The Gimmick does the job

Nick Dinsmore

He said all you need is a gimmick to make it in wrestling and he was proof of that. That is not to say that he could not wrestle, but it was true that it was the gimmick that got him far [or further] in the WWE than he would have probably gotten if he just wrestled under his own name.

After starting in the United States Wrestling Association, Nick Dinsmore soon joined OVW. During his time in OVW he made occasional appearances on WWE television, mostly wrestling as a jobber. He got a proper shot on the full WWE roster on April 5th 2004, when he debuted his 'Eugene' character. He had debuted before as Nick Dinsmore but did not get too much air time. On September 1st 2007 he was released from his contract after he failed a second drug test. 

Since then he has made appearances in Juggalo Championship Wrestling [JCW], Wrestling Fan Xperience in Canada [WFX] and the World Wrestling Council [WWC] in Puerto Rico, among other independent feds. He even made a brief return to the WWE in 2009, only to be released soon after.

He is currently in charge of the beginner's wrestling course in OVW, where he has won the World Heavyweight title 10 times. As well as wrestling in independent feds as Eugene, U-Gene and under his real name.

The art of the 'face' turn

This topic is about the art of the 'face' turn, only, to be quite honest, there is no art. Let's say the art of the 'face' turn is that there is no art to a 'face' turn, if that makes any sense. Oh just ignore the first couple of sentences. Let's start again. A 'heel' turn is an easy move to make in wrestling. All you need is for a beloved baby-face fan favorite to attack some other baby-face fan favorite, side with a 'heel' or just go out to the ring and start bad mouthing the fans. Done and dusted. A 'face' turn would seem to be a little more difficult. Only, it isn't. For some reason it is just as easy to turn a wrestler from 'heel' to 'face,' as it is 'face' to 'heel.' It's not difficult to get people not to like you but one would think that it would be more difficult to get people who did not like you, to start liking you. At least that's what I thought. 

When The Rock made his first face turn back in 1999 [he was a face once before but this was his first turn from heel to face] the fans accepted it. What baffled me was, he didn't need to do much to get the fans on his side. He went out and talked about how he was screwed at Backlash. Then he went on to trash the number one face in the company, Stone Cold Steve Austin, only to call McMahon junior a piece of monkey crap, prompting Shane and the corporation to make their way out, give The Rock a beat down, thus turning him 'face.' 

How about Stone Cold Steve Austin after the Survivor Series PPV that saw the Alliance, with him as their leader, defeated? He attacked Kurt Angle [who turned on him to cost the Alliance the match] on Raw, took his title back, and that's it, he was a 'face.' Jerry Lawler said Kurt Angle deserved more respect from the fans during that segment, I agree [for story line purposes]. People just suddenly forgot that Stone Cold had spent the last few months as the leader of a faction that wanted to kill sports entertainment. It just seemed so odd. It was as if, with the click of a finger, he was a 'face' again, with no real effort put in to it. It just seems too easy. All they do is get to together and say 'okay get him to say this or attack this guy, that'll get the fans cheering again.' Easy as 1, 2, 3.

Similar stuff is going on now. Randy Orton is a 'face,' yet whenever he climbs that turnbuckle he just seems to arrogant and 'heelish.' Perhaps that's why people say he works best as a heel. No matter what he does, he just seems so slimy and easy not to like. How about The Miz? He is supposed to be a 'face' as well, yet he too has not done anything to merit being liked yet. I'm not sure if the wrestling fans at the shows are to blame. Why do they go from booing a guy to cheering him, just like that? Why don't they remember all the bad stuff the heels have done. At least an apology from the 'heel' for their previous actions would be nice. Then again, this is wrestling, who needs logic right? If a 'heel' gets cheered just like that then so be it, job done.

