The thoughts on WrestleMania 29 will follow shortly, but there are a few topics worth addressing first:
1) Curtis Axel
Mr. Perfect's son Joe Hennig made his debut all over again on Raw tonight. Joe was previously featured in CM Punk's New Nexus circa 2011 as Michael McGillicutty, the name he went under when he competed on NXT (WWE's current breeding ground). This is pretty big. Much like Dean Ambrose as part of The Shield, this is someone the fans have been wanting to see get the call-up for a while. He's the guy who trained with The Rock in his most recent run with the company. The new name might take some getting used to, but it's a legacy combination just like The Rock's originally was ("Rocky Maivia" coming from Dwayne Johnson's father Rocky and grandfather Peter Maivia). Mr. Perfect's real name was Curt Hennig, while Joe's grandfather was known as Larry "The Ax" Hennig. "Curtis Axel" could eventually be boiled down to just Ax or something. "Ax" was also one half of the '80s tag team Demolition (no, not Larry Hennig), but I'm sure fans would be willing for someone with, ah, more talent to share it, much like "The Rock" was previously a nickname for Don Muraco. Joe received a strong push out of the gate tonight as the newest member of the Paul Heyman family (which also includes CM Punk and Brock Lesnar). You might remember Heyman from ECW, the "land of extreme." Joe battled Triple H, the semi-retired legend who lost to Lesnar last night at Extreme Rules in a steel cage match, in the main event. Not too bad! Although of course now fans will be asking all the more loudly to see Richie Steambeat receive similar honors. This particular prospect is the son of Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. If you have to ask who he is, then there's no hope for you.
2) Austin Aries
TNA was on the receiving end of yet another embarrassing episode a few weeks ago when Austin Aries showed a considerable lack of maturity when announcer Christy Hemme misstated his entrance. Hemme is a legitimate wrestling goddess, winning the original WWE Divas Search, but has nicely transitioned into a role more traditionally associated with men (unless you're Lilian Garcia). Aries is one of those ROH alumni renowned for his wrestling prowess. Last year he was given a run as TNA champion, a move that elevated him to the main event, which lately has meant a lot of tag team matches for some of the best wrestlers in the promotion (that's where Bobby Roode, Aries' predecessor as champion and in fact his tag team partner, currently sits, as well as Christopher Daniels, the hottest heel in the company not to be featured in the Aces & Eights faction). Aries decided it was appropriate to block Hemme into the corner and then climb to the second rope (so, let's be clear, his crotch was in her face) while she made the correction. That's just not something you do. TNA as a company has been doing commendable business. I said "yet another embarrassing episode" at the start of this item because in the spring of 2011, Jeff Hardy showed up to the main event of a TNA intoxicated and unable to compete. He subsequently cleaned up his act, thank goodness, and is once again a member in good standing of the wrestling community, but I'm sure there are still fans who will only associate both Hardy and TNA with such bad publicity. Aries has offered an apology, and Hemme accepted, but how could he have possibly thought that was a good idea in the first place?
On to WrestleMania 29!
Sheamus, Randy Orton, & Big Show vs. The Shield
The three names on the left side of this match are all perennial members of the WWE-doesn't-know-what-to-do-with-them-at-WrestleMania club. To be fair, Orton has had a good amount of success,but Big Show's woes are so well-known that they were the whole subject of his match against Cody Rhodes last year. Sheamus has twice had matches against Daniel Bryan sabotaged on the card, and his debut at WrestleMania against Triple H is one of those matches I still keep trying to redeem in my own thoughts. Still, Sheamus had the best showing in this match. As talented as the members of The Shield are, they were mostly playing off the big names. Not a bad match, but curiously devoid of any real momentum, possibly because they had to figure out how to help The Shield win again (they're currently undefeated and last night captured a bunch of championships, led as always by Ambrose).
Ryback vs. Mark Henry
It wasn't until I remembered that a lot of this WrestleMania could very easily be defined by the Hall of Fame induction of WWE legend Bruno Sammartino that the significance of this match clicked. It was all strongman style. That was Sammartino's gimmick, and who better to sell it at WrestleMania than the new Goldberg and the World's Strongest Man?
Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston
Langston was another obvious attempt at taking a chip off the old Sammartino. The commentary kept making references at how powerful he is. Ziggler is the new Mr. Perfect, though a version that can win a world championship in WWE (which he did the night after WrestleMania, though he recently suffered a legitimate concussion and so couldn't make his scheduled title defense last night). He wasn't given much to do in this match, however, which has been typical of his WrestleMania appearances. That's always puzzled me. Maybe next year?
Chris Jericho vs. Fandango
I will probably have to watch this match again, but most of it just seemed like it was the consummate professional Jericho at the top of his game, and Fandango merely keeping up. Jericho is one of those wrestlers who can have a good match with anyone, which was all the more necessary in this one because it was Fandango's first actual match in WWE. Their feud continued last night, and it seems to be continuing still. It doesn't hurt that Fandango's sometimes dance partner Summer Rae is turning into an attraction all her own. Previous Divas like AJ Lee (a breakout sensation last year), Sunny, and Sable have always made the most of it. Hopefully Summer can do the same. In the meantime, this match was fun in the same way Jericho's match against Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, and Roddy Piper was a few years ago. Jericho can have a good match against anyone and even if he's the only one worth watching (and that's not necessarily the case in either of these matches), by god you'll still enjoy yourself.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger
A contender for best match of the night. These two had surprisingly good chemistry together. It's entirely possible that they are in fact each other's ideal opponents in the ring. Del Rio has been looking for exactly that since he arrived in late 2010. It was assumed that his match was fellow Mexican superstar Rey Mysterio, but it's Swagger. The company has been trying to make Swagger a star for years, but with his lisp it's hard to take him seriously when he speaks (I don't personally fixate on that, but I know other fans do). That's why he has a mouthpiece in Zeb Coulter. All he has to do is get it done in the ring. It's always good to have two submission specialists unleashed on each other.
Undertaker vs. CM Punk
For a good portion of Undertaker's famed WrestleMania winning streak (after this match now 21-0), he wasn't know for having the best matches on the card. But that has become the norm in recent years. This match was no exception. Punk had been on a hotstreak since the summer of 2011, and aside the injuries that are currently keeping him out of the ring he's shown no signs of slowing down. He's an inspired performer. Every threat to the streak makes big promises about ending it, but few have done it with as much flair as Punk. The death of William Moody, who portrayed Undertaker's long-term manager Paul Bearer, earlier this year provided particularly fruitful material. Where such an angle could easily have been in poor taste, in this instance it was the ultimate tribute. A lot of Undertaker's early WWE matches revolve around his mysterious urn, held like a totem by Bearer at ringside. Punk and Heyman centered a lot of the drama around the urn once again. Probably more rewarding than both recent Triple H matches, and even the ones against "Mr. WrestleMania" Shawn Michaels, whom I contend will be facing Triple H at next year's landmark WrestleMania XXX. It's no coincidence that WWE has been ramping up Shawn's appearances recently. He's been retired since 2010. It's time for one last moment of glory, ending his good buddy Triple H's career once and for all.
Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H
Like The Rock, Lesnar made an unexpected comeback, competing on cards sprinkled throughout the year. His last match before last year's Extreme Rules was at WrestleMania XX against Goldberg. Though he's a wicked heel now, circa 2002-2003 he was the Next Big Thing, the long-awaited second coming of the legitimate WWE big man, Hulk Hogan style, this time one who could pull off a competitive match (the problem was always finding competition). Lesnar had a successful stint in UFC, which has informed his current smashmouth style (and the corporate logo-infused attire he uses to wrestle). Now he's a monster that looks all the more impossible to defeat. This match with Triple H was a more contemporary version of the Sammartino style. Notably the commentary never once mentioned the strongman vibe, even though these are two wrestlers who epitomize it.
