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| Guest Columns | Richard Craig |
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RICHARD'S RASSLIN' RANTS Before I begin, may I thank CRZ and Bill Gillon for giving my inaugural articles such a great "rub", I was delighted to be published, but ECSTATIC to be recommended in this way. I intend to talk about a couple of things in this particular article, namely the return of Titan's, sorry, WWF Entertainment Inc's number one UK drawing card, Davey Boy Smith and the recent primadonna behaviour of one "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, focussing particularly upon the possible [sinister] reasons behind the addition of Mick Foley to the WWF Title match at Summerslam next weekend. At this point, I should apologise if I tread on Bill's toes, especially as things relate to Davey Boy Smith, especially as he's slash-wrestling's Bill Gillon and I am, well, plain old Richard. THE RETURN OF "THE BRITISH BULLDOG", DAVEY BOY SMITH As the latest WWF UK PPV draws ever closer (JR confirmed on last night's UK version of Raw is War that this event was indeed to be carried on Sky Box Office: the ONLY place it had been referred to as having PPV status was in the Ross Report at WWF.COM) the timing of the rehiring of the aforementioned "WWF Superstar" could NOT be better. It would be a brave move to say that "WWF Rebellion" will pass without the Manchester born in-law of the Hart dynasty making some sort of contribution to the evening's developments. Following the history of the previous two UK PPVs, as chronicled in my last article, the return of the original WWF European Champion could also herald the upturn in fortune for the WWF PPV efforts in this country. BSkyB, having always been Davey Boy marks (the latter stages of the promotion of One Night Only in 1997 featured a great commercial with the man himself, and up until his dismissal, all WWF programming on Sky Sports was preceded by a trail in which the Bulldog proclaimed "You're watching The World Wrestling Federation: ONLY on Sky Sports!") must be creaming themselves at the prospects of promoting these events around arguably the most recognisable name-wrestler that Britain has ever produced (other than Big Daddy, but we won't go into *that*!!!). At the back of my mind, however, are two sizeable problems that leave me less than ecstatic about his return.
1. Dave Meltzer (recently subbing for Micasa over at Wrestleline) ran a terrific article covering some of the points that have got me concerned, so I acknowledge his piece as the inspiration for the following reflections. I shall be attending WWF Rebellion in 7 weeks' time, and whilst it is EXTREMELY unlikely, there *does* remain the possibility that Davey could work some kind of match at this event. I would feel terrible if this were the case, and I'd like to tell you why. For those who have followed the mat game for a while, all of the tales of wrestlers who cannot turn their back on the sport, no matter how serious their original career ending injuries were, become apparent. The late Rick Rude was rumoured to be preparing for another run at the WWF, Roddy Piper has continued to wrestle despite having mashed-up hips, Curt Hennig and Michael Hayes decided that they'd like to become active wrestlers again following their respective injuries/health problems and now, some internet fans are even suggesting that HBK could be gearing up for a one-shot deal against HHH at WM16. Just like a pro-boxer who fights on beyond the time that they should hang up the gloves, the sight of a pro-wrestler trapped by the business in this manner is truly saddening. Without having seen Bulldog at the time I write this, all I remember from his recent tenure at WCW, was someone who compared to his WWF run of 1997, was grossly overweight and out-of-condition, and whose matches left only one impression to those who were brave enough to endure them: the WWF had gotten the good end of the bargain in getting rid of this apparent "has-been". With the cumulative wear and tear of the injuries sustained throughout his career, let alone the career threatening back injury which has sidelined him for so many months now, the risks that Bulldog is taking in returning to the WWF are many. It would be terrible if this comeback were to leave him confined to a wheelchair in his later life, doomed to repeat the tragic tale of his estranged tag-team partner, "The Dynamite Kid" Tom Billington. Wrestlers are not, no matter what some over-enthusiastic fans may think, and I repeat, are NOT performing monkeys who are there to entertain us at our very whim. I would be very embarrassed to be part of a crowd at WWF Rebellion that perhaps spurs Davey to reach farther than he should at this stage of his often-controversial career. In April of this year, Yokozuna came to Aberdeen on tour with the British Wrestling Association. I found myself having to leave shortly after the beginning of his "main event", the act of getting into the ring and