RCC Spotlight: Group Column: Changing Days
by: Reader's Columnist Corner on: 4/20/2004 6:37 pm est KJ: Say, what’s this drunkenly swerving into view on the Oratory Mainpage? Why, it be a RCC Group Column! Oh, it must have been the year odd six the last time I saw one of these beauties. Of course, back then I was but a spry young lad. I may even have written columns, I don’t know. It was a hazy period. And moving swiftly on… by now I’m sure you must be aware of the Oratory’s very own Reader’s Columnist Corner and its functions. But, if by chance you are new to this site or you have that same thing going for you as Guy Pearce had in Memento, here’s the 411: The RCC is the place where the Wrestling Oratory draws it’s future writers. You don’t need any qualification to write there, you need only join the forums and plug away. And with time and effort, you too could get called up to the Oratory staff. It’s really that straightforward. And we’d like to think it reflects the dedication and talents of those people who chose to involve themselves in the Oratory community that the general quality of writing in the RCC can match or better the vast majority of wrestling opinion content out there on the Internet. None of these writers are as yet part of the Oratory staff, but they’ve all been given the chance to show their talents on the Main Page and, hopefully, encourage some of you very readers to try their own hand at column writing. So for this column RCC writers were asked to reply to the following question: “What Has Been The Most Significant Change In The Industry Since Wrestlemania X7?” And here are the answers they gave… Name: Chris Brosnahan Who: A prolific writer and no stranger to the Main Page through Spotlights and the Brit Pack PPV Preview team Chris is one of the most talented people currently working in the RCC, and he’s here to tell you what’s what, you lucky devils. Email: ChristopherBrosnahan@hotmail.com AIM: chrisbrosnahan Ring of Honor. What's that? I need to write another one thousand, four hundred odd words? Oh, okay. Allow me to clarify a little bit. I don't believe that Ring of Honor itself is the most significant change in the industry, but rather that Ring of Honor represents the most significant change in the industry, and perhaps had a hand in causing it. When you think about Wrestlemania X-seven, what is the first match that springs to mind? Chances are it's the stunning brawl between Austin and The Rock, or perhaps the streetfight between McMahons Jr and Sr. Or, perhaps it's the TLC match. All three matches filled with 'Holy Shit' moments, from the van-daminator, to the sheer violence in the main event, to Edge spearing Jeff Hardy from the top of a ladder. Compare that to WrestleMania XX. The most brutal spot during the show was a suplex through a table. Yes, there was blading, but there weren't a lot of weapon shots. The focus of the show was far more on technical wrestling, compared even to two years previously, when the focus was on spectacle, being built around Hogan and The Rock. At WrestleMania XX, the two main events were Eddie Guererro vs Kurt Angle - a technical wrestling match - and Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels Vs HHH - also a technical wrestling match rather than a brawl. This is a major change in focus. Why has it happened? Well, it's not the first time it's happened. The first time it happened was in the late nineteen nineties, when the WWF stopped being a childish, cartoonish show, discovered attitude and violence, and became hugely popular. The inspiration for this change undoubtedly came from a smaller independent company operating out of Philadelphia, called Extreme Championship Wrestling. Now, eight years later, WWE has stopped being a violent, attitude filled show (and stopped being hugely popular - ho ho ho). and has re-discovered technical wrestling, psychology, and pushed some of the finest technical wrestlers in the industry. The inspiration for this change came from a few different places - in no small part down to the horrible injuries sustained by three wrestlers named in the Wrestlemania matches (Rhyno, Austin and Edge) as a result of their style - but I believe a big part of this change was down to Ring of Honor. Why do I believe this? Because Ring of Honor has shown that there is a market for straightforward wrestling. No, it's not all Ring of Honor do, but it is what they focus on. Now, as much as we may whine and bitch about the fact that Vince ignores the fans, I think he actually keeps an eye on what the fans are watching. ECW was never a huge hit for the mainstream - while a lot of them had heard of it, they didn't really watch it - but for the wrestling fans, it was popular, and the thing people were talking about. And they were saying good things about it. WWE took what made ECW popular, what they focused on - aggression, and more realistic storylines - and mixed it into their show, under the title 'aggression'. Now, aggression has run its course, and WWE has looked for something else. So what are