It's not about you!

Coffee Table Thoughts 19: It’s not about you!

Like a Phoenix bird.

Sometimes in life, we have to endure those incidents and moments which define us. Sometimes those moments can be so damaging that we can’t forget them for rest of our lives. I am specifically talking about the bad moments when we embarrass ourselves by our deeds for the whole world to see.

I know I have had them. And those memories will remain with me for the rest of my life.

There is one wrestler in particular who had that embarrassing moment not a long while ago. He fell down when he was on the top of the world, with all the spotlights on him. He became the talk of the town. I am sure what hurt him more were not the words that berated him but the silence that disapproved of him.

I am talking about one Jeff Hardy. At Victory Road 2011 pay per view offering by TNA, Jeff Hardy was involved in a match for TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Sting. And from the moment his theme music started to play for the first time in the night up until the time the show ended, he embarrassed himself. He had come to the ring intoxicated seemingly unable to walk properly let alone to wrestle properly. Those 3-4 minutes will stay in his mind forever and most probably in the memory of us wrestling fans too.

In hindsight, though, I think there couldn’t have been a better thing to happen to Jeff Hardy.

See, it wasn’t for the first time that Jeff Hardy was intoxicated. He had his issues with the alcohol and the substance abuse before too. He was even suspended from WWE for a Wellness Policy violation and speculation was running rampant that he had left WWE because he didn’t want another Wellness Policy violation.

Jeff Hardy had probably been in the similar physical state before this incident in TNA as well. But those incidents remained far removed from the public eye. But what Victory Road 2011 did to him was to throw him down to the very rock bottom. He didn’t have an option after that night. The whole world was disappointed by him and there were no more excuses left.

As CM Punk would say, he was naked in the middle of the ring for the whole world to see.

He could have either stayed with his demons or continued on with life wrestling for smaller organisations. There are many such examples in the wrestling profession. Or, he could have made an effort to better his life and fight these substance abuse issues.

For a while, it seemed that Jeff Hardy had gained control over himself and his issues and was on way to being normal again. He was, therefore, brought back to TNA.

I liked how TNA had handled Jeff Hardy’s return. He wasn’t thrust down in the ring directly. He wasn’t inserted into a high profile storyline. He wasn’t thrown into the World Title scene. He came out in the ring, told everyone that he had made a fool out of himself and he had disappointed everyone. He said that he was sorry and asked for forgiveness and another chance.

For weeks, Jeff Hardy kept meeting the other members of the roster and personally apologised to each one of them. Some handled it well, some not. He took everything on the chin. AJ Styles made one apt comment that as long as he and Hardy goes, there will never be a right time to talk. This comment actually reflected most of the sentiment felt by us wrestling fans that Jeff Hardy had been given too many opportunities in this industry and simply doubted his efforts this time around. We were not sure whether he had turned his life around for better or were the issues going to surface again.

Ever since his return, Jeff Hardy has worked hard and kept his head clean. It has been over a year that he has returned and none of the issues that were common for him in the early days have come to light in his latest stint with the company.

During this one year, sure he has been put in the high profile feuds. Sure, he has been given the shot at the World Heavyweight championship. But he hasn’t been trusted with the World Championship thus far.

But now, after over a year of presence in the TNA, at Bound for Glory, Jeff Hardy will challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship and on that night all the spotlight will be on him again. It can turn out to be a golden opportunity for him to regain everything that he lost on that fateful night and take a final step to redemption.

Yes sir, it’s all very beautiful. But you know what? It isn’t solely about Jeff Hardy.

It is also about one Austin Aries.

Here is the guy that has paid his dues for all his wrestling life. He is the only wrestler in the world to have obtained the ROH World Championship twice. He gets called the absolute best thing going in wrestling for quite some time. He has been lauded with praises for all the time he has been on the public eye. He is an IWC hero.

And yet, for all his accomplishments and accolades, he couldn’t even manage to get qualified for Tough enough of the WWE!

Austin Aries is a big fish in a small pond and that’s what he has been for most of his wrestling career. He had been the focal point of ROH for a long time and had even been a member of the TNA roster for some time capturing the X-Division championship on multiple occasions. But for all intents and purposes, he was still, just a small league player.  

It is only in his latest TNA run, for a little more than a year that he has truly achieved all the potential that he had. He started off with a heel run and an X-Division championship reign. He brought the prestige back to the X-Division when it needed and in comparison to him, the rest of the division felt like an Indy fed.

He constantly provided great matches and added so much to his character that he became the highlight of TNA programming. He wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a Veteran who was holding his position so that eventually he can give rub to some rookie wrestler.

But in this entire process, he became so good that people started liking him no matter what. He was turned face because of this and placed in some entertaining feuds to take benefit of his rising popularity. And the popularity kept rising, the performances kept getting better.

