The Fink’s Payload 07.10.08: When Good Guys Go Bad

This week’s article is all about the art of the turn. Not surprisingly, all of the entries this week involved good guys turning into bad guys. Bad guys are more interesting, after all. And they get to do cool things like beat up their old friends. And beat up announcers (while screaming nonsense, as shown this week). And beat up women and valets and helpless manager-types.

Basically, they just beat up anybody they can.

Get ready for a crash course in Fan Hate 101. Each of these entries features dastardly deeds, evil plots and surprising revelations that leave the fans outraged. These are the stories of the wrestlers that we love to hate and how they fell from our good graces. Enjoy!

Opinion #1: Matt W.
“Win At All Costs”
I would have Paul London turn heel.

Week 1: You could have London do just a short promo in the back about how his tag partner got drafted, but that’s not going to stop him from going on and being successful on his own on Raw. Later that night, he can have a match against, say, Lance Cade. The match is competitive, but Cade finishes the match off with his Flying Elbow Drop and London loses. He’ll be frustrated, show some emotion at the loss, but still slaps some hands on the way to the back.

Week 2: London has another match, this time with Cody Rhodes. He acknowledges the fact that Dibiase Jr. is at ringside, but he’s not worried. The match lasts a little over 5 minutes, with London avoiding all of Dibiase’s attempts at interfering, but this causes him to get distracted and Cody Rhodes gets a roll up and pulls the tights 1-2-3, Rhodes wins and London once again loses and is frustrated.

Week 3: Again, he’s in the back, and he cuts another promo. He knows that he hasn’t followed through on what he said a couple weeks back, and it’s hurting his standing in the company, and hurting his standing with his fans. He looks straight into the camera and says that from now on, no matter what, he’s going to win. And he’s going to start it tonight.

He has a match with Santino Marella. Santino is all comedy to start the match, and London just gets flat out pissed off. Santino is treating him like a joke, something that London is not in the mood for. It sets him off in a rage, and he takes Santino out in short order, finishing with the Shooting Star Press. The crowd cheers, but London is less receptive than normal to the crowd’s affection towards him.

Week 4: London is in the back again, but this time he’s not in his wrestler gear, he’s in a finely tailored suit, and some dark sun glasses. No sports jacket, though. He says he’s been talking to Vickie Guererro over on Smackdown. The crowd boos at this, and London notices it almost immediately. He makes sure the fans know that he’s not trying to leave Raw, but trying to settle a score. You see, when he was in his tag team with Brian Kendrick, there was always that underlying tension of who the better man was. And then, before anything could be said or done about it, Kendrick got drafted to Smackdown. He’s upset about that. So since he’s on a winning streak (The announcers will be playing up that he’s only won one match, and somehow it’s giving him a huge ego like he’s been winning for months on end) he decided to take that momentum into a match with Brian Kendrick. He also knows that the brand split is stopping that from happening… unless it’s on PPV. A major PPV. London says he’s gotten the contract written up for Paul London vs. Brian Kendrick at Summerslam. And since Raw has no GM, he only had to get Vickie’s signature, and she was more than happy to help out.

Week 5: London is out in the first hour of the show with a referee, and grabs a microphone. He challenges anyone in the back to a match because he wants to make another statement about the “roll” he’s on. The lights promptly go out, and Kane’s music hits and London’s eyes light up like he just saw Death strolling down to the ring. As Kane is stepping over the top rope, London runs up and NAILS a Dropsault, sending Kane off the apron to the outside. London isn’t content, though, as by a 4 count, Kane sits up. London then climbs to the top rope, and hits a Flipping Dive onto Kane, knocking him down. London then gets up to the apron and comes off and DOUBLE STOMPS Kane right in the chest/stomach. Seeing that Kane isn’t getting up, London waits until an 8 count and slides into the ring. Kane sits up at 9, but there’s not enough time, and the ref gets to 10, London wins by CO. He grabs the mic and starts talking up how he has not only beaten guys his size, but he can beat anyone of any size. He also makes a point to remind the crowd that he’ll be proving once and for all who the better man was in his partnership with Kendrick. The crowd isn’t too behind him on those ideals, and a very small wave of boos starts throughout the crowd, and turns into a very loud chorus of jeers. London looks confused, and just shakes his head and drops the mic.

