The Ominous Thoughts News Report 5.20.07
Posted by Sam Caplan on 05.20.2007
This week I add a few new features, plus feedback on Ric Flair's World Title reigns!
hey.
just wondering why you even have a news report. I mean, all you do is hash through the weeks news bits that have already been featured on several other columns and on the news area of 411.
Only different thing I seem to find abt your so called column is the fact that you write about some ROH shows.
cheers,
el paqino
My first reaction to this email was something along the lines of "Well, what the fuck does he expect out of a news column?" But then I got to thinking about it a little more and realized that he was totally right, this column has been way too bare bones lately, so I decided that it's time to change it up a bit. I've got a bunch of new stuff I'm going to be doing here over the next few weeks, and while I can't guarantee that it's all going to be here every single week, it'll at least add a little something more to the column. One thing I'm going to be taking out, however, is the inconsequential news. As much as some people who don't go on the internet on any other day than Sunday might be upset that I won't tell them where the next town TNA's running a house show will be, all of that's already been covered during the week and really isn't worth rehashing here. From this point on, I'm just going to concentrate on the big news stories that break during the week and give my take on them. Please let me know what you think of the new features I'm going to be doing.
Oh, and for those of you who wrote in, I did fight Ruby WEAPON again earlier and this time it wasn't even close, I used W-Summon and linked the Master Summon materia to an HP Absorb, so every time I hit him with Knights Of The Round it gave me like 9000 HP back. I just had to stop every few turns to charge back up with an Elixir, it wasn't even a tough fight this time around. Sephiroth's a dead man.
The Real News
The big news of the week was the slew of releases coming out of WWE, the most prominent of which is former ECW World Champion Sabu. The first word was that Sabu was sent home from the Smackdown/ECW taping after showing up several hours late and without his ring gear. Within an hour or so of him being sent home, an announcement of the release went up on WWE.com. As the week wore on, more information began to leak out about the situation. Apparently, Sabu hadn't been happy there for some time and the word is that he may have done this on purpose, either not caring if he got released or simply not caring. This isn't the first time this has happened, as there was an episode of ECW some weeks ago where he didn't have his gear and had to borrow Daivari's outfit for the night. Also, after the release it had come out that he'd failed a Wellness test some weeks back and spent some time working without being paid.
I can't help but just shake my head when thinking about this situation. For one, I find it ridiculous in today's wrestling landscape that anyone would purposely sabotage their own WWE career in order to get released. Yes, the idealist will say "Well, TNA's always an option" but I really don't think that's the case with Sabu. He really burned TNA when he left there to take the WWE deal, and I really don't think they'd welcome him back with open arms. I guess it's always possible that he could get work in Japan (where he's spent a lot of time in years past), but if that doesn't pan out, where else can he make a real living? Keep in mind, we're talking about a guy who was so destitute that he landed himself in the hospital for several weeks and there was a charity fundraiser for him because he couldn't pay his own bills. Now he's burned his bridges with the two top paying companies in the United States, and I just have a hard time fathoming that this guy who helped to revolutionize the light heavyweight style in North America has gotten himself in such a bad way. There's always going to be indy promoters who will book him, but it's really tragic that this guy could have had the world ten years ago and pissed it all away.
That brings us to his partner, Rob Van Dam, who is said to be within the last month or so of his WWE contract. At this point, it doesn't appear likely that Van Dam's going to resign with WWE, and although I have to question the way they're booking him on the way out, the next question is where will he go from here? Of course everyone's saying TNATNATNATNA, but is that really the best option for either side? If we really look at it, the signings of Kurt Angle, Sting, Scott Steiner, and Sting, all of whom are bigger stars than Van Dam has ever been, made little to no difference in the weekly rating of Impact, so I don't see how signing Van Dam to an already bloated roster will help their situation. On Van Dam's side, the guy's got to be burnt out on the business with the way he's been booked these past six years. Chris Jericho was booked in a similar fashion to Van Dam in that they were both solid midcard guys who both got a taste of the main event and the World Title, but were never truly put forward as main eventers. Jericho finally had enough and let his contract run out and hasn't gone near a wrestling show for almost two years now. It's entirely possible that instead of signing with TNA, resigning with WWE, or even working indies or Japan or whatever, Van Dam decides to just go home and relax while deciding on his next move.
The difference between Van Dam's situation and Sabu's is that while Sabu burned his bridges, Van Dam is being professional and is trying to leave under good terms, which is a great move in case whatever other plans he has for the future don't work out. I certainly believe that if things don't work out elsewhere in the wrestling world, we'll absolutely see Van Dam back in WWE some day. I've heard the thoery put forth of TNA bringing in Van Dam and Sabu together (and that was actually the first thought I had when I heard about Sabu's release), but given the way Sabu's been known to do business, I think the only way he's going to get rehired by TNA is if Van Dam insists that they bring Sabu on board as a condition to Van Dam agreeing to come on himself. Sabu and Rob Van Dam in ROH? I don't see that happening, because even though I think they'd be fun as a one night appearance (and I'd sell my mother's internal organs to see Van Dam & Sabu vs the Briscoes), ROH is in a position now where they want to concentrate on building up their own roster instead of using TNA guys or old ECW names. Another thing to consider is that although Van Dam is free and clear to work elsewhere upon the expiration of his contract next month, the terms of Sabu's release means that he can't work anywhere until August, and I think that whether or not he and Sabu start booking themselves as a package deal, it'll probably be at least a couple of months before we find out Van Dam's next move.
