Hey, Readerland. Two blogs in two (and a half) days? Belee dat, playas. Sorry. Just a little Teddy Long impression. Anyway.
So, today's topic is something that I've been hearing a lot about ever since the WWE went to their PG rating, which is (repeatedly, usually from people who weren't alive when Hulk Hogan was in the WWF) "Bring back the Attitude Era!" I'm here to discuss why this would be a bad idea. But first, a quick recap.
The Attitude Era (or Austin Era, as it's sometimes called), began in 1996 and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is usually credited with creating the Attitude Era with his Austin 3:16 promo. This would begin a rating war between WWF's Raw Is War and WCW's Monday Nitro. Raw is War went from a family-friendly posture to a more adult-oriented product in order to try to regain the lead in the ratings race. Nitro held the lead for 84 weeks, with Raw finally getting the lead back when Stone Cold faced Vince McMahon one-on-one for the first time ever. On October 26th of 19998, Nitro would beat Raw in the ratings for the last time. Raw would never relinquish the lead, holding it until WCW folded in 2001.
Some of the most famous things from the Attitude Era are Austin 3:16, the birth of The Rock, Mick Foley being thrown off of Hell in a Cell onto the Spanish announce table, the formation of Degeneration-X, the Montreal Screwjob, the death of Owen Hart, the Fingerpoke of Doom, and (from the same episode as the Fingerpoke), Eric Bischoff giving away the ending of the Rock/Mankind World Title match, causing thousands of viewers to change the channel from Nitro to Raw.
Then, there are the BAD things that happened during the Attitude Era. Such as: the Kennel From Hell Match, the Big Bossman stealing Big Show's father's casket during the funeral, Mae Young giving birth to a hand, Booker T. losing a match to Big T in which Booker lost the rights to use the letter T (yeah, I know how stupid that sounds, and it was), so Booker because G.I. Bro, Droz enabling Hawk's drug problems and possibly "killing" Hawk, and probably a lot more things that I've blocked out of my memory. Fortunately.
Anyway, I understand how some people who grew up with the Attitude Era can look at the PG era and hate it, because it's not the same thing that they learned to like when they were younger. However, myself being an adult during the Attitude Era, and understand that there were bad parts as well as good parts, I can watch wrestling these days without demanding the return of the Attitude Era.
Here's the thing a lot (and I mean a LOT) of people forget, when it comes to the Attitude Era: it was a necessity. The only way Vince McMahon and the WWE could compete with WCW was to push the envelope, set the envelope on fire, and keep going.
My main point here is that the Attitude Era was needed because of the competition from WCW. Is anybody else right now competing with WWE for dominance atop the professional wrestling food chain? No. TNA...excuse me, Impact Wrestling's flagship show, Impact, is doing relatively decent ratings, but those ratings are still below WWE's secondary show, Smackdown (roughly a 1.2 rating for Impact compared to about a 1.5 for Smackdown). With no one even really nipping at their heels, WWE has no reason to shift back to the Attitude Era.
So, a lack of competition led to the Ruthless Aggression Era, which gave us some of the greatest matches of all time, the Smackdown Six of Edge, Rey Mysterio, Los Guererros (Eddie and Chavo), and Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit (and no, the name Benoit is not a bad word) with all of the six except Chavo becoming World Champion, and the brand extension (maybe I'll do a blog on why the brand extension is a good thing). So, what happened then, is the question.
My own personal opinion is that the WWE realized that they were losing viewers now that the Attitude Era was over, so what they decided was that in order to get new viewers, they had to start all over. They decided to change to the PG Rating, although it's hard to get a consensus of when the change actually starts, but a lot of people I've talked to say early 2008, and they're pulling in the kids with characters like John Cena and family-friendly entertainment. The reason for this is hooking in those kids and making them loyal to the product, like WWF did with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and the Ultimate Warrior. You get the kids in, hook them with something they like and then, as they age, you can change the product back to a more TV-14 kind of thing.
