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| An emotional moment overrated by the career path of the loser of this match following Photo Credit: WWE.com |
First up, Scott Holland of Irresistible Force vs. Immovable Object asks what the most overrated WrestleMania moments ever have been.
This is hard. The knee-jerk answer is to say the infamous hug between Eddie Guerrero and He Who Shall Not Be Named, because the aftermath of that was a mix of tragedy and horror. However, what did it represent? I'd say the fact that they were able to end a landmark anniversary Mania in embrace with both the titles was a telling prophecy of the direction WWE was going. I mean, CM Punk as WWE Champion for 434 days? Hello?
With that, my answer is "I'm sorry. I love you." Don't get me wrong. I teared up even watching Shawn Michaels superkick Ric Flair and ending his career. However, any moment where we're saying farewell to a wrestler is dubious because there's no guarantee that wrestler is going to stay retired. Sure, it wasn't in WWE's hands that Flair went to Australia and TNA to wrestle again, breaking his stipulation. However, Flair is the carniest wrestler who ever lived, or if not he's up there. So much pageantry for a guy who kept leaving a snail trail around the business. Sorry, diminishing returns.
Next up, @Enrico_Palazzo_ is requesting some Sabbath.
I sense a theme:
@IRodC wants to know what I think about the following video:
Holy fourth wall, Batman!
Actually, as much a proponent of kayfabe that I am, I dug this response in a perverse way, mainly because I think Glenn Beck is the worst kind of bottomfeeding political rabblerouser who is not beneficial to discourse. He does no favors to his "side," and he's basically a more insidious version of Skip Bayless, or a more real version of Zeb Colter (probably why Colter and Jack Swagger make them feel so sensitive).
Here's my problem with it. Beck and brethren of his like Alex Jones don't deserve the time for rebuttal. They're intellectually dishonest, and furthermore, their programming actually makes RAW look like Downton Abbey in terms of refinement and sophistication. So, why should WWE stoop to his level and let him sully their airwaves? If Beck and his ilk are too goddamn stupid to realize that wrestling is staged entertainment, why the fuck should Vince McMahon let them on his program? Oh yeah, money, attention, and ratings. Well, those are good reasons I guess, but really, I don't think the benefit of getting that kind of attention is worth the critical and artistic degradation having a carnival barker of the lowest pedigree like Beck would cause on the program.
@OkoriWadsworth asks what my favorite and least favorite wrestling gear ever is.
Least favorite? The WWF from 1994 to 1996 is full of them.
My favorite gear ever is fairly recent. It's probably Veda Scott's houndstooth-patterned aqua green gear. It's aesthetically pleasing. What can I say? I like elevation in my wrestling gear. Runner-up is Bret Hart's classic pink and black long-legged singlet.
Jennifer Logsdon of Wrestling Reflections wants to know my thoughts on the WSU kerfluffle from this week.
For those who don't know, a fan asked Drew Cordeiro if Alicia would ever be back in WSU, to which he replied "Not happening." This set off a firestorm of tweets claiming disrespect from Alicia as well as a bunch of other former WSU wrestlers and former promoter Sean McCaffrey.
Now, my take on this requires full disclosure. I'm fairly close to Cordeiro and talk to him a lot on social media and at wrestling shows. I may be a bit biased here. That being said, if you think someone saying you not being booked on a show is "not happening" is an insult worthy of a billion tweets and accusations of slander (and Cordeiro has never slandered anyone, public or private, to my knowledge), I'm not sure I am going to take your mental stability at face value. Furthermore, McCaffrey jumping in the conversation against the guy he sold his company to with the riders of "I don't care about wrestling" is cheap grandstanding.
The point is that a lot of the stuff I've heard that I don't think I can disclose at date really paints the people who are making these complaints - Alicia, Leva Bates, Brittany Savage especially - as not having a leg to stand on at all. So while I usually have a rule that says you should probably trust the wrestler over the promoter, this is one case where I'm more inclined to side with the promoter. Again, I may not be objective here, but there are some objective truths that I can fish out of this, like a less sleazy atmosphere, better production values, and a brighter future for WSU going forward than they ever had with McCaffrey in charge.
Gregory Davis, Dirty Dirty Sheets site photographer, has two questions. First, thoughts on companies fighting over New Jack in 2013?
When the promotions in question are Extreme Rising and Pro Wrestling Syndicate? I'd say it's par for the course.
Second, what about ROH getting out shows faster than other promotions on demand lately?
It's definitely a sign that they're getting their shit together. ROH has had a lot of problems over the last couple of years, and the fact that they're getting content out for people to consume closer to the tape date as well as signing wrestlers people want to see like ACH, I think it's not out of the realm of possibility to think this year is a bounceback year for them as a promotion.
@ShaneCarnes has a twofer now in the same vein, actually. First, he wants to know if releasing Kharma and Beth Phoenix was a bad call, and second, why Sara del Rey and Natalya Neidhart aren't on TV each week?
