Scott’s Mailbag of DOOM – June 23 2008

Features, Q&A

Tomorrow is exciting because I’m finally going HD thanks to Sasktel having a special and Jodi wanting the movie channels for summer vacation!  The final piece of my home entertainment puzzle is almost in place and soon the world will be mine. 

Anyway, on with the mail…

 

Hey Scott,
Weird question coming up, but surprised you’ve never commented on it. I always found movie fight scenes and wrestling matches to be the same thing (well sort of) and just wondering what your favourite movie fight scene was. In terms of realism, my favorite would be the end fight scene in the first Karate Kid movie and also the one in Rob Roy. And in the ‘movie world’ it would be Obi Wan v. Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith and Achilles v Hector in Troy. I also find all the Rocky fights to be choreographed really well.

Yeah, Obi Wan v. Emo Jedi was pretty badass.  However, I’m old school, and Luke Skywalker unleashing all his rage on Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi is still the champion of lightsaber fights for my money.  However, if you’re looking for a great sword fight, Rob Roy is the king.  Not even my favorite movie, but damn, what a great fight.  I also love the "I know kung fu" showdown in the Matrix between Morpheus and Neo, although I used it as a home theater demo at work for like 2 years straight so it’s bit old to me now.  The big beatdown at the end of Death Proof is also really good for my money. 

Hey Scott, been a fan of your stuff for as long as I’ve been a smark.
My main question is this: Lesnar has his second UFC fight in my town (Minneapolis) in a couple of months, and of course the question is whether he’ll actually not blow the fight this time. Here’s my question: Assume that Lesnar loses his next fight. Then he’ll be 0-2 in UFC, and it will no doubt seem that his MMA career (and UFC’s investment in him) is somewhat in the toilet. If he loses, what do you think he would do next? In theory he could still go pretty much anywhere in wrestling, but who knows how much he wants to do that.
Also, as you are probably aware, Bryan Danielson wrestled a dark match on Raw last week and actually won, contrary to standard practice. JR also mentioned in his latest blog that he thinks WWE would be wise to consider ROH a useful tool for finding new talent. What do you make of this?

As to the question of Brock, it’s a fair assumption that he’ll lose his next fight, but he has name value to the fighting world.  I actually think he’d be a better fit in the pro-wrestling-style world of EliteXC as far as long-term value goes.  Brock v. Kimbo is MONEY.  Doesn’t even matter if the fight would suck or whatever.  That being said, WWE should just throw money at him until comes back for the big match against HHH or whoever else needs a fresh opponent.  Like John Cena, for instance. 

As for the ROH thing, I don’t think they’re a useful talent pool for WWE, because they don’t develop talent that the WWE would utilize. Plus traditionally you have to throw out the whole "indy style" and change to the bland WWE main event style in order to get anywhere.  Really they were doing fine with OVW and I still don’t know why they scrapped it — it gave us Batista, Cena, Lesnar, Orton, and countless others.  ROH becoming a feeder system would kill it dead anyway.

Hey Scott,
Can’t wait for the new book to come out.
The recent Undertaker question brought to mind someone else you’ve had mixed feelings about over the years; Raven. Now that his wrestling career is winding down (I think he opened a school in Atlanta after leaving TNA), what’s your final word on him?

I think he’s a case of a lot of wasted potential because of political problems and his own weird neuroses.  I think the actual Raven character ran out of steam a long time ago and he needed a reinvention ala what he went through with the change from Johnny Polo to Raven in the first place. But he’s always had a brilliant mind for the business and he wrestled a lot of great matches (when he was motivated), but it was finding the ways to motivate him that always seemed to be the challenge for bookers.  I think he’ll be invaluable as a teacher, though, and could easily run developmental for WWE.

Hey Scott,
I’ve been reading your shit for about 10 years now, since you were a NetCop on RSPW… but I’ve never actually asked a question before.
Basically, I was watching a youtube video about the whole Bret punching out Vince thing after the screwjob and Vince saying how he let Bret hit him and then stated "Even at 52 years old, I suspect if there was a confrontation things would have happened much differently…"
The question: Do you think Bret Hart could have kicked Vince McMahon’s ass or vice-versa in an actual fight back then? Hell, even after Bret’s stroke, if the two lined up today, I’d still pick Bret to win… but what do I know?
What do you think?

I don’t think Vince has ever demonstrated any kind of fighting skill in real life.  I mean, Bret at least wrestled as an amateur and used to fight as a teenager.  Vince can barely even dial a phone at this point.  Bret still takes him, I’d say.

Hi Scott, I have a question for you.  Kinda cheesy but after reading the IC Title thing in the comments of your last questions column I had to ask.  Why was it from like Wrestlemania 4-6ish{not exactly sure time wise}  was the WWF Champion referred to as the Undisputed WWF Champion?  Was there someone else going around claiming they were the WWF Champion.  I know around that time Pro Wrestling USA {Joint Crockett/AWA promotion} was starting up and Bob Backlund was on their claiming that he never lost the WWF Championship and though that may have been why?

Nope, much more mundane.  Andre the Giant "won" the title and then tried to give it to Ted Dibiase, but the title got vacated and Randy Savage won the tournament, thus ending the dispute.  So they introduced him as the "undisputed" WWF champion.  Nothing more to it than that, I’m afraid.

Next time:  Dusty Rhodes, Curt Hennig, the AWA, and Shawn v. Hogan!