Wrestling News and Forum- eWrestlingNews.com - Blogs - kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/blog.php?6452-kylos Wrestling News and Discussion - eWrestlingNews.com Community en Fri, 24 May 2013 12:39:52 GMT vBulletin 10 http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/images/misc/rss.jpg Wrestling News and Forum- eWrestlingNews.com - Blogs - kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/blog.php?6452-kylos What I love about Professional Wrestling - Fantasy World http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?45183-What-I-love-about-Professional-Wrestling-Fantasy-World Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:10:03 GMT Attachment 4400 (http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=4400)*_ Chapter Two - Fantasy World_* The real world is...
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Chapter Two - Fantasy World

The real world is filled with good guys and bad guys. However the line between good and evil is often blurred, and it can be difficult to tell them apart, unlike the many stories we have read, watched, written, and played out in many fictional scenarios.

You have Batman vs Joker, Superman vs Lex Luthor, Cloud vs Sephiroth, Coon vs Mysterion, Doctor vs Daleks, the list could go on and on, but hopefully you got the point. Wrestling is exactly the same.

In the older days it was a lot easier to define the good guys and the bad guys, purely because people were more willing to suspend their disbelief (Or actually thought it was real) and allow these characters to shine. This is why wrestlers like Hulk Hogan were absolutely huge in their day, because the character of Hogan was so good, and patriotic, that he could get the whole world behind him. As wrestling has evolved, fans have better access to the wrestlers personal lives, and have been treated to excellent, athletic matches, which tend to give us a more negative outlook on these over the top characters who may not have been so athletic in their day.

In wrestling terms, they are called Faces and Heels.

Faces - The good guys in wrestling play to the crowd. If they make an entrance and get no reaction, then they (Or the company) is not doing their job of getting them over. Faces usually get beaten up throughout the match by the heel in order to get the crowd behind them. Faces are more likely to taunt the crowd to get the fans to get behind them, and will use high-flying moves, and avoid cheating. There are exceptions though.

Heels - Fans usually forget that a heel wrestler is doing their job if you hate them, tell them they suck, and that the company should fire them. The worst heel is a wrestler who the fans don't care enough to boo them. Heels will do anything and everything to make you boo them, as that makes the faces look good when they beat them. It seems heels are easier to portray nowadays, because all you need to do is employ cheap heat (even if that means referencing someone who has died recently), steer away from being entertaining in the ring, and cheat as much as possible.

In today's wrestling, it has become easier for a wrestler to do a heel promo then a face promo. Fans only really get behind a face if they are 1) Charismatic and 2) Technically sound in the ring. It seems that a face really needs both, or they will get booed. This is the case with the likes of The Rock (Usually always cheered, but can be criticized for his lack of loyalty/ring skills) and John Cena, who we all know, finds it difficult to get the majority of the fans behind him. However these two wrestlers get a reaction, whether it is positive or negative, which is better then nothing.

Heels like CM Punk and Bully Ray are exceptional. They are praised for their ability to play bad guys, and it seems a lot of fans hate them, whereas other fans enjoy their heel antics. However these heels have it difficult, because they don't want to be praised, they want everyone to hate them. They have to watch what they say, due to political correctness (Not calling people homos or fags) ... although wrestling is a fantasy world, and anyone taking those comments seriously, just ruins the show for everyone else.

Positivity and negativity in wrestling doesn't just come down to individual wrestlers, but entire companies as well. At the moment, WWE is having issues with older fans caring about their product, to the point they just tune out and can't be bothered to keep in touch with it (Personally, I just can't sit through Smackdown anymore, going to hate on me now?) whereas a company like TNA brings in Hogan/Bischoff, creates an evil stable like Aces and Eights, and people talk about, often referring to how "TNA sucks".

Let me just state right now, if you are talking about TNA in any form, whether you say you love them, hate them, or that the company is going to die, you are advertising TNA Wrestling, and for a company that is only ten years old, they need all the exposure they can find, so keep hating and advertising their product to the world.

The passion in wrestling fans is what I love to see, and some people don't even realise how badly they have been sucked in by the fantasy world. Guys like CM Punk could you have booing him one week, and cheering him the next, only to turn around the next week and call you all sheep for buying into it. Bully Ray did the same thing, he was a bad guy for so long, then he mysteriously became a face out of nowhere, and people bought into it.
However the world of wrestling is no longer black and white. We have an inbetween, we have the Tweeners.

Tweeners - These wrestlers have characters who are not completely defined as a face or a heel. They act like bad guys and fight the good guys, but they don't purposely try and draw heat, and can switch between face antics (being entertaining) and heel tactics (cheating). Perfect examples of tweeners are Daniel Bryan and Austin Aries. Daniel Bryan tends to fight with Kane all the time, but faces off against bad guys, and tells the crowd "No!", while Austin Aries entertains in the ring, but cheats at the same time, like Eddie Guerrero would use to do as a face.

This blurred character makes for more interesting character development, and in the past, we have seen this pulled off to perfection.
Stone Cold Steve Austin is the greatest example of a heel who was so entertaining, that he ended up becoming a tweener, and then suddenly transformed into a face (while still acting like a heel) and became one of the biggest legends to ever grace the business.

You could only see this in wrestling. Could you imagine Superman becoming the bad guy? Or all of a sudden, they do a Star Wars movie where Darth Vader is the good guy? It just wouldn't make any sense. People would be outraged and hate them for changing a formula that works. Wrestling is a never ending fantasy world that changes the rules as it evolves, and wrestlers come and go. This is what I love about professional wrestling, that this fantasy world we care so much about will always be changing. The faces, the heels, the characters, the gimmicks, the special moments and the legendary matches, they will always be relevant so long as wrestling remains the fantasy world that it is.

And this is why wrestling can never be just about, the "Wrestling". ]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?45183-What-I-love-about-Professional-Wrestling-Fantasy-World What I love about Professional Wrestling. Chapter One - Changing of the guard. http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44879-What-I-love-about-Professional-Wrestling-Chapter-One-Changing-of-the-guard Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:55:53 GMT Attachment 4109 (http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=4109) *_Chapter One - Changing of the Guard _* In this...
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Chapter One - Changing of the Guard

In this world, we often look for ways to keep ourselves amused. We want to enjoy life, and be entertained, we want to get lost in magical lands filled with diversity. We like to listen to music, and get lost in the songs. We like to play video games and truly become one with it, even if its just for a short time. We like to play our favourite sports, we enjoy the adrenaline of watching it too. There is no doubt that life would be one giant bore if we had to work all the time, we would end up going insane of boredom to the point that life would not be worth living.

So what does Wrestling provide? People seem to forget how to truly enjoy wrestling. They become so lost and deluded from what wrestling is all about, that they take out their anger by shouting at it, or arguing with their friends over it. Personally I enjoy a lot of things about wrestling. I could sit here and write ten more blogs on things that I don't enjoy, but then I would become what I hate. This beginning chapter is about something very specific. It keeps wrestling going, and makes it somewhat addictive. We want to know who is guarding the big castle. We want to know who has worked and achieved that glory and success that will eventually make them legends.

If you have not guessed by now, I am talking about the changing of Championships. Don't you ever feel like a PPV is so much better when there are a lot of title changes, compared to when there's none? Why is that? Maybe because we like that initial buzz we get in our stomachs as the ref goes to slam that hand down on the mat for the third time. Maybe its the thrill of seeing that wrestler finally make it on a big stage, you can see the passion in their eyes, the sacrifices they have made to get to that point. Becoming a Champion in wrestling can be incredibly popular and unpredictable, or totally forgettable. It all depends who won what, where and how.

I have seen so many different title changes. To the absolute brilliant, to the outrageous, and even to the point it made no impact whatsoever.
It's like scoring that goal in football, (Soccer for you Americans reading) its like winning a trophy in your favourite game. It's like getting that huge promotion at work, only on a much grander scale. The whole world watches as that wrestler achieves. Isn't it funny how a belt, is worth more to the wrestlers then spending time with their families? Isn't it funny how wrestlers sacrifice so much of their time, to get to that level. Many wrestlers never get that far, they never achieve greatness. They put everything on the line, yet we don't appreciate these men, because they never won anything of importance.

Its even funnier how they manage to make the titles "prestigious", despite all the title changes being predetermined. CM Punk made the WWE title relevant again, even though he never actually beat anyone in a real fight, he was chosen as the man to carry it until Vince McMahon would decide to pass it on. I could go into how negative it is that The Rock is WWE Champion. How it is .. a travesty, that he is Champion, but to be honest, I am happy whoever holds it. Whoever is given the WWE Championship has got it because they were right for it at the time, for the boss of the company. I can only imagine the reaction when someone beats The Rock. Can you imagine it now? Or are you still looking into what "should have happened"?

Wrestling always moves forwards. There are so many moments, so many title changes, as fans we are always caught up in the moment. If we stand around to dwell on the past too much, we might miss something in the present. In my life time I have seen some title changes that really got to my heart. In those moments, I could not have been happier for that wrestler. Should I give some examples? Well I don't wish to create a list, but I can tell you that title changes such as ... Chris Benoits World title win, Eddie Guerreros WWE title win, the first time Kurt Angle won the title, the time Chris Jericho became Undisputed Champion, even the more recent one of Austin Aries winning the TNA World Championship, all of these and many more have made me reach a state of absolute happiness.

Everyone has those wrestlers they love and hate. They really want to see their guys succeed. For some people, seeing John Cena win the title on any occasion was huge to them, while absolutely cringing to others. This is why I love Pro Wrestling. The fans are so diverse, so passionate, they will let you know exactly how they feel, and when that big title change happens, they will go nuts with excitement, or they will boo the roof off the building.

Title changes are magical, but they can also be damaging. Those title changes that should have, or should not have happened. Vacated titles are also a bummer, but most of the time, unavoidable, but you can enjoy the fact that there will definitely be a new champion crowned.

Its not just about titles either, its about special tournaments too. Gone are the days of King in the Ring, but I can guarantee that if the WWE put on a huge tournament bracket for the WWE title someday, it would be massive. People love to follow things like that, they like to try and predict who will win. They will even place bets on who will become Champion, to add to the excitement.

I am sure you all get the idea by now. Sometimes a wrestler has to be a Champion for a long time to make the title change more meaningful and memorable. How many of you will forget how your favourite wrestlers won their title? Or will you instead, remember how they lost it?

Always look on the bright side of life. Yes that is a quote from Monty Python, but its a damn good one. Look at the good things in Pro Wrestling, instead of the bad things. Try not to nitpick so much, I know how easy it can be to pick at all the really silly things that can happen, but just realize that anything you don't like will soon be over, and you can move on and forget about it. Try telling people why you love professional wrestling, and be proud of it, instead of hiding it away like a dirty little secret.

And that is what I love, about Professional Wrestling.
 ]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44879-What-I-love-about-Professional-Wrestling-Chapter-One-Changing-of-the-guard What really grinds my gears? Episode 10 - Broken Dreams http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44798-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-10-Broken-Dreams Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:11:19 GMT Attachment 3954 (http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=3954) Peter sat down at his desk. He was overcome with...
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Peter sat down at his desk. He was overcome with emotion, he leaned forward and put his head into his folded arms. Peter began to sob as the on-air light turned to red.

