Every year Pro Wrestling Illustrated releases its PWI 500, ranking the best wrestlers in the world (and a few hundred others). And every year I complain about the results. Well, not this year.
In a strange way, I think it's because of TNA's increased instability. As one of the editors discusses in a commentary, this was an issue last year, too. And this year's top star from the promotion reached only #18, and that would be Lashley, the one-time second coming of Brock Lesnar. With fewer and fewer eyes on its product, TNA has had the chance to gamble on Ethan Carter III (#30) for whatever future it has left, while seemingly spending just as much time showing what its apparent successor Global Force Wrestling might be able to do better. (At this point it's become difficult to remember who is a TNA guy and who GFW.) Bobby Roode (#22), Kurt Angle (#25), Eric Young (#33), Drew Galloway (#37), Jeff Hardy (#47), and Austin Aries (#50) all had impressive years with TNA, and were rewarded for it. The problem is, none of them really pulled away.
(You'll note for the record that out of TNA's seven top finishers, five have previously competed for WWE. Samoe Joe, #46, competed for TNA during the grading period, and then made his WWE debut for the NXT brand. Some fans criticize TNA for being apparently reliant on WWE personalities. But WWE wouldn't be what it is today if it hadn't raided all the best available talent in the '80s. Slightly different story. But still, exactly the same. In baseball, someone can play for the Red Sox and then the Yankees, and the world does not technically end.)
Taking TNA somewhat out of the equation left WWE with a lot of ground to cover. Technically, the top wrestler in the ranking this year, Seth Rollins (you know how little PWI thought his name would sell copies when this was one of those covers that went out of its way to obscure who exactly would take first), is about as "weak" a champion as anyone TNA fielded. Rollins, no matter how great, is a transitional champion. He's not the top guy because of his overwhelming popularity, but because he can get the job done until WWE can position someone else to take that spot. Still, he was absolutely the logical choice on PWI's part. Normally the magazine goes with whoever came out on top at WrestleMania, and managed to stick around as champion for a lengthy amount of time. Rollins certainly did that, but had already been a standout before that despite his utility status.
WWE had wanted Roman Reigns to be the top guy, but realized he wasn't ready. Rollins was. So they went with Rollins. Reigns still landed #4 on the list, which might be considered somewhat generous. The problem is that there were so few viable champions to list in the top ten. Brock Lesnar was ineligible for his limited schedule (despite being ludicrously dominant during the period and arguably the most popular attraction in wrestling today). John Cena, the 500's only three-time top ranked wrestler, took #2, and he was the only other world champion during the grading period. That ranking was generous, but nothing to complain too much about. Even Randy Orton (#6) and Rusev (#8), who clearly benefited from a somewhat limited field, are more acceptable than similar ranking in years past (here I'm think of Bray Wyatt taking sixth in 2014, only to rank #21 this year, which on the whole is exactly where he should have been last year, too).
Rounding out the top ten are A.J. Styles (#3), Shinsuke Nakamura (#5), Jay Briscoe (#7), Alberto El Patron (#9), and Kevin Owens (#10). Owens probably made an excellent case for ranking higher than he did, making a tremendous impact in both the WWE and NXT rosters during the grading period. Compared to his year, the other guys were practically also-rans. Styles has been impressive wrestling in Japan, which has shown far less reluctance putting him in the spotlight than TNA ever did. But he's been slow to be relevant anywhere else. Time will tell if his recent winning of a title shot in ROH finally lands him the last piece of gold he'd need to complete a remarkable career before a potential jump to WWE and/or NXT. (One can dream.) Nakamura is PWI's annual Japanese star tossed into the top ten. For whatever reason, Hiroshi Tanahashi (#11) keeps getting left out. Briscoe has been with ROH from the start, and has come into his own as one of its leading faces (or, heels). This is recognition he fully deserves. El Patron, as PWI itself references, is in the same spot as Styles, soaking up love around the wrestling community if not actually being given the opportunities he could easily handle. Even Lucha Underground didn't make him champion. Still have no clue why.
Prince Puma (#16), was that promotion's pick instead. As good as he is, being champion didn't give him near the same profile as El Patron, or Johnny Mundo (#32) for that matter. Johnny Mundo is the former John Morrison. I'm glad he's found a new spotlight. I'm no longer obsessed with his needing to be a promotion's champion. But it wouldn't hurt.
Personally, I would have ranked Dolph Ziggler in the top ten. But PWI is probably gunshy, given how many times WWE has backed away from pushing the guy as far as he can conceivably go, even though Ziggler has been on the right trajectory since last November. I'd also have liked Dean Ambrose (#13) in the top ten. I mean, you could substitute Randy Orton at least, right? Ambrose scored multiple major card main events during the grading period. He's all but the second coming of Steve Austin. PWI will be kicking itself a year from now.
On the other hand, Neville (#15) is ranked too high, Jay Lethal (#17) too low. But there are so many spots. I wish Sami Zayn (#23) could have done better, but he's lost a lot of time on the shelf. He can easily climb higher next year. Finn Balor (#28) is another excellent representative of the NXT generation. I'm surprised Sheamus (#42) ranked so low.
But as I said, these are quibbles. This was a good ranking, given that the whole field is in massive transition. TNA is sliding downward. ROH can't seem to decide if it wants to put in the necessary work to improve itself. NXT has been called the hottest thing in wrestling. Lucha Underground looks like its closest competition. And WWE probably wishes Daniel Bryan (#14) had not gotten a concussion, or any of his other recent injuries. A year ago, he was the one who started the next wrestling renaissance. Now he'll be lucky if he isn't left behind. And Rollins is forced to do what he can, however brilliantly, until someone else takes his spot. Which is inevitable.
But who? This was the kind of PWI 500 a real fan loves to see. Everyone's scrambling. Everyone wants to be the next big star. Let's see who succeeds next year, because by then, I think we'll have a definitive answer.
Showing posts with label PWI 500. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PWI 500. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
#776. The 24th annual PWI 500
Okay, so my readers can ignore this one. It's time once again for me to pretend anyone actually cares when I blog about wrestling!
And it's time, once again, to talk about the PWI 500. This is the annual list Pro Wrestling Illustrated compiles of the best wrestlers in the world. For as long as I've been blogging here, I've been commenting on this list, now hitting its twenty-fourth year. I value this effort a great deal, but I'm always hoping the magazine will take its responsibility more seriously. This year is no exception.
Before I get into my reaction, I want to repost comments I made to PWI's blog when it issued its own statement on the difficulty of putting the list together (here). They said that the PWI 500 is as difficult a thing to do as ranking the year's best actors. This is what I said in response:
As far as actors go, evaluating/ranking them would probably look something like this: Tabulate the numerous awards and nominations they've received for the year. Tabulate the box office/ratings. That second tabulation alone gives actors who haven't gotten awards and/or nominations a shot. By that point, you've already got a good sampling. Then go deeper. Look at what people have been saying that isn't necessarily reflected in awards/nominations/box office/ratings (a good recent example of that would be Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black, whose name always comes up from disappointed fans because she's been overlooked by the awards/nominations again). Then look at how much work the actor has done in the past year (popularity within the industry itself), how much they have lined up for next year.
It seems like sometimes some of these considerations aren't taken into account in the higher slots for the PWI 500. Some years you've blatantly determined no big name fits your criteria for a whole grading year, so you've gone with someone you like (here I'd single out RVD, but there have been other cases). Some of it has to do with the kayfabe nature of PWI. We all get that PWI still wants to maintain the illusion of what we watch is basically real, but in doing so you end up shortchanging a lot of excellent work, rely more heavily on some of your criteria than other indicators. That's my evaluation, why I sometimes get upset at your choices.
Overall, we all appreciate the undertaking. It's incredible, it really is, the best single thing the whole wrestling industry gets done for it year after year.
It's just, it would have more credibility if it were also the one time of the year you...break kayfabe. Recognize the talent all the way around. Just a thought.The blog editorial was published in the PWI 500 issue itself, along with a different one looking at the lack of Japanese talent reaching the top of the list. Never mind that a clear bias has always been given to WWE even before WCW and ECW closed shop in 2001. Other than the extremely suspect top ranking of Dean Malenko in 1997, Sting's win in 1992 was the only instance until A.J. Styles in 2010 where someone other than a WWE won the honor. In fact, nearly every top pick has been the guy who had the WrestleMania push, and whenever that's been within WWE itself, the PWI 500 has had to look for someone else to top the list, hence why in 1997 when Shawn Michaels threw everyone's plans out of whack PWI scrambled to find an acceptable alternative, eliminated all the likely candidates, and ended up with Malenko, who never even came close to main event status, let alone in 1997. To keep the acting analogy in play, it would be like calling Adam Sandler the best actor of any given year, even in 2002, when his best-received role in Punch Drunk Love nonetheless completely failed to alter the course of his career in the perception of critics.
Speaking of 1997, the editorial about Japanese wrestlers, which uncomfortably and inexplicably suggested a possible bias has something to do with the lingering effects of WWII (to borrow the Miz's line, Really?), no matter how Stanley Weston might have felt, that idea just doesn't wash. It explains how Bret Hart, Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Dallas Page, and Steve Austin were all eliminated from consideration "due to injuries or key losses." Again, really? Keep in mind the list is published in the fall and so generally covers the period from one summer to the next, meaning that the 1997 PWI 500 covered mid-1996 to mid-1997. Here's what the years of those wrestlers actually looked like in very broad strokes:
- Bret Hart - Had been away for much of 1996 following the loss to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XII. Came back for November's Survivor Series with a win over Steve Austin...Lost in a title match against champion Sid at the next PPV...Was one of four competitors at the Royal Rumble involved in the finals that were later contested...Won the WWE championship in February...Quickly lost it...Defeated Austin again at WrestleMania XIII in what was instantly considered a classic match...Formed the new Hart Foundation...Bottom line for Hart's year is that it really wasn't worthy of consideration for the top honor. He had better years before and after this particular grading period, including an extended championship run just after its conclusion.
- Undertaker - Lost to Mankind (Mick Foley) at Summer Slam 1996...Defeated Goldust at the following PPV...Defeated Mankind in a "Buried Alive" match...Defeated Mankind again at Survivor Series 1996...Defeated the Executioner...Lost to Vader at Royal Rumble 1997...Was one of the final competitors at the same event in the finals that were later contested...Defeated champion Sid at WrestleMania XIII for the title...Successfully defended it against Mankind, Steve Austin, Faarooq (Ron Simmons), and Vader...Bottom line for Undertaker's year is that arguably he was the most worthy, even by PWI's own standards, of being ranked first that year. Instead he ended up sixth.
- Hulk Hogan - Formed the New World Order...Defeated the Giant (Big Show) to become WCW champion...Defeated Randy Savage to retain...Lost to Roddy Piper in a nontitle match...Defeated the Giant to retain...Defeated Piper...Lost the title to Lex Luger...Bottom line for Hogan's year is that it was downright criminal for PWI to have significantly downplayed everything he accomplished. He was ranked 55th that year. Really! It's insane. That's what leads people to question the credibility of the list, impressive as it is.
- Shawn Michaels - Defeated Vader at Summer Slam 1996 to retain the WWE title...Defeated Mankind to retain...Defeated Goldust...Lost the title to Sid at Survivor Series 1997...Defeated Mankind...Reclaimed the title from Sid at Royal Rumble 1997..."Lost his smile"...Battled Steve Austin to a draw...Bottom line for Michaels' year was that it clearly continued the success of the previous one, in which he'd topped the list. Clearly a few bumps, but any grading period with two separate championship reigns should be taken seriously, even if there were shenanigans that followed. He dropped to 18th instead.
- Dallas Page - Defeated Chavo Guerrero...Defeated Eddie Guerrero...Lost to Eddie at Starrcade 1996 in the finals of a tournament to declare a new U.S. champion...Lost to Scott Norton...Defeated Buff Bagwell...Defeated Randy Savage...Lost to Savage...Bottom line for Diamond Dallas Page this year was that it was clearly his breakthrough campaign as he helped WCW fight the NWO. But this could not have been a serious name to toss out in contention for the top spot. His career improved thereafter, but there's nothing here that would remotely warrant consideration. Except for the fact that he ranked 4th on the list that year. For some reason.
- Steve Austin - Defeated Triple H...Lost to Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1996...Defeated Goldust...Technically won the 1997 Royal Rumble...Lost to Hart at WrestleMania XIII...Defeated Hart...Lost to Undertaker in a WWE title match...Had a draw with Shawn Michaels...Bottom line for Stone Cold this year was that this was what his career looked like right after his King of the Ring breakthrough and before the 1998 explosion. PWI had always been hot on him, even in the WCW years when WCW clearly wasn't (a rare instance of PWI recognizing talent despite how it's used), so it's no surprise that it leaped on the bandwagon before the bandwagon actually arrived. But there's no way he warranted serious consideration.
