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!