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...AND MARKING OUT
Hey all. Welcome to another edition of
...AMO. After a much-needed vacation, I've recharged the
Duracells and am ready for more wrestling opinion and analysis, even if
it is bad. Much has changed since I last wrote and with everyone
putting in their two cents over the WCW purchase and all, I just
decided to enjoy the moment and sit on my thoughts until after
WrestleMania.
Speaking of WrestleMania: Great show. Period. The stuff most of us
could have done without was kept to a minimum, IMO, which was good.
And, like No Way Out, it was a well-balanced show with something for
every kind of sports entertainment fan. If I spoke about my favorite
moments, I would probably sound like a few other folks on the Net, so
I'll hush for now. That, my friends, is two in a row for the WWF.
That has to give diehard WCW fans hope, right??
Leftovers
Nothing of note in the fridge. Since WCW has been acquired by
WWFE and Nitro won't compete head-to-head with RAW anymore, I thought
that now would be a good time to go back to my roots if you will with
...AMO's format. I've decided that I will write more
"traditional" opinion pieces like my first few columns were. I'll try
to be a tad more thoughtful and little less markish. Or not. We'll
see. Stick around, 'kay?
Speaking of previous columns, in my second one, I wrote some words
about Austin and Rocky that I will now eat. No lie. You can find the
entire column here,
with the following experts leading this week's discussion. For those
that perhaps don't want to click and read, the column basically spoke
to the fact that neither the Rock nor StoneCold needed the WWF
Championship. More specifically, I said the following:
The WWF Championship is the pinnacle of the company. It is the
most important title a wrestler in the federation can hold. When placed
on the right person, it elevates them to a completely different level
of recognition and existence within the "wrestling world." The belt can
make a former mid-carder seem like a perennial main-eventer, or make a
long-time main-eventer seem instantly more credible...
The Championship should seem more important than the wrestler who wears
it. The belt should seem like everything. It should come before the
wrestler...
Frankly put, neither the Rock or Austin can make the cut according to
these two reasons. Quite frankly, they are TOO OVER. Is there a such
thing as being too popular? Probably not, but their individual
popularity is so high, especially now (I know Rocky has been getting
booed of late, but bear with me) that the WWF Championship would do
little for either one of them. Don't believe me? Think back to the
Rock's recent title reign. He was a champ without a story or a real
contender. He had no angle. How does that happen?
When Rock was champ, it was like "IF YA SMELLLLLLL (pardon me,
CRZ)!!!!!" with crazy pops and cheers coming to the ring, cutting his
promos, whipping candy ass, and laying the smack down all over the
place. And oh yeah, by the way, he was also the WWF Champion. The belt
was an afterthought on the Rock. He was bigger than the belt. The belt
became secondary, as was evidenced by Triple H having the hot angle and
all the TV time during Rock's title reign. Same goes for Austin. He's
so over, having the belt doesn't really matter. As long as he stuns
someone and drinks a few beers, most viewers go home happy. They are
both simply too popular to hold the title, if that makes any sense.
Save the championship feuds for the wrestlers that need the rub.
Over the course of the next 14 or so columns, I wrote about
how I would love an Austin heel turn and how I was suspicious of he and
McMahon getting along. Boy, be careful what you wish for, because you
just might get it and then some!!
The heel turn was done exactly the way it had to be done, IMO. I doubt
that it shock any smart fans, but the casual folk have to be in
hospital trauma units nationwide attempting to recover. The turn
went/will go well for the following reasons:
Austin and Rock somehow made the belt seem more over, more
important they they were. Austin was especially good at this with his
ever increasing sense of desperation. Only the belt would validate his
comeback. The belt was everything to him. The belt would make him, in
his eyes. He made us believe that this prop was more important that the
megastar who saved a company, and that's no small feat. Austin was
slowly developed to seem increasingly desperate and driven. And
desperate men do desperate things in desperate times. "I need to beat
you Rock," he said. Hell, he even snapped at Jim Ross for not asking
him the same questions that he asked the Rock. It made the title
bigger than both men. So I officially take back my thoughts on them
being "too big for the belt." Crow eaten.
The WWF lead fans to believe that they would chose who would be the
heel, and the fans choose the Rock. While he continued to get cheers
and boos in many arenas, his pop was clearly diminished and the casual
crowd was set to turn their backs on him. He turned up his character's
intensity a notch, which seemed to make him more heelish. He gave a
sit-down interview where he didn't use any of his catchphrases, while
Austin basically remained that same. The casual Austin fans just want
Austin to drink beers and stun people. That he was doing, all the
while, setting them up in the process. The WWF also provided a good
distraction with the whole Debra-in-danger-by-managing-the-Rock issue
(even if it was very Sting-like in its obvious backstabbing
possibilities). Perhaps they originally intended to have her turn on
the Rock in and realized that Debra alone wouldn't be enough to get the
fans to boo her husband. If that was the case, it was a timely
realization.
Austin and Rock put on the match of their lives. Austin's
increasing frustration and desperation grew and grew throughout the
match until it reached the boiling point. It started very subtly and
ended oh so blatantly. Kudos for both men for raising the bar set by
HHH and Austin at No Way Out. I was stunned that the WWF actually
turned him. Wow.
Make no bones about it. Aligning Austin with Vince was the only way
to turn Austin heel. Nothing short of this would have worked. They
tried repeated attempted homicide PPV after PPV.
The WrestleMania follow-up on RAW was effective. Austin's promo
wasn't as explanatory as we would have liked, but simply being aligned
with McMahon is enough of a rub. If you can believe that. Three years
later, and Vince is still giving Austin a significant rub. And we
wonder why he thinks he can do anything.
Austin's turn was good for business. Sure, we could argue on paper
over the wisdom of turning your top face heel, but both Austin and Rock
needed a tune-up. This move will get Austin even more over with the
crowd if that's humanly possible. The truth is that (within
storylines) he couldn't beat the Rock. He wanted the title. It drove
him over the edge. Cool.
Rocky gets more over , too, especially if they go through with the
injury angle as planned (and it sure looks that way given that way his
ribs have been targeted over the past 36 hours or so). The re-match
(at SummerSlam for example-I forget how long rock is supposed to be off
TV, sue me) will draw huge. End of story. With those three aligned
against Rocky, this feud could draw out until the late fall even. Not
that I'm asking for that, but it could happen.
The Triple H swerve on RAW sets up new feuds and makes room for the
elevation of upper-midcard talent. Powell made some nWo warning-type
comments about aligning McMahon, Austin and HHH. I disagree. I think
using HHH further cements the heel turn while keeping them apart for
the time being. Plus it sets up the eventual disintegration of
Austin/McMahon (again), HHH/Steph, HHH/Austin (again, perhaps HHH is
following the old adage "keep your friends close and your enemies even
closer), HHH/McMahon, while allowing for some of the older feuds with
hew twists like HHH/Rock.
With all that being said, the Great Austin experiment is still in its
infancy. There's a lot more story to tell and continuity issues to
iron out, especially among Austin, McMahon and HHH. But knowing the
WWF, they'll either get the job done masterfully or screw the whole
thing up ala the Angle/Steph Angle. Let's pray for the former.
Laughing Over Spilled Beer
Quick note: This column is dedicated to FratBoy, who sent me
e-mails, hounding me to write a new column. Why? I dunno. Remember,
be careful what you wish for...
Let me know what you think of this format versus the 10 Things speil,
and we'll see.
Until next time, you can send hatemail/feedback to drinkingbeersandmarkingout@yahoo.com.
The drill remains that same: Drink beers. Mark out. Care less.
I'm out.
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