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Submitted by Zuma on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 10:36 PM EST
 "Viva La Lucha: 2_Dumb_2_Figure_2_Much_Out" Welcome back to the column that thought the only viral marketing he would see during a wrestling program were those awesome Trojan Man commercials, it’s Viva La Lucha! Well, here we are. As of the time this column gets posted, we’ll be somewhere around 4 Days, 16 hours, and 5 minutes from the return of… something or other. Unless you’ve been living under a box, without visiting your favorite website dedicated to WWE and Pro Wrestling News, Results, and Columns… you know what the hell I’m talking about. It’s the code! Break the code! He’s_Coming! You_Know_Who! Don’t_Play_Games!  The first promo was called “Save_Us_222” and we gobbled it up with a spoon. Speculation quickly began as to who it could be. Was it the return of Shawn Michaels? Could it be just a Cyber Sunday advertisement? A fruity fruit oh so delicious skittles campaign? Maybe it was what we’d hoped for all along… it was the return of Chris Jericho? The internet smarks and marks went into a frenzy of ludicrous posts, and a very few of those same “Smart Marks” were smart enough to remember that when Chris Jericho left the WWE, he completely screwed with the fans for the first week. A huge “TNA is Jericho” splash screen replaced the normal homepage of his website, and everyone thought for sure that he was going to show up for the next episode of Impact. He never even sniffed Orlando, except for hanging with some honeys in Miami once or twice. Chris Jericho has fooled us once, but when the first promo aired – people were certain that this was it. In order to truly understand what we were “supposed” to get out of that first promo though, we have to understand what the term “viral marketing” stands for. The WWE decided to use what really is a cutting edge method in order to introduce whomever it is that is going to be “coming back” in 4 days, 2 hours, and 58 minutes. I’m going to turn to my good friend, Dr. Ralph F. Wilson – who writes a column on a site called “Web Marketing Today” and who I trust because he has funny letters in front of his name. Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millions. Off the Internet, viral marketing has been referred to as "word-of-mouth," "creating a buzz," "leveraging the media," "network marketing." But on the Internet, for better or worse, it's called "viral marketing." While others smarter than I have attempted to rename it, to somehow domesticate and tame it, I won't try. The term "viral marketing" has stuck. Creating a buzz was definitely accomplished. In those first few days, “That Mystery Promo” hit websites worldwide. No less than 250 different videos come up on YouTube.com when you type in “Save Us 222” into the search box. I made a quick count, and by my estimations – those videos combined have easily exceeded over one million views. That’s buzz, kids. That’s what huge marketing firms promise, and only sometimes do they deliver a word of mouth campaign for such a niche market like wrestling. My favorite initial reaction to the video focused on the words “Save Us”. Who would normally save someone? Why – a Superhero – that’s who! Gregory Helms has been off of television for a while, and this promo alluding to some sort of “Savior” could very well have been written to create a buzz regarding WWE’s own masked and caped crusader! Another explanation made us use something we learned very early in life, and that’s simple addition. It’s well documented that the WWE thinks very little of their fans intelligence, and actually… this column will later talk about that very fact. Could it be so simple as “Save_Us_222” just being a simple math problem? 2 + 2 + 2 = 6. Say it isn’t so, I said to myself. The return of Syxx-Pac, or Sixx, or X-Pac – whatever you want to call him… they’d never spend this much time hyping someone that had sex with Chyna… would they? Oh wait… Triple H. Right. Nah… right at the beginning, many were saying it was Jericho. Few even took the time to break down the “Save_Us_222” promo, and here’s what they came up with: Save_Us.222: signs on RAW that say "Save Us Jericho CHAMP_HARD: Jericho was a former WWE Hardcore Champion SMACK_BROUGHT1: Jericho was brought over from RAW to Smackdown. -CD_VOLUME4_1: This might be the most significant clue, as Jericho's theme, “Break The Walls Down” was the first track on the 4th WWE Music CD -WM00_MATCH and WM_MATCH_TRI: Jericho wrestled Benoit and Angle in the Triple Threat Match at Wrestlemania -LIVEWIRE: A song by Jericho's band, Fozzy. TALENT_PRE:Obvious, Jericho was a former WWE talent BAT_ASS_WEEK: A reference to Jericho on VH1's Best Week Ever? PROMO_99: Jericho's WWE