When in Rome XXIX - Quick WM 24 thoughts + Rome's Origin
Submitted by romans_3:23 on Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 11:45 PM EST





Welcome to When in Rome, the column that has had better days…

I’ve had some personal issues over the past two weeks and I have not had time to write a full column for you folks - but I do take the two week deadline somewhat seriously. I might possibly write a column about what occurred in my life at some point – in fact, at first I definitely thought that I would – but now I am having second thoughts. If I address my personal stuff, it will happen after I reflect a bit more on everything. The funny thing is I know exactly how I’d format a column about my situation, but I just don’t know if I’ll go through with it. For now, I will just share with you a Psalm that has really spoken to me through all this since I do have a Biblical theme to maintain…


Psalm 77

TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO JEDUTHUN. A PSALM OF ASAPH. I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. 3 When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah 4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I consider the days of old, the years long ago. 6 I said, "Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart." Then my spirit made a diligent search: 7 "Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? 8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?" Selah 10 Then I said, "I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High." 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. 15 You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah 16 When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled. 17 The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side. 18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook. 19 Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen. 20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Ok, now you get wrestling stuff…


Apocrypha


I did happen to watch Wrestlemania 24 and I wanted to give you guys some quick takes before this year’s “Granddaddy of Them All” becomes well, ancient. I’m not doing a full review per se, but just letting you guys know what really stuck out to me about this year’s WM and I can promise that this will be a bit rambly…

The thing that sticks out most to me about WM 24 is that every match either lived up to or exceeded expectations. I enjoyed every match as much as I figured I would – I even liked the much maligned Batista/Umaga hossfest. I don’t really see why so many people are criticizing that bout. It was the brawl I expected it to be and I didn’t really mind Batista’s sloppy powerbomb finish. Umaga’s a huge guy and I was impressed that Bats could get him up for the Batista Bomb. So what if he slipped a little? If anything it made the move seem a little more authentic.

I absolutely loved the Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels bout. Both guys brought their A game to Flair’s final battle. I thought the pacing for the match was perfect. I couldn’t believe that it went a little over twenty minutes – when the finish occurred I honestly thought the actual match was only around twelve minutes or so, but that’s just because Flair and Michaels paced the match so well to make every minute matter.

The Flair retirement storyline guaranteed that this match would be memorable, but Flair and Michaels did not disappoint with the actual match. I believe that the “I’m sorry – I love you” finish will go down as one of the top five moments in WM history – and I’m not the kind of guy to overrate a current event in light of past history. I do have a feeling that overall, this WM will age quite well. At this point, I don’t think I’d put it in my top five Mania’s ever, but it may end up there quite soon. I can pretty much guarantee that I will pick up the DVD when it is released on May 20th.

This year’s Money in the Bank match was the best of the series. The spots were ridiculous, but the match still told an excellent story. I was surprised to see CM Punk win – I fully believed that WWE would go with Kennedy here, but Punk is a good choice. I do think that Punk may unfortunately become the first MITB winner to not win the title when cashing in. I predict that he will cash in his chance against Randy Orton at the Great American Bash in June – but the Orton era will continue on…

The Mayweather/Big Show match shocked me. If any match was going to be a complete failure – it was this one. I was very impressed with the booking of this match and I commend Mayweather for being a good sport and making this match better than expected. WWE did well to have Mayweather beat Show by using heel tactics instead of cleanly. I thought that Mayweather would get a KO win because celebrities always seem to win in wrestling, but Mayweather played ball with WWE and a memorable match resulted. For all my bluster about Floyd not being worth the $20 mil, I would welcome him coming back to WWE again. He was the surprise of the night and deserves our accolades.

I was also shocked that Edge/Taker was the de facto main event, bumping the more hyped Raw triple threat match down the card. I loved WWE’s decision here since I am a huge proponent of WM closing with a big one on one title bout. Sure, the unexpected placement of these matches screwed up my predictions a bit. Once I realized that Taker was going out last, I knew he had to win the title. Or, that Edge had to cleanly beat him to end the streak. There was no way that WM 24 would end on a DQ finish. The Taker submission finish was a great idea - I loved how he countered Edge’s spear into his MMA hold. Despite losing, Edge shined in this match. He proved to everyone that he is capable of closing out the biggest event of the year in grand fashion. He has come a long way since traveling to Toronto as a child to watch WM 6.

The other guy who has come a long way is Randy Orton. I, like everyone else besides LOP Forums own EB4, thought that Orton stood no chance at retaining at WM 24. I thought that one heel champ would escape with gold after Mania, but I thought it would be Edge. When I saw that the triple threat match was not the “main event” I gave Orton a slight chance in my mind, but I still thought that Triple H would win. Orton is a bonafide main eventer now – no one can call him a transitional champion anymore, even if he does drop the belt at Backlash. Orton and Trips are the only heels to walk into a Mania as champion and leave as champion. That’s a real select group that I doubt will grow exponentially over the next few years. So kudos to Randy Orton – I knew last summer that he’d make a fine champion and I’m glad that he’s taken full advantage of the mega push he’s received unlike a certain rainbow haired guy…

Alright, that’s all I’ve got to say about WM 24. I realize that this was short, so I’ve got to give you something else to read if you so choose. So here is a reprint of the first column I wrote back in the spring of 2005 in the LOP Columns Forum. It suffers from the typical newbie problems like lack of a defined structure and length, but I figured you guys would enjoy seeing how my writing has changed over the years.

