Posts Tagged ‘wwe’

#WrestleManiaXXX aka It’s OK to Believe Again

Posted: April 16, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

 

potatoshooterlogoajclogo2

by @anarchyroll
4/15/2014

Over a week later and I’m still reeling from WrestleMania XXX. Did Brian Danielson actually pull the sword out of the stone? Did The Undertaker actually lose? Did Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin actually go face to face in the same ring at the same time?

YES!

YES!

YES!

WWE decided to take a break from advertising their à la cart internet cable channel to produce a wrestling show. It just happened to be the best one in five years which was the best in the five years before that and the five years before that and the five years before that. Noticing a trend? My friends @CFH_Chief and @TheFantom have heard me say multiple times that the WrestleMania’s that end in a 5 or a 0 mean more than the rest. The rest are bastard shows. The exceptions to that rule out of 30 are numbers; 1, 3, 6, 17, and 18. You can make a case for maybe one or two others, but that would be a case built upon personal bias.

  1. Pro Wrestling isn’t fake, the winners are just predetermined. Just ask Dr. James Andrews about that.
  2. Pro Wrestling is good when either it is logically predictable or something was just done that shocked the hell out of an 20,000 fans in the arena and a few million watching at home.
  3. Pro Wrestling is bad when it tries to be unpredictable for the sake of being unpredictable. That is why TNA Impact Wrestling has been stuck in second gear for the last six years.

WrestleMania XXX was logically predictable and shocking as hell. The best of both worlds. WrestleMania V, X, XV, XX, and XXV shared the same traits. From the battle of the Mega Powers, to the Ladder Match, to Austin vs Rock proper, to Benoit/Guerrero, to the magic of The Streak vs Mr. WrestleMania…5s and 0s mean more. Vince knows it. The boys know it. The fans know it.

The ramifications of WrestleMania XXX will literally be felt for a minimum of five years and likely for a full ten…Why?

Daniel Bryan is the new John Cena, the new Steve Austin, the new Hulk Hogan. Daniel Bryan became the last Undisputed Champion at WM XXX. He is the chosen one. He is the people’s champion. No one will emerge to unseat him for at least the next five years, more than likely we’ll have to wait eight to ten whether Vince wants to or not. Strength in numbers folks, never forget that…ever.

The Undertaker is done. He may wrestle Sting next year and have a farewell tour, but he is done. The Streak is over. The Streak has been WrestleMania for the last half decade. WWE has sold a one hour, prime time, network television special to NBC centered around the aura of The Streak since 2009. John Cena being the definition of stagnant since 2006 has meant WWE has had to lean on Taker like a crutch to make WrestleMania mean anything to the adult male audience during that time.

The Streak has also put Undertaker in the same league as Hogan and Austin. Before 2007, The Undertaker was an all time great, a legend, an icon, and a wrestling fan’s wrestler. In the last five years he has crossed the pop culture dividing line. A line only crossed by Hogan, Savage, Austin, Rock, and John Cena. We would all love to think that Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, and Randy Orton crossed that line too…but they didn’t. They latter are just popular wrestlers, the prior are pop culture icons.

Taker now gets to retire a brand, as big or bigger than the WrestleMania brand, a brand that is bigger than WWE. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving person. No professional wrestler has worked harder or longer than The Undertaker since 1991. He earned his money the hard way. He earned his one match a year schedule the right way.

But that’s all done now. He’s going to ride off into the sunset, out to pasture. WWE now must pass the torch and give the ball to the new generation. Daniel Bryan is the face of this new generation. Behind him are Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, The Shield, Bray Wyatt and definitely not Batista. The part timer fad may not be over but it is fading the face of the WWE Network profit model. No need to use big names of the past to pop a buy rate when PPVs only cost $10.

No crutch to lean 0n and no choice but to push the new generation of young talent who happen to be predominately junior heavyweight workhorses…..sounds like a reason to hope for me. How about you?

Dean Ambrose Calls out US Indy #Wrestling Scene

Posted: March 11, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

potatoshooterlogoajclogo2

 

by @anarchyroll
3/11/2014

In a recent episode of Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast, Dean Ambrose called out the United States independent pro wrestling scene for a couple of things. Each of which was both right, justified, and long overdue. Before he was Dean Ambrose in the WWE he was Jon Moxley on the Indy scene. Jon Moxley was the best thing going on the Indy scene for a solid year, if not two. He was a regular in DGUSA, Evolve, and was champion in CZW amongst many, many others. If there is anyone this side of 2010 who is qualified to talk about the US Indy scene this side of 2009 it is Jon Moxley/Dean Ambrose. Ambrose raised the following issues/points;

  1. The Indy scene has too many mark promoters and too many mark wrestlers/talents.
  2. The fans and wrestlers of the Indy scene are too egotistical about the information about the wrestling business they read on the internet and therefore feel authoritative about.
  3. The Indy scene has too many championships/title belts.
  4. The Indy scene is full of wrestlers who are too stiff
  5.  The Indy scene is full of wrestlers who don’t sell the impact of the strikes and maneuvers they perform on each other therefore making what they do look more fake and unrealistic than the business of pro wrestling is by nature.

