Scripted Through Sin 5.06.08: Bring Out ‘yer Dead!

Posted by Jarrod Westerfeld on 05.06.2008

A slow week in wrestling leads to more ranting than fantasy booking, but to an overly exciting week here on 411mania. Recap the week that people were more than likely sleeping through, as we talk PWG World Championship scene and solutions to the ill-fate of the title that’s befallen their last few champions, highlight further the argument about the great Wrestler of the Week debates, Raw’s creative team lacking creativity, and ready for a weekend of ROH action. Oh, and a send-off to Byers.



When is there ever such a thing as a dull and mundane evening around this site? Contributing to the Wrestler of the Week always seems to draw in some ire from the readers, Daniel Wilcox suddenly can't write something the second week into his return so I had to pull his shift, thus making Wilcox's return the most fluffed up failure of a return since Sting's third return to the iMPACT! Zone, Ryan Byers is taking off from the site leaving me without my favorite iMPACT! recap columns to read and laugh through, the weight of my man crush apparently got the better of Ari Berenstein, leaving me to sit through two entries from Jerome Cusson at the Column of Honor, Chris Lansdell wraps up his Monday duties for the last time as he moves on to a new comfy role that proves he's our answer to Katie Couric, Matt Short seems too strung out to form enough coherent sentences in his latest The Navigation Log, personally I blame it on the reefer he refuses to admit to hording from the rest of the writing staff, and Bayani Domingo is still confused as to which race of women is hotter, but still willing to try and stack the odds in favor of the Asians – I call racial foul as the Hispanic part of me wants the Spanish speaking ladies to take down the victory. What a fucking week! And I haven't told you how I've killed about 50 different hookers, yet, or that I, unlike a certain Rocket, haven't attempted to illicit sex from a 15 year old, or taped myself in a three some involving a 13/14 year old like a certain singer, but there's a reason behind that as J.D. Dunn will assuredly tell you all.

Oh, I almost forgot, Jeff Small still wishes he were funny. That should about wrap up the wackiness of last week.

How do we top it off this go around? Well, let's see if we can't cause up some mischief, shall we?

Mass Scriptures: A Light Load

Focusing on… PWG: A Reckoning of a Crowning

Weekly Scriptures: The Unknown Legends of Sports

Weekly Scriptures: And Then Shades of Gray

Weekly Scriptures: RAW Isn't Very Creative

Weekly Scriptures: Stealing Home – B.J. Upton Stle

A Light Load

No one ever expects a change up on the first pitch!

Switching things up this week, I opted to start off with the light load of comments I received from last week's article. To kick start things, we're going to jump in with guest Davy, who had a lot to say, that I assume was in response to lightning116's comments posted in the last edition of Scripted Through Sin.

I'm a member of the IWC since I'm always on this site. I'll admit that but really I hate a lot of typical IWC bitching, and here's my opinion on some issues the IWC holds so close.

CM Punk: He's Mr Money in the bank, ECW's biggest name. WWE makes sure to give him lots of coverage in the Magazine. He is getting pushed, King of the Ring wasn't nessecary for him. Relax ROHbots, WWE likes Punk and is pushing him.

Elijah Burke: yes he got knocked down serval notches since the New Breed. WWE is keeping him around arn't they? they'll give him a Miz style "he's gotten on a role" new push next draft. ECW only has a few guys on the roster and unless we want to see more no enterance jobbers every week get fed to Burke, we have to accept that he's down the totem pole.

Old ECW is dead: Yep. So Extreme Championship Wrestling is a cool name. Extreme doesn't have to mean blood and trashcan wrestling, it just has to mean exciting and over the top. Considering Punk and Morrison are the show's biggest names, i'd call ECW pretty extreme. besides Hardcore wrestling probably wouldn't fly with cable providers because kids wouldn't be allowed to watch it, and kids are where WWE gets a lot of it's money!

TNA: Okay it's gotten to Russo ic. I can hardly watch just because the Commentary and booking have gotten so bad. the IWC wins.

John Cena: better in the ring than a lot of guys, entertaining, likable and I've got no problem with him.

Was this really asking too much of the WWE?

