The Ominous Thoughts News Report 6.17.06
Posted by Sam Caplan on 06.17.2007
This week I preview tonight's Slammiversary PPV, respond to feedback, give my thoughts on recent JR blogs, take a look back at Starrcade 89, and yes...more thoughts on the death of Vince McMahon!
The Real News
This week's main story was obviously the storyline death of Vince McMahon. While I already gave my opinion on the angle and the lack of respect it's shown those who have really died yesterday in Friendly Competition, there is another side to the story, and that's the ridiculous number of people (mostly non-fans, of course) who seriously believed that Vince had been killed when his limousine blew up. Several radio stations ran erroneous reports of Vince's death, and WWE Headquarters in Stamford actually received several calls offering their condolensces for the death of Vince McMahon. Though it was apparently said somewhere during the course of this angle that the FBI is investigating the death, they have made it known that they are not in the business of investigating fake deaths. The Wilkes-Barre Police Department also received several calls, and they released the following statement:
For verification purposes regarding those inquiring as to the alleged car bombing of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township on Monday, June 11, 2007, the incident was a staged event, prearranged with Fire Department personnel and authorized by Township Code Enforcement officials. All necessary precautions were taken during the filming of the event so as to ensure the safety and security of all persons involved in the event. Mr. McMahon was not injured during the event contrary to what is being reported on internet web sites and other media sources.
I can't tell you how ridiculous I find it that anybody on this planet believed for a moment that Vince McMahon was actually killed due to a CAR BOMBING. I mean, this goes beyond being a stupid mark or even poor fact-checking. Anybody who actually thought Vince was killed is just a flat out moron. I think it's ironic how every wrestling fan on this planet has had at least 10,000 people say to them "You know that stuff's fake, right?" yet we all know perfectly well that this was just an angle and now have to listen to co-workers come up to us going "Whoa, what happened last night? Did Vince McMahon really die?" Who are the marks now?
Anyway, we also found out that the angle is set to run through the entire summer, and will be like "Who shot Mr Burns?" from the Simpsons with suspects and all. Some ofthe suspects named so far include Bob Costas, Steve Austin, Donald Trump, and Snoop Dogg. What, no Verne Gagne? No Ole Anderson? Warrior Warrior? I'd have an easier time believing that any of them would have arranged to have a bomb planted on Vince's limo than Snoop Dogg or Donald Trump.
By the way, Sherri Martel died this week. I wonder if she's going to get a ten bell salute on Raw this week?
What's In Stu's VCR?
This week, we wrap up the NWA 1989 PPV series with Starrcade 1989, which features the Iron Man and Iron Team tournaments. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, each tournament features four wrestlers/teams with each wrestling all the others. A pinfall/submission win was worth 20 points, a countout worth 15, a DQ 10, and a draw would give each guy 5, and a loss obviously counted for nothing. Whoever had the most points at the end of the night won the tournament. Every champion was on the show, but none of the titles were on the line.
-The Iron Team Tournament opened with the Steiners (15) getting a countout win over Doom (0). This was mostly the Steiners abusing Doom and tossing them around, though Doom did get a little heat on them.
-Over to the Iron Man Tournament (the entire show would alternate between the two tournaments each match), Lex Luger (20) pinned Sting (0). Most of the match was your standard Lex Luger punch-and-kickfest, but Sting made his comeback and they wound up outside the ring, and when they climbed back to the apron, they tumbled over the top together and Luger landed on top and held the ropes for the win.
-The Road Warriors (20) pinned Doom (0) in what was a mildly fun power match, but as one of Doom tried for a piledriver on Animal, Hawk came off the top with the flying clothesline for three.
-Ric Flair (20) pinned the Great Muta (0) in just about a two or three minute match. This was surprising because Muta was undefeated when he entered the tournament and opened really strong on Flair, tearing into him with kicks and chops. Muta's running buddies Buzz Sawyer and the Dragon Master made an appearance, but were chased off by the Andersons. Muta tried for the moonsault but hit Flair's knees, allowing Flair to catch him in a small package for the win. Short, but best match of the tournament so far.
