On September 11, Jeff Hardy was arrested at his home. He had taken a large package off his front step and brought it inside to open it. Local police entered the home and found Hardy. Inside the package were various prescription substances, and - allegedly - cocaine. It appeared Hardy's troubles were continuing, and had perhaps, only begun.
You see, Hardy was cited and charged with possession, intent to distribute, and trafficking due to the weight of these substances. Now, had each of these, aside from the cocaine, had a valid prescription, Hardy would have been safe from prosecution. The question now, is whether any valid prescription has ever been provided. There are various rumors that Hardy was shocked at the package's contents, or that he stated none of it was his, or that he had no idea what it was until he cut the tape. The fact is, "They're not mine," doesn't wash as a defense. Your property or not, they're in your possession. Without proper documentation, you've broken the law - and since there was cocaine at the scene, you've broken the law anyways!
Jeff Hardy may be a fantastic entertainer, athlete, and brother. However, the monkey on his back is himself. Even if 100% of the contents of that package were not meant to be his, he was found with them on his property, and is therfore, guilty of possession of cocaine - at the very least. Should there be no prescription in his name for the other items, Jeff Hardy may be looking at a lengthy prison term.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Vin Sanity of Wrestling – Conversion…
Since the very first staged wrestling matches, the concept of a “bad guy” battling a “good guy” has been the cornerstone of the genre. Although in the past 10 years or so the anti-hero has been a popular figure, with shades of gray replacing the black and white of traditional roles, heels and babyfaces anchored pro wrestling for decades and continue to do so. That said, once a character has been established on one side of the fence, how do promoters execute a shift in his/her fundamental behavior?
TODAY’S ISSUE: Face-turns for heels.
Throughout a career as a professional wrestler, most performers get the opportunity to portray both the beloved babyface and the hated heel. Actually, several grapplers have made multiple forays into each camp. A common observation of the career of the legendary Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat, in fact, is that he never worked as a heel, which is quite rare for a performer with a long, successful, respected career like his. Just think of the impact a properly executed and well-timed Steamboat heel-turn could have made. Under the right set of circumstances it would have rivaled the 1996 Hogan heel-turn that signaled the beginning of the nWo. And that’s a key point; there’s no storyline value in just changing somebody for the sake of change. But if a switch of allegiances is well planned and delivered with meaning and logic, it can drive a brand new chapter in the same old story and breathe new life into familiar characters.
Converting a babyface to a heel is the easier task. Take the WWF’s beloved Hitman from around 1996. After being frustrated at several turns over the course of a relatively short period, Bret Hart’s character was growing increasingly short-tempered and hostile, with good reason; it did seem as though events were conspiring against him. Then McMahon added the element of a hateful, venomous antagonist in the person of Stone Cold Steve Austin, and after months of taunts, insults, and attempts to tarnish the Hitman’s legacy by Austin, Hart snapped and started acting like a heel. That was easy from an execution standpoint.
Going the other direction can be tougher, but as long as the promoter has the patience to stick with the angle and allow it to play out at the right pace, there’s a gold mine of opportunity if they repaint characters and give them entirely new motivations, which of course are accompanied by new rivalries against different opponents or fresh match-ups against familiar foes, especially if these foes also switch sides. For example, heading into WrestleMania X8 in March of 2002, Hollywood Hogan was clearly a heel, representing the nineteenth coming of the nWo and assigned by a psychotic a Vince McMahon to destroy his creation lest co-owner Ric Flair take over. The Rock was the beloved babyface hero representing the company and its fans against the invaders. But fast-forward less than a year to No Way Out ‘03 and the same exact match had entirely different overtones as Rock was now a movie star, returning to his wrestling roots but acting like he was above it all in a highly effective heel persona, while Hogan had returned to his red and yellow attire and his sickening love-fest with fans who buy anything he sells. But I digress; the point is that effective turns can make the old seem new quite seamlessly.
Convincing fans to trust, love, and respect a noted cheater, coward or evil son-of-a-bitch requires a bit more creativity than turning a good buy into an evil character, but there are a few time-tested methods for accomplishing a successful face-turn of an established heel. One way is to have him overcome a horrible injury or perform another act of bravery that simply demands respect, which Eddie Edwards recently did. As one half of the ROH world tag champs with Davey Richards in the heel American Wolves team, Edwards legitimately broke his arm during an anything goes match in late September against Kevin Steen (the Wolves were feuding with Steenerico at the time) but he went on to defend the tag straps the very next night in a known dangerous environment, a ladder match. Then to top it off, after successful surgery in early October, medical updates indicate he might rehab and come back to active competition in half the doctor’s recommended recuperation time. When Edwards returns, fans will cheer the man for his heart, guts, determination, pride, and bravery, regardless of what the character has done in the past. If they wish, ROH can smoothly transition that real appreciation of the performer into a face-turn for the wrestling character he portrays.
Speaking of the Wolves, another tried-and-true method for turning a villain into a fan-favorite is to have him double-crossed by an even more treacherous, villainous, cowardly, arrogant heel than himself. Davey Richards earned himself an ROH world title match against reigning champion Austin Aries, but well aware of the roll Richards has been on of late and having no desire to face him, Aries manipulated Davey into teaming with him against the very dangerous Briscoe Brothers since Edwards was out of action and Richards was all alone. Aries fed Richards a line about how “now more than ever you need friends, not enemies”, so Richards agreed to put his title shot on the back burner and work together with Aries against the Briscoes.
But at the match on October 10th between the Briscoes and Aries/Richards, the ROH world champ walked out on Davey, leaving him to the “wolves” so to speak, and it was evident that Aries’ gambit was nothing more than a plan to soften Richards up before he could claim his title match, or maybe he hoped the Briscoes would injure Davey badly enough that he wouldn’t be able to face Aries at all. Either way, Richards trusted somebody and got screwed, and most fans can identify with that. If we feel empathy for a wrestler and understand his plight, we will usually get behind him. We already want to support Richards because he’s an ass-kicking winner, so if ROH plays up the angle of how Aries is a conniving, backstabbing weasel who screwed Richards over, Davey could easily come out of the exchange as a babyface. And with his partner soon to return from the broken arm and the valiant effort in the ladder war with Steen and Generico, the Wolves might just turn babyface together.
As long as we’re talking about Austin Aries, let’s look at another way to turn a heel into a babyface. One word: talent. Wrestling fans appreciate talent, and as I said above, we love a winner. If a performer like Aries consistently wrestles quality matches with an exciting move-set and flashy, aggressive, intelligent offense, fans will want to support him. Or, if his heel persona is entertaining and fun like the Rock’s was before he turned face in 1998, we will begin treating him like a face even if he isn’t booked accordingly. If our cheers are loud enough and we speak with our wallets (buying the heels’ merchandise and paying to watch him on ppv) the promoter may eventually listen to us and turn the heel babyface. It’s difficult for a salesman to continue fighting against his own customers, and if he can’t get us to boo the guys he want to have as villains, why bother? For years, crowds resisted Ric Flair’s heel booking and cheered him out of respect for his contributions to the industry and his decades of sacrifice in the name of entertaining us. Although he loves working heel, we just don’t want to hate him anymore. Our respect for Richard Fliehr transcends pro wrestling storylines, and we instinctively cheer him whenever we see him.
In much the same way that a worse heel can turn another heel face by treating him badly or dragging him into something, Brent Albright was pushed away from the heel side by two worse heels than he, Scrap Iron Adam Pearce and Larry Sweeney. Pearce “sold” the HANGM3N heel stable to Sweeney’s Sweet & Sour, Inc. without consulting members BJ Whitmer and Brent Albright, which didn’t sit right with them. Shortly after at the Injustice event, Albright defeated Delirious and was happy with that. But Sweeney demanded Albright break Delirious’ arm, and when Daizee Haze showed up to defend the Lizard Man, Sweeney ordered Albright to break her arm as well. But Albright refused to injure either of them and walked away, clearly unhappy with his new group. This disobedience and unwillingness towards unnecessary violence showed us that Albright’s in-ring killer instinct didn’t translate to unwarranted violence, and allowed us to see what sort of man he is. Less than a month later, Albright rebelled against his new team for the last time, suplexing everyone and turning babyface for good, earning our respect in the process.
That respect is a key component in heel/face alignments. Take Tyler Black, who debuted at the Man Up pay-per-view as part of the new, mystery heel stable known as the Age of the Fall. According to the angle, the leader of the AoTF, Jimmy Jacobs, brought Black to Ring of Honor so Tyler was obliged to do Jacobs’ bidding and follow him. It was evident that he wasn't the evil mastermind behind the heel faction, but simply following orders. Perhaps it was his plan all along to ride Jacobs' ideology into the ROH locker room and then break away when the time was right, or he might have been a true believer in Jacobs' message, but soon enough he decided he wanted to earn victories for himself whether it was in Jimmy’s grand plan or not.
