The Wrestling Sandwich 04.23.11: Drafts For Easter!

SC: Hi, hello & welcome to the Easter Weekend edition of the Wrestling Sandwich! I’m Steve Cook, and I hope you all are as excited as I am about Easter weekend. Not only is there all the family stuff, the jelly beans, the Easter eggs and a big bunny running around, but we’ve also got Reds vs. Cardinals, some NBA Playoffs 1st Round action, and the latest edition of this very column! As always I am joined by Wes Kirk.

This week we make crazy predictions for the WWE Draft, take a look back at Kevin Sullivan (I figured it’d only be appropriate on this weekend to talk about a guy who portrayed a devil worshipper), talk about wrestling ants, & discuss the failure of the second Monday Night War. We also plug an award for WrestleCrap, and why not? RD Reynolds & Jed Shaffer are fine folks.

Dig in, it’s Sandwich time!

WK: The annual WWE Draft is upon us earlier than usual this year, and not on a three-hour show for a change, too. With the Draft not only comes who we believe should be switched and who will be, but also the tradition WWE has with cutting their talent to make room for more generic second generation stars and FCW rookies brought up six months too early.

SC: Generic second generation stars & FCW rookies brought up six months too early that’ll draw more money than your favorite ex-WWE stars working elsewhere. I’m just saying.

WK: Let us begin with the Draft itself – Steve and I will pick five wrestlers from each brand who SHOULD and who WILL be drafted, and I’ll add my spring-cleaning afterwards.

Draft Choices That Need To Be Made:

Wes’s RAW Picks:

1. Jack Swagger – (WILL AND SHOULD) What more can he really do on Smackdown? He’s held the world title, beaten several individuals in feuds, won Money In The Bank, and basically is relegated to Michael Cole’s cheerleader. It is high time for Jack to make it on the big brand as a reward for his help in the Cole-King feud.

2. Hornswoggle – (WILL) seriously, why not? I mean, the older crowd despises Hornswoggle but he’s a big hit with the kids. If he is on RAW, more people will be watching. Frankly he hasn’t done very much since he’s been put on Smackdown and some guys seem to change year to year to the other brand, so let’s put Horny back on RAW.

3. Cody Rhodes – (WILL AND SHOULD) I think Cody has developed too well to remain hindered on Smackdown, and needs to be pulled up to the A Show. Rhodes has put on a career making performance in his feud with Mysterio and big win at WrestleMania, and I think it may be time to test the waters for how far Cody will go.

4. Kelly Kelly – (WILL) Despite rarely being used and not winning as often as she should, Kelly Kelly needs to be brought on RAW to challenge for the Divas championship. The angle with Drew seems to have come to an unannounced end, and there’s nothing left for her to do.

5. Drew McIntyre (WILL AND SHOULD) – Speaking of people with nothing left to do, Drew’s pretty much gone through all the jobbers on Smackdown and needs a good angle and feud to get him back in the spotlight. On RAW, he’d get more of a fresh start and be able to connect to a larger crowd. But, I’ll miss his “HEE TEDDAH! TEDDAH! AHM THE CHU SIN WON!” comments since there’s no physical GM to interact with on RAW.

Steve’s RAW Picks:

1. Wade Barrett (SHOULD) – Something just doesn’t seem right with Wade on SmackDown. I don’t know what it is, maybe his certain brand of heelishness translates better on a live show with a live crowd reacting to him, but he hasn’t been nearly as cool on SmackDown as he was on Raw. Maybe it’s just that the Nexus was cooler than his off-shoot group. (Not that the New Nexus is cool either, but that’s beside the point. The Corre appears to be breaking apart anyway, so I think it’s best to move Wade away from it and continue his run of being a guy who can’t stay in one place very long. This is part of my plan to trade the IC & US champions, and I’ll talk about that more later.

2. Kofi Kingston (WILL AND SHOULD) – Kofi’s quick loss to Big Zeke Jackson on SmackDown last week seemed like the kind of loss a performer has either when they’re about to switch brands or get fired. We’ll assume the former here because Kofi shouldn’t be fired unless he does something completely insane. He doesn’t have much going on these days and is very over with the crowd, so maybe he can find something worth doing on Raw.

3. Beth Phoenix (SHOULD) – The Bellas’ comments on Raw indicated that they don’t plan on going to SmackDown very often. If that’s the case, we need Beth over on Raw so she can challenge for the title and maybe have some good Diva matches on TV. I considered moving Michelle McCool or Layla over, but I’d rather they stay confined to one segment on SmackDown.

4. Kaitlyn (SHOULD) – I’m not sure if her in-ring work is ready to move to live TV yet, but if nothing else, getting mentioned on the draft would be a step up from what she’s been doing lately.

