The Mercy Side: King Booker

Hey everyone, it’s been over a month since I’ve last wrote a full article about wrestling. There are a few reasons for that, like focusing a lot on the football (soccer) recently, wanting to do some music reviews and  paying homage to Guitar Hero. But the most honest reason is that I had a bit of writers block when it came to wrestling. That is partly my fault, but it’s also because wrestling had a big high a few months back, and it’s kinda gone back to old ways recently. Or has it?

Now this article isn’t about King Booker, or Booker T although I really am enjoying his commentary, he’s got a really unauthentic style that contrasts everyone else and I mean that positively. He’s started to develop his own phrases (“DBry is in my Fav Five dawg”, “wut da hayel?!” and “oh my goodness!”) This article is about the booking team. See what I did there with the name of the article huh? Haha. Okay. Not so funny. Moving on…

Basically I want to start a round of applause for the booking team in this article. Why? Because I think they’ve done a decent job recently, that’s why! I read a lot of wrestling articles, mainly The John Report, but some other sources too, and I can’t really say I’ve seen anyone praising the booking team. Yes, they’re not perfect and they do things that sometimes still make us scratch our heads, but for the most part they seem to be more on alert recently and they’re paying a lot of attention to story continuation. You still don’t think they deserve praise? If not, let me see if I can convince you.

Now, when I say I’m praising the booking team it’s not because they’re pushing my favourite wrestlers. That’s one thing that pisses me off about the Internet Wrestling Community. They have their favourites, and if they’re booked badly, it’s the booking team’s fault. “It’s bad booking!” This isn’t what this article is about. I’m not going to get into the politics about who deserves a push, or who is pushed up our asses and doesn’t deserve it. My favourite wrestler might be someone you don’t like, and vice versa. While the IWC tend to agree on certain wrestlers being better than others (like CM Punk and Christian being great, and The Great Khali being awful), it doesn’t matter. What this article is about is to raise the fact that the WWE think certain wrestlers deserve a push, and others may not. And it’s obvious from the booking recently, who these people are. That’s GOOD booking. Don’t get confused between good and bad booking. If you want to see bad booking look at TNA, who for most Impact shows can’t get through one episode without fucking it up.

The best example in terms of a certain period of time where the booking was perfect was actually last week’s Raw (dated 26/9/11, or 9/26/11 for you weird North Americans who believe the month should be displayed before the day), where the first 20 minutes was booked fantastically well. Don’t you remember? Didn’t you notice? Well let me jog your memory.

The show stated with Triple H explaining his decision to fire The Miz and R-Truth last week. Pause for a second. The hook ending of last week was those two being fired. People wanted to know why they got fired, and had to wait a week to find out. They then find out at the start of the episode. Good booking.

Continuing on, he continues before Dolph Ziggler and Vicky Guerrero interrupt, and raise their grievances over Hugh Jackman ‘breaking Ziggler’s jaw’ last week. We then got further interruptions from Cody Rhodes, who complained about his attack from Randy Orton on last week’s Smackdown, then we got Christian complaining about Sheamus attacking him in the middle of his match, ‘costing him the’ title.

Triple H sorts each person out individually, by telling Dolph Ziggler he’ll defend his title against Zack Ryder, who beat him last week. Pause. Good booking here too, Zack Ryder did indeed beat the champion last week, and deserves his rematch. As Christian did his ‘one more match’ chant again, Triple H gave him ‘one more match’ against Sheamus at Hell in a Cell instead. As for Cody Rhodes, he told him he can have the night off, before Rhodes backchatted. In the end for his multiple interruptions it ended up with Triple H putting Cody Rhodes in a 10 man over the top rope Battle Royal for the Intercontinental Title.

The aftermath of this 10 man Battle Royal was Cody Rhodes retaining the title. But it was more than that. This 10 man Battle Royal continued many feuds and many storylines. Evil Sin Cara took out the original Sin Cara in the match and replaced him, furthering their feud. Good booking. Sheamus was in the match and Christian interfered to help him get eliminated, furthering their feud. Good booking. And Cody retaining for me was a good move, as he’s continuing to establish himself as a very good Intercontinental champion.

