G'day everyone, I'm the Aussie Mouthpiece and it's time again to take a look at the week that was in wrestling. This week I will as usual focus on Monday Night Raw, but as an extra added bonus, I've got some things I want to write about regarding TNA and the Lockdown PPV, which I haven't watched in detail, but some of the results got me thinking, and made me realise there's some aspects of TNA's product that have been bugging me for a while.
So sit back, relax, put your reading glasses and your learning eyes on, and let's get down to business.
Raw this week was coming to us from merry old England. I always enjoy when we get an episode of Raw or Smackdown from overseas, the crowds always seem hotter. I guess it's because the WWE comes to their country maybe once a year, and in that one time, people from the entire country flock to see them. At least, that's the way it works here in Australia. But it gives the show a bigger, slightly more epic feel about it, and I think overall, this week's episode did not disappoint, although I'm sure the live audience would have liked to have seen Lesnar in person rather than just on videotape.
Speaking of the crowd, they were right behind CM Punk this week. Don't get me wrong, the crowd is always behind Punk, but this week the cheers seemed louder, and more pronounced. Again it's probably something to do with not seeing the product live as much, but it feels like Punk's character has become.. not watered down, but not quite as edgy as it was a few months ago. So it was good to hear Punk getting the massive cheers. The "yes" chants during Punk's kicking sequences were awesome as well.
What a great match Henry and Punk had. There was one part where Mark Henry caught Punk, and flung him, quite violently, into the guardrail. It looked amazingly brutal.Henry has improved his consistency so much in the last year. He always had this potential, and his size and strength got him over immediately.. but now that he's added in the character development, the "hall of pain" angle, and the consistency of having great matches, he's finally stepped into that spot that the WWE have had set out for him for so many years. And I for one am really happy for him.
Last week I talked about there being a theme to the show. This week's theme seemed to be Extreme. No DQ matches, Extreme Rules matches.. Jericho going to extremes trying to prove CM Punk is an alcoholic.
One thing that I found funny, is that at Extreme Rules, we have CM Punk vs Jericho in a Street Fight, Brock Lesnar vs Cena in an Extreme Rules match, and Randy Orton vs Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere match. .. Now.. maybe it's just me, but aren't those three matches essentially the same thing? I remember a few years ago there was a Ladder match, a Stretcher match.. some kind of street fight match.. It just seems a little weird to have three matches all called different things, yet basically meaning the same thing.
Punk and Jericho's back and forth promo was decent, but it was just more of the same stuff from Jericho especially, and to me, it just seems like they've lost a little momentum in the feud because of that. It's not even in the realm of possibility that CM Punk would become a drunk from one drink, and honestly, this is supposed to be the "reality" era, storylines based more in reality, and in reality, I don't buy that Chris Jericho would believe the things he is saying about Cm Punk. It just feels like some steam has been let out or something.
Hopefully the match at Extreme Rules either changes things up again, the way it did when Jericho first attacked Punk with the Whiskey bottle, or it becomes the end of their rivalry.
So let's talk about the best part of the night. Funnily enough not even a live in-ring segment. The Brock Lesnar interview is of course the segment I'm referring to.
The way they've brought him back, the fact that two weeks in a row he's taken out Cena, he doesn't feel like a WWE superstar. As he said, he feels like an ass kicker. It's made him feel bigger than the WWE, and by referencing his UFC career, instantly making him legitimate.
I get the feeling that they got the idea for this interview from the UFC preview shows that are on before the pay per views where they interview each fighter. Again, making it feel .. "real". It's working really well so far, but the big test comes at Extreme Rules. It's one thing to take a guy down and have a bit of a melee with him, but it's certainly a whole different thing to have a match, especially with the top guy in the company.
Making it a "hardcore" (lets face it, that's what this is) match, I think will actually help, because it relies less on the wrestling and more on the big spots. I'm still hoping for a great match though.
So Cena comes out to "answer" Lesnar's interview essentially, but instead it seems he's focused on John Laurinitis. It's an interesting change, but I don't know if it's the right move. This match really needs to be about Lesnar and Cena. Nothing more. To me it should be about how they started around the same time, and the differences in their characters. I know they did that with The Rock and Cena, but this is a different animal. Lesnar isn't some actor who has a bunch of cool catchphrases. He's a legitimate fighter.
I thought it was good that Tensai got put into the main event, and even though it was a dirty win, he still won. I think his character isn't exactly a long term thing, but it works for now, and it's something different which is always a good thing. Variety can bring in more diverse crowds.
Ok so very quickly let's talk about TNA.
Now I haven't been paying a hell of a lot of attention to TNA lately, but I did see recently on impact that Velvet Sky won a battle royal or some kind of 6 woman match to become the number one contender for the knockouts title. And it's not the first time they've done something like that.
My problem with this is it felt like Velvet accomplished this big thing, like it was a big deal that she overcame all the challenges to become the No.1 Contender, yet at Lockdown, she lost.
My problem isn't exactly that she lost, it's just the way the match was set up, with how much emphasis was put on the fact that she won this huge thing to get the title shot.
And the way that she lost. Gail Kim was half knocked out from the powerbomb from the turnbuckle, yet won with a reversed roll up.. how did she have the strength to do that? It's just bad booking or whatever it's called these days. To me it would have made more sense if she hit her finisher and fell into a cover.
It felt the same with the Motor City Machine Guns. Now I am a huge fan of these guys. I was so happy to see them back together, and that Sabin has recovered from his injury. Yet in their first Pay Per view match back as a team, they lost.
Why not book them in a tag team match, but not for the titles? That way they could win and build momentum and make it feel like their return was a success. Maybe I just think in a weird way though.
Overall it just feels like they book things in advance, or tape things in advance and then change their minds about the results at the pay per views, and then the previous events don't make as much sense.
I also thought it was a little strange that Jeff Hardy won the match with a massive Swanton Bomb. Those spots used to be somewhere in the middle of a match, not the finish. I mean of course it works, but then within a minute, Jeff was up, walking around and congratulating fans, which again, doesn't seem realistic. I know it's a worked sport, but isn't the point to try to get us, as fans, to suspend disbelief? If something generally wouldn't happen if it was real, why would you do it as part of the show?
Overall I didn't mind Lockdown however, some of it was terrible, some of it was great. Kind of like TNA in general. But they need less emphasis on the older guys, and way more on the younger guys and the Tag team division.
Ok that's about it. So as usual, you can follow me on twitter @TheOZMouthpiece , and also leave me a comment on here to let me know what you think.
Oh and one last thing, thanks to @TherealWB and @VOWLive for making me their guest blogger, which was awesome!
I'm the Aussie Mouthpiece, and my business here is concluded, for now...
Showing posts with label tna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tna. Show all posts
Friday, 20 April 2012
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Home Schooling no.8
It's that time again, another week has come and gone, we're one step closer to Wrestlemania, and I am back to talk about the goings on in the last week, in the world of Spor.. I mean Professional Wrestling.
It's been an interesting week. The main focus for me this week has been RAW, and the WWE in general, so that's what I'll be focusing on, and I may just touch on TNA's Victory Road pay per view as well. And possibly on this discussion about Sting, and if he is an "icon" or not.
So let's get down to business.
Last week the CM Punk/Chris Jericho feud finally got a little bit of personal tension about it. I've always thought the best feuds were the ones that had "real" pieces alongside the dramatic storylines, like Austin/McMahon, Shawn/Bret, Edge/Matt Hardy, and even Austin/Bischoff's GM feud in 2003. They stand out because they feel different. They feel well, real.
Punk/Jericho has been good at times, a bit off at times, but last week we finally got the injection of realism that has been lacking. Also, why have the "it begins" videos not been explained? But, let's get back on track.
So this week was CM Punk's response to Jericho's promo about his alcoholic father. From what i've read, this is apparently similar to a feud Punk had with Raven in 2005 (correct me if i'm wrong on the year). It makes sense for Raven to use mind games, psychological games etc to get inside his opponent's head, but it doesn't seem like a Jericho thing as much.
Having said that, Chris is making it work really well. Punk is great, as always. I really liked the line "if there's a devil in my DNA, it's now your problem". The only thing that bothers me about this, is while CM Punk is still being edgy, and being himself, a couple of the other lines, such as the "there isn't a person on this planet who should let a past nightmare dictate or cloud their future dreams", while it's an awesome line, and I agree with it, it's very... babyface. CM Punk to me is at his best when he's still saying things he would say if he was a heel. The switch to babyface took a little of the edge off. But having said that, he still delivered a brilliant promo.
Jericho's "via satellite" response was even better. I was going back and forth as to whether or not going down the "sister" road was too much, but I'm of the mindset that it isn't. It works. It makes it even more personal. I did find it quite funny that in one sentence Jericho said "I'll never talk about your father again" and within 1 minute, he mentioned Punk's father. I guess that's all part of being a heel, being completely disingenuous with everything you say.
People seem to be making a big deal about whatever it was that CM Punk said that got censored. Apparently he repeated himself, saying "you're bullsh*t" both times, the second one you can clearly see. To me this is really good. Think about it. If someone was digging up your family's personal issues in a public forum, how would you react? You'd lose it, you'd say things you wouldn't normally say in a public setting. It does nothing but help this feud. Bit annoying that it was censored, especially considering all the things that The Rock is allowed to say and get away with. But I'll get to him later.
I'm not sure why Big Show was made to look so weak this week. Yes I know he was handcuffed, but that match was so quick as well. The only reason I can think of is to give the fans the impression that Cody has a chance to beat him. Which if you think about it, makes Show a great guy. I get the feeling that it's going to end up with Show getting the big payoff at Wrestlemania, while making Cody look good at the same time.
Kane... so much for the dominant monster returning. Maybe it's a case of all the big matches already being set in stone. I think Kane vs Orton will be good, but I could be wrong. Randy Orton's promo this week was just ok, and really didn't make a lot of sense. Yes. Your name is Randy Orton. Well done. Why do I care about your match?
I have to say, I was probably the opposite of a fan of David Otunga, but that's changed a bit in the last few weeks. He's come into his own lately, probably just because he's had time to develop more of a character, he's not getting ridiculed every week by the good guys, or the cool guys. He's still not great in the ring, and that finishing move is pretty bad, but give it time. Johnny/Teddy however, I'm not sure. I said last week I was hoping Dolph Ziggler wouldn't get put into this match, because he deserved a bigger spot on the card. But it seems to be happening now, so hopefully he'll get a chance to do something memorable at least. Unless the match is really short. Which is likely.
Something that seems to never get cut short is the amount of time given to The Rock, and to a lesser extent, John Cena. And this week we got yet another pre-recorded promo from The Rock, talking about the city he's in, looking all intense, and flashing that hollywood smile.
Funnily enough however, this week Rock started by saying that Cena is on the same level as Austin and Hogan. That was interesting to me. He then talked about how beating Cena would make Rock the greatest of all time. What he did not do this week, is pick on Cena's clothes, or hair, or friends, or family, or his fans. I get the feeling that there might have been some kind of heat for all the constant bullying tactics in Rock's promos of late, and really, since april last year.
I really liked The Rock's promo this week. THAT is the kind of thing that Rock can do. That's why he's so good, why he's one of the best ever. He doesn't need to be a bully. And it was really awesome to hear Randy Savage mentioned. The only thing that I didn't like is it seemed a little like The Rock was playing to the crowd with the whole Philadelphia and Rocky Balboa thing. But overall it was a great promo, and a lot better than the last few weeks.
