wrestling / Columns

Csonka Q&A: Helping Enzo & Cass, The Next Bobby Heenan, More

September 16, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
Enzo & Cass - nZo, Enzo Amore, Big Cass

Welcome back to column time with Larry. Follow the positive reaction my first Q&A, I have decided to do my next Q&A column today. If you’d like me do to more of these, leave questions in the comments section or email me at [email protected]. Keep in mind, this isn’t Ask 411 (Mathew does way too good a job at that), this is stuff you want to ask me about my opinion on current wrestling, my reviews, columns or thoughts on wrestling in general. Have fun, and remember the only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.”

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1. Who is your favorite singles wrestler of all time?: DUSTY RHODES. While my wrestling fandom has evolved and grown over the years, I started out a huge fan of the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions; that was wrestling for me. It felt real, it felt gritty and I never missed it. I loved so many of the performers during my younger years, Flair, the Horsemen, the Road Warriors, the Rock and Roll and Midnights and many others; but Dusty Rhodes made me a wrestling fan. Dusty Rhodes was my hero as a kid, I played sports but wasn’t a kid that looked like an athlete. I wasn’t the popular kid. If I loved something I worked hard to succeed at it even when people said that I couldn’t. I know that this will sound silly to this new generation of wrestling fans, but Dusty Rhodes not only made me a wrestling fan, but he served as an inspiration to me. Here was this man, the common man, that didn’t look like an athlete. That didn’t have all of the money and fame of Ric Flair and the Horsemen, but he fought because he believed and that fight, that attitude and that charisma made a young Larry Csonka believe that he could do anything. Hell if Dusty Rhodes would have called me personally and said we had to march through the gates of hell I would have said when and where because I believed. Dusty could have talked me into anything. He made me believe in him and he made me love wrestling.

2. Who is your favorite tag team of all time?: While there may have been better teams as far as pure athletic ability since their day in the sun, for me, it’s The Rock and Roll Express. As mentioned above while discussing Dust Rhodes, I started out a huge fan of the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions, and it was there where I found the Rock and Roll Express and my undying love of tag team wrestling. They, along with the Midnights, were my jam. They were the art of tag team wrestling, everything the Midnights did made me root for the Rock and Rolls even more. But it wasn’t just working the Midnights, the Rock and Rolls made me care and root for them against everyone they fought. The Russians, The Horsemen, The Sheepherders, The Samoans the list goes on, but no matter the opponent, no one could make me root against the Rock and Rolls. Throughout the years, I have gone back and watched the Rock and Roll Express again and again. I have a ton of classic matches on DVD, and not only did they work well with everyone, but the crowds were always insane for them. Watching women & men losing their shit as Ricky Morton took a massive ass beating and… well… played Ricky Morton, is an amazing atmosphere. I can pop in a Rock and Roll Express match, anytime and be transported back, instantly knowing what’s going on and that I will be wildly entertained.

3. Do you agree with AJ Styles when he says that WWE should sign Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga?: No, but I respect that AJ wants to get his friends jobs and that he thinks that they deserve a spot in WWE. I think that some wrestlers belong/thrive in certain circumstances and that when they find that, they should stay there. In my opinion, both Fale & Tonga would be bad fits for WWE. Fale has developed into a serviceable big man for NJPW, and while he weighs in at over 3 spins, he’s only 6’4, and not exactly a real giant that WWE would love. The reason he thrives in NJPW is because he appears like a giant there, and because NJPW is more than willing to sacrifice top stars losing cleanly on occasion to keep him a viable threat. I don’t think that WWE would do that with him, and also considering that he’s 35, they’d likely take a pass. Tama Tonga has youth (only 25) and a natural athletic ability that I think that WWE would like. But I feel that his role is best as is, part of a stable and strong tag team for NJPW. I also don’t think that WWE fans would embrace him, as they would likely be too busy writing fan-fic about him being the bastard son of Rollins & Reigns. But far be it from me to stop them, if WWE is their goal and they can lock in a good payday, more power to them.