While I'm not lightning116 and can't speak for him/her, I will go and respond to your comments in a manner of trying to clear up some things that I feel was lost in translation last week. I wasn't, nor at any point, claiming that CM Punk isn't being pushed, or that he is being completely underutilized, to the contrary actually. I feel the WWE has stepped up a lot and put a lot behind this athlete to legitimize him as a star of their future. But I do feel that the company misses out on key portions of his talent, such as his ability to handle a mike and his way with words. The WWE focuses so much on his in-ring ability, a style he had never worked prior to joining the company and has seemingly made into his own and worked well with, that the fans haven't gotten a chance to learn more about him as an entertainer. I probably do have to wonder if people thought I was asking too much to see Punk win both the Money in the Bank and King of the Ring tournament, but seeing as that's the only means by which the company actually tries to utilize him under, an athlete who enjoys the thrill of competition and excels at overcoming the odds, that I feel it would be right up his alley to further build up the notion that him cashing in Money in the Bank will inevitably lead to him becoming a champion, even if for only a short while. This could have been a great story to build into, misleading the fans into the notion that it's only a matter of time he claims world gold, only for that moment to come to a crashing halt into reality. With so many accomplishments behind him, it would've led everyone to believe that he was ripe for taking down a world champion, only for it all to be misleading, causing his character to have to shift gears after the loss and possibly have to spend more time seasoning himself. So long, of course, as they allow him to vent out through his words and develop a form of character the fans can associate with this great in-ring performer.

And that's the thing about Punk, right now. Much like with Shelton, people only look at him, currently, as just a great in-ring performer. It's the crux that prevents Shelton from becoming the big star that many fans, not just the IWC, expect him to become. Though he's finally developing a character that works, and he seems to be very comfortable with talking in front of a large crowd now, it seems to be a little too late to try and package him up as the next big star of the company and all because it took him too long to get the hang of doing a decent job of speaking. Punk doesn't hold that issue and it's an aspect of his talent that is, in a way, being squandered.

As per Elijah Burke, the man is a main event commodity for ECW. He shouldn't have to be working out programs with jobbers. Yes, the state of affair now is that he's lower on the totem pole but blame WWE creative for dropping the ball on him by not establishing him as a realistic threat to the main title picture the way they did with John Morrison and then The Miz. They had a commodity in Burke that went practically unnoticed towards the end of 2007 all in favor of pushing forth Big Daddy V, Kane, Mark Henry, and The Miz. He doesn't have to hold the ECW Championship, but working big time programs on that program with some of the bigger names of the show would help. But, as I type this out, my mind starts to think that perhaps he doesn't get far on this program because he's a dime a dozen heel on a show that has more than its fair share of heels taking up time. There are almost no credible faces for him to work with regularly enough to build into that stands him out as a star amongst the group. Perhaps someone had to fall to the wayside on the all-heel show, but it's a shame it had to be him.

As per the comment about WWE drawing in a lot of its money from the kids demographic, all I have to say is, and this is vital; their key demographic is still the males ages 18 to 35, and that's reflected through all of their programming and sales. This notion that WWE gets a lot of money out of kids is growing to get ridiculous, especially considering it comes at the cost of ignoring facts.

Guest The Truth of Truths had this to add.

Owen Hart = OVERRATED

Awesome Kong = Shemale

Elijah Burke = Tag Team Specialist at best (same with Benjamin)

If the E would use their tag teams better, they would be able to better season their performers on the big screen. Kofi, Benjamin, Burke, Cody (they are), Miz (they are).

I don't even know if I want to touch half of this, especially the part about Kong.

And finally, in the mail bag contributing reader, Steven Lavender, had these words to share with all.

I can see King of the Ring being a way to reinvigorate older veterans from here on.

I mean we don't need another way to push mid-card standouts into the main event. We have Money in the Bank for that now. And it works great!!!

That is very true; Money in the Bank seems to serve as a better tool to establish a mid-card standouts who are more than ready for the big run in the main event scene. The structure of the match allows for these talents to get that big push leaving the King of the Ring to become something new as it doesn't have to carry that burden anymore. The times have changed enough that the tournament structure can be more of a resurrection of careers tool than that of a creating of star power.

Now onto the mid-card of this article.

A Reckoning of a Crowning

Bayani Domingo was at it again this week, sparking up a light of brilliance in his column [Truth B Told 5.01.08: Injury Time-Out] and bordering along a topic that falls more in line with what I do here – fantasy booking.

Now, I'll be the first in line to tell you that I've seen little of PWG, but enjoy it enough to know I like what they have to offer from those small samplings. As far as storylines are concerned, though, I'm completely lost in what they're doing now and what they're trying to accomplish currently. But I know enough about what's going down in Cali that they've had to go through champions much in the same way Terry Funk's gone through retirement matches – far too many for the mind to count in these past few months. And with the news of Human Tornado being injured on a freak accident at a Mid-West indy show, just coming off of Low-Ki's injury that took him out of action from the PWG line-up's during his duties out in Japan, and with Bryan Danielson simply being suspect of becoming further injured after damn near losing his eye sight back in late August, last year, one has to believe that the PWG [World] Championship has seen way too many changes thanks to circumstances beyond any human's control.

Recently, injuries have been plaguing some of the bigger known indy talents out there – from Ki to Mark [Briscoe] we've seen many fallen to something or other that has hindered or completely altered plans. One question I have to ask is how these companies don't start looking outward for talent to rely on to strengthen their rankings? Someone like Raymond Rowe has to be more than up for trying his hand in a bigger independent wrestling promotion, much in the same way Kenny Omega is probably ready to grow up on the East Coast. We already know Eddie Edwards is getting a bigger set of usage in ROH, perhaps PWG should take note of that and try and get their hands on some lesser talents from the California area, and neighboring states to try and build a foundation in some future stars?