5. Tyler Reks (WILL) – Yeah, there aren’t a lot of people I want to move over from SmackDown. See, I do the SmackDown Rs every week and I like writing about Cody, Drew Mac, Swagger & people like that. So I picked Tyler Reks, who isn’t doing much on the show. What?

Wes’s Smackdown Picks:

1. Randy Orton (SHOULD) – Smackdown needs an infusion of main eventers pretty quick, and Orton would provide that. I could see Orton and Punk ending at Extreme Rules with Orton coming to rule Smackdown either as the victor or to rebuild his heat after losing.

2. Sin Cara (SHOULD) – Cara strikes me as somebody with talent who needs to get used to the ring and also, requires a little bit of editing in his matches to look better until he can perform at the top level. He obviously hasn’t competed in a WWE sized ring, and it is showing as he’s botched up a few basic moves and one nearly deadly maneuver so far. Smackdown will help him become seasoned, and eventually team and/or feud with Rey Mysterio, which is definitely something to watch.

3. Santino Marella (WILL) – The Corre is likely to stick around on Smackdown at least for a dissention angle. Santino has done all he really can do on RAW and it is time to shuffle him down to THE SMACK-A-DOWNS where he can work with new talent and some older ones in a few comedy skits and hopefully, short matches.

4. Melina (SHOULD) – Melina has really done nothing of note on RAW outside of Batista a few years ago, and apparently she’s causing trouble YET AGAIN. Personally, I think she could care less about her own heel or face alignment and seems to be content just hanging around RAW, but that may change. Melina would have a fresher start teaming with Michelle against Layla and another face, maybe Rosa?

5. Ted Dibiase (WILL AND SHOULD) – Ted has no direction and no angles to work on RAW. Getting on Smackdown is the start of a new beginning for a guy WWE did have big plans for but seemingly have put them on hold. I’m still long, in stock terminology, on Ted’s career, as I believe he has the potential but hasn’t yet found something to launch his stock with the WWE.

Steve’s Smackdown Picks:

1. Randy Orton (WILL AND SHOULD) – Randy’s pretty much run his course on Raw, as he’s about to wrap up his business with CM Punk & the New Nexus and there isn’t anybody of great importance on the show that he hasn’t feuded with. He’s the second most over person in the company behind John Cena, and would serve WWE well as the top face on the SmackDown brand, which needs a big time draw to fill the void left by Edge. I like Christian as much as anybody, but will he remain a top face after Edge leaves and his feud with Del Rio ends? It’s too soon to say, so I’d move a proven commodity over just in case it doesn’t work out.

2. Sheamus (SHOULD) – It’s really tough to figure out where WWE stands on Sheamus these days. They give him the US strap and some dominant victories, but take him off of WrestleMania. You hear that Kevin Dunn hates him, but he’s always been considered one of Triple H’s boys. Maybe since Dunn doesn’t like him, H will agree to move Sheamus to the “B Show”, taking the US title with him. Which I like because I think the World & US titles should be on the same show, with the WWE & Intercontinental titles on the other show. Makes sense to me.

3. Maryse (WILL) – She’s already at the SmackDown tapings every week to do the NXT show, so why not? Plus, this is a good chance for WWE to screw with a off-screen relationship, and they typically don’t pass up the opportunity to do such a thing.

4. Yoshi Tatsu (WILL) – Tatsu’s also on NXT all the time, and it’s not like he ever does anything on Raw. Maybe he’ll actually get to appear on SmackDown and do stuff. Like Maryse! Hi-oooooooooooooooooooooooo.

5. Michael McGillicutty (SHOULD) – I think Michael could benefit from moving over to SmackDown similar to how Cody Rhodes did last year. I don’t know if he’s as talented as Cody is, but that’s kind of the point of this move. Like Cody last year, Michael is trapped in a faction that doesn’t allow him to showcase his talents. Like Cody, Michael grew up in the business and has learned from the best. Unlike Cody, Michael has a Genesis that is waiting to be unleashed. Maybe I need to re-watch Season 2 NXT and remind myself of how bad he was on the microphone. Still, I think a move for McGillicutty could work.

The Chopping Block

WK: With the annual draft on the way Monday, so is the annual fat cutting of the WWE roster. A lot of people were added to it, considering the last four seasons of NXT (Fifth only includes talent from the first four seasons) and now Tough Enough V2’s relaunch season. So, I’ll channel JP Prag a bit and pick the biggest liabilities at this time to the company. STRONG SELL is the highest recommendation to cut the talent and STRONG BUY is the highest to keep. HOLD means that the future of that person is unclear and needs time to develop.

