The Tuesday Communique 10.16.12: A Wrestling Odyssey, Part 1

The Wrestling News Experience with Stephen Randle
The Contentious Ten Best Managers with Gavin Napier
The Piledriver Report: WrestleMania 29 with Ronny Sarnecky
Moments That Changed Wrestling History: Hulkamania with Craig Wilson
The 8 Ball: Wrestlers Hitting Fans with Ryan Byers
Shining A Spotlight: Corporate Mentality with Michael Weyer
Ask 411 Wrestling: IYH, WCW, 2nd Gen & More! with Mathew Sforcina
The Wrestling 5&1: Michelle McCool vs. Maxine with Tony Acero
Thursday Sports Entertainment News with Sean Kelly
The Wednesday Wrestling Week That Was with Sam Smith

Oh Tuesday Tuesday,
Good to be, Tuesday morning.
Now read all the news.

2012: A Wrestling Odyssey, Part 1
Sunday October 14, 2012
It’s interesting how the pro wrestling business works. Just a few days ago I was preparing to write a piece about how depressing the lack of creativity and willingness to try something different had become. WWE has been going in the direction they want to go in regardless of how the fans feel, Ring of Honor has been treading water with good wrestling but severely uninspired stories and TNA has producing mostly fun TV but their main storyline’s continued success is relying upon a satisfying reveal of the identities of the antagonists. TNA has a long history of extremely disappointing unveilings of “big announcement” type scenarios. Overall, the mainstream promotions in the North American professional wrestling scene aren’t anywhere close to being “must see” TV. While that is still true at the time of this writing, many things are ch-ch-changing backstage and we are already beginning to feel the shockwaves under the bright lights.

Creative Shakeups
Just as RAW was about to go on the air last Monday a story began to roll out regarding a fit that Vince McMahon was having. He was livid backstage due to the ratings, which were slumping, going on what he saw as possibly the beginning of a hard-to-control downhill slide. Certainly this had been brewing for some time, but the worst non-holiday episode rating in 5 years followed by another low number one week later proved to be the final straw; the shit hit the fan, the last nail was put in the coffin and so on and so forth. Head writer Brian Gewirtz was nixed and bumped down to “consultant”. As it turns out, he had already been taken off the road and was working solely out of corporate HQ in Stamford. Dave Kapoor, better known to the general viewing audience as Great Khali’s manager/brother Ranjin Singh, had been promoted to Gewirtz’ previous position as lead writer and was therefore no longer a subordinate of the long time creative team stalwart.

News broke that a “high profile” main event star had a heated confrontation with Mr. McMahon, accusing him of being detached from reality and out of touch with what the people want to see. It seemed to be a part of what lit a fire under Vince’s ass (and his ass, and his ass) and got him to get it into gear with what we saw truly begin when Vince reappeared on television.

In Ring of Honor, former ROH star Delirious was sharing the booking/creative duties with famed wrestling manager and personality Jim Cornette, who had been doubling as the on-air authority figure. News began to circulate that Cornette was bumped from the booking committee in favor of Hunter Johnston, the long time ROH wrestler-turned-writer known to most as the lizard-faced madman Delirious. In what many believe to Johnston’s first act as truly head man behind the booking desk, the frustrated and seemingly devoid of opportunity Jay Lethal earned a shot at the World Champion Kevin Steen. He had been told by Jim Cornette that he simply did not have the “killer instinct” to rid ROH of their Kevin Steen nightmare. He responded with some outcries violent in nature, and it expanded to his title shot in his home state of New Jersey, which ended in controversy and chaos, as he brawled with Steen after the champion spit on Lethal’s own mother. The evening ended with Jay Lethal physically dismantling Jim Cornette and ridding Ring of Honor of the tennis-racketed crusader as an on-screen entity.

The decision to run such a chaotic finish spurred great debates within the internet community, and many believe that the change in leadership behind the pen will begin to rekindle the buzz that made Ring of Honor at one time the mecca of independent professional wrestling.