* * *
Aside from Sabu, there were several other releases from WWE this week, and I just wanted to give my thoughts on those as well. The first one we found out about was Vito, and although I did find his crossdressing gimmick mildly entertaining, I think it's kind of insulting that it was the only gimmick they were able to come up with for him and then they sat him at home for months before releasing him. The next group of names to get the axe kind of surprised me, and included Ariel, Scotty 2 Hotty, and Nick Mitchell, aka Mitch from the Spirit Squad. I'm not so much surprised about Mitchell getting released because he was totally expendable even when the Spirit Squad was on TV, but Ariel and Scotty definitely caught me off guard. Scotty 2 Hotty's one of those guys I thought had a job for life, and I actually made that a running gag in my year end column every year when I predict, and I quote, "Scott 2 Hotty will still, inexplicably, have a job." Looks like I was wrong this year, but the guy's on TV maybe three or four times a year tops and I'm surprised that he kept getting a paycheck this long, no matter how well liked he was. As for Ariel, it seems that a backstage argument with the politically connected Batista was the impetus behind the decision to kick her out the door, although attitude problems were said to be a piece of the puzzle as well. Finally, Angel Williams was released after spending a lot of time down in OVW. There were plans a couple of times to bring her up to the main roster, but those never worked out and she was scratched.
The word coming out is that a big part of why all these releases are happening now has to do with the recent promotion of Stephanie McMahon to not only oversee Creative, but Talent Relations as well. The way the situation looks to me is that Stephanie's always had her mind set on some people, and once she got in a position to do something about it, she started making cuts. I know that a lot of people are going to hear that and start up the "Stephanie sucks" march again, but I can't say that I disagree with what she's done, and may continue to do. Listen, if they've got Scotty, Mitch, Vito, or whoever at home and they really have nothing good to do with them, why keep paying them? And I don't want to hear bitching about how Creative has nothing to do with these people because, come on, what upside do any of these guys have? Any success they were going to have they've already had, and keeping them around to show up on TV and job every quarter or so is a drain on the payroll that doesn't need to be there. I have to think that after the recent cuts, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see more in the next couple of weeks during which we'll finally start to see some of the people who have just been taking up space for years, such as Funaki, Rene Dupree, Sylvan Grenier, Gregory Helms (injured or not), and as much as it pains me to say it because I loved him in ROH, Jamie Noble, get the axe. I'm all for it because one of the other things to keep in mind is that with the massive amount of crossover between the brands and tri-branding of the PPVs, there's suddenly a lot less spots to go around, so I think the size of the roster should be adjusted accordingly. Listen, I'm not saying that Scotty or Vito or any of these people are bad workers or don't deserve to work in the business, but at this point they would be in no way useful to WWE, and measures had to be taken to account for that.
What's In Stu's VCR?
This is a new feature I'm going to try to run as much as possible, partially because it'll give me a reason to actually watch all the tapes I have in my library, but also because I think it'd be fun to take a look back at old shows and look at them in a way that's not a play-by-play of the action like you might get out of our video reviews section, but more just me watching the show and giving my thoughts. So for my first ever attempt at this, I thought I'd take the two shows which seem to be most often put forth as the greatest PPV of all time: Wrestlemania X-7 and Great American Bash 1989. There's a lot of people on both sides of the argument, so I figured I'd sit down and watch both shows back to back and give my thoughts on each and then decide for myself.
Great American Bash 1989
Okay, I'm watching the home video version of the show, so the first three matches are clipped. Opening match is the two ring, $15,000 King Of The Hill battle royal. Leading into the show, they had run a series of battle royals at house shows with each of the winners advancing to this final battle royal. When somebody is eliminated form ring one, they go to a second battle royal in ring two, and the winners of each ring will then face each other for the final prize. The Skyscrapers, Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey, were the stars of this match, demolishing everyone in their path and, even though the move is more closely associated with Sid, Dan Spivey had a really sick powerbomb where he'd almost drop the guy on his head like it's a Ganso Bomb, and he handed out a few of those powerbombs in this match. Sid won in ring one by last eliminating Brian Pillman (no squeegee jokes, please) and then Spivey won ring two by eliminating Steve Williams, but instead of fighting one another, their manager Teddy Long (who you might recognize as today's GM of Smackdown) announced that they were going to split the win and the prize.
Next few matches went quickly. Brian Pillman faced Wild Bill Irwin in the second match, and Pillman put him away with an impressive move where he climbed the turnbuckle in ring two and hit a crossbody into ring one on Irwin for the win. The Skyscrapers squashed the Dynamic Dudes after that, and I think it's really funny looking back at this match and this stupid gimmick and then thinking about what Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace went on to later in their careers. Skyscrapers win when Spivey hits another of his fun powerbombs on Johnny. This was followed by a Tuxedo Match between Jim Cornette and Paul Heyman, and aside from being a little weirded out at how excited Bob Caudle got at the idea of them getting stripped out of their clothes, I think it's a little weird to see them working together considering how badly they came to hate one another. Seriously, these guys don't like one another at all. Cornette picks up the win and Heyman goes skipping off to the locker room in his strangely colored underwear as per custom for this kind of match.
Now the real fun starts, as Rick & Scott Steiner face Kevin Sullivan & Mike Rotunda in what I assume to have been a Texas Tornado match since, even though I didn't notice it being announced as such, there were no tags made and the ref let it go. This match was a lot of fun to watch, but a really strange mix because while you had Scott wrestling with Rotunda in the ring, Rick and Sullivan had a stiff ass brawl outside the ring. Seriously, they pounded the crap out of each other, with Rick hitting Sullivan with a table (IN COMMUNIST RUSSIA, TABLE GO THROUGH YOU!) and Sullivan using the steps and the ringpost against Rick. The finish had Scott come off the top rope with a crossbody and the Steiners dogpiled Rotunda for three.
