DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu - Survivor Series Predictions & Big Men
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 at 2:51 PM EST




THE WRESTLING MENU #67

He's back!!! I needed a week off to recharge the batteries, and now I'm back recharged, refreshed, reinvigorated & any other word you can think of starting with 're'. Let the insults fly...!!! Welcome one and all to the 67th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

I've come back to some bad news from a doctor though. Of course, I'm speaking of Dr Brock Lesnar, who has informed me that I am a psychopath. That's right, as you all would have heard Dr Lesnar state on the November 6 episode of SmackDown, "everyone from Australia is a psycho!!!" Hehehe, that was indeed hilarious stuff from Brock "I'm 100% normal" Lesnar.

Well, how timely was my column a fortnight ago!?!?!? Could it be that John Cena will indeed turn fully face before the end of this month...??? Hmmm, I really don't know about this move. If you missed my previous column, have a look at my opinion on this & let me know of your thoughts. The link is http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2003_/articles/1067420940.php

It's a longish column today, so I better not waste any more time. Here goes...


APPETIZERS

Survivor Series Predictions

I feel like I'm back in the early 90's with the two traditional 5 on 5 Survivor Series matches taking place on this card. Does anyone remember when the whole pay-per-view event consisted solely of these matches...??? It was a great way to turn wrestlers & kick-start a whole new set of feuds leading up to The Royal Rumble & eventually WrestleMania. I like the format of having one of these matches for each brand on the card, whilst also having the usual assortment of singles and tag matches around them. Simply, they generate interest & conjecture. That can only be good.

TAJIRI vs JAMIE NOBLE for the CruiserWeight Title: I've liked Tajiri's title reign so far, and it's very strange saying it, but he has done more for the title than Rey Mysterio did. To continue the momentum with a splash of variety, Tajiri's Japanese cohorts have been brought in at the perfect time (I can't wait for Jimmy Yang to show his stuff in a WWE ring by the way). I don't mind this feud either. It's moved along at a nice leisurely pace without taking too long to develop. Hopefully, Noble can show his true skills & not go over the top on the mat-wrestling though. Winner: Tajiri

THE BASHAM BROTHERS vs LOS GUERREROS for the WWE Tag-Team Championship: This bout will be interesting more for future storyline purposes than anything else. I'm not saying it won't be a good match, but I can't see it being a great one. I think that the WWE are more interested in furthering along this Eddie & Chavo storyline, while consolidating The Bashams as a decent tag-team. I can't see any reason why Los Guerreros would have lost the titles, if they were just going to win them back here. I'm fearing the Eddie vs Chavo feud (if it happens), as I just can't see how that helps either of them. Winners: The Basham Brothers

MOLLY HOLLY vs LITA for the Women's Title: To me, this is actually a tough one to predict the winner of. It all revolves around the way Molly has been booked as the champion over the past 2 months or so. She hasn't really defended the title in singles matches very often. We can take this two ways: (1) That the WWE have no confidence in her as champion, or (2) that it's a way of prolonging the title reign & giving the title itself more credibility. It's too dangerous to presume that the WWE may actually use logic & I already have way too many heels as favorites on this card as it is, so ... Winner: Lita

BROCK LESNAR, THE BIG SHOW, A-TRAIN, NATHAN JONES & MATT MORGAN vs KURT ANGLE, CHRIS BENOIT, BRADSHAW, JOHN CENA & HARDCORE HOLLY: Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike Bob 'Spark Plug' Holly. He is undoubtedly the worst face wrestler I have ever seen. He's only just bearable as a heel too. Anyway, back to the match, this is going to be like David & Goliath 5 times over. It's going to be interesting to see how it unravels. It could work, or it could bomb. I think for that reason alone, it's pretty safe to presume that Kurt Angle will be in the ring towards the end. As for the result; I think the face team will win the other elimination match, so it would make sense that the heels will win this... BUT it's (sensibly) rumored that Lesnar will get pinned, so which heel will get the pin. It's all to confusing. I'll go with the heels & don't write off a Cena heel swerve. Winners: Team Lesnar