-The Steiners (35) scored a pinfall win over the Road Warriors (20), which was extremely rare at the time. This was another good match, and a much rougher one than anything else in the tournament. The Steiners hit a bunch of suplexes on the Road Warriors, who in turn did a lot of power moves like a press slam and a flying shoulderblock. In the end, Hawk hit a flying clothesline on Scott into a German Suplex from Animal, but Scott got the shoulder up at 2 and Animal's shoulders were counted down, giving the Steiners the win in what I believe to be their first match against one another.
-Sting (20) pinned the Great Muta (0) after a superplex. This one had a definite feel of both men fighting from behind since they both lost their first matches and though short, was still fun. Muta even made me pop by putting Sting in Cattle Mutilation fifteen years before I even came to recognize the move.
-The Wild Samoans (20) scored a pinfall win over Doom (0). In this case, the Samoans were Fatu and the Samoan Savage, aka Toma from the Islanders in the WWF. Samu just had this weird habit of disappearing from national promotions, didn't he? Though they're a little (but not much) more common today, heel vs heel matches were incredibly rare back then, and the reason for that was that the fans didn't like either of them and the match got no heat as a result. This was certainly a problem this match was suffering from, and not a very impressive way for Doom to finish the tournament with an 0-3 record.
-Ric Flair (25) went to a time limit draw with Lex Luger (25). This was all Flair, not only was he in control of almost the entire match but, as usual, anytime Luger was put in a position to lead the match, it totally fell apart. There was a lot of stalling and they were obviously killing time toward the end, and time ran out as Flair had Luger in the figure four.
-The Wild Samoans (30) defeated the Steiners (35) by DQ when Scott dumped one of them over the top rope. They were building a story here where the Samoans were the last team to wrestle, but came from behind to become contenders to win the whole thing. They got a fair bit of offense in on the Steiners as well, probably more than any other team in this tournament.
-Lex Luger (35) beat the Great Muta (0) by DQ. Luger was actually *gasp* selling here, in this case the knee after being in the figure four in his previous match. Muta went right after the knee, but as the time ran down and, already knowing that he couldn't possibly win the tournament, Muta became frustrated and blew mist in Luger's face.
-In the final match in the Iron Team Tournament, the Road Warriors (40) pinned the Wild Samoans (30) to win the tournament even though they had lost to the Steiners. This was a really quick match in which the Roadies did relatively little sellling during what you would think would be a dramatic finale. Hawk came off the top with the flying clothesline for the win.
-In the climactic final match of the Iron Man Tournament, Sting (40) pinned Ric Flair (25) to win the whole thing. Luger was ahead of both men on points and both needed big points if they were going to win, and during the frantic final moments as the time ran down, it looked like it was in fact going to be Luger taking the tournament until the final seconds when Flair went for the Figure Four and Sting reversed to an inside cradle for the win to take the tournament. Afterward the Andersons ran out, but instead of kicking Sting's ass like they would have done under any other circumstances, they raised his hand in victory and flashed the Four Horsemen sign.
This show's been blasted a lot, but I think that's because it was being unfavorably compared to a lot of the other stuff in the NWA that year. The only bad thing I can really say about this show (which did use a really unique format that I don't believe has been done since) is that, due to the 15 minute time limit on all the matches, there wasn't enough time to build what would otherwise have been awesome matches. But that said, it did lend an air of urgency where instead of, say, falling asleep during another Luger match because of the slow pace, you were more gripped by what was going on to see if they could beat the clock and get some points. It wasn't Wrestlemania X-7, but it was far from a terrible show.
Ross's Roundup
Wowzers, we've got a heapin' helpin' of FOUR JR BLOGS this week!