The PG change was, theoretically, in early 2008, which means it's been three and a half years since they started bringing in the kids. I would say the average kid's age who watches the product is 7-to-9 (give or take), so that makes them 10-to-12 now, if they started watching in 2008. That means a couple of more years and the WWE could be making it's way back to a more TV-14 product. However, even with a change to a more mature product, don't expect the Attitude Era to return for a few reasons.
First off is that there are no megastars like Stone Cold and The Rock to be had as full-time performers. Nobody currently has the "It" factor like they did and I'm not sure much of anybody in wrestling these days has "It."
Secondly, there's no need for another Attitude Era. There's no competition, so nothing warrants the extremity of the Attitude Era.
Personally, I don't mind the PG Era. What I mind is that it seems like there's not enough storylines to go around. Or maybe it's a lack of quality storylines. If you have bad storylines, adding in cusswords and gestures gives you bad storyliens with cussing and gestures. Those things can't make a bad storyline better, regardless of what the Attitude Era showed us.
Stick with it, wrestling fans. It will get better, just like it always has.
That's all I've got for now. Until next time, take care and be awesome to each other. #WWWYKI
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
The Ogre's Den: Throw THIS on me...
The Ogre's Den: Throw THIS on me...: "Hey, Readerland. The Ogre is back to drop some knowledge, so let's just get right to it. We were on a roadtrip/at the Mensa Annual Gather..."
Throw THIS on me...
Hey, Readerland. The Ogre is back to drop some knowledge, so let's just get right to it.
We were on a roadtrip/at the Mensa Annual Gathering for the past couple of weeks and I met some new people. One of the guys (Hey, John!) and I were talking and I mentioned that I DJ for PartyFM (listen.partyfmradio.net 1 pm Eastern today!). He asked what kind of music I played and I attempted to explain my shows to him and we got into a discussion about different music styles that we liked and disliked and it turned out that we were both fans of progressive rock. Well, one discussion lead to another and I was talking about how I dislike music that seems overproduced or that has way too much going on at the same time in it. I've heard this called "The Timbaland Effect."
What's funny about that is that I'm also a fan of classical music and if you have a full orchestra doing their thing, everything is incredibly layered and complex and has a lot of different parts going on at the same time, but it almost never feels like it's too much.
I think this is the reason I've always been attracted to music from the 40's, 50's and early 60's, because most everything was simple. Vocals, guitars, drums, and maybe some keyboard. Bluegrass and blues are awesome for that reason. Even in their complexity, they keep things from getting too bogged down. I've heard some tracks, especially in hip hop and dance music, where the producer seemed to feel like every single second of the track needed to have some kind of sound in it, even during the break, when it really should just be the beat and maybe one effect. The listener needs a break from all of the sound to appreciate what they're hearing. If you continuously throw sound at people, they become used to it. You need to ease the throttle back sometimes or you'll blow out the engine.
Okay, I'm not sure that last analogy made any sense.
Anyway. What I'm trying to say is that while complex music can be beautiful, sometimes there is also a beauty in simplicity and some artists would be served well by learning that.
A friend of mine (Hey, Matt!) is a "creates music" DJ instead of "playing music" DJ like me and he produces really good stuff. He produces techno, but it tends to be very minimalist, which I think makes it great. Check him out at stia.bandcamp.com.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now, but I'm sure I'll have more thoughts soon. Until next time, be awesome to each other. #WWWYKI
We were on a roadtrip/at the Mensa Annual Gathering for the past couple of weeks and I met some new people. One of the guys (Hey, John!) and I were talking and I mentioned that I DJ for PartyFM (listen.partyfmradio.net 1 pm Eastern today!). He asked what kind of music I played and I attempted to explain my shows to him and we got into a discussion about different music styles that we liked and disliked and it turned out that we were both fans of progressive rock. Well, one discussion lead to another and I was talking about how I dislike music that seems overproduced or that has way too much going on at the same time in it. I've heard this called "The Timbaland Effect."
What's funny about that is that I'm also a fan of classical music and if you have a full orchestra doing their thing, everything is incredibly layered and complex and has a lot of different parts going on at the same time, but it almost never feels like it's too much.
