I’m really digging these short form documentary like this one and the one on the Usos. They’re not the kind of people that are going to get a full three hour version (well Booker might someday) and these things are really well done and give you everything you could want to know. It doesn’t hurt that they probably cost about $18 to produce. Check these things out as they run half an hour and do what they’re supposed to do.
So I watched the latest episode of Countdown (great way to kill forty five minutes to an hour) and the topic was International Sensations. Then this happened.Here’s their top ten. Remember that these are voted on by the fans, though I believe there’s a list of options provided.
10. Cesaro
Not exactly a huge resume but some of his displays of strength are amazing. This is fine.
9. Fabulous Rougeau Brothers
They have a great theme song, but they never even won the Tag Team Titles. I’ll give them this though: they did translate the French in All America Boys, which turns out to be insulting America. That’s amusing but this should have been an honorable mention.
8. Santino Marella
And we’re done. Santino is a comedy character (if you call that comedy of course) and not exactly the most interesting guy in the world. Yeah he’s a popular guy now, but ten biggest international stars ever? Ok fine. We’ll get to the bad stuff in a bit.
7. Nikolai Volkoff
This would be part of the bad. Volkoff is a name and nothing more. Other than winning the Tag Team Titles a few times with Iron Sheik, he never did anything people remember. Oh wait scratch that. He lost. A lot. Like, A LOT.
6. British Bulldog
No issue here.
5. Great Khali
Eh……..I’m not sure on this one. Yeah he won a World Title and is a huge star in India, but fifth best ever? That’s a stretch.
4. Rusev
Maybe in five years, but this meant we could look at Lana more so I could live with it.
Now let’s pause for a second here and consider the names we have left:
Bret Hart
Bruno Sammartino
Chris Jericho
Andre the Giant
Rey Mysterio. What? They mentioned him at the beginning of the show, and remember he’s from that far off nation of San Diego.
Trish Stratus
Bad News Barrett. If the Fabulous Rougeaus can be on the list, why can’t Barrett?
I’m sure I’m forgetting some people, but that’s quite a list to pick three from.
3. Bruno Sammartino
You hold the World Title for eleven years and you’re not even in the top two? There are only two names that could possibly top him from a star power standpoint.
2. Sheamus
This isn’t one of them. I’m a big Sheamus fan and have been for years, but second ever? Alberto Del Rio has won more world titles than Sheamus and he can’t even make the top ten?
1. Iron Sheik
Did Iron Sheik wrestle a classic and win the World Title in two different matches at a great Wrestlemania? Ever headline the biggest show of all time? Ever BEAT HULK HOGAN FOR THE WORLD TITLE? Actually no, as he lost that match after holding the title for all of a month. He isn’t even Ivan Koloff but he’s the #1 international star of all time? I’m done.
This one actually made my head shake and that’s not supposed to happen on a show like Countdown. I’ve clearly failed as an educator to the masses.
Well, it’s over.There isn’t much to say on this one as this story popped up and was done in less than a week. From what it seems, DeMott, who denies all allegations, was described as abusive, overly angry and pretty much a psychotic who treated his students horribly. It’s probably a good thing that he resigned as it could have gotten a lot worse before it got better. DeMott had been around for a long time so it’s kind of a big deal that he’s leaving. This story was one of the biggest things going on this week but it came and went so quickly that it barely had time to get interesting.
There’s no need for this kind of behavior from a coach or anyone in WWE. I have no problem with a coach being tough and stretching guys. However, there’s a big difference between making someone work and making them put themselves in unnecessary danger or shouting ethnic, racial or homophobic slurs at them. That’s abusing your students who might be scared to stand up for themselves. If someone isn’t doing something right and needs to be yelled at then that’s one thing, but this came off as someone abusing his authority and not seeing the line he crossed a mile back. That doesn’t need to happen no matter what.
As a side note, do you all want me to post more news stories like this? I’ll never post a bunch of low level stuff like “here’s an interview with someone where they don’t say anything interesting”, but for bigger stories like this one? I’ve been thinking about doing that for a long time now but I’m not sure how well it would go over. Any thoughts?
I was reading back through some of the recent reviews/comments and I’ve come to a conclusion: I’m WAY too bitter about WWE at the moment. I know I rip on it a lot but I really don’t like getting this upset about wrestling of any form. Even late WCW was horrible but it was more of a head shaking horrible than “I really don’t want to see Wrestlemania” kind of anger. Yeah, Raw sucks right now but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good things going on. Today, I want to take a quick look at some of the things I really do like in WWE right now, because there certainly are a few of them. Let’s get to it.
These are in no particular order.