Next up was Sting defending the TV Title against the Great Muta, who was undefeated at this point. One thing that always bothered me about the announcing of Muta's matches back then was the reference to the "judo chop" he would use. I'm no judo expert, but I'm reasonably certain that there's no striking in judo, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, Muta was something else because nobody else in North America did the kinds of moves he did at that time. The stiff kicks and acrobatic flippy style is a lot more common, and in fact pretty overused today, but back then nobody else was doing moonsaults except Muta. Another thing about Muta is that he had perfect timing with everytihng he did, and while you see a lot of today's high flying wrestlers not hit moves quite right or hit the move too soon or too late, Muta was always 100% accurate. Sting, on the other hand, was the king of the comeback, and what he lacked in terms of wrestling ability (not to say he was a bad wrestler), he more than made up for by knowing exactly when to suddenly bust out with a big comeback to pop the crowd, and then have that comeback cut short so he could do it again a few minutes later. Watch Sting's matches, he did that a whole lot, especially against asskickers like Vader. Anyway, this match was a nice mix of their respective styles, but it had a disputed finish when Sting hit a belly to back suplex on Muta, and the three count was made even though both men had a shoulder up. The title ended up being held up, and Muta won a rematch shortly afterward.
Speaking of titles, up next was the US Title match featuring Lex Luger defending against Ricky Steamboat. This was originally supposed to be no DQ, but Luger said he woudlnt wrestle unless it was regular rules and had the stipulation removed, making me wonder why they even bothered with the stip in the first place. I think that even though his series with Flair was as famous as it was, that Steamboat didn't get anywhere near enough credit for being as good a worker as he was, because he could carry nearly anyone to an above average match, and would often make matches by selling his ass off for stiffs like Luger. As for Luger, there's no doubt that the guy was a stiff, but his body got him a push, and they were able to do a real good job of fooling people into thinking he was good back in the 80s, because if you'll notice, he was always booked to wrestle guys like Ric Flair, Barry Windham, and Sting, who could carry him to good matches and cover for how bad he was on his own, and when he later went to the WWF and was put in a position to carry others, he was totally exposed as being completely useless and never regained the momentum he had before 1992. As for this match, Luger did almost nothing, leaving Steamboat to carry him every step of the way and doing one of his famous selling jobs for Luger's three moves. Seriously, Steamboat was basically wrestling himself for much of the match, although they did have one pretty cool spot where Luger had a chair, but Steamboat catapulted him into the corner and making Luger smash himself in the face with the chair. This had a pretty silly ending where Steamboat just flipped and went after Luger with the chair, drawing the DQ, and that was just about the last we would see of Steamboat until 1991 when he jumped back to the WWF.
Up next is Wargames, pitting the Road Warriors, the Midnight Express, and Steve Williams against the Fabulous Freebirds and the Samoan Swat Team. Michael Hayes was absolutely classic in this match with his antics outside the ring, as he's taunt the opponents from outside the cage, and then keep telling the camera "I'm in next" before sending someone else in. This match had some pretty cool spots, including Steve Williams pressing Gordy over his head like seven or eight times and slamming Gordy into the roof of the cage each time, Animal coming into the ring and jumping from one ring into the other, clearing both top ropes to shoulderblock Samu, and Hawk pressing Jimmy Garvin face first onto the top turnbuckle. The Samoan Swat Team were total wrecking machines back then, and it's so weird to look at the forces of destruction they were back them and then compare Fatu to Rikishi, the dancing fat guy in a thong. As you might imagine, Michael Hayes came in last and since he was fresh he gave DDTs to all the opponents and his team took over until Hawk came in, cleared house on all the competition, and put Jimmy Garvin in a hangman's noose for the submission win.
Finally, Ric Flair defended the NWA World Title against former champion Terry Funk, who had attacked Flair right after he regained the title from Ricky Steamboat. This was totally different than most of Ric Flair's matches, because while we were used to seeing him in long wrestling matches against guys like Steamboat and Windham or bouncing around for power wrestlers like Sting and the Road Warriors, this was an all out brawl that we were just not used to seeing out of Flair. I just have to say right now that I never got Terry Funk, I know he was important to ECW fans and everything, but he just never impressed me even in his series against Flair and it always seemed like Flair was doing all the work in their matches. Plus, Gary Hart looks like an out of shape Jay Briscoe. But all that aside, this match was fun because it was something different, and also had good psychology with Funk working over Flair's neck the whole match. Funk took some nasty bumps as usual, including Flair suplexing him over the top rope to the outside, and the finish came when Flair went for the figure four, Funk caught him in an inside cradle, and Flair reversed for the win.
This was definitely a good show, but I don't know if I'd call it the greatest of all time just because it was representative of how good the NWA was at that point in time. The thing that really makes this show stand out against other NWA shows of the time is that instead of just a show of straight up wrestling matches, we got a mix of all kinds of different stuff like the fast paced, explosive TV Title match, Wargames, the Texas Tornado match, and the main event brawl for the World Title. I haven't watched every NWA PPV from the 80s, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was the best of the lot.
Wrestlemania X-7
Now we move on to Wrestlemania X-7, which was without a doubt the pinnacle of the Attitude Era, and can also be said to be the end of the Attitude Era. The show opened with Chris Jericho defending the Intercontinental Title against William Regal. This sprung from a lame angle where Jericho pissed in Regal's coffee, but people had really high hopes for the match because of how good both men are as workers. Unfortunately, what a lot of people didn't know going in was that Jericho had some kind of rib injury that would allow him to work, but would also mean that he couldn't go all out. To his credit, Jericho did take a pretty good beating from Regal, including taking a German suplex from Regal that basically dumped him on his face and then also took a butterfly suplex off the top rope. At one point Jericho tried going for the Walls Of Jericho, but Regal used a really sweet counter right into the Regal Stretch, which even when worked had to do a number on Jericho's ribs. Jericho ended up putting him away with a Lionsault, the match was good but too short to really get off the ground. Strange to think about how Jericho was jerking the curtain here and then main eventing a year later.