But that's not the point I'm going to illustrate here, as any boob could suggest such a thought – it takes a true boob of genius to try and book you out of this unfortunate circumstance. While I won't contest that I'm the brightest to try and do this job, I am going to throw my hat into the ring for at least suggesting an out here.

Could Chris Hero be right for a PWG World Championship run without getting a victory over current champion Human Tornado?

Time to put on your thinking caps and try and get to thinking what would be the out here. You can't go the route of yet another tournament to crown a champion on a weekend that's already devoted to a tournament. The next big night tournament is Battle of Los Angeles, and as Bayani pointed out, that's far too long to wait to crown a new champion as that's at least 4 months out – how long could you drag the vacant title out before fans grow tired of your attempt to wait for a right answer to cross you? At some point you're going to need to crown a champion, and with Low-Ki still scheduled out of action, your options tend to thin itself out heavily. Relying heavily on what Bayani said in his article, and gathering in all of the information I can through his column, I'm going to assume that the best out here would've been the two, Tornado and Hero, blowing off their tremendously built up, blood rivalry over the title with Hero possibly getting the big win. Clearly that plan is scrapped here as Tornado is injured, and Hero can't get a victory over someone that's not in the building – or can he? I could go on and suggest that the only out here be trying to establish some sort of out that allows Hero a title run, but that shouldn't be the case. If I'm right in thinking here, Hero is the face in this exchange, so him trying to go the heelish route of declaring a win over the champion without him being there would completely destroy the build of this feud as it has been developed and nursed. So the next best thing? Having him sit out on the outskirts, almost willingly – if he can proclaim that he's more intent on finishing up business with Tornado which keeps that feud as a focus. The problem there is that it tarnishes the belt a little bit, which is already in trouble as it sits out in limbo. The quick fix solution? Instead of hosting two individual tournaments, why not combine the two?

Again, I admit to my own ignorance here – I haven't a clue what the DDT tournament accomplishes outside of possibly serving as PWG's tag team sister of the Battle of Los Angeles tournament. I also don't understand the structure of the tournament, but I'm going off the blind assumption it's a single elimination bracket tournament, much like any playoff structure for any professional sport. Looking over it a bit more I note that it keeps referring to itself as a tag team title tournament, so why not anti-up the tournament a bit and really try and drive home that this is the ultimate tournament to crown all champions of PWG?

Break down the structure a bit and see if you can't mix and match some tag teams together based on relationships formed outside of the company. An easy bind would be [Austin] Aries and Jay [Briscoe] seeing as the two are going to be working as a tandem at the upcoming ROH show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, assuming of course it doesn't end up being a swerve. Build up a second tandem to serve as a wild card entry to the tournament. Move the tournament as you would, but keeping in mind the wild card tandems as their role will be to establish the finals in a big enough fashion that you see the winners not only getting the tag team titles, but doing battle with each other and their opponents for the PWG World Championship.

The goal won't be to discredit the tournament as it stands, but rather to turn a bad thing [Tornado going down to a knee injury and forcing the company to have to crown a new champion] into a business decision that should push more product and get more buzz around the show as being something you'd have to pick up. Simply establishing the field with the wild cards would keep in everyone who is owed a title shot during Tornado's reign, and everyone who holds rightful claim to the title, a chance to get that plus more by becoming late entrants into this tournament event. You get your contenders a shot while twisting things about that they don't just steal the thunder from the main attraction being this tournament. It also adds a nice twist on the formula of a working tandem by allowing these almost thrown together tandems having to learn to work with one another to try and get to what their ultimate goal is, winning the PWG World Championship.

The pay-off would be crowing a champion in a tournament without actually devaluing the DDT tournament event, or holding off on the crowning of a champion. You wouldn't want to have that title remain vacant over this event as it casts a shadow over the proceeding events. The focus should be this tournament, not what the company will do to crown a new champion, nor when they'll go about crowning that champion.

I know this goes against my belief of randomly thrown together tandems filling in gaps where the tag division fails to fill in, themselves, but in cases like these it does help out. Instead of seeing someone like Nigel McGuinness and Claudio Castagnoli teaming up for the sake of having a tag team match on the card [this being prior to their current storyline together possibly back around late spring of last year], you have two single's superstars competing as a unit for a chance at what they're trying to achieve through their single status – single's gold.

