Raven interview and TNA news from the Torch

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

TNA NEWZ:

 

- A wrestler finally had bad things to say about Dutch Mantel. "I haven't been impressed with him at all," said the guy. He noted that the booking hadn't changed at all since Dutch came in, but Dutch isn't really booking, he's just tweaking and helping with match finishes. People say he's the man in charge, though, not counting the Jarrett's.

 

- There was no formal announcement from TNA to the wrestlers about the big PPV being canceled. Word had spread about the situation and Hogan's injury, but some of the wrestlers thought that an official comment from the office would be nice.

 

- There was speculation that Terry Funk would be coming in as part of the Jimmy Hart angle where he brings in guys to beat up Jeff Jarrett.

 

- Russo wasn't at this past week's show, and wrestlers aren't sure of his status. It was assumed that he'd stay backstage until Hogan came in, but he wasn't. So who knows.

 

RAVEN KEEPS TALKING:

 

Boy, he's got a lot to say this week.

 

Does he think Vince saw much of ECW?

 

"I don't think he saw any of it. I don't think he saw anything of anything. I remember when I was producing, when I was an associate producer on Raw, we did a radio show. Which, once Vince stopped doing it and it was just me and Stan Lane and we stopped talking about wrestling and just made it funny to entertain me and Stan, it was a really good show. It was so good to the point that Shawn Michaels wanted to come to the studio and do it live with us, which he did. The boys never want to do anything wrestling-related in their free time, but it was really entertaining. Anyway, we had to meet there around 6 o'clock and WCW would be on. So Vince would glance back and forth at the TV. I remember he really liked Johnny B. Badd and I forget who else. I always got the sense that Vince didn't watch the other stuff. I don't know why. Maybe he had no time. Let's face it, the guy's got eight billion things to do. Maybe he didn't want to put over the competition. Who knows what it was? I just never got the sense that he watched it. I honestly don't even think he knew I was in WCW because I left him to go to ECW and I was in ECW when I came back to him. I think he thinks I was there the whole time and I think he saw me as a guy who was a big star in a small promotion and didn't realize I was a huge contributing factor – that's not the right word. I was a huge supporting player on WCW. I don't even think he realized that."

 

Is Vince right to judge wrestlers on what he sees first-hand, and not taking into account success that they've had elsewhere?

 

"Yes and no. Look, it doesn't matter what you did anywhere else, you have to produce here and now. But I don't think that's always necessarily so. A lot of guys who were over other places, he took them because they were over other places even though they sucked. So I don't necessarily agree with the premise of your question that he did do that."

 

Which WWE wrestlers does he regret not working with?

 

"The Rock. Oh, my God, I would have loved to work with The Rock. Now that I'm a babyface, I always thought I'd love to work with Rock as a heel because I always thought he was one of the greatest bumping heels. I so much more enjoyed him as a heel than a babyface, but I think he had to become a babyface because he was so big, there's no way they were going to boo him, at least at that time frame. He was always a better heel than he was a babyface, in my opinion. Hunter, and not because I want to suck up to him. The Hunter now – not that I wouldn't want to work with him, because he's the champ – but the Hunter before he blew out his quad, I thought he was the best worker in the history of the business. I thought he was that good. I genuinely believe and I've always said that, and not because I want to work there or get a job, because I've always bit the hand that feeds me, so I have no problem burying someone. But he was at that point the best worker in the business, period. I thought he was better than Bret, I thought he was better than Shawn. His wrestling was more realistic. I've always been about the selling. To me that's the real art form, because all the flip-flops, that's acrobatics. Selling is something that anybody could do, but very few people do it well.

 

You don't have to be an acrobat or a great athlete to be a good seller. Acrobatics is completely genetic, but you can become a good seller through sheer hard work. To me, there is nothing better than a great seller. Ricky Steamboat, back in the day, phenomenal. At the end of his run, I thought he was too much like William Shattner – too big. There's an art form to it. Hunter was just so damn good for that period of time, for that one or two year period, he was just brilliant. What he did that no one else did, and it irritates me to no end, he would go back to the sell. Bret Hart, as good as he was, once he took over, he stopped selling because it was his turn then. If you were working his arm for five minutes, then he'd cut you off and go into the heat, he's not selling the arm anymore. I've always gone back and sold the arm. Hunter always went back and sold the arm. You knew for the next couple of minutes he would remind you it was damaged. If you ever got the chance to get back on the arm, the guy was gonna have the chance. Shawn didn't do that, either. Shawn was phenomenal, don't get me wrong. But Hunter during that time frame was the best there was."

 

Why don't dudes sell? Cause they don't get it, or they're selfish and they won't?

