The Ripple Effect 7.27.07: You Could Change My Mind

For the first of what I hope is very few times, I find myself unable to pay my rent.

Actually, that isn’t entirely accurate. I’m fully capable of writing a check on the first of the month worth 475 dollars, and that check will have the appropriate funds available in my checking account. The problem is that in order to make that happen, I have to do one of two things I absolutely hate to do: either dip into my savings or ask my father for help. I have enough in the second account to pay the rent, and I’m sure daddy would fork over the meager remaining dollars I need.

But as I said, neither of these options are in the “things I want to do” category. I like being able to provide for myself, and to move into “last resort” territory is basically a sign of failure. It isn’t my fault I’m broke though; working in a swimming pool store during the rainiest summer in history does no favors for a man’s pocketbook.

I’ll probably just bite the bullet and ask for the money anyway. I at least want to be able to bitch about it first. Is that so horrible?

The good news is that writing about wrestling, like J-Lo’s love, don’t cost a thang! Let’s press on…

Pimpin’ Ho’s Nationwide

They may be small, but they’re loyal. Only two e-mails this week (surely I must be a tad more interesting than that), and they come from the same two guys who chimed in last week…about the same subject as last week. Fortunately they’re both long and interesting so huzzah! First, from Justin Baker, who continues his predictions for the RE’s Christmas In July Awards (Part One, Part Two):

Thanks for encouraging my long-winded ranting. I’m always up for giving my opinions on just about anything concerning wrestling. On to the awards….

PPV- Royal Rumble

I was really down on wrestling the last half of 2006. Most of the wrestlers I enjoyed watching either retired, got jobbed out, or got lazy. Angle left WWE, JBL retired, RVD’s ‘big win’ was a joke, the new ECW was an even bigger joke, DX got tiresome real quick, Matt Hardy was still a jobber, the Spirit Squad were even bigger jobbers (Yes, I actually like the Squad), and TNA was still as inconsistent as ever. I started missing more shows than I watched for maybe the first time ever. I ended up watching the Rumble only because it was rumored that HBK or ‘Taker would probably win, and I’m a huge fan of both guys. Well, this show didn’t just give me a finish I liked, it re-affirmed my love of pro wrestling. MnM vs Hardys was solid. Umaga-Cena is not just my MOTY so far, but the rare match that completely changed my opinion of both guys, and the Rumble finish with HBK-‘Taker was awesome. In fact I’d say it was the best Rumble finish ever.

Wrestlemania is the one show I automatically watch every year. This year had some excellent matches with Undertaker-Batista, HBK-Cena, Money In The Bank, and MVP-Benoit. If HBK won I might have this at number one. Backlash was very good as well, with an outstanding 4-Way, and a really good Undertaker-Batista re-match.

RE Award- MVP

I didn’t really like MVP the first few times I saw him, but at some point he started to grow on me. Now he’s one of my favorite wrestlers. He has a great gimmick, is good on the mic, and had some excellent matches with Benoit and Matt Hardy. I can see him as a future World Champ.

Dusty is awesome on the mic but I have no desire to see him wrestle at all. I still have nightmares from his awful TNA matches with AJ Styles and Brian Christopher.

I’m not that big a fan of WWE CM Punk. He was much better in ROH. I think the big problem is he’s playing a face. Like Orton, he was born to be a heel. Back when I was a big ROH fan, one of the highlights of going to shows was booing the hell out of Punk, but it was the good kind of booing as in “I’ll pay money to see this guy lose”. He also had some of my favorite matches in that company. He just hasn’t done much wrestling-wise or character-wise to get me excited about his WWE career.

Boner- Vickie as Teddy Long’s assistant GM.

I would vote for Khali winning the title if it was eligible.

Clutch Move- Edge moving to Smackdown to win the World Title.

This was a brilliant move by WWE. The last half hour of that Smackdown was the best booked wrestling TV all year. It’s a shame they couldn’t have come up with something so Khali wouldn’t hold the belt now. HBK-‘Taker finishing the Rumble is my runner-up.

Match- Cena vs Umaga (Royal Rumble)- There have been some excellent matches this year but this one is my favorite. As I said earlier, this was the rare match that made me change my opinion of both performers. A fabulous brawl with some really innovative spots including the awesome finish. Cena has never been better as a face, while Umaga came off as a nearly unstoppable heel. I could see this holding up as my MOTY.

