Haley’s Comment 03.24.04

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Eric did his usual fine job of recapping the major points of analysis from this Monday’s draft. I’d like to add a few of my own:

Tag Teams, Back Again

This column has been on the record in stating that tag teams are an underutilized tool available to the fed for developing interesting characters and stories. This trend of underutilization seemed to continue in my mind as a result of last night’s draft.

I do not have a problem with breaking Booker and RVD up at all. Those two guys are established personalities that fans recognize. If they are underutilized, they are underutilized as established singles competitors and personalities. Both RVD and Booker used to have some funny lines (RVD back in his ECW days, Booker when he was with Goldust), so hopefully this move will give them both a fresh start.

Shelton and Dupree, however, were a bit too underdeveloped for their splits. It’s true that both could move to their respective brands and flourish as singles competitors, but I would have preferred both to stay in their respective stables a bit longer until they had a chance to develop some identity.

This is especially true with Shelton. Shelton had just come off a funny skit mocking the APA and last week showed flashes of goofiness on SmackDown. His unwitting responses to Heyman’s anger in the locker area prior to the gauntlet match would have played great against a straight man in Haas if they had chosen to go that route. You eventually could have had one or the other turn over time due to frustration with the mismatch and produced two new characters ready for singles action. The break up of a tag team can really launch a new character – ask Shawn Michaels.

Instead, we’ll just have to see what happens with Shelton. We don’t really know much about him so he’ll have to develop his identity on his own without the benefit of his relationship to Haas. Furthermore, there is no Teddy Long waiting on him to work a natural program over on RAW. One possibility is becoming Booker’s new partner and playing a geek to his badass. I could speculate more, but Shelton is obviously one of the fed’s stars for the future and apparently he’s going to get his shot quite soon.

Now, if I had an issue with Shelton, you can bet I had one with Dupree’s depature and not just because he isn’t on the show I cover any longer. Simply put, La Res is NOT established like Shelton and Charlie are. Shelton and Charlie were in a top-tier stable with Kurt Angle, dominated the tag division on SD and showed what they were made of in the ring along the way. The bookers have handled them with a lot of respect in accordance with their amateur backgrounds, sacrificing the development of wrestling personalities for them, which can be corny and hit or miss at best.

La Res is the exact opposite. Their program last year with the Dudleys was a decent attempt to establish them as credible competitors, but constant beatings by the Rock, Austin and others has reduced them to a novelty act. As I said last week, I usually support Austin, but the constant stunnering to Dupree has accomplished nothing but a cheap short-term pop that advances neither of their characters.

Couple this with the fact that La Res, to me, had just gotten more interesting with the return of Grenier and the addition of Fifi as a mascot and you have a real missed opportunity to establish these guys. They had just begun to develop the feel of an actual stable, which is more convincing than a mere gimmick tag effort. Plus, in case you haven’t noticed, Dupree’s dance is starting to get funnier. I feel like Dupree can get by on his own, like Shelton, but why break him up when his team had plenty of feuds to launch and obviously some funny stories to tell?

I guess in the end, the departures of Brock and Bill created a void that needed to be filled immediately with new stars. This need was so urgent that the usual time needed to craft their up and comers needed to be sacrificed. Timing can be quite a thing, can’t it? I feel like they sat (and are still sitting) on Cena’s development for way too long, but at the time, they had that luxury. Now that they apparently don’t, we’re going to see Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Dupree take their swing.

Cade and Jindrak, by the way, were never sufficiently developed for their break-up to mean very much.

On The Edge Of Our Seats

Or

Taking The Edge Off

Now, was it just me, or did anyone else feel like a giant load was blown last night regarding the return of Edge? One spear shot, apparently out of nowhere, and we instantly knew that not only was Edge back, but he was back in face mode.

While the pop was monstrous, it somehow reminded me of the Hogan/Goldberg Nitro in Atlanta. While great in the short term, I think we missed a story that could’ve sucked in viewers for a good period of time. And since the Eric S.-trademarked Two Week Pop is looming, WWe desperately needs something to keep us watching beyond just seeing the novelty of HHH on SmackDown again. If it stays that way. And apparently it will not.

Edge’s story was a perfect example of such a lost opportunity. Here we have a guy who has been both a known face and a known heel. More importantly, since he has been on the shelf for so damn long, a lot of the audience can’t really remember what the guy was doing before he left. I am willing to bet there are some out there who can’t even remember the brand he was on. Those who will remember would certainly assume him to be a face again, but you do have the added advantage of thrusting him into a period of uncertainty, also known as the draft lottery. In sum, Edge has carte blanche to take his momentum in whichever direction seems fitting.

Why not go with this? Have him spear Bischoff AND Austin. He’s kind of a mysterious guy to begin with and the absence could certainly justify a potential change of heart kinda like Sting circa 1997 perhaps?

I have always felt that Sting vs Hogan from that year was one of the best long-term feuds ever conducted in the sport. Each week, people tuned in to see where Sting would appear, what he’d do and who he’d align himself with. Granted, Sting has probably the longest tenure as a face in wrestling history, but there was enough mystery surrounding his departure and return to keep audiences on the edges of their seats. So to speak. The payoff at Starrcade that year was botched, but the buildup was perfect.