The Story Isn’t Over
It is a very interesting and exciting time to be a wrestling fan. TNA’s biggest show of the year concluded with a new World Champion in Jeff Hardy and the first big reveal in the Aces & Eights angle with Devon, former TV Champion whose contract had been believed to be expired, donning a mask that was pulled off in Phoenix. Is that the symbolism here? Devon was gone from TNA but returned from the ashes, just like the Phoenix, as part of the most important storyline in the company’s present. Does that symbolism stretch further, hitting WWE and Ring of Honor, companies plagued by poor performace creatively to the point that their critical records were severely tarnished? Changes have been made and the end of one week saw the begin of the rise of the phoenix. Will the fire continue to grow or will it be put out before reaching its thriving blaze of glory?

“Why is Cody Rhodes’ jacket behind Punk and Heyman?
– Looks like they’ve decided to go a different route here. It was noted that Punk’s big decision would come at the top of the 9 o’clock hour, which is smart, since that’s the traditional beginning of the show — I wonder if that’s when a lot of people are still programmed to be tuning in just out of habit. This opening segment feels like something that would normally open the 9 o’clock hour on a 3-hour RAW, but it makes much more sense, in my eyes, to open the show hot. That’s what this does. Put your #1 contender and one of your hottest acts into the ring and get the crowd hyped for the night. Boom.

Big Show def. Daniel Bryan (7 min)
The match was cut open a bit by the commercial, but the 4 minutes after the break was definitely good stuff. About what you would expect between these two guys, with Show wearing Bryan down, D-Bry making the comeback with a crapload of kicks and stupidly jumping right into a chokeslam.

– Okay, maybe they’ll just do the announcement at 8:30 instead of 9. I still like it here better than at the start of the show. I think most of us hate the convention of the 20-minute show opening promo segment, so it’s better to have it here than at the beginning. Instead they gave us a short promo that set up a match. Beautiful. That worked for me.

– Very good interview here by Punk, and I don’t even have the feeling of it being forced like I have over the past few weeks. He’s not ranting and raving — ranting, sure, but not raving like a lunatic. He was even keeled for the most part, made his point without being too whiny and it worked. Of cource Vince had to ruin his moment, but that happens from time to time when you slap the boss in the face, whack him with a kendo stick and smash his nuts with your forearm. Can’t blame Vince, really.

Alberto Del Rio def. Brodus Clay (3 min)
Brodus gets the jobber entrance, which once agin deprives me of the ass-to-ass entrance from Cameron and Naomi. PLEASE re-push him again just so I can see that more! Of course as I type that sentence, Clay taps out, but you already knew that.

Prime Time Players def. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder (1 min shown)
We are JIP with Titus O’Neal botching a jawbreaker from Santino and a VERY hot tag to Zack Ryder. Yeah, he’s SO not over. Ryder makes a sincerely short comeback before walking into the Clash of the Titus. That’s a sweet name for the move. Afterward, Heath Slater and his motley crew run out and lay the beatdown to Santino again. They’re actually dressed the part this week, full on with Slater wearing an awesome Slash hat. It’s official, they’re the 3 MAN BAND, BAY-BAY! I fully endorse this message.

– Hey, they’re letting Dolph Ziggler talk! Do this more often and people will care about him instead of reacting because Vickie is there! Holy cow he wants to win both titles in the same night! Ziggler wants the belts unified too! Otunga comes out and thinks he deserves a title shot, but they’re both heels, so AJ makes…

Handicap match: Ryback def. David Otunga & Dolph Ziggler (2 min)
I thought this might be the beginning of a Ziggler face turn, actually. Instead he takes a clothesline and runs away. Of course they won’t turn Dolph because the crowd wants to cheer him, and that can’t be a good business decision! Ryback kills Otunga. Feed him more.

– Heyman wants to make a pitch, but McMahon is having none of it. It’s Vince versus Paul tonight. NOW GET OUTTA MY SIGHT!

– What’s going on with Josh Mathews? Now even Matt Striker gets to make fun of him. What the fuck? Justice! He’s going to get his ass kicked by Kane. That makes me feel better.