Which brings me to one other point about the Rock/Cena feud. It seems that this week was meant to be Rock's week. Cena didn't have any promo time or anything, he had the match with Mark Henry, which he did win, but the win was kinda negated by The Rock coming out and hitting the Rock Bottom on Henry afterwards, kind of sending the message of "I can do anything you can do". The difference is though (if we suspend disbelief for a minute here), The Rock did hit a Rock Bottom on Mark Henry. Impressive. But he hit the Rock Bottom on a Mark Henry who'd just been in a match with Cena, and in that match Cena hit his own finisher in that match. So Rock's finisher, not so impressive.
Also, I think having Cena come out this week as the smiling, camo-short wearing, rise above hate Cena has kind of hurt him, after last week's RAW. I think it would have been better for him to keep that "character" going, at least until the Raw after Wrestlemania. Rock has basically said he's fake, and that is also part of the problem people who boo Cena has. And by having that "rapper" Cena only around for one week, it felt like it was just something he did for the show, and not something he believes in.
Now, with that done, that really only leaves one thing to talk about from RAW this week, that being the "end of an era" match.
Now i'm a massive Undertaker fan, as I'm sure I've said before. But that doesn't mean I'm going to say everything that happens with him is great. Undertaker vs Kahli? Not great. Undertaker vs Undertaker? Interesting, not great. And this week's promo segment on Raw? Not great.
The problem is that there's nothing left to say. Where can it go? We already had the promos last year about how much Undertaker and HHH respect each other. We've already had the promos about Shawn and Undertaker and how much they respect each other. And we know that Triple H and HBK are best friends.
So what's left to say?
The focus is still not where it should be. What would have been better this week, is to show video packages of Triple H's Hell in a Cell matches, Undertaker's Hell In A Cell matches (with special attention paid to the Undertaker/HBK cell match), and maybe even a package of Shawn Michaels' appearances as Special referee. Save the 3 person in ring promo for the RAW before Mania, not two weeks before. Who knows though, they're probably going to show a Cell package (unless they already have and I missed it) next week.
But what happens with this feud next week?
My guess is it's going to be Shawn and HHH talking about the last thing that Undertaker said, which i'll get to in a minute. But basically it was that Shawn is better. So HHH and HBK will argue about that, Undertaker will interrupt, and then we might get Shawn hitting a Sweet Chin Music on one of them. Or at least feigning one. But which guy? Maybe he goes to hit it on Undertaker but Taker moves, and it hits HHH. Or the reverse of that.
But that ending.. Undertaker's last words this week. "You remember when I said Shawn is better? .... He is!"
Umm.. Sorry did I miss something? Were you not serious the first time you said it Undertaker? That really, was an awful way to end it. With how long of a pause he took between the two lines, I was sure he was going to say something like "Remember when I said Shawn is better? Well I'm better than Shawn". I get that the idea would be to cause tension between HHH and HBK, but really, there must be some other way to have said that. Maybe Taker forgot what he wanted to say and improvised. Maybe he didn't deliver it the way he wanted to. But it was really sub-par. Even an extra line.. "He is. And he couldn't beat me. What chance do you have?" ANYTHING would have been better. Not saying "he is" would have been better.
Just quickly, why has there been no mention of Taker's videos that were shown a bunch of weeks ago, especially when he cut his hair? That to me was a big deal. Why would Taker cut his hair off? But, once again, like Chris Jericho's "it begins" videos, it's been forgotten about apparently.
So next week, to build to Wrestlemania, I would have Shawn kick Undertaker after HHH moves out of the way, which knocks him down and also knocks the hood off so his baldness is revealed. Which would then (feasibly) make Undertaker even more angry, give the impression that Shawn will screw over Taker (not going to happen), and then if Shawn and HHH share a smile, it wouldn't do anything to Triple H either.
But that's just me. I highly doubt the WWE thinks the same way I do. But if they did, it wouldn't be the worst way to head into Wrestlemania would it?
So that's all I've got to say about Raw this week, I think it was a fairly good episode, but it could have been better. Hopefully next week changes that.
Onto other business now, TNA's Victory Road, which I only saw a little of, had quite an interesting main event, or at least finish to the main event. I guess they're really trying hard to push Bobby Roode as the biggest heel in wrestling, duct-taping Sting to the ropes and threatening Dixie Carter. It was a little unsettling, which is good, makes people question how "worked" things are when that happens. But honestly, I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to TNA lately, but I do think their product is a lot better than it was say, 6 months ago.
Speaking of Sting, there's a big debate about whether Sting is an icon going on right now. One argument is that without going to the WWE, he can't be an Icon. But what does the term icon mean? He's a legend, he's one of the best ever, but does that make him an icon? An Icon to me is someone like Hogan. Like Flair. Someone that everyone, even if they're not a fan, would know as a wrestler. For example, I'm not a fan of Baseball let's say, but I know exactly who Babe Ruth is, because he's an Icon. If I asked my non-wrestling fan friends who Sting was, I would say all of them would talk about the guy who plays bass guitar.
But, within the wrestling business, I think Sting IS an icon. He is WCW's icon. He was the only guy who never left WCW. And he's never left TNA either. I think that makes him iconic for those companies.
So that's about all I have to say for this week, next week I'll give my Wrestlemania predictions, and give a rundown of the full card. Until then, if you're not already, follow me @TheOZMouthpiece on twitter, and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.
Business is concluded.
It's been an interesting week. The main focus for me this week has been RAW, and the WWE in general, so that's what I'll be focusing on, and I may just touch on TNA's Victory Road pay per view as well. And possibly on this discussion about Sting, and if he is an "icon" or not.
So let's get down to business.
Last week the CM Punk/Chris Jericho feud finally got a little bit of personal tension about it. I've always thought the best feuds were the ones that had "real" pieces alongside the dramatic storylines, like Austin/McMahon, Shawn/Bret, Edge/Matt Hardy, and even Austin/Bischoff's GM feud in 2003. They stand out because they feel different. They feel well, real.
Punk/Jericho has been good at times, a bit off at times, but last week we finally got the injection of realism that has been lacking. Also, why have the "it begins" videos not been explained? But, let's get back on track.
So this week was CM Punk's response to Jericho's promo about his alcoholic father. From what i've read, this is apparently similar to a feud Punk had with Raven in 2005 (correct me if i'm wrong on the year). It makes sense for Raven to use mind games, psychological games etc to get inside his opponent's head, but it doesn't seem like a Jericho thing as much.
Having said that, Chris is making it work really well. Punk is great, as always. I really liked the line "if there's a devil in my DNA, it's now your problem". The only thing that bothers me about this, is while CM Punk is still being edgy, and being himself, a couple of the other lines, such as the "there isn't a person on this planet who should let a past nightmare dictate or cloud their future dreams", while it's an awesome line, and I agree with it, it's very... babyface. CM Punk to me is at his best when he's still saying things he would say if he was a heel. The switch to babyface took a little of the edge off. But having said that, he still delivered a brilliant promo.
Jericho's "via satellite" response was even better. I was going back and forth as to whether or not going down the "sister" road was too much, but I'm of the mindset that it isn't. It works. It makes it even more personal. I did find it quite funny that in one sentence Jericho said "I'll never talk about your father again" and within 1 minute, he mentioned Punk's father. I guess that's all part of being a heel, being completely disingenuous with everything you say.
People seem to be making a big deal about whatever it was that CM Punk said that got censored. Apparently he repeated himself, saying "you're bullsh*t" both times, the second one you can clearly see. To me this is really good. Think about it. If someone was digging up your family's personal issues in a public forum, how would you react? You'd lose it, you'd say things you wouldn't normally say in a public setting. It does nothing but help this feud. Bit annoying that it was censored, especially considering all the things that The Rock is allowed to say and get away with. But I'll get to him later.
I'm not sure why Big Show was made to look so weak this week. Yes I know he was handcuffed, but that match was so quick as well. The only reason I can think of is to give the fans the impression that Cody has a chance to beat him. Which if you think about it, makes Show a great guy. I get the feeling that it's going to end up with Show getting the big payoff at Wrestlemania, while making Cody look good at the same time.
Kane... so much for the dominant monster returning. Maybe it's a case of all the big matches already being set in stone. I think Kane vs Orton will be good, but I could be wrong. Randy Orton's promo this week was just ok, and really didn't make a lot of sense. Yes. Your name is Randy Orton. Well done. Why do I care about your match?
I have to say, I was probably the opposite of a fan of David Otunga, but that's changed a bit in the last few weeks. He's come into his own lately, probably just because he's had time to develop more of a character, he's not getting ridiculed every week by the good guys, or the cool guys. He's still not great in the ring, and that finishing move is pretty bad, but give it time. Johnny/Teddy however, I'm not sure. I said last week I was hoping Dolph Ziggler wouldn't get put into this match, because he deserved a bigger spot on the card. But it seems to be happening now, so hopefully he'll get a chance to do something memorable at least. Unless the match is really short. Which is likely.
Something that seems to never get cut short is the amount of time given to The Rock, and to a lesser extent, John Cena. And this week we got yet another pre-recorded promo from The Rock, talking about the city he's in, looking all intense, and flashing that hollywood smile.
Funnily enough however, this week Rock started by saying that Cena is on the same level as Austin and Hogan. That was interesting to me. He then talked about how beating Cena would make Rock the greatest of all time. What he did not do this week, is pick on Cena's clothes, or hair, or friends, or family, or his fans. I get the feeling that there might have been some kind of heat for all the constant bullying tactics in Rock's promos of late, and really, since april last year.
I really liked The Rock's promo this week. THAT is the kind of thing that Rock can do. That's why he's so good, why he's one of the best ever. He doesn't need to be a bully. And it was really awesome to hear Randy Savage mentioned. The only thing that I didn't like is it seemed a little like The Rock was playing to the crowd with the whole Philadelphia and Rocky Balboa thing. But overall it was a great promo, and a lot better than the last few weeks.
Which brings me to one other point about the Rock/Cena feud. It seems that this week was meant to be Rock's week. Cena didn't have any promo time or anything, he had the match with Mark Henry, which he did win, but the win was kinda negated by The Rock coming out and hitting the Rock Bottom on Henry afterwards, kind of sending the message of "I can do anything you can do". The difference is though (if we suspend disbelief for a minute here), The Rock did hit a Rock Bottom on Mark Henry. Impressive. But he hit the Rock Bottom on a Mark Henry who'd just been in a match with Cena, and in that match Cena hit his own finisher in that match. So Rock's finisher, not so impressive.
Also, I think having Cena come out this week as the smiling, camo-short wearing, rise above hate Cena has kind of hurt him, after last week's RAW. I think it would have been better for him to keep that "character" going, at least until the Raw after Wrestlemania. Rock has basically said he's fake, and that is also part of the problem people who boo Cena has. And by having that "rapper" Cena only around for one week, it felt like it was just something he did for the show, and not something he believes in.
Now, with that done, that really only leaves one thing to talk about from RAW this week, that being the "end of an era" match.
Now i'm a massive Undertaker fan, as I'm sure I've said before. But that doesn't mean I'm going to say everything that happens with him is great. Undertaker vs Kahli? Not great. Undertaker vs Undertaker? Interesting, not great. And this week's promo segment on Raw? Not great.