the fans talking about within the last couple of years? Once again, it's a promotion based around Philadelphia, and wrestling fans are talking about it. And they're saying good things about it. This won't have escaped the notice of WWE. To put it simply, if I was Vince, I’d be keeping a very close eye on the Philly fans. They have a tendency to spot oncoming trends, and to spot them early. And they tend to be loud about it. Watching Ring of Honor, you'll notice that the show is more technical, but also stiffer looking than most of the WWE product, but WWE has slowly been adapting, and using what makes ROH popular, while adapting it to their own style. While the 'Ruthless Aggression' attempt at rebranding was abortive, it's no coincidence that technical wrestlers are being pushed for the first time in years. It’s no coincidence that lighter wrestlers are being pushed. The rebranding has happened, but it’s been slower, and it’s crept up almost unnoticed on us, while we were busy watching Big Show covered in sewage, and wondering what was going wrong with the company. Put it this way - If Vince and company are going to steal from another company, or at least try to steal their audience, who are they going to steal from? UFC? Other than 'Takers attempts to show that he can incorporate some MMA style into his matches, the Ken Shamrock experiment should be enough to discourage them for the foreseeable future. NWA:TNA? They can't afford to do X-Division style stuff with their schedule - they'd have even more neck injuries - and the heavyweight scene is more of a take-off of WWE/ECW style than the other way around. CZW? Let's face it, other than the earth-shattering decision to (gasp) bring in some cruiserweights, there's not much to recommend CZW, and I think the reliance on violence tends to alienate more fans than it brings in. So what is ROH doing that is so revolutionary? In a way, not much. It's focusing on older style values The matches tend to involve more wrestling, and less entertainment. The feuds tend to be centred around wrestling, rather than having the wrestling as a sideshow to the soap opera. In another way, it's bringing the focus back to the sports element of sports-entertainment. Yes, this idea has mellowed, but only in the sense that Ring of Honor has continued to evolve. However, at its core remains the idea of the Code of Honor. It promotes sportsmanship, and it promotes it as one of the ideals of the company. Whether it evolves further past this or not, it doesn't really matter. It's the first thing people think of when they explain what makes ROH different to most wrestling companies. Talking of people explaining.... since ECW, I haven't seen fans of one promotion be so enthusiastic about their product, be so vocal about supporting it, and be so critical about any people that put it down. Yes, some of these fans can be irritating, overly pompous and patronising. Yes, I get sick of the constant ‘but of course, they’re nothing compared to ‘insert wrestler here’…and if you think this match was good, it’s nothing compared to ‘insert match and event here’….(repeat ad nauseum)’...but that's passion. And any promotion that inspires passion is a good thing. Hell, anything that inspires passion amongst wrestling fans these days is a good thing. And even though other people’s passion can be an incredibly boring thing sometimes… if you get caught up in it, then it ceases to be so. And more and more people are being swept into the current that ROH is leaving in its trail. Ring of Honor has also helped other companies. Despite current problems with TNA, they have helped out in the past, not scheduling opposite, and also allowing their talent to work with them, and sometimes even writing feuds around TNA. Also, they have had a good working relationship with the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, leading to the excellent Frontiers of Honor event. Yes, there's been the horrible Feinstein scandal, and yes, the current situation with TNA signing up their talent to exclusive contracts is going to cause problems for them, and yes, this is a rebuilding phase for them... but it doesn't take away from the huge level of importance that Ring of Honor has had in recent years. They've done something that no other company has done to such a level since the days of ECW...they've created new stars. Maybe not WWE level stars, but bigger name indy stars. Bare in mind, this is after WCW and ECW folded. This is after everybody forecast that independent wrestling would be full of former 'big 3' stars, who would flood the indy market. And everyone expected this to happen. In some places (TNA), it did. But Ring of Honor took the time to create new stars. New names. New concepts. One way or another, ROH managed to be the freshest thing to happen to wrestling in years. It created new stars, and revitalised some old ones. And that's why it's so important. Not because of specific matches. Not because of specific wrestlers. Because it was something so new and so different. So that’s