On Sting, AEW Dynamite & Impact Wrestling

 

I've mentioned this before, but I never really watched WCW. During it's 1996-98 peak, I paid casual attention to what was happening, but I was a "WWF Guy" and Nitro didn't air during a convenient time in Canada. 

However, since WCW folded and I've learned more about it, I've come to appreciate Sting. I was pumped when he finally joined WWE. Then he lost to Triple H and the nWo helped him for some reason and he was forced to retire and let's not talk about any of that.

Sting is in AEW and I'm excited. Yes, he's 61 years old. Yes, he may not be able to wrestle. Yes, AEW needs to focus on the present and the future more than the past. But I'm excited because Sting will be treated with respect in AEW. He won't be mocked for being a "WCW Guy." He won't constantly be criticized for "The Monday Night Wars."  He'll have a theme song that sounds like his Crow theme and not whatever that awful WWE theme was.

If he can wrestle, it would be nice to see him have an actual farewell match. He deserves a real retirement, something like Ric Flair or Shawn Michaels or the Undertaker received. Even if he can't compete, he deserves to have an official send off. Hopefully he gets it.

But, of course, Sting's debut isn't all that happened on Dynamite. Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley faced off for the AEW World Championship. The match itself wasn't as epic as I expected, but it was entertaining. I liked the story they were going for even if it didn't work 100% perfectly.

The way I see it, Moxley not only wanted to retain the title, but he also wanted revenge for being attacked a few weeks ago. He brought two chairs into the ring to finish Kenny off, rather than pinning him after he hit the Paradigm Shift. He was going to brutalize him. But then he thought better of it. He'd already beaten Omega in a "hardcore" match. He wanted to beat him in a fair fight. So he set up the chairs and initiated a slug fest.

But Kenny Omega didn't want to win clean. He just wanted to win. Don Callis knew that and, as soon as he saw the opportunity, he took it. He gave Omega a microphone to use as a weapon. Omega used it and we have a new champion.

It was a good story.

But the most interesting part came after. Callis said they were going to explain themselves on Tuesday night on Impact Wrestling.

I haven't paid any attention to TNA/Impact since its peak over a decade ago, but this is interesting. Where is it going? Will Callis and Omega be appearing on Impact regularly? Will other AEW wrestlers? Will Impact wrestlers be coming to AEW? This is exciting because I don't know where they're going with this. It's nice to have some unpredictability in wrestling.

Which brings me to another point. I’ve thought before that “All Out” should be an AEW PPV and “All In” should be a cross promotional event. It would be cool if some of the biggest non-WWE promotions got together once in a while. Think of it like the original All In show. On that show, wrestlers from NJPW, ROH, CMLL, Impact Wrestling, AAA, MLW, and the NWA all took part. Why not try something like that again?

AEW, Impact, and NWA are already working together. Why not have the three of them put on a show that also features NJPW, ROH, etc.? You could book a "dream card" of non-WWE talent, promote the hell out of it, and air it on pay-per-view or even TNT on a day like Tuesday (when no live WWE shows are on). Could a show like that, running unopposed, get a rating similar to what Raw gets on Monday nights?  Sure, WWE would likely counter it with something, but it could still be a big deal.

For 20 years, WWE has been essentially unopposed, but they're vulnerable now. There's room for competition now. Don't run a show head-to-head with Raw (or Smackdown) because WWE can stack those shows and crush any competition. But a PPV or a TNT special? That might be enough to show the world that there's actually an alternative right now.

Building a New nWo with John Cena as Leader

The Firefly Funhouse Match (which was fantastic, by the way) made me think of what the New World Order would look like if John Cena did turn heel after this and reform it.

The way I imagine it is Cena leaves for a while, then comes back saying that he was wrong to believe in the future of the company and that WWE doesn't have any stars capable of carrying the company forward. It doesn't have a guy like Steve Austin or the Rock or Hulk Hogan... or John Cena.

And then he leaves.

He returns later, walking down through the crowd (just like Scott Hall on Nitro, we'll assume this happens at a time when crowds are allowed). He interrupts a match between two younger talents (it doesn't really matter who - for the sake of argument, pretend it's Aleister Black and Ricochet or something similar). He attacks both of them and then pulls out the spraypaint. He paints "nWo" on the ring and leaves. Raw ends.

The next week he comes out and says the nWo is about the biggest names in the business. It's a group for Hall of Famers: Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Randy Savage. There aren't too many wrestlers like that anymore. But he found some. The nWo is back.

