Hello friendly blog-readers, it's time for another weekly write up on this crazy thing we love called professional wrestling.
This week, as i usually do I'll be talking about RAW. In fact, I imagine most of this blog will be about RAW, because even after just skimming through and watching the promo segments, I have a lot to say. But there are a couple of other topics i'll mention too. So let's get those out of the way first.
I recently bought the "Best of Monday Nitro" dvd. I know it's been out a while, but the local stores where I live don't exactly keep a lot of wrestling dvd's in stock. So when I saw a copy of it, I snapped it up.
WCW, and more so Monday Nitro was the first wrestling show I ever watched, and the show that got me into wrestling. Sure, I knew some of the names, who didn't? Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, possibly Ric Flair as well. So I was really looking forward to watching this dvd.
And I wasn't disappointed. I'm a huge fan of Sting and Kevin Nash, so to see matches with those guys in their prime, or at least at the height of their fame, was really good. Some of the contriversial moments were really great too, I mean let's be honest, Nitro was the better show for a good few years there.
Anyway, I'm not going to do a whole review on the DVD, chances are most people who wanted it have already bought it, and know that it's a great set of matches and moments. If you haven't got it, I definitely recommend it, even just to get a glimpse of what the "other side" were doing that made the WWF step their game up.
There have been a few news items that i've read this week that I wanted to mention and give a thought or two about. The main one being, Hulk Hogan (and Eric Bischoff)'s contracts expiring with TNA, and then a few days later the news that they have both re-signed.
I haven't watched TNA for a long time now, last thing I rememember was when Sting first started doing the insane gimmick. Hogan is basically the reason for me not watching. The product, as it was in WCW, is still centered around himself.. when he is in no shape to actually compete. And he's having a match with Sting at TNA's biggest pay per view?
I saw another little item that talked about Hogan saying he wouldn't take any bumps in the match against Sting. Now if that's true.. there's really not a lot to say about it, other than THIS IS WRESTLING! You're supposed to take bumps.. right? I mean, a bump is essentially being "knocked down".. i have the definition right don't i? So what? Sting won't knock Hogan down once in the entire match?
How does Sting get Hogan in position to put the Scorpion Deathlock on and therefore win? Oh.. wait.. silly me.. it's a Hogan match.. Hogan isn't going to put Sting over is he... Of course not.. and it's totally believable that a what.. 60 year old man who's had multiple back surgeries in recent times could beat a still full-time active wrestler isn't it...
TNA, or iMPACT.. or whatever the hell it's called these days, had an opportunity to get out from under the huge shadows of Hogan and Bischoff, make the company not about one or two people anymore, and get back to what made their product interesting, and unique. But for whatever reason, they didn't. There was one tiny piece of good news... Vince Russo is no longer the head writer. Brother Love now has that job. Could be interesting.
Jeff Hardy got 10 days jail for his drug possession charges. 10 days... that will teach him. Maybe he should take a page out of his brother's book. They seem to be sharing the same story lately.
Ok enough negativity. I wanted to talk also about Cactus Jack, Mick Foley, Mankind, Dude Love. Whatever you want to call him. I watched Mick's "Hard Knocks and Cheap Pops" dvd this weekend, really enjoyable. I kinda wish the WWE would do a few more dvds like this, with the Wrestler whom the dvd is about hosting it.
But it was good, in a weird "shoot yet still kayfabe" kind of a way. I wasn't watching any wrestling in 2000/2001 really, so I haven't seen a lot of Mick Foley as the commisioner, but it appears he was really funny.
But after watching the dvd, I decided to try to find some of the infamous Death matches Cactus Jack had with Terry Funk, quite easy really..Youtube is always the answer. So I watch a couple, and man.. I mean i knew Mick was hardcore, I've seen a fair bit of his ECW matches, and of course the Hell in a Cell, and hardcore matches with the WWE (Edge vs Foley at Mania 22 is amazing), but this was on a whole different level.
If anyone hasn't watched them, go and check them out. Some of it I found a little unbelievable, one match i saw was an "exploding ring deathmatch", but it was just pyro boxes on each side of the ring, but the crazy barbed wire boards that exploded and also just that it was a barbed wire match... Mick and Terry are insane. In the best possible way.
One last thing about Mick Foley, and i'll touch more on this when i start doing my "Top 10" lists (i need some kind of catchy name gimmick first), but his promo skills are better than just about anyone i've ever seen. Especially in ECW. Go and find some if you haven't seen anything already.
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Ok let's move on to this week's episode of RAW.
I really loved the first 20 mins of RAW. It was amazing. All four guys did a really good job making it feel real, feel improvised, and feel refreshing and different. Punk finally got to speak after two weeks of no promos, and what's more he got to ring the bell, even though he feigned not knowing how to do it (awesome touch by the way). Punk really shone through as the star in that opening segment, he was the guy who came out last, he got the biggest cheer (maybe Triple H's was bigger, but I wasn't paying attention), and he was the one guy who felt like he wasn't "delivering a promo".
