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 Professional Wrestling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Professional Wrestling. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Sunday, January 04, 2015
#784. Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas originally published the poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" in 1952. I'm writing about it today because it seems to have become the latest go-to poem in pop culture, succeeding Yeats' "The Second Coming."
Need reminding what "...into that good night" is? Here it is:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Most notably, Michael Caine recites it in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar:
Strangely, wrestler John Cena has also done a version:
And I've seen it referenced in the pages of Grant Morrison's Annihilator. I am likely among a very select few to have noticed such a common link, between movies, professional wrestling, and comic books.
Caine's reading is particularly haunting as he intones "rage, rage" in his deepest range, creating an evocative effect as his character propels a team of astronauts into the unknown. It's a message, I think, that like "The Second Coming" speaks to our uncertainties about the future, which seems to have become the mantra of our modern age, though issued as a note of defiance. (In case you were wondering, WWE, like Levis, does tend to use classic literary references more often than you'd think.)
As a student of literature, I like seeing nods like this, especially if they're striking, as this one is in each of the instances I've spotted it lately.
Need reminding what "...into that good night" is? Here it is:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Most notably, Michael Caine recites it in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar:
Strangely, wrestler John Cena has also done a version:
And I've seen it referenced in the pages of Grant Morrison's Annihilator. I am likely among a very select few to have noticed such a common link, between movies, professional wrestling, and comic books.
Caine's reading is particularly haunting as he intones "rage, rage" in his deepest range, creating an evocative effect as his character propels a team of astronauts into the unknown. It's a message, I think, that like "The Second Coming" speaks to our uncertainties about the future, which seems to have become the mantra of our modern age, though issued as a note of defiance. (In case you were wondering, WWE, like Levis, does tend to use classic literary references more often than you'd think.)
As a student of literature, I like seeing nods like this, especially if they're striking, as this one is in each of the instances I've spotted it lately.
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.
Monday, April 07, 2014
Interrupting Cat - The Letter F
F is for a lot of things!
But mostly flies.
This explains why
The Dog
was so obsessed with them
in the original stories
(the business with "nullifying"
mentioned in Eponymous Monk).
So apparently their idea
of allegiance
is very pliable.
And so Boo
is very wise
***
You can switch off for the rest of this post, because I'll be talking about something with a long history at Scouring Monk: professional wrestling. In some ways, quasi-success has really hampered this blog. I think twice, three times, a thousand times about breaching this topic these days, because none of my readers are particularly interested in it. But this being a journal of my particular thoughts and interests, I'm still entitled to do what I like. And so that's what I'm going to do.
Last night was WrestleMania 30. Big card. And two big things happened, as it turns out. "The Streak" will mean nothing to you, but for wrestling fans, it's legendary and requires absolutely no explanation. But what it means for you other folks is the Undertaker's record at WrestleMania. It now stands at 21-1. He lost. No one else has even performed at as many WrestleManias, not by a long shot. The closest would be Kane (his "brother," who is responsible for a couple of those wins) and Triple H (who owns three of them). His first appearance on the card was back in 1991 at WrestleMania VII, which is better known for the event that saw Sgt. Slaughter, known as one of the most patriotic wrestlers of the '80s, represent Iraq in another of Hulk Hogan's epic confrontations. Perfectly predictable WWE response to Desert Storm. Undertaker defeated Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka that night. (Snuka's daughter competed last night, by the way. She lost.)
The man who defeated Undertaker was Brock Lesnar. A decade ago, everyone would have been very happy about this. Lesnar's active career with WWE ended in 2004 when he left to pursue a football career, which eventually led to a wildly successful MMA career. When he walked away, he threw off the balance of the entire wrestling landscape. He was supposed to be the Next Big Thing. Basically the new Hulk Hogan. That spot eventually went to John Cena (who has done a remarkable job with it, all told). The fans felt betrayed, though. Everything that was invested in Lesnar for a span of only a few years was thrown away in an instant. He returned a couple of years ago as a part-time competitor. All of Lesnar's fights now are considered events just because he's in them. Win or lose, he's afforded a considerable amount of respect from the company. This is about as far as that can go, and it says quite a bit about what WWE thinks of him that Lesnar was given the honor of breaking "The Streak." I think he deserves it. The fact that he came back at all, and is now in the third year of this new arrangement, is far, far more than anyone could have ever expected. His presence has once again shifted the landscape. WWE no longer requires a regular commitment from all of its performers, and this is a hugely positive thing. Professional wrestlers have no off-season. They're on the road most of the year. It was this very thing that caused Lesnar to walk away in the first place. Obviously this spot isn't for everyone. But Lesnar has proven it can work, and he's been rewarded for it. Fans will grumble about it, but I've found fans grumble about everything. So I pay less and less attention to what fans say.
The other big thing was Daniel Bryan's night. (Well, besides Cesaro's night, which was also pretty great.) Bryan beat Triple H in the opening contest to win the chance to compete in the main event, against Randy Orton and Batista (to be seen later this summer in Guardians of the Galaxy). It might be interpreted that Bryan got this moment for the same reason Chris Benoit did at WrestleMania 20, because it's an anniversary card that doesn't necessarily have to rely on what actually happened so much as, say, the fact that Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock were all there to open the show. Benoit was given half the year to prove that he deserved to have gotten that spot. The difference with Bryan is that he's been fighting his way to the top for a couple of years now. What happened last night actually began in December 2011 when he won the world championship and started chanting "Yes!" for the first time. Today's "Yes Movement" is a direct response to that moment. His underdog story, his rebelling against the system story, his crossing the boss story, that's all been developing since then. Actually, since 2010, when he originally came to WWE, which itself was a whole process. Daniel Bryan is no Chris Benoit (thank goodness!). He's earned the spot in every way possible. A lot of baseball players have taken to growing woolly beards. He was there first. (There was an A's player, Josh Reddick, who actively competed against Bryan in this regard. And while I certainly can't prove it, but the World Champion Red Sox and their "Fear the Beard" movement from last season might have everything to do with this trend, too.) He's been in a program that attempts to justify a smaller-than-average competitor in the main event since last summer. He'll very likely still be in it well past this summer.
I couldn't be happier for him.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
#699. If CM Punk Really Is Done
Since January 26, 2014, CM Punk has been absent from WWE programming.
Now, for people who aren't really big into wrestling, this perhaps isn't that big a deal. You may not even know who CM Punk is. But for wrestling fans, this has been a burning topic of discussion since that day, or rather, the following night on Raw when he failed to show up for the first time. People figured that night, maybe he was just taking the night off. Then he didn't show up again. And again. And again. Here it is, as I'm typing this post in advance a day, March 10. WrestleMania 30 is only a month away. This is WWE's biggest card of the year any year, but this is also obviously an anniversary card, celebrating three decades of the event. You'd expect one of the company's biggest stars to leap at the opportunity to participate in it.
Apparently you would be wrong. There's always the chance, us hopeful fans keep insisting, that this is all a storyline, that this topic will automatically be moot by the time it loads, because Punk will have returned last night. But I don't see that as happening. It would be awesome. (Or rather, if it did happen, it was awesome.) But I think this is real, I think Punk is serious in taking a sabbatical or outright walking away, and...it might be the smartest thing he ever did.
Other big name wrestlers have done this sort of thing. Bret Hart voluntarily did so after he lost the epic hour-long iron man match to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 12 in 1996. He gave Michaels all the room he needed to establish his championship reign. Of course, a number of ironies resulted. When Hart came back that fall, he did so in a program with a guy named Steve Austin, whose career peak Hart would help solidify as happening just one year after a historic match at 1997's WrestleMania 13.
A match that didn't happen at WrestleMania 13, obviously, was a rematch between Hart and Michaels. Michaels had spent the rest of 1996 as champion, except for a few months, and was still primed to defend his title at the big card in 1997. Except he didn't want a rematch with Hart. He chose to walk away. That was the first of the truly infamous moments involving these two. Wrestling fans know it from Michaels' "I lost my smile" speech he made while surrendering the title that February.
It's Austin who is the other major participant in this trend that I will talk about. Austin did, of course, become a major star in WWE. I'm sure you're at least familiar with the name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. For a couple of years, he was the undisputed top star of professional wrestling. Then in 2002, he was asked to make way for someone else, someone completely different from him, a guy named Brock Lesnar. He was asked to lose a match on Raw, and instead of going along with that, Austin walked away, and that was in fact the end of his active in-ring career.
Incredibly, fans finally got over that. It helped that he embarked on a goodwill tour as a personality on Raw throughout 2003. He didn't walk away from WWE completely.
That will probably be one of the differences between him and Punk, if Punk stays away forever, as he very easily could.
Michaels, by the way, came back, too. He took his time getting back into the main event, where Hart once again sat in the meantime. The two clashed again in the most infamous moment between them, the "Montreal Screwjob" incident at the 1997 Survivor Series, which directly impacted the course of both their careers as well as wrestling in general. Hart had signed a deal with WCW, which was the whole reason it was deemed necessary to tamper with the ending of the match so that under no uncertain terms Michaels won. But Hart and WCW were never quite in sync. He spent a few years there, but his wrestling years came to an abrupt end due to a concussion (one of the earliest moments in any sports/entertainment medium where a concussion had a public acknowledgment and obvious effect; former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe was another pioneer of this dubious honor). Michaels suffered a debilitating back injury not long after the match and stuck around long enough to pass the torch to Austin at WrestleMania 14 in 1998, and didn't compete again until 2002. Austin's career benefited considerably from the controversy. He was the embodiment of the little man who wouldn't allow the big man to push him around.
Now, Punk. Punk has always been an interesting case. He will probably go down in the history books as the defining star of this current professional wrestling age. That honor would seem to wait for John Cena, the current, decade-long WWE golden boy, but it's Punk who managed to be a breakout star and major headliner in two separate promotions by playing things his own way, time and time again refusing to compromise. His career routinely suffered for it. WWE almost never knew what to do with him, and never seemed to worry about it.
Punk is in possession of a healthy ego. Which, as I've actually argued here, is probably a pretty massive one. He's in possession of a sense of entitlement. Maybe that's required for anyone who appears in the public spotlight and stays there for years. After a small taste, some people will do anything to keep that spotlight, will even come to believe that there's no reason why their success shouldn't be greater and greater, despite the fact that for some people, any success is success, and that indeed, any success just never seems possible.
He spent years competing for one of the leading independent wrestling promotions in the States, Ring of Honor. He was never tapped as a long-term champion. His only reign as champion was for a few months, after he'd already signed the deal to leave and start up with WWE. Punk's calling card was always his ability to stand out from the pack. The pack he originally began with was one of those backyard promotions all of WWE's adult adversary warnings tell you to avoid ("do not try this at home!"). "CM" stands for "Chick Magnet." No kidding. He had humble origins. But success that seemed to come so easily, he wanted more and more.
And of course he deserved it. Those who are obviously good at something deserve to succeed at it. It's awesome, a triumph for everyone, when true talent is not only recognized but acknowledged. CM Punk's story is all about that. Ego in this case is a matter of self-awareness as much as anything.
Of course, the fact is he entered WWE at a time when it was, and remains, the only major promotion in the States. ROH hasn't reached that stage. Total Nonstop Action, the leading contender, hasn't despite a series of bold moves and arguably being long worthy of the status (that fans still argue otherwise is really the main reason it hasn't, perhaps because after the epic collapses of both WCW and ECW, it just seems easier to keep only one thumb in the pie). That means, basically, a monopoly. That means WWE is in total control of who becomes a major star.
And it also has to try and make those stars. This is an era that has proven this to be a task easier said than done. Major stars don't just happen. Austin took years to become one, was even told by WCW that he would never become one. Hulk Hogan faced similar opposition in his early years (no, really!), because bigger men didn't elicit the necessary sympathy from the fans to warrant being champion for long, much less to be a good guy. And despite that, Hogan became one of the wrestlers most associated with a heroic persona for more than a decade (before he enjoyed equal success as a bad guy!).
Hogan always played by the rules. Austin, despite appearances in the ring contrary to this, always played by the rules (until he walked away).
Punk never played by the rules. And that's why his path to success was all the more improbable. Fans instantly recognized him as the breakout star of WWE's ECW revival in 2006. They expected him to be ECW champion by the end of that year. Instant champions like that almost never happen. Kurt Angle, the Olympic gold medalist, is a rare exception, the more recent Alberto Del Rio another. It takes the ability to adapt to the WWE style instantly.
Like I said, Punk always did it his own way. WWE tested him out as a top-level champion a couple of times in 2008 and 2009. None of his reigns in this period were very long, and none of them saw him carry any significant weight for the company. It was just to see how he'd perform.
But Punk didn't really happen as a WWE phenomenon until he finally did what he'd done in ROH in his final months, break the fourth wall. In one of the most famous promos in wrestling history, Punk said he'd be walking away, regardless of whether or not he beat Cena at the 2011 Money in the Bank. Even if he became champion. He'd had enough. It was classic bait-and-switch. His hometown crowd in Chicago ate him up all night at Money in the Bank. The fans sold that moment into becoming as legendary as any other hallmark moment in wrestling history.