First up, we have Kidd and Cesaro. These guys have worked very, very hard in the last few months and deserve to be rewarded. At first it looked like Ascension was destined to get the big moment at Wrestlemania, but barring a sudden switch, Kidd and Cesaro are going into the biggest show of the year with the belts. They haven’t been a team that long but they deserve this spot and I’m really glad they’re getting it. They need a deeper division to defend against, but I’d love to see them have the belts until at least the summer. Hopefully they don’t drop them back to the Usos to tie into Rikishi’s Hall of Fame induction.
Randy Savage is going into the WWE Hall of Fame. No matter how you look at it, that just feels right.
I really like how Ryback has been treated lately. I was always a fan of his and there needs to be a simple monster on the good side. He’s not likely to get back into the World Title hunt for years, but it’s really refreshing to see him getting back to form instead of just shouting RYBACK RULES over and over again.
Just touching on the main event scene a bit, it’s nice to see that the Philadelphia crowd wasn’t indicative of how the masses view Reigns. No he isn’t the next coming of Steve Austin (the more I think of it, he’s more Diesel. They even look a bit alike) but he’s far from hated the way Batista was last year. That’s encouraging for WWE because it means he isn’t a total lost cause and they could fix him up with the right story and character development. He has a great base but he needs more molding.
Daniel Bryan is in the ring. Nine months ago, we really didn’t know if that was ever going to happen again.
Lana. The camera doesn’t do those legs justice and she looks even better with her hair down. Seriously, she’s just awesome.
Seth Rollins and Jon Stewart had an awesome segment that was far better than I think most of us were expecting. How cool is it that it’s Rollins getting that spot and not say, Santino? Seth more than carried his end of it and that’s exactly why I’m looking forward to him as a top star in the future.
When he’s in the ring, Brock Lesnar is still a sight to behold. The guy is the definition of a monster and he ranges somewhere from masterpiece to destruction almost every time he’s in the ring. Yeah he’s absent a lot, but it makes those appearances all the better.
Stephanie McMahon. When she isn’t standing up for Andre the Giant (I’m leaving it alone), she’s AWESOME as the evil boss. The fact that she’s a really good looking woman helps too. She was always attractive when she was younger but she’s gotten a lot better with age.
Axelmania. I mean DANG this thing is glorious. The clock is a brilliant idea and Axel has gone from the jobbiest jobber this side of JTG to one of the few saving graces of this past week’s show. I know it isn’t leading anywhere special but I’m digging it while it lasts.
Sheamus is coming back. Screw you guys, I’m still a fan. Tell me you wouldn’t see him as a MAJOR improvement over Kane or Big Show.
The Bella Twins. No I don’t like their wrestling or personalities, but they can fill out some tight clothing. While we’re at it, Summer Rae is a great looking blonde and there’s something about a pale British chick in limited clothing. I think I’m out of main roster Divas to fawn over now. Oh and Alicia Fox is good looking. There now I think I’m done.
R-Truth being insane is still a good thing. It’s not exactly “When Little Jimmy Comes Marching Home”, but him being all over the top and stealing the belt is a nice touch.
Cena vs. Rusev is a good feud and a great way to elevate the title. It’s time for Cena to step away from the main event for a bit and it’s working well so far. I don’t think Rusev keeps the title at Wrestlemania, but Cena as US Champion is going to do good things for the belt.
Santino isn’t around. Isn’t that just a nice feeling?
Sting however is around at times. That’s one of those things you never thought you would see but it’s still cool.
I’m rambling now so I’ll cut it off here. There’s still a lot of great things in WWE at the moment and it’s not good to get bogged down by all the horrible things that are going on right now. Enjoy wrestling for what it is and never forget that at the end of the day, you’re watching grown men in limited clothing grappling on a mat. It’s not something that needs to be taken so seriously.
On the continuing subject of the evolution of Cena’s character.
Something I’ve said many times is that John Cena isn’t going to be fully appreciated until after he’s gone. You hear people complaining about Cena today, but I truly believe those same people will be missing him soon after he’s gone for good. The question is why does Cena not get the recognition that he deserves. While there are other reasons out there, I think a lot of it has to do with the talent around him.
Cena is surrounded by one of the best main event pictures in wrestling history. In the time that Cena has been on top, he’s been surrounded by Undertaker, Edge, HHH, Shawn Michaels, the Rock (kind of), Chris Jericho, Alberto Del Rio, Brock Lesnar and of course his major rival Randy Orton. Compare this to some of the other top stars of all time.
Austin had Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Foley, Angle and then it’s a BIG drop. At the end of the day though, Austin and Rock were miles ahead of everyone else, no matter what HHH would like you to believe.
