway, no, I don't feel sorry for him, because he made his own bed and had to lie in it. That being said, while I don't feel sorry, I do feel sad. I mean, it's pathetic to see a guy who is a legend dodder around because he needs cash. I feel for him, and I wish he could just hit the lottery or something, but there's no denying that it is his fault.
Finally, bookending with a question from Twitter user @OkoriWadsworth...
Dream Campeonatos de Parejas match for Chikara?
An a propos finish for the first question. If we're talking about the current Campeones, Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw, then I'm going to have to say the Young Bucks are a dream match for them. Much in the same way that the Steiners and Kings would be great matches for each other in that first question, the Bucks are very much a similar team to QuackSaw, except that the Campeones are a bit more grounded in terms of the basics. I think you'd get a lot of really cool fireworks in this match, and the Bucks have proven that they can totally go rudo to give the affair an added measure of heat.
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography
Future Endeavors 8/24 Power Poll: ...BAAAAAHT Chu Already Knew That
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| TAKE THAT CAPITALIST AMERICAN PIG Photo Credit: WWE.com |
1. Alberto Del Rio (Last Week: 1)
2. Mark Henry (NR)
3. Randy Orton (3)
4. CM Punk (2)
5. John Cena (4)
6. The Ghan-Am Connection (Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne) (credit: Brandon Stroud) (NR)
7. John Morrison (NR)
8. Daniel Bryan (8)
9. Kevin Nash (9)
10. The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) (NR)
And now, my ballot!
1. Alberto del Rio - He makes the cross armbreaker look suave.
2. El Generico - Your 2011 Battle of Los Angeles winner. No word yet on whether he'll be entering any other events named after Rage against the Machine albums this year or not.
3. Mark Henry - He threw an Uso onto Booker T. OF COURSE HE'S GOING TO BE HERE.
4. CM Punk - Mostly for how stylishly he wore del Rio's scarf after the match.
5. John Cena - I would have docked him for openly exposing del Rio as a gimmick, but he won me over in the main event. Also, because I don't vote on this thing like I'm Bryan Alvarez with a log wedged up my ass about shit like that.
6. Daniel Bryan - Stock Daniel Bryan ranking.
7. Evan Bourne - America > Ghana, that's why
8. Kofi Kingston - But I guess Ghana's snazzy too.
9. Shawn Vexx - He beat Jerry Lynn in Texas this past weekend, and I quite enjoy it when young men beat the crap out of our senior citizens.
10. Arik Cannon - Defeated Steve Corino at the AAW main event this weekend. However, I'm not sure if he avoided the Thumb in the Bum, so I can't rank him any higher than 10th.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 17: Butch Rosser and Ken Borsuk
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| Pictured: Ken Borsuk (not really) |
For the first time, The Wrestling Podcast has two guests the whole way through. Butch Rosser and Ken Borsuk stop by and we talk everything about the current WWE direction. We eulogize Todd Grisham's career and lavish great praise on The Miz, Alberto del Rio and CM Punk/ Also, we totally get into the tag team division, wax nostalgic about WWECW and even parse the English language. In the coup de grace, we fantasy cast a WWE Films remake of Blazing Saddles. It's a must listen.
Direct link for your downloading pleasure
Your Midweek Links: Yes, You Have to Read Bleacher Report Now
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| Your new fab five Photo Credit: Bleacher Report |
Self-Shilling:
- The Wrestling Podcast is equal parts rasslin and baseball as Jeffrey Paternostro and I talk about Dragon Gate, Alberto del Rio and Sabermetrics. Longest podcast to date. [Episode 16: For Those About to Man Mountain Rock, We Salute You]
- I make my Fair to Flair podcast review, bring up Nitro Parties and elicit a group laugh for my crack against Impact's (lack of a) drug policy [Episode 8: He's Got Great Hair]
- My Fair to Flair article from this past week, why we need to cool it on calling Alberto del Rio one-dimensional and maybe appreciate him for what he is, a WWE rookie whose first year is pretty outstanding. [Alberto del Rio and Taking It Slow]
Wrestling Links:
- Yes, I'm linking to my own site here, but screw you, this is a guest review that I'm quite fond of. Brandon Stroud reviews ACW's latest event. [The Wrestling Blog]
- Another guest blog that I was quite fond of, Jordi Scrubbings compares CM Punk and the onset of the Reality Era to a similar occurrence in horror film making. [The Wrestling Blog]
- My blogging Adrien Bro-dy recaps what went down in his absence as only he can. [PizzaBodySlam]
- Is John Cena a face or a heel? I'd say the answer is, he's a character. [International Object]
- If they don't integrate more wrestlers into the Reality Era, David Shoemaker it may not be so much an era but a footnote as part of the character of CM Punk. [Grantland]
- What is CM Punk's motivation? [Hitting the Mark]
- What's Kevin Nash's deal? He's there to galvanize CM Punk as a good guy, that's what. [Fair to Flair]
- Eric Gargiulo lists five takeaways from the CM Punk/John Cena angle thus far. He's a bit more pessimistic than I am, but hey, it's a good counterweight. [Camel Clutch Blog]
- The Best and Worst of RAW, f/ a shoutout to me. [With Leather]
- Razor's RAW live blog. [Kick-Out!! Wrestling]
- The world's biggest Edge fan gets to meet her idol. [The Muse Manse]
- Tom Warren argues that NXT should morph into the waiting room between FCW and WWE. Not a bad idea, actually. [Tom Watches Wrestling]
- Speaking of NXT, here's Trey Irby waxing romantic about the current eternal season. [Wrestling Theory]
- Justin Henry has a message for Matt Hardy. [Wrestling News Source]
- The XWA Interview [Wrestlegasm]
- Maryse has a hernia. Ouch. [Diva Dirt]
- Nattie Neidhart and Beth Phoenix want booty popping to stop, but they pose for risque pics for the website? Something tells me WWE really doesn't believe in the narrative they're giving the Divas of Doom to sell. [Grapple Kingdom]
- In non-exploitative women's news, there's a big match on the horizon Down Under featuring Madison Eagles, Nicole Matthews and Jessie McKay. DDS has the lowdown on it. [Dirty Dirty Sheets]
- Yeah, The Rock totally sold a sitcom based on '80s wrestling to NBC. [Warming Glow]
- Foley in talks to come back to WWE and possibly wrestle... not sure how good an idea that is, but I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one. [Cageside Seats]
- CMLL recap, featuring a .gif with a guy dressed as a chicken. [Luchablog]
- Mistico's return to TV as Sin Cara is so good they wanted him to do the same match over again. Oh wait, you mean it wasn't because they wanted an encore? [South Atlanta Wrestling]
- New blog! We Watch Wrestling is new and they're good. Here's their profile on Alex Reynolds. [We Watch Wrestling]
- Want to make Wrestlespective Radio better? Let Jason Mann know! [Wrestlespective]
Jamie Dobson Interviews:
No new interviews this week.
