The Last Word VII: Rookie Review

[Guest TSMAdmin]

Thoughts on the week in wrestling:color>

 

Bret Hart has been hospitalized after his motorcycle accident. He’s suffered a stroke, and is unable to use the left side of his body. My thoughts and prayers are with Bret and the rest of the Hart family. Bret is one of my all time favorites, and I wish him the best of luck… something the Hart family hasn’t had a whole lot of these past couple of years.

 

Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura has also been hospitalized with a blood clot in his lung. He suffered a similar condition back in 1985. Jesse was a great wrestler and commentator, and I wish him nothing but the best. Here’s to a speedy recovery.

 

Kevin Nash’s EARTH SHATTERING return to the ring was hampered by an injury about 5 seconds after he was tagged in. He hurt his left leg after throwing down a big boot. Nash must be the most fragile man in the business. Amazing, simply amazing. Is there a more useless guy in the entire company? Well, maybe, but he’s certainly the biggest waste of money in the company today.

 

The NWA:TNA have signed Vince Russo. I guess any legitimate threat they could have posed the WWE is now dead. It was only a matter of time with Ed Ferarra on their roster. It’s a real shame. Well, maybe Russo will make the show less redneck-esque. Who knows, maybe Russo will prove us all wrong and do a good job. HAHAHAHA!

 

Triple H is rumored to join the nWo. Hey, it was only a matter of time, right? This would constitute HHH moving on over to the RAW brand in an attempt to further distinguish the shows. RAW will be a show for older, more established stars (In other words, hosses, with a few bright spots), and Smackdown will showcase the younger talent, with guys like John Cena, Randy Orton and Batista all called up to the Smackdown brand. Oh yeah, that brings me to this week’s edition of The Last Word.

 

The Last Word VII: Rookie Reviewcolor>

 

A new era of stars is beginning to emerge in the WWE today as it moves closer and closer to the next era in wrestling. The WWE farm system used to be home to guys that would seemingly never make it to TV, and the place where Paul Wight and Mark Henry would go to lose weight every couple of months. I mean, I can only think of a handful of guys that have come up through the farm systems. Kurt Angle is one. Hmmm… I can’t think of anymore now offhand. That’s not the point though. The point is that times are changing, and many of the OVW and HWA stars are making their way onto WWE TV. Rico. Brock Lesnar. Randy Orton. John Cena. All new shining stars on the WWE roster. Homegrown talent. Many of them have potential, many of them could make it to the top, and some are perennial midcarders. Let’s take a look at the talent…

 

I’ll start at the tippy top, with:

 

Brock Lesnar

NCAA Amateur wrestling champion. A physique that puts most superstars to shame. Paul Heyman as his mouthpiece. The next big thing Brock Lesnar truly seems to have all the tools it takes to make it to the top. Lesnar is an intimidating figure, standing at 6’4 and weighing a chiseled 295 pounds. He has a bad ass tattoo on his back. He has the look of a true superstar, though he’s plagued with extremely pale skin, and a rather boyish looking face. Lesnar has some impressive power moves, and is said to have a mean mat game. He doesn’t get the chance to showcase it though, as he’s been reduced to a stereotypical silent monster character in the WWE.

 

He uses a style that’s relatively bland, even blander than the standard WWE style. His style is much like Goldberg’s, slam, pick up, and slam. No wonder Lesnar is lacking in the heat department. We’ve seen this act before, and even the most casual fans can spot him as a Goldberg clone, evident in the chants he gets at every show. Lesnar doesn’t sell like a true monster though, which sort of hurts his image. Lesnar actually SELLS offense, albeit not very well, but if they’re building him as unstoppable, then he shouldn’t be selling Jeff Hardy’s offense. If you don’t know Lesnar’s past, then you’d think that he needs some serious work in ring. The truth is that Brock Lesnar can do a Shooting Star Press, a very impressive task for such a large man. Lesnar has a background in mat wrestling, as he’s a true amateur wrestling great. The problem is that Brock hasn’t been allowed to showcase his talents, at least that’s how I see it. Lesnar has no real heat… Heyman seems to be more over than him as a heel, and the only heat he gets during matches is “GOLD-BERG!” chants. It just shouldn’t be.