Later on in the show, the new nWo debuts, attacking most of the roster and claiming to be the only stars left in professional wrestling. Who is in that new nWo? Here is how I picture it:

Randy Orton

John Cena and Randy Orton feuded for years (and years, and YEARS) but Cena turns to him as one of the biggest stars left in wrestling. Having both of them in it signifies that this is main event stable and a heel stable. The point here is to build a stable filled with wrestlers that people want to boo.

Charlotte Flair

The biggest name in women's wrestling today and the most successful women's wrestler ever. Between Cena, Orton, and Flair, they have 16 world titles, 13 world titles, and 11 women's titles. This accents Cena's point that the nWo is only for proven stars, plus it allows for some interaction with Ric Flair who (outside of the nWo's weird WWE run in 2002) has almost always been very anti-nWo

The Miz and John Morrison

I was kind of unsure about what tag team to choose, but I settled on Miz and Morrison. They're the current Smackdown tag champions (and the brand split is meaningless to the nWo, they move back and forth between shows) and they've both won a lot of gold in WWE.  Together they've won three tag titles and many singles titles (mostly the Miz rather than Morrison, but that's okay), so they fit.

The Big Show

The Big Show will be used in mostly a non-wrestling role that is limited to providing a bridge from the old nWo to the new one and occasionally punching someone out. With Big Show involved, even on a part-time basis, we don't have to have guys like Hogan, Hall, or Nash around (though they could certainly show up sometimes, because you're nWo 4-Life).

There are no "young up and comers" in this nWo. It's not about building new stars by putting them in the nWo. The new stars will be built when they take on and eventually defeat the nWo. Unlike WCW, someone will actually defeat this nWo.

The 4th Annual Wrestling Shame Hall of Shame

Hi everyone!

Neither Rick nor I have been posting much lately. And there are a lot of reasons for that: I'm working on my own book project and teaching a lot; Rick has had to deal with his tax evasion suit and the unfortunate accusations lobbed at him.

And let me say once again, we here at the Wrestling Shame Hall of Shame do not condone his unfortunate remarks at the United Nations.

That out of the way, we are also aware that the past few months have been -- well, challenging to put it mildly. So -- as a distraction, I decided this year's Hall of Shame would focus on my expertise -- namely, World Championship Wrestling.

And folks, let the shame begin!

Shameful Booking: Hogan and Warrior, 1998

As Wrestling Shame's resident scholar in WCW / ECW Studies, I try and resist the urge to say the downfall of WCW began with the infamous ending to Starcade 1997. I've argued for awhile that what really put the company on the downward spiral was the idiotic angle between "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan and the Warrior in the fall of 1998. There's a LOT to go over here: we have a dumb entrance of the Warrior on a Monday Nitro, the strange "Hogan sees Warrior in a two-way mirror that also people at home can see but nobody can see the Warrior" moment a few weeks later, and their incompetent match at that year's Halloween Havoc. I've included a podcast with Tony Schiavone here as the clip because A) I really like Tony Schiavone and B) he summarizes it best by simply saying "Who booked this shit?"

Shameful Wrestler (s): The Ding Dongs

Holy shit. I've been working on this site for four years and never mentioned the Ding Dongs. Or Ding and Dong. Or -- god, whatever.

So Greg Evans and Richard Sartain -- once they had signed with WCW -- were saddled with one of the most ridiculous gimmicks ever given professional wrestlers. In an attempt to mimic some of the more kid-friendly elements of the WWF, WCW President Jim Herd came up with the idea of this tag team from...

Look, just watch the clip. And see how long you last into said clip before giving up altogether. I'm good for about six minutes.

Shameful Promo: Sting and Robocop

A few years ago, I justified some pop culture / wrestling crossovers here. Needless to say, I did not have Sting and Robocop in mind.

That's right folks: as part of the promotional campaign for Robocop II, Robocop appeared in a program with Sting taking on The Four Horsemen. And here is part of a WCW Saturday Night clip featuring Sting and Robocop delivering a promo on the Horsemen.

This promo is bad for the monotone delivery, the cheesiness, and the bad writing. And then Robocop begins talking. Thankfully Arn Anderson shows up.

Shameful Music: Jericho's First WCW Theme

Is this as bad as his next WCW theme, which was a rip-off of "Evenflow?" Debatable. Listen to this song and if it doesn't want you to drink a "little bit of the bubbly" to take the edge off, well I'm not sure I can help you.

Shameful Match: Van Hammer vs Doug Somers, Halloween Havoc 1991

Until recently, I had completely forgotten this match existed; when I was watching a recent Wrestling With Wregret video on Halloween Havoc '91, I had these flashbacks to the horror that is Van Hammer vs Doug Somers (who is from my adopted hometown of Milwaukee). In essence, this match -- which you can see clips of at around the 19:00 mark of the video above is a textbook case of a too-green wrestler (Van Hammer) facing off with a veteran (Somers) who isn't quite sure how to salvage the match. Also there are at least three bumps that Somers takes that you swear killed him. It's awful and beyond shameful.