Week 6: London is nowhere to be seen on Raw. This is cleared up on Friday, however, as London comes out, mid show, and starts to run down his credentials. He was the one that carried the team with Kendrick, he was the one who made the effort, took the risks, and the only one between the two that stood out as a superstar. This now brings Kendrick out, who says that it didn’t matter who stood out, they were a team. It’s not about the individual, it’s about the team. But he knew London could never come to grips with that. If he wants a fight, then he’ll get a fight, and Kendrick makes sure to let London know that he better bring his A-Game, otherwise he’s gonna be in for a long, painful match this Sunday. London nods his head, as if to say “You’re gonna get him at 100% and then some. Kendrick turns to exit the ring, but when he gets on the apron LONDON DIVES OVER THE TOP ROPE AND BRINGS KENDRICK FROM THE APRON DOWN TO THE ARENA FLOOR WITH A FLIPPING DIAMOND CUTTER! HE HIT THE DIAMOND DUST! The crowd lets out a loud “OOOOOHHHHHH” and both men are down, but London is definitely up to his feet first, while EMT’s come out to check on Kendrick. He’s holding his ribs very tightly and screaming in pain as he’s readied and put on a stretcher.

Summerslam: London vs. Kendrick is the scheduled first match. London is out first and he has a smile like he just had Christmas 3 days in a row. He grabs a mic, and the crowd is already booing him because they don’t want to hear a word he has to say. London starts off by stating that you really know who your real friends and real supporters are when you make a change like he has. They should’ve accepted him, because he never stopped believing in them. He thought they’d understand. Going the clean and squeaky route just wasn’t working, and winning is the name of the game. Ever since he realized he had to have that edge, that killer instinct, everything started falling into place. He’s got one thing left to do, though, and that’s bury the past. No more fans, no more tag team matches, and DEFINITELY no more Brian Kendrick. And the best part is, he might not even have to wrestle him tonight. He was told be a very reliable source that Kendrick is in the hospital, and had been since Friday night. He’s going to give him to the count of 10 to get to the ring. At 4, Kendrick shows up at the upper edge of the ramp. London’s eyes bug out of his head, and he starts picking his count up. He doesn’t finish it, though, because Kendrick slides in at a very close 9 3/4 seconds.

The match in its beginning stages are a means of payback for Brian Kendrick. Every chance he gets, he wails away at London’s mid section, trying to inflict as much damage as he can to him for sending him to the hospital. This goes on for a few minutes, but after Kendrick takes one too many chances off the top rope, he gets caught. As he’s about to dive onto London with a Crossbody, London takes a step back and goes to a knee and Kendrick lands RIBS FIRST right on London’s knee. The match slows way down at that point. London knows that he doesn’t need the flashy moves anymore to win a match. He targets Kendrick’s bad ribs, as was obviously his plan all along, and in devastating fashion. As the match wears on, though, London starts to get too cocky. Many times, he had the opportunity to put the match away, but he’d gloat instead, without a care in the world. One of those times, he gets caught with a STIFF Step Up Enziguri from Kendrick. Both men go down and the crowd starts to count, and clap and chant for Kendrick! Both men are up to their feet first, but Kendrick is still holding his ribs, the damage being done by the rib work. This gives London an opening, and he runs in and charges Kendrick into the corner. He gets a few steps back and charges but only meets Kendrick’s boots with his face! London staggers back and Kendrick vaults himself up to the second rope BUT LONDON RUNS TOWARDS HIM AND LEAPS ONTO HIS SHOULDERS TO BRING HIM DOWN WITH A HURRICANRANA! Kendrick lands in the middle of the ring and London climbs the turnbuckles and sets himself… AND ABSOLUTELY NAILS A SHOOTING STAR PRESS TO KENDRICK! 1-2-3!