I think this is the reason I've always been attracted to music from the 40's, 50's and early 60's, because most everything was simple. Vocals, guitars, drums, and maybe some keyboard. Bluegrass and blues are awesome for that reason. Even in their complexity, they keep things from getting too bogged down. I've heard some tracks, especially in hip hop and dance music, where the producer seemed to feel like every single second of the track needed to have some kind of sound in it, even during the break, when it really should just be the beat and maybe one effect. The listener needs a break from all of the sound to appreciate what they're hearing. If you continuously throw sound at people, they become used to it. You need to ease the throttle back sometimes or you'll blow out the engine.
Okay, I'm not sure that last analogy made any sense.
Anyway. What I'm trying to say is that while complex music can be beautiful, sometimes there is also a beauty in simplicity and some artists would be served well by learning that.
A friend of mine (Hey, Matt!) is a "creates music" DJ instead of "playing music" DJ like me and he produces really good stuff. He produces techno, but it tends to be very minimalist, which I think makes it great. Check him out at stia.bandcamp.com.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now, but I'm sure I'll have more thoughts soon. Until next time, be awesome to each other. #WWWYKI
Saturday, May 21, 2011
The Ogre's Den: A King needs a Hall...right?
The Ogre's Den: A King needs a Hall...right?: "Hey, Readerland. Happy Rapture Day! Hopefully you get a ticket for the Heaven Bus! I'll miss you all! Anyway. So, with the unfortunate..."
A King needs a Hall...right?
Hey, Readerland. Happy Rapture Day! Hopefully you get a ticket for the Heaven Bus! I'll miss you all! Anyway.
So, with the unfortunate passing of "The Macho Man" Randy Savage yesterday of a massive heart attack while driving (an autopsy is planned), I was saddened by two things: 1) That Macho Man was gone. One of the most entertaining wrestlers in recent history was gone; and 2) That NUMEROUS people were suddenly saying that Vince McMahon HAS to put Macho Man in the Hall of Fame now because he died.
Seriously? Come on, people. The man is DEAD and the best you can think to talk about is the political crap that kept him out of the WWE Hall of Fame? Give the man 24 hours of peace and THEN you can start your rantings against the evil that is Vince McMahon. Nevermind that Macho's WIFE OF ONE YEAR was in the car as well and was injured, albeit mildly. Doesn't she deserve some sympathy? Of course she does. She's a human being like the rest of us. Of course, some of these people are also the people who said that Gregory Helms deserved what he got in his motorcycle accident because he talked badly about Shawn Michaels. Maybe they don't count as people after all.
Now that my 24 hours are over, here's what I wanted to talk about, which is in fact does "Macho Man" Randy Savage deserve to be in the WWE Hall of Fame? On a personal level, yes he does. I think he was entertaining and charasmatic. He was a great wrestler and a fair-to-average color commentator. Granted, he was also a little off in the head, but really, he's a wrestler and we've kind of come to expect that.
But does he, from the point of view of the WWE, deserve to be in the Hall? Well, so far, the answer is no. What a lot of people seem to forget is that the WWE Hall of Fame isn't like the Baseball or Football Hall of Fame, where there are actual accomplishments taken into consideration for induction. The WWE Hall of Fame is possibly based on accomplishments, but not necessarily (see Ware, Koko B.). There has been a lot of debate about who should be in the Hall of Fame and who shouldn't be based on things like in-ring ability, promo ability (wrestlers and managers alike), number of championships held, amount of money made for the WWE by a wrestler, and so on. But here's the problem with these discussions: The WWE Hall of Fame IS Vince McMahon.
No matter how much of a businessman Vince is, he's still a human being. He still holds grudges. Look how long after the Montreal Screwjob (1997) it took for "The Hitman" Bret Hart to come back to the WWE. It was twelve years, however, he has apparently been on speaking terms with Vince since 2005. So, there was animosity on both sides preventing Hitman's return, but Vince is stubborn and proud and I wouldn't doubt that that pride had something to do with it.
