Respect for "The Hitman"

Paying attention to online discussions, in the last few years, I've noticed that there seems to be a general lack of respect for Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Obviously, a large majority of people involved in online discussions, on message boards and so on, are young and don't really know what they're talking about. It seems like revisionist thinking, or just ill-informed, to imply that Bret Hart 'wasn't that good'.

Bret Hart was one of the best technical wrestlers to ever lace up a pair of boots. More times than not, his wrestling ability is not questioned. However, it's common to see his mic skills criticized. First of all, someone like Bret Hart doesn't need to rely on humorous one-liners to get over with the fans. He had legions of fans, all over the world, and he did so without pandering to the crowd for cheap pops or rattling off a dozen catch phrases. Admittedly, some of his promos and interviews weren't perfectly smooth. Nonetheless, this did not have a detrimental effect on his performance. He always managed to convey his point and, definitely, had a personality. Not every promo needs to sound like it's been rehearsed a dozen times and not every wrestler needs to place more emphasis on his mic skills than his ring work.

"The Hitman", easily, gave many of the most memorable matches of his era. Whether wrestling Dynamite Kid, Curt Hennig, Bam Bam Bigelow, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash or Chris Benoit, Bret Hart routinely had the best match of the night. For whatever he may lack in mic skills (which I really don't see this as being accurate) he made up for it by delivering in the ring. Name one classic match ever put on by The Rock or John Cena. It can't be done because neither man is capable of having a match that even comes close to Bret Hart's worst night. Younger wrestling fans need to show a little more respect.

Jericho turns heel

Finally!! It's been teased for a while now, but Chris Jericho has, finally, turned heel again. The best part is the way it was drawn out and the motivation behind it. It wasn't random, nor was it pointless. Like a classic heel, Jericho fully believes that he is in the right. He's justified in his position. For a little while, it seemed that Shawn would be the one to turn heel, but Jericho used that as his reasoning for what he has done. Very good storytelling.

Since he has returned, he's had a title match, on PPV, against Orton, he went over JBL on PPV, he regained the Intercontinental Title (for the 8th time) and he's had a couple very good matches against CM Punk. I hope that they get to work together, for quite some time, when this is all said and done.

The World's Most Dangerous Man

Ken Shamrock is one of the most widely recognized MMA fighters in the world. He is a legendary American Mixed Martial Arts fighter & former professional wrestler. Ken Shamrock is best known for his participation in the UFC, Pancrase, PrideFC, WWF and TNA. No other fighter possesses the credentials that has rightfully earned him the title of “The World’s Most Dangerous Man”.

Shamrock began as a pro wrestler, in the late 80s. While wrestling in Japan, he became interested in MMA and competed in the first Pancrase and UFC events, in 1993, quickly gaining a reputation as one of the best in the world. From 1993 to 1996, he became the first ever King of Pancrase and the first UFC Superfight Champion, with a record of 23 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws.

Over time, the UFC garnered a lot of negative attention. The sport continued its downward spiral, and fighter’s purses began to dwindle at every show. Shamrock had a family to support, along with a house full of fighters. So when the UFC showed no sign of making a dramatic comeback anytime soon, he decided to use the popularity he’d garnered in MMA competition to return to the ranks of professional wrestling. He left at his peak.

Ken Shamrock debuted in the WWF, in early 1997. From 1997-1999, he had a very successful career. In his first year, he feuded with Bret Hart and the Hart Foundation, as well as Vader and Shawn Michaels. He was even a potential candidate to be the man to take the WWF Title off of Bret Hart. He won the 1998 King of the Ring Tournament, defeated Owen Hart and won the WWF Intercontinental Title and the WWF World Tag Team Title. By late 1999, he decided the time was right to get back into MMA, leaving the WWF in the middle of a feud with Chris Jericho.

He began fighting for PrideFC and broke even, as he won two fights and lost two fights, from 2000-2002. Shamrock then returned to pro wrestling, briefly, to join TNA and win the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Title. Within a couple months, he had walked away from pro wrestling, once more, to return to the UFC.