Which leads me to what I really wanted to talk about concerning this year's list. After some consideration I decided PWI was right to give Mr. Anderson a relatively low ranking, but its explanation as to why was baffling: "Renewed his TNA contract last year, but it must have included a secret clause prohibiting him from being relevant in 2014."
Really? In the first half of the grading period Anderson helped end the Aces & Eights arc by defeating Bully Ray in a feud. 2014 has seen him feud with Samuel Shaw, an up-and-coming prospect whose feud with Anderson has so far helped shape his career, and has since gone on to feud with...Gunner. Not only was Anderson crucial in the formative development of someone's career, but he's helped open the door to giving Gunner something distinctive to do, which presumably is what everyone's been waiting for, especially PWI. I just don't get it. If Anderson himself, back when he was known as Mr. Kennedy in WWE, had gotten similar treatment, instead of a slapdash beating-numerous-former-world-champions push and then extended feuds with Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, his career would probably look a lot different today. I'll always champion the guy. Main event personality with an in-ring talent that was never given a chance to be taken seriously.
The opposite, basically, is true of Bray Wyatt, the would-be successor to Jake "The Snake" Roberts who without the benefit of the massive push he's received for the past year would be a nobody, and certainly would have been laughed out of PWI's own offices if suggested for a top ten finish in this year's list. A great gimmick, but he's nowhere near that great a talent. Daniel Bryan claimed the top spot. I'm more than okay with that. Good, obvious choice. But PWI's twisted logic left CM Punk off the list. Left Brock Lesnar off the list. Nonsense. Only Roman Reigns of the former Shield faction cracked the top ten, when all three of them (including Seth Rollins and especially Dean Ambrose) should have warranted it.
I appreciate that PWI puts this thing together every year, but it just seems like it drops the ball in too many ways to have the credibility it ought to have. Wrestling has a hard enough time being taken seriously. Having what's now the only publication taking its own responsibility so flippantly is unacceptable in 2014. This is a list that has been compiled for nearly a quarter century now. There should be no question about how to do it, and do it right.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
#608. The 2013 PWI 500
Pro Wrestling Illustrated, as the title suggests, is the Sports Illustrated of professional wrestling magazines. Since 1991, it has annually compiled a list of the top 500 competitors in the world, so that makes this year's edition the 23rd ranking.
And for most of the past decade, I've been providing a commentary on the results. Normally I haven't been too happy. Sometimes PWI makes baffling decisions for the number one slot. The whole point of lists like this is to spark debate, but sometimes it's seemed as if the magazine has taken a perverse pleasure in selecting the least likely candidate for the slot. I've found myself thinking that there was a far more obvious prospect.
PWI is an independent entity. It exists outside the auspices of WWE or any other wrestling promotion. Still, the top slot often seems to go with whoever WWE has most heavily promoted in the last year, or failing that whoever else has most impressed its editors. The grading period is roughly midpoint of the year to midpoint of the year. Since WWE's WrestleMania takes place in the second half of this grading period, most of my frustrations have tended to stem from the fact that anyone who had at least as good or better a first half of this grading period as the star who shined in the second can never seem to overcome this handicap. They didn't do their best work in the period PWI most values.
Now, PWI is objective to a point. Famously, it presents the majority of its material from a kayfabe perspective. "Kayfabe" is when you take professional wrestling at face value. You believe the competition is real and accept that the way promoters book their talent is basically the only way to evaluate them. In that sense, the success of a given wrestler's year is based on how they were booked. PWI most notably breaks kayfabe when its analyzes a wrestler's specific performance, how they present themselves regardless of how they're booked, or in other words what they do with what they're given.
The problem with the PWI 500 is that it has always been driven by kayfabe. In rare (and some of the key baffling ones) exceptions, the top slot went to someone based on PWI's ability to look beyond kayfabe. However, since I'm focusing primarily on this year's ranking, I won't reiterate too explicitly on past grievances.
All of this is to say that I've been conflicted over this year's winner of the top slot, John Cena. Cena had the WrestleMania push. He won the Royal Rumble and defeated The Rock in the main event of WrestleMania 29, and as of the end of the grading period (but not what has developed since) reigned as WWE champion. That's action from the second half of the grading period. In the first half, he had perhaps one of the worst periods of his entire main event career. He did win a Money in the Bank contract, but became the first person ever to fail in capturing a title after cashing it in. He also lost time while he rested from injuries. In the second half of 2012, Cena was not the man. It was the necessary second act from his heroic efforts in the first part of that year to rebound from losing to The Rock at the previous WrestleMania.
Certainly this year was a triumphant comeback. But that's only been half the year, and half the grading period. No, the man who arguably deserved the top spot in ranking came in at the second slot. He won the top slot last year. I'm talking about CM Punk.
Punk held the WWE championship for 434 consecutive days, a reign that ended at the start of the second half of the grading period. It's the longest reign with the title in decades. True, he did lose two matches to The Rock, and then lost again at WrestleMania to the Undertaker, after which he took some time off, making his second half not nearly as impressive as Cena's, and if anything comparable to Cena's first half, but it's a more than fair argument that Punk's first half was better than Cena's second. Punk's momentum was better in defeat than Cena's was toward triumph.
By the rules of kayfabe, Cena probably deserves that top slot. The rematch with The Rock was excellent, and it did more than their first match to put Cena in the same league as The Rock. It's been weird for me to have to argue that Cena deserves to be in consideration for the title of WWE legend, because I was among his earliest supporters. I long ago saw that this was a possibility, and the improvements he needed to make he did. And yet here we are now in 2013 and I'm wondering if PWI should have made that unprecedented move. Sitting atop this year's ranking gives Cena three such wins in the history of the PWI 500. This distances him from Bret Hart, Steve Austin, and Triple H, who were also two-time top slot winners. True, he's been in a position to be a more consistent main event talent for WWE than those guys, but isn't it weird to think he might be considered better than Austin, much less The Rock, who never had such an honor even once to begin with?
Yes, I'm taking all of this pretty seriously. I'm buying into the kayfabe. Had Punk gotten the honor, he would have joined Cena and the others among the PWI 500 elite. And PWI itself would have been more than happy in a lot of other years to have done exactly that.
Does it matter? I'm asking myself that, on top of a lot of other things I've been asking myself lately. I've been at a crossroads in my life for what sometimes seems all my life, only moreso lately. It's fair to say I've been in crisis mode at least for the past two years, reaping what I've sown, learning the results of all my failures to accomplish what anyone else might have taken for granted years ago. And I look at something like the PWI 500 and debating with myself yet again whether Wrestler A should have been placed above Wrestler B, much less where other familiar and favorite names fell in the ranking, and I wonder if I've been throwing my life away on trivialities.
I wonder, because my whole life I've been working on interests that in a lot of ways have dovetailed very beautifully with each other. I'm happiest with what I've done with my life when I think about how it has affected the writing I do. And yet I'm conflicted because even with all the happiness I have with my writing, I've struggled in every other aspect of my life. I am deep in the heart of the 99%. Financially, I've always been a kind of mess, but now I'm in a whole heap of trouble, especially considering what I've been mired in for the last few years.
I'm not complaining for sympathy. A lot of my troubles stem from the natural kind of alienation I bring on myself. I'm talking about wrestling again even though I know none of my readers particularly cares about it. In efforts to attract more interest to my blogging, I only alienate myself more. I can never be the happy little soldier. In a lot of ways, I isolate myself at least as much by the culmination and expression of my interests as by the instinct to set myself apart, to focus on what makes me different rather than what makes me a part of the community.
I'm a snob. It seems as if my whole being points in that direction. I rate myself on my own merits as much as how I compare myself to others. I'm angry and jealous at the success of others. What comes easy to them is a constant struggle for me. And through all of this I know that life doesn't work that way. Success is arbitrary.
People most appreciate people who don't alienate them. They gravitate toward those who make them feel good. In PWI speak, it's easier to root for Cena, who acts the part of the good guy, than for Punk, who spent the whole grading period as a villain. Am I a villain? Am I selfish and condescending?
I guess and hope that next time I talk about this, I will have an answer.
And for most of the past decade, I've been providing a commentary on the results. Normally I haven't been too happy. Sometimes PWI makes baffling decisions for the number one slot. The whole point of lists like this is to spark debate, but sometimes it's seemed as if the magazine has taken a perverse pleasure in selecting the least likely candidate for the slot. I've found myself thinking that there was a far more obvious prospect.
PWI is an independent entity. It exists outside the auspices of WWE or any other wrestling promotion. Still, the top slot often seems to go with whoever WWE has most heavily promoted in the last year, or failing that whoever else has most impressed its editors. The grading period is roughly midpoint of the year to midpoint of the year. Since WWE's WrestleMania takes place in the second half of this grading period, most of my frustrations have tended to stem from the fact that anyone who had at least as good or better a first half of this grading period as the star who shined in the second can never seem to overcome this handicap. They didn't do their best work in the period PWI most values.
Now, PWI is objective to a point. Famously, it presents the majority of its material from a kayfabe perspective. "Kayfabe" is when you take professional wrestling at face value. You believe the competition is real and accept that the way promoters book their talent is basically the only way to evaluate them. In that sense, the success of a given wrestler's year is based on how they were booked. PWI most notably breaks kayfabe when its analyzes a wrestler's specific performance, how they present themselves regardless of how they're booked, or in other words what they do with what they're given.
The problem with the PWI 500 is that it has always been driven by kayfabe. In rare (and some of the key baffling ones) exceptions, the top slot went to someone based on PWI's ability to look beyond kayfabe. However, since I'm focusing primarily on this year's ranking, I won't reiterate too explicitly on past grievances.
All of this is to say that I've been conflicted over this year's winner of the top slot, John Cena. Cena had the WrestleMania push. He won the Royal Rumble and defeated The Rock in the main event of WrestleMania 29, and as of the end of the grading period (but not what has developed since) reigned as WWE champion. That's action from the second half of the grading period. In the first half, he had perhaps one of the worst periods of his entire main event career. He did win a Money in the Bank contract, but became the first person ever to fail in capturing a title after cashing it in. He also lost time while he rested from injuries. In the second half of 2012, Cena was not the man. It was the necessary second act from his heroic efforts in the first part of that year to rebound from losing to The Rock at the previous WrestleMania.
Certainly this year was a triumphant comeback. But that's only been half the year, and half the grading period. No, the man who arguably deserved the top spot in ranking came in at the second slot. He won the top slot last year. I'm talking about CM Punk.
Punk held the WWE championship for 434 consecutive days, a reign that ended at the start of the second half of the grading period. It's the longest reign with the title in decades. True, he did lose two matches to The Rock, and then lost again at WrestleMania to the Undertaker, after which he took some time off, making his second half not nearly as impressive as Cena's, and if anything comparable to Cena's first half, but it's a more than fair argument that Punk's first half was better than Cena's second. Punk's momentum was better in defeat than Cena's was toward triumph.
By the rules of kayfabe, Cena probably deserves that top slot. The rematch with The Rock was excellent, and it did more than their first match to put Cena in the same league as The Rock. It's been weird for me to have to argue that Cena deserves to be in consideration for the title of WWE legend, because I was among his earliest supporters. I long ago saw that this was a possibility, and the improvements he needed to make he did. And yet here we are now in 2013 and I'm wondering if PWI should have made that unprecedented move. Sitting atop this year's ranking gives Cena three such wins in the history of the PWI 500. This distances him from Bret Hart, Steve Austin, and Triple H, who were also two-time top slot winners. True, he's been in a position to be a more consistent main event talent for WWE than those guys, but isn't it weird to think he might be considered better than Austin, much less The Rock, who never had such an honor even once to begin with?
Yes, I'm taking all of this pretty seriously. I'm buying into the kayfabe. Had Punk gotten the honor, he would have joined Cena and the others among the PWI 500 elite. And PWI itself would have been more than happy in a lot of other years to have done exactly that.
Does it matter? I'm asking myself that, on top of a lot of other things I've been asking myself lately. I've been at a crossroads in my life for what sometimes seems all my life, only moreso lately. It's fair to say I've been in crisis mode at least for the past two years, reaping what I've sown, learning the results of all my failures to accomplish what anyone else might have taken for granted years ago. And I look at something like the PWI 500 and debating with myself yet again whether Wrestler A should have been placed above Wrestler B, much less where other familiar and favorite names fell in the ranking, and I wonder if I've been throwing my life away on trivialities.
I wonder, because my whole life I've been working on interests that in a lot of ways have dovetailed very beautifully with each other. I'm happiest with what I've done with my life when I think about how it has affected the writing I do. And yet I'm conflicted because even with all the happiness I have with my writing, I've struggled in every other aspect of my life. I am deep in the heart of the 99%. Financially, I've always been a kind of mess, but now I'm in a whole heap of trouble, especially considering what I've been mired in for the last few years.
I'm not complaining for sympathy. A lot of my troubles stem from the natural kind of alienation I bring on myself. I'm talking about wrestling again even though I know none of my readers particularly cares about it. In efforts to attract more interest to my blogging, I only alienate myself more. I can never be the happy little soldier. In a lot of ways, I isolate myself at least as much by the culmination and expression of my interests as by the instinct to set myself apart, to focus on what makes me different rather than what makes me a part of the community.