Some have asked about "banned moves" in the WWE. I have yet to see an official list of what is or isn't allowed, but I can assure you that moves that may be banned are done so with the wrestler's safety in mind. Some high risk maneuvers are safer to execute than others even though all flying, high risk moves provide no guarantee of safety to the participants. I think it is wise to eliminate the maneuvers that hold the highest risk of serious injury. Old time wrestlers will opine that young wrestlers who rely almost exclusively on high risk maneuvers simply can't wrestle. I don't know if I would be so bold to say that, but the art of mat wrestling and hold knowledge is very important, in my opinion, for any wrestler to learn, and to thoroughly understand first before "graduating" to the high flying stuff as a viable compliment to basic, fundamental mat wrestling and the utilization of holds. Do high risk maneuvers have a place in today's business? Absolutely. However, common sense and logic must be factored into any decision to use these moves. As the bar seemingly continues to be raised as it relates to high risk offensive maneuvers, we are likely to see more injuries and see beginning wrestlers not learn the art of wrestling but focus more on the art of crashing and burning which will lead to shortened careers. Don't get me wrong, I like to see high risk moves as well as the next guy, but I also understand that these moves, when missed by "this much" can lead to serious injuries which any company should want to avoid.
Another thing is that the more high risk moves are done, the less special they become. I'd rather see mostly straight matches with something big pulled out every once in a while to make it more worth it.
Chris- Does the backstage demeanor of a wrestler affect their career? I would say it certainly can. If someone is an unreliable jerk with bad habits then why invest in them? Is this really any different than any other field? Would you want someone playing on your team that is a negative influence or disruption to the others? I wouldn't.
Note to any stupid wrestlers who were grinning like idiots during the Chairman's big angle on Monday night.
Doug- Ric Flair is arguably the greatest living wrestler and should continue to entertain us until Ric Flair says it is time for him to call it a day. Even after Ric retires, he should still have a presence in the business. I do think Ric wrestling every week may be pushing the envelope but by no means do I think that "Naitch" should hang it up at this time. Flair's legacy is awe-inspiring and when he finally does call it a day, The Nature Boy will never be replaced or surpassed… in my opinion.
I agree, though I do think the longer he clings on, the worse he's damaging his reputation.
Pam- Try some Sanka and attempt to relax! I clearly understand that you are a passionate Shawn Michaels fan. HBK is slowly healing, but will still be out several more weeks perhaps months. That is still TBD by the doctors. If HBK is able to return to the ring and be as he was when he left I am relatively sure he will come back. However, if HBK can only go thru the motions physically due to his injuries he most likely would think long and hard about calling it a career. Unlike some wrestling legends who still cling thru the ropes, it is my belief that Shawn will not over stay his welcome, and will leave his chosen profession with his image and well earned reputation intact. Nonetheless, a HBK at 75% is still going to be better than many, many wrestlers working at 100%.
Kind of like how he retired in 1998 due to the back injuries? That injury was always questionable at best, especially with how well he's performed since returning five years ago, but I do think that Shawn wouldn't want to continue working if he couldn't be Shawn Michaels.
Billy- Billy "desperately" needs an answer to the stimulating question… "does Mr. McMahon watch TNA?" I don't know what Mr. McMahon watches on TV, Billy. We don't discuss things like that as I generally only see the Chairman on Mondays and at PPV's and then we don't have many long discussions especially about the TV shows that he watches in his limited, free time. However, if I had to guess I would say no.
But if you think he's not keeping tabs on what's going on there, you're fucking crazy.
Greg- Yes, more PPV's usually dictate shorter build up's to some matches. I think the market will eventually dictate how many PPV's any company produces. No, I don't think the WWE will ever go back to 5 PPV's a year if you are asking my personal opinion.
This became immediately noticeable when the WWF moved to monthly PPVs in 1995. The shorter builds to PPV matches had a pretty dramatic effect on the business, and I think it's what leads to storylines running through so quickly, explaining why we have so many shitty angles today that would never have seen the light of day in the 80s.
Jeek- I had heard something about Randy Savage being in the new season of Surreal Life. I will definitely check it out and, no, I am not interested in being a part of the cast. I'm just a little busy these days answering your comments, along with seemingly a zillion things on my ever-growing "to do" list. I'll be watching though.