Please also note that neither Steve nor I want anybody to lose their jobs, but we all know WWE is going to be making cuts and frankly, these are the likely candidates being discussed.

1. Mark Henry – With rumors of his retirement, Henry has competed in the WWE since the summer of 1996 and accomplished very little of note. Always a token big man and able to play the happy go lucky face or the evil cruel heel, Henry honestly has never stood out to me and at his current age and talent level, I don’t see him bringing in any fans in the near future.
Recommendation: STRONG SELL

SC: If they were going to get rid of Henry they would have done it a long time ago. I missed these retirement rumors. I could see him leaving if he doesn’t feel like hitting the road anymore.

2. Curt Hawkins – Once one half of the tag team champions, although seemingly that can be said about almost anybody, Hawkins has done zilch since Vance Archer was canned. Hawkins doesn’t have a unique look, or a unique moveset, and frankly based on what I’ve seen of him I think it is time they give him a chance to work elsewhere.
Recommendation: SELL.

SC: I forgot they fired Vance Archer.

3. Vladimir Kozlov – I like the guy, honestly. I think he has talent and can pull off some funny comedies, but I don’t know that WWE is behind him anymore. Recently, they took him off WrestleMania in favor of Kofi Kingston and that is not a good sign to me.
Recommendation: SELL

SC: Vlad is still on NXT, but I’m not sure that’d affect their decision making process.

4. Daniel Bryan – One of the newer wrestlers, he accomplished some big things at first but now is stuck in the grind as predicted. Despite his US title run, WWE doesn’t seem to care much for Bryan and seems to be grinning ear to ear and saying, “SEE?” at everybody who said he wouldn’t work out with the company.
Recommendation: HOLD – I think Bryan has an upside, but the question is, does WWE?

SC: They’ll keep him around. At the very least, he’s their best option this side of Evan Bourne to put over new guys they want to push. I think Wes is trying to tick me off with this suggestion.

5. Zack Ryder – Frankly, the WWE seems happy to just job this guy out and let Cole make jokes at his expense. I don’t see any reason why Ryder should stick around considering he’s far from any title or fame in the WWE at this time. Recommendation: SELL

SC: Ryder is a Superstar’s Superstar, meaning that all of the workers in WWE seem to love him. Even John Cena puts the guy over. I think he could be like Stevie Richards and keep a job for a very long time because the other wrestlers think he’s great, even though he doesn’t get to do anything on TV.

6. Jimmy and Jey Uso – They came in with some potential but now, nobody really seems to care about the Usos, least of all the WWE booking team. When is the last time you saw them win a match definitively on RAW? Exactly.
Recommendation: SELL

SC: When’s the last time they were on Raw is the question I’d ask.

7. Chris Masters – He seems to be the darling of Superstars, but here’s the problem: Superstars did so poorly in the ratings that it got cancelled off network TV. Now, it is on WWE.com and isn’t even advertised on RAW/Smackdown. Masters, in my view, is never going to draw major money and hasn’t really shown any specific reason he should stay. Also, working against him, is a previous Wellness policy violation. Recommendation: SELL

SC: Those who actually watched Superstars knows Masters is no joke in the ring. He had the best two-minute match ever with Drew McIntyre on Smackdown a couple of months back. Dude’s a damn solid worker and fits right into the role that Val Venis filled on the roster for years.

8. JTG – Formerly half of Cryme Tyme, JTG really doesn’t have much to do. He wins a few on NXT and Superstars, loses a lot, and basically has very little to expect in his future. His Smackdown talk segment was so horrible it got canned in about two episodes!
Recommendation: SELL.

SC: He needs to stick around so Regal can keep burying him on NXT. Even Todd Grisham gets in on the act sometimes, it’s hilarious. Then again, they could keep burying him after he got fired and WWE management probably wouldn’t notice.

WK: That’s pretty much the list of people I believe will be discussed, although obviously whether or not they are released isn’t up to me.

SC: Thank you for establishing that.

WK: However, usually WWE also has at least one shocking release that isn’t expected to take place, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that release will be William Regal after this current version of NXT. Regal is a favorite of mine, but from what I’ve heard he is unhappy in WWE and will be retiring soon anyway. So, hopefully TNA will pick this man up if that does happen because I can think of at least half a dozen classic matches Regal could put on before hanging up the boots.

SC: You think TNA’s going to pick him up and let him wrestle classic matches? Two questions: What are you on, and can I have some? I think Regal heads into retirement and I’d love to hear him on the Raw or Smackdown announce team if that’s something he wants to do. It’s not for everybody, as Mick Foley would certainly tell you.

