ZAH
Shakin' My Head: 11-04-05
By ZAH
Nov 4, 2005, 18:20

11-04-05

(JG Note: ZAH's recap of last night's TNA Special can be found by clicking here.)

By ZAH

What a week. I mean, seriously. What a freakin’ week it has been. It’s actually hard to recap at this point. Let’s think about this for a second…one of the absolute worst-booked Raw episodes ever takes place on a day where Christian quits the company and Steve Austin hurts his back moving furniture, hence dropping out of Tuesday’s PPV. We saw the return of Goldust and a pregnant Vader. We saw Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka seemingly take a half hour in order to balance himself on the top rope not once but twice. We saw the return of Joey Styles to WWE PPV. We saw Jeff Jarrett win the NWA title yet again.

How does one choose? I’m beginning to think that everybody in the world of professional wrestling is acting all crazy simply to help this website out. Let’s face it, folks…if a week like this one isn’t considered “insane” I don’t know what is.

Of course I’m going to start here…

Item # 1 – Goldust and Vader???

I understand it was Halloween on Monday…that would certainly explain their appearance on Raw. But on the freakin’ pay-per-view?? WTF???

I mean, I’m pretty darn sure that Austin was scheduled to lose his match to Coach because JR wasn’t coming back to Raw anytime soon. The only question was how was he going to lose? As of the weekend, it was suggested that Mark Henry was going to get involved and cause Austin’s loss.

Mark Henry?

Shut up, I’m brilliant.

Anyway, by Monday Austin had met with an unfortunate furniture-moving accident and told WWE that he couldn’t perform in his match on Tuesday.

Hmmm…what to do, what to do? There’s only one true answer…let’s get Batista. Yeah yeah yeah…that’s gold.

Wait a second. Won’t people want to know why Batista is facing Coach?

Shut up, I’m brilliant.

Okay, what’s next? Hmmm…let’s find two washed-up, out of shape, 10 years-past-their-prime freaks of nature and put them in the match to help out Coach.

Why these two? Can they even wrestle anymore? Does this even make any sense?

Shut up, Dusty’s brilliant. He even says they’re both as good now as they were yesterday! The crowd will eat it up! It’s gold, I tell you. GOLD!!

Let me say this again. Goldust and Vader. Let that sink in a bit. Goldust and Vader in a match. Yeah…you’re getting it now. Goldust and Vader in a match with Coach and Batista instead of Coach and Austin. Wow…a little more peculiar, no? Goldust and Vader in a match with Coach and Batista instead of Coach and Austin where the stipulations are still seemingly the same and the match still decides JR’s fate.

That, folks…is f**ked up.

Item # 2 – Monday Night Raw

I’ve seen bad episodes of Raw before. We all have. This week, however, wasn’t the worst episode of Raw I’ve ever seen. No…there have been much worse. So why am I shaking my head at the mere thought of it?

Did you actually watch it?

End of story.

Item # 3 – Christian quits WWE

I know that WWE is saying that Christian quit, but the fact is that he simply let his contract run out and said he wasn’t going to sign a new one.

I shake my head at this because WWE is losing a prime piece of real estate in Christian. This guy was a steal as he was not being used properly at all. In fact, he recently started to “get over” on his own without it being pushed by WWE creative. Once he made the switch to Smackdown, thoughts of a main event push were flushed down the drain because nobody at WWE knew how to handle his popularity.

If TNA doesn’t make a top-money offer to Jay Reso ASAP then there is something seriously wrong. Reso isn’t the most electrifying wrestler. He doesn’t have the best body. So what does he have? Reso is ALL about charisma. He’s dynamic enough to quickly become a top-tier guy in TNA and eventually NWA champ down the road once he has re-established himself.

I had a hard-enough time understanding why WWE never used him to his fullest potential. Now, I just can’t believe they’re letting him go without a fight while Heidenreich, Snitsky, the Boogeyman, and the “Juniors” all run around on WWE dollars getting storylines and pushes.

It makes no sense…which is par for the WWE course.

Item # 4 – Jeff Jarrett defeats Rhino for the NWA title

The only thing worse than hot-shotting a mid-card babyface to the NWA title with zero build-up is having him lose it on his first televised title defense.

The only thing worse than hot-shotting a mid-card babyface to the NWA title with zero build-up is having him lose it on his first televised title defense to Jeff fuckin’ Jarrett.

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Pillar to Post

Each and every week I’ll ask two posters from the WorldWrestlingInsanity.com message board three questions on the hot topics du jour and ask for their thoughts and insight. Ladies and gentlemen, this week I give you two great posters…the man from the land down under Leigh, and the outspoken but never token female (you know her on the Insanity message boards as TBI) Lela Shirk!

