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Submitted by Xan on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 at 1:00 AM EST
 "I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning."--J.B. Priestley Normally I don't write an entire column in response to feedback I've received, but I haven't had any super good ideas for a topic lately, and I feel that a particular statement in question needs to be addressed. Basically, my friend, Zuma said, "You sound pretty pissed." in response to my latest column, entitled "7 down". Well, to be honest, I simply can't think of a more true statement to describe my current state of mind as a wrestling fan, except maybe "bored." I probably should change "wrestling fan" to "WWF fan", because there is still a lot that TNA is doing to excite me. Their last pay per view, Turning Point, was pretty damned good top to bottom. For once, Jeff Jarrett pulled an extremely watchable match out of his ass, and though it made me angry that he kicked out of the Gore, I was very entertained by the exhibition he and Rhyno put on. The Barbed-Wire Massacre between Abyss and Sabu wasn't anything special--nothing like it could have been--but at least it provided variety and some laugh out loud moments to go with some of the horrific sights. The basebrawl match was far better than I had any right to expect it to be, considering that a guy who never had much talent in Dale Torborg was bound to be at the center of it, but the other guys all carried him very well, and good Christ, is Dutt's Hindu press impressive or what? It's always a joy to watch Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong, and Austin Aries perform. The Dudleys vs. AMW could have been better, imo, but I wasn't real happy with the choice to go with a tables match this early on in the first place. I suppose it was done to establish the Dudleys dominance in an "anything goes" setting, and with that factored in it worked well. Christian vs. Monty Brown became what I feared it would, but actually had convinced myself it wouldn't: a clusterfuck. Christian's adeptness at the WWF-style really showed through in this one, and it's a shame. Way to much punching and kicking on his side made me go back to doubting his abilities, after starting to appreciate him the last few weeks. The ending was booked perfectly, however, as it gives Christian the expected win, but really doesn't make Brown look bad at all. While I've skipped over a few things, I think I've hit the major points, and I've saved the best part about Turning Point for last. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe was amazing. Going in, I expected it to be a helluva match. While for about a year now I've leaned toward the view that Styles is a bit over-rated, he's still an excellent performer and on this night he was matched with a guy that I consider to be one of the top 5 in the world, so I knew it was going to be a great match. However, I wasn't prepared for the stiff war that we saw between these two. Both guys hit each other with shot after shot, move after move. The spots involving Joe's [i]muscle buster[/i] were intriguing, as Styles tried to use one on Joe and later Joe attempted one from the top rope only to have it countered into a Styles Clash--which he KICKED OUT of. I have to admit that as mesmerized by this battle as I was, I was even more shocked by the finish, as AJ Styles was defeated by submission for what I believe is the first time in his TNA career. Every other time he's been defeated for a title, it's either been in a very cheap way or in an obviously gimmicky affair, and this was the perfect time for his initial clean title loss. I consider this the match of the year. I wouldn't say TNA is doing everything perfectly, as they still have a long way to go in the heavyweight championship division, and they could stand do do a lot more with established tag teams, like The Naturals, but considering that they only get one hour per week to showcase their talent, they're doing a pretty good job. While I detest Jarrett, I have to admit that TNA has done a pretty good job of having a lot of sharks swimming around his title pool. The pecking order isn't really set up, but maybe that's not such a bad thing, as it keeps their options open. Aside from AJ winning the X Title from Chris Daniels at Unbreakable, I have absolutely no problem with the way that division has been handled, and I'm thrilled that Samoa Joe is now the champ. The Naturals had the longest tag title reign in the history of TNA and were then summarily dismissed from their post upon their Spike TV debut and have been barely seen since. Still with America's Most Wanted, Team 3D(who really should go by The Deadly Brothers), Team Canada, and what I'm assuming is now going to be two teams formed from the 4 Live Kru, the tag division is incredibly strong. In fact, I'll boldly state that every division in TNA is better and more organized than every division in the WWF, and now I have to let in the anger and I'm going to take it from the top. "It is part of the cure to wish to be cured."--Seneca How fucking hard is it to listen to your fans? I don't really give half a shit how good an ambassador Vince McMahon feels John Cena is for his company. You can still be a good ambassador without having the gold around your waist, or as in the case of Cena, around your shoulder. The boos that Cena is getting are only increasing, and while his words last week on RAW in support of the troops may have been heartfelt, I find it difficult to accept them at face value given what I've seen him do and read about him doing in order to maintain or regain his status with fans. As I said a couple of columns ago, I thought it was very classy the way Cena put his title belt atop Eddie Guerrero's shirt and that I was going to give him a second chance, but I've seen nothing great or better from him since other than the STFU, which I think is the most painful version of the hold I've ever seen. Still, his ringwork sucks, his catering is embarrassing, and there are at least 6 guys I'd rather see with the title right now than him: Angle, Michaels, Trips, Flair, Kane, and Big Show. As much as I dislike Edge, I'd probably even wish he had the title instead of The Doctah right now, and that's not a good thing. I know I'm not alone on this issue, though I am one of the few who said he shouldn't win the strap in the first damn place. On the other hand, I was very much in favor of Batista winning the World Heavyweight Title from Triple H. That isn't where they blew it with DAVE. However, the feud with Trips just lasted too long, and while it may have been a good match--I don't know, I never saw it--the Hell in a Cell between the two served no purpose other than to put Helmsley on the shelf. In other