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?

A few things TNA

A few things TNA

Welcome everyone to the Coffee Table Thoughts 15. Today, I want to discuss the on goings in the number 2 wrestling organisation in the United States of America, TNA Wrestling.

There are a number of things going on in Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling’s weekly show called Impact Wrestling. Among all the storylines progressing there, the most prominent one has to be the one involving a group known as Aces and Eights.

Aces and Eights. It represents a group of people, hiding their identity with the help of faceless masks, moving and doing things together, raising hell in Impact wrestling by attacking the superstars like a pack of wolves. They have sent a strong message to the TNA roster with their actions - well, the message is not as clear right now, but we can assume it has something to do with adding more lights in the TNA backstage area, to not let each and every kind of a fan inside the locker room areas - you don’t know what shit they’re gonna pull. They have not only attacked the superstars, but those charged with the governance too. The list of casualties caused by them include the Current World Heavyweight (?) Champion - Double A, the best heel in a long time - Robert Roode, professional wrestling’s only gold medalist - Kurt Angle, probably the greatest superstar of our beloved industry (second only to Stone Cold Steve Austin) - Hulk Hogan, the brightest future of TNA Wrestling - what was that Indy guy’s name again?

As revolutionary as this angle may seem, I think TNA has taken a huge risk by going this route. They have done a lot of right things in the recent past and are seemingly on a path to keep getting better and better and have appeared as more and more mature with the kind of storylines they have pulled barring a few exceptions. This particular dinosaur of an idea, the group attacks by unknown or known people, may never get old in true sense and may be relied on by the wrestling organisations world over in every few years, but it is still fresh in people’s minds. And not only the WWE, even TNA has had its fair share of group attacks when the Main Event Mafia Fortune led an attack on the Immortal last year. This particular route may seem a bit childish even for us wrestling fans, when it takes place almost annually.

Obviously, there are differences between the storylines involving the likes of NWO and Nexus as compared to Aces and Eights (that name is pretty cool, I will give you that) with the attackers not being revealed and it is different from Fortune too in that the attackers are actually people who can possibly be from outside of the current TNA roster.

And to their credit, TNA has so far handled this storyline quite brilliantly. Alongside these attacks, Robert Roode has found out a way to put James Storm in a vulnerable position by claiming that he is the leader of Aces and Eights. This blatant accusation coupled with the obvious proofs that lead us to believe that James Storm may indeed have a hand in these attacks or at least, he may have some sort of influence on this group. Kurt Angle was taken out by them when he was supposed to face James Storm; AJ Styles was taken out by the group while James Storm was left untouched in the ring. They didn’t interfere in the match between James Storm and Kurt Angle when it was clear that James Storm was winning the match; and he indeed won the match.

All these circumstances, by the wrestling logic 101 actually prove that James Storm is not behind these attacks and that he is not the member of the group but it will take some time to reach there.

The most intriguing question to come out of all this is - Who are these guys? What is their motive?

And the most intriguing question in a non-kayfabe sense is - Whether TNA will be able to answer these questions effectively?

My initial response to this would be, No.

As much as TNA has handled this brilliantly, the angle cannot really become a success without revealing some interesting names behind the masks.

*Spoiler Alert*

Few of the names making rounds as possible names behind these attacks are unflattering. Luke Gallows and Chris Masters have had their share of success in WWE, but they are not the names you would jump out of your couch for. The impact (pun) of their debut in TNA cannot justify the amount of effort and screen-time that has been allotted to this particular storyline.

I do like Chris Masters and was quietly hoping for good things in his future when he was a regular staple in the WWE Superstars and was about to be given push to the main roster. I will definitely enjoy watching him in the impact wrestling fighting against the likes of Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe and James Storm. He is someone that probably every fan will recognise, but he is also a name that fans will only recognise. Neither cheer nor loathe.

I had seen Luke Gallows in the Straight Age Society alongside the Messiah but I am not aware of much of his work. He may be a good enough talent and may prove to be a good asset for the company in years to come, but may not be enough of a shock value.

Unlike the two mentioned above, the next few names that I am going to take, do have a potential to make this angle click.

First name that comes to mind is John Morrison. John Morrison was one of the most over superstars of WWE when his contract ended with the WWE a little under a year ago and neither party made any attempt to renew the contract. However, from all the interviews that he gave afterwards and from what he has been saying all along, it looks like he is still hoping for a return to the big ‘E.

