Stuck in the Middle with You - What a Rip Off!!
    Submitted by Da J-Train on Saturday, June 19, 2004 at 3:49 AM EST

    Welcome back to my column everyone. Guess who’s baaaaack? That’s right, I am back from my wonderful vacation and don’t act like you didn’t miss me. I know you all were tossing and turning in your beds, frequently awaiting the latest installment and, subsequently, the return of Da J-Train. Why? Because this is Stuck in the Middle with You, the column that’s so good, It’s better than Sex! I like the sound of that… One of these days I’ll get someone to make me a banner that I will begin all of my columns with that says Stuck in the Middle with You, By Da J-Train, the column that’s better than sex, with a picture of Carlin or something. Or maybe I’ll use bigger than Jesus with a picture of John Lennon.


    Anyway, welcome you all back and I am glad to be back. I had a great vacation going to Jersey and Virginia Beach, then chilling with the better half in Syracuse. I also had the pleasurable experience of going to Raw on June 7th in Albany, and you all saw me. I know you all saw me because I was in the 4th row across from the cameras, and it was impossible not to see me and my friends. Trust me, I watched the tape. I also turned the ripe old age of 21 on the 10th and wrapped it all up with my Uncle’s Wedding on the 12th.


    So what’s the dillio for this column? I want to explore the difference between an homage and a rip off and how we as fans use bias or other means to possible place false labels on people. Sure, there are definite examples of both, but there are definitely shades of gray as well. So, enough talk, let’s get to it! Roll that beautiful bean footage!



    BUT FIRST...



    Letters! I get Letters! I get sacks and sacks of Letters! LETTERS!!! That's right; it's time to answer some of my Love, Hate, Kind-Of-Care-For, and I-Only-Like-You-as-A-Friend-Mail… You know the drill. People write, I respond, we are all happy. Unless I rip you apart, of course.



    Feedback O Rama


    Letter 1 :

    Hey Train

    With the Great American Bash PPV coming around in a few weeks, I guess the question I have for you is this, the WWE is going to have former WCW PPVs one for RAW and one for SD. Shouldn't they try to make that one PPV the Wrestlemania of that brand. The Bash is a event that has been around since the mid 80s and has had just about every wrestling great perform at the event. And RAW is suppose to recieve a WCW PPV name as well. If its get something as big as Starrcade or even Halloween Havoc, those names carry tradition. That means that thses PPVs should be treated just as a Wrestlemania or at least a Summer Slam. Do you think that the WWE will use Great American Bash and whatever the RAW brand borrows as their PPV name as a real credible PPV and make it an important event due to the longevity to its existance or just a way to shit on WCW history??"

    C49PJM

    ***EDITED FOR LENGTH***


    C49PJM,

    I agree with you that these names carry a tradition, and that tradition should be upheld. Subsequently, that’s the reason I am saying Booker T will win the U.S. Title, because as far as I know, he ahs never lost at the Great American Bash, but that’s beside the point. I think that the WWE has a great opportunity with these two PPV’s a month in the months of June and October to cement in the minds of the fans that Raw and Smackdown are in competition. I think that they should approach the dual PPV months as the television networks approach the May or November sweeps. Make the two brands out in competition with each other to put on the best PPV of the month. That way, we’ll get important seeming cards for still important seeming pay per views. That would keep the importance of The Great American Bash and Halloween Havoc alive.



    Letter 2 :

    Today was the first time I read some of your answers to questions given to you and I was wondering what your age is. The reason why I ask is because you said that TNA was going to be a failure due to their poor time slot on Fox Sports. Usually, the younger generation tends to always lean toward the WWE product which is understandable but when it comes to actual wrestling like the way it used to be in the 80's, younger people seem to have that notion that wrestling comes second and entertainment first. TNA provides the wrestling aspect to their show which I care about and the sports entertainment comes second. I have been watching wrestling for 24 years (I'm 32 now) and I have seen wrestling change so much over that time, some good some bad but I know the evolution of the business will continue to change over the years I still continue to watch wrestling. Don't get me wrong, I love to watch WWE that I can honestly say that I have been fortunate to see 7 Raw's, 4 Smackdown's, 1 Pay per View and god willing Wrestlemania 21 in LA next year. I even been to many WCW events in the past even before the NWO days so as you can see I am a true wrestling fan. Going back to the TNA comment, TNA wrestlers not all but a good portion of them are great wrestlers just look at the X Division which is some of the best wrestling I have seen in years. These wrestlers are not by any means household names but TNA has that opportunity to make them household names like WWE has done to many wrestlers. TNA is a fresh product with fresh wrestlers, not all of them but majority of them are good but not known. I was glad to see TNA get a TV deal on Fox Sports even though its not the greatest time slot like you mentioned but its a start. How can you possibly say that its going to fail when the first show hasn’t even aired yet?. WWE will not do that to TNA because WWE needs their competition right now to make their own product better which WWE needs.