The Rock vs. John Cena
A reprise of last year's "Once in a Lifetime" main event was a clear echo of that match, much like Star Trek Into Darkness is of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. And it's a better match precisely for it. If Cena has any real weakness in the ring, it's that he doesn't often seem to realize that a big match should be treated that way. He's had plenty of big matches, but a lot of those big matches (especially the ones against Rob Van Dam and CM Punk) he lost. He lost last year's big match against The Rock, too, and that fact made this one more compelling than its predecessor could have hoped to be. The Rock always benefited from contemporary stars rising to similar levels of success as himself. Cena has often lacked that, or WWE in its incarnations at the time did everything possible to split its attention, keeping Batista and Randy Orton away from him for too long. Instead his early WrestleMania opponents were Triple H and Shawn Michaels, stars of previous generations. Cena in fact had a contemporary with whom he meshed really well, Edge, but their only WrestleMania encounter was a three-way match that also included Big Show (for some reason), and wasn't even the main event of the card. So it's no surprise that he needed some extra help to get it done with Rock. And get it done they did this time.
All in all a pretty good WrestleMania.
***
I'll round today out with an acknowledgement of my ongoing obsession over a different subject entirely, actor Colin Farrell, who was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight. He was pretty awesome, promoting the animated flick Epic by...talking about his line dancing past. Makes perfect sense!
Showing posts with label Frog Splash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frog Splash. Show all posts
Monday, May 20, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
#581. Frog Splash Monday
Well, I think I've succeeded in completely alienating myself as a blogger. As I've told you before, this was the natural state of my blogging for years, so if you're feeling all smug, just know that familiarity has inoculated me to this shunning.
On to professional wrestling!
WrestleMania 29 is being released on home video tomorrow. I've only seen two WrestleManias live on PPV, WrestleMania 2000 (the sixteenth in the sequence that was in fact broadcast in 2000, when I watched it with my wrestling-obsessed friends at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA, where large groups in the dorm lounge on Monday nights was the norm) and last year's WrestleMania 28, thanks to my brother-in-law being on leave from a deployment and wanting to enjoy himself a little (sometimes his idea of enjoying himself is doing a lot of work around the house, so this was a welcome change of pace).
(It does occur to me that if I ever wanted to change the name of this blog, it would be to Life In Parentheses. Seriously, who else do you know who writes so many parenthetical phrases? I'll wait. Or perhaps the Leo Five feature will be renamed that, now that it technically stars not just Leo but Monk and soon Joe Cocker, who is not the famous pop act but a cocker spaniel. You'll see if that does in fact happen, Theoretical Reader. And I realize that parenthetical phrases that turn into whole paragraphs don't need parentheses after all, but I'm the writer. And I also realize that I do have some readers, such as the Geek Twins, who show up with comments rain or shine. You are always appreciated, despite my cynical rhetoric.)
Anyway, since WrestleMania XX in 2004, I've been making an effort to add the subsequent DVD releases to my collection. Previously I used to ogle the videos at the late Movieland in Lisbon, ME, although I rarely actually rented them, all the older ones, and 2003's WrestleMania XIX was the last time I allowed myself that peculiar indulgence. And anyway, I picked up the whole anthology WWE released that included I-XX (with 21 as a bonus) on the cheap at FYE, and now have a complete collection, although with my ever-present lack of funds, I've been wondering if I should sell them, and if I can make good money off of them, unlike my comic book collection. I've had three separate listings on Craigslist for some other items for months now, and the only interest I ever got was from a scammer. (Seriously, scammers? Why must the idiocy of most people allow you to believe you won't experience the psychic wrath of people who aren't idiots? Psychic Wrath would make a great name for a rock band.)
(The phrase, "[fill-in-the-blank] would make a great name for a rock band" comes from Dave Barry, who used to write a Pulitzer-winning humor column syndicated throughout every decent American newspaper. Fill-in-the-blank would also, incidentally, make a great name for a rock band.)
After a while, you start to realize that the popular response to any WrestleMania is the always the same. "It just wasn't that good." This amazes me. Most commentators on wrestling seem to believe the majority of wrestling isn't any good. They've got the same response as the people who don't watch wrestling. The only difference is that they engage in the classic Internet exercise of sado-masochism. They force themselves to watch what they hate in order to complain about it on the Internet, because, y'know, "it'll make the creators improve the product." Baby, anyone who seriously heavily relies on outside input shouldn't be doing something creative. There will always be a fair amount of give-and-take. In fact, wrestling is the most interactive product around. Fans create and destroy careers all the time, almost equal to the amount of similar effort on the part of promoters.
(I will also acknowledge that a really fun project would be to create an entire story from suggestions, like the ultimate Choose Your Own Adventure.)
That being said (the thing before that last parenthetical phrase), I always expect that the given WrestleMania is better than the response it garners on the Internet. The funny thing is, I often get in the way of my own appreciation of wrestling because I invariably attempt to do something else when I pop in a DVD, such as use the Internet (really?!?) or fall asleep. I fall asleep watching things all the time. I'm an equal opportunist like that. This is not an indication of my active interest. (Consequently, when someone says they fell asleep watching something because it was boring, either I assume they were mistaken or we just have different interpretations of this phenomenon.)
Sure, sometimes the matches on a WrestleMania were clearly put together because the bookers wanted someone on the card and couldn't figure out how to do it usefully, and there are a lot of WrestleMania matches like that. But this year's WrestleMania doesn't seem like that at all. I assume if the wrestlers showed up to perform, they did something worthwhile in these matches. I will probably talk about this again next week, just so you know, because hopefully I will have finally seen WrestleMania 29 for myself.
***
Anyway, in TNA, Sting addressed the AJ Styles situation on Impact last week. Sting is the dude who made a name for himself in WCW, the face-painted warrior who was not the Ultimate Warrior (who was in WWE until a perhaps misguided effort to confront Hulk Hogan a second time), who was as much the face of the company as Ric Flair, for years. When the New World Order thing happened, the bookers were tired of relying on Flair. Seriously, he was a nonentity during that whole (years-long) thing. During one of the points where it seemed like it was over (but wasn't), Flair and Hogan had another series of matches, which they'd done when Hogan first appeared in WCW (but not when they were both in WWE). Anyway, Sting was tapped as WCW's savior. He spent fifteen months not actually competing in matches. This is unheard-of in wrestling. And something that will probably never happen again, and I'll explain that momentarily.
Anyway, there was even a fake Sting the nWo (some people might present that as NWO, but I stay true to the spray-painted logo) used for a while (and then sent to Japan, the land where this whole angle originated). The real Sting finally staged his comeback at Starrcade 1997 (Starrcade was WCW's WrestleMania). This match with Hogan was hyped beyond anything else from the decade. Bret Hart was present, having just joined WCW after the Montreal Screwjob debacle of the previous month's Survivor Series match against Shawn Michaels in WWE. When Hogan technically won the match fair and square (the referee was supposed to botch the count, but inadvertently botched that), Hart charged in the ring and declared "Not again!" The ringside commentators (I don't care what anyone says, WCW had the best of these) accurately observed that at this point the match was restarted, or in other words an entirely separate match began. Sting was all fired up, unlike how he'd been earlier. He won easily.
Still, because of the controversy of whether or not Hogan had gotten a fair shake (never mind that it wasn't nWo policy to give anyone a fair shake), the result was declared null and void, and another match a few months later tried to resolve this huge moment. This was the beginning of the end of the momentum the company had had over WWE. It didn't hurt that Goldberg, who became a huge phenomenon in 1998, was still completely overshadowed by nWo shenanigans. It's also worth noting that as much as everyone wanted everyone else to believe, the dedication Sting had demonstrated to being the savior hadn't been matched by the conduct of the rest of the company. Hogan had lost and won back the WCW heavyweight title to Lex Luger only a few months earlier, and at the 1996 Starrcade, he lost to Roddy Piper (which is significant even if the title wasn't on the line). The full heel version of Hogan (he had previously been the biggest face ever, literally, though he still wrestled as a heel, which was what big men until Vince McMahon saw dollar signs in Hulkamania were, including the Hogan prototype "Superstar" Billy Graham) was hated, but he was unappreciated. He should easily have been more successful, but again, wrestling fans are insane. A Hogan who was champion and undefeated throughout the same fifteen months would have been a more effective opponent.
Still, keeping Sting out of action for so long created a lot of logistical problems. The Starrcade match was perhaps doomed to failure from the start. The part of the match that Hogan technically won was dominated by Hogan, with Sting receiving one long beating. It seemed like the smart thing to do. Was a guy who'd spent fifteen months out of action prepared to contend a match any other way? Then the second part of the match, the one that Sting technically won, featured everything that the fans really wanted to see. Suppose that the two aspects of the match had been blended (as more or less intended).
