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| Dan Wahlers talks Wrestlemania buildup part 2 |
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Analyzing the Wrestlemania Build Up: Rest of the Card *contains Smackdown spoilers* This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it On Tuesday, I devoted an entire column to the build up of the Triple H vs. Randy Orton WWE Championship Match at Wrestlemania 25. More specifically, it was about the hideous skit on Monday’s Raw. Thanks to everyone for the tremendous feedback on that article. I can always count on anything I write involving Triple H to spark some passionate responses from people, both against him, and in defense of him. The man is a lightning rod to internet wrestling fans, if nothing else. But I do want to make it clear that I was not doing the “usual Triple H bashing that I do” as one person described it. My complaints were about the final segment on Raw itself, and the overall atrocious execution of the skit from top to bottom. I was not saying that I don’t think Triple H deserves to be in the spot he’s in. I’ve said before that HHH vs. Orton is not the most compelling main event in the world to me. I find it hard to get overly excited about a match that I’ve seen six times on PPV in the past couple years. I definitely believe they could have come up with something better, and something fresher. But this is what we have. It’s true that Triple H has been a stale character to me for a number of years, but I’m not one of those people that are going to indiscriminately bash him, and say that he doesn’t deserve to be in the spot he’s in. I have no problem with him being where he is, and with him being in the main event of Wrestlemania. I just wish they would have planned a little better, and come up with something that isn’t a past its sell-by date retread of a feud that’s already been run into the ground. I just wanted to clear that up, because it’s something that came up in quite a few of the e-mails I received about my last column. But enough about Triple H and Randy Orton, I’m here today to talk about the build up for the rest of the Wrestlemania 25 card. The other World Championship match on the card is one that has changed three times during the planning stages of the show, well four times, if you want to count the original plan from months ago. The original penciled in plan was for Triple H vs. Edge. That was then changed to John Cena vs. Edge, another recycled feud that has been seen four times on PPV in recent years, and even more if you count the throwaway matches they’ve had on TV. Do you sense a recurring theme here? I guess it was decided that they could only have one recycled feud on top of the Wrestlemania card, because the match was then changed to Edge vs. Big Show, which was of course only a temporary move until we got to the final mixture of Edge vs. Big Show vs. John Cena in a Triple Threat Match. In terms of match quality, despite having seen it more times than I’d care to, I’d take Edge/Cena any day of the week. Big Show adds nothing to the match from a wrestling standpoint. If anything, he subtracts from it, as the other two guys will have to work around his limitations and overall poor physical shape. I don’t know what’s happened to him, but Big Show has gone from being a guy that looked good, and had lost considerable weight when he returned at No Way Out last year, to someone that might be in worst physical now than he’s ever been. And it’s showing with his performances in the ring. His match with Cena a couple of weeks ago on Smackdown was embarrassing. Show would punch or kick Cena, then walk around the ring for 30 seconds to catch his breath. And this went on for a good 10-15 minutes or more. Think about his matches over the past year. Other than a match with The Undertaker at No Mercy, has he been in anything that was even remotely good? He was never what anyone would call a great worker, but he used to be a guy that you could at least have a passable match with. You can’t even get that from him anymore. So I don’t think he even really deserves to be in a main event position on the biggest PPV of the year. To me, something like that should be earned, and Big Show hasn’t earned it. Having said all that, I have to admit, I’ve really been enjoying the Edge/Vickie/Big Show/Cena storyline. It’s hokey and right out of an episode of General Hospital with the adultery, blackmail, and so forth, but everyone has been so good in their roles, that they’ve made it pretty damn entertaining. How could you not laugh when they showed the surveillance video with Vickie Guerrero slapping Big Show’s ass on Raw? That was great. Or when everyone had their reaction to the big revelation with Vickie crying, Edge looking