Cameraman: "Mr Griffin? We are on the air."
Peter: "I don't care." *Sniff*
Camerman: "But Mr Griffin, this is you're tenth episode. It's a milestone."
Peter looked up from his arms. He had a very sad look on his face.
Peter: "Sorry, I just can't do this today."
He stood up and walked away from the set, and through the fire exit door. The cameraman kept rolling, and asked his producer what to do.
Producer: "Follow him".
The cameraman followed Peter outside. Peter had walked to the top of a grassy hill, he was looking up at the beautiful sunset.
Peter: "God" *Sniff* "Why do you do this? Why do you let them be so misused? It ... It really ... really grinds my gears."

The broadcast cuts away to the video below.


Apologies for the emotional wreck that is Mr Griffin, it might be his last show. This blog will be about many of the underutilized wrestlers who have graced our television screens over the years. Many fans appreciate the hard work and dedication of those wrestlers, and we often determine who is underrated, or blatantly overrated.

An underutilized talent could mean many things, it could mean the wrestler never got the breaks they deserved. It could mean they were held back due to circumstances out of their control. It could even mean they reached the top, only to be brought back to mediocrity in a short time.

I bet you already have images in your mind on who these wrestlers are. Let's go through some of these names. Let's go through all those broken dreams, all the sacrifices made. Let's appreciate the wrestlers who should have gone all the way, the present athletes who are still being held back, and those who should have stayed at the top for so much longer.

Legends who never won the WWF title

Roddy Piper - Many legendary wrestlers never reached the top, Piper is well known for never reaching that level, despite being incredibly popular and talented.

Ted DiBiase - One of the greatest heels of all time. Excellent on the mat, and very charismatic.

Mr Perfect - Regarded as one of the greatest in-ring technicians of all time. He brought prestige to the Intercontinental title, and despite being AWA World Champion, he never reached the top in the WWF.

Tito Santana - One of the greatest workers in the 1980s. He was held down in the mid-card, never being allowed to go to the next step, over guys like Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior.

Dynamite Kid - He changed the wrestling business with his innovative style. Many have emulated him, arguably the greatest British wrestler of all time. Only rivaled by the next name. (Should be in the Hall of Fame)

The British Bulldog - During the 90s, his feud with Bret Hart was legendary. He was set to go to the next level, but it just never happened. (Should be in the Hall of Fame)

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Ricky Steamboat - Incredibly popular, incredibly talented. The man could still run rings around half of the WWE roster. The Dragon was held down due to the mighty popularity of Hulkamania.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts - Another incredibly popular, and talented wrestler, who sacrificed everything for the business. Should have been so much bigger. (Should also be in the Hall of Fame)

Rick Rude - One of best heels in the business. His look had guys jealous, while the girls drooled over him. Deserved so much more. (Should be in the Hall of Fame)

Honorable Mentions
(Due to being held back/bad gimmicks/death/politics etc.)
Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Magnum TA, Bam Bam Bigelow, Brian Pillman, Vader, Terry Taylor, Barry Windham, Chris Candido, Paul Orndorff, Junkyard Dog, Greg Valentine, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Jimmy Snuka, Owen Hart, Razor Ramon, Al Snow.

Apologies if I missed anyone out. As you can see, the 70s to mid 90s had so much talent, and it was dominated by the likes of Backlund, Hogan, Savage, Bret Hart, Diesel and Shawn Michaels, that a lot of these talents never got the chance to shine. So many broken dreams. Can you imagine if even half of these wrestlers had a chance to hold the WWF title?

Underrated Wrestlers from the Attitude Era.

William Regal - The man has it all. He has charisma, he has more technical ability in his little finger then most can dream about. Could you imagine it? A super heel William Regal holding the WCW, or WWF title? Then Vince McMahon made him kiss his ass.

Goldust - Ok bare with me, just for one second. The gimmick of Goldust has always been one of the most bizarre, but the way Dustin Rhodes played the gimmick was absolutely legendary. Can any of you say, that you could go out there in front of the world and do what Dustin Rhodes did? It's difficult to imagine Goldust as a World Champion, but the WWE could have changed Goldust and made him more of a serious competitor.

Lance Storm - Another man who has all the technical prowess you can ask for. He did very well in ECW and WCW, but was severely misused in the WWE. They gave him a stupid gimmick, when all they had to do was keep him heel, keep him serious, and his ring work would have done the talking.

Dean Malenko - Excellent wrestler, truly legendary. His only problem was his charisma and height. With all the big gimmicks and loud personas, it was easy for the casual fan to overlook someone like Malenko. Should have been a World Champion somewhere at least once.

Chris Benoit - Exactly the same problem as Malenko and Storm. Incredible athlete who sacrificed his body and life on a daily basis. Its difficult to say anyone worked harder then Benoit. He could have carried WCW on his back, and he should have held the World title a lot longer then he did.

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Eddie Guerrero - He had it all. The ability, the charisma, yet he was constantly held back. Even when he did win the WWE title, they didn't keep it on him anywhere near as long as they should have. VIVA LA RAZA!

Taz - A monster. Truly brutal suplex machine who was so underutilized in the WWE, it would have made every ECW fan sick to their stomachs.

Rhino - Similar to Taz. So intense, such a hard worker, never given the opportunity to shine in the WWE.

2 Cold Scorpio - Incredibly underutilized almost everywhere he went. Only ECW treat him with respect.

Kid Kash - Brilliant worker. He can do it all, except maybe he lacks charisma. He can be a great heel when allowed too. Still underutlized to this day.

Jerry Lynn - Just like the Malenkos, Storms, Regals and all the rest of the technical masters, Jerry Lynn was poorly used in the WWE, and they should be ashamed. ECW, ROH, and TNA treat him a lot better.

Chris Jericho - One man who only just creeps into this list. He could have been so much bigger, but with the likes of Austin, Rock, Taker, Triple H and so many other huge names around, he was never allowed to be "The Man". He did win tons of championships though, it was just bad timing really. If Jericho was in his prime right now, CM Punk would have trouble keeping Y2J down.

Billy Gunn - He almost got there. He won King of the Ring, he was set to go to the next level, but it just never happened. Maybe his Mr Ass gimmick made it so people couldn't take him seriously as a threat? Who knows.

Diamond Dallas Page - Severely underutilized in the WWE just after WCW went down. It was definitely not a good thing.

Once again, there are so many more names I could mention, but at the risk of running out of space, lets move on shall we?

Underutilized Men and Women of the Modern Era.

Dolph Ziggler - In an era where wrestling is in a slump, the WWE is in dire need to create new stars. This man is so far on the edge, it hurts his feet to stay there. Anyone can see the passion he has, how hard he works, just give this man the World title already. Stop having him lose to Cena, despite having all that backup, it's not helping his cause whatsoever.

Samoa Joe - Since his famous ROH World title reign, and his TNA winning streak, Joe has floundered around the mid-card like an old man lost in a supermarket. Give this man a much deserved push, he could carry TNA with his eyes closed. Clearly he's not said the right things backstage.

Shelton Benjamin - The guy who made Money in the Bank matches exciting. Anyone who has seen him perform knows why he is underrated. I still cringe when I think of the time he had his "Mama" come out to manage him.

Kaval - I really hate calling him that. Low-Ki is an absolute warrior in that ring, the fact he was put onto a "Rookie" show automatically labelled him as underutilized. Watch his TNA and ROH matches, you won't be disappointed.

Tyson Kidd - A work horse. Just because he's small, doesn't mean he can't get over. Just give him the ball and see where it goes.

Drew McIntyre - Broken Dreams for Drew. Once a fierce heel holding the Intercontinental title, to a rock star wannabe strumming his imaginary guitar. Please WWE, you're killing me with this, he doesn't deserve this, it's incredibly sad.

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Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley - Motor City Machine Guns deserved those Tag titles more then anyone. Sabin deserved a World title push at some point, and Shelley should have at least gained an X-Division title. Silly TNA for not using them properly, shameful.

Eric Young - Absolute pro in the ring, and on the mic, EY will play any gimmick you give him to perfection. It seems TNA wants to keep him as the company clown, instead of make a real star out of him. When Chris Jericho labels you as one of the most underrated in the business, you're doing something right.

Doug Williams - Probably a bit too late for him now. Doug, like so many other technical masters, never quite got the push they deserved due to a lack of charisma. His last meaningful run was with the X Division title a couple of years ago. Should have been a World Champion at least once in his prime.

Christopher Daniels - How this man never got to hold the World title during the Golden era of TNA I do not know. It's pretty baffling to be honest, he is one hell of an arsehole, he could even make Mormons hate him.

Taylor Wilde & Sarita - These two girls are amazing athletes, Taylor held the Knockouts title, but Sarita didn't, which is a damn shame. The Knockouts Tag Team titles were only ever relevant when they held it after winning the tournament.

Natalya - What the hell is WWE doing with Natalya? Give her the Divas title already, its more logical then Spock doing a class on how to be logical.

Honorable Mentions
Paul London, Carlito, The Usos, Justin Gabriel, R Truth, Gail Kim (In the WWE), Melina, Beth Phoenix and Roxxi.

The idea for this blog can be credited to Ace Lancaster. I wanted to highlight that some of these names may not have got pushes due to their own decisions, or by decisions out of their control. Nevertheless, there may be other names you wish to add yourself, feel free to comment and leave your favourite underrated wrestlers ever.

This might be the last in the blog series. Peter Griffin is running out of things to rant on, and I am running out of things to explain. I love Pro wrestling, maybe I should start up a totally different blog series highlighting what I really do like about wrestling.

That's what the world needs nowadays, more positivity. Let's hope the wrestling companies of today get their acts together, and create a new boom period for us all to enjoy.

PS: If a wrestlers name didn't show on this blog, it was because I either:
1) Overlooked them.
2) They are being used well at this moment in time.
3) They suck balls.
4) Your mum was good last night. (Oh I went there, twice.)

Like Mr Ziggles says, keep cheering for me, I shall ignore you and keep working my ass off. Farewell.

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Blog Series Index (Chronological Order)

Episode 1 - Cynical Wrestling Fans - http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...rinds-my-gears
Episode 2 - Reality Shows - http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...-Reality-Shows
Episode 5 - Vince McMahon - http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...n-Strikes-Back
Episode 3 - Hulk Hogan - http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...the-Hulkamania
Episode 4 - Vince Russo - http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...s-away-forever
Episode 6 - Suspension of Disbelief - http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...n-of-Disbelief
Episode 7 - Life and Death - http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...Life-and-Death
Episode 8 - Social Media - http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...witter-me-that
Episode 9 - Death of WCW - http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...e-Death-of-WCW ]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44798-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-10-Broken-Dreams What really grinds my gears? The Death of WCW. http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44781-What-really-grinds-my-gears-The-Death-of-WCW Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:38:03 GMT
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"Remember that wrestling company back in the day? What was its name, WCW? Yes that was it. WCW seems to be a faded memory now, and a lot of wrestling fans, or should I say 'Marks', seem to think they knew what killed it off. It was David Arquette! No... wait, it was Kevin Nash! It was Vince Russo and Bischoff! It was Hogan! It was all the celebrities! It was a combination of all of these and more! Wrong!