Like Aries, Black is a good-looking young athlete who wrestles a flashy, exciting, high-energy style that's sure to entertain fans, which in and of itself plants the seed of a babyface turn. As I mentioned about Davey Richards, we wrestling fans tend to respect guys who look, act, and perform like winners, and Black was a hot young prospect who was taking pro wrestling by storm. The catalyst for his face turn was the Take No Prisoners ppv, recorded in March of 2008 and airing in May. Early on the card, Black scored an upset victory in a four-corners match against Go Shiozaki, Delirious, and Claudio Castagnoli to earn an ROH world title shot against Nigel McGuinness, who openly mocked him on commentary during his victory, setting the stage for their battle in the main event.
Without the other members of the AoTF in attendance, Black was very much alone that night and an underdog facing the well-rested, dominant McGuinness. However, he put up a brave fight against the champ, who pummeled and punished Black for the majority of the contest, earning Black the respect and admiration of the crowd as he continued to battle back against insurmountable odds, putting on a hell of a performance in the process. He not only gave an inspired effort, but nearly pulled out a shocking victory, displaying heart, guts, and determination not normally seen in a heel wrestler. As the contest wore on the audience reacted in the same way as the rent-a-crowd of Russian military personnel did during the climax of Rocky IV; they developed such an admiration for Black’s will to survive and to win that they started cheering him and chanting for him to become the champion.
The storyline didn't allow this moment to cement a face-turn for Black, but the match certainly demonstrated to ROH fans, who tend to chose their favorites based on in-ring quality and effort, that Black was a guy they could truly get behind. He was unofficially a babyface then and there.
One more way to turn a villain into a hero is to tell the story of enemies banding together against a common foe. Another Rocky analogy: when did Apollo Creed become a good guy? Before Balboa’s title defense against Mr. T’s Clubber Lang, Creed wished Rocky well, and later, after the champ got knocked out by the upstart load-mouth, Creed reached out to Balboa with an offer to teach him a better way to tackle the much bigger, stronger Lang. Apollo and Rocky had earned each other’s respect during their two ring wars, and they felt like kindred spirits who didn’t appreciate Lang’s disrespectful attitude. They wanted to shut him up and restore some honor to the championship title they both held with dignity in the past. When the two former foes banded together to face a worse villain than Apollo ever was, Creed’s “face-turn” was etched in stone. In wrestling, this “banding together against a common foe” angle always turns heels face, at least temporarily. While one promotion stands together against an unwelcome force like during the CZW invasion of ROH or perhaps more famously, the WCW/ECW Alliance InVasion of the WWF, all bets are off and old rivalries make way until the greater threat has been extinguished. Fans of the local promotion support anyone sporting their colors and fighting under the promotion’s banner against the would-be usurpers. Some heels who turned de facto face might go back to their heelish ways when the war is over, but others will remain fan favorites due to the bravery they showed in defending their home turf.
In a creative environment there are countless ways to shift a character’s allegiances, and as long as their motivation is just, their cause seems reasonable, and their journey is organic, making a new hero out of a former villain is a great way to shake up the status quo and invigorate the vibe in a wrestling promotion.
Vin Sanity is not categorized as a psychological disorder… yet.
p.s. – “Nothing is more unpleasant than a virtuous person with a mean mind.” - Walter Bagehot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The original version of this syndicated column, titled Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic, appears Fridays at midnight on Pulse Wrestling.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Daniel Douglas once again stirs emotions with a controversial topic in a column called Vince McMahon Doesn’t Care About Black People.
Ace Glazer wrote A Modest Response to DD’s piece as well.
Michael O’Mahony returns with another unique Poll Position about what makes a heavyweight champion.
Andy Wheeler talks RAW and Shane-O-Mac’s departure in this week’s For Your Consideration.
Jon Bandit reviews TNA’s Victory Road 2009 pay-per-view.
David Brashear continues his exploration of the good old days as One Year in Memphis continues.
Brian Eison recaps WWE Superstars, and Tess Nolde offers her Ten Thoughts on the show.
Finally this week, Chris Morgado does a Three Way Dance in his Column With No Name, covering Shane McMahon, Nigel “Desmond Wolfe” McGuinness in TNA, and WWE’s upcoming Bragging Rights show.
TODAY’S ISSUE: Face-turns for heels.
Throughout a career as a professional wrestler, most performers get the opportunity to portray both the beloved babyface and the hated heel. Actually, several grapplers have made multiple forays into each camp. A common observation of the career of the legendary Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat, in fact, is that he never worked as a heel, which is quite rare for a performer with a long, successful, respected career like his. Just think of the impact a properly executed and well-timed Steamboat heel-turn could have made. Under the right set of circumstances it would have rivaled the 1996 Hogan heel-turn that signaled the beginning of the nWo. And that’s a key point; there’s no storyline value in just changing somebody for the sake of change. But if a switch of allegiances is well planned and delivered with meaning and logic, it can drive a brand new chapter in the same old story and breathe new life into familiar characters.
Converting a babyface to a heel is the easier task. Take the WWF’s beloved Hitman from around 1996. After being frustrated at several turns over the course of a relatively short period, Bret Hart’s character was growing increasingly short-tempered and hostile, with good reason; it did seem as though events were conspiring against him. Then McMahon added the element of a hateful, venomous antagonist in the person of Stone Cold Steve Austin, and after months of taunts, insults, and attempts to tarnish the Hitman’s legacy by Austin, Hart snapped and started acting like a heel. That was easy from an execution standpoint.
Going the other direction can be tougher, but as long as the promoter has the patience to stick with the angle and allow it to play out at the right pace, there’s a gold mine of opportunity if they repaint characters and give them entirely new motivations, which of course are accompanied by new rivalries against different opponents or fresh match-ups against familiar foes, especially if these foes also switch sides. For example, heading into WrestleMania X8 in March of 2002, Hollywood Hogan was clearly a heel, representing the nineteenth coming of the nWo and assigned by a psychotic a Vince McMahon to destroy his creation lest co-owner Ric Flair take over. The Rock was the beloved babyface hero representing the company and its fans against the invaders. But fast-forward less than a year to No Way Out ‘03 and the same exact match had entirely different overtones as Rock was now a movie star, returning to his wrestling roots but acting like he was above it all in a highly effective heel persona, while Hogan had returned to his red and yellow attire and his sickening love-fest with fans who buy anything he sells. But I digress; the point is that effective turns can make the old seem new quite seamlessly.
Convincing fans to trust, love, and respect a noted cheater, coward or evil son-of-a-bitch requires a bit more creativity than turning a good buy into an evil character, but there are a few time-tested methods for accomplishing a successful face-turn of an established heel. One way is to have him overcome a horrible injury or perform another act of bravery that simply demands respect, which Eddie Edwards recently did. As one half of the ROH world tag champs with Davey Richards in the heel American Wolves team, Edwards legitimately broke his arm during an anything goes match in late September against Kevin Steen (the Wolves were feuding with Steenerico at the time) but he went on to defend the tag straps the very next night in a known dangerous environment, a ladder match. Then to top it off, after successful surgery in early October, medical updates indicate he might rehab and come back to active competition in half the doctor’s recommended recuperation time. When Edwards returns, fans will cheer the man for his heart, guts, determination, pride, and bravery, regardless of what the character has done in the past. If they wish, ROH can smoothly transition that real appreciation of the performer into a face-turn for the wrestling character he portrays.
Speaking of the Wolves, another tried-and-true method for turning a villain into a fan-favorite is to have him double-crossed by an even more treacherous, villainous, cowardly, arrogant heel than himself. Davey Richards earned himself an ROH world title match against reigning champion Austin Aries, but well aware of the roll Richards has been on of late and having no desire to face him, Aries manipulated Davey into teaming with him against the very dangerous Briscoe Brothers since Edwards was out of action and Richards was all alone. Aries fed Richards a line about how “now more than ever you need friends, not enemies”, so Richards agreed to put his title shot on the back burner and work together with Aries against the Briscoes.
But at the match on October 10th between the Briscoes and Aries/Richards, the ROH world champ walked out on Davey, leaving him to the “wolves” so to speak, and it was evident that Aries’ gambit was nothing more than a plan to soften Richards up before he could claim his title match, or maybe he hoped the Briscoes would injure Davey badly enough that he wouldn’t be able to face Aries at all. Either way, Richards trusted somebody and got screwed, and most fans can identify with that. If we feel empathy for a wrestler and understand his plight, we will usually get behind him. We already want to support Richards because he’s an ass-kicking winner, so if ROH plays up the angle of how Aries is a conniving, backstabbing weasel who screwed Richards over, Davey could easily come out of the exchange as a babyface. And with his partner soon to return from the broken arm and the valiant effort in the ladder war with Steen and Generico, the Wolves might just turn babyface together.