HBK-Cena was also excellent. I thought that match was over about five different times. It took guts to go 55 minutes and Michaels & Cena were more than up for the challenge. Really long matches tend to bore me (HBK-Bret Ironman, American Dragon-Aries, and all those long Hero-Punk matches bored me to tears) but I got MORE into this one as it went along.

Undertaker-Batista was another shocker. I was looking forward to this match only because I figured ‘Taker would win the title. I didn’t actually think it would be good. Boy was I wrong. I should know by now not to doubt ‘Taker’s in-ring ability. He carried Big Dave to maybe the best match of his career. The last couple minutes of this were awesome with big moves and near-falls. ‘Taker’s big dive and Batista’s powerslam through the table are highlight video material.

Harris vs Storm was tremendous as well. This was a fantastic bloody brawl between ex-partners who hate each other. Great finish as Harris gets his revenge on Storm by using the beer bottle. This is my favorite singles match in TNA history. I rarely order TNA PPVs (in fact I watched this match online) but if these guys have another PPV match TNA has my money.

Wrestler of the Year- Edge

I would have voted for Cena if he was eligible. I voted for Edge over Michaels and ‘Taker simply because he lasted longer into the year. All three guys were great when active though.

I’m glad the awards were enough to captivate you for two whole weeks. Some people (myself included) just get really into any type of award discussion.

I agree wholeheartedly that PPV’s in 2007 have not lived up to any kind of expectations. The Rumble delivered nicely, Mania wasn’t a disappointment, and Backlash was pleasantly surprising. The rest have been very forgettable, including just about every show TNA has put on this year. That said, I can always understand giving the Rumble a “show of the year” spot, as the Rumble match itself is pretty much the most enjoyable hour of the year.

For those out there who haven’t read much of my work (or just don’t remember), I think MVP is awesome. Love the gimmick, love the entrance, love the persona, and loving the matches more and more. At this point, I would be very confused if he failed to win a world title when it’s all said and done.

Having Vickie on TV was bad enough when she was a face, and it’s just embarrassing now that she’s trying to play the heel. It sucks what happened to her and her family, and it’s good that she’s getting a fat WWE paycheck, but there’s got to be a better way to help her out than sticking her in front of a camera. It doesn’t help that she only has Kristal to play off of either.

Your description of the Edge/Taker situation really makes me wish I’d watched SmackDown that night. I mean, “best booked wrestling TV all year”? I’ll have to YouTube that or something. But yeah, Edge’s move was definitely the right thing to do by WWE.

The more the year goes on, the more it seems like Cena/Umaga can hang on as the consensus MOTY. Although plenty of matches this year have been good, none have been absolutely must see yet. It’d be nice if TNA booked Joe and Angle for Bound For Glory and just tell them to have the best match humanly possible. They don’t seem to be blessed with that kind of booking savvy though, so we’ll see.

Edge has to be considered one of the top candidates for WOTY so far. The fact that people seem to agree with this line of though, both in the IWC and WWE, is rather encouraging. I think the race is rather close between Edge and Cena, but both of them deserve it.

Thanks for the words, and keep rippling.

And our second e-mail is from “The Outcast Legend” The Wolf, who has two nicknames and no real name. Unless of course his first name is “The”:

Thanks for throwing in my e-mail last week, even if it was to praise the greatness that is my nickname! (Which BTW-is my e-fedding wrestler’s name, to make myself sound even more like a wrestling geek!) And as for The dual “The”s in the name, “Outcast Legend” The Wolf or “The Outcast Legend” Wolf just doesn’t have that same ring to it, so both “The”s stay! Here’s my picks for part two!

PPV Of The Half Year
This category is tough, because of two reasons, 1) most of the ppvs listed were kick ass and made for great tv. and 2) I didn’t order “Lockdown!” (So chances are I’m not going for that one!)

As for the rest, Slammiversary is the tough luck one of the batch, considering that it suffers for the very thing that you are praising it for (Aside of the solid matches, that’s always a plus!): “It features a J-list celebrity in Frank Wycheck,…, some weird decisions are made, and a WWE alum goes over the TNA originals. It doesn’t really differ from the norm at all” For a show that is hyping the success of the company, why not Have Joe holding up the World CHampionship at the end of the night? He’s obviusly your rising star of the group, and pretty much the only believable of the “TNA” originals left (can anyone really say that AJ is still a main eventer? And they have NO FAITH in Abyss, and now that he’s talking it takes away from his character slightly (although not as much as WWE Having Sabu talk that is blasphemy!).

