Take up thy wrestling boots and walk - Crowning a new king
Submitted by Pt2 on Saturday, July 7, 2007 at 10:04 AM EST





One of the things I’ve noticed about wrestling; there are very few things that go down better than a tournament. The King of the Ring is a great example, especially when you remember the venom that greeted the WWE when they cancelled it. If the superb legacy of the KOTR isn’t convincing enough for you, then there are more. Let’s not forget the “Deadly Game” tournament for the WWE title, or the IC title tournament, that led to Mr. Perfect betraying Marc Mero to give HHH the belt?

OK, that last one is just for me, as a nineties mark.

But now, we have a new tournament to consider. It’s one that we can’t actually book, since it will take into account wrestlers from all around the world, rather than being located in one promotion. Yes, since we’ve recently lost the greatest wrestler in the world, it’s time to crown a new one.

Before I go on, I’d just like to say I write this column meaning no disrespect to anyone close to the Benoit tragedy, either due to close relations with the family or fandom of Chris or Nancy. This column may seem a little flippant, but I think I can explain why. I IDOLISED Chris Benoit. In the aftermath of the attitude era, Chris Benoit was better than any of his peers, in my opinion. Matches with Dean Malenko, Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and others all built up this aura around him - and when you love something the way I love the wrestling business, it is impossible not to love someone that is that good at it.

This column is my attempt at beginning my own, personal healing process. I can’t rant and rave, as many writers have been doing, because I can’t summon up the required rage. I don’t know if it is because I don’t understand the familial context to the levels of others since I am a young man, unmarried and childless, or simply because of the hero-worship I bestowed on Benoit for over a decade, but I don’t feel that anger. Instead, I feel sad, and more than a little bit let down - and frankly, gutted.

This then, is my attempt at beginning to move on. If I can’t kick and scream, then I must start with a different premise. The one thing I always associated with Chris Benoit was the “best wrestler in the world” tag. Since, as an ex-wrestler, he can’t hold that title anymore, I’m going to try and start to heal by trying to find a “new champion”, if you will. For those of you fed up with reading about Benoit, or those of you who want to try and put the tragedy behind you, you'll be pleased to know the rest of this column is virtually Benoit-free.

Wrestling is not about the amount of holds you know; it is about the ability to have matches that people want to see on a mass scale. As a consequence of that, I’ll only be considering wrestlers that get to reach a mass audience. For me, that basically includes the WWE and TNA wrestling. You could include some Japanese promotions in there, but I don’t think that they have as big a worldwide appeal as the big American two.

Lets’ take a look at some of the contenders:

Kurt Angle

Angle will be many people’s pick. The current NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Angle has a fine history in both WWE and TNA Wrestling. He’s incredibly athletic, has a superb fan base, and certainly knows how to make people look good. You certainly can’t ignore the combination of his ring-work and mic-work. Working against him has to be his age, and his health. Also the one weak link in his ring skills, his selling ability will certainly bring him down.

Shawn Michaels

Despite his age, Shawn Michaels can still go. I got to see him wrestle live, for around 40 minutes, against John Cena back in April, and he is as good as he ever was. He may have lost a step athletically, but I think in many ways his crowd control and pacing have made up for that. With HHH out injured over the past few months, Michaels has been the big “wrestler” on the top company’s top show, and that does say a lot about both his ability and his draw power. Hopefully he'll be back in action soon.

Christian Cage

Christian Cage was becoming one of the top wrestlers in the WWE in his final few months there, and if it were not for his size, he would have gone on to main event there, in my opinion. As it is though, he has found his niche in TNA, and in spite of some…. strange booking on occasion, which seems to be a TNA Wrestling speciality, Christian has gone on to be one of the top heels in the US. A lot of people thought he would only ever be a midcarder, but 2 NWA World Championships, with wins over Jarrett and Sting, have moved him firmly into the top tier.