After a backstage segemtn where Faarooq said "DAMN!", the APA & Tazz defeated the Right To Censor. The RTC totally destroyed the careers of everybody involved with it, most notably Val Venis and the Godfather. Both of them went back to their previous gimmicks after the RTC was killed for good, but the spark was gone and neither were ever the same. That said, the RTC would have made a terrific stable if they were given some other gimmick, but they were basically there to mock the PTC, and history has shown that once you're used by Vince McMahon to make a political statement, it's the end of your career. The match itself was mostly a throwaway in which the APA stiffed the shit out of the RTC and Bradshaw put the Goodfather away with the Clothesline From Hell.
Up next, Raven defended the Hardcore Title against Kane & Big Show. I have to admit that I had my doubts about how Kane and Big Show would do in the hardcore environment, but they ended up doing pretty well for themselves and took some pretty wild bumps. At one point, Show slammed Kane on a pile of wooden pallets. Raven took some crazy bumps too, first being thrown through a fence, then slammed into a wall and making a hole, then going through a window. Fortunately, he's not Marty Jannetty so he was able to continue. Show grabbed Kane and slammed him into a door, bending it, then tackled Kane and both went right through the door and then went through the wall of the room behind that door. Later on, we got the innovative spot of the century as Kane drove a golf cart into Raven. The finish finally came as Big Show took a bump off the stage and Kane followed with a legdrop off the stage and onto Big Show for the win. I could have sworn that Raven was there to take the fall.
After the Rock arrives to massive boos, Eddy Guerrero defeats Test to win the European Title. I would be remiss in not mentioning the classic "Eddie Guerrero Mows My Lawn" sign in the crowd that has to be one of the most famous signs in PPV history. Also, Perry Saturn accompanied Eddy to the ring and was wearing this ridiculous Dr Seuss style hat which made him look even more unbalanced than usual. Perry Saturn is not a guy I'd want to corner me in the shower. Eddy bumped like a maniac for Test, actually reminding me of one of Shawn Michaels' selljobs, even taking a press slam onto the top turnbuckle before collapsing in a heap. Eddy finally took control and worked over Test's knee and, to his credit, Test did a pretty good job of selling. Finally Test was getting ready to put Eddy away when Saturn and Dean Malenko interfered, and the distraction allowed Eddy to hit Test with the belt to pick up the win.
Now we get our hidden classic, as Kurt Angle faced Chris Benoit in what I believe to be their first singles match against one another. They actually start the match by doing amateur style wrestling on the mat, and Angle eats him for breakfast. Funny thing is that Benoit's got this reputation for being a great WRESTLER, and I don't know if I'd go so far as to say Angle exposed him or anything, but he really made Benoit look like he didn't know what he was doing out there. Granted, he was in there with an Olympic gold medalist, but throwing anyone in that kind of a situation with somebody who has credentials like that is a good way to make them look incompetent. Anyway, after a couple of minutes doing the amateur thing it moves on to a more standard WWF style match after Angle suckerpunches him and beats him up outside the ring. The match goes back in the ring and they eventually get to their always entertaining segment where they keep reversing out of each other's finishing holds into their own before Angle puts him down with the Angle Slam for 2. Angle tries the moonsault and catches the knees, but gets a rollup and the tights to pick up the win over Benoit. This was a really good match that I think has unfortunately been forgotten because of the classics they would go on to have in the future, especially the Royal Rumble 2003 match.
But as good as that match was, we hit the complete opposite end of the spectrum next when we are forced to watch Chyna challenge Ivory for the Women's Title. Long story short, RTC piledrove Chyna and hurt her neck, Chyna wrestles Ivory at the Royal Rumble and collapses, James and I cheer, then are dismayed when she comes back. I fucking hate Chyna, and I think everyone did but nobody in the WWF would admit how disgusting a human being she was because for some reason they decided to try and push her as some kind of sex symbol, a thought which is no less horrifying in 2007 than it was in 2001. Anyway, Ivory gives her a beltshot early on, but that was really her only offense, as Chyna squashes the shit out of her and pins her about two minutes in. The big smile on Chyna's face after winning reminds me of one of those weird mutants from Total Recall. What a hideously disgusting person. Good riddance, you damn freak. Next.
Oh, this was much better. Vince McMahon faced his son Shane, who had just bought WCW out from under his nose, in a street fight. This was easily the Hart-Austin of Vince McMahon matches, and they even found the perfect role for Linda: have her sit comatose at ringside. She's certainly more convincing doing that than trying to convey emotion or anything. Stephanie, in the meantime, was classic in her role as the whiny daddy's little princess, but she gets taken out of the match when she and Trish Stratus (who was playing Vince's mistress at the time) brawls to the back with her. After that, Vince makes hilarious angry faces at Linda and brings her in the ring to make her sit there all comatose and everything and watch him beat up Shane, but Linda shockingly gets to her feet (drawing the only pop I think she's ever gotten) and kicks Vince in the nuts, allowing Shane to set him up for the Van Terminator for the win. Great finish.
Up next was TLC2, and it was the spotfest you've come to know and love from these men. It was chock full of sick shots and crazy bumps, including Jeff coming off a ladder at ringside and putting both Rhyno and Spike Dudley through a table at ringside, then getting speared off the cable holding the belts by Edge. Rhyno definitely made a mark as a non-participant while interfering for Edge & Christian, including shoving over the ladder Bubba and Matt were climbing and putting both of them through a bunch of tables piled up at ringside. Edge & Christian pick up the win to regain the title. It's funny that all six men have enjoyed a lot of longevity in the business, yet only the Dudleys have remained a team for almost the entire time.