words, Batista's complete dominance in the feud ended up meaning absolutely nothing. Actually, two things that were important for the championship picture were wasted at the same time. Chronologically, the first was JBL's magnificent 10-month reign as WWF Champion and John Cena's subsequent title victory at Wrestlemania. The other was Batista's series of victories over The Game, of course. Because Vince McMahon wanted to make the 2005 Draft Lottery "the biggest thing to happen to sports entertainment", the legitimacy of both shows was basically thrown out the window along with the title histories. It would have made far more sense for Shawn Michaels and JBL to switch shows than Cena and Batista(and their respective straps) for a variety of reasons, but common sense was not given credence, and since then--aside from his angle with Eddie--The Animal has languished in mediocrity. Ahh...mediocrity, something to be avoided at all costs, and yet something that is rampant throughout the WWF. The most mediocre wrestler in history is probably Booker T, though he's managed to become a 5-time WCW Champion and apparently convince Smackdown writers that he was the best choice to carry the U.S. Title. Randy Orton, who the WWF sees as one of the cornerstones of its future is a pretty damned good example of mediocrity, as is the man who's thought of so highly that he won a midcard title upon his debuts on both RAW and Smackdown. Every single championship in the organization has to be considered mediocre right now: The World and WWF Titles because they're stagnant and have no substance, the RAW tag titles there is really only one team, the Smackdown tag titles because they are shopped around too much, the Women's champion was gone for over 3 months. The United States Title should be at its highest level since being recreated by the WWF, but is instead part of a boring angle that shouldn't be going on, the Cruiserweight Title is now basically a piece of garbage that should be brought up to that great landfill in the sky, and since Shelton Benjamin lost it, the Intercontinental Title hasn't been much better, despite the legendary Ric Flair currently laying claim to it. The owners, bookers, and writers of the WWF just don't seem to even want to try to make any of this not so. "'Next time I will...' 'From now on I will...' What makes me think I am wiser today than I will be tomorrow?"--Hugh Prather So yeah, I'm pissed. In fact, I can't see where any fan of the WWF wouldn't be pissed. It's not just that they aren't giving us what we want to see or--to be less presumptuous--what I want to see, they aren't giving us anything exciting at all. Well, I suppose last night's Tim White thing was exciting, but I didn't see it. Know why? Because the WWF did nothing to give me any incentive to buy and watch Armageddon. I mean...seriously...Undertaker vs. Orton in a Hell in a Cell? Kane and Show vs. Batista/Mysterio? The continuation of a dumb recreation? Taking the titles away from the MNM/Mexicools match? Jobbing Burchill to Lashley? JBL/Hardy, with no build up? Fuck, the only thing worth watching on the entire card would have been Juvi vs. Kid Kash, and that match only got like 8 minutes, I think. Just a horribly bland show all around, and you know what? I don't see it getting any better. After all, Vince tried to push the issues and make things a little interesting with Muhammed Hassan and it all backfired on him. A lot of you people rejoiced in Vince getting "what was coming to him", although there's no way he could have foreseen that London would be bombed the same day and that it's debatable the men who assaulted Taker were even meant to be terrorists. It's fine for a man to burn another man alive--as long as the man doing the burning isn't of Arabic origin, right? Guys that have not gotten a fair shake in the WWF this year include: Christian, Chris Benoit, Shelton Benjamin, Chris Jericho, Chavo Guerrero, Tajiri, Matt Hardy, and Shane Helms. Of course, most of these guys haven't gotten a fair shake from the organization in approximately forever. While these guys get buried, the talentless hack that goes by the moniker Coach gets screen time against Steve Austin, faces Batista for the World Title, gets about 15-20 minutes to explain why he's going to be better than Jim Ross as the voice of RAW, and is the defense attorney for Eric Bischoff. Hey, wouldn't that have been the perfect time to have a new wrestler come in with a lawyer gimmick? Something mocking Harvey Birdman perhaps? But no, it's the WWF and logic has no place here. And because it's the WWF, this shit with Coach and Eric Bischoff's petty feud with John Cena, those become the norm and the decent wrestling is left aside. I shouldn't be surprised, I guess, but I am and I'm disgusted. I'd like to be encouraged by the fact that they have this good idea with Matt Striker going and actually let it get to the Flagship, but I'm not. It'll go the way of Simon Dean, the way of Eugene, the way of Mr. Benjamin. See, when interesting things start working, the WWF has a bad habit of letting them die off. So, instead of Chavo Guerrero, an outstanding worker that's probably the most gifted in the world at carrying an opponent to a great match we get Trevor Murdoch; instead of Shelton Benjamin doing the great, athletic things that got everyone talking about him, we've got this stupid losing streak that started with the ascension of...Carlito Caribbean Cool--a man who for all his mic skills can't even work a crowd, much less a match; instead of seeing Sugar Shane Helms finish matches with one of the coolest moves ever we get Chris Masters(who I happen to like, but still...) finishing them with the full nelson, which has been around pretty much ever since the day pro wrestling started; and finally, instead of exciting show champions like Shawn Michaels or Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio or Chris Benoit, we get the stale John Cena and the lumbering Batista. As I said a while back, I'm no longer watching the WWF because I love--or even like--it, anymore. I'm watching it out of habit. An 18-year old habit that I'm likely to break sooner or later. My heart will probably break along with it, but the thing with hearts is they heal given enough time, and I'm getting closer and closer to making it a clean break. I think that would be easier in the long run than continuing to let it get bruised time and again. Fact or Fiction: Christmas Edition Please e-mail any feedback to me at XanManX@hotmail.com, with the words "Northern Star" or "feedback" in the subject line. The Northern Star will rise again. Until then, I bid you... Long days, pleasant nights *NEW GALLERY* The Hardy Boys X-Mas PARTY with TNA/WWE Stars! Must See!!
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