wrestling / Columns

The Wrestling Sandwich 07.28.12

July 28, 2012 | Posted by Scott Rutherford

Greetings pilgrims and welcome once again to The Wrestling Sandwich.

After the response to the Bruiser Brody/Hulk Hogan question asked a couple of weeks ago I thought I would throw out another rumor that I never have heard before and see if anyone can shed some light on it. I was listening to the Karl Stern Show podcast he made a couple of months ago and he stated that while Jerry Lawler was AWA Champion it was tabled he was going to beat Lex Luger for the NWA World Title. Now I know Luger didn’t hold that title but it doesn’t mean the Crocketts weren’t think about it. According to Stern this was almost a done deal but something caused it to fall over in the final stages and it never happened.

I’m curious to know if anyone can verify this as this was a potentially huge shift in the wrestling landscape and have NEVER heard it before. I know it’s impossible to hear every rumor this sport has to offer but a game changer like this one should be often talked about to this day.

As for the rest of it…lets get going.

Feedback from last wekk…

Tammy is a drug addict, anyone that’s lived or been around drug addicts known what they do and what they will do to service that addiction. Is it sad to read and probably know that everything he’s said is true? Yes. Am I surprised that they are likely true? Not at all. However, ranting bullshit like this does not help.

See? Another example of how pathetic this country is. Who FORCES anyone to do drugs? Its THEIR CHOICE, so its THEIR FAULT. Stop feeling sorry for people that choose to screw up.
Secondly, New Jack….you’re a joke to most of us. Enjoy your 150 dollar paydays at high school gyms. OH, and in case you’re wondering, thats what he made at the last show he did.

Posted By: REALITY (Guest) on July 22, 2012 at 03:47 PM

I guess REALITY didn’t read where I said…

every adult needs to take personal responsibility for theier actions

I’ve made my own Sunny jokes in the past and she’s well and truly deserved a large part of them but addiction is a terrible thing to have and feeling empathy for someone who isn’t doing anything illegal to anyone else and only doing harm to herself is not a bad thing. My main gripe was that New Jack went off about her character when his character and to a lesser extent that of Chris Candido is nothing to write home about.

++++

Zack Ryder’s problem is that he’s not a good backstage politician. If Zack Ryder doesn’t have someone lobbying for him backstage, he’s not a good politican. He relies too much on his in-ring work, thinking that will be enough to get him over the top. He doesn’t factor in the politics.

Posted By: Keepinitreal85 (Guest) on July 21, 2012 at 07:33 PM

Interesting observation. I don’t get off the Zack Ryder character like most seem to do but do admired how he took his lot and actively set out to change his position. He basically forced the WWE to put him on TV, which really hasn’t worked out as most have planned, as the WWE really doesn’t like people getting over without the WWE being responsible.

The politician thing is interesting as both Randy Orton and C.M Punk managed to improve their position by not keeping their mouths shut except they have one thing Ryder lacks…in ring skills. Ryder doesn’t suck but his matches tend to be unremarkable where as Orton and Punk mange to carry the hype into the ring and get the job done. Ryder may also suffer from a character that is more Santino than serious. He pops the crowd for his “bits” but no one buys him as a serious contender because he’s persona is not serious unto itself.

The reality is that if Zack Ryder decided to play hardball he’s likely find himself endeavored with a 90-day no compete clause and all the hits on youtube will account for roughly zero. He will never be a true main event guy no matter how over he gets with this current character and would need to add some dirt and grit to start getting into the same ballpark as the other two I’ve mentioned. The problem with that is would his smarky fans follow him to a more serious character?

