First, Penny Sautereau-Fife:
My wife and I watched Knucklehead yesterday whilst waiting for my mom to come give us a drive around for monthly bills and groceries, and it wasn’t half bad. It was certainly not the best movie I’ve ever seen by far, nor anywhere approaching the worst. It rested somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. A nice little piece of fluff that’s a fun way to kill a buck fifty of time, but nothing too deep or thought-provoking you’ll be discussing the next day.
Except of course that I’m a wrestling fan-girl, and I of course am pre-wired to give it more thought than it would otherwise get.
Like with Legendary before it, this movie makes a wise choice concerning casting and story. The Marine and 12 Rounds were both fun and entertaining as mindless things-go-boom entertainment but otherwise ultimately forgettable. Austin’s WWE Studio’s movies are so forgettable I can’t even remember what they were called except for Running Man II. Legendary and Knucklehead, while not Oscar contenders, and never in theatres longer than a week to appease WalMart, were far better work.
The reason for this is screen time. In Cena’s prior WWE film outings, he was the de facto star. He was onscreen 80% of both movies. He was asked with only his wrestling experience to carry entire films with only average actors to work with.
(I love Robert “T-1000 Patrick, but he’s a scenery-chewer, not a thespian.)
This is why these movies failed. Anyone outside a wrestling audience had no reason to give a flying fuck about this guy with the funny shaped head and the roid muscles starring in an action movie. He wasn’t a name. That plus the fact that Vince, like the out-of-touch senile twat he’s been becoming the past decade, marketed it pretty much exclusively on wrestling tv. I barely remember seeing any TV spots anywhere outside of WWE programming.
But in Legendary and Knucklehead, the wrestlers involved aren’t the stars of their movies. They get billing, and they get decent screen time, but neither movie is really about the wrestler in it.
Legendary was the story of the younger brother. Cena’s character was tertiary, supporting. He was the plot device the kid brother needed to give him that boost to push himself more. And he played the tortured estranged older brother afraid to open up to his brother and mom and try to heal old wounds admirably. But it was the cameo by Danny Glover, the mother played by the always excellent Patricia Clarkson, and the stellar job as the kid brother by young Devon Graye that pulled the story together.
Cena proved he could hang with better actors and learn from them. His tearful goodbye on Raw proved he learned. Fran and I were almost in tears as his voice broke and he bordered on breaking into sobs in the ring. We almost lost our suspension of disbelief. As jaded as fans that we are, that’s a huge credit to Cena. And we all know what a workhorse he is whatever he does. There’s no question he picked Clarkson and Glover’s brains for advice every chance he got. When the time comes that he REALLY finishes up with the ‘E, he can go into movies, (hopefully NOT Vince produced ones) and make a good living as a supporting actor.
As for Knucklehead, yes, the movie is called that and that is generally what Big Show Paul Wight’s character is presented as, but, spoiler warning, the movie is really about Mark Feuerstein and Melora Hardin’s characters, with Wight as a supporting character. His journey into growing to want to be a better person than his past, and her learning to relax a bit and not be so afraid of accepting her own past. Wight’s character, the gentle giant willing to do anything to save the orphanage that has been his only home, goes through his own personal growth as well, learning to live in the real world, but he’s there mostly as the easel that the other two’s canvas rests upon.
It proves that WWE Films CAN work. They’ll never be Oscar bait, but they CAN grow into the market and someday be viable properties if Vince stays the fuck OUT of them, and lets those who make the films utilize his talent the way that they work best. Legendary and Knucklehead give me hope that WWE Films can someday evolve and break Vince’s streak of side projects that bomb horribly, although to truly do that, they have to do so without him. Change the name from WWE Films to something less wrestling associated, and let the guys hired to actually make the films do what they do best with absolutely minimal interferance from Vince.
Sad that the best result of Linda’s failed Senate campaign is that Vince was too preoccupied to meddle with Legendary and Knucklehed as they were filmed. Hopefully the division gets to continue making better movies without the meddling of Vince’s carny sensibilities screwing them up. It was Vince who thought moviegoers would pay to see Cena dodge explosions and carry a whole film. Had Vince not been preoccupied, Legendary probably would have had the little brother win his tourney and Cena’s character beating bullies up every 15 minutes.