 

The other main problem that is plaguing “The Next big thing” is his god-like push. Lesnar has been pushed to the moon since making his debut on TV. He started by demolishing the Hardy Boyz… fair enough. He’s unbeaten in the ring… fair enough. He won King of the Ring just a few months into his WWE run… ok, he’s starting to push it. He gets a TITLE shot at Summerslam, the second biggest PPV of the year… MADNESS! I’m all for pushing new talent, but it’s too much too soon. Brock Lesnar is no Kurt Angle, yet he’s rising to the top seemingly as fast, despite not being too over.

 

Lesnar sure as hell has the tools to make it to the top, but the WWE seems to be limiting his offense, which is killing his heat. He’s being pushed too hard too soon, and it’s hurting his image. He needs to be built up better (and SLOWER) and allowed to show off more of his in ring ability if he want to get over as a main eventer. I really hope they don’t plan on him winning the Undisputed title at Summerslam.

 

Randy Orton

Ah, another third generation superstar. In my opinion, Randy Orton suffers a very minor case of nepotism. Orton is a decent enough wrestler, but he’s really green. He sticks to very basic maneuvers, the hiptoss, crossbody, and the ever so popular DROPKICK OF DOOM (TM: Maven)! His moves are usually fluent, and he usually puts on a watchable match, but he doesn’t really do anything at all to stand out from the rest of the crowd. He’s green, plain and simple.

 

He doesn’t really have the “superstar” look either. He’s a good-looking kid, but I don’t know, his look just doesn’t seem to pull together. Maybe it’s the tights. Yeah, that’s it! Ugh, I really don’t like those tights. The blue and yellow mix is fine, but they look like Adidas shorts. He needs to do something about that. Orton written on the back in that funky text doesn’t look too swift either if you ask me. He needs Rico to show him the light, and give him some S-T-Y-L-E.

 

Orton seems pretty shaky in promos too. In the WWE today, being able to cut a good promo is very important, and Orton seems uncomfortable so far.

 

He’s a pretty generic guy if you ask me, and I think he’ll get lost in the shuffle. The kid has potential, he has talent, and he has a decent look. He just needs a lot of work. They called him up too soon, just like another certain third generation superstar who couldn’t get over. Nepotism’s a bitch, ain’t it? Hey, look what happened to that “other” third generation guy, he became one of the biggest names in wrestling history, a household name, and a box office smash. I don’t see that happening with Orton, but with some work, Orton will be a nice addition to the midcard.

 

Batista

Here’s a guy we haven’t seen too much of, but looks impressive. He’s got a very intimidating look and a GREAT physique. He’s tattooed, and has a nice tan. He generally looks like an ass-kicking monster. I for one think that he has the monster look down pat more than Brock Lesnar. Lesnar has a baby face on a huge muscle bound body, a body pale enough to make an albino blush.

 

In ring so far, he’s been a rather impressive big man, doing moves with that *umph* to them. His moves even look more powerful than Brock Lesnar’s at times. Personally, I think Batista would have been better in Lesnar’s role… Lesnar’s role without as big of a push. Lesnar could have been used in another way, pushed as a power/technical wrestler, maybe feuding with Kurt Angle. Lesnar has the background in mat wrestling, Batista doesn’t, so lets have Batista concentrate on the pick up and slam kind of offense, while Lesnar can work on his power/technical game. Hands down, Batista would make a better unstoppable monster.

 

A side note, does anyone else think the name “Batista” is pretty stupid sounding? I’m not saying they should change it back to Leviathan, but I do think that it’s a lame sounding name. Batista doesn’t seem like the kind of name to give to an unstoppable monster. But hey, what do I know?

 

One thing that’s hampering Batista is his pairing with D-Von in the religious gimmick. They don’t really click with one another at all. Hey, I’m a fan of D-Von’s new gimmick (so sue me), but it isn’t helping Batista. Batista is destined to turn on D-Von one day, and when he does, he’ll probably start a nice face run, hell, maybe he’ll even cross paths with Lesnar. With a decent enough push, Batista can be a good upper-midcarder. Who knows… maybe he’ll even be a main eventer some day. Hey, it could happen!

 

Rico

Rico oozes charisma just like I ooze machismo. He actually makes the tandem of Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo interesting! He’s good on the mic, and plays the stylist role to a key. His look is… strange, but fits well with his gimmick, which provides a lot of comic relief.

