The National Wrestling Alliance Is Officially a Joke

None of this would have happened if I were Champ...
Photo Credit: Random Chikara Fan

So, the NWA just stripped The Sheik of their World Championship because he backed out of a scheduled title defense against "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce. As if the governing body hadn't taken enough flak during the year the way their top title has been handled, this comes as a big black eye in my opinion. I'm not surprised that there are shenanigans though. The rumor, and again, this is a rumor and this isn't the reason why anything happened, is that Pearce dropped the title in the first place to Colt Cabana because he didn't want to drop it directly to Sheik. Of course, that isn't the biggest reason why the title took so much of a hit, because if I were to base things on rumors, hearsay and conjecture, well, I'd be fucking Rajah now, wouldn't I?

I made a giant stink when Cabana lost the title to Sheik for my own, "fan" reasons, but if the title had to change hands, well, the title had to change hands I guess. However, I don't mean to crow over being vindicated here, but I think this situation proves that maybe I was right and that they should have called an audible on Cabana keeping the strap. Now, instead of being able to build an unbroken lineage (not historically, but recently at least as many people have relinquished/been stripped of the title before), they have the same political BS that plagues the big feds in a time when the indies are building a DIY-spirited recreation of the old school.

The problem is that they were so adamant on programming two guys together who clearly have problems with each other. I don't know what those problems are, and I won't pretend to be an expert on shit I don't know, but at the same time, where there's smoke, there's fire. Pearce didn't drop the strap directly to Sheik. Sheik pulled out of a match against Pearce. For a governing body that doesn't have complete control over the talents they book, programming people that have political enmity is a bad idea. I mean, if Vince McMahon wants John Cena to drop the WWE Championship to Triple H, he can force Cena to do it because it's his company. But the NWA? Well, they can't because Pearce is part of the braintrust of NWA Hollywood. Sheik runs NWA Fusion in Jacksonville. The NWA still operates like it did in 1970, not realizing that it doesn't have the same reverence it had in those days. Therefore, with the rise of indie feds that have made it on their own as entities, the being a part of the NWA has less and less appeal, to the point where a guy based mostly out of California can't really be programmed against a guy who runs out of Florida.

It's for this reason why the governing body of the NWA, not the individual feds, but the governing body, is a joke. They're pretty much running off the glory days and the fact that Ric Flair and Harley Race once held their titles, but with each passing day where shit like this happens, it's becoming clearer that they don't have a clue as to how something stays relevant in this day and age. The problem is, like I've said before, the answer is right in front of them.

If they really wanted to do something bold and something that'd work, they'd consolidate into one promotion, one that is actually on television and has a national reach, even if it's only through the Internet. They should retreat to Hollywood and build up a name and a brand there. If you want to compete for NWA gold? You head out West. Let's see how much the name is really worth. Let's see how many people are dedicated to continuing the legacy and not just trying to leech off the name and the name only.

Having the influence spread out over several feds is a bad idea, especially in this day and age. The time for a decentralized governing body in a worked sport full of egos has long since passed. The NWA is doing its satellite feds, ESPECIALLY the execellent NWA Hollywood, a severe disservice with this political BS.

That way, you don't have situations where one guy gets stripped of his title because he pulled out of a defense, and you won't have other Champions relinquishing titles out of protest.

TWIOT: Random Musings

A bit more in depth and philosophical than the "random thoughts" posts...

Twitter is a meritocracy, folks

- I like Twitter, and I like it when people follow me on it. I link every TWB post on it (as well as Facebook), so yeah, if you follow me on it, then you see every blog post around the time that it posts. Granted, I want to have as many Twitter followers as possible. However, I'm selfish and possibly delusional. I want all my followers to be cool, to be folks that WANT to follow me. I'd rather have 20 followers who read and appreciate TWB and who interact with me in a civil way than have 20,000 people who ignore my posts or are spam bots or mindless celebrity groupie wannabes. If you want to follow me, I want it to be because you want to follow me, not because of some fake sense of decorum.

