Posted in: The Northern Star The Northern Star--An Era of Honor Ends
By XanMan
Mar 25, 2009 - 9:54:57 AM
"Equally we require a collective past--hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to pursuit the perceptions of the present."--Penelope Lively
Last week on RAW, Chris Jericho said that once he was finished with Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper, Rick Steamboat, Ric Flair, and Mickey Rourke that "unlike the ending of The Wrestler, the result will not be ambiguous," further cementing the fact that despite what are probably numerous failures to get what they wanted for Jericho's match at Wrestlemania the WWE is still trying to feed off that movie. The funniest thing about this isn't that Mickey Rourke, Steve Austin, and Ric Flair said "no" to participating against the five-time World Champion at Wrestlemania, it's that the WWE thinks they can pull this angle off well in the first place. Chris Jericho is a master, and one of the most talented wrestlers to ever exist; for Ric Flair to say he isn't worthy of being in the Hall of Fame is ludicrous. There's nobody else on the WWE roster that could even come close to pulling this off, much less make us wonder each week exactly where this angle is going, but the problem is that nobody in the angle is anywhere close to doing in their careers what Randy the Ram did in his. Rourke's character is a washed-out main eventer hanging around the indies trying to stay relevant. How do any of the four fit that description?
It's certainly true that Piper and Flair stuck around in the wrestling business far longer than they should have. While I don't think it's okay for anybody to say when anybody else should retire, it's going to be hard remembering Flair the way he was back in the 80's and 90's, because during his late WCW and WWE days, he turned into a caricature of the man he once was, while bringing out new wrinkles(pun not intended, but apt, I suppose) like elbow dropping his suit jacket and having his manboobs flapping around all over the place. Could he still work? Oh, aye, but what does that really matter? Despite his numerous dvd sets, it's almost impossible for me to think of the Ric Flair that retired and was inducted into the Hall of Fame(not in that order) last year as the same man who dominated the NWA, and the same problem comes up with Rowdy Roddy Piper. I received the Saturday Night's Main Event dvd for my birthday and was shocked at how different Piper looked when he was in his prime. He's still full of fire, of course, but his promos mean little because he no longer has any physical skills to back them up, and even an old-time fan such as myself didn't remember who he really was.
Steamboat spent some time in ROH as a commissioner or something, but to my knowledge neither he nor Jimmy Snuka bounced around different independent promotions trying to prolong their career, and even if they did in the past, they aren't doing it now which is what The Wrestler was all about. Once again, the WWE has exceeded the scope of their ambitions and look like fools because of it. Bushwacker Luke wrestled a couple of shows in ROH in December, so maybe they should have brought him back for this angle. Sure, he was never a main-eventer, but at least he's a former WWE Superstar bouncing around the independents. A few years ago, Jake Roberts would have been the perfect choice for this angle. But now? There's no one, which is why this angle rings false to me. A current legend being physically abusive to past legends makes sense, especially in this day and age of youth holding little--if any--respect for their elders, and I like that three guys who wrestled on the first Wrestlemania are going to be around for this one, but tying the movie into it the way they have causes a bit of distate in my mouth.
Some people are bitching about the mis-use of Jericho in this angle, but I don't see it that way at all; I think the legends have been mis-used. Jericho could have had a strong match with another superstar, I'm sure--maybe he could've won the Intercontinental Title in his 40th televised match against CM Punk and defended it against Rey Mysterio instead of JBL doing it. Maybe he could have worked his way into the Triple H/Randy Orton angle--after all, he won the World Heavyweight Title twice last year and was fired by Triple H's wife; it could have worked--lots better than Cena's insertion into the other title match, truth be told, but I believe the WWE thought they were going to get a big name to face the propagator of this angle, so went with the guy that could do it best--namely, Jericho. He'll be fine after this; he may even be a better heel afterwards, despite how good he already is. The legends, on the other hand, have all been given a bad name by all of this. Despite the announcers saying what a jerk Jericho is being, he's still running down and destroying any legend he can get his hands on; making them look like shit.
"Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are."--Jose Saramago
That's why I think this angle is better left to the organization featured in the film. For those of you who don't know--and I'm sure that's many of you given the obvious WWE bias of the reporting here on the main page--hell they still refer to "Wildcat" Chris Harris as Braden Walker because of his cup of coffee with the WWE, and despite the fact that Colt Cabana returned to Ring of Honor at their 7th Anniversary Show on Saturday night and they now have their own tv show, I fully expect that the reporters up here will go on referring to him as Scotty Goldman in their usual clueless manner--wow, that was a long parenthetical, wasn't it?--Ring of Honor has also been running an angle based on The Wrestler, except theirs actually makes sense, and involves a former World Heavyweight Champion(ECW in their last days, but still...) who once had a legendary series of matches against Rob Van Dam for the ECW TV Title and is the guy that TNA trusted to get their once vibrant and thriving X-Division on the map. I'm talking, of course, about the man once referred to as "The New Fucking Show," Jerry Lynn, and we'll get back to him, but before we do, I want to take a sidetrack.
I don't feel like the most qualified guy to take this route, but looking at my brethren here, I don't see that there's anyone better up here on LoP to do this kind of thing, so I'm going to wade in the water and try not to go so deep that I drown myself. As I've said before, I'm a newbie to Ring of Honor. I've been watching it just under a year now, and I've got a long way to go before I can become as familiar with them as I am with the WWE and the latter days of the NWA/WCW, but I love the promotion. I love the fact that it emphasizes wrestling above all else, yet can still provide good entertainment, angles, and storylines that keep their audience involved. They don't have the production values or the gorgeous babes that the WWE have, but they surpass them in nearly every other category. Is it surprising that CM Punk keeps speeding along and then stalls in the larger organization when he ran rampant over the smaller one? No, because when you're on the indy level, talent wins out over politics and people that can work, talk, and draw don't get held back because people don't like them or because their finishing move is too similar to a main eventer.
You may look at CM Punk and see an indy success story. I look at CM Punk and see a guy who's completely different from his days in Ring of Honor, and not in any ways that are good. Is it okay to establish a different identity from your roots? Of course it is, but if you're going to, why stick with the name? Gone are the Anaconda Vise, the Pepsi Plunge, the Pepsi Twist, and the amazing technical ability that made CM Punk into a big name on the independent circuit. Instead we've got a martial artist who finishes off matches with a fireman's carry knee-drop. Maybe Punk's original style would never have worked in the WWE--we'll never know, after all--but the style he's adapted certainly has before, since it isn't far removed from that of the man with the "educated feet," who was the only man to ever hold the ECW and WWE Titles concurrently. It's not amazing that CM Punk got over with the WWE fans with all of his tattoos and current move-set; what's surprising is that he's stayed over with practically no personality to speak of and so many stops and starts along the way. No, he's not an indy success story to my eyes; he's more of a warning.
That's why I was worried about Nigel McGuiness. I went from hating the work of Nigel McGuinness to loving it. Do I still think he throws too many lariats? Sometimes, but more often than not, his matches are far more varied, and I've grown to respect his ability greatly. I didn't see him on his rise from fun little European style worker to the man who held the Pure Title for almost a year; I will eventually, but haven't yet. What I have seen is about half of his reign with the ROH World Title and I've been mightily impressed by it. The guy is a master of ring psychology, and as I said a few columns back I have no problem seeing him as the new Ric Flair--if his injuries don't kill his career. McGuinness has been wrestling at something like 70 to 80 percent basically ever since winning the World Title, and he's still managed to put away contender after contender for the strap while putting together contender after contender for Match of the Year. He used to use his right arm to deliver his finishing move, "The Jawbreaker Lariat," but after he tore the bicep on it, he took a couple months off, switched to the left arm, and never gave his body the proper time to heal.
