The Wrestling Guide 9.15.07: The Annual Edition

Before I go on, I’m Scott Rutherford, former full time writer and current full time hanger-on at 411 these days. As you have guessed, Meehan has moved to Fridays and for the next two Saturday’s you have a couple of fill-ins until the permanent guy becomes enshrined to greatness. Your loss is my gain.

Off the beat on track here, my girlfriend told me about this site here. My fucking lord! This is all legit and if someone can tell me how this is legal I would love to know. Its work safe but not in good taste so be warned.

Anyway, time to get moving. Here’s the Saturday news….

ESPN.com has another wrestling-related story up today about Lex Luger. In the article, Luger says he now has to walk with the aid of a cane and said that if it wasn’t for his naturally fast metabolism, he would have overdosed several times by now. He also said that Vince McMahon sells bigger-than-life, chemically enhanced heroes and villains.

Anyone else find it amusing that LUX LUGER is jumping on this bandwagon. Irony just doesn’t begin to tell this story since he redefined what being jacked up meant. Seriously, he made The Ultimate Warrior look like a skinny runt. Whatever, this guy deserves everything he gets in the long run.

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Matt “Rosey” Anaoia and Afa Jr. worked as a tag team at the OVW show last night. They used the name “The Sons of Samoa.

The world needs another Samoan tag team….seriously….I mean that. Hopefully they don’t go the full Umaga route and portray them as savages but as Islander ass kickers. Of course, they could always just not mention the fact they are Samoan and just market them as ass kickers. Bold, but I think it could work.

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Word is that one of the main reasons Triple H and Shawn Michaels went to OVW last week was to evaluate the job Al Snow is doing as trainer. WWE wanted more opinions and thus sent HBK and Triple H. Snow was obviously not happy about the situation.
PWInsider.com

You know what, fuck Al Snow. He runs the main WWE farm system, which while an important job isn’t say…head writer of Smackdown. Like everyone else he should have the rule run over him and you know what, if he’s doing his job and doing it well he hasn’t got anything to worry about. Plus, HHH’s little finger>Al Snows whole career. Just saying.

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Bill Goldberg appeared on 105.3FM in Texas today. In the interview, he said that “TNA blows” and that they don’t deserve to have him on their program. He also said WWE is no longer an option for him because he wouldn’t want to put another penny in Vince McMahon’s pocket. He also talks about deaths in wrestling and more. The full audio interview is available

Has this guy got an ego or what! TNA don’t deserve him? Dude, if Kurt Angle couldn’t bump buyrates and rating you, my clueless one, wouldn’t have a fucking chance. As for putting money in Vince’s pocket….I wouldn’t say too much because you didn’t do shit in the WWE during your run and only looked out for yourself. You say Vince didn’t know how to use you, well if you could work a match for longer than 5 minutes you may have been used better. You say that your character needed to just run over everyone…..guess what, Vince wasn’t going to have you go hard over his entire roster and then walk out a year later. Grown a brain.

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SmackDown – The Good & The Bad

For those that have never read me before, I don’t do recaps well so I look at a match or a skit and break it down into what I liked and I didn’t like.

Michelle McCool vs. Victoria – No Result
The Good: Holy Shit! That was quite the reaction for Chuck Palumbo. As for the match itself, Victoria – it’s all you need to know. If they hadn’t jobbed her so badly to Trish and every other diva after…such a waste, because her girl gone crazy persona is really cool. Actually to give McCool her due, she was game and even though the match went only a couple of minutes, they had the crowd interested until the guys got involved. Palumbo for his part looks pretty good and has the crowd interested. Let’s see how the impending push goes.
The Bad:Jus too short and it probably would have been better served to have a mixed tag match since the goal was to get Palumbo and Kenny Dykstra involved. But other than that…..can’t really complain.

Commercial break

Palumbo & McCool Def Victoria & Dykstra
The Good: Forward planning for a show! While no workrate machine Palumbo looks the real deal in there these days because he’s learnt the rules that HBK and The Rock implemented so well, find a group of things you do really well and don’t deviate because a good worker can make a good match under any circumstances with that move set. Some of the exchanges between the men and Kenny’s selling actually makes me want to see a match between the two. Give them something more to fight over than a couple of chicks and it’ll be golden.
The Bad: Can someone please hire a full time trainer for the woman again? Some of McCool’s work looked really bad once she got tired….and jobbing Victoria again!!!! Jesus, she’s the one that should be carrying the division, oh wait, she already does. Anyway, wrong people went over in the end if they were looking to extend this whole rivalry.