On a flip side, he may have come to believe that his chances of returning to the organisation are thin and that he may have a more successful run with TNA. In any case, he will certainly be a huge enough name that can give enough amount of shock on being revealed as a member of that group.

Next name is MVP. It has been too long that MVP has been seen in any major promotion in the USA. He has largely been on a hiatus as far as the more casual fans go. MVP is another huge name that can have a huge impact in the form of a Aces and Eights. There may be a concern as to his popularity because of not being seen on the television in a long time but I think the audience in TNA will surely recognise him. Again, his joining with the TNA would be different from what we have been hearing from him ever since he left WWE, but things and minds do change.

The last realistic name that comes to my mind is a controversial figure in wrestling today. I am talking about none other than Matt Hardy. Matt Hardy has had his share of issues with the pro wrestling industry in last few years. He was released from his TNA contract not a long while ago for unprofessional behaviour; he had removed himself from the WWE in hopes for a better future at TNA and had caused a lot of problem due to his sick social media activities. This does not count the issues he has had with addiction.

But we haven’t heard of any of these problems in a long time and his younger brother Jeff Hardy has become quite a major force within TNA so as to at least provide an opportunity to Matt Hardy to right the wrongs. Who really knows? This is a mere speculation on my part.

And who knows, maybe TNA is onto something here? If they can’t get any realistically huge names from the number one wrestling company in the world, what if they move a little downward? What if they involve some AAA players in it to get reap some benefits in the evr so important Latino market? Or...may be Jinder Mahal? Wow!

A Small Recap

These are a few thoughts on what went down in the TNA land this past week.

There was a very fun match between the team of Austin Aries and Kenny King Vs the team of Robert Roode and Zema Ion. It was everything that you would expect your main event to be. The only difference being, it was not the main event.

Speaking of fun matches, a four way match was held to determine who would become the next contender for the Knockouts division. I liked the involvement of all four knockouts in it and it involved some entertaining spots. While the ending wasn’t very clever, nor was it cleverly executed, it does make more sense in terms of booking as it involves a heel-face dynamic.

The third match worth watching this week was the match we were refused two weeks ago – James Storm Vs. Kurt Angle. A main event worth being the main event. And every time Kurt Angle locks on the ankle lock, in a different way than what he did the last time, I loath Jack Swagger that much more. He is supposed to be this decent to great wrestler but I have never really seen him perform an interesting set of moves and reversals. His matches may be more interesting than your average Joe (i.e. matches involving Average Joe, not Average Joe himself), but they aren’t really that great.

While the fans in general have disliked the whole AJ Styles-Dixie Carter-Clair Lynch (Spelling?) saga, I find the involvement of CD and Kaz very hilarious; and that’s what the segment involving them was this Thursday – hilarious. Check it out to get a chuckle or two from the baby shower celebrations.

I am a fan of the Joseph Park character and I like that he is further getting involved in different capacity. And the small conversation he had with Sting? Marvellous! Sting has this ability to be funny without saying much and that is in full effect in here. ‘That power slam that you did? Textbook! What, you are gonna Kayfabe me now?’ Similar to this very conversation, there was one involving Sting and Austin Aries two weeks ago. It was when Sting told Austin Aries to handle the whole Open Fight Night stuff and choose one X-Division wrestler to face the X-Division champion. You really need to listen to the pep talk that Sting gave to Austin Aries. Mild humour at its best.

Chavo Guerrero debuted in TNA with much fan-fare. It was kind of absurd watching the kind of hero’s welcome that he received. I am not against it, nor am I saying he shouldn’t be getting it. But it seemed they over-hyped his debut in the TNA. Chavo Guerrero has never been that huge a name as compared to the rest of his family, and what he got was more because of his family than because of himself. But does this point to the possibility that TNA have huge things planned for Chavo in the future? I think he hasn’t really been given that one huge opportunity to prove himself, will he get it here? Will he run with the ball the same way that Bully Ray has done so far? We will have to find that out!

The next TNA pay per view, which I believe goes by the name of Hardcore Justice, has three matches involving the Bound for Glory series. All three matches will be having four participants, effectively including all of the names involved in the BFG series. Each match has a special condition attached to it – Ladder, Table or Falls Count Anywhere. That’s all the details I am giving here, but be ensured that these three matches alongwith the World Heavyweight Championship bout between Austin Aries and Robert Roode are potential show stealers. That’s four matches for you!

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.

A Pandora's Box

Coffee Table Thoughts 12: A Pandora’s Box?

