The Wrestling Framework 02.19.12: Goldust Double Header

MATCH: Goldust vs. Razor Ramon

Psychology: 2
Work Rate: 1
Crowd: 1.5
Spots: 2
Finish: 1.8
Overall: 8.3

Psychology: This match was nothing but psychology. From the start, Goldust was playing is bizarre mind games with Razor. And any time Razor got the chance, he was putting the boots, fists, slaps, etc to Goldust. It was definitely a story driven match. Goldust played up the heel tactics quite nicely in his own way, too. Hiding behind Marlena was one of my favorite moments. Mostly because Marlena was damn hot, but also because that’s like heel 101. Goldust kept his distance from Razor and struck when he thought was good. He kept Razor on his toes. Between his weird little actions and keeping his distance, his mind games started affecting Razor. All Razor wanted to do is beat Goldust’s face in, but I didn’t look like he knew how to handle an opponent like him. That was a weakness Razor had that Goldust exploited perfectly. Up to this match, I think the most bizarre person he ever wrestled in the WWF was The Undertaker. But that was more mind games mixed with a bad beat down. While I’m sure he’s wrestled the chickenshit heel before, I’m pretty sure that he’s not faced anything quite like Goldust. Overall, I think that Razor and Goldust meshed here to make a really interesting story come alive.

Work Rate: The work rate here was mediocre. But that’s okay. This wasn’t supposed to be a work heavy match. This was a full story driven match. Don’t get me wrong, the last 6 to 7 minutes was pretty good wrestling. Nothing overly spectacular, but it was solid enough. The score of 1 might be a little stingy and make me look like a work rate snob, but I’ll take it. Mostly because I know what I like in a wrestling match. There was a good mesh of styles between Razor and Dust, too. I think they worked pretty well together. They have a somewhat similar style. Of course that was still around the start of the evolution of wrestlers styles. Most guys worked with a solid technical style based around a lot of slams, suplex, and rest holds. You had the smaller guys like 1-2-3 Kid who were bringing in the faster more kicky-flippy style. Then you had the bigger guys like Taker and Diesel who were using the “big man” styles. More of a brawl, beat-down type of wrestling. Though Taker was a bit different as he had a few moves that took away from that style. So, I guess it just makes sense that both men would have similar styles. I may be the only who thought so, but I think that Dust was a little better than Razor in this match. Razor seemed a little off his game. But overall, the work could have been better, but didn’t really need to be.

Crowd: The crowd was pretty good. I can understand a few times when they were a bit silent, the match did have a few slow points. I think they didn’t quite get the mind games Goldust was playing. There were a few times that Dust did the same thing that he had done before, and it kind of hurt the heat from the crowd. It seemed like Dust was playing the same spots, but at the same time, those spots worked well at the points they were used. I’ll get in to that in the next section. But it was evident that the crowd was in to this match. They had all seen the build up and the things that Goldust was doing to Razor and they wanted to see Razor get his hand on him inside the ring. And when the wrestling really started to pick up, so did the crowd. They were hanging on every move wondering if that was going to be the point that Razor would pick up the win. Then Marlena got involved and the crowd went nuts when Kid ran in and delivered the spinning heel kick off the top rope. Goldust goes for the cover and I could see how the crowd was wanting Razor to kick out, but when he didn’t the crowd was visually livid. They didn’t want the Bizarre One Goldust to win that match. They didn’t want they Intercontinental Championship on that freak. Overall, good crowd but there was a lack of wrestler/crowd interaction that could have helped it a little more.

Spots: The spots in this match were awesome. Every little thing that Goldust did to get in to Razor’s mind was awesome. The times where he would engage Razor, then duck out was golden. Goldust playing up his little weirdo character and doing things like rubbing up on Razor and blowing him kisses was just pure genius. And every time he put Marlena in front of him to stop the rampaging advance of Razor and to get the upper hand on him. And how about that clothesline Razor delivered while Goldust was doing his little breathing stuff and knocking him to the outside? That was pretty brutal looking. One point I thought it was over was when Goldust got Razor in the sleeper. I thought for sure that Razor was going to be out. But, lo and behold, Razor fought his way out. He fought his way out using a technique that only the bad guy could use. Distract the ref, then hit him where the sun don’t shine. Overall, the spots were great. And a lot of that has to do with the little stuff that Goldust did that was part of his character and the reaction of Razor to all of it. Was just pure gold, no pun intended.

