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Submitted by Pt2 on Saturday, May 1, 2004 at 6:50 AM EST
Welcome once again to the column that is a paid advertisement for John Bradshaw Layfield, Take up thy wrestling boots and walk. After a week of absence I’m your host, Pt2, ready to throw you into a rage with my thoughts about wrestling. Ok that doesn’t usually happen, but it might one day. You never know. Yes, it’s Ladies nightFunk, and not just Terry. Often overlooked, always improving; The women’s division is the one thing that your lucky if you can find 5 people who will agree with you on. There are those who think that the ladies are improving in the ring. There are those who think that they should just scrap the thing totally. Then, there are the people who think like me; That the division is ready, and all it will take is something better for them to work with for it to become as credited as the other divisions. The depth of talent is there. Trish has improved a lot since her arrival. Molly Holly is a star, one of the more dedicated performers on either brand. Victoria has become a solid wrestler in her own right, and Jazz was always pretty good, despite a complete lack of heat. Ivory is nearly as good as Molly and waiting in the wings, and while Lita might not be great, she is guaranteed a pop and interest. The depth is there. And that’s why you can’t get a damn push in that division just by having implants. Sorry Nidia, but it’s damn true. OK, I’ll admit that the last time I saw Nidia wrestle she had potential. She won Tough Enough as a wrestler, and should never have been a valet anyway. But now she HAS spent all that time as a Valet, she’ll need to work at her ring work again, and probably improve now that the talent in the women’s division have all stepped it up a gear, before she gets that push. The women’s division are trying to establish themselves, and earn themselves the respect that people have for the other wrestlers. You might not think that it’s working with the amount of negative attitude towards the ladies wrestling that you can still hear, but you’d be surprised; How many people have you heard say positive things about the division this year? Compare that to how many people said positive things about it through the attitude era, and you’ll realise what I mean. The women’s division and the trainers have managed to turn a lot of people’s opinions about the women’s division from completely negative to at least a willing to watch and see. But the audience is very unforgiving a lot of the time. The division will have to move forward based more around the talent. The talented ladies are wrestling more often than others now; Molly and Victoria are in focus, as is Gail Kim, who could be a star. The ladies in question are being pushed based on talent; It has very little to do with their cup size. I know what some of you sceptics are thinking; Try and suggest what I’ve just said, and you get the names of the two most pushed women in the company thrown back at you. Trish Stratus and Torrie Wilson. Both blonde, big breasted beauties who’ve been in more magazines than most people have bought in their life. Torrie is the easiest to answer there - She’s on Smackdown. She’s not actually a part of the Women’s division. She’s essentially a valet, and her “matches” are more for titillation than anything else. Not that I’m complaining, but if you’ve got a girl in Playboy, you have her roll around in her underwear. Good business sense. And don’t judge Trish Stratus just on her looks. Though she pretty much got where she is based on her looks and fan reaction, her ring work has stepped up a lot since those dodgy 2001 days. You could make a case for putting her in the top 5 wrestlers in the ladies division now, and that is a testament to her desire to improve. That’s what Nidia will need. The desire to improve, and become a better performer, like Trish. To show talent and team spirit like Molly. After all, Triple H, Undertaker and Steve Austin didn’t get where they are today by having penis enlargement surgery did they? 5 star? 3 star, more likeIn 2002, many people tipped Rob Van Dam as a future world champion. The number of people who said he should of beat Triple H is probably beyond count. Since his arrival in the WWE, he has been consistently one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster; But now, it looks as if he’s no future world champion. And that means one thing, he’s going to be remembered as a Midcarder. Seeing as how he was tipped to be a world champion, you would think he’d be remembered as one of the top WWE midcarders, right? After all, he did have multiple title shots, and is a 5 time Intercontinental champion, right? Well, what does