High Road/Low Road 10.30.09: The World Elite

Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road!

A brief explanation of the column: Sat takes the High Road (positive view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related “stuff” while Uncletrunx Chad Nevett takes the Low Road (negative view).

Sat: Last week we had a huge announcement last week with Uncletrunx stepping down. I was surprised with the number of people who responded with their low roads and it was really hard for me to pick a winner. At the end of the day, I went with my initial gut reaction. I now present the new Low Road writer…

Chad Nevett: Hello, all, it’s great to be a part of the column and I’m still kind of surprised I was chosen. A brief introduction: I’m from Windsor, Ontario, I grew up watching wrestling, but stopped sometime in high school. My roommate a couple of years ago was a big fan, so I got back into it that way and have since gotten my girlfriend into watching it, too. My favorite wrestler is Chris Jericho and, for somewhat obvious reasons, I have a bias for Canadian wrestlers. Beyond wrestling, I have my Master’s in English, am a bit of a popculture junkie, and I write comic reviews for Comic Book Resources and blog extensively about comics in a couple of places.

Sat: Let’s get going with the column. Obviously, Chad will not be responding to emails and comments this week, but he’ll dive in next week.

Chad Nevett: I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks of my debut and, hopefully, people will be kind as I try my best to be a worthy successor to Uncletrunx.

Results for Bragging Rights – Seven on Seven:

High Road: 36%
Low Road: 56%
Both Roads: 08%

World Elite

High Road:

I like the name World Elite for the group because the group does contain the world’s best. The group has a collection from stars from countries such as Canada (Young), Mexico (Homicide), England (British Invasion), and Japan (Kiyoshi) and you could argue that these are the best wrestlers from those countries.

Low Road:

In some cases, like Kiyoshi, they are the only wrestlers in TNA from those countries, so aren’t they the ‘best’ by default? Being the lone representative of a country doesn’t make you the best, particularly when, before the formation of the World Elite, half of the group barely did anything except job to other wrestlers. It’s a gimmick group that’s padded out with low-level midcarders to increase the numbers.

High Road:

The World Elite has been made into a big deal and that helps to get them over as a major group that needs to be feared. When they were first introduced they were interacting with the top group (The Main Event Mafia) in TNA. Since that time, they have had success by winning the Legends Championship, the TNA Tag Team Titles and the IWGP Tag Team Titles. If the World Elite had not done any of these things, then they would have just been a group; since they have done these things, they have become a big deal in TNA.

Low Road:

The Legends Championship is not taken seriously by anyone having begun as a vanity belt for Booker T that has yet to progress beyond that joke status. After joining the World Elite, the British Invasion were easily dispatched with by Hernandez at Hard Justice, Rob Terry looking completely ineffective. Then, they lost to Hernandez again on the October 15 iMPACT despite interference by Eric Young. The other members of the group have done nothing of value. One token belt along with the tag titles while getting defeated numerous times by one man is not dominance.

High Road:

The World Elite would not be a major faction in TNA if they had a stupid leader. You look back at all of the major groups in professional wrestling and all of them have a great leader. Eric Young has shown that he is very smart leader because he has assembled a great group of wrestlers. He also outsmarted the smartest man in wrestling in Kevin Nash at Bound for Glory. And this past Thursday on Impact, Kurt Angle praised Eric Young and this means a lot because Angle was the leader of the best group for the past year. The World Elite is definitely a major group in TNA because they have a capable leader in Eric Young.

Low Road:

Is Kevin Nash the smartest man in wrestling if he didn’t see a betrayal from Eric Young coming when everyone else did? A group of this supposed import needs a leader who will go after the main prize, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, not a less-than-secondary belt like the Legends Championship. It suggests that Young knows he, and the World Elite by extension, isn’t good enough to be a truly dominant force in TNA, preferring to go after lesser, more easily attained belts.

High Road:

The Main Event Mafia was the dominant force in TNA for the past year and I would argue that it was the World Elite that took them out. The World Elite caused problems between the members of the Main Event Mafia with Eric Young taking the bounty that was on his head and doubling it to get Kevin Nash to help with Hernandez. This caused dissension with Angle and Nash. While TNA did not show how Booker T was “injured” at Bound for Glory, I think it save to assume that they want us to think that the World Elite was the ones that took him out. Taking out the top group for the past year has to be a huge feather in the cap for the World Elite.

Low Road:

The Main Event Mafia was coming apart before the World Elite got involved because each member was concerned with his own situation. The World Elite had nothing to do with Samoa Joe or Kurt Angle losing their titles, those two being the two best wrestlers in the Main Event Mafia. The MEM dissolved because it grew too large and unwieldy with each member focused on retaining his own championship rather than working for a common cause and the World Elite merely took advantage of that situation.