No idea what I am going to talk about in this column. I haven’t catched a lot of wrestling lately and therefore am a bit scarce of the topics. Hence, I will be just moving from here to there without any structural base.

Open Fight Night

The first episode of TNA Impact Wrestling’s Open Fight Night came and went. According to Scott Steiner, this is a waste of an idea and a lot of the time was wasted on the Indy wrestler who wasn’t going to amount anything in this business.

I don’t think it is going to be a game changing concept or anything like that but it does have a chance of providing a must see television programming once every month and not only that but it can reignite an entire company through continuous correct steps, which do not include attitude/NWO era-ish booking psychology!

Here are my thoughts on three particular matters related to the Pandora’s Box that is Open Fight Night:

Indy Wrestler

In the first episode of the Open Fight Night, out of all the various match ups that occurred, three were the most important. First of those was definitely the topic I just mentioned above, the Indy Wrestler.

The Indy Wrestler named Alex Silva was given an opportunity to earn a TNA Contract. This is an opportunity that most of the wrestlers wait their (wrestling) lifetime for. His chance was in the form of a match against former TNA Television Champion Robbie E. The match was good, not too long but he got an opportunity to showcase his abilities which he very well did.

I was first of the impression that his success or failure in the ring is going to determine whether or not he would get a TNA Contract. That, however, was not the case. It was instead going to be decided by three judges which were shown in the next episode. Kayfabe-wise it makes sense not to decide his future on the basis of win/loss because he is a rookie and rookies are expected to lose.

Many a people disliked the whole presentation in the ring on the next episode of the Impact Wrestling and claimed it was just a poor imitation of American Idol and other such reality shows. I, myself didn’t enjoy his promo the next night and the whole set up did seem phony a bit. But I will tell you what I liked. I liked how Hulk Hogan put over Ric Flair big time and entrusted him with the responsibility of selecting future stars for the company. Al Snow is a composed character and I liked his involvement throughout the Open Fight Night episode and also on the next episode. He makes a good judge. Ric Flair played his part pretty well and if there are to be three judges, one asshole is indeed required and he did a very good job of being one. And the third judge, Bruce Pitchard gives a different edge to the whole concept of Gut-Check because he is an off television, business side of contributor to the industry unlike the other two judges. It’s like a Director is selecting an actor.

As I said earlier, I was not that impressed with this guy but I won’t say I didn’t like him. Dude has obviously got a lot of potential and I would like to see how he (and his career) progresses over the years. And no, that does not include a World Championship reign in next two years.

One thing that I hoped they would do and they did not was to reject the participant. It’s a very simple logic, really. If anyone and everyone who enters the Gut Check to showcase his talents get selected by the judges, it devalues the whole concept. You need to have some losers in there. And by losers, I don’t mean jobbers. I mean those talents that do show some promise and yet somehow fail to make a nice impression on the judges and lose out. If you make this a little tougher, its importance will be felt. And I hope they do go that route more often because otherwise it will move the audience away from this show.

Television Championship

I was not aware of the fact that since its inception many many years ago, Television Championship was meant to be defended on every television tapings. But alas, here we are and the rule that I was not aware of has been reinstated again!

This particular match does not have as much speciality to it as compared to other matches because it will happen at every TNA Impact show and hence it is not exclusive for Open Fight Night. Some might feel that regular defending will make the title uninteresting due to repetitiveness. I don’t disagree with that statement totally and I do believe there will be some rough patches in the Television Championship saga. But I really don’t think that this will lead to a too long bad time in this particular division.

Boredom or disinterest will arise when for some time, only one person or two people are getting the chance at the title. And we are kind of facing the same problem right now when every time the title is defended against either of the Robbies or a combination of them both. But that much repetitiveness is necessary for the storyline to develop between Devon and Robbies.

This simple rule will ensure that there is at least some sort of storyline being focused on the television championship. I would be interested in finding out which are the wrestlers who can emerge as worthy contenders for the Television Championship. The fact that this championship will be defended every week makes the title reign that much more prestigious and meaningful. This is because now the title reign will not be about number of days but about number of days as well as number of defences!

Tag Team Championship

Let me say this, for one night, and for one night only, they treated their tag team champions like the bestest champions in the company. For one night, the booking and the hype were picture perfect. For one night, I liked Hulk Hogan’s multi thousand appearances!