The plan here could be simple – the single man to get the victory decision, whether it be pin fall or submission, while winning his team the PWG [World] Tag Team Championship, but also wins the PWG [World] Championship as well. If the plan was to put over Kevin Steen and El Generico and keep them running as the tag champions of the company, assuming they're both playing the face roles here, you could allow Generico and Steen to claim their victory as a team means more so they will be the co-holders of the title. This could set-up the trap of them being overzealous in their accomplishment as a tandem, leaving them open to where if they're both involved in a singles match, the title is always on the line and that if one of them loses, they both lose the title, all while their tag team reign is pitted into jeopardy as they have to pull off double duty on certain cards. The things you could accomplish here could be a multitude of things, such as the world championship being involved in a tag team match from time to time, in addition to the previously stated stipulations.

Of course, all of this is based purely on my speculation and can't be better booked [by myself] around what is actually going on within the product as I'm pretty much clueless to what that company is doing. But hey, a good idea just needs to stand as the foundation structure. The real work comes in on fleshing out the idea and really drawing up the plans to execute it.

The Unknown Legends of Sports

While I was filling in for Wilcox last week [Thoughts From the Top Rope Fill-in 4.30.08: ‘Cause We're Super Bad MoFo's!], I went off on the topic of discussion in the Wrestler of the Week 04.28.08: Week 4 where those fans of the media wrestling product took up the elitist position of proclaiming that anyone who didn't vote for Triple H was basically fellating one another over our knowledge of the wrestling world outside of the media products, or that we were simply being elitist with our mentions of independent wrestlers who had a week worth noting. It's a ridiculous notion to think that the wrestling world is only limited to what we see on television as if anything not seen by American eyes is "meaningless" and "doesn't matter" despite the numerous amounts of people who are aware of these forms of entertainment and invest into them. This same community takes up the same stance against the history of this industry, many ignoring those who came before the Hogan's and Flair's and think it's unimportant to note this rich past that allowed this industry to grow to the point it has reached.

But before we move on, let's further establish something - MsChif accomplished something far greater than Triple H last week that went unnoticed. She didn't just win the SHIMMER Championship off of Sara Del Ray, a feat alone that was worth noting over Triple H's victory over Randy Orton, but rather she also won the NWA World Woman's Championship over Amazing Kong. So she did one thing Triple H didn't – she walked away with two major title victories in a single weekend.

April 27, 2008 - Cape Girardeau, MO

Ms Chif defeated Amazing Kong to become the NEW NWA World Woman's Champion at the Southeast Missouri University Recreation Center South.

Courtesy of the NWA Central States Missouri MySpace Website.

So what will the argument be to further place emphasis on Triple H's accomplishment? What will people cry now to further state the fact that Triple H should be handed more praise? Of course the main argument to further back up Triple H's claim to the honor is that he works for the biggest wrestling promotion in the world. To that my counter would be simple – major league baseball's Hall of Fame and some of its well known superstars weren't all major league players.

This argument pretty much goes hand-in-hand with the lack of respect wrestling fans have for the history of this industry – neglecting to care for such names as Buddy Rogers, Lou Thesz, Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales or various other athletes that helped to move this industry into the direction of the bigger spotlight that it indulges in currently.

While many hold this elitist idea and concept that independent wrestling doesn't matter and that those down in the leagues, and their accomplishments, are meaningless, what these people fail to realize is that the wrestling industry relies heavily upon these promotions to allow the "big leagues" to run. Much like Major League Baseball relies on the minor leagues and the out of country leagues to produce talents for these major league teams to rely upon to fill in rosters with better talents so they don't have to simply house in lesser talents that will not or cannot contribute to the team's winning ways. The WWE relies upon these promotions much in the same way TNA does. Also, what gets lost in all this translation is the fact that promotions like NOAH, NJPW, AJPW, and even Dragon Gate have television deals and are not considered part of the "big" companies simply because American wrestling fans don't see it, thus they don't recognize it. What further defeats this logic and proves it to be moronic is the fact that both CMLL and AAA have nationally syndicated wrestling programs that air on American televisions, yet they're both excluded from any talk of "big" companies in America. Some try to extend the idea that because the WWE does shows all over the world, that makes it that they're the only company worth noting. But given that most of their shows revolve entirely around the United States – not North America, or the United States and Canada – with only a small percentage of the shows done outside of the country on a regularly smaller scheduled, wouldn't they be on the same level of companies like PWG and ROH who do the occasional tours outside of the country for a small tour of their own?

What further drops off this notion, in my own mind, is the fact that we have a history of legends that come from the "meaningless" leagues, especially in baseball.

In baseball, many stars are noted throughout generations for what they contributed to the game. Such men as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams all are house hold names and considered, in many aspects, the very best this game had to offer – along with various other characters. But amongst that list is also a very few who weren't part of the Major Leagues, but rather, the lesser Negro Leagues. Men such as Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson are also house hold names, and rightfully so as they, too, were tremendous talents that added to the game. They are even recognized by the baseball committee through their inductions into the Hall of Fame, along with many other Negro League players.

