Cook’s Corner 11.03.08: Perfect Season

I spent a good portion of my Halloween weekend watching The Life & Times of Mr. Perfect. WWE did a great job with it…the feature is good stuff and they chose some great matches to put on it. (Frankly, the set is worth purchasing just for the sixty-minute match with Nick Bockwinkel. Absolutely tremendous stuff there. I was glued to the screen the entire match, which is tough for me sometimes with longer matches. But, it’s more proof of why I keep putting Bockwinkel over as somebody that people of this age underrate horribly.) They even had all the Mr. Perfect vignettes, which were awesome to go back and watch again. Perhaps best of all, the Rap is Crap video was on there!

I like country music
I love country girls
I like Willie Nelson
And don’t forget about Merle
There’s only one thing that I hate
Cause it’s a bunch of crap
I-I-I hate rap!

Tremendous. I was a bit surprised as to how great the DVD was. It seemed that I had forgotten just how fun Curt Hennig’s career was. How could I do such a thing? Well, for some reason I held the whole cocaine overdose thing against him. It seemed inconceivable to me that the man known as Mr. Perfect could die due to sniffing too much powder. That’s not the way he should have gone.

I remember after the death of Chris Benoit when some people said not to judge him based on how things ended…I never really bought into that. For me, the ending overrides everything. This works for wrestling too. If a wrestling show has a good ending, I can forget about all the crap that came before it. If it has a bad ending, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I feel like a goof for wasting the last two hours of my life.

Is it right for us to judge people based on one thing they did wrong in their life? Can we condemn Curt Hennig for overdosing on cocaine? Can we hate on Bret Hart for being so bitter after his forced retirement? Can we make fun of people like Jake Roberts & Scott Hall for having problems with addiction that cause them to make idiots of themselves?

The thing is, everybody has flaws. Nobody’s perfect. We like to think we are, but there’s probably some skeleton in your closet that would disagree. I know there are a few in mine. I think I make judgments on peoples’ worst qualities because it seems like they do the same to me. If I tear people down, their negative opinion of me doesn’t matter nearly as much. Makes sense, right?

Maybe not. I wish I had a better answer to my questions than that, but the fact that I don’t is exactly why I bring this topic up. I realize it’s a bit strange for a columnist to pose a topic without having a set opinion, but I’m wondering what you guys think about it. Is it right to judge wrestlers based on their flaws or shortcomings instead of their strengths? I mean, we can dismiss Steve Austin’s career because he beat his wife if we want to. We can hate on Shawn Michaels because he was an asshole ten years ago. Hell, we can dislike AJ Styles’ work because he hates homosexuals. But what would be the point?
I guess it’d be the same as the point of my indifference towards Curt Hennig for the past five years. None.

Random Thoughts

I’m going to try and not have too much of a political crossover in this column, but there’s something I have to point out…I noticed that Barack Obama held a rally at the University of Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium on Sunday while Sarah Palin was speaking at the Clermont County Fairgrounds. Yes, one worked a football stadium while the other worked the fairgrounds. Am I the only one getting a WWE vs. TNA vibe from that?

So Jerry Lawler’s having a show in Memphis to celebrate 35 years in the wrestling business. That’s great, but what kind of struck me as odd is that Doug Gilbert’s booked in the semi-main event. I guess Lawler forgave him for this classic interview…

(it starts about 2:46 into it)

If Pro Wrestling Syndicate ran somewhere closer to my hometown than Yonkers, New York, I would totally attend one of their shows. They booked a match between Eddie Kingston & Kamala. Yeah. How awesome is that?

On the flip side of awesomeness is the main event for a Pro Wrestling Unplugged show coming up…Sid Vicious vs. Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. I’m not gonna lie, I wouldn’t have wanted to see that match in the early 90s, when they could still go. I can’t imagine what it’d be like now. Yuck.

WHODEY! WHODEY! WHODEY THINK GONNA BEAT DEM BENGALS?

Last week I said that I was going to give Adam Pearce a chance as ROH booker. News that circulated last week may force me to change my mind on this…apparently for the Dayton show they’re bringing back Irish Airborne. I am not an Irish Airborne fan, their brand of spotastic nonsense does nothing for me. Pearce, don’t make me withdraw my endorsement!

Feedback of the Week

I was/am a reader of the 411wrestling page for years and recently began reading the Politics page too. The Politics page is good stuff. I quote it quite a bit in various political conversations and sound like I’m informed and know what I’m talking about.

As to your writing, I’ve been a fan for years, but it seems you’ve become a little pissed that writing about pro wrestling is your fate in life or something. Reading pro wrestling articles requires that the writer pretend it’s something important (even though it CLEARLY is not) or the reader feels like a douche bag for wasting their own time reading the stuff. No bueno.