Last week's Smackdown

I've made a decision. I am not going to waste my time and energy giving my ideas of how the WWE should go about their business. Truth is, a company was created and it was created in order to make money. Have they made lots of money? Yes they have. Do some of their shows suck? Yes they do, but, so what, they still make money and that's what matters most to them. Every time the ratings go down drastically and/or the company start to lose money, they do something about it [usually bringing in some 'legend' from the past to get old fans watching again. Or bring in a some celebrity to make a new fan base]. Truth is a lot of fans now like to say what the WWE is doing wrong and they like to tell them what they should have done. Sometimes the right answer is crying out to be given. Sometimes you feel like the truth needs to be said, but at the end of the day this is not our company and the fact that we are interested in it does not suddenly give us a right to say what should be happening and who should or should not be getting a push. I mean it's fun to do. I myself like to play the GM. I like wrestling simulators where you take charge of a promotion and do what you want. It's fun, but ultimately, it's meaningless.

Back to the topic of the blog post, and before I begin I would like to try and follow the rules I outlined above. I am not going to give any hints as to what could or should be done, I am simply going to give a review of the show, and since critical reviews are acceptable, this one might [or definitely will] have some criticism in it.

Let me start by shocking you. Smackdown was not bad last week. It wasn't great or anywhere near as good as many Smackdowns I've seen in the past [most of them from a long time ago] but it was watchable and that is a start. Why was it watchable? Because characters who are unwatchable were not a part of the show. Teddy Long is away and as Vince would say, wherever he is, he can stay there. There were no divas on the show either. No segment, no match. Fantastic news. That always wastes air time. There were flaws of course, like the US champion losing a non title match [why?]. The tag champs losing to the World Heavyweight champ in a 2 on 1. Why even make that match? The only way they could save it was if it ended up in a no contest with a Sheamus interference. Then neither of the champs would have to lose. This way, whatever the story behind it [in this case Kane walked off], the tag champs were defeated by one [very big] man. The opening segment was horrible. It's nice to see Cena on Smackdown, even if just to do a segment, but the story line he is involved in is horrible [but I've said that before]. It was nice to see Ryback have a match on Smackdown again too, even if you knew pretty much exactly how the match would go.

Really now, let's face it, it is almost impossible to have a perfect show these days. There are always going at least to be a couple of bouts that you see and feel the endings made no sense. This Smackdown was about as close to decent as I have seen in a while, and that is quite an achievement but the standards of mainstream wrestling these days.
  

Overrated wrestler of the week

Mick Foley

It's not because he's a fat sack of shit or has messy hair. I have nothing against him as a person, it's his reputation. It's simple. He does not deserve it!

Look, I enjoyed his leap off the Cell as much as the next fan, but it was one moment that seemed to define his reputation in the WWE. Again, don't get me wrong, he has had many other great bouts in the WWE and many others in ECW, but that 30 or 40 foot fall off the cell was the moment that made people start saying he was an amazing wrestler and he wasn't! He isn't! If you have the VHS tape of King of the Ring 98, watch that match again, from start to finish. If you don't own it, find it online somewhere and watch it. When you do you'll notice that it wasn't that great a match. It was a stop-start with a few incredible moments in it. Ric Flair was probably a little harsh to call Mick a glorified stuntman [there's a place for Flair in the overrated section waiting], but he certainly is a glorified wrestler. 

Truth is, Mick Foley was never in shape. He was probably in his best shape during his brief return in 2005. I mean, he was not in shape, but it was the best shape I ever saw him in. Kind of like Bradshaw who said he was in the best shape of his life when he swapped his gimmick for JBL. Again, he was not in great shape, but yeah, it probably was the best shape of his life. 

Mick Foley can entertain an arena full of people with his insane backyard wrestling type Hardcore stuff, but [again, to quote Ric Rlair] he could not wrestle a 1 hour Iron Man match with 4 oxygen tanks strapped to his back. A guy who has never got himself in to shape cannot be called a great wrestler. He can be respected for what he has done and for what he has put his own body through. He can be liked for all of his wacky gimmicks, for his persona and for being a nice guy, but there is that line of greatness that I don't think he has crossed or ever will [since he's pretty much retired now, not that he won't ever have a match again]. 

What's the point?

