Let It Snow - Winter's Weakest Link: Round 5 (Semi Final)
    Submitted by Winter on Saturday, January 29, 2005 at 3:02 PM EST



    Hello all, and welcome to the latest edition of 'Let It Snow', which, as always, is brought to you by Winter. I'm back with the semi-final of Winter's Weakest Link, which is sure to prove an entertaining round.

    Before I move onto that I'd like to quickly talk about the controversy surrounding the comments made by Batista in the London Sun about the Smackdown brand. Batista has come under criticism for reportedly bashing the Smackdown talent, and to cut it short calling them lazy, unmotivated 2nd rate superstars. A lot of people in the IWC are furious at Batista's remarks, but, while I don't necessarily agree with them, I'm quite glad Batista decided to speak on this issue.

    Smackdown has been the no.2 brand for a considerable amount of time now. They lack the star power, creativity and consistency of RAW, and their single brand PPVs have failed miserably. It may be a tired argument, but JBL is not championship material and has failed to bring any fans back to the WWE or Smackdown. The Undertaker, Kurt Angle and Booker T aren't cutting it in the main event scene, and with the exception of John Cena I'm struggling to think of one mid-card superstar that excites fans on a constant basis. I won't even mention the tag team or cruiserweight divisions, they're an absolute joke, and I still believe that Smackdown hasn't truly recovered from Brock Lesnar's departure 10 months ago.

    So with that being said, why shouldn't Batista speak the truth? He sees that Smackdown is struggling, so why shouldn't he talk about it? True, Batista works for the WWE and Smackdown is a part of that, but Batista playing for the other team. Manchester United and Arsenal are both part of the English FA, but no one would expect the to sing each others praises, and I'm sure it's the same with any sports organisation, be it the NFL, NHL or AFL, so why is it different with the WWE?

    One argument I've heard a couple of times is that Batista isn't 'big enough' to be talking like this, but I feel that's completely redundant. Batista is arguably the hottest WWE superstar of the moment, so surely if anyone should be criticising others, it's him, right? It's about time WWE superstars starting to say what they really feel. Back in 2002 when RVD, Jericho etc were frequently asked how they felt about HHH and constantly replied with 'I have great respect for him' or something along those lines, everyone knew they weren't being honest and were disappointed with the politics taking place, yet 2 and a half years later some people seem to have done a 180 degree turn.

    I for one am in complete support of Batista's comments and I hope the see other superstars being just as honest in the future. With that out of the way, let's move on to the semi-final of Winter's Weakest Link.


    Winter's Weakest Link: Round 5 (Semi Final)

    Eliminated from round 4 was the columns forums longest running columnist, XanMan, who was given the boot despite only receiving 2 votes. Not that that's kept him down however; the latest edition of his Northern Star is up now in the columns forum! That leaves former main pager and Memmy man Valleyboy, non-columnist Y2KGodd and the man currently dominating the columns forum - Morpheus, which should leave us with a very entertaining semi-final.


    The first contestant this round is Valleyboy, author of Selective Memory. Check out the latest edition of his column, which features the 3rd round of his trademark Memmy Awards; a very entertaining read.

    His statement was: With The Rock, Mick Foley and one or two other legends possibly confirmed for matches at WrestleMania XXI, the WWE is blatantly disrespecting some of their hardest working talent
    who will inevitably lose their spots on the biggest PPV of the year to make way for part timers who will turn up for nothing more than a large paycheque. Surely it would make more sense to reward stars such as Paul London, William Regal and Rhyno with WrestleMania matches than to hand them out to movie stars and authors.

    Here is how Valleyboy responded -

    Valleyboy: As much as I would enjoy seeing the likes of London, Regal, and Rhyno on the card at WMXXI... When there is the possibility of having Rock, Sting, Foley, Austin, and/or Hogan showing up on the card then I can't really blame WWE for pushing some of the midcarders aside to make room for marquee players.

    When it comes to WrestleMania, it's all about having the biggest possible PPV of the year and that's when they need to rely on the well known and proven stars that they've got at their disposal. At any other time of the year, WWE would be more obligated to use the regular midcarders on their PPVs in attempts to build their characters towards WM. But in the end, WrestleMania is reserved for the ones that are already over with fans, and not the ones that WWE would like to get over with fans.

    Wrestlers like Rock and Foley might only appear once a year, but when they do it causes a buzz among fans which in turn can lead to better gates and buyrates... something that (sad to say) neither London, Regal, nor Rhyno are capable of doing right now.


