THE RISE AND FALL OF ECW AS A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT
Have you got your copy of the ECW DVD yet? My girlfriend got it for me for Christmas (along with the two other recent must-have DVD releases–Guerrero and Benoit). I haven’t watched the second disc, but I have had the chance to watch the first one, covering the history of ECW.
As many of you know, I’m a historian in training (already have my MA, working on my PhD). I was never a big ECW fan–not out of lack of interest, but because I simply didn’t have access to it until the TNN show started in 1999. I watched that pretty regularly, but I only know the early product by reputation. From what I’ve heard, the WWE-produced DVD got the overall narrative right, but left out a few choice details. The flaming towel incident was not covered. The Mass Transit incident was a little light on the specifics. Wrestlers currently employed by the WWE seemed to get more favorable coverage–Shane Douglas and Raven in particular seemed to have less coverage than would seem to make sense. I didn’t hear the words “Triple Threat” or “Raven’s Nest” (or “Flock,” I forget which is the ECW one and which is the WCW version) uttered at any point during the brief documentary.
Oh well. I guess that’s to be expected from any WWE-produced DVD. The controversial stuff was important (though I’ve always wanted to see the Massive Transit footage, just to see how bad it was), but the narrative seems to be more or less right. Shane Douglas and Raven were covered, even if it was in a bit less detail than I would have liked. We heard from a variety of perspectives–this wasn’t simply Paul Heyman’s history of ECW (or Vince McMahon’s for that matter). A number of figures directly contradict him; Eric Bischoff in particular had some interesting things to say.
But the real advantage of this documentary is the amount of archival footage included. This is the advantage of a WWE-produced history over a “shoot interview” like 2 Cold Scorpio’s. Yes, Scorpio’s account is a less filtered, more personal account, but there’s something to be said for the immediacy of the actual footage. The WWE can certainly choose what to include and what to exclude, but we still get access to the actual footage. We can make up our minds whether the interview subjects’ spin is actually right (at least to some extent; this stuff is still cut out of context).
That’s what makes the DVD so cool. Like I said, I never experienced the mid-90s heyday of ECW, so I’ve missed out on seeing a lot of this stuff. I finally got the chance to see angles and incidents I’d only heard about: the bWo KISS angle (not as funny as I’d heard, but the Lord Stevie Richards bit was awesome), the Kimona-Beulah kiss (corny), the crucifixion angle (pretty offensive, even to a non-believer), the Lawler can shot to Dreamer’s nuts (ouch), Shane Douglas throwing away the NWA title (man did he look young), Taz’s broken neck (didn’t look as bad as it must have been), the Dudleys inciting the crowd in Dayton (geez, I had no idea just how vile they were), and the deal with Raven stealing away Sandman’s family (wow–now that’s an edgy angle).*
But the thing that probably stood out the most to me was Steve Austin’s brief run in the company. I had heard about it, but I had no idea just how wild and freewheeling the guy was back then. It’s like a burden was finally lifted off his shoulders, and a rare opportunity granted to him. Austin ran with it, and put together some classic interviews and backstage skits. His shots at WCW (from what I saw) weren’t as insipid or mean spirited as those of Shane Douglas or the WWF (as in the “Billionaire Ted” sketches). He seemed to be having a lot of fun, and that sort of enthusiasm infected me as well.
* My final take on ECW, based on this limited exposure? Seems like it was pretty cool, but not something I’d ever consider as the “main course” of my wrestling viewing menu. ECW was like an especially spicy dish–one that might make your tongue numb if you ate it all the time. For the record, my favorite products of all time are probably WCW, c. mid-1996 all the way through 1997, and WWE, c. late 1999 through Wrestlemania 2001. Obvious picks, yes, but obvious for a reason–it was just good television (and PPV too).
AUSTIN
A little background: after last week’s column on the internet’s ongoing feud with Triple H, our own Jed Shaffer suggested I write a column on the reason(s) why we fans get burned out on main eventers after only a couple of years–Triple H and Austin being prime examples. Well, I’ll do that column eventually (thanks again for the suggestion, Jed), but this week I want to talk a little more about Austin. I won’t go into the history of his run as a main eventer (I�??�?�á¢??m saving that for the aforementioned forthcoming column), but there’s one part of his career that the ECW footage brought to mind: his mid-2001 heel turn.
The summer of 2001 is probably my favorite period for Steve Austin. On the whole it was considered a failure–most pundits argued that the fans rejected Austin’s heel status, and continued to treat him as they had when he was a face. That might be true to some extent, but I would argue something slightly different: fans were so entertained by Austin’s hilarious heel antics that they turned him face (much as was the case for John Cena or Eddie Guerrero in 2003).