1. Agree or Disagree: WWE is in serious trouble.

Leigh: Serious trouble? I disagree. As much as WWE have made some illogical and near-sighted decisions over the last couple of months, they are far from serious trouble. The company is in a far stronger position financially than in the early 90s, and they have the fiscal and operational resources to weather far worse storms than they are in now. Are they in a creative rut? Yes. Are decisions being made based on ego and politics rather than sound business sense and the will of the paying customer? Yes. Does Vince feel the pressure of the move to USA, the doldrums of the house show business, the threat of UFC, the steady climb of TNA, and the fallout of the loss of key on-air talent? Yes. But I would argue that the company is, right now in better position than it was 10 or so years ago, such as in 1994 during the steroid trial and the ripple effect it had on the product, or 1995 when Diesel couldn’t draw on top, or the late 90s when WWF was the numbers 2 company in the business after WCW.

While it has taken more than 4 years since the death of WCW and the consolidation of the industry to bring us to where we are now, it's still better than the truly darkest days, and if history has taught us anything, it's that wrestling is only ever one breakout superstar away from being on the upsurge once more.

Could things be better? For sure. But the vultures aren’t circling just yet.

TBI: I agree AND I disagree.

I disagree because WWE has made so much money over the years that I'm sure that they have enough set aside so if they were ever in a huge down period, the performers would suffer, not WWE as a company.

I agree that the WWE is in trouble, but it's not so much from a financial standpoint. WWE is in trouble because they have made really unnecessary and stupid business decisions made in the past few months.

1. Christian, a popular character in WWE, quits when his pay is cut.
2. Austin recently walked out (for a 2nd time) due WWE trying to discredit his TV persona by losing to Jim Ross stand in, Jonathan Coachman.
3. Johnny "Ace" Laurinetis started a company wide dress code, then excluded John Cena from participating in it "Because dressing up doesn't match his character."
4. Matt Hardy started a bunch of noise on his website by spilling the beans about his longtime girlfriend, Lita, having an affair with Edge. So how did WWE handle it? They made the angle into a storyline and botched it so badly that by the end nobody even cared about the outcome.
5. Vince McMahon participates in a skit that shows various objects being pulled out of "Jim Ross's" ass.
6. WWE releases "The Self Destruction of Ultimate Warrior", a DVD dedicated to making a once prime time act out to be a complete nut job.
7. Jim Ross, a popular longtime announcer with WWE, is taken off TV to leave room for another announcer to be groomed.

Stupid business decisions have been running rampant in the WWE, but it's more of a subject now than it ever was. WWE needs to get its mind off of all the childish bullshit and get back down to business.

2. Agree or Disagree: Spike TV should not wait to make a move with TNA in a weekly primetime spot.

Leigh: Agree. No company ever became big without taking a risk - WWF with WrestleMania, WCW by going head to head with Raw and creating the Monday Night wars. TNA have a good roster which can present a fresh and differentiated product that can appeal to a significant portion of disaffected wrestling fans, and they have the support of a strong network who wants the same thing TNA wants - to create a strong TV product that helps everyone make more money.

There are no guarantees that the landscape is going to get any more conducive to a TNA prime time TV show in the future, and the potential rewards to both TNA and Spike far outweigh the risks.

TBI: Agree. TV is an ever changing world, and now is a good time to stick it to WWE by making TNA its primetime wrestling source. The contract with WWE is over, and nobody said Spike TV still has to be nice because WWE is gone. Spike has to look out for itself.

3. Agree or Disagree: Steve Austin made the wrong decision to back out of his match at Taboo Tuesday.

Leigh: Disagree. For his own future marketability and the protection of his own image, Austin made the right decision.

To remind the creative team they don't always have the final say when it comes to playing out their blinkered and ego-driven approach to key storylines, Austin made the right decision.
To the rest of the locker room, who are too worn down or scared to protest the ideas they are (and are not) being presented for fear of retribution, but can take heart that Stone Cold stood up for what they too believe, Austin made the right decision.

For the fans, who want the return to the ring of the Rattlesnake to mean more than a rushed storyline about JR losing his job and him being asked to lay down for a non-wrestler, Austin made the right decision.

TBI: I Agree and Disagree. The decision he made was right. The way he executed it was very, very wrong.

Austin has the right to veto anything he wants. He's been with the company for years and has basically broken his back for the business. All he wants is a little bit of respect and appreciation. Nothing wrong with that.

Now, what the hell would losing to Coach prove? Nothing. Coach is an announcer/ interviewer. He is not a wrestler. Him winning a match against Steve Austin makes about as much sense as Taco Bell serving a Big Mac. Dr Heiny made no sense because JR is an announcer. How was JR supposed to get retribution for the stuff McMahon said about him? He can't. There is no way for JR to get any kind of revenge unless someone did it for him. JR wasn't even given that chance because he is now off TV for good.

However, walking out the night before a PPV is completely unacceptable.
There's no excuse for stiffing your co-workers like that.

Although if WWE hadn't waited for so long to tell Austin what the outcome was going to be, WWE and Austin might have been able to work something out. They didn't. And Austin chose to leave instead of being played like a moron on TV.

He did the right thing to protect his character, but the way he left was very wrong and should never have been done.

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