In the case of the Macho Man, though, like my man Hustle over at Lords of Pain said Vince is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. (http://www.lordsofpain.net/columns/hustleispostingrightnow/Believe_The_HIPE_-_Year_2_Week_20_5_14_-_5_20.html#footnote-7 Get on the HIPE train, people. It's worth the ride.) If Vince decides to induct Macho NOW, he'll be looked at as trying to use Macho's legacy to make himself look better. If Vince decides NOT to induct Macho now, he's scum of the Earth. In this case, Vince can't win.
Rumors have been flying for YEARS that there was something bitter and personal between Vince and Savage, and this something has been enough for Vince to keep Macho from coming back to the WWE and inducting Savage into the Hall of Fame, despite two WWF championships, a WWF Intercontinental champioship, winning King of the Ring, four WCW championships, winning WCW's World War 3, being in the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, a match of the year with Ricky Steamboat as voted by both the Wrestling Observer and Pro Wrestling Illustrated, being PWI's Wrestler of the Year in 1998, and being in the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. That doesn't include his work before joining the WWF in 1985.
Now, wrestling has predetermined finishes, so all of those accolades (at least the titles) aren't as "legitimate" as, say, winning the Super Bowl of the World Series, but being a good enough wrestler to earn Match of the Year and being voted into two prestigious Halls of Fame shows you the caliber of athlete Randy Savage was. (By the way, it felt REALLY weird to type the word "was" right then.) So, what did Savage do or not do that makes Vince hate him SO much that he refused to bring him back?
I'm not going to pretend I know the answer, but there's the guess that Macho Man gave Vince his word that he wouldn't bolt to WCW when his contract ended and did exactly that. However, Bret Hart gave Vince a black eye and spit on him after the Montreal Screwjob and yet Vince called Bret when Bret had had a stroke and was in the hospital. Plus, a lot of wrestlers, including Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, did the same thing and they were still part of the crappy NWO reunion in 2002. However, the prevailing hypothesis is that Macho Man, back in the day, Macho Man took the virginity of an underaged Stephanie McMahon, Vince's daughter. I can see how that mind stick in the craw of the old man.
People fail to take a couple of things into consideration in the whole "Put Macho Man in the Hall of Fame" talk. The first is that the WWE is Vince McMahon's baby. The Hall of Fame is Vince McMahon's baby. Nobody except Vince McMahon decides who "should" and "should not" be in the Hall of Fame. If I had to guess, Vince will never let Randy Savage into the Hall of Fame. However, once Vince passes away, I could see Stephanie (and Shane, if he's back around) putting Macho in the Hall.
Secondly, Savage is in the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. See, while the WWE may be synonymous with professional wrestling, the WWE isn't the ONLY wrestling company. Some of them were really good, too. AWA, WCCW, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Memphis Wrestling. Oh yeah, and the NATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE! Seriously. There are more wrestling groups than just the WWE. Okay, so Vince doesn't want to induct Macho for whatever reason. Fine. There are other groups who have.
Let's play "What If?" for a minute, though. What if Vince let's Savage into the Hall of Fame? Who do you get to induct him? Unfortunately, his father Angelo and two of his managers, Miss Elizabeth and Queen Sherri have already passed away. Well, you could have Savage's former friend/tag team partner/enemy Hulk Hogan. Wait, he works for TNA. Ric Flair? Nope. TNA. The Ultimate Warrior? *snort* Jerry Lawler would work, since they worked together in Memphis before Savage came to the WWF. His brother, "Leaping/The Genius" Lanny Poffo, who also wrestled for the WWF? I think, ultimately, you'd have to go with his Match of the Year partner, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Steamboat still works for the WWE as a road agent/producer/very occasional performer, so that works. The plu sside is that Steamboat has always been a class act, so you know he won't run on about himself and his family (I'm looking at you, Dwayne). He'll talk about Savage in the way that he deserves to be talked about: with respect.
I can hope that Macho Man will go into the Hall of Fame, but I'm not betting on it. Regardless, he will be missed. Rest in peace, Macho Man.
That's all I've got for now. Until next time, be awesome to each other. WWWYKI.