This was around 20 minutes long in total. Not a long time, but it was seamless, it answered questions that were left hanging from last week and it raised some more questions that would be answered at Hell in a Cell, like will Sheamus get his revenge against Christian, and pretty much the same thing with the Sin Caras.

It was almost perfect, the only bad thing I can say really was the ‘on the spot’ booking of Cody Rhodes at both Raw and Hell in a Cell. He had just come out a match with Ted DiBiase only a week ago and Ted DiBiase could have had more of a chance to continue that feud by maybe being left as the last man standing, only to lose to Rhodes last minute. They then could have had a match at HIAC. That would be better booking than DiBiase basically being ignored in the Battle Royal, and the ‘spontaneous’ decision to make John Morrison be the #1 contender on the actual PPV and lose was used instead. That wasn’t the best booking decision, but nearly everything else was perfect.

Now that was a long winded example of what booking a wrestling should be like, in my opinion. It’s not about your favourite guys getting (or not getting) the right push that makes the booking bad. That’s just personal taste. What makes booking bad or good is creating storylines and continuing them until they lose steam. It’s about creating interest and then maintaining it. And for the most part, the WWE booking has been just that.

I’m not going to go in too much depth now but they pretty much continued that streak at Hell in a Cell, and then on Raw last night. At Hell in a Cell, for the most part, the booking was top notch. Starting the show with The Miz and R-Truth as fans at ringside with tickets, and then getting kicked out was good. They then tried to get backstage and got kicked out. In the end of the PPV they came through the crowd and slid under the ring while the cell lowered and beat the crap into all the main eventers and referees. The cage was down, and all the ‘employed’ wrestlers tried and failed to break into the cage to get them out. Eventually the cage was broken by bolt cutters and then they got arrested. Not only visually was it a great scene, but it continued the storyline further about what those two are going to do next. What are the WWE going to do? It was fantastic booking.

Now going into the main event I just talked about, I didn’t expect Alberto Del Rio to come out victorious. But in an interview before the match, Del Rio told everyone that we’ll see a different side of him tonight. And good booking was that he delivered. Tactically using Ricardo Rodriguez to take the keys from the referee and for them both to assist in getting Cena out of the cage, locked, was indeed that ‘different side’ we were told to look out for. But more emphatically, was his display in the match. He was fucking aggressive. One of the main criticisms of Del Rio was that he was talented in the ring and on the mic, but if you’re to be a world champion you need a certain level of aggression. He lacked that. But on Sunday, he really was vicious. They booked him very strong in the match, equal to Cena and Punk. And that was a first. He always looked to be one step behind the other two competitors, on both a verbal and physical battle. But he stuck it to them, and beat Punk clean with the use of an iron pipe. It was great booking.

I could go on about the other matches but this article is getting a bit long now, but they’ve continued the ‘chaotic’ ending of the PPV onto Raw last night. In fact the cliffhanger for Raw was excellent, and I can’t remember any visual like that being done ever in the WWE. For weeks and months Triple H has slowly been losing the trust of the locker room, with multiple heels complaining of unjustice and faces being beaten up by the heels. Mark Henry’s excellent dominance and brutal beatings on certain wrestlers has also contributed to this. So Triple H was put on the spot for the fact that he wasn’t controlling these chaotic scenes; the ending of the PPV, Mark Henry, and just the general dissatisfaction of the job the COO has been doing. So they all vote ‘no confidence’ about Triple H’s job, and then one by one everyone leaves. Not just the wrestlers, EVERYONE. The cameramen went, the commentators went, and the rest of the staff went. Everyone. The only people left in theory were the fans, the main cameraman and Triple H in the ring. It was excellent. And it’s great booking. It’s great booking because this story has unfolded other a matter of months and it came to a brilliant climax last night. It also leaves people wondering what on earth can happen next week on Raw, when there could potentially be no staff to help Triple H run the show. People are going to tune into this broadcast next week. It’s just incredible booking.