Non-Wrestling Links:
- Bleacher Report realized it had terrible content, so it went out and got some of the best writers on the Internet to be their lead writers in a bold new initiative that looks to raise the game in online sports journalism and opinion writing. Put the feeds in your RSS reader, folks. Dan Levy [Wide Left] Josh Zerkle [The Go Route] Bethlehem Shoals [Court Vision] Dan Rubenstein [Your Best 11] Matt Miller [Huge Upside]
- As a counterbalance though, Larry Brown argues that B/R is going to have to do a WHOLE lot more to fix its reputation (Although you can RSS the above five and just get the good content). [Larry Brown Sports]
- Hey, remember that earthquake yesterday? Yeah, while it didn't destroy much of anything, it was good for some high comedy on Twitter. [UPROXX]
- Apparently, Tiger Woods is the worst celebrity tipper in the world right now. At least he can win something! [The Post Game]
- What killed Miami? Money, it's always money. [Seventh Floor Blog]
- Al Golden left Temple for a plum job in Miami. Yeah, about that... [Dr. Saturday]
- Why does this Texas A&M-leaving-the-SEC talk sound so familiar? [TAMU 24/7]
- Even more college football, Drew Magary has your hater's guide to the top 25. In case you had trouble conjuring bile for kids playing football, of course. [Deadspin]
- Nike is not content with just fucking with Oregon's uniforms anymore [Every Day Should Be Saturday]
- Sandra Lee groping herself. Yep. [Food Network Humor]
- Castro and Plichter take a pizza challenge. Do they win? It's a tough one. [Doughboys]
- The most popular restaurants check-ins on Facebook are Starbucks and Buffalo Wild Wings? I FOR ONE AM SHOCKED AND APPALLED!!!exclamationpoint1 [Gawker]
- Just when you think they're getting soft, those [SQUAWK]in' smart Canucks come back with something like Big Mac sausages. Don't be a hater, hater. [Epic Meal Time]
- Fox News may suck, but Andy Levy is full of fucking own right here. [Imgur Gallery]
- Why do most Americans hate economics? Probably because you hate what you don't understand. [First Thoughts]
- "It wasn't gay, it was just wild sex with a male prostitute." [Indy Star]
- Wanna feel old? Read this then. [Buzz Feed]
- Want to win at the casino? Microcameras are the answer. [Boing Boing]
- Pat Summit was diagnosed with early-onset dementia this week. Holly Anderson writes that Summit doesn't want your pity. [SI.com]
- Abby Wambach singlehandedly brings the US Women's National Soccer team to the World Cup finals, and the best advertisement she gets is fucking Magic Jack? STEP UP YOUR GAME, ADVERTISERS, GAWD. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]
- Pokemon is NOT supposed to be this sexy. [Unreality Mag]
- Charlie Manuel drops the F-bomb on live radio. [The Fightins]
- Jonah Keri outlines his plan for the Cubs to stop sucking. [Grantland]
- Ten greatest roles of nerd icon Lance Henriksen [Topless Robot]
- New poster for the cult film Swamp Thing [Blast-o-Rama]
- Michael Fassbender as Magneto in drag. It's a deleted scene too. Christ, if I looked that good in a cocktail dress, you bet your sweet ass I'd have petitioned to have that scene in the actual movie. [Film Drunk]
- How adults play online games [The Oatmeal]
- Eight things that stopped suicides, or, if you're a pretty woman and see a dude looking to leap to his death? Make out with him, you might save his life. [Cracked]
- Haha, it's funny because herbal tea isn't tea at all. [Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]
- Metal bras, just in case you're going into a war zone and want to look damn stylish. [Gamma Squad]
- The funny thing about that? That number is a Lancaster Co., PA area code. Wait a second, no, that's not the funny part at all. [Skull Swap]
- 49ers owner Jed York blames shootings at a preseason game on the fact that the regular season isn't 18 games long. Sure, and my dog poops diamond encrusted scepters. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]
- Ten other thoughts from the weekend in the NFL preseason [With Leather]
- Will his wife's health scare make Matt Cooke stop gooning it up? [Puck Daddy]
- Did Jay-Z and Kanye West illegally sample someone on their Watch the Throne album? [The Smoking Section]
- Dave Letterman to terrorist death threats: "Pfft, NBD" [Warming Glow]
Monday, August 22, 2011
Instant Feedback: EAT SHIT LOGAN
So, did anyone else catch the not-so-PG sign in the crowd during the Alberto del Rio/John Morrison match? It made me giggle.
