wrestling / Columns
Smart Marks 7.19.14: Out With the Old
Hello and welcome again to Smart Marks, your weekend stop for some quick wrestling discussion with me, with me, I’m Dino Zee. This is the place where we try our best to check the egos at the door, and just enjoy talking about some wrestling stuff with fellow fans, realizing that we’re the only people that give a crap about this stuff. It’s your safe place, where your author won’t openly troll you, and where your opinion is just as valid as anyone else’s. I also like to see the discussion build in the comments, but I’ll usually try to avoid a full out flame war. We’re better than that, and there’s certainly plenty of other places here to get that type of thrill, if that’s your thing. It’s definitely not mine. It’s just wrestling.
Last week, I broke from the usual format in order to pay tribute to one of my favorites of the last ten years, Santino Marella. I was pleased to see that most of the comments went ahead and listed their favorite Santino moments, and that there was very few (if any) comments in the Santino was a terrible worker! variety.
There were a couple readers who took my recounting of the 2011 Royal Rumble as me actually believing that Santino was going to win the Rumble, instead of simply hoping that he would, but I guess that’s what happens in text. Let’s just remember that this is wrestling, and we exaggerate our stories to make them more entertaining. No, I never once honestly believed he was going to win the Rumble. That didn’t stop me from hoping, or even making up storylines in my head on the spot that would satisfy everything. OF COURSE Del Rio was winning the Rumble that year. The rush to sound smarter than everyone else in the comment section can definitely grate sometimes.
This week saw WWE prepare for Battleground, TNA finally get to its New York shows, and a Torneo Cibernetico in CMLL that may have had one of the weakest lineups I’ve witnessed yet. Let’s hit the Marks!
The idea for this topic came to me after my appearance in this week’s Fact or Fiction, where one reader pointed out that Jack Swagger is, at this point, more over as a face than Cesaro, which is something no one could have seen coming after WrestleMania 30 was finished.
While this is technically true, I feel (and said so in FoF) that Swagger’s current face push is only working because of the nationalistic pandering going on. Would Swagger be nearly as over if he had just jumped in the ring and tried to pick a fight with, say, Randy Orton? Damien Sandow? Even Cesaro? I definitely do not think so, and so I have a problem with this idea that Jack Swagger is suddenly a “hot” new face, when it’s clear that we’re not cheering him, we’re cheering Rusev’s opponent, because we hate Rusev. Seems pretty simple, no?
However, I should also clarify that I personally am a huge fan of Jack Swagger. Since his debut, my friends and I have all felt that WWE has wasted every possible opportunity with him. He should be, as we’ve called him, “Kurt Angle with muscles.” No, he isn’t the Olympic Wrestling Gold Medalist, but the man is still a record holding NCAA wrestler. He has all the physical tools necessary, and has even shown in brief instances that he absolutely has some charisma that the fans can get behind. We saw it with the Swagger Soaring Eagle, and we’ve seen it again recently in this feud with Rusev. He is absolutely more than another personality-deprived hoss, that’s for sure.
Since his debut, WWE has essentially treated him as nothing more than fodder for bigger guys to beat. He’s always been a heel, without much to him besides being a generic jerk. The closest WWE has come with Swagger was during his return at the start of 2013, where he simply came out, mauled opponents, and beat them viciously. It was simple, sure, but it worked. Swagger was being treated as the actual threat that he is. At some point, however, they decided that it wasn’t enough, and he was turned into a borderline racist with Zeb Colter to get more heel heat on him as he prepared to challenge Alberto Del Rio for the World Title at WrestleMania 29.
The Saints out there will of course point out that Swagger has, at times, been his own worst enemy, injuring opponents and getting into trouble with the law. And sure, that probably does have something to do with how he’s had some pushes taken away from him. However, getting injured is a part of wrestling, and while the concussion to Dolph Ziggler was probably not the best timed accident, it strikes me as silly to hold someone back that could potentially be a star because of minor incidents. Swagger has never been positioned to become a star, and thus, he hasn’t. And since he’s not a star, it makes it easier to punish him severely for things that in the grand scheme aren’t the worst offenses ever.
What we’ve seen from Swagger the last few weeks with Rusev is what I’ve always wanted to see from him. Not backing down. Talking tough. Outwrestling even the strongest brute. The fans immediately got behind him. Like I said, this is most likely due to him facing off with Rusev, but the fact is, after years of being a heel- and not even a top one, really- the fans were immediately okay with rooting for Swagger. And while I blame more of that on Rusev, the fact is, if John Cena hopped in there to challenge Rusev, he wouldn’t get the reaction that Swagger has.
I’ve long hoped to see Swagger treated like an actual wrestling machine, and we may actually be on the cusp of that here. Even if he loses the feud to Rusev (as I suspect he will), if WWE plays their cards right, Swagger could easily keep most of his face heat, and transition that to another heel to feud with. Hell, let him get a little goofy, and we really could have “Kurt Angle with Muscles.”
Of course, he’ll probably just go back to trying to deport all the foreign faces, and lose to Sheamus (as every other wrestler standing 6’5″ or taller has to do, per their contracts) over and over again into eternity.
What do you guys think of Swagger? Has his ship sailed? Is this Rusev feud a chance at a rebirth as a face? Let me know what you think in the comments!
I’ve been a little hesitant to discuss TNA these last few weeks, as they’ve had weeks and weeks of episodes in the can, and I usually stay away from spoilers for shows that I actually plan to watch. Since I watch Impact every week, I didn’t bother reading up on the results from the Philly and New York shows. So, if you did read those, I’d kinda appreciate it if you didn’t tell me what happens.