"Remember tonight--for it is the beginning of always."--Dante Alighieri
There's a word for this kind of behavior folks--it's determination. One could also argue that it's stupidity, except you have to take into account that Nigel doesn't wrestle for the WWE(who does, har har!,) but for ROH. He doesn't make guaranteed money, and he doesn't make a fortune in any case. He couldn't afford to take time off, especially after finally ascending to the top of the promotion--and what is for ROH fans the top of the business--he had a championship legacy that he had to uphold and he's done a magnificent job of it, becoming the second longest reigning ROH World Champion of all time, behind only the legendary Samoa Joe. Given what Nigel did with basically one fully functioning arm over the last 18 months, this reign should be legendary in its own right, and it probably will be. Whether out of neccesity or not, he developed a new finisher to complement the Jawbreaker in his London Dungeon submission hold in the middle of his title reign, and a new style that focused on the total destruction of his opponents' left arms, thus giving him a two-pronged attack. It was almost like he was saying, "If my left arm don't get you, yours will."
He had magnificent matches in 2008 against a variety of opponents---former multiple-time Full Impact Pro World Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong, both of the current tag champs, Kevin Steen and El Generico, Tyler Black, Austin Aries, Go Shiozaki, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Adam Pearce, and, of course, Jerry Lynn. McGuinness and Danielson had a match in Japan that was pretty good, but nothing really to write home about, but then they tore the house down at Rising Above in what would have been my match of the year if Jimmy Jacobs and Austin Aries hadn't put on such a brutal, emotional dog collar match at Bound By Hate. It was so good that it made me want to go find all of their other matches and watch them, but I won't; I'll watch them over the course of time and I'm sure they'll be even better that way. There's a reason that Danielson/McGuinness is considered the greatest rivalry in ROH history, and I bore witness to at least part of that reason just a few days ago. It puts a crack in my heart that I may have seen the last full out battle between the two of them. I knew it was a possibility, of course, but I didn't think it would happen in this manner.
As discussed in last week's Star, Ring of Hope, and ETA, Episode 91, the contracts for both men, along with The Briscoes either are up now or will be up soon, and while all four men have been offered new contracts by the promotion, it's unknown whether they've signed them or not. There's been a lot of speculation around the Internet Wrestling Community that one, some, or all of them could jump to the WWE, where I think Nigel would excel, but now I'm hoping that he's not jumping and that he's already signed the contract that was on the table because this past Friday night in front of 300 fans in Elizabeth Pennsylvania, Nigel tore the bicep on his other--left--arm and it now looks like he's going to have to relinquish the championship. He soldiered on against KENTA Saturday night, reportedly was favoring the arm heavily going in, and yet absorbed several huge kicks to the left arm and shoulder. Nigel's a warrior; if he hadn't proved that before, he proved it on Saturday, but there's still a massive question of how long he can keep defending the strap, and there's also the moral question of how long he should keep defending it.
I don't know Nigel's financial situation, but what I do know is this: he's already given a large portion of his heart and soul to Ring of Honor. Don't get me wrong, it's been a mutually beneficial relationship; he became famous as one of the best wrestlers in the world, while they got a great run by a monster heel champion. I can't think of a title run I've seen by a heel that compares, though I'm sure some would point out Triple H's dominance after being handed the World Heavyweight Title by Eric Bischoff. There's no question that the tag line being used on the ROH commercials is true, "Born in England, Crowned in America," as Nigel isn't just the ROH World Champion; for all his critics he really has become true wrestling royalty with this reign--especially stacked on top of his 350-day reign as ROH Pure Champion. If I had to bet, I'd bet that he'll be dropping the World Title two days before Wrestlemania in Houston, TX. I may not have been a Ring of Honor viewer when his reign started, but I believe I'll be there to see its completion. His title reign is coming to an end in an unfortunate way, but it had to end some time, and it was likely going to end soon anyway.