why. Name: Mark Bailey Who: A newcomer to the RCC, this is Mark’s first time on the Oratory Mainpage. Mr. Bailey is- interestingly enough- entirely unrelated to glam singer and kiddy fiddler extraordinaire Gary Glitter. So there you have it. Email: bailey73@tiscali.co.uk AIM: N/A Wrestlemania 17 was my first Wrestlemania. Now a lot of folks out there on the wrestling superhighway say that this was the best Wrestlemania EVER, and who am I to argue with anybody’s opinion on that as I’ve still never got round to watching the sixteen that came before it. I’d say with a certain degree of confidence that it was better than 18, 19 and 20 (but this was close!). It was also definitely the last Wrestlemania I watched without having any idea of what was going to happen in any of those matches. So as I sat open-jawed as Vince McMahon and good ‘ole Stone Cold stood drinking beer over the mutilated corpse of The Rock, I realised for the first time that I had become hooked by wrestling for the second time in my life at the ripe old age of 28. About twenty years after I last watched wrestling with any regularity. For weeks I had been engrossed in one of the best build-ups to a big match I’d ever seen, and between my two favourite guys of the time. It was a complete and utter shock to see Austin go postal on Rocky, and I couldn’t wait for my hit of Raw next week to find out exactly why Austin ‘sold his soul to the devil’, and more importantly to see if the People’s Champion could exact some measure of revenge. This was a very exciting time to be a fan of the then WWF, and the future looked so bright I had to wear shades. So what happened? First off, let’s rewind to a couple of weeks before this grand showpiece, Vince McMahon had dropped one his biggest bombshells ever on Raw. The WWF had finally ‘won’ the Monday Night War with its bitter rival, Ted Turner owned WCW. Vince had apparently bought them out and chose to announce this in grand style live on Raw via a satellite-link to Nitro. They immediately worked a storyline around these real life events, having Vince’s son Shane beat him to the capture of WCW, and thus kicking off ‘Generic McMahon family feud Version 6’. Despite this, we still had the prospect of a whole new set of superstars joining an already impressive roster already dripping with talent. Having never seen a WCW show ever, I can be forgiven for actually looking forward to seeing the likes of Goldberg, Sting, Scott Steiner, DDP and Kevin Nash on my television for the very first time. Foolish of me to think that I know, but that is how I and no doubt millions of others felt at the time. It is my opinion that the quality of WWE programming has been in steady decline since WM17. It reached critical mass last year with Mr. America, Zack Gowen, Vinnie Mac and Stephanie turning Smackdown into Jerry Springer on brown acid. Raw wasn’t much better, with Nash, Goldberg and Steiner three of the brand’s most prominent challengers to HHH’s title having enough trouble lifting one of their feet off of the ground, let alone working a decent match. The sheer joy and anticipation I felt during the build up to Wrestlemania and during that astounding PPV itself have been slowly sucked out of me by the mediocrity of weekly WWE television and their half-assed PPVs since. I think they’re starting to get back on the right track now, and ironically no sooner than we in the UK have a decent alternative to the WWE in the form of the Wrestling Channel, they start getting good at doing wrestling shows again. So what happened in those ‘lost’ three years? I believe the elimination and integration of their nearest competition was the main reason for the stank on Raw and Smackdown. What do you do when there are no worlds left to conquer? The driving force behind the capitalist society most of us live in is competition. A free market affords any individual or organisation the right to compete with each other for your hard earned dollar. The only force a capitalist can use to put his competitors out of business is the force of providing a better product at a lower price as judged by those who purchase the products. By finishing off WCW, Vince McMahon had in effect created his very own sports entertainment monopoly. In doing so, it can be argued that the WWE removed the factor in the marketplace that drove it into this dominant position in the first place. The WWE no longer had the need to continue to strive to improve the quality and value for money they were offering their fan-base. There was no longer a viable alternative for the Monday night wrestling fan to switch over to. The company had reached an apex in the business, a place that I imagine they’d always wanted to be. So where did they go next? Downhill and pretty fast. Why did this happen? The short answer to this is that they abandoned the philosophies and principles which took them to the top of the industry, and started making the very same mistakes that contributed towards putting their biggest rival out of business. First of all they pulled the trigger on