debut came in 1999 and he cut that infamous promo on The Rock 7_OCT: WWE's No Mercy PPV in October – which could have been an “Out” for the WWE – where he could debut – history shows now that he did not debut at that time, but a new video did air. RAW_DOUBLE_FIN and RAW_REV: A possible reference to the match against Triple H on RAW which Jericho had won, or so we thought, only to see Triple H void the title change. Also, Jericho and Chyna both won the WWE IC Title on a double pin. KOR_Qualify13_60: Jericho qualified for the King of the Ring twice r/shara/catman/a_man/cat1: Catman most likely alludes to Lionheart share/Insight/library/SGI_bookshelves: Possible reference to Jericho's book -RAW_REV_MAY2.action: Jericho defeated Benoit for the WWE IC Title on May 2, 2000 RAW_WAR_BUMPER: RAW is WAR was the catchphrase back when Y2J was around, and he often "bumped" the phrase around to say RAW is Jericho DISP_CHAMP: A possible reference to Jericho's reign as undisputed champion. With “evidence” such as that, “breaking the code” seemed to be complete. However, you have to remember that all of this was taking place back at the end of September. We are now in the middle of November, and we will have had close to two months of anticipation. The question then becomes… Are you still anticipating this event?  The month of October saw the anticipation rise to all time highs, as each week we were presented with a new set of images to pour over and a new set of clues to decipher. Much like my explanation of the first promo video, people would continue to break down the promo package second by second in order to work themselves into an even further frenzy of anticipation for whoever, or whatever these videos might be about. The second video, entitled “Save_Yourself” started the argument that this might be for a heel version of HBK when it highlighted the words “Savior 8.2.11” at the end. Remember, Mr. Shawn Michaels had not yet returned to the WWE, and this explanation started to make sense: H = 8th letter of the alphabet B - 2nd letter of the alphabet K = 11th letter of the alphabet Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and it turns out Shawn Michaels returned to little fanfare at all. His music hit, and he walked out onto the stage looking white-trashalicious in his cut-off shirt and beat up cowboy hat. The speculation about an HBK heel turn, and the anticipation returned. Who else could these continuing promos be selling? The code had been cracked, had it not? Well… every week, it’s been “the week.” Every week, people have kept tuning in to see what or who was going to be the person behind the videos. Of course, at this point, most believe what I’ve been saying in this column all along – we are going to see the return of Chris Jericho next Monday night. However… before I get to what will happen next Monday, I need to take everyone down a trip to a place we all know and love…. Memory Lane. Years ago, in a land far, far away, when the WWE actually was the WWF, I saw something similar to the marketing campaign we are in the midst of right now. In fact, it was right about this time of year! They carted out a giant egg. Every week, they gave speculation as to who, or what, would be inside the giant egg. Of course, this was back in the day – so we had no fancy computer .gifs to explain it. There was theme music, if I remember correctly, and it was pretty cheesy. The cart was huge, and on top of this cart – which they would wheel out every week, or have staged at the top of the ramp below the TitanTron was this giant egg. They said it could be Andre the Giant’s child, they said it could be the newest addition to the Women’s Division. Maybe inside the egg we would find riches, or the key to eternal youth! Who knew!?!? All we knew was that at the Survivor Series this egg would hatch. Well… we’re 4 days, 2 hours, and 54 minutes from another egg hatching. The most horrifying thing that could happen here is that the countdown hits the TitanTron, the lights go out, and… The Gobbledy Gooker returns. This kid knows everything about this subject. Of course! Watch the video to see that the kid figured it out. It’s has been confirmed at this point that the WWE isn’t going to fuck this one up, and next week we’re going to see the return of Chris Jericho. You’re sitting there saying to yourself… “damn, Zuma’s an idiot. He believes some jackass kid from YouTube.” Well, gentle reader – you should know me better than that at this point. It has been confirmed that Jericho is coming back because the WWE has leaked the cover of the next WWE magazine – and guess who’s on the cover? Mr. Undisputed Champion himself. That’s why I’m happy to reveal this to you here, and ruin it for you all. It won’t be the Gobbledy Gooker. *Crosses