 

"They don't get it. I want to punch them in the face. It infuriates me. To me, this whole business is based on selling. The people can't feel it, they can only see it. So it doesn't matter whether you're squeezing a guy as hard as you can or barely touching him. I mean, the whole art form of this business is to make it look as realistic as possible and make it as painless as possible, which always makes me laugh about Japan. I showed my buddy a Japan tape and he goes "I could do that. They hit each other for real."

 

Where's the art form in that? Granted, it takes a certain kind of discipline to be able to take that kind of beating, but that's not what this business is supposed to be about. This business is about making it look realistic, but not feeling real. Anyone can go out there and punch some guy in the face, there's no art in that. To me, the Road Warriors were a big bomb with that. I loved watching them as a kid, but I thought they were really detrimental because -- I don't think it was their fault they were detrimental, they were told don't sell, and with their look at the time they shouldn't have sold. Except what happened is a whole generation of kids that got into the business wanted to be like the Road Warriors, and selling, which was once an art form, was an archeological dig to find somebody who could. All of a sudden instead of everybody being able to sell, which is how it should be, nobody could. It was a lost art.

 

It never really came back from that because the next generation that grew up wanted to be like Shawn Michaels, so acrobatics came in. To me, it's still all about the selling. That's how you build the drama. That's why I look at all these cruiserweight guys and I think if I could have done all that athleticism, I really would have been world champion years ago. But you're never going to get anywhere because if all they see is a pinball, they're never going to connect with you on a visceral level. I know I use the word visceral quite a bit, but it's the only way to describe it. If you're not hurt, there's no drama to it.

 

I always thought when 1-2-3 Kid came out, I thought that was really cool. Mikey Whipwreck in ECW had a very similar gimmick. I always enjoyed Mikey more because the difference was the 1-2-3 Kid was fearless, so there was no drama when he went and did all this crazy stuff. But Mikey was so terrified of doing it that when he finally did it, it showed courage and connected on a viseral, emotional level. Of course, then he could sell and make everything mean something. But with the Kid, once he went down he was down, and once he was up he was up. It didn't have the same long-term impact for me as a drama.

 

I think the Kid's a hell of a talent and I always got along really well with the Kid, so I'm not taking it as a slight on the Kid, I just meant for my preference at the time. I like what the Kid became later much more than when he started. I found it much more interesting when he learned that it's about selling and connecting with the people emotionally. Once he did that, what a much more interesting character. He always had heat as a heel. You wanted to punch him in the face. I thought he single-handedly revived Ric Flair in WCW because he brought something out of him. With Flair, it was "I don't know if I can take Nash or Hall, but I know I can beat your ass". It was the selling and the drama. That's what this business is based on, and that's what none of these dumb idiot cruiserweight kids get, so I'm like the old-timer preaching "Come sit around. You dumb kids, when I was your age..." I'll make a great old man. "Hey, get off my porch!" At least a lot of the guys actually listen. They come to me. Like C.M. Punk, AJ Styles, Chris Daniels, they all come to me now and go "Okay, how could I have sold this better, how could I make this mean more." I like that the new generation is getting beyond the acrobatics and so now another generation is coming in, and hopefully they're all gonna want to learn the actual art of this business."

 

How would he define the "WWF style" that people said guys like Jericho didn't get?

 

"Honestly, it's simple basic psychology there. Here's what the stupid kids today don't get. This is the whole concept of the business in a nutshell, and this is WWE style. The babyface outwrestles the heel. He outwrestles because he is either a little better, he's got a little more heart, a little more intestinal fortitude, so he outwrestles the heel. The heel finally has to cheat because the heel is either deep down a coward, an arrogant bastard, he has some fault or foible that is exposed, so finally because he can't get the advantage because the babyface is either a little bit better or has a little more heart, he cheats. Now he has some heat. Then he can beat the crap out of him and get the heat. Boom boom boom boom boom. Heat. Finally, when the babyface has had enough, through sheer intestinal fortitude and the people are getting behind him, and that emotional connection is there, he makes the big comeback. It's that simple. That's the business. And the whole match is geared and based towards the comeback. And that's why you have to have faces and heels like I talked about before, because a match is built toward a comeback. You keep delaying the gratification until the right moment, and then when it's the right moment you blow the big comeback and that's how the people get their rocks off."

 

Did he see enough of Jericho's work back then to know that he didn't work that style?

 

"RVD definitely didn't. I can't remember Jericho because that was during the lost years. But I think if you talk to Jericho now he'll definitely say that there is a definite WWE style, but to me it's just basic common sense. That's just how the business was. For the most part, maybe not everybody does it, but that's what WWE style is supposed to be. But it's really just ‘wrestling style', Wrestling 101. What's happened is, people don't understand that, so they just do some crazy spots and I'll do some crazy spots, and then we'll go home."

