By Scott Bowden
June 16, 2005
Extreme vs. sports entertainment—WWE at the crossroads…again!
Bowden rises from the ashes after Vince’s ECW home run and subsequent strikeout on RAW
“For the times, they are a-changin.’”
--Bob Dylan, 1964
“Your winner. And new World Wrestling Federation champion…Hulk…Hogan!”
--Howard Finkel, January 23, 1984
“The name on the marquee is ‘Wrestling.’”
--Verne Gagne, incessantly, 1984-1988
“I took wrestling (Bowden’s note: In a flagrant disregard for the marquee) out of the dimly lit, filthy, cigar-smoke-filled arenas and transformed it into sports entertainment.”
--Hulk Hogan, incessantly, 1984-present
“I took wrestling (see above) out of the dimly lit, filthy, cigar-smoke-filled arenas and transformed it into sports entertainment.”
--Vince McMahon, incessantly, 1984-present
“We have set up to change the face of professional wrestling. So tonight, let the new era begin. The era of the sport of professional wrestling. The…era…of…the…E-C-W.”
--Shane Douglas, February 5, 1994
“E-C-W, E-C-W, E-C-W!”
-Philly (and, eventually, fans nationwide), incessantly, 1994-present
“OH…MY…GOD!”
--ECW announcer Joey Styles, incessantly, 1994-present
“It’s all about the Game. And how you play it.”
-Incessantly, during what seems like an eternity
“It sucks bad enough you’re in this building, sucking up credit for something you’ve got absolutely nothing to do with. Tonight’s going to be one of the biggest pay-per-views all year. And it’s exactly because these people — just like me — are sick and tired of having you and your likeness (WWE Superstars) shoved down their throats every time they wanna watch wrestling.”
--Rob Van Dam, speaking for every fan who has complained about the biz incessantly for the last few years, during a memorable promo during ECW’s ONE NIGHT STAND on Sunday.
“This…is the most sickening, bloody, graphic, nauseating…uh, moment…that I never want my children to see.”
--Joey Styles, momentarily, right after his call of “CAAAT…FIGHT…CAAAT…FIGHT!” on ECW’s ONE NIGHT STAND
Well, dear marks, I almost don’t know where to begin. While I’ve been locked in a two-week rest hold, the business has been turned upside down.
During the last 14 days, for the first time in years, the landscape of the wrestling business in the United States is poised for a significant change. And, no, I’m not talking about the hot-shot (shortsighted, ratings-related) switch of SMACKDOWN! champ John Cena to RAW via the WWE Draft Lottery.
However, on that note: I understand the reasoning behind swinging for the fences with the first pick of the draft (especially as the NBA Finals heat up). Besides, Cena, with his recent CD-release success, seems to have the most crossover potential of any WWE star since The Rock. Just one problem: He’s just not there yet when it comes to his in-ring work. (Somewhere, Triple H is smiling.)
Really, Cena’s move from (SMACKDOWN!) main-event to (RAW) mid-card status over the last two weeks epitomizes WWE’s modern-day philosophy: Swerve the audience at any cost. Yeah, we all marked out when Cena burst through the RAW set. No one saw it coming. But now what?
When Batista and Cena were crowned champions at WrestleMania in April, the race was on as to who would have the best impact with the fans. The early nod went to Cena because of his initial “The Champ is Here” promo on SMACKDOWN!, which was nearly perfect.
In a cowardly move, the WWE uncreative team delayed Batista’s initial promo as World champ following WM because they had no faith in him. In hindsight, maybe that was a smart move. Unfortunately, winning the title hasn’t yet bolstered Batista’s confidence on the mic. Yet somehow the crowd continues to chant Batista’s name — no matter the lack of the Animal’s vocal charisma. In many ways Batista is like Goldberg — but with more passion and more common sense when it comes to how the business works. Really, the only enhancement to Batista’s character thus far has been that ill-advised knee-slapping jig during his entrance and his mug being plastered on his trunks’ ass.
