Posted in: Hustle Is Posting Right Now Hustle Is Posting Right Now: Volume 56 ("FINALLY.." Edition)
By Hustle
Oct 6, 2009 - 6:44:04 PM
Good lookin out, Ro.
"That's right, homie, you can't move me.. I ain't goin nowhere.. I'm in the hood like bootleg movies.."
I went back a few years and decided to drop some Jadakiss on everyone for this edition's intro line. Some people might think I'm done, but in actuality, it's only the beginning for me. I'm tinkering with a bunch of new things that should make their debut in the not-too-distant future, hopefully. I'm trying to take things in a different direction, so, we'll see how that goes. Before that, there's this.. welcome, LoP fam, to yet another edition of the column that hits about once a month, and with twice the fury as the other "gift" some of you get once a month.. Hustle Is Posting Right Now. I'm the man who decided on getting a Twitter account, in attempts to spread the word a bit (follow me.. @HustleLOP).. ya boy, Hustle, is back in the building. I might as well jump right into it, so, uh, I think it's about that time. Shall I proceed? (Yes, indeed.) Less dew eet!!
I don't know about any of you, but I, for one, was electrified. Even after all these years, The Rock was able to appear on WWE TV and show that, as the wrestling chant goes, "he's still got it". His taped segment on this past week's special episode of Smackdown was one of the more fun promos I've seen all year, but I guess I really shouldn't be that surprised. After all, we're talking about someone who is the most naturally charismatic speaker the wrestling business has ever seen. We're talking about someone who, unlike any other person to ever step foot in a wrestling ring, could have crowds eating out of the palm of his hand at any given time on any given night in any given arena on the planet.
Towards the end of the promo, Rock caught a lot of people's attention by hinting at a possible appearance as a future Guest Host of Raw (with the early rumors having that be on the first episode of 2010). Filming a taped appearance is one thing, but returning live and in-color is a different beast altogether. If he really does return to host an episode of Raw, the ratings are almost guaranteed to shoot up, and the crowd will accept him a helluva lot better than they did, say, Al Sharpton or ZZ Top. That's all fine and dandy, but what would he do? That's the important thing to think about. He'll be a more involved host than most have been thus far, but where will his involvement take him? I'm glad you asked me, because I'm fully prepared to dive into that topic right now. As an added bonus, because I love you all so, so very much, I'll even look at what a full-time return to wrestling would do for The Rock, as well as the rest of the WWE roster. Don't say I never did anything for you folks.
First and foremost, a Raw guest hosting gig for The Rock makes things very interesting for a certain favorite wrestler of mine. A certain wrestler that, kayfabe or not, has done countless interviews where he's taken shot after shot at Rocky, leading people to wonder about a possible match between the two men somewhere down the road. I'd pay good money to see every interaction between The Rock and John Cena on that Monday night. Obviously, there's a large percentage of Raw's live event audience that needs zero help in finding reasons to boo Cena, but placing him against The Rock in any way would get him jeered out of just about everywhere. I highly doubt Rock would "turn" heel, so it would make any interactions with Cena that much more interesting, as Cena surely won't be acting as a heel. Personally, whether it ended up being a one-off appearance or not, I don't think there'd be too much going on between these two men should Rock end up hosting. I think the mystique and the buzz would be enough, and there'd be hints dropped at a possible match between them or something, but nothing else. I'd expect Rock to end up as your "usual" face host, siding with Cena and helping him to get a match that he wants or something. Kinda boring, I know, but I just get that feeling. On a personal level, I'd be somewhat torn if Rock and Cena were to battle in any way. Long before John Cena was my John Cena, The Rock was my John Cena. Most people I knew were huge fans of either Steve Austin or DX, but I was siding with "The People's Champion" all the way. It would definitely be tough for me to choose sides, that's for sure.