WWE doesn't respect women the way we do. It's an objective truth. Kharma was fired for not whipping herself into ring shape after she lost a baby. I would give her as much time as she needed. Phoenix wasn't fired. She didn't renew her contract, but it's telling that she'd rather sit at home than wrestle for the biggest wrestling company in the world.
Rich Thomas, co-host of the International Object podcast, asks what I'm looking forward to in the rest of 2013.
There are ten months in the year, so I'd have to say that the year hasn't even begun yet. Anyway, here are the top 10 things I'm really looking forward to in the rest of the year:
10. The next crop of NXT guys/potential signees making their mark on WWE as they get called up
9. The Money in the Bank PPV, which will be in Philly this year
8. TNA going on the road
7. Road-tripping to Allentown for Wrestling Is Fun
6. Going to a WSU show in May
5. SHIMMER at WrestleCon (more than any other promotion because they almost NEVER travel out of Berwyn)
4. WrestleMania
3. Having Danielle and Butch contribute more and more to the blog
2. King of Trios '13
1. Growing The Wrestling Blog and trying to make this more of a brand/enterprise/voice in the wrestling and overall alternative media community
@JohnJohnPhenom asks what my favorite R&B/Soul track is.
Does Stevie Wonder count? If so, this:
@robot_hammer wants me to put together the best hypothetical broadcast team.
It already happened. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Yeah, Monsoon didn't know the moves, but their chemistry was unmatched. Heenan never felt at home with any other announcer like he did Gorilla. They got the story of the match over, they had great banter, and Heenan was never at a loss for a quip. I don't need to dream; I've got the memories.
@FriskeyVsWorld asks what my favorite crowd chant is.
Hello Wrestling Fans, I go to wrestling shows only to watch you, fellow fans, try to get yourselves over. Please continue doing this.
— Casey (@HammerDialectic) February 21, 2013
These are more and more my thoughts about chanting, so with that in mind, my favorite chants are "Let's go [so and so]" or ones that denote support for a wrestler in the match.
The esteemed Lobster Mobster, @LegKickTKO, asks if CM Punk is the most 90s kid ever to 90s.
Sorry, he needs to be holding a Furby, and his shirt needs to be either Z. Cavaricci or one of those "Big Johnson" shirts.
@GayWrestlingFan asks why Chikara is going the authority figure angle with Wink Vavasseur.
I have two theories. One is that they're doing a riff of how bad authority stories can be in their own way. It's an over the top, ridiculous parody for effect that only Chikara can create. Second is that Vavasseur is really only the pawn in the greater Worldwide Media Corporation thing that will manifest itself in a bigger format featuring wrestlers going against other wrestlers in grand "War of the Ring" style. But if we're being brutally honest here, I can't wait to get to the next stage, whatever it is, because Vavasseur is my least favorite Chikara character by far right now.
@sallen_87 wants to know in the spirit of this week's Champion vs. Champion Alberto del Rio/RED BELLY match if we're going to get Antonio Cesaro vs. The Rock in the lead up to WrestleMania.
Well, I don't know the insanity that lurks in Vince McMahon's mind at all, and I also am not privy to what is in Rocky's contract. Like, I don't know if they could even MAKE him wrestle on RAW if they wanted to. But if they did, well, it would be a grand test for Cesaro as a wrestler, wouldn't it? He's not John Cena or CM Punk, so he doesn't really have the key to the WWE kingdom just yet. Therefore, he'd have to make a choice. Would he go along with Rock and do whatever it is that Rock might want him to do in the ring, psychology be damned (because it's not clear if Rock can wrestle a match right now as a ring general)? Or would he be bold, dictate the pace, and then be able to handle Rocky when he gets winded? I personally would like to see it, but I doubt we will.
Cena vs. Cesaro would be nice if just to see them try to outdo each other with feats of strength. Of course, that euphoria would last for about five seconds before the finish sequence of the match, which I don't need to explain for fear of rupturing a blood vessel in my brain.
@BrandunKyla asks my thoughts on the trend of indie wrestlers going from "real" songs to custom themes.
On one hand, I love when a wrestler comes out to a song I know. Certain wrestlers/stables have become tied innately to their themes. For example, The Colony coming out to "Ants Marching" became more their song to me more than it was Dave Matthews'. But I understand the reasoning behind it, especially for companies that can't afford the legal headache that comes with live broadcasts having copyrighted material on it. Owning your media is a great strategy, and in some cases, it has produced more memorable theme/wrestler relationships. But not in all cases. That's just the nature of the beast though.
Finally, @Jessico09 asks whom I'd want to win in a hypothetical Kofi Kingston vs. X-Pac match.
Man, I'm actually afraid that if Waltman came back to WWE, this is hte match they'd do now that Punk is sort of divested from "The Kliq." Waltman can still go, but man, Kingston is kind of a dud. I'd root for Kingston to pull a good match out of his butt the way he did against RED BELLY on the first Smackdown of the year. That's my rooting interest.