The problem is that there's nothing left to say. Where can it go? We already had the promos last year about how much Undertaker and HHH respect each other. We've already had the promos about Shawn and Undertaker and how much they respect each other. And we know that Triple H and HBK are best friends.
So what's left to say?
The focus is still not where it should be. What would have been better this week, is to show video packages of Triple H's Hell in a Cell matches, Undertaker's Hell In A Cell matches (with special attention paid to the Undertaker/HBK cell match), and maybe even a package of Shawn Michaels' appearances as Special referee. Save the 3 person in ring promo for the RAW before Mania, not two weeks before. Who knows though, they're probably going to show a Cell package (unless they already have and I missed it) next week.
But what happens with this feud next week?
My guess is it's going to be Shawn and HHH talking about the last thing that Undertaker said, which i'll get to in a minute. But basically it was that Shawn is better. So HHH and HBK will argue about that, Undertaker will interrupt, and then we might get Shawn hitting a Sweet Chin Music on one of them. Or at least feigning one. But which guy? Maybe he goes to hit it on Undertaker but Taker moves, and it hits HHH. Or the reverse of that.
But that ending.. Undertaker's last words this week. "You remember when I said Shawn is better? .... He is!"
Umm.. Sorry did I miss something? Were you not serious the first time you said it Undertaker? That really, was an awful way to end it. With how long of a pause he took between the two lines, I was sure he was going to say something like "Remember when I said Shawn is better? Well I'm better than Shawn". I get that the idea would be to cause tension between HHH and HBK, but really, there must be some other way to have said that. Maybe Taker forgot what he wanted to say and improvised. Maybe he didn't deliver it the way he wanted to. But it was really sub-par. Even an extra line.. "He is. And he couldn't beat me. What chance do you have?" ANYTHING would have been better. Not saying "he is" would have been better.
Just quickly, why has there been no mention of Taker's videos that were shown a bunch of weeks ago, especially when he cut his hair? That to me was a big deal. Why would Taker cut his hair off? But, once again, like Chris Jericho's "it begins" videos, it's been forgotten about apparently.
So next week, to build to Wrestlemania, I would have Shawn kick Undertaker after HHH moves out of the way, which knocks him down and also knocks the hood off so his baldness is revealed. Which would then (feasibly) make Undertaker even more angry, give the impression that Shawn will screw over Taker (not going to happen), and then if Shawn and HHH share a smile, it wouldn't do anything to Triple H either.
But that's just me. I highly doubt the WWE thinks the same way I do. But if they did, it wouldn't be the worst way to head into Wrestlemania would it?
So that's all I've got to say about Raw this week, I think it was a fairly good episode, but it could have been better. Hopefully next week changes that.
Onto other business now, TNA's Victory Road, which I only saw a little of, had quite an interesting main event, or at least finish to the main event. I guess they're really trying hard to push Bobby Roode as the biggest heel in wrestling, duct-taping Sting to the ropes and threatening Dixie Carter. It was a little unsettling, which is good, makes people question how "worked" things are when that happens. But honestly, I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to TNA lately, but I do think their product is a lot better than it was say, 6 months ago.
Speaking of Sting, there's a big debate about whether Sting is an icon going on right now. One argument is that without going to the WWE, he can't be an Icon. But what does the term icon mean? He's a legend, he's one of the best ever, but does that make him an icon? An Icon to me is someone like Hogan. Like Flair. Someone that everyone, even if they're not a fan, would know as a wrestler. For example, I'm not a fan of Baseball let's say, but I know exactly who Babe Ruth is, because he's an Icon. If I asked my non-wrestling fan friends who Sting was, I would say all of them would talk about the guy who plays bass guitar.
But, within the wrestling business, I think Sting IS an icon. He is WCW's icon. He was the only guy who never left WCW. And he's never left TNA either. I think that makes him iconic for those companies.
So that's about all I have to say for this week, next week I'll give my Wrestlemania predictions, and give a rundown of the full card. Until then, if you're not already, follow me @TheOZMouthpiece on twitter, and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.
Business is concluded.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Home Schooling no.4
Welcome to another edition of Home schooling, my weekly blog about the goings on in this funny little thing we call professional wrestling. Or maybe that should be this funny massive thing. Anyway, I am The Aussie Mouthpiece, and hopefully you like what I have to say, and that's why you're here reading this.
Topics covered this week will include RAW, TNA's bound for glory (which I haven't seen, but I did read about and have some thoughts), Secrets of the Ring with Raven (all 5 volumes), and Mick Foley. I'm also in the process of writing a more specific blog about great promos, so that should also be up in the next few days.
I'm going to start with Bound for Glory. Now as I've said in the past, I haven't watched TNA for a long time. since around Destination X i'm talking about. I've been keeping up to date on what's been happening mostly through news sites, reading the results of the iMPACT shows, and then more recently today, the Bound For Glory results.
I don't have a lot to talk about, just a few things that intrigued me. Firstly, Hogan did the job. I assume you all know what I mean. I was kind of shocked when I saw that result. Hogan lost? Really? .. Wow. Maybe the 5th back surgery removed a part of his ego as well as fixing his back.
All i really have to say about Hogan losing is.. GOOD. Sting is still wrestling full time, and especially because Hogan said he wouldn't take bumps, if he had won it would have crapped all over Sting, and TNA in general.
While i'm talking about Hogan I want to mention Robert Roode not winning the title. Now, this whole Bound for Glory series was a tournament and the payoff was getting a match against the champion at Bound for glory right? Sounds kind of similar to the Royal Rumble concept, in the sense that it's pushing a new face up to the World title picture.
So why did the guy who won this *really* long tournament (only thing longer has been NXT.. week 142 i think we're up to now right?).. why did he not win? That just completely takes all the momentum out of his push. Bad decision. I read maybe they're thinking of having him win at Impact or the next ppv?.. How is that going to mean anywhere near as much as winning at TNA's "wrestlemania"? Dropping the ball.. well i guess in TNA's case it's more like.. "still not picking up the ball and it fell down a drain into the sewer".
And Hogan was talking on Radio or something saying that Roode wasn't ready? and that he isn't a main event guy or something? Before the event? Burying the guy before the pay per view? If the guy in control is saying Roode isn't ready, and you can't tell if it's a work or not.. why would that make anyone want to buy the PPV?
And then Hogan took a shot at AJ Styles because Styles stood up for Roode and TNA in general? Hogan.. just leave. You're only there for a paycheck and to boost your own ego. TNA would do better without you.
Ok onto cheery happy things, Velvet Sky won the Knockouts title. That is awesome! She was a favourite of mine when I watched, both for the obvious reasons, and also because you could see her trying (and succeeding) to improve in the ring, and you could tell she loved wrestling and wasn't there to be a model.
So congratulations to her.
I just quickly watched RAW tonight, didn't see everything, most of it bored me. Most of it felt like stuff i'd already seen.
I have a few comments about the show though.
Why did Laurinitis get so much promo time this week, when he is absolutely terrible, and yet, CM Punk, the guy who really shot to the level he's at right now because of his promo work YET AGAIN have no mic time?
Sure, his reactions to what Miz and Truth said were really good, and really funny, but the guy is known (at the moment) for saying controversial things, for his "pipebombs" .. and he doesn't get a chance to talk?? What is that??
David Otunga on WWE is a waste of time. Stiff as a board, Laurinitis is a better talker than him (yep, i said it), and more importantly, not really talented. I get the feeling he's going to be known as "the guy who sipped out of the tartan cup" ... or whatever the hell that is.
Immigration problems? And yet again Laurinitis stops a match half way through. Abusing power? Yes. Entertaining tv? No. Makes me stop watching? Yes.
At least J.R got a positive send off this time, no colon surgery spoof, or any other embarassing final moment. A match with Cena, and also getting to make Cole tap out. Problem is now we're going to have to hear Cole's whining about it.
One positive to me was Dolph Ziggler. So good on the microphone. And he's been really entertaining doing his little Ask the Heel spots on Zack Ryder's youtube show. Maybe instead of adding heel to the list of names he used this week, the show stealer.. i don't remember the other one, he should keep the gimmick going of finishing an "Ask the heel" by saying "Hashtag Heel". That would work well in this social networking era.
That's about it for RAW, other than it's getting less interesting to me. Hopefully things pick up again before Survivor Series. I really want it to be good. At this stage i'm not ordering Vengeance because again, it's another pay per view what.. 3 weeks after the last one? Space it out more WWE...
Ok onto Secrets of the Ring. For those who don't know or haven't heard of it, the Secrets of the Ring with Raven is a shoot style interview series that Ring Of Honor did I think something like 6 years ago with Raven, and I think also a few other people have done a Secrets of the Ring. I know that Jim Cornette and Al Snow have done an edition.
Anyway, I couldn't talk about everything in Raven's series (5 dvds!) even if i had 3 hours to do so. Basically each dvd covers a different part about wrestling. How to be a Babyface, Star power and Charisma, Odds and Ends (like etiquette), how to be a heel, and how to work angles. Anyone who's seen any of them I'm sure would agree with me that listening to Raven talk about this stuff is amazing. I watched all 5 dvds in one day, so we're talking nearly 10 hours of basically watching someone sit on a chair and talk.
He covers so much stuff, talks about his experiences, even gives a few demonstrations, and it's really just opened my eyes to a new way of looking at matches and what makes them good and what makes them bad.
I will probably even go back and watch them a second, third, maybe fourth time in the near future. They're that good.
I highly, highly recommend them if you can find good copies. (or illegal copies, you dirty pirates.. har har har...)
Last but most certainly not least, Mick Foley. Again wanting to talk about him came about from watching his Straight Shootin dvd, once again also from Ring of Honor. It came out I think maybe 2005, it was before the first ECW one night stand I think. I'm not entirely sure,but I do know that the last match he talks about wrestling in the WWE on this dvd is the amazing match he had at Backlash 2004 with Orton.
I'll never forget the first time I watched that match. Seeing (at the time) "pretty boy" Randy Orton bleeding, and then dropping into those tacks.. my jaw was on the floor. Also at seeing Mick still take that beating. Of course at the time I was upset that Mick didn't win, but of course now I realise he was putting Orton over to help get him over.
So I watched his shoot, he talked about Ric Flair a lot. Which was really interesting to hear parts of that, that I hadn't heard before, not having read Flair's (or Foley's) books. Mick always speaks very well, speaks from the heart, and it's always entertaining to listen to him.
I've since started reading his first book, and really liking it so far. I would imagine once i get through it (i'm not a huge book reader) I'll want to read his other two as well. But once again I definitely recommend getting the Straight Shootin with Mick Foley, and also Mick Foley's Greatest Hits and Misses, especially for the Mick/Vader match where Vader breaks Mick's nose.
While you're at it, get the straight shootin with Jim Cornette and Percy Pringle DVD. The stories are amazing and funny. Especially a gem about Undertaker.
That's about all I have to say for this week, hopefully i'll have my extra blog up in the next couple of days, so keep checking my twitter or just keep checking this page. I'm going to start doing more of them, reviewing old pay per views, talking about specific wrestlers etc. So hopefully I get some positive feedback on this first one.
Until then, don't forget you can follow me on Twitter if you're not already at @TheOZMouthpiece .. leave me a comment if you want, and for now, that's it and that's all!
