wrestling / Columns
High Road/Low Road 03.09.07: Vince’s Representative vs. Trump’s Representative
Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road! A brief explanation of the column: Uncle Trunx takes the Low Road (negative view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related “stuff” while Sat takes the High Road (positive view).
The Results for Turning AJ Styles Heel:
High Road: 65%
Low Road: 23%
Both Roads: 11%
E-Mails:
These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.
Adam Radomske Writes:
Another 50/50 one. AJ delivers much better promos as a heel, and yes a wrestler does have to deliver a good promo. But his moveset is limited. If he uses his trademark moves he will get cheers and be a face. And if he can’t do his amazing feats of athleticism he is just another blah wrestler.
Sat: That is one of the problem with AJ Styles as a heel. Once he hits an amazing move, the fans start to cheer him. Still, I like him better as a heel because it is something new.
Uncle Trunx:
I fail to see how taking away the one thing the guy is famous for and good at can ever be a good idea. Cutting all his flashy moves out in exchange for slightly better promos is not a good exchange from my point of view.
Leif Simpson Writes:
I’m going to have to go low road on this one. Why is it that Russo thinks that AJ needs to be heel? He’s done it before and now right after he (Russo) comes back to TNA AJ is turned heel again. It wouldn’t bother me as much if there was some build towards it but it just seems to have come out of nowhere. Sure he’s had some decent promos as of late which is great if it didn’t mean that he’d have to change his style in the ring. Also, I don’t think that he’s better off as a heel just because of all of the other baby faces occupying the top spots that you mentioned (Sting, Angle & Samoa Joe) because he’s still not necessarily the top heel with Christian, Steiner & Abyss as the top heels currently. Where Jarrett and Christopher Daniels end up is anybody’s guess but I think that Rhino (or even Ron Killings) would have been a better choice for a heel turn.
Sat: Damn, I think I forget Abyss last week as a heel. Oh well. The turn did come out of nowhere and it probably would have worked better had there been some build towards it. I also mentioned that TNA has too many top baby faces. Also, I have no idea where Jarrett and Daniels are going. Daniels seems to be stuck in a limbo right now. One thing that I can guarantee is that Jarrett will definitely end up on TV when he comes back.
Uncle Trunx: I agree with Leif. It’s crash booking which offers little benefit to those affected but gives a quick and easy pop. It seems that Russo has some bizarre compulsion to turn every wrestler on the roster at least once a day, twice on Tuesdays. Some are best left where they are!
Reichou Shinsake Writes:
I have to support the AJ turn, although I agree with some of the Low Road points and initially scratched my head when it happened.
In TNA’s earliest days, AJ and Jerry Lynn never saw eye-to-eye. AJ was a talented prick back then when he and Lynn split, but after the fans fell in love with his athleticism and he turned face, TNA realized his mic skills were sub par and let him rely on his move set to make him a cornerstone of the company. For all the fans would have known, he might still have felt the same way about being superior to everyone else (i.e. Daniels and Joe), but just not have been as vocal about it. I’ll admit to having missed a few episodes of iMPACT, but other than during the feud with AMW, did he really ever act truly heroic as a face character? The reason his face character got stale is because it always WAS stale. He was a great wrestler who didn’t really exhibit much personality. But the truth is, he is an amazing
(and still young) wrestler – why wouldn’t his character acknowledge and embrace that?Maybe the reason his turn seemed so contrived is because it involved a guy who seemingly had nothing to do with AJ before. The leading reason for a conflict of any type is having something in common. What common interests/goals/relationships did AJ and Rhino ever have before? Anyway, from a fan perspective, I do look forward to the possibilities of heel AJ getting some new matchups. If he stayed face forever, he’d end up in a Rey Mysterio-esque “underdog” role facing TNA heels who keep getting bigger and bigger. At least now he can use the “smaller guy cheating to win” technique for a while.
Sat: The turn had its problems, but I think that he needed to turn heel. His promo a few weeks back was great and that really helped his character. The heel turn has really started to show is personality. Some of these matches that AJ Styles will have will definitely be great. The only thing that can ruin this is a face turn out of nowhere.
Uncle Trunx: I think it was Michael Hayes who said that heels have to believe in what they do, so that they can seem believable. While he’s cut a few good promos, I’m not convinced by AJ as a heel, and I do have to wonder if this is the reason; crash booking and a lack of believability in the storylines and actions he’s given mean he just doesn’t seem believable. That’s not to take anything away from his skills, it’s more about the booking.