Wes’s Smartest Thing of the Week: TNA steps their game up

In case you hadn’t noticed, Lockdown and the Impact following it contained longer than usual matches and also higher quality ones. The reason is that TNA learned they could not afford situations such as Victory Road, and attempted to improve the product and gain viewer trust back. TNA did not relax and take it easy figuring people would watch no matter what like other companies may have done, and for that they should be congratulated on a good PPV and a very good Impact.

Steve’s Dumbest Thing of the Week: WWE takes away pro-Zack Ryder signs

How many times have WWE announcers talked about their fans having “freedom of expression” whenever they crapped on something that WWE thought would get over, booed the crap out of Mr. McMahon, or were from Toronto? I get that WWE wouldn’t want signs appearing on television that are vulgar or putting over another organization. Makes sense. But really, you’re going to have security confiscate a sign that says “Zack Ryder = Ratings”? Apparently some within the company dislike how Ryder is using the Internet to get over since he isn’t featured on television. I guess this wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened, but Zack doesn’t seem to be settling his personal grudges with people online like certain ex-WWE Superstars have in the past. No, it seems to be good, clean fun.

I typically don’t check out wrestler Internet videos, but I figured I’d take the plunge and watch Ryder’s newest video to see what was up. Holy crap, I need to go back and watch the rest. John Morrison jokes? Scott Stanford? NHE? Princess Leia? Are you serious?

WOO WOO WOO YOU KNOW IT

By Wes Kirk

This has actually been a topic I wanted to discuss for a while. It stems from the recent awarding of the 2010 Gooker to TNA because of their attempt to revitalize the Monday night wrestling wars that basically made the Attitude Era so competitive. And if you listened to all the critics, they would tell you TNA made the dumbest move ever by going opposite RAW and did nothing but harm themselves. But what do the facts actually suggest?

First of all, the move was a bold attack on WWE’s rather stale product with at first, a one time airing of a live Impact against WWE RAW during Hulk Hogan’s debut in TNA Wrestling. The move took place opposite Bret Hart’s return to the WWE on Jan 4, 2010 with a combined total of an over 5.5 rating for RAW and Impact combined, and a combined viewer total of 7.8 MILLION, during which Impact scored its highest hourly rating ever of 1.7 and put up a good performance considering their opposition. This was supposedly a one-time shot, and it felt great to relive the magic of being able to switch off the boring segments on one show to watch another. Anybody who never watched during the Attitude Era never truly understands how competitive WWF and WCW were at the time and how you could literally be assured something big went down on each show every week. The ratings indicated that the fans were pleased! Therefore, TNA decided to relaunch Impact against RAW indefinitely on March 8, 2010 but made several crucial mistakes.

The first one was not airing Impact live against a live Monday Night RAW. This resulted in fewer individuals watching Impact since they could look up the results a week in advance. They did have a live Impact once every two weeks, but that wasn’t enough to get people interested. Had the shows been live each week, the end result wasn’t in question but the ratings would likely be higher for TNA. The second mistake that was made was that TNA underestimated the marketing power of the WWE. While TNA was mostly unknown to the wrestling public WWE was shoving their advertisements down the throats of viewers on several network stations due to their television deals.

Although both shows had quality issues during the run, it showed that there was an alternative product to WWE and that there was the chance WWE could be challenged competitively, if not beat, in 2010. With the two crucial mistakes made, TNA unfortunately had to change back to Thursday nights in their usual 9-11 PM EST timeslot. But it made a difference!

TNA helped raise the viewers on Monday Jan 4, 2010 to a high not seen since the very early post WCW days. For that one special night, over seven million wrestling fans tuned in to both shows, and likely flipped back and forth as they had from 1995-2001 when Nitro aired opposite a then-taped RAW. When TNA was heading in, WWE responded by bringing Bret Hart back. They were concerned, but eventually the interest seemed to fade. TNA, since their experiment, have surpassed previous Thursday night ratings highs and obtained even more talent that all seemed to improve when moved to a less grueling schedule with more creative freedoms.

As far as The Gooker award went, I have to call BS. There were far worse things that should have taken that home, such as the “Hornswoggle Learns To Talk” Smackdown angle in which Hornswoggle never did learn to talk and they eventually dropped the segment altogether. The highly tendentious move to choose TNA over WWE most likely was spawned by the immense Internet hatred of the product, despite the fact the competition refuses to even be known as wrestling. With the lack of a live product each week and piss poor marketing decisions that were really out of their hands, TNA was never going to win the Monday Night War. In fact, TNA never set out to win a war as much as compete head to head and see if they could do well. Qualities for a Gooker include not drawing money and sending fans away due to the overall low quality of the angle or storyline. In this case, fans actually DID get drawn in and people actually DID pay money for merchandise after getting a chance to view the competition, which again leaves me shaking my head at WrestleCrap’s decision. If the whole thing bombed the first night and they went ahead with it anyway, I’d totally get it but when the experiment brought in more wrestling fans than the previous six years? TNA may be on Thursdays once again, but they are stable and far from dead. WWE, as usual, is the dominant company that is also far from dead. And as you can tell from my previous column about TNA as competition, this means that as long as WWE head honchos do not view TNA as legitimate competition to their product, they will put anything on television they want to, such as Sir Michael Cole’s fungal infection being kissed by JR.