Ambrose is spot on in each point he raised. He is not just another worker, he was a highly successful Indy scene performer who based on his excellence received a contract from the WWE in less than half a decade of his debut. That time frame is the exception, not the rule. Dean Ambrose is an exceptional talent and an authority on the US Indy scene. Here is why I think he was right in each point that he raised at the Cabana Compound.

  1. Promoters and wrestlers are marks by nature. If they weren’t marks, they wouldn’t be in the business. The problem is when the inmates run the asylum, chaos ensues. A state of chaos is an apt and accurate way to describe any and every Indy promotion that isn’t called ROH, PWG, or AAW. Wrestlers are supposed to be marks for themselves at least a little bit. Ego and creative success are intertwined. But the promoters need to be a check and balance, not an enabler. The fact that everyone wants to run their own ship shows that the promoters are bigger marks than businessmen. There should be no more than ten Indy wrestling promotions in the US. Three on each coast and six throughout the Midwest, South, and Great Plains.
  2. If you think the fans of the Indy scene aren’t too smart marky for their own good, then you haven’t been to an Indy show in the US in at least eight years.
  3. If you don’t think the Indy scene has too many title belts, then you haven’t been to an Indy show in the US in at least ten years.
  4. The wrestlers being too stiff means they are either too big of marks for their own good or are not properly trained or both and these days on the Indy scene it is usually both.
  5. If you don’t think the Indy scene has a problem with a lack of selling, lack of believability, lack of pacing, and lack of logic in the matches; you haven’t been to a US Indy show in the last six years. Davey Richards got scapegoated for this but he was merely a product of his environment. I could list all the culprits, but then this would be a long form piece. I understand why this has become so pervasive. To tell you the truth, I prefer matches like this to the 80s style rest hold fest that legends and fresh out of academy newbies have on the Indy scene. The problem is that it has run its course and like hardcore wrestling before it, should now be saved for storyline/feud climax matches.

Indy wrestlers would do themselves individually and the business as a whole a favor by dedicating themselves to forming their creative characters and physical bodies to be larger than life as opposed to how many super kicks and clotheslines they can fit into the last five minutes of a match. And for those who don’t care about character development or joining a gym, they should really focus on making their matches as close to a mixed martial arts contest as possible without stiffing the hell out of each other. It’s 2013, not 1987 or 1999. Be either larger than life or relevant to the current cultural landscape not a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of an archetype from the 1960s.

Dean Ambrose is an exceptional talent but what got him into the WWE is not once in a generational, freak talent/ability. If you watch his non death matches from the Indy scene, he is having logical, believable matches. Strikes, submissions, and maneuvers are all in balance. His promos are unique to his character, a character that is unique to him. Ambrose/Moxley is a prototype for anyone out there who wants to be a wrestler in this day and age. He really is. If you are stupid enough to think you shouldn’t be studying old school wrestlers and matches, study him. He has “it”. He certainly is my favorite wrestler of this new generation that is coming up in WWE and the Indy scene this side of 2010.

Every wrestler currently on the Indy scene with no immediate hope of being signed by WWE, which is the vast majority, would be wise to heed his words and study his success.

#hijackRAW or Trolls Being Trolls & Trolling Trolls Trying to Unite Trolls

Posted: March 7, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

potatoshooterlogoAJC abbreviated

by @anarchyroll
3/7/2014

Which came first? The chicken or the egg? Was RAW in Chicago this past week good because of the threat of #hijackRAW? Or did WWE play their audience like a violin and cut their strings?

I have much love and respect for the organizers of #hijackRAW, or I suppose I should say the attempted organizers.

Before they even got to the arena, during the week leading up, the trolls were out in full force spitting their mirrored self loathing venom at the @chicagorawcrowd for trying to try at something, anything, that involved something they love and want to improve. Then of course the minute Vince McMahon didn’t walk to the middle of the ring to ask CM Punk for the privilege to suck his dick on live television to prove he wanted him to be in the main event of WrestleMania, everyone turned on everybody.

I’m just kidding, they couldn’t turn on each other because they were never united. Trolls jealous an spiteful that they didn’t have the brains, balls, or creativity to attempt something like #hijackRAW movement were shitting on the concept in advance of shitting on it Monday night.

