|
|
|
|
|
Submitted by Wevv Mang on Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 5:06 PM EST
Ridin’ With The Bossman – The ECW Effect Greetings! Welcome to another edition of Ridin' With The Bossman. The column that keeps the fun alive. Nothing like a few days off to recharge the soul. Had a great trip to Laughlin. Laughlin? Where’s that? It’s on the Nevada, Arizona border, near the Grand Canyon. It’s like a mini Vegas. Only more laid back, and full of old people. But, it’s very inexpensive, and there’s real, live gambling, not like in Arizona where it’s all done electronically. Didn’t win any money, but got my money’s worth. All in all, had a great time, and I now know how long it takes to get there and where to stay. Better than Vegas? No, but still a place to go and get away from the deadly heat. Which is now in full effect. But enough about the travels of Wevv. Let’s talk wrestling. WWE – The TV Series Raw Recap courtesy of Carl Walsh Well, it was a show. Not the greatest, but still solid. But it had this déjà vu vibe running through it. Why? Well, I’ll cover that in OAW. February 21th, 2005 Batista was going to decide whether to challenge Triple H or JBL Jericho’s Highlight Reel starred Candice Michelle. Hassan and Davairi interrupted and they had a match where Jericho lost. Kiebler and Orton had some backstage flirting. Benjamin had a brutal match with Snitsky. Shelton went nuts and hit Snitsky with a chair. Regal and Tajiri beat La Resistance to keep the tag belts. Orton beat Christian. Stratus faced Christy over her Playboy shoot. Kane beat up Simon Dean HBK had an interview with Coach about facing Kurt Angle. Edge faced Batista, but JBL’s music ended the match prematurely. Triple H came to ringside and he and Dave ran off. Dave was then almost hit by JBL’s limo. Let’s go back another 3 months. Nov 15th , 2004 Maven was GM for the night. Eugene and Regal won the tag straps over La Resistance and Tajiri and Rhyno Candace Michelle appeared and wanted a job from GM Maven Triple H spoke with Maven for a long time. Good promo, but didn’t go anywhere. Lita beat Molly, and Stratus showed up with her face mask. Orton beat up Coach, as Maven teased a match between Coach and JR. Orton told Maven not to join Evolution. Benoit and Benjamin defeated Edge and Christian. Edge turned on Christian after the match. Flair tried to sway Maven by offering him women. Batista speaks. He doesn’t like Maven. H got mad at Batista for thinking. Simon Dean did a skit. Benoit and Jericho tried to persuade Maven to not join Evolution. Hassan and Davairi showed their hell colors for the first time. Internet polls results said 64% didn’t think Maven was joining Evolution. Triple H just beat the hell out of Maven So now that the flashback is over, let’s take a look at this week. Jericho and Benjamin lose to Hassan and Davairi. Back to the Present Ric Flair vs Christian Not a bad match, but slightly off. I do like that this feud will continue. Nice psychology, but Ric looked tired. Weekend house shows will do that to you. Especially when all you’re doing is bumping for Batista. But a very good ending. Post match saw Flair get beat down, but Batista make the save. -I do like the Flair and Dave interactions. Why? Because it’s honest and you can feel it. Dave and Ric make a great team. It’s just too bad that Ric is going to screw Dave over. Because it’s going to be H vs Dave in a cage at the next PPV. And H isn’t going to let Ric go free. Edge stalks Lita Kane stalks Edge Nice, very nice. Benoit vs Tajiri, ECW match No ending, but it was nice while it lasted. Bischoff showed up and said he will invade the PPV with five Raw guys. Christy vs Candice, Lingerie Pillow Fight Fun, but fluff. Viscera shows up post match to hit on Lillian. Segment went way too long, but still solid. Big Vis has got some moves. Best part was the fans yelling for Nachos. Kane and Lita make out Jericho talks with Shelton You know what? It’s true what Jericho said. He was Undisputed Champion three years ago, and been a main event jobber ever since, not getting anywhere near the Big Belt. And his record for the past year has been a losing one, like the year before, and the year before that. Indeed, what’s one more? Oh, and his current record stands at 8-11. Thanks Razher. Simon Dean vs Hurricane and Rosey w/Stacy Stacy looks damn hot and the Superheroes keep the belts. Of course, this will end soon. Randy and Vince, Best Buds Randy speaks, and says he’ll be back in plenty of time to stalk the new Divas coming in as part of the Divas Search. He wouldn’t miss it for the world. Vince then shows up and reveals that the draft will last a month. Interesting. Vince then tells Randy to take some steroids and bulk up. Kane vs Edge The turn that everyone knew was coming but wasn’t looking forward to came and Edge won. Yay. Smackdown http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2005/articles/1116561740.php>Report Courtesy of Brandon Scott Berthelot Let’s take another stroll down memory lane shall we? February 24th, 2005 JBL has a party. Big Show interrupts. Rey and Eddie have their first tag defense against the Bashams. Chavo takes on