Coffee Table Thoughts {9} – Disappointment
Disappointment
A boss gets disappointed by the performance of his employee. A wife gets
disappointed by the carelessness of his husband. But what we humans hate the
most are the moments when we are disappointed by ourselves. Or disappointed in
ourselves. Whichever is the correct phrase? Allow me to explain, or rather,
just forget that.
Chris
Jericho is F’in Awesome!
The
man’s a true prick. He has mastered the art of getting under the skin of absolutely
anyone that he wishes to. You knew from the beginning of his video promo on
this week’s Raw that he was up to something. When he began to showcase the
guilty emotions, you knew that he was going to change the gear soon. And when
he said ‘however.....’ and paused for a few seconds, you knew he was up to no
good.
I
laughed out loud at every second of it and that is not being insensitive to the
hurt feelings of one CM Punk. CM Punk kept getting emotional and hyper and thus
kept increasing the intensity throughout the interaction. Jericho, on the other
hand, managed to cool down the atmosphere with his obnoxious remarks and
comical facial expressions. It was nice to see Jericho acting shocked when CM
Punk used some ‘bleep’ remarks as if he was the nice guy. Ha Ha!
I
believe Chris Jericho easily won the vocal contest on this Monday night except
for a great line by CM Punk where he listed down the ways in which one can
overcome obstacles. He called Jericho an obstacle itself and said instead of
jumping over it, or digging a deep hole and crawling underneath it, he was
going to go straight through it. Absolutely fiery mic-work by Punk here. But I
thought he went a little too overboard with the expressions. The audience was
fully behind Punk throughout though so that’s a good sign.
And oh
yeah, ‘I am proud of my father’. I genuinely clapped at that line, even though
I was sitting in my home in front of a computer, watching it 12 hours after the
actual occurrence! Hurray Punk!
We have
gone through various emotions regarding this match. It has been in the
discussion forums even before Chris Jericho made his actual return. First it
was assumed that Jericho would start the inevitable programme with Punk the
moment he returns. Then we hoped that he would challenge CM Punk as the winner
of the Royal Rumble. His unfortunate exit from the Elimination Chamber made us
believe that he would get his rightful rematch as a result. But finally, the
match was determined on the basis of a Battle Royal that forced Wade Barret to
go on a long vacation.
There
are several of us ‘IWC’ that feel that the latest turn of events in this feud
has left a bad taste. They feel that the personal remarks made by Chris Jericho
are uncalled for and that they are taking the match to a direction which isn’t
needed.
But
according to me, the biggest turn that the match took is when it was pushed in
the ‘face-heel’ dynamic.
Both CM
Punk and Chris Jericho are IWC darlings and have been for years. Both of them
are fairly established stars and would be cheered loudly by the live crowd
comprising mainly of casual fans. If Chris Jericho had remained face upon his
return, things would have been a little different. If he would have remained
face going into Wrestlemania, this could have been filled with Nostalgia. And
in the long run, this little fact will have a bearing on where we will view
this match in comparison to other matches in the rich history of Wrestlemania
and in comparison to other matches on the same card.
Chris
Jericho is known for staying on ground at least when it comes to professional
wrestling (I don’t expect to see the same thing from him in real life. The
guy’s a douche!) He always brings down the ‘greatness’ stuff. I may very well
be blabbering here but I am trying to make a point. Some of the things that
Chris Jericho did, if he would have done it a bit differently, or may be with a
complete 180, then in my opinion, he would have been an even bigger legend.
Take for
example his match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 19. After the match was
over, they both hugged each other and the live audience loved it. If the last
image of the two would have been that, I am sure Chris Jericho’s status would
have been elevated in the eyes of the fans. But no, he had to kick Michaels in
the nuts.
Another
such example is very recent, when CM Punk told him that may be he was a lot
like Jericho but he had already surpassed everything that Chris Jericho has
ever done or ever accomplished. Jericho could have accepted it and came out
with an argument that people never accepted him like they accepted Punk. He
could have gone on to say he never wanted to be ‘The Man’. But what does he do?
He completely ignores what Punk said. And goes on to say the same things that
he had said just a few minutes ago. #LikeATroll
See, it
may come off as foolish. You may argue that such small things wouldn’t make
much of difference in his resume. You would say that Jericho has already
achieved everything that one can ask for. He has become a legend in this
business. And I agree with that. But he severely lacks more of those ‘Y2J
Debut’ moments. Those moments that we would remember till the last day of our
lives are sorely lacking in his resume. He cuts great promos. He performs
greatly in his matches. And gives meaning to everything that he does. But he also keeps things grounded. These are
small things which differentiate Arn Andersons of the world from Ric Flairs of
the world.
But
that’s Jericho for you. This is the guy who wants to see his career end the way
the life of a side-kick of the villain in a movie ends. The one who dies from
one bullet shot from the hero and falls screaming ‘Aaaaahh......’
Overall
though, I’m very much satisfied with how this feud has developed over few
months. They will be up against a match involving legends from yester years; a
match where icons of two different eras collide; a game Randy Orton going
against reinvigorated Kane; two hungry young men who will not hesitate at going
the length of physical abuse; and two other matches which can turn out to be
very decent. Any of these matches can steal the show; can be the contender for
match of the year.
And in
light of these facts, these two are going in the right direction. The feud is
meaningful, with a purpose other than, or should I say more than, clash of the
titans. They are keeping it grounded by adding human-ish tendencies. They have
a reasonable chance of escalating Wrestlemania.
And
this does not remind me of the term ‘disappointment’.
Randy
Orton and Kane have been thrown into a make shift feud. Because neither had any
matches set up going into Wrestlemania. But the creative and the wrestlers have
done a good job of keeping it meaningful and interesting.
When
every other feud was slowly developing on the back of promos (and less by
actual physical exchange), they gave this feud a start with the physicality. In
the normal course, it wouldn’t mean much, but because the build is different
than the rest of the matches, it maintains interest. And then they added
meaning to it.
I know,
it’s just a small excuse they’ve found out but it plays very well. Kane is
disappointed in himself, he was disappointed about the lows he had reached when
Randy Orton beat the hell out of him last summer (Summer of Christian?) and
hence wants to avenge the person who forced him into such a situation. Randy
Orton’s promos continue to be meaningful and decent (Now go on, start a clan to
berate me for what I said there, I know no one else believes that). But this
feud is based on hate. Or to be honest, it’s just based on the need of
violence. It doesn’t even need hate. Both these characters are such suckers for
the violence that they would rather fight a cup-board for the rest of their
lives without ever coming to a conclusion instead of fighting with someone who
they can beat in 2 minutes.
And
that’s why it is important to note that they’ve both found a worthy opponent in
each other. They want to stop at nothing and that is what they are getting from
each other - a licence to keep beating the hell out of each other.
Newton’s
Foresight
1. Randy Orton vs. Kane will get a
stipulation added to it.
2. Undertaker will defeat Triple H at
Wrestlemania 28 without any shenanigans from Shawn Michaels.
3. Miz will be revealed as the final
member of Team Teddy Long.
4. If in case they decide to give this
chance to Evan Bourne instead of Miz, then Miz will issue an open challenge at
Wrestlemania and that challenge will be accepted by none other
than..........John Morrison.
5. John Cena will turn heel at
Wrestlemania 28*
*
Conditions apply