I'm a snob. It seems as if my whole being points in that direction. I rate myself on my own merits as much as how I compare myself to others. I'm angry and jealous at the success of others. What comes easy to them is a constant struggle for me. And through all of this I know that life doesn't work that way. Success is arbitrary.
People most appreciate people who don't alienate them. They gravitate toward those who make them feel good. In PWI speak, it's easier to root for Cena, who acts the part of the good guy, than for Punk, who spent the whole grading period as a villain. Am I a villain? Am I selfish and condescending?
I guess and hope that next time I talk about this, I will have an answer.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
#459. PWI 500, Revolution, Avengers, 11/22/63
Commenting on Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual PWI 500 list of the best wrestlers in the world is an equally annual event here at Scouring Monk (last year it ended up at Fan Companion, for the record).
This year's list was topped by CM Punk, and really, it couldn't have been anyone else. Last June he unleashed a pipebomb heard 'round the world, ranting about a lack of respect from WWE and the backstage politics that'd kept him down. Then he beat John Cena in Chicago, walked out, and made a surprise return. Last November he defeated Alberto Del Rio for the heavyweight championship he still holds today, defeating the likes of Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, and Mark Henry during the grading period, roughly July 2011 to July 2012.
Yes, it's all scripted, but Punk has been the man for more than a year. Cena's the company man, but it's Punk who's managed to steal enough of the thunder that when they clash, it's not guaranteed that Cena will win. In fact more often than not, Punk wins (including at last weekend's Night of Champions).
TNA's Bobby Roode came in second, and that's fair, too. After last year's controversial loss to Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory (TNA's WrestleMania), Roode completed his journey to the top by defeating his own Beer Money tag team partner, James Storm, adding two homegrown stars to the main event scene. Roode has frequently been questionable as a personality, but he embraced, much like John Bradshaw Layfield some seven years earlier, the chance to be champion, and only lost the title a few months ago.
Cena came in third, because he's John Cena and can't help but be in the spotlight, even when he isn't champion. Daniel Bryan, the unlikeliest of superstars, raised his pointer fingers and shouted "Yes!" all the way to fourth, while Sheamus, the man who humiliated him at WrestleMania this year, came in fifth (I'd argue that these positions could easily be flipped, but won't protest too much).
Jun Akiyama is the token international finisher in the top ten at sixth, and his entry is fairly impenetrable for anyone who doesn't follow Japanese wrestling closely. Davey Richards, meanwhile, is the ROH representative. Considering that when Daniel Bryan (then known as Brian Danielson) and Punk were in ROH they never made the top ten, it stretches credulity to claim Richards belongs ahead of them as far as legacies at this level go. Come back a few years from now and compare where his career stands versus where Punk and Bryan are now, and still try to defend this ranking, PWI.
Kurt Angle, the warhorse of professional wrestling, comes in eighth, representing TNA, which seems a little generous, but PWI has a habit of exaggerating the year of veterans. Mark Henry is equally exaggerated in ninth, because everyone went bonkers when he won the world championship last year, even though the only thing he did differently was get the company blessing for the first time in fifteen years. Parable about patience, I guess. I always liked the guy, but it was funny to see everyone else finally like him, too. Alberto Del Rio rounds out the top ten at tenth, mostly because he missed some time. Otherwise it was his destiny to rank higher. Because he won't have had nearly as good a year in the current grading period, otherwise known as what the 2013 PWI 500 is shaping up to be. (Hint: Punk will likely take the top spot again, unless he somehow screws up all the momentum he's still riding.)
And there are four hundred ninety other wrestlers. I have not read the rest of it, but PWI did acknowledge and attempt to retroactively correct some glaring mistakes, which I appreciate, including the omission (and subsequent inclusion) of Hiroshi Tanahashi, a Japanese star who actually does transcend his scene. He's worked to a very limited extent in TNA and has been compared to Shawn Michaels. If WCW were still in business, there's no doubt that he'd have more exposure today.
***
Anyway, watched the debut of Revolution last night on NBC. I think NBC finally figured out how to do a genre show that might last for longer than a season. But we'll see. I'll be watching.
***
I'll be going to see The Avengers today, a second viewing of a movie I've been conflicted about all summer. Hopefully I'll better know what I think of it by this evening.
***
I'm writing about the PWI 500 because I got my copy in the mail yesterday, along with the 2012 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts, another annual release from PWI that I regularly find myself consulting. I also got my order of Stephen King's 11/22/63 (plus a hardcover of Grant Morrison's Batman R.I.P., which ended up being free because of a previous order). Being a very amateur obsessive of the JFK assassination, I had at least two reasons to be interested in King's latest book, plus the fact that "Castle Rock" is finally allowed to be Lisbon Falls, ME, which is my hometown and direct neighbor to King's (Durham, for the record). It's home to Moxie, a disgusting (but getting better!) holdover of the original soft drink phenomenon from the 19th century, and subject of an annual town festival, thanks in part to Frank Anicetti, the sage of Main Street, who appears as a character in the book.
I think, without even having read it yet, King's effort has already changed my mind on the famous conspiracy, thanks to an included quote from Norman Mailer, which basically states that some people refuse to believe Lee Harvey Oswald could have acted alone because he's just so random an assassin that it doesn't ken to what we want to believe must have been necessary to pull off the murder of a giant like JFK. Shakespeare's Brutus he was not. And yet, it does make sense.
Doesn't particularly mean that the official story really is the true story, but I can begin to swallow it a little more easily now.
This year's list was topped by CM Punk, and really, it couldn't have been anyone else. Last June he unleashed a pipebomb heard 'round the world, ranting about a lack of respect from WWE and the backstage politics that'd kept him down. Then he beat John Cena in Chicago, walked out, and made a surprise return. Last November he defeated Alberto Del Rio for the heavyweight championship he still holds today, defeating the likes of Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, and Mark Henry during the grading period, roughly July 2011 to July 2012.
Yes, it's all scripted, but Punk has been the man for more than a year. Cena's the company man, but it's Punk who's managed to steal enough of the thunder that when they clash, it's not guaranteed that Cena will win. In fact more often than not, Punk wins (including at last weekend's Night of Champions).
TNA's Bobby Roode came in second, and that's fair, too. After last year's controversial loss to Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory (TNA's WrestleMania), Roode completed his journey to the top by defeating his own Beer Money tag team partner, James Storm, adding two homegrown stars to the main event scene. Roode has frequently been questionable as a personality, but he embraced, much like John Bradshaw Layfield some seven years earlier, the chance to be champion, and only lost the title a few months ago.
Cena came in third, because he's John Cena and can't help but be in the spotlight, even when he isn't champion. Daniel Bryan, the unlikeliest of superstars, raised his pointer fingers and shouted "Yes!" all the way to fourth, while Sheamus, the man who humiliated him at WrestleMania this year, came in fifth (I'd argue that these positions could easily be flipped, but won't protest too much).
Jun Akiyama is the token international finisher in the top ten at sixth, and his entry is fairly impenetrable for anyone who doesn't follow Japanese wrestling closely. Davey Richards, meanwhile, is the ROH representative. Considering that when Daniel Bryan (then known as Brian Danielson) and Punk were in ROH they never made the top ten, it stretches credulity to claim Richards belongs ahead of them as far as legacies at this level go. Come back a few years from now and compare where his career stands versus where Punk and Bryan are now, and still try to defend this ranking, PWI.
Kurt Angle, the warhorse of professional wrestling, comes in eighth, representing TNA, which seems a little generous, but PWI has a habit of exaggerating the year of veterans. Mark Henry is equally exaggerated in ninth, because everyone went bonkers when he won the world championship last year, even though the only thing he did differently was get the company blessing for the first time in fifteen years. Parable about patience, I guess. I always liked the guy, but it was funny to see everyone else finally like him, too. Alberto Del Rio rounds out the top ten at tenth, mostly because he missed some time. Otherwise it was his destiny to rank higher. Because he won't have had nearly as good a year in the current grading period, otherwise known as what the 2013 PWI 500 is shaping up to be. (Hint: Punk will likely take the top spot again, unless he somehow screws up all the momentum he's still riding.)
And there are four hundred ninety other wrestlers. I have not read the rest of it, but PWI did acknowledge and attempt to retroactively correct some glaring mistakes, which I appreciate, including the omission (and subsequent inclusion) of Hiroshi Tanahashi, a Japanese star who actually does transcend his scene. He's worked to a very limited extent in TNA and has been compared to Shawn Michaels. If WCW were still in business, there's no doubt that he'd have more exposure today.
***
Anyway, watched the debut of Revolution last night on NBC. I think NBC finally figured out how to do a genre show that might last for longer than a season. But we'll see. I'll be watching.
***
I'll be going to see The Avengers today, a second viewing of a movie I've been conflicted about all summer. Hopefully I'll better know what I think of it by this evening.
***
I'm writing about the PWI 500 because I got my copy in the mail yesterday, along with the 2012 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts, another annual release from PWI that I regularly find myself consulting. I also got my order of Stephen King's 11/22/63 (plus a hardcover of Grant Morrison's Batman R.I.P., which ended up being free because of a previous order). Being a very amateur obsessive of the JFK assassination, I had at least two reasons to be interested in King's latest book, plus the fact that "Castle Rock" is finally allowed to be Lisbon Falls, ME, which is my hometown and direct neighbor to King's (Durham, for the record). It's home to Moxie, a disgusting (but getting better!) holdover of the original soft drink phenomenon from the 19th century, and subject of an annual town festival, thanks in part to Frank Anicetti, the sage of Main Street, who appears as a character in the book.
I think, without even having read it yet, King's effort has already changed my mind on the famous conspiracy, thanks to an included quote from Norman Mailer, which basically states that some people refuse to believe Lee Harvey Oswald could have acted alone because he's just so random an assassin that it doesn't ken to what we want to believe must have been necessary to pull off the murder of a giant like JFK. Shakespeare's Brutus he was not. And yet, it does make sense.
Doesn't particularly mean that the official story really is the true story, but I can begin to swallow it a little more easily now.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
#217. PWI 500 2009
#217
It's time for our annual Scouring Monk review of the PWI 500!
First, a prelude. I don't know why I never really realized this before, but Pro Wrestling Illustrated's ranking period, roughly summer (A) to summer (B) has probably always been meant to skewer whoever WWE has chosen for the WrestleMania push. A second glance will make this obvious, and the moreso when WWE, for one reason or other, has failed to make a solid commitment in that role. The two most controversial selections in the PWI 500's history for the number one slot were Dean Malenko (1997) and Rob Van Dam (2002). No please, let me elaborate.
In 1997, WWE's WrestleMania plans were thwarted, by whom exactly the tales often vary. Shawn Michaels is the popular selection, and all the more by the events of that year's Survivor Series. By Bret Hart's reckoning, it was Shawn's refusal to exchange the favor he'd made the previous year (in, oh, the greatest main event championship match in the card's history; he never has a problem sharing the glory of 1992's Summer Slam match with Davey Boy Smith, possibly because fortune certainly smiled on him a bit more). Others have it that the Ultimate Warrior foiled the plans by failing to remain a viable employee for longer than a few months following his 1996 comeback. In any event, WWE scrambled to put together a Sid-Undertaker program. Clearly this had never been the plan (other than the fact that Sid had been engaged in a long-term program with Michaels at that point, and Undertaker enjoyed a lengthy reign after it).
At the same time, the nWo had completely overtaken WCW, and hey, the wrestling scene. PWI had listed HBK atop its 1996 500, but his reign wasn't all that popular with the fans (possibly because of the breaking nWo arc that coincided with the hottest months of his reign). Consequently, WCW was forced into the "controversial" position of pushing a star, Hulk Hogan, who was past his wrestling prime (or at least, initial popularity; whatever). This is crucial because PWI prides itself as an objective, even academic exercise, and the PWI 500 is its yearly crowning achievement in that regard. Yet, quite patently, there's nothing really scientific about it. PWI is a fan venture through and through, and it's only for the fact that it is about as close to academic as the wrestling community gets that it can assume to be an authority, even when at the most important moments, it's anything but. Hence the queer association between that WrestleMania push and the top ranking in almost every PWI 500.
Now, the only way a fan is different from whatever wrestling organization he chooses to follow (because for most fans, it's impossible to cover more than a small handful of the wrestling scene, something PWI has the luxury of doing, but routinely squanders in anything but the PWI 500, except in the meaningless reportage it does) is that he does not have to make the decisions that cast the fortunes of the wrestlers. He only has to observe and cheer or boo as he chooses. Simply put, he has the advantage, if he chooses, to make a completely objective stance. Any wrestler who garners any real reaction from that or any other fan, will automatically know it. That's the nature of wrestling.
Therefore, I submit that the only "scientific" way to judge the year of any wrestler is whether or not they've put on a consistently excellent performance, regardless of titles or matches won, how the company they happen to work for actually treats them. The only way to judge a wrestler is how the audience accepts him.