Teddy Long’s Bachelor Party
The Good: Fucking BUTCH REED sighting makes this segment all worthwhile and fuck me, doesn’t Teddy’s son look the spitting image. Fun nothing segment made all the better because JBL sold DOOM BACK TOGETHER!
The Bad: You’re kidding me right? While I suspect this segment will go all night, right now it’s all-good.

Mark Henry Promo
The Good: As I said last year, Henry has really worked at creating a interesting character and I thought he was the best thing about SD last year before he got injured and right now he’s climbing back to that place. It’s GREAT to see someone who isn’t afraid of The Undertaker and actually no sells the mystical bullshit
The Bad: UT must be the only dude in wrestling that sells PPV matches by actually not being on TV. Sure the vignettes are cool but they are done all the time. Having him come through the bottom of the ring and surprise Henry would have been different and totally in character. As it stands, it’s more of the same.

DIVA Search
Guess what I think about this?

Shannon Moore Def Jamie Noble
The Good: Not much really, Moore has zero credibility amongst the fans and Noble has been the bitch of a midget. He needs to channel the redneck character again because that was all levels of awesome. I’ll give Moore a couple points for the suicide dive highspot but sadly that’s all the good I can think off because Moore getting the win here was ALL SORTS OF WRONG.
The Bad: Everything else. This whole match was set up for the Hornswoggle interference that never happened. If you’re going to have a leprechaun who’s whole stick is random interference NOT be involved….it just makes no sense. I’ve already mention what I think about the result….NOT GOOD.

Krystal Hen’s Party
The complete opposite of Teddy’s skit.

Domino Def. MVPw/ Matt Hardy
The Good: MVP and Hardy have created a great chemistry together and I for one like this tag team deal they have because it plays into the rivalry of who’s the better man perfectly. It means they don’t have to job MVP just yet and not have to job Hardy who’s been the real MVP of SD for a good 6 weeks now. The match itself was okay and while I have been slow to get into the Cult of MVP, I do like the progress he has made and he is starting to look the real deal. Matt Hardy for his part is really starting to channel HBK because he carried this match and he wasn’t even wrestling.
The Bad: The fluke win is over done. The problem here is that really you can’t have MVP get beaten because you want him to look strong and to job out Domino only further weakens the tag scene (even if it is a singles match). Maybe a match again Mark Henry would have been a better option because getting beaten by him because of Matt Hardy shenanigans is a lot better than a fluke win to a tag team jobber.

Finaly Def. Kane
The Good: It was great to see Finlay get to stretch out and do an intense brawl that he is known for. I also liked how this wasn’t an excuse to have a garbage brawl with plunder aplenty. It was two veterans who know how to work a match using intensity and the art of working the crowd to create something good. I mean, the match itself would be *** at most based on actual wrestling but these two had me and the crowd interested. They should show this match to all the guys in the WWE farm system and have them take detailed notes. Shit, even the right guy went over and kudos for Finlay going over clean.
The Bad: Not much as you can tell. I actually wished they were given a little longer and it was on PPV so some more intense violence could have occurred but for the most part, this was great stuff.

Batista Def. The Great Kahli
The Good: Dave jobs gets murdered and if the WWE has any balls they job him clean in the same way on Sunday at Unforgiven. The match itself was short and sloppy but it was intense and the crowd was really into it. They’ve set up the SD main event really well and if Kahli has any hope as a long term champ he needs the clean win this weekend and NOT over Rey Rey. This achieved its purpose…buy the PPV
The Bad: The lame DQ ending. Jesus, Dave is bulletproof over and getting his ass kicked would not have hurt. You notice the Cena gets jobbed to create interest so why not Dave? It was the only blight on the main event hard sell because they lost a chance to really establish Kahli as a legit main eventer.

Overall: Poor show overall. They didn’t really sell the PPV beyond the main event but RAW seems to be dominating this one as per normal. The Kane /Finlay match is really worth your time so if you can find it, watch it but you aren’t missing much else.

I’m a Wrestling Fan And Proud – Why I Support The WWE, Vince McMahon And Why I Don’t Think Chris Benoit Is A Bad Man

It’s been interesting times in wrestling circles since Chris Benoit made the decision to end his life and murder his wife and youngest son before hand. That one foul act has turned wrestling on its ear like no other moment. The US federal government has made it a cause dejour to prove the WWE is responsible for wrestler deaths, almost every wrestler is sweating bullets in fear of their name being mentioned in the same breath as “steroids” which could spell career oblivion and fans are leaving with a bad taste in their mouths.