High Road:

I am sure most of you are going to find this crazy, but I am going to say it. I think Eric Young has the potential to be a world champion. I think the new look has done wonders for him. The fact that he is able to lead a large faction like the World Elite also helps his chances to become world champion. The thing that really makes him a world champion contender is the fact that he outsmarted Kevin Nash for the Legends Title. I would buy Eric Young as a world champion.

Low Road:

He won the Legends Title in a triple threat match by playing his two opponents against one another and picking up the pieces, but he has yet to show himself as being capable enough in one-on-one matches to be world champion material, including a loss to Hernandez at No Surrender. His singles matches while leading the World Elite have not inspired confidence, nor has his ability to help his stablemates win by interfering. He and the World Elite have had only one real victory and that was at Bound for Glory.

High Road:

I like the addition of Homicide into this group for a few reasons. First, it gives them another wrestler from a different country. Second, I like the fact that Homicide has been separated from Hernandez. While I like Hernandez a lot, I like Homicide a lot more and Homicide was being held back because TNA was interested in pushing Hernandez from that team. I think that by having Homicide join the World Elite, Homicide will finally get to show that he is capable singles wrestler.

Low Road:

Homicide joining the World Elite could have been a big deal after losing the X-Division Title to Samoa Joe, but he has yet to make an mark anywhere beyond the initial surprise of him turning on Hernandez. Since then, he hasn’t done anything of real consequence. Nor has he been a factor in helping the World Elite dispatch with Hernandez, the biggest thorn in the group’s side. Homicide should have made dealing with Hernandez easier for the group, but it was a non-factor and that’s what Homicide has been to date as a member of the faction.

Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?

High Road
Low Road
Both Roads
OR

Simply write “High Road”, “Low Road”, or “Both Roads” in the comment section.

E-Mails:

These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.

Freddy Neuwendyke Writes:

While I do like the idea of 7 man teams I just think the big problem with this one will be either A.) everybody’s time in will be extremely short which doesn’t tell very much of a story throughout the match. or B.) it will be extremely long so everybody gets in. A very long match might wear out the fans before the Iron Man match. Also I really think they should have saved the Raw brand versus Smackdown brand match for Survivor Series.

I also wanna wish UncleTrunx well in whatever he does beyond HighRoad/Low Road. It was a great ride, man.

Sat: While Uncletrunx may be gone, he will definitely be back for one column in the future.

Jeremy Castillo Writes:

I give the Bragging Rights 7 vs. 7 match a definite low road, mainly because I hate how they booked Raw’s team. None of the qualifying matches felt any more important than usual, especially when Mark Henry didn’t qualify on his actual brand’s show. There is too much bad blood between the members for anyone to believe they can work together. Three weeks between events is also way too short. At least the 2005 rivalry had sneak attacks and backstage fights and, you know, drama. Team Smackdown shows up in customized tights with the show’s logo and Team RAW couldn’t even wear matching t-shirts.

Plus, the new Team Smackdown seems just as bad (haven’t seen the show yet) since R-Truth and Matt Hardy have been glorified jobbers lately. Not to mention Mike Knox, who would’ve counteracted Big Show and Henry’s size, was passed up for Finlay on a mostly heel team. Christ, the original Team SmackDown would’ve been fine if you replaced Cryme Tyme Hart Dynasty qualified first because every member would be a heel.

Another thing that bothers me about Team SD 2.0 is Kane and R-Truth have the longest stints on the blue brand.. Jericho was drafted in April; the others came over in the Donald Trump trade. How much brand loyalty do you think they have?

Sat: Matt Hardy and R-Truth have been losing like crazy, why would you even want them on your team.

Comments:

Below are the comments for last week’s columns and our responses. Every comment will not be included because it makes our lives a lot easier. The comments section was last looked at on Thursday Morning Pacific Time.

Black Hole of Charisma Writes:

Low Road

What are they fighting for? Brand Supremacy? Why would they want that when they might very well be on the other brand in 6 months, meaning they just helped make their new home weaker.

And what do they win? Bragging rights? Not title shots, money or anything that matters the next morning. Why should the wrestlers even care (which is a different way of saying why should I care)? Heck, have somebody put together a Brand Supremacy trophy and use it as a setpeice in the winning GM’s office. BUT MAKE THEM FIGHT FOR SOMETHING! Otherwise its a big fat load of who cares.