I think a recount is in order.

SC: A couple points here:

-I often hear people go on about how TNA is unknown to the “wrestling public”. If that’s true, it’s a complete failure on TNA’s part to be unable to establish their brand to the wresling public after being around almost nine years. I’ve read interviews with guys like Kurt Angle & Kevin Nash where people run into them at the airport and ask them what they’re up to now. How is that possible? If your wrestling promotion has been around for nine years and has been on a top-25 cable network for a pretty good number of them, how can the majority of wrestling fans not know you exist? This boggles my mind.

-Yes, WWE advertises their shows on several networks. That’s what a company that has money and wants people to watch their show does. I hope Wes isn’t meaning to tell us that TNA could afford to bring in Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, Jeff Hardy, The Nasty Boys, Bubba the Love Sponge, Sean Morley, Orlando Jordan, Scott Hall & Sean Waltman to appear on their first Monday show, but couldn’t afford to advertise it like big, bad WWE does for their shows. The monsters! TNA runs on Spike TV, which is part of Viacom. They can’t run commercials on MTV, VH1, BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, CMT, Logo, TV Land, Teen Nick, Nick Jr., MTV 2 or Tr3s? That’s a lot of channels that reach a lot of people, some of who probably watch WWE as well. Don’t hate on Vince just because he’s smart enough to advertise his product to different audiences.

-Wes pointed out in his piece that TNA got their highest hourly rating ever the first time they went up against Raw. He didn’t address why their rating never got higher. A good number of people checked their show out to see what the deal was, saw it, and then never came back. Why was that? They definitely dropped the ball with the half-ass way they handled the switch at first, but if somebody wants to find a TV show, they’ll find it.

-As for the Gooker award, nobody quit watching SmackDown because they didn’t resolve the Hornswoggle angle. Dude was rapping with the Bellas at WrestleMania, so obviously he figured it out at some point. No big thing. I don’t know why he went with that example when the Edge/Kane/Paul Bearer angle is right there. I don’t know what effect that had on ratings and I don’t care, all I know is it was absolutely hideous. And doesn’t that matter more than ratings & buyrates?

-Also, I was shocked that TNA had never won this award before, but I guess it makes sense. Most of their angles are uniformly horrendous and don’t really stand out from the rest of the crap on the show. Plus there’s the Russo Effect of having so much stuff happen that you forget most of it after the show ends. WWE’s crappy angles usually stand out from the pack and are memorably awful.

By Steve Cook

I figured this was as good a week as any to take a look at one of CHIKARA’s top acts, a group of ants. My Dragon Dragon origin story didn’t go over very well last week, so we’ll just keep it simple. Fire Ant & Soldier Ant, students of Mike Quackenbush & Chris Hero, made their debut at the 2006 Tag World Grand Prix as Team Colony. The CHIKARA fans loved the idea of wrestling ants that came out to “Ants Marching” by the Dave Matthews Band, and the group became fan favorites on the undercard. Worker Ant, another CHIKARA student, emerged around the end of 2006 and made the group a trio.

Fire Ant won the Young Lions Cup tournament in 2008 and got some votes in 411’s Wrestler of the Week column, which drew the ire of many of the commenters. Later in the year he won the 2008 Tag World Grand Prix alongside Soldier Ant. 2009 saw Worker Ant fade into the sunset, and he would be replaced by Green Ant & Carpenter Ant. Fire & Soldier won the Campeonatos de Parejas (tag team titles) in September, but would be shocked when Carpenter turned against them in November after winning the Cibernetico in October.

In March 2010 they lost the tag titles to Ares & Claudio Castagnoli & lost again to the two men and their friend Tursas in the King of Trios tournament finals the next month. Green Ant broke his arm in August, but it turns out that he had a steel plate inserted in it that causes more damage when he hits people. They won the King of Trios tournament last week, becoming the first group in CHIKARA to win the Tag World Grand Prix, the King of Trios & the Campeonatos de Parejas, and to have a member win the Young Lions Cup and another member win the Torneo Cibernetico. They are truly icons of CHIKARA.

Not bad for a group of ants, eh?