But this mentality doesn't share itself over to wrestling, for some strange reason. Many men who helped to build up this industry are ignored. Claimed to be not as important to the likes of the more recent stars who have gone through that curtain and put on a show. It's rather pathetic, really, but this mentality extends itself to the casual fans who don't get to hear the history of this sport, or simply don't care for the history behind it. It also extends to what they witnessed and grew upon. That should speak volumes considering many from previous generations got to see the likes of Billy Graham and Lou Thesz perform on their television sets long before Hulk Hogan was even entered into the WWF for his second run – one that would take over America thanks to the boost of appeal in his role as Thunderlips in Rocky III. Those men were forgotten by the time the Bret Hart's and Shawn Michaels' came onto the scene, and have become less than footnotes in the minds of those who now idolize and worship The Rock's and Stone Cold's of today. And let's forget about their standings now that we have a generation enamored by John Cena's and Batista's.

The trend with wrestling fans is that of a decline from the past. Fans don't care about what came before their time of enjoyment as they weren't around to see it, nor does it appeal to them because it lacks the overly glitzy and heavily glamour products we see today. Fans base their opinions on the presentation of the show rather than the substance. People are more concerned about the stages these people walk through and the lighting with pyro effects more so than if the in-ring product can give them something entertaining and enjoyable. These same fans then cry about companies, like the WWE, for not focusing more on the in-ring wrestling when various products out there sit as true alternatives that give them what they're asking of the "big dogs" to deliver upon.

But more so over, where do most of these people come to believe these stars that they root for today, as they rest comfortably in front of the television set every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights? Are some of them so dense that they actually believe that Triple H started in the WWF and had no experience prior to his becoming of "The Game", or even before he became a blue-blood? Everyone has to start somewhere, and the road to get to these "big shows" is to grab attention and turn heads. Michael Lockwood [Crash Holly] wasn't picked up out of the indy scene for nothing. Lockwood had garnered much praise before rolling into the WWF to play the role of Hardcore Holly's whacky cousin. The same type of praise you'd expect to get someone moving up the ladder of the minor leagues to the majors – that there was something within him that could lead to much success if brought up. A gamble that paid off well in his case as he slowly became a fan favorite for his antics and entertaining characteristics.

Not everyone in the independent scene can rise up to the ranks of the media shows and be successful. But for every single "who cares" there's always one in the bunch that ends up becoming something later on down the road, and becomes something of note worthy praise. That someone grows up to be a prospect that goes on to becoming a star – just look at the humble starts of Steve Austin and the Rock for any sort of clarification. In the big case of the Rock, Dwayne was looked upon as being nothing too special, especially in his early days in the WWF family. There wasn't a slight glimmer of hope for him as the fans ate him up alive and regurgitated him out like week old meatloaf. It took tons of effort from the WWF to turn that around, and when it clicked, it clicked well and proper.

And for every young start, there is always those who sit on the sidelines and spot out these talents – those who mark them up as being something special that can, one day, grow on to bigger and better things. There were those who grew up around the Ricky Henderson's and the Derek Jeter's who noted something special in them to lead them to successful roads later on in life. The same could be said of CM Punk during his stint down in ROH which would later translate into success in the WWE as he drew in tremendous heat at Survivor Series 2006.

Before even hitting on television, Punk had a fan base to which would help support his run within the big company, performing under the lights of ECW. Much in the same way with the "smarks" who helped wean some of the casual fans to fall in love with Rock the same happened with Punk, the process rinsing and repeating itself time and time again. Those who know more about the worker spoke up and enlightened those ignorant to this fresh face.

Through it all, though, many still hold onto this idea that in the wrestling industry, the only true thing that matters is if the American wrestling audience sees it. If they didn't, as a whole, then it doesn't matter and therefore shouldn't be talked about openly. The snobbish stance of these fans is beyond ridiculous given what we know – their attitude being narrow minded and closed to only what they, themselves, as a selfish individual, sees. They don't take to the older generations before their time, much in the same way they don't take to the current generations who fight and claw their way through random bookings with random promotions that don't have a nationally syndicated television deal.

So to state that we who follow the underground stuff and that keep up with the international scene are elitist when your main argument is self-centered around whether or not you can easily access these products and that only what you see matters just sit and ask yourself, "who the fuck is really the elitist in this discussion?"

And one more thing before I move on – I'm still waiting for someone to point out that the Wrestler of the Week honor is designed, solely, for the American media based products as I'm pretty sure it's open to the entire wrestling industry.

And Then Shades of Gray

I know some writer here – hell if I can remember who, or when they wrote about this – don't like trying to add shades of gray to a character or a product. That the good guys are exactly that and the bad guys are just downright unlikable, but that doesn't always end up being the case. Sometimes the heel is just likable through their antics and scheming while the face is hated because of his far too clean cut look and Boy Scout behavior.