Backlash was a terrific show, but it suffers from “I just watched Wrestlemania” burnout in some fans eyes. Yeah the show was killer, but I still think that it was lacking some of the “sizzle”

So having not seen this years “Lockdown!” (although the Original was not only great, but something I was looking forward to long before it actually aired!) that leaves two candidates: The Rumble and Wrestlemania! What a shock that two of the three shows (I REFUSE to honor Survivor Series as a big anything until they bring in more hype towards the Survivor Series matches and stop throwing together teams starting Sept. 1! Or if they bring back the War Games!)

This is tough, because these are the two shows that I would’ve picked as well. On the one hand, you’ve got one of the better rumble matches in years, with an ending that could’ve gone either way (and was I the only one who thought it took too long for Taker to get a RR win? I’m shocked he didn’t in 1993!) on the other, you’ve got a very enjoyable match between Cena and Micheals. But when you look at the rest of the cards, it’s fairly easy to see why Wrestlemania is pop culture, and Royal Rumble is just a highly anticipated PPV every year. Take away the Rumble match and you are left with a match that was far better than it ever should’ve been (I’m shocked that Mr…………………………Kennedy….Kennedy didn’t break his back carrying big Dave to a solid match) a Cena/Umaga match that happened before one of the two was ready for his spot, and a match that went light years to show why the brand split was a total joke at that time (MNM/Hardys, were ANY of them on the same show?) With Wrestlemania, not only did you get the HBK/Dr. Thug match, The Undertaker proving why he’s always going to be Mr. Wrestlemania (making most forget about the whole Mark Henry/Taker wrestlemania match!) but you also got a MITB match that literally shocked the hell outta me, with a classic bump that ACTUALLY MADE SENCE (The Hardy’s Hate Edge! Edge goes through ladder!) Some comedy mixed in (Little Bastard made this match for his short time in it!) But also an almost “dark horse” winning the match (show of hands on who really thought that Edge was losing?). Also, the little aside promos, including Trump/Boogie (which caused me to fall off of the couch!) the dance off (Seeing Slick again was GREAT and highly unexpected!) and the side show that was Vince/Trump was great too! (granted the only one who could wrestle his way outta a paper bag in that match was Austin, and Maybe vince depending on how you judge bing “in the match” it was nothing more than a side show!) As sad as this sounds, looking back, you can see that they planted the “Death of Vince” angle in MARCH! hell, you could even say that it was started in January when Trump first came onto the scene! Ok, enough on that. My Pick:

Wrestlemania 23

(Hopefully may answers will be shorter than that for the rest of the questions, I seemed to go nuts there!)

The RE Award:

Well, since this is one that is more about Impact than anything else, I’d have to go with CM Punk. Dusty may have had a resurgence, but his impact nowadays is more behind the scenes than on the wrestlers themselves. Haven’t seen much of the Briscoes, so they are out (although I’ve heard nothing but good things!) And MVP is good, but Punk just seems better at this point. Who knows, maybe he’ll prove me wrong and the cauals will be saying “CM Who?” at the end of the year, but I doubt it!

“Boner of The Half Year”

When I saw this mentioned, I half expected to see some half naked women for my viewing pleasure, but this seems to be the better, more dignified choice. (and they say that wrestling fans are nothing but horny teenagers!)

First off, I have to say that none of the things listed are really all that bad. No “Gobbeldy Gooker” or “Katie Vick” in sight, so things could (and have been) a lot worse! I’d go for a write in vote and say “The Brand Extension being trampled on” as a more credible choice (although an argument can be made that it’s always been that way!) C’mon, how long did Mr. ECW Champion Bobby Lashley actually wrestle on ECW? I think that Ric Flair wrestled on ECW more than he did! But I guess I’ll go with your nominees, if I have to.

