How to fix wrestling...

So I'm sitting here at work bored (long story short, the TV station I work for is airing the Olympics in practically round the clock coverage, which means most employees get this week off and our programming is pre-empted save for a one hour show between 6-7pm) and thought I'd toss in a DVD of Wrestlemania X7 to pass some of the time, specifically the main event between without question the top two modern era performers, The Rock and Stone Cold. While I've seen the match before once or twice, not to mention the live airing of it back in 2001, I've never fully absorbed the match or the atmosphere like I did today.

And damned if that wasn't one of the most entertaining matches I've ever watched. The entire night the company was working in rarified air with very few misfires on the entire lineup, the one match I refuse to sit through being that joke of a women's title match (Chyna v. Ivory for anyone interested). Everything else on the show is at least watchable, with the TLC match and main event simply in a class by itself. Anyone who laments over the state of today's wrestling should immediately throw on this PPV, you'll feel a whole lot better. The passing of time has given a bit of new perspective to the show, it's considered by many to be the pinnacle of the Attitude Era of the WWF(E) and/or one of the greatest single wrestling events of all time.

Rock and Stone Cold may not have been the greatest in terms of straight-up workrate (though Austin's earlier days he could hang with the best in pure wrestling ability), but as better people than I have said time and time again, they were simply the two biggest names in the modern wrestling boom period. Their first WM match (XV) was pretty good, and their last one (XIX) was more of a self-parody to be perfectly honest given Austin's state of health, but the X7 match is simply unbeatable. Unlike the way Steamboat-Savage is revered as the very best in the 1980's wrestling boom for the WWF, or the Flair-Steamboat series for the NWA in the 80's, Rock-Austin from Mania X7 will probably split popular opinion with one or two other matches, most likely Bret-Austin from Mania 13.

What puts this match over the top for me is the overall atmosphere, the big show feeling you get from simply the surroundings and the look of the arena. The three-storey 'tron, the stadium full of people with the cool blue lighting, it all combines to make for an unforgettable match. While Austin-Bret is technically superior for the wrestling, and historically could be more important since it led to Austin's scorching hot face run, WM13 was a total flop in nearly every match but that one. And frankly, it had less of that 'big feeling' of any other Wrestlemanias I've ever seen. Small arena, terrible card, and the crowd didn't really add much (Want to prove me wrong, Chicago? WM22's just over a month away. Surprise me.) to the show either.

Something else that really stood out to me in the X7 match was the announcing. Paul Heyman and JR didn't get nearly as much credit for their duration as the main announce team in 2001. It was before JR became a total self-parody, and Heyman added a sense of legitimacy and history that I haven't seen since, at least until Joey Styles came aboard this past fall (but that's a story for another time). Heyman somehow managed to play the heel announcer role while at the same time calling what he saw down the middle. I'm glad to see he's tearing it up as the OVW booker, but a big part of me wishes he'd come back up to the main show as the Raw GM if Bischoff is truly gone.

The bottom line to this post is simple. If the WWE really wanted to fix its problems with the current product, they could learn a lot by going back into their archives to check out this show. I fear it's a bit late for WM22 since they're stuck on auto-pilot with one of the first "top five match" cards I've ever seen for a Mania (rumored to be HHH-Cena, Angle-Orton, Taker-Henry, Vince-Shawn, and Edge-Foley which is the only of the five I have any interest at all in... IF I get the show at all), but as always I'll hold out hope that the E will right its course and sometime in the near future come back to being that "can't miss television" it once had.

It's pretty simple as I see it:

-easy, clear-cut storylines for EVERBODY, not just the top 4 guys on each brand.

-matches people actually want to see, not so-called dream matches that won't help either guy or involve 60 year old men.

-bring back meaning to the belts. Whether it means ditch some of them, combine them, have them transfer back and forth between shows, just stop using them as nothing more than a prop.

-if you use legends, USE THEM PROPERLY. Don't bring them back for the sole purpose of being humiliated (Hacksaw, two weeks ago), a punchline (Hawksaw, Royal Rumble) or to humiliate a current member of the roster (Rob Conway, WWE Homecoming). If they don't have a legitimate reason to be there (HoF is a GREAT way to use them), STOP INVITING THEM.

-No more Undertaker. I can't stress this enough. Give him a desk job. PR work. Road agent. Anything at all to get him off my screen and out of the ring, because every time I even hear the name it ruins the show for me. He's somehow evolved to the previously unheard of level beyond self-parody, all the way to "walking enjoyment euthenasia". He ruins any career he comes into contact with these days, he drags down every match he's in, and he hasn't been entertaining to me since his heel run in 2002 which in itself was a last gasp. No, that's not entirely true. His Summerslam 2004 match with JBL led to a great deal of entertainment for me... when the entire arena became more focused on doing the WAVE than the match going on in the ring. THAT was entertaining. I don't want to see him do the zombie situp. I don't want to see him do Old School. I don't want to see him shoot lightning bolts out of his hands. I just don't want to see him.

