Welcome to another edition of Kay’s Korner.
I enjoy writing columns but I also enjoy reading columns. Personally, I believe that all opinions are right because they belong to the individual making them. Arguments can be made but, to a certain extent, it really is pointless. We all feel the way that we feel for a reason and if most of us are like myself, you are not going to change your mind just because somebody tells you to, even if their arguments are just as good as your own.
I have noticed quite a bit of thrashing over the whole Batista/Hunter feud and decided it was my time to say how I felt about it. I’ve been bothered for a while by the negativity involved with it and just decided to throw my two cents worth out there. Get ready because some of you are going to roll your eyes and mutter, “What is she thinking?” That being said, here we go.
Personally, I think this feud is just beginning and I’m enjoying the ride. There is a lot of potential in the pairing and if they play it out right, it could be the best story line that the WWE has had the last few years. While many may be shaking their head in disagreement (and that is your right), hear me out for just a few minutes. I may not be able to change your mind but maybe I can give you something else to think about.
Being an ‘old school’ fan is hard in today’s wrestling sometimes. The good part is that there are a lot of ‘old school’ agents in the WWE. Right off the top of my head, there’s Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson, Fit Finley, and Dean Malenko. This particular list shows that Vince is listening (somewhat) to his agents as ‘old school’ has shown a few winks in the wrestling ring recently.
Many of the agents listed had long feuds when they were wrestling actively. When I say long feuds, I’m talking about feuds that lasted for years. Granted it was years ago but there is something that can be said about that. Longer feuds have always been a favorite of mine. I absolutely love a long feud when it is done properly. In order to do it properly, the audience has to stay hooked. It seems to be getting harder and harder to do these days.
The biggest majority of wrestling fans has had to become accustomed to feuds being over by the next pay per view. I’ve always found that this is very frustrating to watch at times. The story lines are rushed and without much thought beyond the pay per view. There have been several times over the last few years that some feuds would have been much better if they had just been longer instead of silently disappearing from the screen.
Which is exactly why I am totally into the whole Batista/Hunter feud. For months, we were teased with Batista turning on Triple H. The smart remarks and hot tempers seemed to come each week with things slowly but surely getting worse as we watched Evolution deteriorate right before our very eyes. I couldn’t help but watch every little movement that Batista made hoping to see this explode in the right direction.
Personally, I think they went the right direction. The crowd was pumped and ready for Batista to jump ship. Winning the Royal Rumble seemed to give everybody an idea for what would happen but nobody knew for sure that it would happen. Batista still considered himself a part of Evolution. Will he or won’t he was the question at the time being asked by the fans. Anticipation has been missing in wrestling for a while and it was nice to see it being used again. Slowly but surely, the stars started to align themselves and we began to see a change in the air.
The Raw episode where Batista had to sign the contract to decide who he would face at Wrestlemania XXI was exciting to me. Hearing Hunter say that he was the one responsible for JBL’s limo almost hitting Batista was music to my ears. (Come on people, he’s not called the ‘Cerebral Assassin’ for nothing.) Then seeing Batista overhearing it all, I couldn’t help but put a full-fledged smile on my face. We all knew then, without a shadow of a doubt, that Batista was going after Hunter and the WWE World Heavyweight Title.
Finally the contract signing is about to take place. Hearing both Eric Bischoff and Teddy Long make very strong arguments over which show would be best for Batista just seemed to build the momentum that much more. Of course, Batista tried to fool us into thinking he would sign that Smackdown contract but we all knew better. He finally just threw it down on the ground and looked straight at Hunter with hunger in his eyes.
When Batista finally turned on Hunter, the crowd roared its approval. Watching him finally get his hands on Hunter, even for just a few minutes, was very satisfying to me. The weeks of watching Hunter berate Batista and just treat him like trash was enough to get my blood boiling. Watching Hunter finally getting what he deserved was absolutely fantastic in my mind and finally the Animal was unleashed and hungry.
Fast forward to WM XXI to the main event: Triple H vs Batista for the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Was it a great match? No, I don’t think that it was but I do think that it was a good match and a good start to the ring feud that is now currently taking place. It’s very easy for us to watch a match for its flaws instead of seeing it as the beginning of something good. (I’m just as guilty as everybody else is.) I think that the expectations of the fans were a little bit too high at the time and that explains the feeling that something was missing. After going back later and watching the match again, I couldn’t help but feel that maybe this one would be played out better than other feuds have been.
Batista has the right look and the crowd is hot for him, nobody can really deny that. Is he the greatest wrestler on Raw right now? No but he is the one that fans want to see. He has the look and if they 1) let the cocky persona come out a bit more and 2) will turn him loose on the microphone a little instead of giving him word for word to say, I think he could really come into his own. I think that wrestling personas have to have a little bit of the real person there to be believable. Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock both say that their wrestling personas are themselves turned way up loud. Why not let Batista go this route? It doesn’t have to be done overnight; he could slowly work it into his persona week by week.
Regardless what those out there think, Triple H is a great wrestler to learn from. I know that there are a lot of Triple H haters in the IWC world and I can understand it to a certain point. However, he has made the most contributions to the business in the last few years. He has been the one with the ball and he has played with it rather well. Add in the fact that he keeps the ‘old school’ moves in his game also puts him up a notch in my book.
People tend to forget that you are supposed to hate the ‘heels’ of the business. Triple H is a heel and booing him is exactly what he is supposed to do. By the looks of what I’m seeing in the IWC community, he’s doing his job pretty damn good. (Hey, I hate him too but I’m supposed to.)
Batista has the opportunity of a lifetime right in his hands. By letting Triple H guide him thru and letting a bit of his own personality shine thru his character, I can see where he could get huge. Maybe not as huge as Austin or the Rock in their prime, but huge enough to stay in the WWE World Title shot for a long time to come or not. Now with the draft lottery going on you can never forget that anything and everything is possible in the wrestling world.
That’s it for this edition of Kay’s Korner. Thanks again for reading. All feedback is welcomed and can be sent to lilwrestlegrl@yahoo.com.
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