    Joey Romero Tucson, AZ


    Joey,

    I don’t want to discredit TNA at all. I agree with you that they have a fresh product with the possibility of being the thing that kicks the WWE in the ass and finally give them competition… but that will never happen if they are not opposite WWE Raw. I’m telling you, I watched ONE match with half of the X Division superstars, and I was instantly a fan. I do wish TNA the best of luck in their vie for a chance to get out there.

    The reason I said that I think Impact will fail is because we have to assume that one of the biggest age groups that they are targeting is kids and teenagers or young adults, like you or me. This is a terrible time to debut a new experimental wrestling show when you are targeting those two audiences. At Friday at 3, many kids are just getting home from school, so they may watch, but teenagers have school and possibly finals at this time. However, summer vacation is starting, and do you honestly think that these kids are going to quit playing because it’s 3pm on a Friday? In the mean time, those teenagers have started their part time jobs, and will join the young adults, you and I, who are more than likely working at 3 pm on Fridays.

    I can understand why people make it a point to watch Raw and Smackdown being in that they are prime time shows. But TNA is on at 3 pm on a Friday. That’s a rough time slot for the core audience of wrestling fans. Add to it that most will be on summer vacation and could easily forget to watch, or will be working at that very busy time of the week. Whereas a primetime show won’t have those problems.

    My theory is that there is too much stacked up against Impact for it to not fail. Maybe it won’t fail necessarily, but I really don’t think it’ll be a major success. It MUST oppose Raw for that to happen.



    Letter 3 :


    I am quite tired of everyone ripping on JBL at the moment. Sure, maybe he could have participated in one PPV before his title shot, but he looked very good at Judgement Day anyway. Many complain that his gimmick is dumb and anyone could do it and get a crowd reaction. But people NEED a gimmick to get over in the first place. Look what happened to the Bashams. Back to Bradshaw not being qualified, name one better contender for the title. First, there is no heel for Eddie to fight right now except for JBL, and JBL is not a bad choice at all anyway. If you didn't order Judgement Day and watch his match you are not qualified to speak. He is the only over heel in Smackdown, o ya Booker T, wait, he hasnt gotten a SINGLE crowd reaction since changing to Smackdown. Well they could change someone to heel or push a face right. Well RVD would be a great heel but he has no credibility and the fans cheer less for him than Booker T. So what about the Undertaker, well he never is on the mic so he needs to fight a big heel to get a good crowd reaction, not Eddie Guerro. And what about John Cena, he could work right? I think thats it, Cena and JBL are the only guys good enough for a title shot right now. And remeber before John Cena got his rapper gimmick? No one cared for him AT ALL. Well seeing how there are NO heels to challenge for the title right now, let JBL win the title, fight some faces, lose to Taker prolly, and make some tired gimmicks like RVD turn heel or maybe Cena. Without JBL right now, there would be no reason to watch Smackdown as we would have the same crappy gimmicks getting no crowd reactions and the whole show would be boring as hell. JBL puts out some good matches and is 1 of only 3 guys on Smackdown who are getting Mic reaciton right now with Guerro and Cena and is the only credible heel on Smackdown period. Push him now, and the WWE is right for doing so.

    Trevor


    Trevor,

    You presented a fair argument to why Bradshaw deserves a shot at the WWE title. You gave a concise argument and I am able to see your point of view. Here’s mine…

    Bradshaw has been given a push to the moon because Vince McMahon wanted him to. I think Vince loves for his wrestlers to have a level of legitimacy, and JBL has that, thus the constant references to Fox news and CNBC. For that, JBL is fortunate to have a great financial mind. However, JBL has done nothing to prove to me or many other viewers out there that he deserves the major push that has befallen him. Sure he has been with the WWE for a long time, but as I discussed a few columns ago, longevity in the company should never warrant a main event push when you didn’t do shit before hand.

    In the mean time, yes, JBL was given a gimmick that is over with the crowd, but as I said before, anyone could get over with that gimmick. He may as well be a video clerk, trust me, I know. People hate people who act better than them. The problem with that is, I don’t think it’s so much a gimmick as much as it’s reality in the façade of a gimmick. So, right there, we have a wrestler who didn’t deserve the monster push he got, who is playing a character that anyone can get over with. Bradshaw may as well shave his head, come out to pyro and black trunks.

