Posted in: The Northern Star The Northern Star--Dream Big
By XanMan
Apr 29, 2009 - 8:27:40 AM
"How many famous and high-spirited heroes have lived a day too long?"--Jean Jacques Rousseau
For once in my life, I really don't know how to start this because of what I posted last time, and how long it's been. The feedback I received was supportive and positive; I appreciate it, and I'm sure a lot of you are wondering if the experience was everything I hoped it would be. The answer is that it was joyful, amazing, and serene--and probably a whole bunch of other words that can't really express everything I felt. Were there bad things about the trip? There were, one minor argument with my wife at the hotel on the first day that lasted less than ten minutes and the beggars. I know that the economy is down. We see it all around us and it's all over the news, but that doesn't mean that I need to have people coming up to me while I'm with my family on vacation asking me to give them some of my hard-earned money. My wife and I both work two jobs, and to me that means that these folks should be able to work at least one, callous or no. I may write more about the trip some day; it really was a great experience, and if you are a fan of the WWE, I'd highly recommend purchasing a Wrestlemania package. It's well worth it.
Speaking of being "well worth it," I can't help but see all the negative comments about Wrestlemania XXV, and I can understand them to some extent. After all, as excited as I was when we first bought our tickets, with visions of dream matches dancing in my head, I was at least as disappointed with what they actually put together. I had assumed back in June of 2008 that the WWE would be going all out for the silver edition of Wrestlemania. I refuse to call it the 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania, though all my gear from the event proclaims it as such, but it definitely was a milestone and I expected they'd do everything in their power to make it spectacular, and to try to link the past with the present and the future. While I know there are many out there that wouldn't have wanted to see it in the present day, I was hoping they'd finally pull in the former big guns and have an icons battle between the guy that the WWF was built on, Hulk Hogan, and the guy that saved the organization, Steve Austin. No, neither of them did it alone, but without their mainstream appeal and success, the WWE would not exist today, so I was hoping to see that colossal battle, which we obviously didn't get it.
I still believe that the WWE intended on delivering it to us, but weren't able to for a number of different reasons. Hulk Hogan appears to be embattled on all sides and the once-proud leader into prominence of the World Wrestling Federation, a man who was a hero to children of my generation, has basically become a national laughingstock of a celebrity. It's bad enough putting yourself and your disfunctional family on a television show for all the world to see, thus accelerating the destruction of it, but to then find yourself a young girlfriend that looks quite a bit like your daughter--who also appears to be just as willing to do anything for a buck as you are is quite disgusting. Christ, the man was even seen in public ogling said daughter while she was doing an embarrassing public pole dancing exhibition that shows she's just as bad at that as she is at singing. Normally I would consider it unfair to criticize such a young person, but her father has thrown her into celebrity with his poor business decisions and she is continuing to do such on her own and doing an incredibly poor job of it, so now she--along with her idiotic father--are fair game, though I don't expect to talk much about her in the future.
When I was twelve or thirteen years old and first dragged into watching wrestling by my brother, Hulk Hogan was spouting off his three demandments--training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins--and he eventually added a fourth--believing in yourself. Well, looking at him now, and watching him on his television show, it's obvious that he still trains and eats(or possibly injects) his vitamins, but the public life he's living certainly isn't amenable to the prayer aspect, and if he truly believed in himself he probably wouldn't be in such a mess that he would tell a major national publication that he can understand why OJ Simpson did what he was acquitted of, which was killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her lover, Ronald Goldman. While I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that feel like hurting those that have replaced them in their exes' lives, and it may be an understandable feeling, to have such a thing quoted by one in print is just another major mistake in a long line of them. Given his current situation, maybe it's a blessing for the WWE that he had back surgery and was unable to make any kind of appearance at Wrestlemania.