I don’t want to kiss the booking team’s ass too much. The booking has been bad in parts. But it’s better than it has been long term in the past, and it’s more consistently positive. What’s the bad booking then? Well for me, the bad booking of late really was in Beth Phoenix looking dominant against Kelly Kelly for weeks and weeks, only to lose every time they were wrestling for the title. That was bad booking, but it may be rectified now that Beth Phoenix won on Sunday. That being said, for Natalya to interfere in the match still made Phoenix look a little weaker than she should have been. The other big piece of bad booking is Daniel Bryan’s continued losing streak, despite pretty much being a certainty to wrestle in the main event at Wrestlemania. That for me is bad booking.

So next time you criticise the booking team and are unhappy with a certain push or a lack of push from a certain wrestler, think about the bigger picture. Think about the fact that basically, the booking team is given a blueprint to work to, to get a certain wrestler over. It may not be your favourite, but it doesn’t matter. And this wrestler has to be streamlined through a storyline that will keep audiences intrigued about its climax and finale. In many cases recently, the booking team have done just that. Thanks for your time.

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The Mercy Side: The Royal Rumble and The New Movement

I haven't written much about wrestling recently, and thought I'd do a new piece on it. Another big announcement from me, it's the date the Noughtie project will be begin. It will all kick off on the 26th January. Stay tuned...

13 days to go...

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This year, let's be honest, has been substandard, ever since Wrestlemania last April nothing has really stood out immensely. To be fair to WWE, they have lost a lot of star power either to injury (Triple H, Undertaker) or to retirement (Shawn Michaels) or to contract expiration (Chris Jericho, Batista). That's a lot of star power to lose, it's the equivalent of losing half starting eleven in football. Anyone would suffer with that. For months people thought that WWE would have to depend on a lot of their newer talents, the likes of The Miz, John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler. For months, The Miz aside, it looked as though either these wrestlers weren't given the right opportunities or that they weren't taking them when given. For months WWE has quite frankly, sucked. The only thing that was given any momentum was The Nexus angle, which has been mixed, and was definitely waning until CM Punk has given the angle a bit of fresh air. Apart from that WWE haven't done a great deal.


But it's suddenly Royal Rumble season and we all know that WWE pay great attention to their product from January to April, The Road to Wrestlemania, basically. All of a sudden, momentum has been made, and things are getting a bit more excited again. The two biggest stories for me, are that of John Morrison, and Dolph Ziggler, on Raw and Smackdown respectively.


John Morrison has always been seen as this guy who has an unusual and inventive moveset, is decent in the ring, yet can't back that on the mic, and can't draw the crowd in much. Good 'ol J.R. hinted a few months ago that JoMo needs more intensity in his work, he needs to make the crowd believe him when he is kicking that guy in the face, he needs to be aggressive. After working with Sheamus, who is quite stiff anyway, it's given JoMo exactly what J.R. thought was lacking. The crowd digged that feud between Sheamus and JoMo, and you have to give it to Sheamus for actually putting JoMo over... three times is it now? Great stuff from the relatively new guy. This gave JoMo a great push from WWE, and put him in the spotlight against his long term rival and friend The Miz for the WWE Title. They put on a better match on the first Raw of 2011 than the majority of matches in the whole of 2010. The fans have been right behind JoMo for this entire push, and it's really paved the way for the guy, I'm hoping this will actually fully elevate him to the main event status, a status I truly believe he belongs in. I've been a good fan of him for a few years, I liked his authentic in ring ability, in the ring he really does remind me of Shawn Michaels (although he doesn't compete unfortunately, HBK is the king). Does this mean that WWE will give him the Royal Rumble win? I'm not sure.


