The “Ace in the Hole”: Why Big Show’s Turn Was Genius

For all the crap we give him, the (breathes deeply) Executive Vice President of Talent Relations & the Permanent General Manager of RAW and SMACKDOWN (exhales) John Laurinaitis knows how to line his ducks in a row.

Just a couple of weeks ago on RAW, Big Show found himself in a pickle with Mr. Ace. After being caught imitating the GM’s voice, Show was forced to apologize for his actions. Show apologized, but not to the specifications Ace wanted.

After a week of torment, up to and including a screwjob loss to Daniel Bryan, Show executed an acting job worthy of either an Emmy or a Raspberry, depending on who you talk to. Show went to his knees, eyes flowing, begging to keep his job. Ace wasn’t impressed, and let the door hit Show in the ass on the way out figuratively.

When Big Show arrived at Over the Limit, it seemed like his interference one way or another was inevitable. He wasn’t a member of the roster, and in street clothes, looked quite dapper to be doing anything physical.

After dragging Ace’s sorry ass back into the ring, Show was about to murder him. Show gave courtesy to Ace’s opponent, John Cena, and let Cena attempt the Attitude Adjustment.

Only the Attitude Adjustment turned out to be Big Show’s right hand to John Cena’s face.

Hey, what did five fingers say to the face?

SLAP!

It was revealed Show had a verbal agreement with Laurinaitis going into Over the Limit, but had not been affiliated with the roster. Ace botched that on RAW, but it was covered up by WWE and their Twitter people.

(Speaking of which, follow @BadBooking on Twitter today! Please?)

Cena and Show will battle at No Way Out on June 17th. While most fans (including myself) balk at seeing this feud play out AGAIN, at least the motivation behind the story makes sense. As long as the series of matches is one and done, I have no problem with it.

Just make sure it doesn’t main event, PLEASE?

In a stat even weird for WWE standards, the WWE and/or World Heavyweight Championship(s) have not main evented a single Pay-Per-View this calendar year. John Cena has main evented four consecutive events (Kane/Elimination Chamber, Rock/Wrestlemania, Brock Lesnar/Extreme Rules, John Laurinaitis/Over the Limit) in non-title affairs, while the Royal Rumble match headlined the Royal Rumble.

At least the winner of the Rumble “headlined” Wrestlemania, in a eighteen second squash opener!

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And now, here is a long version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Prove it All Night”. The song is off “Darkness on the Edge of Town”, but this legendary concert performance will almost make you forget about the vinyl!

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Bad Booking Rants on 3-Hour RAWS

As I am starting my creative oil so to speak, I read this article on my desktop. I nearly bang my head on my desk.

Just fresh off the presses:

WWE RAW is going three hours PERMANENTLY starting July 23rd. That day also just so happens to be the 1,000th episode of the program.

An additional news piece came in about the official press release. Vince McMahon touts this as how it will be the next in line for a new generation of interactive television where fans can help create the show.

I’m thinking, “WHY?!?!?!?”

RAW in it’s current two-hour form is a boring mess. While I had noted in the PG post that WWE had been trying to make a better product, it has regressed severely since the ‘YES’ fad and the return of Brock Lesnar.

Worse yet, WWE (from what I’ve read but not confirmed) has a new outlook on television where literally storylines change week from week, i.e: pushes are suddenly halted and angles have loose endings.

Three hours.

REALLY?

I have enough trouble going through RAW in the first place. Never mind the fact I intentionally skip the second hour for more sleep: the first hour lulls me to sleep worse than the 2000 Daytona 500. If you NASCAR haters really want to see a race that’s 500 miles of cars going in a circle, that one is essentially it! 

Think of it this way: We may have the opportunity to see a half hour CM Punk match every week. No problem. At the same time, we could see a dance-off competition between Brodus Clay and Vickie Guerrero last that same amount of time.

And what would that extra hour be? It’s rumored to be a pre-show, but I doubt it. Vince wants that to be a rambling hour to be sure. Extra long promos for the hell of it!
We all know how Nitro’s three hour shows were. They essentially turned into Gilligan’s Island shipwrecks where three hours turned into eternity!

This ‘new’ three-hour format will not work. The sporadic three hour RAWs with special gimmicks were tough, but now they’ll become permanent fixtures? Ughh, someone pass me the Grey Poupon!
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ADDITION (6/22/17): I still stand by everything I have said all that time ago.