I still say Cena has tons of potential — however, the mark in me after watching RAW the past two weeks says the would-be rapper has no business challenging Triple H…let alone Batista, the man who dethroned the perennial World champ. Some are already comparing Cena’s portrayal as WWE champ on RAW to Terry Taylor’s reign as UWF TV champ after the Crockett takeover of Bill Watts’ promotion. (Instead of making the UWF stars rivals to the NWA/WCW crew in the late ’80s, they were portrayed as second-rate — an arrogant decision and an incredible waste of talent.) Triple H’s constant digs about SMACKDOWN! being the minor leagues certainly don’t help.
The real problem, though, lies with Cena’s offense, in particular his weak, tentative punches. Note to staff: Cena still needs to be carried. While hiding him in a tag match for his in-ring RAW debut wasn’t a bad idea — having him work with Tyson Tomko certainly was. (Tomko’s not awful for a big man, but he’s nowhere near the level of a Kurt Angle or even JBL, both of whom have made Cena look great in high-profile bouts.)
Even worse: Cena’s character has been dumbed down in the process. This modern-day rap rebel mistakenly trusts Chris Jericho, despite the fact that Y2J subtly belittles Cena’s debut and music accomplishments during the Champ’s draft debut. Yes, the same Chris Jericho who has been making heel overtures for weeks now against Shelton Benjamin. Yes, a Jericho heel turn has been welcomed for months. (Years, I say, as they’ve never really fully capitalized on Jericho’s potential as a heel…despite his hot-shot, swerve-the-fans-win as Undisputed Champion over Austin and The Rock years back). But to have Jericho’s heel turn culminate in a beat-down of the supposed streetwise Cena was a mistake. It doesn’t make their upcoming bout at VENGEANCE “personal” — no matter how much Cena (in an ill-advised scripted move) vows to take Jericho “…to War.” War? Fellahs, really.
And how could two seasoned veterans like Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler act like they couldn’t comprehend why Jericho would turn? Couldn’t they even manage a guess? After all, I thought it was pretty clear that if Jericho had pinned Christian, he’d get the WWE title shot. (Don’t even ask to explain why Christian is in contention for a title of any kind after all the televised jobs he’s done. Christian does deserve a push, but he’s got to be built up over a period of at least three months to have fans buy him as a legit title contender.) No wonder Jericho was pissed off at Cena.
The Jericho/Cena angle — and the whole RAW episode, for that matter — paled in comparison to just about anything on ECW’s ONE NIGHT STAND, an emotional show on so many levels.
I feel that the positive reaction to the show proves that wrestling fans are tired of being treated as if they’re stupid. Since 1984, Vince has claimed to be the only one who realized that during the expansion of his World Wrestling Federation. Yes, for years he’s crowed about being the first promoter in history to stop insulting the fans’ intelligence. And when his larger-than-life cartoon stopped clicking with the all-important 18-34 male demographic in the mid-’90s, he wisely paid attention to what Paul Heyman was accomplishing with his Philly-based ECW — a sicker, more twisted version of Memphis wrestling in its prime.
I think the turning point for Vince was shortly after crowning Viscera (then known as Mabel) “King of the Ring” — in Philly of all places — in 1995. Slowly, over the course of the following year, the promotion began changing directions, becoming more hardcore and edgier a la ECW, highlighted by Steve Austin’s breakout performance in the 1996 King of the Ring tourney.
Ironically enough, Viscera is again being choke-slammed down our throats, this time as a molesting, womanizing babyface. And once again, despite the huge buy rate for WrestleMania XXI, Vince’s product is more miss than hit nowadays.
I wasn’t there, but the live crowd at the Hammerstein Ballroom for ONE NIGHT STAND appeared to be the hottest for a WWE-produced PPV ever, with the possible exception of WrestleMania III. More important, if the early buy-rate estimates (as high as 800,000) are even close to accurate, Sunday’s PPV was a huge financial success. Further, I’ve never seen a PPV so well-received in the fan reviews on Web sites like the WRESTLING OBSERVER and THE TORCH. Clearly, there are a lot of fans starving for a more hardcore, reality-based wrestling product.