Topics covered this week will include RAW, TNA's bound for glory (which I haven't seen, but I did read about and have some thoughts), Secrets of the Ring with Raven (all 5 volumes), and Mick Foley. I'm also in the process of writing a more specific blog about great promos, so that should also be up in the next few days.
I'm going to start with Bound for Glory. Now as I've said in the past, I haven't watched TNA for a long time. since around Destination X i'm talking about. I've been keeping up to date on what's been happening mostly through news sites, reading the results of the iMPACT shows, and then more recently today, the Bound For Glory results.
I don't have a lot to talk about, just a few things that intrigued me. Firstly, Hogan did the job. I assume you all know what I mean. I was kind of shocked when I saw that result. Hogan lost? Really? .. Wow. Maybe the 5th back surgery removed a part of his ego as well as fixing his back.
All i really have to say about Hogan losing is.. GOOD. Sting is still wrestling full time, and especially because Hogan said he wouldn't take bumps, if he had won it would have crapped all over Sting, and TNA in general.
While i'm talking about Hogan I want to mention Robert Roode not winning the title. Now, this whole Bound for Glory series was a tournament and the payoff was getting a match against the champion at Bound for glory right? Sounds kind of similar to the Royal Rumble concept, in the sense that it's pushing a new face up to the World title picture.
So why did the guy who won this *really* long tournament (only thing longer has been NXT.. week 142 i think we're up to now right?).. why did he not win? That just completely takes all the momentum out of his push. Bad decision. I read maybe they're thinking of having him win at Impact or the next ppv?.. How is that going to mean anywhere near as much as winning at TNA's "wrestlemania"? Dropping the ball.. well i guess in TNA's case it's more like.. "still not picking up the ball and it fell down a drain into the sewer".
And Hogan was talking on Radio or something saying that Roode wasn't ready? and that he isn't a main event guy or something? Before the event? Burying the guy before the pay per view? If the guy in control is saying Roode isn't ready, and you can't tell if it's a work or not.. why would that make anyone want to buy the PPV?
And then Hogan took a shot at AJ Styles because Styles stood up for Roode and TNA in general? Hogan.. just leave. You're only there for a paycheck and to boost your own ego. TNA would do better without you.
Ok onto cheery happy things, Velvet Sky won the Knockouts title. That is awesome! She was a favourite of mine when I watched, both for the obvious reasons, and also because you could see her trying (and succeeding) to improve in the ring, and you could tell she loved wrestling and wasn't there to be a model.
So congratulations to her.
I just quickly watched RAW tonight, didn't see everything, most of it bored me. Most of it felt like stuff i'd already seen.
I have a few comments about the show though.
Why did Laurinitis get so much promo time this week, when he is absolutely terrible, and yet, CM Punk, the guy who really shot to the level he's at right now because of his promo work YET AGAIN have no mic time?
Sure, his reactions to what Miz and Truth said were really good, and really funny, but the guy is known (at the moment) for saying controversial things, for his "pipebombs" .. and he doesn't get a chance to talk?? What is that??
David Otunga on WWE is a waste of time. Stiff as a board, Laurinitis is a better talker than him (yep, i said it), and more importantly, not really talented. I get the feeling he's going to be known as "the guy who sipped out of the tartan cup" ... or whatever the hell that is.
Immigration problems? And yet again Laurinitis stops a match half way through. Abusing power? Yes. Entertaining tv? No. Makes me stop watching? Yes.
At least J.R got a positive send off this time, no colon surgery spoof, or any other embarassing final moment. A match with Cena, and also getting to make Cole tap out. Problem is now we're going to have to hear Cole's whining about it.
One positive to me was Dolph Ziggler. So good on the microphone. And he's been really entertaining doing his little Ask the Heel spots on Zack Ryder's youtube show. Maybe instead of adding heel to the list of names he used this week, the show stealer.. i don't remember the other one, he should keep the gimmick going of finishing an "Ask the heel" by saying "Hashtag Heel". That would work well in this social networking era.
That's about it for RAW, other than it's getting less interesting to me. Hopefully things pick up again before Survivor Series. I really want it to be good. At this stage i'm not ordering Vengeance because again, it's another pay per view what.. 3 weeks after the last one? Space it out more WWE...
Ok onto Secrets of the Ring. For those who don't know or haven't heard of it, the Secrets of the Ring with Raven is a shoot style interview series that Ring Of Honor did I think something like 6 years ago with Raven, and I think also a few other people have done a Secrets of the Ring. I know that Jim Cornette and Al Snow have done an edition.
Anyway, I couldn't talk about everything in Raven's series (5 dvds!) even if i had 3 hours to do so. Basically each dvd covers a different part about wrestling. How to be a Babyface, Star power and Charisma, Odds and Ends (like etiquette), how to be a heel, and how to work angles. Anyone who's seen any of them I'm sure would agree with me that listening to Raven talk about this stuff is amazing. I watched all 5 dvds in one day, so we're talking nearly 10 hours of basically watching someone sit on a chair and talk.
He covers so much stuff, talks about his experiences, even gives a few demonstrations, and it's really just opened my eyes to a new way of looking at matches and what makes them good and what makes them bad.
I will probably even go back and watch them a second, third, maybe fourth time in the near future. They're that good.
I highly, highly recommend them if you can find good copies. (or illegal copies, you dirty pirates.. har har har...)
Last but most certainly not least, Mick Foley. Again wanting to talk about him came about from watching his Straight Shootin dvd, once again also from Ring of Honor. It came out I think maybe 2005, it was before the first ECW one night stand I think. I'm not entirely sure,but I do know that the last match he talks about wrestling in the WWE on this dvd is the amazing match he had at Backlash 2004 with Orton.
I'll never forget the first time I watched that match. Seeing (at the time) "pretty boy" Randy Orton bleeding, and then dropping into those tacks.. my jaw was on the floor. Also at seeing Mick still take that beating. Of course at the time I was upset that Mick didn't win, but of course now I realise he was putting Orton over to help get him over.
So I watched his shoot, he talked about Ric Flair a lot. Which was really interesting to hear parts of that, that I hadn't heard before, not having read Flair's (or Foley's) books. Mick always speaks very well, speaks from the heart, and it's always entertaining to listen to him.
I've since started reading his first book, and really liking it so far. I would imagine once i get through it (i'm not a huge book reader) I'll want to read his other two as well. But once again I definitely recommend getting the Straight Shootin with Mick Foley, and also Mick Foley's Greatest Hits and Misses, especially for the Mick/Vader match where Vader breaks Mick's nose.
While you're at it, get the straight shootin with Jim Cornette and Percy Pringle DVD. The stories are amazing and funny. Especially a gem about Undertaker.
That's about all I have to say for this week, hopefully i'll have my extra blog up in the next couple of days, so keep checking my twitter or just keep checking this page. I'm going to start doing more of them, reviewing old pay per views, talking about specific wrestlers etc. So hopefully I get some positive feedback on this first one.
Until then, don't forget you can follow me on Twitter if you're not already at @TheOZMouthpiece .. leave me a comment if you want, and for now, that's it and that's all!
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Home schooling no. 1
Welcome back to the Aussie Mouthpiece blog. Another week, another installment of RAW, and another chance to talk about the goings on in wrestling.
You may notice this post is entitled "home schooling no.1". I'm changing things up a little to see how it feels. But this week, i'm not just going to talk about RAW. Sure, none of the other shows have happened yet, but I did get a chance to see Ring of Honor's first episode over the weekend, and i've also got a couple of other things to talk about.
So this new idea I have is basically to make these "go home" posts less about RAW specifically, and talk about a wider range of topics. If RAW has an amazing week, like the builds to Summerslam or the night Vince was "fired", then i'll do a specific post about it. I just have to come up with a catchy name.
Anyway... for now, it's installment one of "Go Home time" (which will probably have a name change eventually, that's how these things go.)
Let's start with RAW, because I just finished watching it.
I didn't like this week's episode. This is your "go home" show right? The last RAW before the pay per view. Don't get me started on how ridiculous it is to have a 2 pay per views two weeks apart (i'll get to that later). Regardless though, isn't this the RAW that is supposed to make people want to buy the pay per view? I'm no closer to buying it than before I watched this week's episode.
So Triple H comes out and does his "i'm going to make a joke out of everyone" schtik... yeah great, you're just making a joke out of two guys who have massive potential as main event wrestlers. That's the problem.
Ok i'm deviating from RAW, but I watched something today that has altered my perception a little. I'm not claiming to be smart to the business or anything though.
Today I watched the "Guest booker with Al Snow" dvd from Kayfabe Commentaries. It was amazingly good. But the one thing that stuck with me is when he talked about heels. And what they're supposed to do.
My idea (now) of a heel, is a guy who you want to see the babyfaces beat up and give him what's coming to him basically. His job is to draw people in, to sell tickets, all that stuff. But to get heat first and foremost. And to get fans to come back/watch again so they can see him get beaten up.
Most of the heels today in WWE.. and I think maybe in TNA (haven't watched it for a long time now) don't do that. I just plain do not want to see them on tv, in matches, in anything. Laurinitis is a perfect example. I really want to see someone kick his ass (because of stories i've read/seen) .. but as an on screen character, it's boring, it makes me want to skip to the next scene.
Del Rio is good, but I'm not that interested in seeing him wrestle.
I don't want to see Jack Swagger at all.
Hogan.. well.. y'know. Sick of it ten years ago.
Christian. He doesn't look like he could beat anyone. And he's orange. I don't buy him as champion. I never have.
BUT, there are some great heels at the moment too. I don't understand why they don't use them more. Dolph being the first guy that comes to mind. Mark Henry (now) has taken that next step. Cody Rhodes is pretty entertaining.
It just seems that a lot of the "bad guys" .. at least to me, get booed because people don't want to see them. As opposed to they get booed because they're actually bad guys. Something needs to change there.
Remember 5, 6.. even 8 years ago? Who were the main heels? Jericho, HHH, Big Show, Kane (when he took his mask off for the first time), Vince, Flair. How could things have gotten so far off track in such a short amount of time?
My point is that people should still want to see the bad guys on tv. At the moment it doesn't feel like there's a lot of those guys around.
Anyway, i digress. Back to RAW.
So as I said, I really wasn't into Triple H making jokes of Dolph and Cody. Christian.. well .. ok that wasn't cool either. There's no point to it. It's not like it builds up your heel guys .. all it does is make the COO look like a bully. As in "Just because you pissed me off, i'm putting you in this match".
The intercontinental title match however, made Cody look somewhat good. It's just a shame that the match for his title belt was overshadowed by the Christian/Sheamus storyline. Why not have a triple threat, Cody, Christian and Sheamus? Or a tag match.. or one on one? Cody and Sheamus for the belt.. and Christian tries to interfere, fails, and Cody picks up the win slightly cleaner... Seems better? Didn't Cody not get involved in the battle royal straight away?
Ok I either really don't understand fashion, or David Otunga dressed in the dark. A bowtie? and an army green shirt? I don't get it. And of course we have to have our obligatory "I'm the executive vice president of dull monotonous sounding promos" bit from Johnny Ace. Really didn't like it. Maybe they're trying to change things up, but .. change isn't always the way to go. If it ain't broke.. dont' fix it right?
FINALLY... something good to say about the divas match. As in, the dominant looking women beat the scrawny model looking girl. Because that seems like it's what would happen if all this was real.. and isn't that the point? To get people to believe it's real? even for just a split second?