So, with the unfortunate passing of "The Macho Man" Randy Savage yesterday of a massive heart attack while driving (an autopsy is planned), I was saddened by two things: 1) That Macho Man was gone. One of the most entertaining wrestlers in recent history was gone; and 2) That NUMEROUS people were suddenly saying that Vince McMahon HAS to put Macho Man in the Hall of Fame now because he died.
Seriously? Come on, people. The man is DEAD and the best you can think to talk about is the political crap that kept him out of the WWE Hall of Fame? Give the man 24 hours of peace and THEN you can start your rantings against the evil that is Vince McMahon. Nevermind that Macho's WIFE OF ONE YEAR was in the car as well and was injured, albeit mildly. Doesn't she deserve some sympathy? Of course she does. She's a human being like the rest of us. Of course, some of these people are also the people who said that Gregory Helms deserved what he got in his motorcycle accident because he talked badly about Shawn Michaels. Maybe they don't count as people after all.
Now that my 24 hours are over, here's what I wanted to talk about, which is in fact does "Macho Man" Randy Savage deserve to be in the WWE Hall of Fame? On a personal level, yes he does. I think he was entertaining and charasmatic. He was a great wrestler and a fair-to-average color commentator. Granted, he was also a little off in the head, but really, he's a wrestler and we've kind of come to expect that.
But does he, from the point of view of the WWE, deserve to be in the Hall? Well, so far, the answer is no. What a lot of people seem to forget is that the WWE Hall of Fame isn't like the Baseball or Football Hall of Fame, where there are actual accomplishments taken into consideration for induction. The WWE Hall of Fame is possibly based on accomplishments, but not necessarily (see Ware, Koko B.). There has been a lot of debate about who should be in the Hall of Fame and who shouldn't be based on things like in-ring ability, promo ability (wrestlers and managers alike), number of championships held, amount of money made for the WWE by a wrestler, and so on. But here's the problem with these discussions: The WWE Hall of Fame IS Vince McMahon.
No matter how much of a businessman Vince is, he's still a human being. He still holds grudges. Look how long after the Montreal Screwjob (1997) it took for "The Hitman" Bret Hart to come back to the WWE. It was twelve years, however, he has apparently been on speaking terms with Vince since 2005. So, there was animosity on both sides preventing Hitman's return, but Vince is stubborn and proud and I wouldn't doubt that that pride had something to do with it.
In the case of the Macho Man, though, like my man Hustle over at Lords of Pain said Vince is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. (http://www.lordsofpain.net/columns/hustleispostingrightnow/Believe_The_HIPE_-_Year_2_Week_20_5_14_-_5_20.html#footnote-7 Get on the HIPE train, people. It's worth the ride.) If Vince decides to induct Macho NOW, he'll be looked at as trying to use Macho's legacy to make himself look better. If Vince decides NOT to induct Macho now, he's scum of the Earth. In this case, Vince can't win.
Rumors have been flying for YEARS that there was something bitter and personal between Vince and Savage, and this something has been enough for Vince to keep Macho from coming back to the WWE and inducting Savage into the Hall of Fame, despite two WWF championships, a WWF Intercontinental champioship, winning King of the Ring, four WCW championships, winning WCW's World War 3, being in the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, a match of the year with Ricky Steamboat as voted by both the Wrestling Observer and Pro Wrestling Illustrated, being PWI's Wrestler of the Year in 1998, and being in the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. That doesn't include his work before joining the WWF in 1985.
Now, wrestling has predetermined finishes, so all of those accolades (at least the titles) aren't as "legitimate" as, say, winning the Super Bowl of the World Series, but being a good enough wrestler to earn Match of the Year and being voted into two prestigious Halls of Fame shows you the caliber of athlete Randy Savage was. (By the way, it felt REALLY weird to type the word "was" right then.) So, what did Savage do or not do that makes Vince hate him SO much that he refused to bring him back?