What Do I Think?: Ha! I thought it was really funny when London started ranting about his winning streak after one match. I like that kind of ironic stuff. In the tag team disbandment angle, you utilized one of the tried-and-true methods of pushing a superstar by turning him heel. Nobody likes it when tag team partners fight (even if said team was at the bottom of the barrel for the past year) and I think if anything is going to get these guys some airtime, it’s a break-up storyline.

Opinion #2: lwcmvp
“Don’t Feed the Animals”
RAW, July 7th: Santino Marella is in the ring, running down Rey Mysterio again. Mysterio comes out to defend himself but is ambushed by Chuck Palumbo (doesn’t have to be Palumbo, but I figured him and Santino could form a new FBI).

RAW, July 14th: The next week, Rey is ambushed in the ring again by Santino and Palumbo. This time however, he is rescued by Batista. One the next edition of RAW, or perhaps even at the Great American Bash (yeah, right) there is a tag team match. Of course Batista and Rey win. This will reestablish the idea of them as a sometimes tag team.

Over the next few months, they team together quite a few times. Even challenging for the World Tag Titles, but they were on the losing end of that match, when Rey Mysterio inadvertently prevented Batista from making it back in the ring before he was counted out. This was not the only time that Rey Mysterio had cost Batista a match. Several times, Mysterio makes mistakes that costs his team the match. Another instance saw Mysterio trying to help Batista win the Intercontinental title by attacking Chris Jericho behind the ref’s back, but he was caught and “The Animal” was disqualified. Rather than confronting his little buddy about it, Batista just lets the problems subside. Rey was only trying to help.

Finally we get to the first RAW of November, a number one contenders battle royal is made by RAW GM D’Lo Brown. During the battle royal, Rey found himself in a few precarious positions, but Batista, forgetting that it is every man for himself, came to the rescue of Rey every time. Finally we are down to the final three. John Cena, Batista and Rey Mysterio. A staredown between Cena and Batista, this will be the first time they are against each other in the match, but before contact between the two can be made, Rey Mysterio eliminates Batista. Batista doesn’t get mad though, he just walks away smiling. Rey got him.

Cena wins the match, but for his great performance, Raw’s GM has selected Rey as the captain of Team RAW. Of course, the first person Rey chooses for the team is Batista.

Survivor Series matches include: CM Punk defending his World Heavyweight title against John Cena.
And… Team Smackdown (Umaga, Kennedy, Jeff Hardy, Carlito, and Team Captain MVP) vs. Team Raw (Chris Jericho, Kofi Kingston, Lance Cade, Batista and Team Captain Rey Mysterio)

The Brand Supremacy Elimination Match: Late in the match, it is just Rey and Batista vs. MVP. The ref gets bumped. Batista is the legal man but Mysterio is in the ring too. MVP goes to the old heel standby of powder to the eyes. Batista is blinded. He hits a spinebuster, but not on MVP, he hits a spinebuster on Rey Mysterio. MVP rolls up Batista for the elimination. Then the boot to the head of Mysterio and Team Smackdown has won the battle. (John Cena also defeated CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship)

Batista wins a quick match (preferably against a ‘tweener or a face, so there is a better chance that Batista will get booed) and gets booed. After the match, Rey Mysterio comes out looking for an apology. Batista just shakes his head walks away instead. Todd Grisham stops him as he is leaving the building and asks him about his actions, Batista says that he needs to think. He takes several weeks off and is announced to return at Armageddon and he will address Rey Mysterio.

The Raw Main Event of Armageddon is John Cena defending the World Heavyweight Title against Rey Mysterio. When the match begins, Batista still has not been seen. The match is an even battle, with the crowd consistently favoring both Cena and Mysterio. During the match, Batista comes out to the ring with a chair, he sets it up and watches the match. Late in the match, Rey Mysterio hits the drop toe hold into the ropes, preparing to hit Cena with the 619. Batista stands up, folds up the chair very calmly and nails Cena right in the face. Rey has been disqualified. Batista then gets in the ring.

Batista NULL