Since we need something light to help us recover after that, we go to the Gimmick Battle Royal, which featured the one night return of a slew of wrestlers who had memorable (for good or bad reasons) gimmicks from the 80s and 90s. Mean Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan even did commentary for the match to give it that authentic Hogan Era touch. The first thing I noticed was that Adam Pearce does, in fact, look a lot like Repo Man. Michael Hayes got a huge pop from the Texas crowd when he made his entrance. The entrances were the focus of this match, and the battle royal itself only went about 3 or 4 minutes and was won by the Iron Sheik, who appeared so fragile that he was probably given the win because he couldn't safely take the bump over the top.
Now it's back to business as the Undertaker faced Triple H. Motorhead was there live to play Triple H's entrance music, and I have to say that it made for an awesome entrance, and Triple H just had this vibe that night that really made it seem like he could beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Of course he didn't, but you knew that, right? The big spot of the match saw Undertaker and HHH brawl out into the crowd and onto this scaffolding that one of the hard cameras were set up on, and Taker chokeslammed him off the scaffolding and about ten feet down to the floor. Sure, he probably used crash pads, but I'd like to see one of you volunteer to take that bump even with pads. They get back in the ring and after briefly teasing HHH going over after a sledgehammer shot, Taker puts him away with the Last Ride to go to 8-0.
Finally it's main event time, as the Rock defended the WWF Title against Steve Austin. Everybody and their mother knew that Rock was losing here, but it still was one of the more memorable Wrestlemania main events. The place absolutely blew up when Austin made his entrance, but conversely booed Rock's entrance and nearly everything he did during the match. They had their usual awesome match which included both men getting busted open, both men trapping the other in a Sharpshooter, both men hitting not only their own finishers, but each others as well, all to no avail. Finally, Vince McMahon came to ringside and revealed that Austin had sold his soul to the devil and formed an alliance with McMahon, who helped him attack Rock. After being double teamed and bashed with a chair by Vince, Rock is covered by Austin, but kicks out at 2. Austin hits him with the Stunner, and again it only gets 2. Austin totally loses it, takes the chair, and does the roughest chair job I've ever seen as he literally cracks Rock, who was down on the mat, with the chair a good fifteen times before finally covering him for the win. Great match, and I really liked how Austin nearly had to kill Rock to beat him.
The last thing Jim Ross said as the show went off the air was "Things will never, ever be the same." He was right, because right after Wrestlemania the WWF went into a downward slide from which it still hasn't recovered. As for the show itself, it was phenomenal, easily the best PPV the WWF has ever done. But which was better, Wrestlemania X-7 or Great American Bash 89? I thkn the key problem in trying to make that choice is that they took place twelve years apart and each appeals to a different generation of fan who grew up on each different style. I actually grew up in between the 80s NWA style and the Attitude Era and really have no allegiance to either, but I have to say that as strong as GAB89 was, I don't think it can compare to Wrestlemania, which not only matched it in terms of in-ring action, but far surpassed it in entertainment value and had much more of a big show feel than GAB89. So there's my answer, feel free to email me with your own thoughts.
Ross's Roundup
As another new feature of the column, I'm going to take some of the more interesting comments Jim Ross makes in his blog and give my thoughts on them. He had two blogs this week, so let's see what JR had to say.
I don't know all the details of why Bruno Sammartino is perpetually angry at the WWE but it seems as if he is. That's too bad, as Bruno deserves his day in the WWE sun at the Hall of Fame. It is hard for me to fathom that I am in the WWE HOF and Bruno isn't. I find it very unhealthy for anyone to carry such angst with them for prolonged periods of time. Plus, Bruno's fans deserve to enjoy the moment at the WWE HOF if Bruno would accept entry. And no, I don't think he should go in without his blessing and support. I suggest to the legendary Sammartino, and I mean that in all seriousness, to "let it go."
From everything I've ever heard about the situation, it's not like Bruno's actively crusading against WWE, it's just that he has his set of principles, and they were principles that Vince McMahon didn't agree with. Bruno just feels that he can't reconcile with WWE and stay true to himself at the same time.
King uses a company laptop at ringside on Monday nights. We really don't need King's personal laptop sitting in a public place! Just kidding.
Not to make any kind of accusations, but I can only imagine what one would find on Jerry Lawler's hard drive.
Jim Cornette is one of the most talented minds ever in wrestling, albeit he oftentimes demonstrates a volatile personality. I loved doing commentary with JC and have many fond memories of our relationship that dates back to the 80's.
I'll agree with this. In fact, I think that if more people listened to Jim Cornette, the business would be in much better shape on the whole.
Did I really "rip" MVP's attire? Is "rip" the term? I don't personally like his ring attire, but I damn sure don't "hate" it. My only point is that it seems that MVP has a good physique that fans may never see. He's got a truck load of potential, nonetheless.
Or it could have something to do with the giant tattoo of Malcolm X on his chest.
Is Kennedy "injury prone?" I doubt it and hope not, that's for sure. He's another young WWE talent who is going to really be a star.
I'm just worried about him getting to the point where he's like a Randy Orton in that they want to push him to the top, but are worried that he'll get hurt again while in an important position.
I totally disagree on Benoit. Chris is a main eventer in the eyes of everyone who counts, and to compare Chris with Angle doesn't work for me. They are two totally different personalities.
I really hate to say this about Benoit, but they don't compare favorably. I honestly believe that in just a few short years, Kurt Angle came out of nowhere to actually become an even better worker than Benoit, hard as that may be to fathom to some, and has always been light years ahead of him when it comes to promos.
I do not consider Mick Foley a "stuntman." I am not against using foreign objects in matches, but I am against the "overuse" of these objects. That's a personal preference on my part. No one has to agree but if these chairs, etc. are used less frequently they will mean more when they are used.
