Wrestling Deja Vu 12.29.08: Monsters of the Midcard

Posted by Joseph Martinez on 12.29.2008

This week's edition of Wrestling Deja Vu examines two wrestling savages who dominated the squared circle.



Leading Off

Welcome to the second edition of Wrestling Deja Vu! Last week's column is right here in case you missed it. The debut was well received by many and the responses were more positive than negative. I did have some suggestions which I took into consideration and I hope the column is adjusted for your liking. This week WDV takes a look at two savages of the squared circle, but before we get to that, let's take one more look back to last week.

Looking Back

Last week's article came and went and I don't believe I made any factual mistakes. I left out some title reigns by both Cena and Hogan but the article was meant to look at their main event accomplishments. A piece of information was outdated though as American Gladiators was cancelled the day of the posting. Before news of the show's cancellation broke, the show was reported to be renewed for a summer of 2009 debut.

Onto reader feedback, courtesy of the comment section.

It's Simple Math provides a different perception of John Cena.

Naaaaah, Cena's more like a Bret, Shawn, or Diesel. He carried the company during a DOWN period. He doesn't even belong in the same sentence as Hogan, Austin, or Rock (or even...Goldberg? Sting? I'd say he isn't).

I can't say I can disagree with this because John Cena's 2007 was a great year for an individual (in terms of kayfabe), but the company was definitely down due to the Benoit incident and a flurry of injuries to the roster. However, the wrestling business is said to work in cycles; if John Cena can prove he can carry the WWE during another boom in the business, then it would be fair to place him with Hogan, the Rock and Austin.

We were lucky enough to get a page view from Stone Cold.

Not as popular as Hogan??!! If'n you was a bigtitty blonde bitch I would stomp a mudhole in your ass!

Sorry, Stone Cold, but Hogan is thee number one guy when it comes to wrestling. You still have the edge over Cena though. I'm glad I'm not blonde and I'm safe from a Stone Cold Beatdown.

And finally, Larry David and Bob chime in with their thoughts on the article.

Prettaaaaaay, prettaaaaay, prettaaaaaay BLAND.

BOR-ING! BOR-ING!

Nothing dancing Lance Storm can't fix!



Now, time for this week's comparison.

Monsters of the Midcard

Rumors of the return of Umaga have been floating around the interwebs and Smackdown recently played a promo video plugging the return of the Samoan Bulldozer. Umaga has been a great addition to the WWE roster ever since his debut (as Umaga, not Jamal) in 2006. He was built up by a program with the Nature Boy and a slew of convincing victories against different wrestlers. The buildup was done excellent and led to bigger things for the former Jamal. A feud with John Cena ended with a tremendous bout that earned 411mania's 2007 Match of the Year Award . Umaga had another strong showing in his high profile Wrestlemania match against Bobby Lashley. Umaga ended 2007 jobbing to Triple H, but was placed back into a high profile match against Batista at Wrestlemania. The match was dubbed as disappointing and largely forgettable. Umaga did very little until he was drafted to Smackdown. Shortly after that he was injured and is scheduled to return in February. Umaga has drawn comparisons to other "savage" wrestlers , but none compare to him like Haku (also known as Meng). Haku enjoyed marginal success in the 80s, first as a tag team competitor, then as a singles star. He was eventually managed by Bobby Heenan and tagged with Andre the Giant until leaving the WWF for WCW. His run in WCW was unspectacular as he spent most of his time in pointless midcard feuds. He had some run ins with guys like Goldberg, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, but he never evolved into a next level player.

Powerful Piece of the Puzzle

Characters like Umaga and Haku should never be the feature guy of an organization. Instead, beasts like these should always be used as super enhancement talent, that is, an individual who makes main eventers look good. Haku was an imposing force in the WWF and WCW, but he was more of a side attraction and only put talent over in certain situations. He was a career midcarder but still had his fair share of fans. Umaga was more than a sideshow to the main course. He's been involved in several high profile feuds and always showed dominating features. The build of both these men allowed bookers to use them against top babyfaces and develop an interesting story. Both these men had runs as a face, but little success was had because Umaga and Haku were so dominating that they always had a power advantage in their matches.

Handy Finishers



Meng's Tongan Death Grip



Umaga's Samoan Spike

The comparisons between these two beasts don't stop at the gimmick or their positions in their respective companies. Even their finishers had some similarities. Both were able to come out of nowhere and both were visually painful moves which were perfect for this pair. Umaga's Samoan Spike is an impact move that targets the neck area while the Tongan Death Grip is more of a submission maneuver. One of the most important things of building a proper monster is the finisher. Both of these finishers are devastating and usually meant the end for the opponents. Only main eventers or up and comers were allowed to kick out of these devastating moves.

Sizing Up The Savages

There are definitely differences between these two individuals despite the similarities in their characters. Haku had more humanistic features than Umaga. Unlike the Samoan Bulldozer, Haku was able to speak English. There were once rumors that Umaga was going to speak English in the near future but that has yet to come to fruition. However, the ability to speak may not be a positive one for characters like Umaga and Haku. Umaga has enjoyed more main event success than Haku because he has the aura of a monster who seems to have the advantage in nearly any matchup. Unfortunately, like nearly every other imposing figure in the wrestling industry, Umaga lost some of his luster. Prior to his injury he was basically treading water in the WWE and waiting for The Big Show to conclude his feud with The Great Khali. Umaga's return to active competition will go a long way in determining his legacy as a WWE performer. Haku's time in wrestling earned him a small cult of fans who always remember him as "that guy with the awesome afro." He didn't have many accomplishments in the grand scheme of things, but his influence on the Umaga character has given us one of the better monster characters in the history of wrestling.

Goodnight, Travel Well

I apologize for the brevity of this week's column as it was a very busy week for yours truly. Next week's column will be full length and focus on two guys who have always been on the cusp of greatness but never made it. Last week I was wishing my readers a merry Christmas and this week I'm hoping everyone kicks off their 2009 in a positive manner. New Year's Eve is usually a celebration for me, but fireworks have been banned this year due to a dry spell. I still expect some daring individual to provide the neighborhood with fireworks. If you're a fan of the NFL, I hope your team won this past week, unless they're the Philadelphia Eagles. I can't believe the horrible game my Cowboys played yesterday; it was embarrassing to watch. Anyways, that's this week's column. Stay safe, don't blow yourself up over the holiday and as always, all feedback is welcomed via the comment section or sending an e-mail to [e-mail]. See you next Monday.