Oldschool
03-26-2009, 10:16 AM
The Wired View: So, why the Birdman?
Posted by JjR on 03/18/2009 at 10:34 AM
The Wired View by JjR
...because Wednesdays are Wired Days
Apologies, apologies and apologies again for my 3 week absence but I am now back, with lots to talk about.
I’m very much trying to refrain from analysing the Wrestlemania matches for the column before the show itself so I’ll talk about other things, mainly the Hall of Fame. Stone Cold Steve Austin was a definite – It’s in Texas, it was more appropriate now more than ever. Terry and Dory Funk, in my opinion, should have been inducted a long time before now; they’ve done so much for the sport and still do. Ricky Steamboat is a fantastic inductee, extremely worthy, especially since he still works for the company (although, should he be going in BEFORE Randy Savage?) which no doubt helped his cause. Cowboy Bill Watts, another fine inclusion, his life has been professional wrestling and he’s been grossly overlooked for years and years. Koko B. Ware... I don’t think anyone understands quite why Koko’s going in. He achieved nothing in the WWF, and before that he only really won some regional NWA belts, not even a heavyweight championship. He’s memorable for Frankie, his pet macaw, and for High Energy, his tag team with Owen Hart. In his highlight induction reel, they included the clip of him singing Piledriver from the album of the same name. Does that not show how un-memorable he is?! Why isn’t Savage going in this year, they’re finally releasing his DVD this year, it would be a great piece of publicity at the very least. Why isn’t Jake Roberts in? Why aren’t The Legion of Doom in? What about The Honky Tonk Man? He’s inducting Koko, yet he deserves the place in the hall more than the man he’s inducting, it does not make any sense.
Last Monday as well, the Von Erichs were announced as the next inductees as well. Oh no, wait, they weren’t announced. They were pushed back to a small little announcement on WWE.com. Everybody else gets a beautiful vignette, and they get pushed back because the WWE are afraid of the bad publicity for publicly lauding a family who have had their problems and contributed to their sad story. It’s like Chris Benoit, who has been officially forgotten by the wrestling world because of what happened in the last 0.05% of his life. It’s bloody shameful, it really is. Hopefully, Michael Hayes will give them their dignity and respect back at the ceremony itself with a glowing induction. Oh, and why aren’t the Freebirds being inducted in the same year, it would have been a very classy move to have done that. The Four Horsemen aren’t in either...
Moving on, or maybe not, I want to take a minute to talk about Test. He was a great guy, a fantastic athlete and an often overlooked and underappreciated talent. I’m not going to say that he was the greatest of all time, and should be remembered alongside the Ric Flairs and Bruno Sammartinos of this world, because he wasn’t that great, we all know that, and to say he was just because he’s died would be completely sycophantic. But, he should be remembered for what he accomplished – Tag Team Champion, Intercontinental Champion, European Champion and Hardcore Champion. The Union, the Steph-Test marriage storyline, T&A, the Un-Americans, the Extreme Elimination Chamber should be what he’s remembered for. At such a young age as well, it makes it all the more unbelievable and upsetting. R.I.P. Andrew “Test” Martin, 1975-2009.
Just recently, the booking decisions regarding Raw and Wrestlemania have been confusing. Everything seems really... ordinary, general, and mundane. Nothing seems to be heading towards anywhere for definite except for the HHH-Orton storyline, which by the way is the most personal and engrossing storyline since HBK-Y2J. Perhaps the writers can only deliver one really great story per year. As an example, I point out the Cena-Edge-Big Show story. I mean, come on. Vickie Guerrero? Really? Come on...
Also, what is up with the entire cross-brand build-up? It’s like the separated brands don’t mean a thing before Wrestlemania, it focuses entirely on the same people and it’s almost like watching the same show week after week. Except, that is, for ECW. No-one goes anywhere near ECW anymore, not even ECW’s own Miz and Morrison, except to host live versions of “The Dirt Sheet”, which is barely passable as an online video series. Cross brand build-up just totally blanks out the lower carders, leaving Cryme Tyme and Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Dolph Ziggler to fester on WWE.com, when they could at least be given a chance to show off their wrestling ability instead of their awful acting abilities. That reminds me, Tommy Dreamer... Where did he go? I thought he was having a retirement storyline, do they just not care anymore? Thank god the draft is coming up, everything will get separated and normal service will be resumed, as well as having everything shaken up.
One more thing: Did I, or did I not, predict that Kizarny would be released this year? I’ll admit I didn’t think it would be this soon, but still. It was a crap gimmick for a good wrestler. Sucks, but there you go. He just never recovered from that woeful first match. That’s just the way it goes.
Got any comments? Any questions? Or do you want to host “The Wired View” on your website? E-mail me at the address below.