Anyway, yeah, the main event stuff tonight was hit or miss for me. Punk seemed off on his promo game tonight, but at the same time, you can't expect a guy to spit each week at the highest level. That being said, Punk at B+ is better than a lot of guys at their A+++ material, so it's okay. Here's what I liked about the main event angle. I loved the Cena/Punk match, up to the finish. I liked that Nash pulled a slick outsmarting move to get Triple H out of the building. What I didn't like? I didn't like the segment in the middle where Nash and Trips confronted each other. I didn't like the finish of the main event. It's not that Cena won at all. I think it's par for the course. Neither guy can seem to put the other away without help. I think it sets the stage for the ultimate showdown, maybe at Hell in the Cell. What I didn't like was the tired "distract the loser" finish with Nash distracting Punk. I feel like they do this too much. I'm in the middle on the opening segment. So yeah, there's that.
I also almost (and probably should have) fast forwarded through the Divas match completely (I started late because I was putting together a crib... FUN!). Also, Morrison has the worst strikes ever, really. He fooled me against Sheamus last year, but mostly because all he was doing were punches. Break anything else out and he sucks. Those lariats... good God, Stan Hansen in 2080 is rolling over in his grave every time Morrison breaks one of those out. And the Jack Swagger/Alex Riley match was subpar.
That being said, a lot of what went down tonight was fucking awesome. The Tag Pennies match was pretty good. Yes, I'm pretty high on the Nexus as a tag team, although I'm psyched that Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston have them the belts. Aside from the actual match, I'm excited about the prospect of either an alliance between Swagger and Dolph Ziggler or, where I want it to go, a feud where we'll get fucking awesome matches with a lot of amateur influence and great counters and I have to stop writing about it because I'll start fantasy booking and I don't want to do that right now because I'm tired.
The Miz/R-Truth dual promo was so, so, SO FUCKING AWESOME that I couldn't stop smiling. Both men proved they could hang with Punk in the blurring of the edge, and both guys just delivered. They're a perfect duo, with Truth bringing the absurdity and Miz being the intense straight man. Man, I want to see more of these guys.
So yeah, there were a few really big spots on RAW tonight, but it was an overall uneven episode. That being said, the main event narrative can't be awesome every week, but overall, I'm still on board.
Anyway, yeah, the main event stuff tonight was hit or miss for me. Punk seemed off on his promo game tonight, but at the same time, you can't expect a guy to spit each week at the highest level. That being said, Punk at B+ is better than a lot of guys at their A+++ material, so it's okay. Here's what I liked about the main event angle. I loved the Cena/Punk match, up to the finish. I liked that Nash pulled a slick outsmarting move to get Triple H out of the building. What I didn't like? I didn't like the segment in the middle where Nash and Trips confronted each other. I didn't like the finish of the main event. It's not that Cena won at all. I think it's par for the course. Neither guy can seem to put the other away without help. I think it sets the stage for the ultimate showdown, maybe at Hell in the Cell. What I didn't like was the tired "distract the loser" finish with Nash distracting Punk. I feel like they do this too much. I'm in the middle on the opening segment. So yeah, there's that.
I also almost (and probably should have) fast forwarded through the Divas match completely (I started late because I was putting together a crib... FUN!). Also, Morrison has the worst strikes ever, really. He fooled me against Sheamus last year, but mostly because all he was doing were punches. Break anything else out and he sucks. Those lariats... good God, Stan Hansen in 2080 is rolling over in his grave every time Morrison breaks one of those out. And the Jack Swagger/Alex Riley match was subpar.
That being said, a lot of what went down tonight was fucking awesome. The Tag Pennies match was pretty good. Yes, I'm pretty high on the Nexus as a tag team, although I'm psyched that Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston have them the belts. Aside from the actual match, I'm excited about the prospect of either an alliance between Swagger and Dolph Ziggler or, where I want it to go, a feud where we'll get fucking awesome matches with a lot of amateur influence and great counters and I have to stop writing about it because I'll start fantasy booking and I don't want to do that right now because I'm tired.
The Miz/R-Truth dual promo was so, so, SO FUCKING AWESOME that I couldn't stop smiling. Both men proved they could hang with Punk in the blurring of the edge, and both guys just delivered. They're a perfect duo, with Truth bringing the absurdity and Miz being the intense straight man. Man, I want to see more of these guys.
So yeah, there were a few really big spots on RAW tonight, but it was an overall uneven episode. That being said, the main event narrative can't be awesome every week, but overall, I'm still on board.
The One Where TH Brings up Nitro Parties
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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
It's my Fair to Flair podcast debut! I join Razor of House Kick-Out!!, Jason Mann and K. Sawyer Paul to discuss SummerSlam, Alberto del Rio, a little bit about Matt Hardy and somehow, Nitro Parties and Kevin Nash's hair. It's a quick jaunt comparatively speaking to the other FtF podcasts, but it's got some nice discussion. LISTEN!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Guest Blog: CM Punk, Social Media and WWE's New Nightmare Era
Florida-based blogger and creative maven Mike Lortz has submitted this guest blog, which is a take on CM Punk vis a vis horror movies and the reinvention the genre underwent in the mid '90s. Please support him via his website, he's a really cool dude.
Before he created the highly successful Scream franchise, horror director extraordinaire Wes Craven was at the helm for New Nightmare. It was his final foray in the Nightmare on Elm Street canon and the last original movie in which Freddy Krueger is the lead antagonist. Although well-acclaimed according to Wikipedia, Craven’s New Nightmare grossed less than any of the previous six films which include movies where Freddy is resurrected by dog piss or uses a Nintendo power glove to kill a young teen.
Despite its mediocre take, New Nightmare broke ground in a very unique way. Although not as refined in its introspection as Scream, New Nightmare was the first film to break the esteemed “fourth wall” and claim a sense of reality in the movie. To use a Star Wars reference, New Nightmare is to Scream what Episode III’s General Grevious is to Darth Vader - an effective yet imperfect prototype.
