The Last Word V

[Guest TSMAdmin]

On an unrelated note, THE NETS ARE IN THE FINALS! WOOOOOOO!!!!! I’m a proud little New Jerseyan. Ah, finally, OUR basketball team, a team that was once a laughingstock in the NBA is now the best in the east. I might be delusional, but I think they’ll give the Lakers a run for the money. Jason Kidd is something of a minor god.

 

Anyway, enough about the NBA…

 

Thoughts on this week in wrestling:color>

 

The NWA TNA’s first PPV is coming up in a few weeks. I’ll be buying it out of sheer curiosity. It’s worth watching merely for an alternative, and what have I got to lose for 10 bucks? Low Ki, Jerry Lynn, and a host of others will be on hand, not to mention Jeff Jarrett, Ken Shamrock and Scott Hall gunning it out in some sort of Royal Rumble match for the World title. Should be interesting nonetheless. I doubt they’ll ever be a legitimate threat to Vince McMahon, but it’ll be nice to know that there’s an alternative waiting. I don’t like the idea of the weekly PPV, but what can you do?

 

Austin openly admitted his frustrations with the booking crew on Byte This. I’ve got to believe that he’s one of the main reasons why Heyman and Gerwitz are booking now, instead of daddy’s little girl. Austin was on the ball in his interview, which I have yet to see, but have heard a lot about.

 

RAW was ok this week. Still better than most recent efforts though. Seems that they couldn’t put asses in the seats this week, which is why the arena looked so god damned dark. Austin pissing on Arn Anderson was so stupid and fake looking that it was hilarious. It looked like Austin was pouring orange juice all over Arn. No one’s piss looks like that, even if you’re piss drunk and you’ve got a severe case of gonorrhea. Bradshaw won the Hardcore title, continuing his de-push (WOO-HOO!). Nice to see that we got all the cheap pops out of the way in one match though, as they were in Texas. Bradshaw clubbed his opponents with weapons like bullhorns, and a saddle (yes, a FRIGGIN SADDLE). The coupe de grace was Bradshaw hog-tying Richards. What a ridiculously boring match. Funny to see Justin Hawk trip while climbing the steel steps though.

 

Van Dam and Lesnar look to be feuding, which I have no problem with. I could see them duking it out in the KOTR finals. X-Pac advances on in the KOTR tournament… UGH. Jeff Hardy was even weirder last night then usual, playing the guitar, and saying that he and Matt (or as he would say, May-utt) don’t EXPRESS themselves enough, and that they don’t LIVE FOR THE MOMENT. You see, they aren't X-TREME ENOUGH! Sound retarded? IT WAS!!! Somehow, this all lead to Jeff saving Tommy Dreamer’s busted down ass during his match with Big Evil, The Undertaker.

 

Flair vs. Austin was great if you ask me. We would have seen this 8 years ago if it wasn’t for Hogan though. Good straight wrestling match, and considering the history Flair and Austin have, a match to remember. I’d rate it at ***3/4.

 

Oh yeah, some wrestler from a few years ago returned to join the nWo as well. Shawn FREAKIN Michaels! I guess Confidential was all a big swerve for everyone. I expected Goldberg or Scott Steiner to come out, so I was ready to be pissed off and groan. Instead Shawn Michaels strolled out, and he’s one of my all time favorites. I was seriously shocked.

 

I’m curious to see what the WWE will do with him, I think they’ll have him in a Flair type role… wrestling every now and then, but mainly a promo kind of guy. I don’t think Michaels adds much to the nWo or the WWE, but it’s cool to see him back. It’s obviously a cheap ratings grabber, but Michaels was never much of a draw to begin with if you look at the numbers. My only gripe with his return is well… he didn’t do ANYTHING. He walked out, and then they went to commercial. That’s it. No promo. No beating down on someone. Nothing but a posedown with Nash. Oh well, I guess we’ll see what he has to say next week on RAW.

 

Anyhoo, let’s got on to business, here’s this week’s edition of The Last Word.

 

The Last Word V: Wrestlers jumping shipcolor>

 

It’s 1996. Rumors are abuzz that two of the WWF’s biggest stars, Razor Ramon and Diesel are shipping out of the WWF, for a new home in Turner’s WCW. Everyone was speculating that this would be a CRUSHING blow to the WWF, as Ramon and Diesel were two stars that arose from the midcard to the forefront of the roster. Ramon and Diesel were among the most important stars of the WWF’s New Generation era. The New Generation Era was a time for reconstruction in the WWF, with top draws like Hogan, DiBiase, Luger, and many, many more WWF stars saw green and headed towards WCW and Ted Turner’s wallet. Razor Ramon and Diesel had to step up their game, and become part of the upper midcard, in Ramon’s case, and the main event scene, for Diesel. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels lead this era of reconstruction without a doubt, but Razor Ramon and Diesel were right underneath them. Losing them would be a punishing blow. WCW might take over as the number one fed in North America, people were saying. People wondered what the WWF would do. People wondered what kind of impact Hall and Nash would have.