I sit here with my beer, thinking about what wrestling would be like if WCW had continued. Whether TNA had ever been brought into existence, or even if WWE had not switched to PG. The wrestling landscape would be completely different, and I might even dare to say it would be better with WCW still around.

So what actually killed WCW? Well there are a lot of things that led to its downfall, but there are two key people who put the nail in the coffin. Ted Turner, and Jamie Kellner. Who the hell is Jamie Kellner you say???? Well I may have to pass this onto my good friend Kylos to explain it to you. Too many people are misinformed when it comes to WCW... Look it up people, stop blaming the wrong people, it really grinds my gears when you do that."


Episode 9 - The Death of WCW.

Thank you Peter for that lovely introduction. So the death of WCW is often misinterpreted. What , or who, people tend to blame is what they could see on TV, rather then what happened off-screen.

Whether you like him or not, Eric Bischoff was very responsible for the success of WCW in 1996-1998, but he wouldn't have got anywhere if it was not for Ted Turner.

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Who is Ted Turner? He is the founder of the TBS and CNN networks, and in the 90's, he decided to invest tons of his money into WCW. He did this to boost his ratings on TNT and WTBS, and for a few years this worked so well, it almost put Vince and his WWF out of business. Today he is still worth a ton of money, about $2 Billion to be exact.

With all that money, there is no wonder why WCW splashed out and took wrestlers from WWF, ECW and other promotions, and give them fat contracts. Hogan was a key part in ratings and merchandise during WCWs boom period, so he got the fattest contract, along with tons of benefits and creative control. In 1997, Vince Russo was promoted to help the WWF with their ratings. He helped to create a much edgier product, and the two went to war. Although Russo might (and there is no proof to this) have taken ideas from ECW, he still had to put in the work, and get it approved by Vince, then the wrestlers had to pull the angles/gimmicks off, which they did very well.

There were so many incidents in WCW. From having Kevin Sullivan as the booker, to letting wrestlers have creative control, to spoiling WWF shows and so on, a lot of these factors lead to the "Downfall" of WCW. People seem to misinterpret what killed WCW, and what brought the company down to a lower level. In 2001, WCW was still the highest rated show on their network, and they were still pulling in the crowds and the merchandise. WCW had gone in a brand new direction, focusing on younger wrestlers, stars like Booker T had the spotlight, it looked like they had put guys like Flair, Hogan and others to the side, and wanted to make new stars.

From 1999-2000, Vince Russo really didn't help WCW, that is a well known fact, but WCW was already in a slump well before he arrived. Eric Bischoff had made a lot of bad business decisions, and kept throwing money at the product, by bringing in rock bands, and celebrities in order to get ratings. They failed to realize that the WWF's product was far superior in many ways. They had evolved and fought hard for their jobs. The WWF had come together, the WWF had a soul, whereas WCW had nothing. It had low morale, it didn't have the feel that everyone was working together, it had the feeling that everyone was out for themselves.

in 2000, many potential buyers came forward, they were interested in WCW. For a company that was a shadow of its former self, there was still interest in buying it. Ted Turner rejected these offers, he was still in charge at Time Warner, he was the only person in Time Warner who had consistently backed WCW. In 2001, Bischoff came forward, along with Fusient Media Ventures, and made a bid to buy WCW, shortly following the merger of AOL and Time Warner.

AOL bought Time Warner for $164 Billion. Due to the larger market capitalization of AOL, they would own 55% of the new company while Time Warner shareholders owned only 45%, so in actual practice AOL had acquired Time Warner, even though AOL had far less assets and revenues.
Needless to say, this was a bad business decision all round, as the AOL division lost a ton of money in the following couple of years. AOL was dropped from the merged companies name in 2003, and Time Warner still exists today.

After the AOL merger, one of the bidders dropped out, leading to Bischoff and Fusient Media Ventures to retract their bid so they could place a new one. Vince McMahon and the WWF began talks with AOL Time Warner about acquiring WCW assets.

This is where Jamie Kellner came in. As Ted Turner no longer had absolute power, Jamie Kellner was handed control over the Turner Broadcasting Division. He never had any interest in professional wrestling, he didn't see wrestling as the right image for their network.

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Jamie Kellner did not just cancel WCW, he cancelled popular cartoon shows like Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Freakazoid!, and Histeria!.

Mr Kellner didn't appreciate edgy television it seems. However due to what is considered the decline of the WWE product, many wrestling fans have denounced Kellner's actions in regards to WCW, blaming him for the fact that WWE owner Vince McMahon has a virtual monopoly on the professional wrestling market, although others have defended Kellner, calling it unfair to blame him for WCW's demise when it was due to a series of internal mistakes that the company was already massively in debt.

WCW might not have lasted a lot longer anyway. If Eric Bischoff had acquired WCW, and kept it on the network, who knows if it would have continued on, or whether it would have died of natural causes. Bischoff seemed confident enough that he could turn it around, or he wouldn't have made a bid for it, he is a business man after all. You don't buy a company if its definitely going under.

Because of Kellner's decision, WCW programming was canceled on both TBS and TNT, leaving Vince McMahon's company, which at the time had an exclusive deal with Viacom, free to acquire the trademarks, video libraries and a few contracts. AOL Time Warner still had to pay off certain wrestlers as they had contracts with the parent company, and not WCW itself.

The WWF bought WCW for a very low amount of $2.5 Million. Shortly after the purchase, Vince McMahon purchased the entire tape library for an additional $1.7 million, bringing the final tally of World Championship Wrestling's sale to $4.2 million. The WWE continues to plug the legacy of WCW through their website and DVDs, as well as highlight WCW stars like Sting, despite them never actually wrestling in a WWE ring.

The death of WCW led to the WWE having a monopoly on wrestling (Sports-Entertainment) and can not be competed against. It is a huge global business that continues to rake in profits despite a product that is below average compared to the "Attitude Era". Who knows what wrestling could have been if WCW had kept in business, Vince even admits that his company strived more when there was direct competition.

This is why people seem to compare TNA to WCW. They seem to think TNA picked up where WCW left. They have certain wrestlers and staff who apparently "killed" WCW, when in reality, they were just doing their jobs. It was the higher-ups in Time Warner who didn't do enough to keep the product under control. It was Jamie Kellner who decided to kill off shows people still enjoyed for the sake of a particular image. I can admit to being a big fan of Animaniacs, and Pinky and the Brain. I was so sad to see those shows being taken off the air.

So the next time someone writes a little comment, saying it was Russo, Bischoff, Hogan, Flair, Arquette, and just about everyone's fault that WCW went down, you can tell them, it was all Ted Turner and Jamie Kellners fault. Guaranteed, all those people will have no idea who you're talking about, they just like to hate on the wrestlers for the sake of hating, they will always be that naive. It's about as sad as the picture below. Peace.

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]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44781-What-really-grinds-my-gears-The-Death-of-WCW What Really Grinds My Gears? Twitter me this. Twitter me that. http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44394-What-Really-Grinds-My-Gears-Twitter-me-this-Twitter-me-that Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:45:08 GMT
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Episode 8 - Twitter me this. Twitter me that.

"You know what really grinds my gears? That freaking social media. Am I supposed to spend all of my days, tweeting, facebooking, and myspacing (Oh i went there ... once), my fingers into oblivion? Well I could gladly do that very much, but not during the wrestling!"

"Why is it that every two seconds we have to be reminded.. Oh my THIS is trending! Oh my THAT guy is tweeting. Who really cares? If we really did care, wouldn't we already be on twitter checking out everyone's comments? I mean it's fairly obvious that if Hornswoggle won the World title, he would be trending worldwide.. with hash tags like #WCWflashback and #WhatthehellVince?"

"I'm going to blame TNA for this one, because them idiots thought of it first, and we all know whatever works for TNA, is going to be copied by the WWE. I mean, that's what Vince has done for years anyway right? What happened to the days when commentators were more concerned over the action in the ring, then the feedback left by all the fans on the internet? I don't care if we have someone touting their opinion, what about the people in the audience who get signs taken away because its not "PG" enough for you.
Ugh.. enough ranting, this segment is over."

As I gladly pull away from another Peter Griffin style rant, I just want to say that I am really annoyed. Annoyed because social media does barely anything for any wrestling product, it only takes away from it.

For example, if you was in the middle of the football (soccer), or even if you're American and watching the baseball, would you seriously want the commentators saying every two seconds... Oh my god! GOAL!! Oh my god! HOME RUN! Guess who's trending right now???

No you wouldn't. I mean, who seriously, deep down in your hearts, really wants to know whats trending right now? If we could go back to the Attitude era, Austin would have been trending 24/7. The guy would have never stopped trending throughout 1997-1999, but would anyone really give a dogs bollocks? I know I wouldn't.

And what's the deal with Twitter anyway? What is the whole appeal? You can't even write a proper sentence without being hit with that text limit. Do you know just how many tweets Scott Steiner had to do to write his super essay, ripping on Hogan and Bischoff? Although the message was very loud and clear (Already done this subject in another blog) it would take you a very long time to go through every single tweet of his. Why couldn't they just extend the limit so people can put a real status?

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#TweetMeMoreKermiit

Speaking of a real status, Facebook is the place for that. Yet again, is Facebook also to blame for ruining wrestling? It does a little bit.
Why? :eek: What's wrong with Facebook? Am I going to get lots of angry comments now because I ripped on Facebook? Don't be silly now, try and understand these points.

1) Facebook not only brings together tons of true wrestling fans, it also brings a lot of idiots together, who are extremely opinionated, and often have false information, leading to arguments (Yes.. over wrestling) and rumours springing up.

2) False Facebook groups dedicated to these famous wrestlers. Some people are so naive that if someone made a page, and they claimed to be that wrestler, they would believe them. I have seen it, and can you imagine what it would do to those poor, naive souls when they find out their hero isn't even on Facebook?

3) Really taking a dig at not just Ewrestlingnews, but any Facebook page dedicated to wrestling news. In the old days, those people who wanted to look up dirt sheets and find out spoilers, would have to really dig around for the information. Nowadays, you can "Like" a page, and get instant news updates, with full spoilers on display, including pictures!
And guess what! Even if the wrestling company purposely spoils a show, that wrestling news page still gets heat for posting those spoilers!

Wrestling companies know just how easy it is for spoilers to get out there, and people will blame wrestling news websites and pages for spoiling the shows for them, even thought it was their fault for liking the page or visiting the website in the first place.

4) With Facebook, all the smart wrestling fans come together. They can discuss, and help to bring about the domino effect of who is "Cool". Its like Zack Ryder, he got tons of fans just from using social media, but he didn't get very far, because he spent too much time pleasing the fans on the net, then pleasing his peers who are more likely to get him to the place he wants to be.

Also guys like Cena are consistently pointed out as having no ring skills. In the 80s, Cena would have been rarely booed, simply because of the much more naive audience, whereas in today's world everyone has a magnifying glass, and spreading all that information to everyone else. If you seriously want to talk about Mr Superman, go to my Cena blog to end all Cena blogs here >> http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/commun...page3#comments

How did it begin?