And of course he came back. He soon enough started a year-long-plus reign as champion. Punk never did have a signature program during this time. Most of the spotlight remained on Cena. Punk did whatever he was asked, he was the company man during his reign as champion. And then he lost the title, and started playing by his rules again.
A year later, Punk could have main evented WrestleMania 30. He and Daniel Bryan have equal cause to call themselves true breakout, major stars in WWE, a status that hasn't happened for anyone in years. Daniel Bryan's career parallels Punk's in a lot of many ways, but he's had a comparatively rapid ascent up the ladder compared to Punk. He made his WWE debut in 2010, lost his job after a controversial moment in the ring, but was resigned thanks to popular demand. From there, he did whatever the company needed him to do. He didn't start to distinguish himself until he was made champion for the first time. The more he proved himself at the highest level, the more WWE had to wonder if his small stature was something that didn't have to stand in his way after all. And so that's the question the company faces today, regardless of where Punk stands.
Except it's Punk who's the most charismatic star from recent years, Punk who has the ability to pull off a wide variety of matches and can talk his way around any subject, play any role, be the hero and villain, sometimes at the same time, the way Austin used to. Except while Austin had the benefit of always having the company's full support...Punk never has.
He is, after all, a punk. No major wrestling star has changed his look so often. Punk's trademark stringy locks were shaved by the time the company considered keeping him in the main event. He's played around with his facial hair so many times, his most recent mutton chop look is the first time I realized he could easily succeed Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, is perhaps the only credible personality who could at the moment, the cynical loner who sometimes plays along, but only when he gets what he wants. And when he doesn't, he walks away.
Punk hasn't spoken about his motives since his disappearance in January. In fact, he hasn't really spoken at all. Maybe it's ego. Maybe he desperately needed his body to rest. Maybe he was dissatisfied with other decisions WWE had been making at the time. Nobody knows.
But the one thing fans ought to know is that unlike Bret Hart, unlike Shawn Michaels, unlike Steve Austin, Punk's walkout comes at a time where he could very well say he's done everything he needs to do, but can still do more if he wants to. He could be a bigger star. Hart didn't become a bigger star. Michaels didn't become a bigger star (although inarguably his 2002 comeback made him beloved for the first time). Austin certainly didn't become a bigger star.
It's a turning point. He decided to take the opportunity to once again do the unexpected. This punk most definitely plays by his own rules.
Punk is the Ric Flair of this era. Flair was the only WCW star WWE allowed to be exactly as he always was when he wrestled for them. They let him keep his name, his reputation, everything. Flair's WWE success was instantaneous. In today's landscape, the curve is wider, but Punk kept everything, too, and it's telling that his signature moments in ROH and WWE are exactly the same, but fans have never held that against him. He's always had the perfect wrestling instinct. And he's improved. That's incredibly rare.
His reputation will grow. Perhaps especially if he has truly walked away forever. CM Punk will have done what no other wrestler before him could. He took control of his own destiny. And not just on January 27, 2014, but for more than a decade before that. That just doesn't happen.
You're looking at an emerging modern legend.
Now, for people who aren't really big into wrestling, this perhaps isn't that big a deal. You may not even know who CM Punk is. But for wrestling fans, this has been a burning topic of discussion since that day, or rather, the following night on Raw when he failed to show up for the first time. People figured that night, maybe he was just taking the night off. Then he didn't show up again. And again. And again. Here it is, as I'm typing this post in advance a day, March 10. WrestleMania 30 is only a month away. This is WWE's biggest card of the year any year, but this is also obviously an anniversary card, celebrating three decades of the event. You'd expect one of the company's biggest stars to leap at the opportunity to participate in it.
Apparently you would be wrong. There's always the chance, us hopeful fans keep insisting, that this is all a storyline, that this topic will automatically be moot by the time it loads, because Punk will have returned last night. But I don't see that as happening. It would be awesome. (Or rather, if it did happen, it was awesome.) But I think this is real, I think Punk is serious in taking a sabbatical or outright walking away, and...it might be the smartest thing he ever did.
Other big name wrestlers have done this sort of thing. Bret Hart voluntarily did so after he lost the epic hour-long iron man match to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 12 in 1996. He gave Michaels all the room he needed to establish his championship reign. Of course, a number of ironies resulted. When Hart came back that fall, he did so in a program with a guy named Steve Austin, whose career peak Hart would help solidify as happening just one year after a historic match at 1997's WrestleMania 13.
A match that didn't happen at WrestleMania 13, obviously, was a rematch between Hart and Michaels. Michaels had spent the rest of 1996 as champion, except for a few months, and was still primed to defend his title at the big card in 1997. Except he didn't want a rematch with Hart. He chose to walk away. That was the first of the truly infamous moments involving these two. Wrestling fans know it from Michaels' "I lost my smile" speech he made while surrendering the title that February.
It's Austin who is the other major participant in this trend that I will talk about. Austin did, of course, become a major star in WWE. I'm sure you're at least familiar with the name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. For a couple of years, he was the undisputed top star of professional wrestling. Then in 2002, he was asked to make way for someone else, someone completely different from him, a guy named Brock Lesnar. He was asked to lose a match on Raw, and instead of going along with that, Austin walked away, and that was in fact the end of his active in-ring career.
Incredibly, fans finally got over that. It helped that he embarked on a goodwill tour as a personality on Raw throughout 2003. He didn't walk away from WWE completely.
That will probably be one of the differences between him and Punk, if Punk stays away forever, as he very easily could.
Michaels, by the way, came back, too. He took his time getting back into the main event, where Hart once again sat in the meantime. The two clashed again in the most infamous moment between them, the "Montreal Screwjob" incident at the 1997 Survivor Series, which directly impacted the course of both their careers as well as wrestling in general. Hart had signed a deal with WCW, which was the whole reason it was deemed necessary to tamper with the ending of the match so that under no uncertain terms Michaels won. But Hart and WCW were never quite in sync. He spent a few years there, but his wrestling years came to an abrupt end due to a concussion (one of the earliest moments in any sports/entertainment medium where a concussion had a public acknowledgment and obvious effect; former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe was another pioneer of this dubious honor). Michaels suffered a debilitating back injury not long after the match and stuck around long enough to pass the torch to Austin at WrestleMania 14 in 1998, and didn't compete again until 2002. Austin's career benefited considerably from the controversy. He was the embodiment of the little man who wouldn't allow the big man to push him around.
Now, Punk. Punk has always been an interesting case. He will probably go down in the history books as the defining star of this current professional wrestling age. That honor would seem to wait for John Cena, the current, decade-long WWE golden boy, but it's Punk who managed to be a breakout star and major headliner in two separate promotions by playing things his own way, time and time again refusing to compromise. His career routinely suffered for it. WWE almost never knew what to do with him, and never seemed to worry about it.
Punk is in possession of a healthy ego. Which, as I've actually argued here, is probably a pretty massive one. He's in possession of a sense of entitlement. Maybe that's required for anyone who appears in the public spotlight and stays there for years. After a small taste, some people will do anything to keep that spotlight, will even come to believe that there's no reason why their success shouldn't be greater and greater, despite the fact that for some people, any success is success, and that indeed, any success just never seems possible.
He spent years competing for one of the leading independent wrestling promotions in the States, Ring of Honor. He was never tapped as a long-term champion. His only reign as champion was for a few months, after he'd already signed the deal to leave and start up with WWE. Punk's calling card was always his ability to stand out from the pack. The pack he originally began with was one of those backyard promotions all of WWE's adult adversary warnings tell you to avoid ("do not try this at home!"). "CM" stands for "Chick Magnet." No kidding. He had humble origins. But success that seemed to come so easily, he wanted more and more.
And of course he deserved it. Those who are obviously good at something deserve to succeed at it. It's awesome, a triumph for everyone, when true talent is not only recognized but acknowledged. CM Punk's story is all about that. Ego in this case is a matter of self-awareness as much as anything.
Of course, the fact is he entered WWE at a time when it was, and remains, the only major promotion in the States. ROH hasn't reached that stage. Total Nonstop Action, the leading contender, hasn't despite a series of bold moves and arguably being long worthy of the status (that fans still argue otherwise is really the main reason it hasn't, perhaps because after the epic collapses of both WCW and ECW, it just seems easier to keep only one thumb in the pie). That means, basically, a monopoly. That means WWE is in total control of who becomes a major star.
And it also has to try and make those stars. This is an era that has proven this to be a task easier said than done. Major stars don't just happen. Austin took years to become one, was even told by WCW that he would never become one. Hulk Hogan faced similar opposition in his early years (no, really!), because bigger men didn't elicit the necessary sympathy from the fans to warrant being champion for long, much less to be a good guy. And despite that, Hogan became one of the wrestlers most associated with a heroic persona for more than a decade (before he enjoyed equal success as a bad guy!).
Hogan always played by the rules. Austin, despite appearances in the ring contrary to this, always played by the rules (until he walked away).
Punk never played by the rules. And that's why his path to success was all the more improbable. Fans instantly recognized him as the breakout star of WWE's ECW revival in 2006. They expected him to be ECW champion by the end of that year. Instant champions like that almost never happen. Kurt Angle, the Olympic gold medalist, is a rare exception, the more recent Alberto Del Rio another. It takes the ability to adapt to the WWE style instantly.
Like I said, Punk always did it his own way. WWE tested him out as a top-level champion a couple of times in 2008 and 2009. None of his reigns in this period were very long, and none of them saw him carry any significant weight for the company. It was just to see how he'd perform.
But Punk didn't really happen as a WWE phenomenon until he finally did what he'd done in ROH in his final months, break the fourth wall. In one of the most famous promos in wrestling history, Punk said he'd be walking away, regardless of whether or not he beat Cena at the 2011 Money in the Bank. Even if he became champion. He'd had enough. It was classic bait-and-switch. His hometown crowd in Chicago ate him up all night at Money in the Bank. The fans sold that moment into becoming as legendary as any other hallmark moment in wrestling history.
And of course he came back. He soon enough started a year-long-plus reign as champion. Punk never did have a signature program during this time. Most of the spotlight remained on Cena. Punk did whatever he was asked, he was the company man during his reign as champion. And then he lost the title, and started playing by his rules again.
A year later, Punk could have main evented WrestleMania 30. He and Daniel Bryan have equal cause to call themselves true breakout, major stars in WWE, a status that hasn't happened for anyone in years. Daniel Bryan's career parallels Punk's in a lot of many ways, but he's had a comparatively rapid ascent up the ladder compared to Punk. He made his WWE debut in 2010, lost his job after a controversial moment in the ring, but was resigned thanks to popular demand. From there, he did whatever the company needed him to do. He didn't start to distinguish himself until he was made champion for the first time. The more he proved himself at the highest level, the more WWE had to wonder if his small stature was something that didn't have to stand in his way after all. And so that's the question the company faces today, regardless of where Punk stands.
Except it's Punk who's the most charismatic star from recent years, Punk who has the ability to pull off a wide variety of matches and can talk his way around any subject, play any role, be the hero and villain, sometimes at the same time, the way Austin used to. Except while Austin had the benefit of always having the company's full support...Punk never has.
He is, after all, a punk. No major wrestling star has changed his look so often. Punk's trademark stringy locks were shaved by the time the company considered keeping him in the main event. He's played around with his facial hair so many times, his most recent mutton chop look is the first time I realized he could easily succeed Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, is perhaps the only credible personality who could at the moment, the cynical loner who sometimes plays along, but only when he gets what he wants. And when he doesn't, he walks away.
Punk hasn't spoken about his motives since his disappearance in January. In fact, he hasn't really spoken at all. Maybe it's ego. Maybe he desperately needed his body to rest. Maybe he was dissatisfied with other decisions WWE had been making at the time. Nobody knows.
But the one thing fans ought to know is that unlike Bret Hart, unlike Shawn Michaels, unlike Steve Austin, Punk's walkout comes at a time where he could very well say he's done everything he needs to do, but can still do more if he wants to. He could be a bigger star. Hart didn't become a bigger star. Michaels didn't become a bigger star (although inarguably his 2002 comeback made him beloved for the first time). Austin certainly didn't become a bigger star.
It's a turning point. He decided to take the opportunity to once again do the unexpected. This punk most definitely plays by his own rules.
Punk is the Ric Flair of this era. Flair was the only WCW star WWE allowed to be exactly as he always was when he wrestled for them. They let him keep his name, his reputation, everything. Flair's WWE success was instantaneous. In today's landscape, the curve is wider, but Punk kept everything, too, and it's telling that his signature moments in ROH and WWE are exactly the same, but fans have never held that against him. He's always had the perfect wrestling instinct. And he's improved. That's incredibly rare.
His reputation will grow. Perhaps especially if he has truly walked away forever. CM Punk will have done what no other wrestler before him could. He took control of his own destiny. And not just on January 27, 2014, but for more than a decade before that. That just doesn't happen.