I'm not going to pretend I know the answer, but there's the guess that Macho Man gave Vince his word that he wouldn't bolt to WCW when his contract ended and did exactly that. However, Bret Hart gave Vince a black eye and spit on him after the Montreal Screwjob and yet Vince called Bret when Bret had had a stroke and was in the hospital. Plus, a lot of wrestlers, including Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, did the same thing and they were still part of the crappy NWO reunion in 2002. However, the prevailing hypothesis is that Macho Man, back in the day, Macho Man took the virginity of an underaged Stephanie McMahon, Vince's daughter. I can see how that mind stick in the craw of the old man.
People fail to take a couple of things into consideration in the whole "Put Macho Man in the Hall of Fame" talk. The first is that the WWE is Vince McMahon's baby. The Hall of Fame is Vince McMahon's baby. Nobody except Vince McMahon decides who "should" and "should not" be in the Hall of Fame. If I had to guess, Vince will never let Randy Savage into the Hall of Fame. However, once Vince passes away, I could see Stephanie (and Shane, if he's back around) putting Macho in the Hall.
Secondly, Savage is in the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. See, while the WWE may be synonymous with professional wrestling, the WWE isn't the ONLY wrestling company. Some of them were really good, too. AWA, WCCW, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Memphis Wrestling. Oh yeah, and the NATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE! Seriously. There are more wrestling groups than just the WWE. Okay, so Vince doesn't want to induct Macho for whatever reason. Fine. There are other groups who have.
Let's play "What If?" for a minute, though. What if Vince let's Savage into the Hall of Fame? Who do you get to induct him? Unfortunately, his father Angelo and two of his managers, Miss Elizabeth and Queen Sherri have already passed away. Well, you could have Savage's former friend/tag team partner/enemy Hulk Hogan. Wait, he works for TNA. Ric Flair? Nope. TNA. The Ultimate Warrior? *snort* Jerry Lawler would work, since they worked together in Memphis before Savage came to the WWF. His brother, "Leaping/The Genius" Lanny Poffo, who also wrestled for the WWF? I think, ultimately, you'd have to go with his Match of the Year partner, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Steamboat still works for the WWE as a road agent/producer/very occasional performer, so that works. The plu sside is that Steamboat has always been a class act, so you know he won't run on about himself and his family (I'm looking at you, Dwayne). He'll talk about Savage in the way that he deserves to be talked about: with respect.
I can hope that Macho Man will go into the Hall of Fame, but I'm not betting on it. Regardless, he will be missed. Rest in peace, Macho Man.
That's all I've got for now. Until next time, be awesome to each other. WWWYKI.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The Ogre's Den: Emotional Rollercoaster
The Ogre's Den: Emotional Rollercoaster: "Hey, Readerland. How we doin, my friends? Well, I hope. First off, let me say that I think I've gotten the comments problem worked out, s..."
Emotional Rollercoaster
Hey, Readerland. How we doin, my friends? Well, I hope. First off, let me say that I think I've gotten the comments problem worked out, so you SHOULD be able to leave me a comment now, should you desire to do so.
Secondly, my thoughts go out to Gregory Helms and his girlfriend Karen, who were in a serious motorcycle accident recently. Helms has a broken leg, broken ankle, and a dislocated jaw, and maybe a could of other injuries, while his girlfriend suffered a broken neck. She's apparently in really bad shape. And to all the "wrestling fans" out there who are saying that Helms "deserved what he got" because he talked bad about Shawn Michaels, you people make me sick. Wishing someone serious career and even life-threatening injuries, simply because he talked bad about your hero? Because his opinion of someone that he actually knows is different than yours? You people are disgusting, horrible people.
So, here's a question. How is it that the death of someone I don't even know can affect me so much? I'm referring to Alex Whybrow, also known as "Sweet and Sour" Larry Sweeney. Sweeney was one of the more entertaining wrestler/managers I have ever seen. He was charasmatic and humorous and I enjoyed his work. Unfortunately, he took his own life on April 11th, 2011.
Here's the thing: when I heard about it, it made me a little sad that 1) he felt the need to take his own life and 2) that I would never get to see him perform again. I felt a little sad but honestly, I had never met the man and I had never seen him perform live, so it was more as a wrestling fan that I was sad that a talented performer was gone.
