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0 Subject: Week in Review

Posted by: Great One@Work
- [59946299] Wed, Nov 17, 2004, 16:51

cut and paste - pretty long - but interesting - article I just read with some good details from SS PPV that I didn't know... also makes some good points about HHH and the younger talent.

Dan Wahlers looks at WWE over the past week

Will They Ever Learn?
Looking at: Survivor Series, and the Raw Aftermath

njguy316@yahoo.com

Survivor Series 2004 came and went, and ended up much
like I expected, a middle of the road show. There
weren't any bad matches per say, even the
Undertaker/Heidenreich match was better than anyone
could have expected. There was effort on the part of
a lot of the talent, so it wasn't like it was a poorly
worked show. But in the end, when the show went off
the air at 10:35 PM ET, I was left with a blah feeling
regarding the show. Nothing about the show stood out
as being memorable, or remarkable. There were no
surprises, and no title changes. The results were
predictable, and the crowd was less than enthusiastic,
a disturbing trend for recent WWE PPV's. It was
pretty much what I had expected going in, and that's
not a good thing no matter how you look at it.

Once again, nobody stood out from the pack to
distinguish themselves as possibly someone worth
watching more closely in the future. Randy Orton
defeated Triple H to win the Raw Elimination Match.
He did it cleanly, right in the middle of the ring,
which is exactly the way it should have happened.
However, the feeling I got watching it all unfold was
not that I was watching the next huge star, like Jim
Ross tried so hard to get across, but rather a boring,
predictable end to a boring, predictable show. The
way the match ended so abruptly, there was no drama,
no suspense to the finish. It just kind of came from
nowhere, and it was over with a snap of the fingers.
Orton needed to go over, which I stated in my last
column. But to steal a line from Lance Storm, they
needed more bells and whistles to along with it, and
they didn't deliver on that throughout the course of
the show.

As for the match itself, it wasn't a bad match, but
nothing special either. Not the kind of quality main
event you expect on one of their major shows. It's
unacceptable when your best worker Chris Benoit is
eliminated first, and the match still has another 20
minutes to go. That is piss poor booking at its
worst. Maven was there to be your sacrificial lamb,
which is what he should have been. Not your best
worker, a man who can carry a match by himself.
Instead Maven was booked to come out later in the
match, for a heat spot cleaning house on all the
heels, including potatoing Gene Snitsky which caused
that nasty gash he had above his eye. The crowd
didn't care about Maven, and everyone knew it. I
don't get why he was booked for such a role in this
match.

Maven could be, and I emphasize the word "could" be a
star somewhere down the road, but it's going to take
time, and them actually booking him as such. Not
booking him as a jobber on Heat for two years, and
then all of a sudden throwing him in the main event at
Survivor Series, because Shawn Michaels happened to
get hurt. It doesn't work that way. The time to
capitalize on Maven was right after he won the first
Tough Enough, and they tried with that angle he did
with Undertaker, but too much time as passed since
then. They needed to start from scratch with him, and
they didn't do it.

Gene Snitsky had his first high profile PPV match, and
I think he accounted pretty well for himself. He's
become the punch line for a lot of jokes lately, but I
don't think he's as bad as everyone makes him out to
be. He was given a specific role to play, and I think
he plays it well. He's getting over with the fans as
a heel. They don't ask him to do too much, and he
seems like he's capable of being carried to passable
matches in the ring. Everyone keeps waiting for him
to screw up, and embarrass himself in the ring, and I
haven't seen him do it yet. I think everyone needs to
give the guy a chance, and not be so quick to discard
him as a failure already. He's actually one of the
few new guys WWE has attempted to make that has caught
on with the fans in some way.

He's certainly not going to be Chris Benoit and Kurt
Angle all rolled into one, but it seems like he knows
when to be in the right place, at the right time in
the ring. I guess his true test will come when he has
his first main event singles match on PPV against
someone like Benoit or Jericho, then we'll really be
able to tell what the guy has, or doesn't have. I
think people need to give him a break right now. You
can't say WWE needs to make new stars, and then piss
on every one they attempt to make. You have to be
patient, and give every one a chance. That is if you
care at all about the future of the company, and more
importantly the future of the wrestling business as a
whole.