Non-title: Antonio Cesaro def. Justin Gabriel (4 min)
They wanted the crowd to get behind Gabriel for this one, but they killed them with all of the work on his midsection. I get that the idea was to build to the Neutralizer, but when you have a guy like Gabriel who is willing to (and did) sell like a million bucks for a guy, utilize it for the entirety of the short match. Half the match was a gutwrench. They still popped big for the European Uppercut so I guess all is well. I’m glad they’ve Swiss-ized his entrance video and LED screens. He needs to start drinking Starbucks randomly in the background of other peoples’ segments (without ever being acknowledged) and we’re good to go.

Kane def. Matt Striker (2 min)
Striker tries to talk his way out of it, so Kane hugs it out. Then chokeslams him. Kane ends it with his own interview, but Striker is speechless.

– MizTV with Kofi Kingston, and Kofi shows immediately that WWE should be ashamed that they don’t let him talk more often. Check out last week’s Main Event for more proof of that. The dude is way comfortable with the mic in his hand and he’s smooth as hell. If they don’t put up the glass ceiling, this guy IS a future WWE Champion. Just like last week on Main Event, Kofi and Miz had some amazing chemistry in a dueling promo here and the crowd is most certainly into this feud, which is getting damn good. So the question is do they give Kofi the belt on Wednesday or wait until Hell in a Cell?

Non-title: Wade Barrett def. Sheamus via DQ (15 min)
Barrett and Sheamus start off exchanging rudimentary holds, but just as JR surmised that doesn’t last very long. Barrett actually avoids the heart-stopping forearms in the ropes (does that have a name?) and controls for a moment before Sheamus starts his comeback 4 minutes into the match. It looks like they’re set to go to commercial, but then Big Show’s music hits. Then JR marks out over the chair Show is holding, THEN they go to commercial. I guess that part was important. Sheamus continues to be a workhorse on RAW. Nice psychology as Sheamus doesn’t get fooled twice with the mule kick into the ring steps. Barrett is just kicking his ass here — normally I’d be annoyed with Sheamus taking a beating because he’s supposed to be a badass and should NOT be playing the “come from behind” role, but it’s Wade Barrett, who they want to build up as equally ass kicking, so it works great here. This can be a pretty big PPV title match in three months if Sheamus holds onto the title into 2013. The match continues with Sheamus getting his short-lived hope spots before Barrett gets right back on top of things. He is laying waste(land) to the champion, if you will. Sheamus rolls through on a dive and locks in the Cloverleaf but Big Show interferes to low bridge him and cause the DQ, but Barrett gets his head kicked off anyway. Fantastic TV match and even though Barrett winds up on his back it does WAY more for him than a 3-minute squash and doesn’t give away a finish that they will eventually do on PPV.

Divas Title: Eve Torres def. Layla (5 min)
Layla doesn’t get an entrance here, which I still find weird. They have so much time yet they still don’t give some people entrances. Layla takes a near-deadly backwards bump betwen the middle and bottom ropes to the outside and Eve covers back inside while the crowd stuffs their faces with popcorn. Eve figure-fours the head and gets a couple shots of Alex Shelley’s skullfuck in there, but then drags herself to the ropes in an awkward spot to break her own hold. It probably wasn’t supposed to look like that. Layla begins to make a comeback but takes a nasty looking bump on her shoulder before getting pinned with her foot on the bottom rope. Then she sits outside the ring and cries. Way to make your women look strong! Sexy! Powerful! Or whatever that stupid bullshit was.

– It’s open mic night in Nashville! Oh, no it’s not! I am LOVING this 3MB gag.

Not Tourney Finals: Rhodes Scholars def. Primo & Epico (7 min)
Primo and Epico jump the Rhodes Scholars before the bell, presumably because they’re sore losers and are jealous of the intellectual saviours for making it to the finals. The crowd doesn’t care even a slightly little tiny bit here, by the way. It’s kind of tough when the crowd isn’t really sure if Primo and Epico are supposed to be faces and also don’t really know if they want to cheer the Rhodes Scholars. JR occupies his time pondering the relationship between Rosa and her charges. The match picks up a bit when the heat(less) segment on the faces(ish) ends and then they end it with Sandow’s necktie neckbreaker.