 

He hasn’t gotten in the ring much. We’ve mainly only seen kicks from the guy, but they look fluent. He has his age against him, and he’s stuck in a dead end gimmick. Rico could never get over as anything else, and when the Billy and Chuck team dies, he’s pretty screwed. I guess that’s why they stuck him in this role… because he’s in his 40s and doesn’t have a lot of years left in him. He probably won’t be around too much longer, but he’s a good addition to the team I call Ass Fuck. Well, he makes them semi-entertaining at least. Oh, and he was pretty funny at the Diva’s Undressed special, even if seeing him in a bra and thong was disgusting.

 

If you think about it, they could have just as easily hired an actor to fulfil Rico’s role. They wouldn’t have to train the guy in OVW either. Oh well, Rico’s an entertaining guy, and I guess that’s all that counts. He won’t go anywhere in the WWE. Maybe he’ll make a good manager down the line, but in the ring, he won’t be doing much of anything.

 

John Cena

The critics love this guy. I can see why. Cena’s only had two matches in the WWE, but both were good matches. His first against Kurt Angle was awesome, and Angle put him over well. His second against Chris Jericho was also solid, and Jericho put him over well as well. This may sound a little cynical (hey what are smart marks for though?), but Cena’s two matches came against two of the best wrestlers in the WWE today. I’m not taking anything away from Cena, but I’m saying that we shouldn’t be calling this guy the next sensation until he has a match where he has to carry the other guy. Still, he outclassed most of the roster, and is a welcome face on my TV.

 

Cena’s got a decent look too, but not the “superstar” look. He looks like the average 20-year-old guy, but with a good build. One thing that he needs to change is his tights. The red ones (as seen in his match against Kurt Angle) weren’t bad, but those green tights were terrible. Even Jericho felt the need to lace into him for that (now THAT was funny). On the plus side, I’m pretty sure Cena was just wearing the green ones because he’s a Bostonian, and they were in Boston, so he was wearing Celtics colors… So hopefully we won’t be seeing those dreadful green ones again. Either way, he could get something more flattering looking.

 

Cena sounds decent enough on the mic. Am I the only one that thought he sounded funny when he said, “I’m John Cena,” to Kurt Angle? Probably. Anyway, besides that he’s sounded pretty good on the mic and shows good emotion. Having the Undertaker show him respect and shake his hand was icing on the cake, and shows us that the WWE may just see something in this kid as well.

 

Cena has the tools to make it to the top. He’s had the best debut of any of the rookies, and I see great things in this guy’s future. We may have the next big star on our hands here.

 

Chris Nowinski

Ah, good ol’ Chris Harvard. Oh, that’s what I’ll refer to him throughout the rest of this column, because Nowinski is just a bitch to spell. Chris Harvard has the size, at 6’5 and 270 lbs. He’s got a decent look, and he plays the Harvard angle off well. Teaming him with Regal should help get him over more as a heel as well, and provides him a nice launch pad. He’s good on the mic, as seen in the few promos he’s given.

 

In ring, he’s a bit green as well. We haven’t seen him wrestle much, but he’s stuck to the basics as well. He shows potential though, and a willingness to learn. With a little development, he can become a pretty good power/brawler type in the ring. The fans seem to show a natural hatred towards him, possibly even stemming from his Tough Enough behavior. His gimmick is almost like a mixture between Lanny Poffo’s Genius gimmick and some old school Hunter Hearst Helmsly. In other words, he’s a natural heel.

 

The guy has got his charisma and mic skills down pat, but he still needs to work on his in ring skills. He needs some matches under his belt, and OVW would really be the ideal place for him to go. With a little more work, Harvard can be a decent wrestler on the midcard. He’ll never go much further than that though.

 

Bottom Line:

The WWE has got some great young talent at its disposal. John Cena, in particular, shows the attributes of a true star. The WWE has to realize the talents of these guys, and the faults in some of them, like Randy Orton, who needs some work. The WWE has to stop going for quick fixes like the nWo, Hulk Hogan and others, and start looking towards their homegrown talent, who are the true future of this company. So far the WWE has proven to have great talent scouts, judging by the ability of most of the rookies in the WWE today, and now all they have to do is utilize the young talent that they have.

 

“Longfellow couldn’t have said it better.”

 

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