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Submitted by Degenerate on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 8:47 PM EST
Hey everyone, and welcome back to this ol' column known as Struggle For Power. This is your boy Degenerate appearing here again, even though at this point you should all know who writes this. I don't care, I'm kinda egocentric like that. Yeah, it's not like you wouldn't do it yourself. Live the gimmick, baby. All over-inflated egos aside, I hope you've all been well, enjoying the current wrestling products out there. I know I have. These past two weeks have passed by seemingly in a blur, which is a good thing most of the times. I'm sure there's still a fair amount of critics out there who still bitch about wrestling today. But trust me, it's been worse in the past. Strangely enough, all my worst wrestling memories are from times where the WWE had no decent competition at all. Hmm... I should write about that sometime. But not now though. There are more things in my mind than I can even sit down to write. I'm sure no one cares about my real-life issues, so let's get into the column writing. * Wow, I just saw TNA's Victory Road this past weekend, and I have to admit that I enjoyed a great part of the show. I'm not the biggest TNA fan ever, but I do recognize that they can put out a decent show that I can sit down and watch without falling asleep. Of course, there are some things I don't dig as much. The X-Division, while entertaining, has seriously dropped from being the biggest selling point for the company to being a third-class citizen. Also, it personally drives me crazy seeing A.J. Styles being so damn misused in a boring tag team. Other than this, I'm happy with the rest of the wrestlers and matches. I do notice a ton of TNA naysayers out there who won't give the product a fair chance. I'd suggest trying to think outside the box and see that the WWE isn't the only game in town. If not, then please stand in line to become the newest member of McMahon's exclusive club. * What's this? A decent Great American Bash Pay-Per-View put by the WWE? You don't say! Okay, I might have to promptly put my foot in my mouth, because I deserve it. Back in March or April, when the WWE announced that all of the previous single-brand Pay-Per-Views were going to feature matches from all brands, I rapidly criticized it, due to the fact that a lot of younger stars wouldn't have spots on Pay-Per-Views anymore. While that holds true, I think that the WWE has compensated by giving a more sold show overall. Look no further than the Great American Bash, easily the worse Pay-Per-View in the last two years. This year, it looks like a winner. While I'm still all for giving young stars a chance to shine, I'll take Cena vs. Lashley any day over a Major Brothers vs. Deuce & Domino match. Screw them. Now, if only the WWE can fix December to Dismember... * How long can a wrestler be away from the business for his return to be relevant? I guess I'll ask Chris Jericho, who continues to tease all the fans with a return to wrestling after a two-year absence. I'll be happy to see a wrestler of his caliber return full-time. However, after the initial excitement with his return, will the push be constant? I think Jericho already hit the peak of his career by becoming the first Undisputed Champion in December 2001. After that, it was a steady decline to nowhere. Sad to say, Jericho isn't the young, 28-year old kid we saw upon his WWE debut in 1999. He's going to be 37 this November. That's not a lot, but age does play a factor, especially when you're known more as a speedy high-flier. Also, I think there are more capable (and yes, younger) performers right now who have been long enough with the company to earn a chance to shine. While I like Chris Jericho, I'd say that he took too damn long to return and a WWE run will not be as "generous" as it has in the past. * Yet more and more wrestlers are coming out to comments on the steroid and drug issues that are apparently rampant in wrestling. I'm noticing a trend, though. Wrestlers that are still active in the business say that the steroid use is either very limited or non-existent, while those not in the business anymore say that it's a widespread problem. It's tough to take sides here. Are active wrestlers saying that the news are exaggerated because they want to protect the business? Are non-active wrestlers saying that drugs are commonly used because they're bitter towards the business in general? I wouldn't know. This week's news by Terri Runnels states that the use of legally-prescribed muscle relaxers (Somas) is like "eating candy" for some. For some reason, this sounds like a true story, and not something fabricated from a bitter ex-employee, like Chyna. Wasn't Eugene (Nick Dinsmore) almost fired a while back because of his addiction to these exact same pills the former "Marlena" talked about? The fact that the WWE simply stated that they are not responsible for what happens outside the workplace seems to show that this is a real problem, probably one that's unfortunately ignored by the company. * Yeah, I'm sick and tired of listening to all these stories related to Chris Benoit. First there was the raid on his doctor's office, that in turn made some notable wrestling names surface. Then there's news that next year someone will print out a book about him, most likely in a totally negative light. Now we have the results of his toxicology test appearing. I'm not afraid to say this: I really, really hope the toxicology reports proves that Benoit's high testosterone level isn't the cause of him snapping. It's not because I still respect Benoit the wrestler. It's because it would shut the fucking mouths of all the media that is pointing to excessive steroid use as the culprit. I wish that