Thursday, October 18, 2007

My response to: "Cyber Sunday Picks (a.k.a. Why Should I Care About the WWE?)"

This was originally intended as a comment on Adam’s last piece, which was posted directly before this one, but due to length and relevance, I thought it worthy of its own post.

Just thought I’d play the devil’s advocate and take a closer look at your thoughts:

“it actually wasn't too nauseating but there was that Mickie James/Lita match which sucked”

While I agree that match certainly sucked something massive, the Spirit Squad versus Flair/Piper match was really sad, too.

“It's the same old tired stuff WWE has been putting out in recent months.”


While that’d be hard to argue in terms of writing, as hell, the shows have been pretty horrendously written off-and-on since ’95 – the reason you should care isn’t about the storylines they market to get rubes to buy shows and merch, it’s the wrestling itself that should keep you caring, the art form and the efforts of the performers themselves.

“if it takes ol' HBK to get a decent bout out of Orton then so be it”

Orton’s been so good lately; he could likely work a decent match with any of these guys. I think anyone who’s seen his work lately can attest. He’s definitely toned down his oversells, too; no longer playing it up for the cheap bastards in the nosebleed sections.

“Batista is still the worst champion in the industry today.”

I’m not quite convinced on this point – anyone else feel like chiming in here?

“ECW has been so bereft of anyone resembling decency recently”

I’d put guys like Punk, Burke, Dreamer, and Nunzio in the above-decent category. Hell, arguments could be made for the same on Richards, Miz, Big Daddy V, and Morrsion. Sorry, Mahoney.

While I agree with you that Triple H’s stuff has been overbooked the last couple years with McMahon, I can’t concur on your low level of excitement on both Mysterio/Finlay and Hardy/MVP. You really think MVP and Hardy has been going on for too long, and for that matter, has nothing to be shown for it? When all the Internet has been ablaze in years past over us not getting feuds that have had time to properly develop? I’d compare this feud comfortably alongside any of TNA’s better programs, including Storm/Harris. Not to mention, their work together has been outstanding.

“it's the same old stuff”

This is the mentality of a lot of people who aren’t even giving the product a chance, figuring their worst assumptions are correct, and missing out. Again, I think this goes back to the original concept of what’s important: wrestling or storylines?

“I haven't really watched any WWE TV programs at all recently.”


More so than anything else, I really disagree with this sentiment. How, as a fan of wrestling, can you justify ignoring all the work you’re not even making an attempt at seeing? Strip away all of the goofy theatrics and bad writing… you’re still left with wrestling, and whether it’s in-front of an armory in a small town, or broadcast on cable television, it’s the work of the wrestlers that should be valued and analyzed, not that of the writers. The psychology and sequences of all matches are important and worthy of consideration. Last year Smackdown! featured some of the best matches to ever be given away for free. Rey/Orton and Rey/Henry were easily MOTY-worthy. Too bad you didn’t see them due to a bias that doesn’t seem particularly well-thought out.

Instead of jumping on the pessimistic bandwagon, I think I’ll go into Cyber Sunday with clear and open eyes. Maybe, as my pal 7 Digits would say, “I’m the king of wishful thinking”, but then so be it, because at the end of the day, I enjoy wrestling and appreciate all the industry’s workers, just don’t waste my time gripping about the writing (which isn’t wrote for me, or us, anyhow… but to try and make money).

(Now I know why we switched over to having a forum, the intelligent discussion of ideas, thoughts, and opinions. May the battle royal begin!)

1 comment:

Adam said...

The fact I've not watched any WWE recently stems from the fact that I'm mainly working the nights when wrestling is on TV. Even though I record it, I seldom have time to go back and watch it.