Truth B Told 12.21.06: Is “Technical Wrestling” dead?
Posted by Bayani Domingo on 12.21.2006
A serious look at lost art of “Technical Wrestling” as TBT ends the year on a serious note…b*tches. I mean…Vote for ME!!
I've heard a lot about the ladder match that took place at Armageddon and people are tauting it as a potential MOTY candidate. Well you know, I realized that on the card there were actually just as many gimmick matches as there were straight wrestling matches. It made me wonder if the "gimmick match" was more status quo than "featured attraction" so to speak. By "Featured Attraction" I mean a match that would be tacked on to a PPV in order to either end or prolong a feud or perhaps to get more worthy wrestlers some face time on a PPV, rather than meaning "Featured Attraction" as an extremely gay name for a tag team…just to clarify. TNA goes as far as to feature an entire PPV with nothing but cage matches (Lockdown) thereby almost desensitizing us to the traditional seriousness and importance of a cage match in a feud. I think we struck a chord with me most is how people use gimmick matches to hide a wrestler's weaknesses rather than use it to tell a story. Did those 4 tag teams really need a bunch of ladders to have a good match? No. Did Kane and MVP really need fire to have a good match? Probably. Hell, why not make the main event a "You Can't See Me Lil' Bastard Match" and blind fold one member of each tag team and make the other guy wrestler on his knees while you're at it? I guess what this all boils down to is one question: Does wrestling have any more great "technical wrestlers" left?
Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic, but then again, maybe I'm not. To start off I'll define what I consider to be a "technical wrestler". A technical wrestler is someone who knows how to both work a match and pace a match. A wrestler with a sound background and arsenal of wrestling holds, moves, and reversals. Someone who is both crisp and fluid in the ring and does not rely on the typical punch-kick-punch offense. A technical wrestler can also employ when necessary, high-risk/high flying, ground and pound, or lucha libre-esque moves when necessary, but does not rely on those as the majority of their moveset. In short: the exact opposite of Chris Masters.
I'll even give you a few examples of whom I think are the top two "Technical Wrestlers" from each brand:
Smackdown - Chris Benoit and William Regal
TNA - Kurt Angle and Alex Shelley
RoH - Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness
RAW - Uh…I guess Charlie Haas potentially.
ECW - It would be CM Punk if he was allowed to really wrestle.
Yikes, just…yikes. I think there are some close calls too. There could be arguments that Smackdown also employs guys like Fit Finlay and Chavo Guerrero who are both decent technical wrestlers. I think of Finlay as more of a ground and pound type of guy but still a great wrestler, although not employing as much of a technical side as Regal or Benoit. Likewise, Chavo has great technical groundings but has used a more Lucha influence throughout his career. Looking at TNA, arguments could be made for Christopher Daniels or Samoa Joe, although I think they both are great technical wrestlers, they would not fit that traditional mold based on their performances in TNA as compared to in RoH. RoH likewise employs 3 guys who are all on the real borderline of being really great "technical" performers, those three being: Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Brent Albright. Clearly RoH and SD have the best roster of technical wrestlers. As far as RAW and ECW goes. Well… you have to admit that RAW doesn't really cater to the "catch as catch can" audience and while guys like HBK, HHH, Haas, and Benjamin could put on better technical matches, they aren't really asked to. So really if a wrestler can wrestle a certain style, but doesn't, then that's as good as saying he really can't. ECW is even worse. CM Punk isn't even that great of a technical wrestler, but on the roster he's the best they have. I'd say that my personal feeling is that RAW and ECW lack any real "technical wrestlers". Opting instead for the shorter, gimmick laden, or ‘ground and pound' style of match instead. Heck, even when they do have guys on the roster on RAW who can really wrestle like Nick Dinsmore, Rob Conway, or Charlie Haas, they end up with lame gimmicks and bad haircuts. And bandanas.