In the movie, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and the rest of the cast play themselves as director Wes Craven is “writing” the latest and final chapter in the Nightmare saga. As Craven writes, the actors find themselves dragged back into the world of Elm Street to face a darker, more evil, more realistic Freddy than had ever graced the screen. Until the final scenes, where Langenkamp – then effectively the Nancy character from the series – takes on Freddy in a furnace room, the line between reality and Hollywood fantasy is effectively blurred. The offices of New Line Cinema are as much part of the New Nightmare movie as nightmarish fantasies of the previous Elm Street films.
Recently, the screenwriters at the WWE have torn a page from the Craven handbook. Through one-time indie wrestling star CM Punk and the use of social media, the WWE has created a storyline that has brought reality to pro wrestling and pro wrestling to reality in a way that is both unique and unprecedented.
Back in June, CM Punk made a speech that knocked the wrestling community on its head. Prior to this year’s “Money in the Bank” pay-per-view, he made a speech that called out all the flaws of the WWE, from bad booking and signings to political hob-nobbing. It was as if Punk was reading directing from the “dirt sheets” and other pro wrestling bulletin boards, blogs, and social media outlets. Disguised as Punk “lashing out at the company he hates” before his “contract ran out”, the promo was perhaps the realest staged event in WWE history. Punk was no longer frolicking in fantasy, he was clearly gallivanting in reality as addressed items the WWE had clearly tried to ignore for years.
Following “Money in the Bank”, Punk continued to slide into our reality through the use of social media. His famous tweet of the WWE belt in his refrigerator, while meant to be a slap in the face to the WWE powers that be in their fantasy world, had a much larger albeit more subtle meaning. By putting the belt in his fridge, Punk took the title as far away from the fantasy world of TV as possible. We all have refrigerators; they are as normal as ovens or kitchen sinks. The belt was no longer in a wrestling ring guarded by behemoths of the squared circle. It was sitting next to Punk’s leftovers and protein shakes.
Punk’s use of Twitter was only the latest of a remarkable run of social media usage by company. In the past year, the WWE and their personalities have been praised in multiple publications for using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media forums as a way to continue the discussion of and with the WWE Universe. Their use of the mediums have pushed their stories and fantasies beyond Monday Night RAW and Smackdown and turned them into 24/7 dramas. Kayfabe has become perpetual.
The WWE’s use of social media to push their stars was gradual, but once the company realized the potential, they jumped on the mediums in full force. Not to be underestimated, of course, is the rise in popularity of “Long Island Ice Z” Zack Ryder. Whether through the inventiveness of Ryder or the WWE social media team, Ryder, a one-time marginal character, became an Internet phenomenon through the release of Youtube shorts and influential tweets.
As Ryder became a cult classic for the Internet Wrestling Community, other wrestling superstars were taking more conventional routes to social media stardom. Some used Twitter to communicate fueds, others to promote their products, and others to push motivational catch phrases to fans. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, for example, signed with social media maven Amy Martin’s Digital Royalty, a brand that specializes in big-time sports personalities.
As a quick aside, one of the more interesting parts of Punk’s famous promo was his mention of The Rock, who Punk deliberately addresses as “Dwayne”. Through his third/first person addressing styles, The Rock was perhaps the first wrestler to easily switch from his fantasy persona to his real persona and have the crowd understand which was which, sometimes even during the same promo.
But the biggest WWE social media coup de grace didn’t even occur in a WWE ring. It occurred when CM Punk showing up in an indie show in Illinois. This wasn’t Ric Flair wining and dining and limousine riding, this was a WWE Champion hobnobbing with the common wrestling fan and the common indie wrestler in a common forum on a common street in a common town. Punk might have been at All-American Wrestling in Chicago, but he might as well have been in CZW in Philadelphia or wXw in Minneola, Florida. For the wrestling diehard, to see him in an independent ring meant instant credibility. It meant he took their love seriously. Although he was perhaps thousands of miles away, Punk had come to see them.
CM Punk’s visit was also as unscripted and un-kayfabe as possible. It was only possible because he was so real. He was a populist, anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-fabricated anti-hero. He was even more rebellious than "Stone Cold: Steve Austin, a man who frequently flicked off Vince McMahon, drank beer and swore like a sailor. Compared to Punk, who had the WWE by the balls by holding the championship and doing things WWE superstars were not usually allowed to do – like visit indie shows – Austin was as manufactured as Hulk Hogan.
Hulk Hogan could never have visited an indie show. Although he might have started out in relative obscurity in Japan and the early days of WWWF, at the height of his popularity, Hulk Hogan was a cartoon, as fictional as Bugs Bunny and as unrealistic as Pee-Wee Herman. The rest of Hogan’s ilk, especially those of the Rock n’ Wrestling Era, were just as comical. Were we really supposed to believe Junkyard Dog lived in a junkyard and that Nikolai Volkoff was friends with Mikhail Gorbechov?
And can you imagine the Rock n’ Wrestling Connection on Twitter? Would they have tweeted their adventures on the Saturday morning cartoons? In this era of truth and upfrontness, the WWE’s character gimmicks would not have been able to capture the attention of the masses. They would have been dismissed as a gimmicky joke.
Although the masses would have put aside unrealism in the case of Junkyard Dog or Nikolai Volkoff (see the retweeted random “musings” of The Iron Shiek”), Hulk Hogan has become a completely different story. As the years progressed, the once cartoonish He-Man was dragged into reality. He became Langenkamp’s “Nancy”, but instead of fighting the Iron Shiek, Hulk was bearing the Hogan name in VH1 reality shows and hocking rental furniture on the side. And he was dragging his family along for the ride. They were no longer Bolleas, they were and will always be Hogans.
Through social media, CM Punk has been able to become the anti-Hogan and lead a revolution in realism. As Craven revolutionized horror with New Nightmare and even more so with Scream, moving it away from kitschy slasher sequels and over-used one-liners, the WWE has pulled away it’s curtain and used it to catch new fans and re-invigorate the interest of fans who might have fallen off the wagon.