"Be on the alert to recognize your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur."--Muriel Spark
Enter The Wrestler. The last anybody--or at least I--had heard of Jerry Lynn after his time wrestling for TNA's X-Division was done, he had become the road agent in charge of that division. In other words, he appeared to be retired from active competition and set up to work behind the scenes for the second largest wrestling promotion in the country. I don't follow the independent circuit really, so I don't know if he was also working dates for other promotions on the side, but it certainly came as a shock to me when you fast-forward to Vendetta II and he had a match on the card against the ROH World Champion--Nigel McGuinness. It was a non-title match, but Lynn acquitted himself well and earned a chant from the crowd of "You've Still Got It!" along with the standard clap-clap-clap-clap-clap. I thought it was probably the weakest match I've seen from Nigel, since he had to carry the obviously past-his-prime Lynn, but the announcers certainly put Lynn over and said he did well enough that he should have earned himself a rematch against Nigel, this time with the belt on the line. A few months after this encounter, Lynn became a member of the ROH roster and appeared regularly for them.
There's no doubt that Lynn still knows how to wrestle, but his ability is certainly hindered by his age and the fact that moves he used to do with ease don't have the same snap or rotation to them that they did twenty years ago. That's to be expected, of course, but it kind of goes back to the whole, "What have you done for me lately?" thing, and the truth is that Jerry Lynn never did much for Ring of Honor in 2008, 2009, or going all the way back to the organization's beginnings in 2002. Do you know why? You should if you were paying attention, since I mentioned it earlier: He was wrestling for NWATNA(National Wrestling Alliance/Total Nonstop Action,) which was the original name for TNA, as the leader, mentor, and one of the pioneers of the X-Division. Now, six years after that, and twelve to thirteen after his biggest claim to fame, which was his gorgeous series of matches against Van Dam, he's not only an active member of the ROH roster, but one of the top contenders for their championship? There's no doubt this is a storyline ripped from the movie in which Ring of Honor was featured, because if not, there's no way this would ever be happening.
Lynn returned in November--some 5 months after losing at Vendetta II--with the stated goal of winning the ROH World Championship. After victories over Delirious and Castagnoli in single's matches and over Castagnoli again in a tag match, where Nigel was Claudio's partner, he got a World Title match against Nigel on 12/06/2008 in Nashville, TN, at Southern Hostility, after which Nigel verbally berated him for his age and being washed up--he actually called him a never-was in not so many words. From that moment on, it was pretty much assumed that Lynn was going to get a huge World Title program against McGuinness, and possibly even dethrone him for the championship. A washed up, beaten down wrestler on his last legs reaching for his last chance at the spotlight, and here we are with Lynn having one more shot at Nigel, who has two seriously messed up arms that could end his career if they're not tended to soon. These plots point to Lynn winning the ROH World Championship; a championship he doesn't really deserve and a victory that will almost negate the tremendous run that Nigel had with the title, because nobody will really get a rub from it.
There are guys that could --Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs to name two; The Necro Butcher to add someone in from out of left field; and there's always former Ring of Honor Champion Austin Aries who could place-hold the strap for a while, and have great match after great match the way Nigel did. Former ROH stalwarts, Colt Cabana and Jimmy Rave made returns to the promotion a few nights ago and could have the title hot-shotted to them. If all else fails, they could always have Nigel have to surrender it due to injury and hold a tournament to crown a new champion. This is all assuming, of course, that the unambiguous ending that Ring of Honor had to Lynn's quest was not to become the World Champion, which it certainly could have been. Either way, this is going to be a rough transition for ROH; not only is Nigel presumably dropping the strap, but he won't even be around to wrestle for them for 3-4 months. I have nothing against Lynn, but I hope he misses his version of the Ram Jam and Nigel walks out with the title only to drop it to Black the next night on PPV; I'll miss history that way, but at least ROH will be in capable hands that belong to a man who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Low Ki, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Takeshi Morishima, and, of course, Nigel McGuinness. McGuinness had a fantastic reign that deserves to go out with a bang, so I'm hoping he can pull himself together one more time and deliver a stellar performance in Houston before he hangs up his boots for a few months. Nobody in wrestling deserves the rest more.
Long days, pleasant nights
Points of Light
I'm once again plugging the Columns Series Invitational that's currently running in the LoP Forums. Once the tournament is over, I may go back to plugging normal Columns Forum columns; it may not be possible, because lately I haven't had the time to read a lot of columns. Just giving you a heads up.
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