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Submitted by Tom Guzik on Saturday, October 19, 2002 at 8:57 AM EST
On Today’s GDH… Clear if off my Chest – Random Thoughts It’s been really peculiar in the last month or so for yours truly. No internet access, and no access to watching any kind of wrestling (albeit one edition of SD! with 2 fantastic matches). Why is this the case? I've moved away from all of my "creature comforts" back home and went back to University...again. Our net access is about to be installed into our house come next week, but until then, I have had to make do with reading results, columns, reviews etc. No mean feat, but a chore I could do without. Though could I do without wrestling? I don't feel like I've really missed out much on wrestling in the last month. The only match I felt I missed out on was the Angle vs. Benoit match at Unforgiven, but hey-ho, it happens. It's almost like a rehabilitation process. I, like most others, have been watching wrestling week in, week out, for years. 12 to be precise. That's a helluva lot of wrestling. Last year, I left LOP because I was starting my first year at University and I knew I wouldn't have any of the access that I mentioned above. This was during the "Ill-vasion" angle from last year. I was releived to have stopped watching wrestling at that point because the WWE really were scraping the bottle of the barrel with their terrible shows. One year on, what's changed? WCW wrestlers were recognised as feasible talent, we had the nWo, Hogan made his return and wrestled Rock in the dream match at WM, Scott Hall came back and got fired, the WWF became the WWE, the WWE split into 2, Eric Bischoff joined Raw one year too late, and HBK wrestled a match. That's quite a substantial amount of activity in a one short year, but the WWE is in more of a slump than it was a year ago. The WWE are now providing us with 2 choices. Raw or Smackdown. In some cases, the choice is made up for certain individuals. Raw has suffered from the split, whilst Smackdown has become a fantastic show to watch. If I had a choice, it would be the latter, but is it feasible to make a choice. After all, it's all the same, isn't it? With their being more competition and more wrestling on both shows, the wrestling world should be buzzing. So why isn't it? Maybe because "Wrestling" is dire at the moment. It's sort of transcended into some kind of freefall. The people who are running the show, and who did it successfully for many years, have lost all knowledge on how to resurrect a fading product. Let's face it, it's fading. However ratings seem on the up again. Not sure how this is the case, but for long term stability, there is no guarantee that the WWE is providing it's product with a long term fix. When I refer to a long-term fix, I'm talking about how they use one show to completely stack the 2 hours they have available with "PPV-Calibre" matches. Last week, Raw was stuffed with these kinds of matches. Smackdown, well, Smackdown has just been used to showcase their new and promising talent. Both shows have a problem though. Triple H is involved as the "main man" on Raw, and Undertaker is involved as the "main man" on Smackdown. How the hell Undertaker received a 2nd shot at the title, after not conceding a pinfall victory to Brock Lesnar, doesn't surprise anyone anymore. The guy is only out there for himself. Nobody else, but himself. Brock should have won that match, and continued to build momentum as a credible heel. Unfortunately for him, along came a guy who just can't bear to see that happen. Now we have a "Hell in the Cell" match. Brock shouldn't be wrestling in gimmicked matches yet. There's no need for him to wrestle in these kinds of matches. The only way forward now is that 'Taker takes a beatdown in his "own" match and maybe, just maybe takes himself out of the title picture. As for Triple H, same thing really. Just before I moved back to University and subsequently couldn't get access to watch wrestling, Hunter was already boring fan's to death with his matches/promos. Does the guy realise he isn't the top draw anymore. The difference between him and The Rock is that The Rock would do the job, whenever, wherever. The Rock actually tried to improve his in-ring repetoire. The Rock probably knows when the fan's get sick of him, but he knows how to work both face and heel roles if need be. The Rock also can stay out of the WWE Title picture for many months. If Triple H is such a "company man" as we are led to believe, then why am I reading Raw results which are emblazoned with HHH's name on every other paragraph? Is there