News From Cook’s Corner 07.17.05
Posted by Steve Cook on 07.17.2005
There is no surrender allowed in this column…which means you must read all of it! Muwhahahahahaha!
Hi everybody! It’s No Surrender Sunday here at the Mania, which means it’s time once again for me to drop a little Sunday knowledge for y’all to enjoy. It’s also British Open Sunday, which means that Tiger Woods is probably well on his way to clinching his second Open title. If only he had managed to win the U.S. Open…then golf would really have something exciting to talk about.
I’m starting out my column with GOLF? Jeez, why don’t I at least bring up my WWE Fantasy team…at least that has something to do with wrestling. The Classic Colt Cabanas are still holding down 2nd place in the 411 Staff league, just 23 points behind the Evolution Schematic and 4 points ahead of Dave Campbell’s team. I capitalized off of big weeks from Kurt Angle, Batista, and Chris Masters to gain some ground on our leader. Unfortunately things didn’t go as well as I hoped due to no appearances by Kerwin White and Maria. We’ll see how things go next week.
Thanks to everybody who sent in E-mails last week…my section on Jim Cornette’s firing generated a lot of interesting feedback, and I plan on closing today’s column with my final thought on Corny. The comparison of Edge/Lita/Matt to Benoit/Woman/Sullivan probably got the most feedback out of anything in the history of this column, and I’ll address that in this column as well. I also got some good advice on beers, and once I finish my research in that area I’ll be sure to let you all know what I’ve chosen.
You know what’s weird? The column last week where I said I wasn’t at my best got more feedback than most of my previous columns, and was a lot longer than this one though. I blame WWE for this because they didn’t fire anybody last week. That way I couldn’t get worked up over anybody losing their job. Which is a good thing because nobody loses their job, and I have less work to do. Less work for me is always a good thing.
Time for some News from Cook’s Corner…
WWE news
Early reports on the Vengeance buyrate are at about 320,000 buys, which would be more than the 275,000 or so that the ECW PPV drew. Considering Vengeance featured Angle vs. HBK 2, Batista vs. Triple H 3 and Cena vs. Christian vs. Jericho 1, it would have been absolutely insane if ECW got more buys than that show. I like ECW too, but come on. WWE’s strategy of loading the PPV worked, and there’s nothing surprising about that unless you’re one of those guys that was reporting the 800,000 number for the ECW show a couple of days after it aired.
Many WWE wrestlers, workers, and fans were surprised to find out exactly how much Johnny Ace makes for being the Head of Talent Relations. It’s not that being Head of Talent Relations is an easy job, because it certainly isn’t, it’s because most people seem to think that Mr. Ace is a Grade A jackass. I personally don’t know the guy, but there really doesn’t seem to be a lot of reports indicating that Ace is a nice guy or very competent at his job. Oh well.
Mick Foley has a new book out soon called “Scooter” which apparently features the New York Yankees. No word yet on if the book is about Phil Rizzuto, a Yankee who went by the nickname “Scooter”.
Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten have been booked for WWE TV tapings the next few weeks for an extended tryout. Axl celebrated by going on the Masked Maniac’s hotline and badmouthing his opponents at the tapings, the Shane Twins. With all due respect, I’m still trying to figure out why Axl Rotten, who at this point of his career might weigh even more than Dusty Rhodes, is getting a tryout with WWE. I have to believe that his running around to hotlines isn’t going to help his case. Balls would be a nice pickup though. He’s a good wrestler and people love screaming his name. It’s good times.
Oh yeah…the biggest story in WWE this week was the return of Matt Hardy to Raw, attacking Edge backstage and in the ring before being escorted out by security. Hardy has maintained that it was a “shoot”, and enough people seem to believe that it was to make the angle work. There seem to be several camps of thought on this…
-People who think that this is the new “Attitude” and the greatest thing ever
-People who are bragging that they were right all along and want everyone to worship the ground they walk on
-People who remember this worked shoot crap back when Vince Russo did it all the time and are kinda amazed that this is being made a big deal
Yup, add me to that bitter, cynical, jaded third group. I know, I’m supposed to be positive and all that, but this angle just doesn’t really do it for me. The whole concept of a “worked shoot” isn’t one that I agree with because it’s basically saying “Everything else you see on this show is fake. But this is real. Really.” Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t that kinda hurt the other feuds you’re trying to push?
And what about Kane? This big goof was married to Lita, then got dumped by her for Edge. Doesn’t he look a little foolish now that Matt’s hopping right into his business? And what’s he going to do? Feud with Snitsky?