We, as a community, tend to criticize this industry for not evolving enough to match up with the rest of society, something that is reflected in the actions of Michael Hayes that led to his suspension. What should also be painfully obvious is the in-ring product, the development of characters and the telling of stories all tend to be dated. Not only this, but the characters tend to lack a connection to the fans because of its dated shelf life having already expired.

One thing you come to realize is that an industry has to evolve or it dies off. With gaming, arcades were a hot commodity and something that made a lot of money for the industry while home consoles were looked down upon until it got the recipe down right. Atari got the ball rolling only for Nintendo to step up the game and really get the boom moving towards this new genre of products. As time grew, simplistic games, while still very popular, fell to the wayside of games that became more movie like in their presentation and storytelling became key elements to a video game blockbuster. The industry evolved and became something far more marketable on a grander scale.

The same could easily have been said of wrestling a decade ago, when the times shifted to allow characters like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, along with a stronger character in Mr. McMahon. The Attitude Era, as overrated as it may be, allowed the media wrestling product to evolve into a new direction, one that is more realistic and had characters with shades of gray behind them. While it wasn't every character, it was enough of a change that the entire era garnered attention and fanfare behind it.

While I've been playing a lot of Grand Theft Auto IV, I've come to appreciate the main character, Niko, that much more because the character is more like a true human being – he's a neutral character stuck in positions where he has to commit evil deeds to pass by, while his kind hearted nature gets flooded out by the actions he, and the user, takes. It's a perfect blend of good and bad that allows the audience to relate to the character and his situation as we're all, at one point or another, placed into a situation where we have to make a decision that compromises our character. It's easy to relate to a character that isn't one dimensional as we aren't one dimensional ourselves. We are neither all good nor all bad, we just happen to commit both acts to make up our being. While the appeal of the game is being able to break the law and get away with all sorts of unmentionable horrors or choosing to as a vigilante, the overall appeal is still in the story and in the characters. Characters like this in any form of entertainment are easy to relate to and enjoy. The time of one dimensional characters have long since passed. Much like with this example, another series of examples would be the mass appeal of characters such as Peter Parker, Spiderman, and Bruce Wayne, Batman. Compared to other big time superheroes, like Superman, these characters are far more appealing because of their human aspects. Their tragedies and their struggle with dark thoughts and desires to take short cuts makes them that much more appealing over the Boy Scout characters in the likes of your Clark Kent. This is one set of examples that would go about proving that someone such as a Steve Austin is far more successful as a character over someone like John Cena.		Grand Theft Auto main character Niko are something needed more in the wrestling world.
Eddie Guerrero made a career out of being someone in the gray area – a character that displayed both good and evil qualities.	One big, glaring example of a multi-dimensional character that drew in interest in recent times was easily Eddie Guerrero. What started off as a typical heel character that pulled off tricks to try and confuse the referee and his opponents, would turn Eddie into a lovable character that would cement his legacy as a entertaining character that would forever be remembered for his antics more so than his in-ring accomplishments. His character remained the same when he became a face, the antics remained the same. Eddie continued to bend the rules to accomplish what he wanted without ever turning the fans off to his presence as fans could relate to it all – you do whatever you have to accomplish your goals so long as you don't get caught. Eddie demonstrated that even a face has to take a shortcut to achieve bigger and better payoffs, something that was seen as inappropriate for a face to do in the past. While the Guerrero family name is infamous, it is through Eddie that the entire family legacy has been reinvented and remembered as being, now. There was a lot of appeal about what he did, though many accredit his appeal thanks to his charisma and ability to grab and maintain a crowd's attention. But there had to be more about it than that as John Cena and The Rock shared that same common trait with Eddie but both suffered periods where their appeal waned and had to reinvent themselves in some manner to give themselves a boost in fan fare. Characters like Steve Austin who became a tweener after his run-in with Bret Hart still was sold as a face character despite still holding heel tendencies. This is something that appealed to fans and was radically different during the time as the WWF was just starting to slow down on the over gimmicked characters and colorful personalities. It was a welcomed change that seems to be fading with many bookers.
Though a character with shades of gray is something we lack, sometimes it's these type of qualities that lead to certain issues, such as a heel getting the wrong kind of heat. A lot of this can be attributed to the fact that fans, these days, just love the bad guys. It's reflective of our society as games like Grand Theft Auto are popular because of its allowance to the players to go down that dark path and play on the opposite coin of the law, something no other game really allows you to do as well as it does. Yeah, it allows the player to determine how far across that line they're willing to go, but the overall theme is that of playing the role of a criminal. This mentality can pretty much ruin the goal set for a character, especially one who's supposed to be hated by the crowd. Two big examples of this would be Chris Hero and Larry Sweeney. Both heels, but both beloved by the ROH crowds, who seem to be enamored with the thought that they're finally within the company as opposed to taking in what direction they're supposed to be going with their characters. Sweeney was involved in a segment at Sixth Anniversary Show that was claimed, by some, to be a rape segment, though nothing of the sort actually occurred. The fans in the building, however, not only showed no reaction to Alison Danger's return, but seemed to care less about her situation as they soaked in and enjoyed the presentation of Larry's latest antics. The segment drew in the wrong heat, and ROH was upset that no matter what they try they couldn't get the fans to jeer on Larry. Hero holds the same problem, though with Bobby Dempsey about to steal away some of his thunder as the truly sympathetic face to Chris's overly snobbish and self-centered attitude. It seems like the only way the crowd can bring itself to hate on Hero is whenever he slaps the taste, and donuts, out of Bobby's mouth. Any other time, the crowd is well behind him in his antics of showboating to the crowd by displaying his great athleticism and his uncanny ability to taunt his opponent and turn any set of negative chant thrown his way onto his opponent.		Chris Hero is a lovable heel within the ranks of the indy world, getting much respect from the crowd for his fun antics and taunting of his opponents.