a PPV this Sunday? Oh yes there is, 20th October, WWE No Mercy. Kind of apt I think. Whereas 2 months ago, everyone and their mother knew that Summerslam was going to happen days before it's initial date, No Mercy might as well be cancelled and nobody would notice. PPV's are a main source for the WWE's income, so why does it seem that about 15 minutes of thought go into building up such an event. If someone now argues with me that ".....it's not one of the Big 5 PPV's", then why do we have it? From my own hazy memory, this is what I know about the PPV this week: - It's on Sunday. - Brock vs. Taker, HITC Match, for WWE Title. - RVD vs. Flair - Kane vs. HHH, for that other meaningless title. That's all I know. I'm not even sure that the above information is even correct. The WWE should percieve me to be a customer, to buy their PPV, but why should I buy it, when I hardly know what it's about. I don't want to spend time using my column to pick out everything that is negative with the WWE. I'd rather spend time talking about everything that is positive. But surely Vince McMahon has been around long enough to know when to put the brakes on and shake up the product. In every surge of popularity that wrestling has gained, it's because it's reinvented itself. Such events as the nWo era, the "Attitude" era, etc. have reinvented and lit the fire under the asses of everyone involved to give us a better product that we buy into. WWE tried it with the Invasion, it didn't work, they have tried it with the brand extension, it hasn't worked as well as it could. It needs something original, something exciting, something that we haven't seen before, but is the answer to it is around the corner? Something is needed very quickly, if we are to avoid a long term depreciation of what we love watching. I hope it will happen real soon. Hit my Music! – The Results A big thankyou to everyone who took the time to vote for their current favourite entrance music. There was a huge response, and most of it went for one person who I will reveal in a bit. Maybe in the next few weeks, I might do a kind of "Hall of Fame" of the Hit my Music series. This is what I asked almost more than a month ago in the last edition of GDH: Q: What is currently your favorite entrance theme music for a wrestler in the WWE? Without further ado, here's the top 5 favorite tunes as voted by GDH readers. Numero 5 is Edge's theme tune. I personally hate it. In fact, I'm not really a fan of the babyface Edge at all. I don't think he's a great wrestler, though got to give the guy credit, he's been around for quite some time and lately, his work has been superior. I preferred the E & C theme, when Edgey was a heel, and one of the funniest heels around. Ahh, those were the days. Straight in at 4, it's Edge's brother and former tag partner Christian. Even though the "Un-american" doesn't use this tune anymore, its still a favorite amongst the readers. I agree as well. It's a shame that when he did use the music, he wasn't amongst the upper mid card status that he deserved, rather being labelled with a silly crybaby gimmick. (Ed: Not sure what theme Christian uses now...) Can You Dig this, it's Booker T at 3 suckas. Can't believe this old-skool WCW tune is still a popular one with the readers. I like it too, and it just wouldn't be “The Book”, if he didn't come out to this theme. Still going strong. It's a second year in a row for The Crippler as he moves up 2 places to Number 2, with his new and improved version of his original theme tune. It's also a shame that the best wrestler in the WWE is being treated yet again like a "jobber to the stars". Granted, Chris Benoit ain't a comedian on the old microphone, but the guy is an awesome wrestler. The people who voted also think his theme just kicks ass. And at Number One... As if there was any doubt. "One of a kind", "Mr Monday Night" Rob...Van...Dam. I actually liked the original tune as well, but this version sounds even better and suits RVD down to the ground. Absolutely no competition for this winner, as he stormed through the voting. Thanks again to everyone for their contributions. High Impact Wrestling – 15 Months on...and still kicking ass!. ……and that my Friend’s concludes another edition of GDH on LOP. Should be back again in two weeks hopefully with a net connection in place, until then, take it easy. Thanks for Reading... and Remember you don't always need a Gimmick Tom Guzik & "GDH" © 2002 Exclusive to LordsofPain.net tommyboygdh@hotmail.com *NEW GALLERY* Randy Orton & Other WWE Superstars WILDIN' OUT and PARTYING!
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