Finish: I liked this finish. It was a great way to get the title off of Razor without making him look weak by losing to this new freak. It was also a great way to continue the feud between Razor and Kid. You know that after Kid pulling off a stunt like that and costing Razor the Intercontinental Championship, Razor would go after him looking for some revenge. Lets not forget Marlena getting in the ring and distracting the ref. This let her client get out of a bad situation. I’m pretty sure that at this point, Razor was about to hit Dust with the Razor’s Edge right there. That would have been it. And if it hadn’t been for Marlena’s intervention, Razor would have still been the Intercontinental Champion. This allowed Dust to pick up a victory that wasn’t his. It took interference distracting the ref and someone coming in and clobbering his opponent for him to get the 1-2-3. I think it was a great way to have Goldust get the championship and protect Razor and then have him work with Kid while Dust goes off and kick ass as the champ and continue to get over with the crowd. Great finish to the match.

Overall: This was the first huge victory for Goldust. And it cemented the fact that Dust could get this character off the ground and over. He did such a great job as this Hollywood fruit cake, it was a true testament to his talent. His promos and the way that he played out the character were just fantastic. As weird as Goldust was, there was a point where you really knew that the WWF had something there. And this is something that the wrestling world is really missing these days. I don’t know what it is, but I think that if they actually tried to get a few characters out there, it would make things more interesting. These days, it’s all a bunch of guys who are pretty much the same gimmick. If you want to call it a gimmick. They resemble just regular guys that have a complex. What I mean is that they could be replaced by other people easily. Guys like Goldust don’t exist anymore. Except for established characters like Undertaker and Kane. But I guess it’s a futile argument considering the last time they really tried to get oddball characters to take off, they failed miserably. The Boogeyman, I guess, would be a perfect example of that. Maybe the wrestling world doesn’t have a place for over-the-top characters anymore.

WINNER: GOLDUST

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Since I’m all Goldust, I’ll just put this video right here for your enjoyment.

MATCH: Goldust vs. The Undertaker

Psychology: 2
Work Rate: 1.8
Crowd: 2
Spots: 1.5
Finish: 1.8
Overall: 9.1

Psychology: This match had it all as far as psychology. It was awesome to see Goldust so far taken out of his own comfort zone. That’s a testament to the fear that Taker can instill in someone. The entire time, Goldust was afraid of him. And it was great to watch the story unfold in the ring. They gelled really, really well. I can’t emphasize enough how awesome the psychology between these two guys are. I wasn’t really expecting the match to be as big of a blockbuster as it was. These guys were able to really get the story across. Everything they did, they did with meaning. They wanted the crowd to know what was going on. They wanted the crowd to hang on every little moment and wonder what could happen next. And they played up Takers mystical powers oh so well. And the fear expressed by Dust made it 100 times better. The story was so well laid out by these two men that I don’t really have to go in to full detail explaining why the psychology of this match deserves the score of 2 that I gave it. If you disagree, well, watch it again. Really watch it. Watch at everything they do and line it up with the story they’re trying to tell. You’ll see what I’m talking about then.

Work Rate: The work in this match was way better than Dust/Razor. I think Undertaker really made Goldust work hard in this match. Not saying that Goldust isn’t a hard worker, but matched up with Taker and you know he’s going to be pushed to his limit. Taker has always been known for giving it 100% in the ring. Well, that’s before Taker became broken down. You can’t blame him for that, though. It’s what happens when a guy in this business gets old. Now, the reason why it’s not a full 2 score was because there were a few times that things could have been better. There some moves that were sloppy or there were points that were just kind of slow. Again, this really cements me as a work rate snob. Although, I tend to see better work in matches than others do. So that argument is null and void in my opinion. Now, I think that both men worked different styles. Goldust was a more old school technical type whereas Taker had that big man style I talked about earlier. If anything, this was a great way to show that even though Taker worked like a big man, he was able to adapt his style to work much more of a hybrid style. Either way, both men worked damn well together.

