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Submitted by Morpheus on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 at 8:42 PM EST
 Volume Fifty-Three – The Revolutionary War 07/18/2006 Welcome, Dreamers, to the Fifty-Third Edition of Enter The Dream Realm. I am Morpheus, Master of the Dreaming, and I will be your guide through this land of Nightmares and Dreamscapes. Holy shit, has it been an interesting few weeks in both real life and wrestling. So much going on, so little time to talk about it. First, just a heads up that the new edition of Fact or Fiction should be hitting the LOP landscape just before the end of the month, so be in the lookout for that. Also, for those of you that haven’t yet, you should definitely check out the Monday Night Countdown audio show here on LOP. For those who remain unaware, I have joined Random in the co-pilot’s seat for that broadcast, and it’s been a hell of a ride. If you’re into some solid wrestling talk with a few lame jokes here and there, it’s definitely worth checking out with a quick download. Life-wise, things have been chugging along at light speed lately, with a foot in both the good and the bad. Work’s been hectic with trying to turn around two different papers for publication in the Journal of Petrology, and I’m in the process of moving to a new office, which is always fun. In real life, I’ve managed to develop a cult following in the Karaoke underground in both Albany and Riverhead, NY. (I have an on-line fan club, I shit you not.) Freaky shit. To top it all off, about a week and a half ago I had surgery to reconstruct my toe after I tore it to shreds the day before the Fourth of July. That sucked massive balls, especially since they didn’t give me any painkillers. But there’s more to life than just crap, so I’m going to shut the fuck up and dive into this bag post-haste. Hopefully you will find this Fifty-Third sojourn through the Dream Realm both enlightening and entertaining. So, without any further ado, let the Dreams begin!  - Line Of The Week: Triple H (To Shawn Michaels) – “Hold up Shane, uh Shawn… (To the crowd) Give me a break, it’s live TV.” - After a bit of an off-week last week, Degeneration X has moved back into the upper echelons of my “These Are The Things I Really Like In Wrestling” list. Last week, their involvement in the show was minimal, and not very memorable, which is in direct opposition to the last several weeks of RAW action. This week, they reasserted themselves as the top of the comedy food chain by offering wit-driven verbal ownage the likes of which only they can pull off. Some people may be hating on the new DX run, but that’s because they enjoy being wrong. - I just want to take a moment of my time to express my deep appreciation for the man now calling himself Senshi in TNA. Every time I have ever had the opportunity to watch one of his matches, be it in ROH or TNA (as Low Ki, in case you didn’t know), I have always been impressed, and his new stint in TNA is no different. He kicks serious ass in the ring, and I am looking forward to seeing where he goes with this X Division Title reign he’s got now. For the record, that Warrior’s Way double stomp finisher is fucking sick. - Batista’s back and he’s bad. The Animal looks to be in just as good, if not better, shape as he was when he was sidelined, and he’s cranked his intensity up a notch. I am psyched that he’s back on SmackDown!, and was looking forward to seeing him destroy Mark Henry at the GAB… That is until he got a little over-zealous and put the human bruise on the shelf with an injury at SNME. I guess I only have 3 words to say about that: Thank. You. DAVE. - Edge is the WWE Champion, and I am loving every minute of it. This is a guy who’s really stepped up his game and has made something of himself, proving he can carry RAW as its Champion. I will be honest and say I wasn’t sure how well the whole Rater R Superstar thing was going to go over, but he’s really made it work for him. I’m going to be honest again and say that Lita’s tits definitely don’t hurt the situation. Tits rule.  The Revolutionary War The American Revolution, known simply as the Revolutionary War to us native United Statesmen, began with a blast known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World.” The repercussions of this single initial shot were felt around the world, and it left the landscape of that world forever changed as the United States of America broke free from the oppressive binds of their former colonizers in the British Empire. The simple act of pulling the trigger on that fateful day, April 19, 1775, would set the course of history on its ear, and take the events that would shape not only this nation but the world as a whole in a new, uncharted direction. If it weren’t for the brave men here in the United States who stood up for what they believed in and were willing to fight for the freedom they craved deep down in their souls, there is no telling how different things would be on a global level today. Would America still be under the control of foreign rule? If so, would that rule still be in the form of the British Empire? Would the ideals of Democracy and Freedom that the U.S. has fought so long and hard