For a business that specializes in fantasy, the CM Punk-Social Media-“Shoot-Reality” Era is a moment that will change the game forever.
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| CM Punk... a less scary Freddy Krueger? Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Despite its mediocre take, New Nightmare broke ground in a very unique way. Although not as refined in its introspection as Scream, New Nightmare was the first film to break the esteemed “fourth wall” and claim a sense of reality in the movie. To use a Star Wars reference, New Nightmare is to Scream what Episode III’s General Grevious is to Darth Vader - an effective yet imperfect prototype.
In the movie, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and the rest of the cast play themselves as director Wes Craven is “writing” the latest and final chapter in the Nightmare saga. As Craven writes, the actors find themselves dragged back into the world of Elm Street to face a darker, more evil, more realistic Freddy than had ever graced the screen. Until the final scenes, where Langenkamp – then effectively the Nancy character from the series – takes on Freddy in a furnace room, the line between reality and Hollywood fantasy is effectively blurred. The offices of New Line Cinema are as much part of the New Nightmare movie as nightmarish fantasies of the previous Elm Street films.
Recently, the screenwriters at the WWE have torn a page from the Craven handbook. Through one-time indie wrestling star CM Punk and the use of social media, the WWE has created a storyline that has brought reality to pro wrestling and pro wrestling to reality in a way that is both unique and unprecedented.
Back in June, CM Punk made a speech that knocked the wrestling community on its head. Prior to this year’s “Money in the Bank” pay-per-view, he made a speech that called out all the flaws of the WWE, from bad booking and signings to political hob-nobbing. It was as if Punk was reading directing from the “dirt sheets” and other pro wrestling bulletin boards, blogs, and social media outlets. Disguised as Punk “lashing out at the company he hates” before his “contract ran out”, the promo was perhaps the realest staged event in WWE history. Punk was no longer frolicking in fantasy, he was clearly gallivanting in reality as addressed items the WWE had clearly tried to ignore for years.
Following “Money in the Bank”, Punk continued to slide into our reality through the use of social media. His famous tweet of the WWE belt in his refrigerator, while meant to be a slap in the face to the WWE powers that be in their fantasy world, had a much larger albeit more subtle meaning. By putting the belt in his fridge, Punk took the title as far away from the fantasy world of TV as possible. We all have refrigerators; they are as normal as ovens or kitchen sinks. The belt was no longer in a wrestling ring guarded by behemoths of the squared circle. It was sitting next to Punk’s leftovers and protein shakes.
Punk’s use of Twitter was only the latest of a remarkable run of social media usage by company. In the past year, the WWE and their personalities have been praised in multiple publications for using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media forums as a way to continue the discussion of and with the WWE Universe. Their use of the mediums have pushed their stories and fantasies beyond Monday Night RAW and Smackdown and turned them into 24/7 dramas. Kayfabe has become perpetual.
The WWE’s use of social media to push their stars was gradual, but once the company realized the potential, they jumped on the mediums in full force. Not to be underestimated, of course, is the rise in popularity of “Long Island Ice Z” Zack Ryder. Whether through the inventiveness of Ryder or the WWE social media team, Ryder, a one-time marginal character, became an Internet phenomenon through the release of Youtube shorts and influential tweets.
As Ryder became a cult classic for the Internet Wrestling Community, other wrestling superstars were taking more conventional routes to social media stardom. Some used Twitter to communicate fueds, others to promote their products, and others to push motivational catch phrases to fans. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, for example, signed with social media maven Amy Martin’s Digital Royalty, a brand that specializes in big-time sports personalities.
As a quick aside, one of the more interesting parts of Punk’s famous promo was his mention of The Rock, who Punk deliberately addresses as “Dwayne”. Through his third/first person addressing styles, The Rock was perhaps the first wrestler to easily switch from his fantasy persona to his real persona and have the crowd understand which was which, sometimes even during the same promo.
But the biggest WWE social media coup de grace didn’t even occur in a WWE ring. It occurred when CM Punk showing up in an indie show in Illinois. This wasn’t Ric Flair wining and dining and limousine riding, this was a WWE Champion hobnobbing with the common wrestling fan and the common indie wrestler in a common forum on a common street in a common town. Punk might have been at All-American Wrestling in Chicago, but he might as well have been in CZW in Philadelphia or wXw in Minneola, Florida. For the wrestling diehard, to see him in an independent ring meant instant credibility. It meant he took their love seriously. Although he was perhaps thousands of miles away, Punk had come to see them.
CM Punk’s visit was also as unscripted and un-kayfabe as possible. It was only possible because he was so real. He was a populist, anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-fabricated anti-hero. He was even more rebellious than "Stone Cold: Steve Austin, a man who frequently flicked off Vince McMahon, drank beer and swore like a sailor. Compared to Punk, who had the WWE by the balls by holding the championship and doing things WWE superstars were not usually allowed to do – like visit indie shows – Austin was as manufactured as Hulk Hogan.
Hulk Hogan could never have visited an indie show. Although he might have started out in relative obscurity in Japan and the early days of WWWF, at the height of his popularity, Hulk Hogan was a cartoon, as fictional as Bugs Bunny and as unrealistic as Pee-Wee Herman. The rest of Hogan’s ilk, especially those of the Rock n’ Wrestling Era, were just as comical. Were we really supposed to believe Junkyard Dog lived in a junkyard and that Nikolai Volkoff was friends with Mikhail Gorbechov?
And can you imagine the Rock n’ Wrestling Connection on Twitter? Would they have tweeted their adventures on the Saturday morning cartoons? In this era of truth and upfrontness, the WWE’s character gimmicks would not have been able to capture the attention of the masses. They would have been dismissed as a gimmicky joke.
