wrestling / Columns
The Wrestling Bard 04.25.09: ‘The Best In The World’ Gimmick
You ever have one of those weeks where everything is big blur? I had one of those weeks, and I don’t even celebrate April 20th. I actually had to double check to remember what I wrote about last week and if there were any comments worth responding too (i.e. intelligent comments about wrestling and not how much I suck. Thanks for the hits haters!). Not many, as apparently asking people their opinion on topics is too stressful for them and they have to vent somehow.
I also can’t believe somebody took the time and the effort to register under the site as (Aaron Hubbard.) And people say I have no life? Oh well, as they say, it doesn’t matter if it’s good news or bad news, as long as they spell your name right.
That said there are a few comments I’d like to discuss:
First, from you suck dude:
“While I don’t want you to die like the first poster, your writing style sucks and your choices for matches are boring. At least you were at school and didn’t think the tag champs were getting split up, MARK”
I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen the word “boring” used to describe a Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask match. Oh well, back to that whole elitism rant from last week. You’re entitled to your opinion.
I’m in college, and I don’t have class on Wednesday. I was watching the draft like the rest of you. And I didn’t for one second think the tag champs would be split up. Logic is astounding.
Wait a minute…he called me a mark? THE JERK! My life is ruined! How will I ever recover from the horror of someone telling me that I enjoy wrestling?
*cough*
Next, regular poster the REAL MP has his say:
“Yep, I think you You-Tubed the best of the 80s right there. I doubt the technology would allow it but you could upload all 6 or 7 of the Dynamite/Tiger Mask matches and no one would complain. Ground-breaking stuff in that series.
However, a big SHAME ON YOU for not even mentioning Tully/Magnum as one of the best of the 80s. In fact, a good number of people think that is THE match of the decade. I just watched it again a few days ago and I have to agree. It has some of the best work, in one of the most personal blood feuds, on one of the biggest stages of the decade. It has to be number one.”
*SLAPS FOREHEAD*
Yep….I screwed up forgetting that one. I KNEW I missed something. The one good thing about the IWC “smarts” is they will call you on your mistakes and steer you right. Even if most aren’t this polite.
THIRD, we get somebody who I would not want to be my chiropractor, Rory Breaker:
“Great column Mr. Hubbard well said. Your article really hit home with me, because in my 20+ yrs of watching wrestling I’ve found my self being in every of the “elitist” categories you’ve described.”
Well, I’m nearing 15 years, so hopefully I’ll escape the elitism a little earlier. I hear having your head in an ivory tower is bad for your mental health.
Usually, I don’t bother with posts from anonymous guests, but this person seems intelligent and we merely have a communication issue.
“The point about Michaels being respected but not having much influence on the company is arguable. While the Japanese and Mexicans have had their own high flying styles, the Ramon-Michaels ladder match had been pointed to by todays cruserweights and high flyers as being their inspiration. This has led to EC/Hardys, TNA X division, and the spotfests of the indies.
Sure, he didn’t invent the ladder match. But without Michaels on nationally available TV doing it, the ladder match would have taken much longer to become known and popular. And foreign styles can be interesting, but beyond afficianados it doesn’t really catch on.
Now marrying your boss’s daughter to get ahead? Been done since the beginning of history. Keeping the title in the family? Brought down or been a drag to promotions before.”
I’m not sure what the last part had to do with anything I wrote. But the majority of this was apparently in response to this part of the article:
Daniels is a lot like Shawn Michaels. He’s a veteran and a great worker, and everyone respects him. But if he wasn’t there, it wouldn’t affect business that much.
I wasn’t questioning Shawn’s relevance to WRESTLING. If he never existed, I think the style of wrestling would be VASTLY different, as the guest pointed out. What I MEANT was that if Shawn Michaels retired today, business (i.e McMahon’s money) would not be affected much. Shawn is a legend, and sells a decent amount of merch, but John Cena, Jeff Hardy, and Batista outsell him by a good margin. And if you think making Shawn THE top guy in WWE would be more profitable than Cena, I think you’re a little delusional.
Shawn is no longer an essential cog in the WWE machine. It will run just fine, although quality wrestling would take a hit. Which is much like Christopher Daniels in TNA. Both guys are valuable in the veteran role and as workers, but not so much in the merchandise department. I think that, in their current roles, the analogy between the two is fair. To the guest who posted this, I’m sorry my meaning was not clear. If you’re reading this, do you understand what I mean now?