Eventually when the Bound for glory series began, and there was no one that could feud with the then reigning champion, Bobby Roode, he was presented with an opportunity. He was asked to give up his X-Division championship in order to get a shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

It was a risky move. He could end up losing everything that he had earned and become nothing more than a Douglas Williams. He took on the risk and gave up his X-Division championship to fight against probably the greatest TNA World Heavyweight Champion of all time in the middle of the most epic TNA World Heavyweight Championship reign of all time.

Everyone assumed that the match was created just to pass the time. Bobby Roode was being kept busy for the time being, so as to keep him ready for whoever eventually wins the Bound for glory series.

And how wrong they were! Austin Aries not only beat Bobby Roode to finally win the real big one, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, but he also successfully defended his Championship and removed Bobby Roode from the title contention.

But what now? How long is this reign expected to last? Does Austin Aries stand a chance against Jeff Hardy and his momentum? Is he even in the same league as Jeff Hardy?

To be exact, No, Austin Aries is not in the same league as Jeff Hardy.

You see, Austin Aries gets the cheers of the audience. The people love him. But people love Jeff Hardy even more. When they are both in the ring, it becomes absolutely clear that Jeff Hardy is their preferred choice. It all becomes very clear that Austin Aries was given a Thank You run with the World Heavyweight championship. Jeff Hardy would like to take the last step to his triumphant story and gain the ultimate prize, the World Heavyweight championship. Austin has with him what Jeff Hardy wants.

But at the same time, Austin Aries wants something that Jeff Hardy has with him. You see, even after winning the Big Gold, Austin Aries hasn’t reached that upper echelon of players. He is a star, but he is not a superstar. And if he loses the belt this October, he probably would never get a chance to regain that glory.

At bound for glory, every eye will be set on Jeff hardy. And if on that night, Austin is able to beat Jeff and retain the World Heavyweight Championship; his place will be cemented in the history. He will finally gain everything that he yearns for – the belt, the glory, the name, the respect, the money and the fans that never leave him and follow him like sheep.

Jeff needs this win to conclude a revival journey. But Austin needs this win to reach that spot that is called Main-Eventer.

And then there were none

Coffee Table Thoughts: And then there were none

Welcome everyone to the year end edition of your favourite column to give a miss, Coffee Table Thoughts! A whole year will end tonight and we will embark on a new journey. Wow!

As happens every time a year ends, we like to look back at the year and relive those moments – high and low, which represented that year. In my personal life, it has been nothing except job and studies. I haven’t been able to crack up this accounting degree course for a full 3 year streak now! That’s a 6 attempt losing streak if you count in the fact that these exams are taken every six months. I have given yet another exam in the November and I’m as hopeful of clearing it this time round as George Steele would be of dating Miss Elizabeth. Well, that about sums up my personal life.

What about the year 1989 in general? We have Indian Prime Minister defending the allegations of corruption against his party; the situation upside in the so-called disputed territory of Kashmir seems to have worsened; the sad events of Tiananmen Square in China; Islamic world getting heated over a video err...a book; and what not. In Hollywoodland, we had a knight who critics say was too dark, Batman. In Bollywood, we had a hearty love story of....oh alright, I get it. You are not interested in listening to all that ‘garbage’’. Fine then, I won’t. That doesn’t give you the right, however, of singing ‘Baby I don’t care’ on my face!

Every December 31 gives us a reason to look back at the year and reflect on as to how important it was for any particular field, be it life, sports, politics or in our case, professional wrestling. This year, however, is special. This night signals the end of a decade. And what a decade it was! We go on to the 90s now and I just have to wonder, will the 90s generation be as rebellious as us?

What effect did the 80s have on our beloved sport of professional wrestling? Well, to be honest, the world of difference. When we look at the events backwards, they might not seem extraordinary. When we look at them in the progressive manner, however, we can establish their true importance.

The professional wrestling as it was on the 1 April 1980 is completely different from what it is today on 31 December 1989 (Not December 31 1989). Well, a lot of it has been documented really so I don’t have much to add as far as insider information goes. What I can do however, is share my thoughts on these happenings.

In the early 1980, the NWA was still going strong in America and was considered as the highest promotion even though it wasn’t a promotion in itself. WWF, headed by Vince McMahon, was a part of it, although WWF did not show much interest in bringing in the NWA Champion over on WWF shows. American Wrestling Association was a big promotion in its own right, under the guidance of Verne Gagne and it looked as if it had a bright future ahead with its ability to create new stars. Georgia Championship Wrestling was headed by Jim Barnet who secretly wanted to be the King of entire Professional Wrestling. His first step towards achieving that dream was  going national with his Television offering. Jim Crockett was gaining more and more prominence in the NWA territory in the early 1980s and was named and elected as the President of the NWA soon after. With the seemingly unending pool of talent now under his control because of the powers that were attached to the position of the President, he kept adding more value to his own promotion, Jim Crockett Promotions. Apart from those mentioned above, there were many other medium to large size wrestling promotions that were quite successful in their respective areas. All of this pointed to a bright future for professional wrestling in one way, and surely it was a positive. There was another side to the coin too, however.