Vince’s Death overshadowing the draft- This was a SMART move, and I’ll tell ya why. When the slightly casual fan (not the ones who only watch when wrestling is in the news or popular, but more the ones who don’t mind missing a show or two or SIX) hears that there is going to be a draft on next week’s show, their interests are perked up. I know this, because I know people who don’t watch Raw as a rule who tuned in that night! So if you are going balls out on an angle like this, why not do it when the peeps are actually going to TUNE IN? I’m sorry, what was I thinking, that’s a horrible idea, why attempt to gain ratings for a TV show? How silly of me. I’d be more inclined to say that the draft itself wasn’t that big a deal. I don’t think that the death angle made the draft look unimportant (although the fact that it was Vince’s “appreciation Night” might have been a little much) I just think that the lack of “shock factor” was there for the draft. Lashley had been on Raw for MONTHS before this, no big shock there, Benoit might have been kinda shocking of a move, but he just got done making MVP a valuable player (pun TOTALLY intended!) so he needed something to move onto. I think that the supplemental draft had more shocks than the regular one (The Hooliganz getting moved The Sandman to RAW?) And besides, the “computer draw” made the whole thing a joke long before Vince pulled his leg into the limo more times than he was insulted that night! (Although the editing was kinda crappy, big props to setting this whole thing up and not many peeps knowing about it! That’s hard to do in this day and age!)

TNA Giving away PPV matches on Free TV is nothing new. Hell you praise one match later on that was on RAW that would’ve been MONEY as a 60 minute iron man match on PPV, so why is it different for the WWE to do this than TNA? Well, the WWE rakes in millions of dollars, while TNA seems to be scraping the bottom of breaking even. But the fact remains that with “Former WCW World Champion” Vince Russo as a part of creative, that these matches, as well as silly gimmick matches that are harmless to the fans, aside of insulting our intelligence are a part of the show. I don’t hear anyone saying that giving all the belts to TWO GUYS is all that bad, and that is one of Russo’s biggest things (Team Canada in WCW held a Sescatewan Hardcore International Title load of championships!) But then again it IS a bad thing, and guys like Petey, Daniels, and Black Machismo suffer, but that isn’t the thing here.

RVD bows out quietly at One Night Stand- This is something that I am very serious about. RVD did the right thing here (not that he had much of a choice) Not only was anything ECW after Sloppy Seconds (i refuse to call anything “One Night Stand II” and Tommy’s vision should’ve been known!) nothing but a joke anyway, but ECW’s legacy was dragged through the mud because Vince didn’t see the ratings that he was expecting. WELL DUH! The ECW fans were loyal, vocal and above all SMART! They cheered who they wanted, the booed who they wanted, and if they saw something that insulted them (IE The Zombie) they let you know. And pairing ECW and Smackdown was a HORRIBLE idea in the first place! They were supposed to be polar opposites! Taking the book away from Heyman before he even had it was the worst thing that Vince could’ve done here. Now how does any of this relate to RVD and Third Time’s a Thud? (No ONS III, and let’s just say there’s a REASON that I didn’t order that one!) Simple. RVD chose not to re-up with the WWE. Not only was he the only REAL ECW guy left, (Sandman lost his credibility beating on caricatures, and Balls was never a true main eventer, neither was Dreamer this time around, no matter how much he should’ve been!) but ECW was a shell of it’s former self. Yeah CM Punk’s a great choice for ECW, and Paul would’ve sh*t a brick if he had someone like him back in the day. But at the end of the day it never felt truly “ECW”. So, on his way out the door, not only did he put over Randy Orton, but he let the world know that ECW was never the same after it was bought out by Vince. So next year when RVD is holding the TNA X-Division title, or facing off against Rhino as a blast from the past, this will be clear to you all!

Already talked about the strange match thing, so that leaves one thing. The only angle that leaves me scratching my head: Vicki Guerrero gaining control on Smackdown! The only good thing about this is that Eddie’s kids will get to eat. I still have no clue as to why she is even on my tv. If it weren’t for her husband, she’d be nothing more than a casting call casualty for the diva search. You’d think that charisma would be sexually transmitted, but that’s a negative. And how she got into power is such a slap in the face its comical!

Vicki gets my vote here.

Clutch move of the year-

(ill keep this one short if i can)

Putting over Cage is going to prove smart as long as they keep the faith and he stays healthy (I hurt my hand knocking so hard on wood there!) Edge going to Smackdown is logical, so I’m shocked that he didn’t end up turning face on Raw with the morons who write this crap! And setting Cena/HBK II for almost an hour was smart, but would’ve been better suited for an Ironman match on a PPV as I stated above. My vote goes for something that led up to that match in a round about way:

The last couple minutes of the Rumble- Taker/HBK doing what they do best: Bringing down the house!