Samoa Joe

Joe doesn’t look like he’s going to be a great wrestler, but he really is. His popularity with TNA fans says it all. May be lacking in experience compared with some of the others; while he’s already had a good career with some fine matches in the past, he doesn’t have the track record of making both himself and his opponent look good, to the level that say, a Christian Cage has - who has been doing it at the highest level for the best part of a decade. However, he's got a track record going back to 1999, and was a big star before he arrived in TNA - where his popularity has just skyrocketed. Undoubtedly one of the top stars in wrestling today.

Edge

Two years ago, I never would have imagined including Edge on a list like this, but he grew, developed, and now I have absolutely no problem thinking of him about one of the top workers in the world. He is for me, undoubtedly the top heel in the WWE. Actually, it’s somewhat ironic that the top heel team of the WWE through the attitude era, E&C, are now the two top heels in the two top companies in the wrestling business. Odd that. Anyway, the current World Champion has a great case, especially if he continues to get better. As the only main event tier heel on Smackdown, he'll have plenty of opportunity to get better

Mr. Kennedy

I was torn between MVP, Mr. Kennedy and C.M. Punk for this place, but in the end I went with Kennedy. It's a pretty hard decision though, as they all seem to bring different things to the table. For solid mat style, you turn to MVP. For a high paced match, or a match with a lot of high spots, you turn to CM Punk, no question. But one of the best all rounders in the WWE right now is Mr. Kennedy, and that's all the more remarkable when you consider that he made his Smackdown debut less than two years ago.Watching Raw this past week, and seeing him in the ring with Orton, Lashley and Cena, made me think we were looking at four guys who were going to be big players in the next few years for the WWE.

”Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels

If anyone is in with a shout, this man is. When I was first beginning to write this column, I was checking out a lot of RoH stuff, because of the way a lot of people rave about the company. At the time, I found most of their content to be a few spot fest matches followed by a superb main event. Often, Christopher Daniels was a massive reason for that main event being superb. He can keep up with the spot monkeys when he wants to, but the best thing about this guy is the fact that he is just a damn fine wrestler. Add some pretty solid mic skills to that, and you’ve got a great package. If he was bigger than he is, then the “most technically sound star in TNA wrestling” would probably be earning major dollars in the WWE.

Chris Sabin

Y’know, this may be something of a personal choice. I like Chris Sabin. I haven’t seen all his four reigns as X-D champion, but I think that every match I’ve seen of his has been at least decent - that’s a pretty impressive feat, especially when you consider that the first time I saw him, he was only 21. He is similar to Christopher Daniels in that he can have a spot fest contest with no trouble, but can still wrestle. That combination has led to him being one of the brightest stars in the X-D, and of course to the memorable call, “Hail Sabin”.


If only you could actually see that tournament, eh? I’m hardly a TNA mark, so I was surprised to find that I picked 5 TNA guys to 3 from the WWE. I’ll leave you to work out who’d come out on top from that group of 8, in your own mind. Personally, I’m leaning towards a Christopher Daniels vs. Shawn Michaels final.

This is only a short column - but since I can’t actually hold the tournament for obvious reasons, I don’t really know how to carry on. This column has done what it was intended to do, though. I’ve already started to consider life after Benoit - that Daniels vs. Michaels final has shown me that I can get excited about wrestling again. I’ve also been thinking about all the great wrestlers and the great matches that they can still have - and started thinking about the future, guys like Sabin, Kennedy, MVP, and Kenny Dykstra.

In conclusion - we’re in a bleak place now. But the future may be brighter.

I hope you enjoyed this column, even though it's probably not the most coherent thing I've ever written. If you wish to comment on it, you can contact me at takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com.

Until next time, take care.








WEEKEND News: Tons of NEW WWE Spoilers, WWE Playboy Update, More HALL Details, SmackDown's World Title Scene, MORE!

• Quick Links -
  [Back to LOP] [News Archives] [Results] [Columns] [Forums]