That's why this "Team Follow Back" hashtag is so offensive to me. For one, it's basically begging for followers, which I think is just pathetic anyway. But I follow people based on how interesting I find them or if I know them and am cool with them. How arrogant must you be to think that I'd find you cool just because you follow me on Twitter? You boosted my follower count, great, but why should I do the same? Do you have anything good to say? Do you write an insightful blog that I might like? Or are your tweets consisting mostly of "Hey can I get a follow back?" or some other insipid bullshit?

Hell, pandering for followers is also a great way to get me to unfollow you if I already do. It's just unbecoming. Twitter isn't high school. Let's stop treating it as such, okay?

- One politician tweeted pictures of his junk to a coed, with the scandal breaking WHILE his wife was pregnant. Another used her media platform to spew blatant lies about the history of this country in order for personal gain. Can you guess which one is getting more media attention? IF you answered the former, you're correct, and you have your finger on the pulse of what's wrong with the coverage of American politics today.

Granted, I'm not advocating that our elected officials act like they're in college. Because they're our leaders, they need to be held to a higher standard, and I get that. Anthony Weiner showed incredibly poor judgment at the very least when he sent those photos and then lied about it on top of that. He deserves public censure, and if he resigned over it, I wouldn't be up in arms about it, despite the fact that hey, Americans could stand to lighten up a bit about sex and the private lives of individuals. However, what really ticks me off about all this is the fact that Sarah Palin's total bungling of the history behind Paul Revere's ride for her own political gain is being relatively ignored.

I mean, this isn't the first time she's shown a patent disregard for the history of our nation to make a confused, neocon talking point. She's pandering to the lowest common denominator and being met with rousing cheers. Isn't that what we DON'T want in people who are trying to sell themselves as legitimate candidates for the highest office in the land?

Don't get me wrong. This isn't a "Weiner is good, Palin is bad" post. Both deserve scorn for their misdeeds given the public nature of them and such. However, why is only one getting this intense scrutiny? If Palin wins the Presidency in 2012 based on half-truths, spin and borderline slander, then maybe we should start holding the media responsible for not putting more of a microscope on the dumb shit people say, liberal or conservative.

- Finally, on a lighter note, Bill Simmons and Chuck Klosterman launched Grantland this week, as I noted in the links dump yesterday. The concept is writing about sports at a higher level than what you'd find at ESPN with an ear towards bringing more unknown writers to ply their trade. I have to say, this sounds like an eerily familiar idea... oh yeah, it's what we set out at Fair to Flair to do with wrestling journalism and writing. Now, I'm not saying Simmons ripped us off at all. Actually, I'm glad he spearheaded this site. I think sports journalism, or at least opinion writing, needs a kick in the ass.

Obviously, Grantland is going to have a leg up on their market share than we at FtF have in ours, because they have the backing of ESPN. That being said, I know some in the audience have reservations about trusting ANYTHING Simmons will do because you may not like him as a writer. I've had problems with him in the past, but at the same time, he's the guy who made me want to write blogs and my column at The Triangle better. He's probably the single biggest influence on me and my writing style, so of course, I'm still a fan of his and I still support things he does. I'll have my eye on this, and maybe I, as well as the other folks at FtF, can learn something about marketing a premium blogging product.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Card Position and Enjoyment

So what if Miz isn't programmed against Orton all the time?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

I saw this on the Wrestling Theory blog the other day:

if a wrestler gets “demoted” to the midcard, then the shit’s okay. It’s okay. That guy will still be on your television. He will still wrestle. It’s fine, for god’s sake.

Pretty bold words for a guy on the Internet. For the longest time, many folks on the Web live and died by how high up on the card their favorite guys are. The thing is, how warranted is the concern? Again, it's well-established that what we as fans care about and what wrestlers care about sometimes are far different. We cry for CM Punk and Chris Jericho, but in those situations where we lament, they're celebrating because hey, they went out and did their jobs excellently.

The latest example, which is probably what elicited this post from WT, is The Miz's latest issue with his pupil, Alex Riley. Many people celebrated it as an entertaining segment, but there are those who are bemoaning this as a "demotion" for Miz, where he now will not be in the main event. Okay, while that may be the case, why should I care? The only reason is if it leads to Miz not being on camera, and I'm not talking "on camera as much as he was during the Cena feud", but I'm talking more a TNA-style "here one week, gone the next two" style of building an angle. If a demotion in card position means I get deprived of Miz, then I'm pissed.