Shameful Pop Culture Crossover Event: The WCW Episode of Baywatch Jet-Ski Scene

I've been promising to write about this episode for 4 years now -- and I swear, I swear I will in detail at some point -- but much like Degeneration X and the NWO have multiple-inductions into the completely legitimate WWE Hall of Fame, I'm going to invoke curatorial-power and begin to induct segments of this episode one at a time until I get bored with the joke.

And Rick and I never get tired of jokes......*stares off into the distance*

Anyway, there's so much to love here: the bad over-dubbing, the reckless jet-skiing, Hogan's "acting." C'est bonne!

Shameful Debut: Oz in WCW

Yes, I've written about this before. No, I don't care that I'm repeating myself. The fact that WCW debuted a wrestler with a Wizard of Oz theme still bothers me on so many levels. Now before you write me nasty comments or emails -- don't email me because I don't remember our password for the account -- I know the clip above isn't from Oz's WCW debut (that footage isn't available on YouTube). But still it's beyond bizzare -- especially the initial debut which had Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion cowering in "fear" from Neon Kevin Nash.

Anyway, that's the Fourth Wrestling Shame Hall of Shame! Please do not exit through the gift shop, and also please don't shake our hands! Do follow us on Twitter!

WrestleMania is on this Weekend & I Don't Know How to Feel About It

WrestleMania is this weekend and it felt weird that I hadn't written anything about it, so here we are. Of course, everything feels weird now. It's going to be a very, very different WrestleMania, but that doesn't necessarily mean it won't be entertaining.

But all of this feels strange. Very strange.

In once sense, it will be nice to have a distraction. However, watching WrestleMania with no fans won't entirely be an escape. Seeing the Performance Center and zero fans all night will serve as a constant reminder of the absolutely insane world we're living in right now.

And, I don't know about anyone else, but I'll also have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that this is all wrong. It's been the same with AEW. The first "empty arena" show was fun and a good way to escape reality, but as they've kept doing them, it's felt more and more wrong each time. They've been harder to enjoy as the situation around the world got more serious.

Tonight and tomorrow night will likely feel the same way. For instance, if Braun Strowman wins his first Universal Title, that should be a big moment, but I'll almost definitely spend the match thinking about how it should have been Roman Reigns, but it couldn't be due to the health situation. It will feel wrong. All of this feels wrong.

[Buy the shirt]

None of this is WWE's fault. They didn't cause the pandemic. If they had, it would have been a lot less effective and Vince would have ripped up the script last week and turned the coronavirus face for no reason.

But the truth is that this is an incredibly odd, scary, and depressing time and that's a big shadow that no one can really escape.

Last night I watched the "Untold" special about the Kurt Angle/Shawn Michaels match on WWE Network. It was very good and I truly enjoyed watching two of my favourite wrestlers of all time talk about their match. But as soon as it ended and I turned off the TV, I remembered the pandemic and all the nonsense we're going through. There's no way to truly get away from it.

I'm going to watch WrestleMania this weekend. I'm going to hope it's an escape. I'm going to try to enjoy it. And I'm probably going to see a second member of the Three Man Band win the WWE title. These are weird times we're living in.

Stay safe. Stay inside. Wash your hands.

AEW Revolution Preview

Yes, this site still exists! And we're here with a preview of the upcoming AEW pay-per-view: Revolution. That's right, I'm actually going to order a wrestling pay-per-view. 

Growing up, I nearly bankrupted my mom buying every WWF/E pay-per-view, but it's been at least 15 years since I've ordered one. I watch the big ones on the WWE Network, but that's not the same as paying money for a specific show and that show alone. But AEW has won me over.

For the last month or so, Dynamite has been an excellent show. Before AEW started, I was worried that it would be all spots and work rate and no storylines, but I was definitely wrong. For a company that's only been around for less than a year, they produce a fun and interesting TV show with great stories and great wrestling. 

So I'm going to order Revolution. 

This is only (I think) the third time I've ever paid money for a non-WWF/E event. I ordered WCW Bash at the Beach 1994 to see Hogan come to WCW and face Ric Flair, and I ordered one of the early TNA shows because it was cheap and I wanted to see what it was like.

Anyway, on to the preview.

SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) (with Christopher Daniels) vs. The Dark Order (Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) (with Alex Reynolds and John Silver)

The Dark Order started off as a stable everyone made fun of, but now the wrestling world is anxiously waiting for them to reveal their leader. I don't think it will happen at this show (both Matt Hardy and Brodie Lee/Luke Harper are legally unable to be at the show) but it should still be a fun match. My bet is the Dark Order goes over and hopefully they find another way to tease the leader. Maybe they'll gain a new member? Will Daniels turn?

Pac vs. Orange Cassidy

Pac has wrestled great matches in AEW and I like his character, but his booking so far as put him slightly below the main event tier in AEW. He should be on his way back up the card soon though.

It will be interesting to see how they book these two very different characters against one another. I've never really seen Orange Cassidy wrestle, though people say he's great. I hope he is because I'm otherwise "meh" on his character. He's fine, but if he disappeared completely I wouldn't miss him. 

It feels like Pac needs a win here, but I think they might go the "shocking upset" route instead. This one's tough to call.

AEW Women's World Championship

Nyla Rose (c) vs. Kris Statlander

I really like Kris Statlander, but it's almost certain that she loses here. Nyla Rose just won the belt and she's not going to drop it right away. This should be a good match though.

Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara

AEW has done an excellent job of booking both these guys and making them look like future stars. This seems like it could be a feud that could go on forever, so I think Sammy will win thanks to Inner Circle shenanigans. 

Jake Hager vs. Dustin Rhodes

Dustin has proved that he can still go in the ring, but the focus here will be on Jake Hager's in-ring debut. This feels like a match where Rhodes will take a bunch of punishment and finally lose after showing a lot of heart. And that makes perfect sense.

AEW World Tag Team Championship

Kenny Omega and Adam Page (c) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)

In my opinion, this is the best storyline in the company right now. The combination of the Bucks feeling like they should be the rightful champions combined with the Adam Page/Kenny Omega friction along with the "Elite vs Elite" aspect have given it so much depth.

I think they might have Page turn here leading to a Bucks win, but I'd almost rather they didn't. If Omega and Page win, that lets us explore the whole "How are the Young Bucks not champions yet?" aspect, which is very interesting. The Bucks came off looking like heels in that interview with JR (which was great, by the way). They flat out stated that they're a better tag team than their friends. They said they're surprised that Page and Omega have the titles and not them. They mocked Adam Page for having a drink with him and called him a jobber. If they lose this match, how much more heelish will they get?

Kenny Omega is playing this perfectly as well, as he's torn between his friends the Young Bucks who he clearly respects as a team, and his tag partner Adam Page who he has had unlikely success with. You can tell he doesn't want to side with either and he really wishes he wasn't in this situation at all.

For his part, Hangman has been awesome as well. I didn't know much about him at all when AEW started, but his performance in this angle has been excellent and he's become one of the best characters on the show.

I hope this storyline continues after Revolution.

MJF (with Wardlow) vs. Cody (with Arn Anderson)

This feud has been very predictable, but that doesn't mean it's been bad. It hasn't been. It was obvious that MJF was going to turn on Cody and even more obvious that Cody was going to fulfill MJF's "conditions" to get this match. But it's still been fun to watch. Cody is doing a pretty good job of being a face and MJF just seems like such a dick that you can't help but hate him.

Prediction: There will be a lot of blood, because it's a Cody match.

AEW World Championship

Chris Jericho (c) vs. Jon Moxley

This is the "money feud" for AEW and they have pulled it off well. Jericho and Moxley are arguably the two biggest stars in the company and the most well-known guys on the show. Having them get into a bitter and violent feud like this has been great.

I think Moxley will win the title and go on to feud with someone like Pac, but this should be a fun one.

It's weird being excited about a wrestling show instead of dreading how everything is going to get screwed up.

Enjoy the show!

WWE’s Decade of Disappointment

We’ve seen a lot of “best WWE moments of the decade” list recently and with good reason: We’re into a new decade now (shut up, I don’t care that there was no year zero) and everyone has to get out that sweet, sweet retrospective content. There have been a lot of good moments over the last ten years, but one thing that really struck me while reading/watching most of these lists is how for almost every “great moment”, there’s been a huge disappointment that followed.

For example:

·       The debut of the Nexus was a huge moment that had people talking back in the summer of 2010. It was a shocking angle that seemed like it was going to deliver something that was seriously lacking in the stale WWE product. Then the group lost to “Team WWE” at SummerSlam. The Nexus soldiered on, eventually beating Cena and having him “join them” but the momentum and interest was long gone. By the time we reached “Juan Cena,” no one cared anymore and the Nexus was far from a threat. The group then split into the “New Nexus” and “The Corre” and everything about the Corre was awful. Let’s move on.