    Winter: I'm sort of 50/50 on this issue. Of course I can understand why the WWE would want big names such as The Rock and Mick Foley appearing at WrestleMania. They're proven draws, and rarely fail to bring the casual fans back for several weeks each time they appear. They also rarely disappoint in the ring, although when all you have to rely on is an elbow drop and sock, it's hard to go wrong.

    But at the same time I feel WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event of the year, should be used as motivation for WWE talent, and those who consistently perform well, such as London and Regal, deserve a spot on the card and the huge payoff that goes with it. But, as Valleyboy said, these guys don't have the name value and don't create the buzz that The Rock, Mick Foley or Hogan do, and unfortunately for them, when WrestleMania roles around, that's all the WWE is interested in.


    The middle contestant this week is T-Alot music fan Y2KGodd, who has done a magnificent job getting this far.

    Y2Kdogg's statement was: The low/mixed reactions that Randy Orton has been receiving lately proves that no matter how hard a wrestling promotion tries, they can never truly force wrestling fans to cheer for someone they don't want to.


    Here is how Y2Kdogg responded -

    Y2Kdogg: This is true in a certain aspect. The WWE can't really force anyone to cheer for Randy Orton if they don't want to. The reason he is still getting these mixed/low reactions is because after about a full year of being the junior super heel on Raw; they tried too hard to get everyone to like him all of a sudden. Analyzing this further, here's a young stuck up heel who goes over just about every wrestler dubbed as a "legend" and enacted similar cruelty upon them a la throwing them down flights of stairs. But you should just ignore all that other stuff, he wants to be champion now!

    I'll also say that wasn't the first time everyone saw a faceturn under those circumstances. Certainly the world title should have that affect on people, but is this his "boyhood dream" or what? It just came off as a really half-assed attempt to get him over as quickly as possible, and force feeding him to the audience just wasn't the right way to go about it. Plus, we've already had him as a champion and he was a supposed to be a face for the majority of that short lived reign. Who's going to give a shit if he gets it again? I've stated before that I suspected (and still do) that the reactions he initially got were more anti-HHH than pro-Orton. The question of, who's the lesser of two evils?

    However, Orton has had a little more time to grow on the audience since then; but anyone can run out at the last minute of Raw and beat on HHH until the camera pans out with the guy raising his hand in the air in a generic fashion. I think if they had time to write out a good angle/segment for Orton, he'll be on his way to being a true top face. He just hasn't done anything unique yet besides get the biggest push I've seen in years.

    If you want to see a subtle turn with tremendous results, take a look at Batista! He already gets louder pops than Orton and he hasn't had to jump out of cakes, or get cheap pops for talking with the 'divas'. Where's the fun in seeing a guy become a face when he does it for only selfish reasons? Why should we even care? Batista is a tough guy and the last thing I expected to get him over would be his words but surprisingly, he's damn good at winning my heart.

    In summary, if the WWE wants its audience to cheer for somebody, forcing them to do so under general thoughtless angles is the wrong way to go about it. Sure, many people don't mind cheering for Randy Orton and are already willingly doing so. The WWE has the power of persuasion and they potentially can trap our hearts, just like they're doing with Batista. All it takes is one unique segment that will make someone say, "I'm glad I saw that".


    Winter: I can't pretend to like Randy Orton, because I don't, he's one of the main reasons for my declining interest in an otherwise above average RAW brand. There's just nothing about this guy to like. Why should I cheer for him? Because J.R tells me to? As Y2KGodd said, less than a year ago Randy Orton was a despicable human being, spitting in the face of Harley race and shoving a defenceless Mick Foley down 7 flights of steps! But now that he's changed his theme music I'm supposed to forget about all of that?!

    The WWE has been relentless in trying to make fans like this guy, and it hasn't worked. Meanwhile, Batista has been getting over with crowds like crazy, but still Orton is pushed as the biggest threat to HHH. Randy Orton is not charismatic, good-looking or intimidating, but the WWE insists on making us believe that he is. I know wrestling is in desperate need of a new Rock or Austin, but Randy Orton isn't that man. And it'd do the WWE some good to remember that fans didn't start cheering for Austin or The Rock over night, it took months for fans to finally embrace them. If the WWE wants another huge star, that's great, but let that huge star be someone that the WWE fans choose, and right now it looks like the person the fans want is Batista.



    The final participant for the 3rd time running is Morpeus, author of Enter the Dream Realm.Check out his two latest columns 'I Have a Dream' and 'Lonely Road of Faith', both of which are in the LOP columns forum. Easily two of the greatest columns I've ever read.

    Morpheus's statement was: By insulting nations such as Canada and Puerto Rico, Muhammad Hassan is only weakening his reputation as an American hater. In order to truly be taken seriously and receive maximum heat from U.S crowds, Hassan must act as a face when the WWE holds shows in different nations
    .