Match of The Year:
I’m slightly upset that The Rumble match isn’t listed, but I can deal!

Cena/Umaga wasa good match, don’t get me wrong, but it was STILL Cena vs UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMAGAAAAAAAAAAAAA! You mean to tell me that match was better than the Impact match that will remain nameless (let’s just say that it’s the one that TNA said was the best ever!) or even the match on Impact between AMW that also wasn’t listed? (I know you could only realistically pick one of there two AMW matches, but c’mon!) Yes it was exciting, yes it had a great finish but at the end of the day, did anyone REALLY think that this Era’s Hogan was going to lose to a knock off of Samoa Joe? PLEASE!

Batista/Undertaker is in the same category. Great match, strong execution, and Taker bending over backwards to make Batista look like a god in the ring. BUt you have to look at things this way: With how they pushed the whole “Winning Streak” of The Undertaker’s. it’s obvious to even a person who doesn’t watch wrestling who is going to win. Even during the match it’s obvious that no one (including the announcers!) thinks that Taker can be beaten at the “Granddaddy of Them All!” It’s like The Undead powers that The Undertaker had back in the day included “Super Wrestlemania powers” that none of us will ever understand! Will the record end? Eventually, and I for one think that it’ll be either Punk or Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Kenedddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…. Kennedy who’ll get the rub. Taking all of this out of context, you’ve got two men. One is fighting for his life to keep not only his streak alive, but also to gain a third World Title run, while the other is fighting to keep the belt that he just bearely held onto in matches as recently as two month’s beforehand (yes I’m referring to Kennedy!) Great match, but over pushing ruins it slightly for me.

Joe/Cage was an Instant Classic (peeps gotta show the love ya know!) although the fact that Joe NEEDS the belt and has for a VERY long time, makes me wonder if they really got the finish right.

That leaves Cena/HBK and Harris/Storm. I don’t care what anyone says, you cannot watch a match (even when muted) without getting history into the mix. HBK/Cena was a match-up between two over the top, steaming hot at the time, FACES They put on one HELL of a match at Wrestlemania, and then upped it on Raw soon after (i think it was like the next night, but March/April is so far away right now! LOL) 56 minutes of wrestling is a LOT for fans, so the face/face (no matter how much they spin it as HBK being a heel, he was more of a gray area face) is the only choice there, because no matter who wins, the fans are happy (as long as you don’t ask the IWC! We’re never happy LOL) Toss in the fact that Dr. Thug isn’t as bad in the ring as most say, and HBK is damn near godly as carrying peeps anyway, it proves that you can have a killer show and not go all angle crazy!

The AMW match was crazy too, in the fact that it was BRUTAL, hard fought, and exactly what a spilt should be. This is actually a match where I knew the history, but forgot some of it (more than likely selective rememberance!) during this epic battle. Even though this isn’t the first time they’ve spilt up, (which when I watched this match and faded out the commentary like I tend to do I forgot!) this match (and the Impact match as well) should be a blue print on how to break up a team. Hell, they could put this feud on a back burner for a while, see what happens with the two as singles (keeping them both FAR AWAY from each other) and pick it up again in a year or two and it’d still be fresh off of these two matches. Hell, people still remember XXX and I think it’s been like TWO YEARS since they were a team! (ANd they didn’t even get to spilt up, they were disbanded!) But back to the subject of the Sacrifice match, it was INCREDIBLE and well made up for the crap that led to it!

my pick: “Wildcat” Chris Harris/ “Cowboy” James Storm

Wrestler of The half Year (Non Kayfabe)
I was going to split this into two parts (Talker/Wrestler) but that would defeat the purpose. So here’s my thoughts on the Wrestler of the Half Year!:

HBK has been on a tear, but has been second banana to one HHH. He’s put on some GREAT matches, and the DX thing has been fun (but was starting to grow stale a bit) His promos were fun and when he needed to be serious (during his feud with Cena) the promos lagged a little bit, but were still effective. There are few who can wrestle as well as him, even if he’s never been one of my favorites (I never really liked his arrogance, and the “lost my smile” thing was crap to me even as a kid!)