As long as we’re talking about Austin Aries, let’s look at another way to turn a heel into a babyface. One word: talent. Wrestling fans appreciate talent, and as I said above, we love a winner. If a performer like Aries consistently wrestles quality matches with an exciting move-set and flashy, aggressive, intelligent offense, fans will want to support him. Or, if his heel persona is entertaining and fun like the Rock’s was before he turned face in 1998, we will begin treating him like a face even if he isn’t booked accordingly. If our cheers are loud enough and we speak with our wallets (buying the heels’ merchandise and paying to watch him on ppv) the promoter may eventually listen to us and turn the heel babyface. It’s difficult for a salesman to continue fighting against his own customers, and if he can’t get us to boo the guys he want to have as villains, why bother? For years, crowds resisted Ric Flair’s heel booking and cheered him out of respect for his contributions to the industry and his decades of sacrifice in the name of entertaining us. Although he loves working heel, we just don’t want to hate him anymore. Our respect for Richard Fliehr transcends pro wrestling storylines, and we instinctively cheer him whenever we see him.
In much the same way that a worse heel can turn another heel face by treating him badly or dragging him into something, Brent Albright was pushed away from the heel side by two worse heels than he, Scrap Iron Adam Pearce and Larry Sweeney. Pearce “sold” the HANGM3N heel stable to Sweeney’s Sweet & Sour, Inc. without consulting members BJ Whitmer and Brent Albright, which didn’t sit right with them. Shortly after at the Injustice event, Albright defeated Delirious and was happy with that. But Sweeney demanded Albright break Delirious’ arm, and when Daizee Haze showed up to defend the Lizard Man, Sweeney ordered Albright to break her arm as well. But Albright refused to injure either of them and walked away, clearly unhappy with his new group. This disobedience and unwillingness towards unnecessary violence showed us that Albright’s in-ring killer instinct didn’t translate to unwarranted violence, and allowed us to see what sort of man he is. Less than a month later, Albright rebelled against his new team for the last time, suplexing everyone and turning babyface for good, earning our respect in the process.
That respect is a key component in heel/face alignments. Take Tyler Black, who debuted at the Man Up pay-per-view as part of the new, mystery heel stable known as the Age of the Fall. According to the angle, the leader of the AoTF, Jimmy Jacobs, brought Black to Ring of Honor so Tyler was obliged to do Jacobs’ bidding and follow him. It was evident that he wasn't the evil mastermind behind the heel faction, but simply following orders. Perhaps it was his plan all along to ride Jacobs' ideology into the ROH locker room and then break away when the time was right, or he might have been a true believer in Jacobs' message, but soon enough he decided he wanted to earn victories for himself whether it was in Jimmy’s grand plan or not.
Like Aries, Black is a good-looking young athlete who wrestles a flashy, exciting, high-energy style that's sure to entertain fans, which in and of itself plants the seed of a babyface turn. As I mentioned about Davey Richards, we wrestling fans tend to respect guys who look, act, and perform like winners, and Black was a hot young prospect who was taking pro wrestling by storm. The catalyst for his face turn was the Take No Prisoners ppv, recorded in March of 2008 and airing in May. Early on the card, Black scored an upset victory in a four-corners match against Go Shiozaki, Delirious, and Claudio Castagnoli to earn an ROH world title shot against Nigel McGuinness, who openly mocked him on commentary during his victory, setting the stage for their battle in the main event.
Without the other members of the AoTF in attendance, Black was very much alone that night and an underdog facing the well-rested, dominant McGuinness. However, he put up a brave fight against the champ, who pummeled and punished Black for the majority of the contest, earning Black the respect and admiration of the crowd as he continued to battle back against insurmountable odds, putting on a hell of a performance in the process. He not only gave an inspired effort, but nearly pulled out a shocking victory, displaying heart, guts, and determination not normally seen in a heel wrestler. As the contest wore on the audience reacted in the same way as the rent-a-crowd of Russian military personnel did during the climax of Rocky IV; they developed such an admiration for Black’s will to survive and to win that they started cheering him and chanting for him to become the champion.
The storyline didn't allow this moment to cement a face-turn for Black, but the match certainly demonstrated to ROH fans, who tend to chose their favorites based on in-ring quality and effort, that Black was a guy they could truly get behind. He was unofficially a babyface then and there.
One more way to turn a villain into a hero is to tell the story of enemies banding together against a common foe. Another Rocky analogy: when did Apollo Creed become a good guy? Before Balboa’s title defense against Mr. T’s Clubber Lang, Creed wished Rocky well, and later, after the champ got knocked out by the upstart load-mouth, Creed reached out to Balboa with an offer to teach him a better way to tackle the much bigger, stronger Lang. Apollo and Rocky had earned each other’s respect during their two ring wars, and they felt like kindred spirits who didn’t appreciate Lang’s disrespectful attitude. They wanted to shut him up and restore some honor to the championship title they both held with dignity in the past. When the two former foes banded together to face a worse villain than Apollo ever was, Creed’s “face-turn” was etched in stone. In wrestling, this “banding together against a common foe” angle always turns heels face, at least temporarily. While one promotion stands together against an unwelcome force like during the CZW invasion of ROH or perhaps more famously, the WCW/ECW Alliance InVasion of the WWF, all bets are off and old rivalries make way until the greater threat has been extinguished. Fans of the local promotion support anyone sporting their colors and fighting under the promotion’s banner against the would-be usurpers. Some heels who turned de facto face might go back to their heelish ways when the war is over, but others will remain fan favorites due to the bravery they showed in defending their home turf.
In a creative environment there are countless ways to shift a character’s allegiances, and as long as their motivation is just, their cause seems reasonable, and their journey is organic, making a new hero out of a former villain is a great way to shake up the status quo and invigorate the vibe in a wrestling promotion.
Vin Sanity is not categorized as a psychological disorder… yet.
p.s. – “Nothing is more unpleasant than a virtuous person with a mean mind.” - Walter Bagehot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The original version of this syndicated column, titled Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic, appears Fridays at midnight on Pulse Wrestling.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Daniel Douglas once again stirs emotions with a controversial topic in a column called Vince McMahon Doesn’t Care About Black People.
Ace Glazer wrote A Modest Response to DD’s piece as well.
Michael O’Mahony returns with another unique Poll Position about what makes a heavyweight champion.
Andy Wheeler talks RAW and Shane-O-Mac’s departure in this week’s For Your Consideration.
Jon Bandit reviews TNA’s Victory Road 2009 pay-per-view.
David Brashear continues his exploration of the good old days as One Year in Memphis continues.
Brian Eison recaps WWE Superstars, and Tess Nolde offers her Ten Thoughts on the show.
Finally this week, Chris Morgado does a Three Way Dance in his Column With No Name, covering Shane McMahon, Nigel “Desmond Wolfe” McGuinness in TNA, and WWE’s upcoming Bragging Rights show.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Has WWE Dropped the Ball?
Having just returned home after a trip to the Lone Star State, I got online and was greeted with the news that Nigel McGuinness had been snapped up by TNA because WWE was taking too long sending his paperwork. I'm honestly baffled!
What is it that would possibly make WWE wait more than 10 minutes to try bringing this guy in? McGuinness is arguably one of the best non-Asians in the business! Signing him could've kept every other promotion on the planet from making money from him, and WWE failed. It remains to be seen what TNA will do with McGuinness? Will he drop the ball? Will they drop the ball with him? I am avoiding reporting iMPACT! spoilers until he's seen on TV, but I am curious, excited, and hopeful.
What is it that would possibly make WWE wait more than 10 minutes to try bringing this guy in? McGuinness is arguably one of the best non-Asians in the business! Signing him could've kept every other promotion on the planet from making money from him, and WWE failed. It remains to be seen what TNA will do with McGuinness? Will he drop the ball? Will they drop the ball with him? I am avoiding reporting iMPACT! spoilers until he's seen on TV, but I am curious, excited, and hopeful.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The Vin Sanity of Wrestling – Race to the top…
Last week as I watched the exciting extra-innings tiebreaker between the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers, I thought about how much more fun sporting events are with something significant at stake. When you watch a baseball game in May you can enjoy it, but in the back of your mind you realize that a loss for your favorite team isn’t going to ruin their season, nor is a victory going to mean all that much. But in the 11th inning of a game in October, with a team’s entire season on the line, every pitch, every swing, every throw, every lead off a base becomes a monumental event, and the entire feeling of the game takes on a new dimension in excitement. That sort of playoff drama reminded me of an event from July of 2007, which created the same sense of urgency in the athletes competing to survive, hoping to advance to the next round as the Twins did before losing to those damn Yankees.
TODAY’S ISSUE: Ring of Honor’s Race to the Top Tournament.
In Deer Park, NY and Edison, NJ on 27 and 28 July 2007 respectively, ROH promoted a tournament designed to elevate wrestlers to the top of the card in a storyline attempt to fill actual vacancies caused by the departures of some key players from their main event scene, like CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and others. Ring of Honor often uses real life motivation as a storytelling device, for example, a newcomer hoping to make a strong showing in a match to earn more bookings and a possible full-time roster spot, which makes the match itself more interesting. In this tournament they did an exceptional job of creating that playoff vibe by imbuing the wrestlers with a sense of urgency thanks to the importance of this two-night affair, and it gave the matches that extra something special.