The other guy I mentioned is the awful named Dolph Ziggler, man he needs his name changed. Call him Nick Nemeth, or something, oh wait, WWE won't let him as they can't copyright someone's real name. Anyway, he was always considered an up and coming wrestler with large potential. I monitored him a lot last year, and failed to see how he could become a big star. I didn't likle much about him, especially that damn Sleeper finisher. The Sleeper is a move used to give the face a recovery phase, to let them turn the tables in the match and gain momentum lost earlier. As a finisher it doesn't spark the intense "tap!" chants and excitement as say, the Crossface, the Sharpshooter or the Walls of Jericho does. Anyway, I saw glimpses of what I'd consider greatness, particularly his great matches with JoMo last year, and Rey Mysterio. Either way, the past few months have been ridiculous for him, he's stepped up his game immensely. He really has made the Intercontinental title have a boost in its degraded reputation. He made it mean more significant than any champ since Chris Jericho. He's now passed that onto Kofi Kingston, and is the new #1 contender for the World title, against Edge, who is exactly the type of wrestler who can really make Dolph look better than before. I really hope he does too. Does that mean that he will win the title at the Rumble? I doubt it, but I'dbe happy if he did. He's got more chance of losing, then Vickie making an announcement in the Rumble that Dolph has been drafted in, and he wins that.


Which brings me to the main point of the article, the Rumble itself. The Royal Rumble is a fantastic tool at giving someone an opportunity to win the big one, similar to the Money in the Bank at Wrestlemania. However since Benoit-gate, and Lesnar/Lashley-gate, the latter just in case you're not entirely sure what I'm referring to, is giving young new wrestlers a big push for the title, only for them to leave the company disrespectfully after, WWE are very sceptical for a wrestler who is new to get the spotlight. Even Sheamus, the only talent to get a major push quickly since (does Swagger count?), wasn't given an opportunity to shine at Wrestlemania. They rarely do it unfortunately, as it's risk to their company they believe.


But with The Miz having reached the big one finally, and John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler getting nice big pushes recently, and Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger looking more refreshed in recent weeks than recent months, is this their time? Can one of the latter four win the Rumble? Or is it just going to be used as similar to recent years, to make an already established star get another title shot? Please WWE, give one of these four great up and coming guys a chance, they are all more than capable of being champion.


Remember how great Kofi Kingston looked last year, after his fantastic feud with Randy Orton? How hot was he at Madison Square Garden then? You know, the biggest venue in WWE? Man, that was fantastic. Then they decided to give up on him. No reason really, obviously there were rumours goign around that he botched Randy's planned finish on one of the Raw episodes (Stupid! Stupid!) but nothing concrete. But he now has the Intercontinental title again, I hope they give him a big push again. As for Jack Swagger, well, how bad was his title reign? It was terrible, and it wasn't even his fault. He was just booked so badly. I don't get that at all, they did it with Rey Mysterio too. But recently he is looking okay again, after being part of horrendous comedy segments. I hope they can really make a good case for him again because he's a fantastically gifted wrestler. He has a great physique, he is good on the mic, he is a fantastic mat wrestler. I never got why they decided to treat the guy so badly.


These five guys, as well as Daniel Bryan, Alberto Del Rio and Wade Barrett, are the future of the company. They are all main event material, Bryan, Del Rio and Barrett willare also contenders for the Rumble, or at least will make a mark on Money in the Bank, these eight will be the "new breed" of WWE. The company needs to trust them, and hope to depend on them when the going gets tough, like the way it is at the moment, with so many injuries and big guys going. Also the majority of the major stars are 40+ now, and that's not healthy. The last time so many major stars were so old was the early nineties, '92 I believe. This needs to change, the WWE have had their hand forced to try and change it. The fans have spoken, will the WWE listen? I hope the Rumble will answer the question favourably. We'll see.


Date: 13/1/11

The Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases Past and Present: #50 - #26

Hey there people,

Welcome to my Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases listing. This will be done in three parts in three days, so don't worry, it's not a 50 day job like my Top 50 Final Fantasy Characters listing was. Day #1 is today, I'll list from #50 to #26. Tomorrow I'll list from #25 to #11. I'll then list the Top 10 on day three, but also talk about why each entry into the Top 10 got to where they are.

Also, unlike My Top 50 FF Characters listing, this isn't a biased list. This is what I truly think the most important 50 catchphrases are in the industry, past and present. By industry, yes, I mean WWE. Each wrestler (not superstar!) in this list has or does work for the company. And by past and present, I'm not focusing on one part of the history of the biz. I've got eighties, nineties, noughties and present quotes in there. I've tried to call this down the line as possible. There is also a maximum of three quotes per wrestler, and there are a few guys in there that have three, not too may though.

