May Column of the Month: Stanman's Wrestling AfterThoughts
Submitted by Mr. Tito on Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 1:46 AM EST



Note from Tito: The following columnist was the winner of the LoP Columns Forum contest for the month of May. Each month, the winner has the opportunity to have ONE of their columns posted on the Main Page. Here is Stanman... Email all opinions or thoughts about this column to stanman6280@cs.com. Enjoy.



Stanman’s Wrestling AfterThoughts





Hello all and welcome to the main page edition of Stanman’s Wrestling AfterThoughts (S.W.A.T.). As the title of the column indicates, I am Stanman. How did I end up here you may ask? Well, the Columns Forum in the LOP Message Boards held its monthly contest to decide who would be May’s Columnist Of The Month. After all the voting was tallied, it turned out that I was the victor. On that note, I would like to thank Mr. Tito for this opportunity to showcase my column about the world of wrestling here at Lords Of Pain.





Now before I start with the column, I would like to give a brief description of what each section is about. My first section, Weekly Sharpshooting, is just my thoughts of certain feuds/storylines on WWE television that caught my attention. The second section, Ammunition For The AfterThought, is a specialized section on a particular subject that I feel like writing about. And lastly, Gathering Intelligence is the section where I would interact with the readers on a particular question that I asked the previous week.





That is basically it. It is a short, simple column but it gets its point across. Now without further delay, let’s take a S.W.A.T. at the WWE, shall we?









Weekly Sharpshooting: Infiltrating The Road To The King Of The Ring



Well, the past week in the WWE was quite a memorable one. With the ‘official’ walkout of Steve Austin and the surprising return of the Rock, the storylines have become quite interesting for a change. While Austin’s dissatisfaction with the WWE’s product running rampant for sometime now, you would expect some sort of eruption to occur. Unfortunately, there was one and now there is a high chance that we won’t see Stone Cold Steve Austin wrestle in a WWE ring again. Let us hope that I am wrong on that matter.





As for the Rock, what can I say? The Oakland crowd was ecstatic to see him return on RAW. The ovation he received was unbelievable and it is moments like this why I watch the WWE in the first place. I am sure nobody expected to see him return that early as he had a good month before he returned. He went on to deliver a great promo on his loyal stance with the WWE as well as the past generations of the Rock’s family and their participation with the company. He also announced his involvement in this Sunday’s pay-per-view extravaganza, the King Of The Ring. This was by far the best segment of the week.





Speaking of the King Of The Ring, the tournament is down to its final four combatants. Rob Van Dam will go up against Chris Jericho in what should be the best match in the tournament. The other match will pit Test going up against Brock Lesnar in an over pushed vs. strongly pushed match.





When it is all said and done, my pick for the first semi-final match is Chris Jericho. RVD does not need the crown as he is mega-over with the fans and is already carrying the Intercontinental belt. Jericho on the other hand, currently has nobody to work with and could use any kind of push to gain some credibility after his shotty reign as the WWE undisputed champion. If that means pushing him in the KOTR tourney, so be it.





In the second semi-final match, I predict Brock Lesnar to go over Test. This match I don’t care about as much since I am not the least bit interested in a Test bout. I’d like to see Lesnar plow his way to the finals just to continue his dominant push and solidify his position as a threat in the WWE.




So I predict a Chris Jericho vs. Brock Lesnar KOTR final. If this happens, you can expect a great match from the two as both are great performers and are fresh characters to make the quest for the coveted crown that much more fun to watch. As much as I would love to see Chris Jericho win it all, I predict “The Next Big Thing” Brock Lesnar winning it simply because of the fact that the WWE loves this guy and it continues his push to superstardom.





The other matches like the Triple H vs. Undertaker for the undisputed championship, Hulk Hogan vs. Kurt Angle and the Hurricane vs. Jaime Knoble bouts all seem great on paper. Any other matches that I failed to mention either slipped my mind or I just ignored them simply of the way they were booked. Knowing the WWE, they will slop some matches together to complete the pay-per-view card for this Sunday. The WWE tends to slack off during the early summer months in hopes that SummerSlam will come in for the save. With the way the company is now, they cannot afford to relax. The WWE is treading in deep water. They can’t tread forever or else they will drown..









