|
/wrestling /guests /Cerese |
|
|
/wrestling /guests /Cerese |
| Guest Columns | Rebecca Cerese |
MainBLAH |
REBECCA'S RANTS Hey all!! It's me Rebecca, back with my weekly Rants...First things first...I want to send my thoughts and prayers out to Darren Drozdov and his family. Unfortunately, sometimes horrible accidents occur as much as we wish they didn't. All we can do is show our support and hope for the best. And that's what I plan to do. It is wonderful to hear that there has been some progress, and I hope and pray that this continues. Also, besides feeling sympathy for Droz and his family, I also feel for D'Lo Brown. I cannot imagine having to deal with that type of guilt. I hope that D'Lo as well can find the strength to get him through this very trying time. Now onto the Rants...in this column I am going to touch on something that has been bothering me for a while, and that is the average "wrestling fan". One thing I love about wrestling is the pop of the crowd when they get excited about something...One of my favorite wrestling moments ever was the first time Mick Foley won the WWF Heavyweight Championship belt. Let me paint the picture. Stone Cold Steve Austin had been out with an injury for about a month. D-Generation X was at the top of their popularity, pulling double duty at every RAW to keep the ratings up while Stone Cold was recovering and heavily battling the now defunct Corporation. Shawn Michaels had given Vince McMahon sweet chin music and Vince had fired his ass. RAW started off with Shawn Michaels coming out to tell Vince he wasn't going anywhere...then he said he had the cavalry with him, hit the DX music, and DX comes out to back up their friend. So already the crowd was jacked up. In his opening interview, HBK tells Vince that at some point during the show he is going to leave and bring back a Stone Cold surprise...now remember we hadn't heard from Stone Cold in a month...Then when HBK leaves to go get this surprise, he is attacked by the corporation and needs to be taken away in an ambulance. Later on, HHH helps Mankind get his hands on Shane McMahon, who Foley then uses as bait to get what he really wants, which is a title match against the Rock that night, and not just any title match, a no disqualifications, no countouts match. In other words, a championship match...Foley style. Time comes for the match...DX is at ringside, solidly behind Foley, the corporation is also at ringside, solidly behind the Rock. The match starts, it is a pretty even contest, finally Foley gets out Socko and shoves it down the Rock's throat. Ken Shamrock runs in and hits Foley over the head with a chair, Bad Ass who was in a serious rivalry with Kenny at the time, runs in and chases him out of the ring...Road Dogg starts jumping up and down in excitement and runs around to start kicking the corporation's ass. All of DX, start attacking the corporation...SUDDENLY...THE BREAKING OF THE GLASS AND THE LOUDEST POP OF ALL TIME REVERBERATES AROUND THE ARENA. STONE COLD IS THERE!!! Stone Cold grabs the chair, throttles Rock over the head and takes Foley's body and drapes it over the Rock... a 3 count later and we have a new champ. Ok, excuse the detailed recap, but I just love that moment. I was able to watch it over and over again, and the thing that stands out the most to me is the excitement of the crowd. That is one of the major reasons that this match was so special...the excitement generated from the live crowd was electrifying and contagious. Well, what am I complaining about you might ask, well the thing is I know that this particular high drama type of experience cannot happen everyday, but it seems to me that if it is not a main eventer...or the New Age Outlaws (who are just ridiculously over) then wrestling fans just don't seem to get into the match. The live reaction is a major component to the chemistry of a match. And as my friend Mark (who attended the Georgia Dome RAW) pointed out to me even further, recently the live crowds have not really been into most of the matches at all. Now I understand that some matches are just stinkers...the opponents just don't have any in ring chemistry, and the finished match comes across as boring, but this is not always the case. It seems that if the crowd's favorite wrestler, for example the Rock is not out there, than most fans cannot be bothered. I am not making my point very concisely , so let me bring up the ECW, who in my estimation have the best fans in the world. The thing about the ECW, is the fans like wrestling, so if there are a bunch of wrestlers out there, fighting their hearts out, it is going to get a crowd reaction. Even if the wrestlers don't happen to be fan favorites, the fans are going to get into the ring action, and start one crazy chant or another. The same cannot be said for the WWF. The Hardy Boys, excuse me the New Brood, still have trouble garnering crowd reaction...are you kidding me, these guys go out and give 110% every time they are out there, plus they have some of the most exciting high flying maneuvers I have ever seen. Why do Edge and Christian still have to beg the crowd to give them a response when they are out there? Jumping on the ropes, trying their hardest to get the crowd to cheer them? Or another good example...on RAW, I thought the Headbangers vs. Jericho and Mr. Hughes match was incredibly good. The Headbangers looked pretty impressive out there, and I swear you could hear a pin drop the whole time they were in the ring. Or yet another example, the Dudley Boys vs. Acolytes match at Unforgiven, or the Dudley Boys vs. Mankind and Dude Love match from a couple of week's ago. I think the Dudley's are an extremely talented tag team with the sweetest tag team end move in the business, and the crowd just doesn't respond to them in any way. Ok, one more, Ivory...she goes out there week after week and gives some of the most entertaining interviews I have ever heard. I mean come on people, her frazzled, I am being stalked by some crazy old women speech was awesome, and still nothing but a reverberating silence. She is a good wrestler, and in my opinion a very worthy women's champ, but she gets no respect and