RocafellaKille Writes:
I’m taking the Low Road here, forget the heel turn was not even paid attention too, it hurts TNA cause again your pushing one of your stars off the Map asking him to take a lesser roll So you can Promote an all ex-WWE main event, Angle Vs Christian, They have AJ as Mid-carder when the X Division is nothing more but comedy skits, and NWA Title picture is Joe, Angle, Cage, Steiner and Tomko??? Abyss was the champ before Cage??? AJ could have easily taken somebody’s spot, but the heel turn was the main focus that Russo wanted to pull off, Russo always wanted to turn AJ heel cause he tried before when he was in the company trying to make AJ the heel world Champion but his skills was dare I say “Phenomenal” that the fans still cheered, so now take away AJ’s Signature moves, he is just so Idiot with mic who is getting chased around and his ass kicked every week.
Sat: I think I see your point because AJ Styles is currently feuding with an ex WWE mid carder. But, I do believe that he will get a run as champion. I hope that he does beat Kurt Angle for the title because that would end your concern. Excellent point.
AJ Styles has been taking a beating, but he did beat Rhino at Against All Odds and he did walk away from the Last Man Standing Match (which was a great heel move).
Uncle Trunx: I don’t see him getting the big belt. He’d need to get ahead of too many people. Pushing Tomko ahead of him shows exactly where he is in the great scheme of things.
John Bryant Writes:
Hey I go High Road on the AJ Heel turn. I mean I honestly thought it’d be too difficult to turn AJ heel because of his immense Fan base but they’ve pulled it off excellently. Anyway I had a few matches for you guys to evaluate. 3 actually. Gregory Helms vs. Alex Shelley, Eddy Guerrero vs. Christopher Daniels and Petey Williams vs. Owen Hart
Sat: Helms and Shelley is probably the worst match of this batch, but it can still be decent. The other two look great as well, but I would take Guerrero/Daniels over Williams/Hart.
Uncle Trunx: Helms vs Shelley could be decent if they had a build which made me care, Guerrero vs Daniels would be worth the price of admission on it’s own and Williams vs Hart might depend on whether Williams brought his A game or not. I think for Owen, he would so it would also be a great match.
This week’s High Road/Low Road featuring…
High Road:
The good thing about this match is that the non wrestlers will not be wrestling and the wrestlers will be wrestling. Usually, Vince McMahon would decide to get in the ring and take a beating. That really isn’t the best way to use Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon is at his best when he is outside of the ring when he has an associate. Bobby Lashley was a perfect choice for Donald Trump because Trump can do the talking and Lashley can do the beating. The main reason that I like this match is that it will be featuring two full time wrestlers instead of two non wrestlers.
Low Road:
This match is an awful sideshow. Where will the attention be? I’ll tell you where it’ll be, as the buildup shows quite clearly; it’ll be on McMahon and Trump. The ludicrous head shave angle further takes away the emphasis on the in ring action and places it on the men outside. When the ECW “world” champion is not defending his belt but is a sideshow to an idiotic feud between too men with too much money, it shows where actual wrestling is on the priority list.
High Road:
This match is one of the main events at WrestleMania and I would go as far and say that this is the top match. The reason that I have for saying this is that this match is involved on all three shows. Let take a look at one week. On RAW, Donald Trump announces Bobby Lashley as his representative. On ECW, Vince McMahon adds a stipulation saying that Lashley must beat Hardcore Holly in five minutes. This makes life difficult for Bobby Lashley. On SmackDown, Vince tries to buy off Lashley and when Lashley refuses, McMahon add him into another difficult match with Mr. Kennedy being able to cheat and Lashley being forced to play by the rules. The other main events aren’t getting this much attention and that’s why I think that this is the top match at WrestleMania.
Low Road:
That it is even possible to make any sort of case for this being the main event of the show surely shows how horribly horribly wrong priorities are. We have an absolute legend in the Undertaker putting his streak up against Batista’s world championship, and is that he match which gets most attention? How about the awesome HBK vs the women and children’s champ, John Cena, in the ultimate battle of split crowd loyalties? No, these potentially great clashes take a back seat to Vince’s ego running wild. The only thing he could’ve done worse is booked his Vince’s Ego vs Vince’s Ass. That’s probably being saved up as the main event of WrestleMania XXV.
High Road:
I have no problem with Stone Cold Steve Austin being the referee for this because it will serve a few purposes. First, it will allow Austin to promote his movie. Second, it brings Austin back after a year off (the last time being to induct Bret Hart). The most important reason is that it can help to draw some of the older fans back to the WWE. All of these older fans probably loved the Austin/McMahon feud and will probably tune in to see this. Hopefully, some of these fans will decide to stick around after this match. Also, I see Austin being an impartial referee. I see Austin calling it right down the middle, giving a stunner to Vince after the match, and helping Lashley and Trump shave McMahon’s head. Austin was also the referee during the Lesnar/Goldberg match and he did a good job there.