Although the masses would have put aside unrealism in the case of Junkyard Dog or Nikolai Volkoff (see the retweeted random “musings” of The Iron Shiek”), Hulk Hogan has become a completely different story. As the years progressed, the once cartoonish He-Man was dragged into reality. He became Langenkamp’s “Nancy”, but instead of fighting the Iron Shiek, Hulk was bearing the Hogan name in VH1 reality shows and hocking rental furniture on the side. And he was dragging his family along for the ride. They were no longer Bolleas, they were and will always be Hogans.
Through social media, CM Punk has been able to become the anti-Hogan and lead a revolution in realism. As Craven revolutionized horror with New Nightmare and even more so with Scream, moving it away from kitschy slasher sequels and over-used one-liners, the WWE has pulled away it’s curtain and used it to catch new fans and re-invigorate the interest of fans who might have fallen off the wagon.
For a business that specializes in fantasy, the CM Punk-Social Media-“Shoot-Reality” Era is a moment that will change the game forever.
Designed Hypocrisy: Does Cena's Promo at the End of RAW Have Deeper Meaning?
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| Was Cena's lack of perspective intentional Monday? Photo Credit: WWE.com |
The truth is, neither did Cena.
Go back to the RAW where Justin Roberts proclaimed "JEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHN CENA" as the new WWE Champion after defeating Mysterio. The diminutive San Diegan was wrestling in his fourth match in two weeks. He had wrestled a grueling match against The Miz, a former Champion himself, earlier in the program. The major difference between the two is that del Rio seized his own opportunity, while Cena had it handed to him by Triple H.
That may make all the difference in the world, but at the same time, refusing a title shot isn't really out of the realm of character for someone if the storyline called for it. Hell, CM Punk, the guy who was "wronged" by del Rio, forewent his rematch to chase Kevin Nash and try to uncover conspiracies that would keep him from attaining his deserved prize as "Best in the World". So, why couldn't Cena forego his title shot for one more week to get Mysterio at his best if that's the way he'd conveniently feel after seeing Punk get jobbed out of the title?
Some may point to internal inconsistencies, and I agree that with WWE Creative, as well as they've been doing lately, that's always a possibility. That being said, WWE Creative is doing pretty well for themselves lately, at least on the main event level, so maybe they do deserve some benefit of the doubt here. Maybe Cena's reaction was carefully planned to foreshadow a change in alignment.
Yes, the ultimate white whale of the Internet fan is a John Cena heel turn. Ever since he became a fan favorite, the cries have come it seems, and it always has seemed like a bad idea. He sold too much merch. He's too much of a house show draw. He gets too loud a reaction from the children, whereas no one else but the increasingly fragile Rey Mysterio would get. Plain and simple, it would have been bad business, even if it would have been better TV for folks who make up a small portion of the audience.
That being said, the appearance of Punk, and possibly even Miz, as suitors to the role of top hero make Cena as a bad guy increasingly tempting and viable. Of course, neither Miz nor Punk appeal to a family-oriented crowd as they stand right now, which to me would still call into question the wisdom of turning Cena heel. Having one kind of top hero, or appealing to only one audience, can be a good plan of action if you can clean up in that one area. That being said, if you can have versatility in direction, then why not try to aim for more than one demographic? Pixar has been doing this for years, loading up its movies with clever, adult-oriented humor that was well-hidden within the aimed-for-children stories and trappings.
But I'm not really here to judge whether it's a good idea, just to speculate as to whether this could be a deliberate shift in direction for Cena. One of the great parts about programming right now is that it's unpredictable. Just when you think you have the answers, they change the questions. Whether we'll see the same ol' Cena going forward or not is now more than ever not certain, and I think the promo on Monday, whether it telegraphs a change in character or not for Cena, was intentionally crafted that way to cause doubt, to bring more than just Cena, Punk and the McMahon-Helmsley ruling house into the, as David Shoemaker terms it, The Reality Era.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 16: Jeffrey Paternostro
Do you like baseball, Dragon Gate and longing for Daniel Bryan's theme song to be "The Final Countdown" once more? Then you'll love the podcast this week as I have longtime friend and Amazin' Avenue blogger Jeffrey Paternostro on the show. We dish about Alberto del Rio, CM Punk, Toryumon and Dragon Gate, CIMA, women's wrestling and a lot of baseball talk. Is Curt Schilling a Hall of Famer? Do the Phillies have a good offense? Do I revel in the fact that in two months, Jair Jurrjens' ERA went up about a run? All that and more are tackled in this week's edition, the LONGEST episode ever.
Direct link for your downloading pleasure.
Future Endeavors 8/17 Power Poll: Quick Turnaround, This Time!
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| CHAMPION! ...baaaht, chu already knew that Photo Credit: WWE.com |
1. Alberto Del Rio (Last week: NR)
2. CM Punk (1)
3. Randy Orton (5)
4. John Cena (2)
5. Christian (3)
6. Cody Rhodes (NR)
7. Wade Barrett (NR)
8. Daniel Bryan (6)
9. Kevin Nash (NR)
10. Kelly Kelly (NR)
And now, my ballot!
1. Alberto del Rio - Who knew it'd take cashing in Money in the Bank, opening RAW with one of the swarthiest displays of cockery ever and having a legit Match of the Year candidate with Rey Mysterio to knock CM Punk from the top spot?
2. CM Punk - Any other week, "omg Kevin Nash? wtf, I thought he was dead lol" would have landed him at #1.
3. John Cena - He had a tremendous match at SummerSlam, got his foot on the ropes and then when TrollFace asked him "u mad?" he was all like "YEAH I REAL MAD!" In fact, he was way madder at Alberto del Rio for cashing in than the guy who ended up as his victim did.
4. Mark Henry - He won HOSS FIGHT 2K11, so he gets this spot. I'm pretty sure that what he did to Sheamus at the end of that match constituted a wig splitting, don't you think?