Non-title: Kofi Kingston def. The Miz (5 min)
I forgot they were even doing this match. They really should have cut the previous tag match and just let Rhodes and Sandow cut a promo if Mysterio couldn’t go. Putting the Divas title match and a heatless match before this really killed the crowd dead. It seems like they’re having some communication problems here. Must be the Jamaican/English language barrier. Jim Ross brings up the epic brawl Kofi had with Orton a few years ago at Madison Square Garden. What a missed opportunity that was. Kofi tries to get the crowd back into it and they blow a reverse-reverse-reverse sequence, but Kofi makes up for it by PLASTERING Miz with the Trouble in Paradise kick. That could be a broken orbital bone. Or worse.

– It’s contract signing time! Punk signs right away and leaves it to Vince. Punk rants for a second and Cena tells him to shut up. Ryback stands there looking hungry. Cena leads the crowd in a rally for Ryback, which tells me he’s scared of Punk. Running scared. Ryback signs the contract and the crowd isn’t quite sure how to act, but then he goes after Punk and they’re ready to scream in approval. This could be a big starmaking moment for Ryback — if Punk can lead him through a really good match in Atlanta (ironic what with the Goldberg comparisons and all) then they might have elevated a guy to the main event. Goldberg didn’t have much by way of ring ability and he became a huge star quickly, so why not Ryback? Might as well take the risk and try something new.

Overall RAW Thoughts
Very good show. Two weeks in a row they have put on entertaining television with some strong wrestling, even though both weeks it did drag a bit going into the homestretch. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen next.

Down Goes Vader!
Harley Race, who needs a motorized scooter to get around, punched Vader in the face over the weekend. I was hoping to come up with some go-kart joke but nothing came to me. Oh well. Apparently Vader was being a dick and pissed Race off, so Harley hauled off and belted him in the mouth. Vader tried to hit him back but was stopped. People have been lauding Race for being a huge badass, but what’s manly about sucker punching a dude while in a crowd of people while full well knowing that people will stop him from hitting back? It was what I believe many people call a “bitch move”. I guess they were out in the hallway after the incident and talked it out. Word on the convention scene is that Vader started insulting the former NWA World’s Champ when Race said Family Matters was better than Boy Meets World.

Wait, Who Did You Book?
Adam Copeland has no problem that he can no longer be advertised as “Edge” for appearances. Everybody booking him is likely annoyed. What do you think? Will it hurt attendance for autograph signings and other appearances if Edge is booked and advertised using the name Adam Copeland instead of his better known stage name?

The Coach on NXT & Main Event
“Hands down, The Main Event and NXT are the best WRESTLING shows on television. While I would like to see a lot of the NXT guys come up, I know they will end up lost in the shuffle like Dean Ambrose is now. At least on NXT they get their time, promos, and characters are getting way over. Check out Bray freaking Wyatt!”

NXT is indeed getting better by the week. Has anybody else noticed how smarky the crowd has become? They chant “Joe!” for everything that Michael McGillicutty does and do some cheering for the heels and booing the faces stuff too. What happened to Wyatt? He got hurt, right? When’s he due back?

Really? How Old Is Chavo?
Apparently The Miz talked shit about Chavo Guerrero. Chavo nutted up on Twitter (seriously) and threatened Miz. I think Chavo said something about his dogs being in the pool area.

Kung Fu Panda on Free TV Matches
“I’ll never understand why Larry (and others) complain about high quality free tv matches. It’s not like it’s his pockets are being affected (unless he’s secretly Vince).”