Funaki and Paul London runs in wearing his caveman coat. Reigns and Jindrak job to Taker in a handicap match. Teddy was going to get fired, and Carlito taunted him. Big Show and Cena beat up JBL’s cabinet. November 25th, 2004 Mysterio defeats Rene Dupree w/ Fifi Rene was one half of the Tag Team champions and had just been pounded by Holly. Kenzo was stalking Torrie Tough Enough Stuff Arm wrestling contest Booker and Eddie talked and Amy Weber showed up to remind Booker that he had never won the Big One. Jesus was revealed to have stabbed John Cena RVD beat Kenzo after getting choked by Hiroko’s scarf. Big Show had a Thanksgiving feast which ended in a food fight. Luther then showed up and said he hated Thanksgiving. And he got stabbed and was from a broken home. Kurt Angle beat a jobber in the Kurt Angle Invitational Jackie and Dawn had a match with Michelle McCool and Charlie Haas as refs. It was based on the fact that Dawn slept with Charlie, who was revealed to be Jackie’s fiancée earlier in the month. Bradshaw and Orlando beat Booker and Eddie in a tag match. Now, let’s see what happened this week. Carlito’s Cabana Carlito recruited M-M-M-M-Mattdust. OO! OO! Big Show runs out and beats up Carlito, and then gets beat down by Mattdust. Bradshaw is now against rappers He still has a belt. He lost, but still gets a belt. Go figure. Booker and Teddy talk Sharmell does not. We learn that Angle will apologize tonight. Booker beats up Mark Jindrak, who gets plenty of offense in You know, when DDP was stalking Undertakers wife, he got to beat up DDP for about two months. And I mean, just beat the hell out of him. Hell, even Sarah got to beat up DDP. Oh, and when Taker was stalking Ric Flair? He got to beat up Ric for at least two months. And David Flair. I don’t think Ric got to have more than five minutes of offense. Total. We learnt that John Cena will be beating up the Bashams, er, having a handicap match against the Bashams. Eddie, Promo God In pure silence, Eddie has one of the greatest promos. It conveys all the emotion, let’s the audience put the pieces together, and make their own conclusion, but leaves no doubt, that this feud is intense. Great job Eddie, now, if they didn’t make you out to be Just Plain Nuts. And actually gave you a worthy goal of all this hard work. - See, if this whole damn feud was just going somewhere. Not spinning in circles, and constantly messed with by "creative" who just have to make it creepy. If Eddie was going after Bradshaw, and cut a promo like that, after say, Bradshaw had beaten up Rey Mysterio? My god, the buyrates would be through the roof. Hell, if it had been a bloody T-Shirt that Eddie had worn getting a beat down from Cena? Unbelievable. THAT is my major problem with this heel turn. It’s pointless. It was done just to fuck with fans. It was done so that creative could get their kicks from pitting tag team members against themselves. It’s all for nothing. Is it great work? Yes, it’s some of the best, and it’s being wasted. Because WWE wants fans to cheer for Heidenreich. - And it pisses me off to think that this could have been going on last year when Eddie actually had the belt, and Bradshaw was trying to get to him. Eddie got to play the pussy face instead. Kurt Angle speaks Angle apologizes for the crappy angle and then goes back to being a heel and does it well. The bad part? Booker get to be the idiot who believes what Kurt said at face value. So, he’s going to be a moronic face, who is Just Plain Nuts. Heidenreich vs OJ Heidenreich is saddled with a variation of the Buschwackers gimmick. He actually beat OJ. He then grabs a kid who looks really unhappy to be dragged into the ring with that Rapist. Bad match, and it was all Heidenreich, Your Next US Champion. Cena Speaks "Real recognizes Real". Great work. Cena Beats up the Bashams While Bradshaw watches. So, Cena gets to beat up three guys, not two. Sigh. So those were the shows. My feeling is that it’s the draft keeping ratings afloat. Now, the draft has been laid out to last for a month. That’s good and bad. Bad in that the sense that the draft was imminent, and going to happen next week, is now shot to hell. Good in that fans will be forced to tune in week after week to see what happened. But the real question is, will fans sit through the entire thing? If big names aren’t traded, then they feel no reason to watch the shows. They can skip a week. And catch up at the end. I’m not sure how all of this is going to work out. But I feel that it gives the writers a sense of ease, knowing they can keep the crap flowing and allow the draft to do the work of keeping the fans. Instead of trying to come up with angles that people like. The shows are stuck in a rut. It’s about the same thing that’s been going on for months. It’s the vents themselves that are drawing the fans, and while some angles get off to good starts, they quickly sink and then the payoffs bring them back to where the initial interest levels were. This, seems to be the real cycle of wrestling. "Hey, that’s a great idea!", "Wait, what the hell just happened?", "Man, I hope they don’t screw this up!""Thank God so and so won! But