The movement didn’t do themselves any favors by being naive enough to think that Vince McMahon cares what they say after they pay to get in the arena to try and mess with one of 52 live broadcasts in a year. But all us wrestling fans are naive. We are all consciously naive, after all if we weren’t, after seeing one UFC event we would never watch pro wrestling again out of shame.

But wrestling is about imagination, creativity, and vicarious living. The hijack organizers were just a little too naive, and slightly too big marks to enact any meaningful change. Paul Heyman knew this, and like the lapdog of Vince McMahon he has always been, went out there and did what he has done best since 2001, destroyed the heart, spirit, and will of adult, male smart mark wrestling fans.

What happened to the crowd was sad. Put all the cynicism, sarcasm, snarkyness, and told ya so bullshit you want over it. If you’re a male wrestling fan over the age of 21, you hoped something meaningful would happen on Monday, and it didn’t. The Usos winning the tag titles means nothing. Cena and Wyatt’s promos mean nothing. The crowd shouting down Triple H and Stephanie (barely) for one segment means nothing. It was just another RAW on the Road to WrestleMania. One RAW out of 52 that will happen this calendar year.

The fans couldn’t stop tripping over each other or going into business for themselves to get a message across that didn’t involve CM Punk. If any other crowds are considering following suit, may I advise using profanity to piss of the censors and really putting Vince on his heels. Better yet, the only way to send a message is to #BoycottRAW not to pay $50, $100, $150 or more per ticket, buy merchandise, concessions, and pay for parking to say you don’t support what a publically traded organization is doing.

But kudos for the effort. Props for the desire. Respect for trying something which is always better than trying nothing. Maybe some other crowds will follow suit and learn from the failures of the Chicago crowd. Failures are just lessons after all. We all learned some things on Monday. Whether we wanted to or not.

#Rampage Defends Pro Wrestling’s Honor

Posted: February 12, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

potatoshooterlogosportsrollby @anarchyroll
2/21/2014

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is one of the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. Undeniably one of the greatest knockout artists the sport has ever seen even if his place in the overall pantheon is questioned. Jackson is also a lifelong fan of professional wrestling. Jackson recently defended pro wrestling’s legitimacy from its haters.

Calling pro wrestling fake is outdated. The correct term is pre determined. The correct term is wrestling is live entertainment like theater or exhibition stunt shows. Theater actors get injured on stage, stunt people get injured on movie sets, and neither group works three hundred plus days a year like professional wrestlers do. If they do, they’re not getting their bodies thrown onto plywood covered by insulation padding and canvas.

Rampage isn’t the only highly successful mixed martial artist to defend the legitimacy of pro wrestling and pro wrestlers. On episode four of The Steve Austin Show, Chael Sonnen talked about how when he needed to get serious about his cardio, he went and trained with pro wrestlers.

No wrestling fan over the age of ten thinks that they are seeing a sporting event. But last I checked, plenty of people go and see concerts to hear songs they already know the lyrics to, pack movie theaters to see fictional events played out in spectacular fashion, and Photoshop the hell out of realistic photos to make them more pleasing to the eye.

Pro wrestling is entertainment, it is a simulated, exhibition combat sporting event with a predetermined winner. It’s where the NFL meets Broadway. A synergy of live sports and live theater. But those bumps and high spots you see that make you pop hurt. Those muscled up bodies you see taking said bumps take years of discipline and dedication in gyms to form. Those larger than life characters and emotionally gripping verbal exchanges take lifetimes of preparation to execute to perfection.

So have some fucking respect. Pro athletes from the NFL, NHL, NBA habitually talk about how pro wrestlers are the best athletes on the planet because they don’t have an offseason. 300 plus days a year on the road. A band that literally never stops touring except if they get physically injured beyond what band aids and pain killers can mask.

Still think pro wrestlers can’t hold a lick to real fighters. Then I’ve got two words for ya,  Brock Lesnar.

Plentiful Parallels of #Bryan & #Benoit

Posted: February 9, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

potatoshooterlogoby @anarchyroll
2/8/2014

“It’s not right to pretend he didn’t exist. It’s one thing to include him as part of a historical perspective, which I believe is OK, and it’s another thing to promote him, which is not OK.” Vince McMahon

That quote from Vince McMahon (from a 2009 issue of WWE Magazine) could easily be confused for the company policy regarding Daniel Bryan’s main event push over the last two years. With Bryan being as popular as anyone on the roster since May of 2012, and undeniably the most popular member of the WWE roster since June of 2013, it seems the quote above fits into exactly how WWE has been using Bryan terms of creative.