The show began with Hogan considering which champion apart from the television champion should defend their titles on the Open Fight Night. Everyone was on their toes. Hogan played up well and it almost certainly looked like he was going to zero in on the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode. But no! He decided to go with the tag team champions instead.

Every team he interviewed was put over huge by Hogan. Not only that, he actually gave each team a reason, a chance to show why they should be chosen as number 1 contenders and why the other teams should not be considered for this.

Sure there was an eye-sore of a team of EY and ODB. They are an anomaly and a slap in the face of every single tag team that is out there and yes I even include any team in which Orlando Jordon is a partner. But they did what they do best and that is to provide some comedic relief. I legit laughed out loud when EY offered ODB to Hogan for one night and claimed it was her idea!

And I know the final team chosen was less for emphasising the importance of the tag team division and more for advancing their own storyline, but you need to look at the bigger picture.

Recently I had seen an interview of Paul Heyman circa 2010-ish where he was being asked about what was right and what was wrong about TNA product. He said they were concentrating on the wrong guys. He spoke about one particular event, I cannot remember which event he was referring to, but the gist of it all was that there was a very important match that took place between Beer Money and Motor City Machineguns. He said why was the match placed in the middle of the card? Why should you not put the match at the end of the card? Why shouldn’t you use your entire two hours showcasing to the world how important this match is by showing past footages throughout the show in many small skids? He said that is how a main event should be hyped.

And boy, did they do just that! Every skid featuring Hogan and the tag team title contenders was hyping for the main event (not exactly, but still nothing less than that). And I was enjoying all of it. And you know what’s more interesting? It was tag team championships on the first episode of Open Fight Night, it could be X-Division Championship some other day, it could be Knock-Out Championship some day, it could be Television Championship one day (unlikely) and it could even be World Heavyweight Championship some day. We are worrying about the state of X-Division due to over popularity of the X Division Champion Austin Aries, but in reality, it does not need more than a day to build some feud and build some future feuds! Open Fight Night will do it for you!

And thus, due to above reasons, I am excited about this concept of Open Fight Night and will look forward to the next episode!

I have a lot to talk yet but do not have enough time, so see you next time! 

Coffee Table Thoughts – Olay Olay Olay Olay Olay

Coffee Table Thoughts – Olay Olay Olay Olay Olay

Welcome to the Coffee Table folks, I am here to share my thoughts on a recent ROH show that I watched while my books craved for my attention and another day of my much needed studies got wasted.

Ring of Honor: Road Rage: 15 April 2012

Mike Bennett and that Canadian

The action is set as the first match is between Lance Storm and Mike Bennettt. There is a promo from Mike Bennett before the match starts and one thing I notice is the pre-match run down of the stats. It’s a rather interesting way of building up a match that major wrestling promotions have forgotten. It was used on Smackdown a few years ago giving the details of the height, weight and other attributes of the wrestlers but not used now-a-days. I would love to see these stats return to the big league. Big question mark is shown in the Code of Honor section of the stat against Mike Bennett giving us the impression that it is highly likely that he may disrespect his opponent in some way.

                                 

The match is not too long but quite an impressive feat. Mike Bennett is joined by his manager – Maria and announcers put her over throughout the show as being very smart and knowing the intricacies of the business as well as being aware of the in ring product called wrestling. And sure enough she does show how helpful she can be to her client which I believe is her boyfriend too, when she holds the leg of Lance Storm when he is about to hit a German Suplex from the turn buckle.

It is not a full blown finisher after finisher after finisher match that Ring of Honor of today has become so infamous for. Much of the match is submission wrestling and most of it came from Lance Storm. But it does have its fair share of finishers and false finishes.

The end result is a beautiful match which changes pace quite a many times. Mike Bennett is good in ring and the promo he cut was entertaining too. He has all the attributes of a star. It would be interesting to see where his career will head. Also, he is quite tall as compared to some other ROH wrestlers.

Lance Storm also cuts a fierce promo after the match. He lost the match and then afterwards Mike Bennett offered his hand to Lance Storm but hit him with a sick finisher instead. Lance Storm showed a great deal of emotion in the promo and asked for another match. He said he sees potential in Mike Bennett but needs to teach him some lessons. He also said that he will not leave this business lying on his back. (The modified promo in the recap form is shown in the April 21 edition of the ROH and it is one of the better promos I have seen this year.)

Recap Recap

They showed a recap of the match between Briscoe Brothers and another tag team afterward and the action was superb. It was fast paced and hard hitting. It was just a few final minutes of the match in the recap but it was enjoyable.