After every negative post I make I think to myself, 'you know what, I shouldn't be so negative, after all, I haven't made a post about TNA in a while so there is no need to be so  blunt in my posts.' Truth is, I just write about the latest stuff going on, and, unfortunately, it is always something stupid. Take TLC, December's PPV. I don't want to ruin anything for you but if you browse the internet a lot to look at wrestling news, you will probably know this anyway, the card is starting to shape up and some matches are, pretty much, known. Big Show will face Sheamus, Cena will face Ziggler and it seems, even though it was not officially announced yet, that CM Punk will defend his WWE championship against Ryback. I am 95% sure of this because apparently local advertisements in the area the PPV is taking place have announced the match as part of the card.

What am I getting at? Simple. What's the point in having a title match when we already know that The Rock will face Punk at the Rumble? Both men have confirmed it. Punk confirmed it recently during a parade while The Rock has made numerous tweets at Punk, ending it with the hash tag 'Royal Rumble.' Now this could all be done just to make the internet smart asses think they know what is going to happen, then suddenly they throw a curve ball and wham! Ryback wins the title at TLC! However, knowing the way the WWE works [like announcing a Wrestlemania main event 1 year early], that have no problems with there being common knowledge that a big match will take place at a big PPV, so this is not likely to be the case. Going on the assumption that Ryback is going to face Punk, it means that [unless he wins of course] they need to find a way to make him lose, again. He lost in October, he failed to win in November and no matter how you sugar coat the way he lost and will lose, if he doesn't win in December, that's 3 PPV's and a big fat 0 in the wins column. Ryback can go on squashing lower or mid carders in the opening match of a show but if he does not get the big wins, he is going to lose momentum. In all honesty it would not surprise me if Ryback's push soon grinds to a halt. The WWE seem to be concentrating more on maintaining CM Punk's push in the build up to his match with The Rock, so if Ryback has to lose to him to keep this up, he is going to. Don't be surprised if next year you don't see much of Ryback, if any of him. 

Where is the best dropkick in the business now?

Hardcore Holly

Bob Holly, better known as Hardore Holly, a name he adopted during his WWE career, began his career in WWO [World Wrestling Organisation]. He continued to wrestle in NWA and Smokey Mountain Wrestling before he briefly worked in the WWE in 1991 as a jobber. He later returned to WWE in 1994 where he later christened himself Hardcore Holly after entering the race for the Hardcore title in 1999 and winning it 6 times. Holly later teamed up with on screen cousin Crash to form the Holly's. Molly 'Holly' later joined them to make it a 3 man team. 

He was involved in an incident while being one of the mentors on Tough Enough III. In one episode he legitimately beat up on of the contestants. This caused a negative reaction and it was surprising that he managed to keep his job, after a number of wrestlers, including the owner's daughter's then partner [now husband] Triple H, said this behaviour was totally unacceptable.

After the brand split Holly was not used as much, constantly being on and off screen, returning for a while, only to later vanish from TV. His big fued was with Brock Lesnar after Lesnar had broken his neck during a match [for real]. It is believed that Hardcore Holly was unhappy having to job to Lesnar, stating he had not 'paid his dues,' so tried to 'sandbag' a powerbomb than ended up with him getting dropped on his neck. He returned a year and a half later to fued with Brock Lesnar for the WWE title that ended with him losing at the Royal Rumble where he tried to 'kayfabe' Lesnar's neck during the match.

Holly was released in January of 2009. Where is he now? Currently working independent circuits where he has also worked in Britain's Varsity Pro Wrestling. He plans to release a book next year entitled 'The Hardcore Truth.'   

Survivor Series aftermath

First a quick look back at how I did with my predictions. 4 out of 6 aint bad, could be better though. I should have remembered that they were giving Dolph a push, I would say that my decision to go for Team Foley had no real logical reasoning behind it, I just went for them since Mick was back and I thought it would make the fans feel good if his team won the match. The other prediction I missed was in a match I care very little about, that would be Kaitlyn v Eve. Again it was just a shot in the dark. I didn't care who won. As for the rest of the card, it went pretty much as I expected. Big Show retained and even though I predicted him to win it, I see his DQ loss being basically the same result. Bottom line is he kept the belt, no matter how. If you want to be picky you could say I missed that one as well, it's up to you.

Just like in October, Punk was expected to win, but the question was, how would he win? How would they make Ryback lose a match but still make him look like a monster, particularly since both matches were no DQ's [both in October and December]? It was intriguing [just a little]. Anyway they went for the old screw job from a 3rd party, twice. How original.