That said, I’d like to continue off a Mark I mentioned a few weeks ago, as I was a little befuddled as to why James Storm suddenly had a beef with Sanada. I asked where it was heading, whether Storm was trying to get an X Division title shot that he could then manipulate into Option C, if he was trying to turn Sanada heel… basically, I was just really confused as to what was supposed to be the end game for this.
Well, since then, Sanada dropped the X Title to Austin Aries, and Storm continued to trash talk the kid once he got backstage. Eventually, it made sense, as last night saw Storm assault Sanada after he fell short in the Option C Gauntlet. Storm said that he was a disgrace, and that the Great Muta should be embarrassed. And just like that, it all made sense.
So it appears that we’re gonna get James Storm vs. Great Muta out of all of this. Again, just my guess, and again, if you know the results of the New York tapings, I might sound like a huge idiot. I’ll live with that.
Far be it from me to ever, EVER get angry with a chance to see the Great Muta in action. I’ve been a fan of his ever since he descended up on the NWA in the late 80s and beat Sting for the TV title. I still can’t believe he beat Sting. Regardless, I’ve been a Muta guy ever since. When I heard about how he had to change his style completely due to knee injuries, I was fascinated. Seeing how he now worked his opponents’ knees over with no mercy until they couldn’t stand, which then allowed him to hit the Shining Wizard for the finish was so cool to me. Plus, he was now wearing that awesome mask, and he kept the mist! I know the more hardcore Puro guys have some weird thing about hating Muta because all the Americans like him, but from where I sit, Muta rules. He may not be the best Japanese worker, but man does he rule the world.
That said, I’m still not quite sure what the hell is going on with James Storm. The man has had absolutely no direction since the feud with Gunner ended. He had a brief feud with Mr. Anderson that showed what an idiot he is, and now he’s picking on Sanada to (presumably) get a match with Muta? And what does beating old Muta do for his standings in TNA, exactly? Has the Cowboy lost his mind?
I’m actually hoping that this feud is leading to a Sanada heel turn. I’d like to see Cowboy and Sanada team up, as weird as that sounds. Storm clearly works best in tag teams, Sanada has yet to really find his place in the TNA world, why not put them together? In a world where The Menagerie and DJZ and Mr. Pectacular are top contenders, I think Storm and Sanada could put something together and earn a shot. On top of that, it could allow Sanada the chance to break away from the “Muta’s Boy” tag, and become something of his own man. We could even see a more ruthless side of him.
If this is all just a vanity project to get Muta to appear on TNA Television, then this has all been a giant waste of time. However, there are still plenty of ways to take this, and I’m just going to patiently wait and see where it’s headed. Besides, it’s Muta!
What do you guys think? If you haven’t read the New York results, where do you see this Sanada/Storm/Muta stuff going? Want a heel turn for Sanada? What about Muta and Storm beating Sanada down? Let me know what you think down in the comments!
This week, we’re gonna take a break from the “Favorites” that we’ve been using this final spot for, though you can rest assured that I’ll bring it back from time to time. Instead, I wanted to talk about something that took a little while to register with me, but it’s finally broken through. As I normally do when I talk lucha, let me first preface this by saying I’ve only been watching CMLL for about 9 months at this point. I don’t consider myself a CMLL expert, and I’m not so strong on the history, either. I know what I’ve seen since I started watching last September or October, and that’s about it.
However, there’s a trend in CMLL that is driving me a bit crazy. It’s the trend of guys that are like 90 years old still being in top spots. In the last couple weeks alone, I have seen Atlantis with the Torneo de la Leyenda Azul, a tournament dedicated to the Blue Demon, that’s held as a giant Torneo Cibernetico. Atlantis is 51 years old and, let it be said, is in fantastic shape for a 51 year old. However, he routinely sees his hand raised in victory, and usually over the younger wrestlers on the roster.
You’ll also see this with guys like Super Porky, Negro Casas, and even Mr. Niebla, a guy that I think rules the world. Niebla is a little kid compared to the others I’ve mentioned, but he’s still 41 years old, and he’s still a top rudo. Hell, throw Shocker in there, too. These guys are always holding their own against guys like Rush, La Sombra, and the other younger, faster wrestlers. Watching Super Porky win any match is one of the most frustrating things I do as a wrestling fan, as the man can barely even move at this point, but as long as he falls on someone, he’s probably going to get the win.
This love of old stars even hampers guys they have positioned as stars. El Terrible is the AAA World Heavyweight Champion, but he barely ever wrestles, and when he does, it’s usually in a tag team setting of some sort. And then, he’ll probably get pinned by some older wrestler.
I’ve long heard more hardcore fans of lucha talk about how CMLL continues to push older stars, but I hadn’t really been able to see it. But when Blue Panther, Negro Casas, Atlantis, Shocker, Super Porky, and other old stars are still constantly featured, and still constantly winning when there’s a clear wave of young talent ready to take their spot, it’s pretty easy to see. It also makes it easier to enjoy a Rush match when I see him absolutely smashing some older wrestler with his seated corner dropkick.
Come on, CMLL – look to the future. You can’t rely on 50 year old wrestlers to be your biggest stars. Even this gringo knows that you’re on the wrong path. Luckily, most of these guys can still perform, but that doesn’t mean we want to see them all the time. There are plenty of younger wrestlers on the roster who can clearly go, and focusing on them would be the right call. I’m not saying this as some sort of “a-ha!” moment, as it’s clearly a big problem many have with CMLL. Playing favorites can only work so long. Eventually, you have to trust your new talent to carry the load, and use the old-timers in less important spots.
What do you lucha fans think of CMLL focusing on the old wrestlers? Am I being too harsh on the old guys? Do the young guys deserve the focus? Hit the comments and let me know!
And that should do it this week. May you all have a wonderful weekend, and remember: Enjoy your WWE, your TNA, your Lucha, your Puro, and your Indies.