SHANE McMAHON vs KANE in An Ambulance Match: The majority of opinion that I have seen concerning this match is that an 'Ambulance Match' is a poor way to end the feud. That actually doesn't bother me, because I haven't really been into the feud anyway. I'm not sure if I would be any more interested if it was a 'Hell In A Cell' match. I would prefer that they kept HIAC matches for a more worthwhile feud actually, so I'm not complaining. I suppose this will be sufficiently entertaining in a hardcore match sort of way. I still can't believe that Zach Gowen defeated Matt Hardy on ppv last month, so I'm going on that crazy line of thinking & saying that we will see an upset here. Winner: Shane McMahon

ROB VAN DAM, BOOKER T, SHAWN MICHAELS & THE DUDLEY BOYZ vs CHRIS JERICHO, CHRISTIAN, SCOTT STEINER, MARK HENRY & RANDY ORTON in a match to decide Stone Cold Steve Austin's future: If booked correctly, this should be the match of the night. Just get rid of The Dudleyz, Steiner & Henry quickly, then let the other 6 go for a further 20-25 minutes. I'd be happy if that happened, but we all know it won't. I just can't see how they can have Austin lose his job right now. The only possible scenario is an Austin-Stephanie swap, but even that's a little far-fetched. Winners: Team Austin

BILL GOLDBERG vs TRIPLE H for the World HeavyWeight Title: Triple H coming off a month away from the ring & a niggling injury, wrestling against Goldberg who hasn't wrestled much of late & also has a niggling injury; This could be ugly folks!!! If Triple H wasn't involved in this match, I'd almost swear that it has been set up for Goldberg to successfully retain the title. But Triple H is involved & I need a better reason than that to predict against Trips. Winner: Triple H

VINCE McMAHON vs THE UNDERTAKER in a Buried Alive Match: You know that there is one thing that is for certain in this match, and that is that the live crowd are going to eat it up. I think no matter how much all of us television viewers bag the booking of the bout, we will also be glued to our screens. That doesn't mean it will be a great match of course. Mind you, I'm predicting the entertainment value to be better than 'Taker's match with Brock Lesnar at No Mercy last month. Vince's facial expressions could be worth the price of the show alone. As for the winner, it's hard to go against all the rumors. Winner: Vince McMahon

Another thing that having the two 5 on 5 matches does, is throw some unpredictability into the event. My regular readers will know by now that I love it when these pay-per-views are unpredictable, in every sense of the word. This is a fairly unpredictable card in my opinion & I'm not at all confident that I will predict the winners of half the matches correctly. That definitely is a good thing. While there are many matches with question-marks when they are examined individually, I actually think the WWE have done a good job in hyping this ppv as a whole. I'm actually looking forward to it being very entertaining, if nothing much more than that.


MAIN

SummerSlam '95 Review

Please note that this is a continuation of my monthly series on the 1990's. Over the past few months, I have reviewed SummerSlam '90, WrestleWar '91, 1992: The Year In Review, 1993: The Year In Review & 1994: The Year In Review. For the first time in this series, I will include my monthly 'PPV Rating' system, so that we can make some sort of comparison on the quality of ppv cards between now & 8 years ago. As per usual, in the dessert section of this column, I will take a topic from the review & speak in more detail about it.

CIVIC ARENA. PITTSBURGH, PA. August 27, 1995.

Commentators: Vince McMahon & Jerry 'The King' Lawler

HAKUSHI defeated THE 1-2-3 KID: Awkwardly paced 9 minute opener which seemed to take forever to gather any sort of momentum. It gave the impression it was going to be a 20+ minute match. With the oriental martial-arts style of Hakushi & the American martial-arts style of the future X-Pac, this bout promised more than it delivered. Ok, but could have been much better. Match Rating...6

HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY defeated BOB 'SPARK PLUG' HOLLY: Short 7 minute match which mainly consisted of Triple H posing & not wanting to be in the same ring as a racing-car driver. Holly only got in a quick flurry of offense toward the end, otherwise it was an early version of the now familiar Triple H squash. This was back in the day when Triple H was actually skinny & Bob Holly had long brown hair. Wow, what a different path these 2 careers took!!! Match Rating...4

THE SMOKIN' GUNNS defeated THE BLU BROTHERS: This was actually quite a good tag-team match, especially considering who was involved. I didn't mind the Gunns when they first debuted in the then WWF, and although I have never liked Ron & Don Harris, the big guys did ok here. This was progressing rather nicely until the abrupt finish at the 6 minute mark. Match Rating...6

BARRY HOROWITZ defeated SKIP: Whoever was in charge of deciding the match durations on this night was obviously high and/or drunk. This bout lasted almost as long as the 2 previous matches combined!!! Ok, but it was way too long for the ability of these 2 wrestlers, and the poor mini-feud they were having at the time. Horowitz was on the 'perennial loser starts to win' gimmick at the time. Match Rating...5

After this bout, Dean (aka Shane) Douglas gave a critique of the 2 wrestlers & the referee. He also informed us all what the word "vivify" meant. Oh, what a truly terrible gimmick that Douglas was handed by the WWF at the time!!!