With Hogan, other than Savage and Warrior, he never really had anyone around him near his level. After that you have guys like DiBiase and Piper but it wasn’t a heel on top company back then. I mean, Paul Orndorff was great back then but he just wasn’t that kind of main event star. Andre was a great monster to beat, but hindsight says that he was never going to be anything more than a featured attraction.
The point of this is simple: the main event scene is so talented in the last ten years that it’s hard for Cena to really show how great he is. It’s not saying that he isn’t great because he certainly is, but when you’re on an all-star team, your top superstar doesn’t shine as bright. That will be a lot more visible once Cena is retired, but for now, just think a bit about how many main event guys Cena has around him to contend with and then look back at how few people like Hogan had around him. It explains a good bit.
The trend of leaving off matches you can find on the Network continues, and that’s a good thing.
Matches
Boston, MA – October 10, 1988
Intercontinental Championship
Ultimate Warrior vs. Honky Tonk Man
Madison, WI– June 6, 1989
Ultimate Warrior and King Duggan vs. Ravishing Rick Rude and Andre the Giant
Superstars – May 18, 1991
Ultimate Warrior vs. Smash
Monday Night Raw – April 29, 1996
Ultimate Warrior vs. Isaac Yankem
Meadowlands Arena – May 8, 1989
Intercontinental Championship
Ultimate Warrior vs. Ravishing Rick Rude
Maple Leaf Wrestling – October 29, 1989
Intercontinental Championship
Ultimate Warrior vs. Andre the Giant
Wrestling Challenge – April 28, 1991
Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick The Model Martel
Lexington, KY – May 19, 1992
Ultimate Warrior vs. Papa Shango
SummerSlam Spectacular – August 19, 1992
Ultimate Warrior and Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Nasty Boys
Promos/Interviews
Wrestling Challenge – March 13, 1988
I Live For Anger and Frustration
Wrestling Challenge – August 13, 1989
Mean Gene Interviews Ultimate Warrior About SummerSlam
Superstars – May 23, 1992
The Papa Shango Curse
Monday Nitro – September 21 – 1998
Running to Reappear
Wrestling Challenge – June 25, 1988
I Won’t Let You Down
Superstars – July 16, 1988
Legends Weren’t Built Overnight
All American Wrestling – September 18, 1988
You Can Feel It
Superstars – February 3, 1990
I Speak to You, Hulk Hogan
Superstars – April 14, 1990
The New WWE Champion
Superstars – June 23, 1990
The Brother Love Show Discussing SummerSlam
Superstars – September 19, 1992
The Ultimate Maniacs Are Born
Wrestling Challenge – November 7, 1992
The Ultimate Maniacs Are Out of Control
Monday Nitro – August 24, 1998
One Warrior Nation
Monday Night Raw – April 7, 2014
The Spirit of Ultimate Warrior Will Run Forever
Blu-ray Exclusives
WrestleMania VI – April 1, 1990
Arena Cam
Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan
WCCW – August 22, 1986
Dingo Warrior vs. Rick Rude
Ontario, Canada – June 3, 1992
Ultimate Warrior and Undertaker vs. Papa Shango and Berzerker
Shock and awe, this is about NXT.Before I get into this, let me make it clear that I’ve said this before too, dating back as recently as about 11 hours ago.
A lot of fans want the NXT guys to get onto the main shows so they can fix all the boring problems. Here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter what the guys are capable of. Do you really think a lot of the guys on the main roster couldn’t be competitive with people like Zayn and Neville as far as work rate etc? NXT works because of the workers there, but arguably even more because of the atmosphere they’ve developed down there.
If the rosters were flipped, you would see the NXT guys cut off at the knees and the WWE guys getting to show off. The Divas would go from tearing the house down to three minute matches centered around stupid concepts and lame pranks. This assumption that it’s just the talent dragging WWE down doesn’t hold, no matter what people want to think.
I don’t get to say this often, but this actually makes me feel good to be a wrestling fan. This is so overdue and I’m glad it’s finally happening.
And Rosa is getting yelled at by her boss. The following line was spoken:“You need to stop worrying about getting Twitter followers and start thinking about your career.”
SOMEONE PROMOTE THIS MAN!
And I have a Mr. Fuji reference.
It’s early on January 3, 2015 and that means we’re on the Road to the Royal Rumble, meaning we’re coming up on the off ramp to the Road to Wrestlemania (I hear it’s the other exit before Parts Unknown). This past Monday on Raw, we saw Daniel Bryan announce himself as the second official entrant into the Royal Rumble match.
