Dan Wahlers talks current state of WWE
Major Angles Heating Up For Wrestlemania
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Greetings from under a foot and a half of snow here in northern New Jersey! As most of the Northeast digs out of Wednesday's blizzard, there is good news rising among the mountains and mountains of snow. The good news is that spring is only about five weeks away. And for wrestling fans, the beginning of spring means one thing: Wrestlemania. As we're often reminded these days, we are indeed on the road to Wrestlemania. The 26th Wrestlemania will be held on Sunday March 28, 2010 at The University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. It's the biggest show in pro wrestling every year, and this year will be no exception.
A little more than six weeks out, WWE has some major angles that are heating up for the show, and it's been some of the best television that they've done in a long time. Say what you will about the people that run the company, and god knows that I have over the years, but every year without fail they know how to step up the product when the calendar turns over to Wrestlemania time.
It really makes you wonder why they can't put out a product as good as they have over the past five weeks, for the other nine months of the year, when it's not Wrestlemania season. We're gonna look at some of those hot storylines today, where they've been, where they are now, and where they're headed between now and the end of March.
To say it's been surreal to see Bret Hart back in a WWE ring would be the understatement of the year. There is always that saying in wrestling, especially in WWE, “never say never.” But for many years, that saying just wouldn't have applied to Bret Hart and his relationship with Vince McMahon. If you would have asked me to lay money on it at the time, I would have bet that Bret would have never stepped foot in WWE again.
That's how deep rooted the feelings of hate and betrayal were after the infamous events of November 9, 1997 in Montreal, and two years later, the accidental and tragic death at a live WWE PPV of Bret's brother Owen Hart. If you would have told me back then that ten years or so later, Bret would be back in WWE, and doing a storyline based on the Montreal Screwjob for a Wrestlemania match with Vince McMahon in 2010, I'd have told you that you were out of your mind.
But here we are, it's 2010 and that's exactly what's happening. Never say never indeed. Bret made his return as the guest host of Raw on January 4th, the same night that TNA debuted Hulk Hogan, going head to head with Raw on Monday night for the first time ever. Bret walked down the aisle at the top of the show, and rumors are that snow cones and popsicles were being served in hell.
I'm not one of these people that is going to judge why Bret made the decision to return. Judge not lest ye be judged, as the old saying goes. Some say he did it for money, some say he did it because he's obsessed with his legacy, some say he's a hypocrite. The way I look at it, whether or not to return and do business with Vince McMahon again was Bret's decision, and his alone to make. If he made the personal decision to forgive and forget, then who are any of us to criticize him for that? That's my take on that part of the situation.
As far as the execution of the storyline and the performances by Bret and Vince, it's been fantastic stuff. Bret is limited in what he can do physically because of the massive stroke he had in 2002. But he apparently feels good enough to do some kind of match with Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania. Admittedly, some of the physical stuff he's had to do since his return has looked a little difficult and awkward. But again, this is a guy that was in a wheelchair because he couldn't walk, and had total paralysis on the left side of his body after the stroke. So he needs to be cut some slack. He already looked better moving around the ring, throwing punches, and throwing guys out of the ring this past Monday than he did the previous week when he attacked Vince and was then attacked by Batista. So I'm not really worried about the physical part of what Bret has to do. He certainly appears to be able to do enough to get by.
They can do a carefully planned, gimmicked street fight type of match at Mania, where Bret doesn't have to take any bumps, and Vince doesn't have to do much either, since he looks like a turtle turned over on its shell when he takes a bump. As far as their match at Mania, the less complicated they make it, the better. And I'm sure they know that. People want to see Bret kick Vince's ass all over the building, and make him submit in the middle of the ring with the Sharpshooter. That would be the picture perfect ending to this long and memorable story.
The two of them are also doing a tremendous job on the verbal part of the angle, selling the idea of a match, and getting over the history of what happened for those fans that weren't around back in 1997. That was one aspect of the whole thing was a little cloudy when this idea was first proposed. Would enough people still care about something that happened 13 years ago? The answer to that is yes.
Between the mic work of Bret and Vince, and especially Vince, who has really dug his teeth into this storyline like he hasn't anything in a number of years, as well as the video packages that the phenomenal WWE production team have put together explaining what happened in 1997, and on the recap packages that air every week detailing what happened the previous week, everything is running like a well oiled machine. I expect Bret/Vince to draw well for Wrestlemania, and if the show doesn't do at least one million buys, then something is seriously wrong.
