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Morning Glory #11: Is It
A Bird? Is It A Plane? No it's SuperBrock!
You have heard a hint dropped
about this column in the past couple of days, but I’ll leave it to you to work out
where. As it is, it’s #11 for me on the main page, and hopefully I can get a little
more consistent now. OK, before I begin, quickfire No Way Out review for
y’all…..
Jericho vs Hardy was a nice, high-energy opener, which got the crowd going. Right finish
too.
RVD & Kane vs Storm & Regal got the old FFFWD, because I can’t stand Storm or
Regal right now, and Kane is reaching that level too. Along with the Dudleyz, these three
are the most stale people on RAW.
Kidman vs Hardy was perfectly acceptable, but the crowd didn’t seem into it for one
reason or another. Hopefully Hardy can play the role Jericho did in WCW now; that of the
slightly bigger cruiserweight.
Big Show vs Taker was incredible. Not that it was good, but Taker tried his hardest
to carry Show to a watchable match, and nearly succeeded. Taker’s performance was
good, but Show’s was horrid, and it made for a blah match which was pushed to OK by
Taker’s tope. I’m thinking Show’s actually the worst wrestler ever
now….Angle couldn’t get a decent match out of him, and all the other terrible
wrestlers (Nash, Sid, A-Train, Adams, etc) have had at least a few good matches.
Lesnar & Benoit vs Team Angle I will get onto in a second…it’s involved in
the main portion of the column.
Steiner vs HHH was a bad match again, but was better than the Rumble version. Poor Scotty
gets cheered on RAW, and booed on PPV. I don’t know why. I know he’s crap in the
ring, but I still mark out like a bitch for him. HHH will hopefully drop the title to
Booker at Wrestlemania now.
Austin vs Bischoff was obviously a horrid match, but Austin’s return was handled
well, and the crowd eat it up with a spoon. I’ll say that if Austin comes back, works
with the younger guys, gets them over, and performs well, I’m up for it. If he
decides to set his little watch that he’s always looking at back to ‘1998’,
and feuds with the boss, I won’t watch.
Rock vs Hogan sucked of course, but I am in awe of Rock’s heel act. The entrance is
perfect for the character, and the way he gets others over is mind blowing. A new star was
even made in this match, in the form of Sylvan Grenier, the heel referee. Trust me, he
could go places as a corporate lackey. Rock’s putting over Booker T on the following
RAW was phenomenal, too.
OK, onto the main portion of the column.
As some of you may know, I’m usually quite an optimistic person when it comes to the
WWE, more than a lot of my compatriots here on the Oratory. I don’t mind putting up
with crap like the latest A-Train push, or a Big Show match, because I know there’s
good things to watch, whether it’s something everyone likes, like a Benoit/Angle
match, or something only I seem to be able to appreciate, like an Undertaker segment. I
loved the Brian Kendrick/Kurt Angle match this week, and hated the Rikishi one. I like
some things, and dislike others, but I do try to stay on the positive side. However,
sooner or later, something comes along that really pisses me off. This latest thing is,
somewhat surprisingly, the man known as the ‘Next Big Thing’, Brock Lesnar.
Now, I never complained one bit about Lesnar’s initial push. I was somewhat miffed at
the huge push he was getting when he didn’t seem much good in the ring or in terms of
character, in around June time, but give him his due, he has improved 100% since then.
Back then, Lesnar was nowhere near over, was boring and pretty crappy in the ring (I still
say Test carried him in their match at King of the Ring), and never spoke a word, instead
using Paul Heyman as a mouthpiece. Now? Lesnar regularly gets the biggest pops, or some of
the biggest on the shows (this is evident on PPV, and also in fan reports from the
Smackdown tapings, for those who think all his pops are ‘canned’), he’s
good to watch in the ring and has had some great matches, and he seems to be able to speak
and cut a promo with little trouble. So, you ask, what is my problem with Lesnar?
It’s quite simple. The man is portrayed as being absolutely unstoppable. You name one
wrestler that has tested Lesnar since he turned face in late October. ONE. Nope, you
can’t. The last man to take Brock ‘to his limits’ was Undertaker, back in
October. And since then, Lesnar has bored the hell out of me.
Many fans are desperately awaiting, salivating over the Wrestlemania main event (as it now
stands) between Brock Lesnar and the WWE World Champion Kurt Angle. I’m not. I’m
sure it’ll be a great match, filled with a lot of drama, great moves, reversals, and
everything else you can wish for in a main event, but there’s the one ingredient
missing. Unpredictability. The WWE has not yet given us any indication, any possibility
that Angle could actually beat Lesnar. Lesnar, week in, week out, squashes Angle’s
comrades, while Angle himself desperately tries to avoid Lesnar’s wrath. Lesnar lost
the title to the Big Show, his one pinfall loss, through interference from Paul Heyman,
and a chairshot, whereas Angle won the said title from Show due to Lesnar’s own
interference. In their two confrontations, Angle has been F5-d into the steel ringpost,
and then been hit with the F5 in the handicap match with Chris Benoit and Team Angle at No
Way Out. From where I stand, from a fan’s point of view, given Brock’s dominance
over Angle, and also Wrestlemania tradition, it’s a lock that Brock’s going to
win the title there. So what was the point in the 3-month long chase? Wait….