Survivor Series opened with a good Cruiserweight
Four-Way match. All four guys Spike Dudley, Rey
Mysterio, Billy Kidman, and Chavo Guerrero worked hard
to cram as much action as they could into the ten
minutes they were given for the match, and did a good
job. I thought at the time they could have used more
time, but I accepted it figuring they needed it for
one of the elimination matches later in the night,
which are traditionally booked to go a long time.
That wasn't the case on this night, as the Smackdown
Elimination only went a little more than 12 minutes,
and the Raw Elimination went about 25 minutes. The
show went off the air 25 minutes before the top of the
hour, so there was extra time to be had. Why couldn't
they have given the cruiserweights more time?
Because, The Undertaker and Heidenreich had to go 16
minutes.

That was a match I expected to be bad, and in all
honesty wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Undertaker really worked hard to try and carry
Heidenreich to a passable match, and I think he did
that. The match shouldn't have gone as long as it
did, especially given the slow, methodical style they
were working. I'm not going to totally knock it
though, because I've definitely seen far worse this
year. We also found out that while Heidenreich is a
big clod in the ring, he's also capable of being led
through a match without totally falling on his face.
This match should have realistically been booked to go
half of what it did, and more time should have been
added to the CW Four-Way, and the Smackdown
Elimination.

The Smackdown Elimination was gone through so fast,
that it was like Angle's team was late for a flight or
something. And it seemed like half of the 12 minutes
was devoted to Mark Jindrak laying in boring rest
holds with different people, lulling the crowd into a
malaise that they didn't really recover from the rest
of the night. We knew going in with Carlito's injury
situation that he wasn't going to work much, if at
all, and I liked the angle they did to explain him
leaving. Hopefully he'll have whatever surgery he
needs to have, and get back soon, because he is
another new act that was actually starting to get
over.

John Cena showed more spirit and fire in that segment
that he ever has before, proving that he can play
serious when he wants. He needs to show more of that
in the future if ever expects to go anywhere. After
that, Cena didn't tag into the match once, and his
only offensive move was an FU to Kurt Angle leading to
the finish. The crowd popped huge for Cena during his
entrance, so I think they made a big mistake by not
involving him in the match more. He was more over
than any of his three teammates, and as far as I know
he had no real injuries that would preclude him from
actually participating in the match.

Kurt Angle's neck must be worse off than any of us
realize, because he didn't do much in the match at
all. That might be another reason why the match was
so short. WWE needs to start planning for life after
Angle, because I don't believe he will last much
longer. I did like the hint they gave towards a
possible Kurt Angle/Shawn Michaels match in the
future. That is one match I would love to see, and
one they have never done before. That is probably one
of the few matches they could create out of the
current WWE roster that people would actually want to
see, and one they haven't seen before.

Angle against Michaels is a dream match for wrestling
fans. Two of the greatest workers from two different
eras going against each other. I hope they figure out
a way to make it happen, and Wrestlemania 21 would be
a great time and place. I know Angle/Undertaker was
one of the planned WM 21 matches at one point, but
Angle/Michaels is a much more attractive match. I
don't think too many people would argue that point,
nor argue that it would be a better quality match than
anything Angle and Undertaker could put together.