I'll agree with this. A lot of people complain about WWE handcuffing its workers instead of letting them go all out with wild spots and hardcore wrestling, but they really got to the point where there was just way too much of that and it began to lose meaning because it became so commonplace.
If there ever was a Umaga-Khali "Evening Gown Match" I think Styles and Tazz should call it, because seeing the two competitors in "large" evening gowns is definitely extreme.
Translation: If a match like this ever happens, I hope to god that anyone other than me has to call it.
This is another topic we have touched on, why don't wrestling play by play men call more holds and moves? Because the companies want stories to be told and for the play by play guys to not do the "hold for hold" method any longer. It's called, following the directions from the "home office."
Some are better at this than others. Jim Ross has proven that he can do very well at the straight play-by-play style, while also being the best in the business at the "we tell stories" style. Joey Styles is far better at play-by-play than storytelling, and Michael Cole just sucks at both.
Will the WWE ever do a Sting DVD? My educated guess would be… absolutely. The WWE owns all the WCW footage since day one and therefore have all the necessary ingredients to put together a super DVD of Sting. Perhaps someday the WWE will acquire the Mid South library and fans can see the Bladerunners in action, the tag-team that consisted of Sting and the wrestler who later became known as the Ultimate Warrior, then called Rock.
I found this really interesting, because WWE is totally legally able to do this DVD set and doesn't need any input from Sting to do it. They literally own almost his entire career on video, and can take it in any direction they want to. I think that'd be really surreal if WWE did a Sting set while he was working in TNA.
I don't have a clue as to what the future of the NWA Title will be, but it will never be the same as when men like Flair, Brisco, Funk, Thesz, Race, Rhodes, etc. traveled the globe defending it. This is not a "knock" on the recent status of the title, even though some will make it such, which is the same in name only and not as prestigious as it once was in prior generations. The NWA Title will never mean what it once did in the wrestling business. How could it?
Well, Jim might not have meant it as a knock against its recent status, but it can be taken that way without him suggesting it. You tell me which of these names sound more legendary: Ric Flair, Lou Thesz, and Harley Race, or Jeff Jarrett, Ron Killings, and Raven?
St. Louis has to rank as one of the top cities ever in the wrestling business. At one point when Promoter Sam Muchnick was rocking along, St. Louis was arguably second only to NYC and Madison Square Garden as the best wrestling city to wrestle in the United States. The heritage of St. Louis Wrestling will endure forever.
I'd go so far as to say that depending on the time period we're talking about, St Louis may have actually been ahead of New York as the top wrestling city in the country. A lot of today's fans don't realize the history of wrestling in St Louis. It really was like an old-time mecca of professional wrestling because Sam Muchnick, one of the most important people through most of the history of the NWA, ran the territory and because of his political stroke was able to make his home territory the centerpiece of the NWA, including having a large part in fellow St Louis native Lou Thesz spending so much time as the champion and also by attracting top names from throughout the country to the territory. At that point, New York had more media exposure and that was about it, St Louis was where it was at before the 70s or so.
I have not kept up with any alleged issues between The Iron Sheik and The Ultimate Warrior. Sounds entertaining nonetheless. Maybe it's a reality show in the making?? Perhaps some enterprising TV producer should put Sheik and Warrior in a motor home and tape them driving across the country! There might be a need for sub-titles, but I would watch it.
And who said that announcers have no creative ideas?
Yes, some wrestling fans occasionally yell some "unflattering" chants to simply be defiant and to draw attention to themselves. That's not a wrestling issue, but a societal issue. Fans chanting for wrestlers they know are not even in the arena, make what level of sense? Is it simply to let the promotion know they want to see a certain wrestler or is it merely a way to be defiant? I personally don't care one way or another as I feel that if people pay their $$$ for their seats, they can say whatever they want, unless it is profane and offensive to others, especially kids.
I see a lot of this at indy shows, and yes, a lot of the stuff they yell out is just designed to either bust on the show or show off how smart to the business they think they are. However, I do think that the reactions of the fans are important to observe and shouldn't be rejected out of hand just because it deviates from your own booking plans, which is something I definitely think WWE is very guilty of. Case in point, the huge "YOU SCREWED MATT" chant on that episode of Raw at Madison Square Garden. I was there, and believe you me, the fans knew what happened and that was a 100% real sentiment. You did not have 30,000 or whatever number of fans yelling at Lita just to be funny.
I LOVE FEEDBACK!!!
I got a lot of great feedback on my look back at Ric Flair's World Title reigns on Friday in That Was Then, so I thought I'd answer some of it here.
First from Michael Flake:
You are wrong about the Jeff Jarrett-Ric Flair title situation. I was watching those programs and I remember what happened. Flair defeated Jarrett for the title. He collapsed on TNT a couple of days later. The next week on Nitro, Russo vacated the title due to Flair's "illness." Jarrett defeated Nash and Steiner in a three way match for the vacant title that night. Nash defeated Jarrett on TNT. Nash gave the belt to Flair the next Nitro and Jarrett defeated Flair that same night for the belt.
Is that the way it went down? You know, WCW was such a mish-mash of quickly forgotten or totally disregarded angles that it was really tough keeping track of all this stuff. Here's a different version I got from Andy Clark (though I don't know if it's the same Andy Clark that writes for this site):
Just wanted to chime in on what you considered official title wins. To clarify, Russo didn't overturn the decision of Flair beating Jarrett. In fact, Flair even made it to the next show officially recognized as the champ. It was at that show that Flair suffered a "heart attack" or something like that, and Russo stripped Flair of the title due to health concerns. He then awarded Jarrett the title as the No. 1 Contender. Plus, as the owners of all things WCW, WWE officially recognizes the title change. Anywho, just figured I'd throw in my two cents.