You're looking at an emerging modern legend.
Monday, December 23, 2013
#656. The year in wrestling
2013 was an interesting year to be a wrestling fan, not 1998 interesting (when you had the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Goldberg, the nWo, and just about everything else firing on all cylinders), but about as good a year as you can have without any significant mainstream interest in the product.
The year started with as much of that as you could expect with Dwayne Johnson's reprise of The Rock hitting its stride as he defeated CM Punk for the WWE championship (snapping an historic reign that lasted for more than a year), setting up the John Cena rematch at WrestleMania 29, an encounter that was better than last year's original for having something they could both work off of.
After that both WWE and wrestling as a whole struggled to find a way to follow up on that. Cena is this generation's golden boy, the company face who has been dominating the top of the scene for years now, and this was supposed to be the year where he got to enjoy that again for the first time in a while (it may be worth noting that he'd been building toward this moment since 2010). He eventually used it as a way to help push the career of Daniel Bryan into the main event, which is something that happened at this year's Summer Slam. The results of that moment are still developing, so they're a little hard to fully appreciate, but here's what it's looked like for the past few months:
Daniel Bryan is a consummate wrestler's wrestler. His emergence as a viable personality has been one of the more surprising career breakthroughs of the past few years (and perhaps interestingly or not, but this is also a journey that began in 2010). After beating Cena for the WWE title, he was immediately thrust into a program with Triple H and Randy Orton that looked for all intents and purposes like the 2013 version of the Steve Austin saga. But it took a few additional turns. Orton eventually clamped onto the title, and a couple of weeks ago defeated Cena, who had returned after taking a brief hiatus to capture the world heavyweight championship, which meant for the first time since 2002 the company has an undisputed champion in Orton.
Daniel Bryan, meanwhile, isn't done yet. Cena keeps reminding fans that he's still a viable contender, which could bode very interesting for WrestleMania 30. Who knows where the company is going with this? Bryan could win the 2014 Royal Rumble and as a result head to the top of the year's biggest card. It would be the first time since 2005 that the company has attempted to make a permanent new headliner at WrestleMania. Then again, he might be headed to a match with the Undertaker, who has consistently defended his WrestleMania winning streak against stars who had breakout years in the preceding twelve months but the company had since moved on from, which is what happened to CM Punk this year. Punk was supposed to be the major star of 2012, and by all rights he was, but given that the company had to keep a huge emphasis on Cena to keep the Rock momentum going, there was only so much Punk could do to keep his name among WWE's most prominent even as champion.
There's also Ryback. Ryback was supposed to be the new Goldberg, the WWE Goldberg. Goldberg in the WWE wasn't like the WCW Goldberg (as I watched the recent DVD career compilation, I realized more and more than the WCW Goldberg was different and far more interesting than fans have generally admitted). But as the WWE Goldberg from the start, Ryback has had a tall order to fulfill. His journey began in 2012. Most expectations assumed he'd be much farther along at this point, and losing far fewer matches (including the stunner at this year's WrestleMania against Mark Henry), but all this is guaranteeing that if he ever makes it as far as it seems he should, he won't be the WWE Goldberg after all. He won't be Brock Lesnar. He won't even be Batista (who rumors are suggesting will be making a 2014 comeback). This will be a monster who is used to being a part of the machine, who has had a huge push and also known the humbling phase most stars must experience. Goldberg didn't have that. Lesnar didn't have that. After WWE realized what it had in him, Batista didn't have that. If it works, Ryback could be huge in 2014. Just not in 2013. But by all means, feed him more, guys!
In TNA, the Aces & Eights angle dominated the company for the early part of the year, until someone realized that company ace A.J. Styles had been set up to make a defining impact at this year's Bound for Glory, the TNA equivalent of WrestleMania. Enough people had already been describing the Phenomenal One's dramatic makeover as too reminiscent of Sting's from the nWo era (when he turned into the Crow) that the gears obviously had to be shifted. So the transitional Chris Sabin reign with the TNA championship happened. Bully Ray won it back. And then Styles did what he was supposed to. And then the company did what all three major US promotions did this year: it made the championship scene interesting again by putting the champion's status in dispute, thus making it far more important in 2013 than in a very long time to be talking about the company's champion. Styles has been haggling over a new contract with TNA for weeks now. It's conceivable that the company's franchise player will be leaving. Conceivable and inconceivable at the same time! In the meantime, Magnus recently captured the title after it had been vacated by the company but not A.J. Styles, who has been touring the globe with it. Magnus is interesting, because TNA has been trying to make a British wrestler significant in the company for years now. This is the guy who finally made it happen. He's a fresh face and comes with far fewer expectations than anyone else they've tried in this position (Bobby Roode, James Storm, Austin Aries, Sabin). If he comes out of the Styles program looking good, he might be the guy who turns the company's fortunes around to actual significance in competition with WWE.
Ken Anderson, meanwhile, is just one of many wrestlers who were once significant in WWE but turned to TNA for a second chance. He had a big year in 2011, capturing the TNA championship twice. If he didn't make it bigger at that time it was because TNA has always been a company that finds it difficult to focus on one star long enough to really make a difference. A few times, guys like Styles, Roode, Kurt Angle, and Jeff Hardy have had that opportunity, but time and again TNA fails to capitalize with a program as memorable as the champion. Jeff Jarrett, ironically, came closest. As co-founder of the company, he was also the perennial champion for the first few years, the heel in the same vein as Triple H and JBL that everyone just wanted to see defeated already. Anderson struggled to bounce back. 2013 was a good year for that, though. He'd joined the Aces & Eights faction as the most notable name defector not previously established as a secret member, but his role in that capacity wasn't significant until he made the decision to leave. I'm hoping this is momentum he can use to have a bigger 2014. He's long been a favorite of mine, one of wrestling's best personalities and unusual in the ring besides. I would not mind at all if he makes it back to the top of the card.
ROH, the third promotion in the American cog, actually got the ball rolling as far as the 2013 disputed championship scene went, and this was something the company badly needed, after losing most of its defining stars in the past few years (including CM Punk and Daniel Bryan). The Briscoe brothers who are not the 1970s Brisco brothers (which eventually gave us one of Mr. McMahon's favorite stooges) had their chance to shine when Jay Briscoe captured the ROH championship. In an echo of the same quagmire Shawn Michaels found himself in in 1993 that eventually led to the historic 1994 ladder match at WrestleMania 10, Jay's contract with the company was terminated during his reign, and so ROH went in search of a new champion, and found it in Adam Cole, a face as equally fresh as Magnus. But by year's end, Jay was challenging Cole's right to the title. Could make for a very interesting early 2014 for the company.
On the indy scene, John Morrison remained active. Morrison is another huge favorite of mine, a WWE star who like Ken Anderson (then known as Mr. Kennedy) never quite broke through to the level of success his talent richly deserved. His contract expired at the end of 2011, and Morrison took time off to heal nagging injuries. Reports of his imminent return have been circulating almost since the time he left, and maybe that will finally happen in 2014. I can certainly hope!
And Corporate Kane happened. How did Kane become the most interesting and most likely to evolve personality in wrestling? Glen Jacobs had tried a couple of times to make a name for himself in WWE. His first name was Isaac Yankem, Jerry Lawler's dentist. Then he was the New Diesel. Then he was Kane, the Undertaker's masked brother. Then Kane unmasked. Then he masked up again. And now he's probably the most interesting thing about Triple H's Authority regime. So, yes, Corporate Kane. It only figures!
Other names to watch in 2014 include the members of the Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, who somehow sustained their big debut in the fall of 2012 for a full year), the Wyatt Family (who have somehow managed to duplicate the success of the Shield), Cody Rhodes (thanks to big brother Goldust, getting another shot at a breakthrough), Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler (both looking, as always, for something worthy of their talents), Big E Langston (receiving a big push now), and who knows as far as new and returning wrestlers!
The year started with as much of that as you could expect with Dwayne Johnson's reprise of The Rock hitting its stride as he defeated CM Punk for the WWE championship (snapping an historic reign that lasted for more than a year), setting up the John Cena rematch at WrestleMania 29, an encounter that was better than last year's original for having something they could both work off of.
After that both WWE and wrestling as a whole struggled to find a way to follow up on that. Cena is this generation's golden boy, the company face who has been dominating the top of the scene for years now, and this was supposed to be the year where he got to enjoy that again for the first time in a while (it may be worth noting that he'd been building toward this moment since 2010). He eventually used it as a way to help push the career of Daniel Bryan into the main event, which is something that happened at this year's Summer Slam. The results of that moment are still developing, so they're a little hard to fully appreciate, but here's what it's looked like for the past few months:
Daniel Bryan is a consummate wrestler's wrestler. His emergence as a viable personality has been one of the more surprising career breakthroughs of the past few years (and perhaps interestingly or not, but this is also a journey that began in 2010). After beating Cena for the WWE title, he was immediately thrust into a program with Triple H and Randy Orton that looked for all intents and purposes like the 2013 version of the Steve Austin saga. But it took a few additional turns. Orton eventually clamped onto the title, and a couple of weeks ago defeated Cena, who had returned after taking a brief hiatus to capture the world heavyweight championship, which meant for the first time since 2002 the company has an undisputed champion in Orton.
Daniel Bryan, meanwhile, isn't done yet. Cena keeps reminding fans that he's still a viable contender, which could bode very interesting for WrestleMania 30. Who knows where the company is going with this? Bryan could win the 2014 Royal Rumble and as a result head to the top of the year's biggest card. It would be the first time since 2005 that the company has attempted to make a permanent new headliner at WrestleMania. Then again, he might be headed to a match with the Undertaker, who has consistently defended his WrestleMania winning streak against stars who had breakout years in the preceding twelve months but the company had since moved on from, which is what happened to CM Punk this year. Punk was supposed to be the major star of 2012, and by all rights he was, but given that the company had to keep a huge emphasis on Cena to keep the Rock momentum going, there was only so much Punk could do to keep his name among WWE's most prominent even as champion.
There's also Ryback. Ryback was supposed to be the new Goldberg, the WWE Goldberg. Goldberg in the WWE wasn't like the WCW Goldberg (as I watched the recent DVD career compilation, I realized more and more than the WCW Goldberg was different and far more interesting than fans have generally admitted). But as the WWE Goldberg from the start, Ryback has had a tall order to fulfill. His journey began in 2012. Most expectations assumed he'd be much farther along at this point, and losing far fewer matches (including the stunner at this year's WrestleMania against Mark Henry), but all this is guaranteeing that if he ever makes it as far as it seems he should, he won't be the WWE Goldberg after all. He won't be Brock Lesnar. He won't even be Batista (who rumors are suggesting will be making a 2014 comeback). This will be a monster who is used to being a part of the machine, who has had a huge push and also known the humbling phase most stars must experience. Goldberg didn't have that. Lesnar didn't have that. After WWE realized what it had in him, Batista didn't have that. If it works, Ryback could be huge in 2014. Just not in 2013. But by all means, feed him more, guys!
In TNA, the Aces & Eights angle dominated the company for the early part of the year, until someone realized that company ace A.J. Styles had been set up to make a defining impact at this year's Bound for Glory, the TNA equivalent of WrestleMania. Enough people had already been describing the Phenomenal One's dramatic makeover as too reminiscent of Sting's from the nWo era (when he turned into the Crow) that the gears obviously had to be shifted. So the transitional Chris Sabin reign with the TNA championship happened. Bully Ray won it back. And then Styles did what he was supposed to. And then the company did what all three major US promotions did this year: it made the championship scene interesting again by putting the champion's status in dispute, thus making it far more important in 2013 than in a very long time to be talking about the company's champion. Styles has been haggling over a new contract with TNA for weeks now. It's conceivable that the company's franchise player will be leaving. Conceivable and inconceivable at the same time! In the meantime, Magnus recently captured the title after it had been vacated by the company but not A.J. Styles, who has been touring the globe with it. Magnus is interesting, because TNA has been trying to make a British wrestler significant in the company for years now. This is the guy who finally made it happen. He's a fresh face and comes with far fewer expectations than anyone else they've tried in this position (Bobby Roode, James Storm, Austin Aries, Sabin). If he comes out of the Styles program looking good, he might be the guy who turns the company's fortunes around to actual significance in competition with WWE.
Ken Anderson, meanwhile, is just one of many wrestlers who were once significant in WWE but turned to TNA for a second chance. He had a big year in 2011, capturing the TNA championship twice. If he didn't make it bigger at that time it was because TNA has always been a company that finds it difficult to focus on one star long enough to really make a difference. A few times, guys like Styles, Roode, Kurt Angle, and Jeff Hardy have had that opportunity, but time and again TNA fails to capitalize with a program as memorable as the champion. Jeff Jarrett, ironically, came closest. As co-founder of the company, he was also the perennial champion for the first few years, the heel in the same vein as Triple H and JBL that everyone just wanted to see defeated already. Anderson struggled to bounce back. 2013 was a good year for that, though. He'd joined the Aces & Eights faction as the most notable name defector not previously established as a secret member, but his role in that capacity wasn't significant until he made the decision to leave. I'm hoping this is momentum he can use to have a bigger 2014. He's long been a favorite of mine, one of wrestling's best personalities and unusual in the ring besides. I would not mind at all if he makes it back to the top of the card.