I hope they have something good lined up!"or "Man, I can’t believe so-and-so won, but at least there’s the chance that guy#2 might get it!" Kane’s House Is on vacation. Kane just got his water heater, in time for the summer heat to kick in. A new adventure will be starting soon. I just have to decide which one. I have received some great suggestions for future angles, and will keep them in mind. But the column is already running long, and about to get longer. The Happy Couple will be back next week, with all their wild and wacky friends, and some new folks too. And yes, JR will be lit on fire again. Over-Analyzing Wrestling Today’s Topic: The Words Of Chris Jericho On Raw this week, in a backstage segment, Chris Jericho spoke with Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin wanted to know what was up with Jericho appearing unconcerned about losing a match to Hassan and Davairi. Jericho replied that a loss doesn’t bother him anymore. That he has plenty of other things to focus on. He’s got a band, that is apparently doing well over seas. He’s got a steady gig on VH1. He’s got his own radio show. He makes guest appearances on TV shows, like Steve Harvey’s Big Time. One loss in a match doesn’t mean as much as it used to. He was the first Undisputed Champion. He’ll always have that. It really struck me how true those words are. Jericho does have a lot going on. For years, people have been saying how he should get another title reign. But he’s barely gotten close to have a shot at the belt, in all that time. In spite of what a great number of fans want, WWE isn’t willing to give it to them. Now, the words of Jericho can be read to mean that he ahs lost his passion for wrestling, and it’s hard to see why he should care, after the treatment he’s received. The fact that he’s been jobbed more than he’s won. That he is consistently placed in mid card feuds. That he was given the IC belt as a consolation prize, and then not allowed to make it mean something. That when he was IC champ, he was used to put Michaels over. Yep, it’s hard to stay positive when you always seem to be losing. But I don’t think that is the case. Jericho has been a solid member of Raw. His Highlight segments have been a cornerstone to the show. He’s put tons of effort and heart into his matches, even when he, and the fans know, he’s not winning. He’s helped make talent on Raw. He’s even plugged when he can, the WWE on other shows. For nothing in return from WWE except getting buried. The guy works hard, there’s no doubt about it. It’s just that he’s got nothing to show for it. He’s not alone either. There are plenty of midcard favorites who many feel should be higher on the card. And after looking back over the past year, it’s easy to see how such frustration in fans can lead to quitting wrestling. Look at it like this: after three years of pushing Triple H, after a solid year of pushing Bradshaw, and the continued push of Undertaker (He’s had six match while others are pushing 20), who’s over more? Booker T still gets pops, Jericho still gets pops, Eddie is still over huge, Rey is still over, Christian gained a huge following, and is still over, despite not having any victories in the past couple of weeks. Benoit has been a favorite for years, and still is, but hasn’t had any meaningful angles for months. There are guys who still work hard, but get little in return. It could even be said that these guys are keeping the shows afloat, by putting on great matches, and giving solid promos, and trying to make pointless angles interesting. Now, the words of Chris Jericho will probably lead to punishment, instead of being the words of caution that they were probably intended to be. There is only so long some folks can keep going on hope alone. Some form of tangible, lasting success is needed to keep hope alive. I’ll admit it, my support of Jericho has been waning. The brick wall was hit about a year ago. I kept hope alive. Now, it’s become clearer than ever that he’s not going to get a shot at the belt. Ever. On any show. WWE just won’t do it, and for no reason that I can see from his work on TV, in the media, or any other form of media that I can point to and say, "Man, that sucked, he shouldn’t be main eventing". The closest I can come is his albums. That’s it. As for the other fan favorites not getting a shot, well, the main excuse is that they’re not good on the mic. But Heidenreich gets a long push. Matt Morgan, who is supposed to be good, gets a stuttering gimmick. And a push. I just don’t get not pushing guys who have got something going for them without WWE’s help, or in spite of creative’s help. The title reign of JBL stands out in my memory. Eddie had finally reached the top. But he wasn’t pushed as being at the top. He was instead used to get Bradshaw over. And it backfired. Bradshaw tried, but his constant beating down of Eddie, even when Eddie actually won the match, caused a slide. Batista won the title, but he hasn’t done anything with it. His focus is still firmly locked on Triple H. I think he’s defended the belt twice in all this time, and both times against Triple H. The Batista bandwagon is sailing. I