Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic

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In the mid to late 1980’s, Jake “the Snake” Roberts utilized his DDT finisher to end many a match, driving his opponent to the canvas face-first. Victims of the DDT seldom recovered in time to kick out of the pinfall attempt because the move was so devastating. Now however, the DDT is most often used as merely a transition move. Have wrestlers (within kayfabe) learned and adapted? Have young students of the game trained on how to absorb a DDT without getting knocked silly? Have instructors added it to the list of things they typically teach a rookie to defend against?

TODAY’S ISSUE: Long-term psychology

It would make perfect sense within the long arc of pro wrestling history for wrestlers to overcome a killer move. Grapplers from a certain era consistently fall victim to a certain move, so the next generation of wrestlers learn how to avoid it or mitigate its effects, while other new students develop improved ways to deliver the move, enhancing its effectiveness. Take Petey Williams’ Canadian Destroyer. The “sick, flip piledriver” is considered far more devastating than your garden-variety piledriver, so any wrestler of this era who learned a counter or method for absorbing the original move might not have an effective response for the Destroyer in his arsenal. And so the evolution of the business develops.

This is why it’s so maddening to see a pro wrestler in 2007 lower his head too early for a back body-drop and get kicked in the face, or to watch a heel leave the ring and get chased by the non-suspecting face, who then gets caught entering the ring under the bottom rope. The heel then nails the face with multiple attacks and changes the tide of the match. You’d think any pro wrestler worth his salt could see that one coming by now. I know they need to make transitions and allow the pendulum to swing back and forth in order to tell the story of the match, but I suggest modern pros try to come up with more realistic ways to accomplish that goal.

Another thing that bugs me is when a tag team partner on the apron is so easily goaded into the ring by the machinations of the evil heels, just to cost his partner-in-peril even more abuse. How dumb are these guys supposed to be? If there were some long-term learning curve of pro wrestling, faces would seldom fall for such cheap tactics. Heel teams should devise more creative ways to cheat and take advantage of the baffling single referee assigned to these four-man matches. I guess if they did assign a second ref to tag matches, it would be that much harder to design a story for the match (heels gain/maintain advantage via shenanigans, face plays Ricky Morton, hot tag, other face cleans house, et cetera) and they don’t want to shoot themselves in the foot by making things more difficult.

If the average wrestler in 2007 hasn’t learned any common sense fixes to common problems over the years, like “don’t lower your head too early”, then what about the wrestlers who face each other several times over a period of a few months. Do they learn enough about their frequent opponent to adjust their game plan or adapt their moveset?

As you know, John Cena and Shawn Michaels have been involved with each other since well before WrestleMania 23, first as partners and tag team champions, then as rivals for the bling-belt. These two have been so closely associated for so long, you can see the impact of this familiarity on their performances if you look hard enough.

Cena utilized a flying top-rope leg drop during their 60-minute rematch on RAW recently, and he absolutely needed to. His limited offensive moveset would be quite a hindrance to him, within the storyline, in a long feud against such a talented wrestler as HBK. Michaels is able to adapt his ring awareness and approach to an opponent like few others before him, so the same old punch-kick, FU, STFU stuff just won’t cut it against him night after night. These moves were enough for Cena to survive his ‘Mania title defense against Michaels, barely. But by the time their first rematch began, Michaels knew all he needed to know about Cena’s short list of offensive maneuvers to devise a new strategy, and in fact, Michaels was victorious that night on RAW, even with the new move Cena pulled out from his bag of tricks.

Earlier in the same rematch, HBK displayed his familiarity with Cena’s STFU submission finisher by immediately rolling to his back when he felt it coming, highlighting his experience with Cena as an opponent.

In a feud like the one above, or between Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, and Sting in TNA, logic dictates the competitors involved should gradually become more and more familiar with each other’s styles, resulting in expanded movesets for all concerned, original counters for well known attacks, and longer matches, since the same tactics shouldn’t continue to pay dividends in second and third or beyond.

In two of the last major WWE (SmackDown!) tag team championship feuds, the challengers stalked the reigning champions, beating them in every type of match before finally taking the belts. First the Hooliganz chased MNM, winning non-title, singles, and six-man tag matches against the photogenic champs. More recently, Deuce and Domino displayed dominance over champions the Hooliganz in multiple non-title matches, and although they weren’t successful in their first title match with the smaller champs, the team from the 1950’s did win the tag team titles from the Hooliganz, which again could be attributed to their improved knowledge of London and Kendrick that they only gained after wrestling the champs in a title match.

Wrestlers who face each other over and over might be able to secure a victory if they’d simply uncork one new maneuver and surprise their unsuspecting rival. A ground-and-pound guy like Cena launching himself from the top rope could just be enough to beat somebody who knows him well, as long as that somebody isn’t the Showstopper, Shawn Michaels. The high-impact dazzler AJ Styles might defeat a frequent opponent like Samoa Joe or Christopher Daniels if he tried something uncommon for him, like a submission move.

Obviously there has been some evolution in professional wrestling throughout its long history, but certain things just need to remain the way they are, so fans like us may continue to suspend our disbelief long enough to enjoy it.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality.

p.s. – “I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.” – Oscar Wilde

Before you go, check out our Rasslin Roundtable for WWE’s Judgment Day. Compare our picks to Steve Murray’s live coverage, then look below for our staff scores.

IP Staff Roundtable Results for Judgment Day

Danny Cox

Master Sergeant, United States Air Force