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Submitted by Degenerate on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 10:11 PM EST
 Hi, guys and gals! Thanks for stopping by and taking some time to read this. It's a brand-new edition of Struggle For Power with your usual host, Degenerate. Lucky for you - hopefully for someone - I was able to get enough time to write this up. It's been way too difficult to write something when you spend almost three hours a day either walking to the subway station or riding in the subway. New York is a cool place to live in and it's great I don't need to spend money on a car lease, gas or parking. But I do need an apartment closer to the city. Speaking of New York, the weather here is just weird. Well, weird for someone who's used to having sunny days with cloudless skies more than 300 days a year. In the time I've been here, it's rained more than it rained in my apartment in Puerto Rico the last three months. It has also snowed a whole damn lot. Let me tell you, those who haven't been in snowy regions and say "Oh, but the snow looks so beautiful!" should be smacked in the head and dumped to Canada. Sure, it's beautiful when you see it in pictures, or even through a window while inside your house. But try walking through heavy snow while heading to work. Not so beautiful. But I'm getting paid a lot of cash to be here in this city, so I'll get used to it. I'm easy like that. Before I get too easy (trust me, you don't want to see that), let's just get it on with the column. * I'm kinda happy that Floyd Mayweather is doing some stuff for the WWE, as he's one of my favorite boxers out there. But I'm not particularly happy he's getting $20 million out of the deal. Come on, the guy doesn't need all that cash for one month of work! I know he'll get a ton of outside attention to the WWE, which is most likely their goal. But in the long run, what benefit will they gain on this? The fact that they can show highlights of Floyd Mayweather in the Wrestlemania 30 pre-show? Outside of a couple of more Pay-Per-View buys, I don't think this will boost viewership full-time. If the package were for both Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya, then I wouldn't be bitching so much as I am now. Those two could make a forture outside of boxing as well. * What the fuck is wrong with the WWE not knowing stuff about their own contracted wrestlers, either developmental or on the main roster? A couple of months back, we were informed that the reason the Major Brothers were re-packaged with different names is because they didn't know they were actually NOT brothers. That didn't stop them from repackaging Edge and Christian, or Bubba Ray and Devon Dudley. Now this week, we're getting news that one of their developmental wrestlers by the name of Neil Bzibziak (formerly known as "Chet The Jet") was going to be called up with a Polish gimmick, but he didn't, you know, speak Polish, so they scrapped the idea. I know the WWE brass can't know everything about everyone, but they shouldn't assume someone knows Polish because he says he does on TV, or that two people are related because they're in atag team with "Brothers" as part of their name. That's just plain laziness to me. * So, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are expecting a second child, supposedly another girl. That Triple H is a sly one, isn't he? Wouldn't you marry the daughter of the boss, who happens to be a billionaire, and get her pregnant on a seemingly yearly basis? Okay, so maybe I'm the only sick person who would do that. In any case, much congrats to the two-time, two-time parents. It's surprised me how much they've lasted, and they seem to be sincerely in love with each other. I'm sure that's a very rare thing to find in the pro wrestling business, so kudos to them. * And TNA wants you to take them as a serious competitor to the WWE, when they bring in a guy in a shark mask imitating Stone Cold Steve Austin, and a Japanese guy named "Curry Man" with what's supposed to be a plate of curry on his head. Yes, I know that they're supposed to be useless, comedic characters, like the WWE with Gillberg, Mae Young and CM Punk. Oh wait, that last one isn't a useless, comedic character? My bad. Anyway, TNA seems to be trying way too hard with some things, and it shows. I'd have to admit that their actual wrestling product is getting better, with a very solid mid-card and great Women's Division. But they should stick with what they're good at, and comedy isn't one of their strong suits. Just a thought. It's a cool February morning on the East Coast, just like any normal February morning around the area. Or so the young man in this story thought it was going to be. After waking up, he noticed an odd feeling in the air, as if something weren't right... He decided to ignore it and go ahead with his business. He gets ready to go to work, when he opens the