Story Lines 11.26.06: The Series...OF DOOM, Part Three - Wrestling's Made Men

Posted by Mike Hamflett on 11.26.2006

SmarKs have feelings too.

Well, I forgot the Roundtable as per usual, but in as few words as I can say it, I'll say Umaga is sole survivor, Batista takes the title and Undertaker bleeds. There's a lot more to say really but that will just have to be saved for conversation with people I'm watching the show with. Also, I've again avoided the internet this week as a way of not spoiling Genesis, as I will be watching it some time next week. Once again, I thought Raw was excellent. How did the ‘net respond? Moreover, anybody know how our regular guest did?

Prologue

Last week, I embarked on a minor campaign to offer support for the current WWE product. After seeing what a critical pounding that Monday's Raw took, I wanted to say a few words defending WWE for what I consider to be about 2 months of really good TV, from all shows. It's all just objective banter really, which is a great thing on its own, and I have no problem listening to reasons as to why Raw sucked, in contrast to why I thought it ruled. However, I should make something clear, when it comes to wrestling; I am absolutely not the eternal optimist.

I could never see myself not being a wrestling fan, but there have been many times where I have not been a fan of wrestling. The teeth-grinding 99/00 period in WCW used to make me so frustrated that I needed the WWF to be as great as they were just to help me keep the faith. I can say without much thought that Raw in 2002 went on probably the worst run of wrestling shows I had ever seen, and again, only Smackdown regularly reminded me what I watch for. When the show is poor, I get really angry, because like most, I seem to have all the ideas that will steer the ship around. Of course I don't actually have them, but when blinded with rage directed at some of the shit they put out, it doesn't stop me (and probably most of you) thinking it.

Now, a strange thing happened not long after the subject of last week's column, Wrestling's One Ring Circus, was released. Shortly after Chris Benoit was removed from the Main Event, and Triple H completely buried Randy Orton about a month later, the first nail in Scott Keith's wrestling coffin was apparently hammered. He had repeatedly said that he was losing interest in the product, and since 2002, writing his rants had often resembled a chore rather than an active pleasure. Like many at the time, he gave up on Smackdown when JBL won the WWE Title, and his apathy for the product remained fully in place, as TNA was only going round in circles as WWE's main rival.

What made this worse was that, like many who are no longer motivated, his work suffered. This is not an outside criticism of the man who clocked up the internet flyer miles that he did, just an observation that the fact he really couldn't be arsed to sift through all that he hated any longer. His rants became more infrequent, indifferent, and in an attempt to freshen up the things in anyway possible, he changed his wordy format to a snappier, cut and dried version of events, which makes for okay reading, but strips his work of much of its appeal – detail and humour. As stated though, Keith seemed largely beyond caring.
A sad state of affairs indeed, but not sad enough that at least one more Scott Keith book couldn't come down the way before one man's love affair with wrestling finally burns out. Would the perplexing scenario of an uninterested party having to write like a man who still cares make for good reading?

Wrestling's Made Men

Subject: Taglined as ‘Breaking the WWE's Glass Ceiling', again this is the natural sequel to Wrestling's One Ring Circus.
Release Date: August 2006

So as the series comes to its current end, we are just about up the present day, with this 2006 release being the latest release from Mr. Keith. A present day that that, ironically enough, finds Scott talking a lot more about things in the past, such as old TV shows/DVD in attempts to keep the dimly lit passion he has for wrestling just about ignited.

This actually had a knock on effect in the run up to the book, because like many regular readers of Keith, the prospect of him talking at length about the modern product raised eyebrows and interest. He had not gone into major detail about the current state of affairs for years, and within these pages, there was the opportunity to get to look through the Netcop's eyes once again.

Also, this would mark the first time where he wasn't releasing a book that, for a large part, was some rehashing and rewording of his already-out there stuff. As said over the last couple of weeks, the compilations were always a pretty welcome addition, but often his rants told the stories and the book gave you more details, more opinion and a little bit more variation when it came to discussing certain characters in depth. This is not the case with Wrestling's Made Men though.