A couple of other notes on Survivor Series. I thought
the Shelton Benjamin/Christian I-C Title match was a
really good match. Benjamin had a good showing, and
really looks to be improving as an in-ring worker. He
used a bigger variety of moves than I have seen from
him yet. Jim Ross really tried to push Benjamin as
someone special, and a future star. I think it's a
smart move, because Benjamin does have all the goods,
and I think he will only get better as times goes on.
Christian got a much-needed change of his entrance
music, and an updated look as far as his ring attire
goes. I doubt that will lead to his status in the
company improving at all. He's a guy that just seems
to be stuck where he is. The Trish/Lita 1:15 DQ
finish was very cheap for PPV, but I understand why
they did it. This is pretty much the only marketable
women's match they have left, so they want to milk it
for all it's worth. They should have still made an
effort to come up with a better match scenario than
that. Doing 1:15 DQ finishes on PPV isn't good for an
already declining PPV business. JBL/Booker T, well I
fell asleep during that match, so I think that tells
you all you need to know about what I thought of it.
And Survivor Series as a whole, really.

Monday on Raw was a different story altogether. The
crowd in Indianapolis was hot for everything, and that
makes a huge difference in how the show comes across.
I don't blame the fans in Cleveland for not reacting
well to Survivor Series, but a hot crowd always makes
a show seem better, even if it's really not on paper.
Maven was the GM for the night, and naturally booked
himself into a title match against Triple H. He also
booked several other interesting matches, which made
the first half of Raw good. I really liked the idea
of Edge and Christian teaming up against Chris Benoit
and Shelton Benjamin, and it was a good, entertaining
match. The whole Eugene and William Regal winning the
tag titles segment was also very well done, and the
crowd seemed to be very into it. I'm personally happy
for Regal, because he has been through a lot to get
back where he is, and it's nice to see him being
rewarded for his hard work, and determination. The
main storyline of the show was HHH trying to talk
Maven into joining Evolution, which he did in a
vignette that started out really good, but as with
most HHH promos, he loves to hear the sound of his own
voice, and it ended up really dragging at the end.
Chris Benoit said more in the two minutes he talked to
Maven, then HHH did in his entire ten minute speech.
Reminding all the people that always bring it up, that
Benoit actually can talk on the mic, and be effective
when given good material. Maven ended up turning him
down, and they had the match in the main event spot on
Raw.

This match has gotten dissected by a lot of people,
and a lot of questions have come up regarding how
everyone was portrayed as a result of the match. One
thing I will say is they booked a lot big heat spots
at the end of the match, and the crowd got really into
it. But the main problem was the basic premise of the
match, and what it means for the future. The story of
the match was Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and later
Randy Orton pulling out every heel trick in the book,
in order to cost HHH the title. The only problem with
that is none of them are supposed to be heels, and
group cheating is supposed to be done by heels on a
face World Champion. The only problem with that is
Triple H isn't a face champion; in fact he's supposed
to be the #1 heel in the company. So why was the
booking so ass backwards? Because this is Triple
we're talking about, and you should already know the
answer to that question.

So what WWE fans were basically told is Triple H is
better than Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, and Chris
Jericho, and definitely better than Maven. They were
told that HHH will always win despite all the odds
stacked against him, and they shouldn't even bother
hoping for one of those guys to beat him, because it's
never going to happen. Here's the thing about that.
If the company was rolling along, and business was
booming, then I would applaud that booking decision,
because that is how you book a heel champion. That's
how they booked Superstar Billy Graham, and it made it
all the more important when Bob Backlund finally
defeated him for the title.

However, with the way business is now, and the lack of
a top drawing face challenger for HHH, he should be
going out of his way to put over the ones they do
have. That would be Orton, Benoit, Jericho, and even
Maven to an extent, the four guys that were made to
look like buffoons on Monday. It's the same game HHH
has been playing for years now. Make it appear on the
surface like he's really putting someone over, when
he's really undercutting them from behind. The idea
they're going for is that people will realize HHH
barely wins his matches, and that he's beatable any
given week. In theory, that would increase interest
in his matches, leading to a culmination when he
finally does drop the belt. If HHH were dropping the
belt to either of Orton, Benoit, or Jericho over the
next three weeks, then the booking on Monday would
make more sense. But I don't see that happening.