absolutely no heat from the crowd. The list goes on and on, very talented midcarders who are struggling to get any crowd reaction despite the fact that more often than not they have far better moves than 90% of the so called "Main Eventers". So at this point I bet you are wondering exactly what I am after, I guess I just wish that the WWF fans were still fans of wrestling rather than simply fans of one personality or the other. The midcarders travel just as much as the Maineventers, and a lot of times work much harder, and most of them are worth our respect. They are working their asses off out there and the least we can do is tell them if we like what we see or if we don't. And no I don't think that they need to come out with 40 scantilly clad women, or Terri "I'm a complete skank" Runnels to get a crowd going. Why are the ho's getting a bigger pop than the New Brood. Don't just sit there and say nothing people because that slows down the whole show, and makes it far less exciting to watch. Ok, next topic of business...what in the hell is up with some of the angles currently going on in the WWF... Mark Henry having sex with his sister...all I have to say is, are they trying to ruin Mark Henry's career. Who thought this would be a good idea? Obviously a mean spirited individual who hates Mark Henry. Incest is not something to joke about...its not a topic of conversation that anyone finds funny or humorous in any way. I understand the sex addict story...well kind of, but this, its not funny, and it is downright uncomfortable. Big Show's father has cancer...ok, I couldn't tell if this is a work or not, and either way I feel this has no place on TV. In my opinion it is not good practice to pretend that any loved one has a terminal illness...and if it is true, than my deepest sympathies go to Paul Wight...but somehow I think it is a work. Chyna being thrown off the ramp in a hamper and getting totally bloodied...First off where the hell was HHH? It seems to me that a certain someone is so consumed with his rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin that he leaves little room for anything or anyone else. Second, I thought in light of the whole Droz situation that this particular segment was in poor taste. Again, I just have a problem with faking serious injuries, that involve A LOT of fake blood, and people who look to be having seizures. Because as WWF fans, unfortunately we now know that sometimes real injuries do occur, and I just feel that faking such injuries tends to make light of them. That said, I wonder what the WWF is doing with Chyna...it seemed to me she was one of the few "midcarders" that was getting legitimate face heat from the crowd. Then they go and put her in this angle where she is beating the snot out of Jim Ross? Do the WWF think we are stupid or something. I think they really need to split her off from HHH for a while and give her a face run on her own, as the Intercontinental champ. Which leads me to my next question, how will her "injuries" sustained in the Hamper incident, impact her match at this Sunday's PPV? Will she still be able to wrestle? Will the WWF finally give her the win she so deserves, without taking it away because of an instant replay? I hope so, no guarantees from me this time around, since I was so disappointed last time, but I do have a good feeling. I just hope that she is able to find the most painful kitchen appliance and clobber Jeff Jarrett over the head with it, to knock him out for the three count. X-Pac is really on my shit list (sorry Jamie Lynn) but his behavior toward Kane is a disgrace. Hello X-Pac, you won the match against the giant Farooq, without any help from Kane, how is it showing weakness, when your partner and friend comes to help you when you are being doubleteamed by two huge guys. Does Farooq feel like the weak link because he has Bradshaw's help? I don't think so. It seems that this is all leading to a heel turn by X-Pac where he will turn on Kane at the PPV. Kane is to awesome to be held down by X-Pac any longer. I hope he gives X-Pac exactly what he has coming to him, when it is just the two of them left in the four corners elimination match. Whatever happens, I hope and pray that X-Pac doesn't get the victory over Kane, this would certainly, in my eyes be a travesty of justice, but not surprising in light of all the other times the WWF has screwed Kane out of what he rightfully deserves, a run at the WWF Championship belt. At least the crowd seems to solidly be behind Kane as a pretty large Kane chant went out at the Georgia Dome on Monday Night. Are you listening WWF officials...Kane is way over...give the man a Main event push.... Ok, I'm not going to even mention the mud wrestling from last except to say, I don't understand how men can find that sort of thing attractive. They were covered in mud for gods sake, you couldn't even see anything. I know that if two of my favorite male WWF superstars were fighting in mud, it certainly would do nothing to turn me on...but that is one of the many differences between men and women... Speaking of turning me on...Match #4 in the "Terri" invitational was superb...these four young guys...and of course since its my column, I will say especially Christian are so damn talented. Too bad it seems that the tag team belts are going to stay on the waists of the NAO for a while. Because either one of these teams deserve to wear the belts more than the NAO, in my opinion. Ok, two last things and then I gotta go run off to my second job...I was deeply saddened by the passing of Gorilla Monsoon. I grew up watching the WWF with Gorilla, Jesse the Body, and Bobby "the weasel" Heenan as the ring side announcers. I will always remember this time with a great fondness, and Gorilla will surely be missed. Last thing, I promise...even though I don't understand why The British Bulldog would agree to it, I thought the Rockbottom into the pile of dog crap was gross but hilarious. Every time it seems the WWF cannot sink any lower into toilet humor they surprise us.... See ya. Rebecca Cerese The World's Most Dangerous Abs Mail the Author Visit the World's Most Dangerous Abs |
BLAH |
Main |
||