As the WWE Champion (yes, I realize things could change between now and then, but work with me, for the sake of "fantasy booking"), Randy Orton will, undoubtedly, be involved somehow with The Rock. Hey, maybe Rock could turn heel and reveal himself as the true leader of The Legacy, seeing as how he does fit in with the whole reason why the group started. Alright, that probably won't happen, but it is kinda funny to think about. If you thought John Cena made a lot of references to baby oil when it comes to Orton, Ted DiBiase, and Cody Rhodes, I'd be guessing that Rock would take those references and run with them to the next level, like he usually does. On the plus side for Orton, though, is the fact that he could easily say it was him who sent Rock off into an early retirement, as Orton was involved in Rock's final match, all the way back at WrestleMania 20, where he teamed with then-Evolution members Batista and Ric Flair to defeat the Rock-n-Sock Connection of Rock and Mick Foley. Damn, that was a long sentence. Anyway, that gives Orton a lot of power over Rock on the mic, and it's a power that nobody else in the company would be able to have.
If we look at the Unified Tag Team Champions, we see two people in Chris Jericho and Big Show that have quite the history with The Rock throughout their WWF/WWE careers. They've all been in the ring on numerous occasions, battling for titles and bragging rights (no pun intended) alike. Jericho talking tough, only to hide behind Show, is going to make for some hilarious exchanges with Rock, if you ask me. As for Big Show, oh, how I've missed Rock's impressions of him, yelling out like some sort of retarded Yeti and raising his arm in the air. If he didn't bust out that impression once again, I'd be really disappointed.
United States Champion The Miz could really benefit from working with The Rock. His cocky character is the perfect foil for Rock on the mic, and although he would get destroyed in a promo battle, it would be important for him to not back down, which is what kept his duels with John Cena so interesting. I'd fully expect Miz to "push buttons" in his promos, a la his feud with Cena, talking about Rock's Disney movies, him tucking his tail between his legs and leaving wrestling, etc. The potential to be entertaining, but again, Rock would destroy him on the mic, which makes it all the more fun, I suppose.
Someone else who could really benefit from being associated with The Rock is none other than the man The Miz just beat to become the United States Champion. Of course, I'm talking about Kofi Kingston. For a really long time now, Kofi has been hovering around the midcard/upper-midcard level on Raw. He'd get a serious push, then it would stall for a bit, only to then be followed by another serious push, which would then stall for a bit. He needs a little.. something.. to take him to the next level, and now that he isn't the US Champ anymore, I was hoping to see more of an aggressive side to him. Kind of like a "hunted becoming the hunter" type of deal. He showed bits of that aggression in the match with Miz, attacking him in the corner unlike anything we've seen him do since he debuted. Anyway, back to the point of this rant.. perhaps the "rub" Kofi would get by working with The Rock is just what he'd need to send him towards the main event level. It doesn't even need to be that much, because Kofi is already quite over with crowds, and has put on some really good matches in the past several months. Maybe Rock could say something along the lines of calling Kofi the most exciting superstar on the entire roster. You know, that type of gobbledygook. I really do think Kofi is on the verge of being a legitimate main eventer in the company, but he's just missing that.. something.. and I don't quite know what that.. something.. is.
MVP and Mark Henry would also make for interesting interactions with "The Great One". MVP has the brash delivery and is also from the 305 area code, and Mark Henry, of course, has history on his side, as he and Rock were both members of the Nation Of Domination during the Attitude Era. I'm sure both the Miami connection, as well as the NOD connection, would be played up once or twice.
Then comes DX. In my opinion, and in the opinion of a lot of other people, Triple H rode Rock's coattails to the top of the WWF for a few years. Sure, he was getting over on his own a bit, but he piggybacked quite a boost from feuding with Rock, both in the midcard, as well as in the main event scene. Those two have always feuded with each other, pretty much from day one. With Trips now as a super-face, it would be almost odd to see them being friendly and on good terms. I wouldn't be surprised whatsoever if they had a bit of a half-serious/half-joking war of words in regards to their history with each other. On the other hand, Rock and Shawn Michaels don't have a whole lot of history to discuss. Sure, there was the pilot episode of Smackdown where HBK, as the Guest Referee of a match between Rock and Triple H, hit Rock with some Sweet Chin Music, giving Trips the victory. As far as I can remember, though, that was never followed up on. It would be hilarious, and almost unhead of, continuity-wise, if Rock mentioned that to HBK at any point. Rock and HBK remains one of the greatest feuds to never take place, in my opinion. It really is a damn shame that we never got to see them go at it, as I have no doubt they would've torn the house down whenever they faced off.