My personal thoughts on the show:
Lance Storm and Chris Jericho had a solid opener, with the former proving he’s anything but “boring” when properly utilized.
Joey Styles was miles better than any WWE announcer in years. Dump Michael Cole and pair Styles with Tazz on SMACKDOWN!
I loved the hot crowd, which popped for good mat wrestling as well as death-defying (borderline stupid) high spots — and not just for entrance music and finishes like most WWE fans.
Super Crazy is aptly named. “Crazy” just wouldn’t do him justice, especially after the backward flip off the balcony onto the FBI.
JBL’s character is successful because it’s a well-done extension of his true obnoxious, arrogant self. He was great in his role as a WWE interloper at the show. That being said, he was completely out of line in shooting on the Blue Meanie, leaving him with deep cuts after several potatoes. Yeah, clearly JBL doesn’t care about Internet criticism.
Paul Heyman knows his audience better than Vince knows his. Heyman’s promo was passionate, personal and borderline shoot, which is why it worked so well. (Good comeback by JBL: Clutching his chest and repeating “Elizabeth” a la Redd Foxx on SANFORD AND SON in the late ’70s. Most WWE fans probably thought he meant the late Miss Elizabeth.
Rob Van Dam cut the promo of his life, shooting straight from the heart. If I were a member of WWE creative for the past four years, I’d be embarrassed over how I’d misused Van Dam and Storm.
Rey Mysterio is a tremendous performer at what he does; however, he certainly doesn’t have the best grasp of wrestling psychology. As Mick Foley said, “ECW fans are very particular about what they like and what they don’t like. Notice I didn’t bring Mr. Socko with me tonight.” Rey would have been better off leaving the 619 in San Diego. Not entirely his fault when Austin called for the second one, but still. Otherwise, his bout with Psichosis had some nice spots, especially that guillotine-like legdrop from the top turnbuckle to the guardrail. Holy shit, indeed.
Foley had an unintentionally funny moment when claiming that ECW was about more than just chair shots—about 30 seconds before a chair was smashed against someone’s back. Classic.
Bischoff looked legitimately fearful for his safety at times.
When watching my DVD copy of the show the day after, I kept rewinding various spots of the Mike Awesome/Tanaka bout. Wonderfully brutal stuff. They truly worked their asses off for the fans and left everything in the ring—and on the floor.
Regarding Tommy Dreamer: I’ve never been so happy for someone who appeared to be near death. As expected, he disregarded his own safety because that’s what the fans wanted from him. Bless him.
While the WWE invasion was criticized as being unnecessary, it actually came off pretty well; however, if the plan is to continue with ECW PPVs, they may have pulled the trigger too soon, as Bischoff being left for dead seemed like the blow-off, not the beginning.
So, how does Vince follow Sunday’s rousing success? Sure, he gave us Kurt Angle from SMACKDOWN! via the draft on Monday’s RAW, but he also gave us an update on the Diva Search (absolutely painful), Viscera and Lillian celebrating their romance and the trademark silly backstage vignettes that defy all logic and basic wrestling philosophy.
And nary a mention of the groundbreaking PPV the night before. You also had to love Eric Bischoff out there no-selling all the finishers he took from the ECW boys (including Austin) less than 24 hours earlier. (Oh, wait. He did rub his neck in pain once or twice.) Bischoff should have been off TV at least a week after the apparent beating he took Sunday or least wrapped up like a mummy in bandages.
A much-needed change may be coming to the WWE product, or perhaps Vince will continue to market ECW as a separate too-violent/vulgar-for-mainstream entity. The latter option might be best, despite the failed experiment with SMACKDOWN!, as the UPN show is too similar to the RAW product to be perceived as true competition, which, along with allowing new talent to shine, was part of the reasoning behind the brand split. Of course, a network like UPN probably wouldn’t go anywhere near the ECW products, so that would be a snag.
I’ll say this for Vince: With the apparent rebirth of ECW and the steady stream of old footage coming our way via DVD, WWE Match Jukebox and WWE 24/7, he’s making it a damn good time to be a wrestling fan again.
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