It looks like The Big Show v Sheamus is going to continue in to TLC, since a fued generally tends not to end with a DQ match. They have tried hard to keep Sheamus respectable, meaning even though he lost, he kept his 'heat' by pummeling Big Show after the match.

John Cena looks like he could have a match with Ziggler since I don't see another Punk v Cena match happening. Meanwhile AJ might face Vicky Guerrero [although I would not expect that to happen any earlier than the Royal Rumble or even Wrestlemania].

I'm wondering who Punk is going to face at TLC. I'm worried he might not defend his title since almost nobody with any intelligence seriously believes he is going to lose it before the Royal Rumble anyway. Some think he's going to be fighting Mick Foley, but is Foley in any shape to have a match? If he is, does anyone seriously believe he is going to have a chance to take the title [if it's a title match]? All will be revealed.
   

Another podcast

Same podcast, different name. King of Wrestling podcasts is too egomaniacy [yeah it's a word, check the wrestling dictionary].

Survivor Series predictions

Another year, another Survivor series, but before I begin I would like to say that I am glad they decided to take Ryback and Punk out of the Survivor Series match and dump them in to a triple threat match for the title. Let's face it, Punk's title is the only one with any meaning in the WWE right now, so not having it defended at the PPV would be unwise. They have often only had one World title defended at the Surivor Series PPV, with the other champion being involved in the survivor match. The champions team was often also the one that lost, with the champion being pinned last, thus giving him an opportunity to lose the match but not the title.

On to the predictions

3 Man Band v Tyson Kidd and Gabriel

The 3 Man Band has never caught on with me, while Kidd and Gabriel are rather insignificant right now [like much of the roster I suppose]. It depends on how far WWE intends on taking the 3 Man Band. Do they want to push them and make them significant or are they thinking of breaking them up soon? I don't know, but since the stable is so uninteresting, the WWE will probably push them.

[prediction] 3 Man Band


Eve v Kaitlyn

I have never cared about female fueds in wrestling. I don't mind women in wrestling, them certainly have their part to play, but their fueds never grip. The match might not be that bad in itself [by women's standards] but I don't care who wins. Kaitlyn is getting a mini push now, perhaps? Isn't she? Well she has funny hair, that must mean something, right?

[prediction] Kaitlyn


Antonio Cesaro v R Truth [US Title]

The old 'foreigner holding a US title and not respecting it' is a bit played out [for the record I think Lance Storm did it best in WCW]. It's probably not played out to  the WWE though and it will last a while yet.

[prediction] Antonio Cesaro


Big Show v Sheamus [World Heavyweight title]

It would make no sense for Big Show to lose, not that it means the WWE wouldn't do it, but it would be really stupid. If they want Sheamus to be champion, why break his reign? They would have just had him keep his title. If he loses again though, it does make him look bad, but makes Big Show look great [not literally]. Big Show has never had the World title for very long in the past, perhaps this time he will.

[prediction] Big Show


John Cena v CM Punk[c] v Ryback [WWE title]

All I can say that I am fairly sure about is that Ryback won't win this. Why would he? If he was going to be the champ they would have put the title on him last month. The question now remains, are they sticking to the original planned story of The Rock fighting Punk at the Rumble for the title or have they changed their mind and decided to put the title on John Cena to perhaps have a Cena v Rock Rumble match, then possbly Punk and The Rock at Wrestlemania? If Punk loses, he just misses his 365 days. Perhaps The Rock will interfere and cost him the match, annoying him greatly taht he missed the 1 year milestone. Or not. I have not heard anything about a possible Rock interference at Survivor Series. Was it so well hidden? Not sure. If Punk wins he is probably going to pin Cena, as it would kill Ryback's heat and push completely if he got pinned.

[prediction] CM Punk



Team Foley v Team Ziggler

Well I did say I was glad that Ryback and Punk were taken out of this and put in to a more significant match but it makes this one even less significant. The question is whether Foley going to get back in the ring and wrestle somebody. If not, then this is pointless. If yes, it has some meaning.