In a tournament, the grapplers are driven by a need to succeed and the high stakes involved, which adds a layer of intrigue to the in-ring proceedings. That’s part of the reason I tend to enjoy this format, or any other in which the winner actually earns something which could potentially have a significant positive impact on his career, like WWE’s new annual Money in the Bank tradition. Long time readers will recall the numerous times I mentioned a desire to see the big promotions implement a ranking system that could very easily make each and every match important, and how often I’ve raved whenever a promotion accomplishes the exciting atmosphere of something valued and prized by the contestants being on the line.
Before I quit watching the “big two”, I enjoyed WWE’s “Beat the Clock Challenge” matches which took the average, dull SmackDown! and RAW fare and made the matches a lot more entertaining. After all, we know Triple H is going to beat a performer like Funaki, but can he get the job done in less than 4:32? This element adds a tension for Triple H and may cause him to press, which not only makes for compelling wrestling action, but if the story of the match is handled properly, it could force The Game to make a huge mistake at a critical juncture, and if Funaki is on his toes, he might just pull out a miracle. He probably won’t of course, bus as long as the viewer concedes that Funaki might have a chance in this hypothetical match, he’s got an entertaining contest on his hands.
It’s unfortunate that WWE and TNA don’t book more series of this nature because with a few words from the GM a week or two before, a little hype from the commentators, and a single graphic displaying a catchy name like “Beat the Clock Challenge”, so much is added to the same boring, overused match-ups. It’s too good of an idea to leave on the shelf for long periods like the “big two” seem to do.
Case in point: Davey Richards should always beat Pelle Primeau in a wrestling match. The American Wolf is bigger, stronger, faster, and better than Pelle will ever be, and he’s much more seasoned and world-traveled. If they wrestle 4,279 times, the win/loss column should read “Davey Richards: 4,279 – Pelle Primeau: 0”. However, nine times out of ten in a WWE/TNA ring this contest would be a foregone conclusion, and the man in Richards’ position would stomp the guy in Primeau’s slot into oblivion for three minutes and casually end the match with his finishing move, which effectively tells the crowd two things: first, the loser of the match is worthless, and probably shouldn’t even have a job as a professional wrestler, therefore, you should never take him or any match/segment in which he appears seriously; second, the winner didn’t really accomplish much in victory, so again, who cares? These are not the responses a wrestling promoter should strive to invoke in his paying, or potentially paying, customers.
But when Richards and Primeau met in the second round of the Race to the Top tourney, ROH took an approach that was different from the squash that would have been expected in a “sportz entertainment” promotion. You see, Pelle was riding a wave of emotion and momentum thanks to his shocking upset victory over the much bigger, stronger, and more experienced BJ Whitmer in the opening round of the tournament the night prior, and Richards was taking him lightly. It was a perfect dramatic setup: the cocky, arrogant heel who has everything in his favor looks past the plucky, undersized and inexperienced rookie, assuming he’s got everything under control. This being the case, Pelle took Davey’s apathy as an opportunity to strike. He got himself on a roll that caught Richards completely off guard, and the match was suddenly very different from what Davey must have been expecting before the opening bell. And since it was a single-elimination tournament, Richards’ tension and Primeau’s attempt at continued overachieving were at the forefront, keeping things very interesting during what could have been a throwaway match.
Even when Richards snapped out of it and realized he needed to get serious if he didn’t want to become Primeau’s next upset victim, he wasn’t able to simply shrug off the underdog’s offense and head to the pay window. Within the story of the match, Davey had dug himself into something of a hole and had to struggle in order to dig himself out of it. Had Richards taken Primeau seriously to begin with it might not have been much of a match, but since he was overconfident and arrogant he gave Pelle a small opening and the overmatched rookie gave him one hell of a run for his money. Of course Davey won the match, but it was a fantastic way of handling a situation in which the average fan wouldn’t have given Primeau a chance. That’s one of the great things about the indies: they don’t hesitate to allow matches up and down the card to shine. Nobody forced these two to “hold back” for fear of overshadowing the main event later. It’s up to the two men in that slot to perform something memorable, and if the under-card is good, then the finals need to be extremely good to stack up in comparison.
There were several fun bouts in the two-night tourney, such as Quack/Sydal, Evans/Steen, Cross/Albright, and Hero/Stevens, plus a four-way contest for the FIP world heavyweight championship on Night 1 featuring Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Jimmy Rave and CHIKARA mainstay Gran Akuma. There was also a very unusual $10,000 eight-man tag team match on Night 2 with squads captained by Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. This match saw the Briscoes on opposing sides and two of the men under McGuinness’ banner (Strong and Delirious) fighting each other, resulting in an unusual and very entertaining affair.
By the time they got to the finals between El Generico and the much bigger, stronger Claudio Castagnoli, ROH had succeeded in setting up a very good story for the main event. The Generic Luchador scratched and clawed his way into the last match, scoring three upset victories and absorbing loads of physical damage along the way. Double C had a bit of an easier road to the end of this tournament, and was primed to end Generico’s Cinderella story once and for all. Throughout the contest, Castagnoli and Generico exploited this tale as Generico fought from beneath, surprising Claudio with his heart, determination, and never-say-die attitude on more than one occasion. In fact he came within a whisper of pulling off a miracle victory, but Double C was just too much for the smaller man to handle on that night. After a wicked exchange of finishers and near-falls, Claudio executed a splash-mountain style Ricola Bomb, planting El Generico into the canvas and securing ultimate victory for himself.
This was a terrific ending to a great tournament which entertained throughout, and that’s all I ask from my favorite hobby. Entertaining matches with reasonable storyline logic will always amount to something I’m willing to pay money to see. For those who are ready to stop hoping WWE and TNA will get it together if you just keep wading through their less-than-satisfying shows, I highly recommend you throw a few dollars in the direction of a strong independent promotion like Ring of Honor; you won’t regret it.
Speaking of purchasing ROH stuff, until Tuesday the 20th at noon E.S.T. they’re offering the huge Big Ten sale which consists of over 100 Ring of Honor DVDs for $10 each (including all in-stock titles from 2002-2006 and more), general admission tickets to November events for only $10, and you save 10% on your next order. Trust me, you can’t go wrong. At around three hours of good to very good action per show, $10 is a steal for a Ring of Honor DVD. Check it out!
Vin Sanity is not categorized as a psychological disorder… yet.
p.s. – “ Failures do what is tension relieving, while winners do what is goal achieving.” - Dennis Waitley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The original version of this syndicated column, titled Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic, appears Fridays at midnight on Pulse Wrestling.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Speaking of ROH, Ricardo Rochetti offers 10 thoughts on the most recent ROH on HDNet show.
Michael O’Mahony deftly handles a reader poll on the controversy that is Chris Benoit in this week’s Poll Position.
Speaking of controversy, Daniel Douglas raises some eyebrows in his must-read John Cena Must Die.
Aaron Glazer modestly blogs on Angle vs. Styles from the recent episode of iMPACT! Why even bother, Ace? You know Russo lives to out-think Internet fans, resulting in his stuff having absolutely zero logic whatsoever.
Reader favorite Charlie Reneke offers a way too long review of WWE’s Breaking Point ppv.
Will Pruett discusses the Undertaker and more in The People’s Column.
Andy Wheeler has some WWE thoughts For Your Consideration.
Finally this week, Chris Morgado fondly remembers the late Capt Lou Albano in The Column With No Name.
TODAY’S ISSUE: Ring of Honor’s Race to the Top Tournament.
In Deer Park, NY and Edison, NJ on 27 and 28 July 2007 respectively, ROH promoted a tournament designed to elevate wrestlers to the top of the card in a storyline attempt to fill actual vacancies caused by the departures of some key players from their main event scene, like CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and others. Ring of Honor often uses real life motivation as a storytelling device, for example, a newcomer hoping to make a strong showing in a match to earn more bookings and a possible full-time roster spot, which makes the match itself more interesting. In this tournament they did an exceptional job of creating that playoff vibe by imbuing the wrestlers with a sense of urgency thanks to the importance of this two-night affair, and it gave the matches that extra something special.
In a tournament, the grapplers are driven by a need to succeed and the high stakes involved, which adds a layer of intrigue to the in-ring proceedings. That’s part of the reason I tend to enjoy this format, or any other in which the winner actually earns something which could potentially have a significant positive impact on his career, like WWE’s new annual Money in the Bank tradition. Long time readers will recall the numerous times I mentioned a desire to see the big promotions implement a ranking system that could very easily make each and every match important, and how often I’ve raved whenever a promotion accomplishes the exciting atmosphere of something valued and prized by the contestants being on the line.
Before I quit watching the “big two”, I enjoyed WWE’s “Beat the Clock Challenge” matches which took the average, dull SmackDown! and RAW fare and made the matches a lot more entertaining. After all, we know Triple H is going to beat a performer like Funaki, but can he get the job done in less than 4:32? This element adds a tension for Triple H and may cause him to press, which not only makes for compelling wrestling action, but if the story of the match is handled properly, it could force The Game to make a huge mistake at a critical juncture, and if Funaki is on his toes, he might just pull out a miracle. He probably won’t of course, bus as long as the viewer concedes that Funaki might have a chance in this hypothetical match, he’s got an entertaining contest on his hands.