While many internet column inches have been devoted to these topics I have sat back and read the changing tide of opinions depending on which way the wind is blowing and become disgusted at how quickly people have dropped their support of certain wrestlers and wrestling in general. All I can say is that those people are marks, easily lead like sheep who parrot the opinions of more well know wrestling “personalities” without trying to form anything resembling a singular and personal opinion for fear of shaking tree’s that will cause potential damage to their “reputations”. I’m not naming names but with my yearly wrestling column I’m going to lay out some potential home truths about some certain things and maybe show people that thinking for ones self aren’t such a bad thing. As you can tell by the title, I’m going to split this into two parts….

Why I Don’t Think Chris Benoit Is A Bad Man

I am a proud Chris Benoit fan and not afraid to say it. The way people judged him on biased news reports and general mass hysteria was nothing short of sickening. Now don’t get me wrong, the man committed a truly heinous act for which there is no excuse, no matter what reason there is or will be brought to light in the future, the only person who needs the finger of blame pointed at is Benoit himself and I believe if he were able to tell us from beyond the grave, he would take full responsibility for his actions.

While new information has come to light about his state of mind and the fact he was functioning in society on a normal level with what basically amounts as serious brain damage, it’s been interesting to see the subtle change in the posture when it comes to Benoit.

For me, I was a huge fan of his work in the ring and respected the way he went about his business. Back when I was a fully fledged and proud mark I just knew he was good. I had no idea what actually made a wrestler good and how their primary goal was to create emotional investment in what is a staged athletic encounter that’s designed to entertain the masses. It was the look, the intensity and the way he handled his business that most casual fans could tell he was just good. His win at WrestleMania 20 and the subsequent six month title reign was just reward for hard work and dedication in a career that saw him put the sport and his craft above being the top guy or champion on paper.

His actions this past June sickened me and I literally was walking around in a daze for hours trying to comprehend just what had happened. I wasn’t in denial, I knew this was an animal act and no excuse will ever do but to define him by those three days is to deny the full story and maybe help other people realize that they may be going through similar dark times and stop themselves from trying to seek help.

Firstly I want to lay out a few fact or what pass as facts in wrestling these days….

Chris Benoit for all but three days of his life was a good and sometimes great man. Almost everyone to a person has said just how kind and decent he was and couldn’t do enough for you if you were in trouble. He was the compass or true north other used to judge themselves by and in an industry full of egos scrambling to see just who is the “best”, most said Benoit was the man. His ex wife, whom he left leaving her with two kids, has said he was one of the best men she had ever known. This was one of the few people in this world who really had an axe to grind with Chris but she stood up and supported him after his terrible act.

Chris Benoit himself was a lost man. Working in an industry where you spend more time with your fellow wrestlers than your own family, he often referred to Dean Malenko and the late Eddie Guerrero as his “road wives”. While most of us have our own partners and children to measure ourselves to, he used Eddie and once Eddie left us, he was alone and didn’t have anything to steady himself with. Sure he had other friends but sometime being a man’s man means you have trouble asking for help when you really need it. By the sounds he tried to find some answers and help in the bible and God but that seemed to only cloud his issues. With the recent finding he had what amounts to brain damage causing depression, paranoia and other odd behavior he was an accident waiting to happen and unfortunately he killed two innocent people.

What does this all mean? Benoit was a man in trouble and no one really saw the signs and certainly NO ONE predicted he would commit the acts he did. Hands up anyone who thinks Vince, the rest of the WWE and Benoit’s family and friends had any idea that Chris was going to do this and they just ignored it? Basic common sense says no one saw this coming and if Chris was a violent man or his private life was punctuated with violent acts, we’d have proof of it. The OJ Simpson murders showed that. When people looked a little harder at his life they saw a history of domestic violence and a man on the edge. So far we only have one withdrawn filing for divorce with vague references to abuse but nothing say he beat her. Remember, abuse can take several different forms.

So, I’m a proud fan of Chris Benoit. Saddened that a man who was truly decent descended into madness and ruined many lives and left even more unanswered questions that he felt so alone he couldn’t reach for help that could have been easily provided. I admire the Benoit family for starting the new foundation for further research into brain injuries and no shying away from the acts of their son and in their own stoic way, showing him their love and support even after he did what he did. That is true loyalty.

Why I Support The WWE And Vince McMahon

Vince often gets harangued for his love of big men and his willingness to push them ahead of smaller, more deserving wrestlers. My take? Guilty as charged but guess what? You have just judged a man for perpetuating the basic premise that wrestling has always been built on….giant larger than life fighters beating each other until they can’t answer a three count. Almost every major wrestling attraction in its history was about this very thing and usually the bigger and nastier they are the more money they could make you, especially if you had a popular babyface champ to play them off.