    Here is how Morpeus responded -

    Morpheus: I think that this is a difficult topic to argue one way or another. I think I should first get off my chest that I really do NOT like the direction they have taken Hassan’s character in. When they first began airing vignettes hyping his arrival, it looked like he would be a unique character, trying to fight against the odds of stereotyping and prejudice. Then came the week when he said he would lead a war on America if he had to, and his entire focus changed from acceptance to rage, taking him from a unique personality to Anti-American Gimmick #1,203,465,230,786.943. In addition to ruining a potentially very promising character and storyline, since he made that transition, the things he has been saying, I feel, are endangering him in real life, as we have seen happen to wrestlers over more trivial, less sensitive things in the past. It seems to me that the WWE are really going about this whole thing the wrong way.

    Hassan’s character has a lot of potential to be something good, but with its current direction, it is really only garnering the typical Anti-American heel heat, which has been done many times before. He travels the safe road in doing this, as it is a sure-fire way to make sure the fans hate him, but in so doing he has sacrificed his originality. I do have to say that his reputation specifically as an American Hater is in fact being weakened, at least in some small amount, by his attacks on other countries. Usually when he makes such verbal attacks, though, he does so by relating the country in question to America in some way, and then tears it apart. While still not the best route, at least he is using his hatred of America as the crux of his attacks on foreign lands. This allows America to be the center of his hatred, even when hating on the other countries, so it’s not as bad as it could be, but still detracts somewhat from the main focus his character is supposed to have and thus weakens slightly the gimmick he is aiming for.

    What the above statement suggests, making Hassan behave as a heel in America, and act as a face when in other countries, is a decent idea in theory, but one dangerous thing about that is the fact that the only time that has really been successfully pulled off thus far was with Bret Hart and his Hart Foundation. I don’t think Hassan is quite at the level of Hart in the sense of being able to manipulate the crowds in the masterful manner that he did, so attempting to do such a thing, while it would suit his character better, could be more dangerous than it may be worth. If they had stuck with the original direction this character had, this would be much easier to pull off, and in my opinion would work quite well, but with his war on America attitude, things are far less predictable.

    There is also one major thing that would stand in the way of Hassan being a face in other countries: Khosrow Daivari. Screaming about injustices in Persian is not going to get you over as a face in any country, except perhaps Iran, and while it is working to help Hassan gain that heel heat here, I can’t see Daivari being anything but a complication when it comes to trying to play the part of a face on foreign soil. So, to conclude this little ramble, I think that Hassan seeking cheap heel heat in countries outside of America does weaken his reputation as an America Hater, but attempting to play the part of the face while in foreign lands may be a risky proposition that I have some doubts that he would be able to pull off.


    Winter: Excellent argument by Morpheus here. I've personally never been a fan of the Hassan gimmick and even wrote an entire column expressing my disapproval with it before Hassan had even made his WWE debut. Yet, when I see Hassan on WWE television I'm more inclined to cheer for the guy than to boo him. After all, why should I boo him? All he's doing is speaking the truth, and as I'm not an American I'm in no way offended by anything he says. On the other hand, I'm not likely to cheer for him either, why would I? He's anti-American character #2563, and brings nothing original to the ring.

    If however, Hassan were to act differently when the WWE was outside of the USA, I would probably find a little appreciation for his character. I was a huge fan of The Hart Foundation and have pleasant memories of the no.1 heels in America becoming instant babyfaces any time they stepped foot in Canada or Europe. True, Hassan is no Bret, Owen or Davey Boy, but the WWE should at least to encourage Hassan to act as a face when the WWE goes international. It's very hard to take him seriously as an American-hater if hates every single country in the world anyway. #

    Maybe it would fail. Maybe Canadians, Europeans, Australians etc would boo him anyway, but if that were to be the case then revert back to plan A and have Hassan insult hockey, slim women, Australia's hideous cricket and rugby teams, or whatever else is relevant to the country he wrestling in, but it's worth a shot, because while Hassan bashes all fans, including those outside of the USA, his entire character may lose credibility.


    Semi Final Over


    And that signals the end of the semi-final. Join us again in around a fortnights time (hopefully!) for the final of Winter's Waekest Link, in which either Valleyboy, Y2KGodd or Morpheus will be crowned winner of the competition, winning a special prize in the process.

    If you have anything to say about this column, or would like to get in touch with one of the contestants regarding their arguments, send an e-mail to Winter118118@yahoo.co.uk and I'll pass those messages along.


    Thanks for reading.


    -Winter




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