The year 2001 in general and the WCW invasion angle in particular are often cited as the turning point from the golden age of wrestling to the alleged dark ages of the present. However, I maintain that Austin’s skits and interviews during this period were among the funniest and most entertaining I’ve ever seen. Austin took a big risk during this period; he was willing to make an ass of himself, even though his babyface character had hinged on his badass aura. During this period, Steve Austin repeatedly found himself in humiliating positions, doing ridiculous things like talking to his wristwatch and singing campfire songs to Vince McMahon. These skits were every bit as funny as those of Mick Foley and Team ECK (Edge, Christian, and Kurt–as in “Kurt Angle”), but they’re frequently viewed as a failed experiment.
Why? I think part of the answer lies in Austin’s abrupt face turn after the invasion angle ended. The suddenness of the turn implied that the preceding eight months of heel Austin had been an abject failure, and the need to return to the asskicking Stone Cold days was pressing and absolutely necessary. Maybe so, but who knows? We didn’t really get enough of the post-invasion Austin to really tell where the character was heading, but what we saw wasn’t encouraging: beer, birds, and chants of “WHAT?”* However, there was something about Austin’s abortive 2002 feud with Eddie Guerrero which really piqued my interest. The segment in the karaoke bar in particular struck me as a return to the fun Austin character of 2001. Here we had the off-kilter, unpredictable, and altogether more human Austin who we saw backstage with Vince McMahon, or in the ring with the Hurricane (or Gregory Helms, as he was known at the time).
And then he was asked to job to Brock Lesnar and promptly quit.
There are plenty of possible reasons why Austin reverted to his “Stone Cold” character upon his 2003 return. I’ll go into further detail whenever I get around to writing the column on the shelf life of main eventers, but it’s worth thinking about what might have been (bearing in mind Austin’s health woes, of course). In the meantime, we have the new ECW DVD to watch. Hopefully the inevitable Austin DVD will do justice to Austin’s break from the Stone Cold character in 2001. I know I’m eager to see some of those skits again.
*Frankly, I think “WHAT?” is the single factor that most turned me, and probably thousands of others like me, against Austin. I still bristle on those rare occasions when some crowd full of yokels drags it out of the mothballs for no discernable reason (I swear I wrote this before the Alabama crowd did just that last night on Raw). And yes, it was annoying during the heel run too, but it got exponentially worse after Austin turned face.
IF I COULD BE SERIOUS FOR A MINUTE
Disclaimer 1: I think Lance Storm was a hell of a wrestler, and, by all accounts, a hell of a nice guy too. He’s a real professional, and was probably a model employee. He’s about the only contemporary wrestler I know of who’s convinced Dave Meltzer that he’s not using steroids. He’s one of the few who interacts with internet fans in a respectful, thoughtful way. In sum, I like ol’ Lance.
Disclaimer 2: I hope Josh Grutman doesn’t interpret this as gimmick infringement.
Ever taken a jaunt over to Storm Wrestling? You ought to–Lance Storm is one of the few wrestlers who maintained an independent site while under WWE contract, and I never felt like he was pulling his punches. One of the coolest features on the site is the Q & A section, which is still updated after Storm’s retirement. Anyways, there’s a couple of things from a recent Q & A session I wanted to point out to you good people:
Q: Do the wrestlers look at title belts the same way as fans do? Personally, I think I’d freak out if I got to hold one.
A: It’s hard to speak for others. I look at everything different than others. I think it depends on the circumstances surrounding your title victory. Benoit worked so hard for so many years to achieve his dream and I believe his emotion at Mania XX was legit. I’ve always looked at things a little more critical and professional, so I would not get that emotional.
Q: Did you play any music before a match to hype yourself?
A: Nope. I pretty much just turned it on and off as I walked through the curtain. I never hyped myself up.
Kind of puts the whole “charismatically challenged” gimmick in perspective, doesn’t it?
SMACKDOWN VS. RAW
For a couple of weeks I’ve been promising to devote a few words on Smackdown vs. Raw the new WWE game for PS2. Okay, we have a review up by Matt Yeager in the games section, so I strongly encourage you to check it out. I generally agree with most of the review, but I thought I’d add in my two cents.
I’ve been playing the Smackdown series of games from the beginning. In every new version there’s been some sort of improvement over the previous iteration–with the exception of Smackdown: Just Bring It,, the first of the series to appear on PS2 (and arguably the worst of the whole lot). Last year’s version was undoubtedly the best to date. The grappling system was much deeper than in previous incarnations. Storylines were as good as any to date, and the addition of unlockable legends gave you something to work towards. Create a wrestler features were strong, and you had to build up the wrestler’s stats from scratch in the season mode. All in all, it was a pretty cool game that I spent a lot of time playing.