"Heroes, whatever high ideas we may have of them, are mortal and not devine. We are all as God made us and many of us are much worse."--John Osborne
Stone Cold Steve Austin, on the other hand, did appear at Wrestlemania, and received the largest ovation I've ever been a part of. Granted, I haven't been to a lot of live wrestling events; I tend to see the WWE as a weekly television show, as I've spoken about before, but I don't recall ever even seeing anything of the like. When he got on the ATV and drove down the ramp to the ring, the place exploded. I'm sure you could tell that from watching at home, but it was an amazing feeling to have basically everybody in the place cheering, yelling, rocking, jumping. It was amazing. That moment alone is enough to make me glad that he didn't face Hogan at Mania. I'm sure people would have cheered the daylights out of his entrance no matter what, but that moment was built on surprise. We didn't know he was going to don one of his famous black and white T-shirts and give us a Stone Cold Wrestlemania moment, and reacted accordingly. It was all about the joy and excitement mixing with the shock and surprise. Austin celebrated with beers the night before at the Hall of Fame ceremony, but I didn't imagine this was coming; I don't know who did. Maybe you?
Either way, it was a hell of a moment, and I'm glad enough for it that I'm no longer disappointed that Austin wasn't able to have a match at Wrestlemania; and that he may never get to have another match again. I've been a fan of his for a long time. Unlike I'm sure many of you, my fandom was not born of the Stone Cold era. I didn't metamorphosize into a Steve Austin fan when he told Jake Roberts, "Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass," I was a fan years before that when he was "Stunning" Steve Austin and was kicking ass as the WCW World Television Champion and a member of the Dangerous Alliance, and my love of him never stopped, but I was thrilled that he finally blossomed into superstardom, though it wasn't as the heir to Flair like myself and many others thought he would become. During his early years in WCW, he strutted to the ring to beautiful classical music with blond hair, arrogance, a brilliant robe, a lady on his arm, and more often than not a championship belt on his shoulder. He looked like a more muscular version of a young Ric Flair, so you can hardly blame myself and the fans of that era for thinking that we were seeing the next Nature Boy.
Who could have guessed the way Austin's gimmick, company, and life would change? While he certainly didn't have the same attitude as Hulk Hogan, he became the new Hogan in the sense that he became the #1 face in the WWF and led the company to become a national power again. Eventually, of course, due to an injury from a botched piledriver, he could no longer wrestle like he once did and had to rely on a Hogan-like offense that consisted of mostly punches and kicks. One wonders how much longer he would have been able to continue his career if this brutal injury hadn't occurred and if he would have been able to maintain the rabid popularity he always had, but, of course, it's also easy to wonder what would have happened if the guy who delivered the piledriver hadn't died from falling from the ceiling of an arena to the ring, as well. What is...is, and what has come to pass is that Austin hasn't just followed Hogan's footsteps in being a savior of Vince McMahon and his company, he's also followed it by having a huge ego and a bit of an embarrassing personal life, though he hasn't yet pimped out his daughters to my knowledge.
He has, however, had multiple marriages end--one by anullment and two by divorce, and has been arrested several times for domestic disputes. This all happened years ago, so it's mostly out of the public eye and he hasn't had TMZ riding his ass about it the way Hogan has with his problems, but they are there, as are the same allegations of steroid use that have followed Hogan around. All of this is very unfortunate. These guys were not just professional wrestlers to those of us who follow the sport. They were gods. Am I overstating it? Sure, but not really. We don't look at these people as men, we look at them as being superhuman; we look at them as characters, and rarely do we think about the guys portraying them as actual human beings. We aren't supposed to, but that's exactly what they are. They make a living by performing their asses off in front of the cameras for the benefit of our entertainment, and when they're done, they go to a hotel to relax, rest, recover, and get ready to move on to the next town for the next show. That has to take a toll on any athlete, but how much harder is it for a professional wrestler, who isn't even being himself while he does it?