door, and realizes that his beautiful green lawn has turned into a dark and foggy pathway. He dropped his suitcase on the floor. What the fuck...?, exclaimed the young man. He had no clue what was going on. He arrived to his house yesterday and everything was normal! He pinched himself to see if he was still dreaming, but he wasn't. It was as real as it could be. The darkness was palpable, as it if had a life of its own. The air was damp and cold, and the fog made visibility in front of him very limited. Shocked and confused, he turned back inside his house. I wouldn't stay in the house if I were you, said a voice seemingly out of thin air. The young man looked all around, yet no one was there. The young man thought, Am I going crazy?. He took a couple of steps further, into the fog. His house was already covered by thick fog, invisible to the eye. He continued to move further, when he saw an orange glow from afar. Curious, the man walked towards the glow. Who... What are you?, the young man said, his voice trembling a bit. Don't worry, mentioned the glowing figure, I am not here to hurt you. The young man could see a large figure, but the glow was so intense he couldn't make a face out of it. Why are you here, what happened to my property?, yelled the young man, showing false bravado to the glowing figure. In a soothing voice, the glowing figure said Your home is okay. This is only temporary, yet necessary for you. This is not a path you have gone through before, yet it's a path very familiar to you. The young man was puzzled. I should be familiar with this path? How would I know if you have never taken it? The glowing image stepped back, and the fog cleared up a bit. You see, you have taken this road before the figure explained, but you have never kept your eyes open to see what's truly there. This, my lad, is The Road To Wrestlemania. The Road To Wrestlemania? asked the young man. I thought that was just some promotional bullshit for the company. I asked who, or what, you are. The orange figure, still glowing brightly, said I'm the Spirit of Wrestlemania's Past. I'm here to show you the true Road to Wrestlemania. Come, follow me as we cross this road, so you can truly appreciate everything. The young man, still skeptical, stood for a minute, thinking about everything this glowing figure, this spirit, was telling him. One part of him didn't want to go, but another part felt like it was a necessity. So, seeing that he would probably not get rid of the spirit that easily, decided to go along, unbeknownst to whatever was in that path. Once the man and the spirit entered the dark path, there wasn't anything to be seen. This has got to be a trap, thought the young man. I'm gonna get robbed or raped or something here. Then, a bright light could be seen in the distance. The man walked faster to reach the light. When he got there, it was just a shiny piece of mangled metal. What is this, and why was it shining so brightly? questioned the young man. This, my lad, is a piece of a very prestigious possession from year's past, the spirit exclaimed. This was a piece of the Intercontinental Title belt. The young man had a quizzical expression on his face. But... I just saw Jeff Hardy with the belt this week on Raw, and he had the belt, he said. The spirit immediately countered, No, you don't understand. This is The Road To Wrestlemania, where you'll see things how they really are, not what the outside world wants you to see. This piece of tarnished metal signifies the decent of the importance the Intercontinental Championship held for this event. The young man understood. Yeah, I remember when I was a kid, I saw Macho Man Randy Savage defend this belt against Ricky Steamboat in one of the most incredible matches ever. The spirit seemed to have nodded in agreement. Yes, now you get it. After being defended on 17 of the first 18 Wrestlemanias, this year marks the sixth straight year the title won't be defended in the show. Such a sad story for what was once a very important title. But let us not dwell on the past, let us continue forward. The man on the spirit kept on walking. From the darkness, the man saw another light from afar. But this light was much more bigger than he imagined. As he walked towards this light, he noticed it wasn't actually a light, but two houses - one huge mansion with at least 20 rooms, and another smaller, two-bedroom house. What are these houses doing here? asked the young man. Look inside the houses and you shall see, ordered the spirit. The young man cautiously walked towards the larger house first and peeking inside from a window. Inside the mansion, he saw none other than Floyd Mayweather, sitting in a big-ass chair, surrounded by his entourage, watching his 150-inch plasma screen, stacks of $100 bills all around him. They were eating, drinking and laughing, having a good ol' time. Puzzled, the young man went to the smaller house. Inside he saw