Plus, if you don’t care – you can just skip to the end. I won’t mind at all.


Rome’s Origin


People have studied the nature of good and evil since the beginning of time. In the wrestling world, fans have typically cheered for wrestlers who are “good” and have booed wrestlers who are “evil” since the inception of the sport over a century ago.

Differentiating the good from the evil was easier in the beginning. The hero wore white and the villain wore black. The good guy obeyed the rules of the game, and the bad guy broke them. This simplistic view remained prevalent until the 1960’s when good and evil took on a more nationalistic flavor – The good were patriotic Americans. The evil were foreigners, most likely Russians, Germans or Japanese. Wrestling basically followed this formula, the good are patriotic or law abiding, the evil are foreign or rule-breaking through the 1980’s.

Hulk Hogan became the epitome of the classic good guy during this time. As his theme says, he was a “Real American” who “fought for the rights of every man.” He kept himself in great shape, and told his fans to say their prayers and eat their vitamins. He vanquished his foes, usually a string of anti-American foreigners or arrogant rule-breakers in relatively clean fashion, rarely resorting to cheating of any kind. He was a wrestler that kids could idolize and adults could admire and Hulkamania ran wild for the entire decade.

In the mid 1990’s, the fan’s perception of good and evil began to change. Characters such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Undertaker and ironically the Hulk Hogan led NWO embodied characteristics of classic heels, they wore black, cheated, used weapons, turned on their friends, rebelled against authority, and in general did not desire the approval of the masses, but many fans treated them as heroes anyway. In fact, the fans elevated Austin to a popularity that rivaled or even surpassed the 1980’s era Hogan. Effectively, bad became the new good, and the idea of evil faded into the background. Fans reserved their scorn for the opponents of their anti-heroes in this new relativistic universe and for the most part the old rules did not apply.

I believe that today wrestling is undergoing another paradigm shift in the area of good vs. evil. Elements of the old way have returned in force in the character of Muhammad Hassan. Elements of the relativistic era remain as “good guys” such as Kane, a character with few redeemable qualities, garners cheers. However today, I believe that the defining characteristic of what is good and deserving of cheers in the mind of the fan is the simple pandering for those cheers. The wrestler that does not pander is booed, while the panderer is loved. The litmus test of good and evil in the mind of the average wrestling fan has become the desire for popularity.

Look at the similarities in the characters of John Cena and JBL. Both are armed with arrogant catchphrases. One yells “The champ is here” and the other claims to be a “wrestling god.” Neither inspire the fans with their in ring ability as both are limited in their repertoire of moves. They both share a good quality as both attribute their success to having a strong work ethic, Cena through rising up a hip-hopper, and JBL through gaining wealth by his own independent efforts. Neither is opposed to cheating to win if necessary, but one is loved and the other is reviled.

The main difference I see in these two that Cena enjoys the cheers of the fans and actively seeks them out while JBL could care less about the fans. Cena’s redeeming quality is his desire to be popular. JBL’s fatal flaw is his self-centeredness. If JBL sought the fans cheers he could have them acting the same as he does now. If Cena said “screw the fans” but kept his same character, fans would boo.

The only wrestler that I believe is immune to the fans boos on basis of his character alone is Stone Cold Steve Austin. How is it possible to make Austin a heel? He does not seek the fans approval, but gains it anyway. He is a heel who is accepted as a face and will be for all time. Look back to 2001 for proof. The WWF tried turning Austin heel by aligning him with Mr. McMahon at Wrestlemania 17, but most fans were confused cheered him anyway. They tried to make Austin look weak against Kurt Angle, but people still cheered. They aligned Austin with WCW, but people still could not resist cheering him, so he inevitably became a face again without any character tweak. The fans will recognize him as good for life no matter what he does.

Look at all the wrestlers who change from good to bad with no character changes whatsoever. Chris Jericho comes immediately to mind as he goes from good to bad to good to bad on a seemingly monthly basis. Ric Flair sometimes does the same in one night. Why? Their characters do not change. Only their attitudes towards the fans change.

I write this because the latest rumor is that Triple H will return to the WWE as a face and many don’t believe that the fans would cheer H under any circumstances, but I don’t see why not. Nothing in his character makes him particularly evil or good. He keeps himself in good shape, but is arrogant. He takes on any opponent, but only after running for a while. He has a goal of being the best ever, but he will cheat to achieve it. These attributes will not determine whether the fans cheer or boo him. His treatment of the fans will determine their treatment of him.


Well, that wasn’t too bad for a first timer, was it? Yeah it ended abruptly and all, but believe me it could have been worse… Let’s wrap this up right now.


You’ve just finished reading the uninspired, fallible, opinion only word of Rome. Take it for what it’s worth. I realize that this wasn’t the best column I’ve written, so check out the LOP Columns Forum and read some of the good ones like SUPERFAN’s latest


I’ll return with something a bit more proper in due time.

Don’t forget to email me, romans_3:23 , at romes_writings@yahoo.com. I'm sorry that I have not responded to some of your emails, but I will try to catch up when things make a turn for the better. I appreciate your patience and support and I promise that I read all of your responses. Thank you all.


Yona, even though I never saw or held you, I will love you forever. Someday we will meet face to face.


Later all.










***DIRECT LINK*** TNA's Stone Cold Sharkboy UNMASKED!!

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