Disagree? Think I've placed a phrase too high or low? Think I've missed a great catchphrase? Comment below, I'm more than willing to listen and maybe even change the list if you convince me! This isn't my favourite list, I don't think #1 is my favourite catchphrase. But it's probably undisputedly the most important phrase in this wickedly addictive thing we call wrestling.

And finally, there are commentator quotes on here, but they are regular catchphrases not particular to a wrestler. this is a list of catchphrases, not quotes, there are a lot of awesome quotes out there, but they aren't regular phrases said by the respective people.

Without further ado, here:s #50 - #26 in the Greatest Catchphrases, past and present...

#50

Catchphrase: "I am Alberto Del Rio, but you already knew that."

Wrestler: Alberto Del Rio

 

#49

Catchphrase: "Know your role, and shut your mouth!"

Wrestler: The Rock

 

#48

Catchphrase: "For the benefit of those with flash photography…"

Wrestlers: Edge and Christian

 

#47

Catchphrase: "I'm the man of the hour, the man with the power, too sweet to be sour."

Wrestler: Superstar Billy Graham

 

#46

Catchphrase: "…and I quote!"

Commentator: Michael Cole

 

#45

Catchphrase: "We are evil! Indeed!"

Wrestlers: Kai En Tai

 

#44

Catchphrase: "Welcome to Raw, is, Jericho!"

Wrestler: Chris Jericho

 

#43

Catchphrase: "Iran? Number 1! Russia? Number 1! USA? Hacktui!"

Wrestler: The Iron Sheik

 

#42

Catchphrase: "Have a nice day!"

Wrestler: Mick Foley

 

#41

Catchphrase: "Vintage!"

Commentator: Michael Cole

 

#40

Catchphrase: "I'm straight edge, and that means I'm better than you."

Wrestler: CM Punk

 

#39

Catchphrase: "It's a Slobberknocker!"

Commentator: Jim Ross

 

#38

Catchphrase: "Hoo! USA! USA!"

Wrestler: Hacksaw Jim Duggan

 

#37

Catchphrase: "Bang Bang!"

Wrestler: Mick Foley

 

#36

Catchphrase: "Oh, you didnt know? Your ass better call somebody!"

Wrestlers: The New Age Outlaws

 

#35

Catchphrase: "Excuse me!"

Valet: Vicky Guerrero

 

#34

Catchphrase: "The showstopper! The icon! The main event!"

Wrestler: Shawn Michaels

 

#33

Catchphrase: "I'm a limousine ridin', jet flying, kiss stealin', wheelin' dealin', son of a gun!"

Wrestler: Ric Flair

 

#32

Catchphrase: "It doesn't matter what you think!"

Wrestler: The Rock

 

#31

Catchphrase: "I'm The Miz and I'm awesome!"

Wrestler: The Miz

 

#30

Catchphrase: "Damn!"

Wrestler: Ron Simmons

 

#29

Catchphrase: "Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions."

Wrestler: Roddy Piper

 

#28

Catchphrase: "Can you dig that? Sucker!"

Wrestler: Booker T

 

#27

Catchphrase: "Train. Say your prayers. Eat your vitamins."

Wrestler: Hulk Hogan

 

#26

Catchphrase: "D-Von! What?! Get the tables!"

Wrestler: The Dudley Boyz

Do you think some of these should be higher? What do you think is, or should be in the Top 25? Let me know in the comments below. I'll be back tomorrow with #25 - #11!

See other parts in the listing!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

 

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The Mercy Side: Thoughts on TNA Final Resolution and WWE Raw

Hey everyone,

I just thought I'd quickly run through my thoughts on the latest TNA Pay-Per-View and WWE's Monday Night Raw.
 
On the whole, Final Resolution was exactly what TNA is in general at the moment, a mixed bag of good, bad, and awful. The tag team matches were well received, and the Knockouts feud was also good. That's the good. The bad was the constant fuck-ups mid-broadcast - the PPV started a few minutes late. The hell? This is the biggest night of the month for the company and they screw the production up. There were blackouts, some parts had just sound, they put some videos or segments up early or late, it was a complete disaster. Abyss/Pope and Jarrett/Joe were pretty bad too, as expected.