You'd really only have that as a possibility today, with AJ Styles. AJ is the TNA equivalent of Sting (and Ric Flair), the face of the company (other than Jeff Jarrett, who dominated the early years), a reliable talent of extraordinary ability (his nickname is in fact "Phenomenal"). Last year he lost the ability to compete for the heavyweight title for a full year. He had his most distinguished run with the title in 2009-2010. When you're championship material like that, anytime you're not in contention, observers label you an underachiever. TNA has never truly mishandled AJ, but they've typically lacked direction for his character (something that has plagued Randy Orton in WWE for the last few years, and it's always far more obvious with him, because he doesn't have the compensating ability in the ring). Last year they gave him direction in a big way. One of his perfect rivals is Christopher Daniels, whose career closely mirrors his own except in championship gold. They've wrestled each other countless times.
Last year they finally gave Daniels a chance to distinguish himself as something other than a standout wrestler, and in the process elevated AJ back to the forefront as well, but the real testament is that they've allowed him to follow the Sting example as closely as possible. TNA has been plagued by the Aces & Eights faction for almost a year. Every member is a former wrestler in WWE, something the more naive fans will always claim as meaning they're nothing but limited cast-offs. WWE and WCW and ECW swapped talent for years. If ECW had ever been in a position to gain marque talent, it would probably still be in business today. In fact ECW is the reason Steve Austin became a huge star. The promotion flipped him from his underappreciated WCW days to stardom in WWE.
AJ has spent large swathes of time not competing. He's changed his look. But he's in fact wrestling again, and it hasn't been fifteen months, and his first opponent wasn't the wicked leader of Aces and Eights (Bully Ray, who used to be known as Bubba Dudley). Sting is Bully Ray's next opponent. It's obvious that AJ will defeat Bully in their inevitable match. A lot of fans seem to equate inevitability with predictability, and therefore uninspired product, but great fiction uses inevitability all the time. It's not knowing that something's going to happen that dictates how it should be received, but how it's executed. When you expect to be disappointed, chances are you will be.
AJ and Bully Ray should have a good match when that happens. They've got contrasting styles in the ring, and they both know (and are further learning) how to pull off a dramatic episode. Putting together a match isn't just about stringing along a series of moves. It's knowing how to pull them off effectively. Sometimes that means that there's far less action than you'd expect. If the Sting/Hogan match was a true failure, it was that there truly were two distinctive parts of the match, one where Hogan was dominant and one where Sting was dominant. There didn't seem to be interest in integrating either one. It's funny, because Hogan was a master of changing momentum. He built all his matches on the same sequence of events, culminating in the dramatic comeback. The entire Aces and Eights angle has been teaching the entire TNA roster how to do that. The payoff should be worth it.
That's all I'll yammer about today.
On to professional wrestling!
WrestleMania 29 is being released on home video tomorrow. I've only seen two WrestleManias live on PPV, WrestleMania 2000 (the sixteenth in the sequence that was in fact broadcast in 2000, when I watched it with my wrestling-obsessed friends at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA, where large groups in the dorm lounge on Monday nights was the norm) and last year's WrestleMania 28, thanks to my brother-in-law being on leave from a deployment and wanting to enjoy himself a little (sometimes his idea of enjoying himself is doing a lot of work around the house, so this was a welcome change of pace).
(It does occur to me that if I ever wanted to change the name of this blog, it would be to Life In Parentheses. Seriously, who else do you know who writes so many parenthetical phrases? I'll wait. Or perhaps the Leo Five feature will be renamed that, now that it technically stars not just Leo but Monk and soon Joe Cocker, who is not the famous pop act but a cocker spaniel. You'll see if that does in fact happen, Theoretical Reader. And I realize that parenthetical phrases that turn into whole paragraphs don't need parentheses after all, but I'm the writer. And I also realize that I do have some readers, such as the Geek Twins, who show up with comments rain or shine. You are always appreciated, despite my cynical rhetoric.)
Anyway, since WrestleMania XX in 2004, I've been making an effort to add the subsequent DVD releases to my collection. Previously I used to ogle the videos at the late Movieland in Lisbon, ME, although I rarely actually rented them, all the older ones, and 2003's WrestleMania XIX was the last time I allowed myself that peculiar indulgence. And anyway, I picked up the whole anthology WWE released that included I-XX (with 21 as a bonus) on the cheap at FYE, and now have a complete collection, although with my ever-present lack of funds, I've been wondering if I should sell them, and if I can make good money off of them, unlike my comic book collection. I've had three separate listings on Craigslist for some other items for months now, and the only interest I ever got was from a scammer. (Seriously, scammers? Why must the idiocy of most people allow you to believe you won't experience the psychic wrath of people who aren't idiots? Psychic Wrath would make a great name for a rock band.)
(The phrase, "[fill-in-the-blank] would make a great name for a rock band" comes from Dave Barry, who used to write a Pulitzer-winning humor column syndicated throughout every decent American newspaper. Fill-in-the-blank would also, incidentally, make a great name for a rock band.)
After a while, you start to realize that the popular response to any WrestleMania is the always the same. "It just wasn't that good." This amazes me. Most commentators on wrestling seem to believe the majority of wrestling isn't any good. They've got the same response as the people who don't watch wrestling. The only difference is that they engage in the classic Internet exercise of sado-masochism. They force themselves to watch what they hate in order to complain about it on the Internet, because, y'know, "it'll make the creators improve the product." Baby, anyone who seriously heavily relies on outside input shouldn't be doing something creative. There will always be a fair amount of give-and-take. In fact, wrestling is the most interactive product around. Fans create and destroy careers all the time, almost equal to the amount of similar effort on the part of promoters.
(I will also acknowledge that a really fun project would be to create an entire story from suggestions, like the ultimate Choose Your Own Adventure.)
That being said (the thing before that last parenthetical phrase), I always expect that the given WrestleMania is better than the response it garners on the Internet. The funny thing is, I often get in the way of my own appreciation of wrestling because I invariably attempt to do something else when I pop in a DVD, such as use the Internet (really?!?) or fall asleep. I fall asleep watching things all the time. I'm an equal opportunist like that. This is not an indication of my active interest. (Consequently, when someone says they fell asleep watching something because it was boring, either I assume they were mistaken or we just have different interpretations of this phenomenon.)
Sure, sometimes the matches on a WrestleMania were clearly put together because the bookers wanted someone on the card and couldn't figure out how to do it usefully, and there are a lot of WrestleMania matches like that. But this year's WrestleMania doesn't seem like that at all. I assume if the wrestlers showed up to perform, they did something worthwhile in these matches. I will probably talk about this again next week, just so you know, because hopefully I will have finally seen WrestleMania 29 for myself.
***
Anyway, in TNA, Sting addressed the AJ Styles situation on Impact last week. Sting is the dude who made a name for himself in WCW, the face-painted warrior who was not the Ultimate Warrior (who was in WWE until a perhaps misguided effort to confront Hulk Hogan a second time), who was as much the face of the company as Ric Flair, for years. When the New World Order thing happened, the bookers were tired of relying on Flair. Seriously, he was a nonentity during that whole (years-long) thing. During one of the points where it seemed like it was over (but wasn't), Flair and Hogan had another series of matches, which they'd done when Hogan first appeared in WCW (but not when they were both in WWE). Anyway, Sting was tapped as WCW's savior. He spent fifteen months not actually competing in matches. This is unheard-of in wrestling. And something that will probably never happen again, and I'll explain that momentarily.
Anyway, there was even a fake Sting the nWo (some people might present that as NWO, but I stay true to the spray-painted logo) used for a while (and then sent to Japan, the land where this whole angle originated). The real Sting finally staged his comeback at Starrcade 1997 (Starrcade was WCW's WrestleMania). This match with Hogan was hyped beyond anything else from the decade. Bret Hart was present, having just joined WCW after the Montreal Screwjob debacle of the previous month's Survivor Series match against Shawn Michaels in WWE. When Hogan technically won the match fair and square (the referee was supposed to botch the count, but inadvertently botched that), Hart charged in the ring and declared "Not again!" The ringside commentators (I don't care what anyone says, WCW had the best of these) accurately observed that at this point the match was restarted, or in other words an entirely separate match began. Sting was all fired up, unlike how he'd been earlier. He won easily.
