Hey all. Welcome to another edition of ...AMO. I have some thoughts regarding No Way Out and the Monday outings that I'll get to in this weeks' 10 Things, but first let's kick this column off with a letter (No, not you, Frat Boy. You come at the closer.) Seems a few people had some thoughts after my observations of my old college friend, Perk.

Leftovers

Adam Forrai wrote:

Hi,

Read your article on Slash Wrestling and I love your comment about the marks, especially Perk. Don't get me wrong, I dislike the marks 'cos they cheer everything Rock and Austin do and say, cheer the Taker 'cos of his entrance theme (it's a stupid song), but man, when are they gonna wake up and realise these guys don't have much wrestling ability.

Heck, this is Rock's match. Right right right right right right, into the ropes....on righting for 10 minutes and then spine buster rock bottom and peoples elbow. What a woman. And this is Austin's match. Punch punch kick punch punch kick kick middle finger stunner. Give me Tazz anytime!

I forgot, most of the marks aren't pure wrestling fans like me. Me, a guy who like good ol' mat wrestling. They are fans who want to see puppies, beers and a whole bunch of stuff that I find a waste of time. Remember the "This Is Your Life" segment by Foley and Rock in 1999? I was embarrassed watching it, hoping none of my family member would walk into the room. But it got a 8.3 (correct?) quarter hour rating. To make matters worse, it was voted as 1999 moment of the year on WWF.com. Freakin' shit! I couldn't believe it! And still can't. Vince does a good job of sucking the marks in.

You give out a good point about why Vince and JR think nothing is

wrong with their product, although I do.

cheers...

Adam

It was never my intent to pick on Perk. I just realized as we hung out that his thoughts meant more to McMahon and Ross than mine or CRZ's or Keller's or Meltzer's (although Ross did respond to either Z or Keller bashing him or both in his latest Ross Report: WWF.com - Ross Report for Feb. 23, 2001).

I won't go into comparing movesets as that seems to be in Alex Carnevale and Y-Pac's territory), but I think that Rock and Austin's match formulas are a combination of the WWF television match style and crowd response. Do you hear how the crowd reacts when Austin stomps a mudhole in someone or when Rock spit-punches someone in the corner or over the top rope? Incredible. The crowd eats it up. And the wrestlers' have to get addicted to it. If the crowd cheers, why change? Chris Hyatte actually wrote a detailed column on this very subject back in January called Stone Cold, Inc. You can find it right here. Every wrestler has a tad bit of predictability to their matches, some arguably more than others. Sometimes it's nice to see how two wrestlers will work their signature spots into the overall storyline of the match. Take Triple H for example. Besides all of his Flair spots, he has this one formula that starts when he takes an Irish whip into the corner. His opponent then attempts a clothesline, misses, and HHH hits him with a neck breaker. Used properly, it creates a nice dramatic moment. Overused, it can seem like bullshit.

Finally, I consider myself a wrestling fan and a mark. I like pure wrestling. Benoit/Hart. Booker/Jarrett. I'm a mark for pure wrestling. I also like good storylines. I'm a mark for a good storyline. There are times when I am disgusted by what I see on TV. There are other times when I love what I see and the neighbors know it by how loud I am. Everyone is a mark for something or someone, IMO.

I think the WWF runs into problems when they don't strike the proper balance between the two. Pure wrestling without good stories won't keep casual fans interests. Good storylines without satisfactory wrestling pay-offs, won't keep smart fans happy. I think if Vince worked the middle of the bell curve rather than either extreme, his ratings would begin to climb again to a level he finds more desirable.

10 Things I Think I Think (for the week ending 2.10.01)

1. I think No Way Out was a well-balanced PPV from the WWF. That's two in a row for the Fed. It had high-caliber matches from the likes of Benoit, Jericho, X-Pac, Guerrero, Angle, Rock, Austin and Triple H. The storyline-driven sports-entertainment segments were what they needed to be, I thought. I give No Way Out 5 beers drank with two beers spilled.