The boom that was witnessed by the industry in the late 1940s with the creation of NWA had considerably slowed down by the time the 80s arrived. The very nature of NWA cooperative moment ensured there were enough reasons for conflict to occur between various member promotions. One unique World Championship meant there would be one wrestler above all others for the majority of time and whichever promotion he belonged to would benefit the most. There were small and large conflicts within the NWA which sometimes resulted in member promotions opting out of the NWA. AWA was one such promotion that had opted out of the NWA, so was WWF. WWF had rejoined the NWA back in the 1970s but did not become a major part of it. The biggest negative for professional wrestling was that it had lost its audience, not by a huge margin, but still it was a loss.

These were the positives and negatives that were associated with the professional wrestling. To be honest, they weren’t as huge of a deal. It represented more of a cyclical change in the business, which may be applied to any sport or business or company in the world. Good times and bad times. It’s always a mixed package. Even for Apple Inc, which seemed to have a bright future with the Macintosh, but alas.

Things were going normal.

Until, Vince McMahon Jr. arrived, that is.

Vince McMahon Jr. had aspirations that were a lot more than ambitious. You may as well look at this decade as that of Vince McMahon Jr. (Will refer to him as Vince McMahon or Vince only, somehow that JR so close to Vince McMahon does not seem to be a good idea to me)

There had been promoters who tried to invade the territories that did not belong to them before but Vince took the concept of invading to a whole new level. He completely disregarded the well written law of territory system and made every effort to expand his business wherever he could. He gained a lot of money because of the increased income from both television deals and video tapes sales. He used this money for his evil plan to expand and to destroy other territories. He was on a rampage to acquire new talent at a pace faster than a cheerleader in the college football loses her virginity by each and every member of the team, including the coach. (Rumour has it that he once went to a hitherto unexplored territory without declaring his identity, visited the local wrestling promotion, saw the entire show they had presented, went to the locker room, shook hands with the wrestler who had been the highlight of the night and said to him loudly, in front of the entire locker room watching him, “YOU’RE HIRED!!!” and went out of the room with a wide grin on his face. The wrestler was so shocked by the entire affair he took the next flight to his home country of Mongolia and never returned. Random, I know.)

Vince McMahon, however, was not the only one that was innovating. Jim Crockett managed to present better overall shows as he had a lot of pull in the NWA. He even started the concept of super shows with the inaugural Starrcade in the year 1983 which was widely successful and well received. He had selected Ric Flair as the main man that would lead his company throughout the 80s. Although Ric Flair did not get much appreciation and acceptance from the fans initially, he became a huge star by the time the very first Starrcade ended. He defeated Harley Race in a steel cage after a highly intense feud.

If Starrcade was a Super show, then Vince McMahon intended to change the very definition of Super Show. He brought in Wrestlemania which saw wrestling stars teaming with celebrities. It got a wide media attention and was well received. Wrestlemania also created a huge revenue earning potential with the concept of pay-per views. If Jim Crockett had Ric Flair, the hero; Vince brought in Hulk Hogan, the Super Hero.

Georgia Championship Wrestling hadn’t lasted long and was ultimately acquired by WWF. AWA was the one where Hulk Hogan was created and despite losing ground to major promotions, AWA has still found a way to keep producing new talents. But the question is can it survive? I highly doubt.

Jim Crockett would bring in new concepts and events but would always be one upped by Vince, sometimes in very unethical ways. After giving a lot of fight, Jim Crockett would have to finally give away his dream.

So what was essentially a many horse race in the early 1980s was left with just one winner, thus the column titled, ‘And then were none’. That would have been the case except for Ted Turner buying out Jim Crockett Promotions.

No Surrender

Coffee Table Thoughts {16} : No Surrender

Knockouts Championship Match

Miss Tessmacher (C) Vs Tara

There is no bad blood between these two. In fact, they both respect each other very much. Miss Tessmacher believes that she has learned everything that she knows from Tara during their time as knockouts Tag Team champions. And it is not a lie. During an episode of Open Fight Night feature of Impact Wrestling, Miss Tessmacher (who was the Knockouts champion at the time) called out Tara for a match. She was the Knockouts champion at the time and yet she needed to prove herself to...herself. The challenge failed, however and Tara was declared the winner of the match. Because of this victory, Tara got a shot at the Knockouts championship which I am sure Miss Tessmacher happily agrees to. This rivalry is what we would call a healthy competition and it’s important to have such rivalries once in a while.