 

Does that sum up RVD's style?

 

"It does, but they molded him into the WWE style, then they never gave him a chance to capitalize on it. Honestly, when he came in, I hated his style because he hurt you, he's stiff, he didn't get the psychology of it. But to me, even so, he had such a connection with the people that they should have pushed him anyway because he would have been nothing but money. If they would have let him go with Austin during the Alliance deal, that would have been huge. For whatever reason, it didn't happen. There's definitely something to – and I'm sure this is what your next question is going to be – the main event style. Abso-fu–in'-lutely. The difference is, it's so hard to explain... first of all, as a main eventer, they have to believe that you are willing to pull some guy's eyeball out and eat it to win. You have to function on a different level because they're going to suspend disbelief on a different level in the main event. You have to know how to build the people. You have to have Wrestling 101 down to a science. It's about presence. It's about carrying yourself.

 

I'll give you the best example. I love Chris Daniels. He's a very good friend of mine in the business. I think he's one of the most superb, pure athletes in the business. And I think in six months or a year he'll be a main eventer, no doubt about it. But you read some of the sheets for years and they were saying he should be in WWE main eventing, blah blah blah blah. But no, he shouldn't because he's never been a main event style worker. He never carried himself like a main eventer. It's a whole different level. Obviously people see now, it's like a lot of guys were exposed once they were put in a main event slot. All of a sudden people go, we thought he was supposed to be a main eventer, and they put him there, but people realized ‘oh, wait, that doesn't work'. That's because there's something completely different to it.

 

I have no doubt that Chris will be there in no time. What's really good about Chris is that he asks for advice and he listens. That's better than the guys who ask for advice and don't actually listen. He takes criticism really well. I love the guy. He's a tremendous athlete. He's smaller, but you can compensate for that. Look at Low Ki, who is 150 pounds? He carries himself with such a presence and such an authority that you're like, whoa! You can't expose him with a 270 pounder, but he's totally believable in the right circumstances. He doesn't quite get the main event style yet, but he has the presence which goes a long way.

 

Chris is getting the match psychology, but he doesn't have the presence yet because it's not just one or the other. There's definitely something to needing the main event style, because so many guys have failed. The converse, there were a ton of guys who couldn't work main event style, and part of the job of the guys who can work is to carry the guys who can't. If you're a really good worker, the worse the guy is, the more you can carry him."

 

Hey remember when you lost to Goldberg, what was that like?

 

"I didn't care about losing so much as I really thought I was really going to get a chance to prove myself with the U.S. title, which sometimes has been a devalued belt and sometimes they put some steam on it. I really felt I could have been the guy to hold it for three months or six months and get some steam on it. I felt I could have elevated it. I thought we could have elevated each other because there were certain guys that had it, you just look at them and know. It irritated me on that level. I didn't care about losing.

 

The thing I hated about the whole Goldberg phenomenon is if he would have come into WWE, they would have made him respect the business. Instead, everybody, all the top guys sucked up to him because they realized he was going to be a top guy. So instead of making him humble and earning his place, they just let him walk right in on top. I've talked to him about it. He was like "I don't have to pay my dues because I paid them in football". It doesn't matter what you did in football, this is different. I couldn't go from wrestling to football and go "Hey, I paid my dues in wrestling". I'd still be a jobber in football until I earned my way. If he would have gone to New York, they would have made him big, but it wouldn't have been like in WCW where the top guys gave him a free ride where he never respected the business. I f-ckin' resent the fact that he made more money sitting at home than I made in my whole career when all he ever did was talk f-ckin' bad about wrestling. "Ah, I'd much rather play football," he'd say. Well, if you were so good at football, why didn't you have a career in it? Because he wasn't a star football player. What, he played one year with the Falcons? That's more than I ever did. I never could have played. I rode the bench in high school. But my point is, if that's what you wanted to be, you should have done it. But instead, we put over that he was a Falcon which means one of the lowest football players is our best guy. So imagine how good the top football players would be."

 

end

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Once again, Ravens proves why I mark for him: he's not afraid to tell it like it fucking is.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

TNA NEWZ:

 

- A wrestler finally had bad things to say about Dutch Mantel. "I haven't been impressed with him at all," said the guy. He noted that the booking hadn't changed at all since Dutch came in, but Dutch isn't really booking, he's just tweaking and helping with match finishes. People say he's the man in charge, though, not counting the Jarrett's.

Ummmm.... wow some guy had bad things to say about Dutch. Oh yeah real credible considering this is the same source that said Hogan was lying about being in talks with TNA and constantly reports in a biased manner.

[Michrome 0]

I love the Torch's anonymous sources. A wrestler finally admitted that "the torch sucked balls."