the invasion angle far too early, the whole angle was clearly very badly planned from the off. The WWE had in the past done a fantastic job of poaching dissatisfied WCW mid-card talent such Jericho, Benoit and Guerrero and taking them to a new level. One of the biggest reasons given by many for the failure of the invasion angle was that there was a lack of ‘star power’ amongst the early WCW invaders. I don’t go along with this at all. The mistake they made was not giving these undoubtedly talented performers (I’m talking Lance Storm, Booker T, Shane Helms and Kanyon here) the same treatment they gave Benoit, Jericho and Guerrero on their arrival at Titan Towers. These guys were pretty much buried every time they came up against anyone from the WWE, making them look like inferior athletes and therefore having nothing to offer the shows they were on. Some enjoyed limited success, but who can truly remember the cruiserweight title reign of Shane Helms, the brief spell Mike Awesome enjoyed as the Hardcore Champion or even the tag title reign of DDP and Kanyon (it’s in the history books; I just don’t remember one single interesting thing about any of these reigns). The WWE were therefore forced to utilise the old ECW talent they had acquired and some of their own stars to make the invasion look credible. This just ended up making the whole scenario look even more ridiculous and contrived than it was already. The sad fact is they had WCW’s best talent available at this time they just didn’t use it in the way they would have if they had still been competing with them on a Monday night. For whatever reason they didn’t want to make these guys look good and their programming as a whole, suffered as a result. Here come the big guns The abject failure of the invasion angle, coupled with the long term absence from TV of household names such Triple H and The Rock meant that ratings started to take a dive. I’m sure this would have been the perfect time to build up a new generation of superstars, much like they appear to be doing right now. They chose not to go down this road though, instead choosing to spike the ratings with a number of supposed quick fixes. Soon the megabucks Time Warner contracts that many of the WCW upper tier stars were happily sitting on started to expire, and all of a sudden they were queuing up to climb aboard the WWE gravy train. Vince was all too quick to rabidly snap up much of this ‘talent’ as possible, and then immediately thrust them into the main events without rhyme or reason. Nash, Hall, Hogan, Steiner and Goldberg all came in on huge contracts for very little work in terms of dates. It is clear as crystal that, with the possible exception of Steiner, all these guys were here to make as much money as they could for as little graft as possible. WCW had built their house on the foundation of guys like this; huge household names with out of control egos that were way past their sell-by date. Whereas WWE’s success had been built on slowly building up their superstars to main event status. Just look at the journey Austin, The Rock, HHH and now Benoit have taken to the title. The ups and downs, the twists and turns on the way are what makes it all the more special when they get to the top. Now the WWE were signing these big names, thrusting them into the spotlight straightaway with little build up or background except their dwindling reputations. I’m sure the introduction of these stars would have caused many political problems behind the scenes as well. As if this wasn’t bad enough, they ended up jobbing most of these stars out as quickly as when they had arrived. Look what happened with the NOW, they arrived with such a grand fanfare, they had fizzled out with no more than a whimper a few months later. The Future So what has happened in the wrestling world while the WWE has been stagnating for three years? The kids will always seek out alternatives, and some very exciting independent feds have flourished through offering the paying customer a decent alternative. I had more fun watching b-list wrestlers live in a dingy town hall in Brent the other night, than I have had watching Raw or Smackdown lately. The competition has been driven underground by the WWE, and this is no bad thing. Without having to worry about ratings, and their place in the market, these feds are free to put on the sort of shows the WWE are scared to make; where talent gets over because they are talented and not because they have a gimmick that involves them impersonating someone with a mental disability. I’d like to think that maybe one day another company could emerge to challenge the WWE’s dominance of on TV wrestling. If TNA gets a TV deal, then this may not be as far off as it may seem (although from what I’ve seen they would have to improve their shows a HELL of a lot for this to happen). Until such a time, regular watchers of free wrestling on TV are at the mercy of Vince McMahon and his bookers’ opinion of what makes a good show. Unless, like me you live in the UK and you have the Wrestling