I would love to see Randy Savage on the Surreal Life. I chuckle just thinking about it.
Dr. Z- There are no bathroom breaks during RAW or PPV's! We are tough men, Dr. Z, with amazing bladder control! Seriously, it is a matter of conditioning ourselves to these extended periods of time without a break and not over doing it on the liquids prior to a broadcast. Don't think that there hasn't been "issues," but no "accidents" that I care to elaborate on at this time.
I'd never be able to do what they do without pissing myself every week. All the college drinking years left me with a bladder the size of a quarter.
Jordan- I have not heard a single word about Bret Hart returning to the WWE in any capacity. I find this rumor to be "highly unlikely," even though personally it would be great to see The Hitman on a regular basis. There is no doubt that Bret would be a positive influence on all young wrestlers, but I hear he's busy working on his autobiography and has no interest in a full time gig with the WWE, or anywhere else.
I think calling this rumor "highly unlikely" to be the understatement of the century.
Joe- Personally, I preferred Gorilla and Heenan over Gorilla and Ventura at the announce table. I thought Ventura worked best with McMahon.
I'll agree with this and take it one step further and call Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan the greatest commentary team of all time.
Ellis- I strongly prefer to sit anywhere at ringside while doing commentary. When the Raw announce team was up near the stage with all the hot and loud pyro, it was miserable. Every performer feeds off the crowd, positively and negatively, and being able to sit "amongst them" is great. The old Monday Nitro format of putting the announcers away from the fans never made sense to me.
It's interesting, I never thought about how certain factors would affect a broadcast team's ability to do their job. Ability is maybe the wrong word, but it makes sense that, in much the same way a hot crowd can inspire the wrestlers to have even better matches, similar things can affect the quality of commentary. Interesting.
B.J.- I have long been a proponent of a less taxing travel schedule for the wrestlers that work a full-time schedule and travel, train and compete approximately 51 weeks a year. I am not sure how this would be structured, but perhaps taking off the entire month of December, and only doing the TV shows would be one consideration. Also, I would suggest giving the wrestlers at least a week, and maybe two, off after Wrestlemania with the exception of doing the obligated, weekly TV shows. Injuries would perhaps lessen somewhat, if the schedule was not as challenging. It amazes me that these men and women are able to maintain some semblance of health and sanity working such a grueling schedule. Personally I am usually on an airplane 51 weeks a year, which is tough, but not as tough as doing that AND training AND wrestling, like many of the Superstars do.
Yeah, and maybe if the schedule were a little lighter, people wouldn't be dropping dead of overdoses at age 40.
Brian- I would suggest that Rick Rude is certainly a viable Hall of Fame candidate in the future.
If he doesn't make it into the Hall Of Fame, I'll be very surprised. He was way ahead of his time.
Blake- Who has had the best ladder match career, HBK or Jeff Hardy? HBK's career will always be remembered for having the first, high profile Ladder Match, at least in my opinion, but Jeff has had more Ladder Matches and his legacy will probably be more joined at the hip with his Ladder Matches than HBK's.
I'm going to catch some heat for this one, but Shawn's ladder matches with Razor Ramon really haven't stood the test of time very well. The neverending slew of holy shit moments in ladder matches since 1994 has made that first ladder match look incredibly tame by comparison.
Sonny- I have broadcast with several men who were hilarious to work with, including Bobby Heenan and Jim Cornette. Wrestlers doing commentary and being funny, more often than not, is a result of their ineptness and being uncomfortable at the announce table. Not these two, but sometimes big time wrestlers who are great in the ring simply freeze up when they are asked to do commentary, and virtually to a man will say that doing commentary, for them, is more challenging than wrestling.
That said, I think Kevin Nash would make the greatest color man of all time.
