Wrestling Deja Vu 01.05.09: Fiend Frenzy

Leading off

The third installment of Wrestling Deja Vu is here and I’m your host, Joseph Martinez. It’s been a wild three weeks, but it’s been fun to compare these wrestlers and write for 411mania. Anyways, I’m still making adjustments to the format and working on some new features to add to the column, so bear with any changes made. This week’s WDV focuses on two individuals who are still actively competing in wrestling and share a unique role in their respective companies, but first, let’s revisit last week’s article.

Looking Back

No mistakes or anything from last week’s column, so we head straight to Reader Feedback

Matt Eli is wondering about a possible column feature.

Another well written column. I’m still selfishly waiting for a fantasy match pitting the old-school wrestler against the newer one. Umaga would smash Haku based on his high flying ability, I would think.

I replied to this in last week’s comment section, but now that I have more information, I wanted to provide an update for any inquiring minds. This feature will debut in two weeks, so be on the lookout for that.

JLAJRC brings up Kamala

Honestly, I think Umaga had more in common with Kamala, at least character-wise. The WWE even briefly acknowledged this with Kamala’s appearance on RAW against Umaga a while back.

I remember Kamala’s appearance, but he was before my time. So I don’t know as much about him as I do Haku. Plus, I figured both Haku and Umaga are bad asses, they both had cool savage gimmicks, so it was right to compare the pair.

MachoManFanStill misses Armando Estrada and probably Randy Savage.

Welcome to 411. Great column! I though one of the keys to helping build back up Umaga was to pair him again with Estrada but then poor AAE was released. Here’s to hoping the Bulldozer’s 2009 resembles his career prior to mid-late 2008! Ahhh, Samoa!!!

Estrada was one of my favorite guys while he was in the WWE. He really was a perfect fit as Umaga’s manager and it’s a shame the way his tenure in the WWE ended, but it was probably expected since managers aren’t really relevant anymore. I’m sure he’ll get some looks from other organizations though, hopefully he’ll be on TV.

Time to bring out the wrestlers under the microscope

Fiend Frenzy

It’s a safe bet that when a company introduces something that works, a rival company will take that formula and edit it for their own use. Kane was repackaged by the WWE and assigned the role of the Undertaker’s brother (and rival). He has never broken away from the shadow of the Undertaker but has created his own legacy. A legacy that was good enough to merit a DVD collection and a large amount of fans. Abyss is an intriguing individual who wasn’t brought into TNA as a foil to a popular face, but as a standalone figure. He has put on good matches and is one of TNA’s best monsters. Both of these guys still wrestle today and have different roles, but are still both imposing figures who will no doubt resort back to their crazy ways in the near future.

Family Feud

These two wrestlers have some crazy family history. Kane is the half-brother of The Undertaker and the son of Paul Bearer. Apparently, Undertaker liked playing with fire when he was younger because he accidentally caused a fire which killed Kane’s parents and scarred Kane (who looked pretty good for a scarred person when he unmasked). These two have had an on-again, off-again relationship for years where they will feud or tag up with one another. Right now, Kane and the Undertaker are on opposite sides of the heel-face spectrum so it seems unlikely that they’ll tag soon and Kane-UT feuds are overdone, so it’s possible we’ve seen the last Kane-Undertaker match.

Abyss is another guy who seems to have problems with his family. First of all, we’re not talking about this family relationship, but his relationship with former TNA workers, Judas Mesias and James Mitchell. It was revealed on an episode of Impact that James Mitchell was the father of Abyss and Judas Mesias was the half-brother. The two feuded and it ended with Abyss coming out on top. Judas Mesias was released so the relationship between these two wasn’t allowed more time to develop.

The similarities between these family situations creates most of the comparison between these two wrestlers. The main difference between the two situations was the length of the feuds. Kane and the Undertaker feuded, tagged up, feuded some more and tagged up some more for over a decade. Judas Mesias and Abyss only had a 3-4 month window to communicate, but odds are they would have had a bond similar to Kane and the Undertaker.

Dominant Dismal Days

Kane’s championship run was pretty pathetic when one compares it to other title runs, but it gave Kane the right to call himself a former World Champion throughout his career. Kane’s dominance was at it’s peak during the 90s and the early 2000s and he was always thought to be a legit threat to the World Title. Since then, he’s been going through cycles of dominance and jobbing. Abyss’ career has been similar which is another reason why these two individuals get compared a lot. Abyss has always been the monster that puts over the young up and comer, but always regained his credibility with the fans. So his career has also been through numerous cycles of building, jobbing, and rebuilding. Abyss’ World Title run didn’t get off to a good start as he won it via disqualification. He got a victory at a PPV over Sting and Christian Cage, but lost his title soon after to Christian.

Both of these men were allowed to look like dominant figures, unfortunately for them, they held their World Titles in a period where there were a lot of high profile challengers.

Versatile Big Men

Almost every big man goes through a phase where they play Goliath and a little guy plays David. These guys are no exception, but Kane and Abyss normally do well in situations like this. Abyss is in a company that employs more small guys than normal, so he gets ample opportunity to face off with cruiserweights. One has to look no further than Abyss’ epic feud with AJ Styles, which included an awesome match at Lockdown 2005, to get a gist of the quality of a good “David versus Goliath” matchup. The Big Red Machine has also been placed in feuds with cruiserweights. His most recent feud with Rey Mysterio was nothing extraordinary, but it was a vehicle to get Mysterio back on television. Kane has had feuds with other cruiserweights and while he never shared the same success as Abyss, he showed how versatile he was by not putting up a dud of a match. A lot of big guys are restricted to working with wrestlers who have the ability to carry them to a decent match, but Abyss and Kane (and a handful of super heavyweights) are versatile men who can put on decent-to-great matches with cruiserweights.

Last Words

So there you have it. These two guys have been company men outside of the ring and great, conflicted monsters inside. They also represent a dying breed because their gimmicks cannot be taken seriously in this day and age due to the death of kayfabe and the desire to resort to more realistic gimmicks and angles. Kane and Abyss are both older than 35 and probably have only 2-3 years left in the tank due to their dependence on great bumps to sell their strength, but they definitely have left a lasting impression on their fans.

Goodnight, Travel Well

Has this week been a slow week in the wrestling world or what? It seems the only major news that broke was Henry Waxman’s report on steroids in wrestling. I believe this is the same guy that was involved in that brutal congressional hearing on steroids in Major League Baseball. The first Raw of the new year is tonight and it looks like a good show with that CM Punk – William Regal match, hopefully they get some time, but it will probably end in some shenanigans. Anyways, that just about does it for the third edition of Wrestling Deja Vu.. Hope you enjoyed it and join us next Monday for another edition of WDV, if you have any comments just comment in the box below or send an email to [email protected]