Vince McMahon the businessman might be one thing, but as far as the Mr. McMahon heel character on TV, he has to go down as one of the greatest heels of all-time. I mean, him yelling “You deserve to be SCREWED!!!” over and over to Bret on Raw was gold. Absolute gold. Then you had Bret destroying a bunch of television equipment and the announce table like he did in 1997. It was a nice ode to history to do that, and I hope that they can continue this hot storyline for the next six weeks. I'm enjoying the hell out of it so far, that's for sure.
The other hot angle that WWE has going right now is the one involving Shawn Michaels and his quest to face The Undertaker at Wrestlemania this year, in a rematch from their classic Match of the Year last year. If it's Wrestlemania time and Shawn Michaels is involved, you know you're more than likely going to be seeing something great, because the man knows how to deliver when the chips are down perhaps more than any performer in wrestling history.
“Mr. Wrestlemania” isn't just a cute nickname or marketing slogan, it's a reputation that Shawn has rightfully earned over the years, because of his ability to deliver classic matches and classic moments year in and year out, on the big stage of Wrestlemania. It happened again last year with the match that him and Undertaker had, which both guys equally deserve the credit for. It wasn't a question of if that match would win Match of the Year honors in the Observer Awards, it was just a matter of how much it would win by. It won by 1,255 votes, one of the largest margins in the voting this year.
So when I heard that they wanted to do Taker/HBK at Wrestlemania again this year, I was honestly a little skeptical about it. In movies, the sequel is never usually as good as the original, and the same thing often applies in wrestling. A year older, and a year more of physical wear and tear on their bodies, I wondered how Michaels and Undertaker would be able to come anywhere near what they accomplished last year. That match was as close to perfection as you're going to get in WWE. What could they possibly do this year to top that match? The idea of a rematch a year later didn't sound like a good one on the surface, to me. The original rumored plans of Undertaker vs. John Cena and Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H sounded better to me.
But I have to say, in the weeks since the idea of a rematch was first brought up, they've sold me on it. And it's been mostly because of Shawn Michaels, and the tremendous story they've been telling about his obsession with beating Undertaker and ending his Wrestlemania winning streak. No one plays the conflicted, tortured soul better than Shawn Michaels, and he's been playing it for all he's worth over the past couple weeks. HBK can say more with a simple look on his face than a lot of people in wrestling can say with a thousand words. He knows how to play to the cheap seats, as it were. Some people say he overacts and overdoes it sometimes, and maybe he does. But this is professional wrestling, folks. Overacting and overdoing it have been part of the business since day one.
If anyone still had any doubts, his performance during this storyline has just further reinforced why he is one of the greatest performers in wrestling history. A case could certainly be made for him possibly being the best ever. When you look at his body of work, and the list of classic matches that he's had, and then throw in the fact that he was gone from the wrestling business for over four years, and then was able to return at an even greater level than he was at before, and do it for another eight years up to this point, it's really hard to argue against him.
It's been fascinating watching his downward spiral, as Michael Cole referred to it on Monday, as his plans to get a shot at Undertaker at Mania have been foiled at every turn. The most recent happening was him and Triple H losing the tag team titles to The Miz and Big Show on Raw this past Monday, with HBK being pinned by Miz, after he tagged himself into the match and was arguing with HHH about it when Miz rolled him up for the win.
He then went storming to the back like a little kid that had just had his ball taken away, and confronted Smackdown GM Teddy Long about adding him to the Smackdown Elimination Chamber Match at the next PPV. When Long said he couldn't do that, Michaels superkicked him, and told HHH that his career was over. The camera work was excellent here, as they showed a wide shot of Michaels walking down the hall way, as if he were walking off into the sunset like an old gun fighter. Obviously, he's not retiring, so it will be very intriguing to see what the next step is in the storyline that will ultimately lead to Taker/HBK II at Wrestlemania.
I honestly don't think they'll be able to top the match they had last year, but if anyone can, it's those two. HBK will be Mr. Wrestlemania like he always is, and bad knees, hips, back, and all, Undertaker will find a way to show up big time when it counts as he always does. And even if they have a match that's less than their first one, it's certainly not going to be the end of the world. It's not like the show will fall apart. Unlike last year, Taker/HBK won't have to carry the show this year. So far they have done a much better job building and hyping Wrestlemania than last year, and if everything comes together like it should, you have four or five major matches at the top of the card.