Crowd: The crowd was really hot for this match. It was easy to see and hear just how in to the match they were. It was great to see them get excited for these two. I think a lot had to do with Taker, though. At this point, Undertaker was already the Phenom. People were so in to him and his gimmick that they would go crazy for even the crappiest of matches. I think what a lot of the crowd was wanting to see was Taker take down this weirdo and give him his comeuppance. Goldust had been on such a tear since getting the upset over Razor, people wanted to see him taken six feet under. They wanted to watch on as Undertaker smacked the gold off of Goldust. And the little spots that Taker did drove the crowd in to a frenzy. But, I’ll talk about that in a minute. It was great to see the crowd so excited for this match. It was a great example of how over The Undertaker was and how well the Goldust character was continuing to work. I would have loved to have been a part of this crowd and feeling the energy that must have been coursing through the arena as these two stood face to facechest. Great crowd and it really made this match feel like it was a world title match and not for the Intercontinental Championship.

Spots: The spots were great. I really loved the stuff they did here. Taker did his dead-man thing and it worked well. But I think there were a few points they could have added something else. I think that Goldust could have come to a point where he realized that he can actually do damage to The Undertaker and try and play his little mind games. Rub up on Taker, breath at him, hell, even kiss him. Anything could have worked. Or, even if it didn’t work, it would have been great to watch as Goldust tried his hardest, but fail every step of the way. I also wouldn’t have minded more with the managers. If Marlena or Paul Bearer had done a little more, got involved some way, I think it would have made things a little more exciting. I think the highlight of the match was when Dust thought for sure he had the Deadman down and started his little breathing gimmick. Then Taker does what he does best and grabs Dust by the throat. That little spot, to this day, still does what it’s meant to. It still gives me goosebumps when Taker does that. Even though it’s completely predictable, it’s still awesome to watch him do it. Even when he sits up in the middle of a match. Like when he did it after Triple H put him down at WM27. Like I said, I think there could have been more spots to make it better, but I’ll take what I got.

Finish: This finish was pretty solid. I like how Goldust just said to hell with this and got out of dodge. It was a pretty solid way to let Goldust and Taker walk away without any damage to their characters. See, you couldn’t have Goldust win over The Undertaker because that would have hurt the image of Taker. He would have just gotten beaten by this golden freak. Then who else could just waltz in and beat him? Goldust couldn’t have gotten taken out by the Undertaker because that would have stopped his momentum dead. All that work he had done getting the title and making the crowd revile him would have gone to waste. He would have just been another victim of The Undertaker. Not only that, but it was a dark match. Not saying it doesn’t happen, but it would have been really bad to make Goldust lose the title in a dark match. That would have hurt him even worse. The reason that I took .2 points off was because of personal opinion. I think it would have been a lot cooler for Undertaker to be chasing him and Goldust leaving a trail of excrement behind him as he turned tail and ran for his life. Maybe throw Marlena in the way to try and slow Taker down. Instead, he just walked off. Kind of anti-climactic.

Overall: Great match. I think this should have been a televised on the PPV. If it was, I think it would have been a much better match. In their primes, Taker and Dust were great workers. They had unique characters that really made things a lot more interesting. These two guys really give more credence to what I was saying earlier about the severe lack of unique characters in pro wrestling these days. If built correctly, I think there could be one or two new characters built up to be at least mid-card players. I’m not talking anything way over-the-top, but something different from guys that could be related to by just about anyone. This is obviously a huge personal preference, so take it how you will. I think if a guy like Zack Ryder can get over, maybe they could get a new gimmicky guy over. WWE just needs to find something that works and build it up right. Try not to recreate anything from it’s past. Like how they tried to recreate the redneck type tag team. It just seemed almost too Godwinn-like to me. If you guys could think up a gimmick or two and how to build them, I’d love to hear it.