Still, because of the controversy of whether or not Hogan had gotten a fair shake (never mind that it wasn't nWo policy to give anyone a fair shake), the result was declared null and void, and another match a few months later tried to resolve this huge moment. This was the beginning of the end of the momentum the company had had over WWE. It didn't hurt that Goldberg, who became a huge phenomenon in 1998, was still completely overshadowed by nWo shenanigans. It's also worth noting that as much as everyone wanted everyone else to believe, the dedication Sting had demonstrated to being the savior hadn't been matched by the conduct of the rest of the company. Hogan had lost and won back the WCW heavyweight title to Lex Luger only a few months earlier, and at the 1996 Starrcade, he lost to Roddy Piper (which is significant even if the title wasn't on the line). The full heel version of Hogan (he had previously been the biggest face ever, literally, though he still wrestled as a heel, which was what big men until Vince McMahon saw dollar signs in Hulkamania were, including the Hogan prototype "Superstar" Billy Graham) was hated, but he was unappreciated. He should easily have been more successful, but again, wrestling fans are insane. A Hogan who was champion and undefeated throughout the same fifteen months would have been a more effective opponent.
Still, keeping Sting out of action for so long created a lot of logistical problems. The Starrcade match was perhaps doomed to failure from the start. The part of the match that Hogan technically won was dominated by Hogan, with Sting receiving one long beating. It seemed like the smart thing to do. Was a guy who'd spent fifteen months out of action prepared to contend a match any other way? Then the second part of the match, the one that Sting technically won, featured everything that the fans really wanted to see. Suppose that the two aspects of the match had been blended (as more or less intended).
You'd really only have that as a possibility today, with AJ Styles. AJ is the TNA equivalent of Sting (and Ric Flair), the face of the company (other than Jeff Jarrett, who dominated the early years), a reliable talent of extraordinary ability (his nickname is in fact "Phenomenal"). Last year he lost the ability to compete for the heavyweight title for a full year. He had his most distinguished run with the title in 2009-2010. When you're championship material like that, anytime you're not in contention, observers label you an underachiever. TNA has never truly mishandled AJ, but they've typically lacked direction for his character (something that has plagued Randy Orton in WWE for the last few years, and it's always far more obvious with him, because he doesn't have the compensating ability in the ring). Last year they gave him direction in a big way. One of his perfect rivals is Christopher Daniels, whose career closely mirrors his own except in championship gold. They've wrestled each other countless times.
Last year they finally gave Daniels a chance to distinguish himself as something other than a standout wrestler, and in the process elevated AJ back to the forefront as well, but the real testament is that they've allowed him to follow the Sting example as closely as possible. TNA has been plagued by the Aces & Eights faction for almost a year. Every member is a former wrestler in WWE, something the more naive fans will always claim as meaning they're nothing but limited cast-offs. WWE and WCW and ECW swapped talent for years. If ECW had ever been in a position to gain marque talent, it would probably still be in business today. In fact ECW is the reason Steve Austin became a huge star. The promotion flipped him from his underappreciated WCW days to stardom in WWE.
AJ has spent large swathes of time not competing. He's changed his look. But he's in fact wrestling again, and it hasn't been fifteen months, and his first opponent wasn't the wicked leader of Aces and Eights (Bully Ray, who used to be known as Bubba Dudley). Sting is Bully Ray's next opponent. It's obvious that AJ will defeat Bully in their inevitable match. A lot of fans seem to equate inevitability with predictability, and therefore uninspired product, but great fiction uses inevitability all the time. It's not knowing that something's going to happen that dictates how it should be received, but how it's executed. When you expect to be disappointed, chances are you will be.
AJ and Bully Ray should have a good match when that happens. They've got contrasting styles in the ring, and they both know (and are further learning) how to pull off a dramatic episode. Putting together a match isn't just about stringing along a series of moves. It's knowing how to pull them off effectively. Sometimes that means that there's far less action than you'd expect. If the Sting/Hogan match was a true failure, it was that there truly were two distinctive parts of the match, one where Hogan was dominant and one where Sting was dominant. There didn't seem to be interest in integrating either one. It's funny, because Hogan was a master of changing momentum. He built all his matches on the same sequence of events, culminating in the dramatic comeback. The entire Aces and Eights angle has been teaching the entire TNA roster how to do that. The payoff should be worth it.
That's all I'll yammer about today.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
#575. Frog Splash Monday
I'm going to start this week's wrestling thoughts with ROH. Ring of Honor is the third largest wrestling promotion in the U.S. Like TNA, it began in 2002, though it has primarily kept a focus on the wrestling over the entertainment factor that gives us folks like Brodus Clay (the latest big guy who dances) and Fandango (a regular-sized guy who also dances). Although of course even ROH has storylines. The current one involves another wicked faction (every faction in wrestling is wicked, even the legendary Four Horsemen) that's opposing Kevin Steen, whom I think the promotion briefly thought was going to be a watershed type of champion. He recently lost the ROH world title to Jay Briscoe, one half of a brother combination that has no relation to the Briscoe brothers who were dominant in the '70s, Jack and Gerald (the latter eventually gaining more fame as a stooge of Mr. McMahon during the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin era along with Pat Patterson, not only the first Intercontinental champion but also gay).
Jay Briscoe as champion makes a ton of sense. He's a homegrown star that the fans will absolutely recognize. In recent years, after the loss of stars like Brian Danielson (who subsequently made a name for himself as Daniel Bryan), CM Punk, and Nigel McGuinness (who attempted to make a name for himself as Desmond Wolfe, but had to retire due to medical issues), ROH seemed to lose direction. McGuinness has since returned to the promotion as an on-air (i.e. noncompetitive) personality, although he may be contemplating one last match. I'd be happy to see that happen. Another star who's returned recently is Paul London, a firecracker who was a star in the early days and quickly moved on, winning the ECWA Super 8 tournament (something Christopher Daniels alone can say he's done twice) and making a go of it in WWE. One of his first matches in WWE was actually against Brock Lesnar. That was a fun match. Eventually, though, he got swallowed up in the dying cruiserweight division, and then in a tag team with Brian Kendrick, a combination that spent a great deal of time as Smackdown champions but never got an ounce of respect from the company. And then London disappeared, perhaps because he smirked right before McMahon "died" that one time in 2007 (although everyone else was soon thinking about Chris Benoit, for entirely negative reasons). It's just good to see London back on a stage where he can be widely appreciated. And the whole promotion around him seems to be undergoing a renaissance, so that's nice.
It's always good to have a competitive environment. The last time it was socially acceptable to talk about wrestling out in the open was during the Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW. Wrestlers were everywhere, and the snickering was kept under the table. That was good. TNA is once again turning to one of the stars of that era, Sting, to compete for its world title. Sting may be getting on in years (he's over fifty), but he can still go in the ring. Undertaker is younger than him, but competed in far crazier matches in his prime. Some fans no doubt want to see that dream match, which WWE has attempted to make a reality in the past. If it ever did happen, it would still be special. True fact: Sting was the tag team partner of the Ultimate Warrior when they were both learning the business. It may explain the face paint (well, The Crow explains the face paint now, but still). The funny thing is TNA's own Sting, A.J. Styles, is actively pursuing his own version of the Sting savior role circa 1997. The funnier thing is that the company didn't wait as long to get Styles back in action, but the end result will no doubt be the same. He'll be the big star of this October's Bound for Glory (a smaller version of WrestleMania), probably in a match against Daniels, who has been tormenting Styles for the past year.
Undertaker, meanwhile, competed on Raw and Smackdown two weeks ago for the first time in three years. At that time, he was retiring Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania and then helping make his "brother" Kane's run as world champion more legitimate, losing to him at three consecutive PPVs. This time he was helping to put over The Shield, and Dean Ambrose in particular. The Shield is a faction of up-and-coming talent that has been in the spotlight since last fall. They're basically a new version of the Nexus, which was another thing happening in 2010. Ambrose is clearly being groomed for greatness. This will be a very good thing. Wade Barrett was the skipper of Nexus, and he was pushed too far too quickly. Although they still have yet to lose, Ambrose and his two cohorts have yet to do much in singles competitive. They keep doing matches together. In Mexico, this is a regular thing. It would make sense for Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, and somebody else (it would be awkward to make the third Hunico, because he was the substitute Sin Cara, and that didn't end well).