In that regard, PWI is often pretty good, otherwise it would never have chosen Malenko or Van Dam to represent its ranking, regardless of whether or not they actually earned it.
So this is to say, at the very least, given the way PWI's rankings went that year, one would assume that the nWo was in fact a miserable failure from the start, because Hogan's ranking was dismal indeed. In fact, he ought to have been #1.
In 2002, Triple H got the WrestleMania push, but not the top PWI 500 ranking, because his overall year wasn't impressive. He missed half the grading period rehabbing his quad, and his championship reign lasted only one month. Fair enough, PWI.
But RVD? Hardly. Only fans who were invested in the wrestler and not his actual performance would ever have thought so ridiculously highly of him for so long (it's the same reason Chris Benoit got the 2004 PWI 500 top slot over Eddie Guerrero - if you overlook the need for the big WrestleMania push to be the determining factor; it's also why Batista got the 2005 PWI 500 spot over John Cena, even though Guerrero and Cena had consistently better years, over the grading periods, than Benoit or Batista). (And hey, the 2004 question doesn't even mention the fact that Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Kurt Angle, or Triple H would have made more credible selections than fan favorites Benoit or Guerrero.)
Chris Jericho had just spent a significant portion of the grading period headlining WWE's most important PPVs, wearing the unprecedented unified world championship (one of PWI's writers even tried to defend his ranking once again in this year's issue). If he wasn't good enough, there was Steve Austin, who had just completed his last great run with WWE (but was knocked for cutting out the last few months, which are about as significant when they need to be for PWI writers as the entire first half of the period, which is to say not very). He'd hijacked the Invasion angle, just as Hogan had dominated the nWo angle, despite the fact that technically, it was Hall and Nash's story, had a tremendous series of matches with Kurt Angle over the WWE title, and had still been in the title scene as late as February, when a resurrected nWo, Triple H, and Jericho had taken over the title scene. By nWo I count Hogan, who had his last run with the big belt right after Triple H's big comeback. Oh, and by referencing Hogan, I also mean to bring up The Rock, who deserved a ton of credit for making the defining wrestling match of the modern era with Hogan at WrestleMania.
Jericho, Austin, Angle, or The Rock would have been fine selections. RVD should never even have been in the running.
Speaking of The Rock, he might as well have had the 2000 PWI 500 spot as well. But if not him, then certainly Triple H.
All of this a prelude for Triple H's win in the 2009 PWI 500 lottery. Truth be told, I was somewhat surprised by it. Earlier this week, I had scribbled in my notebook the following names I expected to find in the top ten: Randy Orton (deservedly last year's selection), Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Kurt Angle, and Sting.
I expected Orton to repeat, easily. He had developed himself into the most exciting performer at the start of the year by annihilating the entire McMahon clan, which led into the first legitimate war he's had in his career, with Triple H, who of course, by some twist of PWI logic, ended up with the default WrestleMania push (because he won, which itself was not a problem by any means).
Jeff Hardy I was somewhat pleasantly surprised, didn't make the top ten, because in truth, he didn't have the year to truly merit it. He fumbled around a little too much. Jericho could easily have been #1, if Orton hadn't been. There was nobody hotter than he was last fall, and he's turned dynamic turn after dynamic turn since then. Who else could have helped carry that terrific Ricky Steamboat comeback? Punk had been punked by PWI's reasoning last year, so it was nice to see he made it. Angle was TNA's Jericho, easily, but no respect for that. No respect, in fact, for TNA at all this year, even though, for me, it was a breakout period for the company. Sting got on the list, too.
A.J. Styles made a tremendous comeback from an admittedly lackluster 2008 PWI 500 year, but was hardly thanked for it. PWI sees the Main Event Mafia as a mistake. I see it as increasingly genius. Maybe it's because I hve the inevitable advantage of following developments that just missed the grading period, such as Samoa Joe being elevated to MEM status, or Styles elevating Matt Morgan. Even Hernandez, however, wasn't given any credit, even though he was on the cusp of his own elevation until injury temporarily put it on hold (it'll be the story of the second half of 2009). Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, didn't get any love, even though they had breakout periods.
Oh, and Brian Kendrick. In is write-up, PWI didn't even bother to acknowledge how hot his fall was. It doesn't matter where he's ended up. A fan would know this, and acknowledge it.
Still, it was a fairly good edition, even if PWI itself failed to appreciate it.
Let's say it's the Monk's ambition to make a truly satisying 500 list.
It's time for our annual Scouring Monk review of the PWI 500!
First, a prelude. I don't know why I never really realized this before, but Pro Wrestling Illustrated's ranking period, roughly summer (A) to summer (B) has probably always been meant to skewer whoever WWE has chosen for the WrestleMania push. A second glance will make this obvious, and the moreso when WWE, for one reason or other, has failed to make a solid commitment in that role. The two most controversial selections in the PWI 500's history for the number one slot were Dean Malenko (1997) and Rob Van Dam (2002). No please, let me elaborate.
In 1997, WWE's WrestleMania plans were thwarted, by whom exactly the tales often vary. Shawn Michaels is the popular selection, and all the more by the events of that year's Survivor Series. By Bret Hart's reckoning, it was Shawn's refusal to exchange the favor he'd made the previous year (in, oh, the greatest main event championship match in the card's history; he never has a problem sharing the glory of 1992's Summer Slam match with Davey Boy Smith, possibly because fortune certainly smiled on him a bit more). Others have it that the Ultimate Warrior foiled the plans by failing to remain a viable employee for longer than a few months following his 1996 comeback. In any event, WWE scrambled to put together a Sid-Undertaker program. Clearly this had never been the plan (other than the fact that Sid had been engaged in a long-term program with Michaels at that point, and Undertaker enjoyed a lengthy reign after it).
At the same time, the nWo had completely overtaken WCW, and hey, the wrestling scene. PWI had listed HBK atop its 1996 500, but his reign wasn't all that popular with the fans (possibly because of the breaking nWo arc that coincided with the hottest months of his reign). Consequently, WCW was forced into the "controversial" position of pushing a star, Hulk Hogan, who was past his wrestling prime (or at least, initial popularity; whatever). This is crucial because PWI prides itself as an objective, even academic exercise, and the PWI 500 is its yearly crowning achievement in that regard. Yet, quite patently, there's nothing really scientific about it. PWI is a fan venture through and through, and it's only for the fact that it is about as close to academic as the wrestling community gets that it can assume to be an authority, even when at the most important moments, it's anything but. Hence the queer association between that WrestleMania push and the top ranking in almost every PWI 500.
Now, the only way a fan is different from whatever wrestling organization he chooses to follow (because for most fans, it's impossible to cover more than a small handful of the wrestling scene, something PWI has the luxury of doing, but routinely squanders in anything but the PWI 500, except in the meaningless reportage it does) is that he does not have to make the decisions that cast the fortunes of the wrestlers. He only has to observe and cheer or boo as he chooses. Simply put, he has the advantage, if he chooses, to make a completely objective stance. Any wrestler who garners any real reaction from that or any other fan, will automatically know it. That's the nature of wrestling.
Therefore, I submit that the only "scientific" way to judge the year of any wrestler is whether or not they've put on a consistently excellent performance, regardless of titles or matches won, how the company they happen to work for actually treats them. The only way to judge a wrestler is how the audience accepts him.
In that regard, PWI is often pretty good, otherwise it would never have chosen Malenko or Van Dam to represent its ranking, regardless of whether or not they actually earned it.
So this is to say, at the very least, given the way PWI's rankings went that year, one would assume that the nWo was in fact a miserable failure from the start, because Hogan's ranking was dismal indeed. In fact, he ought to have been #1.
In 2002, Triple H got the WrestleMania push, but not the top PWI 500 ranking, because his overall year wasn't impressive. He missed half the grading period rehabbing his quad, and his championship reign lasted only one month. Fair enough, PWI.
But RVD? Hardly. Only fans who were invested in the wrestler and not his actual performance would ever have thought so ridiculously highly of him for so long (it's the same reason Chris Benoit got the 2004 PWI 500 top slot over Eddie Guerrero - if you overlook the need for the big WrestleMania push to be the determining factor; it's also why Batista got the 2005 PWI 500 spot over John Cena, even though Guerrero and Cena had consistently better years, over the grading periods, than Benoit or Batista). (And hey, the 2004 question doesn't even mention the fact that Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Kurt Angle, or Triple H would have made more credible selections than fan favorites Benoit or Guerrero.)
Chris Jericho had just spent a significant portion of the grading period headlining WWE's most important PPVs, wearing the unprecedented unified world championship (one of PWI's writers even tried to defend his ranking once again in this year's issue). If he wasn't good enough, there was Steve Austin, who had just completed his last great run with WWE (but was knocked for cutting out the last few months, which are about as significant when they need to be for PWI writers as the entire first half of the period, which is to say not very). He'd hijacked the Invasion angle, just as Hogan had dominated the nWo angle, despite the fact that technically, it was Hall and Nash's story, had a tremendous series of matches with Kurt Angle over the WWE title, and had still been in the title scene as late as February, when a resurrected nWo, Triple H, and Jericho had taken over the title scene. By nWo I count Hogan, who had his last run with the big belt right after Triple H's big comeback. Oh, and by referencing Hogan, I also mean to bring up The Rock, who deserved a ton of credit for making the defining wrestling match of the modern era with Hogan at WrestleMania.
Jericho, Austin, Angle, or The Rock would have been fine selections. RVD should never even have been in the running.
Speaking of The Rock, he might as well have had the 2000 PWI 500 spot as well. But if not him, then certainly Triple H.
All of this a prelude for Triple H's win in the 2009 PWI 500 lottery. Truth be told, I was somewhat surprised by it. Earlier this week, I had scribbled in my notebook the following names I expected to find in the top ten: Randy Orton (deservedly last year's selection), Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Kurt Angle, and Sting.
I expected Orton to repeat, easily. He had developed himself into the most exciting performer at the start of the year by annihilating the entire McMahon clan, which led into the first legitimate war he's had in his career, with Triple H, who of course, by some twist of PWI logic, ended up with the default WrestleMania push (because he won, which itself was not a problem by any means).
Jeff Hardy I was somewhat pleasantly surprised, didn't make the top ten, because in truth, he didn't have the year to truly merit it. He fumbled around a little too much. Jericho could easily have been #1, if Orton hadn't been. There was nobody hotter than he was last fall, and he's turned dynamic turn after dynamic turn since then. Who else could have helped carry that terrific Ricky Steamboat comeback? Punk had been punked by PWI's reasoning last year, so it was nice to see he made it. Angle was TNA's Jericho, easily, but no respect for that. No respect, in fact, for TNA at all this year, even though, for me, it was a breakout period for the company. Sting got on the list, too.
A.J. Styles made a tremendous comeback from an admittedly lackluster 2008 PWI 500 year, but was hardly thanked for it. PWI sees the Main Event Mafia as a mistake. I see it as increasingly genius. Maybe it's because I hve the inevitable advantage of following developments that just missed the grading period, such as Samoa Joe being elevated to MEM status, or Styles elevating Matt Morgan. Even Hernandez, however, wasn't given any credit, even though he was on the cusp of his own elevation until injury temporarily put it on hold (it'll be the story of the second half of 2009). Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, didn't get any love, even though they had breakout periods.
Oh, and Brian Kendrick. In is write-up, PWI didn't even bother to acknowledge how hot his fall was. It doesn't matter where he's ended up. A fan would know this, and acknowledge it.
Still, it was a fairly good edition, even if PWI itself failed to appreciate it.
Let's say it's the Monk's ambition to make a truly satisying 500 list.
Friday, September 05, 2008
#183. Paperback Reader Over, PWI 500 2008, Lower Decks
Hey, officially quit the column at Paperback Reader. I just got fed up with the utter lack of attention, either from Bart or from readers (probably a combination of both). He seriously thought improving the site meant, at least for a while, changing the design every few months. Maybe, a few years from now, it'll be everything it could be. But I doubt it. And I don't want to sink with the ship.
Anyway, PWI's new 500 finally arrived a few days back, and of course Randy Orton was number one. The whole issue was refreshing, like the editors have started realizing some of the mistakes they've made in the past, a glaring one being unable to accurately report the heavyweight titles of WWE (the big problem of the annual I ordered at the same time), or being able to pick the top wrestler (RVD, Dead Malenko, Chris Benoit, you were all mistakes, of varying degrees) when they had an minor favorite in mind. They could have easily put Samoa Joe on top, but instead went with the right choice, and seemed to work through the rest of the list accordingly.
But don't cry for me over quitting PBR. I have a new column at Lower Decks, a site (earlier known as the original Section31.com) I've been writing for and visiting for close to a decade. "How I Got These Scars" will hopefully be more successful than "Weekly."
