Columns
Morning Glory #3: Blow
It Off
Before I begin the column
legit, a quick Unforgiven review for y’all. Overall, a decent effort from the WWE,
better than I expected.
Booker T, Kane, Goldust & Bubba Dudley vs Unamericans wasn’t a bad match, and
from my standpoint was highly entertaining. However, if they want to do a big blowoff some
time down the road, they have to give the Unamericans a win some time. However, that
doesn’t look likely. One thing that does look likely is a Bubba push, which I’m
praying his injury will stop. Bubba Dudley is NOT a main event talent…I wouldn’t
even consider him upper midcard, and I can think of a lot more wrestlers who deserve the
shot before him.
Chris Jericho vs Ric Flair was another shitty match from the old guy, redeemed only by
Jericho going over. I’m absolutely at the end of my tether with Flair…why
can’t he just retire? More on this later. Jericho however is a breath of fresh air
right now, and deserves to be so much higher than the Intercontinental title. His whole
‘King of the World’ spiel RULES, and his goatee is sooo cool. Not to mention
that he can work an awesome match too….
Edge vs Eddie was cool, and Eddie’s sunset flip bomb was AWESOME. Unlike at
Summerslam, the psychology of the match paid off…and did I hear some CHEERS for
Eddie? I hear their match on Smackdown is even better…so rest assured my video
recorder will be working this Saturday night.
Billy & Chuck vs 3 Minute Warning was fine for what it was, and formulaic tag matches
always work. It’s a pity the tag division is dead right now, because Billy &
Chuck honestly aren’t that bad. As for 3MW….get some new gear already! The
stips…I’ll get to them.
HHH vs RVD wasn’t a bad match, it was merely average. I have no complaints with
Hunter going over, as long as RVD somehow wins the belt at No Mercy…but Flair’s
heel turn is a JOKE. He can’t work any more, he’s jobbed to Rico, so his rub is
now worth shit IMO, and he has no use as a wrestler any more. If they decide to put him
against RVD, and push BUBBA FRIGGIN DUDLEY as HHH’s #1 contender, I WILL NOT WATCH
RAW THIS MONTH.
Trish vs Molly was pointless, I’ll wait till Lita comes back to care about the
Women’s division thanks.
HLA sucked. What a bloody waste of time….either stip would have been fine, hell, if
they were gonna make Steph get it on with an ugly female, do it, cos at least it adds to
Bischoff’s heat. The whole Rikishi thing didn’t help the GM angle, didn’t
help Bischoff’s heat, and didn’t even really help Stephanie. Waste of time,
let’s hope the HLA thing is gone now.
Benoit vs Angle was incredible, and did the great thing of seeming short when it was
actually long. THAT is the mark of a top match IMO. The tombstone reversal sequence was
one of the best things I’ve seen in a while, and Angle’s bump on that German
suplex was SICK. The finish worked too, as Benoit proved he can cheat as well as Angle.
I’m hoping for a rematch (and a face turn for one of them) at No Mercy.
The main event is what this column is about…so just read on and find out my thoughts
on the whole angle. The match DIDN’T suck BTW.
I have been told by my film studies teacher, that in a movie, there are technically only
something like 7 (I forget the exact number) storylines that can be used. They’re
named after classical stories and myths, such as Achilles, and although there can be
various swings and swerves in the story, the outcome is always the same as in the classic
myth, often with the good guy coming out on top. Wrestling has the same sort of qualities,
in that no matter how complicated, or long an angle is, to draw and be considered a
classic, it has to have a blowoff where the face goes over. Hulk Hogan, the legend that he
is, can be used as a fine example here.
In the 1980’s, at the height of Hulkamania, the WWE used simple angles to draw money
and make Hogan into the biggest star in the wrestling industry. The formula was simple:
Big heel comes in, squashes faces, gets built into a contender for Hogan’s WWE title,
faces Hogan, Hogan defeats big heel. Get a new big heel, and repeat the cycle.
Hogan’s title reigns, and run at the top, taking place over a period of around 10
years, drew huge, and brought a spotlight on the world of wrestling like never before.
Title reigns that were built in the same way, as in a face champion fighting off a
different heel at each PPV, include Shawn Michaels in 1996 and Undertaker in 1997. I
don’t know about anyone else, but I highly enjoyed these runs, much more than the
usual ‘face chases heel champion’ style of angle. Anyway, back to Hogan. Over 10
years after he first set the wrestling world alight, he re-lit the torch in 1996, in WCW.
Hogan turned heel, a role he hadn’t played for nearly 15 years, and along with Scott
Hall and Kevin Nash, he formed the nWo. Hogan and company then ran roughshod over the WCW
for the next year, bringing in various new members, turning people heel, splitting tag
teams such as the Steiner Brothers, and generally causing mayhem. The angle drew huge, and
enabled the WCW to take over the WWE in the ratings. However, by 1998, the nWo as an angle
was dying, and no amount of new members, t-shirts, or pushes could save it. Why?
Put quite simply, they never blew it off. The WCW never gave the faces that one decisive
victory to end the angle, and put the threat of the nWo to the ground for good.
