wrestling / Columns

The World According to Ron: Looking at Heel Sami Zayn, Bobby Roode’s Entrance, More

December 11, 2017 | Posted by Ron Gamble
Sami Zayn Image Credit: WWE

Wow. What a week, huh? For example, football-wise, the Steelers and Bengals decided to put on a clinic of how to properly and improperly block Monday night. JuJu Smith-Schuster’s hit on Vontaze Burfict was during a play, and JuJu was blocking a prospective tackler. George Iloka’s hit on Antonio Brown was after Brown had scored. Both hits were helmet-to-helmet, yes, but naturally, JuJu gts a one-game suspension, while Iloka gets a fine. Yes, JuJu was guilty of taunting Burfict, no excuse there. He deserved that penalty. On the other hand, it was Burfict who knocked Antonio Brown out of the playoff game when the Cincy Bungles self-destructed in 2015, and then bragged about it. He gets no sympathy from me.

Meanwhile, Ryan Shazier is still in a Pittsburgh hospital. Forget football; no one has said that he will definitely walk again. Let’s keep that in mind.

By the way, the guy who wrote last week that people like me make him like the Young Bucks more and more? That’s fine. You can like whatever wrestlers you like. You are not hurting my feelings. I admit, I am an old fart, and they just don’t do for me what they do for you.

*SOB*

In other news, Sen. Al Franken has resigned from his seat after seven women made claims of sexual harassment, while Donald Trump sits in the White House with 16 women claiming the same thing, and Alabama may elect Roy Moore to the Senate after several women have come forward with stories of him hitting on them while they were still in high school and he was an attorney. Naturally, the difference is that Franken has a (D) after his name, while Trump and Moore have (R)s after theirs.

Also, to all non-Americans who are reading this: I’m sorry. I did what I could last year, and I know the guy who represented us last year was a lot more, well, everything, than the guy now. It’s just that the guy who represents us now got more people in the right places to believe his lies than the woman, that’s all. I wasn’t happy with Hillary, either, but at least if she was President, she wouldn’t be in a contest with Kim Jong Un to see whose missiles were bigger.

Okay, no more politics this week, I promise.

One last thing before the main event. I lived in Columbus for many years. I was there when Major League Soccer not only announced they were officially a league, but also when the league announced Columbus Crew as the first team in the history of the league. I went to their first game at Ohio Stadium in 1996, and several other games in their three-plus seasons there. I was not at the first game at Crew Stadium in 1999, because I was a little busy graduating from grad school, but I was there the next week, on my birthday. The US U-17 team beat Ecuador in a pouring rain to qualify for the U-17 World Cup, followed by the Crew winning their game. I was there in the beginning, with Doctor Khumalo and his two lost seasons here, with the emergence of Brian McBride on the US scene, with Robert Warzycha’s transformation from player to coach to the front office, with Frankie Hejduk’s transformation from a SoCal guy to a Midwesterner. I was there with Sigi Schmid directing the team to the 2008 MLS Cup, and with the heartbreak of 2015 MLS Cup, when the linesman missed Portland kicking the ball at least one full yard out of bounds before scoring the winning goal. I was there with the original Village People shield, and when it was replaced with its current shield. I was there when Lamar Hunt brought the MLS forward from the ashes of the NASL, and when Anthony Precourt promised to keep the team in Columbus. I was there when Precourt Sports Ventures changed their television package to a channel that about 25% of Columbus could pick up, when they got rid of the Massive Canaries uniform and replaced it with something including baby blue, and when they stopped marketing the team to businesses in the city. And now, I am there when PSV announced they are planning on moving the team to Austin, TX, before the 2019 season.

For those of you outside the US, who don’t understand how a team could pick up stakes from a community where they have been for many years, that’s life here in the US. I have never been happy when teams threaten to move if they don’t get a new stadium/parking deal/beer distributor/color commentator, no matter how often it happens. There have been a few times when it was called for, beause of a lack of community support (Montreal Expos to Washington Nationals, for example), but most times, it’s pure greed from the owners of the team (I’m looking at you, Rams and Raiders!). This is the case here.

I have nothing against the people of Austin, TX. I’ve never been there, and everything I know about your city comes from occasionally watching “Austin City Limits” on PBS. But if the people of Austin wanted a team, they can go through the expansion process like everyone else.

Please do me a favor? It doesn’t matter if you watch soccer/football/futbol, this is more about greed. Please support the #SavetheCrew movement. There are supporters in England, Germany, Italy, and other countries that have joined the movement, and even fans of other MLS teams who are joining us.

And now, here’s something we hope you’ll really like!

TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL, RON
I’ve done two columns in this recent incarnation (Don’t Call It a Comeback!), and in both, I’ve done lots of complaining about the state of sports enterwrestling these days. Now, just because I’m an old man, that doesn’t mean all I do is complain that wrestling these days is nothing but a bunch of guys doing gymnastics, and why don’t we see a match where a guy grabs a headlock and holds on for three hours like Strangler Lewis or Frank Gotch used to do.