[prediction] Team Foley


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Once again more matches might be added like last month, but then again the Survivor Series match does take a while, so they might not. Either way, looking at the undercard, it has no meaning. At least half the card is okay.

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Overrated wrestler of the week

Rob Van Dam

When I first saw Rob Dam Dam wrestle at the Invasion PPV many years ago [that's right I didn't see him earlier as I didn't watch ECW] I was in awe of his capabilities. I went from 'who is this guy' to basically waiting for his appearance every week during the whole Invasion angle. Stone Cold was great, Kurt Angle was great, but RVD was what it was all about back then. I don't think I was the only one either. After his debut he went on to have more matches on TV and the following PPV's. They were all great to watch. He got so popular that he was made part of a triple threat title match at No Mercy just a few months after he had his first match in the company. He lost that triple threat match but continued to have awe inspiring matches, at least when there were Hardcore stipulations.

The problems started when those Hardcore stipulations were taken away. Suddenly more than half of RVD's move set was out of the picture, since a lot of his jaw dropping moves took place out of the ring, on the barrier or among the fans. Now he had to try and have matches where he stayed in the ring. Suddenly his weaknesses were noticeable. That's not to say he went from being great to being bad, but he wasn't as capable in the ring with no weapons, as he was in and out of the ring with weapons. That's why he makes the overrated wrestlers section, not because he's awful [like some of the wrestlers in this section really are] but because he is not quite as great as his reputation suggests that he should be. Paul Heyman even said that when he was in charge of ECW, he took RVD's weaknesses and hid them, accentuating his strengths [that were clearly Hardcore matches]. This means RVD did have weaknesses [since they had to be hidden] and still has them to this day.

Who better than this guy?

Chris Kanyon

[Where are they now?]

This week's 'where are they now' is about former wrestler, Chris Kanyon. He will probably be most remembered for his time in WCW and his stint in the WWE where he debuted during the Invasion angle.

After originally appearing as a jobber in the WWE in 1994, he signed for WCW in 1995 and debuted as Mortis. He was part of the Flock and Jersey triad and went through a Chris 'champagne' Kanyon phase as Mr glitz and glamour. His most memorable fueds were probably with Diamond Dallas Page and his most notable fued with DDP was in 2000 when he would call himself Positively Kanyon, where a blonde wig and name his finisher the 'Kanyon' Cutter, all of these taking a leaf out of DDP's 'play book.'

After the closure of WCW, Kanyon was involved in the Invasion angle. He had enough TV time, getting the US title [although it was handed to him by Booker T who already had the WCW title] and re-packaging himself as the Alliance MVP, but he only wrestled in 1 PPV's during his time there, in a 6 man tag match at Invasion.

After being sidelined with an injury, he made one more appearance in the WWE, being one of the Big Show's supposedly pathetic apology attempts [after Big Show's attack] in the Big Show's fued with the Undertaker. He later wrestled mostly on Velocity for the rest of that year before being released. 

It was a shame for the man who Mike Tenay referred to as the 'Innovator of Offense' to be so underused in WWE. To be honest though, during his time in the WWE, he was often fighting injuries. He retired in 2004 after losing a retirement match to....yep, none other than DDP.

Where is he now? Unfortunately Kanyon committed suicide at the age of 40. His brother found him next to a bottle of antidepressants. He had admitted to being a homosexual some time before that. Whether this had any baring on why he did it, I don't know.  

   

King of Wrestling Podcasts up again

Here is week 4 of the now weekly 'King of Wrestling Podcasts'

[PS] I know it's not really the King of Wrestling Podcasts. It's not really the King of anything.

And the point of Smackdown is....[the split mess]

For those who view Raw and Smackdown regularly, surely by now you must have asked yourself whether Smackdown is even relevant to WWE television anymore. When the split was originally made, it was to give those of the younger audience the illusion that there were 2 separate rosters or 2 separate brands, even 2 separate companies who were competing with each other. I think this was done for 2 reasons and no, neither of them has anything to do with allowing wrestlers to have more TV time. How could it be? There was still the same amount of time available on both shows and most of it was taken up by the main eventers. If anything, it was done to give more main eventers TV time, because since Raw main eventers could not be on Smackdown and vice versa, it meant each show could have a different main event fued that was the focus of it, with the main eventers not having to share a show anymore. Anyway, to the 2 reasons of the split.

