The Three Champions

Coffee Table Thoughts {13}– A blog-ish return

I have been watching the wrestling product and soaking in both the Columns Forum and the Main Page columns, but haven’t been able to get myself ready to write a column and share my opinions on any particular topic.

And you know what, the situation hasn’t changed yet. I still haven’t found anything in particular to talk about. I am beginning this shindig (shinding?) and hope that it will be worth your time. So welcome all, to the column that is named after coffee but gets written with either a cup of tea or a cup of Bourn-Vita.

The Three Champions

The Three Champions. Three men that are above everyone else in the world of professional wrestling today. Three champions, during the same timeframe, have never been more symbolic of the world of professional wrestling. They are symbolic of the future, of the path their respective organisations have chosen. They are indicators of the change. And more than that, the way they became champions is what defines their respective organisations more than any column written by the use of 900 odd words could ever define.

CM Punk

 

CM Punk – The WWE Champion. The Chosen One – no – he’s rather someone who thrust himself in the spotlight going against the authority. That’s the one thing you are expected to do in the WWE, well now-a-days at least. Build yourself up. The company is going to try every chance to push you but they expect your contribution to be much more than that of the creative.

CM Punk’s WWE title reign began with much fan fare. He was the talk of the town, much like a superstar from the major league should be. He was honoured the crown on a historic night when everyone was there to see it. On that night, CM Punk might have been the most blessed human being on the face of the planet earth.

It all stalled though. Not unlike the WWE product in general. As is the case with any major storyline run by the WWE, it always falls over backwards while trying to reach the ropes. We questioned the logic, we questioned the pace. In the end though, it isn’t difficult to accept that CM Punk has been chosen as the future, the ‘face’, so to speak.

But like all things WWE, it had its moments, the ones that we will cherish for the rest of our lives.

And it is indicative of the fact that the WWE wants to move towards the youth brigade. It has started featuring its young guns in prominent roles. They are not there as yet, but the trigger will be pulled any moment now and the revolution will begin. He is currently in an engaging and entertaining feud against Daniel Bryan.

Bobby Roode

 

Bobby Roode is the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. He was given a great start through last year’s Bound For Glory series and he was destined to be a great champion with a great moment that every fan would remember till the day he breathes his last breath. But alas, that wasn’t to be.

That moment was stolen away from him and when they realised that they had stumbled over, they just changed the outcome and mocked us for being ‘stupid’ and ‘markish’. But it wasn’t the same...or was it?

What we now have is a Bobby Roode who is very different from the BFG Series 2011, a Bobby Roode who is the longest reigning TNA World Heavyweight Champion, a Bobby Roode who is over like rover and not only that but has the capability to build an entire army of face wrestlers by feuding with them.

Bobby Roode is the future of this company. It is the sign that the company wants to give chance to those who were never in the main event before and in this case, it also represents company’s old guard, the ones who were forgotten once the more famous names started to come over. He is currently feuding with the Austin Aries and I’m sure Double A is going to get a nice rub out of it. Okay okay, he doesn’t need one, I get that.

I had joked about this whole situation last year – TNA had fallen over, they did everything wrong, they created swerves where none were required and yet somehow, even after all the loose cannon stuff they did reach where they wanted to reach with their youngsters.

Kevin Steen

 

This is the guy that I would like to talk – or write more about but wouldn’t be able to. I saw the buzz on the net about this unusual guy and I was curious. I watched his promos and I joined the bandwagon. He is Kevin Steen and he is the ROH World Champion.

I said I would like to talk more about him, but wouldn’t be able to, that’s because I have gone on hiatus from the ROH product. I would have liked to see the moment when after so many years of waiting and knocking on the doors, he would finally grab the big one, but I haven’t yet.

The night represented everything that the company stood for – a glorified indy promotion. Now I don’t hate on the ROH product, in fact I believe wrestling wise, it the absolute best of the three products. Even some of the promo work I have seen over there involves the edge that you don’t usually see in the WWE or TNA. And you have Maria as a female valet. But the night that he won represented the flaws with the company – a technical issue which had nothing to do with the storytelling, nothing to do with the in ring action, just reminding everyone that it is not as rich as the companies are.

And it represents change. ROH was till recently being headlined by the guys that had become Indy anti-darlings. A group of guys who would just wrestle and wrestle, keep hitting a move after move without any rhyme or reason and after a long wait, Kevin Steen arrived at the main event. Kevin Steen was quite different from these – vanilla creatures, and hence a beloved champion. It signalled the path that the company chose after having ridden on a completely different one for a considerable period of time.

And if you’ve read the above column and noticed three names of the four I mentioned before Kevin Steen, Kevin Steen is indeed the future of the wrestling. TNA or WWE.