ROH, the third promotion in the American cog, actually got the ball rolling as far as the 2013 disputed championship scene went, and this was something the company badly needed, after losing most of its defining stars in the past few years (including CM Punk and Daniel Bryan). The Briscoe brothers who are not the 1970s Brisco brothers (which eventually gave us one of Mr. McMahon's favorite stooges) had their chance to shine when Jay Briscoe captured the ROH championship. In an echo of the same quagmire Shawn Michaels found himself in in 1993 that eventually led to the historic 1994 ladder match at WrestleMania 10, Jay's contract with the company was terminated during his reign, and so ROH went in search of a new champion, and found it in Adam Cole, a face as equally fresh as Magnus. But by year's end, Jay was challenging Cole's right to the title. Could make for a very interesting early 2014 for the company.
On the indy scene, John Morrison remained active. Morrison is another huge favorite of mine, a WWE star who like Ken Anderson (then known as Mr. Kennedy) never quite broke through to the level of success his talent richly deserved. His contract expired at the end of 2011, and Morrison took time off to heal nagging injuries. Reports of his imminent return have been circulating almost since the time he left, and maybe that will finally happen in 2014. I can certainly hope!
And Corporate Kane happened. How did Kane become the most interesting and most likely to evolve personality in wrestling? Glen Jacobs had tried a couple of times to make a name for himself in WWE. His first name was Isaac Yankem, Jerry Lawler's dentist. Then he was the New Diesel. Then he was Kane, the Undertaker's masked brother. Then Kane unmasked. Then he masked up again. And now he's probably the most interesting thing about Triple H's Authority regime. So, yes, Corporate Kane. It only figures!
Other names to watch in 2014 include the members of the Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, who somehow sustained their big debut in the fall of 2012 for a full year), the Wyatt Family (who have somehow managed to duplicate the success of the Shield), Cody Rhodes (thanks to big brother Goldust, getting another shot at a breakthrough), Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler (both looking, as always, for something worthy of their talents), Big E Langston (receiving a big push now), and who knows as far as new and returning wrestlers!
Friday, July 19, 2013
#596. TNA making an impact
One of the things I've regularly talked about here at Scouring Monk that has never particularly interested my readers is professional wrestling...and really, I'm okay with that. So here we go again.
Chris Sabin just became the new TNA world champion. You may not know who Chris Sabin is, or much less what TNA stands for, but this is pretty big for both, trust me.
First off, TNA stands for Total Nonstop Action. And yes, probably in the beginning it was meant to be a double entendre. The name of its weekly TV show is Impact Wrestling, and there's been speculation in the past that the promotion could very well adopt that as its name in general. TNA is the second largest wrestling promotion in North America, behind WWE (and yes, there are others, including ROH - Ring of Honor - which has existed for as long as TNA has, twelve years). It's like the bastard child of WCW and ECW, but it's become its own beast over the years, despite a steady stream of naysayers who have attempted to point out that it was always doomed to failure. They said the same thing about the WNBA, and that's still running.
The wrestling market is not anywhere near as strong as it was in the late 90s, or the glory days of the 1980s, when Hulkamania was running wild and Ric Flair styled and profiled. It's not popular to be a fan of this stuff, partly because it's hard to justify an interest in a sport that was long ago exposed as mostly make-believe, so that all those sweaty giants (and just as many smaller guys, like Chris Sabin) grappling in the ring look like buffoons instead of the athletes and artists they are. To the outsider, it seems like it can never be any other way.
I mean, by god, TNA is called "TNA." How much more crass do you have to be? Of course, sometimes pop culture seems like it's nothing but crass. And maybe wrestling is really only popular when it's the best crass in town. Pointedly, WWE went the family-friendly route a few years ago. And TNA has been leaning all the more heavily toward the best wrestling in town for the last several years now.
That's what Chris Sabin represents. He's the latest of the new champions, new directions, under the Hulk Hogan regime that began in January 2010. At the time, TNA had finally anointed A.J. Styles, its very own Shawn Michaels, as a champion it could get behind. He had the first of the lengthy and unusual championship runs of this new era. He was replaced by Rob Van Dam, who a decade earlier was the fan and critic's choice as best in the ring, although he had to wait a few more years until WWE decided to give him a run as top dog. RVD was succeeded by Jeff Hardy, another contender for second coming of the Heart Break Kid.
If there was a hiccup, it was when Hardy succumbed to his demons, demons that haunted him thanks to the daredevil tactics that first got him noticed. The things he used to do are probably some of the worst moves you can perform for a lengthy career, much less one that doesn't involve a lot of pain. You don't have to be a wrestler to perform with pain, and you don't have to be in the ring for playing like that to catch up with you. Here I'm thinking of the brilliant career of ballplayer Albert Pujols, who has lately seemed like a shell of himself.
Hardy collapsed in the spring of 2011, but incredibly had turned his life around by the fall. He's still doing well, by the way, and was even given another run as TNA champion. After him was a transition period of more traditional champions, including the veteran icon Sting and Kurt Angle, who is widely considered to be the best wrestler of his generation. This was also the period where a personal favorite, Ken Anderson, finally had a chance to be champion. Mr. Anderson is the white version of The Rock. That would have been a dream match if Anderson's career had developed differently.
Anyway, TNA went back to the approach it'd been using previously when it tapped first Bobby Roode and then Austin Aries as champion, with a little James Storm tossed in for good measure. These were all talents that had never been considered world champion material before, and would probably have never been thought that way in WWE. Roode's career has been all over the place, although he's been a TNA staple since the beginning, mostly in tag teams. Aries is a miniature version of Chris Jericho. Storm is like a Duck Dynasty version of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
The point is, TNA began embracing its own legacy. It's very much comparable to the ROH of its middle years, when Daniel Bryan (then competing as Brian Danielson), CM Punk, Samoa Joe, and Nigel McGuinness ruled the landscape. These were the titans of ROH. They were the best and brightest, and somehow most wrestling observers didn't really notice that this was the best the promotion was ever going to get (probably).
What I mean to say is, people take notice. This is a great time to notice TNA. Chris Sabin as champion is exactly what TNA should be doing. He just defeated Bully Ray (who used to be half of the Dudley Boys tag team) for the honor. In fact, he's just completed a miraculous comeback in general. He's been sidelined for years. When that misfortune began, he'd just won his greatest success, with Alex Shelley, in a tag team that finally forced everyone to see just how good he really is. He's long been a signature element of TNA's X-division (a renamed version of the familiar WCW cruiserweight concept), and like other such competitors (Aries, Styles), he's now graduated to the main stage.
This is why that's such great news:
No matter how long Sabin is champion, he's the latest affirmation that TNA has made a real commitment to integrate its entire wrestling scene. Styles, as I've mentioned, is the heart and soul of the company, but he's never really been a breakout popular star where wrestling fans in general will know him like they're familiar with the names Hogan, Austin, or The Rock.
For the past year the company has been making a concerted effort to transform Styles from just the best wrestler they've got to an actual personality. Much of the early focus was on his long-standing rivalry with Christopher Daniels, who like Roode and Aries has lately been a highlight of the tag team division. The whole company is currently gearing up for its October super-card, Bound for Glory, basically TNA's WrestleMania. It's been long assumed that Styles will be in the spotlight on that card.
Having Sabin as champion going into this rather than Bully Ray shifts the focus to exactly where it needs to be. Bully serves as the focal point of one of those big nasty heel factions that traditionally spotlight the traditional main event players. Think the New World Order (or the Four Horsemen). In fact, for a while it looked like TNA was having Styles repeat the Sting angle from the nWo days. But recently it shifted him back into an active role, far sooner than Sting did. And while it's true that Hogan lost the title once before Sting had a chance to take it from him (sort of) in the culmination of that feud, this feels different.
Like I said, it feels like the setup to what TNA has been trying to do for years now: operate under its own terms, and use its best strengths to their fullest potential. Any number of arguments could be made to the contrary, but that's how I see it. All these wrestlers, Styles and Roode and Aries and now Sabin, have all been shifted more directly into the spotlight.
All it takes is for Daniels to defeat Sabin and the main event of Bound for Glory has been determined, Styles versus Daniels. Maybe that's not what WWE would do, but TNA is not WWE, in the same way it isn't WCW or ECW or ROH.
It's just, now we're getting to see that more clearly. This has been breeding ground for some of the best wrestling you're likely to find, the best wrestlers from every angle to you care to envision. They've been looking for a catalyst, a way to make it impossible to overlook their strengths. Regardless of whether or not the pieces fall exactly into the place I now see, I think they've reached that goal.
Chris Sabin can be champion for a week or a month or a year, but he's just proven that the company around him has not let all the lessons of the past go to waste. And that, as "Diamond" Dallas Page would have said, is a good thing.
Chris Sabin just became the new TNA world champion. You may not know who Chris Sabin is, or much less what TNA stands for, but this is pretty big for both, trust me.
First off, TNA stands for Total Nonstop Action. And yes, probably in the beginning it was meant to be a double entendre. The name of its weekly TV show is Impact Wrestling, and there's been speculation in the past that the promotion could very well adopt that as its name in general. TNA is the second largest wrestling promotion in North America, behind WWE (and yes, there are others, including ROH - Ring of Honor - which has existed for as long as TNA has, twelve years). It's like the bastard child of WCW and ECW, but it's become its own beast over the years, despite a steady stream of naysayers who have attempted to point out that it was always doomed to failure. They said the same thing about the WNBA, and that's still running.
The wrestling market is not anywhere near as strong as it was in the late 90s, or the glory days of the 1980s, when Hulkamania was running wild and Ric Flair styled and profiled. It's not popular to be a fan of this stuff, partly because it's hard to justify an interest in a sport that was long ago exposed as mostly make-believe, so that all those sweaty giants (and just as many smaller guys, like Chris Sabin) grappling in the ring look like buffoons instead of the athletes and artists they are. To the outsider, it seems like it can never be any other way.
I mean, by god, TNA is called "TNA." How much more crass do you have to be? Of course, sometimes pop culture seems like it's nothing but crass. And maybe wrestling is really only popular when it's the best crass in town. Pointedly, WWE went the family-friendly route a few years ago. And TNA has been leaning all the more heavily toward the best wrestling in town for the last several years now.
That's what Chris Sabin represents. He's the latest of the new champions, new directions, under the Hulk Hogan regime that began in January 2010. At the time, TNA had finally anointed A.J. Styles, its very own Shawn Michaels, as a champion it could get behind. He had the first of the lengthy and unusual championship runs of this new era. He was replaced by Rob Van Dam, who a decade earlier was the fan and critic's choice as best in the ring, although he had to wait a few more years until WWE decided to give him a run as top dog. RVD was succeeded by Jeff Hardy, another contender for second coming of the Heart Break Kid.
If there was a hiccup, it was when Hardy succumbed to his demons, demons that haunted him thanks to the daredevil tactics that first got him noticed. The things he used to do are probably some of the worst moves you can perform for a lengthy career, much less one that doesn't involve a lot of pain. You don't have to be a wrestler to perform with pain, and you don't have to be in the ring for playing like that to catch up with you. Here I'm thinking of the brilliant career of ballplayer Albert Pujols, who has lately seemed like a shell of himself.
Hardy collapsed in the spring of 2011, but incredibly had turned his life around by the fall. He's still doing well, by the way, and was even given another run as TNA champion. After him was a transition period of more traditional champions, including the veteran icon Sting and Kurt Angle, who is widely considered to be the best wrestler of his generation. This was also the period where a personal favorite, Ken Anderson, finally had a chance to be champion. Mr. Anderson is the white version of The Rock. That would have been a dream match if Anderson's career had developed differently.
Anyway, TNA went back to the approach it'd been using previously when it tapped first Bobby Roode and then Austin Aries as champion, with a little James Storm tossed in for good measure. These were all talents that had never been considered world champion material before, and would probably have never been thought that way in WWE. Roode's career has been all over the place, although he's been a TNA staple since the beginning, mostly in tag teams. Aries is a miniature version of Chris Jericho. Storm is like a Duck Dynasty version of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
The point is, TNA began embracing its own legacy. It's very much comparable to the ROH of its middle years, when Daniel Bryan (then competing as Brian Danielson), CM Punk, Samoa Joe, and Nigel McGuinness ruled the landscape. These were the titans of ROH. They were the best and brightest, and somehow most wrestling observers didn't really notice that this was the best the promotion was ever going to get (probably).