Mark Henry is a badass. Slamming Khali just re-asserts that. And that is the only reason that man should be on any kind of WWE TV. To make other guys look awesome. Khali that is, not Mark Henry. Khali needs to be gone.
The WWE title match .. who knows what's going to happen...? They make Del Rio look like he can take both guys.. so clearly he's not going to win the title. My hope is that Cena holds on to it. Not because I don't want Punk to win, but because then Cena will just win it back in a couple of weeks, and he'll be a 13 time world champion.
Triple H is a 13 time world champion. Cena's been wrestling in the wwe for 9 years, and already has more than 1 title run for every year he's been with that company.
Triple H has been wrestling for ... 20 years? Been with the WWE for roughly.. what... 17 of those years? Something like that anyways. Something's wrong there...
Anyway, Cena's promo was a Cena promo.. "I know you all don't like me, but i'm going to do this and i'm going to win, because i'm a man of my word and i stand for hustle etc etc etc". I know he didn't say that, but it was the equivalent. Step backwards for me.
Awesome to see Zack Ryder getting a (real) title shot! The guys deserves it. I don't see the point of after Dolph won, to then have a second match.. I guess they needed something for the Tag champs to do.. surely they couldn't just wrestle against a tag team ..could they?
Raw was missing something this week. Do you know what that something was?
Realism.
CM Punk, talking, on a microphone.
It's the last RAW before a pay per view.. John Cena cut a promo. Alberto Del Rio cut a promo. Why not Punk?
Surely out of the 3, he's the guy you want talking the most right? Yes he was on commentary, but that's not the same thing.
Also they tried to re-do the "My diet soda" spot from a while back... or at least it seems that was the idea.. I don't understand that at all.
Punk and Cena are so good, especially when they work together, that you don't need to rehash things, no matter how funny they are.
So that's about it, I thought RAW was really disappointing, most of it felt like a step backwards. This whole 2 weeks between a pay per view just feels weird. I mean, surely the Titles aren't going to change hands. What a way to destroy a talent.. make them look awful. "Mark henry was a world champion from the middle of september to the end of september".. doesn't really work for me.
Here's what i liked:
So what else is there to say.. Well.. i have a few points.. one is.. how much longer are Kane and Big Show going to be off of tv? They've been gone since a couple of weeks (or a few in Show's case) before Summerslam... which was the middle-ish of August.. that's about 6 weeks ago. Hopefully they come back soon. Feels like we just keep seeing the same matches all the time. We're getting Randy vs Christian yet again on Smackdown this week.. why not Christian vs the Returning Big Show!.. I'd tune in for that.
Matt Hardy went to rehab. Not got much to say about it, except that I hope it works for him. At least he had the balls to admit he has a problem, and is doing something about it.
The other thing, and again this something that stuck with me from watching the Guest Booker with Al Snow thing.. he talked about how the idea of wrestling is to get people to suspend disbelief, to buy in to it being real, even though we know it isn't. To buy into the idea of both guys wanting to win, to be specific.
His thoughts about why wrestling isn't as popular as it once was is because people don't believe it anymore. The one example that really stuck out, was when he said something like "One guy knocks his opponent down, and then reaches down and picks him back up".
This happens a lot in wrestling, we've all seen it probably countless times. I've never really even thought about it until I watched this.. but it doesn't make sense at all. Why pick a guy up when you've knocked him to the mat and could possibly get a 3 count? Sure, probably the guy would kick out most of the time, but the point is that people should feel like you're always trying to win, as a wrestler.
And that's what's missing.
It's a really interesting dvd, i would recommend people trying to watch it if they haven't already.
Anyway, that's about it from me, as always leave me a comment (seriously, no-one ever leaves one.. please do!), follow me on twitter @TheOZMouthpiece and that's about all i have to say.
That's it, and that's all.
You may notice this post is entitled "home schooling no.1". I'm changing things up a little to see how it feels. But this week, i'm not just going to talk about RAW. Sure, none of the other shows have happened yet, but I did get a chance to see Ring of Honor's first episode over the weekend, and i've also got a couple of other things to talk about.
So this new idea I have is basically to make these "go home" posts less about RAW specifically, and talk about a wider range of topics. If RAW has an amazing week, like the builds to Summerslam or the night Vince was "fired", then i'll do a specific post about it. I just have to come up with a catchy name.
Anyway... for now, it's installment one of "Go Home time" (which will probably have a name change eventually, that's how these things go.)
Let's start with RAW, because I just finished watching it.
I didn't like this week's episode. This is your "go home" show right? The last RAW before the pay per view. Don't get me started on how ridiculous it is to have a 2 pay per views two weeks apart (i'll get to that later). Regardless though, isn't this the RAW that is supposed to make people want to buy the pay per view? I'm no closer to buying it than before I watched this week's episode.
So Triple H comes out and does his "i'm going to make a joke out of everyone" schtik... yeah great, you're just making a joke out of two guys who have massive potential as main event wrestlers. That's the problem.
Ok i'm deviating from RAW, but I watched something today that has altered my perception a little. I'm not claiming to be smart to the business or anything though.
Today I watched the "Guest booker with Al Snow" dvd from Kayfabe Commentaries. It was amazingly good. But the one thing that stuck with me is when he talked about heels. And what they're supposed to do.
My idea (now) of a heel, is a guy who you want to see the babyfaces beat up and give him what's coming to him basically. His job is to draw people in, to sell tickets, all that stuff. But to get heat first and foremost. And to get fans to come back/watch again so they can see him get beaten up.
Most of the heels today in WWE.. and I think maybe in TNA (haven't watched it for a long time now) don't do that. I just plain do not want to see them on tv, in matches, in anything. Laurinitis is a perfect example. I really want to see someone kick his ass (because of stories i've read/seen) .. but as an on screen character, it's boring, it makes me want to skip to the next scene.
Del Rio is good, but I'm not that interested in seeing him wrestle.
I don't want to see Jack Swagger at all.
Hogan.. well.. y'know. Sick of it ten years ago.
Christian. He doesn't look like he could beat anyone. And he's orange. I don't buy him as champion. I never have.
BUT, there are some great heels at the moment too. I don't understand why they don't use them more. Dolph being the first guy that comes to mind. Mark Henry (now) has taken that next step. Cody Rhodes is pretty entertaining.
It just seems that a lot of the "bad guys" .. at least to me, get booed because people don't want to see them. As opposed to they get booed because they're actually bad guys. Something needs to change there.
Remember 5, 6.. even 8 years ago? Who were the main heels? Jericho, HHH, Big Show, Kane (when he took his mask off for the first time), Vince, Flair. How could things have gotten so far off track in such a short amount of time?
My point is that people should still want to see the bad guys on tv. At the moment it doesn't feel like there's a lot of those guys around.
Anyway, i digress. Back to RAW.
So as I said, I really wasn't into Triple H making jokes of Dolph and Cody. Christian.. well .. ok that wasn't cool either. There's no point to it. It's not like it builds up your heel guys .. all it does is make the COO look like a bully. As in "Just because you pissed me off, i'm putting you in this match".
The intercontinental title match however, made Cody look somewhat good. It's just a shame that the match for his title belt was overshadowed by the Christian/Sheamus storyline. Why not have a triple threat, Cody, Christian and Sheamus? Or a tag match.. or one on one? Cody and Sheamus for the belt.. and Christian tries to interfere, fails, and Cody picks up the win slightly cleaner... Seems better? Didn't Cody not get involved in the battle royal straight away?
Ok I either really don't understand fashion, or David Otunga dressed in the dark. A bowtie? and an army green shirt? I don't get it. And of course we have to have our obligatory "I'm the executive vice president of dull monotonous sounding promos" bit from Johnny Ace. Really didn't like it. Maybe they're trying to change things up, but .. change isn't always the way to go. If it ain't broke.. dont' fix it right?
FINALLY... something good to say about the divas match. As in, the dominant looking women beat the scrawny model looking girl. Because that seems like it's what would happen if all this was real.. and isn't that the point? To get people to believe it's real? even for just a split second?
Mark Henry is a badass. Slamming Khali just re-asserts that. And that is the only reason that man should be on any kind of WWE TV. To make other guys look awesome. Khali that is, not Mark Henry. Khali needs to be gone.
The WWE title match .. who knows what's going to happen...? They make Del Rio look like he can take both guys.. so clearly he's not going to win the title. My hope is that Cena holds on to it. Not because I don't want Punk to win, but because then Cena will just win it back in a couple of weeks, and he'll be a 13 time world champion.
Triple H is a 13 time world champion. Cena's been wrestling in the wwe for 9 years, and already has more than 1 title run for every year he's been with that company.
Triple H has been wrestling for ... 20 years? Been with the WWE for roughly.. what... 17 of those years? Something like that anyways. Something's wrong there...
Anyway, Cena's promo was a Cena promo.. "I know you all don't like me, but i'm going to do this and i'm going to win, because i'm a man of my word and i stand for hustle etc etc etc". I know he didn't say that, but it was the equivalent. Step backwards for me.
Awesome to see Zack Ryder getting a (real) title shot! The guys deserves it. I don't see the point of after Dolph won, to then have a second match.. I guess they needed something for the Tag champs to do.. surely they couldn't just wrestle against a tag team ..could they?
Raw was missing something this week. Do you know what that something was?
Realism.
CM Punk, talking, on a microphone.
It's the last RAW before a pay per view.. John Cena cut a promo. Alberto Del Rio cut a promo. Why not Punk?
Surely out of the 3, he's the guy you want talking the most right? Yes he was on commentary, but that's not the same thing.
Also they tried to re-do the "My diet soda" spot from a while back... or at least it seems that was the idea.. I don't understand that at all.
Punk and Cena are so good, especially when they work together, that you don't need to rehash things, no matter how funny they are.
So that's about it, I thought RAW was really disappointing, most of it felt like a step backwards. This whole 2 weeks between a pay per view just feels weird. I mean, surely the Titles aren't going to change hands. What a way to destroy a talent.. make them look awful. "Mark henry was a world champion from the middle of september to the end of september".. doesn't really work for me.
Here's what i liked:
- Beth and Natalya finally getting a win after a long time
- Mark Henry destroying Great Khali
- Zack Ryder getting two matches in one night
Here's what i didn't like
- Messy title picture, very confusing
- Triple H being "funny"
- Christian being on RAW (where was orton... isn't he going to be in a title match?)
- Battle Royal
- David Otunga's bow-tie (seriously, it was bad)
- CM Punk being the only guy out of the three who didn't get any promo time
So.. RAW was kinda bad this week. Maybe all the good stuff is being saved for smackdown?
Ok.. quick little thing on Ring of Honor
I don't really know a lot about ROH, it's really hard to watch it over here in australia, but I saw the first episode. Liked the wrestling, thought it was cool to see Haas and Benjamin, But it felt like there were way too many ads. And the vignettes, interviews, whatever, were too long. It's an hour show, surely you could get three decent matches into an hour right?
But it was good, as i said I liked the matches. I'll be tuning in next time for sure.
So what else is there to say.. Well.. i have a few points.. one is.. how much longer are Kane and Big Show going to be off of tv? They've been gone since a couple of weeks (or a few in Show's case) before Summerslam... which was the middle-ish of August.. that's about 6 weeks ago. Hopefully they come back soon. Feels like we just keep seeing the same matches all the time. We're getting Randy vs Christian yet again on Smackdown this week.. why not Christian vs the Returning Big Show!.. I'd tune in for that.