1/ It was done to give the idea that there is still some competition in wrestling. Ever since the elimination of WCW and ECW, many had said that the WWE product was getting worse due to a lack of competition. A split with brands supposedly 'competing' against each other would bring back that [much loved by fans] element of 2 wrestling 'companies' competing with each other head to head. This would get more ratings, hence make Vince more money.

2/ Vince likes American football and he likes the idea of transfers and drafts. He even tried to start his own American football league, the XFL, but it simply could not compete with the NFL. With Raw and Smackdown, wrestlers could make shock transfers and be drafted over and over, making it more exciting. American football drafts are popular and give people in American something to talk about, so the hope was that they would get drawn in to wrestling transfers and drafts as well. Simply put, if the product is more exciting then it get more viewers and obviously makes Vince more money [that really seems to be the underlining factor].

Now though, ever since the announcement a while ago about Raw wrestlers being able to wrestle on Smackdown and vice versa, the split idea seems irrelevant. Apparently there is no split these days, but 2 world championships still exist. The roster split [or no split] mess is not my issue in this topic though, it's Smackdown. Why is it that wrestlers are allowed on both shows, yet it is only on Raw where we see guys from both brands. It's like Smackdown is for some wrestlers, then Raw is for others, but Smackdown guys are invited to join in. Watching the 2 shows you will have noticed that there are certain Raw wrestlers that are never on Smackdown. The WWE title never makes an appearance on Smackdown either. The World Heavyweight title, on the other hand, is on Raw almost every week. Not only that, but Smackdown often re-caps Raw. Sometimes wrestlers even re-cap it. There was a segment a few weeks ago with The Miz, in the ring on Smackdown, talking about stuff that is happening on Raw and hyping it. Imagine that. A wrestler, rather than discussing himself, as a good heel should, is discussing a lame, non wrestling related story line that is currently being played out on Raw. Add to this that Raw is now 3 hours and can now fit a lot more in to the show, Smackdown seems even more needless.

I think the fact that Raw was always [well almost always] a live show has hindered Smackdown from the beginning. When there was no split, Smackdown had a reason to be around as it was a continuation of storylines and always the last show [not including Heat] before a PPV. It was the last opportunity to advance all the fueds going on and hype the PPV in a few days. Even after the roster split, Smackdown did seem like it was on a level playing field with Raw. In fact there were even times when Smackdown was better than Raw, when Raw was practically the Triple H show while Smackdown had great wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar and Edge, putting on great wrestling matches and generally making Smackdown more than watchable. Now it just seems like Smackdown rolls around every week and the people at the WWE think 'uh, time to think something up for this taping.' Given the current state of it, I really would not be surprised if they either turned Smackdown in to a 1 hour show of less relevance, just there to re-cap what is going on and perhaps have a few unimportant matches, or simply got rid of it. 'The Rock's show has had a nice run for many years, but it might be time to put it to bed, sad as it might be.

Having fun as booker

So I decided to have some fun and play booker for a little while. The particular story I wanted to re-book was the whole Ryback mess. Now let's say that as booker, I realised [or was told] not long before the PPV that Ryback was not ready for the title. How would I go about having him lose the match but still look like a monster? It's quite simple. Yes the match type does not allow for any DQ's, this is true, but that does not mean the match has to end with one or the other having to win. I know it's harsh on the fans to have a 'non finish,' but if you're going to have one then you must make the show go out with a bang.

Here's how it goes. Ryback is in the cell with CM Punk. Suddenly the lights go out. The viewers are in shock while the commentators play to it, pretending to be clueless and wondering if the electrics are faulty. A while later the lights are back on. One side of the cell is open and Punk is standing by the entrance with Vince. Ryback is in the ring confused, staring at them. He shrugs and calls for CM Punk to get back in the ring but Punk walks off backstage with Vince.