Renn- Thanks for planning on making the drive down I35 from Wichita to Norman to visit J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q. I am a fan of the Ironman, 60 minute matches. There is not an over abundance of wrestlers these days who can pull this off successfully but any combination of wrestlers like HHH, HBK, Benoit, Edge, to name just a few on a short list could get it done and tear the house down. Ric Flair has probably done more one hour matches than anyone I have known.
I think the idea of putting Ric Flair in a 60 minute match in 2007 is probably not a good one.
Cobalt- My favorite tag teams of the 80's would include Ted DiBiase and Dr. Death Steve Williams, The Rock ‘n Roll Express, The Midnight Express and the Fabulous Freebirds. I agree that there were several excellent tag teams competing in the 80's.
Hm, what do all those teams have in common...OH YEAH! They were all in Mid South! Funny, that.
I LOVE FEEDBACK!!!
Now here's something timely. From Cornucopia:
Even though TNA probably shouldn't be advertising Scott Steiner because they know he's not going to be able to compete, it doesn't make much sense to tell the non-internet fan he won't be there. Though the tactic is underhanded, if TNA believes that without Steiner, the PPV is still going to be worth the money, who are we to argue until we've seen the PPV? Really, if TNA makes up for Steiner not being there by say, bringing in a big free agent, or, and I know this is gonna make me sound crazy, booking the situation really well (I mean interestingly, maybe run an angle involving the Dudley's turnin' heel because that's why the characters were created), it could make for better drama and excitment than the originally booked match, and even culminate into the originally planned match later this year. I mean, and I know I don't speak for the average fan, or anybody else for that matter, but I'd pay for a PPV with the Steiners and the Dudleys in the main event. ESPECIALLY if we could get to see more promo's from Scott... assuming he can still talk.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. You have to tell all the fans about a change like that because if you go ahead advertising a match for weeks while knowing the whole time that it's not going to happen, then fans buy the show expecting to see the match and don't, they're going to feel like they were ripped off and will be leery of buying any more TNA PPVs since they got bait-and-switched the first time. You can't be dishonest with your fanbase like that if you expect them to continue paying for your product.
Here's a little feedback on my opinions on the Vince death angle. First, from an annoyed Dave Mason:
you know what i am sick a tired of your shit, in your
crappy posts. you call Vince a dick head(well he is)
but you are the guy who calls girls you do not know
sluts. your just mad because Vince and the wwe got
one over on you and the whole IWC, and the whole 10
bell thing being disrespectful how? we know its fake.
that's why its getting booed.
Remember what I was saying earlier about marks? You're right Dave, WWE totally got one over on me. I completely believe that Vince McMahon was really killed and was all ready to dedicate my entire column to it before I found out the truth at the zero hour. As far as calling girls I do not know sluts (I assume you mean Extreme Expose), you're absolutely right, I shouldn't be doing that. I'll just have to go sleep with them myself so I can tell you for sure. Actually, I won't because I wouldn't fuck any of those skanks with your dick.
And from a far less hostile ant-lox:
Great column. I agree, the Mr. McMahon death angle is way over the limits. With
all the deaths in wrestling and the many "In Memory Of" graphics that star off
shows over the years, you'd think Vince would actually not go that far. Now a
real person has died and Monday they will most likely have a Sherri Martel
graphic to start the show. Now many fans might think that she is apart of the
storyline too, or question her death. I attended the taping of SmackDown/ ECW
and the fans shit all over the 10 bell salute to Vince(Twice). I thought that
was just totally disrespecting people like Owen Hart, and Eddie Guerrero who had
shows dedicated in their memory. So you're right, nothing is off limits to WWE
now.
That is a great point. If they do have a ten bell salute for Sherri on Monday, then everybody's going to think that's an angle as well. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that there are those not in the know who thought that as soon as they heard the news. And to answer the final part of Dave's earlier question, THIS is why using the 10-bell salute for storyline purposes shouldn't be done, because when somebody dies for real, nobody's going to take it seriously.