Anyway, PWI's new 500 finally arrived a few days back, and of course Randy Orton was number one. The whole issue was refreshing, like the editors have started realizing some of the mistakes they've made in the past, a glaring one being unable to accurately report the heavyweight titles of WWE (the big problem of the annual I ordered at the same time), or being able to pick the top wrestler (RVD, Dead Malenko, Chris Benoit, you were all mistakes, of varying degrees) when they had an minor favorite in mind. They could have easily put Samoa Joe on top, but instead went with the right choice, and seemed to work through the rest of the list accordingly.
But don't cry for me over quitting PBR. I have a new column at Lower Decks, a site (earlier known as the original Section31.com) I've been writing for and visiting for close to a decade. "How I Got These Scars" will hopefully be more successful than "Weekly."
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
#152. PWI 500 2007
So, having digested much (okay, all) of the new PWI 500, I wish the magazine could do more. I wish it came with a DVD, like music magazines and computer magazines do, with matches featuring the top ten finishers. I've never seen Mistico (#3) in action. He's the latest international sensation I know only by name and picture. Wrestling's such a funny thing, though. It's a deep enough culture that a bunch of people would be crazy enough to compile a list of the top 500 wrestlers, every year, but not lucrative enough, or whatever, to be truly represented like it should be. It's still all about the territories, with Mexico and Japan, say, losing out to most audiences, like baseball, I guess.
Anyway, Edge (#2) made it in the top ten, and Batista didn't. I'm okay with it. Edge had a wider pool of talent to contend with, having operated on both Smackdown and Raw, and was as such able to, because of his mobility, cover a lot of ground. It wasn't really that great of a year for him, at least not as compared with the same period in the last PWI 500. He just happened to surge through his last few months (during which I hated him vehemently, because he'd stolen a bunch of other wrestlers' thunder, not the least being Mr. Kennedy, who lost his Money in the Bank for no reason). Batista, meanwhile, spent the entire grading period either holding or pursuing the World championship. This sounds really good on paper, but it also means, as some have pointed out, he had a nearly unlimited number of title shots throughout that year. He was in every single Smackdown main event, from King Booker's reign to the Undertaker to Edge, even to the Great Khali. He was their only opponent. It's ironic, too, because this happened after seemingly everyone on the Smackdown roster got injured. Batista, of course, originally lost his title because of injury (as John Cena has just now done as well...if WWE is guilty of anything, it's not knowing when to take the pressure off of any one star when they could really use a break...it's how The Rock made a career, right?), and by the time he returned, Rey Misterio's reign had become Booker's, and everyone's pants had been caught around their ankles. They were in the awkward position of not actually knowing what to do with Batista. After he'd gone to rehabilitate, WWE got Kurt Angle one last championship reign, and they used it to push Misterio as well as Randy Orton, but Orton's interests were elsewhere, and so were Angle's. Smackdown ended up with Misterio as champion, with no real program, so it took the title off him and put it on another veteran who'd waited his turn so patiently, King Booker.
But Booker was never going to be champion that long. Then someone came up with the worst possible scenario for Batista as champion, and that was to pin him against a reinvigorated Undertaker (counting all the way back to his match with Angle at No Way Out just before WrestleMania 22, for WrestleMania 23. People had already seen Smackdown with champions of seemingly every orientation. Batista, when he returned, face a public that had moved on.
So between the fall of 2006 and summer of 2007, when so much had been squeezed from the brand, Batista faced the unlikely possibility of proving himself all over again, and his contenders just kept falling. Somehow he became an MVP no one quite appreciated. He took the brand on his considerable shoulders, and for that, because of his unwitting dominance of the title scene, whether as contender or champion, everything the fans had loved him for, when he'd captured, two years earlier, the top spot on the PWI 500 over Cena, they'd completely forgotten. Somehow, between the winter of 2006 and summer, everyone had started assuming, rather than becoming exactly what he would, Batista was actually nothing more than the new Goldberg, Brock Lesnar. The Goliath whose interest could be easily toppled. Goldberg, that dude spent two solid years tuned in, and then went the Warrior route when everyone started forgetting. Lesnar, he was another two year wonder. Well, Batista's on his third year, and he was the only one of the three to have an origin, a before. That's why he's better than people say, better than #13.
But that's exactly where he should be. Hey, the guy above him is Samoa Joe, whom PWI itself admits competed in last fall's most invigorating feud with Kurt Angle. For now, wrestling fans can be enamored of lightweights like Christian Cage (#7), and Bobby Lashley (#9). Those guys don't have the upside of Batista. He's older than both of them. And he's going to be making news long after them.
Angle was robbed at a mere #4. But his historic championship rush is but a precursor of the stuff he's going to continue doing for TNA. Shawn Michaels (#6), Undertaker (#5), they're worth their spots. Perro Aguayo (#8)? A somewhat familiar name, that's all. Takeshi Morishima (#10), please convince your Ring of Honor superiors to release more footage. ROH could be the new ECW, and we, the fans, really don't have the chance to say so.
Speaking of ECW, there's that new version running Tuesday nights, and everyone's saying that it has no business calling itself that. Tough cookies, folks. ECW, the original ECW, wasn't really just about the "extreme." It was about providing an outlet for stars no other promotion would use, even though they deserved it and could put together a show just as entertaining as could be found in WWF or WCW. "Extreme" was a fad, but ECW was meant for the long haul. "Extreme," as the New Jacks, the Sabus, the Tazes, the Tommy Dreamers, the Sandmans, the Justin Credibles defined it, it was about tenacity, a sheer force of will, not just the blood and the gore. It was about the blood, but it was also about the sweat, and the tears. Go back over the history and tell me I'm wrong. Go ahead and look over the talent that was discovered there, not just the names you still associate with ECW, but with those whose careers owe a huge debt to its philosophy. ECW made it safe for the next generation.
The new ECW, it's doing the same thing again. It's just that it's a WWE brand now. Smackdown may still be the place WWE grooms its upcoming talent, but probably, as always, the big stars that will inevitably make their way to Raw, the Carlitos (the flack he catches now, trust me, it's inconsequential), the Mr. Kennedys (ditto), even the John Cenas. Elija Burke is no John Cena, but he's a real talent. John Morrison is no John Cena, but he's a real talent. CM Punk? I think once the fans calm down and let ECW be what it's going to be, this brand is going to be able to exhale, be itself, and prove that it's worthy of existence. It's ECW. It's not the old ECW. But the old ECW wasn't, either.
If anything, TNA is the old ECW, a show with a not-incredible sense of creating TV shows, stars that have perhaps more heart than ring sense, and it's also the old WCW, which had such a great sense of stealing talent worth banking on.
Anyway...That's more wrestling thoughts. Sorry, nonwrestling-thoughts-interested readers.
Anyway, Edge (#2) made it in the top ten, and Batista didn't. I'm okay with it. Edge had a wider pool of talent to contend with, having operated on both Smackdown and Raw, and was as such able to, because of his mobility, cover a lot of ground. It wasn't really that great of a year for him, at least not as compared with the same period in the last PWI 500. He just happened to surge through his last few months (during which I hated him vehemently, because he'd stolen a bunch of other wrestlers' thunder, not the least being Mr. Kennedy, who lost his Money in the Bank for no reason). Batista, meanwhile, spent the entire grading period either holding or pursuing the World championship. This sounds really good on paper, but it also means, as some have pointed out, he had a nearly unlimited number of title shots throughout that year. He was in every single Smackdown main event, from King Booker's reign to the Undertaker to Edge, even to the Great Khali. He was their only opponent. It's ironic, too, because this happened after seemingly everyone on the Smackdown roster got injured. Batista, of course, originally lost his title because of injury (as John Cena has just now done as well...if WWE is guilty of anything, it's not knowing when to take the pressure off of any one star when they could really use a break...it's how The Rock made a career, right?), and by the time he returned, Rey Misterio's reign had become Booker's, and everyone's pants had been caught around their ankles. They were in the awkward position of not actually knowing what to do with Batista. After he'd gone to rehabilitate, WWE got Kurt Angle one last championship reign, and they used it to push Misterio as well as Randy Orton, but Orton's interests were elsewhere, and so were Angle's. Smackdown ended up with Misterio as champion, with no real program, so it took the title off him and put it on another veteran who'd waited his turn so patiently, King Booker.
But Booker was never going to be champion that long. Then someone came up with the worst possible scenario for Batista as champion, and that was to pin him against a reinvigorated Undertaker (counting all the way back to his match with Angle at No Way Out just before WrestleMania 22, for WrestleMania 23. People had already seen Smackdown with champions of seemingly every orientation. Batista, when he returned, face a public that had moved on.
So between the fall of 2006 and summer of 2007, when so much had been squeezed from the brand, Batista faced the unlikely possibility of proving himself all over again, and his contenders just kept falling. Somehow he became an MVP no one quite appreciated. He took the brand on his considerable shoulders, and for that, because of his unwitting dominance of the title scene, whether as contender or champion, everything the fans had loved him for, when he'd captured, two years earlier, the top spot on the PWI 500 over Cena, they'd completely forgotten. Somehow, between the winter of 2006 and summer, everyone had started assuming, rather than becoming exactly what he would, Batista was actually nothing more than the new Goldberg, Brock Lesnar. The Goliath whose interest could be easily toppled. Goldberg, that dude spent two solid years tuned in, and then went the Warrior route when everyone started forgetting. Lesnar, he was another two year wonder. Well, Batista's on his third year, and he was the only one of the three to have an origin, a before. That's why he's better than people say, better than #13.
But that's exactly where he should be. Hey, the guy above him is Samoa Joe, whom PWI itself admits competed in last fall's most invigorating feud with Kurt Angle. For now, wrestling fans can be enamored of lightweights like Christian Cage (#7), and Bobby Lashley (#9). Those guys don't have the upside of Batista. He's older than both of them. And he's going to be making news long after them.
Angle was robbed at a mere #4. But his historic championship rush is but a precursor of the stuff he's going to continue doing for TNA. Shawn Michaels (#6), Undertaker (#5), they're worth their spots. Perro Aguayo (#8)? A somewhat familiar name, that's all. Takeshi Morishima (#10), please convince your Ring of Honor superiors to release more footage. ROH could be the new ECW, and we, the fans, really don't have the chance to say so.
Speaking of ECW, there's that new version running Tuesday nights, and everyone's saying that it has no business calling itself that. Tough cookies, folks. ECW, the original ECW, wasn't really just about the "extreme." It was about providing an outlet for stars no other promotion would use, even though they deserved it and could put together a show just as entertaining as could be found in WWF or WCW. "Extreme" was a fad, but ECW was meant for the long haul. "Extreme," as the New Jacks, the Sabus, the Tazes, the Tommy Dreamers, the Sandmans, the Justin Credibles defined it, it was about tenacity, a sheer force of will, not just the blood and the gore. It was about the blood, but it was also about the sweat, and the tears. Go back over the history and tell me I'm wrong. Go ahead and look over the talent that was discovered there, not just the names you still associate with ECW, but with those whose careers owe a huge debt to its philosophy. ECW made it safe for the next generation.
The new ECW, it's doing the same thing again. It's just that it's a WWE brand now. Smackdown may still be the place WWE grooms its upcoming talent, but probably, as always, the big stars that will inevitably make their way to Raw, the Carlitos (the flack he catches now, trust me, it's inconsequential), the Mr. Kennedys (ditto), even the John Cenas. Elija Burke is no John Cena, but he's a real talent. John Morrison is no John Cena, but he's a real talent. CM Punk? I think once the fans calm down and let ECW be what it's going to be, this brand is going to be able to exhale, be itself, and prove that it's worthy of existence. It's ECW. It's not the old ECW. But the old ECW wasn't, either.
If anything, TNA is the old ECW, a show with a not-incredible sense of creating TV shows, stars that have perhaps more heart than ring sense, and it's also the old WCW, which had such a great sense of stealing talent worth banking on.
Anyway...That's more wrestling thoughts. Sorry, nonwrestling-thoughts-interested readers.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
#151. Poetry, PWI 500 Preview
What's a kind of goal for Terror of Knowing? How about making it to Silliman's Blog? Hey, Ron, we're both at blogspot!
Meanwhile, I've joined
(for the poetry blog, not this one).
Oh! And the 2007 PWI 500 is now in my greedy hands. I'm going to read through some more before posting thoughts about it, but here's this much: Batista has sort of been put in a provocative ranking, and unlike the last time I would have said that (two years ago, if you want to do the research), I think I'm actually quite okay with it.