The big story this week still is RAW 1000 which popped the biggest rating the WWE has seen in a good, long while. As expected it was packed to the brim with happenings both nostalgic and current. I’m going to cherry pick the ones the certainly piqued my interest…

– D-X Re-Unites (Both Versions) – This was certainly a highlight as this (too my knowledge) was the first time we’ve seen the all five members of D-X in the ring, all on the same side. Certainly the big surprise was Billy Gunn who’d burned every last plank on the bridge that linked himself to Triple H. Gunn has been most vocal since leaving the WWE years ago that any push he got was sabotaged by Trips at every turn. To see them hugging and smiling in the ring was interesting to say the least. Overall, I certainly marked out and got the tingles when they all were standing in the ring together and the crowd was popping huge. Given the reaction I wouldn’t be surprised if some D-X match pops up in the future at something like Survivor Series.

– I was not happy about Damien Sandow being made to look like a geek. The man has been heavily protected for weeks now and then all of a sudden eats a superkick and a pedigree and then dumped outside. The man has huge potential and could have made quite the impression and given some sort of rub by managing to verbally keep up with the D-X crew. Someone like Stevie Richards in full Right To Censor mode would have been better fodder.

– We all knew that the Daniel Bryan/AJ wedding was going to be screwy but I don’t think anyone thought this was going to basically end in a whimper. Not sure why AJ being GM meant that she couldn’t marry Bryan as nothing of the sort was mentioned (unless this will be explained in SD or RAW next week) and I thought Bryan would be happy that his woman would be running the show.

– The Rock stuff was all fine and while I think he can bury people with his put-downs, Bryan certainly took them and came back with some great intensity and didn’t look like a complete geek. The man is talented.

– The Rock/C.M Punk stuff was a sudden out break of pre-planning although the crowd was likely a tad confused that The Rock announcing in a title match at the Royal Rumble with no kind of build. With heel turned Punk standing opposite him and the promo ability of both men being insanely great, this could turn out to be quite the big occasion. Of course this is the logical set-up for Punk to drop the title to Rock and then he drops to Cena at WrestleMania. We’ll see if we get there.
– The HHH/Paul Heyman/Stephanie/Brock segment was fascinating from a smark prospective. When Steph came out, the stuff she was saying was so inside and ridiculously personal towards Heyman you have to wonder if there was more than a little bit of shoot to it. Heyman wouldn’t care either way because he knows where to draw the line and NOTHING Stephanie, Vince or Triple H can say would really bother him. In fact, the madder Steph got I’m sure the happier Heyman probably was getting.

– I liked the HHH/Brock confrontation and though it had a great physical element that will hook people for the match at SummerSlam. Will they be able to pay this off with the actual match? Not sure but I’m pretty certain it will be decent.

– Did you know the Heath Slater segment popped a bigger rating than HHH/Brock? Think about that for a while.

– Loved the C.M Punk turn and like most I think heel Punk is a better Punk. He’s a natural asshole and him playing the cloying babyface for he past couple of months has been pretty bland. I’ve talk for nearly 5 months about how he doesn‘t bring ratings as a babyface champion but an extended run as a heel with a big PPV match with The Rock on the horizon will be a nice change of direction.

Overall I liked the show and the WWE took the potential interest of a vastly increased audience and put storylines in place for Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, did a big heel turn angle that come off incredible well and gave a highly entertaining 3-hours show. Next week will be incredibly interesting to see if they can follow it up with something strong.

I don’t even pretend to try and understand the minutiae of “locker room” edict things that we hear about. Things like the handshaking and introducing yourself to everyone is a tradition holding over from back before kayfabe was kayfabed as a way for those in the dressing room to know who was a mark or who was one of the boys. Is it strictly needed now? Probably not but it’s good to keep tradition in place as it helps build an understanding of the roots of what wrestlers do.

It seems the popular thing to do these days is try and find ANY sort of dirt on John Cena and use that as proof positive he’s an asshole and using dressing him etiquette to help prove a point. Kenn Doane is aching to throw Cena under a bus at every turn using this method with the big one being that Cena fucked his girlfriend while Cena was married.

Newsflash people…if correct that would make Cena pretty much like every wrestler in history. For every Mick Foley who managed to keep his dick in his pants you have a bunch of guya like Jake Roberts who indulged in every hedonistic pursuit he could indulge when it came to drugs and infidelity. Bret Hart was a chronic road whore but a devote family man. Hulk Hogan gave up nearly 70% of his fortune because allegedly Linda Hogan had serious dirt on Hogan, which he was desperate to keep confidential.