like he wanted to throw up, Big Show with that “uh oh, I just got caught” look on his face, and Cena with the sly, satisfied grin. It was classic wrestling cheese, but the difference between that and the HHH/Orton skit was it wasn’t poorly acted and poorly produced, and it wasn’t insulting. There are some negatives, however. First of all, they burned through months or at least weeks of potential storyline in one week. But that’s nothing new. Patience is a dirty word among the WWE creative team. Secondly, they booked Cena to be a real prick, and I don’t think that was the intention for their top babyface and kids favorite. He blackmailed Vickie into adding him to the title match at Wrestlemania, and then when she did that to avoid him spilling the beans on her and Big Show, he did it anyway. It won’t affect the way Cena is received, but it is worth noting. They also indirectly positioned Edge as a face in the storyline, since he was the one cheated on, which is a position a lot of men, myself included, can sympathize with, and again, I don’t think that’s their intention. Edge is right up there among the top heels in the company, so turning him face would be a terrible idea right now. Then again, you could say that Edge is getting what he deserves for cheating on Vickie last summer with the wedding planner, Alicia Fox. Although, comparing Alicia and Big Show, I’d say Edge definitely got the better of that deal. Another potential storyline hole is why wouldn’t Vickie just tear up the contract, and suspend Cena after what he did? The big secret is out now. What else does she have to lose? Hopefully that’s a plot point that they address in some way. Perhaps she will attempt to do that, but will be prevented by the “WWE Board of Directors”, or something along those lines. I’m not sure where else they can really go for the build of this match over the next three weeks, but I will say that I am enjoying the storyline so far, and the performances of all involved a lot more than I will likely enjoy the pay off in the ring at Wrestlemania. And one other note, they should just make Vickie Guerrero the permanent GM of Raw. There’s no need for Stephanie McMahon to ever come back to the role. There’s no reason that Vickie can’t be the GM of both Raw and Smackdown. She has become such a great performer, and such a heat magnet, that she has become one of the most entertaining characters to watch every week. After the rough way she started out when she first became an on-air performer in 2006, I give her all the credit in the world for working to improve herself, and making herself a better performer. I think Eddie would be proud of the great heel that she’s become. The match that I’m most excited about at Wrestlemania is The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels. “The Streak vs. Mr. Wrestlemania” as they’re calling it. You have two of the all-time greats, who are both coming down the final stretch of their legendary careers, and yet they remain two of the best in-ring performers in wrestling today. How can you not get excited about that? They last feuded in 1997, which is ancient history in current wrestling terms. That is when they were involved in a very famous and historic match, the first Hell in a Cell Match. So yeah, it’s yet another Wrestlemania match that’s been done before. But it was so long ago that it seems new and fresh now. 12 years is a long time. Aside from teases in the Royal Rumble Match in 2007 and 2008, which sort of whet everyone’s appetite for a rekindling of the feud, they’ve been kept apart on TV for a number of years. The build for the match so far has been predictable, but in this case, predictable is good. We got a Shawn Michaels Wrestlemania highlight video interrupting an Undertaker promo on Smackdown last week, and vice versa on Raw. Then the two had a tremendous verbal exchange, as well, featuring Undertaker doing more speaking on TV than he has since the end of “The American Bad Ass” biker character in 2003. That was a welcome departure from the usual zombie promo that we’ve come to expect from him. It made the whole thing feel more real. HBK got the better of it, as he made the point that he respected Taker, but he wasn’t afraid of him, and he got the last word by reminding everyone that Undertaker has never beaten him. That’s true in terms of singles matches, although Undertaker does hold two victories over him in house show tag team matches. But as we’ve been taught by WWE, house shows don’t count. Jerry Lawler said that he had never heard anyone talk to The Undertaker like that. They were clearly pushing the idea that Michaels not only has a chance to beat Undertaker, but a good chance. That’s an important selling point for the match, giving the impression that