Bob Holly with his family in a very humble setting. No large-screen plasma TVs, no money flying all around the place, just a man putting food on the table and a roof over his family's head. What does this mean? the confused young man asked. Well, you see, Floyd Mayweather is currently the hottest ticket in boxing right now, the spirit told the man. He earned more than $50 million in just two boxing matches last year. As if he needed more money, the WWE goes off and gives him $20 million for one month of work and just one match. On the other hand, Bob Holly has been wrestling for more than 20 years, has suffered multiple injuries, some that almost cost him his life, yet he has never even come close to having earned that kinda of money in his entire lifetime. The young man, while understanding of the unfairness of the deal, thought it was fair enough for the company. Yeah, I know that it doesn't seem fair for the mid-card wrestlers, even the curtain jerkers, it's not just Holly. But, the man retorted, the WWE gets huge business for this! They get new fans, more Pay-Per-View buys, everything! Besides, they did this a lot back when Wrestlemania was beginning. The spirit sighed. Yes, the company might get a bit more interest in the show, but how many of those fans are going to continue to watch the WWE after the big show is over? the spirit countered. A very small percentage will stay, probably replacing those who left while seeing a boxer they don't like on their show. Also, it's true that celebrities have always been a large part of Wrestlemania's past, but that was because the WWE was trying to establish a mainstream presence for the non-professional wrestling audience. But do they need that nowadays? No, they have more than enough talent inside the ring that they don't really need outside attention to make for a good show. We can probably disagree on this all day long, so let's just continue. After leaving the houses behind, they kept on walking towards the darkness. Then they saw another mansion up ahead. But this was a familiar mansion - it was the Playboy Mansion throwing a huge party for the WWE Divas. YES!!! shouted the young man. Now this is what I'm talking about! WWE Divas naked, oh yeah! As the young man ran to the gateway, the spirit immediately crossed in front of him and stopped him in his tracks. Are you sure you want this? the spirit asked. The young man looked at the spirit as if it were retarded. Fuck yeah! I wish there were WWE Divas in Playboy every year! Let's see, out of the remaining Divas, we still have Melina, Victoria and Lillian to see naked. Oh, and let's add in Mickie James, although we've all seen her naked already. And no one cares about Beth Phoenix, so whatever. Just move out of the way. In an instant, the Playboy Mansion disappeared, and in its place, a montage of past Wrestlemania matches were shown on the screen. Do you remember Christy Hemme? asked the spirit. Lovely young lass, excellent body for Playboy. Yet in Wrestlemania 21, she had the most horrible match in the card. Let's skip ahead to Wrestlemania 22. Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle, former Playboy alumni as well, had a freakin' pillow fight AFTER Rey Mysterio had made history in winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Then skip another year, Wrestlemania 23. Newly minted Playboy girl Ashley was in lame Lumberjill match, also in between the Main Events of the show. There are other examples, but I think you know where I'm headed with this one. Wow, said an amazed young man. I never thought I wouldn't want to see naked girls so much as I do know. Fuck them bitches, I hope no one poses for Playboy before next year's Wrestlemania so they can spare me another horrible match that could be used for something more important, like, you know, actual wrestling. The spirit seemed pleased with the fact that the young man was learning. Come, lad, we're almost through. Just one more thing to see. The young man wondered what it was. He had already seen so much he hadn't seen before. What else could there be? Suddenly, an advertisement for Wrestlemania 24 appeared - Edge vs. The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship. This is one of the Main Events for the show, right? Don't tell me this is not going to happen, the young man said. Oh yes, it's definitely going to happen. It must, exclaimed the spirit, for it will be a great thing for all to see. The spirit continued. There are people out there saying that this year's Wrestlemania is lacking a good Main Event. But as you see here, you have one of the most legendary superstars of all time in the Undertaker, battling one of the best active wrestlers out there today in Edge. If it weren't for that technicality that Edge 'lost' as last Year's Money In The Bank match, this would've been a battle of the Wrestlemania Undefeated. The Undertaker is still capable of giving five-star