However, what makes anyone think that the WWE is going to suddenly not have Miz on camera? I mean, does Miz being on screen, cutting promos and wrestling matches really matter if he's doing against Cena or Riley? The answer is no, really, unless it bothers you on a metaphysical level that he's not in the tippy-top feud. If that's the case, then again, I wonder why you're a fan. Wrestling is supposed to be an escape from the every day trappings of BS politics and such. It's one thing to hate on a segment because it's unentertaining, but if is enjoyable, then why look for a reason to hate it?

The truth is, The Miz, as well as CM Punk, as well as Jericho all have major job security and they're all locks to be on camera (in Jericho's case, if/when he returns), doing entertaining things. If it's against Cena and it's entertaining, then great. If it's against Riley, great again. Evan Bourne, Daniel Bryan, Sin Cara, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase... hell, even if it's against the Great fucking Khali and they somehow manage to get an entertaining segment out of him, then it's gravy too.

If a wrestler getting "demoted" means you see less of him, then there's a reason to get up in arms, but clearly, after a 180+ day title reign, countless pimping and exposure (to the point of overexposure to some), The Miz is not getting knocked down the card to the point where you're lucky if you see him on Superstars. He's a part of the big show, and will be for as long as the WWE will have him and vice versa.

Besides, with the way Miz has been booked against Cena, why would anyone want to see that kind of program continue? Then again, that's another post for another... oh wait, I already wrote about that this week. Seriously, I bet if you asked Miz what he thought about the last six or seven months he's had, he won't tell you that he's pissed because of the way he's been booked. He won't tell you he's mad at WWE for demoting him to possibly feuding with Alex Riley. No, and you know why? Because he's happy to be part of the WWE, have tons of airtime to go out there and perform and be the best he can be.

So yeah, in closing, I'd have to echo what WT said, and just be cool about everything. Unless Miz's knocking back means he's not going to be on TV, then it's nothing to get pissed off about. Not everyone can have the top program on the brand. Once you start doing that, you end up with TNA, where every program is pushed as the main event, making nothing feel all that important. Just take in the program as a show, and leave the politics to the guys backstage, okay?

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

George Steele on Why Savage and McMahon Had Heat

George "The Animal" Steele
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Via WrestleChat.Net

It wasn't a bar slap. It wasn't having relations with jailbait Stephanie. It was a feeling of betrayal that kept Randy Savage out of the WWE according to George "The Animal" Steele. On a radio interview with Busted Open on Sirius, Steele recounted Savage's jump to WCW and how McMahon felt about the whole ordeal:

That’s been said a lot of different ways, and there’s been a lot of different things said that are not true necessarily.

I think that what happened with Randy, when his career was winding down with the WWF, Vince McMahon just loved Randy. After all everything Randy had done and he took him under his wing, and he wantedRandy after the ring was over with for him, he wanted him to be our spokesperson. He was traveling with Vince all the time. Randy was almost like a son, they were really tight. And then one day, we were at a TV meeting, and we got word that Randy, without calling Vince, had left and jumped to the WCW. I had never seen Vince McMahon broken before, he was crushed. It hurt him big time and I don’t think he ever got over that. I think that’s the real problem to be honest with you. I heard all this other stuff that I think is garbage when it comes to Randy and relationships with daughters and all that stuff… I don’t think that’s anywhere’s close to the truth.

So yeah, just another case of wrestling rumors gone wild, because I think that if I were going to believe anyone, it'd be Steele. He seems like the honest type, and really, what would he have to gain about his candor?

Honestly, I think it's a shame that the two never fully reconciled if McMahon had that close a relationship with Savage at one time, but then again, it's not like McMahon never betrayed anyone. What could have been...

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Capitol Punishment Poster...

WWE released its poster for Capitol Punishment today, and, well, yeah, it's interesting to say the least. To the left of the page is a snippet of said picture, and honestly, I'm not feeling it. Maybe it's because I'm burnt out on politics to the point where I don't even want to look at any kind of picture stylized like a political cartoon, but I really just don't want to see my least favored field of discussion mixed with my most favored.

Honestly though, I'm waiting for the first person to call the poster racist because of how caricatured Obama is...

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!