·       From the ashes of the “New Nexus” came CM Punk’s pipebomb promo and “The Summer of Punk.” This was amazing for a short time and it brought a lot of fans back to the product, but then Kevin Nash attacked him, and Triple H texted himself (or something), and we ended up with John Laurinatis versus John Cena somehow…?

·       Brock Lesnar returned to WWE in 2012 and everyone was excited. After a bit of rocky start, he ended the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak, squashed John Cena to become WWE champion, and it looked like the company had a new “final boss.” Lesnar has had some good moments since then (such as his feud with Goldberg) but I’m not even sure if he still works for the company. Has anyone seen him? Isn’t he WWE Champion?

·       Speaking of Lesnar becoming WWE Champion, remember Kofi Kingston? Kofi winning the title at WrestleMania was a great moment and a truly emotional one. He had a decent run, but then SmackDown moved to Fox and…. I don’t want to talk about it. He’s back as a tag team champion with the New Day and it’s like his title reign never happened.

·       The Kofi moment was made even better because he was facing Daniel Bryan, who years earlier had a similar emotional moment at WrestleMania. Defeating Triple H, Batista, and Randy Orton on the same night to win the WWE Title was fun to watch… but then he faced Kane in a forgettable match at Extreme Rules and it looked like everything was about to go terrible for his reign. He was nearly forgotten in favour of the Evolution/Shield feud and we’ll never know how bad it was going to get because he had to have neck surgery (Hey look, something that’s not the result of bad booking!) and he eventually had to retire. He amazingly returned to the ring years later (tagging with Shane McMahon but I’ll take it) and then things actually managed to get good again for him. The “New Daniel Bryan” was awesome. Bryan is an example of a guy who somehow manages to make things great despite the writing being awful.

·       The Shied is another example of something that started hot and actually worked. The group (and the individual members) had a lot of ups and downs, but WWE managed to turn all three of them into main eventers, which was the goal. 

·       Finally, speaking of main eventers, we have Ronda Rousey versus Becky Lynch. This feud was HOT and rightfully should have main evented WrestleMania. Of course, the addition of Charlotte to the match (and the fact that Askua was sacrificed along the way) made it all more convoluted than it ever should have been and I feel like it watered everything down. Lynch vs Rousey should have main evented on its own.

As you can see, there certainly were a lot of big moments in WWE over the last ten years. This post doesn’t even touch on NXT (and that brand became huge recently) and there are many other moments that haven’t been mentioned (such as everything with Bray Wyatt – which as been uneven, but still interesting). I’m not saying WWE doesn’t do anything right, but I’m saying they could be doing a lot better.

Unfortunately, the overall theme with many of the great WWE moments of the decade was how company ruined the storyline in the aftermath of the moment. It’s gotten to the point where you can’t see a big WWE moment anymore without thinking “I wonder how they’re going to screw this up?” WWE writing doesn’t give anyone any confidence, and that hurts the overall product. It’s hard to get invested in a storyline when you always have doom in the back of your mind. 

There are more talented wrestlers and entertainers in WWE now than there have been at nearly any time in history. People like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, Becky Lynch, and many others should have been catapulted into superstardom with the angles listed above (and more), but instead WWE creative failed almost all of them. Because they’re all very talented, they’re still around (even Punk sort of) but none of them are as big as they should be.

The last decade showed that WWE cares more about “moments” than it does storylines. It doesn’t put effort into making compelling feuds or interesting angles or building stars. It cares about one-off occasions but doesn’t care about follow up. What that means is that you can do what many people do and tune out for long periods of time. I haven’t watched WWE other than a few clips on YouTube since WrestleMania. Why not? Because there’s no need. Yes, there are a lot of good matches but they’re surrounded by frustration of seeing nearly every big moment squandered. If I want to just watch moments, I’ll look at five-minute highlights on YouTube and not sit through three hours of Raw.

The 2010s showed how strong WWE truly is. No one, not AEW nor anyone else, can compete with Vince McMahon’s creation. Whenever it wants it can throw together a great match, manufacture a big moment, or bring back a former star to pop a crowd. Unfortunately, the 2010s also showed how WWE could be so much better. There have been countless lost opportunities. The past decade was so disappointing because it could have been incredible. The pieces were all there but no one bothered to put them together.

The “Pipebomb” still rings true. Vince McMahon is going to make money despite himself. Wrestlers are all just spokes on the wheel. The brass rings are imaginary. WWE doesn’t push you unless WWE wants to push you, and WWE isn’t interested in pushing too many people. It wants to make “WWE moments” and not grow individual superstars, because WWE moments can never leave. And as long as the WWE brand continues to expand and the company continues to make money, everything is “fine” from their viewpoint. Welcome to 2020.