The Little Things 02.19.03: Bischoff, Orton, Victoria, & More

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A piece of news from last week shall set the table for this week’s column.

A Lo Down Dirty Shame

After being placed on the Little Things All-Star Team, the 411 News wire reported last week that D’Lo Brown has been targeted for release within the next month. I certainly hope that the favor I and my readers granted him in this column did not amount to a kiss of death, but needless to say this slap in the face will not go unaddressed. I rarely will speak about politics and such within this column, but the timing involved is impeccable.

Part of me shakes my head in utter disbelief. What this release amounts to, in my opinion, is a tacit admission from the writers that they don’t have any clue as to what to do with him. Consequently, they are giving up on him mid-push and letting him move on to greener pastures. Yet at the same time, the writers have managed to find gimmicks for wrestlers like Albert, Test and Big Show and stay the course on their pushes. One can easily assume that the reason D’Lo is the odd man out is that he is half the size of the previously mentioned three wrestlers (I’ll give WWe the benefit of the doubt and assume that other distinguishing characteristic, race, is not the reason). The implicit assumption also at work amidst all of this is that since the writers have managed to find gimmicks for bigger WWe superstars, while wrestlers like D’Lo have been abandoned, there exists a top-down mandate from WWe management (including, I’d assume, an increasingly Chyna-nized Stephanie McMahon) to increase the exposure of larger WWe superstars.

I say top-down because the problem with this assumption is that the audience did not give concrete evidence for this assumption. In other words, WWe management wrongly believes that there exists a precedent for larger superstars having an easier time getting over with the audience and making the company some bucks. Their thinking is grounded largely in historical precedent; larger-than life wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, the Ultimate Warrior, and the Undertaker among others have carried the company to great heights in the past. The history that is left out, of course, is that smaller wrestlers like Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin and The Rock (relatively speaking) have also revolutionized the promotion with their talents. Let’s not forget that some of the promotions current top draws (Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, just to name a few) are not exactly Brock-like in stature, either.

The common denominator among these superstars is not size, as WWe wrongly believes. The one thing, the biggest little thing of all, in fact, that every one of the above-mentioned stars has is charisma. It is what helped them establish the connections with the audience that catapulted them into the limelight they enjoyed and still enjoy, for the most part. Which brings us back to our victim of this flawed logic, D’Lo. He unquestionably possesses double the charisma that a wrestler like Test or Albert has, but will find himself unemployed in the next month as a result of flawed reasoning and consequent apathy from the writers. However, the other part of me not shaking its head can see an upside to all of this.

While D’Lo is the vicitim for the moment, the beneficiary will undoubtedly be NWA: TNA. They will pick up yet another WWE castaway and easily find a place for him in its promotion (D’Lo and Ron Killings would certainly have some common ground for a very exciting tandem, just for starters). His charisma, along with some sound booking, should allow him to easily make the audience connections that WWe hierarchy apparently thought not possible. I say that he is the victim for the moment because it seems to me that if these results of WWe’s thinking become a trend, the fed itself may become the victim when it becomes faced with a growing promotion that has stars making strong connections with its own audience. At the very least, a recognizable and charismatic face at that certainly cannot hurt the competition.

Conveniently enough, this week’s reader submission deals with the same topic.

Readers’ Picks: Smile for the Camera

Andy the Hammer picks up on a very small but very telling detail from last week’s show:

I was watching raw last night and noticed one of the “little things” that make wrestlers great. This little thing happened when Spike pinned Chief Morley. He went down for the pin and he smiled and turned his head slightly when the refs hand hit the mat. I thought this was an excellent example of many of the “little things” that make Spike a good wrestler

See, it’s not just me (as indicated last week when I picked up on Jazz nodding her head after some rolling suplexes). The audience notices when wrestlers exhibit enthusiasm for their craft. It’s this unsolicited charisma that makes us respond to them, not the sheer size of the performer.

And now on to the Little Things for the 2.17.2003 edition of RAW:

1. Flop Fest

Major kudos go to Randy Orton during the run-in of the Batista/HHH vs. Steiner/Booker tag match. If you are going to book the Evolution stable as having the best elements of old school and new generation wrestlers, it is a very nice touch to see one of the up and comers like Randy Orton pay homage to one of the legends by doing a classic bit like the top rope launch, complete with a moment to shake the head and scream for mercy. I think pairing Randy off against a face with a lot of charisma and entertainment value like Goldust will be a perfect scenario to develop his heel character (as they seem to be suggesting through various backstage vignettes). The matches that would follow would only be icing on the cake as it seems he works with a lot of energy (a lot of my readers have picked up on this as well).

2. Perfect 10

WWe used one of its biggest strengths in its video production team to pay tribute to Mr. Perfect, Curt Hennig. A couple of those cuts in particular really brought back memories of what his heel character was all about to me as a child, especially the scene where he tossed the basketball over his head. Maybe a little overdue and lacking some WCW footage, but definitely effective. Chris Jericho also gets a gold star for his gum swatting tribute.

3. MVP performance

The brightest star on Monday night was Eric Bischoff, hands down. From his various karate poses (especially the Crane), the drinking of the beers after demolishing the announce team to the over-the-top act of stomping on a cinderblock placed over JR’s head, I couldn’t stop laughing at Eric’s heel character in full swing. He sold the upcoming match with Austin as hard as a heel possibly could – in fact, a lot of the actual heel wrestlers should take note of some his tactics, especially the smugness, cockiness, and willingness to cheat.

4. The Precious

Victoria’s grasping of her Women’s title is a really nice touch to her demented, paranoid character. It’s just a shame that the traditional face/heel dynamic is not in place to sustain the inevitable match between her and Jazz. The crowd will not react properly unless the match itself is Benoit-esque in its technical precision and it’s a real shame because the ladies have shown that with proper booking, they can put on a great show.

5. Miscellaneous

Instead of grievances, I have mostly positive bits to offer this week. It was definitely not a wrestling clinic, but it was a show packed with entertainment and build-up for this pay-per-view. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad

The vignette where Eric Bischoff practiced on a foam pad with JR’s picture on it only further added to his outstanding effort last night. Chief Morley’s JR impersonation, replete with catchphrases, accent and cowboy hat were major plusses also.

An announcer blading? Very impressive.

Rico pulling Spike Dudley’s tights for the pin was exactly what I was talking about in my third item. That one little gesture made him look like a bigger jerk and as a result, a more effective heel than a simple cover.

Keep the comments coming and I’ll see you next week.