Meanwhile, I've joined
(for the poetry blog, not this one).Oh! And the 2007 PWI 500 is now in my greedy hands. I'm going to read through some more before posting thoughts about it, but here's this much: Batista has sort of been put in a provocative ranking, and unlike the last time I would have said that (two years ago, if you want to do the research), I think I'm actually quite okay with it.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
#129. PWI 500 2006
I finally got a copy of the eagerly-awaited PWI 500, the annual ranking from Pro Wrestling Illustrated of, roughly speaking, the top 500 wrestlers in the last grading period (in this case, August 2005 to July 2006). As far as I'm concerned, it's easily their best ranking in years (though not without controversy, as their own editorial about a sudden explosion of foreign market - i.e. Mexican and Japanese - stars details; how these competitors suddenly rate isn't properly justified, though the actual write-up has never been a key selling point of the list). Gone are such questionable #1 choices as Dean Malenko (1997) and Rob Van Dam (2002), or suspect judgment calls (Batista over John Cena last year, Chris Benoit over Eddie Guerrero in 2004). There was only one choice this year, even though the editors for months had been trying to build a case for another star they thankfully didn't go with, and didn't even rank second.
Ladies and gentlemen? This year was John Cena's. And right behind him, rightfully, is Kurt Angle in what might be his last-ever appearance (if he actually takes this retirement of his seriously so he doesn't end up crippled in old age, although as an update on Monday, it was announced at TNA's No Surrender last night that he'd joined that promotion). Jeff Jarrett (for the first time making an appearance in it for his TNA efforts) rounds out a top ten that also includes familiar faces in Edge (#3, Cena's chief rival after Angle in the year analyzed), Rey Mysterio (#6), Shawn Michaels (#9, who probably takes the place of a worthier, in terms of actual accomplishments, star, though his work still merits this surprise entry), Brock Lesnar (#7, another surprise, for an IWGP title reign that was mostly unremarkable even by PWI's estimation) and Samoa Joe (#4, hailed by PWI as the first TNA wrestler to appear solo on the cover of...PWI). In addition, there's Mistico (#5) and Kenta Kobashi (#8) from the international scene, and unlike years past, their write-ups actually justify their positioning as something other than PWI attempting to make nice with non-US-soil based promotions.
Some of the same problems plague the ranking. The first half of the grading period (which would have bore out the cases for Guerrero and Cena in the personally contested rankings already noted) still seems conveniently overlooked when spotting certain stars (even Cena, though his first half was nothing to sneeze at), and write-ups, even from nationally exposed stars, seem only dimly informed at best, like they've been typed from notes alone (and this is nothing about the elipses: Theatoretical Readers will note how I often use them myself). In addition, as always, there are mistakes a simple proofreader would have noticed, to add to the professional read of a compiling seeking journalistic pedigree. They want to be known as an authority, they should act like one.
That being said, I found this year's 500 to be the best in years. The choices were made without bias (Cena is not known as an unquestioned favorite, after all), and the decision to widen the perspective, even if not executed properly, was a good one. The long wait was definitely rewarded, and in truth, I'm only in the early three-hundreds as I read through (yes, faithful editors, I'm one of the readers who actually read through, as they've lamented about in the past, though this year, aside from the Stu Saks note that opens every issue, not a single column was devoted to the 500, an omission that's particularly glaring, as if everyone really was foused on other things this year, like last issue's dubious grading cards, and that's how it was done right for a change).
One more gripe: the conspicuous taboo of the late Eddie Guerrero. He should have warranted significant mentions in the write-ups for two prominent stars, Rey Mysterio and Batista, and yet all he got was the kind of shout-out in Rey's that's had so many fans rankled this year. Eddie wrestled for three months of the grading period. He finished an epic feud with Rey (winning the final match, but losing a pivotal one before that, which of course did not factor into Rey's Top Five Moments of the Year, on a basis in what I've already noted, a feud that launched Rey to the position where he could achieve a rank of #6), and was Batista's first opponent after two extended feuds and in fact last true challenger before Dave surrendered the World title in January (and the story that surrounded this card easily ranks in Batista's top three most memorable cards, along with his exit from Evolution and the hibernating grudge with Mark Henry). To have done this was even more egregious of PWI than denying Eddie the number one spot in 2004. It did nothing to respect a recently departed and much loved star. It actually disrespected Eddie. If he hadn't died, there's every reason to believe that he was, at the very least, poised for the kind of year Kurt Angle enjoyed. Understand what I mean? So, bad on you, PWI.
Maybe I should also stress that, whatever problems I inevitably have with these things, the PWI 500 has been a ranking I've eagerly anticipated for years. I think my first encounter with it in 1995, Kevin Nash's year, and I've devoured nearly every one of them since 1998 (I particularly lament missing 2000 and 2001, when Triple H and Kurt Angle, respectively, topped the ranks, deservedly). I always appreciate the effort. It can't be easy to do this when there's no such coverage of the whole scene, as there is for nearly every other sport, and certainly not the respect wrestlers earn every single night. PWI does its part (and maybe it's time to drop the kayfabe, guys), and this year made strides to correct past errors, making it that much easier for the day wrestling finally does get its due. It's not a fad, not a silly game of men in tights. I believe that this is the era we're going to discover this. The fans will wait for another "boom period." I hope we finally get over the need for such things.
I'll be back for nonwrestling thoughts, too, I swear.
Ladies and gentlemen? This year was John Cena's. And right behind him, rightfully, is Kurt Angle in what might be his last-ever appearance (if he actually takes this retirement of his seriously so he doesn't end up crippled in old age, although as an update on Monday, it was announced at TNA's No Surrender last night that he'd joined that promotion). Jeff Jarrett (for the first time making an appearance in it for his TNA efforts) rounds out a top ten that also includes familiar faces in Edge (#3, Cena's chief rival after Angle in the year analyzed), Rey Mysterio (#6), Shawn Michaels (#9, who probably takes the place of a worthier, in terms of actual accomplishments, star, though his work still merits this surprise entry), Brock Lesnar (#7, another surprise, for an IWGP title reign that was mostly unremarkable even by PWI's estimation) and Samoa Joe (#4, hailed by PWI as the first TNA wrestler to appear solo on the cover of...PWI). In addition, there's Mistico (#5) and Kenta Kobashi (#8) from the international scene, and unlike years past, their write-ups actually justify their positioning as something other than PWI attempting to make nice with non-US-soil based promotions.
Some of the same problems plague the ranking. The first half of the grading period (which would have bore out the cases for Guerrero and Cena in the personally contested rankings already noted) still seems conveniently overlooked when spotting certain stars (even Cena, though his first half was nothing to sneeze at), and write-ups, even from nationally exposed stars, seem only dimly informed at best, like they've been typed from notes alone (and this is nothing about the elipses: Theatoretical Readers will note how I often use them myself). In addition, as always, there are mistakes a simple proofreader would have noticed, to add to the professional read of a compiling seeking journalistic pedigree. They want to be known as an authority, they should act like one.
That being said, I found this year's 500 to be the best in years. The choices were made without bias (Cena is not known as an unquestioned favorite, after all), and the decision to widen the perspective, even if not executed properly, was a good one. The long wait was definitely rewarded, and in truth, I'm only in the early three-hundreds as I read through (yes, faithful editors, I'm one of the readers who actually read through, as they've lamented about in the past, though this year, aside from the Stu Saks note that opens every issue, not a single column was devoted to the 500, an omission that's particularly glaring, as if everyone really was foused on other things this year, like last issue's dubious grading cards, and that's how it was done right for a change).
One more gripe: the conspicuous taboo of the late Eddie Guerrero. He should have warranted significant mentions in the write-ups for two prominent stars, Rey Mysterio and Batista, and yet all he got was the kind of shout-out in Rey's that's had so many fans rankled this year. Eddie wrestled for three months of the grading period. He finished an epic feud with Rey (winning the final match, but losing a pivotal one before that, which of course did not factor into Rey's Top Five Moments of the Year, on a basis in what I've already noted, a feud that launched Rey to the position where he could achieve a rank of #6), and was Batista's first opponent after two extended feuds and in fact last true challenger before Dave surrendered the World title in January (and the story that surrounded this card easily ranks in Batista's top three most memorable cards, along with his exit from Evolution and the hibernating grudge with Mark Henry). To have done this was even more egregious of PWI than denying Eddie the number one spot in 2004. It did nothing to respect a recently departed and much loved star. It actually disrespected Eddie. If he hadn't died, there's every reason to believe that he was, at the very least, poised for the kind of year Kurt Angle enjoyed. Understand what I mean? So, bad on you, PWI.
Maybe I should also stress that, whatever problems I inevitably have with these things, the PWI 500 has been a ranking I've eagerly anticipated for years. I think my first encounter with it in 1995, Kevin Nash's year, and I've devoured nearly every one of them since 1998 (I particularly lament missing 2000 and 2001, when Triple H and Kurt Angle, respectively, topped the ranks, deservedly). I always appreciate the effort. It can't be easy to do this when there's no such coverage of the whole scene, as there is for nearly every other sport, and certainly not the respect wrestlers earn every single night. PWI does its part (and maybe it's time to drop the kayfabe, guys), and this year made strides to correct past errors, making it that much easier for the day wrestling finally does get its due. It's not a fad, not a silly game of men in tights. I believe that this is the era we're going to discover this. The fans will wait for another "boom period." I hope we finally get over the need for such things.
I'll be back for nonwrestling thoughts, too, I swear.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
#93. PWI 500, Last Comic Standing, Father of the Pride, Scrubs, Red Sox, World Series, Lost
It's been a while, eh? Pro Wrestling Illustrated published its annual PWI 500 recently (and my noting of this would have been even more concurrent had I gotten around to it sooner), and unfortunately, the issue was given the short shrift thanks to the recent (but not as recent) 25th anniversary celebration issue, which was marked by an issue of lists of 25 covering the 25 years PWI has been around, plus a packaged reprinting of the magazine's very first issue. The apparently long-suffering staffer Brandi Mankiewicz, self-styled heel column artist and editor of the 500 project, admitted in print that the team was forced to make due with an abbreviated yearly highlight (ironically, last year's was the biggest yet). The very worst this resulted in was making the affair seeming about 75% less comprehensive than it really should have been.
Chris Benoit snagged the top spot. If you were only focusing on the 2004 portion of the July 31, 2003-July 31, 2004 grading period, he easily made it over nos. 2 (Eddie Guerrero) and 3 (Triple H), serving a stellar five months as Raw World champion after the incredible Royal Rumble win. Problem is, and this was a recurring one throughout the feature Harry Burkett allegedly single-handedly wrote, there was a whole other half-year to consider, and it clearly was not seriously considered. If it had been, Latino Heat would have come out on top. Professional that he has always been, Benoit did not have the momentum Guerrero did coming into 2004. Where to start? The Smackdown US title tournament win, the interlapping tag team title reign with Chavo, and the resulting feud with Chavo proved that Eddie had a lot more focus and momentum leading to a successful feud with Brock Lesnar of all people (and I'll get back to Lesnar, you can be sure) and the ensuing Angle-Layfield quagmire. There's no question in my mind that Eddie was robbed. Not that Benoit is a guy I would really protest over.
That U.S. title hunt? Guerrero's main opponent there until Big Show steamrolled over him (which provides a tasty look into a possible near-future development for Smackdown) was in fact Benoit, who spent the rest of the year as Smackdown's fourth or fifth biggest star (we could argue over John Cena or Show or even Undertaker, at least until Survivor Series, if you'd really like to). He even won a mini-rumble to challenge for the WWE championship in late 2003, and was the other man left standing besides Cena in that Paul Heyman House of Towering Infernos elimination match in November (the card already being named a few lines up). But he just was not that big a force until his out of nowhere January win. And he did spend most of his time as champion living under the shadows of Shawn Michales and...
Triple H. This guy's never going to receive another break from the smart marks, is he? Much like Goldberg's precipitous fall in 1999 and Lesnar's in 2004, Hunter lost the respect of the fans because he became a dominant champion in an era where that is virtually unheard of. Champions today are more reminiscent of The Rock, who won half a dozen world titles, most of which ran in spans of weeks rather than months. Even Steve Austin was never champion for very long, but he spent long periods of time in between his reigns on the shelf. Hunter sticks around, dominates, and is hated, and not in the nod nod wink wink kind of way. An unbiased assessment of the 2003-2004 grading period, which saw him remain at the World title level the entire time, would have seen Triple H below Guerrero and just above Benoit.
But these are just quips, right? Clearly all three combined to rule the roost, and just the fact that they're acknowledged as, in some combination, standing 1,2,3 is good enough. Well, we then have to settle for the next three guys, Goldberg, Lesnar, and Angle being chopped down or left off completely because they happened to miss the last four months of the grading period. When Stone Cold missed the last few two years ago (when the grading was August to August), he had to settle for no. 13. Goldberg gets walloped to no. 48 (see just how unpopular he is?) while Kurt Angle settles for no. 36. What did both accomplish in the time they did compete in WWE? Heavyweight championships, and feuds that marked 2003 and 2004. "Da Man" waited months for his shot at Triple H's gold, and then had to wrestle two main events to do it. He then retained it on a third card, and lost it in a triple threat match on a fourth one. Maybe people really want to believe he didn't have much to offer as a wrestler, but he served as the one person to successfully handle Hunter these past five years. The Rock couldn't do it, Steve Austin couldn't do it, Shawn Michaels couldn't do it. Benoit did eventually, but needed not one but two triple threats involving HBK to get around to it. And then Goldberg left WWE after defeating Lesnar at WrestleMania XX.