It’s unfortunate that WWE and TNA don’t book more series of this nature because with a few words from the GM a week or two before, a little hype from the commentators, and a single graphic displaying a catchy name like “Beat the Clock Challenge”, so much is added to the same boring, overused match-ups. It’s too good of an idea to leave on the shelf for long periods like the “big two” seem to do.
Case in point: Davey Richards should always beat Pelle Primeau in a wrestling match. The American Wolf is bigger, stronger, faster, and better than Pelle will ever be, and he’s much more seasoned and world-traveled. If they wrestle 4,279 times, the win/loss column should read “Davey Richards: 4,279 – Pelle Primeau: 0”. However, nine times out of ten in a WWE/TNA ring this contest would be a foregone conclusion, and the man in Richards’ position would stomp the guy in Primeau’s slot into oblivion for three minutes and casually end the match with his finishing move, which effectively tells the crowd two things: first, the loser of the match is worthless, and probably shouldn’t even have a job as a professional wrestler, therefore, you should never take him or any match/segment in which he appears seriously; second, the winner didn’t really accomplish much in victory, so again, who cares? These are not the responses a wrestling promoter should strive to invoke in his paying, or potentially paying, customers.
But when Richards and Primeau met in the second round of the Race to the Top tourney, ROH took an approach that was different from the squash that would have been expected in a “sportz entertainment” promotion. You see, Pelle was riding a wave of emotion and momentum thanks to his shocking upset victory over the much bigger, stronger, and more experienced BJ Whitmer in the opening round of the tournament the night prior, and Richards was taking him lightly. It was a perfect dramatic setup: the cocky, arrogant heel who has everything in his favor looks past the plucky, undersized and inexperienced rookie, assuming he’s got everything under control. This being the case, Pelle took Davey’s apathy as an opportunity to strike. He got himself on a roll that caught Richards completely off guard, and the match was suddenly very different from what Davey must have been expecting before the opening bell. And since it was a single-elimination tournament, Richards’ tension and Primeau’s attempt at continued overachieving were at the forefront, keeping things very interesting during what could have been a throwaway match.
Even when Richards snapped out of it and realized he needed to get serious if he didn’t want to become Primeau’s next upset victim, he wasn’t able to simply shrug off the underdog’s offense and head to the pay window. Within the story of the match, Davey had dug himself into something of a hole and had to struggle in order to dig himself out of it. Had Richards taken Primeau seriously to begin with it might not have been much of a match, but since he was overconfident and arrogant he gave Pelle a small opening and the overmatched rookie gave him one hell of a run for his money. Of course Davey won the match, but it was a fantastic way of handling a situation in which the average fan wouldn’t have given Primeau a chance. That’s one of the great things about the indies: they don’t hesitate to allow matches up and down the card to shine. Nobody forced these two to “hold back” for fear of overshadowing the main event later. It’s up to the two men in that slot to perform something memorable, and if the under-card is good, then the finals need to be extremely good to stack up in comparison.
There were several fun bouts in the two-night tourney, such as Quack/Sydal, Evans/Steen, Cross/Albright, and Hero/Stevens, plus a four-way contest for the FIP world heavyweight championship on Night 1 featuring Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Jimmy Rave and CHIKARA mainstay Gran Akuma. There was also a very unusual $10,000 eight-man tag team match on Night 2 with squads captained by Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. This match saw the Briscoes on opposing sides and two of the men under McGuinness’ banner (Strong and Delirious) fighting each other, resulting in an unusual and very entertaining affair.
By the time they got to the finals between El Generico and the much bigger, stronger Claudio Castagnoli, ROH had succeeded in setting up a very good story for the main event. The Generic Luchador scratched and clawed his way into the last match, scoring three upset victories and absorbing loads of physical damage along the way. Double C had a bit of an easier road to the end of this tournament, and was primed to end Generico’s Cinderella story once and for all. Throughout the contest, Castagnoli and Generico exploited this tale as Generico fought from beneath, surprising Claudio with his heart, determination, and never-say-die attitude on more than one occasion. In fact he came within a whisper of pulling off a miracle victory, but Double C was just too much for the smaller man to handle on that night. After a wicked exchange of finishers and near-falls, Claudio executed a splash-mountain style Ricola Bomb, planting El Generico into the canvas and securing ultimate victory for himself.
This was a terrific ending to a great tournament which entertained throughout, and that’s all I ask from my favorite hobby. Entertaining matches with reasonable storyline logic will always amount to something I’m willing to pay money to see. For those who are ready to stop hoping WWE and TNA will get it together if you just keep wading through their less-than-satisfying shows, I highly recommend you throw a few dollars in the direction of a strong independent promotion like Ring of Honor; you won’t regret it.
Speaking of purchasing ROH stuff, until Tuesday the 20th at noon E.S.T. they’re offering the huge Big Ten sale which consists of over 100 Ring of Honor DVDs for $10 each (including all in-stock titles from 2002-2006 and more), general admission tickets to November events for only $10, and you save 10% on your next order. Trust me, you can’t go wrong. At around three hours of good to very good action per show, $10 is a steal for a Ring of Honor DVD. Check it out!
Vin Sanity is not categorized as a psychological disorder… yet.
p.s. – “ Failures do what is tension relieving, while winners do what is goal achieving.” - Dennis Waitley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The original version of this syndicated column, titled Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic, appears Fridays at midnight on Pulse Wrestling.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Speaking of ROH, Ricardo Rochetti offers 10 thoughts on the most recent ROH on HDNet show.
Michael O’Mahony deftly handles a reader poll on the controversy that is Chris Benoit in this week’s Poll Position.
Speaking of controversy, Daniel Douglas raises some eyebrows in his must-read John Cena Must Die.
Aaron Glazer modestly blogs on Angle vs. Styles from the recent episode of iMPACT! Why even bother, Ace? You know Russo lives to out-think Internet fans, resulting in his stuff having absolutely zero logic whatsoever.
Reader favorite Charlie Reneke offers a way too long review of WWE’s Breaking Point ppv.
Will Pruett discusses the Undertaker and more in The People’s Column.
Andy Wheeler has some WWE thoughts For Your Consideration.
Finally this week, Chris Morgado fondly remembers the late Capt Lou Albano in The Column With No Name.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Vin Sanity of Wrestling – King of mystery…
Rey Mysterio. Translated from Spanish, this luchador’s name literally means “king mystery” or more accurately, the “mystery king”. Well, I’ve got a mystery for you: What makes a 175-pound cruiserweight, who once lit the U.S. pro wrestling scene on fire with his speed, agility, and never before seen high-flying maneuvers, transform into a bloated, overly-muscled oddity who gets caught violating the WWE’s “wellness policy”? I think you already know the answer…
TODAY’S ISSUE: What happened to Rey Mysterio?
Once known as Rey Misterio, Jr. after his famous wrestling uncle Rey Misterio, who trained him for the ring, Oscar Gutierrez didn’t need bulk or size to capture the imagination of wrestling fans in Mexico or the original ECW, and certainly not in WCW, where he regularly thrilled crowds in the late 90s thanks to his unique, high-risk offensive style and his tremendous heart. In fact, it was Rey Misterio, Jr. who helped usher in the age of the cruiserweights on the mainstream American scene. But seven years after his U.S. debut, Mr. Gutierrez packed his bags and went to work for the man who owned what had essentially become a pro wrestling monopoly, Vince McMahon, in his World Wrestling Entertainment promotion.
McMahon runs the WWE universe like his own personal playground instead of a company interested in entertaining fans and making money. He publicly demeans bigger, stronger men then himself, forces buxom young wenches to swoon for him as they battle for his affections, names characters and pushes or punishes them based on what makes him happy rather than what’s good for business, and hires people he hates just so he can humiliate them. Something bad must’ve happened to little Vinnie Mac when he was a young boy, because no matter how successful and powerful he became, he apparently never recovered enough self-esteem to allow himself to be happy being rich and famous. He’s always got to pick a fight with somebody or make some noise, and he loves being the bratty kid on the block who won’t just shut up and play nicely with his expensive toys.
McMahon is clearly obsessed with size; most of the wrestlers he’s pushed to the moon since the mid 1980s have been tall and heavily muscled, or freakish in size some other way like the late Yokozuna was. It’s one thing to push big dudes exclusively, but to require/encourage/support bodily inflation through the use of harmful chemicals is irresponsible and dirty. You see, if the only freaks of nature Vince kept around were the more natural looking ones like Mark Henry, Khali, and Big Show, it’d be difficult to make these assertions. However, with puffed up gargantuan monsters like Batista, John Cena and Chris Masters running around on WWE television amongst unbelievably cut, carved from granite, zero-body fat, living statues like Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, and John Morrison, it’s quite clear that chemicals are rampant in WWE locker rooms. And nobody’s going to convince me that McMahon, who himself was featured on the cover of Muscle & Fitness magazine three years ago at the age of 60, is either unaware of or against steroid use in his workers. He’s practically the poster boy for chemically enhanced physiques.