And last, from Jordon:
Very nice column, Mr. Hubbard. My only problem is that you need to take in account that 90% of the kids you thought were at school were actually at home on spring break. I know both my little brothers were watching the supplementary draft like hawks on Wednesday, and they;re both in junior high. but yeah, vince was fucking with us, and i love it.
Other than that, awesome column, as usual. you’re one of my favorite writers on this site.
*Reads last sentence again to make sure that it was really written.*
Thanks Jordon, you made my day. Now, I did not take into account Spring Break (mine was the week before), but even still, I think the whole supplementary draft was directed at the “smart crowd”, who 1)waste countless hours on wrestling sites, 2)care more about wrestling then they ever should, and 3)are quick to jump the gun and assume the worst in any situation. How can you resist messing with people like that? And yes, I put myself in that group, although I’m taking steps to wean myself from the obsession. Like this week, I’m following in the steps of my nemesis and vowing not to read any of the newsbits. If anything TRULY important happens, one of the regular columns that I read will discuss it.
What are those you ask?
A Favorite Writer Whose Name I’ve Forgotten!
The One Who Is Much Cooler Than The Crimson One!
Some Hack Who Thinks Lance Storm Is Entertaining! Seriously!
The Most Underrated Writer On Staff!
And Mr. Review!
Thanks to several of you guys (The Great Capt. Smooth, thegunisgood, Jake, AngryTas, and Freeman) who had kind words to balance out the hate.
I think I’m becoming 411’s version of John Cena. Some hate me, some like me, but very few people are apathetic. I also have no exceptional talent but every now and then surprise myself and my readers with a quality article! However, you can be assured that if I tear my pectorals I will be out of commission for a decent amount of time.
And now, with almost three pages of plugs, comments and me rambling, time for me to do my freaking job and write a column.
THE BEST GIMMICK IN THE WORLD
This actually isn’t about great gimmicks, but a gimmick that has been much maligned by nearly everyone in the IWC, and yet has tremendous success, both at an independent level and at the top of the WWE. The gimmick is this: A Professional Wrestler Who Believes He is the Best in the World. That last phrase should be familiar to the Ring of Honor faithful, as it’s the catchphrase of Bryan Danielson. And with that, I must provide the greatest thing ever.
You have to love baked wrestlers from the Texas Wrestling Academy. HAIL THE AMERICAN DOLPHINS!
Anyway, one of the biggest criticisms slung at Bryan is that he is boring and bland, and has nothing to make him standout. Many fans of Bryan, including myself, have tried to explain that Bryan’s character, his gimmick, is that he is the best professional wrestler in the world and wants to prove that by becoming champion. It’s not complicated, but it can be captivating. And for all of the WWElitists that say otherwise, perhaps you should take a look at the guy who, as of this writing, is the WWE Champion.
Triple H.
Does this guy not have almost exactly the same gimmick as American Dragon? The guy used to be a snob from Greenwich, and was later a bad boy in DX, and for a while, he ripped off Scott Steiner with the chain mail. But ever since he became a World Champion, the desire to be a World Champion has been his gimmick. Yes, he occasionally has done the DX schtick, but for the most part, his gimmick is “The World Champion” or “The Guy Who Wants To Be World Champion”, as if it were his birthright. In other words, his gimmick is “The Best In The World”.
It’s all over his merchandise as well. The King of Kings shows that Hunter thinks he’s top dog. The Cerebral Assassin is in reference to the mind games he plays so that he can win or retain world titles. And he’s notion that he’s not “the best in the game, but the f****** Game” is another example of his elitist character. Heck, it’s a blatant rip off of Rob Van Dam’s “I’m not the Showstopper, I’m the F****** Show!” promo. And Rob’s gimmick in ECW isn’t too far from Bryan’s gimmick in Ring of Honor, even if their styles are different.
Bryan Danielson also has another nickname, the “American Dragon”. This is a reference to the “Ultimo Dragon” and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, and shows that he considers himself among the very elite of the wrestling world.
ROHbots like to make reference to the greatness of Bryan Danielson’s fifteen month reign as World Champion. However, what makes it so different from Triple H’s “reign of terror” on RAW in 2003? In both cases, you had dominant heel champions who considered themselves to be the very best, both men throwbacks to the Pre-Hogan days of “professional wrestling” over “sports entertainment”, and they held the title for an extended period of time. Why do the smarks who whine and complain about Triple H’s 2003 run at the top when Danielson was doing basically the same thing two years later in an audience specifically geared towards the smarts?