The list is endless with probably the highest profile snaking of another mans girlfriend while being married would have to go to the Matt Hardy/Edge/Lita triangle from a while back. Funny how Edge, the man that cheated on his wife and stole his best friends girlfriend is a much-respected man these days and that particular episode is but a footnote. Funny how the fanboy smarks will conveniently ignore the hypocrisy in hauling Cena over the coals yet hailing Edge almost at the same time.

Alex Riley misread being ribbed and is now paying for. He’s also the guy that managed to collect a DUI while being part of the main event feud with Miz and Cena. In the image conscious WWE that was not going to do him any favours. He’s also part of a long list of potentially talented and young performers that are eating shit right now in the WWE with Jack Swagger at the start of the line. In fact, wasn’t it Riley that badly botched moves with Swagger last year making Swagger look like a chump?

But let’s blame John Cena.

Back to locker room edict…Colt Cabana recently stated in one of his recent podcasts that he kept introducing himself to Cena because he fully expected Cena to not remember a developmental guy like him. After about the sixth time of doing this Cena very tersely stated that he know who the fuck he was. Taken out of context that would look like Cena being hostile to a dude, in context it was Cena getting annoyed with someone who was repeating himself, again and again without any need to and just stopping it.

I have always like john Cena and respect the work and effort he puts into the business and for every Doane there’s about 500 wrestlers that say Cena is a good guys. Does Cena enjoy the life afforded to him on the road? Of course he does. Is he going to use his back stage power to right situations that he thinks are wrong? Of course he is. It’s pro wrestling…if a main eventer doesn’t politick he ain’t going to be a main eventer for much longer.

The interesting news out of TNA would be Bruce Pritchard and his current negotiations with a raft of talent soon off contract soon. The word is he’s currently trying to get talent to get on per-appearance contracts and the talent isn’t happy.

You can probably blame the TNA/WWE lawsuit for that.

Since there is now a hiring freeze from the WWE concerning TNA talent and the fact the WWE seem to be adhering to this court order, it seems TNA are in a position to play more than a little hardball in negotiations. If this is intentional then I cannot describe at how smart that bit of pre-planning was. Though I’m sure that it was dumb luck and Pritchard was smart enough to capitalize.

The big surprise seems to be Pritchard is playing hardball with Bully Ray, which baffles my mind. Firstly he’s one of the most experienced performers on the roster. Second he’s one of the best performers they have and thirdly he’s also an agent. I’m not a big Bully Ray fan but he is definitely an asset to TNA in front and behind the camera. To lose him because you’re trying save a couple of thousand dollars would be ludicrous.

So if Bully left TNA would the WWE rehire him when legally able to? In a heartbeat. The WWE agent system is clogged full of guys that are an era or two removed from anything close to relevant. Bully is old enough to get that “respect” stuff that everyone crows on about but young enough to bring it in the ring and teach some of the younger talent

The Smackdown Good & Bad

IC Title Match: The Miz © vs. Christian
Good: Last week I mentioned that there’s really no need for an interview segment to lead off the show where a match would work better…well here you go. Miz for the most part looks a million times more credible without the faux-hawk and the added facial hair. The match itself was as good a match you would expect with both men working hard and getting the crowd in. I thought the timing of Miz jamming his thumb into Christian eye was superb and good booking that saw Miz winning clean and cementing his win from RAW on Monday.
Bad: While I’m happy Christian took the loss and I have no problem with him being pinned without any silliness, the cheap roll-up pin was just that…cheap. The fact that the set-up was so erm, awesome Miz hitting his finisher for the win would have been even better.

RAW Main Event – Recap
Good: I talked about the angle above but one thing I notice here was when Rock came off the rope to drop the elbow C.M Punk came out of NO WHERE. I mean, the shot that showed the entirety of the ring mere seconds before he hit clothesline, Punk was just no there. Seconds later Rock is laid out. The timing of that was just epic.
Bad: Zero.