5. Jay Lethal - He caused an inception moment between me and Cameron Riley. Oh yeah, and won the ROH TV Title. But yeah, INCEPTION *BRAAAAAAAAHM*
6. Wade Barrett - RED BELLY got some of his mojo back with a win over Daniel Bryan in what was probably the finest match of his career. Yep, the funniest thing I have to say about this is the year-old meme that I created and am the only one to really use. THEY CAN'T ALL BE GOLD.
7. Kelly Kelly - She not only got through her match with Beth Phoenix without embarrassing herself or mortally wounding either herself or her opponent, but she actually looked good. Maybe next, she'll wrestle a 60 minute Iron Woman classic with Akira Hokuto at Differ Ariake? Okay, baby steps.
8. Jack Swagger - Deal with a sandbagging rookie and then afterwards, mack on some cougar action back stage? Pffft, NBD for the All-American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American American.
9. Daniel Bryan - Stock Daniel Bryan Ranking ®
10. Nigel McGuinness - He came back to ROH after being used up and spit out by Impact. If he had decapitated broadcast partner Kevin Kelly and put his head on a pike afterwards? He'd have gotten #3 easy.
I Want Seth Mates to Book the Punk/Trips Storyline
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| Under Mates' plan, we'd see a lot more Big Sexy Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Here's a thought on where I'd go with the story, if these are the pieces in place. Reveal Nash as the Raw GM and bring in HBK for SmackDown. Keep Stephanie as HHH ally. Then [d]o a seg w/HHH, Nash, Michaels, Steph in ring. HHH cuts promo about Shane leaving WWE, Linda running for Senate (ha!), Vince pushed out, then HHH says "and now plan comes to fruition. After years, I have what I need - the company is mine. And Stephanie - you're fired! Story is, HHH/Michaels/Nash been collaborating for years to screw McMahons & steal [the] company, strategically getting rid of 1 McMahon at a time, [l]eading up to HHH firing his own wife and taking full control with each of his buddies running one of the shows. They mess with Punk b/c he represents everything they hate -- and he becomes the white knight and savior of company.Yeah, that may be fantasy booking, but it's good fantasy booking from a guy who used to be in the business. This wouldn't be the only satisfying conclusion to the story, but I think it'd be the best way to set up a complex authority figure structure. Granted, it would very much depend on the authority figures wrestling, and HBK could balk at that. That being said, he could easily be replaced by Sean Waltman, who proved at King of Trios he could still go.
I could also see where this is problematic as well, but it has promise. I really like the way he thinks, at least regarding this angle.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Joe Drilling
Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?
In addition to having the best last name to make into a sex joke, Joe Drilling is a huge wrestling fan (and trained wrestler) and the next to have his favorite wrestlers listed. You may know him as a contributor to the first Fair to Flair Quarterly, but he also has two podcasts he's a part of, one called On the Stick, a gaming podcast, and the other called the Action Cast, a podcast dedicated to action movies (duh). Here are his five favorite wrestlers ever.
Let me start by saying I agonized over this list. Tom asked me about writing it at least a week ago, and what I initially figured would be fifteen minutes at the computer turned into agonizing about who would make the list for a week or more. To that point; this is not a “Greatest Wrestlers of All-Time” list. A list like that, as Tom has pointed out in his entries, espouses some kind of objectivity or at least a consensus amongst “experts” or whatever. A list like that would certainly contain Ric Flair, which this one does not.
No, this is a totally subjective list of MINE. If you don’t agree, it’s not on my list of things to do to give a fuck. The criteria I used, if you’re interested, is what five wrestlers could I watch any of their matches with anyone, including people who would be on my list of least favorite wrestlers, and still find it enjoyable. These are the five I came up with.
5. C.M. Punk - I first saw Punk perform at a Knights of Columbus in West Allis, Wisconsin on June 3rd, 2001. I was 18 and I was about to start training to become a pro wrestler. I was (and still am) also straightedge. And here was this straightedge, punk rock wrestler. Needless to say, I was captivated. I have followed this man’s career for a decade now. I knew even then that he was good enough to be where he is now. I knew when he had a red hot feud with Ian Rotten that summer (which still includes one of the best Texas Death Matches I’ve ever seen), I knew when he cut his “My name is C.M. Punk, and I’m straightedge. What that means is I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs and I am better than each and every one of you here tonight.” promos. And he has never failed to entertain me, no matter who he’s working with.
4. Ted DiBiase - “The Million Dollar Man” captivates me because there is never a wasted movement in any of his matches. Every step, every look, every punch means something. He wouldn’t waste it if it didn’t. Everything builds to the finish of the match or the end of the angle. He even manages to make Ed Leslie look good at Wrestlemania V, no small feat. If I was to point to a match that really cements my love for this man, though, it’s his match with Jake “The Snake” Roberts at Wrestlemania VI. When two storytellers that good get in the ring together, you can only expect a brilliant match, which is what you get. “The Snake” narrowly missed this list, but he’s still one of the best, and that match proves it.
3. Mr. Perfect - Curt Hennig was someone I loved to boo as a kid. I hated him (and the Genius) so much when he smashed the Hulkster’s title belt. And as a good guy, he made me get up and cheer years later. I even loved him in WCW, and when he came back to WWE shortly before his death, I was very excited. This is a man who simply had a fundamental understanding for how to tell a story in wrestling. Brilliant promos, brilliant work in the ring. He made everyone he worked with look like a million bucks. And like DiBiase, never a wasted movement. Everything served the story. He was absolutely perfect.
2. Chris Jericho - Is it wrong to say that my love for Jericho may well spring from the notion that he’s a latter-day Mr. Perfect? Maybe that’s just me looking for a link, but regardless, Chris Jericho has been a favorite of mine since I was first exposed to him in WCW. His legendary promos there (“Hold #1: Arm bar.”) coupled with his fantastic matches with the likes of Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio, Jr. put me behind his work right away. And when he finally came to the WWF, interrupting the Rock in one of the greatest debuts ever, I went full-blown Jerichoholic. Sure, he had silly moments (co-IC Champ?), but Vince and Co. recognized his talent in a way WCW never did, and he was finally allowed to be the performer his fans knew he could be. He was the first man to ever hold the WWF and WCW Championships at the same time, an accolade that I think may be lost on younger fans who weren’t around or aware of what was going on in the late ‘90s.