When you look at the list above do you notice something they all have in common? Submission moves. Yep, to a "t" all of those guys employ a submission move as one of their legitimate finishing moves. Except for McGuinness, don't know if he used the "Thames Barrier" as a finisher yet. The point is that usually wrestlers who utilize a submission move as a finisher will spend most of the match working that particular part of the body in order to soften it up for the kill. Unless you're Chris Masters, then you just keep punching the guy in the face until it's time to slap on the full nelson. Which, apparently has the magic power of making people pass out…which apparently comes from swinging them around for a good 30 seconds after you first slap it on. Yeah, Masters' real finishing move is a magical swinging sleeper. But I digress.
Part of the skill of being a true technician is the psychology of a match and being able to target the areas of an opponent to weaken for the greatest advantage. Why do some wrestlers work on their opponents arms when their finisher is a leg lock? Why do some wrestlers go on the attack when their opponent lands funny on the knee when they utilize a power move that drops them on their head? A true technician not only targets the body part their finisher works on, but can also adapt that strategy in case another opportunity presents itself. You just don't see enough of that now a days. Even submission specialists like Ric Flair don't always follow the rules. Are we supposed to believe that one chop block alone to Mikey or Nicky is enough to weak them for a Figure 4 leg lock? I've even seen him use the maneuver without a single blow to his opponent's leg. Heck, I've seen Angle get tap outs after a single ankle lock try, but the ankle is a far easier bone to break than a knee would be especially since you can see that Angle is applying more pressure with his hands than Flair seems to be while just lying back and holding the leg in place. Then again at least Angle has a plan "B" of sorts by using the Angle slam, which is that much more effective after multiple german suplexes throughout the match.
What really makes "technicians" stand out from the pact are not only the moveset, and fluidity or movement, but also the aura and respect that go along with it. Sure Benoit was smaller than just about every main eventer during the build up to his title run, but everyone knew that his toughness and technical ability were the great equalizer in any match. Well, that and his ability to hit the "crossface crippler" at just about any time. A really good submission move when applied correctly and at after careful preparation can pretty much finish anyone off. The reason guys like Angle still garner the respect level they get now, even if he is a bit krazy, is because he can run with just about any opponent and is well versed in the art of ‘wrestling'. You can't underestimate that kind of advantage. For as much as the WWE announcers play up the Undertaker's ability to intimidate and play mind games with his opponents, a great technician can do the same. Or at least he could if the company would recognize him as such.
The new breed of "technical wrestlers" fall into several categories. Some being the straight technicians like Danielson, some are a hybrid of ground and pound wrestler who may take to working a specific area of the body to set up their finisher (Strong, Rocky Romero, Samoa Joe, McGuinness), and then you have the even odder hybrid. Guys like Alex Shelley, Christopher Daniels, Austin Aries, or even AJ Styles can work a more technically sound match if they choose to, however they are also extremely quick and athletic and able to appeal to a greater audience by utilizing their aerial skills as well as employing more high risk maneuvers. Sometimes their technical prowess is lost amongst their more flashy moves. You can get a little glimpse of that in TNA when you watch them chain wrestle and exchange move for move and reversal for reversal. In RoH you get an even better estimation of their skill as they are able to put on 15, 20, 30, sometimes 60 minute matches. Not that a cage, ladder, or X, isn't entertaining, but these guys don't need to resort to that to have a great match. Then again, I haven't seen AJ take a ladder to the face recently. So really that all is just conjecture.
The Truth
So what happens in a few years when Benoit, Angle, Finlay, and Regal hang up their boots? Or when Haas gets released again and CM Punk goes full on Triple H style on his work rate? We're only going to be left with a handful of new school guys with old school mentalities. Guys like Aries, Strong, Shelley, McGuinness, and Danielson (health willing) have to help breed a new group of wrestlers put down that sky twister shooting star rewind 760 star buster DDT and poorly time Polish hammer and pick up a copy of "Wrestling For Dummies". Maybe I'm a little old school, but without at least some understanding of and working in of ring psychology coupled with the crispness and execution of basic logical wrestling moves, then I'm not sure how anyone can be blown away by a PPV that highlights a virtual train wreck and a few gimmick matches where someone sets their leotard on fire. I really hope the knowledge and work ethic of wrestlers like Benoit, Regal, Angle, and the like get passed down through the generations, but perhaps, we've seen the golden age of "wrestling" pass us by, and the age of "sports entertainment" take over.