Vince, and his love of big men, is sticking to what he knows best. There’s no crime in that. Sure, it’s probably an outdated notion considering how tastes have changed in wrestling in the past 20 years but it’s hard to deny a man who knows what he’s doing and is a self made billionaire because he followed his instincts.

I’m a realist, I know while he has never openly told wrestlers to improve their physiques by certain means, he certainly has never said they shouldn’t and often made it easy for men under his employ to secure what they needed. Now here’s the thing, while steroids are the buzz word these days and if you believed most “informed” pundits you would think it’s a new thing but as long as steroids have been available, wrestlers have been using them to help them become larger than life.

I’m not going to go in depth on research but the existence of steroids in their natural form has been reported for over a 100 years and synthesis of these for not much less. Is anyone naive enough to believe that steroid use only came into wrestling with Vince Jr’s hard-on for muscle men? If you are, I have a couple of nice bridges in New York I want to sell you. Steroids are as much a part of the fabric of wrestling as crummy travel partners and bomb scars at ill-promoted indy cards. To deny this is to deny wrestling its history.

But why the sudden rash of wrestler deaths? The big difference of the last 20 years and the period before it is the so-called recreational drug scene that exploded in the 80’s. Designer drugs came into vogue on top of the usually drinking, hard drug use and general partying. Couple that with wrestling been pulled out of the dark ages and made into an industry, the money in certain major feds was huge and the men involved spent it after years of toiling in anonymity on making themselves feel good.

It’s no surprise that men who worked for Vince in the 80’s and 90’s are dying early in life these days. Why? Because every major wrestling talent in that period except for Sting has had a run in the WWF. So when a one dies he’s going to be labeled an “ex-WWF wrestler” but as with most things the picture is broader than you think it is.

Unlike today when wrestlers with nothing but a couple years of ring experience are signed to developmental deals and put in the WWE farm system, guys would spend almost a decade working their asses off in the territories just to get a chance at the spotlight before the first boom. Before Vince’s Senior and Junior knew who they were, they were experienced pro’s and guess what, probably well versed in certain chemical substances and their magical enhancement abilities. There’s an oft told story of Davey Boy Smith coming to Stampede and asking about steroids which prompted Dynamite Kid to inject milk into his backside as a rib. Funny how one of those men is dead and steroids maybe playing role in it, even funnier that he started juicing YEARS before even working a match in the USA let alone a WWF ring.

So let me ask this, where does personal responsibility come into this? Wrestling is a sport no doubt but it’s not true athletic competition, so it’s not subject to the same control true competitive sport are and should be. If a wrestler wants to add 20 pounds of muscle and uses steroids to achieve that, he knows exactly what he’s doing and what the consequences are. He/she/they are making an INFORMED decision to dabble in substances that can cause death. To pin there actions on Vince and the WWE is fucking insane.

People talk about the industry that needs cleaning up but don’t sit there and say this why most pro athletes and their sports are rife with drug cheats because the only difference here is that it’s the worst kept secret that wrestlers are on the gas. Take TNA and their recent firing of Andrew “Test” Martin for attitude and being “too” jacked. I’ll cop the attitude rap but don’t sit there and lay drugs on the table when you have fucking SCOTT STEINER on your books.

If the government and the internet/media lynch mobs want to cause real change, then how about cleaning up the body building industry! Wrestler steroid use begins in the gym often many years before they step in a wrestling ring to train and learn. The culture of bigger is better is practically gospel with body builders and finding a serious body builder who hasn’t juiced previously would be harder than trying to do the same in wrestling. Take that attitude into a wrestling context and watch it grow.

Yes, far too many men who have died too young have been steroid users but a large chunk of them died of SOMETHING ELSE. Hennig, Spicoli, Duncum, Crash, Sherri, most probably Kronos and a lot of speculation about Davey Boy, all went because of drug overdoses. Earthquake, Missing Link and Andre were natural causes. Owen we all know about and Chris Candido had complications from surgery. Renegade, Awesome and Benoit took their own lives. Those are all FACT. Guys like Bam Bam, Yokozuna, Bossman were all overweight when wrestling and for guys in their mid-40’s who are overweight and very active like they were are in a HIGH RISK group for heart attacks. Bad News was nearly 64 when he passed which isn’t many years below the average life expectancy of a normal man. All the Von Erich boys died of either drug overdoses or suicide most probably cause by the pressures brought on by their legend father Fritz and the expectations they carried into the professional wrestling industry.