Sting’s ‘big’ victory at Starrcade 1997 was a joke, and from then onwards,
it went downhill. The problem was that WCW’s bookers couldn’t blow off an angle
so big, that had drawn so huge. To blow off such an angle, one thing needed to happen. The
faces needed to DESTROY the nWo for good. And they never did, and that caused the WCW fans
to lose interest. I dare say if Sting had destroyed Hogan at Starrcade 1997, and the nWo
had disbanded soon after, the wrestling world would not be the same today. And that, in
essence, is the problem with Brock Lesnar’s title reign.
Brock Lesnar has been built as somewhat of a monster since his debut in the WWE. He has
risen through the ranks faster than anyone before, and at Summerslam in August, captured
the WWE Title from The Rock just 5 months after his debut. Lesnar’s first two
programs against major faces involved Hulk Hogan and The Rock, and unsurprisingly, both
men (for totally different reasons) have now disappeared from WWE TV. This was basically
the only thing that could happen. Why? Because Lesnar had gone over them so strongly, and
they were such big names, that the angles needed a blowoff. To technically complete the
angle with Hogan, the Hulkster should return some time later on, and finally defeat the
monster that took him out. Of course, due to Hogan’s age, and Lesnar’s rising
star, this would be completely counterproductive to business. So Hogan now has two
choices; to stay off TV altogether and retire, becoming a literal head on Lesnar’s
mantelpiece, or return and avoid Lesnar, possibly by going to RAW, and have the internet
fans complain that it ‘isn’t logical’. And you wonder why the WWE defy
logic so often?
Lesnar’s title reign has not been very good so far, and has showcased him squashing
such meaningless opponents as Hardcore Holly and Randy Orton. Lesnar’s first title
feud was against The Undertaker, and their undisputed title match took place on Unforgiven
just last week. The WWE actually did a good job of building the feud, with the whole
showdown interview, and Lesnar’s threatening of Taker’s pregnant wife, and on
Smackdown before Unforgiven, they finally made contact and exchanged blows in the center
of the ring. Before the match at Unforgiven, during the video promo of the match (set to
Gavin Rossdale’s awesome ‘Adrenaline’), was when it hit me. I saw Lesnar
threatening Taker’s pregnant wife, I saw Taker become more emotionally involved in
the feud, I saw the sleazy, evil Paul Heyman making comments about Sara….and I wanted
Taker to destroy Lesnar, to teach the big, bad heel a lesson, and to fight through the
adversity to defeat the Next Big Thing. I didn’t consider Lesnar’s future, or
Taker’s age, or backstage politics. From my mark point of view, I just wanted Taker
to hurt Brock. I am a smart fan. I KNOW that the right thing to do for business would be
Taker jobbing clean. But at that moment in time, I wanted Taker to win. And the question
is, how many other marks felt the same way?
I’m guessing a lot of them. And why not? The WWE had built Lesnar into a strong heel,
and made him very hateable using Heyman’s sleazy character. Taker had been built as a
strong face, and of course had the added advantage of being the ‘hero’, the man
fighting for the honor of his wife. The match, whatever you say about it, was enjoyable.
It was a decent, stiff brawl, but it ended in a DQ finish. The fans booed this, and the
net decried it as a copout. It was Justin T I believe, who first said that ‘the
finish was OK, as long as they do a blowoff next month’. I agree. However, what does
‘a blowoff’ mean? To the smart fans on the ‘net, a blowoff means Taker
lying down for Lesnar. To the mark fans, and to myself, a TRUE blowoff would be Taker
rising from adversity to defeat Lesnar, then having an emotional celebration with his
pregnant wife in the ring. Would Taker as undisputed champion be good for business? Hell
no. Would Lesnar’s build be pissed away? Hell yes. But the thing is…it’s
the logical ending. How can the WWE build Taker as an unstoppable, emotional face, and
then have him lose the blowoff? To me, THAT would be a copout. Which is why the WWE should
be in such a quandary over this.
The only way to have Lesnar go over, cleanly and strongly, and end the feud there, would
be to get Taker off TV. Maybe this will happen. I don’t know if Sara is legitimately
pregnant, but if she is, this is the most likely thing to happen. Of course, then
we’re back to the Hogan point. If Taker comes back later on, and doesn’t go
after Lesnar, it just defies the logic of the storyline. In wrestling, like in the movies,
for the fans to feel satisfied at the end of a program, the face HAS to go over. And if
I’m a clueless mark, who doesn’t know a thing about ‘elevation’,
‘workrate’ and the like, I’d want Taker to win the blowoff with Lesnar. And
I’d feel pissed off and robbed if he didn’t, just like I did watching
‘Bonnie & Clyde’, when the two were shot dead at the end of the film rather
than escaping and riding away to live happily ever after.
Maybe I’m over-emotional, too markish, or whatever, but I honestly can’t see a
decent solution for this. Which is why, if I was a booker, I’d generally stick to
variations of ‘face fighting various heels’. And I’d blow off every angle,
and I’d hope the fans would feel satisfied with the payoff that they were given. And
it would probably draw too. Can you imagine how well a blowoff match at Summerslam 2001
between the heel Austin and the face Rock would have drawn? Exactly. So maybe some
internet fans, desperate to see Lesnar go clean over the Taker at No Mercy, should stop to
think how the marks feel. Maybe the right thing for business isn’t the new guy going
over, after all?
Scott Newman: scott.newman@ntlworld.com
AOLIM: thesuperstar24
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