WINNER: UNDERTAKER

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Elimination Chamber Theme

B-B-B-BONUS ROUND!

ELIMINATION CHAMBER

Beth Phoenix © vs Tamina Snuka

So, this one has been an interesting build up. I’ve actually given a little bit of attention to it. Beth Phoenix is really coming along as a big, mean bitch. I guess she’s the bully of the Divas. At least it’s enough to hold the spot until Kahrma is ready to come back. As I was saying, Beth has been the big, bad bully of the Divas and Tamina has come across as the hero. She’s the only one, apparently, that can take on Beth and give her a run for her money. It would seem she’s the only one who can stand in the ring against Beth and win the title. Sucks if you ask me. I would much prefer if Natty Neidhart got to drop her flatulence gimmick and become the number one contender for Beth’s title. Might make things a little more entertaining because I am NOT sold on Tamina. I think she really sucks. When they compare her splash to her fathers, I cringe. It looks like shit compared to his. Beth Phoenix wins this one.

John Cena vs Kane

I’m pretty torn on this one. I really want Kane to win this one to continue the story a little more and watch as Cena slowly burns in hatred, but I also want Cena to win because I think he could do it in extremely brutal fashion. I mean, this is an ambulance match. Cena could easily just beat the holy hell out of Kane and put him in the ambulance. I run him over with the ambulance. Either will work. But, I see this match going in favor of Kane. Kane is going to use Eve or Ryder to get the upper hand on Cena. Victory: Kane.

SmackDown! Elimination Chamber Match

SANTINO MARELLA WINS! Yeah, right. That would never happen. Well, it could, but it’s highly improbable. No, this one is a hard one to call. There are some serious contenders in this match. Let’s start with Santino. We know he’s not going to win. It just wouldn’t make sense. Then you have Kahli. He just came back, but I don’t think they’re ready to put the title back on him. There are fans that aren’t going to be as familiar with him as others. I know he hasn’t been gone that long, but that’s still a viable excuse. He hasn’t been back long enough to have the title put on him. I would love to see Cody Rhodes win the title, I really would. But it’s another improbable winner. I’m sure the he would have lost the IC title before he gets his world title run. Or he could pull a Warrior. That would be cool. But I don’t think WWE is ready to do that with Rhodes. Barrett could win this. I see him as one of the more believable winners. He’s been on his little barrage and impressing people, but at the same time, I don’t think he’s quite in position to take the title. There’s a little more to happen between him and Orton. Show is the only one I could see winning this 100% besides Bryan. It could really go either way. And there isn’t really a way for Bryan to run away from this match. The way I think it’ll go down is that Bryan gets the last entrance and gets a win over a Big Show who is worn down from being one of the first two in the match. Booker T’s boy D-Bryan gets the win.

RAW Elimination Chamber Match

Oh, now this one is harder to take a guess at. Kofi, I think, can be written off as not winning. He’s been one of those guys that’s a filler in main event matches like this. I think we can all agree he wont get the win. R-Truth is another guy who just isn’t at the point that he would get the title reign. Miz could easily get it. But I don’t know how they feel about him. He seems to have been getting the shaft since he lost the world title. He’s a contender, but I don’t think he gets the win. Dolph would be my third choice. He’s been doing damn good, but he’s still not quite at the point he should be before he gets his title run. I don’t know what’s really missing. I think he needs a few more high profile wins before he can get the title reign. Now, it’s down to Jericho and Punk. Who will get it? My money is on Punk for the simple reason that now they have a good long time to build them up to their WrestleMania match. So, Punk retains.

And that’s it for me this week. A normal sign off like last time. If you miss the party hard gifs, let me know. I’ll find new ones to throw in. Until next week, do whatever it is you do.