On to the match, although it is Miss Tessmacher who is the champion and will be defending her Knockouts championship, it is an upheaval task for her to one up her very mentor! I like the tone of this storyline. Tara is a great wrestler (looks very cute in those sports bikini bottoms) and Miss Tessmacher is slowly improving in the ring. I expect a good match between the two.

Knockouts division has faced quite a huge loss in the last month or two with a lot of high profile exits but you know what? I actually like that situation. I think every single Knockout has been there for quite a while and every match-up that the management was able to come up with seemed very outdated. Winter may have been a relative new face and could have had some feuds but otherwise there were only same old faces in the Knockouts division. I think it is a great time for TNA to pick up not only some rookie female wrestlers but also some well decorated Indy veterans. This will ensure there are fresh wrestlers and feuds to look forward to. However, for some time, Gail Kim, Tara, Miss Tessmacher and Madison Rayne can carry the division well. This current rivalry is too fresh to let it end so soon and the title reign of Miss Tessmacher has been very short after regaining it from Madison Rayne. I think both the feud and the reign will continue.

TNA X-Division Championship Match

Zema Ion (Champion) Vs Sonjay Dutt

I have heard a lot of praises for Sonjay Dutt who is a fellow Indian but I have not witnessed his work. He was weirdly entertaining in the brief period for which Ring Ka King lasted. But I hadn’t witnessed the whole thing and never saw his match. I am looking forward to see him in action in No Surrender.

Due to the paucity of time, both of these wrestlers haven’t been present on television as much as one would wish. So there is not enough fuel in their feud. But X-Division has been a staple of good wrestling in TNA and this particular belt has been the most important championship of the organisation many a times. It isn’t that time right now, but we can expect an entertaining and fast match full of spots.

World Tag Team Championship

Christopher Daniels and Kazarian (C) Vs AJ Styles and Kurt Angle

Christopher Daniels has been an entertaining watch during his time in the company. His never ending feud with AJ Styles is annoying sometimes but Daniels always saves the segment/match from being bad. I loved that baby shower segment from a few weeks ago with Daniels and Kazarian giving out entertaining gifts to the future child of AJ Styles, which was not to be.

This last episode of Impact, Hulk Hogan was set on a task to find the team that could challenge the team of CD and Kaz. AJ Styles was rejected outright because he did not have a partner. Kid Cash and Gunner had been eliminated because they had taken the feud with Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez very personally. Finally, after eliminating the team of two Robbies, he had given the nod to Mexican team of Chavo and Hernandez. And what a fun match it turned out to be! A fast paced, action packed tag team match. Do look out for it if you like yourself some tag wrestling.

CD and Kaz were able to retain their titles despite a brilliant effort from CG and Super Mex. Hulk Hogan then came out to declare that they would be defending their titles against AJ Styles and the partner that he was missing earlier, Kurt Angle. And the tag team scene in the TNA went from not so good looking to absolutely hot! This feud is not going to end anytime soon but I would wish Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez get added to the mix soon.

Magnus Vs Rob Van Dam

Magnus was a part of the Bound for Glory series. But ever since he was booted out of the tournament, he started behaving funnily. He even snapped after losing to Samoa Joe. But because the good guy that he is, he came out to apologize to Samoa Joe for his actions and reminded everyone that “We were good. I mean I was great, but we were gooood!” Stating in no unclear terms that Samoa Joe held him down. And then he attacked Samoa Joe from behind. After Rob Van Dam had lost his match, and was getting interviewed, Magnus showed up again. He mocked Rob Van Dam for not being the same RVD that had set the bar so high that even he cannot reach it anymore.

There is not too much history between the two, this feud hasn’t been slowly in the making either. But it doesn’t need to be. Impact Wrestling Creative team took the short time that they had for building this feud and used it very well. Now, the feud may not have been in the making for a long time but the character development of Magnus has been in the works for a few weeks at least and it fits in very well. He wants to be cocky and look for fights at any place that he can get.

Rob Van Dam has pretty much been the same wrestler that he has always been. So there is nothing absolutely groundbreaking that can be expected from this match. However, it will be worth a watch how Magnus handles the story of the match. I have heard nothing but praises for Magnus and it would be great opportunity for him to show off his worth.

Austin Aries Vs ‘The Arm Breaker’

Aces and Eights has been the focal point of the Impact Wrestling tapings for months. It is a group of people that are undisclosed and wear masks and beat down Impact Wrestling Superstars. They ambushed their World Champion too and even tried to break his arm. So Austin Aries, being the stud that he is, is looking for some revenge. He called out the big guy and now they’re set to fight against each other. One thing to note here is that Austin Aries is the World Champion right now and he would be competing in a non-title match in such a huge pay per view. Does it make any sense?