The WWE landscape has changed a lot during this time. We have the brand split again, the main event scene is dominated by people you would have seen on tape-trading years ago, NXT is kicking ass, and we have regular programming on the WWE Network that outshines most of what airs on the USA Network.

Yet RAW, with its direction akin to a cow looking at an oncoming train, is still three damn hours long. Not full of potentially exciting in-ring action, but of recaps, bullshittery, and maybe a notable match that should be saved for the big events on the Network.
I understand the politics behind it, plus the ever-present ad dollars behind it, but literally its just too much of too many things that never get enough attention.

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Now here’s a video of bodies going through tables!

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How ECW Changed Professional Wrestling, Ahem, Sports-Entertainment.

ECW.
Those three letters meant that some of the most outrageous material ever filmed in the realm of professional wrestling was about to take place.
Although there could be a backstory to all this hubbub, instead I am giving you a DVD to watch and a book to read.
The Rise + Fall of ECW, #3 on my list of the best DVDs WWE ever made, is a three hour tour-de-force of the history of the company. Of all the documentaries that Vince and company made, this was the best one, and that is saying something. All of the major players are interviewed, and all the major events (both in and out of the ring) are covered. Heck, it even has that “Mature Audiences Only” screen because for PPV, the documentary was rated TV-MA!

As for the book, it’s a gem entitled Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW. Authored by Scott E. Williams, this feels like a research project that went beyond the normal “tall tales”. It’s a book that of all the tomes published about ECW, this one tells the best story, with minimal sensationalist/revisionist history (not like WWE).
ECW, as noted earlier, was practically synonymous for creating controversial material. Their way of doing business in the ring would be so influential that the big leagues took notice. It also inadvertently was the heart of the Monday Night War.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at some different ways ECW changed the game.

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The Talent
Extreme Championship Wrestling wasn’t tied down with corporate voodoo like a World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling.
Essentially, this meant that the small-time promotion in Philadelphia could take a bunch of chances.
One of these areas was hiring the talent that WWE/WCW wouldn’t normally bat an eye on.
For example, would WCW or WWE hire a man with as many visible scars as Sabu in 1994? I mean, look at the guy:

Terry Brunk, the man behind the alter-ego, is so tough he would fight you to the death. With his expertise being death matches of more varieties than Heinz, it’s no wonder this man could definitely be the face of a renegade promotion.
Another odd-looking superstar in ECW at this point definitely had to be Sandman.

Here’s a guy who looked like a regular Joe. A man who may very well have been at your workplace (minus beer and kendo stick of course). Hell, its been well-known this man wasn’t in the best of shape…EVER. Jim Fullington however became a fan favorite by being an ass-kicker who threw everything he had into his matches. This is a prime example of how ECW went against the status quo in choosing its talent.
In a cut against the grain, ECW also gave international superstars (not the WWE synonym for wrestler) a platform to go nuts.
Men like Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, amongst many others, were able to showcase their worldly abilities in front of rabid fans every week.

To those fans watching in attendance, it was as if  they were being christened the first amongst a new breed of wrestling fan.
The revelations were eye-opening to the point where Eric Bischoff, trying to find ways to beat WWE, did a ‘raid’ and hired all these men.
While ECW had the spotlight and the spirit, WCW had the lucrative contracts. Contracts equal $, and that dough was what wrestlers needed in order to provide for their families.
In addition to the ‘guarantee’, these newly termed ‘cruiserweights’ were one of the primary reasons why WCW got a leg up in the beginning of the Monday Night War. Their platform the big league provided would be miniscule in comparison, and due to politics, most would never advance in the company.   

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The Gimmicks
When ECW was first starting to gain popularity in the underground, mainstream WWE and WCW had garbage on the tubes.
Playing to the “kid-friendly” demographic, there were Ding Dongs, plumbers, race car drivers, “evil foreigners”, etc. The gimmicks were what drove the wrestling at the time, and the gimmicks were what drove the ratings down.
ECW had gimmicks, there’s no denying that, but the tools at their disposal were much different than their upper-class brethren.
Sure, there was a rapping tag team who put opponents through tables.

Sure there was a legitimate bounty hunter on the loose, and whose theme music would play during the whole duration of the contest.

Sure there was a man chugging beer with the audience, while smacking himself in the head with said can of suds.

Yes I know this was from ONS in 2005, but dammit this is too awesome to ignore!