to espouse to the world at large still be known to the masses, or would they simply be a silent cry that had had been stifled more than 200 years prior? The only sure answer to that question is that no one will ever know for certain how history would have played out with different people in the major roles, and different roles cast for the grand play. One thing is for certain, though, and that is that we owe everything that we know the modern Free world to be these days to those men who drew breath over 230 years ago that decided to take a stand and fight for the ideals that they believed in. History looks back on these men now and sees them for what they are: True Revolutionary Spirits. The phrase “Shot Heard ‘Round The World” has become a cultural axiom, and has been used several times over the years to describe other events, such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; the murder that plunged the world into the World War I. More recently the phrase was used by MSNBC and Newsweek to describe Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of Harry Whittington in a hunting accident. Just yesterday, July 17, 2006, a new bastardization of this old adage surfaced in current events media. President George W. Bush was caught on an open microphone telling Tony Blair, “See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over,” which prompted CNN to quickly rename this little faux pas “The Shit Heard ‘Round The World.” The non-bastardized form of “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World” has also been used to describe significant events in the sporting world. In golf, it often describes the 1935 par-5 double eagle at the Masters Tournament by Gene Sarazen. In baseball, it was used for Bobby Thomson’s 1951 walk-off home run that scored the New York Giants a National League pennant win. In American soccer, it is used to describe the goal scored by Paul Caligiuri for the United States men's team against Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain in 1989, which in turn propelled the U.S. team to the 1990 World Cup and started a serious resurgence of American soccer on the international scene. And this past Thursday, this venerable proverb found a new application in the world of Professional Wrestling. For those of you who do not regularly partake in the watching of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, or those of you who just happened to miss this past week’s episode, the young company that just celebrated its four year anniversary fired a huge salvo at the WWE and their global wrestling empire; a volley that will likely go down in the annals of wrestling as the Sport of Kings’ version of The Shot Heard ‘Round The World. TNA has sown the seeds for launching their own Revolutionary War against what they see as the oppressive tyranny of WWE Empire that holds them down in its shadow. It may at first seem odd that I am drawing parallels between an epic historical event like the Revolutionary War and what happened on Impact this past Thursday, but it becomes clear upon a second look. For those who are not yet aware, Impact kicked off its broadcast on Thursday with a Shoot Promo by Rhino where he called out Vince McMahon and his new ECW by name. He said many things that were less than flattering, and made it clear to the crowd in the Impact Zone and those watching at home that Rhino was 100% TNA. He held in his hand a red velvet bag containing the ECW World Heavyweight Championship and the ECW Television Championship; the two belts which he unified prior to the demise of the original promotion. Rhino went on to challenge Vince McMahon to stop sending legal letters to him and to show his face in the Impact Zone and take the belts from him. After some more not-very-niceties were spoken, Rhino went out back, tossed the bag containing the title belts in the fire, made a comment about respecting the past and not trying to resurrect a bastardized version of what is already dead, and sett fire to the belts (which is highly contradictory, as I pointed out in the latest Monday Night Countdown broadcast – available now for download). Rhino’s words and actions were the first time that the shots taken by TNA talent on an Impact broadcast were not thinly veiled, but named their specific targets unapologetically by name, which no doubt sent a strong message to the WWE that TNA is ready to put up a fight. This situation is very reminiscent of that found in Colonial America leading up to the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The American Colonies were populated primarily by Native Americans and people who left the British Isles or other European countries for a chance at new opportunities and making a new life for themselves in this new territory only to find those opportunities stifled by the very Empire they left in search of greater things. The state of affairs in TNA is very much the same. We have the homegrown talents such as AJ Styles, Abyss, Monty Brown, and the vast majority of the X Division playing the roles of the Native Americans, guys like Sting, Simon Diamond, Samoa Joe, Konnan, and Larry Zbyszko playing the roles of Europeans looking for a new life in the Americas, and people like Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett, Team 3D, Rhino, Raven, The James Gang, and Christian Cage playing the roles of the people who left the British Isles for opportunities in the New World. Just like the historical figures who are their counterparts, however, these men are finding the opportunities and the promise of a new life in this new territory stifled by the shadow of the looming Empire in the distance. These men (and women) are doing their best to make a name for themselves in this new company and to bring this new entity to national attention, but the near-monopoly that the WWE has on the national wrestling scene makes that exceedingly difficult for these guys to accomplish. These feelings of resentment lead to the first words hurled back at their oppressors in the form of an event known the world over as Cookiegate. Then, not long after, we see Team 3D making “non-specific” shots at the WWE in their promos. This escalates and continues as the James Gang begins to feud with Team 3D, and they too get their shots in, still never mentioning any names even though we all know what they are referring to. Then, this past Thursday, a whole new can of worms was opened up when Rhino stepped across the line from thinly veiled into blatant and specific. He fired the Shot Heard Round The World with his words, the ramifications of which still have not been fully assessed, and then he held his own recreation of the infamous Boston Tea Party by dumping and burning the old ECW titles on national television. The parallels are there, and it is only a matter of time before we see how they will play out in this new Revolutionary War. A lot of how things will turn out is heavily dependent upon how the WWE chooses to react to this first public shot. They have three basic options in this case: There are pros and cons to each of these possible courses of action. First, returning a public shot of their own will assert their dominance in the public eye and show that they truly are the top dog in the wrestling industry, no matter what TNA would like to think. The drawback to this course of action is that TNA has a significantly smaller fanbase and viewership than the WWE does, indicating that there are likely a lot of fans who just plain don’t know about TNA. A public return shot will bring TNA a lot of publicity; the kind of publicity they would give their right arms to get. Offering TNA that kind of publicity would not be in the WWE’s best interest, as it would benefit the rebellion much more than it would the empire trying to put it down. WWE could instead decide to return a private shot against TNA, and some of you may be wondering what I mean when I say this. It’s quite simple, really; the WWE has proven themselves to be experts in the forum of legal maneuvering in the past, and it wouldn’t be much trouble for them to draft up some legal proceedings against TNA to put them back in their place. The downside is that this kind of thing rarely stays quiet for long, and us internet-friendly wrestling fans will no doubt think that the WWE is flexing its muscle and being general dickheads again, much like they were when they legally forced wrestlers like Team 3D to stop using their tried and true ring names. However, the downside of us thinking they’re dicks is outweighed by the upside of not giving TNA the public rub that an open shot above the table would give them, which makes this a better course of action than returning a public shot. The third course of action would see the WWE completely ignoring TNA and going about its daily business as if nothing had ever happened. This has the advantage of there being no public or internet publicity going toward TNA whatsoever, and they would likely play this card in hopes that by ignoring them, they will simply go away. The MAJOR disadvantage of this course of action is fact that if TNA receives no backlash from what aired on Thursday, they will be the child that just got away with it, and may look to step things up a notch and keep throwing volleys to escalate the hostilities. This could eventually end up being one of the worst-case scenarios in the long run, because there will likely reach a point where the WWE will be forced to respond, and when they do the fallout will be much larger than if they attacked it head-on from the get-go. In choosing how to proceed from here, the WWE could take a lesson from the follies of King George III of England, who was the monarch of the British Empire when they lost the Revolutionary War to the American Colonies. As I am sure you all know, on July 4, 1776, the United States of America officially Declared its Independence from foreign rule with one of the most historically important documents ever written. King George III was known for keeping a journal which he wrote in daily. His entry for the date of July 4, 1776 was short, sweet, and simple: “Nothing important happened today.” It would seem that history tells us another story… TNA has fired The Shot Heard Round The Wrestling World, and has taken the first steps toward launching an all out Revolutionary War against the WWE’s wrestling empire. From here, the next steps taken by both sides will be critical in determining the outcome of this struggle. TNA has to be careful not to become too overzealous for fear of overestimating their capabilities and falling prey to the waiting giant’s armies, be they in-ring armies or in-court armies. The WWE on the other hand must be careful not to become too complacent in their position at the top of the food chain by assuming that ignorance will be the best policy; they have to step up and decide what active role they will play in the ensuing skirmishes. If they don’t, they may find that the “Nothing Important Happened Today” attitude will come back to haunt them the same way it did the British Empire over two centuries ago.  - Todd Grisham pulled a nice boner this week on RAW when he announced the match between Shelton and Carlito as being a #1 Contender’s match for the Cruiserweight Championship as opposed to the Intercontinental Championship. I guess he forgot his cue cards at home this time. - Speaking of Todds, Todd Pettengill > Todd Grisham. - Speaking of boners, I miss Lillian Garcia. - Brock Lesnar has a falling out with New Japan management and now the IWGP Title is officially vacant. Now, while no official reason has been given yet as to this parting of ways, you have to think it was something involving money, especially considering the demands he was making for his WWE return. If you ask me (which you inadvertently did by clicking on the link to this column… Suckers) this guy is falling victim to Goldberg Syndrome: a condition in which one thinks one is worth much more than one’s actual worth. - It seems that the push that Mr. Kennedy was supposed to get upon his return just fizzled out, as this past week on SmackDown!, he jobbed out to Matt Hardy of all people (though I must say it was one hell of a match). It‘s a shame the guy got injured when he did, because it was clear he was heading straight to the top of the card. If his push really does fall by the wayside, it looks like I’m back down to only 2 reasons to watch SmackDown!: Batista and the Little Bastard. - Imagine if they gave Batista his own Little Bastard? Most. Jacked. Midget. EVER. - So the final reports on the drugs found on Sabu during his arrest have come out, and it turns out they were simply Anti-Estrogen pills for battling a case of Gynecomastia. For those of you out there who don’t know what that is… - gy•ne•co•mas•ti•a: n. Abnormal enlargement of the breasts in a male. - That’s right folks. Sabu’s fighting off a killer case of bitch tits. We here at LOP wish him the best of luck in his battle against this crippling ailment.  Evergrey – Monday Morning Apocalypse  Track Listing Evergrey is a band that my friend Steve Albano turned me on to a couple years back; actually to be quite honest he’s turned me on to a lot of music over the years that I’ve known him, but that’s neither here nor there. Evergrey is a straight up Metal band hailing from the Land of the Blessed Bikinis, Sweden. With 5 studio albums and a double live disc under their belts, they took a year off to write and record their sixth studio effort, Monday Morning Apocalypse, which was just recently released. I knew the album was forthcoming, and was awaiting it with baited breath. To put it short and sweet, this album was definitely worth the wait. This album has some of the strongest material Evergrey has recorded since they released their debut album in 1998. Many of the songs are very powerful and heavy, and some of them have a lighter, more moving feel to them. What unites them all is an incredible set of lyrics that have been penned for each of the songs on the album. If you sit down and listen to the entire CD straight though, it is almost as if the music and its message speaks to you; not in that Charles Manson/Helter Skelter kind of way, but in a meaningful message type of way. This CD is definitely worth a listen for anyone who is into the Metal scene, and even for a lot of you who aren’t. Even my mom digs this CD. Go check it out, or forever be branded a pussy. That is all.  As you slowly return to consciousness, the last whisperings uttered from the lips of the Dream Master encourage you to check out three particularly outstanding columns in the forums: Boss Foxx – A Faith Based Guide To Choosing Your Favorite Wrestler Part III therik – Slice Of The Action #5: Please Don’t Die Mike From Jersey – Takin’ A Ride Down I-95 #20: In The Name Of… This brings to a close this Fifty-Third Edition of Enter The Dream Realm. Any feedback you have, as always, would certainly be greatly appreciated and can be sent to me via email at morpheuslop@gmail.com. I hope that those of you that haven’t yet will take the time to check out some of the great writers we have in the LOP Columns Forum. Until the next time we do this, sleep well, and I’ll see you in your Dreams! Contact Me! Email: morpheuslop@gmail.com AIM: MorpheusLOP MSN: morpheusreturns@optonline.net Yahoo: MorpheusLOP Hit me up on MySpace! All the cool kids are doing it! PLUGS!  Click here to visit pt2’s Wrestling Fan’s Hall Of Fame!!! LOP Forums LOP Columns Forum Psychotic Wrestling Alliance - LOP’s very own E-Fed, and hands down the best out there. Ring Of Honor Wrestling Viva La Movie Bar! The Bar Forums 
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