Welcome to week 11 here at FYC, I am still Andrew Wheeler. Before I get into anything, I want to thank everyone for their feedback from last week’s column. Last week was hardly a high profile topic (the release of some fringe wrestlers) but one that I thought was important. What made me happier was the knowledge that there are loyal readers out there in the Pulse that take the time to not only read the columns we writers crank out but also respond with some well written and insightful e-mails. I always get great e-mails from a wide spectrum of fans on a weekly basis, but this past week I was sure that my mailbox was going to be empty. To my surprise, almost a dozen of you great readers proved me wrong and provided some great feedback (special shout-outs to Sam and Josh for their thoughts). Alright, moving on.
In the coming weeks, For Your Consideration is going to revamp a bit. Don’t worry, nothing too drastic is coming your way and the column will still be up every Tuesday with the same familiar logo, however I am hoping to add some little touches to improve the column. First off, I am going to start putting up links to some of the other fantastic columns here at the Pulse. For the past 3 weeks, I’ve been out of the state or out of the country and have been unable to post my columns at my normal time. What that means is that I haven’t had a chance to read all of the stuff that was recently posted, which makes it hard to pimp other people when I didn’t even get a chance to read their column for the week. Now, thanks to a quieter schedule, I will be able to get back on a normal posting cycle and have time to read everything again (instead of days after the writer had posted their stuff). Second, I’m going to try and learn some very basic programming stuff so I can imbed video clips and even do stuff like make headings. I took one computer class back in college about this stuff and it went in one ear and right out the other. So, to sum up, next week look for more exciting boldfaced words and links to other great stuff here at the Pulse. Lastly, since next week marks my 3 months of being at Inside Pulse, if you have any comments on what you’d like to see here or anything you think I should add, please drop me a line at the e-mail address above or feel free to post in the message board section at the bottom of the page. Enough whoring, down to business.
Before I get to the wrestling, I have a quick commentary that I want to insert (thought it is probably more appropriate for the great folks as Prime Time Pulse. This past Thursday night was a bittersweet event because NBC brought back “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip†only days after announcing that it was cancelled. Studio 60 was my favorite new show of the season (I do also enjoy Friday Night Lights and Heroes) and I had been waiting for its premiere episode for months. I’m a huge Aaron Sorkin fan, with “Sports Night†being my favorite television show of all time, and when I heard that he was coming back to television, I just about hit the ceiling with excitement. Now, with Studio 60 dead in the water, I can’t help but think that this is a sad commentary on the state of television. People complained about the show being too inside or too smart when it first aired. People bitched about the characters being too intense for a comedy show and that everyone acted too self-righteous. To those people I say good riddance. S60 was a great show that delivered on a weekly basis. Was it too smart? Is that a legitimate criticism of a television show that it actually respected its audience? As far as being too inside, Bradley Whitford responded that cop shows are about as inside as it gets and people seem to understand. Hell, I can follow people talking about having to make a sketch funny a lot easier then I can follow people trying to decipher DNA evidence. People being too intense about their jobs? Yeah, that sounds like a horrible thing. Television characters are allowed to care about their lives. No, this isn’t a show about the President, but it is a show about people trying to work their hardest to make something good. Imagine if Vince & Co worked this f*cking hard to churn out RAW every week and maybe some people would cut them a break. Look, the show was bound to have its critics, but it did not deserve this. Personally, I hate CSI. I know it is the #1 show in the galaxy, but to me it is the same f*cking thing every week. Someone’s dead and the team solves it. That was the plot to Matlock, just with less CGI. What that says to me is that people would much rather watch the same recycled plot week-in and week-out instead of actually try to watch something that makes them think. Speaking of intellectual programming, it’s time to talk about wrestling.
For Your Consideration RVD: The Whole Wasted Effort
It looks like-barring a last-minute deal-that RVD will be gone come this Sunday night. I truly hope that a deal can be brokered out at the zero hour and Rob Van Dam will still be a fixture on WWE programming for years to come, but that looks more and more doubtful every day. Since RVD’s departure is pretty much inevitable, I decided to focus on the fact that his leaving the company is not being handled in the right way. Much like the majority of Van Dam’s WWE tenure, his leaving has been botched.
I’ve made comments in the past that Rob’s drug bust was a giant blotch on his record and one that he probably wouldn’t recover from, but even that doesn’t change the fact that he is a very valuable asset to the company. RVD = T-Shirt sales. RVD = Crowd response. RVD = Marketable character. Rob Van Dam’s popularity in the mainstream wrestling community can probably be tied to the original ECW invasion. Over a decade ago, a national television audience was introduced to the man that Jerry Lawler helped brand “Mister Monday Nightâ€Â. Yes, ECW’s small feud with the WWE was noteworthy for bringing Rob Van Dam into the Monday Night Wars, even if it was for a brief moment. You see, RVD was becoming bigger and bigger in ECW, and his exposure on RAW created more fans for the high-flying superstar. He became known as the guy who did the 5-Star Frogsplash, a move that you weren’t likely to see from then headliners Hulk Hogan or Undertaker. He became known as the guy who made drug references while the mainstream guys were “edgy†because they drank beer. He became ECW’s “Whole f’n Show†because people were willing to plunk down money just to see him wrestle. He became known as the guy that stayed when everyone else jumped to the Big Two. Like him or hate him, he was an innovator.
