You are here /wrestling
/guests
/Martin
Guest Columns

Marvellous Martin

Main

BLAH

MARVELLOUS MUSINGS

Hi, I've just come back from hanging out with Fear Factory! I won after show passes and they were cool. Great guys, great band.

Shall I tell you what I don't like? Its something that's become very popular in the WWF and now its happening in WCW. It's the increased frequency of title changes. I remember when Hulk Hogan was the biggest wrestler in the western hemisphere. One of the reasons he was so huge was that he was practically unbeatable. He held the belt for long periods of time. World champions were more of an institution in wrestling ten years ago. Remember when the Ultimate Warrior beat Hogan for the world title at Wrestlemania XI? The Warrior was big before that, but he was elevated to a whole new level when he won the title. In terms of greatness, Triple H's title reigns don't mean shit. The world title has been cheapened, I couldn't bother doing any proper research but how many times has the WWF title changed hands in the last 12 to 18 months? More times than for the early 90's that for sure. Remember when the Intercontinental Title was more hotly contested than the world title? You had wrestlers like Curt Henning and Bret Hart holding the title and it was a division all of its own? It's a nothing belt now. That's nothing to do with Chyna necessarily, its just that it doesn't mean diddly squat any more.

The WWF tag titles have also been blighted by booking in recent times. The Acolytes were good champions, the Hardy Boyz didn't get the run with the titles they deserved. The problem I have is when the titles are held by what I like to refer to as "all star teams". The most recent example was Foley and The Rock. You get teams like the Hardys, and Edge and Christian who consistently put on great matches and fight for number one contendership etc.. Then a pair of former singles champions who have no previous experience together are booked over every legitimate tag team in the WWF just so the biggest stars can all have belts. X Pac and Kane holding the belts wasn't so bad, they aren't superstars and the belts were used to push them. All star teams holding the belts piss me off. Edge and Christian consistently wrestle the best matches at the last few PPVs (except when the NAO dragged them down) only to have the (admittedly legendary) Foley and the lumbering ego The Rock given the belts a few times.

Look, its happening in WCW too - Harlem Heat lose the belts on Nitro, they win them back at Havoc, then lose them again the NEXT DAY. Grrrrr. Makes me mad, especially when one of the tag champs is fucking KONNAN. AAAAARRRRRRG!!!!

Rant over.

Malenko turning on Benoit was a fine, fine piece of booking. Though it means that waste of space Steiner got the belt back. Now that Benoit is on his own, he should have someone to back him up, like an escort or a manager. Yeah, a manager would be cool. Arn Anderson isn't doing anything right now is he? Can most of the writers at DDT Digest be wrong? TAKE NOTE RUSSO!! A-R-N A-N-D-E-R-S-O-N.

Bret Hart was wrestling Goldberg in a tournament for the world title. So why did Goldberg lose the US Title when he lost? What was that all about. How can Russo be a good booker AND a bad booker at the same time? I guess that's what makes him so unique.

Ha, the whole Hogan situation was a work all along, I knew it. It seems that if Madden says it isn't a work, it usually means it is (he's getting as bad as Jim Ross). Talk is he's going to start wrestling under his real name, Terry Bollea. Er, okay. Does he really think anyone will give a shit if he drops the Hogan gimmick altogether? Imagine this situation:

"Who's that coming to the ring?"
" Oh my god fans, it's TERRY!!!!!"

It's hardly inspiring is it? Doesn't exactly inspire fear or respect does it? In honour of Hogan, I have written him a Haiku (it's a bad habit of mine):

Hogan, once the best,
Years of ego, now you'll find
Terry, no one cares


I've ordered Mick Foley's book from Amazon. According to my email, its on its way so perhaps I'll give you good people my opinion on it once I get around to reading it.

My musical recommendation for the week is "No.4" by Stone Temple Pilots. If you are familiar with the band, this album harks back more to their earlier material than the very Beatles-esque "Tiny Music...." If you aren't familiar with them, get yourself an education in some top modern melodic rock daddio!!

Thanks for reading, I'll be back soon. Don't forget to email me to tell me how much you disagree with me and how much I suck.

I'll leave you with this - smell what the Rock is cooking? IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKING!

Bye.

Marvellous Martin
freelance

Mail the Author

BLAH

Main

Design copyright (C) 1999 Christopher Robin Zimmerman & KZiM Communications
Guest column text copyright (C) 1999 by the individual author and used with permission