Stay classy,
JjR
E-mail me: thewiredview@mail2me.com
Posted by JjR on 03/18/2009 at 10:34 AM
The Wired View by JjR
...because Wednesdays are Wired Days
Apologies, apologies and apologies again for my 3 week absence but I am now back, with lots to talk about.
I’m very much trying to refrain from analysing the Wrestlemania matches for the column before the show itself so I’ll talk about other things, mainly the Hall of Fame. Stone Cold Steve Austin was a definite – It’s in Texas, it was more appropriate now more than ever. Terry and Dory Funk, in my opinion, should have been inducted a long time before now; they’ve done so much for the sport and still do. Ricky Steamboat is a fantastic inductee, extremely worthy, especially since he still works for the company (although, should he be going in BEFORE Randy Savage?) which no doubt helped his cause. Cowboy Bill Watts, another fine inclusion, his life has been professional wrestling and he’s been grossly overlooked for years and years. Koko B. Ware... I don’t think anyone understands quite why Koko’s going in. He achieved nothing in the WWF, and before that he only really won some regional NWA belts, not even a heavyweight championship. He’s memorable for Frankie, his pet macaw, and for High Energy, his tag team with Owen Hart. In his highlight induction reel, they included the clip of him singing Piledriver from the album of the same name. Does that not show how un-memorable he is?! Why isn’t Savage going in this year, they’re finally releasing his DVD this year, it would be a great piece of publicity at the very least. Why isn’t Jake Roberts in? Why aren’t The Legion of Doom in? What about The Honky Tonk Man? He’s inducting Koko, yet he deserves the place in the hall more than the man he’s inducting, it does not make any sense.
Last Monday as well, the Von Erichs were announced as the next inductees as well. Oh no, wait, they weren’t announced. They were pushed back to a small little announcement on WWE.com. Everybody else gets a beautiful vignette, and they get pushed back because the WWE are afraid of the bad publicity for publicly lauding a family who have had their problems and contributed to their sad story. It’s like Chris Benoit, who has been officially forgotten by the wrestling world because of what happened in the last 0.05% of his life. It’s bloody shameful, it really is. Hopefully, Michael Hayes will give them their dignity and respect back at the ceremony itself with a glowing induction. Oh, and why aren’t the Freebirds being inducted in the same year, it would have been a very classy move to have done that. The Four Horsemen aren’t in either...
Moving on, or maybe not, I want to take a minute to talk about Test. He was a great guy, a fantastic athlete and an often overlooked and underappreciated talent. I’m not going to say that he was the greatest of all time, and should be remembered alongside the Ric Flairs and Bruno Sammartinos of this world, because he wasn’t that great, we all know that, and to say he was just because he’s died would be completely sycophantic. But, he should be remembered for what he accomplished – Tag Team Champion, Intercontinental Champion, European Champion and Hardcore Champion. The Union, the Steph-Test marriage storyline, T&A, the Un-Americans, the Extreme Elimination Chamber should be what he’s remembered for. At such a young age as well, it makes it all the more unbelievable and upsetting. R.I.P. Andrew “Test” Martin, 1975-2009.
Just recently, the booking decisions regarding Raw and Wrestlemania have been confusing. Everything seems really... ordinary, general, and mundane. Nothing seems to be heading towards anywhere for definite except for the HHH-Orton storyline, which by the way is the most personal and engrossing storyline since HBK-Y2J. Perhaps the writers can only deliver one really great story per year. As an example, I point out the Cena-Edge-Big Show story. I mean, come on. Vickie Guerrero? Really? Come on...
Also, what is up with the entire cross-brand build-up? It’s like the separated brands don’t mean a thing before Wrestlemania, it focuses entirely on the same people and it’s almost like watching the same show week after week. Except, that is, for ECW. No-one goes anywhere near ECW anymore, not even ECW’s own Miz and Morrison, except to host live versions of “The Dirt Sheet”, which is barely passable as an online video series. Cross brand build-up just totally blanks out the lower carders, leaving Cryme Tyme and Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Dolph Ziggler to fester on WWE.com, when they could at least be given a chance to show off their wrestling ability instead of their awful acting abilities. That reminds me, Tommy Dreamer... Where did he go? I thought he was having a retirement storyline, do they just not care anymore? Thank god the draft is coming up, everything will get separated and normal service will be resumed, as well as having everything shaken up.
One more thing: Did I, or did I not, predict that Kizarny would be released this year? I’ll admit I didn’t think it would be this soon, but still. It was a crap gimmick for a good wrestler. Sucks, but there you go. He just never recovered from that woeful first match. That’s just the way it goes.
Got any comments? Any questions? Or do you want to host “The Wired View” on your website? E-mail me at the address below.
Stay classy,
JjR
E-mail me: thewiredview@mail2me.com