What also isn’t talked about is just how much a career as a pro wrestler effects the body. How many wrestlers do you see out there who don’t carry some affliction? Most end up with bad arthritis and even worse knees, cauliflower ears, bad necks and backs and that’s just the obvious stuff. A guy like Hawk was a HARD living human being. A fighter who never shied away from drugs or alcohol, he caused massive amounts of damage too himself and with the influence of steroids, which may have hastened his passing somewhat by only by a handful of years. Between the bumping, the partying and the ‘roids he body had to give. Guys like Hercules, Eddie Guerrero, Brian Pillman, Davey Boy and most of the rest sit in this group as well.

I guess what’s also annoying is guys like Dave Meltzer and the ex-wrestling vultures that have come out swinging for the fences hoping to score a lucky strike on Vince. Gee, I wonder what Mark Mero would have against Vince McMahon? Debra McMichaels….jesus where do I begin. She picked NOW to make a stand against violence inflicted on wrestling wives and the WWE covering up such acts by Steve Austin from becoming public?

Firstly, I wouldn’t call a high speed pursuit through downtown San Antonio of a drunk Steve Austin as being exactly under the radar. Plus, this wasn’t some anonymous woman with a John Doe husband, this was the most popular wrestler in history and his high profile wife. She comes out publicly right at the start and says Austin beat her and the level of attention and the celebrity involved would have protected her. Maybe if she didn’t sit on her hands for over THREE FUCKING YEARS then a woman like Nancy Sullivan may have followed her lead.

Meltzer’s stance is most baffling. Here is a guy that made a career out of getting dirt from backstage and putting out in public view. Funny how a man so in tune with behind the scenes dealings has keep his opinion of wrestling and the need for change so quite for so long when things like drugs and steroid use is a rampant as he has implied. Pretty much a case of a day late and a dollar short if you ask me. Like Debra, if his conscious was that loaded with negative thoughts and feelings, maybe standing up and being counted WHEN IT WOULD HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE would have been more appropriate.

Guys like Bret Hart, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle have come out and flat out said Vince and the culture of the WWE isn’t to blame. Bret and Kurt are NOT the type of guys that would protect Vince because they don’t need him to make money and have well-publicized beefs with him. Jericho, while he doesn’t have an axe to grind he wouldn’t protect Vince because he’s always been a stand up guy.

As for Vince himself, I’m no fool. He’s a liar and would as sooner stab you in the back as give you a hug if he thought there was good reason but guess what? Name any self made billionaire and head of a corporation that not only turned a tired sport into a global entity but created one of the most profitable trademarks in history that doesn’t play hardball business? People make fun of the XFL but hey, when do you see someone like him put their balls on the line so publicly? Sure he failed but he at least had the guts to try and do it. He has made many people very rich over the years and has never shied away from confronting those who seek to ruin him. I hope he takes this head-on like he did with Bob Costas because a pissed off Vince is what the WWE really needs right now.

So when the witch hunt of the WWE begins in earnest because congress is too afraid to ask the president just why he has lead his country into a war it can’t win, based on information that wasn’t true thus sacrificing over 4000 lives of US troops, just remember this…..Vince didn’t invent the rainy day, he just brought the best umbrella. As the only guy left standing in the wrestling wars he is the only real game left in town and thus the only guy to be in the firing line. So because he was successful and managed to come out on top in his business war he cops the brunt of it all because THERE IS NO ONE ELSE LEFT! Bet I bet Ted Turner is happy he’s out of the wrastlin’ game right about now.

The wash up? Chris Benoit is a murderer and Vince McMahon is a raving egotist who’ll scratch and claw you until he comes out on top. That’s the simple explanation. Benoit was a man who was increasingly growing disturbed and depressed and ended three lives in the most tragic way. Vince isn’t the babysitter of grown men who have done harmful things to themselves long before he even met them. Sure, he can start the process to change the culture of wrestling away from rampant steroid use but the men he employs have to want to stop doing them as well.

Thanks to those who made it to the end of that little rant. I hope it gave some food for thought to some of you but ultimately I hope you have the presence of mind to make your own mind up about both topics I talked about. This time is THE defining moments in wrestling’s history make no mistake. What you really need to do is stand up and be counted as a WRESTLING FAN. Be proud of it, be proud of something that has been with most all of us since we were kids growing up. I have spent the last 24 years being a wrestling fan and I’m not going to stop just because some political pundit hack thinks it’s wrong.

I’m a wrestling fan……….and proud.

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That’s all for this weekend. I think JT is in next Saturday….maybe not. Who cares about JT anyway…..fucking fucker.