    Yes, Booker T is over with the crowd, and yes, Booker T would have been a better choice with a better push and more mic time. If Booker T was given the amount of mic time that JBL has, doing his own thing, Booker could have gotten over as a heel title contender. Not only that, Booker T deserves the shot. No one can deny that or argue that. Did JBL deliver at Judgment Day? I don’t think he did. He wrestled a “Bradshaw” match with one of the best people to make another person look good in the world. He did what he could. However, do you honestly think that anyone would care about or remember the match if Guerrero didn’t blade that bad? No chance in hell. I let the first shot go, but the second title shot is unwarranted and should not happen.



    Alright, enough of this journey into the uses of electronic mail; thanks for all of those who did write me, you know it is much appreciated. Now, onto the topic of my column:



    What a Rip Off!


    In the world of expressive arts, more specifically movies and music, there exist such things called homage. The traditional meaning of homage is the ceremonial acknowledgement of the allegiance of a vassal to his lord. The modern meaning of the word follows the same basic logic, where someone, who by all means should be considered lesser, is acknowledging the masters of that field before them. Granted it’s not vassalage, but what are you gonna do. However, the modern definition of homage brings it all together… an homage is a special honor or respect shown or expressed publicly.


    One of the best examples I can give is in the film, Pulp Fiction, in the scene where Butch (Bruce Willis) has gone back to his apartment to recover his father’s watch, despite Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), out to kill him for an act of deception. After kicking some ass in his apartment, Butch beats the odds and Wallace’s thug, and was about to leave without any problems, when he stops his car at the red light, we see a shot from Butch’s point of view watching Marcellus Wallace walk across the intersection right in front of him. Marcellus stops mid walk, looks at the car and recognizes Butch with an all too familiar “Motherfucker”, which jump starts one of the most memorable sequences in that movie. The part where Butch is getting away, but sees Marcellus walk across the street in front of his car is most certainly and obviously Tarantino giving an homage to Alfred Hitchcock, because in his film, Psycho, the same thing happens to Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) when her boss walks across the intersection where her car is stopped at a red light, only he didn’t scream motherfucker, and it was a different situation.


    That is the type of situation that I am talking about. A person liberally throwing in an obscure reference acknowledging the work of an influential person before them. This also exists in the world of wrestling. You would consider it an homage when, say, Chris Benoit locks in a sharpshooter, or Bubba Ray Dudley uses his bionic elbow. These are obscure, yet obvious, references to masters of the past who may or may not have influenced them. However, sometimes, wrestlers can take the homage a little too far and can easily be accused of being a rip off of that once great wrestler. For example, one of the most frequently accused of a rip off wrestler is Triple H in that people have accused him of ripping off Superstar Billy Graham and Ric Flair. I am not accusing him of this, I am merely saying, I have heard fans say it.


    However, we as fans have to try not to blur the lines of rip off and homage. I personally think that a lot of times, things can be considered homages, but we consider them rip offs for different reasons such as affection for the past wrestler or personal bias against the new wrestler. So it leads to the question, what in wrestling can be considered an homage, and what can be considered a rip off?


    Let’s assume that an homage is done sparingly. Would that mean that the sharpshooter that Benoit does and the bionic elbows that Bubba does would be considered a rip off, because they are hardly done sparingly. However, is anything like that used in wrestling used sparingly? I don’t think so. In fact, I don’t think anything in wrestling is used sparingly enough to be considered homages. Therefore, every instance that is not used sparingly by these wrestlers should be considered a rip off. For that to be true, we have to also define a rip off for that situation.


    So let’s also assume that a rip off is a move or action done regularly, and to add to it, it is made to believe that the new wrestler created the move, or the move is exclusive to that person. In other words, a person does a move and calls it his own. However, that also is done all the time. For example, Ric Flair’s Nature Boy name and Figure 4 leg lock move is originally Buddy Rogers’ shtick. However, people rarely consider anything Flair does as a rip off. Also, back to the example I have used, Benoit frequently does the sharpshooter, but never says that it’s his own move and due is given to Bret Hart lots of times, so maybe that can’t be considered a rip off, nor is it ever considered one.


    The point is, there are gray areas in wrestling for these and while I think an homage can always exist, but I think we as fans are way too hasty when accusing someone of ripping people off. The fact is, wrestling is a cyclical business. As much as up and coming wrestlers try to modify old moves to define them, sometimes they happen to go with what works. However, trends that I have seen is that the people who are bitched at for being rip offs are the ones who aren’t very popular. I truly believe that the term rip off goes hand in hand with personal bias. This is the reason that the fact that Raven and Randy Orton’s finishers are both all but the same as wrestlers of the past, specifically Jake Roberts and Diamond Dallas Page, and that one of these people are constantly considered a rip off for doing that move, and that same one is hated, is no coincidence to me. Why is it what when Raven does the Evenflow, it’s ok, but when Randy Orton does an RKO, it’s a rip off? Sure, I know that Raven has made it known that Jake Roberts was one of his influences, but I never hear anyone scream rip off when he hits an evenflow, but I always hear rip off when Orton does an RKO, especially when he “botches” it. So is it a coincidence that one of the most popular wrestlers around virtually does the same thing as one of the most hated, and gets away without any cries of rip off? Maybe, maybe not, but that’s just one example of many.