This will be Bryan’s big return to the ring after missing about nine months to a neck injury. He made the big announcement and the place went nuts, showing that the crowd had its early (and probably middle and late) favorite to win the match and go on to headline Wrestlemania XXXI out in California. It worked last year in New Orleans and in theory it should work again out west.
However, if you listen to the news and follow WWE, it’s become fairly clear that WWE has someone else in mind to win the battle royal. That someone would be Roman Reigns, who debuted over two years ago and still hasn’t been pinned in a singles match. To put that in context, in televised matches during the same time span, John Cena has been pinned four times in singles matches and Randy Orton fifteen times (yet people still seem to think Orton and Cena are close to equals. More on that in another one of these things soon).
Based on that stat alone, it’s clear that the company thinks something of Reigns and wants him to be something special. It’s really not hard to see why they want it either: he has the right heritage, a great look, the required number of tattoos, a really good spear, and a pretty good presence.
That being said, he’s only a few steps ahead of watching the paint dry behind a TV showing a test pattern after you got tired of watching the grass grow. It’s just not there for him yet, but for some reason WWE has decided that he MUST win the title at this upcoming Wrestlemania or for some reason he’ll never have another chance again. At the age of 29, I really don’t see this being the last chance before Reigns has to ride into the sunset, but that seems to be the mentality.
At the end of the day, Reigns just isn’t ready for the top spot in the company and it really isn’t hard to see why: he doesn’t have any real seasoning. Let’s take a look back at Reigns’ career in the WWE so far and then compare it to some of the other top guys that have been handed the torch over the years.
I had a big timeline ready, but here’s the short version: he debuts, Shield wins a lot, he and Rollins win the Tag Team Titles, he sets the Rumble record, Shield goes to war with Evolution, Shield splits, Reigns loses a few multi-man title matches, Reigns beats Orton at Summerslam, his feud with Rollins is cut short due to the hernia injury, it’s time for him to win the Rumble and headline Wrestlemania.
Did I miss anything? I just summed up his entire career in a few lines. The big thing people point to is the Rumble record, but let’s flash back to Kane’s old record. The year he set the record (2001), he went on to win the Hardcore Title at Wrestlemania X7 (praise be its name). The next year at Wrestlemania X8, which would correspond to the upcoming Wrestlemania for Reigns, Kane got rolled up by Kurt Angle for a pin in less than eleven minutes in the fourth match on the card.
Somehow though, Roman Reigns is supposed to be not just headlining Wrestlemania but becoming the new IT guy. That puts him on a short list of guys in company history, so let’s take a look at those names and see how their buildup went before they took the top spot in the company. Keep an eye on how many of them actually got the top spot at Wrestlemania because we’ll be coming back to it later.
We’ll start with Hogan, whose big moment came at a house show. This one is hard to compare to the others as he had his big moment before pay per view was a thing, but he had Rocky III in his back pocket. People around the country and even the world knew him, meaning they would want to see him wrestle in the WWF. He also had a solid run near the top of the AWA (how Gagne could validate never putting the title on him, even for a short run, will never make sense to me) and had been wrestling for seven years. In other worse, he had a background to fall back on.
The next IT guy (which is a debatable list of course) would probably be Bret Hart. He won his first title at a TV taping in November 1992, but his real ascension to the top of the company was really at Wrestlemania X in 1994. Bret slayed the giant Yokozuna and ushered in a new era of smaller guys in the WWF. I don’t think I need to go over Bret’s resume, but he was a two time Triple Crown Champion and had been wrestling sixteen years.
Shawn is basically the same way as he took the torch from Bret Hart after spending 1995 as the undisputed king of the midcard who was waiting to become the World Champion. There’s a very good case to make for him beating Diesel at Wrestlemania XI but instead he had to wait until Wrestlemania XII, over eleven years into his career.
The next really big guy is of course Steve Austin, who had debuted back in 1989 in the USWA. He won Rookie of the Year, followed by every WCW Title except for the World Title. Then he came over to the WWF and became the hottest star since Hogan himself, won back to back Royal Rumbles (just like Shawn) and finally won the title at Wrestlemania XIV.
Rock was the top guy as well, but the day he became that kind of a star is kind of debatable. For me, it was at Backlash 2000 when he dethroned HHH and won the title for the first time as a face. Even with Austin’s help, it was clear that Rock was going to be the guy, at least for awhile. He started training back in 1995 but had grown up around wrestling all his life. Again, if he doesn’t have the experience in the ring, he has a background in wrestling to grow up on.
We’ll jump ahead to Cena, whose moment is kind of hazy as well. It’s certainly not Wrestlemania XXI as that was all about Batista. For Cena, we’ll say Wrestlemania XXII against HHH (despite it really not being that great of a match). That would have been about six and a half years after he debuted in the California indies.