matches, as proven last year. And Edge is a solid performer who can also give memorable performances as well. I expect this match to go down as a Wrestlemania match we won't soon forget. But there is one more Main Event in the cards... A graphic for the other Main Event is shown - Randy Orton vs. Triple H vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship. Hey... that's me right there! exclaimed the young man. The spirit nodded. Yes, John, that is you. This triple-threat match has the makings of another memorable match. The past two triple-thread Main Events in Wrestlemania were classics, even if one of those involved someone that, thanks to him going bat-shit crazy, sadly will never be shown ever again. This one has three of the biggest names in professional wrestling right now, three competitors that have many detractors, yet have demonstrated in the past that you can give five-star matches as well. You, John Cena, can pull out all the stops and make this match the one that people will associate Wrestlemania 24 with. Cena finally noticed why this was happening. So, you did all of this just to show to me that even though I recently returned from injury and had my doubts as if I could perform on this stage with these two guys? The spirit was happy Cena figured it out on his own. Yes, John, the whole reason was because of that. Don't worry that the fans boo you, call you the wrestler with the "Five Moves Of Doom". You know you're more capable than that. Now go, take the lessons learned here, show them to your peers, and show them to Vince McMahon, so he can make next year's Road To Wrestlemania a brighter one for all! With that, the spirit was gone, the fog was completely lifted, the darkness turned to light, and John Cena was standing in the middle of his house, on his beautiful green lawn. Thanks, Spirit Of Wrestlemania's Past, said Cena. Thanks for showing me the way. With that, Cena picked up his suitcase, got in his car, and drove to the airport to get to the next show. Once Cena's car left, an orange glowing figure popped up from behind a tree. Ha! What an idiot that Cena is! the spirit replied. Now he's gonna go tell everyone and Vince McMahon to not get any celebrities, don't let the Divas pose for Playboy anymore, book some crap match between two mid-carders for the Intercontinental Championship, and let these Main Events happen. He'll most likely listen to him, and when he does, the Main Event at Wrestlemania 25 is mine, brother. I'm sure many of you people have heard about the independent wrestling promotion Ring Of Honor before. However, if you're like me, you probably have never seen any of their shows, except for a couple of segments and/or matches posted by their rabid fans on YouTube. This weekend, I met up with some of the cool peeps on the LOP Forums and went to see their 6th Anniversary show in the Manhattan Center. I really didn't know what to expect of this. I knew basically nothing about the wrestlers except for a handful, I had zero knowledge of their current storylines, and I didn't know if the wrestling was actually good or just over-hyped by their fans. So I was eager to see how it went down. Surprising to me, the event was pretty damn good. The wrestling was solid all through the night and the storylines and characters the company currently has were easy enough to follow even for a ROH noob like myself. There were also a lot of familiar faces throughout the night. Former WWE stars Zack Gowen (the one-legged dude), Joey Matthews (Joey Mercury, part of the MNM trio), Brent Albright (formerly known as Gunner Scott, who Chris Benoit took under his wing for a while - before, you know, going bat-shit crazy) and even Tammy Stych (Sunny, that hottie who appeared in Raw's 15th Anniversary show and is surprisingly even hotter live). Although Gowen, Matthews and Albright didn't wrestle too well in the show (in fact, I'm almost convinced Matthews was either drunk or high during the match - he looked so lost), Sunny got a great reaction from the crowd. For some reason, I think Tammy Stych deserves a second chance in the business. I've always liked her work (and her hotness, except during her not-so-Sunny years of course) and she seems to love the business, unlike other Divas who just get in as a way to simply get exposure and leave as soon as they get some. The thing that really surprised me about this show is that I was sort of expecting most of it all to be straight-up, old-school wrestling, with countless rest-holds. But it wasn't like that at all. There were lots of kick-ass spots mixed in with actual wrestling. Many matches actually ended with someone submitting from a hold. There was even a hardcore match, where a fellow known as Necro Butcher really grabbed my attention. I had seen some pics of him before, but I never knew the guy could be a bad-ass. Just look at this picture of him before heading into action:  Do you honestly think that