I'm not sure which of these versions is correct, if either, but the common point seems to be that the decision in the first Flair vs Jarrett match was not in fact overturned, so I'll change my stance and credit Flair with one more World Title. You're still going to have to go read to column to see what that brings him to, though. Ha ha ha.
From Ronevsorg:
Since Rick Rude defeated Flair for this belt........Is Rude even considered a world champion?
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if I wasn't going to recognize Flair as champion with that title, then I won't recognize Rude either.
Here's a little confusion from Dan From Brooklyn:
I bought the video of Spring Stampede 94 exclusively to see Flair/Steamboat again, and when the show goes off the air they clearly state the tie goes to the champion and Flair retains. So can the champion simply give up the title for a rematch? That doesn't seem like the traditional heel Flair we know and love. I know pre-Hogan Flair was in a face run, but giving up the title for the sake of fairness? That just doesn't sound like Flair.
A champion can voluntarily relinquish a title at any time, but it's up to the suits to decide what to do with it from there. I don't think Flair did it to be fair, he did it to get Steamboat back in the ring and prove that he's the better man by beating him decisively. And I don't view the result of the Spring Stampede match as a draw. If it was a double DQ or double countout or time limit draw, sure, but all four shoulders were counted down, meaning both men were pinned. As far as I'm concerned that's no draw, both men lost. That may be a difficult concept for some people to wrap their heads around because it very rarely happens, but I know for a fact that I've seen it go that way in amateur wrestling, and I know that pro wrestling is a different monster, but that's the view I've always had of such occurences.
Jamal points out something I may have missed:
The end of your article says Hogan's title reigns equal twelve. Did you know that AWA FINALLY recognized Hogan's two victories? That puts him up to fourteen. Maybe you should do an article about that, too!
I know what you mean and I remember hearing about it, but there's one problem: the AWA that recognized the title Hogan may or may not have won no longer exists, though its assets are owned by WWE. The AWA that made that bogus announcement a couple of years ago is a completely different company and run by a man with no relation of any kind to Verne Gagne, and is in fact now in a legal confrontation with WWE over the fact that he's illegally using the AWA name that WWE now owns. I see the recognition of Hogan (or any past, real AWA Champion for that matter) as a cheap attempt at giving his bootleg promotion an artificial history.
Jeff Osmond asks a complex question:
More bad news now will come from TNA and how mant world titles Christian has held. I mean he defended a world title sunday and lost. IS he now the shortest TNA WORLD champion as well as the first? What about team 3d and the tag titles? Maybe you could do a story that helps fans sort out this new title confusion that has now started. I think all wrestling fans would be better off if no such confusion existed in any wrestling promotion. Keep up the great work!!
Officially, the NWA stripped Christian Cage and Team 3D of their respective titles on Saturday afternoon. Therefore, Christian Cage had official recognition as the first TNA World Champion for one day before losing it at Sacrifice. Same thing for Team 3D, they officially became the first TNA World Tag Team Champions upon being stripped of the NWA World Tag Team Title on Saturday. I think another good question is whether Kurt Angle was ever officially the TNA World Champion, or if his title victory was officially nullified by Jim Cornette? Let me know what you think.
Forest George has a complex theory:
I read your article on Ric Flair's title regins. I have a theory that other posters on 411 have made for years, but I wanted to ask you about it and see if you think the theory holds water.
I always felt wrestling was like boxing when it came to World titles. If you are a champion of one federation, then when you when another "World" title - it should be part of your current regin.
For example: The entire 1991-1992 title run.
1. Flair beat Sting in Jan 1991 for the NWA/WCW World Heavyweight Championship. WCW finally went on their own due to NWA being nothing more than a "paper promotion," that I believe was owned (or booked) by Japan at the time.
2. Flair would lose the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Tatsumi Fujinami, but it was booked as a dispute to allow WCW to keep its title. Therefore Flair was still a World Champion, and winning the title back in May merely "unified" the titles back together.
3. (This one is tricky, but I've always agreed with it) Due to real life issues with Jim Herd, Ric Flair was fired and according to most parties Flair had agreed to job to title to an opponent of his choice and would give his custom bought Big Gold Title to WCW if he recieved his bond he had placed on the belt to the company years ago. Herd just told him to take a hike and stripped him of the title and fired him in June/July 1991. Flair, however, was still NWA World Heavyweight Champion as "paper based" that title was at that point.
4. One month before NWA stripped Flair of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan showed up with Flair's Big Gold Belt and dubbed him "The Real World's Champion." Because of the nature of how the title came to be in the WWF and politics, the WWF only half-heartly reconized the title, but the did (kind of) note it as a Championship and mocked it at the same time. I believe, however, the WWF reconzied it just by having Flair do that angle at all. We had the Million Dollar Championship, and Vince gave it a "linage," so I say the WWF 'carried on' the linage of the NWA World Title a mere month before the NWA stripped Flair and therefore Flair was still an active World Champion.
5. Although Flair lost the Big Gold Belt due to a lawsuit and buyout in November 1991, Flair made a new custom World Title for the duration. By then, however, Vince had already started to "distort the title" storyline and Flair ended up winning the vacant WWF World Heavyweight title at the Royal Rumble. With what was left of his title regin, Flair unifed it with the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. At this point, with one title or another, Flair had been World Heavyweight Champion for over a year.
6. Ric Flair loses the "Unified" WWF World Heavyweight Championship to Randy "Macho Man" Savage at Wrestlemania 8. Thus ending Flair's 15 month regin for being a World Champion.
Final: Although Flair won 3 Championship belts in two different promotions, I maintain Flair should only have one title regin during that tenure. He was observed in one form or another as a World Heavyweight Champion the entire time whether in a sincere or mocking fashion.
What do you think?