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4. Will There Ever Be Another Bobby Heenan?: Unless there is some super secret government cloning project going on right now, and according to Bo Dallas’ lizard people theories there may be, there will never be another Bobby Heenan. Like many of the greats in the business, there is simply no recreating the magic of a Bobby Heenan. His pre-WWE work gets lost a lot of the time, which is a shame, but as a former wrestler himself he knew everything to do as a manager, and more importantly, what not to do as a manager. As a manager, he managed like a wrestler on the floor. No fear, taking big and then getting an ass kicking for it. When forced into the ring for his comeuppance, Heenan wrestled like a manager, acting timid, lost and not knowing what to do on the way to his ass kicking. His commentary work was great and gave him a third life in the business, wrestler didn’t work out for him due to injuries, so his talking gave him a second career as a manager and then a third on commentary. Heenan was truly a once in a lifetime performer, and I don’t think we will see anyone with that combination of talents. But I do feel that we have come close in some ways over the years. On the managerial side, I think that Larry Sweeney was the closest thing we’ve seen to Heenan, he had the act down perfectly, and added a modern twist to it. Sweeney unfortunately left us way too soon, committing suicide in 2011. #12Large On the commentary side, I honestly believe that Corey Graves has really turned into a modern day Heenan. Graves’ pacing, the fact that it doesn’t feel that he shoves things into commentary unnaturally, he loves his favorites but will bury the shit out of those he hates (Elias, Enzo) at the drop of a hat. Graves feels completely natural, and not over produced even though we know WWE commentary is horribly forced and is in fact over produced. So while I find it highly unlikely that we will ever see a single performer be on the level of Bobby Heenan ever again, we have seem glimpses, and likely will again down the line.

5. You seem very critical of both Enzo & Big Cass as far as their in ring performances go. If they asked you for suggestions to help them, what would you tell them??: I have been critical of both and feel that they were much better together than apart. And it’s not like they would ever ask me, but in my opinion, if they want to succeed as singles performers, both have a lot to do. For Enzo, he needs to drastically improve in the ring. I don’t expect him to become a five star worker, but he has to be come competent between the ropes to play off his strong personality. If I were him, I would take a lot of time and study a guy like Eddie Gilbert. Gilbert was a way better worker than Enzo, but he was also a small guy with a huge personality, and a great guy for Enzo to model himself off of in the ring; he’s 30, so if he puts in the work, there’s still time to improve. For Cass, there’s a few things. He’ll really need to work on promos. The downside of being paired with Enzo is that Enzo did 95% of the promo work, meaning Cass never really got time to develop that side of his game. He also needs more time in the ring to really find himself as a worker, and to become more than “CAW_Big.Man/Movez34.exe”. I think that due to his size, and the wear and tear the business puts on knees (and especially considering he’ll be coming off of a knee injury), he should try and drop from the 275 or so he’s at to 250-255 or so, to take some pressure off of his knees. From there, I would have him study a guy like Barry Windham. In the late 80s, Windham was one of the best workers in the US. He was smooth, agile and knew how to use his size when needed. That’s what Cass, in my opinion, needs to do.

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6. Larry, was wondering what happened to the wrestler of the week stuff?: It’s nothing fancy, it’s a column that lasted over 12-years and at times we had issues getting what I felt was an acceptable amount of staff members participating. A week here and there of 4-6 voters is ok, but when that becomes the norm, it doesn’t make for a quality column when the same few people are deciding the weekly winners. It started to result in a lot of ties and a lot of wrestling being excluded. I made the call to end the column, because I no longer felt that the column was a quality weekly offering to the site. But like anything in wrestling, retirement doesn’t mean anything and it could always return.

7. Could WWE Run a Tournament Similar to NJPW’s G1 Climax?: Yes, WWE can do anything they want, because they have the money, the talent and a network to put it on. Will they? No, because I don’t think that they have the patience to lay something out as intricate as the G1, and Vince is reportedly not a fan of tournaments. But if you look at their roster, they certainly have the talent to pull off a tournament like this. Looking at the roster (and excluding Brock & Cena due to scheduling and because they won’t have Brock take losses), you could easily pull it off…

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– You can keep up with all of my opinion columns at this link.

If you’d like me do to another one of these, leave questions in the comments section or email me at [email protected].

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”