Corner to Corner: It's quiet... Too quiet...
Submitted by Stan Grubb on Tuesday, February 18, 2003 at 12:43 AM EST
Silence... Some say it's golden. Some say it's insane. Whatever it is, it drives me nuts. Quiet, silence, the inability to speak up. It can truly drive you nuts.
Corner to Corner: It's quiet... Too quiet...
Hello everyone and welcome back to CORNER TO CORNER! I'm Stan Grubb, the curator of this gallery. I hope you enjoyed the snow filled weekend. I did. So, now that we're back, OFF WE GO!
Curt Hennig: Perfection lost
With Curt Hennig, we had pure technical grace. He was quick, he was sound, and he got the job done. Charismatically, he handled each promo with precision and ease. He was unscathed by the attempts to tarnish the Hennig legacy. His father wrestled and fought showing honor and integrity. Curt fought and wrestled showing honor and integrity. When it came down to it, you knew when he stepped into that ring that the match was damn near guaranteed to not suck. Except when he faced Mongo, because let's face it, Mongo sucks. In any respect, I will miss Curt Hennig. He was different from any other I ever watched. Whether he was heel or face, he had my support and my attention. I never cared whether he was good or bad, only that he wrestled. When he died, life on this plain got a lot less perfect. So fans, we can consider the death of Curt Hennig, the death of one of wrestling's FINEST performers period. I know Curt is in heaven now, standing alongside Rick, Davey, Brian, Bobby, and Owen. I know this because Curt loved this business like those men loved this business. He loved it unconditionally. And with that, you're damn right. Heaven just got PERFECT. My heart goes out to Mr. Hennig's family and friends.
Raw: Bischoff vs Austin
With Raw in our recent memory now, I want to go on record that I, for one, thought it was an improvement. Don't for one second think that I enjoyed Bischoff vs Ross. I didn't. With the exception of that segment, Raw was a solid show. Some folks out there have gone out and called RAW boring, mediocre, and even boring. Sorry guys, I don't buy it. When you have RVD vs Storm and have a pretty good opener between the two, I doubt the show will suck all that bad. Backstage, Michaels and Hardy are talking as if that whole 'heel' Hardy deal never happened and next thing we see is Bischoff getting a good luck from HBK. Then we get a reasonably entertaining segment with Bischoff and Morely. Not sure when I saw it if it was worth ALL the time spent but it wasn't as bad as say, ohh a McMahon fifteen minute tirade. Anyhow, we move on. So the ladies get a little rowdy and Jazz whips ass again.
I didn't miss Jazz all that much. I mean, she was brutal, but she didn't impress me all that much. The match was quick and easy as I don't mind watching Victoria. Thank you Jazz for ruining that. The 'bitch' may be back, but Victoria has GOT BACK. Whooo!
They do a backstage deal with Booker to get his response to the Goldust attack. You can tell he's doing his best to move up but by keeping the Goldust tie, it makes it hard for him. Goldust isn't right? Was he ever? I don't know about you, but if the rumors about him have tourette's in this next gimmick is true, I am not sure how to handle it. Comedy sure, but could this be a bit much? We'll see.
Teddy Long is a damn fine manager and he is good on the stick, so let him talk for his boys. Rodney Mack is the replacement for D-Lo Brown and I'm fine with that. Unfortunately, I think this was the bore of the night and that's because I don't think Mack is ready for such a high profile deal. He's bound to end up on Heat. Oh and by the way, if Al Snow isn't hurt, it's a miracle. Seeing that alone tells me that Mack is not ready. It happens, mistakes are made, but that my friends, was truly an ugly spot.