What I see happening is HHH remaining champion after
he successfully turns back the challenges of the
remaining three Raw faces, and him standing alone with
no one to work with, and no one anyone wants to see
him work with. HHH will have squandered yet another
opportunity to use his name, and superstar status to
help make another wrestler. That's what's going to
happen if they keep up this selfish, one-way style of
booking. The remaining fans they have left are going
to get fed up with HHH, and turn the channel, and the
rapidly declining business will continue. Triple H is
slowly ruining the company, and Vince McMahon is to
blame for letting it happen. He's the only person,
the only man in this world that could stand up to HHH,
and end his death grip on Raw's top spot. But he
doesn't want to, because HHH and all the ass kissing,
shallow writers and agents he surrounds himself with
have Vince believing HHH will somehow lead the company
out of the doldrums they are currently in. People
like Pat Patterson, who have the nerve to stand up,
and say that isn't the way to go, are accused of not
being team players, and out of touch with the current
wrestling business.

Well who exactly is in touch with the current
wrestling business? I'd like to know that. It sure
as hell isn't Vince McMahon, nor is it Stephanie
McMahon, Triple H, Brian Gewertz, John Laurenitis, or
the majority of the people working high positions in
WWE today. They think they are in touch with what the
fans of today want, and it's obvious that they aren't.
It's obvious when HHH dominates every episode of Raw,
and guys that the fans do like are booked like
second-class jobbers. It's obvious when they create
corny 1980's style gimmicks like Simon Dean, and
Mohammed Hassan, and attempt to push them down
everyone's throat. No offense to Mike Bucci, formerly
Nova in ECW, a guy that has a lot of talent. But the
Simon Dean gimmick sucks, and the fans are not into it
at all. They can have him come out every week, call
the fans disgusting, fat, and whatever else, maybe
they'll boo, because he's appealing to the lowest
common denominator of cheap heat. But it stops there,
because the character of Simon Dean is not a character
people are going to want to pay to see, so what's the
point of sending him out there every week, and taking
up 20 minutes on a segment that was dead before it
even started?

Garbage like that is not what the wrestling fans of
today want to see. They want to see more realistic
matches, and angles, like the stuff currently going on
in Ring of Honor. Storylines that don't insult your
intelligence, which leads to a match between two guys
who know how to work, and the issues are resolved in
the ring. One guy wins, one guy loses. It's as
simple as wrestling gets, and it's the formula that
has been working since the first wrestling match back
in the 1800's. Vince McMahon used to know how to
follow that formula, while throwing in his own
personal ideas, and visions that made WWE the most
successful wrestling promotion of all-time. Somewhere
during the last several years, he lost that ability to
connect with his audience, and shows no signs of being
able to regain what he once had.

They have some young guys like Orton, Benjamin, Cena,
and others that have potential, and the fans like.
But they will never be allowed to rise on their own,
as long as people like HHH, Undertaker, and even Kurt
Angle to an extent have to be catered to on a weekly
basis. It's Vince's fault for letting it happen, and
only he can be the one to change it. Maybe one day
before he finally retires from the business he helped
make, he will find that creative genius in him again.
Right now, it's simply not there. The inmates are
indeed running the asylum, and one of the biggest,
guiltiest inmates of them all is the current World
Heavyweight Champion, you know his name all too well.

Oh, Triple H will get the spot in wrestling history
books that he so craves, but it won't be for what he
did in the ring. It will be for his major role in
killing off a once proud, once standard bearing
wrestling company that is a shell of its former self,
and showing few signs of improving. Somehow, I don't
think it's an honor that a wrestling history buff like
HHH wants to be associated with. But it's happening,
and he's the major reason why. Pat Patterson didn't
know how right he was, and something tells me more
than a few people in the company know Pat was right
too. Instead of fixing the problem, they can just
keep moving to smaller buildings, and see what the
"Cerebral Assassin" thinks about working a main event
in front of 500 people.

Thanks for reading. Be back next week. Feedback is
always welcomed, and appreciated at the address below.

Please send feedback to: njguy316@yahoo.com

Dan Wahlers
General Fantasy Sports

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