The Colony vs. The Osirian Portal Music Video:

Top 10 Moves:

The Colony cuts a promo!

Steve’s Take

When I hear the name of Kevin Sullivan, it makes me want to bust out my Dusty Rhodes impersonation, if you will. It was against the American Dream in Florida that the devilish Sullivan developed his persona into that of an evil, evil man with no sense of good or decency. Up until that point, Sullivan had worked in the Gulf Coast region, the WWWF & the San Francisco territory as a baby face. He worked heel a bit in Memphis, but it wasn’t until he got to Florida that the devil overtook him and he became one of the most demented figures in wrestling. Sullivan formed a group of maniacs that were willing to do anything for his cause. Men like the Purple Haze Mark Lewin, Billy Graham, Jake Roberts & Bob Roop, and women like Luna Vachon and the Fallen Angel would sacrifice themselves at the altar of Abudadeen. He drew lots of money in a bitter feud with Dusty Rhodes.

Once the Florida territory was finished, Sullivan emerged in WCW as the leader of the Varsity Club. He had a feud with Jimmy Garvin where Sullivan coveted his wife, Precious. He did some managing before leaving the company and competing in FMW, SMW & ECW.

Sullivan re-emerged in WCW in 1994, where he was joined by his dyslexic brother Evad Sullivan. When Evad was injured, Kevin recruited Cactus Jack to team with him and they won the tag team titles from the Nasty Boys at Slamboree. After that inevitably broke up, Kevin turned against his Hulk Hogan-loving brother & formed the 3 Faces of Fear alongside Avalance & the Butcher. After their plot to end Hulk Hogan’s career ended, Sullivan kicked it up a notch and formed the Dungeon of Doom. The Taskmaster led a ridiculously large group of people that Wes lists later, and was Hulk Hogan’s arch-nemesis for most of 1995. Sullivan & his group were a good foil for Hogan, though they couldn’t keep the crowds from getting tired of seeing Hulkamania again and again and again. Wrestling was headed in a less cartoonish direction, and the Dungeon of Doom was a casualty of that.

The Alliance to End Hulkamania between the DOD & the 4 Horsemen was ultimately successful, and led to bickering between Sullivan & Horseman Brian Pillman. After Pillman called Sullivan “booker man” on TV & left the company, Sullivan began a lengthy feud with Chris Benoit. Hindsight being 20/20, he might have suggested a different direction for himself that didn’t lead to his wife leaving him for Benoit. They did have some memorable brawls, one of which had Dusty Rhodes screaming about a lady in the men’s room.

Sullivan retired after losing a retirement match to Benoit and remained behind the scenes with WCW for most of the rest of its existence. Benoit felt that Sullivan was responsible for holding him down, and when Sullivan was promoted to head booker in early 2000, he left the company along with several others. Sullivan’s booking regime at the time wasn’t a critical success, but not many people could have done much with that company. There are reports that he’s been hired by TNA, but I’ve seen nothing to confirm that as of yet. He has been looking to get back into the wrestling scene and did have a conversation with Dixie Carter several months ago.

Who knows, maybe the Dungeon of Doom will re-emerge as the next “They”.

I liked Sullivan’s style. He was one of those guys that just radiated pure evil, which made up for the lack of physique that he had for most of his WCW run. If a guy’s evil and don’t give a hoot, he’ll hang with the best athletes out there. I guess the closest thing we’ve had to another Kevin Sullivan in recent years has been Jimmy Jacobs. He’s not physically imposing, but was one of the most dangerous people in ROH for a couple of years simply because he was evil and didn’t give a hoot. He even had a spike, which he told people that Kevin Sullivan gave him.

Wes’s Take

Sullivan is close to my neck of the woods hailing from Boston, MA. Despite his birthplace, he is most known for competing with controversial gimmicks in the southern territories and later in WCW, where he’d be part of a seeming factory of WrestleCrap angles and segments.

It was in Championship Wrestling from Florida that Sullivan adopted his devil-worshipping persona. It was there that his valet Fallen Angel would meet him and eventually become his wife, and also the WCW personality Woman. His time in the independents would pay off and he’d get a call to run with the National Wrestling Alliance, soon to be renamed World Championship Wrestling, in 1987. His first faction there was the Varsity Club, where he’d recruit skilled former collegiate wrestlers turned pro to join him in beating professional wrestlers. Being the lunatic that he is, Sullivan attempted to steal several wives of the wrestlers and ended up attacking Missy Hyatt. He was also known in the early 90’s as Merlin the Wizard to manage Kevin Nash as his WCW gimmick, Oz. Yes, he was that guy.