That brings us back to Reigns. I made sure to mention how long everyone had been in the ring, because it plays a big factor for Reigns. A lot of people overlook when he debuted: August 19, 2010, or about four and a half years ago. The only person anywhere near that short an amount of time would be Rock, and to put it mildly, Roman Reigns is not the Rock.
The other thing Reigns is missing besides all the experience is a feud that makes you want to see him. I won’t go into any detailed explanation, but Hogan had Bockwinkel, Bret had Mr. Perfect, Shawn had Jannetty and Bret, Austin had the Bret, Rock had HHH (don’t let history fool you. That stable war was background noise for Rock vs. HHH) and Cena had JBL, Jericho and Angle.
Reigns has had one big MATCH. Not a major feud mind you, but a single match, and even that wasn’t anything to remember. His character is nothing to write home about either. What exactly is Reigns’ character? A big strong guy who can do athletic things and has a good heritage. In other words, he’s Rocky Maivia with a frown and occasional smirk. The fact that Ryback, a talking gorilla, has a better connection with his fans after a single speech than Reigns has a few months before he’s supposed to take over Cena’s spot, is mind blowing.
What I don’t get is why this one title win has to be the big moment. If you look back at the other names, a lot of them didn’t have their big moment in their first title win. Bret, Rock and Cena were all on at least their second World Title reign when they took over the top spot in the company. Just winning the title, especially in today’s world where you have to win the title about nine times before you get anywhere near the top of the list (CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy and Sheamus COMBINED have as many WWE World Titles as John Cena. Just think about that for a minute), a first title win really doesn’t mean anything.
Instead of giving him the title at Wrestlemania, why not have Reigns win the title at a show with less pressure on him? Say…..Summerslam? He wins the belt there, establishes a reputation for himself (because the idea of someone on his level holding a midcard title is heresy in WWE for some stupid reason) and then loses it, setting him on a path to get the title back. It worked for Daniel Bryan, though I have a feeling the actual story of making people want to see Bryan had a lot to do with it.
Yeah imagine that: a story for Reigns. That’s one of the biggest things holding him back right now. The only story he really has is he used to be part of the Shield and wants to get Rollins for breaking up the team. Ok, that’s fine. Let that be his first big story. Let Rollins win the title and have Reigns chase him for a bit. Let Reigns do SOMETHING before they just have him beat Brock Lesnar for the title.
Here’s a basic story they could go with. Reigns fights someone else at Wrestlemania (after finishing this death feud with Big Show. I won’t even get into how stupid it is for his big feud before Wrestlemania to be against Big Show, but it’s another horrible WWE idea) like….let’s get creative and say Undertaker. He spears Undertaker in half and retires the Dead Man while Bryan takes the title off Lesnar…..only to have Rollins cash in on the title. If you don’t want to go with that, have Rollins win the title with help at Summerslam and hold it until Wrestlemania XXXII where Reigns beats his old stable mate to win the belt.
Logical, timely, and you can have Reigns as a killing machine (perhaps as a heel) over the summer, running through the midcard and just destroying everyone in sight. It builds him a reputation, gets people interested in him again, and gives him more time to grow a much needed personality. Doesn’t that sound better than just spearing Brock and winning the title all of a sudden?
I don’t know why just beating someone who is likely leaving (Heaven help them if word gets out in advance that he’s leaving and Reigns has to take the belt off him there. Remember Goldberg vs. Lesnar people. It could happen again and that might be Reigns’ big moment) and has been beaten multiple times before is supposed to make Reigns this big force. Cena and HHH have beaten Lesnar since he returned and it didn’t launch them multiple notches up the card. For some reason though, that’s their big idea on how to get Reigns to the top of the company.
Again though, I ask why it has to be here. Why all of a sudden does Reigns have to be the A-list guy? I know Cena is on the downside of his career but it’s not like he’s Bockwinkel and Gagne in the 80s, hanging on fifteen years after his prime because someone trustworthy has to hold the belt. Cena is still having some of the best matches in the company and still gets reactions every time he’s out there.
Putting Reigns over for the title in the main event of the upcoming Wrestlemania is like throwing him into an Olympic swimming pool and expecting him to win a gold medal (he doesn’t even have a broken freaking neck!) when he can’t even float yet. It’s a dumb plan to get him to a self imposed goal line and him screwing up here could ruin the incredible potential he has. I have no idea why they feel the need to throw him in like this when he’s clearly not ready, but it’s one of the dumbest ideas that I’ve seen them have in a long time, which covers a LOT of ground.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E
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