What I mean to say is, people take notice. This is a great time to notice TNA. Chris Sabin as champion is exactly what TNA should be doing. He just defeated Bully Ray (who used to be half of the Dudley Boys tag team) for the honor. In fact, he's just completed a miraculous comeback in general. He's been sidelined for years. When that misfortune began, he'd just won his greatest success, with Alex Shelley, in a tag team that finally forced everyone to see just how good he really is. He's long been a signature element of TNA's X-division (a renamed version of the familiar WCW cruiserweight concept), and like other such competitors (Aries, Styles), he's now graduated to the main stage.
This is why that's such great news:
No matter how long Sabin is champion, he's the latest affirmation that TNA has made a real commitment to integrate its entire wrestling scene. Styles, as I've mentioned, is the heart and soul of the company, but he's never really been a breakout popular star where wrestling fans in general will know him like they're familiar with the names Hogan, Austin, or The Rock.
For the past year the company has been making a concerted effort to transform Styles from just the best wrestler they've got to an actual personality. Much of the early focus was on his long-standing rivalry with Christopher Daniels, who like Roode and Aries has lately been a highlight of the tag team division. The whole company is currently gearing up for its October super-card, Bound for Glory, basically TNA's WrestleMania. It's been long assumed that Styles will be in the spotlight on that card.
Having Sabin as champion going into this rather than Bully Ray shifts the focus to exactly where it needs to be. Bully serves as the focal point of one of those big nasty heel factions that traditionally spotlight the traditional main event players. Think the New World Order (or the Four Horsemen). In fact, for a while it looked like TNA was having Styles repeat the Sting angle from the nWo days. But recently it shifted him back into an active role, far sooner than Sting did. And while it's true that Hogan lost the title once before Sting had a chance to take it from him (sort of) in the culmination of that feud, this feels different.
Like I said, it feels like the setup to what TNA has been trying to do for years now: operate under its own terms, and use its best strengths to their fullest potential. Any number of arguments could be made to the contrary, but that's how I see it. All these wrestlers, Styles and Roode and Aries and now Sabin, have all been shifted more directly into the spotlight.
All it takes is for Daniels to defeat Sabin and the main event of Bound for Glory has been determined, Styles versus Daniels. Maybe that's not what WWE would do, but TNA is not WWE, in the same way it isn't WCW or ECW or ROH.
It's just, now we're getting to see that more clearly. This has been breeding ground for some of the best wrestling you're likely to find, the best wrestlers from every angle to you care to envision. They've been looking for a catalyst, a way to make it impossible to overlook their strengths. Regardless of whether or not the pieces fall exactly into the place I now see, I think they've reached that goal.
Chris Sabin can be champion for a week or a month or a year, but he's just proven that the company around him has not let all the lessons of the past go to waste. And that, as "Diamond" Dallas Page would have said, is a good thing.
Monday, May 20, 2013
#587. Frog Splash Monday: Now I've Seen WrestleMania 29
The thoughts on WrestleMania 29 will follow shortly, but there are a few topics worth addressing first:
1) Curtis Axel
Mr. Perfect's son Joe Hennig made his debut all over again on Raw tonight. Joe was previously featured in CM Punk's New Nexus circa 2011 as Michael McGillicutty, the name he went under when he competed on NXT (WWE's current breeding ground). This is pretty big. Much like Dean Ambrose as part of The Shield, this is someone the fans have been wanting to see get the call-up for a while. He's the guy who trained with The Rock in his most recent run with the company. The new name might take some getting used to, but it's a legacy combination just like The Rock's originally was ("Rocky Maivia" coming from Dwayne Johnson's father Rocky and grandfather Peter Maivia). Mr. Perfect's real name was Curt Hennig, while Joe's grandfather was known as Larry "The Ax" Hennig. "Curtis Axel" could eventually be boiled down to just Ax or something. "Ax" was also one half of the '80s tag team Demolition (no, not Larry Hennig), but I'm sure fans would be willing for someone with, ah, more talent to share it, much like "The Rock" was previously a nickname for Don Muraco. Joe received a strong push out of the gate tonight as the newest member of the Paul Heyman family (which also includes CM Punk and Brock Lesnar). You might remember Heyman from ECW, the "land of extreme." Joe battled Triple H, the semi-retired legend who lost to Lesnar last night at Extreme Rules in a steel cage match, in the main event. Not too bad! Although of course now fans will be asking all the more loudly to see Richie Steambeat receive similar honors. This particular prospect is the son of Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. If you have to ask who he is, then there's no hope for you.
2) Austin Aries
TNA was on the receiving end of yet another embarrassing episode a few weeks ago when Austin Aries showed a considerable lack of maturity when announcer Christy Hemme misstated his entrance. Hemme is a legitimate wrestling goddess, winning the original WWE Divas Search, but has nicely transitioned into a role more traditionally associated with men (unless you're Lilian Garcia). Aries is one of those ROH alumni renowned for his wrestling prowess. Last year he was given a run as TNA champion, a move that elevated him to the main event, which lately has meant a lot of tag team matches for some of the best wrestlers in the promotion (that's where Bobby Roode, Aries' predecessor as champion and in fact his tag team partner, currently sits, as well as Christopher Daniels, the hottest heel in the company not to be featured in the Aces & Eights faction). Aries decided it was appropriate to block Hemme into the corner and then climb to the second rope (so, let's be clear, his crotch was in her face) while she made the correction. That's just not something you do. TNA as a company has been doing commendable business. I said "yet another embarrassing episode" at the start of this item because in the spring of 2011, Jeff Hardy showed up to the main event of a TNA intoxicated and unable to compete. He subsequently cleaned up his act, thank goodness, and is once again a member in good standing of the wrestling community, but I'm sure there are still fans who will only associate both Hardy and TNA with such bad publicity. Aries has offered an apology, and Hemme accepted, but how could he have possibly thought that was a good idea in the first place?
On to WrestleMania 29!
Sheamus, Randy Orton, & Big Show vs. The Shield
The three names on the left side of this match are all perennial members of the WWE-doesn't-know-what-to-do-with-them-at-WrestleMania club. To be fair, Orton has had a good amount of success,but Big Show's woes are so well-known that they were the whole subject of his match against Cody Rhodes last year. Sheamus has twice had matches against Daniel Bryan sabotaged on the card, and his debut at WrestleMania against Triple H is one of those matches I still keep trying to redeem in my own thoughts. Still, Sheamus had the best showing in this match. As talented as the members of The Shield are, they were mostly playing off the big names. Not a bad match, but curiously devoid of any real momentum, possibly because they had to figure out how to help The Shield win again (they're currently undefeated and last night captured a bunch of championships, led as always by Ambrose).
Ryback vs. Mark Henry
It wasn't until I remembered that a lot of this WrestleMania could very easily be defined by the Hall of Fame induction of WWE legend Bruno Sammartino that the significance of this match clicked. It was all strongman style. That was Sammartino's gimmick, and who better to sell it at WrestleMania than the new Goldberg and the World's Strongest Man?
Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston
Langston was another obvious attempt at taking a chip off the old Sammartino. The commentary kept making references at how powerful he is. Ziggler is the new Mr. Perfect, though a version that can win a world championship in WWE (which he did the night after WrestleMania, though he recently suffered a legitimate concussion and so couldn't make his scheduled title defense last night). He wasn't given much to do in this match, however, which has been typical of his WrestleMania appearances. That's always puzzled me. Maybe next year?
Chris Jericho vs. Fandango
I will probably have to watch this match again, but most of it just seemed like it was the consummate professional Jericho at the top of his game, and Fandango merely keeping up. Jericho is one of those wrestlers who can have a good match with anyone, which was all the more necessary in this one because it was Fandango's first actual match in WWE. Their feud continued last night, and it seems to be continuing still. It doesn't hurt that Fandango's sometimes dance partner Summer Rae is turning into an attraction all her own. Previous Divas like AJ Lee (a breakout sensation last year), Sunny, and Sable have always made the most of it. Hopefully Summer can do the same. In the meantime, this match was fun in the same way Jericho's match against Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, and Roddy Piper was a few years ago. Jericho can have a good match against anyone and even if he's the only one worth watching (and that's not necessarily the case in either of these matches), by god you'll still enjoy yourself.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger
A contender for best match of the night. These two had surprisingly good chemistry together. It's entirely possible that they are in fact each other's ideal opponents in the ring. Del Rio has been looking for exactly that since he arrived in late 2010. It was assumed that his match was fellow Mexican superstar Rey Mysterio, but it's Swagger. The company has been trying to make Swagger a star for years, but with his lisp it's hard to take him seriously when he speaks (I don't personally fixate on that, but I know other fans do). That's why he has a mouthpiece in Zeb Coulter. All he has to do is get it done in the ring. It's always good to have two submission specialists unleashed on each other.
Undertaker vs. CM Punk
For a good portion of Undertaker's famed WrestleMania winning streak (after this match now 21-0), he wasn't know for having the best matches on the card. But that has become the norm in recent years. This match was no exception. Punk had been on a hotstreak since the summer of 2011, and aside the injuries that are currently keeping him out of the ring he's shown no signs of slowing down. He's an inspired performer. Every threat to the streak makes big promises about ending it, but few have done it with as much flair as Punk. The death of William Moody, who portrayed Undertaker's long-term manager Paul Bearer, earlier this year provided particularly fruitful material. Where such an angle could easily have been in poor taste, in this instance it was the ultimate tribute. A lot of Undertaker's early WWE matches revolve around his mysterious urn, held like a totem by Bearer at ringside. Punk and Heyman centered a lot of the drama around the urn once again. Probably more rewarding than both recent Triple H matches, and even the ones against "Mr. WrestleMania" Shawn Michaels, whom I contend will be facing Triple H at next year's landmark WrestleMania XXX. It's no coincidence that WWE has been ramping up Shawn's appearances recently. He's been retired since 2010. It's time for one last moment of glory, ending his good buddy Triple H's career once and for all.
Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H
Like The Rock, Lesnar made an unexpected comeback, competing on cards sprinkled throughout the year. His last match before last year's Extreme Rules was at WrestleMania XX against Goldberg. Though he's a wicked heel now, circa 2002-2003 he was the Next Big Thing, the long-awaited second coming of the legitimate WWE big man, Hulk Hogan style, this time one who could pull off a competitive match (the problem was always finding competition). Lesnar had a successful stint in UFC, which has informed his current smashmouth style (and the corporate logo-infused attire he uses to wrestle). Now he's a monster that looks all the more impossible to defeat. This match with Triple H was a more contemporary version of the Sammartino style. Notably the commentary never once mentioned the strongman vibe, even though these are two wrestlers who epitomize it.
The Rock vs. John Cena
A reprise of last year's "Once in a Lifetime" main event was a clear echo of that match, much like Star Trek Into Darkness is of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. And it's a better match precisely for it. If Cena has any real weakness in the ring, it's that he doesn't often seem to realize that a big match should be treated that way. He's had plenty of big matches, but a lot of those big matches (especially the ones against Rob Van Dam and CM Punk) he lost. He lost last year's big match against The Rock, too, and that fact made this one more compelling than its predecessor could have hoped to be. The Rock always benefited from contemporary stars rising to similar levels of success as himself. Cena has often lacked that, or WWE in its incarnations at the time did everything possible to split its attention, keeping Batista and Randy Orton away from him for too long. Instead his early WrestleMania opponents were Triple H and Shawn Michaels, stars of previous generations. Cena in fact had a contemporary with whom he meshed really well, Edge, but their only WrestleMania encounter was a three-way match that also included Big Show (for some reason), and wasn't even the main event of the card. So it's no surprise that he needed some extra help to get it done with Rock. And get it done they did this time.
All in all a pretty good WrestleMania.
***
I'll round today out with an acknowledgement of my ongoing obsession over a different subject entirely, actor Colin Farrell, who was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight. He was pretty awesome, promoting the animated flick Epic by...talking about his line dancing past. Makes perfect sense!
1) Curtis Axel
Mr. Perfect's son Joe Hennig made his debut all over again on Raw tonight. Joe was previously featured in CM Punk's New Nexus circa 2011 as Michael McGillicutty, the name he went under when he competed on NXT (WWE's current breeding ground). This is pretty big. Much like Dean Ambrose as part of The Shield, this is someone the fans have been wanting to see get the call-up for a while. He's the guy who trained with The Rock in his most recent run with the company. The new name might take some getting used to, but it's a legacy combination just like The Rock's originally was ("Rocky Maivia" coming from Dwayne Johnson's father Rocky and grandfather Peter Maivia). Mr. Perfect's real name was Curt Hennig, while Joe's grandfather was known as Larry "The Ax" Hennig. "Curtis Axel" could eventually be boiled down to just Ax or something. "Ax" was also one half of the '80s tag team Demolition (no, not Larry Hennig), but I'm sure fans would be willing for someone with, ah, more talent to share it, much like "The Rock" was previously a nickname for Don Muraco. Joe received a strong push out of the gate tonight as the newest member of the Paul Heyman family (which also includes CM Punk and Brock Lesnar). You might remember Heyman from ECW, the "land of extreme." Joe battled Triple H, the semi-retired legend who lost to Lesnar last night at Extreme Rules in a steel cage match, in the main event. Not too bad! Although of course now fans will be asking all the more loudly to see Richie Steambeat receive similar honors. This particular prospect is the son of Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. If you have to ask who he is, then there's no hope for you.