If a full-time return is going to take place, we're going to need to look at it from two different sides.. the "Pros" side, as well as the "Cons" side, just to be fair.
Pro #1: "The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment" returns home - I'd say that this one is pretty much self-explanitory. Unless you're a Skip Bayless-like Diabolical Hater, there really shouldn't be a reason why any of you would not enjoy seeing The Rock on a permanent basis once again. He's "must-see TV" whenever he's on the screen, and you really can't say that about many wrestlers these days.
Con #1: He returns home after being away for such a long time - He hasn't wrestled a match in a whopping 67 months, ladies and gentlemen. 67 months! For those of you who aren't math wizards, that's a long time. That's a really long time. He's still in great shape (and judging by his appearance on Smackdown, he's as close to being in "wrestling shape" as he's been since he left the business), so that shouldn't be too much of a problem, but just how much ring rust could he have accumulated in those 67 months? I suppose it would really help that he's had professional wrestling in his veins since the day he was born, but still.. we're talking about 67 months, and that's if he came back right this very minute!
Pro #2: A "fresh" addition to the top of the roster - One of the biggest complaints people have had about the recent WWE product is that the same small handful of people are main eventing shows. The Rock's addition would be a step in the right direction, albeit a small one, towards fixing that problem. There's always room for someone else to be in a main event spot on Raw or Smackdown.
Con #2: Stunted growth for the midcard? - With names like Triple H, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, John Cena, Batista, etc sitting atop the WWE totem pole, it can be tough for the midcarders of the roster to be truly elevated to those levels. Throw in The Rock, and it just make things that much harder for the Kofi Kingstons, MVPs, Jack Swaggers, John Morrisons, and Rey Mysterios of the world. There are only so many "spots" to go around, and most of them are already accounted for, at least for the time being. Rock has never seemed to have a problem working with "lesser" names in the past, and I doubt that has changed through the years, but how much would that really help?
Pro #4: Ratings boost - Just in my own personal circle of friends, I know a bunch of people who were gigantic wrestling fans during the Attitude Era and the Monday Night Wars, but, for one reason or another, have had their interest dwindle in recent years. They say the product isn't the same without people like The Rock, Steve Austin, etc. If The Rock were to return, I know damn well these people would tune in again, just to see what their old favorite is up to. Every last one of you reading this probably knows people exactly like the ones I just described. Hell, I know a few of you that read this column who don't watch wrestling anymore, other than reading columns on LoP, and you match that description, I'm guessing.
Con #4: Temporary ratings boost? - When all these "new" viewers tune in, beyond seeing The Rock's grand return, will what they view be enough to keep them hooked enough to tune in on a weekly basis? Just how many times can they watch Hornswoggle VS Chavo Guerrero before they stop watching again? Obviously, the product, as a whole, needs to improve on a consistent basis for those viewers to stick around. Smackdown seems to be in better shape, and probably closer resembles a "complete" wrestling show that would keep viewers, but for that reason, Rock would probably be put on Raw, where he could help out a bit more. As I mentioned, when viewers tune in to see Rock, and they get Hornswoggle and Chris Masters running around, what will happen?
I was thinking about making a Writer's Note, but I figured I'd just throw these two points in here to carry on the real wrestling discussion. Neither point will be all that long, anyway. Going into last night's Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, many of you were questioning just how a Cell match would fit into today's new PG-rated WWE product. The answer, fresh off the show, is quite clear.
Not well at all.
Don't get me wrong.. the matches themselves weren't really all that bad (although the CM Punk/Undertaker match was a huge disappointment on a time and quality level), but they could've just as easily taken place without the Cell. Having a Cell match without blood looks almost ridiculous after the previous editions of the match and the brutality that took place in each of them. Having multiple Cell matches without even a drop of blood is just.. wrong. Not only that, but with multiple Cell matches taking place on the same card, you've watered down the gimmick to the point where you can't have another Cell match for a really long time. As a matter of fact, there shouldn't be cage matches of any sort until No Way Out, where we get the Elimination Chamber, and once that show is over, it should be several months, at the very least, until we see another cage. That's the problem with having the same people feuding against each other month in and month out. You can't just have straight singles matches all the time, so you rush to bring in gimmick match after gimmick match, and when you mix that with declining PPV buyrates and an attitude of panic, it leads to overkill for everything. Speaking of overkill..
