The Goodness 01.31.07: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Posted by on 01.31.2007
For a wrestling fan, it does not get any better than the time between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. In the next eight weeks, it is guaranteed that wrestling history will be made. How cool is that?
I almost ordered the Royal Rumble but decided against because the show didn't look too promising on paper. Looks like I may have made a mistake based on the glowing praise from nearly everyone on the Umaga/Cena match. I have to say that's a little surprising to say the least but Cena has stepped it up at pay-per-views in the past and maybe Umaga just needed an opportunity to strut his stuff. I think Cena/HBK is inevitable for WrestleMania and I really hope they let Edge and Orton go at it too. Those two have been fantastic the last couple of weeks. As for SmackDown, they simply must do some to showcase Kennedy....Kennedy.
The Goodness 01.31.07: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
For pro football fans, the playoffs are best time of the year. For movie aficionados, the early year award season is heavenly. For college basketball fans, it doesn't get any better than March Madness. In all walks of life, in all forms of entertainment, there are times and events that mean more than others do. Sure, it's fun when the Colts play the Patriots in October but it means so much more when they play in January.
For a pro wrestling, the period between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania is undoubtedly and without question the most wonderful time of the year.
WrestleMania has evolved to a point where it is actually bigger than pro wrestling is. You can go up to just about any person living in this country, say the word 'WrestleMania' and they'll know what you're talking about. The moments from the show have been ingrained into the brain of every wrestling fan alive. If you want to start a heated debate with a wrestling fan, ask what their favorite WrestleMania was. Ask which was the best. Ask which match was the best in WrestleMania, what main event was the greatest and which stadium the coolest. Not to go overboard, but it's the one thing all wrestling fans share today. We all know when WrestleMania is on tap and, let's be honest, most of watch it, regardless of how poor the WWE's product is at the time.
As much as I love the spectacle of WrestleMania, it is perhaps the run-in to WrestleMania that is more exciting. Especially with the flow of information online, rumored WrestleMania matches are bound to be posted everywhere and anywhere in the next month or so. It will be on the tip of every wrestling fan's tongue. It's the one time of year when even the mainstream media pops in with stories about pro wrestling; some insightful, some flat-out embarrassing. But we gather it all in because it's on our brain. As soon as the Royal Rumble ends, our thoughts look down the road to the biggest show in the industry.
You know why this is the most wonderful time of the year? Because it's the one time of year everyone in the WWE tries. Vince McMahon and his cronies may like to feed us garbage from time to time but, for the most part, they do well to stay in our good graces leading into WrestleMania. It's the one time of year where subtlety plays a role in developing angles – Monday's main event was dripping with it. It's the one time of year where feuds are built logically to a blow off because the WWE needs WrestleMania to be bigger, better and more spectacular than anything else in the entertainment world.
And most of the time, they get it right.
If I were to recount some of my favorite memories from WWF/E television over the years, most of them would have come during the months preceding WrestleMania. My first Saturday Night's Main Event was the primetime Main Event in 1989 where 'Macho Man' Randy Savage famously turned on Hulk Hogan, a moment still recounted to this day by the Sports Guy on ESPN.com. I remember Sid Justice, before WrestleMania VIII, refusing to tag in Hulk Hogan on a Saturday Night's Main Event and my poor 10 year-old brain disintegrating from hatred of Sid.
Who can forget the coin flip before WrestleMania X, when we found out Bret Hart would have to face his brother? Lawrence Taylor's announcement on Saturday morning Superstars that he would wrestle Bam Bam Bigelow? Talk about your markout moments for a 13-year old O'Dog. And on and on through the years the moments have continued – Bret Hart's profanity-laced tirade in 1997, Mike Tyson on Raw in 1998, the Stone Cold/Rock staredowns in 2001 and the classic HBK/Benoit match from Raw in 2004. These are the moments that make watching pro wrestling so much fun.
But beyond what happens at WrestleMania, what happens on Raw and SmackDown in the next few weeks instantly becomes history too. When Hulk Hogan returned to a WWF ring in 2002, that was history unfolding before your very eyes. When the Rock returned to a WWF in 2004, we had a feeling that it might be the last time we see arguably pro wrestling's most charismatic performer in a wrestling setting. I could write another eight paragraphs documenting the great moments from this time period in the past 22 years that have helped make me a wrestling mark for life.
Instead, I just want to bask in it. This is my favorite time of year to be a wrestling fan. The first thing I do when I get to work is check 411mania.com for the latest rumors. Raw is now mandatory viewing, instead of watching it when I can. SmackDown's now get taped. Heck, I might even tune into ECW weekly. You never know when history's going to happen. You never know when HBK is going to superkick Cena. You never know when Kennedy makes his presence known. Heck, you never when an old friend like Steve Austin might pop his head back in.
I've complained in this space in the past about how the WWE fails to give us characters worth caring about or matches to mark out for. That's true 10 months a year. For the next two months, we'll probably be in wrestling fan nirvana. Enjoy it while you can my friends.
Check out my site TooMuchSports.com for lots of Super Bowl coverage and rants about Tiger Woods, 24, and Notre Dame.