    I just think that sometimes fans blur the lines of rip off and the cyclical nature of wrestling and its moves and gimmicks. Maybe it’s because of personal bias, but maybe it’s because fans are gripping onto a past that won’t be back. So what is a rip off and what is an homage in wrestling. Furthermore, what is a rip off and what is simply following the cycle? I don’t know, I’m no expert. Maybe someone can kindly enlighten me on the subject.



    Random Stops Along the Way


    You know what the Great American Bash needs that I dearly miss? One of those random cruiserweight matches like they used to in WCW. I know it’s a cliché, but remember when they but 6 random cruiserweights together to open the show, just to entertain. The match doesn’t have to be a #1 contender match, just a random 6 man tag. I loved when they did that. It was pure entertainment. Especially considering the pay per view is under booked right now, what would be the harm?


    Lita’s pregnant. Consider yourself a fucking moron if you didn’t see that one coming. Now, if the baby is Jeff’s instead of Matt’s or Kane’s, now that one would be a shot in the dark. It would have been funny though if when Lita told Stacy not to tell Matt, she then looked into the camera and said, none of you tell Matt either! Considering it’s not much of a secret if the world knows. Ah suspension of reality! I love it!


    I know I say this every time a division is going in the right direction, but kill me for being optimistic… I am so glad that the tag team titles are on REAL tag teams on both shows. Now is the time of the WWE to try to resurrect the divisions. Now is the time to bring up actual tag teams from OVW or spend some money. Now is the time to get the division back on track. Will they do it? No. Can I dream? Of course.


    Well, it’s about that time again…



    Free Flowing Hostility: Minor cultural items I am Bored With, Tired Of, and Pissed At.



    1. Tourist Backlash.

    I’m getting kind of tired of residents of tourism destinations complaining about the tourists. Sure, I’ll bet that tourists can be stupid and possibly cause traffic jams and other temporary inconveniences, but people really bitch about them too much. Here’s what I’m talking about… I have a friend who moved to New York City 6 months ago. She was complaining about the tourists and how ridiculous they are now that she’s a resident. I told her first of all, at 6 months in New York, that does not make her a resident. Secondly, this is coming from a person who has a job as a waitress in Times Square. So I told her to stop bitching because tourists essentially pay her salary. But that’s not the only example I have, only one of many, but the fact remains that tourism is going nowhere, so shut up.


    2. Putt-Putt Etiquette.

    Why is it that anytime you go mini golfing or putt-putt golfing, there has to be some dick in front of you that’s taking their damn time, or a bunch of friends fucking around, or a family with about 12 kids, all around 6 years old with attention spans of 3 year olds? My girlfriend and I encountered this in Virginia Beach. Look, I understand the point is to have a good time, but it’s tough to have a good time when you are 3 deep in a 6 group line behind a bunch of cretins with some questionably retarded kids that won’t let anyone go ahead of them. I mean, how can you not tell that there are 6 groups in a line behind you, obviously going faster, and then not give them the decency of going ahead? That is basic etiquette folks!


    3. Comedy Show Hecklers

    I have very little patience for these people. If a person sucks, he sucks, but to go to a comedy club for the sole purpose of ripping apart another person who has the balls to face public scrutiny, for their entertainment mind you, is gutless and stupid. This is another thing I encountered in Virginia Beach. The thing is, the people were funny too… except for one, and you know what we did that I bet hurt more than a heckle? We didn’t laugh. Why? Because it wasn’t funny. But to go up there and rip someone apart for trying their best is a weak thing to do. I have to hand it to the comics, total pros. Each one of them, even the one that sucked, took the guy down a peg. Good for them.



    Alright guys that’s it for today, so I guess it’s time to wrap it up.



    The Caboose


    What did we learn today?


    Homages and rip offs are apparent all over the place, but do we tend to unjustly judge someone of ripping them off based on personal bias? I hope not, but I’m probably wrong. In the mean time, let’s hope that Lita has a safe fake pregnancy, and that Victoria never dances again.


    ----------------------------------------- Da J-Train -------------------------------------


    merlinJAP@hotmail.com (If you email me, put FEEDBACK in the email subject or it will be deleted)


    AIM: JPAW101…. Feel free to talk to me, I am friendly and give good hugs!




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