Jinder Mahal vs. Ryback
Good: Ryback is getting legit big crowd reactions. The general booking of guys like Ryback to emphasize them as looking like stars instead of jobbers is working. Reconditioning audiences takes time and after the last ten years people have forgotten to react to that type of booking but the Smackdown crowd is slowly catching on.
Bad: I have no idea what to make of the match itself. I mean JINDER FUCKING MAHAL dominated this match and had the honor of walking out and losing via count out. What. The. Fuck.

Sheamus/Daniel Bryan Backstage
Good: Fun little exchange and the reveal of Bryan getting a “How To Last Longer Than 18 SECONDS” book was a clever throw back.
Bad: Nothing. It was harmless. I lol’d.

Non-Title Match: Sheamus © vs. Cody Rhodes
Good: Sheamus is now a made guy. This man is starting to get into true superstar territory and his work in the ring has been nothing short of fantastic and with Daniel Bryan the best in ring performer they have. The match itself was tremendous and Cody looked like he belonged in there. I really liked Dolph Ziggler coming in mid-match and threatening to cash in MiTB at any time and his presence throwing off both guys
Bad: Again, nothing to complain about. A good solid match that was entertaining.

Chris Jericho Post Match Shenanigans
Good: So Dolph is thinking about chancing his hand against a flagging Sheamus but decides that this isn’t his time but Jericho jumps him and throws Ziggler in the ring where he takes an AWESOME bump off the Brogue kick.
Bad: Jericho is starting to look old.

Non-Title Match: Santino Marella © vs. Antonio Cesaro w/Aksana
Good: Cesaro looked strong in a squash and hopefully this sets up a US Title match and win for Antonio. Santino always makes his opponents looks good since he’s always willing to sell his ass off and this is no different.
Bad: Cesaro is currently inflicted with Cody Rhodes disease…meaning he has skinny ass legs and knees and looks completely out of proportion without need pads. The goofy leg strapping doesn’t help.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Damien Sandow
Good: My markdom of all things Sandow is well know by now and this match offered nothing for me to second guess that. I dug how he escalated his aggression up a notch thanks to his mistreatment at the hands of D-X on Monday. I mean, he was just viscous with his handling of Tatsu. I really hope this leads to some sort of pay-off like a match with X-Pac, Road Dogg and even Billy Gunn since he looked like he showed up in shape and willing to work on Monday.
Bad: I refuse to admit there is anything wrong with Sandow.

#1 Contender’s Match: Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan
Good: The third really good match of the night. The action was non-stop and each guy was made to look strong at different times. The pace was fast and there was no point where nothing wasn’t happening. It was also super fun to watch four good workers use the advantage of four guys working at the same time and pack so much into a match that went barely 15 minutes. I liked the ending and think Alberto was a fine choice of winner as keeping him and Rey apart for a while and letting their hostilities simmer some more is ideal. Plus it leaves the door open for a Bryan/Rey series of matches, which I’m totally down for.
Bad: Again, nothing to complain about. A well booked and execuated match makes me a happy watcher.

Overall
Good: Outside of the weird, weird booking of Ryback this was a strong show with 3 good-great matches, a couple of well booked squashes that helped to get the wrestlers over and for me the show flew by.
Bad: Jinder Mahal better be dead meat next week. The only other negative thing I can say is that while these squashes and character building matches are working a treat right now, these guys need to get into proper feuds with people to start helping them get to the next level in terms of credibility with the fans. Right now, while they are entertaining, they are just another bunch of guys on the same level.

Mick Foley mentioned this about possibly getting into the WWE Hall of Fame…

I do hope it’s this year. It would mean a lot to me honestly. One of the most telling moments of my relationship with WWE is when I got the phone call asking if I’d mind if they mentioned my book on their show when I was working with another company. When I heard the book being mentioned, every reservation I had or any semblance of bitterness vanished you know. I used to go around, not making a big deal out of [the WWE Hall of Fame]. Its like being in a relationship, if you give too much of yourself you risk being hurt. So if I said ‘Oh of course I’d love to be in the Hall of Fame’ I’d be letting them have that and make my career seem less important if I didn’t get it.”

