For Your Consideration… Mick Foley and ROH

Welcome to week 77.

At least I think it’s week 77. Yeah, sorry about the LONG absence folks, but sometimes real life rears its ugly head and the world of “For Your Consideration” gets sucked into the vast abyss that is my actual life. First it was the hurricane nonsense combined with the general waste of time that is law school, then a certain Inside Pulse staffer was kind enough to accidentally send me a link with a virus attached to it (I won’t say who it was, but he tends to favor ROH quite a bit and his last name rhymes with Glazer), and after getting the computer back have been in the intolerable early stages of a relationship where I spend the majority of my time arguing with her over which one of us is in fact “Shmoopy”. One last thing, happy and a healthy new year to my fellow Jews. With that said, here I am with a few moments of free time and two HUGE axes to grind.

But before that, I do want to throw in what is right now the most embarrassingly late analysis of “Unforgiven”, but since I wrote it before I abandoned my last column, I might as well fill up some space and throw it in here in its completely unabridged state (which means I haven’t looked at it since the beginning of the month):

I watched “Unforgiven” and overall I really enjoyed what the WWE did with that pay-per-view. I haven’t seen the Roundtable results as of the writing of this column, so I have no clue if I won the Roundtable or not. Chances are I didn’t, since I was wrong about two of the 3 scrambles and wrong about the Michaels match. Meh, overall I was content with the logic that I applied, and was shocked that the results that the WWE gave us still fit into the arguments that I made.

The ECW scramble match (which got 4 snowflakes from Keith) was a great way to feature the new gimmick match. The big stories coming out of the match? Well for one thing, it was a nice to see that the WWE remembered that Chavo can still bust out some impressive moves. His spinning heel kick and his frog splash were crisp and none of us were shocked to see those moves in the recap promos. Another shocking factor was the fact that Matt Hardy and the Miz had a decent little five minute mini-match. Hmm, the Miz can work singles matches and be entertaining? Who knew?

Matt Hardy winning the ECW Title wasn’t all that shocking but that doesn’t make it any less of a good idea. Elevating Matt to that “world title” level (even in terms of ECW), adds immense value to him as a legit singles main eventer and ensures that fair-weather fans will start to view him as a “big deal”. Plus, having him win but not have Henry get pinned keeps that monster mystique built around the guy. The WWE has invested months into making Mark Henry an unstoppable beast, and his gripe that he lost his belt without getting pinned is the very reason the stips for this match were implemented in the first place.

Oh, and for anyone that was completely down on the gimmick, did you not hear the crowd at the end of that ECW Title match? It was the closest we’ll probably get to this being viewed as a real sport. When the clock struck :03 seconds left and it sunk in, the roar was incredible, and did wonders to make Matt Hardy’s victory look “big time’.

Michaels and Jericho went out there and gave everything they had based on the limitations thrust upon this match. No, I’m not talking about Shawn’s injury, I’m talking about yet another “brawl” bout. I don’t know about anyone else, but I really want to see these two have a straight-up wrestling match one of these days. With that said, this was a great, vicious brawl with some really nice spots, but by no means did it feel like the definitive end of a blood feud. While the absence of blood is the obvious reason why, the fact that there was no pinfall sort of ensured that “this will continue”. I’m annoyed that Lillian made the point of saying that this must end via pinfall or submission and the match ended with a stoppage, but it’s nitpicking at this point. My pick to win this was Jericho because I believed that he had more value in the world title picture and couldn’t see him doing the job to Michaels and logically becoming the #1 Contender. By not having him pinned, he really doesn’t lose too much face and it allows Michaels to get the “victory” that he needed to get in order to make the feud make sense. More on this later.

The Smackdown Scramble was a real missed opportunity. While I no doubt believe that hearing the phrase “current WWE champion The Brian Kendrick” is something I won’t hear again for a long time, it was still kinda cool for half a second to realize that he COULD be the champ. Aside from that bizarro moment, I didn’t really see a major bonus in this match. I was sort of surprised that with five talented guys, there were so few bright moments. It was just sort of there. Then again, I think my lack of enthusiasm for a Jeff Hardy title run really played in here because I didn’t feel any suspense over him leaving with the belt. The WWE knows that Jeff Hardy, if sober and motivated, can be a valuable asset to them as a world champion just like his brother, but while Matt’s title win doesn’t need to main event a show, Jeff needs to win the gold while headlining a major PPV. That’s why I suggested MVP to take the belt, because I just assumed that the winner of this match was on a collision course with The Undertaker and I doubted Taker/Hardy or Taker/Hunter would main event No Mercy when each of those are Big Four main events. But if Hunter walked away with the gold, what the hell was Taker going to do for the next few months?

