Haley’s Comment 02.04.04

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Sip the Chris and Get Pissy Pissy III – This Time It’s Personal

I’ve answered quite a few emails regarding my thoughts on Cena and Benoit’s path to WM XX and some news has happened related to the two, so let’s dive right in, shall we?

First, the bad news is that Cena is going to need an MRI on his knee, the one that got f*cked up when the Big Show tossed him out of the Royal Rumble. Big Show himself will apparently not need any recovery time for his elbow. His knee problems will have to wait until after WM to be checked out.

So much for my dreams of seeing Cena steal the show at WM. Instead, it looks like Cena may get relegated to doing a rap battle act with rapper Proof, whom WWe is still pursuing. That doesn’t sound like a rehashing of stuff that happened last year, does it?

I’m not trying to make myself look like a wise man because Cena had a bad fall, even if it was Show that launched him. However, even if Cena were healthy enough to do this match and avoid another curtain jerking rap performance at WM, I seriously doubt the Big Show is healthy enough to pull the match that he needs to pull in order to make Cena look like a miracle working badass that he needs to be. In fact, I still disagree that this was the best use of the man in the first place.

The dissenters say that Cena, who is obviously over with the crowd, was better off with the Big Show going into WM while Benoit, who doesn’t have as much charisma as Cena but plenty of wrestling skills to make up for it, would benefit more from a program with HHH. This way, the WWe uses its wrestlers more efficiently, Cena gets his first title run and doesn’t get thrown to the wolf from Greenwich and we have a fantastic main event wrestling-wise.

However, I am still sticking to my guns on Cena and my view that NOW was the time to push him to the main event. Through conversations with several readers, I’ve pieced together the idea that any wrestler can reasonably fit into the main event once he is established. This is basically the Chris Jericho idea, as he is known for stating that he is one win away from being plugged into a main event program at any time.

However, a wrestler, even one who is over with the crowd, only gets one precious series of moments, a window of time, on his way towards being established that will resonate with the fans for the rest of their careers. Most of us can still remember the unique series of events that led towards the establishment of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock quite well, for examples. The key ideas to remember about these moments are that 1) timing was critical 2) the booking was not by the numbers.
The best ideas to me on how to do this and not to do this are Austin and Jericho himself. I think most of us still remember Jericho’s sizzling debut promo against the Rock that got us all up in a storm over a feud that would make Jericho the next Flair and deliver some of the most awesome promos ever heard on a wrestling show. However, WWe went conservative with Jericho, plugged him into some meaningless feuds with some very awful sidekicks and he had to dig his way to the main event as a result. Even when he got to the big stage, the moment was lost and his undisputed championship win was meaningless in the long run. Yes, the booking by Steph was bad, but to me it is undeniable that Jericho’s moment had passed by years ago anyway. He wasn’t in the same category as the guys who he faced in that match let alone the guys that did the run in.

Now, recall when Austin got his own buzz going with Austin 3:16. When I think back on all the moments that led up to the creation of SCSA, I see nothing but aggressive booking – pairing him with celebrities, putting him in matches against legends, title runs and so on. This is exactly the type of stuff that Cena is not getting currently from the bookers (part 2).

Meanwhile, Randy Orton is getting that type of stuff and really not making an impact with it. The stuff with HBK, Foley and the IC title is definitely watchable, but the timing isn’t there (part 1 from above). Tell me you wouldn’t enjoy it more if it were Cena spitting off to one of the originators of cocky, brash behavior or a hardcore legend. Again, the argument could come up that a guy like Orton needs a legend to make his matches more meaningful, but again I would argue that if you pair the legend against a guy with charisma and some momentum, you get classics like the SCSA/Bret Hart I Quit match that make special memories and money for the company.

The point is, WWe’s window with Cena making a truly memorable rise is closing and a lot of it is due to very conservative booking – two WMs in a row without a match for whatever reasons would simply be unforgivable in my mind. The fans and the little things approach think that there is a huge star in Cena to be had but if they are not careful they are going to blow their load, Jericho-style and just have another familiar face they can plug into main event matches with guys who made their rise at the right time.

They could do better.

I won’t even get into the fact that the upside in having Benoit main event (a great wrestling classic) is being put in jeopardy by adding a 3rd wrestler to the mix.

News To Me – Swift Spanking

I will however give myself credit for making the biggest deal out of the news item that claimed last week that more WWe wrestlers not content with their roles in the company are considering leaving for other pastures. Kendrick’s departure was quite significant in that it gave a lot of wrestlers the impression that something else better could be out there. This is a perception that runs counter to the entire industry’s idea that WWe is the big time, the big leagues and the goal that every wrestler should strive for. It’s but a small crack now but the wrestlers that leave will both benefit wherever they end up and influence future wrestlers incrementally with their choice. What we hope for is that it catches the WWe’s eyes and motivates them to book more effectively.

Bets on that?

News to Me – Diva Las Vegas

One intelligent move the WWe is making is rounding up a group of hot divas that want to do Playboy. Since Sable and Torrie are bordering on overexposure (pun city baby), and the remaining ones either aren’t hot enough or won’t do it, they are out training a nice crop of ladies for our viewing pleasure. Cheers to good planning!

The Little Things

Let’s do this.

1. Hornswoggled

Ah I must be getting predictable after doing these things for a year. Eric S. made the call that I’d pick up on Eric’s new horn rimmed glasses and he was dead on. Definitely gave him a blacker, bossier feel. Not that he really needs it, I just appreciate the little touches, especially when it comes to costumes

2. Toweled Off

It’s a page out of Tazz’s playbook, but that black towel Kane sports to the ring whenever he walks down that aisle gives his character that extra bit of ominous he needs now that he doesn’t really do the make-up anymore.

3. Hide And Seek

Do not take my comments from above to mean that I don’t like Orton. Quite to the contrary, this reporter has been high on Orton from the beginning, he just doesn’t necessarily agree with the push he is getting vis a vis his experience. He needs more time to develop little things and the instincts to perform little things. Like last night, when Austin appeared on the ramp he threw the belt he had in his hands to the corner like he never had it at all. Brilliant stuff. He’s going to get there, but he isn’t there quite yet.

4. Breaking Up The Band

I thought Christian delivered the best promo of the night when he compared Trish to Yoko and by proxy he and Jericho to the Beatles. As I have said before, I like this new relationship based angle stuff because it gives wrestlers more mic time and the chance to develop (or refine) their characters. Christian, in this case, is running with the ball and then some.

5. Benoit’s Booger

Because I think stuff like that is funny.

Keep those comments coming in and we’ll do this again next week.

Haley