Undertaker’s winning streak is in real jeopardy. I would expect the usual back and forth in the weeks ahead. We’ll probably see some of the customary hocus pocus from Undertaker, and the two will team up this coming Monday on Raw against JBL and Vladimir Kozlov, so that will be a chance to create more dissension between them. I just hope they resist the urge to have them get involved against each other physically before Wrestlemania. They don’t need that. The feud pretty much sells itself. Save the physicality for the paying customers at Wrestlemania. I have high expectations for the match, and I’m pretty confident that these two will steal the show, and go on to have the best match of the night. What else would you expect from Shawn Michaels at a Wrestlemania? Undertaker will be more than willing and able to hold up his end of the bargain, as well. It’s the formula for what should be a classic Wrestlemania match. Another match on the show is the traditional Money in the Bank Ladder Match. You know the drill. The winner gets a championship match at a time of his choosing within the next year. The eight participants for the match have been set, and will be official as of Smackdown this Friday night when Finlay becomes the final man to qualify. He will join CM Punk, Kane, Mark Henry, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, and Christian. I will get into this match a lot more in-depth in an upcoming column, perhaps as soon as next week. But I’ll just say for now that this is certainly not the ideal group of eight guys that I would have booked in the match. Unless he has a forklift, how the hell is Mark Henry going to reach the briefcase? As I said, I’ll have a lot more comments on this match in an upcoming column. Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy hasn’t been announced yet, but it will be taking place at Wrestlemania. I haven’t been a fan of the way they’ve built up to this match since Matt’s heel turn at the Royal Rumble. I loved Matt’s heel promo the week after the Rumble, but it’s been downhill since then. The storyline so far has been Jeff refusing to fight his brother, while Matt tries to goad him and shame him into taking the match, which is a page taken directly from the Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart playbook. On Smackdown this week, they take the angle in a direction that crosses some lines of decency, if you ask me. Matt reveals that he was the person responsible for the fire that destroyed Jeff’s trailer last year, killing his beloved dog Jack, as well as the various attacks on Jeff over the past couple months. The beating in the hotel stairway in Boston before Survivor Series, the incident where Jeff and his girlfriend were run off the road in North Carolina, and the pyro exploding in Jeff’s face on Smackdown before the Royal Rumble. Sometimes bringing up real life issues, and using them as part of a wrestling storyline works. I’m always a proponent of using realism in wrestling whenever possible. But I don’t know that I’m comfortable with bringing up the fire, and linking Matt to it. That’s really walking the fine line between good taste and bad taste. It reeks of desperation. We all know that Matt turning on Jeff wasn’t the first plan for a storyline, and it’s like they’re now struggling to come up with a back story to explain why it happened. I’m not sold on it. I think they could have done this storyline a lot better if they had put some more thought into it, and used some long-term planning, instead of worrying about changing booking plans to swerve the internet fans. And for god’s sake, give Matt some new entrance music. I’ve written a lot about who Chris Jericho will be facing at Wrestlemania. According to Dave Meltzer in this week’s Observer, you can cross Hulk Hogan off the list of potential opponents. Hogan had back surgery, and so he wouldn’t be able to compete. Why he didn’t put off his back surgery until after Wrestlemania is a question only he can answer. Steve Austin’s name has come up again. Raw is in Texas this Monday, and the date will be 3/16, which I think was part of a famous saying in wrestling once. It also happens to be the day of my 29th birthday, so a shameless plug for me. Did Austin change his mind and agree to do the match? It’s entirely possible. Austin’s good pal Jim Ross just happened to mention in his blog the other day how much he would enjoy seeing a Chris Jericho/Jerry Lawler match. Is JR totally oblivious or unaware, or was he putting out a red herring to throw everyone off? Lawler could still be a choice. Ric Flair could still be a choice. Jericho challenged Flair to come out of retirement and face him on Raw this Monday. Obviously, that won’t be happening. They’re not that stupid. I’ll say one thing, whoever