Anyway, to speak of Fandango again, it's funny that he became a meme. His debut was delayed for months, probably because they were trying to figure out how to pull this gimmick off, but it seems to be doing the work itself, along with a killer theme (slightly evocative of the old I Dream of Jeannie theme) and some Dancing with the Stars moves (and perhaps a killer new diva currently known as Summer Rae). Some observers are concerned that WWE will screw it up, but they don't seem to realize that heels can be loved just as much as babyfaces.
Did I mention that Dolph Ziggler actually did finally cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, won last summer? He's finally a world champion, something "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig never did in WWE (much less WCW, although he did in AWA before appearing in either of them). Ziggler is a heck of a lot like Hennig, although he doesn't have the Perfect Plex (which in hindsight is probably what ruined Hennig's back). The WWE champion is still John Cena, who will be defending the title against Ryback (WWE's official Goldberg) in two weeks. They're making Ryback a heel because they can't make Cena one. If Ryback wins it'll hardly matter. If Ryback doesn't win (he competed for the title in the fall against Punk, but didn't win thanks to good folks like The Shield), that will pretty much mean the end of that.
And yes, Mr. Dilloway, I know this stuff isn't "real." It's still art. I appreciate good art in whatever form it takes. Perhaps you'd like to meet Damien Sandow? But just to prove everything's cool, hey folks! His books are ninety-nine cents this month! No, I don't generally shill for other blogger buddy book writers, mostly because I believe in supporting books you love rather than people you like and because I don't automatically assume they're one in the same (and also because I really don't have the money to try and tell the difference indiscriminately). In this case, Dilloway has been grumpy longer than I have, and I'm hoping that any success he receives will motivate him to write more of what I hope he'll write, which is some genuinely good stuff. He's been feeling like he should quit writing. And partly I agree. There's stuff that feels like he's just writing because he's a writer, and then there's stuff he writes where it truly feels inspired and he seems engaged as a creative voice. That I'll always support. So if I can be a part of drawing that out of him, all the better, even if he hates me for suggesting that some of his material doesn't fit that category. To be fair, I won't mention which material is which. You're all adults (so far as I know). You can make these decisions for yourself.
Jay Briscoe as champion makes a ton of sense. He's a homegrown star that the fans will absolutely recognize. In recent years, after the loss of stars like Brian Danielson (who subsequently made a name for himself as Daniel Bryan), CM Punk, and Nigel McGuinness (who attempted to make a name for himself as Desmond Wolfe, but had to retire due to medical issues), ROH seemed to lose direction. McGuinness has since returned to the promotion as an on-air (i.e. noncompetitive) personality, although he may be contemplating one last match. I'd be happy to see that happen. Another star who's returned recently is Paul London, a firecracker who was a star in the early days and quickly moved on, winning the ECWA Super 8 tournament (something Christopher Daniels alone can say he's done twice) and making a go of it in WWE. One of his first matches in WWE was actually against Brock Lesnar. That was a fun match. Eventually, though, he got swallowed up in the dying cruiserweight division, and then in a tag team with Brian Kendrick, a combination that spent a great deal of time as Smackdown champions but never got an ounce of respect from the company. And then London disappeared, perhaps because he smirked right before McMahon "died" that one time in 2007 (although everyone else was soon thinking about Chris Benoit, for entirely negative reasons). It's just good to see London back on a stage where he can be widely appreciated. And the whole promotion around him seems to be undergoing a renaissance, so that's nice.
It's always good to have a competitive environment. The last time it was socially acceptable to talk about wrestling out in the open was during the Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW. Wrestlers were everywhere, and the snickering was kept under the table. That was good. TNA is once again turning to one of the stars of that era, Sting, to compete for its world title. Sting may be getting on in years (he's over fifty), but he can still go in the ring. Undertaker is younger than him, but competed in far crazier matches in his prime. Some fans no doubt want to see that dream match, which WWE has attempted to make a reality in the past. If it ever did happen, it would still be special. True fact: Sting was the tag team partner of the Ultimate Warrior when they were both learning the business. It may explain the face paint (well, The Crow explains the face paint now, but still). The funny thing is TNA's own Sting, A.J. Styles, is actively pursuing his own version of the Sting savior role circa 1997. The funnier thing is that the company didn't wait as long to get Styles back in action, but the end result will no doubt be the same. He'll be the big star of this October's Bound for Glory (a smaller version of WrestleMania), probably in a match against Daniels, who has been tormenting Styles for the past year.
Undertaker, meanwhile, competed on Raw and Smackdown two weeks ago for the first time in three years. At that time, he was retiring Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania and then helping make his "brother" Kane's run as world champion more legitimate, losing to him at three consecutive PPVs. This time he was helping to put over The Shield, and Dean Ambrose in particular. The Shield is a faction of up-and-coming talent that has been in the spotlight since last fall. They're basically a new version of the Nexus, which was another thing happening in 2010. Ambrose is clearly being groomed for greatness. This will be a very good thing. Wade Barrett was the skipper of Nexus, and he was pushed too far too quickly. Although they still have yet to lose, Ambrose and his two cohorts have yet to do much in singles competitive. They keep doing matches together. In Mexico, this is a regular thing. It would make sense for Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, and somebody else (it would be awkward to make the third Hunico, because he was the substitute Sin Cara, and that didn't end well).
Anyway, to speak of Fandango again, it's funny that he became a meme. His debut was delayed for months, probably because they were trying to figure out how to pull this gimmick off, but it seems to be doing the work itself, along with a killer theme (slightly evocative of the old I Dream of Jeannie theme) and some Dancing with the Stars moves (and perhaps a killer new diva currently known as Summer Rae). Some observers are concerned that WWE will screw it up, but they don't seem to realize that heels can be loved just as much as babyfaces.
Did I mention that Dolph Ziggler actually did finally cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, won last summer? He's finally a world champion, something "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig never did in WWE (much less WCW, although he did in AWA before appearing in either of them). Ziggler is a heck of a lot like Hennig, although he doesn't have the Perfect Plex (which in hindsight is probably what ruined Hennig's back). The WWE champion is still John Cena, who will be defending the title against Ryback (WWE's official Goldberg) in two weeks. They're making Ryback a heel because they can't make Cena one. If Ryback wins it'll hardly matter. If Ryback doesn't win (he competed for the title in the fall against Punk, but didn't win thanks to good folks like The Shield), that will pretty much mean the end of that.
And yes, Mr. Dilloway, I know this stuff isn't "real." It's still art. I appreciate good art in whatever form it takes. Perhaps you'd like to meet Damien Sandow? But just to prove everything's cool, hey folks! His books are ninety-nine cents this month! No, I don't generally shill for other blogger buddy book writers, mostly because I believe in supporting books you love rather than people you like and because I don't automatically assume they're one in the same (and also because I really don't have the money to try and tell the difference indiscriminately). In this case, Dilloway has been grumpy longer than I have, and I'm hoping that any success he receives will motivate him to write more of what I hope he'll write, which is some genuinely good stuff. He's been feeling like he should quit writing. And partly I agree. There's stuff that feels like he's just writing because he's a writer, and then there's stuff he writes where it truly feels inspired and he seems engaged as a creative voice. That I'll always support. So if I can be a part of drawing that out of him, all the better, even if he hates me for suggesting that some of his material doesn't fit that category. To be fair, I won't mention which material is which. You're all adults (so far as I know). You can make these decisions for yourself.
Monday, April 08, 2013
#545. Frog Splash Monday: The WrestleMania 29 Edition
Last night was WWE's WrestleMania 29, the company's annual biggest card of the year. It may be the culmination of a story begun at WrestleMania 27, when The Rock cost John Cena a win against then-champion The Miz (just in case you were wondering...no relation). At last year's WrestleMania, Rock defeated Cena. This year, Rock was WWE champion, having defeated CM Punk (ending a more than year-long reign), and the rematch was set when Cena won the Royal Rumble, guaranteeing him a title match opportunity at WrestleMania.