From there, he had amazing feuds with nearly everyone on the roster, including my #1 pick, and left on a high note, putting John Cena over in a big way (not like he needed it). When he came back, he was just as entertaining as ever, but a quick heel turn completely re-invented his character and he was even MORE successful, having what I consider the greatest ladder match of all time with Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship. A consummate performer on the mic and in the ring, I really question the sanity of wrestling fans who say they don’t like Chris Jericho.
1. Shawn Michaels - The Showstopper. The Icon. The Main Event. He is truly second-to-none in my mind. When he disappeared after Wrestlemania XIV, I lamented that one of the best had retired too soon. Quite naturally, when he had a match at Summerslam 2002, I was ecstatic. What I didn’t know is that he would have a run of nearly seven more years that would include some of the best matches of an already amazing career. The man who defined the ladder match with Scott Hall managed to redefine it with Chris Jericho over fourteen years later. This is a noteworthy thing.
Ultimately, I can’t say I’ve consistently enjoyed the work of any professional wrestler, regardless of opponent, of face/heel alignment, of era, as much as Shawn Michaels.
In addition to having the best last name to make into a sex joke, Joe Drilling is a huge wrestling fan (and trained wrestler) and the next to have his favorite wrestlers listed. You may know him as a contributor to the first Fair to Flair Quarterly, but he also has two podcasts he's a part of, one called On the Stick, a gaming podcast, and the other called the Action Cast, a podcast dedicated to action movies (duh). Here are his five favorite wrestlers ever.
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| #1 and #2 Photo Credit: WWE.com |
No, this is a totally subjective list of MINE. If you don’t agree, it’s not on my list of things to do to give a fuck. The criteria I used, if you’re interested, is what five wrestlers could I watch any of their matches with anyone, including people who would be on my list of least favorite wrestlers, and still find it enjoyable. These are the five I came up with.
5. C.M. Punk - I first saw Punk perform at a Knights of Columbus in West Allis, Wisconsin on June 3rd, 2001. I was 18 and I was about to start training to become a pro wrestler. I was (and still am) also straightedge. And here was this straightedge, punk rock wrestler. Needless to say, I was captivated. I have followed this man’s career for a decade now. I knew even then that he was good enough to be where he is now. I knew when he had a red hot feud with Ian Rotten that summer (which still includes one of the best Texas Death Matches I’ve ever seen), I knew when he cut his “My name is C.M. Punk, and I’m straightedge. What that means is I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs and I am better than each and every one of you here tonight.” promos. And he has never failed to entertain me, no matter who he’s working with.
4. Ted DiBiase - “The Million Dollar Man” captivates me because there is never a wasted movement in any of his matches. Every step, every look, every punch means something. He wouldn’t waste it if it didn’t. Everything builds to the finish of the match or the end of the angle. He even manages to make Ed Leslie look good at Wrestlemania V, no small feat. If I was to point to a match that really cements my love for this man, though, it’s his match with Jake “The Snake” Roberts at Wrestlemania VI. When two storytellers that good get in the ring together, you can only expect a brilliant match, which is what you get. “The Snake” narrowly missed this list, but he’s still one of the best, and that match proves it.
3. Mr. Perfect - Curt Hennig was someone I loved to boo as a kid. I hated him (and the Genius) so much when he smashed the Hulkster’s title belt. And as a good guy, he made me get up and cheer years later. I even loved him in WCW, and when he came back to WWE shortly before his death, I was very excited. This is a man who simply had a fundamental understanding for how to tell a story in wrestling. Brilliant promos, brilliant work in the ring. He made everyone he worked with look like a million bucks. And like DiBiase, never a wasted movement. Everything served the story. He was absolutely perfect.
2. Chris Jericho - Is it wrong to say that my love for Jericho may well spring from the notion that he’s a latter-day Mr. Perfect? Maybe that’s just me looking for a link, but regardless, Chris Jericho has been a favorite of mine since I was first exposed to him in WCW. His legendary promos there (“Hold #1: Arm bar.”) coupled with his fantastic matches with the likes of Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio, Jr. put me behind his work right away. And when he finally came to the WWF, interrupting the Rock in one of the greatest debuts ever, I went full-blown Jerichoholic. Sure, he had silly moments (co-IC Champ?), but Vince and Co. recognized his talent in a way WCW never did, and he was finally allowed to be the performer his fans knew he could be. He was the first man to ever hold the WWF and WCW Championships at the same time, an accolade that I think may be lost on younger fans who weren’t around or aware of what was going on in the late ‘90s.
From there, he had amazing feuds with nearly everyone on the roster, including my #1 pick, and left on a high note, putting John Cena over in a big way (not like he needed it). When he came back, he was just as entertaining as ever, but a quick heel turn completely re-invented his character and he was even MORE successful, having what I consider the greatest ladder match of all time with Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship. A consummate performer on the mic and in the ring, I really question the sanity of wrestling fans who say they don’t like Chris Jericho.
1. Shawn Michaels - The Showstopper. The Icon. The Main Event. He is truly second-to-none in my mind. When he disappeared after Wrestlemania XIV, I lamented that one of the best had retired too soon. Quite naturally, when he had a match at Summerslam 2002, I was ecstatic. What I didn’t know is that he would have a run of nearly seven more years that would include some of the best matches of an already amazing career. The man who defined the ladder match with Scott Hall managed to redefine it with Chris Jericho over fourteen years later. This is a noteworthy thing.
Ultimately, I can’t say I’ve consistently enjoyed the work of any professional wrestler, regardless of opponent, of face/heel alignment, of era, as much as Shawn Michaels.
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