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/wrestling /guests /Austin |
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/wrestling /guests /Austin |
| Guest Columns | Sharon Austin |
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SHARON'S EDGE Greetings, sports entertainment fans! Well, so much to discuss-let me start with that awesome match I saw over the weekend between Rob Van Dam and Sabu. Damn-these two guys were killing each other! So much high flying, so many kicks but neither could be kept down. My only complaint is I set my VCR and the Knicks game ran over the usual ECW start time-God I hate that! I'm really hoping that TNN will show this incredible match this week as I know there's a lot of people out there that don't get the hardcore show. Also ECW is coming to my city this Friday and I plan to be there! They put on a great show the last time they were here-Bubba Ray and Ball Mahoney bled all over my chair! And this time I get to see Raven and The Sandman up close-can't wait! Well back to TV- the entire hour was devoted to the RVD/Sabu match and although I'm sure TNN won't like the idea of just focusing on just 2 performers-they really should show it. It was amusing how Fonzie came out with Sabu then ran back and came out with RVD. He really did stick to calling it straight down the middle, daddy! He did interference for both sides. But as I said, I missed the last 15 minutes of the match due to the Knicks. Oh well, it was good while it lasted. Well, I really enjoyed Heat this weekend-the D'Von/D'Lo match was good and aside from the stereo- typical Asian speech patterns, the Acolytes and Kaientai were great!! I'm a big fan of the Acolytes and I'd really push for them to be tag team champs again if I weren't so partial to Edge & Christian. I know down the road, those guys will get the straps again-they could demolish the New Age Outlaws with no problem! But Edge & Christian have worked hard just to be #1 contenders for the belts and I think they really deserve them! But I also realize that it's just a matter of time for those 2 blonde bombshells too. Anyway- I've been reading quite a few columns saying that the WWF are turning this one heel or that one heel because they don't have enough heels and it started me to thinking. These days, wrestling is not black and white. There are no real heroes like in the time of Hulk Hogan. Look at Kurt Angle-10 to 15 years ago, he'd been a big hero but today the crowd boos him. You just can't come to the ring today, waving an American flag and get the crowd behind you. The public just isn't with that anymore. Even when they chant 'USA'-it's usually just to piss off a foreign opponent. Case in point-British Bulldog vs. Test-the people were chanting USA and Test is from Canada! I'm not saying patriotism is a thing of the past, I'm saying it's just not very high on the priority list right now. Vince made good use of it during Gulf Storm but right now, we're just complacant. Back to my original subject: heels. The question is are you a heel because you do bad things or because the people boo you? Here's another case-DX; right now DX is doing bad things, very bad things, but the people still cheer them! The Hardys were doing very well against the Outlaws, this close to the tag team gold when Xpuke, ran down and x-factored one of the guys-the crowd went crazy! I was perplexed-hello? This was wrong-what are you doing? But the crowd loved it so what can you say? Another case-Stone Cold Steve Austin-very anti-hero but the people love him! the glass breaks, the crowd goes beserk. He bathes in beer, he flips people off, he curses and he brawls. Now everyone and his mother are predicting a heel turn for Stone Cold but I say how can you accomplish this? The only thing he can do is go HHH's route-insult the fans. By the way, when he's not doing that 'huh' thing after every sentence, HHH is a very good heel. I don't like him in the ring but I give him big props-out of the ring, he's a charming little SOB! I love to see these guys drop kayefabe and give you a look behind the mask. I was really impressed that Mark Calloway actually gave an interview on the A&E Mick Foley bio. I know he doesn't usually do things out of character but then, Mick deserves all the props he gets! Sorry I digress-OK, looking at the roster-there are guys that are pretty much falling into the cracks as neither faces nor heels- The Hardys, Too Cool, Steve Blackman, Fatu, the Headbangers, Taka and Funaki, and the guys that appear on Jakked. With the exception of Too Cool, none of the guys get the mic so you don't know what's the deal. The Hardys,Kaientai and Steve Blackman let their ring work speak for them but these days, you have to have a bit of a personality to get over. I heard Dean Malenko say he's just a wrestler and in the old days of just plain wrestling, that worked but these days it helps to have catchy phrases and/or old fashioned charisma. The other question is can you be a heel if the people just don't care? They tried Steve Blackman as a heel-they got yawns. Right now aside from HHH, Big Boss Man is the biggest generator of boos that you can get. And he earned them by killing a dog and stealing a corpse! So the biggest question of them all is who makes the heels? The answer is you do! Well that's it for me this week. I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving (those of us in the US) Take care until next time.... Sharon The World's Most Dangerous Abs Mail the Author Visit the World's Most Dangerous Abs |
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