If you don’t believe the “bigger is better” attitude in WWE is harmful, think back to the number of injuries caused by excessive muscle growth throughout the years. Triple H had a freak quadriceps injury in which the muscle was ripped right off the bone, and he managed to accomplish this one-in-a-million injury again a few years later. Batista once re-injured a triceps tear by jogging. You’ve got to have some seriously degraded tendons and muscles in order to hurt your arm by running, folks. And we can speculate about the role drugs in general have played in the countless tragic deaths of wrestlers or former wrestlers who were far too young to pass away, but that will take things in a different direction than the one I’m going today. Suffice it to say, Vince has proven time and again that the bigger they are, the harder he pushes them. And professional wrestlers around the world know this and are forced to deal with it. If they want to make it in what most would consider the “big time”, they’ve got to be big.
McMahon’s unhealthy fascination with size has impacted the WWE “divas” as well. Most girls who Vince has drooled over on live television and used as T&A have had ridiculous looking giant breast implants, and unfortunately that “bigger is better” sickness of McMahon’s even trickled over into the body of his own daughter, Stephanie. Sadly, very few of the young ladies who went to work for WWE resisted the urge to have a surgeon carve up their flesh and insert bags of saline so they might better fit the mold of McMahon’s freakish ideal of the feminine figure. Kudos to Stacy Keibler for respecting her own natural beauty and sexy shape enough to resist the temptation of turning herself into a sideways view of the letter “P”, with angry-looking cleavage thrusting out the top of some too-skimpy stripper costume masquerading as wrestling gear. Chyna and Mickie James each had implants burst during matches, and that’s just got to hurt! Are we to understand that when your line of work requires you to absorb large sums of physical contact several nights a week, it’s a bad idea to shove pressurized bags of water under your muscles? Imagine that!
So when a very small man like Oscar Gutierrez came to work for Vince in 2002, with an impressive offensive arsenal that focused on speed, agility, athleticism and guile, without the word “power” in his vocabulary, “Rey Mysterio” had two choices. He was either destined to remain in the cruiserweight division, which McMahon regularly disrespected and mistreated (although it could have been a great draw for him), or he had to bulk up. At 5’6”, Gutierrez would obviously never be a physically imposing specimen, but he endeavored during his WWE run to pack on as much muscle as his frame could handle, and it was clear he had a little help in the weight room. A man can’t just suddenly bulk up by that amount in such a short timeframe without some artificial assistance.
If Vince hadn’t ridiculed the cruiserweights and booked the entire weight class into oblivion (didn’t a leprechaun retire that title?) there’d not only be a place for the original-sized Rey Mysterio without having to worry about inflating himself to ridiculous proportions via dangerous substances, but WWE could actually provide an exciting option in some of their SIX HOURS of weekly programming. Think of the impressive roster of cruisers currently under WWE contract who they could combine into a real wrestling division: James Gibson, Shane Helms, Chavo Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Matt “Evan Bourne” Sydal, Jimmy Yang and others could tear it up in all sorts of matches, delighting fans and bringing back a style of pro wrestling that WWE has lost in recent years.
They could even main-event a pay-per-view with the cruiserweight title if it were allowed to be a respected championship; it wouldn’t take long to remind the sheep who watch Vince’s programming that a fast-paced, innovative match which lasts for more than six minutes can actually be very enjoyable. Considering WWE is trying to “theme” their B-shows now, a cruiserweight tourney could actually comprise the majority of a ppv, especially in the new PG environment McMahon is attempting to build. After all, very rarely do cruisers require hatred, ultra-violence, or massive amounts of blood to thrill a crowd. Skilled cruiserweights capture fans’ imagination by wrestling exciting matches with high-risk offense, blurring speed, crazy maneuvers and stiff intensity, but rarely do they descend into the depths to which McMahon currently fears to “lower” his company. That statement is sort of ironic, considering the biggest boom period McMahon ever enjoyed centered on foul language, lewd gestures, nearly naked women, and toilet humor. My, what a difference a decade makes.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times – Vince ought to dedicate one hour a week, I’d recommend ECW, to real wrestling and feature nothing but cruiserweights and tag teams. Three matches per show with enough space between them (yes, between them; there’s no good reason to take advertising breaks during the matches!) for character-development and angle advancement segments before and after the commercials, would make for one pretty solid hour of television. But I digress…
Whether or not Gutierrez had a prescription for the drugs that caused his suspension is irrelevant. The point is that he has clearly used dangerous chemicals to drastically alter his body so he could get a run at the top of WWE. McMahon’s obsession with size/bulk/muscles has fundamentally changed a man who succeeded in two of the top wrestling federations of the day based on nothing but his own skills and gifts, and that’s a damned shame. Mysterio is currently at a crossroads in his life, based upon what we’ve witnessed countless times from other men who kept walking down a dangerous path, and paid the ultimate price for the wrestling stardom they craved. I hope Mr. Gutierrez stops short of that terrible fate and keeps himself healthy for a long time to come. Best of luck, King of Mystery.
Vin Sanity is not categorized as a psychological disorder… yet.
p.s. – “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” - Napoleon Bonaparte
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The original version of this syndicated column, titled Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic, appears each Friday at midnight on Pulse Wrestling.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Chris Morgado discusses Hell in a Cell in this week’s Column With No Name.
David Ditch looks at Misawa’s final years in AJPW in the latest Puroresu Pulse.
Will Pruett supports the upcoming Orton/Cena Iron Man match in The People’s Column.
Glazer and Pruett go head-to-head in the latest Versus.
Jake Ziegler reviews a weekend of ROH shows from early May: Never Say Die, and Validation.
Brian Eison has your WWE Superstars Recap for 10/08/09.
Michael O’Mahony writes a very interesting interactive column known as Poll Position. This week he (and the fans) take a look at wrestling films. Visit our reader forums to get involved in his next Poll Position, featuring the controversial Chris Benoit.
Finally this week, Charlie Reneke provides a way too long review of the Best of SmackDown! DVD set. Here’s disc 1, disc 2, and disc 3.
TODAY’S ISSUE: What happened to Rey Mysterio?
Once known as Rey Misterio, Jr. after his famous wrestling uncle Rey Misterio, who trained him for the ring, Oscar Gutierrez didn’t need bulk or size to capture the imagination of wrestling fans in Mexico or the original ECW, and certainly not in WCW, where he regularly thrilled crowds in the late 90s thanks to his unique, high-risk offensive style and his tremendous heart. In fact, it was Rey Misterio, Jr. who helped usher in the age of the cruiserweights on the mainstream American scene. But seven years after his U.S. debut, Mr. Gutierrez packed his bags and went to work for the man who owned what had essentially become a pro wrestling monopoly, Vince McMahon, in his World Wrestling Entertainment promotion.
McMahon runs the WWE universe like his own personal playground instead of a company interested in entertaining fans and making money. He publicly demeans bigger, stronger men then himself, forces buxom young wenches to swoon for him as they battle for his affections, names characters and pushes or punishes them based on what makes him happy rather than what’s good for business, and hires people he hates just so he can humiliate them. Something bad must’ve happened to little Vinnie Mac when he was a young boy, because no matter how successful and powerful he became, he apparently never recovered enough self-esteem to allow himself to be happy being rich and famous. He’s always got to pick a fight with somebody or make some noise, and he loves being the bratty kid on the block who won’t just shut up and play nicely with his expensive toys.
McMahon is clearly obsessed with size; most of the wrestlers he’s pushed to the moon since the mid 1980s have been tall and heavily muscled, or freakish in size some other way like the late Yokozuna was. It’s one thing to push big dudes exclusively, but to require/encourage/support bodily inflation through the use of harmful chemicals is irresponsible and dirty. You see, if the only freaks of nature Vince kept around were the more natural looking ones like Mark Henry, Khali, and Big Show, it’d be difficult to make these assertions. However, with puffed up gargantuan monsters like Batista, John Cena and Chris Masters running around on WWE television amongst unbelievably cut, carved from granite, zero-body fat, living statues like Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, and John Morrison, it’s quite clear that chemicals are rampant in WWE locker rooms. And nobody’s going to convince me that McMahon, who himself was featured on the cover of Muscle & Fitness magazine three years ago at the age of 60, is either unaware of or against steroid use in his workers. He’s practically the poster boy for chemically enhanced physiques.
If you don’t believe the “bigger is better” attitude in WWE is harmful, think back to the number of injuries caused by excessive muscle growth throughout the years. Triple H had a freak quadriceps injury in which the muscle was ripped right off the bone, and he managed to accomplish this one-in-a-million injury again a few years later. Batista once re-injured a triceps tear by jogging. You’ve got to have some seriously degraded tendons and muscles in order to hurt your arm by running, folks. And we can speculate about the role drugs in general have played in the countless tragic deaths of wrestlers or former wrestlers who were far too young to pass away, but that will take things in a different direction than the one I’m going today. Suffice it to say, Vince has proven time and again that the bigger they are, the harder he pushes them. And professional wrestlers around the world know this and are forced to deal with it. If they want to make it in what most would consider the “big time”, they’ve got to be big.