this person could actually kick someone else's ass? I really didn't think so at all, but he can receive a ton of punishment and dish it out too. To me, he looks like he could be your drunken uncle in the middle of your family reunion., But even more surprising was their current champion, named Nigel McGuiness. I've heard a ton of good things about this guy, but had never seen him. I thought he was a babyface, loved by everyone, yet when he came out the crowd just got nasty with him, booing and chanting "You're gonna get your fucking head kicked in". He seemed to play the role of the heel pretty damn well, much better than most wrestlers I've seen nowadays. He also had a great main event match, so he could also work great without the mic. Of course, there not all of it is good. There was one thing I absolutely hated about the show: a lot of their fans. Ring of Honor fans have a reputation of taking things a bit too seriously with their wrestling. I witnessed this first hand the night of the show. Not all of them. Some were just chanting and screaming just to have fun, but others seemed dead serious when talking about the product. First off, there was someone behind me talking on his cell phone with someone else, and this is what I heard from him: "Yeah, I'm at the Manhattan Center waiting for a wrestling show to start..... No, it's not WWE, it's Ring Of Honor..... RING...OF...HONOR... No, it's not like that gay WWE, it's like TNA..... Fuck John Cena..... Cena's a bitch..... That bitch doesn't know how to wrestle..... That bitch needs to break his arm and get the fuck away from the WWE, he's ruining wrestling." Yeah, a very smart and eloquent individual. I know there are some people who dislike John Cena or the WWE, and that's fine. But more often than not, these people have nothing to back up their claims. Most of the times when you ask them why they dislike the product, they normally answer "Because it sucks" or something among those lines. A five-year-old could easily beat that logic. Besides the cell phone dude, there was a kid wearing a WWE shirt and holding a replica of the WWE Championship Spinner Belt and walking all over the place. Some fans, myself included, found this amusing, even though I always find it totally lame for someone to go to a wrestling event with another company's stuff on you. Some, however, seemed angry about this and were talking smack about this kid, one even saying "They should throw that kid out." For what? For not being a lame, dead serious professional wrestling fan like you? Shut the fuck up, you'll do us all a favor. Ring of Honor is returning again to New York City May 10th, so hopefully I'll go to that show, more mentally prepared for these fans that pissed me off. There are rumors going on that Sabu and RVD will wrestle as a tag team in this show against arguably the most-loved tag team in Ring of Honor, the Briscoes. If you're in the area or live someplace where ROH is putting on a show, give it a try. It's seriously much fun. Before I head out, here are some more columns you should read from the Columns Forum, because more than one column a day keeps the doctor away. Or is it 'keep the ladies away'? Donkey Punch: Wrestling's Best Brawlers By Uncle Joe A lot of fans love wrestling because of the technical brilliance on display by some. But not every wrestler is a Kurt Angle, Ricky Steamboat or Chris Benoit (the wrestler, not to be confused by the killer with the same name). There are some people who love to fight. And Uncle Joe gives us his picks for the best of the best. Just ignore the fact that I stole one of his pictures. Bring Tha Noize!!! Volume 16: My Name is Mud. By Anthrax Tag teams split up all the time, that's a fact. Most of the times, one of the two turns out to be a mega-hit as a solo wrestler. The other half? Not so lucky. Anthrax gives us some examples of future tag team specialists who only went down after their split. Also check out the new editions on the LordsOfPain.net columnists team: romans3:23, aisce and Hustle. All of them are awesome, which is why they're here, next to other awesome peeps, specifically like me. I've been reading their work from their very beginning (wow, makes me feel old) and I can vouch for their ability to write entertaining columns. Welcome aboard, guys. That wraps up another edition of this fabulous column. If you want to discuss anything about it with me, feel free to send the E-Mail my way to dennmart@gmail.com, or head on over to the forums and leave a reply in my feedback thread. You'll need to be part of the forums to do that, but seriously, why wouldn't you be? There's everything you want there! Except girls, there are very few of those around. What else do you expect from a wrestling forum? Hope to see y'all again soon, Degenerate ***DIRECT LINK*** MUST SEE GALLERY OF 2008! Extreme Expose's BROOKE ADAMS - AMAZING!
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