Social media in wrestling didn't kick off til not so long ago. When the internet was young, you didn't have all these platforms to use. Instead you found your friends, who also watched it (when it was cool) and talked about it with them. The beginning of social media really kicked off when Jeremy Borash began using it in TNA. It became even more relevant when guys like Matt Hardy used it to get fired, and also when guys like Hogan and Warrior used it to bash each other publicly.

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Thanks for giving them ideas Jeremy!

Vince was against the idea in the beginning. However someone must have tipped him off on how well TNA was using it. It wasn't totally in your face, TNA were using it pretty well, to enhance the overall experience rather then plug the hell out of Twitter or Facebook. Vince obviously thought, if they can do it, we can do it better. What followed was the severe plugging of Twitter and Tout, to the point that it even got a Slammy Award. #FeedMeMore

The illusion of wrestling has been severely damaged since the 90s. Gone are the days where people literally bought into it as real. It sounds so farfetched now, that people actually rang the police because of the nWo assaulting wrestlers. It sounds so farfetched that people assumed that good guys and bad guys never hung around together after a show.

If people from those days, were brought forward in time and saw the mess that social media has helped to create, their whole world would be turned upside down. It seems normal to us, that wrestlers are very good athletes/actors nowadays, which is why bad guys seem more cool to us. Guys like Ziggler, they wouldn't have been cheered back in the day, he would have been booed as loud as Vickie Guerrero gets booed. People are more aware though, they praise Zigglers athletic ability in that ring more then anything, because that's what people crave more of nowadays from their wrestling.

Gone are the days of pure faces and heels. Just like Austin Aries has stated before, you can't really give a true heel promo anymore. No ones going to really buy into the fact that you're an arse, they will end up praising you for putting on a good promo. It means that heels nowadays have to revert to much extreme ways of gaining heat (Like Heyman pretending to have a heart attack) so they can do their job of being booed. How many of us could really hate Heyman nowadays? After everything we know about Paul Heyman, and just how good he is, how can we boo the man? I would be in absolute awe if I went to see that man live, I would cheer him over Cena any day of the year.

Faces have a harder task of getting over too. Faces generally get beaten up for the majority of a match so they can make their special comeback, which makes them look weak in today's world. It's even worse if that face doesn't sell properly, or has poor technique in their moves. Any wrestling fans who knows the ins and outs can tell you who carried a match or not, and it's not too difficult to learn those ins and outs.

The only time you really have a good face vs heel match, is where they have had a long standing rivalry, and they are allowed to have a proper heated, and very "even" match for 15-30 minutes. With all the time constraints due to plugging tout, twitter, and comedy segments that ain't funny, we see less matches like this. The only true Face vs Heel match as of late was AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels, which is always one of the best matches of the night.

So twitter me this, twitter me that, who is afraid of the big, bad twat... that is social media? Unluckily it is here to stay, so the suspension of disbelief will continue to be broken, and so will the magic of wrestling. ]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44394-What-Really-Grinds-My-Gears-Twitter-me-this-Twitter-me-that What really grinds my gears? Episode 7 - Exploiting Life and Death. http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44253-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-7-Exploiting-Life-and-Death Sun, 16 Dec 2012 12:05:25 GMT
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"You know what really grinds my gears? Exploiting death. Death is already a bummer, but do we really need to exploit it to further a wrestling angle? I mean... Come on ... Seriously? Do we have to watch as someone fakes a heart attack? What about those people who lost loved ones to heart attacks? How would they feel? I can tell you that it would bring up some painful memories.

People don't watch wrestling to be reminded of how loved ones can die instantly. They also don't watch wrestling to be reminded that alcoholism is a serious issue, or that amnesia is something to laugh about. These are serious issues, and people are not entertained by angles like that. I find it grossly offensive, could you imagine if any TV show decided to do that?? Oh wait... they do! Family Guy (Giggidy), South Park (You killed Kenny) and other adult cartoon shows rip on these kinds of issues all the time. What's the difference though? It's not real! These shows are purely for adults, and if they don't like it, they can change the channel and watch Scrubs.

In wrestling, you have people from all walks of life watching, don't you think they would be a bit smarter, and find other ways to 'entertain'? They do this for cheap shock value. It is forgotten almost immediately by the casual fan, while long time fans, remember these shocking displays for years. That is what grinds my gears ... It's not funny, it's not big, and it's not clever!"

Episode 7 - Exploiting Life and Death.

The idea for this blog is credited to EWN reader, John Rausin.

I bet you're already thinking, this is about the Jerry Lawler/Paul Heyman heart attack angle isn't it? Technically you're right, but it's actually such a small part of it. Wrestling has been like this for decades, promoters who believe that exploiting a real life situation will draw in the crowd. Let's delve into some of the worst wrestling angles of all time.

Eddie Gilbert Broken Neck Angle
Way back in 1983, Eddie Gilbert suffered an actual neck injury in a car accident, so the WWF decided it would be a good idea for The Masked Superstar to give him some neckbreakers and blame him for the injuries.

WCCW and the Von Erichs
There are so many little details that helped in the demise of WCCW (Not to be confused with WCW), and one of those details was the Von Erich family. They exploited the deaths of Mike Von Erich and Gino Hernandez, and even had Fritz Von Erich have a fake heart attack a year after his own brother died of one. The crowds of WCCW dwindled week by week, as they felt uneasy after all the tragedy that surrounded the promotion.

Exploiting the stabbing of Bruiser Brody
FMW was a promotion that was hardcore before hardcore became cool. Bruiser Brody, one of the greatest hardcore wrestlers of all time, was stabbed by Jose González in 1988. FMW decided to do an angle where Onita went to Puerto Rico and reprised the scene of Brody's death with Gonzalez. Gonzalez "stabbed" Onita in the chest, Onita did a blade job on his chest for magazine pictures. Onita wanted a match where the fans could get rid of there hatred and also make himself a hero by putting away the man that killed Brody. Everyone found the angle sick and if Onita went ahead with the match, it probably would have killed the company. Onita's rep would have been destroyed for making money out of Brody's death. The angle was dropped and never talked about.

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RIP Bruiser Brody 1946-1988

Exploiting the Persian Gulf War
In 1991, the WWF decided to change Sergeant Slaughter from a patriotic American, to an Iraqi sympathizer. Slaughter received death threats during this time, and had to be escorted while wearing a bullet proof vest. The gimmick gave the WWF a lot of attention, showing that this gimmick was a success, but it was at the expense of 20-35,000 people who lost their lives, with over 75,000 wounded. When you have loved ones going to war to fight for your country, to liberate the country of Kuwait, the last thing you want to see is an American supporting the opposing side.

Cactus Jack's amnesia
This was bizarre. Someone must have been smoking something really strong to come up with this. This was so bad that it's funny, Cactus Jack had been feuding with Big Van Vader (in his prime) and was powerbombed onto a concrete floor, knocking him out. What should have happened, was Cactus Jack coming back to seek revenge on Vader, instead WCW decided to kill his momentum by having him do video segments where he had lost his mind. After weeks of cringing TV, Cactus Jack returned to attack Vader, and revealed his amnesia was just an elaborate plot to get inside Vader's head.
You should watch some of those videos on Youtube, they are hilariously bad.

Interviewing Melanie Pillman less than 24 hours after Brian's death
This is a tough call to make. Melanie agreed to the interview, but at the same time, it felt like the WWF was under damage control. They didn't want to receive any of the blame for his death, so they had her come on and agree to past heart related problems in Brian's family. If his wife could dismiss the possibility of any wrong doing, then no could blame them at all.The WWF's grueling schedule could have contributed to it, just like other wrestlers who have died in similar ways over the years.

Exploiting Scott Hall's alcoholism
We all know of someone who has trouble with alcohol, so for WCW to have Scott Hall act drunk during broadcasts was just one of many shameless moves done by the promotion. Scott Hall has struggled throughout his life with these issues, so if anything, it would make us sympathize with him, while also hating WCW more for being complete idiots.

Over the Edge PPV continuing after Owen's death
Self explanatory, you would think that the WWF would have stopped this PPV, it is common sense. How could you expect the wrestlers to go out there and entertain, while knowing one of their fellow workers (and very good friend) had just passed away. The WWF didn't want to have to refund tickets and used the cliche phrase 'The show must go on'.

Stephanie comparing her father's indictment to 9/11
This was more of a mistake then a shameless act. Stephanie compared the family's hatred of Vince's steroid indictment to the hatred by Americans over 9/11. 9/11 has been used to death (See how wrong it is?) by many different TV shows in much shameless ways.

Triple H/Kane/Katie Vick
You can tell the Attitude Era had died by this stage in WWE history. They were trying to be edgy, but it ended up being one of the worst angles in the history of wrestling. When you have a feud revolving around murder and necrophilia, you get bad results.

Exploiting Eddie Guerrero's death/Randy Orton saying Eddie is in Hell.
We all loved Eddie. I cried during that Raw. I felt the emotion pouring out, it was so unbelievable that he had passed. We all know what happened afterwards, Rey Mysterio won the Royal Rumble and became World Champion. I still have my Eddie Guerrero RIP T-Shirt, and it hurts me to see how they furthered storylines, and decided Championships because of Eddie's death. I am sure Eddie would have loved to see Rey get his World title, but I am sure he would have wanted to see him win it because he earned that spot, not because of his death. It was the sympathy factor, and everyone knew as soon as Rey won the Rumble from the number 2 spot that he would win the title.

It didn't just end there. I am not sure who's idea it was for Randy to say that Eddie was in Hell, but it was damn wrong. It's cheap heat at the expense of Eddie Guerrero's passing, and that is not cool. At the end of the day, we all loved Eddie, but they reminded us of him for so many months afterwards, even turning Chavo heel against Rey and using his uncle's name for the reasoning. He said it should have been him who got the chances after Eddie's passing, not Mysterio.

Paul Heyman's fake heart attack after Lawler's real one.
As you can see, the WWE has a history of exploiting death, Jerry was no different. They showed us pictures of him being wheeled away, they created merchandise for his return, and they even had CM Punk and Heyman interrupt his return speech. Even though Jerry agreed to this angle, it doesn't make it right. It may have helped Jerry and the WWE universe to move on, but at the same time, it reminded us of heart attacks. Heart attacks are not funny, and they didn't make me hate Punk or Heyman whatsoever. I am actually a big fan of both, lots of wrestling fans appreciate their talent, it seems like it was a cheap trick to get the majority of the audience to hate them both, but it didn't work. Gaining heat in the business is a difficult thing to do nowadays if you're talented, fans are much more informed and appreciate true wrestling ability and charisma, so doing this angle was totally pointless.

Heyman mentioned the Attitude era in a promo after that incident. At the time I laughed, because it's what many fans had actually been saying on the Internet. However this had nothing to do with the Attitude era, the Attitude era had good writing, feuds, wrestlers, and remained edgy while also having brilliant competition in WCW. This angle was not edgy, it was not cool, and it was not 'Attitude', it was shameful, tasteless, and pointless.