And that's what gets lost in this argument to show that we need characters with more dimensions behind them, that the bad guy is just that, the bad guy. You're not supposed to be empathetic towards them, nor are you supposed to find them charming and endearing.

In a situation where the heel is destroying a face, after taking the feud to a personal level that blood must be spilt, the fans aren't supposed to rally behind that heel and scream for the blood of the clean cut, Boy Scout. They're supposed to rally behind the face and give him the spirit and encouragement to fight through this task and overcome the odds. It's the same and true formula of wrestling that has worked for decades and generations. But that formula also has to factor in the characters being utilized within it. If the face is unlikable then the formula fails, but not because of its design but rather because the times have changed and what is seen as a likable face character has also altered. The core values of society have remained a constant but the structure of a hero hasn't and this is something wrestling has to grasp in order to stay ahead of its fans in order to keep them coming back for more. It's an evolution of opinions and tastes, and sometimes wrestling tends to show its age – perhaps some companies should start investing in young blood behind the pen as much as they try to focus on young blood in the spotlight.

RAW Isn't Very Creative

This is a toss-up. Either I'm going to go off on RAW with a rant about their inability to create stars, or I'm going to focus on fantasy booking to better their nurture their creative side which has been lacking, if not downright stunted. No matter what the payoff, however, we'll stick it under the rants section.

I know many probably don't care to follow some of the things I've done on YouTube, and I doubt even fewer care about what my good friend, TSlay1974 has to add about any topic related to the wrestling world as he's not a writer of this site, but I'm still going to link up his blog entry on the WWE Fan Nation page, in which he goes off and talks about RAW's inability to create its own set of stars. The WWE Draft I.E. The Raw Creative Can't create Stars is more a rant than it is anything else, and it states a fair and valid point – the WWE creates the argument for the brand extension failing as every draft has basically allowed RAW to pick clean all other brands of their talents who were on the verge of superstardom all for the sake of keeping it as the A show of the company.

About the only stars you could claim the WWE created on the Monday night live show is Randy Orton as his tenure in Evolution allowed him to grow to the levels of a true main event star. But other than Randal, who else could you claim is the product of the RAW brand? Keeping in mind you can't count any of the stars that were created during the Attitude Era. It's a tough one, isn't it? Compiling a list to show that RAW is creating stars isn't exactly an easy task when you consider all things, such as who looked to be close to the verge of bigger things prior to being moved to a different program. You could, potentially, add in RVD to that list if you discredit his massive build and appeal in ECW that translated to him being a mainstream success, but that's going down the slippery slope of an argument that is far tougher than trying to argue for someone like Edge who had tremendous success when moved over to the red-dawned brand.

When you consider the list of big time players to cross the RAW brand – Kennedy, Carlito, Cena, Christian, Matt Hardy, Gregory Helms, Edge, London, Kendrick – you notice the trend that most of these guys all got big breaks on SmackDown and were on the verge of something special there long before gracing the RAW crowds with their presence. Guys you can see the brand building up, now, such as Santino, you could argue are stars but they're not on the cusp of anything major or big. Honestly, could you see Santino being utilized in a bigger role, barring his DUI charges?

The argument that things should be somewhat balanced off is a fair one. I think it's also fair to state that SmackDown should be toned down to appeal to children if the overall goal of the WWE is to appeal to a wider audience and garner some family demographic to view their products, and what better way than to place more of the sillier gimmicks onto that show? Boogeyman is a prime example of the direction that show could take, along with Festus and his Delirious-esque ring bell antics. Stuff like that can be done in a way that adults can enjoy it while kids really eat it up. Hell, CHIKARA has made a clean living of turning their fan base into giant, unkempt and unshaven children, as every whacky and zany character comes out of that promotion and becomes something enjoyable while still highlighting some tremendous talents that the rest of the indy scene can enjoy in any other environment, as well.

