Wrestling Rumblings #98
November 19, 2010
By: Jose Marrero of Wrestleview.com
I wasn’t going to do a column this week. I figured after nearly 2 years without missing a week I was entitled to a week off but I just couldn’t do it. I was out and I got pulled back in. I saw that I didn’t have enough for a single topic but a bunch of topics. So here goes…you’re reading “Wrestling Rumblings.”
The first thing I have to say is I saw that documentary on Hulk Hogan last night. For those of you who didn’t I wouldn’t bother wasting my time. I know I have made a bad habit of beating on Hogan throughout the years but well he does it to himself. That documentary was basically the “Hulk Hogan feel sorry for me hour” and I just refuse to play along. First off Hulk stretched the truth or just omitted several things that he mentioned last night like wrestling months before signing with TNA in Austrailia and wasn’t “risking it all” then, giving Alcholol to his son before that horrible accident as well as omitting the phone call in which he said that the victim of his accident “had it coming to him”. Look I’m not proud to say this but I will cause it’s the truth but I’m a divorcee myself and I know exactly how horrible a divorce can be on anyone but it’s nothing to feel sorry for. All I kept hearing on this piece was how Hulk lost it all and well what people don’t understand is that Hulk Hogan broke is still most of us rich, it’s really hard to sympathize and Hulk can try as he want to emote sympathy from his audience. Maybe he is actually successful at it but he gets none from me.
WWE went Old School this week and I absolutely loved Raw. Was it a show full of great wrestling matches? No, not really as a matter of fact I thought the best match on the show was the Daniel Bryan vs. Jack Swagger match that I felt was tarnished a bit by the Micheal Cole/JR thing but it was very cool for a fan of over 25 years to see the old school logos and get a little bit of that flavor that first got me into the business in the first place. The only thing I have to say is that it seemed that most of the Legends were better than their replacements and left me feeling a bit empty when it’s all over and I have to go back and watch Raw next week. I could probably write a whole book on what’s really missing with today’s wrestling and what separates this generation from those gone by (A Jose Marrero book? Hmmm) but I’d just be beating that horse with a stick because I am sure most of you have many of those same complaints. What I’d much rather focus on is how we could close the gap because normally I’m super stoked for Wrestlemania and this year I almost feel like I am going out of habit and nothing else and that’s not good. When you feel you have to hotshot your biggest show of the year by having guys like Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and others on it because you have no interest in your product it doesn’t say much abou the longterm health of the business. I’d personally like to see things go back to the way they were but understand why it can’t but there has to be a happy medium because this way is just not working.
I touched on the Jim Ross situation. It was great to see him on Raw this Monday and was a surprise for me as I didn’t expect Vince McMahon to throw him out there since he has wasted so much time in trying to establish Micheal Cole as the lead voice of the WWE but he did and in doing so once again attempted to humiliate J.R and I ask myself why? You know at first I sort of understood it, you didn’t create the guy he was the voice for years of your competition but now I am sort of looking at it a bit differently and have a theory that maybe no one else has thought to explore. I think Vince McMahon is a bit jealous of J.R. For over 20 years Vince McMahon was the voice of WWE. As a matter of fact I really can’t recall anyone being mentioned in a fond way that was the voice of WWE before he was and well during most of that time he probably had to deal with the fact that while he was the voice of WWE and his company was destroying the competition. The best announcer in the business was still with NWA/WCW. It must have ate him alive to basically have to step aside from the announce booth when Ross was hired and give up his position to a man he couldn’t beat. Since he couldn’t beat Ross at announcing maybe he thought he could humiliate the guy and break him another way. Well Vince it’s obvious at this point that you can’t. Jim Ross like him or hate him is the best announcer of this generation and in my opinion the best announcer of any other that preceded him. Don’t hate him, embrace him.
So the big news this week out of Orlando is that they are politicking for a physical WWE Hall of Fame. It actually is a little known fact that there are many WWE mementos that are stored in a warehouse in case an actual Hall of Fame is built and while most fans are probably clamoring for a physical building to be built I am not sure exactly how much business it can really do. I’ve been to Cooperstown which is where you can find the Baseball Hall of Fame and came away really unimpressed. Now bear in mind Major League Baseball is a sport that has worldwide interest in a way wrestling cannot fathom and that building just doesn’t pique my fancy and I am a diehard baseball fan. I don’t think a wrestling Hall of Fame will do that much better especially in Orlando which out of all the cities I have ever been to is one of my least favorite for a variety of reasons. A better idea I think might be a moving WWE Hall of Fame where they can set up some things and have fans who are in town for Wrestlemania weekend pay an extra 15 bucks and view them with some plaques and stuff. I think that would do better than a physical building and cost nothing since I would just have it as an added bonus to Fan Axxess but that’s just my opinion of course.
Everyone is making a big fuss about Joey Styles spoiling the elimination on this week’s NXT on Twitter and well I think everyone forgets that no one at this point including Vince McMahon cares about NXT. Joey Styles is not going to be fired since he is considered a big asset for the company and probably won’t be reprimanded since it really isn’t costing WWE anything. It’s not a big deal.
On that note I am going to wrap up this week. It wasn’t much but it was something and well I have to give you all something to do but before I do let’s plug something I should have plugged last week and that’s the Dragongate USA Untouchable 2010 PPV. I forgot to plug this last Friday but bear in mind it is still in replays and you should look at your cableguide and try to catch it if you can. Of course we have WWE Survivor Series on Sunday and UFC 123 on Saturday so it’s an action packed weekend and you should all take advantage.
I’m always looking for feedback, comments and suggestions at wrestlingrumblings@hotmail.com and well that’s it for this week, next week I will try to do better and until then, I am out.