The Last Word On TNA Slammiversary 2007
Slammiversary, which will mark TNA's fifth anniversary, is tonight and will be coming from their original home in Nashville, Tennessee. Of course the show will be main evented by the King Of The Mountain match which they've been building to for weeks. Already known to be in the match are Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and Christian Cage. Jim Cornette announced on Impact this week that the fifth man will be announced the night of the show. I know this may send the three people who heard about that into a frenzy, assuming it's going to be Rob Van Dam, but I doubt it will be unless they made him a HUGE deal on really short notice. I don't think his contract's up for another few weeks, anyway. I gave my thoughts in the Roundtable, but I have a strange feeling that AJ Styles is going to get the win here. I have this theory that he's been acting like a moron for months to lure Christian into a false sense of security while getting himself close to the World Title (which is on the line in this match), and at Slammiversary he's going to doublecross Christian and take the title back.
As well as the King Of The Mountain match has been promoted, the rest of the card has been really poorly promoted. The only other match I could think of off the top of my head was Team 3D against the Steiners, and that's not happening. This hasn't stopped TNA from continuing to advertise the match of course, but I can assure you that it's definitely not happening, and it's really dishonest for them to continue advertising the match having known this for nearly two weeks. The TNA World Tag Team Title will be on the line, though no challengers have been announced just yet. Speaking of champions, Chris Sabin will defend the X-Division Title against Jay Lethal, and though I think Jay Lethal is a great talent with a fun gimmick, Chris Sabin's been the steadying element of the X-Division since he took the title back in January, and I don't see him dropping it here.
Christopher Daniels will meet Sting in a match that I really can't explain because TNA's done a terrible job explaining it themselves. Apparently Sting told Daniels something and Daniels did something completely different while thinking he was doing what Sting told him, and it just turned into a big mess and now they're going to wrestle. I think it'll be a great match, don't get me wrong, just not the best build. What did get a TON of build is Eric Young vs Robert Roode in a match for Eric Young's freedom. Eric Young is obviously going over here, though with Vince Russo in charge there is always the possibility of a swerve. I really hope not, because then it would take all the time they've wasted on this stupid angle for MONTHS now and flush it down the toilet.
The rest of the card is entirely forgettable. LAX takes on the almost-pushed Chris Harris and the also-almost-pushed Rhino, Alex Shelley takes on Bob Backlund, VKM will have a rematch with Basham & Damaja, and then almost-pushed-the-third James Storm teams with the returning Ron Killings to face Frank Wycheck (who is some kind of football player) and Jerry Lynn in a match they didn't tell anyone is happening yet.
The show has been very poorly promoted, but nonetheless is happening tonight, and if you're one of the smart people who's saving their money, you can follow our LIVE coverage of the show as it happens right here on 411mania.com starting tonight at 7:30 pm!
We Got Links Out The Ass
First and foremost, go check out the 411 staff Roundtable Preview of Slammiversary, as we take a match-by-match look at the entire show.
This week in High Road/Low Road, Sat & Uncle Trunx discuss the merits or lack thereof of Vince McMahon's death.
However many R's he ends up putting in the column each week, Larry's gonna call it Wrestling's 4R's and you know you're gonna read it!
This week it's back to SHIMMER in Buy Or Sell, as Ryan Byers and Brad Garoon discuss the women's promotion out of the Midwest.
Zac Calhoun continues with part three of The Great ECW Project in The Ripple Effect.
I am convinced that we will be talking about the draft until...well, next year's draft. Well, at least Joe Estee's still talking about it in Keys To The Game.
Phill Feltham talks about a sore subject with us all when he gives his thoughts on life after Vince in The Quick Talkdown.
Finally, it's all the self-pimping you can handle, as I link to...ME! First in That Was Then, I continue my look back at the year ROH had in 2006 with part three of the series. Then in Friendly Competition, I talk about my opinions on Vince's death and also talk about why I thought this week's edition of TNA Impact was a great show.
That's it for me this week. If you haven't already, go read my series on the history of Ring Of Honor in 2006, and then don't forget about 411's live coverage of TNA Slammiversary starting tonight at 7:30 pm EST. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!
