Mike Rickard
Rickard's Ramblings: WWE Rewards Model Employees; Feds Scrutinize WWE; Summer’s Second Biggest Party; Is Mr. Kennedy Overrated; and this Week’s Magnificent Bastard
By Mike Rickard II
Jul 30, 2007 - 9:00 AM

After a long week in court, there’s nothing like rambling on about the latest happenings in the wild and wacky world of professional wrestling.   Help me wind down from lawyer mode to smark mode as I ask a few questions of you, the intelligent wrestling fan.

1. Did you throw a party when you learned the Jackass crew weren’t coming to SummerSlam?

2. What’s the bigger crime-Hornswaggle wearing the Cruiserweight belt or the Great Khali holding the World Championship?

3. When did “TNA is getting a two hour slot” become synonymous with “the check is in the mail”?

4. Wasn’t it good to see wrestling role models like Lex Luger and Chyna talking about the Chris Benoit situation?

5. How many TV’s are going to be broken when SmackDown vs RAW 2008 hits the street for the Nintendo Wii?

WWE REWARDS MODEL EMPLOYEES: If the rumors are true, it looks like the WWE will be rewarding model employee Randy Orton with a well-deserved WWE title win.   If rumors are true, the man who brought the Dairy Queen swirl to new heights in random gym bags and whose antics in hotel rooms made all four members of the Who green with envy is poised to become the next WWE champion.

Regardless of how you feel about Orton’s talents in the ring, you have to wonder why the WWE would reward a problem child with the promotion’s biggest prize.   While the WWE has done a good job building Orton into a top heel, it’s hard to justify their decision to do so, given Orton’s penchant for getting into trouble.   The argument that RAW is short on good heels made sense a few months ago but given the infusion of talent from the draft lottery, it no longer holds water.  

With the media and the federal government scrutinizing the WWE in the wake of the Chris Benoit affair, you’d think the WWE would think twice by making a known troublemaker into their top star.    If the WWE wants to recreate the locker room atmosphere of WCW during its dying days, this is a step in the right direction.

SEE I TOLD YOU SO: A few weeks ago I warned that the WWE should be bracing for the perfect storm.   Now it looks as if Congress has decided to take a look at the WWE.   Let’s face it, baseball and football are not easy targets but the WWE, well, that’s another story.    As tough as Vince McMahon was during his federal trial during the early 1990’s, he’s going to have his hands full with a Congress determined to make itself look as if it’s serious about dealing with steroids.  

Over the last twenty years, the WWE has made doing business a lot easier by freeing itself of the regulations imposed when wrestling was considered an legitimate athletic competition (hence the reason why Vince McMahon broke kayfabe back in the 1980’s and declared his product to be sports entertainment).   With the federal government breathing down his neck, things could get difficult (and you can bet that state governments will join the fray if they see the opportunity to make a name and/or some money for themselves by targeting the WWE).

The WWE needs to take this attention seriously.   Given the behind the scenes shenanigans that take place in the WWE and management’s indifference to them, an up close and personal review of the WWE could have the company sweating bullets for years to come.   As I’ve mentioned before, a high powered law firm could have a field day with the WWE if the sexual harassment rumors surrounding the company turn out to be true.  

That’s not to say that the federal government is going to ride in like a white knight and fix everything that’s wrong with the infrastructure of professional wrestling.   Government regulation has a tendency to end up being the cure that’s worse than the disease and if the Democratic Congress maintains the tradition of past Democratic Congresses, their attempts to fix the WWE could end up killing it.   To put a twist on the old tagline, anything could happen to the WWE.  

THE SUMMER’S SECOND BIGGEST PARTY:: When it comes to local wrestling, Buffalo has always been a hotbed for professional wrestling with strong ties going back to the Sport of Kings’ earliest years (as detailed quite nicely in Dan Murphy’s book Bodyslams in Buffalo).   The WWE doesn’t roll into town too often but fans have plenty to do between WWE shows as there’s all sorts of local indie action such as NWA: Empire and not too distant promotion NWA: Upstate.

Over the past few years, a new tradition arose known as the Ballpark Brawl and in a short time it’s become one of the biggest independent shows in North America

While it’s easy to hype a show, it’s a lot harder to deliver and promoter Christopher Hill has been delivering for several years straight now with spectacular coups such as the reformation of the Hart Foundation and an ECW Originals reunion that had fans cheering in appreciation as opposed to the current product making them shake their heads in disgust. If you’re anywhere near Buffalo on Thursday August 23, 2007, stop by Dunn Tire Park for an affordable evening of fantastic action and lots of surprises.   If you’ve read my reviews of previous Brawls, you know that the product delivers.  

WHA’ HAPPENED?