It makes all the sense in the world, actually. See, Robert Roode had been the World Heavyweight Champion for far too long. He lost his title to Austin Aries and then lost a rematch too. If the intention was to keep the title on Aries for some time, it didn’t make sense to make Bobby job out to Aries thrice in a row. Also, as the Bound for Glory is not far away, it would have defeated the purpose of the tournament if someone else was given the opportunity.

It may piss of a few people, but I like how TNA avoids putting a World Championship match on the line on some of the Pay per Views. Such a situation also existed when Bobby Roode fought Sting. It takes away the monotonous nature of World Championship matches and we avoid some unnecessary match-ups in the process.

One more thing I like about TNA is how they handle their main event talent. Notice how Bobby Roode has been absent in recent times? Noticed how Mr Anderson was given some time off earlier this year because Creative had nothing for him? Remember James Storm taking time away to go home and spend some time with his family to find out if he still wanted to do this? If a wrestler is absent from television for a few weeks, he may be erased from the memory of the audience in normal circumstances. That is not the case for the main event level talent, though. These short breaks actually provide a sort of refreshment to them and also to the audience. If they keep getting featured on every episode without much to do, they might get stale and that is not a good thing. So I think, in a way this short space of air-time that TNA has is actually helping them in some way.

Interesting point about this match is that we don’t know who this Giant is. We don’t know if he is going to remove his mask or not. I think it will be ending with the rest of the Aces and Eights coming in to cause a disqualification. I don’t think the pay-off to this storyline would come this soon.

Bound For Glory Series

James Storm was on the top of the leaderboard and therefore he got to choose his opponent for the Semi finals of the Bound for Glory series. So whom does he choose? He chooses Bully Ray because it is Bully Ray who had defeated James Storm in the last year’s Bound for Glory series semi final match. Also, Bully Ray had a hand in making James Storm look like a villain when he claimed, along with Bobby Roode, that James Storm was a part of Aces and Eights.

So there is a nice little story woven in there. The aspect that interests me the most is that Bully Ray was the one that had defeated James Storm in the semi finals in the last year. It’s an interesting stat. More and more such stats would keep coming over the years and this series has been a real highlight of the Impact Wrestling for the time it stayed.

James Storm has been pushed heavily during the last year and even in the Bound for Glory series. He was head and shoulders above everyone else. He has already proven that he is a worthy main eventer and it would be very difficult to hold him back. Many had predicted from the time the series began that it would be James Storm who would emerge victorious. A lot of things have changed since then, though. For one, who is right behind James Storm in the rankings? The Samoan Submission Machine, Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe is an absolute beast of a performer. He brings a level of intensity in his matches that can only be matched by the man that never even existed. He has been with the company for a long time and has been a former world champion but his booking and position in the company during last couple of years was not very umm, good. However, he has been pushed heavily during the Bound for Glory series. His possible return to the main event probably began when he started teaming up with Magnus and began a reign of terror on the tag team division. The company may have found a likening to this man all over again and that’s why I won’t count him out of this tournament just now.

Then, we have Jeff Hardy. Everyone remembers that Victory Road incident. Jeff Hardy has come a long way from that night and has turned his career and life, apparently. He is more over than probably anyone else in the company right now. So it is not that difficult to imagine him becoming the series winner. And if that happens, it can be a true Cinderella story. This would be seen as a huge triumph for him and makes for a good story.

What also makes a good story, however, is a tag team wrestler for life turning his career around and, after 15-20 years in the business, finally winning the most coveted prize in one of the major companies in the business. Bully Ray has made himself into a hateable character and does not seem out of place from the main event. Consider also the fact that the champion right now, is someone that has had some interesting rivalry with Bully Ray in the last year. In fact, out of all the 4 participants, Bully Ray seems the most appropriate choice to fight Austin Aries. Austin Aries is a face and so are the rest of the three semi-finalists. It makes sense to have Bully Ray as the winner as a heel going up against a face.

Most importantly, it is Bound for Glory where we are headed. It is TNA’s version of Wrestlemania. Or at least that’s how they have treated the event as. What that means is we are more likely to see the major feuds that took place during the year to end there. Those feuds that haven’t ended. There hasn’t been a conclusion to the awesome rivalry between James Storm and Bobby Roode which pushed both of them to hopefully, the Superstardom. Samoa Joe has a ready nemesis in his former partner, Magnus. I am not sure about Jeff Hardy – will he fight Mr Anderson?