Sat: The problem I have is that you do this match and then the following week, you start to ignore the brand extension.

Jaime Writes:

Low Road: Simply put, all this nonsense could/should have been done for Survivor Series. This time there would be time to build this rivalry than what? 2 weeks?

Sat: I kind of like this at Bragging Rights. I think Survivor Series will have brand only five on five matches.

Jbardo Writes:

Low Road for 2 reasons

1) 7 on 7 is too many for a single fall.

2)They should of waited till survivor series & made it an elimination match.

Still has potential to be a good match tho.

Sat: I’ll agree with the fact that single fall is not good for a seven on seven match. After seeing the world title matches set, I am wondering what kind of 5 on 5 matches we will have at the Survivor Series.

BobbyC Writes:

Low Road

“What are they fighting for?” – black hole of charisma

“Absolutely nothing. Say it again.” – Edwin Starr, “War”

Here’s what I would have done.

Whomever gets the pin gets to create a 4 man team for Surivor Series. Whomever gets pinned is off TV the rest of the year.

The winner at Bragging Rights will have a team of 4 wrestlers. Two individual wrestlers and one tag team. The winner of their match at Survivor will win guaranteed Championship matches (on their brand) at TLC – World/WWE (going to the team captain), IC/US (to the other singles wrestler) and Tag Team. Their opponents will consistent of one former World/WWE champ, one former IC/US champ and one former Tag Team champion. Those wrestlers will be selected in a “lottery” on the November 2nd Raw.

Sat: The WWE totally would never do this.

Akakhawk Writes:

Low road – mainly because the timing is all wrong. You don’t have to do it at Survivor Series necessarily, as the 5 on 5 elimination match works on it’s own, but either do it @ Survivor Series or the December PPV, and put something on the line.

The best way I can think of, if I was going to book it, would be to put spots in the Royal Rumble on the line. Say, the winning brand gets 15 spots, the loser gets 10, and ECW gets 5 regardless. If it’s elimination style, you could even go a step further and say that the captains on the winning team are guaranteed a number in the RR from 21-30.

Now you’ve got something that everyone on the roster is interested in, since if the team does well they have a better opportunity of qualifying for the Rumble. In addition you have the possible dynamic of a heel team member intentionally getting pinned to screw over a face captain or something like that, or cutting a deal with the other team.

Sat: I’ll agree with the fact that you need to give the individual wrestlers an incentive to win.

Guest #5344 Writes:

High Road.

Despite the awkward timing of this PPV, I like the idea. I realize it’s meant to coincide with the release of the new SVR video game, but I think it would be better in December.

Survivor Series puts everyone in a “team” frame of mind. That’s an easy transition to Bragging Rights.

As for the winning prize… I’d say the winning brand gets to determine who’s #30 in the Royal Rumble. Besides, the promos could go: “they we’re partners, now it’s every man for himself” or something cliche like that.

A few other tweaks…
– More brand vs brand matches. Make it like the WWE’s Olympics.
– Eliminate single-brand matches. Let the Orton-Cena saga rest for a month.
– Change the main event format. 14 guys in the ring at once? Yikes. I’d say have 7 brand-vs-brand matches, and the winners advance to the main event tag match.

Sat: I initially did think of this, but my problem is that this would devalue WrestleMania.

Iron Knee Writes:

High-ish Road
If the brands were kept totally apart, then this would be like the old MLB All-Star Game. As it is, it’s merely a clever idea that has no real impact. More needs to be at stake; for example, the brand that wins the most matches might be allowed a shot at the other brand’s 2nd tier belt or even their championship.

Sat: The thing that first needs to happen is that trades can only happen once a year and besides that no wrestler can move across brands.

The Great Captain Smooth Writes:

Both roads. High, because it could be used to see which wrestlers might have chemistry together and that info might come in handy around the Rumble, MITB, or Draft. Low, because it showcases my main issue with the teams. Why would HHH want to team up with Swagger to beat up R-Truth? I say they need to make two matches. RAW faces vs. SD heels and RAW heels vs. SD faces. If the RAW heels won their match and the RAW faces lost their’s, they could start some shit about how they were good enough to beat SD, but the faces weren’t. There are so many storylines that could come out of any combo of winners and losers. It’s a good tool, just aimed wrong.

Sat: That’s the main problem. Why would Swagger care about RAW winning; he’s only been there for a few months.