Also asking Triple H if he could wear his blazer made me laugh. Punk is the man. His reaction when Triple H told him "I got a whole table full of headphones and pipebombs just waiting for you" .. was absolutely priceless. That little 30 seconds right there is why CM Punk is the man.
"Can i wear your blazer??" "You can even wear my blazer!!" Brilliant.
So then we get this familiar music hitting. Oh wait, speaking of music, there is one thing I wanted to talk about that I don't think worked, especially last night, but also in general.
People's music "hitting" before they walk out to interrupt or to say their piece. Now, i'm sure this wasn't always the case was it? I know it's been used with certain characters, Undertaker for example. But his character is meant to be "supernatural" and is supposed to have the ability to change things, like bring lights up or cause black outs.
But if everyone had walked out, and it was really Triple H on his own.. who pushed the button for Cena's music to hit? Or even HHH's? We see him come out of his office, no music, no announcers, he walked past one, maybe two people.. and then walked through the gorilla position. No one was there... yet his music hit before he came out into the arena.
It would have felt even more like "not a normal night on RAW" if HHH walked out to no music. If Cena's music didn't hit, if he just started talking. Same with Sheamus and Punk.
I guess the point of the music playing is so that fans know who is coming out. But isn't it more of a surprise when someone just starts talking? I'm sure Austin's music didn't always hit every single time he interrupted McMahon.. did it? (help me out, i didn't watch during the austin/mcmahon feud). Fans aren't dumb.. we don't need to be given a musical cue to know if we're supposed to cheer for the person who's about to interrupt or not. And we can usually work out who someone is when they start talking.
Anyway back to RAW. Vince's music hits.I'm glad we saw Vince McMahon. I hope it was more than a one off, and it turns out it was actually Vince pulling the strings. Sure it's been done before, but there's a reason Vince is one of the best heels in the history of the WWE. So anyway.. we get a roles-reversed firing, just like back in june. Triple H is fired as the COO, and ... John Laurinitis is his replacement?
Sure it fits the angle.. Laurinitis wormed his way in by getting people to cause chaos.. but really.. i've seen grass growing that has more charisma than Johnny Ace. He can't talk on a mic, everything sounds forced (probably because he's trying to remember a script), and most people aren't booing him because he's a heel, they're booing because he shouldn't be on camera and no-one wants to see him.
So the first 20 minutes was great tv. Unfortunately after that, RAW felt like a step back. Maybe it was done deliberately.. but it was the same guys just wrestling different people.. Mark Henry, Randy Orton, Christian, John Cena.. oh and one small thing, people are complaining about Cena getting another title shot... ? He was the guy that Del Rio beat, so doesn't that mean Cena gets a rematch? That's how it's been done for years right? Del Rio will win at Vengeance and move into a program with Punk.
Triple H may have been fired as COO, but he's still under contract as a wrestler apparently.. which i like. Sure, he's another guy who's been a main eventer for a while, but at least he's not been a regular on TV (as a wrestler) for a while. Also, that line.. "have you ever tried to pick up your teeth on the ground, with broken fingers?"... That was amazing.Great to see Triple H as a wrestler. His "pick up teeth with broken fingers" line was amazing.
So Jim Ross is fired again? And apparently it was an "improvised segment".. as in.. a shoot? .. I can see how it fits in with the Laurinitis in charge angle, but it seems yet again, the WWE just want to keep embarrassing JR, and they keep trying to tarnish his legacy. JR is my favourite commentator of all time. I cannot stand Michael Cole. I don't like his voice, I don't like the way he describes (or doesn't describe) what's happening in the ring, and instead tries to put himself over.
I feel bad for Jim Ross, he seems to get this poor treatment a lot. But then again, this whole story has used twitter and youtube before, maybe it's all a big work.
One last thing.. Vince McMahon was "fired" back in june because he was making rash decisions and throwing his weight around and basically not running the company the right way right? Triple H was "fired" this week because he'd lost control of the company, and there was too much chaos right?
Didn't John Laurinitis throw his weight around last night and make a lot of snap decisions? He fired JR, he interruped the main event and changed it, he threw Morrison and Christian into a match in their street clothes.. that sounds a lot like making rash decisions. This angle suddenly doesn't make sense. Laurinitis needs to not be on TV. Bring back Austin as GM... make Teddy Long Raw GM..hell, even make Shawn Michaels GM.. I get that it works for the storyline.. but he's so bad. The only thing that will make it interesting is if Triple H gets to actually knock his teeth out. For real.
Anyway that's about all i've got to say for now.. I hope you enjoyed reading, as always, leave me a comment if you want, and also you can follow me on twitter at @TheOZMouthpiece
That's it, and That's All!
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