Channel! Name: Joshua H. Who: A fairly-longtime RCC member, formerly under the moniker Darragh Ryan, formerly Roo, formerly Kamala_4_Life. My what a long way Josuha’s come. His writing’s very good too, and improving along with his names. Email: RMWFstuff@yahoo.co.uk AIM: ruicosta123 I get the feeling that my part of this is going to be a little different than anyone else's. Basically, I don't think that there has been any significant changes to the industry as a whole since after WrestleMania X7. New angles and ideas have come and gone. Some of them good, some bad. Far too many wrestlers have died. The actual wrestling side of the industry has enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance with the rise to prominence of Ring of Honor and WWE being forced to opt for a more mat based style due to the incredible amount of injuries, particularly those of the neck variety, that its workers have suffered...but could you really call any of this "industry changing"? Upon the deaths of ECW and WCW there was a scramble to fill their respective spots. NWA:TNA would later become the number two sports entertainment promotion while CZW, 3PW and RoH emerged on the east coast. CZW and 3PW taking on the role of the hardcore groups while Ring of Honor, for a change, did something completely different. There are many connections between ECW and RoH. Rob Feinstein used to sell tapes at ECW shows, Gabe Sapolsky booked for ECW (and learned his trade from Paul Heyman), RoH runs in the same markets and even some of the same arenas while booking several former ECW workers. They're also considered two of the most innovative promotions of their respective times. The similarities, however, stop there. RoH promotes an entirely different, more wrestling based type of product which has caught the attention, and the praise, of many fans including myself. Have they been industry changing, though? I wouldn't say that. Some would say that they've made a huge impact, even changing the way that WWE thinks about things...their new, less risky approach to matches is proof of that isn't it? I'd beg to differ. WWE recently pushed Chris Benoit and Eddy Guerrero, two of the most respected wrestlers on the planet, into the main event. Some would point to this and say that, having seen the undeniable success of RoH, Vince McMahon decided to copy their "push the best workers" attitude in order to test the water. It's also argued that WWE's switch in focus is also of a direct result of the same promotion's growing popularity. Firstly, the pushes of Guerrero and Benoit. WWE was out of other viable options for main-eventers, for me. Steve Austin is retired, The Rock might as well be, Mick Foley is a part-timer at best, The Undertaker is past it and requires a few months off every year just to keep going, Goldberg's contract was coming up, Kurt Angle's future was in doubt, Brock Lesnar was unhappy, it had been decided (for one reason or another) that Scott Steiner, Booker T, Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho weren't up to the task and Randy Orton and John Cena are too young. Who else is there, really? Eddie is an awesome all rounder with truckloads of experience (not to mention a huge draw with the rapidly expanding Mexican market) while Benoit is one of the best workers of all time with even more experience. They would've been obvious choices in this situation, whatever the era. Then the change in style. Part of the reason why WWE's main-event scene is so bare is because Steve Austin, Mick Foley and Kurt Angle were all forced into retirement because of injuries at least partly attributed to the stresses and strains of wrestling such intensive matches and, in Foley's case, because of the suicidal stunts he had performed. Not to mention that WWE had lost Edge, Triple H, Rhyno, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit and a host of others due to serious injuries(usually neck or back related, as a result of taking to many bumps)...surely a more mat based style would be a good idea in order to protect the talent? For me, RoH's popularity and WWE's switch are just coincidences. Also, if the influence of RoH is the case...how do you explain the recent push of Bradshaw? As much as I dislike Samoa Joe there are only two similarities between himself and JBL - they're both big and both no sell like it's going out of style. There have been many changes in different promotions over the past three and a bit years but none of them has had a wide spread effect, this is the main reason why I would argue that there have been no major changes to the industry (or even the industry in North America) as a whole. WWE introduced the brand split, NWA:TNA gave us the weekly PPV, TNA popularised the idea of lightweight workers working a different style rather than being in a different weight class (and thus making them look to be on more of a par with the "heavyweight" stars), DDT made a ladder one of its champions, CZW did...nothing and so on and so forth. Whereas the fall of WCW and ECW forced the