McMahon’s unhealthy fascination with size has impacted the WWE “divas” as well. Most girls who Vince has drooled over on live television and used as T&A have had ridiculous looking giant breast implants, and unfortunately that “bigger is better” sickness of McMahon’s even trickled over into the body of his own daughter, Stephanie. Sadly, very few of the young ladies who went to work for WWE resisted the urge to have a surgeon carve up their flesh and insert bags of saline so they might better fit the mold of McMahon’s freakish ideal of the feminine figure. Kudos to Stacy Keibler for respecting her own natural beauty and sexy shape enough to resist the temptation of turning herself into a sideways view of the letter “P”, with angry-looking cleavage thrusting out the top of some too-skimpy stripper costume masquerading as wrestling gear. Chyna and Mickie James each had implants burst during matches, and that’s just got to hurt! Are we to understand that when your line of work requires you to absorb large sums of physical contact several nights a week, it’s a bad idea to shove pressurized bags of water under your muscles? Imagine that!
So when a very small man like Oscar Gutierrez came to work for Vince in 2002, with an impressive offensive arsenal that focused on speed, agility, athleticism and guile, without the word “power” in his vocabulary, “Rey Mysterio” had two choices. He was either destined to remain in the cruiserweight division, which McMahon regularly disrespected and mistreated (although it could have been a great draw for him), or he had to bulk up. At 5’6”, Gutierrez would obviously never be a physically imposing specimen, but he endeavored during his WWE run to pack on as much muscle as his frame could handle, and it was clear he had a little help in the weight room. A man can’t just suddenly bulk up by that amount in such a short timeframe without some artificial assistance.
If Vince hadn’t ridiculed the cruiserweights and booked the entire weight class into oblivion (didn’t a leprechaun retire that title?) there’d not only be a place for the original-sized Rey Mysterio without having to worry about inflating himself to ridiculous proportions via dangerous substances, but WWE could actually provide an exciting option in some of their SIX HOURS of weekly programming. Think of the impressive roster of cruisers currently under WWE contract who they could combine into a real wrestling division: James Gibson, Shane Helms, Chavo Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Matt “Evan Bourne” Sydal, Jimmy Yang and others could tear it up in all sorts of matches, delighting fans and bringing back a style of pro wrestling that WWE has lost in recent years.
They could even main-event a pay-per-view with the cruiserweight title if it were allowed to be a respected championship; it wouldn’t take long to remind the sheep who watch Vince’s programming that a fast-paced, innovative match which lasts for more than six minutes can actually be very enjoyable. Considering WWE is trying to “theme” their B-shows now, a cruiserweight tourney could actually comprise the majority of a ppv, especially in the new PG environment McMahon is attempting to build. After all, very rarely do cruisers require hatred, ultra-violence, or massive amounts of blood to thrill a crowd. Skilled cruiserweights capture fans’ imagination by wrestling exciting matches with high-risk offense, blurring speed, crazy maneuvers and stiff intensity, but rarely do they descend into the depths to which McMahon currently fears to “lower” his company. That statement is sort of ironic, considering the biggest boom period McMahon ever enjoyed centered on foul language, lewd gestures, nearly naked women, and toilet humor. My, what a difference a decade makes.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times – Vince ought to dedicate one hour a week, I’d recommend ECW, to real wrestling and feature nothing but cruiserweights and tag teams. Three matches per show with enough space between them (yes, between them; there’s no good reason to take advertising breaks during the matches!) for character-development and angle advancement segments before and after the commercials, would make for one pretty solid hour of television. But I digress…
Whether or not Gutierrez had a prescription for the drugs that caused his suspension is irrelevant. The point is that he has clearly used dangerous chemicals to drastically alter his body so he could get a run at the top of WWE. McMahon’s obsession with size/bulk/muscles has fundamentally changed a man who succeeded in two of the top wrestling federations of the day based on nothing but his own skills and gifts, and that’s a damned shame. Mysterio is currently at a crossroads in his life, based upon what we’ve witnessed countless times from other men who kept walking down a dangerous path, and paid the ultimate price for the wrestling stardom they craved. I hope Mr. Gutierrez stops short of that terrible fate and keeps himself healthy for a long time to come. Best of luck, King of Mystery.
Vin Sanity is not categorized as a psychological disorder… yet.
p.s. – “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” - Napoleon Bonaparte
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The original version of this syndicated column, titled Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic, appears each Friday at midnight on Pulse Wrestling.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Chris Morgado discusses Hell in a Cell in this week’s Column With No Name.
David Ditch looks at Misawa’s final years in AJPW in the latest Puroresu Pulse.
Will Pruett supports the upcoming Orton/Cena Iron Man match in The People’s Column.
Glazer and Pruett go head-to-head in the latest Versus.
Jake Ziegler reviews a weekend of ROH shows from early May: Never Say Die, and Validation.
Brian Eison has your WWE Superstars Recap for 10/08/09.
Michael O’Mahony writes a very interesting interactive column known as Poll Position. This week he (and the fans) take a look at wrestling films. Visit our reader forums to get involved in his next Poll Position, featuring the controversial Chris Benoit.
Finally this week, Charlie Reneke provides a way too long review of the Best of SmackDown! DVD set. Here’s disc 1, disc 2, and disc 3.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
The Vin Sanity of Wrestling – Comparisons…
It’s been over eight years since the death of the original Extreme Championship Wrestling, and I recently decided to take another look at the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD. Following along once again with the sad tale of the indy fed hitting amazing heights only to quickly slide into destruction reminded me in an indirect way of the promotion that was born from the ashes of ECW known as Ring of Honor.
TODAY’S ISSUE: Similarities between the original ECW and today’s ROH.
Many comparisons have been drawn between ECW and ROH over the years. Like ECW before them, ROH is a Philadelphia-based promotion that offers niche programming (Ring of Honor features realistic wrestling rather than ECW’s hardcore style, but it still appeals to a select fanbase). A decade ago, ECW survived for years on the support of rabidly dedicated fans who were loyal enough to travel all over to attend live events and scoop up DVDs as soon as they were pressed, spending their hard-earned money keeping a small-but-beloved promotion afloat, and that’s exactly how ROH has existed for nearly eight years. In both companies, those committed fans created such a buzz that ECW and ROH each became forces to be reckoned with in the world of professional wrestling, driving them first to pay-per-view and eventually to cable television.
Today, ROH is forced to compete for a slice of the market against two huge, established promotions, World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action, as the original ECW once fought from beneath against the ultra-popular WWF and WCW during the height of the Monday Night War. Unfortunately, both WWE and TNA air on big television networks, employ famous talent, enjoy some mainstream notoriety and have resources well beyond anything Ring of Honor has at their disposal, which was the case ten years ago between ECW and the “big two” of that time.
When ECW finally made it to television, their deal with TNN (which ironically evolved into Spike TV, TNA’s current home network) was far less than they hoped it would have been. TNN didn’t funnel any new money into the company; in fact, it cost ECW dearly to produce the show, at a time when Paul Heyman could hardly afford new expenses. TNN didn’t advertise the ECW program or support the fed’s growth, and they kept Heyman locked into his contract, preventing him from negotiating for a new deal with a different network even while TNN publicly bargained to bring WWE’s flagship Monday Night RAW program over from the USA Network.
In the case of Ring of Honor and cable TV, owner Cary Silken felt it necessary to release his top creative mind, Gabe Sapolsky, and dramatically alter the product in order to secure a slot on Mark Cuban’s fledgling HDNet. Without Gabe at the helm, ROH suddenly started producing shorter matches with fewer exciting high spots and more unsatisfying finishes. They elected to switch to a format with more disqualifications, count-outs, run-ins and interference, essentially changing the very fiber of what Ring of Honor was, drastically reducing ROH’s appeal to it’s rabid fanbase in the first place. They dumped Lenny Leonard in favor of the horrible Mike Hogewood, and reduced Dave Prazak from a focused, knowledgeable play-by-play man to a heel sidekick, an annoying apologist who loves everything the bad guys do regardless of how blatantly unethical. Unfortunately, none of the entertaining qualities of Prazak’s “DP Associates” heel character found in Full Impact Pro show through in his HDNet gimmick. So just like Heyman experienced years earlier, cable television wasn’t the saving grace Cary Silken thought it would be for his promotion either.
At the end of ECW’s run when they were in their steepest decline, the most decorated and important soldiers in Heyman’s army started going A.W.O.L. in the heat of battle. Just when he needed them most, Taz, the Dudley Boyz, Mike Awesome (who jumped to WCW while still carrying the ECW world title) and other key players abandoned ship. ROH isn’t in the same sort of jeopardy that ECW was in at that point in their history, but the similarity in wrestlers leaving is striking. Two of Ring of Honor’s biggest stars and former world champions, American Dragon Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness have recently signed with WWE, and in not-too-distant ROH history two other top stars and former champs, CM Punk and Samoa Joe jumped up to the “big two” and became important players for WWE and TNA respectively. Before that, Homicide, Alex Shelley, AJ Styles and Jimmy Rave all left ROH for TNA, while Colt Cabana and Matt Sydal both recently jumped to WWE from Ring of Honor (although Boom-Boom has thankfully returned after being “future-endeavored” by Vince and pals).