There’s one other thing hurting the whole feud in my eyes…its still Matt Hardy vs. Edge. I’m certainly no fan of Edge’s skills in the ring or on the mike, and Hardy might be the most talented Hardy Boy, but he still doesn’t do much for me. So as a wrestling fan, I’m not all that interested, and if I wanted to see two guys fight over a girl, I’d head down to a bar on any given night cause it’s bound to happen there.
I got no problem with people in the first group though. I’m glad you all are excited about it, and anything that creates excitement and draws money in wrestling is good in my book. As for the second group…seriously, nobody cares. Shut up, enjoy the show and quit putting yourself over.
I do know this though…while I might not be interested in this angle a lot of you readers probably are. Or you all wanted to defend Chris Benoit. Either way, I got a lot of feedback on the section of last week’s column where I compared the Matt/Lita/Edge situation to the Sullivan/Woman/Benoit situation some eight years ago. Basically the argument was that Benoit gets favorable treatment because he’s a great wrestler and Edge doesn’t because people had already turned against him because of his return in 2004 that sucked pretty bad. And I can understand that. But it kinda goes against the argument I was going for that the fans should treat the situations equally and not hold Edge’s lust for women that aren’t his wife against him.
I dunno, I would just rather keep things that are supposed to be behind the curtain actually behind the curtain. It seems to make things more fun, at least for me.
Oh, and some people also noted that Kevin Sullivan didn’t whine or complain about it all over the Internet. I doubt he would have been the type to do such a thing because he was a tough old bastard. He would get over his girl leaving him by screwing some hookers. And that’s the way it should be done. Although a lot can be said for using the situation to make your career better, like Hardy has definitely done.
And in our John Cena merchandise update of the week, he only has 5 out of the top 10 selling items on WWE Shopzone. It’s a shame he’s not over, isn’t it?
TNA news
No Surrender is tonight on PPV! We’ll have the live coverage here as usual, and you can check out the Roundtable right here! I forgot to make a prediction for the four way match, but it’s just as well I didn’t because my TNA picking percentage is terrible. I think it has something to do with me usually picking whoever Traci is aligned with, because for some reason her peeps always seem to be losing. Damn it Traci, get your guys on the ball!
I think this sort of thing is what people are talking about when they say I blame everything on anyone but myself.
Rumor has it that there will be a new, redesigned Impact Zone tonight for the PPV, with new entranceways and whatnot. They might also put all the bleachers on one side of the arena, which is reminiscent of when WCW used to put all its fans on one side of the arena for their TV tapings. I think the old ABA used to do that too, but I could be wrong on that.
Matt Hardy’s presence also invades this section of the news, as WWE has okayed his making an unexplained run-in on tonight’s PPV to help get over his angle. Last I heard TNA has not okayed it. While Hardy making an appearance on TNA’s show would be really cool, I can understand why TNA wouldn’t want to go along with it…it’s not like they’re getting their name dropped all over the place like Ring of Honor. Why should they help out WWE when WWE’s been trying to stick it to them every way they possibly can?
For example, “The Outlaw” will go through yet another name change tonight because WWE’s lawyers complained that “The Outlaw” was too close to “The New Age Outlaws”. Seriously, is what Billy Gunn calls himself in TNA that big of a deal to WWE? It’s not like he’s a big name star like Scott Hall or Kevin Nash were when they came to WCW in 1996. With crap like that, you can see why TNA might not want to go along with an angle that’s going to do nothing for them outside the fanbase that already knows about them, and might even alienate some of those people who are very anti-WWE.
So watch Matt Hardy appear on the show tonight and make me look like an idiot. I’m used to that by now.
More Hardy stuff while I’m thinking about it…Hardy defeated Christopher Daniels in his first match in Ring of Honor Saturday night with help from C.M. Punk. So if you’re scoring at home (or even if you’re alone), a WWE guy got help from another WWE guy to beat the TNA X Division Champion.
I guess that was the only way they could have put Hardy over and keep TNA happy. Because I could see why they might not want a WWE guy going over their X Division Champion. You know, some promotions don’t like their champions looking bad in other promotions because it reflects poorly on their promotion. Luckily TNA has no problem with their talent looking like bitches in ROH. How else do you explain Jimmy Rave going over AJ Styles at that Dayton show I was at?
Update: That ROH show ended with Punk defeating James Gibson, then Daniels beating up Punk and stealing the title belt from him. Which makes no sense to me at all since Punk was supposed to be the heel and Daniels is supposed to be the face. I’m begging Ari to explain this mess to me in his column next week, because I’m utterly confused at how this is supposed to make any sense at all.
Other wrestling news
Miguel Perez Sr. passed away Saturday morning after a massive heart attack. He was 68 years old. Perez was the father of former Los Boriquas member Miguel Perez Jr., and was well known in the 1950s as the tag team partner of Antonino Rocca. Perez and Rocca were the top draws for Vince McMahon Sr. during the 1950s, and regularly main evented a sold out Madison Square Garden, never losing in the building.