BERTHA FAYE defeated ALUNDRA BLAYZE to Win the Women's Title: Watching Bertha Faye wrestle (or do anything for that matter) still puts me off my food!!! This was actually decent in a weird sort of way. The big woman vs little woman wrestling was well booked & they kept it nice & short at only 5 minutes long. Match Rating...5

THE UNDERTAKER defeated KAMA to a Casket Match: Ahhh, there's nothing like old-school Undertaker!!! Apart from about 3 consecutive minutes of restholds in the middle part of this bout, I liked this much more than I expected I would. While I never regarded Charles Wright (whether he was Kama, Papa Shango or The Godfather) as a legitimate main-event threat, this was probably his biggest & best match. He played the psychological aspect of this bout very well actually. 'Taker rolled Kama into the casket after a tombstone piledriver at the 17 minute mark. Match Rating...6

BRET HART defeated ISAAC YANKEM DDS by Disqualification: I remember disliking this match on first viewing, but it impressed me a lot more this time around. For those that don't know, or haven't had the pleasure of reading my 'History Of Kane' Column ( http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2003/articles/1056535684.php ), Yankem was Glen 'Kane' Jacobs' first WWE gimmick. While he was obviously very raw/green in the ring on this night, he did show glimpses of his potential, even with a few top-rope spots (1 badly botched). Bret was his usual 'excellence of execution' & that was enough to make this a good match. Match Rating...7

SHAWN MICHAELS defeated RAZOR RAMON in a Ladder Match to Retain the InterContinental Title: Often overlooked & under-rated match purely because it wasn't the original. This was not far from the quality of their previous WrestleMania 10 Ladder Match, if it was inferior at all. Spectacular, exciting & a good example of how dangerous these matches can be, as both men landed awkwardly & seemingly unplanned at various stages of the bout. Hardly a dull moment during the 25 minute duration. Match Rating...10

DIESEL defeated MABEL to Retain the WWF Championship: How were these 2 big men ever going to follow the memorable Ladder Match that had just come before them!?!?!? Not as bad as what it could have been I suppose, but still not very good for a main event. Kevin 'Diesel' Nash could actually move in '95, although he almost killed himself attempting to fly over the top rope to the outside on one occasion. An extremely anti-climactic finish, with only a top-rope clothesline getting the pin after 10 minutes. Match Rating...5

PPV RATING (54/90) = 60

A PPV Rating of 60 in my system is basically a C+ & "Worth A Watch". That's pretty much on the ball with this up & down pay-per-view. While the obvious highlight (and definitely a reason to watch this event again) was the ladder match, it was well backed up by an interesting look at Kane's original run in the WWE, and included decent matches involving stalwarts Bret Hart & The Undertaker. The rest of the card was extremely average on paper, but did not turn out to be in any way terrible. When all is said & done, it is the anti-climactic main event that restricted SummerSlam '95 from a higher rating.


DESSERT - Big Men

So the topic I have chosen to write about stemming from the review above is big men in general. Are they obsolete in wrestling today...??? Should they be given a reduced role...??? Is it deserved that Vince McMahon continues to shove them down our throats at the main event level, while smaller & harder working wrestlers continue to battle it out in the midcard...??? Remember that this isn't anything new, as in 1995, Kevin 'Diesel' Nash was the WWF Champion for all but 6 weeks of the year. Despite short feuds against Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart, the majority of his time was taken up by big men such as Mabel, Sid Vicious & Yokozuna.

While this topic is not the most original, it's timeliness cannot be debated. This is due to the fact that in a few days time at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, we are going to see most probably the biggest & heaviest team ever put together in one match by the WWE. Whether you call them Team Lesnar, Team Hoss or Team Sasquatch, the existence of the team proves that the WWE (& most probably Vince McMahon specifically) are still very high on putting big fellas over.