entire country to "reconfigure" with new promotions sprouting up in their place and fans being forced to look to the indie scene and even Japan or Mexico if they wanted an alternative to WWE. Hundreds of wrestlers with national exposure were suddenly accepting indie bookings, the WWF first conceived the idea of a second brand, Rob Feinstein and Gabe Sapolsky decided that they had the contacts and know-how to start their own promotion... that was a real industry changing event. Maybe it's my definition of an industry changing event here, maybe it's different than everyone else's but for me in order for me to consider something an industry changing event I need to think "Damn, wrestling will never be the same after this". The truth of the matter is, nothing has happened since WrestleMania X7 that has made me think that. Major events have happened that have made me think that RoH or WWE or whoever will never be the same but to think that something like WWE changing it's style effects the industry as a whole is pretty close minded, for me. Perhaps in the long term it'll have some major repercussions such as changing what a fan expects from shows but really that's only a potential change and hasn't happened yet. Name: Cash Melville Who: A man sighted occasionally in Weekend Heroes Spotlights, as well as the last RCC Group Column, Cash is a solid contributor to the Corner. He may well be better and have more money than you too. Or not. But, you know… there’s a chance. Email: mcm016@latech.edu AIM: Stipeforprez Change… It's something that you would think happens every single second/microsecond/picosecond. Our good friend Daniel Webster has defined change as, "to make different; alter; modify…" Things around us are dynamic, not static. The wrestling business is no exception. So, you've just put on your greatest pay-per view of all time, Wrestlemania X7… where do you go from there? There was no competition for the WWE (Vince McMahon appeared on Nitro March 26th, 2001 and Wrestlemania X7 was April 1st, 2001), they had just gated the largest attendance of all time for WMX7 (69,925 in the Astrodome), and they had the hottest stars around (The Rock, Steve Austin, Undertaker, etc.). It seems that once you've done your best, the only way things can go is down. Then the ultimate storyline was launched… The Invasion. Marks and Smarks alike had been waiting for this one for a long time, and what did the WWE do? They completely messed it up. WCW was buried until it was almost a sin to think of the acronym "WCW". So, where to go from there? You had the only thing that could possibly top Wrestlemania X7 and messed it up. Fast forward to 2003. You suddenly see two companies start to rise from the ashes of the American independent wrestling scene: NWA-Total Nonstop Action and Ring of Honor. These two companies actually started to draw the fans in slowly but surely, and started teaching some wrestling fans that WWE was not the end all-beat all of wrestling. Ring of Honor was doing something that had not been done for quite awhile and that was showcase the wrestling aspect of pro-wrestling. NWA-TNA on the other hand was mixing interesting storylines with great wrestling (let's not speak of the last three months of 2003 though for TNA)… just like the WWE of old. On the other side of the coin, the WWE it seemed was just mailing it in every week. There were a few bright spots, but not near enough to be compared to the two promotions that I mentioned earlier. Suddenly, WWE had the threat of a competitor arising within two years, and drastic action had to be taken. Triple H was becoming stale, Steve Austin couldn't wrestle anymore, Goldberg had been massively mishandled, Kurt Angle had a bad neck and would be out sooner rather than later, and Shawn Michaels couldn't possibly carry matches on his back forever, so the WWE had to do something drastic and that was create a few new stars while redirecting the focus of the company. Cue the emergence of the wrestler. It had started a couple of years earlier with the advent of Kurt Angle. Angle constantly harped on the fact that he won gold at the Olympics (with a "broken freakin neck" at that) and was an actual wrestler. Matches between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit were almost always guaranteed classics, and the audience actually started to show their appreciation for an actual "wrestling" match (see Angle vs. Benoit, Royal Rumble 2003). So, throughout the year 2003 (mostly towards the end with Benoit and Jericho), Brock Lesnar (another person who could wrestle as well as be a monster), Chris Benoit (an almost main event talent his whole career with WWE), Chris Jericho, Eddy Guerrero, and The World's Greatest Tag Team started to move to the forefront of the WWE. Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle had a classic wrestling match at Wrestlemania XIX and continued to put on clinics wherever they went. This ultimately culminated in an Iron Man match between the two… on free TV! Vince McMahon did a promo as the show started actually talking about the wrestling aspect of the match in order to show how important it was. Lesnar then moved on to a mini-program with Chris Benoit that the crowd absolutely ate up. It is well known that with Chris Benoit, you're not going to be given a whole lot of verbal reasoning from him to make you love him, what you're going to get is a man who brings it all to the ring. During his time with Brock Lesnar, the crowd started to absolutely get behind Benoit (even though they always had been, they were even more at this point), and it was for his wrestling ability, not his ability to put himself over on the mic. WWE, it seems, took notice of this and immediately started pushing Benoit to win the Royal Rumble and go on to the main event at Wrestlemania XX, which he eventually won. Chris Benoit is currently the World Champion. Meanwhile, on the Smackdown side of things, Eddy Guerrero was part of the most over tag team on Smackdown with his little brother Chavo. It was quite evident that Eddy was more beloved than Chavo, so it was natural that they get into a fight over it. At the Royal Rumble, this culminated in Eddy beating the absolute mess out of Chavito. Eddy was then thrown into a feud with Brock Lesnar. Brock Lesnar… the unstoppable champion who was (it seemed) fifteen times larger than Eddy. They had a match at No Way Out (which, ironically, I am still trying to find my way out of) that had Eddy defeat Brock for the WWE Title. Eddy would then go on to have a match with Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania XX and retain his title. Eddy Guerrero is currently the WWE champion. Shelton Benjamin (who was an All American on the same Minnesota wrestling team as Brock Lesnar), for 95 percent of his wrestling career was part of a tag team with Charlie Haas that was known as the World's Greatest Tag Team. They won the tag titles on numerous occasions and seemed to actually know how to wrestle. Even as heels, smarks would get behind them just for their ability to drag just about anyone to a **** match. At the draft lottery after Wrestlemania XX, Shelton Benjamin was drafted to the Raw roster and was touted by J.R. for his wrestling ability. Two Raws removed from the lottery, Shelton Benjamin has a pin-fall and count-out victory over Triple H, the most over heel on the roster. The first match, Shelton showed off his wrestling ability (as did Mr. Levesque to my surprise) and got the crowd behind him. Shelton also oozes charisma, but his main attribute is his ability. Shelton Benjamin is currently in the midst of a monster push. Everywhere you look, the WWE has people with wrestling ability on the top or close to the top of the card. This is what I think is the greatest change in the industry today: Fans are starting to back the people who can wrestle and companies are starting to showcase the actual wrestlers wrestler. WWE, ROH, and TNA are all putting people who can actually wrestle towards the top of their respective cards, and the fans are showing their love for it. Here are the top wrestlers from around the time of Wrestlemania X7: Steve Austin – Pre-neck injury, he could wrestle… post-injury, he was more a brawler. Also the WWE Champion The Rock – 100% pure charisma whose wrestling ability, though under appreciated, wasn't really all that great. The Undertaker – I'm not going to explain this one… Triple H – He could wrestle when he wanted to, and has a killer 2000, but after injuring his quad, was never the same. Now, let's look at some of the people that are currently on top of the wrestling industry: Chris Benoit – Wrestler. The World Champion Eddy Guerrero – A wrestler who also has charisma. The WWE Champion A.J. Styles – Who has a bad match with A.J.? Currently the ROH Pure Wrestling Champion (look, it even has it's own belt now). Christopher Daniels - Another wrestler who oozes charisma (a constant contender) Samoa Joe – A big man who can wrestle? Wow! He is also the ROH champion. If you notice, everyone that I mentioned in the bottom grouping has wrestling ability. Also, you can see that the bottom group actually included people on the independent scene. That's because the independent scene has also become larger by leaps and bounds since Wrestlemania X7. Without the reemergence of the independent wrestling scene, people like you and me wouldn't be enjoying the stars that we currently enjoy (even in the WWE), but the emergence of the wrestler as an entertainer has to be the greatest change since Wrestlemania X7. With so many new prospects on the horizon, I don't see the change stopping anytime soon. You never know though, change can happen at any moment, in only a second! * * * KJ: And there you have it, four examples of the RCC and its writings. If you want to check these guys (and others) out regularly I need only remind you again that you simply have to join the forums, and that we will always welcome new contributors. You know what I’m hinting at. Until next time, this has been a Column by a Group. |
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