Angle, meanwhile, had engaged in an epic feud with Lesnar throughout 2003, culminating in the classic Ironman match in the fall. After playing a supporting role for a while, he went on to challenge Guerrero at WM XX in another classic, and was forced to the shelf again to rehabilitate his neck (shades of Austin all around), before the dramatic reveal PWI notes when he came back for competitive grade and cost Eddie the WWE title in a steel cage match against John Bradshaw Layfield.
And then there's Lesnar, whose exclusion can be chalked up to the fact that he retired after XX to pursue professional football. But he was on perhaps the highest peak of his professional wrestling career before that, and because of some inane rules PWI set up this couldn't be acknowledged in the sports' premier accolade forum. I have other issues with PWI, such as why Japanese stars such as Kenta Kobasji (no. 4) can be assumed to place in certain slots and not really have to justify it like WWE and other North American stars when PWI fails to provide adequate coverage and explanation. At best, from his write-up, Kobashi sounds like a 200s calibur talent. But what do I know?
Randy Orton, John Cena, A.J. Styles, and Chris Jericho all seem to more than hold their top ten water weight, though Michaels is questionable (especially when trying to rationalize with the apparent standards for others already discussed). I could go through all of my thoughts, but I won't, at least not at this time. Orton is still making his case against Triple H on Raw, while Booker T has stood up to one of Smackdown's All Heel Champions, Bradshaw. And Shelton Benjamin is Intercontinental champion! Woo! Wrestling is looking just fine leading up to this year's Survivor Series.
In non-wrestling matters, Dave Mordal won Last Comic Standing, I was eventually able to find out (Father of the Pride ain't that bad, Siegfried & Roy being freakin' hilarious, but Tuesday is still Scrubs Night Special for me, though this week was Heather "I'm Always Pleasantly Smiling" Graham's last call, plus a Futurama-worthy )hearttugger for Molly Shannon). Good for him!
A year ago (the resurrection of the Monk, btw) I was cheerleading Josh Beckett, so it's only appropriate that I mention how I'm in a win-win situation this year concerning the World Series. The Red Sox can win it tonight, or the Cardinals can somehow match Boston's incredible ALCS performance. I love both teams. That Curse of the Bambino, by the way? It was reversed the day the Yankees acquired A-Rod. Nice to know, huh?
And are we watching Lost? Hell yeah! It's Boomtown's replacement as my new favorite show! And what's even better, a significan amount, a large significant amount, of other people is wacthing right alongside me. Let's hope this lasts. And maybe provides residual viewers for J.J. Abrams' other show, Alias, in January.
Lastly, we're a week away from elections. Fittingly, I'm finally letting whatever readership there is providing their own input to the blog. Let me know what you think!
Chris Benoit snagged the top spot. If you were only focusing on the 2004 portion of the July 31, 2003-July 31, 2004 grading period, he easily made it over nos. 2 (Eddie Guerrero) and 3 (Triple H), serving a stellar five months as Raw World champion after the incredible Royal Rumble win. Problem is, and this was a recurring one throughout the feature Harry Burkett allegedly single-handedly wrote, there was a whole other half-year to consider, and it clearly was not seriously considered. If it had been, Latino Heat would have come out on top. Professional that he has always been, Benoit did not have the momentum Guerrero did coming into 2004. Where to start? The Smackdown US title tournament win, the interlapping tag team title reign with Chavo, and the resulting feud with Chavo proved that Eddie had a lot more focus and momentum leading to a successful feud with Brock Lesnar of all people (and I'll get back to Lesnar, you can be sure) and the ensuing Angle-Layfield quagmire. There's no question in my mind that Eddie was robbed. Not that Benoit is a guy I would really protest over.
That U.S. title hunt? Guerrero's main opponent there until Big Show steamrolled over him (which provides a tasty look into a possible near-future development for Smackdown) was in fact Benoit, who spent the rest of the year as Smackdown's fourth or fifth biggest star (we could argue over John Cena or Show or even Undertaker, at least until Survivor Series, if you'd really like to). He even won a mini-rumble to challenge for the WWE championship in late 2003, and was the other man left standing besides Cena in that Paul Heyman House of Towering Infernos elimination match in November (the card already being named a few lines up). But he just was not that big a force until his out of nowhere January win. And he did spend most of his time as champion living under the shadows of Shawn Michales and...
Triple H. This guy's never going to receive another break from the smart marks, is he? Much like Goldberg's precipitous fall in 1999 and Lesnar's in 2004, Hunter lost the respect of the fans because he became a dominant champion in an era where that is virtually unheard of. Champions today are more reminiscent of The Rock, who won half a dozen world titles, most of which ran in spans of weeks rather than months. Even Steve Austin was never champion for very long, but he spent long periods of time in between his reigns on the shelf. Hunter sticks around, dominates, and is hated, and not in the nod nod wink wink kind of way. An unbiased assessment of the 2003-2004 grading period, which saw him remain at the World title level the entire time, would have seen Triple H below Guerrero and just above Benoit.
But these are just quips, right? Clearly all three combined to rule the roost, and just the fact that they're acknowledged as, in some combination, standing 1,2,3 is good enough. Well, we then have to settle for the next three guys, Goldberg, Lesnar, and Angle being chopped down or left off completely because they happened to miss the last four months of the grading period. When Stone Cold missed the last few two years ago (when the grading was August to August), he had to settle for no. 13. Goldberg gets walloped to no. 48 (see just how unpopular he is?) while Kurt Angle settles for no. 36. What did both accomplish in the time they did compete in WWE? Heavyweight championships, and feuds that marked 2003 and 2004. "Da Man" waited months for his shot at Triple H's gold, and then had to wrestle two main events to do it. He then retained it on a third card, and lost it in a triple threat match on a fourth one. Maybe people really want to believe he didn't have much to offer as a wrestler, but he served as the one person to successfully handle Hunter these past five years. The Rock couldn't do it, Steve Austin couldn't do it, Shawn Michaels couldn't do it. Benoit did eventually, but needed not one but two triple threats involving HBK to get around to it. And then Goldberg left WWE after defeating Lesnar at WrestleMania XX.
Angle, meanwhile, had engaged in an epic feud with Lesnar throughout 2003, culminating in the classic Ironman match in the fall. After playing a supporting role for a while, he went on to challenge Guerrero at WM XX in another classic, and was forced to the shelf again to rehabilitate his neck (shades of Austin all around), before the dramatic reveal PWI notes when he came back for competitive grade and cost Eddie the WWE title in a steel cage match against John Bradshaw Layfield.
And then there's Lesnar, whose exclusion can be chalked up to the fact that he retired after XX to pursue professional football. But he was on perhaps the highest peak of his professional wrestling career before that, and because of some inane rules PWI set up this couldn't be acknowledged in the sports' premier accolade forum. I have other issues with PWI, such as why Japanese stars such as Kenta Kobasji (no. 4) can be assumed to place in certain slots and not really have to justify it like WWE and other North American stars when PWI fails to provide adequate coverage and explanation. At best, from his write-up, Kobashi sounds like a 200s calibur talent. But what do I know?
Randy Orton, John Cena, A.J. Styles, and Chris Jericho all seem to more than hold their top ten water weight, though Michaels is questionable (especially when trying to rationalize with the apparent standards for others already discussed). I could go through all of my thoughts, but I won't, at least not at this time. Orton is still making his case against Triple H on Raw, while Booker T has stood up to one of Smackdown's All Heel Champions, Bradshaw. And Shelton Benjamin is Intercontinental champion! Woo! Wrestling is looking just fine leading up to this year's Survivor Series.
In non-wrestling matters, Dave Mordal won Last Comic Standing, I was eventually able to find out (Father of the Pride ain't that bad, Siegfried & Roy being freakin' hilarious, but Tuesday is still Scrubs Night Special for me, though this week was Heather "I'm Always Pleasantly Smiling" Graham's last call, plus a Futurama-worthy )hearttugger for Molly Shannon). Good for him!
A year ago (the resurrection of the Monk, btw) I was cheerleading Josh Beckett, so it's only appropriate that I mention how I'm in a win-win situation this year concerning the World Series. The Red Sox can win it tonight, or the Cardinals can somehow match Boston's incredible ALCS performance. I love both teams. That Curse of the Bambino, by the way? It was reversed the day the Yankees acquired A-Rod. Nice to know, huh?
And are we watching Lost? Hell yeah! It's Boomtown's replacement as my new favorite show! And what's even better, a significan amount, a large significant amount, of other people is wacthing right alongside me. Let's hope this lasts. And maybe provides residual viewers for J.J. Abrams' other show, Alias, in January.
Lastly, we're a week away from elections. Fittingly, I'm finally letting whatever readership there is providing their own input to the blog. Let me know what you think!
Sunday, March 07, 2004
#69. PWI 500, WrestleMania XX
WrestleMania XX is a week away and there are still matches on the card and rumored to be waiting for discussion. Without further adieu...
In 2002 Pro Wrestling Illustrated crowned Rob Van Dam the top wrestler in its annual PWI 500 ranking. In '97, Dean Melanko had managed a similar feat, of being a seemingly non-marque superstar and still attaining this honor, but the reasoning then was that the Man of a Thousand Holds had stood out in a crowded pack. It was an acknowledged upset. This was the year previous to Stone Cold Steve Austin's rise (and subsequent consecutive no. 1 rankings on the 500 in '98 and '99). So what about RVD? How did he manage it, when the same year Chris Jericho was basking in his unified title reign (which he lost to Triple H at WrestleMania in a foregone conclusion; this was Hunter's drumline to dominance for the next several years, which has continued to the present), among other notable accomplishments by superstars just in WWE alone? The answer is simple. RVD has a laid-back persona and incredible flexibility that make up in charisma points whatever he loses in unrefined ring skills and general lack of mic capability. The fans love to watch him roll around the ring, splash people, and points to himself as he mouths "RVD." "Real" fans, the Internet's offical armchair grapplers, and printed page pundits, they all consider him more than worthy to have a run at the heavyweight title that Triple H dominates. Back in the WCW/ECW Invasion angle of 2001, RVD was getting some of the loudest pops (audience approval) of the incoming wrestlers, but was never really given a role to match it. He was never even taken seriously for a heavyweight championship match, despite all this love. In 2002 he accomplished the same kind of minor feats he'd been enjoying since he arrived (I think his biggest claim to fame championship-wise is the distinction of being the longest reigning ECW TV champion, which at one point had him written up in a PWI 500 top ten appearance as having been the last one in living memory, while he still held it). He got named to the top spot without having done anything major, without, it could be argued, earning it. And WWE just kept giving him nothing much to do. The complaint was that he was being held down in favor of Triple H as champion (Hunter having his own say, since he has had a relationship with the boss's daughter for about five years now, and that's culminated in marriage).
The point being? He's never made a decent WrestleMania appearance. This alone is not the big. He recently lost the Intercontinental championship to Randy Orton, an up-and-comer who happens to be aligned with Triple H. He's a champion right now, however, tag team with Booker T (another victim, of a different kind, of the WCW Invasion), but he's stuck in a swamped match at the year's biggest event (well, he didn't even make it last year, so it's a step up) with La Resistance, who will never go anywhere on the Anti-American platform they're stuck on, and rookies Mark Jindrak (actually a veteran of WCW's final days) and Garrison Cade, plus either Val Venis and Lance Storm (oooooh) or the Dudley Boys (who have sorta outstayed their welcome), depending on the outcome of a Heat match. Not exactly a match filled with prestige. Will he still be considered a great wrestler held down by the man (or Tha Man, if you consider Goldberg's successful feud with Triple H)? Of course. He might even leave, as Goldberg is rumored to after next Sunday, soon, as other rumors have put it. I hope he hasn't stuck around for this, however lucrative it is for his standing with PWI. His supporters say he wrestles to the level of his competitor. What does that really say?
Okay, speaking of Orton, he's in a match, too, and he's being swamped. But he's on his way up. This is his first WrestleMania, and he's the star of his Evolution team of himself, Batista, and Ric Flair (Batista and Flair being padding) who will face Mick Foley and The Rock. Orton and Foley have been working hard for months now to establish this match. I suspect there's so much padding because Foley can't really wrestle anymore (years of self-sacrificing bumps as the King of Hardcore did that) and, well, because it's Orton's first really big match. Make him look good, in other words. I remember when he was on Smackdown (as opposed to Raw), as he and John Cena were flailing about without the personas they're both developed now. They were not much to see then, and now they're looking to be the future of WWE, starting from a little higher than the ground up. It's been done before, by Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H (who jobbed big time to the Ultimate Warrior in '96, and look where they both are now). Will Ric Flair finally record a WrestleMania win? Hmm. Well, the Rock and Sock Connection is back. Maybe, maybe not.
