Welcome to a special and not normal day edition of the Wrath of Tito. I'm just sitting here in my graduate office, refusing to do homework because my head hurts. Besides, there's a lot of wrestling discussion in the air these days, especially with what happened on RAW and the total changes occurring with Wrestlemania now. LOTS of wrestling discussion going on, so I figured I'd whip up a column to discuss these issues.
By the way, if anyone read the spoilers already, you'll know that yours truly is lucky to have tickets to next week's Smackdown.
Let's discuss some stuff in my RANDOM RANTING AND RAVING!
Actually, the real question should be is Brock Lesnar a heel or face? I thought Jason Powell's article on the Torch about maybe making Brock Lesnar Vince McMahon's brand new HEEL champion was a great idea. But who knows with the line of thinking of the creative team these days who still jacks off about the Undertaker or the Big Show. A perfect candidate would be Chris Benoit for match quality alone. Plus, wasn't Benoit just going after the Undisputed Title for the past few months against Angle, and just barely losing? Benoit and Lesnar would be a superb substitution for great mat wrestling, but then again, what made people want to see Lesnar vs. Angle was the fact that Angle was clearly a HEEL, thus making Lesnar a face by default.
So you may need a heel to face Lesnar? Eddie Guerrero would make an excellent candidate, as he's one of the 3 best workers in the WWE(Angle, Benoit, Guerrero, not in any particular order), hands down, and has yet to have a good solid chance in the main event since his return. Guerrero has cleaned himself up and has helped many midcarders look like a million bucks (Edge and Rob Van Dam). Right now, he's somewhat of a face, but the man is a born heel and a quick switch isn't too hard to do. Other candidates? With Angle gone, you know the WWE might just shove Undertaker up there again, unfortunately. Why, I don't know, especially since Lesnar vs. Taker headlined 2 unsuccessful Pay Per Views already. Sure, the Hell in the Cell match was pretty respectable in terms of being watchable, but this is fucking WRESTLEMANIA! There's no cage gimmick to make up for anything.
Other candidates? Not too many. The WWE wasn't counting on Kurt Angle, the solid dependable guy, to go down with a devastating neck injury. See, WWE, it goes to show you what overworking your wrestlers will cause! I'm guessing the WWE would have ran variations of Angle vs. Lesnar throughout the summer. Steve Austin is out of the question right now, but he could help fill in for Kurt Angle when he makes the possible Smackdown jump in April after Wrestlemania. I'm just hoping that no douches, like Albert or the Big Show, are even considered for the Wrestlemania spot with Lesnar. They don't deserve it.
-Kurt Angle's injury was based on the tough WWE schedule. Indeed! Didn't some report state that Angle has barely seen his new infant at home? The WWE touring schedule is too intense, especially with the houseshow circuit barely producing a top dollar anymore. I love the WWE's thinking on their touring, as they give like 2 or 3 days off to the wrestlers. Well, cut that in half when the wrestlers have to travel to the events. With injuries, sitting in a car or plane for a few hours doesn't feel great. The WWE certainly overworks their wrestlers, as proven by the amount of injuries lately. Hell, look at the neck injury list alone!
-Kurt Angle
-Chris Benoit
-Scotty 2 Hotty
-Edge
-Lita
-Diamond Dallas Page
-Steve Austin
-Rhyno
It's becoming blatantly obvious that the WWE needs to slow down its pace. There's no competition to dick around with, but yet I can understand their reasoning for wanting more houseshow dates, etc. The WWE paid out high guaranteed contracts during the Monday Night Wars, and now they are paying for it (well, the wrestlers are paying for it, out of their asses!). That means opening up a new line of revenue that will be SUCCESSFUL, unlike a shitty football league, a nightclub in New York City, etc. Maybe new forms of revenue could be reached through a certain large video library which the WWE happens to have access to.
-Triple H's promo from RAW on Booker T. There are several heated discussions regarding Triple H's speech on RAW against Booker T. Why? Well, for one, it was Triple H's usual dominate-the-promo technique, where he squashes his face opponent, ahead of time, with insulting promos that a FACE should use, not a heel. That's a problem that Triple H has, and it keeps him on top, which is what he truly cares about. But many were upset with the content of his promo, which ripped his WCW title reign and mentioned that people like Booker T aren't champions. Wow... Some are calling it racism, while I just call the promo ignorant, as are all of Triple H's rips of his opponents.
I mean, look at Triple H himself. It took MANY things for him to get the WWE World Title. The WWE pushed him heavily as a heel in the Summer of 1999, but it failed on various attempts (credit Scott Keith's book, "Tonight... In this Very Ring" for some info here). He was placed as the leader of the Corporate Ministry, tried to cut promos ("I am the Game" promo on Steve Austin, which was terribly received), and he was then shoved into working with or feuding with the McMahons to get over. It took dateraping Stephanie McMahon into a marriage to even get him some good heel heat, and even moreso, it took Mick Foley to get him on a good roll in terms of great matches in 2000 and overall crowd heat. Booker T, right now, is OVER with the crowd, no matter how hard you try to keep him down. The WWE tried to keep him down in the tag team division in 2003, but people were screaming for the Spinarooni all night long.
But the David Arquette and Vince Russo bullshit is flat out stupid. This is coming from Triple H who LOST the World Title to Vince McMahon on Smackdown. Sure, it was with Austin's help, but Arquette and Russo wouldn't be champions if someone didn't help them, too. That, right there, shoots Triple H right in the foot. Also, that very same belt Triple H is holding is what Arquette and Russo held, and even worse, the belt actually had a line of champions behind it. Triple H just suddenly brought the WCW World Title onto RAW one night and declared himself as champion. He eventually molded it with the Intercontinental title, which people such as Chyna and the Godfather once held, not to mention the terrible WCW US Title history merged in there as well. Then, Triple H says that with Ric Flair on his side, a man who has held that title with pride for the many times he's held the title.
Booker T isn't fit for the title... HA! Triple H, at his current injury status and for the fact that he can't put on a great match anymore is the one who isn't fit for a World Title. It takes being engaged to Stephanie and having past success to keep him where he is. I seriously hope he's man enough to put over Booker T at Wrestlemania to make business much better on the RAW side by finally killing some extreme predictability on the RAW side.
LAST WORD: Overall, there are some screwed up things heading into Wrestlemania would could be damaging for the show, which should be the peak of the year for the WWE. A bad Wrestlemania will only drag the WWE in the mud further, and making $9 Million loss in a quarter seem like chump change in the end. The WWE badly needs to fix predictability regarding the RAW brand, especially with Triple H, who just so happened to weasel himself into the Rock vs. Austin feud already! Now you watch, the Rock will beat Booker T next week, and shoot down Booker T's opportunity at Wrestlemania, while protecting Triple H from putting over someone outside the Triple H, Rock, Steve Austin, and Undertaker exclusive club. Sad, yes, but a wrestling fan can only take so much before he stops watching...
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