If you saw the Royal Rumble, and my condolences if you did, then you know what I am talking about. 10-20,000 person arena crowds have literally been shouting at WWE management to give The American Dragon the WWE Title for eight to ten months depending on how good your hearing is and how good the speakers on your TV/computer are. Do the people in the arenas know wrestling is not a real sport? Do I? Do the Seattle Seahawks? Yes, Yes! YES!

The nod and wink, unspoken deal between pro wrestling promotions and it’s fans is this; “We know it’s not a real sport, but entertain us and we’ll suspend our disbelief and give you our money.”

Vince McMahon’s old, out of touch, personal bias against Daniel Bryan and physically small talent from the independent wrestling scene, has violated that contract between fans and promoters to the point of necrophilia.

I recently watched two WWE title defenses of John Cena from his prime in 2005. The crowd was loud, I’m not going to lie. BUT, the crowd reaction of even all those women, children, and military veterans that make up Cena’s lucrative fan base were not nearly as loud as Daniel Bryan’s fans are in 2013-2014. Not to mention half of the arena isn’t booing Bryan for sucking at his profession.

What are the parallel’s to he who shall not be named? Besides the signature (diving headbutt) and finisher submission move (Crossface/Yes Lock) they both share(d)? It is the fact that for their respective eras, they’re both undersized workhorses who made their name outside of the WWE, endeared themselves to both the hardcore and general pro wrestling fans, and were held out of the main event slot until they could not be ignored.

The first screen shot I saved when I got my first laptop was when I checked WWE.com after the 2004 Royal Rumble and saw Chris Benoit had won the whole thing and would be main eventing one of the most important and influential WrestleMania’s in history.  Benoit deserved to win that Rumble, he earned it. AND, he wasn’t half as over as Daniel Bryan is now. He was in Canada however, look up Backlash 2004 and turn your speakers down because the crowd noise might make them explode when he defends the WHC against Triple H and HBK.

Bryan and Benoit are both junior heavyweight wrestlers who made their names both on the American independent wrestling scene as well as in the major Japanese wrestling promotions.  Benoit to this day is still one of the most successful American wrestlers in Japanese wrestling history under the Pegasus Kid and Wild Pegasus monikers. Bryan earned the nickname American Dragon as well as multiple world titles in Japan from 2003-2008. In WWE however, those things work against you when it comes to getting to the top.

When you are in the entertainment business your job is to give the fans what they want, period. James Franco has said the movie industry is as much a business, and insider social club as it is an art. The same is true for WWE and its owner Vince McMahon. WWE is publically traded, at what point do the shareholders speak up? It doesn’t look good when the crowd verbally shits all over your third most lucrative show of the year.

It doesn’t help when paying customers in a large arena ignore the product in front of them repeatedly (almost habitually now) and in unison shout for a talent you are holding back because of a personal, not professional bias. Vince McMahon is a senior citizen now, and like most his age has lost touch with the reality of his younger demographic of fans. 2005 is almost a decade ago. John Cena’s time is over, Daniel Bryan’s time is now.

The same was true in 2004 for Chris Benoit. Austin and Rock both left suddenly and the guys picked to replace them, Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg, also left in a hurry. So Triple H was given the ball and got to dominate the landscape for two years.  But then his time was over and it was time for Chris Benoit to have his run. Even when Benoit was relegated to the third tier US Title division he was getting louder pops than Batista, Orton, Khali, Cena, JBL, and the other people Vince McMahon was more comfortable having in the main events after Summerslam 2004.

Daniel Bryan has been getting louder applause for his work in the tag division than anyone in the main event slots (Cena, Del Rio, Orton, Sheamus, Big Show) for the last two years. It is his time now. It’s not the internet marks demanding it. It’s not the hardcore wrestling fans demanding it. It is both groups plus; women, children, military veterans, and the rest of the general audience demanding it too. Chris Benoit after years of being the internet and hardcore fans’ darling finally got over with the casual, mainstream fans and as a result got rewarded with the WrestleMania XX main event in The Garden. Daniel Bryan has done the same and then some. It’s undeniable to anyone who didn’t just pay millions of dollars out of pocket to Dave Batista.

Where do the parallels between Bryan and Benoit end? In all the right places. No roids, no mental issues, no weird backstage reputation, no rocky marriage. Where do they begin? In all the right places. Humble, workhorse, mechanic, loves the sport, respects the business, over with the boys, over with the general audience. I’ve purposefully been careful to not use any insensitive metaphors or phrasing here. Like the quote at the top, Chris Benoit is a part of history, it can’t be denied. His similarities to Daniel Bryan can’t be denied. You know what else can’t be denied? That Daniel Bryan is more deserving by WWE metrics for success of winning the main event of WrestleMania XXX than Chris Benoit was of winning WrestleMania XX.

Older Entries
Newer Entries