"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere."--Carl Sagan
Sometimes guys break down, sometimes guys burn out because they are tired of the road and the character, sometimes they simply fuck up...all of which means we may never see a "dream match," again. Most people feel that the 2009 versions of Hulk Hogan taking on Steve Austin would have been terrible, and maybe they're right. I, for one, still wanted to see it because it's something we've never seen before and it would have been an interesting meeting not only of the two guys who were most important to the success of the only superpower remaining in professional wrestling, but of two guys who were at the forefront of the Monday Night Wars on their respective sides. It probably would have been a bad match, people are right about that, but it also would have been historic, and I think it's a crying shame that we never got that match and probably never will. We were supposed to get this battle of the icons at Wrestlemania X8, and instead we got Scott Hall vs. Austin, and The Rock vs. Hogan, which was a bit of a battle of icons in itself, but we only got it because apparently the two couldn't agree on a finish. If memory serves, Hogan jobbed to Duane, but wouldn't to Austin.
I think it's that same kind of political thinking, along with Mr. Johnson's bullshit that's going to keep us from seeing what may be the last dream match left. See, we no longer live in a time where dream matches are easily possible. I understand that a lot of people were looking forward to seeing Shawn Michaels face The Undertaker at Wrestlemania; hell, I was one of them, and there's absolutely no doubt that the match didn't disappoint in the slightest, but disappointment or not, it really wasn't a dream match, because we had seen it before. Sure, it had been over 11 years, and practically a lifetime ago for the Heartbreak Kid, but they didn't really mention that in the buildup, and they certainly didn't play up the fact that it was an injury suffered at the hands of Taker that caused Michaels to miss 4 1/2 years of his brilliant career. In essence, they treated it as simply Mr. Wrestlemania--a moniker which Michaels does not deserve--taking on The Streak. Well, that's an okay story, if you buy into it, which I couldn't because like my boy Ripper, I can't elevate Michaels to the spot that he's so intent on claiming. As much as he's an embarassment now, the real Mr. Wrestlemania is Hulk Hogan. No question.
If there were a question as to Hogan, the answer would be Austin, which is just another reason why those two should have had a match there, and why it stinks that they couldn't because the two super-egos couldn't be talked down, and now the bodies and spirits are too broken down for the match to happen. We now watch wrestling at a time that dream matches--at least ones that the majority of wrestling fans are dying to see--are no longer. Probably the last one we got was when Kurt Angle moved to TNA and faced Samoa Joe, which was amazing. When you look at the cream of the crop in the two promotions, what is there that you just can't wait to see between the top stars? Not much, right? Samoa Joe vs. Triple H or John Cena? No. Against The Undertaker maybe, that would be an awesome strike-fest. Kurt Angle has already fought all the top dogs in the WWE, save CM Punk though maybe a program against either of the Hardys now that they are elevated or Jack Swagger in a couple years based on their shared amateur background would be something else. AJ Styles against Jeff Hardy we already saw in TNA, and nothing else looks like something I'd want to see, much less "die for."
What about the little promotion that could? I share a lot of the sentiments Hustle talked about regarding Ring of Honor in his latest column, but that didn't stop Supercard of Honor IV from being an awesome show, easily the best I've ever seen live, and it doesn't change the fact that there are still some great wrestlers in the promotion. I'd love to see Nigel McGuinness take on either John Cena or Triple H, Austin Aries and Bryan Danielsen match up against Shawn Michaels, and Tyler Black take on CM Punk, and then there's my new hero, Davey Richards, who's like an American Chris Benoit with more height, charisma, and mic ability. He's well on his way to being the best wrestler in the world, and I'd love to see him take on just about anybody. But, you know what? There's still one match I was really hoping to see take place at the 24th anniversary of Wrestlemania that didn't happen, and still could happen in the future, but needs to happen soon if it's going to because time is running out on the career of Shawn Michaels. We never got to see him take on Eddy Guerrero, unfortunately, but could any dream match be as fantastic as seeing him go one-on-one with The Great One?
"Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real."--Tupac Shakur
My pal, Joey Shinobi, who appears to form a mutual admiration society with me, recently started a fantasy booking series where instead of facing the three legends he ended up against, Chris Jericho faced The Rock at Wrestlemania XXV. As great as that match would have been, we've seen it before. Jericho's real break-out moment came towards the end of 2001 in a feud against The Great One, and while it was something special at the time, and it would be nice to take that walk down memory lane again, I won't back down from my stance that Wrestlemania matches should be something we haven't seen before in a big-time setting, and it doesn't get much bigger than a guy winning the first ever Undisputed Championship, does it? I'm not opposed to seeing The Rock take on Chris Jericho again, I'm just opposed to it happening at Wrestlemania, especially when there are feuds The Rock could be taking part in that we haven't seen before and that could be just as big, or bigger, and when Chris Jericho can work with just about anyone and make it into a classic. I wish I'd been able to see Backlash, as I bet his match with Steamboat was something special.
Another guy that I think The Rock could have a great feud with, especially on the mic, is someone that Sheepster and I discussed in the last ETA: John Cena. As my constant readers will know, I like John Cena and think he's a phenomenal talent that isn't always booked to the best of his ability. In the same ETA I had an epiphany, which is that the reason Cena isn't booked the way he should be: as an attraction above the heavyweight championships, is because the WWE has had a real problem making stars in the last several years. It's hard to be an attraction wrestler when there isn't an attraction for you to wrestle against, and when you aren't there to enhance somebody by losing to them. Maybe after what happened to close Backlash, Cena finally has his special attraction opponent in The Big Show for the next few months. For those who don't follow history, Big Show was actually Cena's first ever Wrestlemania opponent, and both guys have grown as performers since then so this could be interesting. Not as interesting as he and Johnson facing each other due to the obvious parallels, but since there appears to be bad blood between the two, maybe we'll eventually see the two face off at some point.
The feud that I was hoping to see this year, but will probably never happen, of course, is The Great One vs. The Showstoppa. Apparently bad blood runs even deeper between these two because Michaels disrespected The Rock when he was still little ol' Rocky Maivia and starting out in the big bad wrestling world. While it's a shame that Michaels was a jerk to him, as I'm sure we all have heard that veterans are to newcomers, we're talking about something that happened 11 or 12 years ago, back when nobody really saw anything in Johnson and most fans had written him off as too bland. It's something that should be water under the bridge from a time when both guys were different people. I'm sure that given Michaels' change of life he is sorry for anything he did to defend Johnson in the past, and given how Johnson's career has gone since, I'd think he'd be able to let bygones be bygones and put together a program with the best wrestler in the world. Unfortunately, though, life doesn't work that way, and we aren't going to get what we deserve. I know that I'm in the minority of those who think The Rock owes us something, but is one more great storyline really too much to ask for?
Apparently it is, but I don't think it should be; especially when the story sells itself: we are talking about the most flamboyant superstar in the history of the WWF/E versus the most electrifying man in sports entertainment history. We are talking about one guy that loved the business so much that he fought his way back after four years out with an injury to become the best in the world taking on a guy who used the business to get ahead in Hollywood and left it after 5 years. And, we are talking about two of the best promo guys in the history of the business. We've already lost one potential dream match because of politics, and when we're running out of them, it's stomach-turning to me that the last real one left is going to go by the wayside for almost the same reasons. Do I care who wins? I do not, but I believe that would always be a sticking point between the two. I just want to see it, and I think most fans out there do, as well. I really hope the WWE can get with Rocky and make him an offer he can't refuse for the *real* twenty-fifth anniversary of Wrestlemania, because it might also be Michaels' last, and what better way could there be for those two guys to have ONE MORE MATCH?
Long days, pleasant nights
You can send any comments by email to me at XanManX@hotmail.com with the words "Northern Star" or "feedback" in the subject line; or, if you're a member of the LoP Forums you can click here to leave feedback, as well.