Fingers* WWE News: WWE *spoils* major return Submitted by Brian Cantor on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at 12:40 PM EST “The latest issue of WWE Magazine prematurely reveals that Chris Jericho is on his way back to the company. Jericho is featured on the cover with the tagline, "The real story behind Jericho's shocking return." The photo features a devious-looking Jericho plugging two power cords together. The wrestler's long awaited return to the ring has been expected for several months. Sources believe he will officially appear on television at next week's edition of RAW.” They’ve challenged us to “Crack the Code”, and then – just in case “2_Dumb_2_Figure_2_Much_Out” they went ahead and made sure that everyone knew who it was by having Jericho go on radio shows like Opie and Anthony, Bubba the Love Sponge, and The Wrestling Epicenter – where he all but confirmed his return. It’s always amazed me how little the WWE thinks of their fans, and this was the case once again. I would have loved to not know that Jericho was returning for sure. This Monday will still be a highly anticipated episode of RAW, but imagine if all of the leaks hadn’t occurred? Imagine if assholes like me hadn’t written columns devoted entirely to spoiling the excitement of this Monday’s return. Oh wait… I’m not helping myself there am I? Well, it’s true. This piece of “viral marketing” or “stealth advertising” has worked tremendously for the WWE, and they should have left it at that. The fact that they have gone ahead and left clues on their website, which were so “super secret” that some 9 year old kid with a DSL connection and a webcam was able to out them on YouTube is rather idiotic. It just goes to show that the WWE think that everyone that’s watching their shows lives in a trailer and is semi-retarded. It’s a shame that they used such a sophisticated marketing tool and then decided to essentially spill the beans because they were worried we were too stupid to figure it out. Jericho is outed about the Save_us_222 videos on “Opie and Anthony” These are the time I wish I wasn’t a part of the Internet Wrestling Community, because the surprise has really been spoiled for anyone that’s been online to a website like Lords of Pain and read any of the news. Being a “smart” fan, we lose out on some of the mystery and excitement regarding what really will happen next Monday, or Friday – because we’ve been talking about it all week and receiving “inside” information which ends up giving us too many clues as to what’s happening backstage, which always ends up being a part of what happens on stage. This viral campaign was a success though, because we’re talking about it. That’s all it was intended to do. It’s created a buzz, it’s gotten us to pass on the information via word of mouth, and we’re all excited to watch what happens in 4 days, 2 hours and 52 minutes. The cat’s out of the bag, and the boy who would be king is on his way home. Welcome back, Y2J.  Column of the Week I Am A Hawk: And the next wrestler to go postal is… which is an awesome column by a kid who goes by the name of HawkEye. It’s actually a 3 part series, and he goes through the top 15-10 wrestlers on his list of potential murder/suicide candidates. It’s SATIRE people, so go there with an open mind and a smile on your face. I think you’ll enjoy it. Be Like Mike by Uncle Joe is a column that will probably shock you as to who the subject is. It’s not Jordan, and it’s not Vick. Click the link to see the Mike that we should all try and be like. I THANK YOU SO MUCH for being a part of this column with all your feedback, questions, comments, and just awesome interaction. You’re really the reason I continue to do this, so make sure to drop me a line. You can do that via email, or over at LOPForums. If you’re not a member yet, you really should join. If you are a member, be sure to leave some feedback in the Viva La Lucha Feedback Thread. If you’d like to see your artwork shown in this column, send me a banner at vivalalucha@yahoo.com and make sure to label it “Banner”. You can also click the link if you're an LOPForums member. Address all of your hate mail, fan mail, comments, questions, and sexual propositions to the address above as well. I’ll try and answer every one, as long as you label it “Feedback.” Before you go off into that crazy web without any supervision, why don’t you follow these links instead: LOP Columns Forum – the best wrestling related columns on the net. Period. The Movie Bar – music, movies, Monkeys, and reviews too! The Project Lives – creative writing, commentary and artwork. Plus, the HOME of MONDAY NIGHT COUNTDOWN! ***DIRECT LINK*** Over 14 Total HIGH QUALITY Maria 2008 PB Photos! MUST SEE!
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