The tag team match between Jericho/Christian and HBK/Hardy was pretty cool. I, for one, enjoyed seeing the idea of them handcuffing Michaels. I have to admit I figured Jeff Hardy would turn on Michaels at a couple points in this match, but it turned out he finally got a win. That kick to the chair looked rough, I wonder how Jericho felt. It was a good story told here and I was entertained so to me, that makes the match worth it's while. THE PROBLEM with this match is that there was NO HYPE for Jericho's match with Test. As a matter of fact, there was no MENTION of Test whatsoever. No GGW, No Stacey, nothing! So how does this effect their match at No Way Out? Quite frankly, it kills any interest for me. This was a situation they just seemed to throw together anyway, so why on earth would anyone care to see it now that Jericho is apparently back into his program with Michaels? Case and point, they dropped the ball on this one. I didn't really add it all up on how long it had been since Hardy came out with a win. If I was them, I'd do something with this and just push the kid. Obviously the rumors of him having a bad attitude must have little weight because he's ALWAYS on television. Someone out there likes him, so just let him be there and give him some direction!
The Hurricane finally wins! Hey, I like Nowinski and I appreciate the fact that he is over as a heel but The Hurricane is ANOTHER guy who deserves his chance at being a pushed star. Did you see the reaction he got? Perfect time to start his push too. Let's see some effort on Mondays. We deserve to see shows like this every week. Both Nowinski and Helms wrestled a fine match and made it look good. Props to both.
So we get to our main events. Triple H and Batista vs Steiner and Booker AND Ross vs Bischoff. The tag match wasn't bad. Decent back and forth action between both sides and Triple H made himself look bad. I don't mind that at all. ANYTIME someone can pin him I feel better about it to boot. Booker and Steiner looked good. Batista had some good power moves and Triple H did maintain his role as the top heel. While on the outside, Orton and Flair provided us with the good amounts of traditional heel stable tactics. It was a good way to prime us for No way Out and I, for one, appreciate good hype.
ON THE OTHER HAND: Bischoff vs Ross was totally unnecessary. Yes, the need to promote Austin vs Bischoff is there but to beat down Jim Ross is basically cliched. It's BEEN DONE. I doubt anyone was really impressed or disgusted by the event. Instead, I'm going to predict the general public was annoyed because Austin didn't come to the rescue of his best friend. Instead we got Lawler running down and getting BEAT DOWN by Sean Morley. So now, Lwaler and Ross are beat down and John Coachman is left. If they can have Austin RUN DOWN in LA to make an appearance, why can't they have him run down ON TELEVISION for Ross? THAT would have made sense and garnered ratings. I'm willing to bet that Raw pulls a 3.4 rating. And the reason it won't do any better is the lackluster ending. The show itself was fine, but Bischoff vs Ross was the only point where I really wanted to turn the tv off. I'm sure a lot of people DID.
Rock vs Hogan II
I'm looking forward to seeing this unfold on pay per view. Rock's heel promos are awesome as always and Hogan is doing the best thing he can and that's work Hulkamania like mad. The last time they met in the ring, fans young and old cheered in unison. This time? Hey, I'm betting Canada fires up for round two. This is what makes this business so much fun to watch. Two megastars like Rock and Hogan are exactly what is needed to help garner attention that otherwise isn't there. I'm not saying this match will set the world on fire, but it will pull in the fans that may be undecided on whether or not to order the pay per view. If anything else, to say that saw Hogan vs Rock II. Light it up boys, you have the world's attention yet again.
Goldberg won't sign?
Oh boo hoo. Look, the guy is NOT worth the time. If he's going to stomp around demanding things like he owns the place, maybe that should be recieved as an OMEN. People, when a guy can run around talking about the MORALS of the business without being in the business long enough to know them, shouldn't that be taken as a sign of ego? Did we not learn from the errors that WCW made? I suppose we're trying to make ammends with that still, eh Vince? Let him go. Sting would be a better candidate to have on Wrestlemania ANYWAY. Ignore the moral highground and falsehood of Bill Goldberg and hire a guy who's known to work FOR THE BUSINESS not himself. Hire a guy who the fans know and love. Don't hire a FIVE MOVE wonder. Don't hire an ego. You have enough of those as it is.
I'm glad to have returned and sorry for my delays. Thanks again, as always, for reading. I do appreciate the time taken to do so.
--Stan Grubb--
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