Conclusion

There have been many different angles that have involved serious issues like these. What about the recent Claire Lynch/AJ Styles storyline? I personally left Dixie Carter many messages about how I really despised the angle. I didn't hate it because of Claire's incredibly bad acting, I hated it because it reminded me of my own life.

Long story cut very short, I have a baby daughter, I had to get a DNA test done, and after finding out she was mine, and having a major fallout with my ex, I had to wait over a year for the courts to sort out my contact.
I can happily say that she now comes to my house every other weekend to sleep over, and she is here right now. To see that kind of angle on a TNA show, with a crazy girl demanding AJ Styles to man up and be a father, it reminded me of all the pain I had to go through during that year.

It's easy to say, 'It's just a storyline, don't take it seriously', but until you actually live those events, you can't tell people not to take it seriously. Heart attacks, injuries, war, disease, family issues, they all hit home a bit too much for them to be enjoyable in any form. Will wrestling promoters ever learn? I doubt it, they are human after all.

Peace.

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]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44253-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-7-Exploiting-Life-and-Death What really grinds my gears? Episode 6 - Suspension of Disbelief http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44119-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-6-Suspension-of-Disbelief Thu, 22 Nov 2012 22:05:22 GMT
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"So I'm sat there with my beer... watching the wrestling in my local bar... and some dude comes up to me and says... 'You know wrestling is fake right?'. I turn my head to look at this guy in the face... and I think to myself... Does he think I am incredibly stupid, or is it just him who is incredibly stupid?

So I tell him 'Yes, of course I do, it's just something to watch ya know?' He looks at me with a confused look, like he can't understand why I would want to watch fake fighting... but I don't blame him really, he's not a wrestling kinda guy, he sees it as childish and silly.

He turns away and walks off, and I go back to my beer. I become annoyed, as I see lots of examples of what he was talking about during the show. I see little guys beating big guys, I see trash can lids that look like they couldn't hurt a fly... I see wrestlers breaking the fourth wall and reminding us just how fake and bad wrestling has become.

I finish my beer, and I think... why am I watching this, I can't get into this, it's just not believable anymore... not that it was ever completely believable... but it doesn't make me want to suspend my disbelief so I can enjoy it. I finish my beer, and walk out of the bar, not really caring how the show ended. If they ain't willing to make the effort to suspend my disbelief, then why should I go that extra mile? Wrestling used to be about keeping in character, keeping kayfabe at all costs, having blood in cage matches to emphasize the brutality...

That is what really grinds my gears... It's not real to me anymore."


Episode 6 - Suspension of Disbelief

When I talk about the suspension of disbelief, I don't mean that everyone should become stupid and naive to the point they think wrestling is real... I mean that wrestling should go back to it's roots, and keep the strict rules in place, so the fans can suspend their disbelief easier, and thus, get into the show more and enjoy it.

Back in the old days, of greats like Bruno Sammartino and Lou Thesz, the wrestling business was all about keeping kayfabe. The audience was different, it was mostly adults, and if you ever watched World of Sport in the UK, the audience was mostly elderly men and women. They would get into Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy, and think these guys were really hurting each other. The shocked faces, the reactions of those elderly women as they destroyed each other, they didn't know any different, to them it was a fight, and it was very real.

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The World of Sport, where greats like Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks and Kendo Nagasaki fought every Saturday night.

So what happened to the suspension of disbelief? Well it comes down to two men that I have already done blogs on, Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon. They purposely broke the rules of wrestling that had been laid down for decades. Hulk Hogan had an over the top, super patriotic character who no-sold moves like Superman on steroids. He changed the business to be about entertainment, and it was like nothing anyone had ever seen in wrestling. True it brought in a ton of exposure and money to the wrestling business, but Pro Wrestling truly lost it's innocence, the rules of kayfabe and how to put on a match changed drastically.

Characters like The Undertaker pushed this even further. How can anyone believe that someone who is dead, has come from beyond the grave to destroy everyone in their path? It was obvious that it was all a gimmick, and although the gimmick was and still is huge, we can't ever suspend our disbelief enough to think Mark Calloway is actually dead.

This brings me to the next era of wrestling.


How the Attitude era killed the rules.

In the old days, you only ever saw the Heavyweight wrestlers in the main events. You didn't see wrestlers hanging around together, you didn't know anything about them. There was no internet, no way of finding out every detail about a wrestler unless they came out and told everyone. Privacy was essential, but this died in the attitude era. With the creation of the Internet, mobile phones and cameras being more accessible, wrestlers became celebrities who couldn't even take a crap without someone knowing about it. This brought a lot of stories to light, it brought the real tensions between performers to the surface, and eventually they needed to be addressed.

The Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels rivalry was the beginning of this. The reason why the screw job was so big, was because it was real. It was disgusting, it was everything that wrestling should not be, and people hated the decision so much that fans continued to boo Shawn for a long time after. In the old days, those kinds of issues would have been sorted out backstage with no reports to the public, not in the middle of a Main Event PPV match.

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Yes Bret.. they broke kayfabe at the expense of yourself and everyone else.

What also died in the Attitude era was the weight restriction. Kevin Nash recently told everyone that he felt wrestling died soon as Benoit and Guerrero became World Champions. There was outrage from the fans over his comments. Even I was upset with his comments, because Eddie and Chris were two of the best athletes the business had ever seen.

But then I thought about it. If you had say... Andre the Giant in the street, and someone like Rey Mysterio picked a fight with him... Andre would have crushed Rey in his huge hands every single time.
It is the same in boxing, the biggest title has always been the Heavyweight title, and it would usually be a mis-match to have a World Heavyweight Champion against a Bantamweight.

Sheer size and power has always dominated any fighting sport. So to see guys like Benoit, Eddie, Rey, and all of those smaller wrestlers holding onto a World Heavyweight Championship, it didn't help the suspension of disbelief. Of course we were happy to see these hard workers get what they deserved, even if that meant losing some of the believability.

The thing is though, wrestling had already seen smaller guys like Ric Flair and Sting holding onto World titles. It wasn't highlighted as much though. Guys like Flair and Sting got those titles for changing the business and having some of the best feuds and matches of all time, while also being very charismatic and professional.

Heavyweight wrestlers still took most of the spotlight, and even today, with a guy like Ryback, you could put a World title on him and it would just look right. Think about it like this... Who would you rather fight in an actual real fight... CM Punk, Ryback, or Brock Lesnar? The majority of people would think they would have the best chance against CM Punk, simply because hes not built like a tank. The intimidation factor plays a big part in the suspension of disbelief.


Vince Russo philosophy

In my last blog I touched on the subject of Russo. He didn't care about traditional wrestling values, and he helped to create some of the most popular storylines and gimmicks in wrestling. Wait a minute though, did any of his material feel "real"?

I mean, could you believe that The Undertaker and Kane were actually brothers? What about Vince McMahon suddenly being able to go toe-to-toe with a very experienced, and bad-ass wrestler like Steve Austin? It's things like this that make non-wrestling fans bring up the classic line.. "You know wrestling is fake right?".

Russo took this way too far though, by encouraging shoot promos. Although these promos gave short term shock value, it took away from the product, and no one really wanted to know the backstage politics and just how bad it was, they just wanted to see some good wrestling.

CM Punk does the same thing. He constantly references things that ain't part of a storyline, he uses insider terms that casual fans may not be aware of. Of course nowadays, the majority of fans know all this stuff, and if they don't, they can easily find out off the internet. His worked shoot promo was great because of the timing, and just how relevant his points were. His delivery was flawless, and although it was technically planned out beforehand, everyone totally agreed with him.

The bad thing about that promo though, is the fact that he was highlighting all the frustrations with the current product... and when you have one of your best wrestlers doing a promo on how much the product sucks, people are going to agree and tune out when the product doesn't improve.


Wrestling matches - Why do they look so fake?

It is down to the nature of the evolution of wrestling. It used to be about mat wrestling, and forcing your opponents body into a pinning predicament. Nowadays its all about "cool" looking moves, that wouldn't hurt anyone really, and it takes some teamwork to pull them off.

Punching - There are many different ways that wrestlers fake punch, usually its teamwork between the two wrestlers. Some wrestlers punch for real though, like Terry Funk. Punches used to be banned, but referees just seem to let it go with no punishment.

Irish Whip - If you was in a fight.. and someone tried to Irish Whip you.. you wouldn't just keep running in that same direction til you hit something and bounced off? The Irish whip is a silly move that looks fake 99% of the time.

Eye poking - So you''re in the fight of your life.. and instead of punching them square in the nose, you poke them in the eye? And its not even in the eye, its immediately above the eyes.

Headbutts - Anytime you see a headbutt, the one giving it will actually headbutt their own thumb that's on the mans head.

Piledriver - The move that can destroy careers. When done right, the head won't even hit the floor, when its done wrong, expect to get a whole lot of heat backstage for crippling your opponent. And yea, wrestlers actually kick out of this move? They must be invincible.

Choke Slam - The wrestler getting choke slammed always pushes themselves up to get enough height. Otherwise it's not going to happen. Its the same for Power Bombs.

The Worm, The Five Knuckle Shuffle, The People's Elbow - Self Explanatory.

RKO - While the move looks great, you don't really think that the RKO actually hurts? I mean all you're doing is running into an arm, jumping up into the air, and landing chest first onto the mat. A punch to the head would have hurt more.


Relatable Characters

One big problem with wrestling, is the over the top characters.
While some characters are ridiculous, and far from real, people love them, while other characters are difficult to relate too from a realistic viewpoint.

On one hand, you have the Hulk Hogans and the John Cenas, the supermen who are super patriotic, super charitable, sell more merchandise then anyone, while also not selling wrestlers moves. It is hard for the average person to relate to them, because they just don't act or look like the average person.

Now think of Stone Cold Steve Austin. One of the biggest reasons why he was so popular, was because he was extremely relatable to the audience. They could see themselves in him, they could feel his frustrations and his anger, and they could get behind him.

That's what Bruno Sammartino was like too, people could easily get behind him because he was a great guy, and a great champion, who didn't need to be anything but himself. If wrestling had less over the top gimmicks/persona's, instead of making those wrestlers act and look more natural, the audience might be able to relate to them more.

I'm not saying that every wrestler should be boring, and wearing jeans, while drinking a beer and having a smoke. I just feel like there's too many over the top gimmicks and persona's, compared to those wrestlers who you can really relate too.


Pinfalls and Submissions

Pinfalls have become so fake over the years, mostly because of the trend where wrestlers decide to hook the leg, instead of pin the shoulders.
You watch a Ryback match, and watch as he hooks the legs, and totally ignore the shoulders. Its not just Ryback, tons of wrestlers do it nowadays.

In order for a wrestler to win a match, the SHOULDERS need to be down for three seconds. So why do wrestlers totally ignore this part of the body when they go for a pin? Is it supposed to look better? To me, if I was in a proper amateur style wrestling match, seeing my opponent not pin my shoulders, it would be a godsend.. I would be thinking, does this guy even want to win this match???

It's the same for submissions. They can be poorly executed a lot of the time. John Cena doesn't even hook his arms around the chin of his opponent to yank back the head, and cause even more hurt to the back... he just kind of... places his arms there and it doesn't even look like it would be difficult for his opponent to escape.