Well, wasn't expecting quite a rant when I started doing this. Not bad for a DVD that'll turn 5 years old soon.

Now THIS reeks of awesomeness

Sometimes good things happen to good people.

A lot of people have heaped praise upon TNA Wrestling since it finally a got a national TV deal this fall, and I've got to agree. While the WWE will probably always remain the top dog in the industry given the history, the power, the money, etc. it's great to see an alternative to the status quo.

It's become more apparent than ever that Vince McMahon is pretty much running his television shows for himself rather than for the fans, which usually means the big roided up freaks getting the top spots in the company while the guys who can actually wrestle languish on the web-only shows or so far down in the midcard you wonder if they're even still with the company at times. Even when they have the opportunity to shake things up (EDGE) they somehow find a way to screw it up and go right back to the same boring direction (Cena v. HHH, feel the excitement~!) as always.

Which is why TNA is such a breath of fresh air. It's not a perfect company by any stretch, but more often than the WWE it seems to listen to what the fans have to say. Christian Cage has busted his ass for years in wrestling (side note: I was in attendance for his first WWE appearance ever, Breakdown in 1998) and never seem to get the chance to main event or even be a bigger part of the company. In fact, the last time the WWE came to Toronto, Christian's home town, not only did they not put him in a match but they even went so far as to have him attacked during his own interview segment and made to look pretty bad. What purpose exactly does having an already popular character get laid out in his hometown serve? It's stupid crap like this that makes Booker T hate going home to Houston.

So this past weekend, Christian Cage walked off with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and finally shattered that glass ceiling. Just another example of how TNA, though it might not be quite as wide a scope of the WWE, can be far more enjoyable to watch and ultimately provide that sense of competition that's been missing from pro wrestling for the last 5 years.

Cuz that's how he rolls.

And it was... Arrested Development.

Haven't gotten a chance before today to say this, but wow. If this was the end of AD, what a phenominal way to go out. FOX can screw around with the show as much as it wants (part of me thinks the higher ups have a serious hate-on for the show and simply enjoy jerking it around) and it still brings the funny right up until the very end (Showtime...).

Two solid hours of undoubtedly the best comedy on television were enough to get me to skip the Olympic opening ceremonies (repeat anyways; CBC aired them live in the afternoon anyways) and anything else on that night. From the return of Franklin ("My name is Juuuuuuudge") to Lindsay being adopted ("I'm just not into older women...") to Lucille being the puppetmaster behind George Sr., if it was really the end it went out better than I could have ever expected. And if by some chance it manages to survive and moves to another network, so much the better.

Now people have complained that if it moves that it won't be the same show considering how it all wrapped up, but think about it... season one was all about George in prison and the finances frozen... they changed the whole premise in season two with George on the lam and the financial assets being unfrozen... and changed it again in season three with George under house arrest in the apartment, but essentially back with the family awaiting the trial. So what's different this time? I assume Lucille would be the one in jail or house arrest, the family still has legal woes except it's George who's free (and now established as not the brilliant mastermind, but the pawn).

As far as the Bluth Company being sold to Sitwell, meh. It was a legal agreement at best before the police showed up, and more Ed Begley Jr. = more funny. Gee, before AD who ever thought they'd be able to say that? Part of the brillance of AD was how the show evolved over time... does anyone really think the show would have remained as brilliant if George Sr. had simply stayed in prison for three seasons? Of course not. They used it as a plot device as much as they could have, then moved on to better situations.

The bottom line is this... if AD is over with, I'm satisfied with the way they finished out and will be getting season three the day it comes out on DVD. If it lands on Showtime or ABC, it's still got a ton of mileage left.

"Maybe a movie." We can hope, Ron. We can hope.

The power of editing, and Superbowl fever

So for the first time in about three years I was able to sit and actually watch the Superbowl this year without being at work or having something else get my way. Pretty good game, and for a change I didn't have any kind of hatred or dislike for either side so I was guaranteed to see someone I liked win. Good for Pittsburgh, it's been too long without a world championship for a team that's been fun to watch as long as they have. And I have a feeling Seattle might be back to the big game sooner rather than later, they're mostly young. Kinda surprised that Heinz Ward won the MVP, but then again there wasn't really a standout player tonight. Nifty catch for a TD though.

Following the game though, a Very Special Grey's Anatomy. Very cool episode, continues to build up a lot of threads from earlier this season (Izzy & Alex, George and Bailey... and unfortunately the love triangle nobody wants to see, Meredith-Addison-McDreamy) although it's a little cheap to make it the first of two parts. Eh, it hooked me. :)

And had this link passed my way, thanks Katie. :)