that actually mean? Razor Ramon had multiple title shots, and the IC title sure as hell doesn’t mean what it did when Razor held it, 4 times, an impressive feat back in those days. Also, Hall was the man who kicked off the most successful WCW angle of all time which almost killed the WWE. So, if you’re going to compare him to Scott Hall, then RVD would come up pretty short. Ok, maybe comparing him to Scott Hall, one of the biggest names of the nineties isn’t fair. Lets compare him to someone else. Perhaps, Goldust? Goldust, 3 time Intercontinental champion. RVD 5 time IC champion. Again, Goldust has the advantage here despite Van Dam’s numerical superiority. Goldust held that belt when it was prestigious, holding it for 4 months in 1996, then winning it straight back for another 2 months. Beating Scott Hall for the Intercontinental title, and defending it against the likes of The Undertaker, Savio Vega, and the WWE’s push magnet, Ahmed Johnson. Can RVD say he’s actually made as much impact as Goldust did? Rob Van Dam has found it pretty hard to make it onto Wrestlemania. He was opening match in 2002, didn’t make it in Seattle and found his way into a tag title defence at Mania XX. Goldust, on the other hand, was in the Hollywood back lot brawl against Roddy Piper; Not exactly a technical fucking marvel, you understand, but one of the main drawing points of Wrestlemania XII. Does he compare to Jeff Jarrett, WWE midcarder? Simple answer here, no. JJ, 6 time IC Champion. Tag champion. Went on to become both NWA and WCW champion after leaving the company. While Jarrett was never the biggest of stars in the WWE, it just looks as if Van Dam isn’t going to measure up to him either. After all, Jarrett was tipped for world champion and actually went on to become world champion. Van Dam must be soiling himself in rage right now. What about Jarrett’s former Tag team partner, Owen Hart? The man who to this day has the biggest Wrestlemania upset under his belt, a man who has headlined what must be about 7-8 WWF Pay Per views, and a wrestler who from 1994 to 1997 was involved in almost every major WWF storyline. Multiple tag champion, former WWE Intercontinental and European champion, and King of the Ring. Owen didn’t capture anywhere near the amount of gold as Van Dam, but 3 years as a bona fide main eventer put him over Van Dam here, based purely on the fact that Owen was never mid card until about 1998. And at this point, I actually start to run out of people to compare Van Dam to. Sure, there are a lot left, but do you wanna know who they are? Guys like Dean Douglas, Marc Mero, The Godfather, The Mountie and Val Venis. And yes, Van Dam is better than these guys, but think about this. While being better than these guys is an achievement for most people, when at one point everyone is clamouring for you to be world champion, it’s a bit of a comedown that instead of being remembered with the Shawn Michaels, you will be remembered with the Christians’ and Ken Shamrock’s. Good wrestlers, but never the biggest name in the world. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a Van Dam fan. When he has a good match, it’s usually a certainty for match of the night. But it does seem that when you look at what Van Dam has actually accomplished, it’s not good enough for him to be considered a true legend. The sad thing is, his best chance so far to become that legend passed in 2002, when he was more over than he is now. It’ll take something special for Mr Thursday night (as I guess he is now) to earn that status. Will the emergence of the ECW mindset help? I guess it’s something for Van Dam fans to watch out for. That’ll do it for this one, I think. Hope you enjoyed it this time out. Just before I go, there’s time for a few plugs..... Random guy‘s Nosebleed section talks about chants and legends. Which came first the chicken or the egg? Find out here! All about the game from Yourayatollah Over-rated or Under-rated? Where do your guys fit in? Crawling in the dark by Robb looks at Smackdown with Sinatra in mind. Riding with the Bossman from Wevv Mang, brilliant column this week. And I had some spare time on my hands this week, so I was looking through some older columns. I found one of my all time favourites, and I’d like to share it with you now. Check out Wrestling in a bottle, where LOP’s very own Snapple has an “interesting” interview with the legendary Hulk Hogan, Here! Time for me to go. All feedback is appreciated, so whether you liked this column or you didn’t, if you want to get in touch with me, you can do it here Thanks for reading, catch you next week. Pt2. *NEW GALLERY* Vince & Stephanie McMahon Playing with the NEW BABY!!
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