Edge had a chance to pull off a similar run in my mind. And there is no doubt in my mind that people would have kept tuning in to see if Edge had deserted his army or not. Add in devices like a potential membership in Evolution, pressure from Bischoff and the McMahons, confrontations with other wrestlers (especially Christian) and you had endless possibilities for stories.

This would have also been a good reason to keep HHH around for a little bit longer. He would have served a perfect foil to Edge had he gone over Benoit and Michaels at WM XX. People, in my opinion, didn’t really want to see Benoit win the title – they wanted to see HHH lose it. Big difference. Playing that against people wanting to see Edge (and the pop from last night is all the evidence you need of that) and you have ratings gold. WWe kinda needs a franchise guy anyway, so why not take a shot on someone who seems groomed for just such a spot?

Yes, that would’ve meant Benoit’s reign would have fallen by the wayside and the smark in you would’ve had to suck it up. I don’t have a problem with that, personally, because I have yet to see the full value in Benoit having the belt. Yes, his celebration at WM was very emotional, but I have not seen any impressive matches or stories to develop yet as a result. The match at WM was quite good, but let’s not forget that Shawn and HHH both showed up and helped make that match what it was.

For the record, I’m not that big of an Edgehead myself. To me, the little things were strongest with him back when he teamed with Christian. Yet it is undeniable that he is over based on his charisma and in-ring work, so you have to go with that. Moreover, you go with it when the opportunity is there as we have stated here in the past.

The Little Things

Let’s do this. I’m going to let the readers do most of the dirty work this week.

1. Spitting Game

My good friend Bill of the Harvard education really liked the way HHH spewed his water over the draft results once he learned of them. He felt it was an excellent touch in terms of parodying his entrance, which is famous for the bottled water being ejected on the apron.

Bill, like myself, is not afraid to give the devil his due. It will be interesting to see if RAW misses his presence with the exception of Kane and a few others, there is a notable absence of top tier heels on that show now.

Oh and let’s not think about the fact that they seem to be leaning towards a Cena/HHH feud on SmackDown, based upon Cena’s draw and HHH’s disapproval of having to jump brands. That just doesn’t bode well.

2. Hey, Ya

Reader Chuck Schonhaut thought Mr. Heyman was in rare form last night:

I’ve followed your column for awhile and I finally felt compelled to write in after seeing the draft last night. My little thing would have to be Heyman’s comments throughout the draft. After Nidia leaves the stage, “Congratulations Nidia, I hope you go blind again.”
After Kane scares both GM’s, “You really need to learn how to control your wrestlers,” says the guy in the neck brace. I actually laughed out loud at Paul’s remarks. Cena walking towards him, “I’m an injured man, I’m an injured man.” Good stuff.

Agreed. I hope he doesn’t stay off camera for too long.

3. Shirt Tales

My girl Brook makes a very good point:

Now last night had a lot more to work with. First off, whoever had the idea to make both rosters wear shirts to help differentiate who was on what show….genius. A little goofy looking, but for the casual fan who turns on Raw and notices “, hey, what’s enter Smackdown superstar’s name here doing here?” it was gold

It also helped drill home the idea that these wrestlers belong to different brands and aren’t on the same team. Costumes say a lot and it gave us a chance to see Nidia change shirts. Works for me.

4. Word Life

Cena’s music hitting the speakers on RAW? You better believe I’m going to mention that.

5. Brawl For All

Eric S., Bill, and Brook all agreed that the pier-six at the end of the show was quite the surreal moment. As I said last week, the surreal nature of the scene was the result of 2 years’ worth of work in developing separate identities for each brand. It obviously had been working and I believe will continue to work after last night’s results. SmackDown got a major player to fill the void and just the right number of players down on the card changed hands to keep us interested. While I’m still disappointed about the break-up of a couple key tag teams and the handling of Edge, the identities of each brands went unscathed for the most part, and that was a critical accomplishment. A little inter-brand hatred was a nice touch to boot.

Maybe the draft could become a yearly institution, just to keep the viewers alert. However, one part of the handling that certainly deserves criticism is Vince not telling the staff about the changes in advance. Yes, it prevents leaks, but most of the fans aren’t on the net and the wrestlers NEED to be able to plan their lives. I don’t think keeping the realism of the event and the surprise factor intact outweighed the need to keep his staff happy.

Readers’ Picks – Ross Is The Boss

From his Thursday report:

Christian and Trish were on fine form on RAW and this will hopefully be the catalyst to finally get Christian properly over with the audience. Jericho has made a smooth proxy babyface turn, but I would have liked to see him come out for his match on RAW wearing his street clothes to indicate how little he cared about wrestling that night and how aggressive he was feeling – there’s a missed little thing for you, John!

And this is a very good point. Actually, I had been discussing this subject with fellow ex-411 columnist Sylvain Parent in e-mails. I feel that Christian and Trish are perfect for their roles as macho babe stealer and evil heartbreaker, respectively. Jericho, however, isn’t quite the honest good guy we want to feel sorry for. He has a goofy side we all know about and has always been about being a larger-than-life rockstar as a face.

At any rate, some street clothes in the back would’ve given some extra reality to the situation. Good call, Mr. Williams.

And that’s it for me this week. Keep the comments coming.

Haley