Mike Rickard
Rickard's Ramblings: Time off is for pussycats, Ohhhh yeahhhh, Is Impact still on the air, RAW's woes, and Guest Host Greatness
By Mike "Mr. Old School" Rickard
Jul 27, 2009 - 8:00 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.

CROSS EXAMINATION

1.  After watching last week's Victory Road PPV, wouldn't it more truthful to call it Road to Epic Fail?

2.  Is anyone surprised that Vince McMahon loves Ron Killing's "Pretty Ricky" character?

3. How much longer before Ric Flair gets into the adult entertainment industry?

4. Speaking of "Slick Ric", who do you think burnt their bridges better-Flair with Ring of Honor or Randy "Macho Man" Savage with WWE?

5. Why are Alicia Fox and Rosa Mendes still working in the WWE?

No time off for you! While the WWE never ceases to surprise me with boneheaded moves, the Jeff Hardy situation has taken the WWE's mismanagement to a new level.   After years of not pushing him despite strong fan support, the company finally got behind him following his return from TNA.

While young Jeff Harvey shot himself in the foot with two Wellness Policy violations, he finally got his act together and the WWE (to their credit) gave him a chance to redeem himself.   Seeing that he was still way over, it's no surprise that the WWE put him in the world title picture, culminating in his title win last December at Armageddon.  Since then, the WWE has kept him in the main event picture, which seems to indicate they're quite happy with him and confident that he's not going to screw up again.  

Despite the WWE's faith in Hardy, the WWE appears to have decided to let his contract expire rather than give him the time off he's reportedly asked for.   This is without question, a true WTF situation.   Hardy wrestles a spot-intensive style that has to take its toll on his body (there were rumors going around that his second Wellness Policy violation was from smoking marijuana in order to deal with persistent pain without his having to resort to taking  narcotic painkillers).   The guy works a heavy schedule and he's earned his stripes.   It's not as if he just entered the company.   He's been with them since the late 1990's.

Some industry analysts have long lobbied for an off season for wrestling or a mandatory time off period for wrestlers.   Critics of this argue that it's bad for business or for a wrestler's push.   If a wrestler can't miss a couple months without losing his push, it's hard to imagine how viable he is as a character.    Triple H had no problem missing a couple months off and was bigger than ever when he returned to RAW.

There's probably an old school element that thinks that taking time off is for pussies and that if a wrestler can't handle it, they should take up a different profession.   Given the prevalent number of guys who go out after nagging injuries become serious *cough* EDGE, the WWE might want to rethink its approach to time off.  

As for Hardy's request for time off, it certainly isn't the first of its kind.   Rob Van Dam left the company after complaining of the rough schedule (as did Brock Lesnar).   The WWE routinely gives guys like the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels (who always finds time to be injured every summer) time off.   Yeah, they've earned it but guys like Hardy have earned their stripes, give them some time off.   They'll come back in good shape, good spirits, and the fans will be eager to see them back.   This will also give other guys a chance to step up and show off their stuff.  

Macho Madness DVD:   The "Macho Man" Randy Savage has been off the grid for so long that it wouldn't surprise me if many fans remember him more for his Be a Man rap CD than for two decades of fantastic wrestling.   That's no longer a problem since the release of the three disc Macho Madness DVD set.   While the DVD doesn't feature a documentary on Savage's career, it does feature a great set of some of Savage's finest bouts as well as a cool assortment of "Macho Man" promos.    For anyone who doubts Savage's place as a Hall of Famer and all-time great, I challenge you to watch this DVD set and not come away with an appreciation of one of wrestling's greatest stars.   Savage was a guy who had it all-charisma, athletic ability, and outstanding microphone skills. The guy could get a good match out of any opponent (as witnessed by his series with George "The Animal" Steele),  could cut a great promo on the fly, and who epitomized the spectacle of professional wrestling.  

TNA Impact: While I try to keep up with wrestling, I haven't watched TNA Impact in quite a while nor have I ordered any TNA PPV's in well over a year.   Recently I began recapping Impact and had a chance to see how the product is. Quite frankly, there's nothing all that bad with Impact but then again, there's nothing all that great about it other than the Knockouts Division (which continues to be provide high quality matches as well as eye candy week after week).   TNA has everything it needs to succeed in the ring.   It just needs to get some good bookers who are willing to take some time in trying to build an audience.   As Matt Dawgs noted in his Friday column, Jeff Jarrett may be out of the picture at TNA.   Then again, TNA may be trying to swerve the fans.   Either way, the company can count on me tuning in when I'm bored or obligated to cover the show but until they get something really exciting going on, I have no interest in going out of my way to watch their show.   And if Victory Road is any example of how they do PPV's now, there's no way I'm dropping any money on them.

When did RAW become WWE's C show?: Make no mistake about it, the 2009 Draft really took the wind out of RAW's sails.   On paper, it looked good.   SmackDown! got some much needed stars and RAW got a lot of SmackDown! talent such as MVP and Matt Hardy that seemed ready to break out to true superstardom.   Unfortunately, the WWE has totally dropped the ball in pushing its undercard guys like MVP, The Miz, and Kofi Kingston, continuing to rely on Triple H, John Cena, and Randy Orton while paying lip service to the idea that they're making new stars.   MVP had a chance to jump into the WWE title picture but barely showed up before being shunted back down to the U.S. title level.   Kofi Kingston is U.S. champion but he still seems like a jobber to the stars.   As for the Miz, his program with John Cena started off strong but to no one's surprise, he was squashed by Cena and left looking like a guy who belongs back on ECW.   As for Legacy, never have I seen two guys featured in the TV main event so often mean so little.   Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase are talented guys but they're little more than background for Randy Orton.   MVP, Kofi Kingston, the Miz, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase have bright futures if the WWE uses them correctly.   I don't know if any of them could become main event superstars but as long as the WWE misuses them, we'll never find out.  

Guest Hosts with the Most: For all of RAW's problems, I have enjoyed their new "guest host" gimmick. The whole General Manager thing has been played to death (especially the heel authority figure) and it was time for a change.   It seems like the guest host idea has a lot of juice.   It gives the fans something to tune in for (who will be the next guest host), it allows the writers to use a different talent every week, and it gives the WWE a chance to bring in the ever desirable mainstream audience with sports stars and celebrities (the real test of course being whether they can bring in real celebrities or C-listers and has-beens).     The first two guest hosts were a lot of fun.   "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase has always oozed charisma and the WWE writers effectively used him in advancing the Legacy storyline.   Seth Green seemed like a questionable choice but his enthusiasm and charm made him a surprisingly good host.   Even ZZ Top could have been good but the WWE downplayed their strengths- focusing on really lame backstage segments rather than having them play a song or two.   Where they go with this is anyone's guess but this is the kind of idea that could be a nice shot in the arm.

Mike Rickard is the author of the new book, Wrestling's Greatest Moments which captures the best in wrestling from the last thirty years.   Wrestling’s Greatest Moments brings you all the most memorable and controversial moments from modern wrestling history. It’s an insightful and essential compendium of thirty years’ worth of groundbreaking matches, angles and interviews. From Hulkamania to the Montreal “screwjob,” from the NWA to the nWo, you’ll rediscover what really occurred in arenas and on the air worldwide, and learn all the backstage and behind-the-scenes secrets that made these highlight-reel moments possible from the men and women who were there.