Coming Up Short
So I think I broke the code. VKM isn't just about Russo recycling the ideas from the Attitude Era and trying to go all "DX on WCW" only it's "VKM on WWE", I think, and unless I'm wrong, the point of all this is to force the WWE to actually acknowledge TNA. That in itself would be a pretty impressive task as the "e" has managed to live inside it's own bubble of not mentioning any other wrestling fed. that it doesn't already own. If that ever really happens then TNA will have really gone a long way towards even trying to petition to get into the WWE's league. Too bad that will never happen. But hell, I guess JJ and Dixie are willing to give Russo all the time in the world to keep failing. If VKM is really around for any other purpose, well, I think that would leave them coming up short.
6 Degrees of…
So no one claimed this week's prize. No biggie, just gives me a chance to pimp out the one of the former "beautiful people", Joey Mercury. Well it isn't hard to link up this Mercury to another fellow with the same surname. Sure, he may not have that much in common with Joey. He didn't wear spandex. No...actually he did. He didn't perform for thousands of fans....wait....actually yeah. Well he didn't oil himself up and wrestling on the ground with other oily men while he tried to hold them down while constantly trying to "finish him off"....wait. Awww , fuck it...it's....
Yeah, I'm assuming I'll get at least a few entries from across the pond...or the gay community. Eh, maybe a little from column A, maybe a little from column B, hard to tell these days. Either way, if you want to be a real champion my friend, and keep fighting till the end....oh crap, that really is a catchy song ain't it. Well, go ahead and make a play for the 2nd to last 6DO of the year.
Whatchu talkin' bout readers?
Jack shit. That's what y'all are talkin' bout.
6 Degrees Results
Well, short column this week, no feedback and two entries. Seems about right.
#2
Mark Satrang doubled up on Family Guy links so he gets a bit of a bump. Either way, if there is one thing TBT can count on, it's Mark having nothing better to do during work than research 6DO entries...and porn. C'mon Mark, admit it.
B--
Quality comedy in this week's article. Trytan's book report on Cindy Lauper...gold.
Anyways...7 to 7
1) Seven of Nine is played by Jeri Ryan...
2) Ryan is also on "Shark," starring James Woods...
3) Woods once played himself on an episode of Family Guy, a show featuring Seth Green as a voice actor...
4) Greene worked with Mila Kulas on Family Guy...
5) Kulas starred as Jackie on That '70's Show, a show that once featured The Rock and Ken Shamrock in a one-shot guest-starring role...
6) Shamrock beat Dustin Runnels/Goldust/Dustin Rhodes/TAFKAG/The Natural/The American Nightmare/Lonestar/Se7en in the first round of the 1998 Survivor Series Deadly Game tournament...
#1.
Seth Gordon wins with the "avalanche technicque". Man, what ever happened to that Pryor guy who used to do that? No, not Richard.
Okay, I got this one:
Jeri "7 of 9" Ryan made a guest appearance on "Murder She Wrote" with Tom Bosley
...who was in "The Love Boat: A Valentine Voyage" along with Rowdy Roddy Piper
...who feuded with Dustin "Seven" Runnels (as Goldust)
Um... okay, that was a bit too easy. Three steps. Kind of anti-climactic. Let's see... make it harder, make it harder... I know, I'll force myself to work in the "Make 7 Up Yours" guy, Orlando Jones.
So... (we'll start off the same)
Jeri "7 of 9" Ryan made a guest appearance on "Murder She Wrote" with Tom Bosley
...who was in "The Love Boat: A Valentine Voyage" along with Rowdy Roddy Piper
...who was in "They Live" with Keith David
...who was a voice in Halo 2 with Orlando Jones
...who was on MADTv with Bret Hart
...who fought Dustin "Seven" Runnels a whole bunch o' times. (if we need dates... ummm... 7/7/97, there's one)
No... still too easy. I know - connect the character to the character. That's gotta be tougher...