Smackdown has its own mishmash tag team match in the works, mostly because it, too, doesn't have any one team that's running a very dominant show. Current champions Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi, whom many disparage because they'll never go much further over the fact that one does a move called the Worm that is probably more popular than he is and the other does the Stink Face, which is just notorious. I love Scotty, but he's been relegated to a featured player for so long, he will never go anywhere beyond that (I'm fearing the same thing with Fred Armisan on SNL, and even his starring role in the "Eurotrip" ads might not soon save him). They look to face the APA (Smackdown's answer to the Dudleys), the Bashams (developing heels), and The World's Greatest Tag Team (developing faces). It's really the Bashams and TWGTT's match to lose, because they have the most to. I'm pulling for Benjamin and Haas, who totally deserve it, and a resulting feud with the Bashams and maybe the APA (if the promo they cut Thursday on Smackdown has any indication).
Women's champion Victoria and challenger Molly have been working on developing heat and anticipation, which might be a first for two women's competitors not being pushed as mere sexpots. A welcome development. The other match featuring WWE "divas" is a promotion for the recent Torrie Wilson/Sable Playboy appearance, in which they square off against Miss Jackie and Stacy Keibler (who has made it clear in the past she never intends to pose for the magazine, so making a storyline that claims she did is less than credible and clearly aimed for less noble ends, if that makes sense). It should be noted that none of these girls has been doing much besides this lately. Stacy comes closest, but the two men who were fighting over her months ago, Test and Scott Steiner, aren't currently on the card themselves. Maybe they'll pull a cameo in this match, and further erode their credility. I know Test can't sink much lower without WWE still claiming to be using him. Whatever potential he once had, has long been squandered. He's the hushed corner version of RVD, and one-time courterer of the boss's daughter (who opened the door for Triple H and was never really thanked for it, unless his lingering in mediocrity was that, no thanks).
There's a match with spoiler potential on the card, and it's Smackdown's Cruiserweight Open, in which current champion Chavo Guerraro defends his title against all the little guys who are fit to enter. That means a whole lot of underappreciated Smackdown stars, including Rey Mysterio, Tajiri, Jamie Noble, and Paul London, who lack charisma on the mic but more than make up for it in the ring. Maybe Raw's Matt Hardy, who might now be regretting making the jump, might even show up. He wrestled Mysterio over the title last year at the same event, and at this time has nothing on his plate for the historic card. How far he fell. He would likely have been guaranteed something, maybe even a one-one one encounter with Chavo (which would have squeazed out Mysterio, but we digress...again).
One last (possible) match in this rambling commentary. Eric Bischoff vs. Vince McMahon. Boy does this sound good on paper. They've been rivals on paper since WCW was winning the Monday Night Wars with its nWo freshness. Neither is really much in the ring, but just the thought-that-counts feeling it musters would put it over. Vince has developed himself the ultimate heel persona. It'd be a shame to waste it here.
Well then. One more week.
In 2002 Pro Wrestling Illustrated crowned Rob Van Dam the top wrestler in its annual PWI 500 ranking. In '97, Dean Melanko had managed a similar feat, of being a seemingly non-marque superstar and still attaining this honor, but the reasoning then was that the Man of a Thousand Holds had stood out in a crowded pack. It was an acknowledged upset. This was the year previous to Stone Cold Steve Austin's rise (and subsequent consecutive no. 1 rankings on the 500 in '98 and '99). So what about RVD? How did he manage it, when the same year Chris Jericho was basking in his unified title reign (which he lost to Triple H at WrestleMania in a foregone conclusion; this was Hunter's drumline to dominance for the next several years, which has continued to the present), among other notable accomplishments by superstars just in WWE alone? The answer is simple. RVD has a laid-back persona and incredible flexibility that make up in charisma points whatever he loses in unrefined ring skills and general lack of mic capability. The fans love to watch him roll around the ring, splash people, and points to himself as he mouths "RVD." "Real" fans, the Internet's offical armchair grapplers, and printed page pundits, they all consider him more than worthy to have a run at the heavyweight title that Triple H dominates. Back in the WCW/ECW Invasion angle of 2001, RVD was getting some of the loudest pops (audience approval) of the incoming wrestlers, but was never really given a role to match it. He was never even taken seriously for a heavyweight championship match, despite all this love. In 2002 he accomplished the same kind of minor feats he'd been enjoying since he arrived (I think his biggest claim to fame championship-wise is the distinction of being the longest reigning ECW TV champion, which at one point had him written up in a PWI 500 top ten appearance as having been the last one in living memory, while he still held it). He got named to the top spot without having done anything major, without, it could be argued, earning it. And WWE just kept giving him nothing much to do. The complaint was that he was being held down in favor of Triple H as champion (Hunter having his own say, since he has had a relationship with the boss's daughter for about five years now, and that's culminated in marriage).
The point being? He's never made a decent WrestleMania appearance. This alone is not the big. He recently lost the Intercontinental championship to Randy Orton, an up-and-comer who happens to be aligned with Triple H. He's a champion right now, however, tag team with Booker T (another victim, of a different kind, of the WCW Invasion), but he's stuck in a swamped match at the year's biggest event (well, he didn't even make it last year, so it's a step up) with La Resistance, who will never go anywhere on the Anti-American platform they're stuck on, and rookies Mark Jindrak (actually a veteran of WCW's final days) and Garrison Cade, plus either Val Venis and Lance Storm (oooooh) or the Dudley Boys (who have sorta outstayed their welcome), depending on the outcome of a Heat match. Not exactly a match filled with prestige. Will he still be considered a great wrestler held down by the man (or Tha Man, if you consider Goldberg's successful feud with Triple H)? Of course. He might even leave, as Goldberg is rumored to after next Sunday, soon, as other rumors have put it. I hope he hasn't stuck around for this, however lucrative it is for his standing with PWI. His supporters say he wrestles to the level of his competitor. What does that really say?
Okay, speaking of Orton, he's in a match, too, and he's being swamped. But he's on his way up. This is his first WrestleMania, and he's the star of his Evolution team of himself, Batista, and Ric Flair (Batista and Flair being padding) who will face Mick Foley and The Rock. Orton and Foley have been working hard for months now to establish this match. I suspect there's so much padding because Foley can't really wrestle anymore (years of self-sacrificing bumps as the King of Hardcore did that) and, well, because it's Orton's first really big match. Make him look good, in other words. I remember when he was on Smackdown (as opposed to Raw), as he and John Cena were flailing about without the personas they're both developed now. They were not much to see then, and now they're looking to be the future of WWE, starting from a little higher than the ground up. It's been done before, by Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H (who jobbed big time to the Ultimate Warrior in '96, and look where they both are now). Will Ric Flair finally record a WrestleMania win? Hmm. Well, the Rock and Sock Connection is back. Maybe, maybe not.
Smackdown has its own mishmash tag team match in the works, mostly because it, too, doesn't have any one team that's running a very dominant show. Current champions Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi, whom many disparage because they'll never go much further over the fact that one does a move called the Worm that is probably more popular than he is and the other does the Stink Face, which is just notorious. I love Scotty, but he's been relegated to a featured player for so long, he will never go anywhere beyond that (I'm fearing the same thing with Fred Armisan on SNL, and even his starring role in the "Eurotrip" ads might not soon save him). They look to face the APA (Smackdown's answer to the Dudleys), the Bashams (developing heels), and The World's Greatest Tag Team (developing faces). It's really the Bashams and TWGTT's match to lose, because they have the most to. I'm pulling for Benjamin and Haas, who totally deserve it, and a resulting feud with the Bashams and maybe the APA (if the promo they cut Thursday on Smackdown has any indication).
Women's champion Victoria and challenger Molly have been working on developing heat and anticipation, which might be a first for two women's competitors not being pushed as mere sexpots. A welcome development. The other match featuring WWE "divas" is a promotion for the recent Torrie Wilson/Sable Playboy appearance, in which they square off against Miss Jackie and Stacy Keibler (who has made it clear in the past she never intends to pose for the magazine, so making a storyline that claims she did is less than credible and clearly aimed for less noble ends, if that makes sense). It should be noted that none of these girls has been doing much besides this lately. Stacy comes closest, but the two men who were fighting over her months ago, Test and Scott Steiner, aren't currently on the card themselves. Maybe they'll pull a cameo in this match, and further erode their credility. I know Test can't sink much lower without WWE still claiming to be using him. Whatever potential he once had, has long been squandered. He's the hushed corner version of RVD, and one-time courterer of the boss's daughter (who opened the door for Triple H and was never really thanked for it, unless his lingering in mediocrity was that, no thanks).
There's a match with spoiler potential on the card, and it's Smackdown's Cruiserweight Open, in which current champion Chavo Guerraro defends his title against all the little guys who are fit to enter. That means a whole lot of underappreciated Smackdown stars, including Rey Mysterio, Tajiri, Jamie Noble, and Paul London, who lack charisma on the mic but more than make up for it in the ring. Maybe Raw's Matt Hardy, who might now be regretting making the jump, might even show up. He wrestled Mysterio over the title last year at the same event, and at this time has nothing on his plate for the historic card. How far he fell. He would likely have been guaranteed something, maybe even a one-one one encounter with Chavo (which would have squeazed out Mysterio, but we digress...again).
One last (possible) match in this rambling commentary. Eric Bischoff vs. Vince McMahon. Boy does this sound good on paper. They've been rivals on paper since WCW was winning the Monday Night Wars with its nWo freshness. Neither is really much in the ring, but just the thought-that-counts feeling it musters would put it over. Vince has developed himself the ultimate heel persona. It'd be a shame to waste it here.
Well then. One more week.
Monday, September 22, 2003
#62. Goldberg, PWI 500, Emmy, White Stripes, Coldplay
Well, it happened. Goldberg defeated Triple H! The reign is over! Long live Goldberg!
The PWI 500 ranking, getting back to that, is drawn from a period that ends in August, so the listing and number one wrestler strays somewhat from the calender year. Brock Lesnar might have been higher up on the previous 500 had last year's Summer Slam been included, given that he won his first WWE championship in a match against The Rock then. Instead he got 17th. This time around he was No. 1! Triple H was No. 2, by the way, and Goldberg's showing was No. 39. Chances are good that it'll be different for those two come next 500, which is more or less a year away now. PWI doesn't have a website, surprisingly, so the only way to find out who made the 500 and were they landed is to pick up the magazine, which was frustrating the years I wasn't able to get my hands on it. This year, however, the editors have compiled a chart of everyone who has ever appeared in the 500 (dating back to 1991, I guess when wrestling had gained enough mainstream momentum thanks to guys like Hulk Hogan), including where they were ranked, if they were ranked.
Tired of me yappin' about wrestling? There was the Emmy's last night in addition to Unforgiven, and the highlight there for me was Conan O'Brien's spot. He was hilarious, the funniest of the dozen hosts. I might be partial. Who knows? The Shadow?
Updating a bit from a few months ago. I did pick up The White Stripes' White Blood Cells and Elephant, both albums I immediately fell in love with. Those two are amazing, an incredible find. Now if I can only find them on the radio, or even MTV or VH-1. Speaking of music videos, Coldplay is a rare breed. "The Scientist" video is a marvel, just a wonder, and I came across "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" and that was good too. The whole album A Rush of Blood to the Head is fantastic, a worthy follow-up to Parachutes. I've recived word that the band will be taking time off to develope a new sound. Hope that works out well for 'em.
I might have had a thing or two more to say, but I'll hang up the line now.
The PWI 500 ranking, getting back to that, is drawn from a period that ends in August, so the listing and number one wrestler strays somewhat from the calender year. Brock Lesnar might have been higher up on the previous 500 had last year's Summer Slam been included, given that he won his first WWE championship in a match against The Rock then. Instead he got 17th. This time around he was No. 1! Triple H was No. 2, by the way, and Goldberg's showing was No. 39. Chances are good that it'll be different for those two come next 500, which is more or less a year away now. PWI doesn't have a website, surprisingly, so the only way to find out who made the 500 and were they landed is to pick up the magazine, which was frustrating the years I wasn't able to get my hands on it. This year, however, the editors have compiled a chart of everyone who has ever appeared in the 500 (dating back to 1991, I guess when wrestling had gained enough mainstream momentum thanks to guys like Hulk Hogan), including where they were ranked, if they were ranked.
Tired of me yappin' about wrestling? There was the Emmy's last night in addition to Unforgiven, and the highlight there for me was Conan O'Brien's spot. He was hilarious, the funniest of the dozen hosts. I might be partial. Who knows? The Shadow?
Updating a bit from a few months ago. I did pick up The White Stripes' White Blood Cells and Elephant, both albums I immediately fell in love with. Those two are amazing, an incredible find. Now if I can only find them on the radio, or even MTV or VH-1. Speaking of music videos, Coldplay is a rare breed. "The Scientist" video is a marvel, just a wonder, and I came across "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" and that was good too. The whole album A Rush of Blood to the Head is fantastic, a worthy follow-up to Parachutes. I've recived word that the band will be taking time off to develope a new sound. Hope that works out well for 'em.
I might have had a thing or two more to say, but I'll hang up the line now.
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