think that folks were really looking forward to new set of feuds, and when they didn’t get them, the brand spanking new reign of a fresh champ started to sink. John Cena is relying on other promotional gimmicks to keep his reign fresh, but his opponent is the same one it has been for months. Bradshaw. Who lost, but still got a belt, and is still acting like the champion, and no one on the roster seems bothered by it. Which can be translated into apathy. The tournament idea is one used to bring new talent to the fore. To rope in new talent and show them as contenders. In other words, separate them from the pack. Show them in a new light, as worthy of getting a shot at the title. At least, that’s my take on it. A way to clear away the same guy who just lost, and has been in a feud for months. Smackdown failed in that task. All the guys are right back where they have been for months, engaging in another series of weak angles. Like they have been for the past year. Raw is finishing a tournament, on the heels of a tournament. The same guy won both. Edge, has two title shots. Triple H, who lost, spent a whole two weeks working with some one else, and it was well received. But now, he’s gone waiting to come back and hog the same spotlight he has for three years. In other words, his leaving makes no difference in the long run, because nothing new is taking place, it’s just more of the same old, same old. The question that haunts me is why? There was excitement and interest. There were fantasy booking scenarios running through the minds of fans. There was hope, and there was optimism. But it seems to have vanished. Maybe the draft interest peaked early. May be the hope just faded away as nothing came out of the former angles. Maybe jealousy crept into the booking and the sparks that were on the verge of flaring up got snuffed. Maybe patience for some one to break out of their slot ran out. Maybe the NBA finals are stealing viewers. Maybe Star Wars is taking the crowd away from WWE. Maybe folks saw the same pattern that has run through WWE programming rear it’s ugly head again and decided to just skip this part and wait for the next window of opportunity to come. Because wrestling is a cycle. Only the nature of the cycle may have changed. No longer is it about biding one’s time to wait for wrestling to get popular again, where the angles won’t really matter, because watching wrestling is a trendy thing to do. But then again, if an effort was made to capitalize on fan interest, that cycle could be broken. Who says Kane wouldn’t be a good champion now? Has he maintained a degree of popularity against all odds? If Benoit got another run with the title, would that bring fans back? If Jericho got the belt, would be better or worse than Batista? If Rey actually won the belt, would it herald the doom of the company? If Booker T was allowed to broaden his catchphrase by adding the magic words "WWE Champion" would fans turn off their TV and burn all their Booker T merchandise? Wait, what Booker T merchandise…If Big Show won the title, would the locker room collapse? Because you just know that those solid midcarders would start running amok, taping people up, and getting drunk on airplanes, and beating the hell out of development talent and taking liberties in the ring. Lord knows what they would do when they got to beat down JR. Probably punch him for real and mess up his eye. The answer is no one knows, because we’ve never seen these things. Some have been given some leeway with their angles, and for the most part, what they have done has been extremely well received. But it never lasts for long, as the creepiness factor creeps in and the angle tanks before he can ever get that one peak moment. So, why not try something new? Why not give that push to Shetlon Benjamin that H was getting? Why not make Snitsky a monster and have some one crush him other than H or HBK? Why not let the tag teams be tag teams and have a real feud instead of soaking up that precious ten extra minutes H is going to get for his promo and have them develop an honest to goodness feud? It’s simple, basic things that can be done, but aren’t. The possibilities are there, but the chance is hardly taken. If the "safe" approach was actually good, I wouldn’t mind, but the "safe" approach is using the same tactics that have over the test of time proven to not be that good. But there’s a draft coming, and who knows, maybe this time. Just like the Cubs, maybe this year they won’t suck like they have for every single year in a century. Maybe this year, wrestling will get better. Maybe this year, I’ll have something new to look forward too, instead of bracing myself for the worst, and instead can start hoping for the best again. Maybe, but maybe not. That’s it for this week. Quick plugs and then I’m outta here. QUICK PLUGS! LOP Forums! LOP Columns Forum PWA – Best E-Fed On The Net The Movie Bar Is Back! new Reviews! New Contests! And The Forums are still there! Wevv Mang's Archive! So, until Next Time, Thanks For Readin’ And Thanks For Ridin’ Wevv Mang mrwevv@mac.com *NEW GALLERY* Must See Hot Shots of the TNA Knockouts CROSSING THE LINE!
|
|