Wrestling Rumblings #46
December 18, 2009
By: Jose Marrero of WrestleView.com
Every so often you come upon a week where you have so many topics to choose from that you really want to talk about; things that are time sensitive and can?t really wait until next week to sort of spread your thoughts and opinions out. This is one of those weeks and of course this is “Wrestling Rumblings.”
Topic #1: Andrew ?Test? Martin’s brain examination
Andrew ?Test? Martin’s brain was examined after his passing and it was recently revealed that he just as Chris Benoit before had the comparative brain of an 80 year old man. I really hope that this is a wakeup call for all wrestlers in the industry to slow down. I have been an advocate of the old school style of wrestling for years now and it’s definitely time to take a step back to that. I am not just talking wrestling in the United States but wrestling worldwide, I would be very curious to see what kind of findings we could have found in the brain of the late Mitsuharu Misawa and Abismo Negro as the Japanese and Mexican style of wrestling is just as hard, if not harder and no amount of rest can make up for the things that some of these athletes put themselves through. I?ve often said that the first thing any prospective wrestler should focus on in training is to protect their opponents; the second should be to protect themselves. Test may have not had the dastardly end of Chris Benoit but even if he lived I would wonder what his quality of life would have been. I don?t want to see any wrestler, be it mainstream or in the independents become vegetables for my or your entertainment, it’s just not worth it.
Topic #2: Jim Cornette’s letter to ROH fans and other recent diatribes
OK so the letter is a few weeks old but it seems there is a new rant from Jim Cornette every day now. I get it you don?t like Vince Russo, most people don?t but to say you want to physically assault him is taking things a bit too far. This is coming from the same man mind you who when he was employed by TNA midway through openly admitted that even though he didn?t agree with Russo’s philosophies he enjoyed a better relationship with him. What’s changed since then? As much as people praise Jim Cornette I want to know what national success has he ever enjoyed as a booker? Booking small territories is much different from booking a national company and Cornette hasn?t had much success doing either. Sure Smokey Mountain Wrestling was the rave for a year or two but many of those wrestlers ridicule some of the goofy things Cornette was having them do at the time and even then were saying that the business passed Cornette by, that was almost 15 years ago. His stint booking in what was then the WWF in the early 90’s was what helped put the company behind WCW early on in the Monday Night Wars and the OVW experience was good but in the end he cracked and started verbally abusing and assaulting people. I agree with you Jim, Vince Russo isn?t giving TNA what it needs right now but you probably couldn?t either and I don?t want to beat you up. I just want you to shut up. We get the picture, you weren?t happy in TNA. I can?t speak for anyone reading this but I don?t know many people who are altogether happy in there line of employment either. Welcome to the real world Jim.
Topic #3: TNA fires the first shot in launching what could be the next Monday Night War
I have mixed feelings on this; I remember when WCW first ran Mondays there was big concern throughout the industry that WCW would split the audience. Of course we all know now that wasn?t the case as there were WCW fans and there were WWF fans and through the rivalry new fans of both products and the industry overall were created. This time though I feel different, I do feel there are only for the most part WWE fans. I don?t buy the excuse that people don?t know TNA exists because if you are a fan of wrestling you just know. Will TNA get some casual fans to tune in for Hulk Hogan, RVD and others? Sure they might but not enough to overwhelm or really dent WWE and in essence are going to split their own audience. Of course I could be wrong but I don?t think I am. With that being said I am still looking forward to it because I know deep down inside WWE wants and needs the competition and if that competition does happen we as wrestling fans will be the ultimate winners, because even if the TNA product does not improve I am almost sure the WWE one will.
Topic #4: Sheamus wins the WWE Heavyweight Title
There weren?t many that saw this win coming and in the time that has passed since the upset of the year occurred there are many fans asking what is next for Sheamus? As for me; I find myself asking what is after. I?ve never been a fan of having a title belt give a guy a rub. After all any title should be held to a certain prestige and that’s not me being a belt mark but that’s just the way you book a championship so that it can have believability. Every so often though you can get away with it but if WWE does not do something strong with Sheamus after he is no longer champion, than he will be exactly what John Cena said he would become: A footnote. After all, there have been many short term transitional champions where being the champion did absolutely nothing for their career. Will Sheamus be Edge or will he become Tommy Rich or Ronnie Garvin? I?m hoping for the former.
Topic #5: Bret Hart signs with WWE
As some of you who are VIP subscribers are aware of, I along with Adam Martin has the pleasure of talking to ?The Hitman? a couple of months ago when the rumors of him being WWE bound first surfaced (that interview along with hundreds of other shows is archived and can still be listened to if you just subscribe right now). During that interview he denied the rumors and said that he was approached but nothing had been concluded at that time so I don?t necessarily feel lied to and if I was so what? I am happy that Bret is coming back in. He has always been one of my favorites and I?d like to see what Bret can add to the product. I see him being the GM of the January 4th Raw and perhaps being the permanent GM for a few months. I don?t know about a match simply because Bret has downplayed that on so many occasions and as a man who cares about his legacy I don?t know if he would want to taint his career with a lackluster performance. I do see him helping his family in the Hart Dynasty get a push (A Unified Tag Team Championship over DX would be a nice start) and some hard interaction with Vince McMahon that maybe will lead to them both having wrestlers represent them at Wrestlemania. What I most hope for though is that Bret will lend his knowledge to not just those on the Raw brand but WWE and FCW throughout. If that happens everyone wins.
On that note I am going to wrap up this week’s column. By the time you all read this it will be my birthday and the only reason I am saying this is because even though I write this on a Thursday it would appear that many of you have already reached out to me through email to wish me a happy birthday (I don?t know how in the hell you knew) so I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that has wished me one and will probably wish me one before it is actually over. Of course for those who don?t know how to contact me you can do so at wrestlingrumblings@hotmail.com and well that’s it, next week I will try to do better and until then I am out.
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