Matt Hardy went to rehab. Not got much to say about it, except that I hope it works for him. At least he had the balls to admit he has a problem, and is doing something about it.
The other thing, and again this something that stuck with me from watching the Guest Booker with Al Snow thing.. he talked about how the idea of wrestling is to get people to suspend disbelief, to buy in to it being real, even though we know it isn't. To buy into the idea of both guys wanting to win, to be specific.
His thoughts about why wrestling isn't as popular as it once was is because people don't believe it anymore. The one example that really stuck out, was when he said something like "One guy knocks his opponent down, and then reaches down and picks him back up".
This happens a lot in wrestling, we've all seen it probably countless times. I've never really even thought about it until I watched this.. but it doesn't make sense at all. Why pick a guy up when you've knocked him to the mat and could possibly get a 3 count? Sure, probably the guy would kick out most of the time, but the point is that people should feel like you're always trying to win, as a wrestler.
And that's what's missing.
It's a really interesting dvd, i would recommend people trying to watch it if they haven't already.
Anyway, that's about it from me, as always leave me a comment (seriously, no-one ever leaves one.. please do!), follow me on twitter @TheOZMouthpiece and that's about all i have to say.
That's it, and that's all.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
The case of the Hardy boys and the poor management.
Welcome to another edition of the Aussie Mouthpiece. I am said mouthpiece.
I want to talk about the news that broke today (in australia at least), that being the firing of Matt Hardy from TNA wrestling.
I'm not going to talk about what happened with Matt, I don't know the circumstances, I'm not in any position to judge him, however, as we say in this country, if you drink then drive, you're a bloody idiot. so Matt, you're a bloody idiot.
What i want to talk about is TNA.
More specifically, how the hell can they justify firing Matt Hardy, yet keeping Jeff Hardy on the roster? Matt, who was already suspended from TNA, was caught driving over the alcohol limit. Not at a TNA event, not presently associated with TNA from the suspension. Jeff Hardy showed up to main event a pay-per-view either off of his head, or he became off his head on drugs during the broadcast! How is that not as bad as what happened with Matt Hardy?
How can you keep Jeff Hardy on your roster after that? He made the company look bad. Well, worse than it already looked with Hogan running the show. But showing up and trying to wrestle like that.. I just feel really bad for Sting especially, having to go out there and try to work a match with that guy.
I remember watching Jeff Hardy break out in WWE in 2007 or so I think. He had a match with Triple H, on RAW, and it was great. He was clean, he wasn't botching, he was connecting majorly with the fans, and if i remember correctly, he may have gone over that night. And then he got suspended and missed Wrestlemania 24.
But I remember him coming back, working his way back up and then finally winning the world title at the end of 2008. It was great, I was in, i was a fan.
And then what happened? 6 or so months later, he left. and 2 weeks later was busted with drugs. That was almost it for me with Jeff Hardy.
Let me just stop there, i was a big fan of the Hardys for years, those TLC matches were amazing, and I always liked Jeff because he was different.
So when he left and then straight away was back into drugs.. it was a let down. I'm sure for his more rabid fans it was a big let down. Like "he left just so he could get high again".
So this brings me to TNA again.
First of all they bring Jeff Hardy in, and then turn him heel? Jeff Hardy .. the guy with some of the most loyal fans i've ever seen? Heel? that ain't gonna work. It didn't. he just got high instead.
Then they bring in Matt Hardy, who had claimed on his youtube videos to be in great shape, but it appeared that wasn't the case when he made his first TNA appearance.
Now i don't think Matt looked bad at all, he looked in decent shape, but still, he had enough time after his WWE release (by the way.. the grapes thing.. yeah that was just weird. Trying to explain it as a gimmick.. i didn't buy it. It seemed like drugs.) He still had time to get in shape even better. But that's neither here nor there.
What did he have.. 3 matches in TNA? I didn't really notice when he got suspended to be honest.
Now we all know what happened at Victory Road. Hardy was off his face, and Sting had to wrestle a short match, and basically hold him down for the 3 count, after which Jeff completely no-selled Sting's finisher. Terrible. Made the company look bad as i said earlier.
But what happened? They just gave him time off to "get himself right". No suspension.. no firing.. Why the hell was he allowed to go to the ring in the first place? Who's foolish idea was that? Oh.. i forgot who runs TNA for a minute there....
So Matt Hardy got suspended for "showing up late".. that tends to happen with hangovers.
But the only thing i can think of is that TNA were planning on releasing him before the DWI or whatever you Americans call it happened.
But my point here is, how in the blue hell does Jeff Hardy, who is on trial for drug possession, still have a paid position at TNA, whereas his brother, WHO CAN WRESTLE and isn't potentially going to jail.. well until today.. how do they fire him first? Something is very wrong in TNA. Are they going to have James Storm stop coming out with a beer now? Probably not. Will they make Ric Flair stop talking about his reservations and crap at nightclubs? No.
WWE would.
Matt Hardy, probably shouldn't have a job. But not because of a drink driving incident. Especially when his drug addled brother (have you see those videos Jeff has put on youtube... Jeff.. don't give the guys trying to put you in jail more evidence.. jeez).. has a job in said company.
So as you can probably tell, I've given up on Jeff Hardy. I remember CM Punk cutting a promo about him just after the news of his drug possession came out. I hated CM Punk for that, I thought it was low, and whoever gave that the green light was a scumbag.
But now, after Victory Road.. i couldn't care less.
Anyway, I've written enough about these 2. I really hope they can both sort their lives out, if only for themselves. I don't think we'll see either of them in a (well known) ring for a long time, if ever. But the fact that Jeff Hardy is still employed by TNA shows you what kind of company they really are. And if i was one of the employees of that company, i'd be exteremely pissed off.
That's it, if you liked it, comment it, if you hated it, comment, and then go suck a lemon.
Signing out now.
I want to talk about the news that broke today (in australia at least), that being the firing of Matt Hardy from TNA wrestling.
I'm not going to talk about what happened with Matt, I don't know the circumstances, I'm not in any position to judge him, however, as we say in this country, if you drink then drive, you're a bloody idiot. so Matt, you're a bloody idiot.
What i want to talk about is TNA.
More specifically, how the hell can they justify firing Matt Hardy, yet keeping Jeff Hardy on the roster? Matt, who was already suspended from TNA, was caught driving over the alcohol limit. Not at a TNA event, not presently associated with TNA from the suspension. Jeff Hardy showed up to main event a pay-per-view either off of his head, or he became off his head on drugs during the broadcast! How is that not as bad as what happened with Matt Hardy?
How can you keep Jeff Hardy on your roster after that? He made the company look bad. Well, worse than it already looked with Hogan running the show. But showing up and trying to wrestle like that.. I just feel really bad for Sting especially, having to go out there and try to work a match with that guy.
I remember watching Jeff Hardy break out in WWE in 2007 or so I think. He had a match with Triple H, on RAW, and it was great. He was clean, he wasn't botching, he was connecting majorly with the fans, and if i remember correctly, he may have gone over that night. And then he got suspended and missed Wrestlemania 24.
But I remember him coming back, working his way back up and then finally winning the world title at the end of 2008. It was great, I was in, i was a fan.
And then what happened? 6 or so months later, he left. and 2 weeks later was busted with drugs. That was almost it for me with Jeff Hardy.
Let me just stop there, i was a big fan of the Hardys for years, those TLC matches were amazing, and I always liked Jeff because he was different.
So when he left and then straight away was back into drugs.. it was a let down. I'm sure for his more rabid fans it was a big let down. Like "he left just so he could get high again".
So this brings me to TNA again.
First of all they bring Jeff Hardy in, and then turn him heel? Jeff Hardy .. the guy with some of the most loyal fans i've ever seen? Heel? that ain't gonna work. It didn't. he just got high instead.
Then they bring in Matt Hardy, who had claimed on his youtube videos to be in great shape, but it appeared that wasn't the case when he made his first TNA appearance.
Now i don't think Matt looked bad at all, he looked in decent shape, but still, he had enough time after his WWE release (by the way.. the grapes thing.. yeah that was just weird. Trying to explain it as a gimmick.. i didn't buy it. It seemed like drugs.) He still had time to get in shape even better. But that's neither here nor there.
What did he have.. 3 matches in TNA? I didn't really notice when he got suspended to be honest.
Now we all know what happened at Victory Road. Hardy was off his face, and Sting had to wrestle a short match, and basically hold him down for the 3 count, after which Jeff completely no-selled Sting's finisher. Terrible. Made the company look bad as i said earlier.
But what happened? They just gave him time off to "get himself right". No suspension.. no firing.. Why the hell was he allowed to go to the ring in the first place? Who's foolish idea was that? Oh.. i forgot who runs TNA for a minute there....
So Matt Hardy got suspended for "showing up late".. that tends to happen with hangovers.
But the only thing i can think of is that TNA were planning on releasing him before the DWI or whatever you Americans call it happened.
But my point here is, how in the blue hell does Jeff Hardy, who is on trial for drug possession, still have a paid position at TNA, whereas his brother, WHO CAN WRESTLE and isn't potentially going to jail.. well until today.. how do they fire him first? Something is very wrong in TNA. Are they going to have James Storm stop coming out with a beer now? Probably not. Will they make Ric Flair stop talking about his reservations and crap at nightclubs? No.
WWE would.
Matt Hardy, probably shouldn't have a job. But not because of a drink driving incident. Especially when his drug addled brother (have you see those videos Jeff has put on youtube... Jeff.. don't give the guys trying to put you in jail more evidence.. jeez).. has a job in said company.
So as you can probably tell, I've given up on Jeff Hardy. I remember CM Punk cutting a promo about him just after the news of his drug possession came out. I hated CM Punk for that, I thought it was low, and whoever gave that the green light was a scumbag.
But now, after Victory Road.. i couldn't care less.
Anyway, I've written enough about these 2. I really hope they can both sort their lives out, if only for themselves. I don't think we'll see either of them in a (well known) ring for a long time, if ever. But the fact that Jeff Hardy is still employed by TNA shows you what kind of company they really are. And if i was one of the employees of that company, i'd be exteremely pissed off.
That's it, if you liked it, comment it, if you hated it, comment, and then go suck a lemon.
Signing out now.
Saturday, 23 July 2011
Totally not-that-good at-anything.. or TNA
Hello again, it is I, the armchair mouthpiece, truthfacts in hand, ready to spill some knowledge, all over this blog.
Ok so TNA... Total Nonstop Action.. Impact Wrestling.. where wrestling matters... I like the wrestling matters thing personally, but .. it almost seems like while wrestling matters, talent doesn't. Sure, there are talented guys on that roster, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe (when he makes an effort), Kazarian, Beer Money etc.. but who is the focus of iMPACT Wrestling on? As usual when he's involved, Hulk Hogan. Everything centres around Hogan, and Immortal.. who.. I mean I haven't been watching a lot of TNA lately, mainly because of this.. but from what i can tell right now.. Immortal is Hogan (who doesn't wrestle), Bischoff (who doesn't wrestle).. Abyss, Anderson, Gunner (did i miss the push or something?), and Bully Ray.. Oh and Jarrett, but he was in mexico or something?