Some have called this sequence of events overly predictable. To me, it calls to mind another classic WrestleMania series, begun in the card's infancy. At WrestleMania III, Hulk Hogan faced Andre the Giant in a match still talked about to this day. Hogan won the match (it could hardly go any other way), but Andre was a beloved icon in his own right, and so the feud didn't end there. Eventually it ended in the WWE title being vacated. At WrestleMania IV, Randy Savage won a tournament to fill the vacancy. His big ally was none other than Hogan. Of course, this meant (because it was far more common in those days for feuds to last a long time or take a long time to develop from an obvious setup) that Savage would defend his title against Hogan at WrestleMania V. This happened, and of course Hogan won the match, thus closing a loop. (Of course, the loop might be said to have remained open at WrestleMania VI, when Hogan lost the title to The Ultimate Warrior, who lost it to Sgt. Slaughter, who lost it to Hogan at WrestleMania VII, where Warrior and Savage had a match of their own. Another loop involved Hogan at WrestleMania IX, when Bret Hart lost the WWE title to Yokozuna, who quickly lost the title to Hogan, who lost it back to Yokozuna, who had a non-Hogan-related rematch against Hart at WrestleMania X, which Hart won.)
Anyway, a lot of wrestling fans rag on John Cena. They do it like they feel they're supposed to. Cena is the Hulk Hogan of his day. He's not Hulk Hogan in any other way than being the reliable face of the company. He's been in the world champion scene since 2005. There was a string of WrestleManias where he was in the main event by default, but had been out of that picture for several years when this feud with The Rock finally happened (both WWE and Cena had been trying to make it happen for years). Last year Cena headlined just about every Pay Per View (PPV) even though he was not champion.
For Cena to have won last night might be seen as predictable. It doesn't mean that he'll be champion for many more PPVs, though. Sometimes Cena's a champion like that. Not so much in recent years, though. This is not to say that the title is about to hot potato (like the WCW championship did for the last several years of its existence) after such a long period where one person controlled it. It's worth noting that you shouldn't expect Punk to regain the title anytime soon. His long term as champion took a toll on his body, and he was to conserve himself for weeks leading up to last night's match against The Undertaker. Some fans expected Dolph Ziggler to cash in his Money in the Bank contract guaranteeing him a title opportunity immediately after Cena's win (including me), but instead there seemed to be a moment at the end of the match where Rock and Cena acknowledged that this particular loop was finally closed.
Ziggler, meanwhile, may just as well cash in tonight.
Punk's match with Undertaker is a little odd. For the previous four WrestleManias, Undertaker engaged only two foes, Shawn Michaels and Triple H. They were four of the most climactic matches Undertaker has ever had, even though he's got the WrestleMania undefeated streak that now sits at 21-0. Few of the matches in that streak have actually counted for something. Often they've been an acknowledgement of where his opponent is in their career. Punk's is the first one in a while like that. He's solidified his place as an icon. Undertaker wrestles once a year these days. If he's in a match at all, it's more than ever about keeping that streak alive, because each of them could be his last. This year it seemed like that could be the case more than ever. Punk had a match with Cena on Raw a month or so back that was widely praised, and seemed to be his audition for the Undertaker match. Punk wrestled Rock at two consecutive PPVs at the start of the year, but those ended up being more about getting to WrestleMania for Rock than Punk's incredible reign and his current status in the company. Undertaker won't wrestle just anyone at WrestleMania these days. No more King Kong Bundy. No more A-Train (currently known as Tensei or Sweet T or something; anyway Undertaker faced him and the Big Show in a handicap match at WrestleMania XIX).
I didn't get to see WrestleMania 29 live last night. I rarely get to see them live. I saw last year's PPV, and that was a highlight of 2012 for me. I'll have to wait until the DVD. (Yes, I still do DVD. Everyone ought to know at this point that Blu-ray was sabotaged by the recession. It's no longer a thing. It's just a glorified alternative. At a period when the real alternative is online streaming and cheap rentals from boxes and Internet subscriptions.) That will be in about a month.
I've been a fan of Punk since I first saw him on WWE's ECW in 2006. He was a star in ROH previous to that, but I've rarely been in a position where I can appreciate ROH. Ring of Honor is the wrestling fan's wrestling promotion. It's not really about the entertainment factor. It's about the wrestling. Although at the moment it's still trying to recover from losing its latest batch of bright prospects to the likes of WWE and TNA (Total Nonstop Action).
Triple H won his match against Brock Lesnar, the so-called Next Big Thing circa 2002-2003 who started a limited comeback last year after proving himself as a monster in MMA as well as professional wrestling. I expected Triple H to lose that match. It only made sense. The script said that if he lost he'd have to retire. Ric Flair lost his WrestleMania retirement match. Shawn Michaels lost his WrestleMania retirement match. Then again, last year's WrestleMania not only billed Rock-Cena as "once in a lifetime" but Triple H-Undertaker as "end of an era." Both Undertaker and Triple H competed at WrestleMania this year, just liked Rock wrestled Cena again. Perhaps we're headed to Triple H's retirement match at WrestleMania 30 next year. Against perhaps Shawn Michaels?
Well, that would be awesome, anyway.
Debuting wrestler Fandango defeated Chris Jericho in a fairly lengthy match. Some observers expected that if any match ran long, this one would. It did. This year's WrestleMania was about starting a new page, changing the script. The stable of upstarts known as The Shield also won. Mark Henry defeated Ryback. If Ryback had won, it's feasible that he would have been foisted back to the championship scene. His loss made things once more unpredictable. Henry's win, meanwhile, was an acknowledgement of the fact that 2011 was a breakthrough year in a career that had a thousand starts and stops since WWE took him in 1996 from a successful Olympic weightlifting career. (Kurt Angle was another 1996 Olympic story. It continues in TNA.)
When Ziggler and Big E Langston failed to defeat Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) for the tag team championship, it was another indication that the future was wide open. It was fine just to have the tag team titles on the line at WrestleMania. It was also fine just to have Daniel Bryan actually compete at WrestleMania (last year his match ended in seconds). It was also an indication that maybe Ziggler had other things to accomplish last night. Yet that remains in the air.
Finally there was the world championship match, pitting the defender Alberto Del Rio against Jack Swagger, who has recently adopted a super right wing persona. (He was previously billed as the "All-American American," so it kind of figures.) Del Rio is champion in part to bolster the Spanish-speaking market's interest. He's also the Mexican Ric Flair. (It figures that with Flair back with WWE, there's plenty of love for his type of wrestling. The Miz defeated Wade Barrett for the Intercontinental championship in a pre-show match with Flair's patented figure-four leglock, a move he's adopted since accepting the "Nature Boy" as his mentor. I will also use this opportunity to plug Barrett's appearance in Colin Farrell's Dead Man Down. I once again assert that this is a movie worth your attention.)
So that's what happened last night. The fun thing is that the action as always continues tonight!
Some have called this sequence of events overly predictable. To me, it calls to mind another classic WrestleMania series, begun in the card's infancy. At WrestleMania III, Hulk Hogan faced Andre the Giant in a match still talked about to this day. Hogan won the match (it could hardly go any other way), but Andre was a beloved icon in his own right, and so the feud didn't end there. Eventually it ended in the WWE title being vacated. At WrestleMania IV, Randy Savage won a tournament to fill the vacancy. His big ally was none other than Hogan. Of course, this meant (because it was far more common in those days for feuds to last a long time or take a long time to develop from an obvious setup) that Savage would defend his title against Hogan at WrestleMania V. This happened, and of course Hogan won the match, thus closing a loop. (Of course, the loop might be said to have remained open at WrestleMania VI, when Hogan lost the title to The Ultimate Warrior, who lost it to Sgt. Slaughter, who lost it to Hogan at WrestleMania VII, where Warrior and Savage had a match of their own. Another loop involved Hogan at WrestleMania IX, when Bret Hart lost the WWE title to Yokozuna, who quickly lost the title to Hogan, who lost it back to Yokozuna, who had a non-Hogan-related rematch against Hart at WrestleMania X, which Hart won.)