Not just that, but when, for example.. someone does a Boston crab, or a sharpshooter, the opponent just stays there and screams in pain, instead of trying to wriggle out of it. I am sure that anyone who was hurting that badly, could find a way out of that, all they need to do is struggle and get the guy off balance.
Soon as the guy is off balance you can just struggle a bit more and hope they fall over. Instead they go through the routine of struggling to get to the ropes... only for them to be pulled back in again.


Selling moves

Selling moves has always been important, but nowadays it seems to have become a forgotten rule. There are a lot of wrestlers who don't sell like they should, and this makes each other look weak. The offense needs to make us feel like... WOW, that must have hurt! Those moves that make you think... Are they injured? I hope they are Ok.

Dolph Ziggler is exceptional for this.. sometimes he does over-sell which is also bad, as you want moves to look realistic. Flying across a ring and half-way up the ramp because someone punched you isn't good selling. There is a line to it, and Ziggler keeps that line pretty well.

William Regal did it too recently, maybe he was slightly over-selling when Kane was punching him in the gut, but if you was getting punched by a big red monster, wouldn't you be screaming in agony as well?

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Regal, making his opponent look like gold every time.

A lot of wrestlers don't do enough to make the offense look offensive, but when you get matches where everything is working, and the offense is as good as the selling, you get a really good competitive match with plenty of close pin-falls. This leads to long periods where both wrestlers are down on the mat, and you're more likely to get into that, then a squash match.

Blood also plays a huge part. You would expect someone to bleed if they got thrown into a wall of a steel cage, during a brutal feud with an ultimate nemesis, but nowadays, specially in the WWE, those kind of matches feel useless now. There's no real reason to put two wrestlers in a match like that, if they ain't willing to go that extra mile to suspend our disbelief and take the feud to the next level.


Conclusion - What can be done?

Wrestling needs to evolve. The actual in ring action has followed the same formula for a long time, and the only way to make wrestling seem more real again, is to evolve the in ring aspects and make things look more real.

Wrestling needs to become more like amateur wrestling, with more emphasis on those wrestlers fighting for real. This would kill off fancy moves that used to take a lot of teamwork, but the sacrifice would do a lot of good.

Could you imagine if Ryback and Brock Lesnar got in the ring and had a UFC style fight in the middle of the ring for the World title? They could try and make it look as real as possible, people would really get into it.

In no way, do I want wrestling to become real to the point that wrestlers actually punch each other in the face, because that would just create tons of injuries, but I do think steps could be done to move away from silly, fake moves that are only there as a trademark for a wrestler. They don't add anything extra to the match.. I mean.. how many times can you watch the Five Knuckle shuffle and not cringe at just how weak and pathetic it looks?

What about hardcore matches, where someone is hit with one of those flimsy trash can lids? I could smack any of my friends with one of those all day long and they would just laugh at me.

It's not just about the wrestling either, it's about incorporating the storylines, and keeping them away from real life situations. Cutting segments on someones Bells Palsy, or promos on someones heart attack may bring some negative shock value for a short time, but its not going to really help anything, or push any kind of storyline.

I feel like this won't happen for decades though. Wrestling will continue to be this cartoon-like, over the top facade that people will enjoy for the entertainment value, but it won't be taken seriously by anyone who doesn't fully get it.

When it comes down to it, the "Sport" of wrestling died a very long time ago. The evolution of it has turned it into a money machine, and people gladly pay to watch the product no matter how silly and fake it gets.

And that is what I do too. I watch wrestling for the athletic ability, and if a gimmick or a storyline can make a match mean more, then fair enough, but I will always appreciate a great five star match between two unknown wrestlers, over a main event Wrestlemania match that didn't live up to the hype.

And so.. that is what really grinds my gears. I want my suspension of disbelief back. I want to REALLY get into a match, I want to REALLY get into a feud between two wrestlers, and even though I know its all fake, I REALLY want to get lost in those moments, because that is what wrestling is really about, and I hope all the wrestling fans out there never forget that... no matter how silly it gets.


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]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44119-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-6-Suspension-of-Disbelief What really grinds my gears? Episode 4 - A New Hope, that Russo stays away forever http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44051-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-4-A-New-Hope-that-Russo-stays-away-forever Sat, 10 Nov 2012 20:24:13 GMT
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"You know what really grinds my gears? That Vince Russo guy, why doesn't he get with the freaking program? It's called a wrestling show, not a badly written soap opera. Why do we need this guy to turn, and that guy to turn, and this girl to twist and turn like a twisty turny thing? It get's old, it's not big and it's not clever! I'm just sat here with my beer thinking ... Why is this match got a dog on a pole stipulation? What happened to the wrestling matches? Why does every match have to end with interference? Are you trying to brainwash the masses into thinking this is wrestling? Well you succeeded didn't you Mr Russo. You succeeded and made everyone think that The Attitude era was the greatest thing to ever hit pro wrestling, when in reality it was a bastardized quest for ratings, that saw you pitch any and every idea in order to get ahead.

What gets to me more is that people don't actually realize your genius, and only focus on all those bad things I just mentioned. They probably wouldn't even be watching wrestling now if it wasn't for your 'cool' ideas like .... putting Steve Austin on a cross, and the Undertaker vs Kane feud. What about that D-X that people love so much? That was one of your brilliant ideas too wasn't it? Well you sir are a freaking idiotic genius.

There I said it, it doesn't really make much sense but I said it. You helped to build, yet destroy wrestling as we know it. And people will always hate you for that, so you can just sit at home, and love yourself for being the true evil genius of the Attitude era. Not that Paul Heyman guy.. I mean come on, he must suck right? Because he actually appreciates true wrestling matches? You make me sick. This segment is over, this shoot is over, now someone find me a good guy wrestler so I can hit him with a guitar! Oh.. You found Meg.. That will do nicely."



Episode 4 - A New Hope, that Russo stays away forever.

In a land... far, far away, you can hear the chants from the wrestling fans. You can hear as a storyline takes an unexpected twist, and the fans are appalled.. and without thinking, the chant begins.. "FIRE RUSSO!" "FIRE RUSSO!" "FIRE RUSSO!" "FIRE RUSSO!" "FIRE RUSSO!" "FIRE RUSSO!"

Is this the chant you think of whenever something happens, that has Russo's name all over it? Even if you know for a fact he had nothing to do with it, you still have to say... "Has Russo been hired again??"

There are many reasons why this creative writer is one of the most well known workers to ever be involved in wrestling. His ideas stem from being exceptionally excellent, to stupidly ridiculous. For the sake of it, let's begin with some of the worst of Vince Russo, we might get a good laugh out of it.
To fully understand his ideas though, you first have to understand his philosophy on what makes a good wrestling product.

The Russo Philosophy

Wiki: Russo would contribute edgy, controversial storylines involving sexual content, profanity, swerves or unexpected heel turns, and worked shoots in the storylines. Russo's style of writing was known to be as "Crash TV."

"I'm going to tell you something right now that you will absolutely not agree with, but I've been a wrestling fan my whole life and I will live and die by this. It's hard enough, believe me, I write this shit, it is hard enough to get somebody over. You will never ever, ever, ever, ever see the Japanese wrestlers or the Mexican wrestlers over in American mainstream wrestling. I'm an American. If I'm watching wrestling here in America, I don't give a shit about a Japanese guy. I don't give a shit about a Mexican guy. I'm from America, and that's what I want to see."— Vince Russo, WCW booker (1999).

Grey and Gray Morality: Russo believes that wrestling should be like this - that all characters should be shades of gray with no purely heroic faces or purely villainous heels. The problem with this potentially intriguing idea is that he's really not any good at it, and the characters he crafts tend to just seem wildly inconsistent in their behavior rather than morally complex.

Post Modernism: Frequently attempts this by blurring the line between Kayfabe and reality, but rarely succeeds because Professional Wrestling is built on a foundation of Suspension of Disbelief.

Vince Russo does not enjoy "Wrestling" matches. He believes wrestling is purely entertainment, and people only ever care about the storylines, the characters, the good vs evil, celebrities and so on. He doesn't like one-on-one singles matches, and will always choose some kind of gimmick match over them, as singles matches are not better then any other singles match.

The Worst of Russo

Frequent Title changes - Russo has the attention span of a goldfish. He does not like long term planning when it comes to champions, and he would bounce titles around from one wrestler to another, with no real direction. This caused NJPW to not recognize a title change made on WCW when Juventud Guerrera beat Jushin Liger by using a bottle.

Reality TV aka Shooting - Russo wanted to be cool, he wanted WCW to be with the times, so instead of keeping wrestling all nicely wrapped up in its Kayfabe blanket, he let wrestlers, and himself, shoot off all kinds of real life situations. Below are some examples.

Vince Russo interview with Tenay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLrZV...eature=related

Russo shooting on Goldberg, Goldberg not following the script: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuYLV...feature=relmfu

Others shooting on Russo: Many in the industry have ripped into Russo, but one of the best shoots on Russo was done by Roddy Piper. He rips him a new one in this video >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uyr8...feature=fvwrel

David Arquette winning the WCW title: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP13y3mdYuc

Vince Russo winning the WCW title: Russo claims it was an accident that he won the title when he got speared to the outside of the cage. Seriously though, why was he even in the match in the first place?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2m...cw-title_sport

"Shocking" cage match: The electric steel cage match gimmick has been denied by Russo, and the other writer. Neither of them want to take the blame for the fiasco that was Team 3d vs LAX.

Last Rites match: Abyss and Sting has this match in 2007. Russo denied that it was his idea of course. Just watch and make that decision yourself. (Russo chants start at 5:18) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YOIeTZf1Ww

For some unknowable reason, Russo loves pole matches. Not only pole matches, but pole matches for the strangest things. A pet rat, a pinata, Viagra, Judy Bagwell (no, really; though this was on a forklift), and the keys to Mick Foley's office are just a few of the things that have been at stake in those matches.

One particularly strange storyline from towards the end of Russo's time with WWE revolved around The Big Bossman kidnapping and cooking Al Snow's pet dog Pepper. This inevitably involved a "Pepper on a Pole" match. Yes.

There are many more examples, but I would be here all day!

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Fun with Acronyms!

Does the WWF's Terri Invitational Tournament, WCW's Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title, or TNA's Sports Entertainment Xtreme and Voodoo Kin Mafia* ring a bell to anyone?

He's also credited with creating the name for TNA; he chose the acronym to help differentiate the company from WWE as a more adult-oriented product, since the company originally broadcast shows strictly on pay-per-view.

Russo did good?

Vince Russo helped to turn the tides in the Monday Night Wars. He was promoted up to a position where he could pitch ideas to Vince McMahon, and help to further the product.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Russo didn't come up with the following?

-Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Mr McMahon
-Undertaker vs Kane
-D-Generation X
-Rise of The Rock
-Mick Foley's characters
-Val Venis, Godfather and Sable

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These are just some of what Vince Russo helped to create, and these storylines and characters are still well admired, and emulated today in different ways.