So I’m actually looking forward to Big Red I think it’s called, the Orton one. It too was filmed without Vince meddling, and if it lets WWE films go three for three in improved quality after the first batch, it’ll prove to me the division CAN succeed if left alone to do it’s job unhindered.
Now get your feet off the table, I have to clean up after you lot. Especially you Wheeler. Go get your own damn sammich!
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And now, Kyle Fitta on the Miz:
What seemed like a crowd-pleasing, disappointing shocking title match on Raw this week, turned into greatness by one extra element that threw a huge curve ball to WWE universe. That swerve was the unexpecting cash in followed by a victory by Miz to win his first ever title match.
Before I start talking about why this is a good business move by the WWE, I want to talk a little about the Miz first. The Miz was a reality star from the MTV show Real World. He came into the WWE genuinely not liked particularly by anyone. Even JBL—a heel announcer—would consistently bash him just because he thought the man was a joke. The Miz came in as a very green worker, bland talker, and just an overall horrible wrestler. Most people probably did not think he would last a year at most. He was irrelevant for a while until the night he joined John Morrison and they went on to win the tag-titles. John Morrison and he quite possibly had the best run as tag-champions in WWE in the past five years. The Miz improved a lot over those past years with not only his mic-skills, but also his work in the ring and overall presence in what to do in certain situations.
He later paired up with the Big Show where he established himself as not only one of the best talkers in the WWE, but also as one of the best heels in the WWE because of his ability to be capable to really push the buttons of the fans. Meanwhile, the Miz was mentoring the Indy guru Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) on NXT. While Danielson was well known to most internet fans, he was not commonly known by the WWE universe. However, because of Miz’s compelling ability to put tons of sympathy on Bryan—with his outlandish harassment as an unprofessional mentor—he gave Bryan extra momentum to connect with the audience. The Miz and Bryan angle cemented Miz as one, if not the, top-heel of the company.
With all the work he has put in from being at the bottom of the barrel to now champion, nobody could possibly argue that this man doesn’t deserve the title. Congratulations to the Miz.
Now onto to why this is good for the WWE. The first reason it is good is simply that they are creating a new star, which is always good for business. The other reason is that this opens up fresher matches. The Miz has been an upper-midcard wrestler, but he hasn’t had long matches with the bigger stars. The fans now have some fresh match-ups ‘we’ can see. This makes a perfect chance for Daniel Bryan—somebody that people never saw as nothing but a jobber in WWE— to develop into a legitimate contender for the title.
If these two have a match, the WWE can easily kill two birds with one stone. It would be a huge benefit to WWE if they can get Daniel Bryan over as a legit main-event because he can wrestle and make anyone look good, which makes people he wrestles look better than they are, helping them establish credibility as well as makes matches on PPVS more exciting, making people want to buy shows to see great matches. The best way to approach this title match would for it to be on the Rumble. WWE has been known for attempting test-drives on recent Rumbles. While it is uncertain to say that Sheamus’ Rumble match helped him get over more, it is for sure certain to say that Jeff Hardy’s match with Randy Orton at Royal Rumble 2008 as well as the build without any doubt turned him into not only a convincing main-event, but also a wrestler that people can love. That said, by making Miz and Daniel Bryan be on the spotlight or at least sub-spotlight on Raw as well as in the co-mainevent for the Rumble is a more reward than risk situation. Then in the match if they had the Miz sneak by Daniel Bryan—making Miz more hated and Daniel Bryan more sympathetic— it would make it a star-making achievement. Or the WWE could go the other direction with John Morrison. WWE seemingly has liked John Morrison over the past couple years. His pushes have been a bit go then stop, but if they consistently push him here, they could quite possibly make John Morrison the star in which they seem as if they want him as.
In retrospect, the Miz win spins WWE in an innovative direction in a chance to build new stars such as a Daniel Bryan, a John Morrison or whomever WWE might try and elevate. It also gives The Miz much needed momentum and credibility in him moving up as a convincing long-term top heel of the company for many years.