2) Austin Aries
TNA was on the receiving end of yet another embarrassing episode a few weeks ago when Austin Aries showed a considerable lack of maturity when announcer Christy Hemme misstated his entrance. Hemme is a legitimate wrestling goddess, winning the original WWE Divas Search, but has nicely transitioned into a role more traditionally associated with men (unless you're Lilian Garcia). Aries is one of those ROH alumni renowned for his wrestling prowess. Last year he was given a run as TNA champion, a move that elevated him to the main event, which lately has meant a lot of tag team matches for some of the best wrestlers in the promotion (that's where Bobby Roode, Aries' predecessor as champion and in fact his tag team partner, currently sits, as well as Christopher Daniels, the hottest heel in the company not to be featured in the Aces & Eights faction). Aries decided it was appropriate to block Hemme into the corner and then climb to the second rope (so, let's be clear, his crotch was in her face) while she made the correction. That's just not something you do. TNA as a company has been doing commendable business. I said "yet another embarrassing episode" at the start of this item because in the spring of 2011, Jeff Hardy showed up to the main event of a TNA intoxicated and unable to compete. He subsequently cleaned up his act, thank goodness, and is once again a member in good standing of the wrestling community, but I'm sure there are still fans who will only associate both Hardy and TNA with such bad publicity. Aries has offered an apology, and Hemme accepted, but how could he have possibly thought that was a good idea in the first place?
On to WrestleMania 29!
Sheamus, Randy Orton, & Big Show vs. The Shield
The three names on the left side of this match are all perennial members of the WWE-doesn't-know-what-to-do-with-them-at-WrestleMania club. To be fair, Orton has had a good amount of success,but Big Show's woes are so well-known that they were the whole subject of his match against Cody Rhodes last year. Sheamus has twice had matches against Daniel Bryan sabotaged on the card, and his debut at WrestleMania against Triple H is one of those matches I still keep trying to redeem in my own thoughts. Still, Sheamus had the best showing in this match. As talented as the members of The Shield are, they were mostly playing off the big names. Not a bad match, but curiously devoid of any real momentum, possibly because they had to figure out how to help The Shield win again (they're currently undefeated and last night captured a bunch of championships, led as always by Ambrose).
Ryback vs. Mark Henry
It wasn't until I remembered that a lot of this WrestleMania could very easily be defined by the Hall of Fame induction of WWE legend Bruno Sammartino that the significance of this match clicked. It was all strongman style. That was Sammartino's gimmick, and who better to sell it at WrestleMania than the new Goldberg and the World's Strongest Man?
Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston
Langston was another obvious attempt at taking a chip off the old Sammartino. The commentary kept making references at how powerful he is. Ziggler is the new Mr. Perfect, though a version that can win a world championship in WWE (which he did the night after WrestleMania, though he recently suffered a legitimate concussion and so couldn't make his scheduled title defense last night). He wasn't given much to do in this match, however, which has been typical of his WrestleMania appearances. That's always puzzled me. Maybe next year?
Chris Jericho vs. Fandango
I will probably have to watch this match again, but most of it just seemed like it was the consummate professional Jericho at the top of his game, and Fandango merely keeping up. Jericho is one of those wrestlers who can have a good match with anyone, which was all the more necessary in this one because it was Fandango's first actual match in WWE. Their feud continued last night, and it seems to be continuing still. It doesn't hurt that Fandango's sometimes dance partner Summer Rae is turning into an attraction all her own. Previous Divas like AJ Lee (a breakout sensation last year), Sunny, and Sable have always made the most of it. Hopefully Summer can do the same. In the meantime, this match was fun in the same way Jericho's match against Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, and Roddy Piper was a few years ago. Jericho can have a good match against anyone and even if he's the only one worth watching (and that's not necessarily the case in either of these matches), by god you'll still enjoy yourself.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger
A contender for best match of the night. These two had surprisingly good chemistry together. It's entirely possible that they are in fact each other's ideal opponents in the ring. Del Rio has been looking for exactly that since he arrived in late 2010. It was assumed that his match was fellow Mexican superstar Rey Mysterio, but it's Swagger. The company has been trying to make Swagger a star for years, but with his lisp it's hard to take him seriously when he speaks (I don't personally fixate on that, but I know other fans do). That's why he has a mouthpiece in Zeb Coulter. All he has to do is get it done in the ring. It's always good to have two submission specialists unleashed on each other.
Undertaker vs. CM Punk
For a good portion of Undertaker's famed WrestleMania winning streak (after this match now 21-0), he wasn't know for having the best matches on the card. But that has become the norm in recent years. This match was no exception. Punk had been on a hotstreak since the summer of 2011, and aside the injuries that are currently keeping him out of the ring he's shown no signs of slowing down. He's an inspired performer. Every threat to the streak makes big promises about ending it, but few have done it with as much flair as Punk. The death of William Moody, who portrayed Undertaker's long-term manager Paul Bearer, earlier this year provided particularly fruitful material. Where such an angle could easily have been in poor taste, in this instance it was the ultimate tribute. A lot of Undertaker's early WWE matches revolve around his mysterious urn, held like a totem by Bearer at ringside. Punk and Heyman centered a lot of the drama around the urn once again. Probably more rewarding than both recent Triple H matches, and even the ones against "Mr. WrestleMania" Shawn Michaels, whom I contend will be facing Triple H at next year's landmark WrestleMania XXX. It's no coincidence that WWE has been ramping up Shawn's appearances recently. He's been retired since 2010. It's time for one last moment of glory, ending his good buddy Triple H's career once and for all.
Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H
Like The Rock, Lesnar made an unexpected comeback, competing on cards sprinkled throughout the year. His last match before last year's Extreme Rules was at WrestleMania XX against Goldberg. Though he's a wicked heel now, circa 2002-2003 he was the Next Big Thing, the long-awaited second coming of the legitimate WWE big man, Hulk Hogan style, this time one who could pull off a competitive match (the problem was always finding competition). Lesnar had a successful stint in UFC, which has informed his current smashmouth style (and the corporate logo-infused attire he uses to wrestle). Now he's a monster that looks all the more impossible to defeat. This match with Triple H was a more contemporary version of the Sammartino style. Notably the commentary never once mentioned the strongman vibe, even though these are two wrestlers who epitomize it.
The Rock vs. John Cena
A reprise of last year's "Once in a Lifetime" main event was a clear echo of that match, much like Star Trek Into Darkness is of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. And it's a better match precisely for it. If Cena has any real weakness in the ring, it's that he doesn't often seem to realize that a big match should be treated that way. He's had plenty of big matches, but a lot of those big matches (especially the ones against Rob Van Dam and CM Punk) he lost. He lost last year's big match against The Rock, too, and that fact made this one more compelling than its predecessor could have hoped to be. The Rock always benefited from contemporary stars rising to similar levels of success as himself. Cena has often lacked that, or WWE in its incarnations at the time did everything possible to split its attention, keeping Batista and Randy Orton away from him for too long. Instead his early WrestleMania opponents were Triple H and Shawn Michaels, stars of previous generations. Cena in fact had a contemporary with whom he meshed really well, Edge, but their only WrestleMania encounter was a three-way match that also included Big Show (for some reason), and wasn't even the main event of the card. So it's no surprise that he needed some extra help to get it done with Rock. And get it done they did this time.
All in all a pretty good WrestleMania.
***
I'll round today out with an acknowledgement of my ongoing obsession over a different subject entirely, actor Colin Farrell, who was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight. He was pretty awesome, promoting the animated flick Epic by...talking about his line dancing past. Makes perfect sense!
Monday, May 13, 2013
#581. Frog Splash Monday
Well, I think I've succeeded in completely alienating myself as a blogger. As I've told you before, this was the natural state of my blogging for years, so if you're feeling all smug, just know that familiarity has inoculated me to this shunning.
On to professional wrestling!
WrestleMania 29 is being released on home video tomorrow. I've only seen two WrestleManias live on PPV, WrestleMania 2000 (the sixteenth in the sequence that was in fact broadcast in 2000, when I watched it with my wrestling-obsessed friends at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA, where large groups in the dorm lounge on Monday nights was the norm) and last year's WrestleMania 28, thanks to my brother-in-law being on leave from a deployment and wanting to enjoy himself a little (sometimes his idea of enjoying himself is doing a lot of work around the house, so this was a welcome change of pace).
(It does occur to me that if I ever wanted to change the name of this blog, it would be to Life In Parentheses. Seriously, who else do you know who writes so many parenthetical phrases? I'll wait. Or perhaps the Leo Five feature will be renamed that, now that it technically stars not just Leo but Monk and soon Joe Cocker, who is not the famous pop act but a cocker spaniel. You'll see if that does in fact happen, Theoretical Reader. And I realize that parenthetical phrases that turn into whole paragraphs don't need parentheses after all, but I'm the writer. And I also realize that I do have some readers, such as the Geek Twins, who show up with comments rain or shine. You are always appreciated, despite my cynical rhetoric.)
Anyway, since WrestleMania XX in 2004, I've been making an effort to add the subsequent DVD releases to my collection. Previously I used to ogle the videos at the late Movieland in Lisbon, ME, although I rarely actually rented them, all the older ones, and 2003's WrestleMania XIX was the last time I allowed myself that peculiar indulgence. And anyway, I picked up the whole anthology WWE released that included I-XX (with 21 as a bonus) on the cheap at FYE, and now have a complete collection, although with my ever-present lack of funds, I've been wondering if I should sell them, and if I can make good money off of them, unlike my comic book collection. I've had three separate listings on Craigslist for some other items for months now, and the only interest I ever got was from a scammer. (Seriously, scammers? Why must the idiocy of most people allow you to believe you won't experience the psychic wrath of people who aren't idiots? Psychic Wrath would make a great name for a rock band.)
(The phrase, "[fill-in-the-blank] would make a great name for a rock band" comes from Dave Barry, who used to write a Pulitzer-winning humor column syndicated throughout every decent American newspaper. Fill-in-the-blank would also, incidentally, make a great name for a rock band.)
After a while, you start to realize that the popular response to any WrestleMania is the always the same. "It just wasn't that good." This amazes me. Most commentators on wrestling seem to believe the majority of wrestling isn't any good. They've got the same response as the people who don't watch wrestling. The only difference is that they engage in the classic Internet exercise of sado-masochism. They force themselves to watch what they hate in order to complain about it on the Internet, because, y'know, "it'll make the creators improve the product." Baby, anyone who seriously heavily relies on outside input shouldn't be doing something creative. There will always be a fair amount of give-and-take. In fact, wrestling is the most interactive product around. Fans create and destroy careers all the time, almost equal to the amount of similar effort on the part of promoters.
(I will also acknowledge that a really fun project would be to create an entire story from suggestions, like the ultimate Choose Your Own Adventure.)
That being said (the thing before that last parenthetical phrase), I always expect that the given WrestleMania is better than the response it garners on the Internet. The funny thing is, I often get in the way of my own appreciation of wrestling because I invariably attempt to do something else when I pop in a DVD, such as use the Internet (really?!?) or fall asleep. I fall asleep watching things all the time. I'm an equal opportunist like that. This is not an indication of my active interest. (Consequently, when someone says they fell asleep watching something because it was boring, either I assume they were mistaken or we just have different interpretations of this phenomenon.)
Sure, sometimes the matches on a WrestleMania were clearly put together because the bookers wanted someone on the card and couldn't figure out how to do it usefully, and there are a lot of WrestleMania matches like that. But this year's WrestleMania doesn't seem like that at all. I assume if the wrestlers showed up to perform, they did something worthwhile in these matches. I will probably talk about this again next week, just so you know, because hopefully I will have finally seen WrestleMania 29 for myself.
***
Anyway, in TNA, Sting addressed the AJ Styles situation on Impact last week. Sting is the dude who made a name for himself in WCW, the face-painted warrior who was not the Ultimate Warrior (who was in WWE until a perhaps misguided effort to confront Hulk Hogan a second time), who was as much the face of the company as Ric Flair, for years. When the New World Order thing happened, the bookers were tired of relying on Flair. Seriously, he was a nonentity during that whole (years-long) thing. During one of the points where it seemed like it was over (but wasn't), Flair and Hogan had another series of matches, which they'd done when Hogan first appeared in WCW (but not when they were both in WWE). Anyway, Sting was tapped as WCW's savior. He spent fifteen months not actually competing in matches. This is unheard-of in wrestling. And something that will probably never happen again, and I'll explain that momentarily.