Ammunition For The AfterThought: The Rock’s Ego Check



The Rock. The man who helped make wrestling what is today just returned from his busy schedule with making movies and other promotional tours to give the WWE a much needed boost this past Monday. Now with all the success with making films he has had recently, the question that pops up in the minds of every wrestling fan is, ‘Will he leave wrestling to pursue a full-time acting career?’





In my eyes, he will never leave the WWE permanently. The company helped make him to the star that he is today. Sure, acting is where the money is at, but if the Rock chooses to leave the WWE, how will he get the exposure and the promotion for his movies? His star power relies mainly on the WWE fan base. If he deserts that, the fans will slowly forget about him and he will slowly fade away. Just look at the other WWE stars that it happened to. Stars like Joanie Laurer (Chyna) or Rena Mero (Sable) were huge at one point. Now where are they? Now granted, they were not as big as the Rock, but they were WWE stars nonetheless.





As an aside, wrestlers who think they are bigger than the business have no place in the industry in the first place. Movies, magazine features and other mainstream media can feed egos to make them think they are mega stars. The two lady “wrestlers” mentioned above found out the hard way. I’m pretty sure the Rock knows this, so he will remain with the WWE for a long time. In fact, I believe he has addressed this matter on several talk shows. He stated that he will go back to the WWE. However, he has the dream of making it big as an actor. Without the WWE, there is a possibility that he might make it, but the odds are against him.





If he remains with the WWE, he has a better chance to succeed in Hollywood. With the WWE fans supporting him, the promotional backup of the WWE, and the exposure he has on television week in and week out, the chance of his dream coming true is *that* much greater. I know it, you know it, and I’m sure the Rock knows it.









Gathering Intelligence: Who do you think will win the 2002 King Of The Ring?



Ah, the King Of The Ring. This show is one of the BIG 5 pay-per-views the WWE showcases each year. The June classic is home to many great matches with some awesome memorable moments. With kings like Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Triple H, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, this tournament does have prestige. Or it could have its dull moments with the likes of Mabel, Billy Gunn and perhaps even Edge winning it.





Basically, it’s what those wrestlers did before the KOTR and the potential that they have for the future that will get them the right to win the crown. With that being said, in last week’s column, I asked the intelligence question of, ‘Who do you think will win the 2002 King Of The Ring?’ This question was based on who the readers WANTED to see win the tournament. So there could be a wrestler mentioned who is not officially in the KOTR this year.





According to replies to this column via emails, the results are as follows (from most votes to least):



1. Rob Van Dam



2. Booker T



3. Brock Lesnar



4. Chris Jericho





Well, there you have it. Rob Van Dam is this week’s Gathering Intelligence winner. Good choice by the readers as RVD is the most popular wrestler who you, the readers, want to win it all. He has the look, charisma and the potential to be a good king. There are other factors that can hold him back like his lack of selling for his opponents and his weak brawling style. I could go on about that but that is a whole other column in itself. There are others more deserving of the crown in my opinion (Brock Lesnar), but the victor this week is the whole DAM show. Heh, what a funny catchphrase..





This week’s intelligence question is, If you can trade wrestler(s) from one brand to the other, who would you trade? For example, you can trade one main-eventer for three mid-carders.





Be creative on this question. There will be many different trades and the replies with the best explanations will get recognized on next week’s column with proper credit given to the sender. You can send all replies to stanman6280@cs.com. I look forward to your responses!









Mission: Accomplished



Well, that’ll do it for this edition of S.W.A.T. I hope you’ve enjoyed the AfterThoughts and I welcome all feedback and questions so don’t hold back.





Before I end this column, I’d like to send a shout out to all the columnists in the LOP Columns Forum. There are some awesome columns and I encourage all of you to check them out.





Alright then, I’m out and always remember…





Till next time, you’ve just been SWATTED!





-Stanman

stanman6280@cs.com

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