Low Road:
So it’s a good thing that a Wrestlemania match gets hijacked so Austin can promote his movie? This is the biggest event of the year for wrestling, and it’s supposed to be good that part of it gets turned into a commercial for an unrelated film? Why not go one step further, and make Lashley have “Snickers” or “Roly Poly Go Karts” or whoever the sponsor is tattooed on his face? Also, Austin as the referee backs up my earlier point about how little the wrestling matters: The focus will be further drawn away from the match and more onto Austin. Do you remember who was getting all the crowd attention during Lesnar vs Goldberg? It wasn’t either of the men contesting the match. The same will be the case here, with the added distraction of Vince’s Ass and Trump.
High Road:
The ECW title is going to be showcased in one of the main matches at WrestleMania. Granted, it isn’t on the line, but it is still the ECW champion, Bobby Lashley. Also, some of you are probably thinking that the ECW title should be defended at WrestleMania because it could be the only appearance for ECW at WrestleMania. I think it is better off for the ECW champion to be involved in one of the main events at WrestleMania than defending the title against a WWE midcarder.
Low Road:
Here’s something which might be better still; actually building to a decent ECW title match against an ECW wrestler people care about. Two leap to mind; RVD and CM Punk. However, they have more important things to do than wrestling for an alleged “world championship”; they have to take part in an 8 man tag, while the ECW champ doesn’t defend his belt, he defends the hair of Donald Trump. The fact that I had to type that makes me feel both sad and angry about how ECW is treated and about how little value is placed on wrestling.
High Road:
This is one of the best stipulations in a long time. This stipulation is going to ruin either Donald Trump’s or Vince McMahon’s hair and we all know how much both of these billionaires think about their hair. This stipulation also works to draw in some good publicity for WrestleMania. Currently, there has been some publicity, but I expect it to be very high the night before and the night after WrestleMania. This stipulation has the wrestling fans interested and it can potentially draw in a few new fans.
Low Road:
Oh joy, we get to care about the hair of a billionaire. I’d rather care about the ECW title through a well built feud or a properly promoted title match rather than Ego vs Trump drawing all the headlines.
High Road:
This main event is also interesting to me because two new guys are going to be involved in the main event. Usually, it takes about two years for somebody to get pushed into a main event slot at WrestleMania. But, Lashley and Umaga are both new to WrestleMania. This will be Bobby Lashley’s second WrestleMania match and this will be Umaga’s first match. I think that it is great that they are putting newer guys into the main event slot because both guys have shown that they are deserving of this opportunity. Last year, we use two non wrestlers involved in to the top matches (Mick Foley and Vince McMahon). This year, we will be seeing two new guys in the top match at WrestleMania.
Low Road:
That there is even a hint, even a suggestion that this is the top match on the card makes me throw up a little into my mouth. Lashley and Umaga are not being promoted into the top match. They are being used as sideshow entertainment and will take a back seat to Vince, Trump and Austin. That the ECW title is ignored to make room for this debacle makes the whole thing so much worse. This match shows in a nutshell exactly what is wrong with WWE these days.
Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?
High Road/Low Road Plugs
We are taking the high road on these articles so you should read them…
Andy Clark’s The Shimmy
Ari Berenstein’s Column of Honor
Bayani Domingo’s Truth B Told
Daniel Wilcox’s Schmozzes and Screwjobs
J.D. Dunn’s Against All Odds Breakdown
Jordan Linkous’ WWE vs. TNA
Julian Williams The Top Ten
Larry Csonka’s 3R’s
Michael Weyer’s Shining the Spotlight.
O’Dog’s The Goodness
Prag-Thomlison’s Hidden Highlights
Ron Gamble’s Just S’pose
Ronny Sarnecky’s The Piledriver Report
Samuel Berman’s The Independent Mid Card & The Box in the Attic
Sean, David & Alex’s The Triple Threat
Sforcina-Marsico’s The Fink’s Payload
Steve Cook’s Ask 411
Stuart Carapola’s Friendly Competition & That Was Then
Theo Fraser’s ROH Fifth Year Festival Adventure
Zac Calhoun’s The Ripple Effect
There are other articles that we didn’t list, so check them out as well.
E-mail us your reasons for taking the High Road or the Low Road and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road at [email protected]. Your reply will be included in next week’s column.