For one thing, I don’t go back that far. The first world champion I remember is Orville Brown.

But I promise, there is a lot that I do like. I couldn’t keep watching if I didn’t. What are these things? Let’s see if I can list them.

I like that Sami Zayn has kept his happy-go-lucky ring music and persona, even though the fans are booing him now. It has been said that for a heel to really work his gimmick effectively, he must convinced that he is absolutely right in his actions. If Sami is convinced he is right, then why would he suddenly change his music from friendly to ominous, with lots of tuba and trombones, warning everyone he is coming to do bad things?

I like that more women are on Raw, SmackDown, and NXT using first and last names. Nothing says “Diva-licious!” like women who only use one name, like Bailey or Naomi.

Or… Rusev? No. Definitely not Rusev.

I like that the announce teams for Raw and Smackdown have different dynamics. Even Corey Graves has a different role on both shows. Michael Cole and Tom Phillips do the straight, play-by-play match calling, but Graves plays off Booker T and Byron Saxton differently. I also like how many different ways I used the word “different” in those different sentences.

I like Booby Roode’s entrance. It is absolutely… very good.

I like that AXS brings NJPW to the US. The matches might be a month or two behind current events, but it is great to have another option on tv. I also like that NJPW treats each title defense as special. I especially like the graphics at the end of each title match letting us know that it was the “6th Title Defense for the IWGP Intercontinental Champion,” or what have you. It just further reinforces the saying that “in Japan, it’s a religion, in Canada, it’s a sport, and in the US, it’s a joke.”

I like that my cable system offers AXS, but not Pop. We moved from Columbus back to our home area in West Virginia at the end of July, and I have not been able to see TNAGFWIMPACT since. From what I have heard, I haven’t missed too much.

Having said that, I’m sorry I’m missing Eli Drake as world champion. I wrote on his FB page that as a drummer (he played on the WVU drumline), I am supporting him. However, since he went to WVU (I am a longtime Pitt fan), I can’t stand his freaking guts.
By the way, WVU Marching Band > U. of Pittsburgh Marching Band. I admit that freely.

I like The Network. You know which one. I might not like much of what Vince McMahon has done to the current product, but I appreciate his love of the history of Our Great Sport, and his willingness to preserve as much as possible. I just wish he would stop with the revisionist history.

I like that NXT and ROH are only one hour. It means that they have some time for behind-the-curtain drama, but it doesn’t affect the flow of the matches, or dominate the show like it sometimes seems to on Monday or Tuesday.

I like that television matches seem to be longer and longer. I still remember the Bad Old Days of the late 90s, where two-minute specials dominated Raw.

I like the slow burn of what looks to be the heel turn of Daniel Bryan. Although the “heel authority figure” is worn out, this is not the same. Instead of being drunk on power, if he turns, he will be going against the face authority figure he sees as drunk on power. At least, I hope that’s how they go. An evil McMahon has been done to pieces.

Furthermore, I like the idea that ROH doesn’t seem to have an authority figure at all. Keep the behind-the-scenes people there, out of the ring and out of the public view. If you can’t or won’t take a bump, then stay out of the ring.

I like, in alphabetical order by first name, Adam Page, AJ Styles, Asuka, Bayley, Bo Dallas, Bobby Fish, Bobby Roode, Breezango, the Briscoes, Caprice Coleman, Chad Gable, Charlotte, EVIL, Finn Balor, Jack Gallagher, Jason Jordan, Jay Lethal, Kazuchika Okada, Kofi Kingston, KUSHIDA, Minoru Suzuki, Oney Lorcan, Ricochet, Ruby Riot(t), Samoa Joe, Sasha Banks, Shelton Benjamin, Shinsuke Nakamura, Silas Young, Tommaso Ciampa, Velveteen Dream, Will Ospreay, and Zack Sabre, Jr., but especially Dalton Castle.
That’s just a partial list of things I like, but it’s enough for now.

WHAT OTHER MISCHIEF MAY WE CREATE?

Back to last week’s closer:
“Whenever one wrestler slams his/her opponent on the ring apron/edge of the ring, an announcer will inevitably tell us it is “the hardest part of the ring.” So, what is the second hardest part of the ring? Explain THAT?!?”

Looking at last week’s Explanations, it looks like most of you were out of practice. A lot of you took the question literally, like “the ringpost” or “the steps.” Those all may be technically correct, but the type of answer I was looking for was provided by Zoidberg, who said, “Well back in 1998 it was Val Venis.” Zoidy, you win this week’s Laurel and Hearty handshake. Congratulations!

Shall we have another go?

This week, Broken Matt Hardy made his first appearance on Raw, after being McMahonicized, as “Woken Matt Hardy.” What will be the next former TNA gimmick to make an appearance on Monday or Tuesday night? Explain THAT?!?

Next week, fellow travelers.

#SavetheCrew

Ron

article topics :

Bobby Roode, NXT, ROH, Sami Zayn, WWE, Ron Gamble