Before going any further, I should explain how I usually play these games. I never play with real wrestlers. In a tradition dating back to WWF Attitude for PS1, my brother and I have created entire rosters comprised of ourselves and our friends and family (and various weird alter egos for each of them). So rather than playing with characters like the Rock or Triple H, we played as Dave-O (me), Lord Thom (my brother), Willie Eyeball (a friend), Uncle Nutty (my dad), and Scotty Tempo (another friend). Or we made alternate versions of ourselves like EVAD (yeah, I know it’s lame if you know where it came from), the Flying Goatsucker, and Russian Roulette. Or we made celebrities like Chuck Berry, Lemmy, or Frank Sinatra (the latter was not my idea, trust me). These are the characters we played both in season mode and against one another.
Naturally, then, I’m primarily concerned with how well the game incorporates created characters–how easy is it to build them, how they work in the season mode, etc. I’m hardly alone in this. I have friends who create comic book characters and play mostly with them. Many players are like Matt Yeager, who creates a roster full of ECW vets. Others try to make Japanese or Mexican wrestlers. (The latter is sort of a tricky endeavor–a lot of those Luchador outfits are pretty hard, as are the more outlandish Japanese junior heavyweight outfits. On the other hand, my brother has had some success with creating Psicosis and Jushin Liger in the past, so it’s not impossible.) This is probably what gives Smackdown a lot of its popularity–it’s really easy to create a roster of characters based on real life, cartoons, comic books, or other wrestling federations.
Unfortunately for me, this year’s create-a-wrestler feature is probably the weakest since Just Bring It. The clothing options are way weirder–the choices in fabric patterns and designs is limited to several unseemly choices (I haven’t worn camouflage since I was like nine years old, for instance). You can’t give people a proper beer belly, which has hurt my ability to faithfully recreate myself and my father. Worst of all, though, is the face sculpting feature. It’s never been easy to make realistic looking faces from scratch, but this year it’s damned near impossible. The only clue that Dave-O is supposed to be me is the long hair and glasses. My brother’s character just looks weird. The problem is that there seems to be no way to avoid lantern jaws and apple cheeks on your created wrestlers. Which is fine if you’re making Jay Leno, Bruce Campbell, or Pinocchio, but leaves something to be desired for the rest of us.
As for those of you who deign to play with real wrestlers, the game seems to boast three new features. One is online play. I don’t play online–I don’t even have the network adapter. Check out Matt Yeager’s review for his thoughts on this. The second big, new feature is voiceovers by actual wrestlers, GMs, divas, etc. Frankly, this doesn’t add much to the game. And I’ve always played the Smackdown games on mute with my own tunes playing, so as to avoid the horrible background music. (Speaking of which–this year’s music is the worst so far. There’s actual “real” music this time, and a crawler at the bottom of the screen tells you what’s playing. But the only decent track is the Public Enemy/Anthrax version of “Bring the Noise.” Some songs are outright horrible, the worst probably being the tracks by Zebrahead. I hated these songs so much that I turned the background music off. Of course, I hate most modern music, so you might have very different opinions of the music than me. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to listen to the Kinks and T. Rex while I play.)
The final new feature is probably the most meaningful. This year’s edition incorporates a role playing aspect–playing face or heel. I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time, frankly. Here’s how it works: you have a “clean” or “dirty” meter, depending on which category you fall into (it’s optional in exhibitions, but mandatory for the season mode). “Dirty” wrestlers build up their meter in some really fun, cool ways–arguing with the referee over slow counts, pulling your opponent up at two, refusing to break a hold when your opponent gets in the ropes, low blows, etc. “Clean” wrestlers build theirs up in slightly less cool ways–top rope moves, taunts, refusing to tap out, etc.
Notice the names of these categories–“clean” and “dirty,” not “face” and “heel.” I can’t tell you for sure why this is–maybe it’s an attempt to arrest the spread of “insider” terms. What I do know is that, in the storyline mode, your actions at the beginning of every new feud cycle determines whether you’ll work “clean” or “dirty.” Attack someone from behind and you’ll work dirty. Refuse to suck up to figures in authority and you’ll work clean. These decisions don’t always affect the progression of your story, however.
