“The supreme purpose of history is a better world.†– Herbert Hoover
The Opening Chapter
It’s that time year again; it’s Christmas time. It’s the time to give and receive gifts in the spirit of the holiday season. Just like last year I am going to roll out my wish list to Santa Claus for what I want this upcoming year in the wrestling world. Let’s see if my any more of my wishes come true than they did last year.
What I Wish For…in 2009
~ the return of Christian to WWE
~ …thus a subsequent reunion of Christian and Edge
~ …and thus a revival of feuds between any and all combinations of Christian, Edge, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy
~ the return of Paul London to the wrestling world
~ and the continual WWE employment and push of London’s old running buddy The Brian Kendrick
~ the continual WWE employment and push of fellow Ring of Honor alums Evan Bourne
~ at least one on-screen pairing on WWE TV of CM Punk and Scotty Goldman
~ live Ring of Honor pay per views…seriously three month old pay per view events just don’t do it
~ while I’m on that subject, the continual presence of Ring of Honor…period
~ the return of Christopher Daniels to TNA
~ …and thus Daniels, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe emerging as the founding fathers and cornerstones of TNA
~ more continued awesomeness on WWE 24/7 (I know that one will for come true)
~ Ric Flair to continue to uphold his promise to Shawn Michaels to stay out of a wrestling ring
~ a second season of Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling…it’s the most entertaining I’ve ever seen Hogan
~ a much needed and well-deserved heel turn for John Cena
~ the return of the Cruiserweight Championship to WWE television
~ one more appearance of Bret Hart on WWE TV
~ the continued love for second and third generation wrestlers
~ Reid Flair not succumbing to the insane pressure of being Ric Flair’s son, and surviving the wrestling business
~ the continued presence of worthy independent promotions like CHIKARA, FIP, OVW and PWG so young wrestlers have places to learn how to work successfully
~ WWE to expand their developmental system so as to avoid the McDonald’s like cookie-cutter talent that may arise from Florida
~ Lance Storm on my television screens again
~ a WrestleMania moment to replace the unfortunately damaged WrestleMania XX confetti celebration
~ the continued success of Brock Lesnar in the MMA world
~ Kelly Kelly in the pages of Playboy
And now just for fun, I’m going to look back at what I wished for in 2008 and see if any of hopes came true…And for the record I didn’t look back my last year’s wish list until after wrote this years. Let’s see if there are any wishes that are repeated.
What I Wish For…in 2008
~ spotfests of old in the TNA X-Division…(eh…it kind of happened, but unfortunately the X-Division hasn’t regained the prominence it had in the past)
~ a real WWE tag team division, with matching names and gear…(nope…same situation, different year)
~ Mark Henry off my television screen; I can handle the rest of the WWE monsters in a sort of preserve so-bad-they’re-good way, but nothing about Mark Henry makes me want to devote my viewing time to him. I don’t wish any ill will on him, I just don’t want to see him on TV anymore…(not only did he not leave, but he got pushed even harder than in the past…ugh)
~ live PPVs for ROH; a PPV airing matches a month and a half old lose some of their luster, no matter how awesome the show still is…(still wishing…)
~ continued real pushes and success for the Motor City Machine Guns and Frankie Kazarian; If TNA really wants to be the “alternative†then their show should look and feel different than the competition, and putting guys like this on top will help solve that problem…(hmmm…Kazarian is now under a hood and the Machine Guns are finally getting some love…)
~ Sting to sign a WWE Legends deal, get a Hall of Fame induction, show up at WrestleMania and fight Ric Flair and then make a bunch of money off of a career retrospective DVD and biography. I know I’m not the only one who’s wishing for this one…(yep…only a pipedream)
~ WWE to explain why in the hell Deuce, Domino & Cherry dress like they’re in the ‘50s; and give them a team name. I mean the Internet already calls them The Untouchables or The Throwbacks. And come to think of it, let’s get official names for London & Kendrick (The Hooligans), Jesse & Festus (The Daltons) and Cade & Murdoch (The Redneck Wrecking Crew)…(let’s see…London, Domino, Cherry Cade and Murdoch are all fired. Jesse & Festus are in the exact same spot as a year ago, and only Kendrick has shown signs of upward mobility.)