Perhaps if Bryan Danielson was having average to poor matches every month instead of **** matches people would have saw through the uninspired booking. Conversely, perhaps people wouldn’t mind “Hunter the Bar-BERRIER” so much if he was having great matches. It just goes to show that the smarks care so much about workrate that they will ignore unoriginal characters and uninspired booking. Now, I’m not complaining, because uninspired booking is often used because it’s proven to work. Formula is formula for a reason, but it’s still formula.
I think the big difference is this. Eventually, Bryan’s elitist character died down. Somewhere around the summer of 2007, Bryan started to turn face, and has slowly become more laid back. He still has a desire to win championships, but his character is much more concerned with entertaining the fans. He’s more content with his accomplishments and no longer feels the need to go out of his way to prove that he is the Best in the World. Most of the audience he performs for agree on that anyway. Now of course, the man still wants to have great matches, but the character isn’t going out of his way to prove his superiority anymore.
I believe the paradigm shift occurred at Manhatten Mayhem II. On that night, Bryan Danielson carried ROH World Champion to the match of his life despite detaching his retina and fracturing his orbital bone. In Kayfabe, “The Best in the World” lost to Takeshi Morishima despite his most valiant effort. In other words, “The Best” wasn’t good enough. After the match, Bryan spoke to an applauding audience who still chanted “Best in the World!”, and said that the best in the world was whoever held the ROH World Title, and apologized for letting the fans down. This gesture of humility, combined with the sympathy of the eye injury and the heel turn of Nigel McGuiness, allowed uber-heel Bryan Danielson to become the face of the company. He represents the values and the style of Ring of Honor, and serves as its top face, even if he isn’t the champion.
I bring this up because Triple H has never had a paradigm shift. I can’t speak for Paul Levesque the man, but the character he plays on screen has never shown a glimpse of humility. For almost fifteen years, the character of Hunter Hearst Helmsley’s creed is that he is the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the King of Kings, and that championship glory is his birthright. And well, the booking hasn’t done much to disprove that. The Game is a thirteen time WWE Champion, has been at the top for almost a decade, and always seems to come on top. The “burial” of the rest of the roster is more evident when Triple H is playing the superman babyface who overcomes the odds, but even as a heel, Hunter has more clean wins than most. There is literally no one he hasn’t beat, and nothing left for him to accomplish.
I believe that after 15 years, Triple H needs a paradigm shift. In storytelling, the best way to make compelling characters is to take their defining traits and put them in situations that destroy the validation of those traits, and cause the character to evolve. Helmsley’s defining traits are his elitism and pride, which is validated by his supremacy in mind games, his fine-tuned wrestling abilities, and his astounding win-loss record. What needs to happen is a high profile loss. And not just any loss, but one that happens after Triple H gives everything he has. His best needs to be not good enough. And when he loses, he needs to accept it and become a little more humble.
Triple H likes to hype up his accomplishments. If not personally, than the announcers will hype him up. The problem is that, no matter how good you are, personality speaks louder than accomplishments. Triple H doesn’t need to toot his own horn. If he was more content with his championship reigns and time at the top, he would be a lot more respectable than the arrogant elitist he portrays as both as a hero and villain. If he were less prideful, his accomplishments would speak for themselves, without being drowned out by his pride. If Triple H can humble himself, his legacy will be in a lot less danger of being forgotten, or worse, despised.
That’s one man’s opinion anyway. I doubt it will be heeded, but I think it’s valid.
WEEKLY WRESTLING!
From Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid to a match that has been deemed it’s successor. For those of you who care, Chris Benoit is in this match. It’s your choice to click on it.
Random Thoughts of a Wrestling Nerd
— Is it just me, or is the Backlash Card better on paper than the Wrestlemania card? As a whole, I mean obviously we are sans dream match, but it’s not too late for Undertaker to be added to the card.
— Mick Foley as TNA Champion was a bit of a shocker. I’m not big on the decision, but I have to point on a brief fallacy in the “he’s too old” argument. Mick Foley is at least a year younger than Shawn Michaels and Undertaker, and I don’t think people would complain if either of them was World Champion.
— Between his Money in the Bank performance and his recent matches with Edge, I have become a fan of Kofi Kingston. I don’t think he’ll be the next big thing, but I think he will have a good deal of success before all is said and done.
That’s all for this week.