Sure there was a man who was referred to as, “Homicidal, Suicidal, (&) Genocidal”, and would cause physical harm to himself in order to get his point across.

BTW, this match took place on exactly my eighth birthday!

There was a bigger meaning to all this.
The hint was that those men behind the characters were just playing as themselves.
ECW didn’t have a creative team or script writers, so what appeared in the ring was what you got. WWE and WCW may not have had much in terms of creative either, but they did give their characters strict guidelines to follow, and thus it became apparent those gimmicks wouldn’t be (for the most part) very entertaining.
In 1997, WWE ushered in it’s “Attitude Era”. Although there could be several distinct points used in describing when it started, one could use Shawn Michaels’ “Blaze of Glory” promo as a big example. Shawn, full-on Degenerate at this point in his career, came down to the ring to do an interview segment with Jim Ross. Only Shawn though was sporting biker shorts with a tube of gauze exposing his, um, junk.

Making a near mockery of the interview, Shawn went to the back only to get his ass chewed out by Vince McMahon. This should have cost HBK about $10,000. In a weird swerve of fate, Vince reneged the fine, stating that he needed to go ‘there’ in order to compete against WCW. This allowed the WWE superstars to act more like themselves, and therefore added a spark of perceived originality to the product.
ECW could be given credit for starting a revolution for how characters were conceived in wrestling. In this instance, they may have not been a direct cause to the change of direction, but inspirational they sure were. Hell, Paul Heyman was on WWE’s payroll at the time!
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THE STORYLINES
For every “Austin vs. McMahon”, there was about twenty cases (or more) of “Jean-Pierre-Lafitte stole Bret Hart’s jacket.”
WWE and WCW in the mid-1990’s were throwing proverbial crap at the figurative wall trying to see what stuck. At this point in time, the gimmicks were corny and the audience was being driven away. Keep in mind there were corporate masters to please, and gates to meet.
Enter in ECW.
There was a creative freedom in this small promotion not experienced in either of the big-named companies.
Not only could the men play as themselves, but the storylines concocted were as edgy/dark as stories could get.
For example, there was an angle about Tommy Dreamer blinding the Sandman. At the time, it was controversial for two reasons. One, it featured both good guys and bad guys caring about this one person, the one being Sandman. That was considered taboo, and almost a break of kayfabe. Two, the man behind Sandman (Jim Fullington) stayed true to the angle to the point where he didn’t leave his house during the duration of the sit-out!

There was also an angle revolving around Sandman’s family, whose love and affection for him were deserted in favor of the dastardly Raven. Again, it was one of those angles that WWE and WCW at the time wouldn’t touch with a broken stick. It wasn’t even that it was so dark and edgy, but the angle had legitimate emotion from not only the actors involved, but the paying people in the audience too. This was considered radical, and in the later years, the big guys would try their hand at heavy-hearted storylines.

While again the change may not be 100% linked to ECW, it should be noted they were the first to do so.
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THE MATCHES
In addition to unique gimmicks and edgier storylines, ECW changed the perception of how a match should be as well.
For example, did anyone notice that later on in WCW and WWE that wrestlers took a lot more chances than they did previously?
That’s because ECW made it cool.
As time went on in ECW, the “regulars” at the ECW Arena knew what to expect from the wrestlers.
So the wrestlers of course had to keep changing it up.
Whether it was a new spot, or a new move altogether, one of the best things about ECW was how there weren’t many boundaries on how a match was performed.
Instead of having a flow of “x does this” and “y does that”, it was more like, “THIS IS AWESOME,” and, “YOU FUCKED UP!”
That’s right. In addition to your normal heat segments and ‘hulking up’, the smarks in attendance will notice how well the wrestlers work each other. If a match’s flow is consistent and fluid, then the fans will be positive. Have a rookie in there who botches a few segments, then bring out the tar and feathers!
Since WCW and WWE saved the big moments for their bigger events (i.e: PPV’s), ECW always gave their faithful more than their fair share. Whether it was a high spot, a convoluted technical spot, or even when the bad guy gets his, ECW fans react to everything that goes on.
Sure enough, the major leagues caught on to this, and their matches starting taking more risks. The crowds weren’t as vocally rambunctious, but they did voice their opine.