~ the resurrection of the WWE Cruiserweight division and its Championship…(looks like I’m still wishing for this one…)
~ a new WrestleMania moment to replace the unfortunately irreplaceably damaged Benoit-Guerrero image…(another one I’m still wishing for…)
~ more entertaining, long-term feuds like Matt Hardy-MVP…(thanks to Michaels-Jericho, this is still going on…)
~ a proper storyline and send-off for “The Nature Boy (whooo! Finally got one wish granted…)
~ Bryan Danielson to make the kind of money befitting of the best wrestler in the world…(eh not so much…but he’s still one the best…)
~ just one public interaction or acknowledgement between Shawn Michaels and all of his “kids†(Danielson, London, Kendrick, Bentley and Cade)…(hey it kind of happened this past summer with London and Cade…)
~ just one more Bret Hart appearance on WWE TV…(still wishing…)
~ Samoa Joe as THE man in TNA…(it happened for a while this past spring and summer I guess…)
~ the continued goodness of WWE’s compilation DVDs…(yep, thanks to stuff like best of SNME and Starrcade it’s still happening…)
~ Paul Heyman back booking a wrestling program…(c’mon Paul, wrestling needs you…)
~ more wrestlers with the natural charisma and entertainment value of The Rock and Chris Jericho…(hmmm…anyone?)
~ one more Rock match…(I don’t think it’s happening anytime soon…)
~ CM Punk to become a legitimate worldwide wrestling superstar…(I think it’s safe to say it’s happened…)
~ a push (or at least continued employment) for Stevie Richards, Charlie Haas and Val Venis…(two out of three ain’t bad on the employment front, and one out of three for the push thing is better than I thought actually…)
~ for people to stop hating on John Cena, Randy Orton and The Miz so much…(I think it’s working…)
~ Maria in Playboy this year…(yeah…it was nice…)
~ a shirt for Viscera…(not only did he not get a shirt, he lost his job as well…)
~ a return to the glory days of male managers, thanks to guys like Jim Mitchell, Matt Striker and Santino Marella…(the closest we got was Tony Atlas unfortunately…)
~ a return to the wrestling arena for both Sean O’Haire and Brock Lesnar…(well Lesnar got glory somewhere else anyways…)
~ Mick Foley to stop whoring out the legacy he built up for himself…(nope…he’s just doing a better job of whoring it out at this point…)
~ just one more time around for Ricky “The Dragon†Steamboat…(looks like I might have to settle for seeing his kid…)
~ either for ECW to become something visually or stylistically different than RAW and SmackDown!, or for it just to be renamed Velocity and we can drop all the false pretenses…(well I guess it’s kind of morphed into an on-screen developmental I guess…)
The Perspective
It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since I wrote that. Oh my where does the time go? In a lot of ways things have really changed all that much. Maybe 2009 will bring some changes that will be worth talking about.
For this week the vault is closed…
Linked to the Pulse
P.C. looks at NOAH’s year that was 2008.
Marshall wraps up his recaps of Hulk Hogan’s CCW…a show that was better than it had any right to be.
Vinny T. laments the inclusion of Grizzly Redwood into Ring of Honor broadcasts.
This Day in History
I figured if we are talking history around here we should pay homage to what has happened on this very day in the years gone by. It will either make you long for the old days or be happy for what we have now.
1997 – Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Shawn Michaels for the WWF European Heavyweight title
2002 – Sonny Saiki defeated Jerry Lynn for the NWA-TNA X title
1961 – Doug Furnas was born
1965 – La Parka was born
The Assignment
It’s important to know your history to know where you have come from and where you are going. Back when Nova was in charge of the WWE developmental system he implemented mandatory history assignments for the students of the developmental territories so they would know pro wrestling’s history and they would learn just how many moves Nova created and apparently the best ways to get on-line prescriptions. I feel Nova had a great idea there and every week I will assign a book or DVD for you to check out and learn from. They are not only educational, but very entertaining.
This week I’ve got to once again look at WWE 24/7 for my Assignment. This time I encourage all of you to check out the ultra-rare “This Tuesday in Texas†pay per view from early December 1991. It was an odd experiment done by the WWF to see if mid-week or weekly pay per views would fly in that time period. The pay per view, held only a week after Survivor Series ’91, was highlighted by the reinstatement of “Macho Man†Randy Savage as he took on his then nemesis Jake “The Snake†Roberts in a match that was highlighted more by the wild angle that proceeded it, where Roberts laid out Savage with three DDTs and then actually laid his hands on the untouchable Miss Elizabeth. This was heavy stuff for 1991. The main event is also historical in the fact that Hulk Hogan won his fourth WWF World Heavyweight Championship in controversial fashion, which led to the great Royal Rumble 1992 match-up.
For more relevant wrestling information from your truly, check out my paying gig over at Examiner.com.
