Mike Rickard
RICKARD'S RAMBLINGS:: 11/19/06TNA Conference Call/Monty Brown Pounces on WWE/Heel vs. heel/50 Greatest Moments/Grisham Makes Good/Match of the Decade/low-rent district
By Mike Rickard II
Nov 19, 2006, 12:06

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. Have you considered taking out a home equity loan in order to keep up with the recent deluge of wrestling DVD’s?

2. What’s more ridiculous Kyp James’ latest hairstyle, or the name Voodoo Kin Mafia?

3. With Roddy Piper out of the picture for Survivor Series, which WWE Legend do you think will take his place?

4. With truth in advertising laws applicable, shouldn’t TNA consider renaming its 50 Greatest Moments in TNA DVD?

5. Despite the Big Show’s reportedly badly injured back, can you imagine Hogan vs. Big Show at Wrestlemania XXIII being any worse in the ring than Hogan/Andre at Wrestlemania III?

TNA Conference Call-Major kudos to TNA for their monthly conference calls.  Unlike the WWE’s investor conference calls where questions are ducked like it’s a drive-by, Jeff Jarrett is pretty upfront with questions and they field questions from the fans.  Jarrett addressed a variety of topics ranging from his days in the WWF, the recently cancelled TNA show (and rumors of WWE sabotage), TNA’s prime-time debut this week, the differences between a one hour show and a two hour show, prospective signings such as Goldberg, Chris Jericho, and the Ultimate Warrior, and TNA’s wrestlers branching out beyond wrestling.

Alpha Male in WWE? Strong rumors that Monty Brown is headed for the WWE.  By the time you read this, the WWE may even have announced the signing (EDITOR’S NOTE: In fact they have!).  Jeff Jarrett confirmed that TNA has severed its relations with Brown and there have been stories on the net (as well as the Observer) that Brown is headed for the WWE.  Most of the time I hear about TNA wrestlers considering a jump to the WWE, I immediately picture them on Heat or Velocity.  Not so with Brown.    He’s got the physique and charisma the WWE typically looks for from its workers.  While this doesn’t translate into instant success in the WWE, he could be a good addition if the WWE uses him rather than just signing him for the purpose of burying a TNA star.

Heel vs. heel- The America’s Most Wanted (AMW)/Latin American Exchange (LAX) is a refreshing change of pace.  While there’s a good chance that AMW will be turned face during the feud, it’s exciting to see two top heel teams battling one another.

While I’m not a big fan of using race to build up an angle, I give TNA credit for taking a controversial issue (immigration) and turning it into a successful gimmick (as opposed to the WWE which dropped the ball with its Hassan and Daivari).  More importantly, it’s built the LAX up as one of its toughest (if not toughest) and most violent tag teams as well as a team who don’t care who they beat up.  They’ve destroyed all the competition leaving fans to wonder who can stop them.

Enter AMW.  After the LAX beat up their manager Gail Kim, AMW has clashed with LAX in their quest for revenge.  While it would be very easy to turn them babyface against the LAX, that hasn’t happened yet.  Instead, it’s just been two heel teams who don’t like each other; something you just don’t see in wrestling.   I’ve never been a big fan of not having clear cut faces and heels.  Wrestling is best done when fans have someone to cheer and someone to boo (That’s not to say that all babyfaces have to be  cut from the Bob Backlund All-American boy mold or that heels have to wear a black hat, cheat, and make fun of old ladies at ringside; thankfully that’s not the case).  That doesn’t mean that you can’t have occasional deviations from the norm whether it’s two babyfaces clashing over a belt or in this case, two heel teams having their differences.

Heel vs. heel clashes can be fun because not only do fans get to see two hated teams beat the hell out of each other but they get the added dynamic of seeing two teams holding nothing back.   Typically, the classic heel vs. heel battles have been pure mayhem with fans seeing two hated teams holding nothing back and a clear expectation that anything goes.  A classic example is the 1970’s feud between the teams of Gene and Ole Anderson and Ric Flair and Greg Valentine.  Both teams were much hated by the fans of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and both teams held nothing back in fighting over the NWA World Tag Team Championship.  The feud was brutal and still regarded as one of the best programs in the promotion. 

Surprisingly though, promoters have steered clear of both heel vs. heel and face vs. face programs.  On the rare occasions when they have started, inevitably one of the wrestlers turn so it becomes heel vs. face.   It’s hard to imagine why promoters don’t toy with the formula.  Perhaps they’re afraid of confusing fans of perhaps they’re just too stuck in their ways.  Hopefully the LAX/AMW feud will show that there’s room for these occasional changes of pace.

50 Greatest Moments DVD-this November TNA releases a DVD compilation of its 50 Greatest Moments.  Sounds like a great way to introduce fans to the TNA product and a great DVD for any promotion to consider using.  Think about it- the WWE owns footage from most of the major territories of the last twenty five years and they could make a complete series of Greatest Moments such as Best of the AWA, Best of World Class, Best of Championship Wrestling from Florida to name a few.  Not only will it add some money to WWE coffers but it could bring in some old school fans as they remember what made them fans.  On a side note, if the WWE does make a “Best of” DVD, it should be mandatory viewing for their writers so they can appreciate what has worked in the past and what could be used again.

Todd Grisham makes good- while I’ve never been a big fan of Todd Grisham (he seems like yet another of the Ken Doll cookie cutter cut-out backstage announcers the WWE has a history of hiring),  he really did a great job on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW.   While Grisham still needs to work on his craft, he’s shown enough where he should get more time in the announce booth.  Given the ridiculous opportunities thrown at Jonathon Coachman (who I think is a good on-air talent but just awful as an announcer), why not give Grisham time to grow into a full-time announcer?

Joe vs. Angle-not only is this the best thing to happen to TNA but it’s the best thing to happen to wrestling in years (Perhaps even bigger than Rock vs. Hogan).  The feud is so good on so many levels whether it’s match quality, heat, or the potential to bring back fans who tuned out after the death of WCW.  This feud needs to be the showcase of TNA programming for at least three months and it’s a great chance for both guys to put some undercard guys over by throwing them in the middle of the matches i.e. teaming Joe with an undercard heel vs. Angle and an undercard face.  TNA’s last PPV reportedly drew an impressive (for TNA) 45,000-50,000 buys and I have a feeling Genesis is going to do even better. 

And while Joe versus Angle is definitely TNA’s best dream match, they have several other dream matches waiting in the wings such as Angle versus Sting and Joe versus Sting.   TNA has a lot of good to great main events on tap for the near future.  Hopefully they’ll make the most of them.

Genesis Central-remember the days when the WWF or WCW would go to “Mean” Gene Okerlund in the PPV Name center and Gene would preview the lineup for an upcoming PPV?  Cool concept.  Unfortunately someone forgot to tell TNA that having “Shillmaster” Don West stand in front of a Genesis poster screams low rent.  For crying out loud, who missed this no-brainer?