Not only that, but he did some good in TNA as well during his stint. He helped to make S.E.X which is regarded by some as one of the best stables in TNA history. He also formed The Beautiful People, and he helped to push TNA forward, as not just a wrestling company, but a company with good characters and entertainment.

Of course, there were bad times in TNA, and he did make some bad matches, but overall TNA was a lot better off before Hogan and Bischoff came in, and changed everything around. Russo had to compensate for them, and in the end he got frustrated as he was unable to work to his full potential. He left the company this year, and no one knows what has happened to him.

TNA has taken a different road since Russo left, and Bruce Prichard came in. They are making storylines that actually build over time, and are bringing back prestige to championships. This is something that Russo rarely did, as he was all about the shock value.

So you can hate on Russo all you like, you can try and book the WWE, and tell them "WE WANT ATTITUDE!" but at the same time you are praising the work of Vince Russo. The same fans who tell everyone that Russo sucks, are the same fans who want Hell in a Cell barbed wire inferno matches, with half naked divas lined up down the entrance way, who can also get involved if they can cross the river of doom around ringside.

Can you imagine it? If Russo never went to WCW? If people didn't blame Russo for the downfall of WCW, although it had nothing to do with him? WCW was already dieing anyway, and it was AOL Time Warner that killed it. It is true that Russo didn't really help the situation, but he didn't essentially kill WCW, he is only one man and I think fans are giving him way too much credit if they say otherwise.

If Vince Russo had got out of wrestling after his WWE stint, you would either 1) Not know who he is or 2) Praise him like a god and want him back.

The only reason Russo is so hated, is because of the farce that was WCW in the end. Otherwise you would want him back right now, writing WWE Raw, and bringing back the "Atttitude" that fans crave so much.

He is a freaking evil, idiotic genius. And it grinds my gears that people only ever focus on the negatives. I hate on Russo for things he did wrong, while also praising him for the things he did right. Can you fans do the same?

Now he has finally left us. Maybe we can look back, like when a famous singer dies, their legacy becomes much more important... maybe it is time to just let Russo rest in peace?

Let's hope he stays away forever, and we can just appreciate his legacy, as well as have a good laugh at just how wrong he could be in his visions.

Creative writing in wrestling... will never ever... be the same again.

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]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44051-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-4-A-New-Hope-that-Russo-stays-away-forever What really grinds my gears? Episode 3 - Revenge of the Hulkamania. http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44046-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-3-Revenge-of-the-Hulkamania Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:24:51 GMT
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"Sigh, so it has come down to this. After so many years of watching wrestling, after watching so many great wrestlers, one of these guys just won't go away. I am talking about Mr Ego himself, the Red and Yellow Power Ranger, 'Thunderlips' in all his glory ... It can only be Mr Hulk 'Look at me I am still cool' Hogan.

You would think that wrestling fans would embrace a legend like Mr Hogan, but with the world we live in, we see a society where those big icons are slowly getting old (and somewhat annoying) while no one new is coming through. We have to endure stars like Justin Bieber, John Cena and Lady Gaga, while we look back at the glory days, with men like Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson, and even Hulk Hogan.

So I am sat there watching TNA wrestling. A company who wants to become cool, but they cling on to dinosaurs. Full respect to what dinosaurs did for our planet, but they became extinct, and they were replaced by much cooler, much younger species. As long as people cling to the past, you cannot move forward, and that is what really grinds my gears."

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Episode 3 - Revenge of the Hulkamania.

Yes, I went there. It was an easy target, but it had to be done. Mr Hogan will always be one of the most loved, and at the same time, overrated superstars of the wrestling industry.

It is difficult now, with many of the children only being born in the 90s and 2000s, they never got to embrace Hulkamania in its prime. It was a true phenomenon, you can't even compare him to guys like Cena. The only man to be on the same level when it came to merchandising and all-round awareness is Stone Cold Steve Austin. It is difficult to see anyone reaching that level again, it is true that Cena may sell some merchandise, he may have a lot of Facebook/twitter followers, but he is not "cool" to the point that he gets a loud ovation every single time he steps into an arena.

Hogan was like that, he got the crowds to go insane for him. He had the build, he had the catchphrases, he had the move-set. Although it was an incredibly predictable move-set, people didn't care, they paid to see the move-set, and back then you didn't have people calling each other "Marks", and you didn't have people complaining because he wasn't "Wrestling". People were seriously behind him, but he only got there because of help from certain individuals like Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and other wrestlers who helped to put him over, and build him into a mega star.

He was becoming pretty stale in the early 90's, people wanted change. His politics helped to keep him afloat in the main event picture, until he decided that Vince and the WWF was no longer good for him, so he jumped to WCW. We all know what happened after that, he turned Hollywood and went full-blown heel, forming the nWo, and keeping himself alive for a few more years.

And then guess what? He fell off the cliff. He got to the point where he was no longer the biggest draw. Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Attitude era changed all that, and his larger then life character was no match. He attempted to revive Hulkamania in the WWE not long after WCW went down, but he never quite reached the same level, he was too old, too out of touch with what wrestling had become. He needed to step aside and put over younger talents.

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I'm not cool anymore??? When did that happen???

He lost his edge in WCW. Instead of helping to put over the talent of the future, he used his creative control and influence to keep himself, and friends in the main event scene. This created a rift between the mid-card and management, and they were very frustrated. They were doing a lot of the hard work, while guys like Hogan took cuts from their merchandise sales.

What does this tell you about the man? It tells us that Hulk Hogan has one of the biggest ego's in wrestling. He is all about the money, and hogging the spotlight so he can make that money. He has tarnished his legacy by repeatedly creating negative media attention on himself and family. He also made many enemies in his career. Let's go through a list:-

Bret Hart - Back in the early 90's, Hogan and Bret Hart did not get along. Vince wanted a match between the two at Wrestlemania, but Hogan refused. He didn't want to get in the ring with a ring general like Bret. Bret would have made him look like an amateur.

Shawn Michaels - When Hogan came back to the WWE for his last run, he fought Shawn in a match. HBK purposely mocked Hogan by over-selling his moves during their match. This was a dig at Hogan being some kind of wrestling god, and how everyone over-sells his move-set during his matches.

The Iron Shiek - This man helped to put Hogan on the map, when Hogan defeated him for the WWF title. The Iron Shiek was more of a paper champion, as Bob Backlund did not want to lose to Hogan. The Iron Shiek hates Hogan with a passion, and always talks about how he helped to put him over, but Hogan never appreciated it. You can often hear him say "F**k" the Hulk Hogan."

The Ultimate Warrior - If you never saw his shoot videos on Hogan, I highly recommend it. The Warrior goes into details on his life, and how he lived a crazy life filled with drugs, parties, and "swinging" with his wife. Warrior thinks Hogan is trash, and could never find a way out of the business, because he is useless. Warrior found work outside of wrestling, and was able to make a living, while he claims that Hogan continues to take the spotlight and bury the talent of today, to make himself look good. A lot of what he says in his videos are very informative, and can be backed up.

Scott Steiner - I made a blog about the recent Twitter war between Steiner and Hogan. I highly recommend you read that blog, Steiner goes into many subjects relating to Hogan's influence since he came into TNA wrestling. He totally rips him apart, and although he may not be the greatest when it comes to putting a point across, his points are dead on. Don't underestimate Steiner's opinions when he shoots off like he does, he only does that when he has something legitimate to say.

Linda Hogan - Of course, his ex-wife turned on him too. She said many bad things about Hulk during their separation, and afterwards. Claiming he was sleeping around during their marriage, and this was confirmed in the latest "sex tape" scandal.

Vince McMahon - I think Vince hated him for leaving to go to WCW. He only brought him back as he saw it would be good for business, but I feel that Vince thinks he made Hogan, and made wrestling what it was... while Hogan claims it was him who helped put wrestling on the map more then Vince did.

Steve Austin - Steve Austin in his ECW days, he did a promo on Hulk Hogan, and ripped into his character in style. I suppose he was frustrated that he was being held back, while guys like Hogan and Flair continued to be pushed in the spotlight. It was those promos that got him noticed by the WWF and recruited by Vince McMahon.

Hulk Hogan has made many enemies over the years. He has also had many scandals, including the Sex tape scandal, the car accident in which his son was found guilty in injuring John Graziano, and the headlock incident in which the guy sued him for performing it wrong and injuring him.

He also made a reality show, showing his personal life, which became pretty popular, but at the same time, taking away the illusion of his character. This helped to launch Brooke Hogan's career, as she made an album, and now works for TNA wrestling.

Hogan continues to hog the media spotlight to keep his name relevant, despite being 59 years old, and is still regularly shown on Impact Wrestling.
Since he and Bischoff came into TNA in 2010, the company has been heavily criticized for taking away the six sided ring, recruiting many of Hogan's friends, and older wrestlers from the WWF/WCW days, as well as making negative comments about TNA wrestlers such as AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, and Bobby Roode, while praising a rookie like Garrett Bischoff.

It really makes me cringe to see Hogan in a ring, or doing anything anymore. His back is pretty much destroyed, yet he insists on being physical, and if he was able to wrestle, we would probably see him having wrestling matches too.

It was too funny to watch him come out at Bound for Glory, and destroy the majority of the Aces and Eights with one punch to each of their heads. It looked incredibly robotic and fake, and made the group look so weak. When can a group of thugs get laid out by a 59 year old man with a crippled back? Only in wrestling folks.

You may love him, you may hate him, but no one can deny the mans success. He changed wrestling forever, and we will probably never see anyone else like Hogan, but it really is time he found ways to make money outside of wrestling. He doesn't need to be on a major wrestling show every week, he doesn't need to be taking airtime away from the very hungry stars of today, he just needs to become more of a trainer, more of an ambassador who looks on from far away.

The world loved you Hogan, but now you really did make yourself look like a joke. It is difficult to take Hogan seriously anymore, specially since he jumped ship from the WWE after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, that should have been his last major appearance.

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Should he have continued making sporadic appearences in the WWE, instead of jumping to TNA?

Your time is over Terry, it's not the 80s anymore, Hulkamania is dead. Just look after yourself and try not to get anymore crippled. No one in the wrestling business should end up in a wheelchair or worse. Too many wrestlers died because they didn't take the time to rest, they did too many drugs, and was on the road so much, it should be a lesson that every aging wrestler should know.

So let's all raise our glasses ... to a Legend who tarnished his own legacy. Let's hope he stops doing that, or we will just have to enjoy the ripping of Hulkamania for many more years to come.

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"Hulk Still Rules"

And that is what really grinds my gears.
]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?44046-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-3-Revenge-of-the-Hulkamania What really grinds my gears. Episode 5 - Vince McMahon Strikes Back. http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?43996-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-5-Vince-McMahon-Strikes-Back Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:53:16 GMT
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"You know what really grinds my gears? That Mr Vince McMahon.. Why doesn't he get with the freaking program. It's called wrestling sir, not Sports Entertainment. Whatever happened to the midcard? Why do you constantly bury your younger talent? Why do we have to endure silly segments that are attempts at being funny, but ultimately make everyone over the age of fourteen cringe themselves into oblivion? Why Vince, why?"