So, I bought and have been watching Chikara's King of Trios 2011. It started off with a pair of Sweeney's sunglasses in the middle of the ring and the show's entire roster, including talent from England, Australia, and Japan, chanting his name along with the crowd. It was a touching tribute and you could obviously tell that some of the talent were more touched than others, but everyone was emotional. For my own personal taste, I thought it went on a little long, but that's completely understandable. Honestly, though, I didn't really feel much of anything other than I was happy that all of these people were honoring Sweeney.
I'm watching the show and the match that I was watching was The Maximos and Amazing Red vs. Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and Manami Toyota. It was a great match and it ended when Quack hit a little strut (which looked kinda like he was going into seizure), hit Sweeney's '68 Comeback Special (a neckbreaker/DDT combo) and Jigsaw hit the 12 Large Elbow drop and suddenly, I was kind of emotional about the whole thing. I honestly felt tears coming to my eyes.
I don't really understand that. Like I said, I've never met Sweeney and never saw him live, only on YouTube or in show downloads, so why was I so emotional about this, especially after the whole thing at the beginning of the show. Maybe it IS just that I'm never see Sweeney perform again and this tribute to him made me fully realize it. Maybe it's something else entirely that I can't understand.
Whenever I hear Andrea True Connection's "More More More" these days, it makes me smile because I think of Sweeney and I hope that he's a peace now.
That's all I've got for now. Until next time, be awesome to each other. WWWYKI. Ain't no doubt about it, baby.
Secondly, my thoughts go out to Gregory Helms and his girlfriend Karen, who were in a serious motorcycle accident recently. Helms has a broken leg, broken ankle, and a dislocated jaw, and maybe a could of other injuries, while his girlfriend suffered a broken neck. She's apparently in really bad shape. And to all the "wrestling fans" out there who are saying that Helms "deserved what he got" because he talked bad about Shawn Michaels, you people make me sick. Wishing someone serious career and even life-threatening injuries, simply because he talked bad about your hero? Because his opinion of someone that he actually knows is different than yours? You people are disgusting, horrible people.
So, here's a question. How is it that the death of someone I don't even know can affect me so much? I'm referring to Alex Whybrow, also known as "Sweet and Sour" Larry Sweeney. Sweeney was one of the more entertaining wrestler/managers I have ever seen. He was charasmatic and humorous and I enjoyed his work. Unfortunately, he took his own life on April 11th, 2011.
Here's the thing: when I heard about it, it made me a little sad that 1) he felt the need to take his own life and 2) that I would never get to see him perform again. I felt a little sad but honestly, I had never met the man and I had never seen him perform live, so it was more as a wrestling fan that I was sad that a talented performer was gone.
So, I bought and have been watching Chikara's King of Trios 2011. It started off with a pair of Sweeney's sunglasses in the middle of the ring and the show's entire roster, including talent from England, Australia, and Japan, chanting his name along with the crowd. It was a touching tribute and you could obviously tell that some of the talent were more touched than others, but everyone was emotional. For my own personal taste, I thought it went on a little long, but that's completely understandable. Honestly, though, I didn't really feel much of anything other than I was happy that all of these people were honoring Sweeney.
I'm watching the show and the match that I was watching was The Maximos and Amazing Red vs. Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and Manami Toyota. It was a great match and it ended when Quack hit a little strut (which looked kinda like he was going into seizure), hit Sweeney's '68 Comeback Special (a neckbreaker/DDT combo) and Jigsaw hit the 12 Large Elbow drop and suddenly, I was kind of emotional about the whole thing. I honestly felt tears coming to my eyes.
I don't really understand that. Like I said, I've never met Sweeney and never saw him live, only on YouTube or in show downloads, so why was I so emotional about this, especially after the whole thing at the beginning of the show. Maybe it IS just that I'm never see Sweeney perform again and this tribute to him made me fully realize it. Maybe it's something else entirely that I can't understand.
Whenever I hear Andrea True Connection's "More More More" these days, it makes me smile because I think of Sweeney and I hope that he's a peace now.
That's all I've got for now. Until next time, be awesome to each other. WWWYKI. Ain't no doubt about it, baby.
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