The overall sum of this is, WWE needs to adjust these issues or simply call the brand extension a failure by its own hubris to make RAW the only show in their product worth watching and truly caring about. If that's the case, they might as well cancel all contracts for SmackDown and ECW and try and focus their energies on just those two hours a week, something I'm sure their investors would be thrilled about as they lose out on the extra finances drawn in from these other shows and their house show touring dates.

It's time to start moving guys around to other programs so they can excel there and give fans a reason to watch those programs as much as they watch RAW. Let's not move Punk to RAW when he could do much better over on SmackDown, and let's not try and cram as many on-the-verge stars onto the Monday night brand for the sake of concealing the fact that the creative there is very limited in their approach in telling compelling stories.

Perhaps, and this might be seen as controversial and unnecessary to think of but, the WWE should think about moving Cryme Tyme over to SmackDown as their gimmick seems to have more of a flow for that show than it would on RAW, which is supposed to be more hard edged and serious show of all the other brands. It's just some food for thought considering their antics are what make up that team more so than their in-ring abilities. Who knows, maybe their appeal is big enough to help SmackDown stand out as a definitive draw for the show.

Oh, and once again WWE, thanks for making me look like a jackass for once again going against what I suggested and going down the route of turning Mr. Kennedy into a face with almost no reason. I honestly don't even know why Kennedy was away from my television these past few weeks, nor do I have any reason to guide me into believing that Kennedy is a face other than the fact he's going up against a heel Regal who has done tremendously under the weight of his crown. It's probably best I have no ideas for them this week to pass on, as I'll actually be spared the humiliation this week.

Stealing Home – B.J. Upton Style

This week, the column feels a bit light on content, though I'm sure many of my detractors will simply point out I spent way too much time writing about shit no one cares about and that this was a bore to have to try and rummage through as I'm just far too long winded. I actually wanted to talk a little TNA this week, but I can see I'm closing in on my limitations for the column, and I'd rather not pull a Cusson and do two editions of this column for a single week. I guess my only out here is to blog it out, or save it up for another edition of Scripted Through Sin. Either way, I'm not getting it on this edition, which bothers me to some degree.

Of course I sat on this entry just long enough to get a peak at the wackiness that took place on this week's Wrestler of the Week (05.05.08: Week 5) as I'm now a fan of the drama that goes on in the comments section there over who we should and shouldn't be voting for. That's just too good of a laugh to fucking pass up on, these days. I may find comfort in posting for that article every week just to see how much I can affect another human beings blood pressure much in the way many have affected my own. I didn't plan on living past 40 anyway, but it would be a roar to get others to stress into an early grave alongside me. Kind of like a poorly conceived game of chicken, only everyone's a loser just for playing. You know you're having fun when saliva is flying out of your mouth, your blood pressure reads like an IQ score of some Oxford grad and you're vision becomes blurred with rage – good times, good times.

This was a pretty slow week all around, and it was a particularly harsh one for my fantasy baseball teams who both came on the losing end. It amazes me that this year a lot of my pitching staff decides to only play the first three weeks, and then slump the rest, leaving me to try and make up points in batting, which is asking too much of some slumping stars. It seems I love to pick on the Julio Lugo's who are struggling to find their stride, despite the fact that these are the guys who are easily going to make All-Star break without breaking a sweat every other year.

So with very little in the wrestling world going down last week, and me having to talk about fantasy baseball, I think I've pretty much run the course of all I'm going to discuss in this issue. All I can do is hope that B.J. Upton remains the key player holding my stats together while Freddy Sanchez tries to figure out which end of the bat he's supposed to be swinging from, and wait for this week to develop into the fine mess of wrestling orgy I know it will explode into.

ROH's showcase in Virginia and then, on the very next night at the Hammerstein Ballroom is looking to be quite the start I could use. Shame, though, that when the Hammerstein show was announced a group within my "Skypetalkers" clique were eager to plan a trip up for the show, only for time and reality to come and mud stomp those plans into the shitter. It would've been nice to hang out with some of the voices I'm constantly talking it up to while enjoying a show from a promotion we all seem to get a better degree of enjoyment out of than most other promotions we're watching. Even sadder is the fact that come this trip I know I won't be able to splurge on the merchandise stand and possibly knock out "The Virgin Mary" Santamaria of the WrestlingRoundtable on YouTube. To say that dude is anything less of a prick would be a huge understatement of the highest degree.

Oh well, that's going to wrap it up for this week. Be sure to feed the egos of the other writers here by checking out their stuff and commenting them. In the meantime, I'm going to further work out the details on these cheap skanks to set up Byers's farewell party. I'm sure we can send him off proper like, with a little extra courtesy of the "ladies" of Hunts Point, who I'm sure are disease free and better than you – shit, they're not Punk. Maybe I've been talking about CM too much these past few weeks? Whatever, that's it for me this week.