Since the autumn months of 2002, Shamrock's performances have been less than stellar. From 2002-2008, he has earned one victory and eight losses. Many would say that he is washed up and past his prime. He is not the dominant force that he once was and doesn't even appear to employ the same style that carried him to the top. It is sad to see a once great fighter tarnish his legacy as a result of bad timing.

Ken Shamrock left MMA at his peak. His reasons for leaving were good, but one cannot help but think that it would have been better to continue fighting for a couple more years and then make a permanent transition to pro wrestling at a later time. Either way, there are many pro wrestling fans that would like to see "The World's Most Dangerous Man" return to the quared circle and put his fighting days behind him. WWE is in desperate need of main event wrestlers and a big name, like Shamrock, would easily fill that role. On the other hand, he would probably accomplish a lot more if her were to return to TNA. He was the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion of the TNA Era, and he gave instant credibility to a promotion that was just getting on its feet, in 2002. Surely, they would have a place for him. Not to mention the great matches he could have with Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe.

With the MMA world far different from when he left it, in 1996, it might be time for Ken to consider making a return to pro wrestling.

WWF 1996

Random thoughts on WWF 1996.

Well, I was primarily an ECW fan at the time and Bret Hart was the main thing keeping my interest long enough to follow WWF still. When Bret lost the title to HBK at Wrestlemania, I was very pissed and paid much less attention to WWF from that point on. I totally saw Michaels winning beforehand, since they were making such a huge deal about it.

I was hoping they'd do something cool with Vader, but realized they weren't doing crap with him.

I was disappointed when Cactus left ECW and became Mankind. I didn't see the need for a gimmick change when the Cactus Jack character was already so dynamic, as seen in ECW.

I caught some of the stuff with Austin and Pillman, late in the year, as well as Austin calling out Bret. When he came back, I started giving it a little bit more attention, but really just watching during Nitro's commercial breaks or just lame matches.

I disliked Goldust getting pushed over Razor Ramon, and I liked how Piper beat his ass at Mania. That backlot brawl looked very convincing...except for the dumbass chase scene with OJ's white Bronco or whatever that was.

Early in the year, Diesel was getting kind of entertaining since going back to his heelish ways. Purple Taker got on my nerves. I never gave much of a damn about him, after he disappeared at the 94 Rumble.

I thought Sunny was hot and Sable was alright as well. I preferred her when she debuted, rather than the following year and beyond.

I was annoyed that HHH got jobbed out to the Ultimate Warrior so quickly, at Mania. Just seemed like a worthless match, after so much hype. Warrior didn't last too long, either. Funny to see him not even able to win the IC Title from Goldust.

I was sorry that Furnas and Kroffat, as well as Scorpio, left ECW for WWF. I had a lot of respect for all of them, and expected big things. The fact that they did absolutely nothing really disappointed me. Why bring in such a great tag team, only to misuse them so badly? And Scorpio was far too talented to get saddled with such a dumbass gimmick.

Ahmed Johnson, Farooq, Savio Vega and Rocky Maivia all annoyed me.

When the Ringmaster debuted, I was pissed that they were giving such a good wrestler such a stupid gimmick. I was really glad when he became Steve Austin, once again.

Jake Roberts seemed to age about fifteen years since I'd last seen him, in WCW, about four years earlier. I wanted to see him like he was before, but he came off as really washed up, boring and out of shape. The Jesus angle got on my nerves as well. I guess it served to give Austin his big catch phrase.

The Billionaire Ted skits were stupid. Then again, WCW was just as petty when they showed the commercials of WCW guys beating the hell out of WWF guys that had once worked there, for those "Where the big boys play" ads. It's funny, because they showed the Diamond Studd getting his ass kicked by Sting, then Hall showed up a month or two later.

Shawn Michaels would have been a little better as a heel champ. As a face, they made him seem really weak. Especially with the father-figure, Lothario, having to accompany him everywhere. It was a mistake to drop the title to Sid, instead of Vader or even Mankind.