Michael Moore or someone with the same influence can just make a documentary about how the media toys around with the news and spin it however they wish. However, if a high testosterone level in Benoit's system mean he snapped because of that mix of drugs, then may God have mercy on everyone in the wrestling business. It will truly be a field day for news stations. Last Tuesday after work, I left the office at 5:00 PM, jumped into my car, and sped off to my destination. I had been waiting for this day for the past three years, and I could barely concentrate during the past week, not even when the hot chick at work invited me to go see a movie later in the week. All I know is that I had to get my car moving, and I wasn't going to let something silly like traffic lights, cars running along mine at equal or greater speed, or cops just itching to give out a huge speeding ticket to a hapless soul like me. I just knew that I had to get to where I wanted - nay, needed - to be. Where was my destination? To the mall, and buy the new CD from my favorite band in the entire world, Bad Religion. What, were you expecting something else? I lead a very normal - thus not exciting - life. Just a small tidbit for my readers, after wrestling, my other passion and main hobby is listening to music. If it weren't for my inner geek, I would definitely try to be part of the music business, even if it meant being in a crappy band that plays in run-down bars for 25 bucks and a warm beer, maybe some blow too. Hey, it seems to work for Lita right now. In any case, I listened to the CD a couple of times, and I liked it a whole lot. While not their definite best, it's still a very, very good album if you like their style of punk rock. So I hopped online to read what other people like myself thought of the album. Surprisingly, most reviews were saying that the album was sub-par, getting scores like 2 out of 5, or 5 out of 10. What the fuck? Am I blinded by a major case of fanboy-ism that I refuse to accept the fact that most people rated the album low? So I skipped the rating and read the actual review, and all of them said the same thing: Bad Religion is a good band, and even at its worst, they're better than that of most other punk acts. Whoa, that isn't fair at all, at least to me it isn't. While I agree that this wasn't the best Bad Religion album, and my absolute favorites from the band are some of their CD's released in the late 80's, this was much, much better than about 95% of the albums released by other punk rock bands I've listened to recently. The reason why this isn't fair to me is because the reviewer should be comparing the album with albums from other punk rock bands, not the same band. Those reviews make me think the reviewer thought Bad Religion is the only band in the entire world, so this album should only be compared with their past work. That's not the way it works. Okay, you might be asking yourself right now if this has to do anything with wrestling. Maybe it does. How many times have you heard or read something like "Yeah, that was a good match, but it wasn't his best." around the Internet? I've seen it countless times, and always think "So? It still was a kick-ass match!" It's like people refuse to accept that some wrestlers will probably never top a previous match, thus relegating the rest of the matches as "non-great." Just like the reviewers of the new Bad Religion album, it's ignorant on their part. Let me provide some examples about some great wrestlers who had an outstanding match (considered one of the greatest matches ever) that was never topped afterwards. Please note, these are my own opinions of each wrestler's greatest matches, and should be taken as such. Wrestler: Ric Flair Best Match Ever: Wrestlewar 1989 (vs. Ricky Steamboat) Great Matches Afterwards: Collision in Korea (vs. Antonio Inoki), Clash of the Champions XXVII (vs. Sting) Ric Flair has had a storied career, spanning more than 30 years. Although Flair is now simply a shell of his former self, it can't be denied that he had a ton of great matches and great feuds. But none perhaps was greater than his matches with Ricky Steamboat back in 1989. His match with Steamboat at Wrestlewar in May of that year, dubbed the Music City Showdown, is considered by many as not only the greatest of both men's careers, but one of the best professional wrestling matches ever. I was skeptical about this claim, but when I saw it for the first time on DVD, I was simply blown away. However, what can these men do after having such a great match? Steamboat simply ran out of steam, as his career was winding down and didn't have any exceptional matches afterwards. Flair, on the other hand, kept on rolling as the NWA turned into WCW. His feuds afterwards with Sting, Hogan and a myriad of other wrestling greats were among his most memorable. Yet he could never top his match with Steamboat, at least not on television. Wrestler: Triple H Best Match Ever: Royal Rumble 2000 (vs. Cactus Jack) Great Matches Afterwards: Three Stages of Hell match (vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin), Triple Threat Championship match (vs. Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit) What I considered one of the most over-rated wrestlers of all time, Triple H showed me and the rest of the world that he had what it takes to be one of the all-time greats after January 2000. Coming into a Street Fight with Cactus Jack, I thought this would be one of those matches where the face did all the work, only to have the heel sneak by and steal a cheap victory. However, Triple H showed that he could not only dish out the punishment, but he could take it as well. This resulted in an epic WWE Championship match that ranks in my top ten list of all time. After his feud with Foley, Triple H had a lot of great matches against some of the top wrestlers of his era, such as The Rock, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels. However, for whatever reason, I don't think he has ever topped that performance in 2000, and if his recent conditioning prove correct and continue, he never will have a match as good as his storied Street Fight. Wrestler: Chris Benoit Best Match Ever: Royal Rumble 2003 (vs. Kurt Angle) Great Matches Afterwards: Two Triple Threat Championship matches (vs. Triple H and Shawn Michaels), Money In The Bank I (vs. 5 others - I'm too lazy to write all their names) Okay, I know I'll get shit on again by some people for including the murdering son-of-a-bitch here. But again, I'm strictly looking at his wrestling career. It can't be denied that Benoit's match with Kurt Angle in January 2003 was simply one of the best matches of all time. Seemingly a throwback match, with tons of false finishes, chain wrestling and lots of counters, it also featured a ton of intensity and physicality from both men. It's a match I watch from time to time, and it never ceases to amaze me. Of course, Chris Benoit went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship the next year. In reality, all of his matches afterwards were good. To me, a bad Chris Benoit match never existed. This brings me to my point, that we, as wrestling fans, take some wrestlers completely for granted. Benoit was a prime example of this. Just like the band Bad Religion, Chris Benoit on his worst night was easily better than 95% of the locker room. If someone like John Cena, with his supposed "limited" wrestling experience, pulled out a five-star masterpiece like Benoit had a lot after his match with Angle in 2003, everyone would be talking about the match for years, and possibly in line waiting to suck his dick, telling him how he's the greatest ever. Is it fair to guys like Triple H and Flair to judge them by a great match they had years ago, in their prime? Of course not. It's ludicrous to even think that they should be held to a higher standard because of one match. One event doesn't, and shouldn't, instantly change someone's life or career. I'm sure that we've all had a day like this, no matter what we do, where everything just clicks and everything goes virtually perfect. Do you want to be judged solely because of what happened that particular day? What if you never have another day similar to that one, how does it feel to think that you reached the peak of your career? I'm sure it won't feel good. In my mind, the mark of a great wrestler is how great they are during a long period of time. Any shmuck can have a lucky year on top, only to quickly fall down and never be close to the top ever again. Greatness is a habit that is maintained, not something that's used for a short while and tossed aside. We should all strive to make this a habit, to stop being so judgmental of others because of their past, and just appreciate the present. Maybe the next great moment will appear in front of your eyes. What was once great could get much, much better. This past Sunday, July 15th, was the second anniversary since this good ol' Puerto Rican boy decided to try his hand at writing a column in the Columns Forum. The warm response I received for my sub-par debut (to say the least) made me want to write more and more. So now, more than fifty columns later, being a featured columnist on the greatest wrestling website around, I feel totally satisfied with what I've done. However, the desire to keep on writing still continues to be inside me, and I'll keep on doing this until I'm not wanted here anymore. To keep things short, I just want to say thank you to everyone. No matter if you've read my stuff since Day 1, or are reading my column for the very first time, you guys are the reason why I've stuck around for so long. In any case, one thing that has helped me get here is reading a lot of different columns and learning from them. So, from a current Main Pager to some possible future ones, here are my top three columns I've read these past two weeks from LOPForums.com: The Superfiles!--edition 9.0: The Dangler By SUPERFAN! Thanks to Chris Benoit going apeshit on his family, the "Who Killed Vince McMahon" saga will never, ever reach it's exciting conclusion. However, that isn't the only storyline that ended abruptly, as the Columns Forum's resident superhero (maybe in training, I really don't know) SUPERFAN! shows us in his column. Pulp Wrestling - Stripes By Jules How often do we forget the "third man" inside the wrestling ring? Multiple-Time Columnist of the Month winner Jules educates us on the importance these men have in the actual finished product, which is a kick-ass match. If that doesn't attract your attention to the column, maybe the pictures of the smokin' hot Stacy Kiebler dressed as a cute little referee will. Hardtime #99: The Fourth Wall By RIPbossman You think actors are the only people who should respect the "Fourth Wall"? Former Main Pager RIPbossman takes a look at how the Fourth Wall is broken in wrestling, and how it doesn't help much when it does happen. That'll be all for this edition of the column. Hope you all had fun reading it as I did writing it. I don't know if I'll be back next week or something, but stay tuned for more exciting stuff. I've been trying to organize something that involves you, the reader, so I'll see if I can work that out. In the meantime, if you want to shoot some E-Mail, either the good or bad type, send it my way at dennmart@gmail.com, or hop by to my feedback thread and leave a message there. Every message will be responded to. Even the bad ones, like that dude who wanted to kick my ass. See y'all soon, Degenerate ***DIRECT LINK*** Vince & Stephanie McMahon Playing with the NEW BABY!!
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