The wrestling world also lost Japanese wrestling superstar Shinya Hashimoto last week. Hashimoto suffered a brain aneurysm last Monday and died at the age of forty. He was the founder of the Zero One promotion and headlined more big cards in the 1990s than just about anybody. He had been out of wrestling with various injuries since last year and was planning to return later this year. Hashimoto will be extremely missed by the fans who saw his work and the wrestlers who got to know him.
There isn’t much else going on except Teddy Hart continuing to burn bridges. And as those of you who read me back at TWTF know, I loathe discussing Teddy Hart, so don’t expect me to talk about him very often. Fortunately most of the Internet has jumped off the Teddy Hart bandwagon, which is a very good thing.
Who Owned Last Week?
BOOM SHAKKA LAKKA, baby!
Chris Jericho - Jericho didn’t wrestle but he had a pretty nice Monday on the microphone. He’s being seen as a viable contender to John Cena, but it’s too bad that he has those pesky love handles now. Love handles are fine when you’re a big Internet star like me and don’t have to worry about the fans actually looking at your ugly mug, but when you’re a Huge Rock Star like Jericho you gotta keep yourself in tip top shape. Or Carlito will call you on it and Cena will say it later in the night too.
Eddie Guerrero & Family - I still think Eddie’s wife cuts a better promo than most of the Divas, including Melina. That’s right, I said it! The story line is still crap, but Eddie does the best he can to make you believe it. I still want no part of that secret though. Seems kinda freaky to me.
Matt freaking Hardy - He got to be a part of the most electrifying Smackdown fill-in recap on the Internet! Oh yeah, and he had that little deal with Edge on Monday and a match last night with Christopher Daniels. Life isn’t too shabby right now if you’re Matt Hardy.
Samoa Joe - Joe’s still owning the X Division, which makes me wonder why exactly he’s in the X Division. My guess is that the competition is greater there, but I wouldn’t mind TNA explaining that for me. In any event, Joe’s kicking ass wherever he goes.
This Week in Wrestling History
July 17, 1988 – Bruiser Brody passed away in San Juan, Puerto Rico one day after being stabbed in the dressing room of a coliseum where he was to wrestle for the World Wrestling Council. He was forty one years old. His murder is officially “unsolved”, but general opinion everywhere outside Puerto Rico’s court is that WWC booker Jose Gonzalez committed the deed. For a first person perspective on the murder, here’s an article by Dutch Mantell, who was there the night Brody was killed.
Brody was a renegade who did not confine himself to one wrestling promotion. He never signed with the World Wrestling Federation or the National Wrestling Alliance, he drifted from place to place and put butts in the seats wherever he wrestled. His greatest success was in Japan, where he was one of the first American wrestlers to get over at a major level. He has been hailed by many as being one of the greatest brawlers in wrestling history. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten to see very much of Brody’s work, but what I have seen with him and the Von Erichs and some stuff with him and Jerry Lawler in Memphis has been very good.
Deaths at young ages seem to be a common trend in professional wrestling, but a death like Brody’s is just unexplainable. I guess you could ask Gonzalez or his buddy Carlos Colon, but I doubt you would get a straight answer out of them. Pro wrestling has never really been the same in Puerto Rico since that night, as many American wrestlers have refused to work in the country where Brody was killed. It’s starting to get better, as WWE ran a pay per view there in January, and Colon’s son Carlito is now one of WWE’s top stars, but the death of Bruiser Brody will never be forgotten by those who were a part of wrestling during that era either as a fan or a performer.
My Top 25 Favorite Wrestlers of All Time
As a few of you might know, Larry Csonka is doing this deal in his Tuesday news column where he lists the Top 25 Favorite Wrestlers as voted by his readers. Since my column is not established enough yet to do contests or to have regular readers, I thought it would be fun if I went over the ballot I cast for Csonka’s contest one by one each week, to compare my votes to the votes of his public.
Their number three was Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin was my pick for number two, and the person I have at number three was their number four. If not for Bret Hart, the fans and I would be dead on with the top three. I blame the pro-Canadian bias of certain members of our fanbase.
Speaking of Canadians, that brings me to my selection at number three. The first time I saw Chris Benoit in action was in 1993. He was on a Clash of the Champions show against Brad Armstrong. And oddly enough, even though I had no idea what the Internet was and never dreamed of talking with thousands of wrestling fans far away from me, I was really impressed by Benoit. I always liked wrestlers who looked like athletes, because at that point I still thought wrestling was “real” and thought of it like any other sport.