2. One of my beer-spilling moments was definitely when Regal gave Trish that cobra clutch neckbreaker. The sad part is that I think I marked-out even more when Regal did it again Monday on RAW.

3. I think that Triple H and Austin put on a hell of a match. I can look at the finish in two ways: (1) I can complain of the lack of decisiveness stemming from the fact that neither wrestler wanted to totally job or (2) I can call the finish an intriguing way to prolong the feud and establish that not much separates these two wrestlers. On any given day, either man could get the better of the other. This is what the WWF attempted to do with Jericho in his Last Man Standing match with HHH at Fully Loaded last year. It didn't quite work as well then because Jericho should've been the one to barely go over. The No Way Out match made Austin seem much more human and vulnerable and could potentially add another dimension to this character going into and beyond WrestleMania.

4. I think that the Rock going for the People's Elbow moments after Kurt Angle had been destroying his ankle with stomps and an ankle-lock was pathetic. I was hoping that he would collapse after he jumped over Angle, but no dice. It was bad enough that he made his spit-punch comeback without selling. Absolutely uncalled for. And I like the Rock. I didn't mind the screwy finish, BTW. I think needing two rock-bottoms to be pinned can be used to give Angle some credibility.

5. I think that WCW having cruiserweights at the bottom (or middle) of the card will in no way compensate for a lack of workrate in the main event.

6. I think that even sadder is that they have talent with good workrates at or near the main event that they simply are not properly using: Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Jeff Jarrett, Booker, Chris Kanyon, and DDP (well, he's being used properly). And I don't buy that that's not enough talent. After all, the WWF has Austin, Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Kurt Angle and whoever they are (or feel like, in some cases) programming with.

7. I think that the Cat could not have looked or sounded less intense during his Kanyon promo if he tried.

8. I think I want to better understand why WCW tends take the following approach to booking PPVs: They announce match on Nitro. Then they build the issues and tensions between the wrestlers. Why not build the tension and issues and then announce the PPV match as the pay off? The WWF tends to do this more with the obvious exception being Rock/Austin at WrestleMania X-Seven.

9. I think I love the meltdown of the Radicalz. Take four outstanding workers and book them against each other rather than against other wrestlers on the card. The possibilities are endless. Hell, if Saturn is thrown into the mix properly perhaps even he could finally get over. Who's not jacked-up about a Benoit-Guerrero feud?

10. I think that WCW had the right idea and perfect timing when they brought Booker back and instantly inserted him in a match to combat the start of RAW. I, for one, was certainly playing channel tag with the remote. We'll have to wait for the ratings to see if it paid off, although the first quarter hour of RAW has been low for some time now and if WCW can't keep up that must see feel for their full second hour, what's the point? The true challenge is if they can pull viewers away from RAW's fourth and fifth quarter hours with their main event.

Laughing Over Spilled Beer

This is the portion of the column where I post your mark-out rants. Send me your thoughts on your favorite wrestler or moment and I'll include 'em. It's that simple. This week's rant comes from Frat Boy as I promised two columns ago (disclaimer: portions of this letter were edited to protect the guilty). He wrote:

I am not encouraged to write since my next letter will supposedly make it to print...but I will take my chances. My loyalty to your column has wavered recently, though certainly not for the thought provoking and stimulating cutting edge commentary, most of my time has been spent searching for that next career move sprinkled with some porn.

Did I see Perry Saturn on a WWF Event this week? Wasn't he a WCW wrestler? Talent raiding? The under card is so damn crowded...I know...I am not the target audience, but the whole damn thing just seems under developed...I realize we are not winning any Emmy's here, but we need to exploit the good story lines...

I miss Chyna! Enough said!

Two thoughts: (1) Much like Perk, I think you are a legitimate part of the WWF's target audience and (2) Y-Pac would puke. * Thanks for writing.

Until next time, you can send hatemail/feedback to drinkingbeersandmarkingout@yahoo.com.

Ya'll know the routine by now. Drink beers. Mark out. Care less.

I'm out.

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