hi-five-ing Fatu being enough to make him visibly breathless. The attempted diet to get back into the WWF clearly abandoned, Anoia was horribly bloated and I really felt awful at having justified this freak-show by paying for my ticket in the first place. Whilst handled correctly, Bulldog has the opportunity to make this return a more fulfilling one that Yoko's self-exploitation and degradation, the underlying possibility of experiencing another night like that one makes me decidedly uneasy. The issue of Smith's morals are also a key issue in this story. At a time when the Hart family are probably still grieving over Owen's death (his BROTHER-IN-LAW, and more importantly his wife's BROTHER) and are pursuing the WWF and Vince McMahon in a civil wrongful death suit, how can the wider Hart family react to the news that Owen's sister is recording TV for , whilst Davey is wrestling for the company they [and I think it is safe to use this word] LOATHE?!! In the November 98 issue of UK wrestling magazine Powerslam, put together by wrestling journalists Fin Martin and Rob Butcher, an interview with "The Dynamite Kid" Tom Billington hinted at some of the despicable things that Davey and Diana had done to further their own careers in the past. Billington alleged that Smith had called his aunt and uncle (Billington's parents) and informed them of all of the drugs he was taking: he admitted in the interview to using steroids as well as taking cocaine, halcyons, speed and marijuana. Most disturbingly, he claimed that Diana Smith called All Japan Wrestling and told them, "I'm sorry the Bulldogs can't come, because Dynamite is dead. He's been killed in a car crash." This was, he explained, the couple's attempts to destroy his deal with the promotion. At the time, I took these anecdotes with a hefty pinch of salt, but if the Bulldog and his wife can return to the WWF at a time when their family HATES the World Wrestling Federation with a passion and can completely put aside the hurt and betrayal that must cause their loved ones, then perhaps the Dynamite Kid's tales *are* an accurate portrayal of an athlete that whilst a hero to thousands of UK wrestling fans, is a bit of a "bastard" [Billington's words] in real-life. 2. Recently I have read that Steve Austin has refused to participate in segments on Raw with Jeff Jarrett and Mr Ass, claiming that neither "mid-carder" was over enough with the fans to warrant getting a "rub" from him. I now am aware that Austin Vs HHH is now Austin Vs HHH Vs Mick Foley at next week's Summerslam. Whilst I am delighted at the prospect of seeing Mankind in action following his lengthy layoff, I am dismayed if this is an attempt by Austin to take the shine off Triple H's championship reign. Whilst it is realistic that Austin's injuries are too serious for him to be a credible participant in a one-on-one match up, or HHH is going to be the champ who repels the double challenge of Austin AND Mankind, the third option is VERY unpalatable, IMODO. If this new stipulation is merely a device engineered by Austin (who reportedly has a degree of "stroke" in the booking of his angles and programs) can give up the belt WITHOUT giving TripleH the all-important pinfall, then he is, in my eyes, THE World's cowardliest son-of-a-BITCH!!! At a time when internet columnists correctly point out that HHH got his biggest break yet in the form of the Ventura segments on Raw last week, and the Summerslam card has been so obviously promoted around the beginning of his rumoured title reign, for Austin to (if this is what has happened) selfishly take the wind out from HHH's sails places him the camp marked Hogan and Hart. (As we know, Hogan would not job to Bret, and Bret would rather do something extraordinarily unpleasant than job to Michaels. In fact, we all know that Shawn picked up quite a reputation for not "laying down for anybody".) Whilst Austin has only lost his two championship reigns to the brothers Kane and 'Taker, at least he DID job when the time required him to do so. However, we have NOT seen him placed in a situation where he has had to forfeit his title outside of a McMahon sponsored challenger (such as a face Rock or, currently, the "independent" HHH) If this is sign of his continued Sable-like petulance behind the scenes, then I hope he loses the belt next Sunday. His gimmick is getting REALLY old (he SOOO needs to screw those frickin' marks and turn heel) and although I can barely tolerate it at present, my tolerance level disappears when hearing of these backstage developments. This has been quite a ranty column, so for now (unless I can get any better ideas) I think I'll entitle my (hopefully one day REGULAR column) Richard's Rasslin' Rants. P.S. To borrow from Bill's column, do you know that the spell-check on my AOL mailbox has "Galleon" [as in ship] as a possible replacement for Gillon? Richard Craig Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK [slash] wrestling Mail the Author |
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