Christian Cage is one of the best wrestlers out there BAR NONE! He’s the total package (no not Lex!) and there are few who keep up with his talent on the mic AND in the ring. Big wins over Angle and Joe, while not really my choice for furthering the company, show that Cage is the real Deal!

Edge (Who happens to be the “brother” and former partner of someone mentioned above HMMMM) has been having a great half year, but one marked by what could’ve been. Two big injuries have cut short what might have been a HUGE period for Edge! But you can’t ignore stealing the Money in the Bank and Cashing it in to win the gold again. As well as facing Cena in some memorable matches brings his stock up up up!

I’m not sold on Abyss here, because although he’s been decent, he’s not what I’d pick for WOTHY. Just my side of things

The Undertaker ran wild over Smackdown until Edge came and stole the title from him. Another bit of “What if” surrounds Taker, because who knows what he’d be up to if he weren’t hurt. Still puts on one hell of a show, even if he tends to get nostalgic and rest on some cheap stuff to get pops.

My pick: Christian Cage!

Sorry that I wrote a damn novel here, but the answers needed to be justified, adn if the Internet isn’t for spreading love for the WWE/TNA and the rest of pro wrestling, then what good is it? (Aside of porn, that’s the REAL reason peeps are on the ‘Net there goes that whole Not perves thing i sadi before!)

And congratulations Wolf, your e-mail is going to exceed my main today by quite a bit. I guess that’s what happens when opinionated fans have no outlet for their creative juices. Come to think of it, that’s pretty much how we all got started writing.

It’s always interesting that even though Mania may not be the best “wrestling” show of the year, it still has that “total package” vibe to it that carries it over most smaller-scale shows by default. For example, Backlash may have had better match quality, but Mania had the big time feel and the extra goodies thrown in. I mean, Ricky Steamboat isn’t going to make a cameo just anywhere.

I’ll always consider Punk an oddity in WWE, simply because of how small he is and how unconventionally he works. Some say he isn’t working to his full potential, and some say he’s the MVP (no pun intended) of ECW. I feel like MVP has had more of a “breakout” year than Punk (his was really more last year), but he’s raising his profile considerably in 2007 as well.

You raise some strong points about Vince’s “death” but not quite enough to convince me it was a good idea…at least they way they did it. I do think I would’ve accepted it more had the entire three hours leading up to it not been so saturated with McMahon. You could’ve had Vince sulking around at the beginning of the show, proceed with the draft without reminding us too much of how he’s holding up, and then pull the trigger at the end of the show. If you want to include all the video packages, then run the angle on another night and not during another major storyline. They could’ve spaced them out, and they could’ve held interest for longer because of it.

See the previous e-mail for my thoughts on Vickie.

Not only did the end of the Rumble provide an unforgettable moment, but it paved the way for Mania’s two big matches. That’s one hell of a good decision, IMO.

I see you’ve picked the relative dark horse for best match in Harris/Storm. I can’t argue with it too much, because the matches between these two have been stellar. Both their contest at Sacrifice and their rematch on Impact featured everything fans love about this kind of feud. It was everything other tag team breakup feuds simply hope to be and should make duos like the Steiners wish they could give a one-on-one match another go.

I hope that fans are still behind Christian a few years down the road, when he’s just a TNA talent in the people’s eyes and not just WWE’s missed opportunity. He’s truly become one of the best pure heels in all of wrestling, and he gets a pop every time the countdown for his entrance begins. With the winning of another world title and the formation of his own stable, it seems hard not to vote him WOTHY. But did I?

Thanks for the ideas, and never feel embarrassed to be long-winded. Embrace the wind!

You Could Change My Mind

For those of you who don’t know me, which includes pretty much every IWC member in existence, I’m a very stubborn individual. Like most writers, I was blessed with more than your average amount of cynicism and egotism. Thus, when I’ve formulated an opinion on something or someone, changing that opinion is a task no man would envy.

Case in point: on February 3rd, 2003, Triple H and Ric Flair, who had formed an on-screen alliance five months earlier, officially inducted two emerging wrestlers into their new union. The idea behind the stable was to capture the essence of the Four Horsemen while focusing on the ages and status of the different group members. Flair was to be the “legend” of the group, the veteran who imparted his knowledge while still kicking ass. HHH was the “star” of the group, the current world champion who had emerged as the top guy on Raw. To fill the “future champs” quotient, WWE rounded up Dave Batista, who had been playing lackey to D-Von Dudley on SD, and the returning Randy Orton, who had injured his shoulder the summer before.