And then the awful. Jeff Hardy. Now there have been conflicting reports to what happened on Sunday night. It doesn't matter what the truth is, if he was drunk, if he was high, if he was wasted, or if he was tired. Was he off his tits, or exhausted due to a ridiculous travel schedule? As I said it doesn't matter, it shouldn't have happened.

If he was high or drunk, get rid of him. If he has to take drugs, drink, fine, what people do in their personal lives is up to them. I don't condone drug taking but if TNA want to turn a blind eye that's fine. But if it affects work, then that's where the line is crossed. If I turned up to work drugged up and out of it, they'd sack me. It should apply anywhere, you are a professional. Yes, this is the wrestling biz, but it's also a national and a semi international product, that is watched in many different countries. Jeff Hardy is not only a role model to many people, especially children, but is the champion. He's the main man. He is booked to get asses into seats. If he is drugged up, he's simply, not going to perform. It makes him look really bad. It will make TNA look even worse. So as much as he's money, he's a big "superstar", he will be the cause of them losing money if they continue to let him get away with it.

But the more recent report is that it was all blown out of proportion, and that Jeff Hardy has been all over the world, promoting and performing. Now, if that's the case, that's TNA's fault. Final Resolution is the main night of the month, it's PPV night. All the month's work builds up to that one night. If they exhaust their champion to death before the main night, they're not going to get 100% out of him. He should be relaxing the day before, doing his usual work out, preparing for the night. Not travelling on planes and promoting TNA. It makes me laugh in a way, TNA's schedule is nothing on WWE's, they don't promote anywhere near as much as WWE wrestlers do. Jeff should know, he spent most of his career there. I don't know if TNA worked him too hard or if he isn't dealing with it well enough. Something needs to change, if there's nothing wrong with the schedule, and he can't deal with it, he's not fit for champion. John Cena is the most popular guy with casual fans in WWE, yet he backs it up by busting his ass day after day, year after year. That's one of the main reasons he has been champion so many times for so many days. WWE trust him with their product, if it's too much for Jeff Hardy he shouldn't carry the burden.
 
Now that's out of the way, I'd like to talk about Raw last night. It sounded okay, they didn't do anything mind blowing. CM Punk is really getting used to his new commentary role. I love his "my soda!" lines he keeps saying when the wrestlers get close to the announce table, or put someone through it. It's fantastic.
 
The Michael Cole angle sounded good as well, I just hope that he is going to be an official heel now, it's just frustrating when he praises some faces, it's not good for the casual fans who see Cole like some bad guys and some good guys. He needs to be consistent. I think Michael Cole may need to develop a heel manager persona down the line, his heat is fantastic right now. I wouldn't say The Miz, he can talk for England (I mean US, sorry), but maybe Alex Riley on his own, or with a stable. Cole, Riley and some one else, or a tag team. It might work.

The Orton/Miz stuff is working so far, not that I'm excited about their PPV match. It should be an okay match, but I don't think they'll have anything close to a match of the year standard match. But The Miz can talk, and Orton is over enough for there to be interest, mainly with the casual fans who want Orton to take The Miz out for his cocky chicken-shit heel approach.

Sheamus/Morrison is carrying on it seems. That's fine, maybe Triple H isn't quite ready yet. Sheamus should go over in their next match, and then Trips come back and beat him up. I want Morrison to go over personally, I'm a decent fan of his and think he deserves a break. But for storyline purposes it makes sense for Sheamus to go out of the feud looking strong so people can debate, can he actually beat Triple H? It's been close to a year now, since they first started their feud. Time flies.

That's it from me today. I should do these type of posts once in a while, it really depends on time, and if what happened in the week interests me. I'm not going to do any play-by-play or any reports, there's enough guys out there to do that. But if you want my views on wrestling, you know where to go.
 
Tomorrow I'll start my Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases list. I'll post from #50 to #26 tomorrow. I hope you enjoy that. Have a good night.

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