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Morning Glory RCC: All
For One, None For All
This week’s main event on
RAW was highly interesting. It wasn’t exactly the best match, but for me, it gave a
decent insight into what is right with the WWE today, and what is wrong too. The main
event in question, was of course a tag match. RAW’s main event featured Triple H and
Chris Jericho vs Ric Flair and Rob Van Dam. Set up after HHH was attacked by Van Dam
during his match with Flair earlier in the night, this tag match replaced the booked
Jericho/RVD Intercontinental title match. The first observation that could be made is
obviously the depth of RAW’s roster, and the questions that should be raised by
making HHH and Flair work two matches. Yes, this does make RAW’s roster look weak,
because it IS weak. Booker T is the only other viable main eventer RAW has right
now….so expect more of the afore mentioned four men in the weeks to come. But this
isn’t the bulk of this column? What is? Well, it’s simple….each man in the
main event.
Firstly, the RAW World Champion, Triple H. Hunter is right now easily the most vilified
man in the Internet wrestling community. I always used to defend Hunter’s politics,
due to the fact that he did in fact used to be the best wrestler around. No more.
I’ve been entertained by one, one HHH match this year, and that of course was his
match with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam. I don’t buy into the theory that
Hunter’s lost his wrestling skill, due to injuries or too much bulk. I just think
he’s become lazy, because he knows he has the top spot for as long as he’s
sleeping with Steph. All this, has of course been said before. What I’m going to add
probably hasn’t been.
Yes, HHH is quite possibly an ego-maniac behind the scenes, making sure he’s in a
good spot each show…possibly holding down Chris Jericho too. However, if I’m
Triple H, would I change a thing? Hell no. Why would Hunter want to put newcomers over,
when he can just live on an old reputation, and sit at the top without hard work? Because
it’s the right thing to do? It is the right thing to do, but who in their right mind
would slip down the card when they actually have the choice about it. Not me. Not Kevin
Nash in his WCW tenure. And obviously not HHH. I’m not technically defending Hunter,
just saying that I would most definitely do the same thing.
Back to someone living off a reputation….is it just me, or is Ric Flair seriously
annoying anyone else? Flair is a true legend. Quite possibly the greatest of all time. But
you know what makes me think both Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels are better? Even though it
was through injury, both men retired (in the case of Michaels this is debatable) before
they ended up like Flair. A washed up, shadow of their former selves with a saggy chest.
Flair should retire now…what does he honestly have left to offer? Good matches? Nope.
His match with Jericho at Summerslam was the only one that didn’t entertain me, and
to tell the truth, in my opinion Flair’s only good match this year came in his fight
against The Undertaker. Of course, this match was carried by the story, not the wrestling.
People bash Hogan for continuing past his prime…but his prime was nothing like
Flair’s.
I don’t know whether it’s Vince’s decision, or the backroom staff….but
Flair should not win another big match this year. To put him over both Jericho and
Guerrero within a few months of one another is just criminal. Flair doesn’t need the
wins….the new guys need the rub from this legend. But if the WWE isn’t going to
use Flair to put over up and coming main eventers…someone needs to tell Flair to
retire. He could play an awesome mouthpiece, and do so much more. But in the ring right
now, he’s just a broken down old man.
Chris Jericho should have been the man to benefit from Flair’s fading away, but yet
again, the ‘Ayatollah’ was robbed of a victory at Summerslam. Why? Jericho sure
as hell needed this victory….take a look at his win/loss record this year.
Jericho’s won just 2 PPV matches, which were both before Wrestlemania. Since his loss
against HHH at WM, he’s jobbed to Hunter again, RVD, a rookie in John Cena, and an
old man in Flair. I’m not gonna beat the dead horse, and go on about HHH holding him
down, however true it may be, because I’ve honestly given up on the hope that the WWE
will ever push Jericho properly. So, I give you another way of thinking.
If I’m Jericho, I’d become the most lazy, useless wrestler in the company. Why?
Well what’s the point in working hard when you’re just getting nowhere? I sure
as hell wouldn’t waste my time with it. Jericho is on a huge, guaranteed contract,
and as it’s been shown with Mark Henry and Big Show, big contracts = used on TV. So
that’s my advice to Chris….be lazy…and fuck everyone else. Some more random
thoughts I had about Jericho…does the guy even have a credible finisher any more? The
Walls of Jericho have been watered down to a Boston Crab, and the Lionsault looks weak.
Wait a second…what happened to the ‘Breakdown’ and the
‘Flashback’? Oh, I remember. Austin, Rock, and others kicked out of the
Breakdown, and RVD and John Cena kicked out of the Flashback. See how easy it is to kill a
finisher? The WWE MUST stop doing this, otherwise every match will end with a roll up.
Wait….didn’t that happen on Smackdown?
And now we move on to that figure of controversy in the Oratory…..Rob Van Dam. Now,
when RVD first appeared in the WWE, I was a huge fan of his. But a year down the line?
I’m sick of the guy. His character, if you can even claim he has one, hasn’t
evolved in the slightest, and he wrestles the same damn match every time out. I’m not
denying RVD has charisma, and is a very popular wrestler. But in my eyes, that
doesn’t make him a main event talent. What makes Van Dam any different from Jeff
Hardy? Both have poor mic skills, low character development, and do mental spots. The only
difference I see is Hardy being known for a tag team.
Right now, Van Dam is simply living on the fact that his offense is somewhat different
from the rest of the roster. When the more forgiving casual fans get as bored with his
offense as the ‘net guys, unless Van Dam decides to evolve both his moveset and his
character, he’s screwed. Another argument comes from people who say RVD doesn’t
sell properly. I agree with this, but I blame the years in ECW, where wrestlers generally
didn’t sell properly, and it was just ‘spot-pose-spot’. Van Dam was not
brought up to use psychology in matches, he was trained to point at himself to get a pop
from the ECW fans. When Van Dam was challenged with a technical match, with Benoit at
Summerslam, he proved he just wasn’t ready. So…we’ll see what kind of
‘talent’ Van Dam has when he’s forced to update…..it has to happen
some time.
So, can we draw any conclusions from this tag match? Only one. HHH put RVD over here, so
without a doubt, Hunter will go over Van Dam at Unforgiven. Any more conclusions?
Actually, no. This was, at the end of the day, another meaningless RAW tag match. In 2-3
weeks, this match will have been forgotten about. But for this fan, the match did a good
job. It got me thinking about these four wrestlers, and due to HHH's constant politicking,
Jericho's non-existant push (quite possibly down to HHH), Van Dam's rise and rise without
improvement, and Flair still being around, this match once again proved my theory of
‘all for one, none for all’ correct.
E-mail@ Scott.newman@ntlworld.com
AOLIM: thesuperstar24
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