So the Evolutionary Horsemen officially christened their new Next Generation New Blood Future Hall of Famers of Doom stable at Unforgiven. Their match with Cryme Time was borderline awful due to the fact that it was bland and dull, but in reality it was just a precursor for the “new and exciting angle”. Too bad this new and exciting angle involved Manu, who has a dull look and no real charisma. I would have preferred this role to go to DH Smith or Deuce, two guys who have a solid look and need something to do. Maybe he’ll grow on me like Umaga did, but I doubt it. Remember, folks, I built the Ricky Ortiz Sucks bandwagon and there isn’t much room left on there.

The Evolutionary Horsemen’s assault on CM Punk is a divisive move by the WWE, because you short-changed people who wanted to see Punk compete and you now stripped him of his belt without getting pinned. I come from the camp that this was a great way to establish them as a legit heel stable and it allows Punk to be protected from losing the gold in the scramble. Ah, but who would take his place? Hmm…

As a rule, happy Big Show sucks. His face shtick always gets old fast and he tends to get really bored really fast. As soon as I saw him come out, I realized that we still haven’t seen the Vickie/Taker showdown and realized that this was going to be the Big Show turn. Sure enough it was and well…that’s all I got to say about that.

The RAW main event scramble was very disjointed until the very last minute, mainly due to the fact that Kane, JBL and Batista in a ring slugging it out isn’t my idea of thrilling entertainment. Oh, and adding in Mysterio doesn’t peak my curiosity. I’ve never hidden the fact that Rey just doesn’t do it for me anymore, and seeing him be the pinball for those lummoxes makes me want to change the channel, even if it is a PPV. Thankfully, the Jericho appearance was a welcome surprise, and his winning the belt was one of the truly memorable moments of 2008. I’ve been riding the WWE since last year about how poorly Chris’s return has been, but finally putting the world title on him almost justifies all of his poor mishandling. Almost.

Well, there you have it, a slightly half-assed recap written by a guy who was too lazy to even finish that column. Oh well.

Thankfully I’m not that guy anymore, because I have not one but TWO major topics I wanna rip into, and since coming up with a clever title is kinda beneath me at the moment, let me just go with:

For Your Consideration…Why Mick Foley and ROH Can Blow Me

Yeah, class and tactfulness have gone out the window, folks. I’m pissed off this week, and unlike law school where you have to restrain your vitriol, PulseWrestling welcomes the unique brand of bitterness that our columnists sometimes tend to foster. Oh, you can expect the logical arguments you’ve grown accustomed to over the past year and a half, but this week’s column will be greeted by a whole lot of me slapping my palm against my head like a young Albie Singer in “Annie Hall”.

Mick Foley is no longer Good. Yes, dropping an “o” in that phrase was a popular way to express love for the Mickster in the late 90’s, but he’s hardly a deity anymore. In fact, he’s hardly anything we can truly respect anymore. Mick Foley going to TNA is one of those moments where you realize the guy doesn’t care about his legacy the way we do.

I am a Mick Foley fan. I remember one Saturday morning years ago on my local Fox station watching one of WCW’s syndicated crapfests at 6 am when I caught a match between him and Van Hammer. The match took place in a barn and was one of the oddest things my young mind had every witnessed. Ever since that match, Cactus Jack has held a special place in my heart. I loved his sick battles in ECW, I cringed as I watched bootleg copies of his death matches from Japan, I relished his Mankind promos and I remember outwardly cheering when he finally won the WWE title on an episode of RAW. I own his three autobiographies and devoured them from cover to cover. In short, I support Mick Foley about as much as any true wrestling fan can.

With my Foley cred well established, I feel it’s necessary to quantify just why I hate Mick’s move to TNA. First off, it is not simply because I have a blind hatred to Total Nonstop Action. I reserved my blind hatred for the old days of WCW, and even my ice cold heart has melted towards the Atlanta company thanks in large part to WWE 24/7. No, to simply hate Mick for leaving for TNA because I hate the company doesn’t serve my argument well at all. My aversion to seeing Mick on TNA is threefold; 1) TNA will exploit his reputation 2) WWE writes the history books and 3) he’s needed elsewhere.

1) TNA will exploit his reputation:

TNA does not care about Mick Foley. TNA wants Mick in the fold the same way they wanted Sting and wanted Booker T and wanted Kevin Nash. The TNA braintrust has been collecting old wrestlers the way kids collect baseball cards.