I understand where Larry and others are coming from when they complain about this — it’s about good booking. We all love a good wrestling match. Most people agree that a wrestling match can be even better when it has a good backstory. When a match like Barrett v. Sheamus, which can be a World Title match on PPV in a matter of months, is given away on television for free without any rhyme or reason other than to just fill time it can be annoying. I have mixed feelings on it — I am always first in line to call for longer, better matches on TV. Barrett and Sheamus had a very strong match on TV last week and if they follow up (which they won’t), it would be far more effective than months of squash matches and cliche “I mean business” promos. There are some matches that feel more “special” when they’re first time contests and are built up as such for a big PPV encounter. That’s a big deal to some people. I think that certainly can help get the hype going for a match and I know why people feel that way.

Little Jimmy Special
R-Truth was going to be turned heel but Vince put the kibosh on it because he likes the Little Jimmy Schtick. I have mixed feelings on it, but at this point they might as well just have him do entertaining stuff in the lower card that makes the crowd laugh and makes the kids happy. I’d say turn him heel and have him feud with Sheamus down the line but I fear that they would turn it into something more than just implicitly racist.

The Big Red Retirement Community
Kane says that he has a few more years left wrestling. He stated that he’s having fun and as long as he can still get in the ring, perform and enjoy himself he’ll keep going. Kane also has been able to add more to the creative process for his character, which he likes. He seems like one of the most humble guys in the business. Over the course of his 15-years as Kane he has seen tons of ups and downs yet he has taken everything in stride. Kane is the definition of a true company man as well as the model of consistency.

ScottOTD’s Sweet New Tag Team Idea!
“Given Barrett’s taken about half of Ohno’s gimmick I’ve been worrying about how or if he’ll get called up. Then a couple of days ago a saw a pic of Brodie Lee for nXt (basically Bruiser Brody) and realized that he and Hero look sort of alike and have exactly the same beard/hair combo… now I’m convinced they’ll both be brought in as a Blu Brothers/Highlanders tag team :-/“

That tag team could actually be pretty cool. I think there is plenty of difference between Ohno and Barrett. Wade is a played up as an asskicking brawler who is just there to kick some ass. Kassius is more of a cerebral guy who just wants to be a dick and show people that he is not to be trifled with. Their finishers are similar, but that can be rectified… or they can make it a point of contention by having them eventually feud over who has the better knock out elbow.

Ryback v. Goldberg
In a recent interview with WWE Magazine (or dot com), Ryback mentioned that Goldberg was only in wrestling for the money (questionable) AND that he’s a better athlete than Goldberg ever was. Goldberg replied that Ryback wasn’t a better athlete and agreed that the argument was over when a fan tweeted that Goldberg had been in the NFL. I don’t know (or care much) one way or the other. The idea of one person being a better athlete than another is often a very subjective topic and being a pro athlete isn’t the marking point of athleticism. I think it was silly for Ryback to say that stuff, but what’s been said can’t be taken back.

Punished For Following Advice
Zack Ryder’s Youtube show didn’t air last week because it wasn’t approved by WWE. The last time this happened it was a shortened, crappy version that cut out the stuff that was too truthful but not said by CM Punk. Seriously, Ryder has been so fucked. It’s like they gave him that feud with Ziggler and the short run with the US Title just so he could feel how it was like to get a push; then they took it away so he would know exactly what he was missing. I’m hoping with the new developments behind the scenes they’re going to give Ryder another chance. He got himself over, which is exactly what Vince and Triple H and the other higher-ups have always said guys need to do. He followed their advice and worked to get himself over and was then summarily punished for it. If they give the Long Island Iced Z a sustained push and the fans don’t respond, then maybe push him back down a bit. But the fans have been vocal in their affinity for seeing him, and a jobberish comedy tag team with Santino isn’t what they want.

Join me again next week for more news, reviews, thoughts, analysis and whatever else it is that I do around here. Part 2 of the Wrestling Odyssey is coming in the weeks ahead. Let’s allow some time to pass and have the dust begin to settle before we continue down that road.

I will try to catch Bound For Glory if I get a chance. I’ve been reading good things. The Devon reveal was quite unexpected and I’m nowhere near ready to shit on that yet. Let’s see where it goes. He was a boring face, but now he’s a heel. That could help.

Smith tomorrow. Everybody else coming up as usually scheduled. See ya in a week!

– Nicholas A. Marsico