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CONCLUSION: As wrestling stagnated in the mid-1990’s, there was a promotion that shook the foundation the ‘extreme’ way.
Extreme Championship Wrestling ushered in what many of us took for granted today.
With a diverse talent pool, fresh gimmicks, edgy storylines, and a whole new way to view matches, ECW’s philosophy of accentuating the positives while hiding the negatives would eventually bring radical change in the mainstream companies of WCW and WWE.
These changes would be a major part in the ‘Monday Night War’’. The highest ratings, the highest crowd participation, and the most accelerated change, all happened because one company wanted to out-do the other.
In the background lied a company whose innovations and ideals would change the very landscape of sports entertainment forever. The one whose ideas would trickle down, and inspire the higher-up companies to follow in their path.
It would be unfair to say ECW was the direct cause of edgier programming, but it is fair to say ECW was definitely an inspirational tool for it. Between talent raids and creative liberties, ECW could also be known as the first victim of the Monday Night War.

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Hustle, Loyalty, and Word Life: The John Cena Post

When John Cena first popped onto WWE televisions in 2002, there was something immediately different about him.

Answering Kurt Angle’s challenge, Cena defiantly slapped the Olympian. Somehow, this unknown hung in with a multiple-time WWE Champion, and only lost the challenge in the last few seconds.

This would set the tone for this man’s incredible WWE run.

From being a blue-chipper, to a rapper, to a Marine, then to a Fruity Pebble, Cena accumulated championships faster than a Bugatti Veyron going 0 to 60. He has also added millions of fans, haters in counter-balance, and the respect of everyone he has ever faced.

To this blogger however, it seems like Cena is starting to get bogged down.

This morning I was looking at still images of Cena from Extreme Rules. A man, who in victory, was literally beaten to a bloody pulp. He also looked old, tired, and needing a long breather.

It goes without saying that Cena is a BEAST. Not only does John go on the road 300 or so days a year, but he also manages to complete multiple obligations that would seemingly kill a normal man!

Let’s not mince corners here. Cena, even after surgery, never truly rests. For example, Cena went to Iraq after pectoral surgery in 2007 to contribute to “Tribute to the Troops”. Normally, most superstars wouldn’t appear anywhere until they returned to TV!

Which leads me to my point.

Turning 35 this past week, it’s almost unfathomable that Cena has been able to keep this type of rigorous schedule up.

Now that he isn’t getting any younger, and not getting any healthier, it may be time for Cena to put his full-time road schedule behind him.

Looking at his age, which is indeed 35, let’s take a look at what other men were doing at that point in their careers:

Steve Austin: In his prime, but going through neck surgery recovery.

Shawn Michaels: Overcoming drug addiction, second run inadvertently on the way.

Triple H: Balls deep into the ‘Reign of Terror’.

Hulk Hogan: Very much still ‘the man’ in the WWE, with or without the championship.

Bret Hart: His singles run was just beginning.

It’s a varied list of talents with a varied list of agendas.

While I’m not saying for Cena to hang his boots up by any means, I am saying that Cena just take a deep breath and analyze what he has.

Take a look at Edge for example. At age 38, he retired with the comfort that he won’t have to be in a wheel chair. After years of TLC matches, nasty bumps, and all in addition to a spinal fusion surgery, the toll became too much of an ‘Edge’ for Adam Copeland to rally against.

With a new crop of talent peeking through the woodwork, Cena’s full-time role should be reduced. Allow Cena to encompass an Undertaker-style (like from 2009) work schedule that while he appears on TV for the promo here and there, the meat of his work will be shown on PPV in matches worthy of hyping an entire card. To anyone wondering, his other commitments (i.e: Make a Wish) would not be affected.

In conclusion, the main point of this article is that Cena should start to slow down. He has done EVERYTHING. From being WWE Champion (at one point over a year straight), to a champion of ‘Make A Wish’, to being a role-model for all fans, Cena’s career is a who’s-who of accomplishments that is nothing short of extraordinary. In a time where contemporaries are retiring in quick succession, John needs to ease off the gas and ride in the slow lane.

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The Double-Turn of the Century: Daniel Bryan and Sheamus

While I may have been away from doing this blog for a while, it doesn’t mean I have been away from keeping tabs on WWE.

Noticing what I have seen on the tube, It seems like the company has quite the quandary on its hands.

Sheamus is “that guy” on the WWE roster right now. He is a white-meat, always-smiling, never-do-wrong babyface with a world title to boot. He is being pushed to the moon and no one is seemingly going to stop him.

Enter Daniel Bryan.