My gut feeling says it will come down to Bully Ray Vs Jeff Hardy. And one of them will go on to have a triumphant story at the Bound for Glory.

In any case, I am looking forward to this event. Hope you enjoy the event too.

Street Fight - Greatest Match Ever

Street Fight - The Greatest Match Ever

                       

I have been summoned here to argue why Street Fight is the greatest match type that has ever been invented.

See, I am not blind. I know who my audience is. The regulars that inhabit this dungeon known as Columns Forum have years of experience in not only watching varied forms of wrestling but also in writing thought-provokingly on the same.

I, therefore, feel that it is an impossible task to convince you fine folks that The Street Fight is the absolute finest form of match type that has ever been invented. I am not even going to try that and insult your intelligence.

What I can do, however, is make a case for it.

There is literally no singular match-type that can carry the weight of the entire wrestling product on itself. A simplistic, regular match-type in Match for one fall has taken the unenviable task of carrying most of the load of the wrestling product, but it does not make the product special. What makes the product special is the variety that is involved in it. There are so many dimensions in the wrestling product that it puts any SyFy movie made in 3D to shame.

You want to just fill the time without thinking up much about it? You have One Fall match which is nothing but the regular bread and butter match. You want some comedy? Throw in a Tuxedo match. You want to arouse your audience for some weird reason? There’s a Bra and Panty match at your service. You want your audience to cringe? Put Kelly Kelly in a match against well, anyone.

It’s like Sex. Teasing, Caressing, Fore-play, the act itself, After-play etc. are all ingredients of the entire activity known as Sexual Intercourse. But the ultimate climax of it all is the Orgasm. You can’t really have Sex without experiencing Orgasm. And the Street Fight is the Orgasm of Wrestling.

More so, it is a female orgasm – it is rare. Street Fight hasn’t been as used as a Divas Battle Royale. It hasn’t even been slightly tainted like a Hell in a Cell Match or Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match because of annual appearances. It hasn’t been laboured out like Cage match either. It still remains a Special Attraction of sorts.

Any Stat-guy worth his salt would tell you, however, that what we must aim for is not Minimum or Maximum but simply put, Optimum. In order to be claimed as the best match-type of all, it not only has to be something that gets rarely used for a special occasion but at the same time, has a rich history to show off of. This is where it separates itself from the likes of Inferno Match or a Punjabi Prison match which have been used so scarcely that you wouldn’t even know that they exist.

The Street Fight was once used as a stepping stone to bring back to the forefront a former, retired and crippled legend in Shawn Michaels. The match was so satisfying that he gave us another eight years of a career which, if seen singularly, is a Hall of Fame career in itself. And who can forget about that one night when Triple H was ‘made’ by Cactus Jack? There are so many gems in the storied history of Street Fight which makes a strong case for why a Street Fight should be considered as one of the greatest match type, if not the greatest.

There is a reason why a Banana Milkshake won’t sell for all you have in your pocket in a Five Star Restaurant but a Cape Gammon Banana Shake would. Like every single Chef in the world will tell you, you can bring a unique combination of food items together, cook them in a certain special way, decorate the dish in the most attractive way but you haven’t won your customer’s money until and unless you name your dish artistically. The Street Fight is nothing but a No Disqualification, Falls Count Anywhere match but it has been given a different name so as to strike a chord with the masses, so as to give it a special meaning. It may not be the most extra-ordinary name that there is but it is a name which distances itself from the ordinary.

Wrestling is famously known as the male soap opera. It is the sports entertainment. The soap opera part of the wrestling is the feuds. Feuds may begin with a match, or a mere confrontation. They may last for only a week or a day or in some cases, they may begin with the Kindergarten and end with one of the two being buried (Example: AJ Styles Vs Chritopher Daniels). But some feuds last just for the right amount of time and culminate at the pinnacle of that feud. I earlier alluded to the Street Fight being the Orgasm of Wrestling and this is why – it is something that you can use to culminate, to end a feud.

The most recent example of such a feud would be the feud between Chris Jericho and CM Punk. It began with Chris Jericho claiming that CM Punk stole what was his, the feud then developed further and ended up being a very personal feud or in more attractive words, a blood feud. If we were to explain what a blood feud is in a nutshell – it is where we, the audience, are invested emotionally and heavily in.

To end such a blood feud, there needs to be a match that forces the wrestlers involved to go an extra step, to use their anger and desperation to produce something more emotional. The Street Fight allows them to do just that. It elevates the feud in that way and in most cases, raises the stock of both the wrestlers involved.

With that, I rest my case!

Indecision

It wasn’t a different morning in the McMahon mansion; Vince McMahon was used to waking up early in the morning. What was different this morning is that there was no sleep. An array of thoughts ranging from positive to negative to downright strange were going through his mind throughout the night.