it is; they’ve done a great job keeping it a secret. This is the storyline that has me most intrigued going into Wrestlemania. Over the past couple years they’ve had the “everyone else on the roster so they get a Wrestlemania pay off” abandon ship battle royal with the men in the company. This year it’s the girls turn. They will be having a 25 Diva Battle Royal featuring all the current divas on the roster, as well as ones from the past. The most interesting thing about it will be to see who they dust off and bring back. Trish Stratus is expected back. Tammy “Sunny” Sytch has reportedly been invited, as has Torrie Wilson, Jackie Gayda, and Wendi Richter who competed at the first Wrestlemania and is 47 years old now. This would be the first time she’s been back in WWE since the infamous Spider Lady double cross with the late Fabulous Moolah at Madison Square Garden in November 1985. The short version of the story is Richter was Woman’s Champion at the time, and she wouldn’t sign a new contract, a claim that she has always vehemently disputed. She has always said she was in the middle of a five year contract, but that she and Vince McMahon regularly clashed over her pay. So to get the Woman’s Title off her, Vince McMahon had The Fabulous Moolah dress up as The Spider Lady in a mask for a match with Richter and in a plan that everyone except Richter was in on, Moolah cradled Richter as the referee made the fast three count, despite Richter kicking out on one. Richter stormed out of the locker room in her wrestling gear, got in a cab, went to the airport, flew home, and never spoke to Vince McMahon or The Fabulous Moolah again. That was a screw job 12 years before Bret Hart, Vince McMahon, and Shawn Michaels became synonymous with the word. There’s no telling who else they’ll dig up for this match. Mae Young has reportedly not been asked yet, although I’ll be surprised if she’s not there. After the way she fell down in the ring during her last appearance on Raw, it’s probably a good thing if she’s not in the match. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. She’s 85 years old now. The entrances for this match will be a lot more entertaining than the match itself, that’s for sure. Those are the matches that we know of so far. There will almost certainly be an ECW Title defense for Jack Swagger. The only people on ECW that aren’t in a match already that I could see facing Swagger would be Tommy Dreamer, or the returning Evan Bourne. Rey Mysterio has been inexplicably left off the card so far, so this could also be a spot for him. John Morrison and The Miz aren’t on the card yet, either. It would have been a good chance for them to do a unification tag title match with Carlito and Primo Colon, but they’ve run that match into the ground on Smackdown over the last month. So I’m not sure if they’ll come back with that for Wrestlemania. There is also the news this week that JBL is reportedly talking about retiring again, and him winning the I-C Title from CM Punk on Raw could be the beginning of a Wrestlemania angle for him. He’s teaming with Vladimir Kozlov this Monday on Raw, and the rumors are that it could be leading to JBL turning face, and possibly facing Kozlov at Wrestlemania. If they play up the USA/Russia stuff, and play up the fact that JBL is from Texas, he could be greeted as the conquering hero that he’s referenced before, when he shows up in Houston for Wrestlemania. A JBL/Kozlov match would be bowling shoe ugly, but if JBL is going to go out, that would be the perfect scenario for him to do that. He can retire as I-C Champion, much like Trish Stratus retired as Woman’s Champ in 2006. The rest of the Wrestlemania card will be finalized in the next few weeks, and as I mentioned the other day, the build up to the show has been a mixed bag so far. Some good and some bad. They have about three weeks left to kick things into high gear, and head into the PPV with some momentum. It would be wise for them to do that, because the whole thing has been pretty underwhelming so far. I’m not getting that Wrestlemania feeling yet. So far it feels like the build up for any other PPV, certainly not the 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania (it’s technically the 24th anniversary, but who’s counting). The saving grace is that the same thing has been said going into the past few Wrestlemania’s and they all ended up being great shows. When the chips are down, Vince McMahon knows how to deliver a memorable Wrestlemania. Let’s hope this isn’t the year when the magic finally runs out. Thanks for reading. Until next time, take care and be well. You can send feedback to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/danwahlers |
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