The starting point I am going to use for this topic is the opinion of the fans. First, let us take the general consensus of the internet fans. You don't have to look for long on any wrestling message board to see a thread titled something like "Who should be fired?". The majority of wrestlers listed on these responses will be big men. The likes of Mark Henry, A-Train & Nathan Jones are basically permanent fixtures on these lists, while others such as The Undertaker, The Big Show, Test & Kane pop up frequently. Hardly any smaller wrestlers get multiple mentions & it seems more a matter of individual tastes when it comes to those guys.

But what about the non-internet fans. The (speaking generally) more younger & less educated fan (I won't use that word that rhymes with dark & starts with 'm')...??? Well, from my experience, it depends on a few factors. Without listing them all out individually, I think they can be summarized by the following question; Are those big men successfully playing their role (whether heel or face, both in the ring & out of it), and doing it in a sufficiently individually characteristic way?

What I mean by the last portion of that statement/question, is that there is no point in someone like Nathan Jones or John Heidenreich coming in and doing exactly what The Undertaker has done for many years now. If they do, they are a certainty to fail. They must have their own edge mixed in with their powerful big man wrestling skills to make the crowd want to notice them. This may come in the form of having a greater variety of moves in the ring than other big men, or having a character that is new & fresh.

So, what do I see as the major problem surrounding big men in the WWE today, and for the last few years for that matter...??? Well, I hate to sound boring, but it is indeed the undeserved pushes that these guys commonly receive from Vince McMahon & the rest of the decision makers. Don't get me wrong, I believe that there is definitely a spot for a few big men on each WWE roster right now. Their size, impact & other various intangibles almost naturally means that if they are playing their role well, then they are more than likely to be in the main-event scene compared to a smaller & more athletically-gifted wrestler.

However, the words "playing their role well" is the important part of that last sentence. While it seems straight-forward, it's not. These guys just can't go out there & do the same old thing night after night for years on end. It goes back to what I said before about the wrestlers playing their role in a "sufficiently & individually characteristic way". In my opinion, no wrestler, no matter how big & physically imposing they are, should get an almost main-event push if they do not bring something else to the table. Basically, if they are another version of the 1995 Diesel, then don't push them. We've seen it before. From Nash, Taker, Kane & a number of other superstars.

Because what these pushes do is almost subliminally place into the minds of these big men that they don't have to work as hard as their colleagues to become successful. They get complacent, go through the motions, don't add to their repertoire, and generally just don't work hard enough. Have a look at The Big Show in WCW when he was wrestling as The Giant. He actually had quite a few moves that he no longer uses. Why? Because he knows his spot on the card is safe if he just keeps on wrestling the way he has done over the past 3 years. Basically, there is no motivation to work hard.

There's just no reason why the majority of big guys listed can't do most of the moves that a great mat wrestler such as Kurt Angle can do. Or sell like Chris Benoit. Or entertain like Eddie Guerrero. Imagine the mix with the strength & power-moves that practically come naturally for a 300+ pound guy!!! I think that's why the WWE have always been high on Brock Lesnar. He is currently the closest thing to what I am talking about.

If these pushes weren't just handed out (to big men like Heidenreich, Jones, Morgan, etc...) then I think you will see some of these big men actually flourish & become genuine main-event players in the WWE. You will find that they will probably work on becoming more athletic, more entertaining, selling better & adding to their repertoire of moves. Hell, this is why even I, still see some sort of possible future for the likes of Test & A-Train. As bad as both of these guys have been during stages of the past 3 years, with the proper motivation & coaxing, I think that they can become more than useful, and have already shown glimpses of doing so. But continue on pushing them for no reason, and they'll be there simply to collect the easy paycheck.


Ok, that's about it for edition #67 of 'The Wrestling Menu'. I really hope that the WWE can come through with the goods at Survivor Series. I don't think I'm the only one looking forward to the pay-per-view, and it would not be good business to disappoint on Sunday. Let me know what you think of my interesting predictions, or your take on the 'Big Men' debate. As per usual, I will reply to all feedback. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com

Next Wednesday in 'The Wrestling Menu', I will have my usual 'PPV Review', as well as revisiting the topic of rookies that I looked at practically a year ago to the day. I will see how my 'Rookie Rankings' of last year panned out in 2003, and also look forward to the future of the 2003 rookies. Goodness, there have been a lot of them this year!!! Look out for what is bound to be an argument-raising column same Wednesday time & same LOP channel next week. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.













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