Anyway, a lot of wrestling fans rag on John Cena. They do it like they feel they're supposed to. Cena is the Hulk Hogan of his day. He's not Hulk Hogan in any other way than being the reliable face of the company. He's been in the world champion scene since 2005. There was a string of WrestleManias where he was in the main event by default, but had been out of that picture for several years when this feud with The Rock finally happened (both WWE and Cena had been trying to make it happen for years). Last year Cena headlined just about every Pay Per View (PPV) even though he was not champion.
For Cena to have won last night might be seen as predictable. It doesn't mean that he'll be champion for many more PPVs, though. Sometimes Cena's a champion like that. Not so much in recent years, though. This is not to say that the title is about to hot potato (like the WCW championship did for the last several years of its existence) after such a long period where one person controlled it. It's worth noting that you shouldn't expect Punk to regain the title anytime soon. His long term as champion took a toll on his body, and he was to conserve himself for weeks leading up to last night's match against The Undertaker. Some fans expected Dolph Ziggler to cash in his Money in the Bank contract guaranteeing him a title opportunity immediately after Cena's win (including me), but instead there seemed to be a moment at the end of the match where Rock and Cena acknowledged that this particular loop was finally closed.
Ziggler, meanwhile, may just as well cash in tonight.
Punk's match with Undertaker is a little odd. For the previous four WrestleManias, Undertaker engaged only two foes, Shawn Michaels and Triple H. They were four of the most climactic matches Undertaker has ever had, even though he's got the WrestleMania undefeated streak that now sits at 21-0. Few of the matches in that streak have actually counted for something. Often they've been an acknowledgement of where his opponent is in their career. Punk's is the first one in a while like that. He's solidified his place as an icon. Undertaker wrestles once a year these days. If he's in a match at all, it's more than ever about keeping that streak alive, because each of them could be his last. This year it seemed like that could be the case more than ever. Punk had a match with Cena on Raw a month or so back that was widely praised, and seemed to be his audition for the Undertaker match. Punk wrestled Rock at two consecutive PPVs at the start of the year, but those ended up being more about getting to WrestleMania for Rock than Punk's incredible reign and his current status in the company. Undertaker won't wrestle just anyone at WrestleMania these days. No more King Kong Bundy. No more A-Train (currently known as Tensei or Sweet T or something; anyway Undertaker faced him and the Big Show in a handicap match at WrestleMania XIX).
I didn't get to see WrestleMania 29 live last night. I rarely get to see them live. I saw last year's PPV, and that was a highlight of 2012 for me. I'll have to wait until the DVD. (Yes, I still do DVD. Everyone ought to know at this point that Blu-ray was sabotaged by the recession. It's no longer a thing. It's just a glorified alternative. At a period when the real alternative is online streaming and cheap rentals from boxes and Internet subscriptions.) That will be in about a month.
I've been a fan of Punk since I first saw him on WWE's ECW in 2006. He was a star in ROH previous to that, but I've rarely been in a position where I can appreciate ROH. Ring of Honor is the wrestling fan's wrestling promotion. It's not really about the entertainment factor. It's about the wrestling. Although at the moment it's still trying to recover from losing its latest batch of bright prospects to the likes of WWE and TNA (Total Nonstop Action).
Triple H won his match against Brock Lesnar, the so-called Next Big Thing circa 2002-2003 who started a limited comeback last year after proving himself as a monster in MMA as well as professional wrestling. I expected Triple H to lose that match. It only made sense. The script said that if he lost he'd have to retire. Ric Flair lost his WrestleMania retirement match. Shawn Michaels lost his WrestleMania retirement match. Then again, last year's WrestleMania not only billed Rock-Cena as "once in a lifetime" but Triple H-Undertaker as "end of an era." Both Undertaker and Triple H competed at WrestleMania this year, just liked Rock wrestled Cena again. Perhaps we're headed to Triple H's retirement match at WrestleMania 30 next year. Against perhaps Shawn Michaels?
Well, that would be awesome, anyway.
Debuting wrestler Fandango defeated Chris Jericho in a fairly lengthy match. Some observers expected that if any match ran long, this one would. It did. This year's WrestleMania was about starting a new page, changing the script. The stable of upstarts known as The Shield also won. Mark Henry defeated Ryback. If Ryback had won, it's feasible that he would have been foisted back to the championship scene. His loss made things once more unpredictable. Henry's win, meanwhile, was an acknowledgement of the fact that 2011 was a breakthrough year in a career that had a thousand starts and stops since WWE took him in 1996 from a successful Olympic weightlifting career. (Kurt Angle was another 1996 Olympic story. It continues in TNA.)
When Ziggler and Big E Langston failed to defeat Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) for the tag team championship, it was another indication that the future was wide open. It was fine just to have the tag team titles on the line at WrestleMania. It was also fine just to have Daniel Bryan actually compete at WrestleMania (last year his match ended in seconds). It was also an indication that maybe Ziggler had other things to accomplish last night. Yet that remains in the air.
Finally there was the world championship match, pitting the defender Alberto Del Rio against Jack Swagger, who has recently adopted a super right wing persona. (He was previously billed as the "All-American American," so it kind of figures.) Del Rio is champion in part to bolster the Spanish-speaking market's interest. He's also the Mexican Ric Flair. (It figures that with Flair back with WWE, there's plenty of love for his type of wrestling. The Miz defeated Wade Barrett for the Intercontinental championship in a pre-show match with Flair's patented figure-four leglock, a move he's adopted since accepting the "Nature Boy" as his mentor. I will also use this opportunity to plug Barrett's appearance in Colin Farrell's Dead Man Down. I once again assert that this is a movie worth your attention.)
So that's what happened last night. The fun thing is that the action as always continues tonight!
Monday, April 01, 2013
Frog Splash Monday (#537)
- WrestleMania 29 is now a week away, making tonight the final Raw before the year's biggest card. Several matches have been added since last week's post, including Chris Jericho competing against the debuting Fandango. No pressure!
- Eddie Guerrero. Now, Eddie is the greatest proponent of this feature's namesake, the frog splash, a move executed from the top turnbuckle, diving down in a frog-like fashion onto a prone (hopefully) opponent. Or I should say was. Eddie died in November 2005. I was in the midst of a NaNoWriMo effort, and the instant I heard the news, I was so affected that I killed off the main character of the story. It happened to work for the story, thank you (since collected in The Cloak of Shrouded Men), but that just goes to show you how important Eddie was and is to me. He embodies everything professional wrestling means to me. He came from a family richly steeped in the business, and eventually rose to become the most famous of the entire clan. As part of WCW's cruiserweight division, he ushered in a revolution in wrestling, reshaping the entire landscape, so that eventually smaller stars could compete in the main event, something Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were attempting to do in WWE at the time, but the cruiserweights helped make a way of life. Every one of the biggest names in WCW's cruiserweight division went on to big success: Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, and of course Eddie. In his WCW prime he was a wrestler you loved to hate, not because he was given a lot of time to cut promos but because he could convey very easily with his incredible body language exactly what you needed to know about him. When he came to WWE, Eddie immediately became a different kind of character entirely, thanks to the inspired pairing with Chyna, the so-called 9th Wonder of the World. "Latino Heat" was born. He became a born comedy act. And then he became known simply as one of the greatest wrestlers of his generation. In February 2004 he was given one of the greatest honors anyone can receive in WWE when he captured the WWE championship, not the world championship that's always been the secondary, we-think-you-can-pull-off-being-champion-but-not-in-the-spotlight title, but the main one, the title worn by the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and The Rock. He was holding that title at WrestleMania XX, defeating Kurt Angle to retain. He was everything you could ever want. He was a fan's wrestler through and through. He clearly loved wrestling with a passion. Yet he was also a small man in a big man's world. As a pioneer, he felt pressures that the subsequent generation probably can't even imagine. In the end we were all robbed of Eddie's magnetic charm, but we'll always remember it. He'll always be my favorite wrestler.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Frog Splash Monday (#531)
After tricking many people into caring about the launch of this particular new feature, now I'll get to see how little any of my readers really care...Of course, the point of blogging isn't to cater to an audience, but kindle one. I've been blogging too long to think that's really possible, but I just don't see the point in faking something that's completely under my control. So here we go:
- I've written about wrestling here at Scouring Monk countless times in the past, on whatever topic was relevant at the time. I also dedicated a previous incarnation of the Fan Companion blog to wrestling, which is archived here. Because it's now officially and forever the Star Trek Companion, anything I've since done there about wrestling (or any other topic, including film, which was pretty popular for a while, although the actual Film Fan blog hasn't been so far) has been given a separate page. I have a rundown of WWE champions, the year 2003, and a history of WrestleMania.