He remembered the meeting with Bret Hart, telling him to accept the offer of WCW and to leave WWE. It turned out to be a little difficult than he had initially imagined. There was no conflict as such, but what was difficult was the dent it had made in his heart. It felt like a part of his self was going away.

When Hulk Hogan left the WWE, it gave Vince the ultimate understanding – nothing and no one is going to last forever. As such, he was ready to let go Bret Hart, from a business standpoint but it was a little difficult to let go of him from a personal standpoint. Bret Hart was considered a gifted mat technician but he was more renowned for his obedience. It was, thus, difficult to picture him in the almost similar situation as Ultimate Warrior, who was nothing but a spoilt brat.

He hadn’t thought in a million years that Ted Turner’s WCW would use Kevin Nash and Scott Hall the way they did. On the night the NWO was born, a wheel was set running – a wheel of endless possibilities. The war had begun and the envelope was pushed so far that he believed it will end only when one of the two dies, either WWF or WCW; not NWO, which was just a fictitious organization anyway.

If not for these life-changing circumstances, he would have never considered doing what he was still only considering of doing. He was still in the state of indecision; however, he knew what it all will come down to – what is right for the business.
 
Once a week visit to the Church had been a regular for Earl Hebnar, but his visits had increased in the recent days. He was in cross roads, after all. A decision was to be made.

When he reached home, a letter from the bank was awaiting him. It said that he had missed two installments of the loan which he had taken to buy that very home. He looked at his wife, Mrs. Hebner and then his son, young Master Hebner.

Option wasn’t really there for him.

Paul Levesque was flexing his muscles at the Gym. An image kept appearing before his eyes. Those eyes – deep blue eyes – they commanded both respect and attention. It felt like a black magic had been practiced on him. There isn’t any other possible justification for the idea that was born in his mind. Ever since he saw Stephanie McMahon…. he wasn’t the same.

Shawn Michales managed to get out of his bed, somehow, unawares of where he was, how his night had gone. Alone in the room, he doubted whether that was the case the whole night. He was happy; however, to know that the day he would finally overcome his arch-nemesis was coming close.

As he kept thinking of Bret Hart, his anger kept growing. He took a pen and a paper and jotted down a few letters in anger, a method he adopted many years ago to calm himself down. Seb ast i an Ed uar do Cri sma nich. As if, that made any sense.

Vince kept going back to the day he met Ric Flair and offered him to join WWF along with his WCW World Championship… the ‘Real’ World Champion… the day he fired Eric Bischoff… the hate in his eyes for Vince… Bret Hart… WWF Champion.. What if?
  

Raw 1000

Coffee Table Thoughts {14} : Raw 1000

The Hype and The Social Media

Raw’s 1000th episode is right down the corner and I, as much as anyone else, am pretty much excited for this historic event. The WWE hype machine has done a very commendable job of creating fan interest in the milestone achieving episode.

Unfortunately, I would be busy preparing tax returns in a very taxing season in my office and wouldn’t be having the free wifi connection that I use to watch all the wrestling events, while the Raw goes live. I will surely be catching up the event, but it will be a little late. It will be Tuesday morning here in India, when the show gets aired live in the United States of America, and I would literally be craving for the office hours to end and reach back home to see Raw.

On the non television front, they have made quite a deal about the social media experience and are seriously pursuing new methods of involving the fans, hilariously known as WWE Universe (A Vince McMahon-Paul Heyman Shoot joke). Regulars over here seem to be up in the arms about this new addiction of the WWE, but I actually like this new initiative.

They have appointed Charlie Sheen as their Social Media something something for this 1000th episode especially and it would be a fun to follow his tweets on that day. I have heard that his tweets are entertaining in very Scott Steiner way and I wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun. Reading tweets is one enjoyable experience if you are not going to see it unfold in front of your eyes.

Then there is Tout. Tout is quite a unique fan interaction methodology and I think WWE have made a right decision at the right time. In the e-world that is growing every single day, you wouldn’t know which side of the technological R-evolution is going to hit you hard. In my opinion, WWE is one of those companies which are most vulnerable to such kind of technological stuff. It was WWF which put all its stars on the prime time television and brought an end to the territory system. It may be difficult to digest the thought that such type of video sharing app is going to be of any impact on the WWE’s business, but you may never know. It seems an interesting concept and seems to be tailor-made for the kind of fan base that WWE enjoys. You get to upload a 15-second video which can be seen by millions as well as the WWE management and superstars. I may never personally upload such a video, but I can see how it would be attractive to someone young. I have read somewhere that WWE, apart from having a business relation with the software company, has also made investments in it. It seems to be a step in the right direction and may even create a new revenue stream for the company. The new generation is all about connectivity and it is good to know that WWE is taking very proactive approach in luring the young fans into their product through many innovative ways.