Hopefully Ring of Honor won’t meet the same fate as Paul Heyman’s baby, but with two of their biggest guns heading to McMahonland, their greatest creative mind now running another promotion, a television show that doesn’t truly reflect on the core nature of the company, their pay-per-view deal lost, and their fanbase no longer regularly thrilled by their efforts, ROH isn’t riding as high as they were just two years ago. However they’ve still got every opportunity to turn it around and continue as the leading indy fed in the U.S., but with Dragon Gate USA breathing down their necks and things obviously different than when ROH was the hungry, young kid on the block, Silken and company will have to rediscover the fire that once burned within them.
Thankfully they’ve got an unbelievable all-around performer at the helm in the first ever two-time ROH world heavyweight champion Austin Aries, and some great young lions like Tyler Black, Kenny King, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks, along with established veteran stars like Roderick Strong, the Briscoes, Delirious, Chris Hero, Erick Stevens, and Brent Albright. With talent like that, they have the guns to keep fighting to recover their once lofty status. I wish them well and will continue to support them as they strive to recover an aura that was built by years of hard work by dedicated, talented performers and based on the love of loyal fans who backed them for well over seven years. Good luck, Ring of Honor; your fans still love you.
Vin Sanity is not categorized as a psychological disorder… yet.
p.s. – “Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine.” - Walter Cronkite
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The original version of this syndicated column, titled Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic, appears each Monday morning on Pulse Wrestling.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Speaking of ROH, here are Pulse Wrestling’s official Ring of Honor rankings for 2 Oct 09.
Caged rage is comin’ atcha! Check out our staffers’ picks for WWE’s Hell in a Cell event in the Rasslin’ Roundtable along with PK’s live coverage of the latest “themed” event to emanate from McMahonland. Plus, you can listen to an exclusive 30-minute audio recap of the show known as the Mango PPV Rewind featuring GRUT, PK, Daniels, and widro. Hell, even Scott Keith dusted off his keyboard for a Smark Q’n’D Rant of the ppv.
Hack Johnson takes a look at the independent wrestling scene in another edition of This Week in Indies.
Check out Brian Eison’s SmackDown! Recap for 10/02/09.
Ace Glazer, never at a loss for words, takes on Charlie Reneke’s Way Too Long Review of SummerSlam ’09 in the return of A Modest Response.
Finally this week, Chris Morgado wakes up and smells the coffee in this week’s Column With No Name. Good for you, Mr. Morgado. I’ve been off mainstream stuff for two years, and I’ve loved every minute of being an indy junkie.
TODAY’S ISSUE: Similarities between the original ECW and today’s ROH.
Many comparisons have been drawn between ECW and ROH over the years. Like ECW before them, ROH is a Philadelphia-based promotion that offers niche programming (Ring of Honor features realistic wrestling rather than ECW’s hardcore style, but it still appeals to a select fanbase). A decade ago, ECW survived for years on the support of rabidly dedicated fans who were loyal enough to travel all over to attend live events and scoop up DVDs as soon as they were pressed, spending their hard-earned money keeping a small-but-beloved promotion afloat, and that’s exactly how ROH has existed for nearly eight years. In both companies, those committed fans created such a buzz that ECW and ROH each became forces to be reckoned with in the world of professional wrestling, driving them first to pay-per-view and eventually to cable television.
Today, ROH is forced to compete for a slice of the market against two huge, established promotions, World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action, as the original ECW once fought from beneath against the ultra-popular WWF and WCW during the height of the Monday Night War. Unfortunately, both WWE and TNA air on big television networks, employ famous talent, enjoy some mainstream notoriety and have resources well beyond anything Ring of Honor has at their disposal, which was the case ten years ago between ECW and the “big two” of that time.
When ECW finally made it to television, their deal with TNN (which ironically evolved into Spike TV, TNA’s current home network) was far less than they hoped it would have been. TNN didn’t funnel any new money into the company; in fact, it cost ECW dearly to produce the show, at a time when Paul Heyman could hardly afford new expenses. TNN didn’t advertise the ECW program or support the fed’s growth, and they kept Heyman locked into his contract, preventing him from negotiating for a new deal with a different network even while TNN publicly bargained to bring WWE’s flagship Monday Night RAW program over from the USA Network.
In the case of Ring of Honor and cable TV, owner Cary Silken felt it necessary to release his top creative mind, Gabe Sapolsky, and dramatically alter the product in order to secure a slot on Mark Cuban’s fledgling HDNet. Without Gabe at the helm, ROH suddenly started producing shorter matches with fewer exciting high spots and more unsatisfying finishes. They elected to switch to a format with more disqualifications, count-outs, run-ins and interference, essentially changing the very fiber of what Ring of Honor was, drastically reducing ROH’s appeal to it’s rabid fanbase in the first place. They dumped Lenny Leonard in favor of the horrible Mike Hogewood, and reduced Dave Prazak from a focused, knowledgeable play-by-play man to a heel sidekick, an annoying apologist who loves everything the bad guys do regardless of how blatantly unethical. Unfortunately, none of the entertaining qualities of Prazak’s “DP Associates” heel character found in Full Impact Pro show through in his HDNet gimmick. So just like Heyman experienced years earlier, cable television wasn’t the saving grace Cary Silken thought it would be for his promotion either.
At the end of ECW’s run when they were in their steepest decline, the most decorated and important soldiers in Heyman’s army started going A.W.O.L. in the heat of battle. Just when he needed them most, Taz, the Dudley Boyz, Mike Awesome (who jumped to WCW while still carrying the ECW world title) and other key players abandoned ship. ROH isn’t in the same sort of jeopardy that ECW was in at that point in their history, but the similarity in wrestlers leaving is striking. Two of Ring of Honor’s biggest stars and former world champions, American Dragon Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness have recently signed with WWE, and in not-too-distant ROH history two other top stars and former champs, CM Punk and Samoa Joe jumped up to the “big two” and became important players for WWE and TNA respectively. Before that, Homicide, Alex Shelley, AJ Styles and Jimmy Rave all left ROH for TNA, while Colt Cabana and Matt Sydal both recently jumped to WWE from Ring of Honor (although Boom-Boom has thankfully returned after being “future-endeavored” by Vince and pals).
Hopefully Ring of Honor won’t meet the same fate as Paul Heyman’s baby, but with two of their biggest guns heading to McMahonland, their greatest creative mind now running another promotion, a television show that doesn’t truly reflect on the core nature of the company, their pay-per-view deal lost, and their fanbase no longer regularly thrilled by their efforts, ROH isn’t riding as high as they were just two years ago. However they’ve still got every opportunity to turn it around and continue as the leading indy fed in the U.S., but with Dragon Gate USA breathing down their necks and things obviously different than when ROH was the hungry, young kid on the block, Silken and company will have to rediscover the fire that once burned within them.
Thankfully they’ve got an unbelievable all-around performer at the helm in the first ever two-time ROH world heavyweight champion Austin Aries, and some great young lions like Tyler Black, Kenny King, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks, along with established veteran stars like Roderick Strong, the Briscoes, Delirious, Chris Hero, Erick Stevens, and Brent Albright. With talent like that, they have the guns to keep fighting to recover their once lofty status. I wish them well and will continue to support them as they strive to recover an aura that was built by years of hard work by dedicated, talented performers and based on the love of loyal fans who backed them for well over seven years. Good luck, Ring of Honor; your fans still love you.
Vin Sanity is not categorized as a psychological disorder… yet.
p.s. – “Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine.” - Walter Cronkite
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The original version of this syndicated column, titled Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic, appears each Monday morning on Pulse Wrestling.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Speaking of ROH, here are Pulse Wrestling’s official Ring of Honor rankings for 2 Oct 09.
Caged rage is comin’ atcha! Check out our staffers’ picks for WWE’s Hell in a Cell event in the Rasslin’ Roundtable along with PK’s live coverage of the latest “themed” event to emanate from McMahonland. Plus, you can listen to an exclusive 30-minute audio recap of the show known as the Mango PPV Rewind featuring GRUT, PK, Daniels, and widro. Hell, even Scott Keith dusted off his keyboard for a Smark Q’n’D Rant of the ppv.
Hack Johnson takes a look at the independent wrestling scene in another edition of This Week in Indies.
Check out Brian Eison’s SmackDown! Recap for 10/02/09.
Ace Glazer, never at a loss for words, takes on Charlie Reneke’s Way Too Long Review of SummerSlam ’09 in the return of A Modest Response.
Finally this week, Chris Morgado wakes up and smells the coffee in this week’s Column With No Name. Good for you, Mr. Morgado. I’ve been off mainstream stuff for two years, and I’ve loved every minute of being an indy junkie.
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