Tag: wrestling

Wrestling’s insufferable era

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I haven’t really been paying as much to wrestling as much as I had been in prior months, but I recently watched a match because my friend brought up an interesting observation that piqued my interest and made me want to see it for myself.  It was during the Big Show vs. Roman Reigns match on the 12.22.14 edition of RAW, where the crowd inexplicably turns on Roman Reigns.

Up to this point, Reigns had been built up as a face (good guy) that was rapidly ascending through the ranks, and had potential World Champion contender written all over him.  He’d been derailed for the better part of the last few months with more or less a back injury, but has returned to television in recent weeks.  His character gave no reason for the crowd to turn on him; contrarily, WWE even had his character have a minute or two during a live event to telecast “an update” on his health, and a general cheeseball face message that he’d be back and working hard ASAP.

But (a noticeable contingent) the crowd still turned on him anyway.  During his match with the Big Show, at moments of the match where he would signal for his signature maneuvers, brief periods of time where both performers could catch their breath and let the crowd react, the reactions from the crowd were not (all) the expected cheers of fans supporting the good guy, but that of boos and jeers of people voicing their disapproval.  More than once, a puzzled look can be discerned from Reign’s face, and even at the end of the match, Big Show himself looks a tad perplexed by the unexpected crowd reaction throughout the match.

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This stuff writes itself

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Long story short: WWE wrestler Daniel Bryan comes home, discovers two men fleeing after breaking into his residence, gives chase, catches one, takes him down and puts him in a chokehold until authorities arrive.

I know people think wrestling is all fake and all, but it’s stories like this that I always get a ton of enjoyment out of, because in spite of the scripted storylines and predetermined match outcomes, the physicality of wrestling is still very real.

It’s apparent that the burglars had to know they were breaking into Daniel Bryan’s home, because it’s implied that they might have been the ones to have done it ten days prior. Clearly, they had no fear of robbing a person who emulates violence for a living, or the repercussions that could have occurred if they ran into said person, since they tried.

What’s funny to me is that Daniel Bryan’s first instinct to do upon catching the crook, was a wrestling maneuver. Sure, he does it for a living, but in the land of reality, a physical strike of some sort would be my first instinct. When I chased off the two thugs that broke into my house while I was home, I ran at them with a metal baseball bat, and thoughts of putting them into a LaBell Lock with it were the last thing in my mind.

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When winning titles is a bad thing

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It was once said that the WWF Intercontinental championship was given to the best worker in the company.  This was a very easy thing to declare when the context behind it was talking about the late great “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, who is widely regarded as one of the strongest performers in the modern era.  However, in a prior wrestling era, there was some merit to the statement, because when you look at the list of names of guys who held it prior to 2000, it pretty much has been nothing but stars who have achieved success in the business.

WCW’s take on the United States championship was that it was again, for particularly standout talents, but also a means of declaring a potential number one contender for the more prestigious World championship.  And again, like the Intercontinental championship, with few exceptions (David Flair), the list of names of guys who held the US title are pretty noteworthy.

What I’m getting at here is that the Intercontinental and United States championships, the second-tier titles that were once no-less important and prestigious to hold, are pretty much worthless in today’s dynamic wrestling industry.

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The Booker T crime tour

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For those of you who actually look at the pictures I take on my random travels, whom might have been curious to why there were pictures of me in front of a Wendy’s while I was in Houston, this was not a coincidence, nor was it a spontaneous moment of having to take goofy selfies right then and there.

That particular Wendy’s was the Wendy’s where former five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time WCW champion Booker T worked at for two years when he was a teenager. This is notable, because it was around this time when aside from working at Wendy’s, he also had a separate career going on simultaneously, robbing them.

Yes, the wrestling Hall of Famer, Booker T, was a convicted felon in his youth, and this information is ironically riotous to a guy with a twisted sense of humor like me.

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Photos: An afternoon in Houston, Texas

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As I’ve always said, baseball is the perfect excuse to get out and travel, and see places that I never gave much thought to.  I’d never been to Texas before in my life; it’s not that I’ve never wanted to go to Texas before, but I’ve never really had any excuse to go prior to the pursuit of baseball parks.  I don’t know enough about the areas and cities, and there’s never been any sort of event or occurrence in any Texas that has drawn my attention to demand a warranting trip (that I’ve been able to make happen).  But thanks to wanting to visit all the baseball parks, I have reasons to visit Texas, when the opportunities present themselves.

And as my schedule revealed, I had the opportunity to make a day trip to Houston over the weekend.  First time visiting the state of Texas, seeing a city I’d never been to before, and take in a ballpark that makes me one ballpark closer to having visited all 30 Major League teams.  I didn’t spend a tremendous amount of time in the city, since I had a few small objectives, and with a baseball game, there wasn’t a massive amount of free time to simply explore and wander too much, but for what it’s worth, I had a pretty decent afternoon in Houston.

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Ultimate reminiscing

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Throughout my life and all the years that I’ve been brogging, I’ve named many wrestlers, and declared them among my favorites.  CM Punk, Chris Benoit, the Big Boss Man, etc, etc.  It’s not due to the unfortunate recent event of his passing, but I can truthfully say without any hesitation that my first ever favorite wrestler was the Ultimate Warrior.

I always picked Ultimate Warrior (and Honky Tonk Man) when playing the 1989 arcade WWF Superstars.

When I was eight-years old, I once went to school with rubberbands around my non-existent prepubescent triceps with twist-ties draped off of them and declared myself the Ultimate Warrior.  My teacher made me take them off because she believed that they were cutting off circulation in my arms.

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The end of the Steak

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I can say pretty confidently that Wrestlemania had redeemed itself from the lackadaisical crapfest it was last year, and that when the show was over, I definitely felt like I was entertained. I’m definitely happy to see that Daniel Bryan has gotten his long-awaited triumph, I’m happy that AJ Lee retained her title, and if anyone were to ask me, the high point of the show was most definitely, when Cesaro bodyslammed the Big Show over the top rope to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Let’s Get Everyone Else Onto The Card So They Can Get a Slice of the Payout Battle Royale.

But obviously, the biggest thing that happened in the night was the Undertaker losing to Brock Lesnar, thus putting an end to the supposedly immortal 21-year undefeated streak (AKA “the Steak”). Nobody saw this coming, nobody thought for a second that a cameo, gimmicky, part-time, more-name-than-talent guy like Lesnar had any chance at being given the honor of putting an end to the Steak. Even in spite of the build up, and that Lesnar is a legitimate physical force, it was hard to imagine that he had much chance of walking away in victory against the man whom for the better part of the last three decades, has always been viewed as the unofficial godfather of the WWE roster.

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