Vader could have been HUGE if they let him. The matches he could have had with Hart would have been big money, I think.....

Understanding ECW

Whenever I see younger people, online, talking about ECW, I wish they'd actually been there. A lot of wrestling fans, today, know nothing more about the real ECW than what was in the Rise and Fall DVD or what they read on the internet or saw on youtube. The thing is, if you weren't a wrestling fan in the 90s, being fed silly nonsense like what WCW was doing with these Dungeon of Doom skits, you'll never really understand how revolutionary ECW was. If you grew up with wrestling that had already been heavily influenced by ECW, you won't ever be able to truly appreciate how different it was, at the time.

I compare it to Black Metal. Today, someone can use the internet to download thousands of albums, from every corner of the earth. They hear all of this 'Extreme Metal' stuff and then they hear some old Venom and crap all over it because it's not heavy enough or something. They're comparing it to current music (that was influenced by Venom) instead of comparing it to Venom's peers in the early 80s.

Unless you had to suffer through the cartoonish crap that WWF and WCW gave us in the early to mid 90s, it's probably impossible to feel the true impact of ECW. Even if you like what you see, it just won't have the same effect.

I don't say this to be elitist. I'm actually sorry that not everyone was able to see ECW in its prime or to attend the shows.

My thoughts on WWECW

In the last few years, those of us who truly cared for ECW have witnessed nothing short of the total raping of its memory. In 2004, WWE released the "Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD. On the one hand, it was a decent tribute. However, Vince and Co. like to rewrite history. While this was no big deal to those of us who lived it, it misrepresented the company for those just being introduced to it through this DVD. And that brings me to my next point.

Following the release of the "Rise and Fall of ECW", suddenly, thousands of 'experts' sprang up out of nowhere. You couldn't get within a hundred yards of a wrestling message board without seeing these children talking about the subject as if they were the authorities. One idea that was expressed within the DVD, in particular, seemed to take hold with these marks; especially since it was a common mistake already. Many seemed to believe that ECW was simply a niche promotion; that it was all about blood and guts. This was something that true ECW fans had to deal with, even back in ECW's prime. Somehow, the barbed wire, tables and chairs took precedence over everything else. In reality, "Barbed Wire City" only ever promoted about half a dozen barbed wire matches. ECW was not a garbage promotion. That's one reason these other wannabe organizations, like XPW or CZW, can never hope to achieve what ECW did. They focus on one aspect: the violence. Even worse, these imitators strive for violence for the sake of violence, with no regard for telling a story or having a decent match. Sure, Ian and Axl Rotten did this, but that was the exception, rather than the rule. Raven was one of the most brutal wrestlers in ECW, yet what he did mattered and worked toward telling a story.

ECW was more than blood and guts. Anyone that was watching, in the mid 90s, can tell you that the best wrestling action in the US was taking place in ECW rings. Yes, ECW had Terry Funk, Sabu and Cactus Jack. However, great technical wrestlers made their home in ECW as well, including Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddy Guerrero, 2 Cold Scorpio, The Steiner Brothers, Taz, The Eliminators, Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffatt, etc. Many wrestlers got their first exposure in the US, thanks to ECW, thus allowing them to be noticed and offered jobs with the Big Two.

ECW was hardcore, yet many fans don't seem to know what that means. Hardcore doesn't just mean swinging chairs or putting people through tables. It's a state of mind. Hardcore is going out there, night after night, busting your ass for the people that paid to see you. It's getting in the ring and wrestling, despite being injured, for the good of the business. It's about giving 100% whether there's a thousand people in the audience or ten thousand. Shane Douglas, Mikey Whipwreck, Perry Saturn and countless others sacrificed their bodies and wrestled through the pain of injuries. It doesn't take a body covered in scars to prove how hardcore you are.

But I have digressed for too long. After the DVD, there was renewed interest in ECW. Most of this must have been from fans that had never really been exposed to it. There was also a wave of nostalgia. In 2005, WWE promoted an ECW reunion PPV, called One Night Stand. This served as a decent nostalgia trip and was a fitting goodbye to the most revolutionary wrestling organization of the 1990s. It even inspired the Hardcore Homecoming tour and the "Forever Hardcore" DVD (a good companion piece to the "Rise and Fall..." DVD).

