Tim's Take 11.18.08: Bring The Pain, Steal The Thunder

Posted by Tim Livingston on 11.18.2008

I'd like to congratulate everyone else for congratulating Brock Lesnar on his UFC Heavyweight Championship win on Saturday. With that in mind, I think there are a few other people in the wrestling business worth congratulating...even if I have no reason to.

Jump on the bandwagon, folks. It seems that everybody who writes about wrestling is congratulating Brock Lesnar on his UFC Heavyweight Championship victory Saturday night against Randy Couture. I enjoyed watching the fight because I was the only one in a room of 15 who wanted Brock to win. I couldn't wait to congratu...well, wait, now hold on a second. It looks like I got beat to the punch by both WWE AND TNA.

What I love about sport as entertainment, whether it's wrestling, boxing or mixed martial arts is that in the end, it's a business. There is competition between the three of them because they are vaguely related to each other, but what I love is that when somebody...ANYBODY, really achieves something and that person was involved with the company in any way or form, that company will go out of their way to make sure and congratulate that person, even if it's unwarranted!

So, let's get this straight. A company whose sole link to UFC is Frank Trigg, who pushes their "biggest star" as someone who wants to compete in the UFC arena and never had Lesnar under contract whatsoever wants to congratulate him? Really? Sure, go right ahead. Ride those coattails, TNA!

Oh, and let's not forget the big man on campus, whose juvenile way of dealing with any type of success done on a large scale by anyone he sees as a competitor is to sarcastically congratulate them. Oh, but now WWE has rescinded their statement. Isn't that convenient? That Vince McMahon: Class, class, class.

So that got me thinking. What other things could be passed on as congratulations when you have no basis for congratulating that thing in the first place?

Let's see...oh, I guess WCW should have congratulated Stone Cold Steve Austin on his WWF Championship victory at WrestleMania XV. All that time they built up Austin and did it with such panache, such dignity. In fact, I bet Eric Bischoff left him a congratulatory message on his phone. So nice.

Strangely, I think the WWF did indeed call Bischoff back and thanked him for telling his announcers to proclaim that Mankind won the WWF Title from The Rock on that taped RAW ten years ago. Mick Foley? World champion? Nobody would want to see that! Oh, wait. A couple million did. HA! That's not a joke? That actually happened? Well, I'll be damned...

AAA should really congratulate TNA for coming up with such an original idea with that Terror Dome cage of theirs. It just screams originality...you know, unless AAA started using it first. Which they did. Also, AAA should congratulate TNA for switching to the six-sided ring because it's...aesthetically pleasing? Oh, wait. AAA used that first, as well. Go figure.

Paul London should congratulate Evan Bourne for being able to get over like he has, you know, considering they basically share similar traits in that they are high flyers and use the same finishing move. Oh, but that's right. London wasn't smart enough to ask Mr. McMahon if he could show him that he could do the Shooting Star Press so that he got his approval, and he just went out and did it anyways. Then, he became an also-ran and got released.

So let me get this straight, TNA and WWE. You guys are part of a down time in the wrestling business right now, correct? You guys can do nothing more but talk about someone else's success instead of your own? Really? You guys can't congratulate Matt Hardy for messing up his knee and continuing his match with Finlay like he did? Gutting it out like that? Or Jeff Hardy and The Undertaker for putting on that match on SmackDown!? When they basically killed themselves in order to put on a great match?

For once, please observe your own kind instead of grasping for straws by reaching for something you don't have any part of. If there's one thing that kills a business, it's when they don't build from within and they continue to look to the outside for ideas. Ask the New York Yankees. All those free agents and none of the talent built from within in almost a decade now. Hey, it's gotta work sometime, right?

So I'll say it, even if the others have already. Congratulations, Brock. You were terrific in your win on Saturday night, and I hope that you take down the winner of the interim title fight and become the undisputed champion.

Just don't bet on me trying to steal any of your thunder.

(Also, I want to wish my sister a happy 20th birthday. Happy birthday, Barb!)