So much of it is piping hot fresh stuff, which makes for exciting new reading and sells the book by itself. Reading Keith's deconstruction of JBL's initial push (despite his admittance that the whole thing created a good talker, something we all had to admit to), the Randy Orton disaster, the Eddie/Benoit stereo pushes (he loved them, natch), the glass ceiling theory from which the book takes it's title, and pretty finally, the ascent to the top of the card of John Cena and Batista, all bring great relief, and quell a worry that he couldn't offer an informed view on a thing he no longer gave a shit about.

That was a criticism levied heavily and Scott and this book upon its announcement, stressing that he now lacks the authority and tone he held in previous books because his views could be quite irrelevant. While I agreed with this in theory, Wrestling's Made Men thankfully puts it to sleep in practice, which says that he either did a lot of research for the book, or simply DID still keep up as much as ever before. Either way, his recent apathy only shows through in some of his criticisms, not his informative analysis, which is fine.

As well implied, the running theme for this book is the Mafia, and to be honest, I found this to be a bit overbearing and never as relevant as Keith wants it to be. He struck gold with his previous attempt, offering a remarkable comparative thread between Vince and PT Barnum, but when repeating the formula, it just doesn't have that same vibe the second time around. Maybe he should re-read some of his own rants on the WWE to learn that lesson.

And a small complaint, but one all the same, is the simply offensive picture layout in the centre pages. A staple of his books, the pictures are normally an useless, but not problematic set of shots added as some glossy filler to Scott's wordy companion. But this year's cause two main problems. One is that with the book's end date and release date being over a year apart, the pictures are terribly dated and, well, there for the hell of it. The second (and bigger) problem, is the awful, awful, AWFUL way they are presented, as if part of some superhero sticker book, backed on to coloured lightning bolts on vivid pink, purple and blue backgrounds. I couldn't decide whether or not to lumber this criticism in with the book, but just looking at them while writing this review annoys me enough that I have to. Gah, terrible.

Moving away from the filler and back to the book, a shift in gears features here, as Keith navigates through time in months, rather than years. I don't know if this was a subconscious thing or not, but I truly believe that it happened this way to represent WWE's blink-and-you'll-miss-our-change-in-direction booking philosophy, and Scott wanted to emphasise that by showing just what difference a month could make. I personally prefer the old format of years/events, but having said that, he covers two years in a book the same size as one in which he detailed five, so in terms of content this one offers you the better deal.

So where to put Wrestling's Made Men in the Scott Keith chart? Well, consider this. If this is the last book of its kind from Keith (which it could very well be), it is a suitable accompaniment to the remainder of the series. Is it the best of his work? Well, in a nutshell, no. It lacks the vigour brought by the subject matter in Tonight… and has a lesser page-turning quality to it than (in this writer's opinion), his career best - Wrestling's One Ring Circus. However, and this is very important, it brings to the table one thing that still no other book out there has. A detailed enough, opinionated and unadulterated look at the inside and out of the WWE, 2003-2005. It owns the market for doing just that. As a buyer or a reader, the only thing you really need to know is if you want to read it. The choice is yours.

Series…OF DOOM Shorthand

Worst Bit: Those frigging pictures in Wrestling's Made Men.

Best Bit: The Austin and HHH chapters in Wrestling's One Ring circus are Keith at his very very finest, and while the same can be said for the King Lear stuff in Tonight…, it was on the internet for free already, not sparkling, new and full of beans.

Buy It, Borrow It, Bin It: See, I'd actually do things backwards here. Buy them all, read them all, and make your mind up then. Here's the best way to describe the series; if you love Keith, the series is a joy and you probably have all three books anyway. If you hate him, none of them will be on your shelf. If you're in the middle and need something (such as this review) to tell you where to go, I say get them all and make your mind up. They go pretty cheap on Amazon, and if you've never been into Scott Keith before, these are the best ways to help you make up your mind.