Now it seems like a decent sized group, but .. I mean a couple of months ago wasn't there Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy (...), Murphy, Ric Flair (who i'll get to in a minute).. i'm sure there were more people involved in it. It just feels like as the group has gotten smaller it's lost it's momentum, and the angle is just dragging on to what is apparently going to be a Hulk Hogan face turn. Now, is Bischoff going to turn too? Coz i don't see that happening honestly, but I also know that I wouldn't believe Hogan would turn on Bischoff, being that they've been business partners for what.. 10+ years? No storyline that TNA can come up with will make it believable that Hogan and Bischoff will part ways. Also, I'm not interested in seeing Hogan on TV anymore, like, the gimmick is kinda done.. sure Hulkamania will never die and he'll always get that pop, and always be "Hulk Hogan".. but the business, from what i can see, has changed a lot since he was really "the hulk".. remember that match he had with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam? me either, but what i do remember is Shawn hamming it up like crazy and overselling to the point of it being funny. Great work on that Shawn by the way, absolutely loved it.
So what about isntead of it being the same guys in the title picture for what.. the last ... i don't know 4 or 5 months?... throw someone else up there.. just for kicks if nothing else.. Angle vs Sting could be a good match, lets face it, Angle is the man. But, it kinda feels a little WCW, where are the new stars being pushed into the main event slot?.. Sure, Beer Money have the Tag Team Titles. Tag Team wrestling actually means something in TNA. But it's not on the same level as the World title. Having said that, I'm not sure if there are any new stars who are ready to be pushed into the main event level.. he's not a new star, but a lot of people are mentioning Bobby Roode, I can see that. But what happens to Storm?.. he's too good to be the "janetty".. I just don't know if he can be a single's success.. the other problem with TNA is they don't have a mid-card title.. sure there's the TV title, but it's not exactly being defended or involved in any serious way. I love what Eric Young is doing though. Personally I don't think he needs the TV title, I think it would be funnier if he just used the old world title belt, and "defended" that. If they used the TV title properly, it could be a launching pad, like the Intercontinental or US titles are.
So who else on the roster is ready? What about Matt Morgan? I like him, but I don't really buy him as "that guy".. something doesn't click, but it could work because of his size. What about Kazarian?.. that, i think, could also work. I also think that Sabin has the potential to be in that main event level. I can hear the arguments .. he's a smaller guy.. Shawn Michaels is a smaller guy. Sting isn't a big guy.. AJ isn't a big guy. Now what about Ric Flair?
You read that right.. I saw an article today with Ric Flair saying he's going to be challenging for the World Heavyweight title after Hardcore Justice (i hate that they're using that name by the way). To quote Zack Ryder.. Are you serious bro? .... Ric Flair is challenging for the Title? What the hell is going on? I really hope it's not going to happen, because A: No-one has seen him on tv for a while... B: He doesn't need it, and it would do nothing for the company.. and C: you're too damn old Ric! Seriously, I love Ric Flair, I respect the hell out of him and what he's done. But it's a dumb move to make this Ric Flair your champion. His matches these days aren't lets say.. up to the standard of even 10 years ago.. he doesn't look like a champion anymore, he looks like a manager.. and I personally only understand about 50% of what he says on the mic nowadays.
I agree with what a lot of people are saying, Ric has damaged his legacy by going to TNA, and damaged it further by actually wrestling again. That match at Wrestlemania 24 with Shawn, was amazing. It was the greatest way to end a career you could ever imagine... and that next night on Raw.. amazing. Hell, Undertaker came out and BROKE CHARACTER! That never happens! And then just a short while later, he's back on worldwide Tv wrestling again like it never happened? Not cool. So please TNA... don't put the belt on Flair.
The other thing I want to mention is the Women's division.. the Knockouts. Much better name than Divas first of all. Implies much less attitude, yet the knockouts have more of a right to have an attitude, because... well they can wrestle. Angelina Love, Velvet Skye, Mickie James, Tara, Sarita, Winter (i think she can wrestle, I haven't seen her in a match for a while).. All these women are amazing athletes. I actually enjoy watching the women's matches on Impact, wheras on Raw or smackdown I do something more interesting like trim my fingernails, sometimes my nose hair on a longer match. There are exceptions of course with WWE, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim (if she's ever used).. umm.. Oh that AJ girl from NXT was pretty good i think.. But TNA's knockouts are far and away the best womens division going. My only problem is since Bishcoff and Hogan came along, we're seeing less diversity in the division. Remember a few years ago...Roxxi, Awesome Kong, Taylor Wilde, ODB, Alissa Flash, Hamada... I know ODB has been on Tv recently, but they're going with the "no contract" angle so that's why I included her. Now that was a strong womens division. Now it's still good, but a little ... eh...seen it already. Except Velvet, i never get tired of seeing her!
So I think that's about all I wanted to say... I'm not going to go off on a rant and say "they should get rid of hogan and bischoff" or "fire russo"..... Personally i think their product was better before Hogan.. I still remember watching that first Impact, he and Bischoff are standing in a 4 sided ring getting booed, and Hogan said something about that 6-sided ring not being any good ( can't remember the exact words).. but that right there was the first clue that this wasn't really all about TNA, it was about making TNA TNHogAn.. Also the X division was a lot more prevalent before Hogan and Bischoff.. I just hope that Destination X this year wasn't their way of saying "ok we gave you this whole pay per view of X division, now you fans can't complain when we don't do any x division stuff".. that would be terrible, but also not unexpected. Bischoff...
And while i think of it.. losing Jay Lethal is a massive blow to them, that guy is awesome! And if they don't sign Low-Ki, there is definitely something wrong in the "office"...
So lets hope that TNA can become true competition, because that would make everything better.
That's it, that's all i've got for now, hope you enjoyed it, leave a comment if you've got something to say, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece, and keep reading!
What's it like to be me? You.. will never, ever know.
Ok so TNA... Total Nonstop Action.. Impact Wrestling.. where wrestling matters... I like the wrestling matters thing personally, but .. it almost seems like while wrestling matters, talent doesn't. Sure, there are talented guys on that roster, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe (when he makes an effort), Kazarian, Beer Money etc.. but who is the focus of iMPACT Wrestling on? As usual when he's involved, Hulk Hogan. Everything centres around Hogan, and Immortal.. who.. I mean I haven't been watching a lot of TNA lately, mainly because of this.. but from what i can tell right now.. Immortal is Hogan (who doesn't wrestle), Bischoff (who doesn't wrestle).. Abyss, Anderson, Gunner (did i miss the push or something?), and Bully Ray.. Oh and Jarrett, but he was in mexico or something?
Now it seems like a decent sized group, but .. I mean a couple of months ago wasn't there Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy (...), Murphy, Ric Flair (who i'll get to in a minute).. i'm sure there were more people involved in it. It just feels like as the group has gotten smaller it's lost it's momentum, and the angle is just dragging on to what is apparently going to be a Hulk Hogan face turn. Now, is Bischoff going to turn too? Coz i don't see that happening honestly, but I also know that I wouldn't believe Hogan would turn on Bischoff, being that they've been business partners for what.. 10+ years? No storyline that TNA can come up with will make it believable that Hogan and Bischoff will part ways. Also, I'm not interested in seeing Hogan on TV anymore, like, the gimmick is kinda done.. sure Hulkamania will never die and he'll always get that pop, and always be "Hulk Hogan".. but the business, from what i can see, has changed a lot since he was really "the hulk".. remember that match he had with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam? me either, but what i do remember is Shawn hamming it up like crazy and overselling to the point of it being funny. Great work on that Shawn by the way, absolutely loved it.
So what about isntead of it being the same guys in the title picture for what.. the last ... i don't know 4 or 5 months?... throw someone else up there.. just for kicks if nothing else.. Angle vs Sting could be a good match, lets face it, Angle is the man. But, it kinda feels a little WCW, where are the new stars being pushed into the main event slot?.. Sure, Beer Money have the Tag Team Titles. Tag Team wrestling actually means something in TNA. But it's not on the same level as the World title. Having said that, I'm not sure if there are any new stars who are ready to be pushed into the main event level.. he's not a new star, but a lot of people are mentioning Bobby Roode, I can see that. But what happens to Storm?.. he's too good to be the "janetty".. I just don't know if he can be a single's success.. the other problem with TNA is they don't have a mid-card title.. sure there's the TV title, but it's not exactly being defended or involved in any serious way. I love what Eric Young is doing though. Personally I don't think he needs the TV title, I think it would be funnier if he just used the old world title belt, and "defended" that. If they used the TV title properly, it could be a launching pad, like the Intercontinental or US titles are.
So who else on the roster is ready? What about Matt Morgan? I like him, but I don't really buy him as "that guy".. something doesn't click, but it could work because of his size. What about Kazarian?.. that, i think, could also work. I also think that Sabin has the potential to be in that main event level. I can hear the arguments .. he's a smaller guy.. Shawn Michaels is a smaller guy. Sting isn't a big guy.. AJ isn't a big guy. Now what about Ric Flair?
You read that right.. I saw an article today with Ric Flair saying he's going to be challenging for the World Heavyweight title after Hardcore Justice (i hate that they're using that name by the way). To quote Zack Ryder.. Are you serious bro? .... Ric Flair is challenging for the Title? What the hell is going on? I really hope it's not going to happen, because A: No-one has seen him on tv for a while... B: He doesn't need it, and it would do nothing for the company.. and C: you're too damn old Ric! Seriously, I love Ric Flair, I respect the hell out of him and what he's done. But it's a dumb move to make this Ric Flair your champion. His matches these days aren't lets say.. up to the standard of even 10 years ago.. he doesn't look like a champion anymore, he looks like a manager.. and I personally only understand about 50% of what he says on the mic nowadays.
I agree with what a lot of people are saying, Ric has damaged his legacy by going to TNA, and damaged it further by actually wrestling again. That match at Wrestlemania 24 with Shawn, was amazing. It was the greatest way to end a career you could ever imagine... and that next night on Raw.. amazing. Hell, Undertaker came out and BROKE CHARACTER! That never happens! And then just a short while later, he's back on worldwide Tv wrestling again like it never happened? Not cool. So please TNA... don't put the belt on Flair.
The other thing I want to mention is the Women's division.. the Knockouts. Much better name than Divas first of all. Implies much less attitude, yet the knockouts have more of a right to have an attitude, because... well they can wrestle. Angelina Love, Velvet Skye, Mickie James, Tara, Sarita, Winter (i think she can wrestle, I haven't seen her in a match for a while).. All these women are amazing athletes. I actually enjoy watching the women's matches on Impact, wheras on Raw or smackdown I do something more interesting like trim my fingernails, sometimes my nose hair on a longer match. There are exceptions of course with WWE, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim (if she's ever used).. umm.. Oh that AJ girl from NXT was pretty good i think.. But TNA's knockouts are far and away the best womens division going. My only problem is since Bishcoff and Hogan came along, we're seeing less diversity in the division. Remember a few years ago...Roxxi, Awesome Kong, Taylor Wilde, ODB, Alissa Flash, Hamada... I know ODB has been on Tv recently, but they're going with the "no contract" angle so that's why I included her. Now that was a strong womens division. Now it's still good, but a little ... eh...seen it already. Except Velvet, i never get tired of seeing her!