- Speaking of WWE's biggest card, WrestleMania 29 is coming up in a few weeks, April 7th. One of the things I've traditionally done here at Scouring Monk is provide a preview of the card. The match everyone knows is The Rock vs. John Cena, the second consecutive year, this time over the WWE championship. Dwayne Johnson came back on a fairly limited basis, but has wrestled at the 2011 Survivor Series, last year's WrestleMania (in which he beat Cena), this year's Royal Rumble (in which he beat CM Punk for the title), and last month's Elimination Chamber (in which he beat Punk again to retain). Everyone expects Cena to win the rematch, although it doesn't matter either way. Rock's comeback has been unique, and I'm sure it'll be debated for years (wrestling fans have a hard time letting anything go, and they're incredibly passionate about everything). Punk, meanwhile, is scheduled to wrestle The Undertaker, famously holding a winning streak at WrestleMania sitting at 20-0. Undertaker is a warhorse, but he only competes these days at WrestleMania. Every single time he competes on the card, the question is always whether or not this will be the year he finally loses. Triple H, who was the last guy to lose in consecutive years to Undertaker (following "Mr. WrestleMania" Shawn Michaels), is putting his career on the line against Brock Lesnar, whose WWE comeback is very similar to Rock's. In all likelihood Lesnar will win this one. The media is gobbling up Jack Swagger's bid to defeat world champion Alberto Del Rio, thanks to an angle that sees the challenger presenting his entire strategy as a screed about the immigration issue. It's very similar to Sgt. Slaughter becoming an Iraqi sympathizer in the buildup to WrestleMania VII, which took place in 1991, just after the conclusion of the Gulf War. That was the last time Hulk Hogan got to play a traditional face, by the way. Heel faction The Shield, meanwhile, is getting ready to battle Sheamus, Randy Orton, and Big Show. The Shield is composed of new stars like Dean Ambrose, whom fans were clamoring to see make his WWE debut throughout last year. He's expected to be a big star. Ryback, meanwhile, spent a good amount of time in the company's developmental system before becoming an overnight sensation, WWE's own Goldberg, and will be facing Mark Henry, who also went through a torturous developmental process that took years. He was at his most successful in 2011, when he dominated the last half of the year as world champion, before injuries kept him out of action for much of 2012. Team Hell No, composed of Daniel Bryan and company mainstay Kane, will be defending the tag team championship against Big E. Langston and Dolph Ziggler, who may also cash in his Money in the Bank contract won last summer guaranteeing him a title shot at either the world or WWE title. Ziggler is basically the new Mr. Perfect. The card may still have a few matches added in the coming weeks.
- TNA, currently WWE's only real competition for fans of American wrestling, is on the road for the first time, having finally vacated its spot at Universal Studios in Orlando, the second such home the company's had after the Asylum in Tennessee in its earliest years. TNA is hoping to build momentum with the help of Aces & Eights, a gang that has been terrorizing the company for the past nine months, recently revealed to be headed by new champion Bully Ray, whom fans might know from his days in the Dudley Boys. For most of its existence TNA has been compared to WCW, but it's always been more of an ECW, and a more successful version at that. I'd assume most fans don't make that connection because they remain fanatically devoted to ECW, which has been out of business for more than a decade.
- I've begun a new serialized story over at Sigild V, the first regular instance of deviating from the strictly genre (mostly sci-fi) material that's been featured there since I began the writing blog in 2011. It's called Monkey Flip, and the reason I'm talking about it today is because it follows the career of a professional wrestler. For those interested in the blog but not this story, rest assured that there will still be material more inline with what I've traditionally presented there.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Frog Splash Monday: Top Ten Movie Countdown
Anyone who's been to Scouring Monk before knows that I love movies, and especially love ranking them (last year I was obsessed with Flickchart, for instance). I've been working on yet another spin-off blog entirely about movies, Film Fan, which has been, like most of my blogs, on a hiatus in recent weeks, but that'll start up again soon.
So given all that, I couldn't just talk about any movies, my favorites or what have you, and considering that I'm starting a new set of formats for regular posts today, I really couldn't be random, because Frog Splash Monday means I'll be talking about professional wrestling every Monday. I know, I know, everyone loves wrestling! (Sarcasm sign in the air, folks.) But it's a long tradition here at Monk that hasn't been done on any kind of regular basis for far too long. I've always loved wrestling, and we're just weeks away from WrestleMania XXIX, WWE's Super Bowl, that will see company stalwart John Cena battle Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for the second straight year, this time over the heavyweight title.
This is pretty exciting, since The Rock was a huge star for the company a decade ago, and his return was one of those things that seemed like it would never happen, like Bret Hart's reconciliation with WWE or Bruno Sammartino's agreement to enter the company's Hall of Fame, which I talked about earlier this year.
The Rock left, of course, because he realized that his magnetic charisma would work well in the movies. He hasn't been the most consistently successful of actors, but he's been pretty great. (After all, he is The Great One.) So I figured my list would be:
The Top Ten Movies Starring The Rock
- The Rundown (2003) One of his earliest movies, and thus a lot of fun because not only is Hollywood really figuring out what to do with him, he's surrounded by a really great supporting cast, including Christopher Walken, Rosario Dawson, and Seann William Scott, who's just great in everything.
- Southland Tales (2007) Rock reteams with Scott in Richard Kelly's follow-up to Donnie Darko, also featuring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Justin Timberlake, another crossover artist trying to make a transition (though his best moment is an impromptu music video to a Killers song). This is so good, and both Rock and Scott are completely different than you'd expect either to be.
- Be Cool (2005) This was Rock completely blowing away any assumptions about what he was willing to do, going straight for comedy, which wrestling fans would have expected but mainstream audiences would never have seen coming. It's also a highly underrated sequel to Get Shorty, and features John Travolta and Uma Thurman together for the first time since Pulp Fiction, plus features Vince Vaughn in a typically show-stealing role, probably the one that helped make him a leading man.
- The Mummy Returns (2001) I love the first two Mummy movies (doesn't hurt that they star Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, who have too hard a time getting people to appreciate them in anything else). The third one isn't too bad, but it doesn't feature Arnold Vosloo, even if bringing him back again would have been incredibly convoluted. His comeback this time is fantastic, however, and really, this is better than the first one. And it features The Rock in his first movie role, even if it's barely a speaking role and led to The Scorpion King, his first starring role, which you can probably skip.
- Fast Five (2011) I love the Fast series, how it evolved in such a crazy way but eventually got everything back on track and got better. This is the first one to feature The Rock, as possibly the only rival Vin Diesel could ever hope to have in the movies.
- Race to Witch Mountain (2009) Growing up my family watched every conceivable Disney movie, including the originals in this rebooted series that saw Rock successfully combine his action and family-friendly modes.
- Get Smart (2008) Since it can sometimes be hard to figure out what to do with him in an era that's not always friendly to the action movies most people will expect from him, Rock tends to appear in a lot of ensemble movies, or sometimes strictly in a supporting role, where if you don't know he's in it you could just as easily enjoy the movie for its other stars, the ones you know definitely star in it. This one features Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, and it's a good mainstream flick for both of them. Rock appears as one of those secretly villainous roles he could just as easily split with Matthew Fox.
- The Game Plan (2007) The most successful of his family films, Rock draws on his other athletic background in football as a big star who discovers he has a daughter, and hilarity ensues!
- Walking Tall (2004) A remake of a movie based on real events, with Rock getting to play the thoroughly Hollywood version of the story as a guy who single-handedly cleans up the corruption in a small town. Also notable for co-starring Neal McDonough, who's so awesome that most movies can only contain him in villainous roles. Do yourself a favor, though, and enjoy his best work in the short-lived TV series Boomtown, one of the best ever.
- Planet 51 (2009) This one's animated, so if you really can't get behind the concept of supporting an actor who is also a professional wrestler, you can totally pretend you're not watching him at all!
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