Sullivan is perhaps best known by wrestling fans for his time in WCW that began in 1994 and would last until the end of the company in 2001. His “brother” Dave Sullivan, suffering from dyslexia and calling himself Evad was attacked by the Nasty Boys and Sullivan along with his old friend/enemy/friend Cactus Jack attacked the Boys and aided in taking away their tag team championship. Evad developed idol worship for Hulk Hogan, which enraged Sullivan. Sullivan brought in John Tenta as the Avalanche and Ed Leslie aka Brutus Beefcake as The Butcher (and later Zodiac, Man With No Name, and many others) to be the original Faces of Fear. When they failed to stop Hulk Hogan, Sullivan began to hear the words of a man known as “The Master” who apparently was Sullivan’s father. Now named The Taskmaster, Sullivan put together the infamous Dungeon of Doom with Kamala, Barbarian, Meng, The YET-AY, Hugh Morrus, former 700 lb Loch Ness, One Man Gang, Big Bubba Rogers, Lex Luger, and The Giant (who was still in his “son of Andre” mode) in addition to later members such as John Tenta now playing The Shark and Ed Leslie now playing The Zodiac. Pretty much this led to such WrestleCrap as the Sullivan backstage segments with The Master, The Yeti’s god-awful debut and the double bear hug of WrestleCrap doom with Giant on Hulk Hogan, and of course the “Alliance To End Hulkamania” after forming an alliance with The Four Horsemen. Naturally, since it was Hulk Hogan taking on about ten guys, Hogan won easily.

The next and most significant chapter of Sullivan’s life revolved around Chris Benoit. Sullivan began a feud with Chris that resulted in Chris stealing Woman from him, who would then be known by her real life name Nancy. Backstage, Sullivan assured them to keep kayfabe up despite being married to Nancy and having Benoit and Nancy book the same hotels and travel together. As one can imagine, it wasn’t long before the two ended up legitimately dating and Sullivan’s marriage fell apart. The resulting feud would include Nancy and Sullivan’s new squeeze, Jacquelyn, to fight it out as the guys wrestled each other. Ultimately Sullivan would lose and Chris and Nancy would end up getting married. Sullivan reportedly was a complete professional in the ring and didn’t take any cheap shots even though he could have. How many of us could do the same thing?

Afterwards, Sullivan wrestled sparingly and eventually hung up the tights. He is still considered controversial, and after the 2007 Benoit family tragedy one pastor believed Sullivan was actually the guilty party due to the devil worship he showed early in his career. Of course, that turned out to be a dead end. Sullivan currently is employed by TNA as an executive producer.

Whether it was controversy or Crap that Sullivan was known for, he was known by many fans throughout the South and Northeast and usually involved in a heel role. He is one of the few men who never worked for Vince McMahon, and also never held a title belt in WCW. PWI ranked him #106 of the Top 500 PWI Years Wrestlers in 2003. His only ECW championship was a tag belt with none other than Tazz as his partner. Sullivan didn’t make much of an impact in terms of title wins and big match atmospheres but he was definitely a great hand and a professional in the business who you could depend on not to take the cheap way out.

Wes’s Wrestler to Watch: Sting

He defended his championship at Lockdown despite not being the favorite to win by most fans, and walked out not only defeating two men to retain the gold but also putting one over on Hulk Hogan yet again, continuing his streak at Impact by defeating Matt Hardy after being assaulted by Immortal. Sting has been one of the biggest names in the business for years, and seeing him still able to perform at a decent level is one of the joys we can be thankful for.

Steve’s Wrestler to Watch: Sin Cara

Mr. Cara has been the subject of much discussion lately, and teamed with John Cena against The Miz & Alex Riley on Raw. It was strange watching Miz trying to take Cara’s offense and not doing so well at it. Sin Cara still needs to adjust to the WWE style, but the fans seem to love him so far. Hopefully it’ll last.

Wes’s Tag Team to Watch: Beer Money

Beer Money has been on a roll! At Lockdown, they were instrumental in defeating Immortal as Robert Roode forced Ric Flair to tap out to a Fujiwara armbar. On Impact, Beer Money defended the belts successfully against Murphy and Rob Terry. Beer Money continues to get great reactions and put on good matches against nearly anybody and of course, the BEER! MONEY! Spot never gets old!

Steve’s Diva to Watch: Layla

The lovely Ms. El is going through a painful breakup with one Michelle McCool and is emerging as the sympathetic figure in the situation. She hasn’t been a face since she first started out with WWE, so it’ll be interesting to see if she can adapt to the role. I don’t think many red-blooded males will have a problem cheering for her.