"Whatever happened to that feeling that people used to get when the wrestling was on? They would get all excited as they had no idea what was going to happen. You changed that Vince, you made it so predictable didn't you? And why did you do that? Because you can. Who's going to stop you? I know I'm not, I know that no other company has the money you have to compete, I know that wrestlers are afraid to speak up in fear of you. Why don't you just go ahead and die?? Oh wait a minute, CM Punk already said that and you gave him a WWE title for it. Well done sir, you really know whats cool nowadays don't you? No! You don't, you have absolutely no idea, you're 67 years old and you may as well be a dinosaur, oh wait... didn't you know Vince? They ain't been cool for decades either... And that is what really grinds my gears."

Episode 5 - Vince McMahon Strikes Back.

So you might be thinking, what the hell? This is episode 5, but it should be episode 3?? What happened to 3 and 4? Well I can tell you sirs(and ladies) that if you ever watched Star Wars, you will know that Episode 4, 5 and 6 came out before Episodes 1, 2 and 3. So why can't I do it too? Are you mad because I didn't do things in the correct manner? That I wasn't predictable? If so, then your naivety shocks me, it's just a blog, calm your little self down and read on....

When people think of Vince McMahon, many names spring to mind. Genius... Business man... The Boss... Douche... Big Douche... Total Douche... and so on.

So why is Vince hated so, but yet, is praised so much at the same time? Well it comes down to him going through many controversial moments in his careers, while also helping to shape "Wrestling", or should I say "Sports Entertainment", as it is today.

Let's go through some controversial ones, just because... they are funnier.

Montreal Screwjob - Everyone knows of this, he totally screwed Bret, and he still won't take the blame for it, he will always turn it around and say that Bret screwed Bret, even after everything has sorted itself out, he will never take the blame for anything.

Sterioids scandal - In the early 90's, the WWF was going through a rough patch, the Hulkamania era was declining, and he needed new stars to shine. However the WWF was attacked with a court case which saw Vince put into the spotlight, and almost imprisoned for apparently selling steroids and other enhancement drugs to his talents. Hogan testified and stuck up for him, and he was cleared of charges, however the drugs continued to flow in the WWF for a long time after, and he didn't take any steps to stop this from happening. It was the "normal" thing to do those days.

Wrestlers dieing young/Benoit Tradegy - This ties in with the last one, in that there was no wellness policy. The WWE came under serious pressure after the Benoit murder/suicide, and he took all measures possible to erase Benoit from his company, and to deny any claims that steroids, or other drugs had played a roll in how Benoit acted in his final days. For a more detailed, and factual explanation on the whole ordeal, read my Benoit blog. Lots of other wrestlers who have worked for Vince have also died young, and the majority of them have some link to using prescription medication. (E.G. Eddie Guerrero).

No time off for his wrestlers - Vince doesn't allow this, which is crazy. How is anyone humanly able to carry on traveling, and wrestling throughout all 12 months of the year with barely any holiday time? It's incredibly selfish of him, and it always does more harm them good. The only time wrestlers get time off is when they get injured. They have to be hurting and as soon as they are able to go again, he brings them straight back, usually too soon, and they get injured again. Just about every sport in the world has an off-season, they can spend time with their families, and rest their bodies to come back and do it all over again, but Vince won't allow that for his wrestlers, and then he wonders why many of them get frustrated.

Burying talents with stupid gimmicks/storylines - This is a typical Vince trademark. Instead of just taking someone off TV for a bit, and giving them a stern telling off, he decides to give the wrestler an incredibly stupid gimmick or storyline, which is usually cringing more then entertaining, which doesn't just embarrass the wrestler, it embarrasses the whole product. How many times have you seen some wrestlers who used to have momentum, and then a couple of months later, are turned into complete jokes? I can think of two right now... Santino and Zack Ryder.

Controlling all the trademarks and merchandise - Another Vince trademark. He never wants to use a name of a wrestler in case they leave the company and can still use that name. Not only that, but he wants to take a huge cut of the wrestlers merchandise sales, and even take projects the wrestler has created themselves, and regulate it into his system. Surely you have heard how he took over Ryder's Youtube show and now Ryder barely makes anything off it, and it has to be checked over before they submit it? Ridiculous.

Stop/Start/Stop/Start - Having watched WWE for well over a decade, he does that quite a bit. He starts a new storyline, then he decides to hate it before its even got going, and stops it. Remember the Kane vs Kane thing? Or more recently with AJ Lee being General Manager? He does it with wrestlers pushes as well. He pushes someone to the moon, then that wrestler has one or two bad matches, then he decides ... Nope, this won't do, bury him.

Unappreciative of wrestlers abilities - He never listens to the fans when it comes to this. A wrestler could be majorly over, but he decides... No! You won't like this wrestler! You will like this other guy who I enjoy more... simply because... well.... I said so! Vince never likes it when someone gets over when it wasn't part of the plan, and when that happens, he will try very hard to bury that wrestler, instead of capitalize on it. Why isn't Daniel Bryan Champion? Why is Zack Ryder nowhere? Why is Damien Sandow in a Tag Team? Why is Ziggler still waiting to become a Champion? So many questions...

Rules! Rules! Rules! - Ok so you can't say this, and you can't do this move because of this, and you can't mention this company, and you can't mention this pop reference, and you can't use this weapon, and you can't bleed, and you can't cut a promo like that, and you can't wipe your arse this way, and you can't breath for this amount of time, and you can't be showing any kind of initiative whatsoever, because you are all my robots, and you will all follow my orders, or else you're ALL FIRED!!!!!!!

Championships? - I strongly believe that Vince thinks Championships are just props. They are there for no other reason but to try and get someone over, and it doesn't really matter what championships are defended and how, so long as the WWE title is important. Whatever happened to the IC title? Why did he change the tag titles to those bronze ones? Why does he continue to have two world titles? Why does he even have a Divas division when its obvious that he, and no one else really cares for it. Remember the good old days when the WWF title used to mean so much? Back when it actually felt important. Its hard to take the WWE title seriously when its still a custom made, John Cena Bling Bling "Champ" belt.

Taking over the industry - This is the biggest one for me. He went against his own fathers wishes, and he broke the unwritten rules that you should not market your company in others territories. He branded wrestling as "Sports Entertainment", and started a crusade by spending tons of money to buy out other companies, and their talents. Many companies have fallen to Vince McMahon, and he brags about it. Remember when he purchased WCW and aired his victory speech? He probably had the biggest boner during that promo. Monopolizing a market is bad for any business, business thrives on competition, and brings out the best in all companies... business always thrives when there isn't one single monopoly.

When there is a monopoly, its the customers who suffer. The company can charge whatever, and do whatever, and the customers have to deal with it. They will continue to pay their hard earned money, even if the product is terrible, because they don't know anything else, nothing else is anywhere near the production level of the WWE. TNA is getting there slowly, but the WWE is still this huge monstrosity that will monopolize the business for years to come, at least until people realize there are alternatives.

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Harrassment allegations - Numerous times, Vince has been accused of sexual harassment. Now after seeing the Jimmy Saville ordeal on the news, it makes you wonder if other big names manage to cover up these crimes, because their victims are "too scared to fight the big popular star".
True, guilty until proven innocent, but if you were Vince McMahon, wouldn't you feel a little... Invincible at times?

Blacklisting - He does this to wrestlers he hates or has some kind of history with. The worst of these being Macho Man Randy Savage. People speculate its because of something that happened between Savage and Stephanie McMahon, of a sexual nature, while others think it was down to Savage being super greedy and asking for lots of money. Who really knows? But we all know that Vince blacklists certain former employees, they will never get a mention, and they will never get recognized for any of their work.

Be a Star Bully Campaign - Talk about being hypocritical. He plugs the Bully campaign, then he openly mocks J.R's bells palsy on Live TV. That's not the only time he has bullied people on air and made them look like shit. What about when he made Trish Stratus bark like a dog? What about the "Kiss my ass" club? Just a few examples of his double-standards.
And you know, he likes to test his employess by putting them in awkward situations, if they stand up for themselves, he rewards them.. If they become submissive, he doesn't like that... He will bully them, and if they don't respond how he wants, he will bury them more, then fire them.

Linda McMahon - Oh really, so his wife is going to run for senate, and it just so happens.. that the Attitude era never existed, lets just take all that footage down, lets try not to give her opposition any ammo, lets make the company public and bring in tons of sponsors, so we can do a PG product and make the company look so family friendly. He is advertising "Wrestling" AKA simulated violence, to young children, and he thinks that will get Linda more votes??? She can continue to spend her millions, most people with half a brain cell could see through their B.S.

Seriously, I could bring a lot more to the table. The table is already so stacked, it might even break if I brought anymore to it. I think I have room for one more, let's talk about last nights PPV.

Hell in a Cell 2012 - With Raw going to three hours, PPVs feel less special. With the WWE being PG, Hell in a Cells cannot be overly violent or bloody. With the WWE using Ryback, an upcoming monster with a winning streak, against longtime WWE Champion CM Punk, you would think.. Oh there's no choice... we HAVE to make it a screwjob.

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

It didn't need to end that way, its an easy way out of a situation they put themselves in. They could have had Punk vs Ryback for over 30 minutes, allow a bit of blood (If Brock and Cena can do it, why not?) then have someone like Cena come down, and distract Ryback by accident or something. Even if Ryback did lose, it doesn't matter. If anything.. by having him lose the way he did, people are even more likely to call him a Goldberg wannabe. Seeing Ryback lose in a proper hard fought fight would have got him more over as a Face, and will have sent him in a new direction.

I am sure the fans paid to see a proper main-event, one that was worthy of being for the WWE title in a Hell in a Cell. Instead we got a referee(who strangely looked a bit like a younger Bischoff) get involved.. and low blow Ryback... and somehow this stopped the beast in his tracks? A referee?? The Best in the World... needed a referee... to help him with a low blow?

Was this supposed to make me hate Punk? Was it supposed to make me feel sorry for Ryback? Was it supposed to make me feel like Ryback was super awesome while Punk is still a credible champion?
No... It didn't, if anything it made me cringe at the laziness of it all. They decided not to take a risk, they decided to screw the fans out of a good main event. They decided to make me hate Vince for his "calculated risk" theories even more then I already do.

I don't know about all of you, but I cannot wait for the day that the WWE is finally free to flourish without the dictator running the ship. It might become fresh, or then again, it might plummet into deep hole of misery.

We all know that Vince has done a lot of good too. He isn't completely heartless, and he does do good from time to time.
He brought us such awesome names like... Steve Austin, The Undertaker, The Rock, Shawn Michaels and so on, without his business skills and tenacity, I might not even be sat here today, typing this blog. You people reading this, might not even be here reading this blog, you could have gotten into something completely different and never gave wrestling a second glance.

All we know is, wrestling has not been the same in a long time, and although it was Vince, and all of his wrestlers who helped to bring it into the mainstream, it seems to be mostly Vince who is sabotaging his own product these days, while the wrestlers have to suffer and do as they are told... otherwise... they will feel the wrath of god. Remember... Its all about the MONEY!

And that.. is what really grinds my gears. ]]> kylos http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?43996-What-really-grinds-my-gears-Episode-5-Vince-McMahon-Strikes-Back