Did Brock even HAVE the ‘chase’ that a normal face would? Of course not.
Let’s look at what he’s done since dropping the title, back in November, to the
Big Show. Brock was ‘suspended’ for some dumb reason that now slips my mind, and
returned at the Armageddon PPV in December to cost Show the title, sending it to Kurt
Angle. In January, Brock squashed his way through guys like Matt Hardy and A-Train, on his
way to the Royal Rumble PPV, where he squashed Big Show (remember, Show was the only man
to pin Lesnar), and then entered the Rumble match at #29. Due to the fact that Chris
Jericho, the only other logical winner, had already been eliminated, Brock won the Rumble,
dumping Undertaker last to set up his Wrestlemania showdown with Angle. So, the
Wrestlemania match is set up, and the so-called ‘chase’ that the face, Lesnar,
has to the heel, Angle’s title should be underway….not that Lesnar did any
chasing beforehand, having never looked vulnerable up to this point.
Now, given that Kurt Angle is pushed as the top heel in the promotion, is the current WWE
World Champion, has an ‘evil genius’ for an agent in Paul Heyman, and on top of
that has a tag team of lackeys in Team Angle, the Logic of Wrestling would suggest that
the Lesnar-Angle programme would consist of the heels beating Lesnar down, week in, week
out, with some comebacks from the face (maybe Benoit making the save or something) but the
heels should basically have the upper hand going into the PPV, where, ‘against the
odds’, the face manages to win, and defeats the heel, sending the fans home happy.
And with a match the calibre of Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle as the payoff, this type of
programme could be remembered as a classic. It’d be easy…have Team Angle gang up
on Lesnar, have Kurt finish with the Angle Slam on a couple of Smackdowns. But nope,
forget logic here, this is Brock Lesnar we’re talking about! He’s SUPERMAN
don’t you know!
So not only does the WWE have not one heel beatdown on Lesnar as yet, but each week
leading to Wrestlemania, they have Lesnar squash Team Angle. We’ve seen Lesnar kill
Haas and Benjamin one after the other, then just this week, he destroyed both of them in a
handicap match, winning with a clean pin. The No Way Out match with Benoit and Lesnar vs
Team Angle was great, definitely, but most of the selling for the face team was done by
Benoit, and the finish was never in doubt. Lesnar never looked tested by Haas, Benjamin,
or in their short spots, even Angle. Can you imagine how much better the Angle-Lesnar
programme would be, if Lesnar had actually been pinned by Angle, or tapped to the
Ankle-lock? It would not only add interest, but would also make Angle look like he has
somewhat of a chance. Right now, it looks like he has absolutely nil.
People whine about how good HHH ‘makes himself look’ constantly, and yet compare
his face push this time last year with Lesnar’s. HHH won the Royal Rumble, but then
lost his title shot to Kurt Angle at No Way Out. Sure, he won the shot back the next night
on RAW, but it did make him seem somewhat vulnerable. And yes, HHH’s feud with Chris
Jericho was utter crap, but at least at some points, Jericho may have looked relatively
strong to the marks, hitting HHH with a sledgehammer and all. Look at another comparable
push, that of Steve Austin in 1998. Did every show end with Austin hitting a Stone Cold
Stunner on Triple H, going into his match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 14? Of
course not. DX regularly beat up on Austin, and with the added factor of Mike Tyson, the
special enforcer, joining the heels, it seemed the deck was stacked against Austin. From a
mark’s point of view, the odds were against Austin. For Lesnar…the odds are
hugely for Lesnar to win, and that isn’t how wrestling should work.
By pushing Lesnar in the way that they are currently doing, the WWE are not only
destroying the credibility of a lot of the heels on the Smackdown brand, but they are also
ruining Lesnar’s chances of becoming a long-term main event staple in the promotion.
Lesnar has been made to look so much better than everyone else, that once he wins the
title from Angle, who will be left to challenge him realistically? I can’t think of
one person. The way Lesnar is being pushed is very reminiscent of how WCW pushed Goldberg,
and look what happened there. Goldberg, after he lost the title to Kevin Nash, became
highly stale. Why? Because it was obvious to the fans that the only way to beat Goldberg,
like Nash did, was to use outside interference. Everyone keeps saying that the WWE needs
to push more new wrestlers into the upper card, but I say that if this is the way
they’re going to push them, then it’s better off for them to wait in the mid
card. Many people said when he debuted, that Lesnar was the WWE’s answer to Goldberg.
Many others said the WWE wouldn’t make the same mistake that WCW did. But lo and
behold, they have.
Surprise surprise.
Scott Newman: scott.newman@ntlworld.com
AOLIM: TheSuperstar24
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