When Orton first went down to his injury in late 2002, WWE ran segments on Raw entitled “RNN”. The promos were intended to keep Orton’s name on the fans’ lips and as a showcase for Orton’s especially grating persona. He would lament the status of his shoulder, let the people know he was OK and mug for the camera like his life depended on it. And he always reminded us that we could send him good wishes at [email protected]. Basically, you could tell from the very beginning that Randy was pretty good at being an asshole.

However, once he was picked to join Evolution, Orton seemed to lose the swagger of the RNN days and revert to “emotionless heel” mode. And with the exceptions of the Mick Foley and Undertaker feuds, he’s pretty much maintained this pattern ever since. My hopes for Randy’s career were very high after the RNN days, but since then I haven’t seen a lot of reason to care about his character. That is, until just recently.

We can probably all agree that Orton is at his best in a “legend killing” scenario. His character has been defined by his disregard for tradition and the pure joy he takes in bringing that tradition down. At the Great American Bash, Randy took down yet another legend, finishing the job with a boot to Dusty’s skull the next night on Raw. And during the whole angle, I saw something in Orton I hadn’t seen in a long time. Come to think of it, I hadn’t really seen it in the whole five years he’s been a part of WWE. Monday night, I saw a character come into fruition after years of banking on straight potential.

It started for me with Orton’s feud with the Rhodes boys. Randy had just gotten done flirting with the WWE Championship at Vengeance, which was his second PPV title shot in just three months. He’d only seen his career improve since he and Edge went their separate ways around Mania time, and it seemed like WWE was getting behind him like they hadn’t done since his failed World title run. The time was right for Orton to do something he’d never really tried: carry a feud. Cue Dusty and Cody Rhodes.

Dusty was showing his son around backstage on Raw a few weeks ago when Randy’s cocky smile appeared next to them. He was confident and received a legit heel pop as he delivered a legend killing bitchslap to Dusty’s rotund Southern face. Through the subsequent matches and interviews, Orton controlled the vibe of the feud with a level of craftsmanship I’ve never seen out of him. Battling with a legend was like coming home, and it seems to have inspired him to up his game.

My girlfriend was in town this very evening, and we watched this segment in my apartment. As I mentioned in the column that week, she made pretty much the most accurate assessment of Orton’s character I’ve ever heard. She likened him to the asshole college frat boy, a concept that a student at the University of Oklahoma knows all too well. Randy’s the guy who’s been given everything, the guy whose good looks, athleticism and pedigree have taken him to places his ability alone would never take him. And you really believe that he cares about nothing but himself.

And I’m no woman, but if I were I would be very afraid for my vagina if I went on a date with the guy.

That’s the kind of role Orton plays in WWE, and when done right it can lead to a great heel character. It just had yet to be done right…until these past few weeks. As many IWC members have noticed, Orton’s promo work has gotten quite a bit better since Mania. He seems more sure of himself on the mic and in the ring, which is a crucial ingredient for a character like his. And he finally seems to have a truly sadistic quality about him, a quality whose absence up to this point made people simply not care.

That brings us back to this Monday night, when Orton went one-on-one with Cody Rhodes. The match was entertaining, Cody got some big spots in, and the right guy went over in about the right amount of time. But the real highlight of the segment was Orton himself, who carried himself just a little differently than usual. When getting ready to hit the RKO on Cody, Orton lowered himself almost parallel to the mat and crept along ever so slowly. JR, in one of his increasingly rare moments of brilliance, compared him to a snake, a slithering predator who senses opportunity and has no issues ending a person’s career.

Right now the pieces seem to be falling into place for Orton. The RKO was always a great move, but now he has other weapons in his arsenal. The most notable among these is of course the boot to the temple that I’m now calling “The Cranium Killer”. This move, supposedly causing concussions in Shawn Michaels, RVD and now Dusty, has turned Orton into a more dangerous competitor. And if there’s one aspect to a heel that cannot be underestimated, it’s that.