TNA has no true concept of how to properly build a wrestler. While they don’t have the talent roster of the WWE, they have arguably some of the most talented men working in the industry today. TNA is chock full of ROH legends, indie icons and WWE cast-offs who didn’t deserve to be cast off. They have guys that can talk the crowd into the building and then deliver one hell of a match. My hatred of TNA for all of this time is that they have continued to do nothing but waste talent and blow every golden opportunity that lands in their laps.

TNA worked on excuses more than on talent. “Well, we’re on PPV and not on TV,” “We’re on TV but only syndication on FSN,” “We’re on Spike but only on Saturday nights,” “We’re on Thursdays but only for one hour,” “We’re on Thursdays for two hours with monthly PPVs, house shows and with a roster of big name guys that have legitimate recognition in the wrestling world and…uh…we’re out of excuses.” TNA has become such a WCW retread I’m almost expecting the old Battlebowl ring to make a return appearance.

Rather than show faith in its roster, TNA became addicted to the idea of bringing in “big” names. Scott Hall, Ken Shamrock and Raven tried early on to make TNA viable #2 company in North America. When they didn’t set the world on fire, TNA ponied up and brought in a crazed Savage, a bored Sting and a borderline delusional Kevin Nash. The only smart acquisitions that TNA made in my opinion were Rhino (who wasn’t doing anything in the WWE and is a great utility player), Christian (a guy that TNA was able to make a main eventer…for a short time) and Kurt Angle. Kurt coming to TNA could have been that Outsiders-esque moment where they went from borderline legit company to actual threat to Titan Towers. Sadly for them, the words “could have” are still firmly in place.

TNA brought in Booker T to continue his inexplicable main event runs, and I’ve made it no secret that Booker probably should have waited out his time in WWE and he’d right now be the #2 or #3 heel on RAW.

Mick Foley’s life as a WWE Legend was a pretty easy one. Once a year, the WWE sends him a check to continue to use his name and likeness on t-shirts, video games and action figures. He was free to show up at headquarters and pitch whatever idea he wanted to to Creative and chances are they would be more than happy to at least let him show his mug on television for the ratings pop. He had plenty of time to work on his books and see his family and even do random autograph signings and “good will” trips for the WWE.

Then came Smackdown. Mick took over for JBL and in my humble opinion did a pretty damn good job calling Friday Night Smackdown for the past few months. He gave the appropriate amount of gravitas when talking about guys like Khali and Batista and his hushed awe went a long way in establishing Kosloff as a monster. Mick Foley even deserves an assist in terms of the development of Edge as the biggest name in wrestling today. Sadly, Foley didn’t like Vince yelling in his ear and chose to take his ball and run to Orlando.

Mick, Orlando will not protect you like Vince did. Mick Foley’s retirement from the ring was one of the most memorable in the history of the industry. I remember how shocked everyone was when Hunter ended Foley’s career. I remember being even more shocked when it pretty much stuck. Mick never became a full-time wrestler again, and those rare times he did work a match were almost all memorable (his Eugene stuff can be forgiven). Mick’s rare returns to the ring were legitimate moments that served their purpose well. His feud with Edge MADE Edge a legit main event threat. His brawls with Randy Orton established Orton as a top level worker. His feud with ECW helped relaunch the brand almost singlehandedly. His appearance in the Royal Rumble…also happened. The WWE protected Mick Foley’s legacy because it was as valuable to them as it was to him. TNA will not take those kinds of actions.

Mick’s desire to help TNA partially comes from an altruistic section of his personality. Mick wants to do it for guys like Samoa Joe and MCMG and AJ Styles. He wants to ensure that there is a #2 Brand to help guys who get their “Best of luck in your future endeavors” message. Unfortunately, TNA won’t let him do that. They want the Mick Foley name and will do with it as they please. They are going to want Foley in the ring wrestling again, which does nothing but cheapen his reputation. They are going to stick him in poorly written sketches that he will have to grin through. TNA will not protect Foley, they will do with his reputation what they have done with everyone else’s, muddy it.

Has there been ANY “legend” (and by that I mean guy from WWE or WCW) that has been helped at all by being in TNA? Is Kevin Nash now a fully realized superstar because he demolished the X-Division? Is Sting now an immortal because he was part of a surveillance camera angle? Is Kurt more worthy of the Hall of Fame because he let his wife be part of a long-running storyline? Only Jeff Jarrett can say that he’s benefitted, and that might be in part because he holds the book. Sorry Mick, this one was a BAD choice.

2) The WWE writes the history books.