With the success of One Night Stand, the McMahons saw that there was more money to be made off ECW's legacy. In truth, that's the real motivation behind the DVD and the PPV. No one gave a damn about paying tribute to ECW. They simply knew that there was money to be made off the memories. However, by 2006, it went from exploitation to pure rape.

Some of my thoughts, at the time:

"First of all, this is a bad idea. What I mean is, for anyone that actually cares about what ECW meant, this is terrible. To dig up a rotting corpse and parade it around as if it's alive... This is a disgrace. But, on the other hand, let's assume that the idea isn't lame. The time to have done this was back in 2001 when WWF first acquired all of the ECW and WCW guys; before they completely buried each and every one of them. They had Raven, RVD, Dreamer, Snow, Storm, Taz, Credible, Awesome, the Dudleys, Jericho, Saturn, Rhino, and by early 2002 Benoit and Guerrero were back in as well. If Vince had plans to rape the memory of ECW, the timing would have been much better back then. Not to mention the fact that the casual wrestling fan would have been more likely to remember it. WWE fans have short attention spans and limited memory. Many probably don't have a clue as to what ECW was. The timing is off on this one. But it doesn't matter since it's a bad idea, anyway."

"There is no new ECW. This is not a return, it is sacrilege. I miss it like hell, but this will be a disgrace. A McMahon-owned ECW will be about as extreme as elderly Japanese women knitting sweaters..."

"Let's see how long it takes for Heyman's optimism to be crushed by the final word of Vince McMahon...He has the final say. I can't see Heyman putting out a great product and making the other shows look bad for long. Vince's ego would never allow that. And am I the only one who thinks that, good idea or bad idea, the timing for this would have been much better back in 2001 when they had so many former ECW stars on the roster, such as Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, (an active) Taz, the Dudleys, Justin Credible, Raven, Rhino, Dreamer, RVD (before being squashed all to hell), Jericho, Tajiri, etc.? Instead of the dumbass Invasion angle, they could have put more time and planning into it and given this idea half a chance back then....."

"Another thing to consider is the dedication of the wrestlers. Back in the day, the wrestlers would give their all and break their bodies because they believed in ECW and what it stood for. How many are going to be willing to sacrifice their bodies for McMahon? ECW was the perfect stage for these men to come in and prove themselves and showcase their talent. How neutered are they going to be? I certainly don't expect to see Dreamer being chokeslammed from a balcony, for example. I don't see any of the former ECW wrestlers falling for this and actually caring about the product the same way that they once did. For what purpose? To line Vince's pockets with their blood and sweat?"

"Vince is playing the nostalgia card. Period. He's USING the name and legacy of what once was to make a buck. It's not a bad idea for him to make money, but it's a bad idea for anyone who ever truly cared for what ECW stood for. And I guarantee, yeah 'new ECW', whatever; it will be a far cry from what it once was. So again, why bother using the name for something that is admittedly going to be quite different? And I'm sorry to those too blind to understand, but Big Show, Orton, etc...these people do not belong in ECW or even being on an ECW show. So, think back to what it once was, and why people like me might think that what is currently going on is a god damn disgrace. Why couldn't they have just come up with another (un)clever name for the third brand? Why rape the memory of something important? I don't think I want to see ECW become what it always hated, sports entertainment...."

"The Smackdown environment is really killing any potential for this to be enjoyable. I mean, I have to sit through the utter bullshit of Big Show being ECW World Champ and now lame people like Hardcore Holly (Hardcore, my ass) and Matt Striker coming in to join with Test and Mike Knox in the "let's be as anti-ECW as possible" group. And, personally, I find Holly's presence on here to be very insulting. There is nothing hardcore about that guy, period. Anyone that approves of this just shows how little they understand... While I knew this wasn't going to be ECW, only in name, I thought it would at least be an alternative to their regular, hard-to-watch, programming... Instead, it seems to be the 99 cent bin for WWE's reject wrestlers..."