Jay Writes:

I expect to see the likes of Triple H dominating and the lesser partners getting lost in the shuffle. To me, it all looks like a gimmick for the sake of having one. It’s too similar to the upcoming Survivor Series concept, they’re fighting for “Brand superiority”, a concept nobody believes in and which is usually ignored by the company and the teams are lopsided, detracting from the interest still further. In short, a huge Low Road for me to finish on!
That is a perfect statement

Sat: They need to come up with better gimmicks for their pay per views. Some of the things they have been doing has been questionable.

B.W.G. Writes:

High Road

–A multi-man tag is main eventing a PPV (presently, at least). Considering that tag matches rarely get to headline any PPVs (in the ‘E), I’ll always be psyched when it happens.

–Agree with the possibly of this getting a lot of time (or as much time as one would expect WWE to give something), though not necessarily because of the short # of mtaches on the card, but because it will be blatantly booked to differentiate from the SS matches next month: history has shown that those are usually booked to be shorter, with the eliminations coming fast and often.

–On the possible booking of “young guys and undercarders get crushed, main eventers stroke their ego, this is all just to advance another storyline”: Folks, this is one of the advantages of watching so much Japanese wrestling,CHIKARA, and TNA (to a certain extent): that is the sort of thing that tends to happen in these multi-man MEs, and after a while you get used to it. Plus, with the live crowds it’s a formula that works. The key there, as in this case, is for the talent involved to add enough nuances to the match so that no one ends up caring too much about the predictable booking. Then again, they could do what the other promotions tend to do at least semi-often: book it in completely different ways.

Sat: Going in, I did not expect this to be in the main event.

Sly Reference Writes:

Based on the question itself, Low Road, but based on the arguments given, Both Roads.

It seems like both of you are kind of down on the execution, which I don’t blame you for. Like so many other things the WWE has done, it’s an interesting concept but the card doesn’t live up to the idea. This is just like the InVasion all over again: a mediocre build-up to one big match, where they talk about competition but don’t really show it. That’s the problem with the storytelling in the WWE: they tell us what they want us to think is going up, but they never really show it. It shouldn’t be about one match, especially if it’s single elimination. It should be about brand vs. brand, champ vs. champ, with other interbrand matches to round out the card. The Iron Man match shouldn’t be on the same PPV.

One of the other comments has it right: this PPV should be done in December, and should be the new kick off of the Road to Wrestlemania. I like the idea of letting the winners choose #30 in the Royal Rumble, because it would immediately peg them as the favorite. Then you can do a month of stories on that brand with all the players trying to convince the GM that they should get the #30 slot. This would add to the build to Wrestlemania.

It could also help establish a new “meta-story” for the WWE, where the shows are about more about competition between the brands, building up to Bragging Rights. It could make the draft seem more essential, because the GMs have to start figuring out their teams for the next year, and undercut the opposing brand. Of course, that would mean getting away from the “random selection” process that’s been used in the recent drafts, but that was annoying anyway. Inter-brand rivalries could be built up using the Unified Tag Titles, though that would mean letting them trade hands more often. I like Jerishow’s current stranglehold on them, though. But it would help shift the big arcs away from ‘evil GM screws champ,’ and explore new ground.

Of course, this would leave ECW out in the cold, but we’re used to that. Or you could have subplots of Raw or SD GMs coming and trying to sign promising ECW talent for use in the Bragging Rights team, or something like that.

This has the potential to be an interesting type of PPV, but this card leaves me cold. It’s not being built, and it’s not building to anything.

Sat: I think the main problem is that all of these new pay per views have been introduced this year; the kinks needs to be worked out and I see this taking a few years.

Adam Jones Writes:

Low Road – No one buys the brand vs. brand idea. There’s too much fluctuation in rosters; Raw doesn’t even have a permanent GM. Not only does this kind of devalue the Survivor Series (whether anyone wants to admit it or not), but it devalues ECW even more than it already is by leaving it out of the brand wars.

Here’s what I would do. Hold it at the PPV right before the Royal Rumble, and in the weeks before the PPV, each of the 3 brands holds a 9-man tournament with 3 Triple Threat matches in the first round and a final Triple Threat match to determine who will represent their brand in a tri-branded Bragging Rights 3-way-dance (instead of a 7-on-7). And check this out – the winner of the Bragging Rights match would be guaranteed the #30 spot in the Royal Rumble, but the other 2 losers in the match would be the #1 and #2 entrants. This would place the participants in the Bragging Rights match in a huge risk/reward situation.

Sat: I’ve never liked knowing who is number 30 before hand. I would do something where the winner gets a favorable number, but you don’t give us the exact number.

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Your reasons for taking the High Road, Low Road, or Both Roads and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road are welcome at [email protected] or in the comment section. Your reply will be included in next week’s column.