So I think that's about all I wanted to say... I'm not going to go off on a rant and say "they should get rid of hogan and bischoff" or "fire russo"..... Personally i think their product was better before Hogan.. I still remember watching that first Impact, he and Bischoff are standing in a 4 sided ring getting booed, and Hogan said something about that 6-sided ring not being any good ( can't remember the exact words).. but that right there was the first clue that this wasn't really all about TNA, it was about making TNA TNHogAn.. Also the X division was a lot more prevalent before Hogan and Bischoff.. I just hope that Destination X this year wasn't their way of saying "ok we gave you this whole pay per view of X division, now you fans can't complain when we don't do any x division stuff".. that would be terrible, but also not unexpected. Bischoff...
And while i think of it.. losing Jay Lethal is a massive blow to them, that guy is awesome! And if they don't sign Low-Ki, there is definitely something wrong in the "office"...
So lets hope that TNA can become true competition, because that would make everything better.
That's it, that's all i've got for now, hope you enjoyed it, leave a comment if you've got something to say, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece, and keep reading!
What's it like to be me? You.. will never, ever know.
Monday, 18 July 2011
Let me tell ya something...
It's me again, the armchair mouthpiece, back to sling you some more written truthfacts from the couch of creativeness.
Ok so I did say my next post would not be about the whole CM Punk/Cena/McMahon situation, and I meant it. So what I thought i'd do is give you a little history lesson, namely how I became a fan, and why I feel like I can actually write this blog, and not come off like some huckster, who doesn't know what he's talking about.
I also thought I might start doing some random top 10 lists, a few ideas I have include the obvious top 10 wrestlers and top 10 matches.. but I thought some things like top 10 sick bumps, top 10 fails, maybe top 10 one liners could be interesting as well. So if anyone wants to comment on wether or not that would be good, or not, please feel free.
So, as far as my history goes, I mentioned this in my first post, so forgive me for repeating myself. I started watching wrestling right around 1997-98. I can't remember exactly when, could have been slightly earlier in fact. One of the first matches I can remember seeing involved Sting, but it was before the "Crow" transformation, he still had his blonde hair and coloured face-paint, however it could have been a highlight package or something. I used to visit my father every couple of months or so, and at the time he had Optus Cable TV, which carried TNT, and therefore WCW Monday Nitro. So originally, as a teenager, I was a WCW guy. I saw a little WWF stuff late at night on tv, I even remember thinking "this is stupid, why is he bleeding?"... Oh to be young again..
Anyway the first main story I remember, as many who watched WCW around that time was the NWO, and in turn the NWO wolfpack. I became a big fan of Kevin Nash, Sting, Juventud Guerrera, Raven, and I remember the commentary of Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan especially. I remember watching Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, Alex Wright, Glacier(!), Ric Flair.. Also i remember disliking Eric Bischoff right from the get go. Not much has changed in 13 years. But, I was still under the impression this was all completely "real", and was just a fan of the matches, i suppose not really a "smark" or whatever we're supposed to be called.
I got a bit older, my father moved to a different place and didn't have cable, so from 1999 or so onwards, no more wrestling for me. That is until 2003. I don't remember exactly why I did this, but I was in a local video rental store, and they had a bunch of WWE and WWF videos. not dvds, videos. The first ones I hired were Wrestlemania XII, and Judgement Day 2003. So it must have been around July/August 2003. I watched Wrestlemania XII, and immediately I was hooked again. Undertaker vs. Diesel, Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart, even Ultimate Warrior vs HHH (clearly i still wasn't that knowledgable)... Instantly I was a Shawn Michaels fan. I liked Undertaker, but didn't know a lot about him. That would change very quickly.
Then I popped in Judgement Day 2003, I can remember watching that video so vividly.. The banter between Austin and Bischoff (who i recognised of course) was amazing. I think what drew me to hiring that particular video was the 2 main event matches, HHH vs Kevin Nash, and Big Show (or, as i knew him.. The Giant) vs Brock Lesnar in a stretcher match. Nash powerbombing HHH through the announcer's table is still one of my favourite memories.
So that was where my current love of wrestling began. I hired just about every single video they had there, they had some pay per views from 1998, Unforgiven i think was one, with the Inferno Match between Undertaker and Kane.. seeing that side of Undertaker was what got me really interested in him, and it was around the same time that he'd been buried alive at the survivor series of 2003, and there were all those signs of his return as the Deadman.
So that was 2003/2004. I started buying dvds, reading histories, learning as much as I could about everything to do with wrestling, the backstage stuff (as much as you can really), watching Shawn Michaels interviews helped, all the interviews I've seen him give on dvd's and such, he speaks truthfully, talking about "we talked about what we could do with the cell".. basically no kayfabe with him.
I got cable tv in 2005, in october.. about a month before Eddie died. I feel really lucky that I got it when I did, because I was able to see Eddie's last televised match.. and the tribute RAW.
So since then, i've wathced a lot of ECW, and then a couple of years ago when Foxtel started broadcasting Impact, started watching TNA. And that in turn led to buying a whole bunch of TNA dvds from overseas, namely the older ones not available here in australia. Watching AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, Sabin, Shelley, Petey Williams.. That was a whole extra level of amazing ability that i'd not seen before. And it was something different, and especially in the early days, i think something better than "the norm".
And that's about it as far as watching history.. as far as why I feel like I have valid opinions, why my opinions should be read by others.. well, whenever i get passionate about something, I learn as much about it as I can.. a "student of the game" without being in the game, if you will. A few years ago i bought the Anthologies that the WWE released, the wrestlmanias, the summerslams, the Royal Rumbles (my favourite event by the way).. and watching all of those, which I have done.. in order even, has really helped me see the change in style from the mid 80s to today, from the new generation, the attitude era.. and things like being able to see legends like Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker arrive, and mature and mould and shape their characters, and constantly change.. it's all education. I'm not saying i'm an expert, I like to think I know a bit about what makes a match good, who's good, who's overrated.. and most importantly, I have an opinion that is my own, I don't just jump on someone else's bandwagon.. like the "cena sucks" bandwagon, Cena does not suck. You watch his early matches, before he became the Rapper. Watch his work from MITB (i know, i'm talking about it again).. Watch Wrestlemania 22 and 23.
So that's about it. Nothing much else to say, i kinda like this catchphrase I used last time, I think i'll stick with it, as it's kind of appropriate for my life. I hope this wasn't too boring or anything.. in the meantime, I can't wait for RAW tomorrow. Expect postings.
What's it like to be me? You will never, ever know!
Sunday, 17 July 2011
The calm before the storm
Welcome! Once again i am the armchair mouthpiece, shooting opinions and truthfacts your way from the comfort and relative safety of the couch. I was going to wait until after Money in the Bank to write my second post, but, as i'm sure a lot of people are, I can't stop thinking about what may happen tomorrow. I've read a lot of different people's ideas on what could happen, and i agree with what a lot of them are saying, that the most likely scenario is that Punk will win, but someone will cash in their money in the bank that night. I did read one column (possibly Mark Madden?) where they were talking about "what if _______ cashes in the briefcase, and loses the match?? We've never seen that before I think was the argument. Interesting, but that kind of leaves more questions unanswered I think.
I would LOVE to see Punk win full stop. But think of the possibilities for the end of this match. I'll list a few that have popped into my head in the last week.
1. Vince screws CM Punk to keep the belt in the WWE
2. Vince screws Cena, revealing it was all a scheme and he and CM Punk have "joined forces" so to speak, causing Cena to be "fired".. but eventually return with an attitude.
3. Colt Cabana does a run in. We're led to believe it's not planned at all. He and Punk screw Cena and Punk wins.
4. Cena turns heel.
5. (and this is remote, because let's face it, Rock isn't the most WWE guy there is) Rock makes a run in. Screws Cena building more heat for mania.
6. Rock runs in, screws Punk, using the "I respect the belt" angle. Cena gets pissed saying he doesn't need Rock's help, Cena turns heel.
7. Someone else (Mick Foley, Stone Cold) make a run in.
Now those last 2 i just thought of as i'm writing this, so they might not be any good. But what i'm trying to get at is that I hope that the ending to this pay per view is worthy of the storyline, worthy of the buildup. As far as wether Punk is really leaving, who knows? Part of me thinks it's just another "take time off" storyline, part of me thinks he's really done, which would be a huge mistake on WWE's part. Part of me thinks it's all an angle. Let's face it though, I think it's fairly safe to say this is the best thing WWE has done in a long time. I'm trying to remember the last time i was this excited about a Pay per view that wasn't one of the big 4.. I may have to go all the way back to the Armageddon with Undertaker vs Randy Orton in the hell in a cell match. Certainly the last time i was this excited about any WWE programming was the Undertaker/Shawn Michaels II, just based on the hype from the first match at WM 25.
To sum up, i sincerely hope that we don't get a boring, predictable super-cena comeback finish, with Punk's last moments in WWE being embarassing and having him leave in a bad way. Remember the way Vickie Guerrero left the first time? They called her all kinds of names and it was disgraceful. Remember the way Lita left? With her underwear being sold to the crowd? I'm not saying Vince McMahon will come out with some CM Punk drawers trying to hock them for $20, but I just hope they give us something amazing. This is the first time in about 3 years i've bought a WWE pay per view that wasn't Mania or the Rumble. Please don't make me regret my purchase WWE...
With all that being said, I'm going to wrap this up now, so until i write again. *I still have no idea on a finishing catchphrase*
I would LOVE to see Punk win full stop. But think of the possibilities for the end of this match. I'll list a few that have popped into my head in the last week.
1. Vince screws CM Punk to keep the belt in the WWE
2. Vince screws Cena, revealing it was all a scheme and he and CM Punk have "joined forces" so to speak, causing Cena to be "fired".. but eventually return with an attitude.
3. Colt Cabana does a run in. We're led to believe it's not planned at all. He and Punk screw Cena and Punk wins.
4. Cena turns heel.
5. (and this is remote, because let's face it, Rock isn't the most WWE guy there is) Rock makes a run in. Screws Cena building more heat for mania.
6. Rock runs in, screws Punk, using the "I respect the belt" angle. Cena gets pissed saying he doesn't need Rock's help, Cena turns heel.
7. Someone else (Mick Foley, Stone Cold) make a run in.
Now those last 2 i just thought of as i'm writing this, so they might not be any good. But what i'm trying to get at is that I hope that the ending to this pay per view is worthy of the storyline, worthy of the buildup. As far as wether Punk is really leaving, who knows? Part of me thinks it's just another "take time off" storyline, part of me thinks he's really done, which would be a huge mistake on WWE's part. Part of me thinks it's all an angle. Let's face it though, I think it's fairly safe to say this is the best thing WWE has done in a long time. I'm trying to remember the last time i was this excited about a Pay per view that wasn't one of the big 4.. I may have to go all the way back to the Armageddon with Undertaker vs Randy Orton in the hell in a cell match. Certainly the last time i was this excited about any WWE programming was the Undertaker/Shawn Michaels II, just based on the hype from the first match at WM 25.
To sum up, i sincerely hope that we don't get a boring, predictable super-cena comeback finish, with Punk's last moments in WWE being embarassing and having him leave in a bad way. Remember the way Vickie Guerrero left the first time? They called her all kinds of names and it was disgraceful. Remember the way Lita left? With her underwear being sold to the crowd? I'm not saying Vince McMahon will come out with some CM Punk drawers trying to hock them for $20, but I just hope they give us something amazing. This is the first time in about 3 years i've bought a WWE pay per view that wasn't Mania or the Rumble. Please don't make me regret my purchase WWE...
With all that being said, I'm going to wrap this up now, so until i write again. *I still have no idea on a finishing catchphrase*
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