Even as a John Cena fan, I do not.. repeat.. DO NOT want to see Cena and Randy Orton wrestle each other for 60 minutes. Their styles just don't mesh well with the Ironman Match at all. On one hand, you have Cena, whose "regular" match has him getting beaten up for 85% of it, only to make a comeback and pull out the victory. On the other hand, you have Orton, who wrestles as slow and methodically as physically possible. Let's see here.. 85% of 60 minutes.. that gives us a grand total of 51 minutes.. and in those 51 minutes, Orton will have performed a total of nine moves, most of which will be rest holds.
Yuck.
I don't have the highest of expectations for the match, although I'm hoping against hope they can surprise me, similar to how The Rock and Triple H shocked the hell out of me by putting on one helluva Ironman Match against each other back at the Judgement Day pay-per-view in 2000, when Rock had the "ZOMG fyve moovez uv doooooom" reputation and Triple H had the "boring" reputation. We shall see, I guess.
Hustle Highlight Of The Week: The aforementioned promo from The Rock wins this week's HHotW for me. That was just spectacular stuff. Like I said in the beginning of the column, it was one of the more fun promos I've seen all year, and I'm really hoping that it leads to a comeback of some sort, and not just a tease that won't be followed through with.
Writer's Note: My San Francisco 49ers are looking really good thus far. My Miami Hurricanes are looking really good thus far. Damn, it feels like forever since I've been able to watch both of those teams be successful at the same time. Miami QB Jacory Harris is looking like the truth right now, and has an argument going for him about being one of the best players in the entire country right now. There's a realistic possibility that THA U could win out the rest of their games, hope Virginia Tech stumbles along the way, giving them a spot in the ACC Title Game, which could propel them into the National Title Game if everything falls into place. If it happens, give Jacory Harris the Heisman. As for the 49ers, things are looking good, especially on defense. Michael Crabtree is supposedly in San Francisco at the moment to resume contract talks with the team, and if they can get him signed, he'll help their offense right away. Just how much he helps is up in the air, but he'll help in one way or another. Good times.
What Hustle Is Listening To Right Now: "Empire State Of Mind" by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys.. "Hate" by Jay-Z & Kanye West.. "Already Home" by Jay-Z & Kid Cudi.. "Off That" by Jay-Z & Drake.. "D.O.A." by Jay-Z.. "Hands Up" by Freeway.. "Keep Yo Hands Up" by Freeway & Sheek.. "Wild World" by Maxi Priest.. "I Want To Be Your Man" by Zapp & Roger.. "Slow & Easy" by Zapp & Roger.. "Shake You Down" by Gregory Abbott.. "Forever" by Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, & Eminem.. "Birthday (Remix)" by Flo Rida, Rick Ross, & Brisco.. "You Don't Know" by Eminem, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, & Ca$hi$.. "Ride Around Shining" by Clipse & Ab-Liva.. "Hello New World" by Clipse & Pharrell.. "Ganja Smuggling" by Eek-A-Mouse.. "It A Ring" by Tonto Irie.. "Return Of The Mack" by Mark Morrison.. "Perfectionist" by Asher Roth & Beanie Sigel.. "Brazilian Crying Season" by Charles Hamilton.. "Successful" by Trey Songz & Drake.. "Impossible" by Fiji.. "Show Me" by Nesian N.I.N.E. .. "Ambitionz Az A Ridah" by 2Pac
Bagged. Tagged. Ready to hit the streets. You already know what it is. Thank you, once again, to everybody that is still riding with me, even after all this time. Very much appreciated. Don't forget to get at me on Twitter, just to see what's poppin with ya boy. I'm still working on it, but I'm a relatively frequent tweeter, so there's always something going on for you to read. Ha. I'll be back, sometime within the next 7-21 days, with yet another Hustle Original for the masses. Keep your peepers peepin for that. Until then, I'm gone like Rae Dawn Chong, nah'mean? From the state where people bust out their jackets and sweaters when the temperature drops down to a nippy 74 degrees, I bid you farewell. Aloha and Mahalo Nui Loa.
”I'm exceedin expectations, you barely meetin quota.. I give it to em straight, you cut it with baking soda..”
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