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Morning Glory RCC:
Overconfidence
Triple H, The Rock, and The
Undertaker are all well-known main eventers in the WWE. The Rock has been around about
that level since late 1998, which makes him a 4 year main eventer. HHH has been that level
for around 3 years, and Taker an incredible 10 years. They’ve all had their share of
titles, big wins, and glory. Through hard work, good characters, and just talent,
they’ve managed to become the main players in the WWE we see today. So what’s
the difference between The Rock and HHH? What is the difference between Undertaker in
1997, and Undertaker in 2002? What makes some main eventers so protective of their
precious main event spot, and what makes others confident enough to job to almost anyone?
The word we’re looking for here is confidence. Confidence in the character that the
wrestler has, the confidence that no matter how many jobs you do, you’ll always
remain over and therefore in the main event position. Being over is the key of course. No
matter how good you are in the ring, how much of a good look you have, or how well you can
work a mic, if the audience don’t care about you, or take to your character,
you’ll never make the main event slot. See Dean Malenko, one of the greatest
technical wrestlers of the last 10 years. With his amazing ability, he could have gone
main event. But because of his highly bland persona, and poor mic skills, he never did.
See Road Dogg, a ‘master of the mic’. He could whip the crowd up into a frenzy
with a microphone, but couldn’t do shit in the ring, and bored the crowd when he
wrestled. No main events for Mr Jammes. Of course, people get over in different ways. Some
guys just have that charisma that draws people to them. See The Rock, Bret Hart, and Shawn
Michaels. Call it luck, or natural talent, there’s no denying that they have the
‘it’ factor. Then there’s the other way to get over. Have the company push
you so hard, and put you over so many people, eventually the fans will accept you as a
main player, and you’ll be over by proxy. But because this is an
‘artificial’ form of being over, as opposed to the type described previous, then
problems will occur.
I now buy into the theory that HHH holds people down, therefore protecting his spot. There
is simply too much evidence to suggest otherwise. When did you last see HHH do the job on
a PPV for someone below him on the card? Exactly. But from my point of view, this
doesn’t make Hunter a bad person, nor a selfish egomaniac like some might say. Hunter
is, in fact, scared. He is just so underconfident in his ring persona, that he, in the
depths of his mind, believes that if he does lose to someone who he considers beneath him,
such as Chris Jericho or Kurt Angle, he will lose the grip of the fans. He won’t be
over any more. And therefore, he will lose his spot that he has worked so hard to get.
Hunter can’t risk this, and so he simply uses his backstage clout to make sure he
doesn’t lose, and doesn’t drop any of his precious heat. The hints are all
there, even on his t-shirt. Remember? ”Game over? You damn right I’m over!”
It’s as if he’s even trying to convince himself.
Let’s take a look at The Undertaker. A few years ago, Taker was praised by guys all
over the place, for being a consummate professional. Back in say 1997, Taker would lay
down for basically anyone. Don’t believe me? I have three of the ‘Best of RAW
1997’ tapes. One of the matches featured is one that involves Taker being pinned
cleanly by Kama. Yeah, that’s right. Kama Mustafa, AKA The Godfather, AKA midcard 4
life. As much as I’m a fan of The Undertaker, there’s no way this would happen
nowadays. Taker is more likely to squash someone the calibre of Kama within 5 minutes. So
why the sudden change? I believe that it has something to do with Taker’s change in
character. Back in 1997, Taker was in the midst of his classic ‘zombie dead man’
character. The persona was always over, no matter what. Taker could lose to Kama, and
other midcarders, and it wouldn’t harm his heat at all. He was the indestructible
Dead Man! Of course he would manage to get revenge eventually. Taker was untouchable, and
his spot as a main eventer was never under question. But now?
Taker is now in his ‘tattooed biker American Badass’ character. Sure, people
have praised the character for being more real life, down to earth, and more like Mark
Callaway, the man behind the Undertaker. Callaway himself has even said he feels more
comfortable portraying the American Badass, because it’s more ‘him’. But is
this really true? In my opinion, I think not. Taker may be more comfortable in his biker
persona, but by getting rid of the Deadman persona, he has endangered his spot. No longer
can he take a loss, then sit up and roll his eyes like nothing happened. And Callaway
knows this. He knows, that if he loses the big matches, his character and heat will become
DOA, in both senses of the word. In the mind of the mark, Taker’s new character may
talk like a badass, but if he can’t back it up in the ring with the big wins,
he’s just another Brian Lee. So why cheer him? Why keep him over? And there, in a
nutshell, is why Undertaker never loses the big matches to guys beneath him. He, like HHH,
is underconfident in his character.
So now we come to The Rock. The most electrifying man in sports entertainment. The most
over face in the company for the last few years. The movie star, the most famous man in
wrestling since Hulk Hogan. Of course the guy is over. But with all the jobs he does, to
guys like Jericho, Angle, and not to mention guys even below them, such as Rhyno, how does
he remain so over? How has The Rock’s heat become untouchable? It’s simple, and
that is because of Duane Johnson’s confidence. Don’t you think Rocky has just as
much backstage clout as Undertaker, or even HHH for that matter? If he’d gone to
Vince McMahon, or whoever was booking, and simply refused to do the job cleanly to Rhyno
on that RAW last year, don’t you think they would have changed it? Course they would.
So why didn’t Rocky do it? Simply because, he has that much confidence in his
character and ability, that he knows in his own mind that a loss to anyone won’t hurt
his heat. Another classic promo, and The Rock is on top of the wrestling world again. The
same thing can be said with Kurt Angle. He’s lost to plenty of unremarkable wrestlers
before, but his heat hasn’t been lost because he knows that he can get himself over
quickly again.
Hulk Hogan, since his return to the WWE in February, is considered to be a changed man by
internet fans. Gone are the days where Hogan would use his political sway to get big wins
over people. Hogan has put over guys such as Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar, cleanly, and has
been a major factor in getting Edge over as a near main eventer. So what’s caused the
change in the Hulkster? Some have put forward theories such as the Bash At The Beach 2000
incident. They claim that Vince Russo’s verbal attack on Hogan acted as a wake up
call for Hulk, and made him rethink his backstage antics. I don’t buy into this. I
believe that if Hogan was still in a living WCW, he’d be playing political games just
like he always has. The thing that changed Hogan was the reaction of the WWE crowds. When
he returned, Hogan was cheered no matter what he did. When he went back to the Yellow and
Red gimmick, Hogan was even more over with the fans, gaining huge responses and
‘HOGAN!’ chants all over the USA. And that, in my eyes, is what changed Hogan.
He realised that losing the odd match, even cleanly, to younger superstars would not
affect his heat. Hulk was over no matter what, and for him, it was enough to make him job
to almost anyone.
So what, you ask, is my theory all about? Well, basically, I think the guys that got their
spot at the top from being pushed incredibly hard, are underconfident in their abilities.
I think that they use their political clout not to hold others down, but to make sure
their spot is totally protected, to make sure they cannot ever slip downwards. The guys
with the natural talent, the cream of the crop so to speak, that have risen up through
sheer talent, don’t tend to use politics to get their way, and will generally do what
is right for the company because of the confidence in their abilities. It’s not about
personality, it’s about confidence. Or at least, that’s how I see it.
So, if you liked/hated this column, think I’m full of BS, or whatever, you can reach
me at scott.newman@ntlworld.com, or as thesuperstar24 on AIM.
Scott Newman- Wishing Kevin Nash a speedy recovery, all the way from Britain!!
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