I would go as far as to say that with the kind of economy that is there in its biggest market – the home market, they will have to consider other ways of earning revenue than mere Pay Per Views. The concept of ‘Pay Per View’ hasn’t even taken off in India, so I don’t know about its details but I read on the Wikipedia that Vince McMahon was one of the pioneers of this business. And all signs point that they are going to move away from the PPV concept, at least to a certain extent, when they will be launching their own channel.

The 3 Hour Format

I have been a fan of the wrestling product for the much of my life and enjoy the WWE product most often but this 3 hour stuff that they will be carrying on now onwards seems a little Golden Goose-ish to me. There is a very fitting term called ‘market saturation’ and this step feels like it has all the makings to be the next example of the same in the management books. Many a times in the past year, it has been very difficult for me to sit through an entire episode of Raw. I have to use a lot of fast-forwarding. Sometimes, I just skip entire episodes of Raw or Smackdown. It may result in a lot of similar sentiment amongst other WWE fans and this may ultimately result in a feeling of being exhausted.  

But if they have decided to go full blown on the three hour format for Raw, then they must have thought about the content beforehand. As per the news on the main page, it is being said that the added hour will be featuring more of the fan-interaction social media stuff that most of us have come to hate. I don’t particularly hate the idea. I may not like this part of the show myself, but some other fan-group may be interested in this type of stuff.

However, I would want the first hour, in such a case to be only about the fan-interaction, social media stuff. Because if it does involve some sort of storyline development or a match, then what you are doing is forcing your fans to make a decision. You are essentially forcing them to ask themselves whether they are ready to sit there the entire hour to go through a lot of shit in order to not miss out on something important. And if they do decide to drop the first hour (which they most certainly will), then they are forced to ask themselves this next question, whether they are ready to go through the entirety of two hours without knowing whether something important took place in the first hour or not. That may become very frustrating for a lot of the casual fans and ultimately result in them abandoning the product altogether.

At this point, however, these are just rumours. Instead of assigning the new hour to the social media, they may go with a completely new content, like the Cruiserweight division or they may even go the old school way and try to make their product more balanced by giving the mid-card and the lower-card something well worth to do. God knows the Tag Team division, United States and Intercontinental Division (if these things exist, that is) and the Divas division could do with some more time and at least some type of storyline. And if they have decided to go this route than I am all for it.

The Raw 1000 itself

As I said before, they have put all of their (best) effort in hyping up this show. The biggest angles and stuff that are already advertised are:

1. DX Reunion featuring Triple H and Shawn Michaels

2. Brock Lesnar answers the Triple H challenge

3. CM Punk vs John Cena for the WWE Championship match

4. Appearance from The Rock

5. Christian defends his Intercontinental Championship

6. Chris Jericho will make his presence felt

7. Daniel Bryan-AJ Lee wedding

8. Heath Slater faces off against another Legend

Wow, that’s hell of a too much for an episode of Raw.

This isn’t the episode that you can afford to miss. Whether you are a fan of nostalgia shows/special attractions or not, this is just the kind of epicness that you just can not hate or complain much about. I am looking forward to all of the above attractions. The least interesting of all those seems to be the DX Reunion. But boy, oh boy, if it does turn out to be what it is rumoured to be, I am going to mark the f out and this will instantaneously become one of my most favourite moments in the wrestling, period.

I won’t go in detail on what I am expecting from the each of the above segments or what else I expect to see, but there is this WWE Championship match which in my opinion is a very vital particle of the WWE’s future. The build to this match has been quite simple, John Cena won the WWE MITB Contract and decided to face CM Punk for the WWE Championship. He hasn’t been the WWE Champion in almost a year and for him, it is about time that he regains that Championship. It’s that simple. Or is it?

I agree it has been a very thin build on the surface but if you dig a little deep, isn’t this a subtle, yet very hard hitting scenario? From the epic shoot promo of CM Punk to two top notch matches, which by the way, did not result in a pure clean victory for CM Punk. That desire and resolve of Punk to rise to the top, the solid stance of John Cena to be himself no matter what.

Those little nuggets that began in the IWC that John Cena was still The Man, those same views were expressed in not so unclear words on the WWE television. Eve mocking Punk that AJ Lee will steal the spotlight from Punk just like John Cena, The Rock, Triple H and Brock Lesnar. The remark by the Big Show ‘Do you really think these fans care for you? This company revolves around one person’. Is that one person, John Cena?

That very little confrontation between the two just before the Money in the Bank, ‘If you win, John, then that’s back to you and me’. One year after one of the most exciting periods in wrestling, we are back there, just where we started.

We need answer to just one little question.

Who really is the best in the world?