I think it's a creative way of looking at things, but though I appreciate the effort, I don't think this holds water. I will agree that Flair was a World Champion in one form or another from his victory over Sting through to the NWA stripping Flair of the title in September of that year. But after that, he didn't hold a World Title until winning the Royal Rumble. I don't view the Real World's Title that he carried around in between as a legitimate title because it was never officially recognized and was never defended. As far as I'm concerned, it was just a prop and even if it was recognized, I certainly wouldn't call it a World Title.
A last minute entrant from Rich Humphreys, who just made deadline:
WWE.com actually does have his title history posted:
http://www.wwe.com/superstars/raw/ricflair/titlehistory
To save you the hunt, they do NOT recognize the second Race title change, the Fujinami win. or the 94 win over Steamboat.
They DO recognize the victory over Jeff Jarrett.
Incidentally, I couldn't disagree with anything on your list; nice work.
Well, there you go. Thanks for the contribution, Rich.
From John Bryant:
Tally up Jerry Lawler's title reigns. that should be a fun thing to do.
And from Jeff Skidmore:
Mr Carapola, since you seemed to have so much fun with the Flair title piece as I did reading it, I have a challenge for you. Actually one of two challenges, you pick what you like.
1. Tracing Jerry Lawler's Heavyweight Title reigns in USWA, AWA, and others. I believe he's up there in the 50+ range because he did a ton of switches, even to unknowns like the Snowman in 1994. Crazy. My other challenge is...
2. A lineage of the most decorated man on the WWE roster, King Booker. If you trace all of his title reigns dating back to the GWF to current, and including TV, US, Tag Team, and World Titles, the number is staggering. I'd love to see a lineage here as I feel it would be a tremendous read for all viewers of the web site.
There you go, though you might like these two. Thanks again for a great article on Flair.
Well, I don't know if tracing Jerry Lawler's title history would make for much of a story because, as Jeff said, he did a ton of switches, and a lot of them were pretty close to one another. The thing about Memphis is that instead of real programs, you got a these endless streams of matches with the good guys against the bad guys and not much in the way of storylines and, as a result, you'd have Lawler randomely drop the title to one guy he didn't like, win it back a few days later, then drop it again to someone else he didn't like the following week. Plus, there's no real disputing any of Lawler's title wins that I'm aware of, outside of the controversy surrounding the unified WCCW/AWA Title. However, one thing is clear to me from this feedback, and that's that people really dig this kind of column, and I definitely think I'm going to do more wrestler title histories in the future. I have something simliar, yet different planned for That Was Then next week, so stay tuned and thanks for all the great feedback!
The Last Word On Judgment Day 2007
Judgment Day is tonight, and as always, 411mania.com will have live coverage of the show as it happens. The show isn't really being headlined by any one match, but will feature all three World Titles being defended. John Cena defends the WWE Title against the Great Khali, and even though most of the staff picked Cena in the Roundtable, I went out on a limb and predicted that Khali takes the title. Hey, werider things have happened and if Khali does win, you heard it from me first. Edge defends the World Title against Batista in a match that was pretty much thrown together at the last minute. I've got to agree with public sentiment on this one, if they wanted to put the title back on Batista they had a perfect opportunity to do it when the Undertaker went down to injury. I have no expectation that Batista will walk out of Judgment Day with the title. The ECW Title will be defended in a rematch of last month's ECW Title match, except this time it will be new champion Vince McMahon and his cohorts Shane McMahon and Umage defending against Lashley. You know, Vince has been having the time of his life as the ECW World Champion, and I think he's getting a real kick out of pissing off all the old time ECW fans by holding that title, so I don't think he's ready to give up on that just yet and expect him to retain. Plus, there's those rumors about One Night Stand being headlined by Vince vs Lashley in a singles match.
Chris Benoit defends the US Title against MVP yet again, only this time it'll be two out of three falls. While I think it'd be a lot of fun to have Benoit win in two straight falls, and while I suspect that they're going to try and swerve us by having MVP win again, I think this time Benoit drops the strap. Shawn Michaels faces Randy Orton...whatever, we all know that Orton's going to be sacrificed to Triple H when he returns, the question is whether he beats Michaels to stay strong for HHH or if he puts Michaels over to boost Michaels back into the WWE Title picture. CM Punk faces Elijah Burke in a match that I think has some potential to be a sleeper hit given enough time and will probably be a turning point in the CM Punk-New Breed angle, and Ric Flair faces Carlito in a match that I really don't care about.
Remember, live coverage begins right here at 411mania.com tonight at 7:30 with the preshow and all the way through to the end of the show, so if you don't order the PPV, or even if you do and just want to see what we have to say, pop on over and check us out.
We Got Links Out The Ass
First off, go check out 411's Roundtable Preview of Judgment Day 2007 for all the staff picks on tonight's big show.
Larry brings you the most read column on the internet today, Wrestling's 4R's.
Brad Garoon and Michael Bauer go at it in week SEVEN of Buy Or Sell.
Joe Estee has the Keys To The Game for John Cena to beat Khali tonight.
My pal Ari Berenstein has his thoughts and live impressions of ROH's PPV taping last week in New York City and more in Column Of Honor.
And you all know what time it is...that's right, SELF PIMPING! I make my own personal tally of exactly how many World Titles Ric Flair has won (hint: it's not 16) in That Was Then, and then I look at the week that was in ECW and TNA in Friendly Competition, now with 100% less Sabu! Oh yeah, and I also filled in on The Impact Crater and The Final Fantasy Heat Report, which unfortunately did not feature a Cloud vs Sephiroth main event.
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Well, that's it for me. Do me a favor and shoot me an email and let me know what you think about the new stuff in the column, and don't forget about our live coverage of Judgment Day tonight starting at 7:30. Until next Friday (assuming I don't cover any more TV reports this week), this is "Weekend Warrior" Stuart Carapola signing off. Thanks for reading.