WWE is firing on all cylinders right now. I criticize them a lot, and it's well deserved most of the time. But I have to give them credit where it's due. Besides the two main storylines that I've talked about today, you have the angle with Randy Orton and Legacy, and where that's going. That's been good so far, and they've done a good job not tipping their hand as to what direction it's going in. Will Orton be the face, with Dibiase and Rhodes teaming up against him, will Ted Dibiase be the face, will Cody be the face, will we have a triple threat at Wrestlemania or a singles match? There are a lot of possibilities.
The plan months ago was for Dibiase to be the one to turn face. It was supposed to happen around the time that his movie “The Marine 2” came out. But those plans were scrapped for whatever reason. The thought process all along had been that Dibiase had more potential to become a main eventer than Cody Rhodes. But lately, it's been hard to tell who the company is more behind. One week Dibiase is getting put over, and Rhodes buried, the next week it's the opposite. That's WWE parity booking for you, and it's one of the main reasons why there hasn't been many new main event stars created.
And that's also one of the reasons why neither Dibiase or Rhodes have really stepped up and established themselves over the other one. Dibiase is probably the better in-ring worker, but Cody has shown more personality and charisma. When you look at the two of them, they're in about the same place in terms of perception. People see them as Orton's lackies and that's about it. That's why it's hard to say which one the company should try and elevate to the next level.
I think ultimately, in the long run, Randy Orton will be turning face. I'm not sure if it will happen soon, or later on this year, but it seems destined to happen at some point. Orton has been getting a lot of cheers for a while now, and has been the one cheered in the situations with Dibiase and Rhodes so far. And I think if it's done right, Orton could take off huge as a face. He seems to have become one of those people that the fans just want to like. I'm not sure if this storyline is designed to turn Orton face, or turn one of the other guys face, but I like where it's going so far.
Over on Smackdown you have Edge back in the mix, which is nothing but a positive. It will take him some time to get the rust off and get back in the groove, but when he does, he's one of the most entertaining acts in wrestling. Batista has found his niche and has clicked really well as a heel. His feud with Rey Mysterio was very well done.
CM Punk had a great year in 2009, and he's been off to an outstanding start in 2010 with his Straight Edge Society gimmick. His promos get a little repetitive week after week, but he's good enough to make it entertaining every week. The gimmick of shaving people's heads has worked, and is rumored to be leading to a mask vs. hair match at Wrestlemania between Punk and Mysterio.
You have guys like The Miz getting better every week. It's really amazing to see how far he's come in just the past year alone. He's one of the most fun guys to watch on Raw every week. If he continues the way he's going, and continues improving, and getting over, there's no reason he shouldn't be main eventing by the end of the year. They want to elevate people, and create new main eventers, Miz would be a good guy to start with. And I honestly never thought I'd be saying that about him, but he's worked hard to get better and he's earned it.
WWE finally decided to do what they should have done a long time ago, and that's put ECW out of its misery. Everyone is saying that ECW died. No, ECW died back in 2001 when Paul Heyman went bankrupt. It was resurrected for the One Night Stand PPV in 2005, which was as close to the old ECW as anyone will ever get again. Ultimately, it was still a WWE production, and they then spent the last four years slowly taking away everything that made that PPV a success, and made the old ECW a success.
Basically, Vince McMahon dug up the corpse of ECW, took out the one gold tooth that was left in the body, which was the One Night Stand PPV, then urinated on the body for four years, and buried it again. Trying to recreate old ECW in 2006 wasn't going to work, and most people knew that. But it certainly didn't have to go down the way it did.
The ECW timeslot on Sy Fy is going to become what it should have a long time ago, and that's a developmental type show called WWE NXT. Guys like Bryan Danielson and Low Ki, now known as Kaval, and others will get a chance to gain some exposure on national TV, and earn their way up the ladder in WWE. To me, it's nothing but a good thing. We'll see who in developmental has it, and who doesn't. You'll never know if you don't give people a chance.
I don't really think the new concept will bump the ratings very much, if at all. But with ECW hovering in the 0.9 to 1.0 range lately, can it really get much worse? It's a chance worth taking, and whether it's a Tough Enough like reality show, a Science Fiction themed show, or any of the other ideas that have come up, it can't be much worse than what ECW has become. So goodbye once again, ECW. May you finally rest in peace.
That's all for me today. Thanks for reading. I'll be back next week with my preview and predictions column for the Elimination Chamber PPV. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go dig my car out of 18 inches of snow. Until next time, take care and be well.
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