Switch over to politics. If you’re going to do it, though, try to stay as far away from talking head, no facts, all spin bullshit. – Carson

It’s not just the whole writing about wrestling thing…I’m also not happy with my real-life job situation, which involves work that I couldn’t really give a hoot about. And let’s not get started on my personal life, that’s just a complete and utter train wreck. That being said, I’ve come to the realization that I need something other than just writing about wrestling to fill my time outside work. Politics has been an interest of mine for as long as I can remember, and I’m honestly more qualified to write about that than I am about wrestling. The problem with this column recently has been the amount of bourbon I drink while writing it.

What?

Four Questions (ha) With…

This week I decided to talk with my old friend Steve “Ghetto” Montoya. Some of you may remember him as my CHIKARA correspondent from the old days of News From Cook’s Corner. If you don’t, just know that he’s my friend, and I’d like to talk some wrestling with him. So indulge me, damn it!

Samoa Steve says:
I have used you in the past as a CHIKARA expert. Tell the people why you prefer CHIKARA over other forms of wrestling.

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Because they give you WRESTLING in a wrestling show, but they don’t take themselves too seriously *cough*ROH*cough*. And could you ever hate a promotion that has “Los Ice Creams” in it?

Samoa Steve says:
Well, I couldn’t. Who are some of your current favorite wrestlers, and why are they so?

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Hmm. Chuck Taylor is definitely one of my favs. His style of goofiness plus redneckness is awesome. If you’ve ever seen him do the grenade thing, yeah it’s awesome. Eddie Kingston is another awesome awesome man, just for the fact he can smack people’s faces off with one hand. The Colony as a whole rule. And Claudio Castagnoli, because he uppercuts staircases.

Samoa Steve says:
If there is one wrestler from CHIKARA or other indies who you think could make the crossover to WWE or TNA and make it big, who would it be?

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Well if WWE/TNA still had things for midgets I would definitely suggest Cloudy. BUT, I’m going to have to go with Claudio Castagnoli because you know he could slow it down to a WWE style, while still being a great wrestler.

Samoa Steve says:
Do you remember what the deal was with him not being signed? Lansdell was asking me about it earlier and I was kind of fuzzy on it.

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
I don’t know what was up with that either, he kind of took a break from CHIKARA and was in the development territory, he even made it on TV as like a fake cop or security dude. And then he just gets released and he comes back into the mix of things in CHIKARA like he was never gone really….
GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Maybe he realized since he was so damn wealthy he needed in the ‘E
GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
*didn’t need

Samoa Steve says:
Yeah, the most money making man shouldn’t need to sell out.

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
completely unnecessary

Samoa Steve says:
THAT’S GODDAMN UNNECESSARY
Samoa Steve says:
/IWA Prazak
Samoa Steve says:
What is your favorite part of the current WWE product?

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
It just got an ankle injury.

Samoa Steve says:
Ah yes. And it’s such a shame too, because I’ve met Matt/Evan before and he’s a really good guy and I was happy that he was getting over big time in WWE, and then he goes and gets hurt.

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Sad sad, small people [besides Hornswoggle] start to get pushed and then crash.

Samoa Steve says:
well, Hornswoggle crashed too, thank God
Samoa Steve says:
Is there anything you would like to plug for the fine readers of 411wrestling.com?

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Uhm……your columns!! Cause that’s pretty much the only shit I read on there.

Samoa Steve says:
Woot!

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
COOK’S CORNER
GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
CHECK IT

Samoa Steve says:
Oh, I forgot one thing……is there anything you like in TNA?

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Everything. I love watching trainswrecks!

Samoa Steve says:
So are you watching the Hogan show?
Samoa Steve says:
Because that’s a great trainwreck.

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Yes!!

Samoa Steve says:
And I presume you’re reading my recaps too.

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
definitely…then i know to watch the replay that way.

Samoa Steve says:
Who is your favorite on that show?

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Brian Knobbs

Samoa Steve says:
I meant out of the celebrity wrestlers…

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
oh…well I was just thinking of the most entertaining. Uhm. Screech.
GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
that man= ratings

Samoa Steve says:
Screech is awesome. What about Bonaduce?
Samoa Steve says:
Or Trishelle?

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Bonaduce WILL be in TNA within a year.
GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
And Trishelle..ehhh. Saw enough of her when I actually watched MTV.

Samoa Steve says:
Ehhhh? Hey, that’s my future wife you’re talking about there!

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Ahh yes the only woman that could out drink YOU

Samoa Steve says:
So you understand why I’m so attracted to her.

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
Well anyone that has the persona of “Red Hot Redneck”, common sense.

Samoa Steve says:
Damn right. Thank you for helping filling up column space!

GO PATS~! Ghetto says:
anytime~!

I think the “GO PATS~!” thing has to do with the Super Bowl and my Web Messenger is just that slow in recognizing name changes. But who can say for sure.

Thanks for reading the column, join me this weekend for the next Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling recap, and check the Politics Zone too because I’ll probably chime in on the election results unless Ashish doesn’t allow it. Until then, true believers!