His arrival in the WWE was of course tied to the Hindenburg that was the InVasion, yet even through that blizzard of shit, the one bright spot was RVD’s arrival in the WWE. He had the kind of following that almost overcame bad booking and he had an offense that meant that people had to notice him no matter where he was on the card. Aside from a brief flirtation with the title picture, RVD seemed relegated to the upper midcard, yet another victim of the “Not Created by Vince†stigma even though he kinda was. His character said “whatever†a lot and he just sort of became a caricature of his ECW persona.
When Van Dam came out at the first One Night Stand, fans hoped that his “controversial†speech was the start of something big. One year later, when RVD won the WWE title and became the ECW champion, fans believed this to be the start of something big. The failure of Van Dam was the failure of the new ECW. I believe deep down in my heart that ECW could have been successful. If you look at the pieces, they were all lined up, ready to lock in. RVD was the champion, the guy that should have held the ECW title before the company went under the first time. Kurt Angle was his number one challenger and the guy that ECW fans love to drool over. Sabu was back and as reckless (and sloppy) as ever. Sandman was there even if he didn’t have his entrance music (which unfortunately was half his damn gimmick). The old guard was in place (minus Raven and Shane Douglas) and everyone knew that CM Punk was waiting in the wings.
I had the opportunity to attend the only show that ECW ran in the old ECW arena. I sat there for that show and I really thought that ECW was going to work. Big Show and Dreamer put on a hell of a hardcore brawl that went all over the building. Punk made his debut and gave the fans a chance to see him do what ROH fans knew he could do. Sandman and Sabu and Balls and the FBI all worked their asses off. Paul Heyman cut a promo about how the current SciFi show was going to get better and that things like the Vampire were a temporary annoyance. Most importantly, Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam put on an amazing main event. They worked their asses off for a small group of people. This wasn’t for TV (though there was one camera guy there and I hope someday that footage makes it onto the net), this wasn’t for 30,000 people in a house show, this was a match for the rabid fans. Why? Because Kurt was a competitor and because Van Dam was finally focused. RVD was finally going to get his shot at the spotlight.
The drug bust was stupid and wrong and about as shocking as the news that Pirates of the Caribbean opened at #1 at the box office. The WWE made this a very big story and made sure that RVD would lose his gold as quick as possible. Now a WWE champion is supposed to represent the company and that’s all well and good, but the burial of RVD was more about Vince’s chance to finally screw the old vision of ECW and make it the Lashley machine that it is today. This was Vince’s chance to unload Hardcore Holly and bring in Test and turn ECW back into the “wayward home for misfit toysâ€Â. It also let Vince slide RVD back into a midcard guy.
Now, with Rob Van Dam leaving and jobbing his way out the door, the stage was set for the only dream match ECW had left. Yes folks, at One Night Stand, we are going to get RVD versus Snitsky. Snitsky?! What the f*ck?
If Van Dam’s leaving is inevitable then there is no reason not to job RVD out the door. I agree that it is time-tested and that it is what you are supposed to do. I just don’t agree with the guy standing on the other side of the ring. Snitsky is not the guy that needs the push that RVD will give. Everyone knows that Snitsky is a “monster†and that he can crush ECW Originals with a single botched kick. Everyone also knows that Snitsky is going to be Lashley’s next victim. So what this means is that RVD’s burial loss coming this Sunday is going to be done to benefit Bobby Lashley. FUCK! Yet again, ECW is being used to push Lashley down our throats. He’s become the Poochie of ECW, even when he’s not there people should be talking about him (which I guess makes him the new Triple H). Van Dam’s leaving the company was going to help Lashley come hell or high water.
Everyone and their mother knows that RVD should exit stage right by putting over C.M. Punk. Punk is this generation’s Rob Van Dam for the reasons I said above. He does innovative moves that mainstream audiences don’t get to see. He does edgy promos talking about drugs (straight edge kids are the new pot smokers). He was the reason that people were going to ROH events. Hell, he even stayed and carried their title while others around him were jumping ship. And now, just like RVD, he’s getting pops despite trying to be buried and is just as susceptible to falling into the midcard. I wrote in my first column that Punk should have been turned heel and here’s another reason why. Heel Punk versus face Lashley would play well with the fans, and RVD could have jobbed out to Punk to make him look legit. Now, Punk needs this just to keep relevant.
Once the Punk/Burke feud is done, where does CM Punk have to go? With the announced tri-brand draft, it’s inevitable that ECW will get some fresh blood, but that might just keep Punk further and further from the title.
CM Punk versus Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand was the last dream match that ECW had. Punk and Van Dam never faced off one-on-one. They both can go if they want to. They both are over with the fans, but Punk needs one more big thing to make him legit in the eyes of the mainstream viewer. RVD putting Punk over in a great match would be the ultimate passing of the torch. It would be Hogan/Rock for the indie wrestling fan. It would be a classy way for Van Dam to go and a nice way to let casual fans who they should cheer for. It would also help to create a new marketable character for Vince to slap on more shirts. Van Dam’s leaving will create a big hole in merchandising, and CM Punk could have little problem filling it.
If CM Punk is the new Rob Van Dam then let’s hope it has a happier ending.
This has been for your consideration.
