Hello there, this is James Sawyer and welcome to My Pinterest Is Piledrivers. You can cyberstalk me on twitter here, wherein you can gain access to my thoughts 24/7. Or, the 8 hours I’m awake.
Potential upcoming column idea: So I have a few friends that are borderline wrestling fans. One, Ryan, is a filmmaker who loves and revels in the “classic” era of Big Boss Man, “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, etc. The other is Caitlin, a young psychology student who became a fan of CM Punk during his “feud” with Chris “Bitch” Brown, and the last (for now) is Rebekah, a yoga teacher in Brooklyn who has been getting a kick out of the Daniel Bryan clips I’ve been showing her and joining me in occasional “Yes! Yes! Yes!” exploits around New York. My question to you is… what should I show them? I’ll probably show them whatever that week’s edition of RAW is, but should I show them things that I think they’d be responsive to? A mix? Let me know in the comments.
One thing that worried me when I started this column was running out of material. I gotta be honest, the current product ain’t exactly inspiring me. I have to hand it to my fellow writers in being able to come up with material on the reg… I’m struggling with a single weekly work. I do want to keep up a more steady output, though, so this week I’m going to focus on an unusual topic for me… what the WWE is doing right.
Don’t get me wrong, as much as I complain about it, the WWE isn’t totally unwatchable. They’re doing some things right… such as
CM Punk still being champion.
http://youtu.be/kVjw2dSyt6M
Holy God CM Punk is in peak form right now. He really is the Best In The World. It’s all in the details. The way he holds the championship up for a minute just smirking. His awesome promos, some of the best in history already. I know a lot of the IWC can be seen as riding his jock, but the dude deserves it. If he retired tomorrow I think he’d be in the right to be nominated for the Hall of Fame the day after.
Team Friendship
http://youtu.be/wta7ujpxwLE
The Rock and Sock Connection of the 2010s? Probably. This was likely an “accidental smart move” by Creative as they had someone with a ton of heat but no direction for it (Daniel Bryan) and someone that’s a big name with no feud to go to (Kane) with a common thread (AJ) so they concocted a comedic storyline that’s actually funny and works. Daniel Bryan’s latest work has been so goofy and over-the-top it works to make him a someone lighthearted figure, and Kane is such an inherently goofy concept that it’s hard to take him seriously in the more staid 2012 era of wrestling. I’d say a raise is in order for whoever thought of this… but that probably won’t happen.
Renewed interest in the tag team championships.
It’s kind of sad in a way that the WWE can only get interest in the tag team championship nowadays when they pair together two singles stars (see Jericho and the Big Show or Miz and R-Truth) but whatever works. Maybe now that they have the Usos, Prime Time Players, Team Friendship and Kofi plus whatever other black guy they pair him with, they’ll start to build the division up again.
Dolph Ziggler wins Money In The Bank.
http://youtu.be/BmgjTpiaxeM
Dolph’s been getting a lot of attention lately. He had a brief feud with CM Punk for the WWE championship earlier this year. He had an interaction with Mick Foley around that time that I thought was setting up a Wrestlemania match that, like Edge’s match, would’ve legitimized Ziggler and led to him being seen as a threat. That sadly did not happen, and relatively recently he must’ve been feeling particularly lost as to be campaigning for a Wrestlemania 2013 match against Zack Ryder for the Internet Championship… a match that would have been just a reheating of their late 2011 feud for a championship that’s not recognized. But thanks to, what I assume, Ziggler pointing out a nasty looking mole on Vince’s neck that led to an early removal, Ziggler has the rocket up his peroxide now. Just listen to that crowd reaction. And this-
http://youtu.be/pMbzOg3JxPI
and this-
http://youtu.be/badNLvtkdGI
and Ziggler might actually getting a shot at the big time.
JBL and JR back on commentary.
I know it was only temporary, but it was nice, wasn’t it? Nice to dream…
So what do you think the WWE is doing right? Did I leave anything out? Have a good week and let a dude know in the comments section below. Show. Off.