As cool as this might sound, I’m afraid that the clean/dirty meter doesn’t really add much to the game. I usually work dirty (heels are cooler, man), and it’s pretty easy to fill up your meter. Unfortunately, all you get is a low blow “finisher” which has never led me to a pinfall in the couple dozen times I’ve pulled it off. Filling the clean meter gives you a slightly better reward–you’re temporarily invulnerable, and your finishers do double damage. Of course, I rarely work clean–it’s just too hard. I’m a sneaky kind of guy, plus, in a vague gesture to reality, my character (Dave-O) is more of a grappler than a high-flyer. On the other hand, this helps balance things out for cruiserweights. The offense of lower-weight wrestlers does less damage in Smackdown vs. Raw, but cruisers jump to the top rope really, really fast. It’s easy to hit a lot of top rope moves as a clean-fighting cruiserweight; this, in turn, fills your clean meter faster. Of course, this doesn’t bode well for dirty-fighting cruisers, who are actually penalized for top rope moves. Anyway, it’s an interesting idea; it’s just the execution that’s lacking. Maybe next year they’ll offer a better reward, like additional Shopzone bucks or attribute points.
Speaking of Shopzone…there are about as many legends this year as last, but this year’s crop is, in my opinion, a lot stronger. Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka return, and are available from the start. The Road Warriors also return, but have to be unlocked. New additions are Bret Hart, Andre the Giant, and Brutus Beefcake. Hart and Andre are definitely the biggest legends available so far, and are a major improvement over legends not returning from last year (Nikolai Volkoff, the Iron Sheik, and George “the Animal” Steele). Other “legends” include the Rock and Mick Foley; you can also unlock masked Kane and a “legendary” version of the Undertaker. (Here’s hoping for the British Bulldogs, Randy Savage, and/or Ricky Steamboat for next year.) One big, big improvement from last year’s legend feature is the incorporation of real entrances and theme songs, rather than last year’s soundless, WM III-style cart entrances. Brutus Beefcake actually comes to the ring with shears, and Bret Hart gives his sunglasses to an off-camera fan. Aside from the legends, however, the only things really worth unlocking in the Shopzone are additional create-a-wrestler moves. Everything else is something along the lines of pictures of divas to gawk at during load time, or additional clothes for John Cena. Not exactly the sort of thing to keep you playing.
The big question: is this worth buying if you have either 2003’s Here Comes the Pain or 2002’s Shut Your Mouth? I can honestly say that Here Comes the Pain was the better game. I don’t feel like too much of a chump for getting Smackdown vs. Raw, though, since I was playing my brother’s copy, which now resides in South Carolina with him. I would probably recommend picking this up if you only have Shut Your Mouth, however. Actually, I’d recommend trying to grab a used (or Greatest Hits) copy of Here Comes the Pain instead, unless you’re dying to do that clean/dirty stuff. Last year’s game includes several wrestlers who have since parted ways with the WWE, including Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Scott Steiner, and Steve Austin. The only notable additions to this year’s version are Bret Hart and Andre the Giant. It’s up to you to decide if this is a fair tradeoff or not. On the whole, however, I can’t recommend this game over Here Comes the Pain.
PLUG STABBING TIME
I can’t believe it took me this long to think of that header. But will anyone else get the joke?
Lessee…what’s going on in Pulse-land this week? Well, in the Comics Nexus we have the Roundtable, a cool feature I’ve been meaning to plug for a while now, especially now that (former?) wrestling scribe Iain Burnside is coordinating it. The figures zone (Batesman in particular) tells us that you’ll soon be able to buy your very own log. I’m not sure if this means we’ve officially entered the post-ironic age, or the post-post-ironic age. The fine folks in the music zone are offering you the chance to win the complete 8-disc Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack. Well worth the time it takes to enter–this version has the best soundtrack to date, “Pressure Drop” being the highlight (though “Guerillas in the Mist” and “Hey Good Lookin'” are close seconds). And finally, the movies zone and J. Kern offer a column near and dear to my heart: Dollar Movie Reviews. I worked in a dollar theater for a couple of years in the late ’90s. A little advice: if you’re working in a movie theater, try to get a job as a projectionist. I guarantee it’s a lot easier than you’d think, and you’ve got all kinds of free time (unless you’re working at one of those 20 screen googleplexes or something). Given all this extra study time, I managed to pull my GPA up to 3.83 when I worked there–high enough to get me into a prestigious grad school (no, really).
We’ve got all kinds of great features ahead for you in the wrestling zone, one of which I’m coordinating (and for all staff who might be reading this, HAVE YOU CONTRIBUTED YET?). And the other zones have their own cool features in store as well. So keep your eyes open, and read it up.