I still think of it as a sport, but that’s beside the point. Chris Benoit excited me as a fan because he was doing moves that I wasn’t seeing guys in the WWF or WCW doing at the time. A German suplex? A Dragon suplex? Woah, did he just do a swan dive headbutt?
See, I like that kinda stuff. And I really liked it when Benoit became a Horseman. While the group of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit and Brian Pillman might not rate as one of the classic Horseman groups of all time, it’s one of my personal favorites. Pillman is another one of my favorites, and obviously Benoit is one of the best technical wrestlers of all time. The group was very entertaining to me. Benoit got a chance to break out on his own when he started feuding with the leader of the Dungeon of Doom, Kevin Sullivan.
I talked some about Benoit’s personal indiscretions there last week, but that doesn’t affect my opinion that the feud with Sullivan helped take him to the next level. They had some real good stiff matches that established Benoit’s intensity. Truth be told though, Benoit was never going to be one of the top guys in WCW. Not as long as guys like Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and others were controlling things.
So when he and the other Radicalz arrived in the WWF, I was excited. Now Benoit was on the biggest stage in wrestling. Surely he would rise to the next level and become the WWF Champion.
Right?
Well……..it took awhile. In fact, I had given up hope for Benoit ever getting to that level and had settled for him having the occasional wrestling classic with Kurt Angle. But eventually he did, and Chris Benoit became the World Heavyweight Champion in March 2004 at Wrestlemania XX.
And it still rates as one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen in wrestling.
Chris Benoit has always been an Internet favorite, and his detractors like to use that against him when arguing that he isn’t one of the best ever. They’ll tell you about his drawing power and how he isn’t the best talker in the world and blah blah blah blah.
But none of that stuff matters to me because I like to watch Chris Benoit wrestle.
Did you see his match last night with Regal on Velocity? Now that was some good stuff.
Next week: Number 2!
Plugs
Hey, I did the Smackdown Report again! Go check it out for all the action last Thursday night and exclusive commentary from Matt Freaking Hardy! Ashish actually E-mailed me to say he liked it, so I guess he does realize I’m still here.
Week 41 of Fact or Fiction featured Ronny Sarnecky and Will Helm. Will believes that the Matt Hardy angle was the best thing to ever happen to wrestling, and Ronny is a little skeptical about that. Ronny gets the win and the free plug.
Larry has yet another column to his credit now, this one called The Rebirth of Dixieland. It has a cool name, and I’m not saying that just because I picked it.
Clarke & Rossi have Fink’s Payload…does Finkel even do Heat anymore?
I tried to link Boman last week and it didn’t work. Hopefully this one does because I like the cut of his jib.
Hey, it’s Ari from the Music Zone with a column about Ring of Honor! This is a very good thing, because Ari’s cool people and now I no longer have to go to ROH’s site to see what’s going on there. ROCK!
Finally, we have JT and the Byte This recap. He wants me to apologize for something, and I suppose I should…sleeping with his sister was really out of line. I hope he can forgive me.
Oh, I’m such a cruel soul.
Final Thought
Last week I went off on quite a tirade on how it was ridiculous that WWE would fire Jim Cornette, a man I’ve looked up to for many years. This generated a lot of feedback, and I’m happy that it did because it was something I really cared about and put a lot of thought into.
However, it seemed like most of you disagreed with me. Unfortunately for me, the points you all were making made sense.
“Off the screen not only was the job getting too stressful for Jim Cornette (who was seemingly a pretty moody guy toward the end) but the stress itself was deteriorating his health and he was the type of guy who was so hell bent on doing his job that he didn't care. A guy can only mentally take so much before he finally snaps and I think Cornette was past that point.”
Jason Frost probably summed it up the best, and hopefully he doesn’t mind me using his words here. I also received feedback from a person who knew the worker that Cornette slapped around, and I do feel bad for making him the scapegoat of the whole situation.
Other than the information about the lawsuit, which from what I’ve been told was erroneous, the biggest mistake I made before writing last week’s column was not actually getting a look at the “Boogey Man” so I could understand what I was dealing with there.
This is the “monster heel” that Cornette was trying to push as a real serious threat.
And amazingly enough, this is the guy that will be appearing on WWE television in a few weeks.
I can safely say that I would not have snickered at the Boogey Man. I would have been rolling on the floor laughing and Cornette probably would have done a hell of a lot worse to me than slap me around. Maybe Corny really does need some time to recharge his batteries. I hope he does so and improves his health physically and mentally.
I apologize to Johnny Geo Basco and his family and friends for suggesting he ruined that angle…had I seen that picture before last week’s column I would have seen that the angle was ruined long before it got to the arena. Johnny seems to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I wish him the best of luck with his future.
Sometimes fandom gets in the way of common sense…I’ll be the first to admit that my opinion of certain individuals affects my view of events sometimes. After all, I am human.