Anyway, there was even a fake Sting the nWo (some people might present that as NWO, but I stay true to the spray-painted logo) used for a while (and then sent to Japan, the land where this whole angle originated). The real Sting finally staged his comeback at Starrcade 1997 (Starrcade was WCW's WrestleMania). This match with Hogan was hyped beyond anything else from the decade. Bret Hart was present, having just joined WCW after the Montreal Screwjob debacle of the previous month's Survivor Series match against Shawn Michaels in WWE. When Hogan technically won the match fair and square (the referee was supposed to botch the count, but inadvertently botched that), Hart charged in the ring and declared "Not again!" The ringside commentators (I don't care what anyone says, WCW had the best of these) accurately observed that at this point the match was restarted, or in other words an entirely separate match began. Sting was all fired up, unlike how he'd been earlier. He won easily.
Still, because of the controversy of whether or not Hogan had gotten a fair shake (never mind that it wasn't nWo policy to give anyone a fair shake), the result was declared null and void, and another match a few months later tried to resolve this huge moment. This was the beginning of the end of the momentum the company had had over WWE. It didn't hurt that Goldberg, who became a huge phenomenon in 1998, was still completely overshadowed by nWo shenanigans. It's also worth noting that as much as everyone wanted everyone else to believe, the dedication Sting had demonstrated to being the savior hadn't been matched by the conduct of the rest of the company. Hogan had lost and won back the WCW heavyweight title to Lex Luger only a few months earlier, and at the 1996 Starrcade, he lost to Roddy Piper (which is significant even if the title wasn't on the line). The full heel version of Hogan (he had previously been the biggest face ever, literally, though he still wrestled as a heel, which was what big men until Vince McMahon saw dollar signs in Hulkamania were, including the Hogan prototype "Superstar" Billy Graham) was hated, but he was unappreciated. He should easily have been more successful, but again, wrestling fans are insane. A Hogan who was champion and undefeated throughout the same fifteen months would have been a more effective opponent.
Still, keeping Sting out of action for so long created a lot of logistical problems. The Starrcade match was perhaps doomed to failure from the start. The part of the match that Hogan technically won was dominated by Hogan, with Sting receiving one long beating. It seemed like the smart thing to do. Was a guy who'd spent fifteen months out of action prepared to contend a match any other way? Then the second part of the match, the one that Sting technically won, featured everything that the fans really wanted to see. Suppose that the two aspects of the match had been blended (as more or less intended).
You'd really only have that as a possibility today, with AJ Styles. AJ is the TNA equivalent of Sting (and Ric Flair), the face of the company (other than Jeff Jarrett, who dominated the early years), a reliable talent of extraordinary ability (his nickname is in fact "Phenomenal"). Last year he lost the ability to compete for the heavyweight title for a full year. He had his most distinguished run with the title in 2009-2010. When you're championship material like that, anytime you're not in contention, observers label you an underachiever. TNA has never truly mishandled AJ, but they've typically lacked direction for his character (something that has plagued Randy Orton in WWE for the last few years, and it's always far more obvious with him, because he doesn't have the compensating ability in the ring). Last year they gave him direction in a big way. One of his perfect rivals is Christopher Daniels, whose career closely mirrors his own except in championship gold. They've wrestled each other countless times.
Last year they finally gave Daniels a chance to distinguish himself as something other than a standout wrestler, and in the process elevated AJ back to the forefront as well, but the real testament is that they've allowed him to follow the Sting example as closely as possible. TNA has been plagued by the Aces & Eights faction for almost a year. Every member is a former wrestler in WWE, something the more naive fans will always claim as meaning they're nothing but limited cast-offs. WWE and WCW and ECW swapped talent for years. If ECW had ever been in a position to gain marque talent, it would probably still be in business today. In fact ECW is the reason Steve Austin became a huge star. The promotion flipped him from his underappreciated WCW days to stardom in WWE.
AJ has spent large swathes of time not competing. He's changed his look. But he's in fact wrestling again, and it hasn't been fifteen months, and his first opponent wasn't the wicked leader of Aces and Eights (Bully Ray, who used to be known as Bubba Dudley). Sting is Bully Ray's next opponent. It's obvious that AJ will defeat Bully in their inevitable match. A lot of fans seem to equate inevitability with predictability, and therefore uninspired product, but great fiction uses inevitability all the time. It's not knowing that something's going to happen that dictates how it should be received, but how it's executed. When you expect to be disappointed, chances are you will be.
AJ and Bully Ray should have a good match when that happens. They've got contrasting styles in the ring, and they both know (and are further learning) how to pull off a dramatic episode. Putting together a match isn't just about stringing along a series of moves. It's knowing how to pull them off effectively. Sometimes that means that there's far less action than you'd expect. If the Sting/Hogan match was a true failure, it was that there truly were two distinctive parts of the match, one where Hogan was dominant and one where Sting was dominant. There didn't seem to be interest in integrating either one. It's funny, because Hogan was a master of changing momentum. He built all his matches on the same sequence of events, culminating in the dramatic comeback. The entire Aces and Eights angle has been teaching the entire TNA roster how to do that. The payoff should be worth it.
That's all I'll yammer about today.
On to professional wrestling!
WrestleMania 29 is being released on home video tomorrow. I've only seen two WrestleManias live on PPV, WrestleMania 2000 (the sixteenth in the sequence that was in fact broadcast in 2000, when I watched it with my wrestling-obsessed friends at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA, where large groups in the dorm lounge on Monday nights was the norm) and last year's WrestleMania 28, thanks to my brother-in-law being on leave from a deployment and wanting to enjoy himself a little (sometimes his idea of enjoying himself is doing a lot of work around the house, so this was a welcome change of pace).
(It does occur to me that if I ever wanted to change the name of this blog, it would be to Life In Parentheses. Seriously, who else do you know who writes so many parenthetical phrases? I'll wait. Or perhaps the Leo Five feature will be renamed that, now that it technically stars not just Leo but Monk and soon Joe Cocker, who is not the famous pop act but a cocker spaniel. You'll see if that does in fact happen, Theoretical Reader. And I realize that parenthetical phrases that turn into whole paragraphs don't need parentheses after all, but I'm the writer. And I also realize that I do have some readers, such as the Geek Twins, who show up with comments rain or shine. You are always appreciated, despite my cynical rhetoric.)
Anyway, since WrestleMania XX in 2004, I've been making an effort to add the subsequent DVD releases to my collection. Previously I used to ogle the videos at the late Movieland in Lisbon, ME, although I rarely actually rented them, all the older ones, and 2003's WrestleMania XIX was the last time I allowed myself that peculiar indulgence. And anyway, I picked up the whole anthology WWE released that included I-XX (with 21 as a bonus) on the cheap at FYE, and now have a complete collection, although with my ever-present lack of funds, I've been wondering if I should sell them, and if I can make good money off of them, unlike my comic book collection. I've had three separate listings on Craigslist for some other items for months now, and the only interest I ever got was from a scammer. (Seriously, scammers? Why must the idiocy of most people allow you to believe you won't experience the psychic wrath of people who aren't idiots? Psychic Wrath would make a great name for a rock band.)
(The phrase, "[fill-in-the-blank] would make a great name for a rock band" comes from Dave Barry, who used to write a Pulitzer-winning humor column syndicated throughout every decent American newspaper. Fill-in-the-blank would also, incidentally, make a great name for a rock band.)
After a while, you start to realize that the popular response to any WrestleMania is the always the same. "It just wasn't that good." This amazes me. Most commentators on wrestling seem to believe the majority of wrestling isn't any good. They've got the same response as the people who don't watch wrestling. The only difference is that they engage in the classic Internet exercise of sado-masochism. They force themselves to watch what they hate in order to complain about it on the Internet, because, y'know, "it'll make the creators improve the product." Baby, anyone who seriously heavily relies on outside input shouldn't be doing something creative. There will always be a fair amount of give-and-take. In fact, wrestling is the most interactive product around. Fans create and destroy careers all the time, almost equal to the amount of similar effort on the part of promoters.
(I will also acknowledge that a really fun project would be to create an entire story from suggestions, like the ultimate Choose Your Own Adventure.)
That being said (the thing before that last parenthetical phrase), I always expect that the given WrestleMania is better than the response it garners on the Internet. The funny thing is, I often get in the way of my own appreciation of wrestling because I invariably attempt to do something else when I pop in a DVD, such as use the Internet (really?!?) or fall asleep. I fall asleep watching things all the time. I'm an equal opportunist like that. This is not an indication of my active interest. (Consequently, when someone says they fell asleep watching something because it was boring, either I assume they were mistaken or we just have different interpretations of this phenomenon.)
Sure, sometimes the matches on a WrestleMania were clearly put together because the bookers wanted someone on the card and couldn't figure out how to do it usefully, and there are a lot of WrestleMania matches like that. But this year's WrestleMania doesn't seem like that at all. I assume if the wrestlers showed up to perform, they did something worthwhile in these matches. I will probably talk about this again next week, just so you know, because hopefully I will have finally seen WrestleMania 29 for myself.
***
Anyway, in TNA, Sting addressed the AJ Styles situation on Impact last week. Sting is the dude who made a name for himself in WCW, the face-painted warrior who was not the Ultimate Warrior (who was in WWE until a perhaps misguided effort to confront Hulk Hogan a second time), who was as much the face of the company as Ric Flair, for years. When the New World Order thing happened, the bookers were tired of relying on Flair. Seriously, he was a nonentity during that whole (years-long) thing. During one of the points where it seemed like it was over (but wasn't), Flair and Hogan had another series of matches, which they'd done when Hogan first appeared in WCW (but not when they were both in WWE). Anyway, Sting was tapped as WCW's savior. He spent fifteen months not actually competing in matches. This is unheard-of in wrestling. And something that will probably never happen again, and I'll explain that momentarily.
Anyway, there was even a fake Sting the nWo (some people might present that as NWO, but I stay true to the spray-painted logo) used for a while (and then sent to Japan, the land where this whole angle originated). The real Sting finally staged his comeback at Starrcade 1997 (Starrcade was WCW's WrestleMania). This match with Hogan was hyped beyond anything else from the decade. Bret Hart was present, having just joined WCW after the Montreal Screwjob debacle of the previous month's Survivor Series match against Shawn Michaels in WWE. When Hogan technically won the match fair and square (the referee was supposed to botch the count, but inadvertently botched that), Hart charged in the ring and declared "Not again!" The ringside commentators (I don't care what anyone says, WCW had the best of these) accurately observed that at this point the match was restarted, or in other words an entirely separate match began. Sting was all fired up, unlike how he'd been earlier. He won easily.
Still, because of the controversy of whether or not Hogan had gotten a fair shake (never mind that it wasn't nWo policy to give anyone a fair shake), the result was declared null and void, and another match a few months later tried to resolve this huge moment. This was the beginning of the end of the momentum the company had had over WWE. It didn't hurt that Goldberg, who became a huge phenomenon in 1998, was still completely overshadowed by nWo shenanigans. It's also worth noting that as much as everyone wanted everyone else to believe, the dedication Sting had demonstrated to being the savior hadn't been matched by the conduct of the rest of the company. Hogan had lost and won back the WCW heavyweight title to Lex Luger only a few months earlier, and at the 1996 Starrcade, he lost to Roddy Piper (which is significant even if the title wasn't on the line). The full heel version of Hogan (he had previously been the biggest face ever, literally, though he still wrestled as a heel, which was what big men until Vince McMahon saw dollar signs in Hulkamania were, including the Hogan prototype "Superstar" Billy Graham) was hated, but he was unappreciated. He should easily have been more successful, but again, wrestling fans are insane. A Hogan who was champion and undefeated throughout the same fifteen months would have been a more effective opponent.
Still, keeping Sting out of action for so long created a lot of logistical problems. The Starrcade match was perhaps doomed to failure from the start. The part of the match that Hogan technically won was dominated by Hogan, with Sting receiving one long beating. It seemed like the smart thing to do. Was a guy who'd spent fifteen months out of action prepared to contend a match any other way? Then the second part of the match, the one that Sting technically won, featured everything that the fans really wanted to see. Suppose that the two aspects of the match had been blended (as more or less intended).
You'd really only have that as a possibility today, with AJ Styles. AJ is the TNA equivalent of Sting (and Ric Flair), the face of the company (other than Jeff Jarrett, who dominated the early years), a reliable talent of extraordinary ability (his nickname is in fact "Phenomenal"). Last year he lost the ability to compete for the heavyweight title for a full year. He had his most distinguished run with the title in 2009-2010. When you're championship material like that, anytime you're not in contention, observers label you an underachiever. TNA has never truly mishandled AJ, but they've typically lacked direction for his character (something that has plagued Randy Orton in WWE for the last few years, and it's always far more obvious with him, because he doesn't have the compensating ability in the ring). Last year they gave him direction in a big way. One of his perfect rivals is Christopher Daniels, whose career closely mirrors his own except in championship gold. They've wrestled each other countless times.