So...
7 of 9 was played by Jeri Ryan...
...who was on Boston Public with Chi McBride
...who was in "Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation" with Morton Downey, Jr.
...who was in Wrestlemania V with Rowdy Roddy Piper.
...who had a damn fine feud with Virgil Riley Runnels III (as Goldust)
...who played "Seven"
Mmm... I like it, but... it needs to be... weirder. Maybe - connect the characters without once mentioning Ryan or Runnel's names. That'll be good n' convoluted.
So...
Seven of Nine was parodied as "Six of One" in a short on the Sci-Fi channel show "Exposure"
...of which an episode featured Wes Craven
...who directed Kevin Smith in "Scream 3"
...who voiced a character in the kid's cartoon "Doogal"
...which had songs written by Goldust (kid you not, he was actually credited AS "Goldust")
...who happened to be played by the same actor as "Seven"
Yeah, that'll do it, I think.
Dude..."Doogal"? I should have DQ'ed you for that alone, but then again, what else am I falling back on exactly? Oh, and random anecdote, I was at the gym the other day and say "Ogre" from "Revenge of the Nerds" on the treadmill. He was only there for like a minute, but geeez...ogre got fat. Well, stayed fat. I was debating whether to walk by and yell, "Neeeeeeeerds" or "Kuma Tay!!", but then I thought better of it. Dude....Ogre stank worse than a Dirty Sanchez from Snitsky. Or so I'm told. What? Crack is a hell of a drug. Okay Seth, you ready to step up and claim the prize this week?
Left Overs…
It's kind of a slow news week considering it's so close to the holidays so in order to supplement the light news week I'll include my random musings. That is all.
Vladamir Kozlov is debuting soon. Meaning at some point we're getting a "Flag Match" and Kozlov will be the heel. Just once I'd like the "e" to expand their political horizons. I mean, they got Claudio Castagnoli starting up after the new year right? Wait...my gut feeling is that the Swiss guy is going to be a ‘tweener.
I hate it when people actually type LOL on message boards. Especially when it is in reaction to something they just wrote. As if to say, "I just typed something so funny that I made myself laugh, not just laugh, but actually laugh out loud…by myself…in my room…alone". People that do that are the same people who spend waaaaaay too much time making themselves as CAW's on SDvsR on the 360 and then get mad when they lose to Trevor Murdoch on a bulldog. Yeah, bulldog.
CM Punk's second real feud is with Bob holly....it was good to know you buddy. My guess is that the CM is going to stand for "Concussion" and "Missionary", cuz' he's going to get fucked up and then...well, just fucked.
So Lashley was wearing all black as a ‘face' and Rene Dupree was wearing white as a ‘heel'. Wait a second, Sharkboy wears grey right? Who knew he was a brutha?? Or half knew.
So Bob Holly is claiming he's a "weapon" now? Well, makes sense, I guess you could use a wrench, screw driver, or other "tools" as weapons if you swing hard enough.
ECW is now officially "Lord of the Flies"....too bad Shannon Moore is Piggy. Any match, any rules, any participants. Big Dick Johnson and Balls Mahoney vs Rene Dupree, in a Balls count anywhere match. Now THAT is XXXtreme.
Okay, maybe this is random…but has any female wrestler ever tried using a "Heart Punch" as a finisher? Did Daizee Haze? I mean, sure it would essentially be a punch in the nipple, but why the hell not? I think a great name for that would be called the "Tit for Tat".
Kenny Dykstra? His nick name is now K-Dyk. Nice. I guess his big finisher off the top rope is going to be called the "Muff Diving Leg Drop" now?
Good Gawh Damn!! Melina's boobies are just freakin' outrageously huge. I mean, not just huge, not just lusciously hangin' there like some kinda tan cantelope ripe from the vine (yes I know they don't grow on a vine), but shiny as all get out. I'm lobbying for her to compete more as a wrestler and to use Edge's old move, the "Implant DDT".