I know it’s the “in” thing to bash Foley as being a money whore but the man himself readily admits that he’s always out to make money. It’s not really an argument against the man when almost every wrestler is out there to make money any way they can.

As for the HoF…he is one of those guys that need to be in there. He was a top guy and one of the wrestling big draws during one of the their hottest periods. A former champion, trend setter and leader. Those are the reasons he belongs and for the naysayers…STFU.

++++

From The Observer..

Dolph Ziggler is currently expected to get a World Title run some time this year. Ziggler’s work rate and sell for his opponents has been winning people over, and many of the company’s top babyface talent are eager to work with him because of his ability to make people look good.

I’m all for a Zigglier push and like what I’m seeing with drawing out the chashing in of the MiTB briefcase. The thing with Ziggler though he’s so intent of taking over-the-top bumps he’s lining up to be the next Jeff Hardy. Hopefully his upcoming program with Chris Jericho will help him slow down a little and take some of the hot dog out of his ring work.

++++

Zac Ryder on his feud with Kane and Eve…

I was on such a roll at the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 and the whole Kane and Eve thing killed my momentum. Basically killed my career.

Fucking Dah!!! We all figured this out as it was happening bro.

++++

Danna White recently stated that Vince McMahon is the second greatest promoter ever after P.T Barnum.

I would just like to say even with all my Vince Is batshit Insane talk (which I stand by), he is without a doubt a tremendous promoter and managed to change the nature of the business he’s in a repeatedly over 3 decades.

I am nothing if not fair.

Doesn’t mean I still don’t think that right now he’s the biggest danger to the WWE and their ability to be relevant for a new generation.

++++

Smith Hart tweeted this after RAW

“Another waste of a legend. I would have much preferred Bret referee than ring announce. Especially given his history with both men.”

Did Bret Harts own brother completely missed the fact that Bret could barely get in the ring and looked completely uncomfortable even walking? Sure Smith, get the stroke victim ithat’s n visible discomfort to physically exert himself some more.

Woohooo…let’s hear it for in ring death!

++++

Concerning The Miz…

With his victory last night on Raw, The Miz has won the traditional WWE Triple Crown (WWE Title, IC Title and Tag Team Titles).

So I guess congratulations are in order but really, is this such an achievement these days? I remember when Pedro Morales was such a stud for being a triple crown winner and it was a huge achievement when Bret Hart was the next guy to do it in 1992.

Here’s a list of triple crown winners…

Pedro Morales
Bret Hart
Diesel
Shawn Michaels
Stone Cold Steve Austin
The Rock
Triple H
Kane
Chris Jericho
Kurt Angle
Eddie Guerrero
Chris Benoit
Ric Flair
Edge
Rob Van Dam
Booker T
Randy Orton
Jeff Hardy
CM Punk
John “Bradshaw” Layfield
Rey Mysterio
Dolph Ziggler
Christian

Did anyone else notice the mention of DOLPH FUCKING ZIGGLER on that list? I mean, I know the guy is talented and one of the likely guys to lead the company over the next 10 years but seriously?

What’s even more worrisome is the guys that will be triple crown winner if they score a world title reign…

Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Santino Marella, and William Regal

It makes me want to cry. Although a perverse part of me wants Santino to win a world title and then promote the fuck out of it saying he’s greater than Hulk Hogan and Bruno Sammartino. The frisson that would cause would be well worth it.

Other Tasty Treats

He’s a couple of matched from 1989 between the Brain Busters and Demolition. This would be the last great feud of the Tully & Arn before Tully went off the reservation. The first match is the SNME title change that ended the Demo’s first title reign (the longest in history to this day) and the second was the Superstars match where they regained the titles.

The pop at the end of the second match may be one of my fondest memories of that period of wrestling.

Enjoy!