 

As you all know, Diesel and Razor Ramon did indeed leave McMahon-land for Turner-ville, and sparked one of the infamous angles of our time, the nWo angle. At the time the angle was revolutionary, two men attempting to build an army to take over a company. They were obnoxious on screen, they spray-painted people, and they beat people down. They didn’t give a damn about anyone it seemed. It was good TV. It was exciting to tune in every week to see the antics of Nash, Hall and Hogan.

 

People had thought correctly, as WCW took over the ratings battle with the WWF for quite some time. Ramon and Nash’s departure did prove to be a blow to the WWF. The nWo angle helped revolutionize the industry, in the sense that it took us out of the days of cartoony gimmicks, and into the more adult based brand of Attitude that we see on our TVs every week.

 

On the WWF’s side of the coin, a new breed of stars needed to step up. Steve Austin was pushed heavily, winning the King of the Ring tournament soon, and became one of the most popular guys in the company. The Undertaker (UGH) and Sid (double UGH) were pushed to the top again. Guys like HHH, The Rock, Mankind, and Vader were all on the rise. We had new blood in the WWF. It wasn’t the best of times, but it was a time of change. The seeds for the Attitude era were planted, which of course ultimately lead to the wrestling boom of 1998-99. The entire course of actions above seems to stem from one thing: Scott Hall and Kevin Nash jumping ship.

 

What I’m trying to get at now is that those were exciting times in wrestling. Why were they exciting? One of the reasons is the picture I attempted to paint with my description of the original nWo angle, and the basis for this article: It was more fun when the wrestlers had ANOTHER company to jump to. When rumors circulated about Nash and Hall leaving, the net was abuzz! People were generally excited. Hell, I was excited. I’d have something to look for each week on Nitro, rather then the predictable crap the WWF is shoving at us lately.

 

Remember when Jericho debuted in the WWF? Now THAT made for good television. Jericho is one of the most charismatic and talented workers out there now, but due to backstage politics (*cough* Hogan *cough*), WCW never pushed him. Jericho’s contract was up, and everyone was waiting for Jericho to show up on RAW. The Millenium clock was a great teaser. Finally the WWF delivered, and it was simply AMAZING to see Chris Jericho, one of WCW’s best on WWF television. I was excited to tune into RAW and Smackdown every week, as bad as the shows may have been (and trust me, in 1999, THEY WERE BAD).

 

Take the Radicals for instance. That was the turning point in the downfall of WCW, and the major upswing of the WWF if you ask me. When I heard that the 4 were WWF bound, I was extremely excited. 4 of WCW’s most talented were headed for the WWF, and I had hopes and aspirations that the WWF would use the four better. On the flip side of the token, I wondered what kind of effect that it would have on WCW. The four showed up on Raw, and I marked like a little bitch. It was truly exciting to see the four on WWF TV. It seems that The Radicals leaving WCW was the turning point in the downfall of the company. The WWF really started to pull away, until WCW’s demise in early 2001. It just seems like we don’t hear any news that’s this exciting anymore.

 

News about Austin being pissed off at the booking squad is interesting. News about so and so returning to the WWF, or the next guy coming off his Time Warner contract that may be WWF bound is interesting too. For some reason though, none of the news that we hear today in the wrestling world seems to be as exciting as when a wrestler would jump ship. It’s another thing that we’re all missing out on from the McMahon monopoly, that is seldom brought up, or even thought of. I miss the good ol’ days of logging on my computer and heading for Observer and reading about Jeff Jarrett heading for WCW. I miss the days where I would speculate what each wrestler would do in their new company. I miss wondering how they’d get along with the locker room. I miss the shock of finally seeing the wrestler show up on the opposing company’s show. Things seemed more amusing when there were two separate companies, and that’s not just because show quality is down. It seems like it was more fun to be a fan on the net.

 

The novelty of wrestler’s jumping ship in North America looks to be dead; or at least on life support until a new federation steps up. It’s just too bad that that won’t be happening any time soon. Good luck, Jerry Jarrett!

 

“Longfellow couldn’t have said it better.”

 

FakeRazorcolor>

 

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