"I am trying to judge this on its own merit, as I do with TNA. I have seen some positive things, not by true ECW standards, but I'm not holding this to those standards. A standard response to those of us who are disgusted with this is, "Don't watch!" "It's not supposed to be like the old ECW!" No kidding. I don't think any true ECW fan expected this to be like the real thing. My inital problem is that they were whoring out the name and even some of the talent but, make no mistake, I'm clear on what this is. Now, all of the advertising has indicated that this is supposed to be somewhat different from the regular product. At times it is. But, more often than not, it seems like the same old shit, as the Hammerstein fans noticed as well. Now, they proved that they could put on a decent wrestling program, and those are the standards I am holding them to. I've been watching this, putting the ECW part out of my head. The show in front of the Hammerstein crowd was actually enjoyable, and CM Punk's debut match was nice as well. I was hoping for something at least as good as that, not old ECW. They gave me a decent show or two, and now they don't seem to be doing so."

"I understand that they want to put these "new" guys over by giving them wins over all of the "ECW Originals", but why do they feel the need to totally bury the real ECW people? RVD and Tommy Dreamer, for example, don't need to be jobbing to put over Big Show and Bob Holly. Anyone that has been watching WWF/E for the past 5 years know that the old ECW guys have already been jobbing to these guys anyway. The "ECW Originals" have been buried for years, and it doesn't seem to make sense that they're still being buried. It doesn't matter for, say, Big Show to beat up Tommy Dreamer in an "ECW" ring, because to WWE fans, Dreamer is nothing but a jobber anyway. I thought, maybe, they'd take the time to showcase these guys and build them up a bit, first, before feeding them to make new stars, or to establish their vision of ECW.

If it was important enough to start a new show and call it ECW, then to showcase some of the old ECW guys, it would also make sense to me for them to undo the damage of the last several years (burying the ECW guys that were on the WWF/E roster) before using them to build the guys that are new to WWECW. It doesn't make a star out of anyone to get a win over somone who hasn't won a match in ages.

I realize that RVD beat Holly. Really, Rob Van Dam did a lot to hurt this project show. His irresponsible actions cost him and all of us. The show seems to have made an abrupt shift since his trouble with the law and subsequent suspension.

In his short reign, Big Show has already beaten all the major ECW guys (Sabu, RVD, Sandman, Dreamer) so it makes them all seem lame. When one of them does defeat him for the title, it seems that it will make less sense since he already decimated the whole roster. If he destroys everyone, then who will be a believable contender? They want these old ECW guys to lend credibility to the new guys, by jobbing, but they haven't established them (in my view) as anyone worth beating anyway.

Sabu is probably getting more exposure than he's gotten in years. The matches aren't really doing much to cement his legacy or to show any newer fans why he is/was such an innovator, but it is good to know that after busting his ass for years, he's finally going to make a few bucks. I hope that he can save enough to make his life more pleasant in the future. He certainly deserves quite a bit, in my opinion, after all that he's contributed. I hope he finally gets the recognition he deserves from mainstream fans.

I understand that Dreamer lost quite a bit, in ECW. Most of those losses were to Raven, but he did manage to beat others. See, losing to Raven didn't make him look like a jobber. He still got in plenty of offense, during the match, and put a hurting on Stevie and Beulah when he got the chance, as well. He still carried himself a certain way, and was perceived as a top guy in the company, regardless of wins or losses. Since joing WWF/E, in 2001, he has been reduced to a joke. He was buried, in my opinion, and they never did anything to really change that. They didn't even bother building him up for this WWECW thing. It seems to me that they could have established him a little better, before feeding him to Big Show and Test. Hell, give him a few wins over Little Guido and Stevie Richards first...