Last year they finally gave Daniels a chance to distinguish himself as something other than a standout wrestler, and in the process elevated AJ back to the forefront as well, but the real testament is that they've allowed him to follow the Sting example as closely as possible. TNA has been plagued by the Aces & Eights faction for almost a year. Every member is a former wrestler in WWE, something the more naive fans will always claim as meaning they're nothing but limited cast-offs. WWE and WCW and ECW swapped talent for years. If ECW had ever been in a position to gain marque talent, it would probably still be in business today. In fact ECW is the reason Steve Austin became a huge star. The promotion flipped him from his underappreciated WCW days to stardom in WWE.
AJ has spent large swathes of time not competing. He's changed his look. But he's in fact wrestling again, and it hasn't been fifteen months, and his first opponent wasn't the wicked leader of Aces and Eights (Bully Ray, who used to be known as Bubba Dudley). Sting is Bully Ray's next opponent. It's obvious that AJ will defeat Bully in their inevitable match. A lot of fans seem to equate inevitability with predictability, and therefore uninspired product, but great fiction uses inevitability all the time. It's not knowing that something's going to happen that dictates how it should be received, but how it's executed. When you expect to be disappointed, chances are you will be.
AJ and Bully Ray should have a good match when that happens. They've got contrasting styles in the ring, and they both know (and are further learning) how to pull off a dramatic episode. Putting together a match isn't just about stringing along a series of moves. It's knowing how to pull them off effectively. Sometimes that means that there's far less action than you'd expect. If the Sting/Hogan match was a true failure, it was that there truly were two distinctive parts of the match, one where Hogan was dominant and one where Sting was dominant. There didn't seem to be interest in integrating either one. It's funny, because Hogan was a master of changing momentum. He built all his matches on the same sequence of events, culminating in the dramatic comeback. The entire Aces and Eights angle has been teaching the entire TNA roster how to do that. The payoff should be worth it.
That's all I'll yammer about today.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
#575. Frog Splash Monday
I'm going to start this week's wrestling thoughts with ROH. Ring of Honor is the third largest wrestling promotion in the U.S. Like TNA, it began in 2002, though it has primarily kept a focus on the wrestling over the entertainment factor that gives us folks like Brodus Clay (the latest big guy who dances) and Fandango (a regular-sized guy who also dances). Although of course even ROH has storylines. The current one involves another wicked faction (every faction in wrestling is wicked, even the legendary Four Horsemen) that's opposing Kevin Steen, whom I think the promotion briefly thought was going to be a watershed type of champion. He recently lost the ROH world title to Jay Briscoe, one half of a brother combination that has no relation to the Briscoe brothers who were dominant in the '70s, Jack and Gerald (the latter eventually gaining more fame as a stooge of Mr. McMahon during the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin era along with Pat Patterson, not only the first Intercontinental champion but also gay).
Jay Briscoe as champion makes a ton of sense. He's a homegrown star that the fans will absolutely recognize. In recent years, after the loss of stars like Brian Danielson (who subsequently made a name for himself as Daniel Bryan), CM Punk, and Nigel McGuinness (who attempted to make a name for himself as Desmond Wolfe, but had to retire due to medical issues), ROH seemed to lose direction. McGuinness has since returned to the promotion as an on-air (i.e. noncompetitive) personality, although he may be contemplating one last match. I'd be happy to see that happen. Another star who's returned recently is Paul London, a firecracker who was a star in the early days and quickly moved on, winning the ECWA Super 8 tournament (something Christopher Daniels alone can say he's done twice) and making a go of it in WWE. One of his first matches in WWE was actually against Brock Lesnar. That was a fun match. Eventually, though, he got swallowed up in the dying cruiserweight division, and then in a tag team with Brian Kendrick, a combination that spent a great deal of time as Smackdown champions but never got an ounce of respect from the company. And then London disappeared, perhaps because he smirked right before McMahon "died" that one time in 2007 (although everyone else was soon thinking about Chris Benoit, for entirely negative reasons). It's just good to see London back on a stage where he can be widely appreciated. And the whole promotion around him seems to be undergoing a renaissance, so that's nice.
It's always good to have a competitive environment. The last time it was socially acceptable to talk about wrestling out in the open was during the Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW. Wrestlers were everywhere, and the snickering was kept under the table. That was good. TNA is once again turning to one of the stars of that era, Sting, to compete for its world title. Sting may be getting on in years (he's over fifty), but he can still go in the ring. Undertaker is younger than him, but competed in far crazier matches in his prime. Some fans no doubt want to see that dream match, which WWE has attempted to make a reality in the past. If it ever did happen, it would still be special. True fact: Sting was the tag team partner of the Ultimate Warrior when they were both learning the business. It may explain the face paint (well, The Crow explains the face paint now, but still). The funny thing is TNA's own Sting, A.J. Styles, is actively pursuing his own version of the Sting savior role circa 1997. The funnier thing is that the company didn't wait as long to get Styles back in action, but the end result will no doubt be the same. He'll be the big star of this October's Bound for Glory (a smaller version of WrestleMania), probably in a match against Daniels, who has been tormenting Styles for the past year.
Undertaker, meanwhile, competed on Raw and Smackdown two weeks ago for the first time in three years. At that time, he was retiring Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania and then helping make his "brother" Kane's run as world champion more legitimate, losing to him at three consecutive PPVs. This time he was helping to put over The Shield, and Dean Ambrose in particular. The Shield is a faction of up-and-coming talent that has been in the spotlight since last fall. They're basically a new version of the Nexus, which was another thing happening in 2010. Ambrose is clearly being groomed for greatness. This will be a very good thing. Wade Barrett was the skipper of Nexus, and he was pushed too far too quickly. Although they still have yet to lose, Ambrose and his two cohorts have yet to do much in singles competitive. They keep doing matches together. In Mexico, this is a regular thing. It would make sense for Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, and somebody else (it would be awkward to make the third Hunico, because he was the substitute Sin Cara, and that didn't end well).
Anyway, to speak of Fandango again, it's funny that he became a meme. His debut was delayed for months, probably because they were trying to figure out how to pull this gimmick off, but it seems to be doing the work itself, along with a killer theme (slightly evocative of the old I Dream of Jeannie theme) and some Dancing with the Stars moves (and perhaps a killer new diva currently known as Summer Rae). Some observers are concerned that WWE will screw it up, but they don't seem to realize that heels can be loved just as much as babyfaces.
Did I mention that Dolph Ziggler actually did finally cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, won last summer? He's finally a world champion, something "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig never did in WWE (much less WCW, although he did in AWA before appearing in either of them). Ziggler is a heck of a lot like Hennig, although he doesn't have the Perfect Plex (which in hindsight is probably what ruined Hennig's back). The WWE champion is still John Cena, who will be defending the title against Ryback (WWE's official Goldberg) in two weeks. They're making Ryback a heel because they can't make Cena one. If Ryback wins it'll hardly matter. If Ryback doesn't win (he competed for the title in the fall against Punk, but didn't win thanks to good folks like The Shield), that will pretty much mean the end of that.
And yes, Mr. Dilloway, I know this stuff isn't "real." It's still art. I appreciate good art in whatever form it takes. Perhaps you'd like to meet Damien Sandow? But just to prove everything's cool, hey folks! His books are ninety-nine cents this month! No, I don't generally shill for other blogger buddy book writers, mostly because I believe in supporting books you love rather than people you like and because I don't automatically assume they're one in the same (and also because I really don't have the money to try and tell the difference indiscriminately). In this case, Dilloway has been grumpy longer than I have, and I'm hoping that any success he receives will motivate him to write more of what I hope he'll write, which is some genuinely good stuff. He's been feeling like he should quit writing. And partly I agree. There's stuff that feels like he's just writing because he's a writer, and then there's stuff he writes where it truly feels inspired and he seems engaged as a creative voice. That I'll always support. So if I can be a part of drawing that out of him, all the better, even if he hates me for suggesting that some of his material doesn't fit that category. To be fair, I won't mention which material is which. You're all adults (so far as I know). You can make these decisions for yourself.
Jay Briscoe as champion makes a ton of sense. He's a homegrown star that the fans will absolutely recognize. In recent years, after the loss of stars like Brian Danielson (who subsequently made a name for himself as Daniel Bryan), CM Punk, and Nigel McGuinness (who attempted to make a name for himself as Desmond Wolfe, but had to retire due to medical issues), ROH seemed to lose direction. McGuinness has since returned to the promotion as an on-air (i.e. noncompetitive) personality, although he may be contemplating one last match. I'd be happy to see that happen. Another star who's returned recently is Paul London, a firecracker who was a star in the early days and quickly moved on, winning the ECWA Super 8 tournament (something Christopher Daniels alone can say he's done twice) and making a go of it in WWE. One of his first matches in WWE was actually against Brock Lesnar. That was a fun match. Eventually, though, he got swallowed up in the dying cruiserweight division, and then in a tag team with Brian Kendrick, a combination that spent a great deal of time as Smackdown champions but never got an ounce of respect from the company. And then London disappeared, perhaps because he smirked right before McMahon "died" that one time in 2007 (although everyone else was soon thinking about Chris Benoit, for entirely negative reasons). It's just good to see London back on a stage where he can be widely appreciated. And the whole promotion around him seems to be undergoing a renaissance, so that's nice.
It's always good to have a competitive environment. The last time it was socially acceptable to talk about wrestling out in the open was during the Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW. Wrestlers were everywhere, and the snickering was kept under the table. That was good. TNA is once again turning to one of the stars of that era, Sting, to compete for its world title. Sting may be getting on in years (he's over fifty), but he can still go in the ring. Undertaker is younger than him, but competed in far crazier matches in his prime. Some fans no doubt want to see that dream match, which WWE has attempted to make a reality in the past. If it ever did happen, it would still be special. True fact: Sting was the tag team partner of the Ultimate Warrior when they were both learning the business. It may explain the face paint (well, The Crow explains the face paint now, but still). The funny thing is TNA's own Sting, A.J. Styles, is actively pursuing his own version of the Sting savior role circa 1997. The funnier thing is that the company didn't wait as long to get Styles back in action, but the end result will no doubt be the same. He'll be the big star of this October's Bound for Glory (a smaller version of WrestleMania), probably in a match against Daniels, who has been tormenting Styles for the past year.
Undertaker, meanwhile, competed on Raw and Smackdown two weeks ago for the first time in three years. At that time, he was retiring Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania and then helping make his "brother" Kane's run as world champion more legitimate, losing to him at three consecutive PPVs. This time he was helping to put over The Shield, and Dean Ambrose in particular. The Shield is a faction of up-and-coming talent that has been in the spotlight since last fall. They're basically a new version of the Nexus, which was another thing happening in 2010. Ambrose is clearly being groomed for greatness. This will be a very good thing. Wade Barrett was the skipper of Nexus, and he was pushed too far too quickly. Although they still have yet to lose, Ambrose and his two cohorts have yet to do much in singles competitive. They keep doing matches together. In Mexico, this is a regular thing. It would make sense for Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, and somebody else (it would be awkward to make the third Hunico, because he was the substitute Sin Cara, and that didn't end well).
Anyway, to speak of Fandango again, it's funny that he became a meme. His debut was delayed for months, probably because they were trying to figure out how to pull this gimmick off, but it seems to be doing the work itself, along with a killer theme (slightly evocative of the old I Dream of Jeannie theme) and some Dancing with the Stars moves (and perhaps a killer new diva currently known as Summer Rae). Some observers are concerned that WWE will screw it up, but they don't seem to realize that heels can be loved just as much as babyfaces.
Did I mention that Dolph Ziggler actually did finally cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, won last summer? He's finally a world champion, something "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig never did in WWE (much less WCW, although he did in AWA before appearing in either of them). Ziggler is a heck of a lot like Hennig, although he doesn't have the Perfect Plex (which in hindsight is probably what ruined Hennig's back). The WWE champion is still John Cena, who will be defending the title against Ryback (WWE's official Goldberg) in two weeks. They're making Ryback a heel because they can't make Cena one. If Ryback wins it'll hardly matter. If Ryback doesn't win (he competed for the title in the fall against Punk, but didn't win thanks to good folks like The Shield), that will pretty much mean the end of that.
And yes, Mr. Dilloway, I know this stuff isn't "real." It's still art. I appreciate good art in whatever form it takes. Perhaps you'd like to meet Damien Sandow? But just to prove everything's cool, hey folks! His books are ninety-nine cents this month! No, I don't generally shill for other blogger buddy book writers, mostly because I believe in supporting books you love rather than people you like and because I don't automatically assume they're one in the same (and also because I really don't have the money to try and tell the difference indiscriminately). In this case, Dilloway has been grumpy longer than I have, and I'm hoping that any success he receives will motivate him to write more of what I hope he'll write, which is some genuinely good stuff. He's been feeling like he should quit writing. And partly I agree. There's stuff that feels like he's just writing because he's a writer, and then there's stuff he writes where it truly feels inspired and he seems engaged as a creative voice. That I'll always support. So if I can be a part of drawing that out of him, all the better, even if he hates me for suggesting that some of his material doesn't fit that category. To be fair, I won't mention which material is which. You're all adults (so far as I know). You can make these decisions for yourself.
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