The following night on Raw, Vince is out with CM Punk. People are obviously confused since it was not long ago that Punk beat the ever loving crap out of the WWE chairman in the ring. Vince says what happened last night might surprise people but the reason he did what he did was because he realised, after the ruthless beating he took from CM Punk, that Punk is the true force of this company. Punk is the type of guy he needs to lead the company with ruthless aggression and that is why he must remain the champion.

I think this scenario is better than the referee interference angle. It would have kept Ryback as a viable threat and it would also have kept his streak intact, since he did not lose the match at the PPV. Not only that but it would keep the title on Punk for now, since it is probably not the best time for Ryback to have it. As well as this it would turn Vince heel [as I find it hard to ever accept him as a face] and he could start a Stone Cold v McMahon type mini fued going with Ryback, giving Ryback a further push since the guys who fued with Vince tend to be main eventers. Vince would obviously be putting other wrestlers in Ryback's path rather than himself, thus continuing Ryback's push and allowing Punk to stay clear of Ryback for now and keep the title for a defense later at the Rumble PPV against Dwayne 'The Rock' Rocky. 

Where are they now? Just-in indy feds

Justin Credible

Justin Credible is the next guy to enter the 'where are they now?' section of my blog. Hardcore ECW fans and those who have watched wrestling for over 10 years might remember this dude, but even some of the newer fan base might have seen his last few appearances in WWE a few years ago when there was an ECW brand. 

After learning his trade in Canada and wrestling in a few New England based promotions,  Justin Credible started in the WWE back in 1993 as a jobber named PJ. He spent a few years there before being released. ECW was where he really rose to fame, spending 4 years in the company. After ECW folded he was hred back at the WWE as part of the X Factor stable. He was later part of the Alliance [as one of the ECW guys that defected to the original WCW/ECW stable] but after the Alliance was 'beaten,' his importance was reduced in 2002 to occasional matches on Heat [with him losing most of them]. 

Justin Credible has since made a brief appearance in the WWE in 2006, wrestling as part of the ECW brand where he had a few matches. Other than that he has spent most of his time working in the independent circuit.

I should note that I personally enjoyed Justin Credible's short if not slightly irrelevant stint in the WWE over 10 years ago [although his 2006 one was even more irrelevant], but I do find it a shame that the WWE decided to change his rather impressive spinning tombstone piledriver [named 'That's Incredible'] to a 'Lifting DDT' finisher. I suppose he was too insignificant to have a move that would outshine The Undertaker's finisher, so they gave him a more generic move.

King of Wrestling Podcast [week 3]

I did this podcast alone and it does sound a little sad, me talking to myself, but check it out of you have some time.

Overrated wrestler of the week

Mark Henry

Mark Henry is one of those guys who you can just look at and shrug. He's one of those guys who you might look at and wonder who he knows or what he has done to have been in the WWE for so many years. The worst part is, it's quite difficult to criticize him because he really does seem like a nice guy, but I must look at him and his ability for what it is, and that is, not of a particularly high standard. He is another wrestler who has gone quite far on the gimmick given to him. At first he was just a part of a stable. He was also involved in a very odd and disturbing story line involving Mae Young. Later on they started pushing his strongest man gimmick and have never left it alone since. 

The problem is that being the world's strongest man does not mean you deserve some major push in the wrestling business. Anyway, he never officially was the strongest man in the world [he has a few records in lifting weights but no official world strongest man titles to his name] and even if he had been, you don't get to be the world's strongest man forever as the official world's strongest man takes place on a yearly basis. The amount of TV time and big story lines or matches that he had was enough to raise eyebrows, but to be a former World and ECW Champion goes to far. Why don't they just hire a Hollywood actor and give him the title for winning an Oscar? No they of course they would not do that because one thing has nothing to do with the other. 

A champion needs to have wrestling ability or charisma. Obviously if he has both that is even better. Mark Henry has neither and what's worse, he doesn't look menacing either, he's just fat. It feels like they keep trying to make him meaningful, that's why he is on and off television constantly as they look to bring him back in some fresh way [but yet always as the world's strongest man]. Let's face it, if he did not have this gimmick based on a reality that is heavily skewed by the WWE, there would not be reason for him to be pushed. 

I would probably not have put Mark Henry in the overrated wrestler's section if he was not given a World title but that was the decisive 'bad move' that gets him hear.