So in light of all of this, I’m issuing to Randy Orton an ultimatum. Randy, you’ve been given yet another golden opportunity by WWE. You’re fighting the company’s absolute biggest star in the second biggest show of the year. This is the same show where, three years ago, you won your first world title. The fact that you haven’t touched another since should clue you in that you haven’t been as good as you think you’ve been. But you get another chance, and from everything I see you don’t want to take it lightly. Take the weeks leading up to SummerSlam and really fine tune who your character is. You’re a lucky man to still be in your position…don’t blow it.

At least he got rid of the high school hair.

My Peeps

Be sure to check out the whole kit and kabootle of columns here at 411 Wrestling. These are the guys who made me want to do this, and I know their words ring true to you guys too.

WOTW

Fact or Fiction featuring Andy Clark and Matt Adamson

Buy or Sell, featuring Ari Berenstein and Stuart Carapola

Ask 411 Wrestling with Steve Cook

411 guru Larry Czonka has the 4R’s

Sat & Uncle Trux have High Road/Low Road

Joe Estee has Keys To the Game

Ari Berenstein has Column of Honor…TWICE!

Stuart Carapola has Friendly Competition

Phill Feltham has The Quick Talkdown

Matt Adamson has Destiny

Matt Short has The Navigation Log

David, Alex & Zach have The Triple Threat

Jordan Linkous has Why I Love Wrestling

Andy Clark has The Shimmy

JP and JT have Hidden Highlights

JT, Adamson and Wilcox have The Fink’s Payload

Samuel Berman has The Independent Mid-Card

Jullian Williams has The Top Ten

Daniel Wilcox has Schmozzes & Screwjobs

Mike Minotti has Can They Be Champ?

Stuart Carapola has That Was Then

Ronny Sarnecky has The Piledriver Report

Matthew Sforcina has Evolution Schematic

Bayani Domingo has Truth B Told

Michael Weyer has Shining a Spotlight

Rob Halden has You’re an Idiot And Here’s Why

Alex Mattis has The Best of the Rest

Ron Gamble has Just S’pose

J.D. Dunn has The Reality Check

If I Could Be Serious For a Minute

It is now time to announce the winners from the RE’s first annual CHRISTMAS IN JULY AWARDS! Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve gone through nominees for twelve awards, picked solely by me, that honor the major wrestling companies’ (WWE and TNA mostly) contributions to the industry in the first six months of 2007. Thanks to everyone who provided their two cents to the awards, but ultimately it does say “Zac Calhoun” on top of the column. Let’s get down to it:

Tag Team of the Half-Year
The Hardys

Non-Wrestling Personality of the Half-Year
Little Bastard

Feud of the Half-Year
Abyss vs. Christian Cage

Announcer of the Half-Year
JBL

Indy Act of the Half-Year
The Briscoe Brother

Match of the Half-Year
WWE Championship: John Cena © vs. Umaga (Royal Rumble)

The RE Award
MVP

PPV of the Half-Year
WWE Backlash

Clutch Move of the Half-Year
Moving Edge to SD and giving him the World title

Boner of the Half-Year
TNA giving away every money match they have

Wrestler of the Half-Year (kayfabe)
John Cena

Wrestler of the Half-Year (really)
Edge

Some of the awards were closer to call than others, but on the whole there were some pretty difficult decisions to make. If these picks upset you in any way, please feel free to tell me why. I mean, you’ll be wrong but at least you said something.

So This Is For All You Freaks Out There…

And now for your listening and viewing pleasure, here’s a little compilation of clips that all have very special meaning to me. They’re all from what I consider to be one of wrestling’s best years ever, 1998. It was the year Austin-mania really kicked into overdrive, the year Vince McMahon truly became Mr. McMahon, and the year nWo members changed allegiances more often than a group of teenage girls.

In retrospect, becoming a fan in the midst of the second “big boom” probably didn’t do me any favors. It conditioned me to expect things you just don’t see nowadays, most specifically world title changes and major character turns on free TV. Sure, the big gold belt title has changed hands three times on SD in the past two years, but none of those were actually planned.

It makes sense that WWE wants to save title changes for a paying audience, but you can’t just make them wait all the time. That being said, here are the three TV moments in 1998 that got me hooked on wrestling for life. I’m sure you’ll recognize them all, probably even if you’re a new fan.

Any WCW marks out there?