And I think Sandman should have been kept away from Big Show. I thought they were trying to build him up a bit, but they killed it already by jobbing him out already and making it seem like all of his offense comes from the cane, in the process. As if he couldn't get a win without it. I wasn't happy about him only being used to get rid of the gimmick people each week, anyway, but he should have been kept in reserve. I feel that they already jobbed all of the main talent to new people, at one time or another, and now their credibility (which has been damaged for the ones already in WWE for the last few years) is suffering from it. For mainstream WWE fans, Sandman is still relatively unknown. They should have built him up a lot more before jobbing him out to the champ. A few video packages of his accomplishments in the real ECW wouldn't have hurt. They might as well make some use of all that footage.

As for Justin Credible, I feel that he was overrated in ECW and I never agreed with Heyman's decision to push him to the moon at the expense of the older ECW wrestlers. I'll just say that he's one guy that I wouldn't mind to see get put in his place. I could care less if he got buried, since he didn't belong in the first place.

Kurt Angle as the "Wrestling Machine" is very nice to see. His match with RVD was one of the best I've seen from WWE, in years. However, and it hurts to say this, he has no business in a ring with the letters E-C-W on it. Kurt Angle opposed ECW in 1996, making a big deal and ruining the crucifixion angle, between Raven and Sandman. Despite his wrestling acumen, it's a further insult to have him associated with this in any way, despite the good matches he's capable of having."

The summer of 2006 was a painful time for true ECW fans. The few remaining ECW alumni were jobbed out and buried even deeper. However, after several months, the complaining began to die down. Many simply accepted it for what it was. Vince got what he wanted. He killed the memory of ECW, for a lot of people. Now, casual wrestling fans associate those letters not with the revolutionary Philadelphia-based independent promotion that took the wrestling world by storm, in the mid to late 90s, but with this mediocre abomination on Sci Fi. He shaped it to what he saw it as and most don't notice the difference. In 2007, he even put the ECW World Title on himself. In the last couple years, even the most argumentative of us became desensitized to what was going on. I stopped watching, around September 2006, only tuning in again, a year later, to see CM Punk win the title.

Really, the only worthwhile things to come out of this were RVD's reign and Punk's rise to the top. All the hype from 2006 was wasted. "A new breed unleashed" really meant, "Watch us job the ECW Originals out to our developmental talent and neuter the name ECW as much as possible." The Heat and Velocity concepts seem to have failed, but with name ECW, they seem to have accomplished several goals... much to the disappointment of fans of Extreme Championship Wrestling.

nWo 2002 - Random thoughts

So, as many may remember, the nWo was brought in to WWF, in early 2002. Here are some brief thoughts on why it failed and how it could have been done better.

- I think enough time had passed that this idea could have seemed somewhat fresh again, especially in a different promotion. All the extra members and other nonsense had been removed. In WWF, they began with the core members: Hogan, Hall and Nash. This was a good thing.

- They way they were brought in was probably the first strike. The storyline with McMahon using them as his own way of destroying the company was weak, in my opinion, and they should have come in on their own.

- Once Hogan was turned face, by the fans, it would be hard to keep the nWo as heels. The only natural thing to do was cut him out. That was a decent choice.

- I'm a bit unclear as to when, exactly, Scott Hall screwed himself up and disappeared. This was another serious blow to the group.

- Nash and his superior ability to get injured just by stepping through the ropes wasn't much help, either.

- When Shawn Michaels returned and joined the nWo, things seemed to be going in a decent direction. Many fans probably hoped for HBK to appear in WCW and join, years earlier.

- The angle where Shawn was calling HHH out, demanding that he join the group seemed kind of interesting, yet it got dropped. It became something different, once the nWo thing was cut short. In an odd way, it would have been cool to see Hall, Nash, Michaels and HHH as the nWo. It seemed appropriate.

- Allowing Booker T to join was just wrong. The group wasn't even re-established well enough, yet they were already taking on midcard losers, just like in WCW.

- I think it would have been interesting for Hogan to have continued insisting that he was the leader of the nWo, and then HBK could make his return by superkicking him out of the group and setting up a big match, a few years earlier than they did.

- It would have made much more sense to drag the Invasion storyline out longer (for MANY reasons) so that the nWo could have come in and led the charge against WWF. Timing is everything.