Bryan is conniving coward heel that Sheamus defeated for the World Heavyweight Championship. Not only was the defeat on the grandest stage of all (WrestleMania), but also it was accomplished in a bizarrely quick fashion of 18 seconds!

Now when the heel gets defeated, the normal routine is to celebrate in the splendor of the face.

This didn’t happen.

Instead, the combined crowds of Wrestlemania and the post-‘Mania RAW voiced their displeasure. In addition to chastising the Booger Red, they also made him incur the wrath of multiple ‘YES’ chants, a chant made popular by Bryan in the first place.

Or in this case, SI!

The biggest problem though seem to be the taped Smackdowns. Sheamus’ reactions were so negative, that WWE has loudly dub the boos over with those crappy seagull pops. Never mind the fact the ARENA (as in all of them since ‘Mania) is still heavily cheering for Bryan. On the other side of the coin, Daniel has done some heelish things, like breaking up with AJ, however the crowd just showers their affections to the guy.

Some of WWE’s best decisions have come listening to the fans. Like Stone Cold Steve Austin for example, who was turned face for his anti-establishment rebel behavior. Even Honky Tonk Man was originally a face, until fans literally told the WWE to turn him heel.

Seriously, an Elvis impersonator as a face? Who wudda thunk it?

Going into Extreme Rules, there is one thing the WWE could possibly do: double-turn!

This is how I would do it, keep in mind the match is 2-out-of-3 Falls.

FALL ONE: The match starts ironically with a Brogue Kick, but Bryan kicks out at 2. The crowd cheers wildly as Bryan battles back the Great White. After a ram in the post, Sheamus has his left shoulder worked over. Bryan even manages to apply the ‘YES’ lock, but the Irishman gets to the ropes. A generic finisher ends this fall: Bryan starts hammering on Sheamus in the second rope, but Sheamus traps him into a Celtic Cross, and barely covers him for three.

FALL TWO: Sheamus thinks he has the upper hand, but Bryan nearly gets a ‘chicken’ 3 count. Sheamus is enraged, and starts beating the crap out of Bryan. So much so that the ref has no choice but to DQ Sheamus, and give the fall to Bryan to even it all out. To keep up with continuity, Sheamus nearly wants to kick off the head of the ref, but thinks better of it.

FALL THREE: Sheamus just dominates Bryan. Before you think this is a squash, let me remind you there is a point to this. The crowd is so against Sheamus now they want to rip HIS head off! After a second Brogue Kick, Sheamus starts laughing. Then puts on a serious face. This hostile Chicago  crowd is now in a frenzy as the crazed Irishman now kicks off the head of Bryan for a poetic THIRD time, and finishes him. A huge chant of ‘NO’ comes from this crowd as Sheamus has successfully retained the title.

As Sheamus is walking up the ramp with belt in hand, AJ is running down. Although she has been absolutely berated by Bryan over the kiss at Wrestlemania, she never gives up hope on a reconciliation.

AJ looks at the fallen man in the ring and starts crying as Sheamus’ music stops playing. She even kisses Bryan briefly, but quickly wonders why she did it. Bryan starts to come to, and realizes she’s in the ring.

Unlike the past few weeks where Bryan was vocally approved for dumping the girl, this time the crowd wants to see something called the Seven Year Rule.

Bryan gets up, and points at her. The crowd is non-stop in chanting ‘YES’. Bryan thinks of all the hardship done in the last month or so stemming from ‘Mania, thinking can he go back from it. Looking at the crowd, Bryan can either really dump her or take her back.

He takes her back.

As the crowd is in joy over this, it should be noted that Sheamus and Bryan have now double-turned and their feud would be on-and-off for the rest of the summer. It should lead to a Summerslam match where an unstoppable monster in Sheamus is finally clocked by Bryan in the lock of YES. That would begin a big ‘feel-good’ run for Bryan, as multiple men would underestimate the technical master.

On a side note, it should be stated that two ‘Seven Year Rule’ theorems have been accomplished here. One is for the fact that Bryan/AJ is a direct descendant of Savage/Liz, including the wedding that should happen at whatever the July PPV is named. Second, the double-turn would happen at the Rosemont Horizon, the same building that Steve Austin and Bret Hart did their well-known double-turn at.

While WWE will most likely keep status quo this Sunday, please take this as a ‘bizarro world’ post as one Jerry Lawler would call it. How to make a seemingly hot event volcanic in nature? This post, right here!

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