Coffee Table Thoughts

Coffee Table Thoughts

I am here on my desk, looking at the big screen (The PC, not the TV) having a cuppa of coffee and letting the thoughts roam free. There isn’t any particular thought that I want to write about. Just a few topics I would like to discuss on the fly.

Wrestling

Wrestling has come a long way. Or rather, my life as a wrestling fan has come a long way. I started watching the product when Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock were feuding over the Intercontinental title. DX was making every segment entertaining. Mankind was a likable fool. Undertaker was as dangerous as ever. Triple H was growing steadily as the leader of DX. Vince McMahon was driving me crazy with anger by all his tactics. Hardy Boys vs. Edge and Christian vs. Dudley Boys; and many more. This was also the time where I would get someone or the other for watching the shows. I would get someone or the other to discuss wrestling with in school. It was cool.

Then the viewing became sporadic. I witnessed the whole decade with little glimpses whenever I caught the show on TV. I witnessed the debut of Goldberg; the beginning and the end of Brock Lesnar; continuous attempts by Paul Heyman of stalling the progress of Chris Benoit; Evolution of Evolution; The hilarious Eddie Guerrero; The Ultimate underdog; Kurt Angle’s matches; Booker T and Goldust; Scot Steiner and having no idea of what he was saying; the unmasking of Kane; the day Edge won a four-way elimination match to be named the number one contender for the World Championship; the rise and rise of John Cena; and many more. This was the time I didn’t catch the progress of the storylines. It was a few weeks of watching the wrestling and then months of break. Just like how I study; studying for a few minutes and then taking break for a few hours. At this point of time, there was no reason for me to get into any conversation about wrestling with anyone.

In the middle of the year 2010, things started to change. I started pursuing other methods of enjoying wrestling. I searched for wrestlers that I liked. I wanted to know where they were, what had become of them. Wikipedia became my new favourite place. Unlike the other times, I searched for what had gone by in previous years instead of checking out what was taking place in the present. And I found out a few facts.

I found out about the way Vince created the empire that is WWE; how Wrestlemania is the biggest show of wrestling; that Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are actually married, Stone Cold Steve Austin’s neck injury; Montreal Screwjob; Chris Benoit death; the Monday Night wars; the Invasion storyline and how lucky I was to miss that; the drug problems in the industry; and many more. All this knowledge further increased my interest in this form of entertainment. I started checking out various wrestling web-sites and weekly results. And again began watching the wrestling product online through youtube and stuff like that because I really have no control over the TV at my home. At this point of time, I am usually subjected to jokes and humour because of the way in which I follow the wrestling product.

All the non-watchers are allowed to not feel entertained by the wrestling product because nothing is meant for everyone. They don’t need to appreciate the effort put in by the wrestlers. There may be some shows which they may feel passionate about, but I have no interest in. Like a musical or dance competition.

What bothers me is the fact that they consider wrestling to be a non-worthy entertainment for everyone. The common argument that they make is that wrestling is fake. My question: so what?

Aren’t sitcoms fake? Aren’t the big budgeted Hollywood action flicks fake? Hell, every romantic movie is fake too. Does that stop us from liking them? No it doesn’t.

Wrestling is a product that has a rich history, has a unique combination of entertainment and sports. There is an emotional attachment between the wrestlers and the fans. And as fake as the product may be, the action is not. The wrestling moves may have been designed so as to cause minimum injury, but if they were to be practiced upon us, we would surely break a bone. The action that gets served to us every week on free television and pay per view (we get that free), is far better than anything that is seen in Fast and Furious series. What is the action in those movies? A scene that has been edited so much so that a two minute sequence does not have a continuous shot of more than 10 seconds? Well, that’s just my personal opinion and many would disagree with me. But the point I am trying to make is that it serves some beautiful action that can match the entertainment value of any car-chase sequence of a high rated movie.

I am a wrestling fan, and I will be one for the rest of my life. Unless if CM Punk starts jobbing out on Superstars.

The TNA Story

I was behind Robert Roode when he was being built for the World Heavy Weight Championship match at Bound for Glory. When the reason for his loss at the said event was revealed to be nothing but the personal opinion of Hulk Hogan, it angered me. When James Storm won the championship in the next Impact Tapings, I was laughing at the attempts of Eric Bishoff and Hulk Hogan to look smart by their comments. When Robert Roode won the championship from James Storm by turning heel, I started raising eyebrows. When I watched the last Impact tapings where James Storm went from Robert Roode to Samoa Joe to Mr Anderson to Bully Ray and finally setting his eyes on A J Styles as a possible suspect that jumped him from behind and caused the amount of blood loss that if it were money could have only made someone a millionaire, my hopes were raised. When Kurt Angle came from under the ring and attacked James Storm, I was laughing out loud. They have taken every wrong step that there was to take, they have ran faster with the storylines than Bolt and they have turned the storylines more than the curves of Kate Winslet and yet, here we are, with two main event feuds with four most righteous people involved in. AJ Styles, Bobby Roode, James Storm and Kurt Angle are going to be great television, promo wise and wrestling wise. I am looking forward to all of these.

The Survivor Series

We all had predicted the card long before it was declared. Our prediction had begun before Night of Champions. We were seeing before our very own eyes, a storyline develop. The disgruntled, fired employees – Kevin Nash, The Miz, R-Truth. The disgruntled, employed employees – Christian, Dolph Ziggler, David Otunga, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barret. We were hoping for this year’s Survivor series to regain its former glory. We were hoping for and looking forward to the best possible Survivor Series match in many years. But then the storylines were given a quick fix when clearly it was not required. Rock and John Cena were moved out of the traditional survivor series elimination match and were placed in a tag team match that is nowhere near as important as it should have been. And then we were informed about the most craved survivor series match listing by the announcers in a 20 second promo. And then to make the matters worse, the Team captains were named as Randy Orton and Wade Barret? There was no problem with Randy Orton being named the team captain given the fact that he is the most high profile player in that match, but Wade Barret? And that too when Cody Rhodes was also on Team Barret and actually was having a feud with Randy Orton right at that time? All the wrongs were done right by a simple promo between Randy Orton, Wade Barret and Christian on Smackdown last week. Randy Orton explained that he did not like to be in any team let alone leading it. However, he is not a quitter and if there is anything he is going to do in a team than that is to lead. Wade Barret stating that he is a natural born leader, that people always gravitated towards him. Christian saying that he is a leader and he thinks Wade Barret is a true leader too. The feud began. Add to this the fact that there are many interim feuds going on between the players in both teams, Sheamus and Christian (who will be in Barret’s corner), Sheamus and Wade Barret (the backstage beating), Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler and Mason Ryan, Hunico and Sin Cara; this might indeed be the match to look forward to the most. And that is not only because of the feuds involved but because of the wrestlers involved. Randy Orton has been wrestler of the year in many a fans’ books for this year, Wade Barret and Sheamus will provide hard-hitting style, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler will take care of the technical side, Cody Rhodes has provided many good to decent matches through-out the year, Sin Cara, Hunico and Kofi Kingston will handle the high flying style and Mason Ryan will try to hit one or two power moves. Plus there are chances of shenanigans on part of Christian.

Well, that’s all for tonight folks!