Steve’s Authority Figure to Watch: Wink Vavasseur

Wink Vavasseur is the Director of Fun for CHIKARA and makes his rulings via blog posts. I wish other authority figures would adopt this method so they’d take up less TV time. Also, he has the coolest name of any authority figure ever.

Wes’s Commentator to Watch: Jim Ross

Oddly, part of Monday Night RAW seemed really good. I realized it wasn’t the match but rather Jim Ross calling it that really helped things along. Unfortunately as soon as JR’s commentary got me interested, Cole’s incessant yammering got me wanting to hit the mute button. JR is showing every time he gets a chance why he needs to be back on play-by-play full time, pronto!

Haterade: Hater’s Gotta Hate, Here We Set ‘Em Straight!

“wes kirk?!?! god, this clown is worse than black scorpion…oh wait! still huge fail of a column with tna fanboy involved, real name or not.

Posted By: Guest#9524 (Guest) on April 16, 2011 at 01:27 AM”

How can I be worse than myself? Glad to know I’m such a terrible columnist you took the time to read, comment, and then post. And so what if I watch TNA? I rather watch a 2 minute match than a 15 minute knighting of SIR MICHAEL COLE. Hah!

“The “Leave Britney Alone!” Youtube loser is now the “Leave Dixie Alone!” loser here!

Cook – take out the trash once and for all! Just getting worse and worse each week this old Wes guy sticks around…

Posted By: Another Plee to Steve Cook (Guest) on April 16, 2011 at 02:21 AM”

Naw, I could care less who bothers Britney. I’m glad the rant was so bad you took time out of your busy day collecting food stamps and cashing the welfare check while promising your 300 lb girlfriend you’ll go look for a job to read the column start to finish, comment that long, and click submit. How is asking people to buy TNA Lockdown trolling? It turned out to be better than WrestleMania! Seriously, HHH/UT vs Immortal/Fortune, XScape, and Angle/Jarrett.

By the way, it is spelled plea.

SC: WM vs. Lockdown is a pretty close comparison. Edge vs. Del Rio was a much better opener than the Xscape match that nobody in the arena cared about once Suicide, Lethal & Red were gone. I’ll take Rey vs. Cody & Punk vs. Orton over Joe vs. Pope & Hernandez vs. Morgan. Lockdown did have a better main event, as Lethal Lockdown was much better than Cena vs. Miz. They also had the advantage in that Mickie vs. Madison had less time to offend than Cole vs. Lawler did. Angle vs. Jarrett & Undertaker vs. HHH seem pretty equal in that they each got a very split reaction among wrestling fans watching on TV/online while getting over huge in the arena. WrestleMania had a far better atmosphere, with a close to full Georgia Dome trumping a half-full USBank Arena, and the awesome WM set trumping the Lockdown garage door set. I’d go with WM slightly, but I’m not as big on random X Division guys that never do anything as Wes is.

“With no competition, we’re down to Michael Cole wrestling Jerry Lawler and “American Idol” style auditions at WrestleMania backstage’

Man, that was some dream I had last night. Dennis Rodman and David Arquette were actually wrestling, and Mae Young gave birth to a hand!!

Posted By: Guest#5662 (Guest) on April 16, 2011 at 09:22 AM”

I was never a fan of those segments, and the ratings will show you that neither were the fans. In fact, the Mae Young angle was one of the worst until Katie Vick came along. If you notice, people tended to watch the other company during those horrible moments, which made them fewer and farther between than today. David Arquette in the ring a few times was bad, but bringing him in to host the Slammys on WWE RAW and WRESTLE AGAIN while smashed 10 years later wasn’t exactly the E’s best moment.

This last one came through the e-mail..

Yo

You article is not writed that god n my wif n i taek grate offense 2 ur big ego becuz if their is 1 thing i cannot stand it is a guy w/a big ego. U suk.

Barry
Washington, DC.

I guess we know Ayers wrote the first book after all.

SC: Political jokes are a baaaaaaaaad idea, Wes. If anybody knows that it’s me.

SC: My kingdom for a plug!

Harrison goes bell to bell.

DeMarco did Buy or Sell and has the 5 & 1 today.

Experience some Randle. This was Wes’s idea.

Frame looked at Lockdown.

WK: ONE LAST THING!

I wanted to reward all the great folks who stick with the column each week. Therefore, I decided to share something very special with you all. Since Steve is my 411 Pro, take a wild guess what it is?

It happens to be the infamous Beautiful People mud wrestling match in which Madison Rayne refereed Lacey Von Erich taking on Velvet Sky.

You’re welcome.

SC: You gotta give the guy credit for trying to get over as a face, even if it works about as well as Honky Tonk Man in 1986. Join me on Monday for the Smackdown Rs, and on Tuesday for some News From Cook’s Corner. Until then…