They also showed a recap of the match between Davey Richards, Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards. There were obviously some hard hitting stuff there but the tag team action was much better than this.

OMG! That’s a Shoot

They showed a press conference afterwards where the authority figure of the Ring of Honor Wrestling Jim Cornette and the current Ring of Honor World Champion Davey Richards were being interviewed. It was soon interrupted by Kevin Steen who seems to be everybody’s favourite heel at the moment. It is becoming a more popular way of building feuds but it is becoming a rather common way of building feuds too. Kevin Steen challenges Davey Richards to a title match which he accepts. Jim Cornette does not like the idea and tries to talk Davey out of it. And while he is trying to make Davey understand his view point, Kevin Steen is continuously mocking Davey Richards.

Richards threatens Cornnette that he would leave the company if he does not make this match official. Jim Cornette finally agrees to it and then goes on to say in an interview that he knows of all the accusations that he has been bombarded with in regards to keeping Kevin Steen off of Davey Richards. He has been accused that of trying to keep Davey Richards safe from Steen but the truth is that he believes Davey Richards can beat him anytime, anywhere. The problem is he does not trust Kevin Steen and does not know what kind of game he may play.

Out of the three, Jim Cornette was the most effective in setting up the feud. His interview promo was spot on for emphasising on how important the match is. Kevin Steen was quite a trouble in the interruption that he caused and can gather heat genuinely. But he seems to be a little unpolished in the same way as Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan is managing to get all the heat and popularity by his effort but there is some sort of rookie-ness in his promos.

I think Davey Richards was very straight forward in his promo and seemed like he was just repeating a dialogue after memorising it. Although he did try to bring some sort of emotion in the threat that he gave to his boss, it all came forth as rather fake. But the overall impact of the segment was well received.

Highlight of the Night: Olay Olay Olay Olay Olay

Lastly, there was a match between Kevin Steen and a returning El Generico. It seemed that he was earlier injured by Kevin Steen himself and has come back to exact revenge in a Last Man Standing match. I am not sure about the storyline though, it is what I was able to understand from the show.

The match was nothing short of amusing. Many beautiful spots were filled throughout the match. The match starts when El Generico jumps on to Kevin Steen without waiting for the bell to ring. The crowd was red hot for the entire match. And how cool is it to have a crowd sing for you to support you? El Generico’s catchphrase or whatever it is has got to be the best thing going in wrestling today. The ‘What’ chants are irritating, the ‘Yes’ chants are interesting right now but have a potential to be the worst nightmare for wrestling fans world-wide. But these chants are chants, they are not a song, whereas El Generico’s Olay....... Olay......... Olay Olay Olay........... is a beautiful song to pump up the performers and the crowd. Wow! I have never seen anything like that in whole of my wrestling viewing career!

If Shawn Michaels was to special guest referee this match, he would get a heart attack. There are sick moves after sick moves in this match. It’s all very different from what we see on Raw and Smackdown which is a much tamed product.

But the highlight of the match is when Jimmy Jacobs interfered and then bloody stabbed El Generico on the face! I am not sure what he used or where he hit him exactly but I am not going to recheck. These things should be banned from wrestling! It can cause a serious injury to the wrestler who is getting stabbed if there is some mistake and it can kill an eye! You understand what I mean? It is this part of wrestling that I simply hate! Even if it is fully protected and the device may be gimmicked but you can’t show these kind of stuff to children or those who haven’t grown despite their age! What is it that cannot be achieved by a chair shot?

Anyways, what ensued was a very rare kind of chemistry between two wrestlers. Kevin Steen and Jimmy Jacobs were partners and it showed in everything that they did. You need to see it to believe it. The way they stare and not stare at each other, the way they hug and not hug each other, this partnership is reflected simplistically and yet unambiguously. It is very evident despite not going overboard with it.

We have seen Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger come together for matches for better part of the year but there is no sense of chemistry between the two. They may both be great wrestlers in their own right, but they are not a good tag team and I understood it by a simple 5 minute segment between Kevin Steen and Jimmy Jacobs. See, Dolph and Jack may have been tagging together, they may interfere in one another’s matches to help each other out but they aren’t showing any sort of chemistry. By this time, they should have been brothers or enemies. But there is no real progress in their chemistry. And it does not need to have a storyline to progress in that department. They should watch this segment to learn how to develop chemistry amongst one another.

Twitter-Update

Kofi Kingston replied to me!!! And blocked me too.