Random Asian Bitch Lookin' Good Pic of the Week
Me likey...yes...likey
Black Christmas'? Oh, it's a movie, my bad, I thought that was going to be Cryme Tyme and WGTT in the main event next week.
Why was Khali carrying out Davari like he Debra Winger from "An Officer and a Gentleman"?? Not that there is anything wrong with that. No wait...there is. If ‘Great Khali" meant the "The Big Empty", then I wonder if "Davari Khosrow" means "The over packed"?
Okay, tell me how anyone who ever dated a skank, flirt, ho, or hussy can't make Mike Knox a ‘face'. The man made perfect sense. Now all he has to do is take all of Kelly Kelly's shit out of his locker and start crying when he finds that mixed tape and we've found out a new IWC favorite.
Pimpin' In High Places
Face it, you're not paying attention at work, killing time till the Holiday, why not just chuck it all and read something worth while. Instead of those reports, spreadsheets, and warning labels:
Cook's Corner is like the appetizer to my main course. Hmm...I'd say he's like an onion loaf. Yeah, I think that's pretty self explanatory.
Just S'pose talks about some T and A. Wait...Magnum T.A. Damn, well, he had boobies last time you saw him right?
3 R's looks at Armageddon. There's an extra ‘R' for "Rearranged Face" I supposed, or "Raped" as in what Mr. Kennedy's push by ‘Taker.
Meehan wraps up TNA, let's seem him "positive" his way out of Matt Bentley's new Boy George make over. Do you really want to hurt him? Do you really want make him cry?
Evo Scheme has Part 3 of Regal. Well he's a complicated man.
Jules has the break out stars of 2006. Zombie, Big Dick Johnson, Super Blue Cross #6, Samolian Joe, K-Fed?? Like a diabetic in a candy store.
Fink's Payload proves that no one likes celebs who wrestle. Unless it's Jessica Alba....and she's naked.
HH has last week's edition. But if they don't mention how Striker was wrestling with a "semi" this week. Boycott. C'mon...you noticed it too.
CoH is rolling into an important weekend. Ari must be wetting himself....Chanukah AND RoH are completing their final battles. Also Ari is going to therapy to work on that bladder problem.
Linkous proves again that no matter how old Benoit gets, the IWC thinks he can beat anyone. 75 year old Benoit vs Jesus Christ? Well I guess that depends on how Jesus is booked right?
Hi/Lo talks about "The Miz"...um... yeeeeaaaah. I can't wait for their Hi/Lo of genital warts.
Rookie Alert: Wilcox talks about screw jobs. Heh...Will...Cox....screw jobs....man.... tell me someone else caught that one.
Weyer looks at the greatest gifts to wrestling this week. Where does TBT rank?? No clue.
Berman looks at Colt and Spanky. Geeez Berman, take a picture, it'll last longer.
FoF pits heavyweights Csonka vs Randle. Yeah, I called ‘em fat.
Oh sweet sassy molassy. Looks like Csonkamaster 2000 is starting up a little 411 Writer's Award dealy bob over on his column (not that having the voting take place on his column might skew the voting a bit…no siree) but looks like I'm kinda screwed. No category for "Most Hillariously Self-urinating Column", "Best use of Half Naked Asian Chicks", "Most Lita Jokes In a Single Column", or "Mr. Hot Bod 2006". WTF?? Either way, go take a look and flood the ballot boxes for yours truly. Check out the categories:
Best Columnist:
Best "News Report" Columnist:
Best TV Recapper:
Best Video Reviewer:
Best Multi-Person Column:
Best "Pure Writer":
Best "Column":
Favorite "Column":
Favorite Columnist:
Favorite "News Report" Columnist:
Favorite TV Recapper:
Favorite Video Reviewer:
Favorite Multi-Person Column:
Favorite Overall Writer:
Wrestling Zone MVP:
Wrestling Zone Work Horse:
Yeah, well feel free to pick the best 7 or 8 categories you want to vote for me and then vote for those first....then follow by including the rest. Nothing would honk off Csonka more than seeing a guy who writes one column a week steal the "Work Horse" from him. I mean seriously, who the hell else is a work horse around here?