Vince McMahon controls history. He vanquished WCW solely by his smart booking decisions, he built Hulkamania and Austin 3:16 and The Rock and he established MTV, PPV and USA. Even more than his personal boasting, Vince has set up the history books in an easily digestible way. His home video department cranks out top notch documentaries about everyone from company golden boys like Triple H and the Hardys to outcasts like the Ultimate Warrior. Vince’s version is what is disseminated to the masses and eventually the legend becomes the fact.

Not only has home video changed the wrestling world, but WWE 24/7 is the single best way for a wrestling fan to embrace the past. The VOD service is a window into the soul of wrestling’s history, and while they always show any superstar regardless of their love or hatred of Vince, the channel tends to put the spotlight on guys that play ball with the WWE. Flair got his own month. Hardcore month philated ECW. Latin month became a tribute to Eddie. Bret got his moment to shine in international month. WWE 24/7 is a way to remind fans old and new just who was and who is important.

There will never be a Warrior month on 24/7. There will never be a Savage month or a Sting month. Now, thanks to his defection, there won’t be a Mick Foley month. There won’t be a Mick Foley DVD. There won’t be a Mick Foley interview talking about his classic moments and matches. Mick’s move to TNA does something that he never wanted to do, prevent Mick Foley from marking out about himself.

Mick Foley was probably a lock for the 2009 Hall of Fame. With Steve Austin the surefire #1 guy going on, who better than Foley to compliment him into the Hall? Mick Foley loves his reputation and he loves his personal lineage. Vince made him an improbable world champion and a true legend, but by going to TNA, there’s no reason for Vince to continue to feed the myth of Foley. Sure, there has always been a little personal animosity between the two, but they’re businessmen and they both know what’s best for the company is best for them.

I don’t doubt that Mick won’t someday return to the WWE, but in the late stage of his career, is it worth jeopardizing his legacy for some misbegotten desire to “save” a company? Which brings me to #3…

3) Mick is needed elsewhere

Mick Foley has a desire to help save TNA. Super. Too bad they don’t need saving. Mick, you were doing so well helping Ring of Honor get over with the mainstream, why not keep getting your legend checks and go help out ROH again? Why not open up a JR-esque blog and write about the state of the industry? Most importantly, why not fly down to New Port Ritchie and help out the FCW kids?

The WWE farm system is perfect for a guy like Foley. He can mold young men into true superstars no matter what they look like. His books are already bibles for up-and-coming workers, and his ability to get over despite limited skill is a testament to hard work and knowledge of the industry. Mick, if you want to go help pro wrestling, go build the next generation of superstars instead of trying to sate the ill-conceived beast that is TNA.

And speaking of ill conceived…

Ring of Honor can blow me.

I used to rally against ROH-bots but truth be told the product started to grow on me. Ring of Honor has a place in the industry and while it isn’t the WWE, it’s a better alternative than TNA. That was why I was so pumped to find out I was going to represent PulseWrestling at their Survival of the Fittest show in Coral Springs, Florida. I was jacked up about seeing the live show for weeks. Aaron was nice enough to give me a sample of matches that I should watch in order to get myself ready for the card, and I began counting down the days.

Then I find out the show’s been postponed.

Why? Soft ticket sales. That is absolutely mind blowing! Soft ticket sales in Coral Springs? The Coral Springs gymnasium is not a major venue. It doesn’t hold thousands of people. Considering this is the first time ROH has ventured into South Florida, I expected this show to be packed. FIP tends to draw in Northern Florida, so I figured this thing would be sold out in minutes. Instead, they sold something like 60 tickets. Sixty. This is downright pathetic.

Look, ROH, I wanted to see you guys. I really did. But frankly, had I not been a writer for this site, I never would have known about this show…and I LIVE IN THE TOWN! No print ads, no radio spots and no TV spots. Coral Springs also has an indie company called Coastal Championship Wrestling, a company known mainly for giving birth to the man who would be MVP. They hardly have the coverage of an ROH, but even they do TV spots. Ring of Honor chose not to. I don’t know if its arrogance, lack of money or just a desire to be “renegade”, but the lack of promotion cost them what could have been a very viable market.

I’ve begged ROH to do things right. I want them to get a TV deal of some sort (even if it’s the old school ECW syndication thing), I want them to fix their website so that there are superstar profiles and I want them to ADVERTISE IN MARKETS WHERE THEY ARE RUNNING A SHOW! This, gentlemen, is unacceptable.

Mick Foley and Ring of Honor both dropped the ball, but thankfully it’s not too late to pick it back up. Please, for the sake of real wrestling fans, pick it up.

This has been for your consideration.