The Rant Of The Week: Being Creative Is Hard
Posted by Phantom Lord
on 10/14/2007
Greetings conversationalists all across the fruited plain, it is I your personal Harvester of Sorrow
Phantom Lord and this is my
Rant of the Week. It’s been a rough last month for me personally as I lost my Grandfather on September 7th. His funeral was on September 11th and ever since then I’ve been in a daze of sorts. I just haven’t been able to write anything at great length. I had a column half done at one point, but the writing portion of my brain just shut off. Of course there are some of you who will probably contend it was never on to begin with, but I have to start writing again and I’m going to do it the only way I know how to and that’s force myself to write.
I also have a huge E-Fed show to write that is a month overdue. So if I can finish this column rather quickly then I can get on to that and a HUGE burden will be lifted off my overstressed mind. I know I along with many others give the creative teams of the WWE and TNA a lot of grief over their stupidity and laziness when it comes to actually being creative, but I’ve never once said it wasn’t hard work. Even if you come up with a pile of bullshit it’s still a pile of bullshit that took a lot of time and energy to produce. I mean plenty of us say “oh well we can do a better job” and I’m pretty sure we could. But don’t let anyone ever tell you it would be something easy and simple to do.
See I bring up the ever popular topic of creative because it’s been a rather fun week for the WWE to say the least. By fun I mean Vince McMahon is probably so stressed right now he’s due for a major coronary at any point. It was bad enough that last week when John Cena’s luck finally ran out when he got injured in a match against Mr. Kennedy where he tore his pectoral muscle after a botched hiptoss (I’ve gotten so much hate on DVDVR for saying Cena was at fault because he couldn’t even do a basic move right, but as much as I detested Cena’s character it sucked that he went down like this. I was looking forward to Randy Orton beating him into a pulp in that Last Man Standing Match). But wrestling is a physical sport and injuries happen and you have to adapt and the WWE pulled a page right out of the Vince Russo playbook at the No Mercy PPV.
It was this downward spiral that I contend led to the aftermath of this past Monday Night. Now the smartest thing to do would have been to do some sort of battle royal where the winner faced Randy Orton later that night for the title. The WWE instead chose to just hand Randy the title and then there was the SWERVE. Triple H comes out to continue the lame Triple H/Vince feud and he goaded him into giving him a title shot and Triple H ended up winning the title to kick off the PPV.
So Triple H winning the title from Orton to start the PPV. That was strike one so to speak. Later in the night Triple H still had to face Umaga and it was the typical Triple H match of he gets beat up only to come back and hit the pedigree for the win. Princess Stephanie wouldn’t have it any other way. After the match Vince informed a battered Triple H he had to defend the title against Orton in a Last Man Standing match in the main event.
How can anyone not say that Three yes THREE Title defenses in one night wasn’t the work of Vince Russo at some point or another. Of course there are some who contend they did this just as a small f*** you to TNA as the WWE’s way of saying here’s how you do 3 title matches with the same guy in one night you dipshits. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true, but in any event you know it had to annoy a lot of people in the crowd and at home.
Now by all accounts the Orton/Triple H match was great so that made up for the whole booked on the fly aspect to it. Hell I was in a PalTalk chat listening to it and it was fun since it had the feel of a radio call to the fight. Orton ended up winning the title in the end and to me personally and I know many of you, what was the point of him getting the title only to lose it and then win it back in one night. It’s because of booking like this that causes people to tune out. Yeah Orton won but that’s not really the point. You have to make us care and since it’s obvious you don’t then why should we. Of course if this is honestly the best you can come up then there’s a bigger problem then John Cena being on the shelf.
On RAW it actually wasn’t all bad. They continued the whole Vince/Triple H angle where Triple H demanded his rematch and Vince ended up making him face Orton/Umaga in a handicap match since that was the big match for the show to begin with. The match was an after thought since it was just a way for Umaga to beat the ever living shit out of Triple H. I know a lot of us say a lot of things about Triple H, but damn can he take a beating. I mean the beating Umaga gave Triple H was a thing of beauty. It should be interesting to see what kind of match they have to blow off this feud but I would imagine it will be violent and bloody and that’s all you can ask for really.
But with Cena out of the picture for probably a year, the WWE is now in crash and burn mode. It sucks for Randy Orton because this title run has been long overdue for him. I thought the whole hand shake ceremony was pretty lame. Triple H was ordered to be the first to shake his hand even if he had to be wheeled out and propped up. When Triple H didn’t come out, Vince told Orton to go get him and that’s when HBK’s music hit. It seems the reports of Shawn wanting to spend more time with his family and Jesus weren’t true. Now I’ll admit I marked out when the music hit but someone really needs to speak to Shawn about his fashion tastes.
It was great to see him come back and all, but coming back looking like a gay cowboy isn’t exactly the best fashion statement in the world. He had his scruffy beard and Cowboy hat from his “I lost my smile” era in full effect. He also was wearing a camo vest and under it was that women’s tank top that seems to be all the rage these days with some wrestlers (I’m looking right at you Batista and Lance Hoyt). Ok so his fashion isn’t so good, but the place exploded when he hit the ring and started hammering away on young Randal and when he hit the superkick it was lights out. I’ll admit it was good to see Shawn again as RAW is going to desperately need him for the foreseeable future. The feud between him and Orton has a lot of potential. They could literally keep this one going to the Royal Rumble if they so chose to.
My fear in all of this is once again Randy is going to get shafted when it’s his time to run as the top main event heel. The ratings for RAW this week reinforce this fear because they were a 2.8.
Now there’s plenty of excuses as to why it was a 2.8. But in the end you know right now there are certain people in the WWE coughstephanieandtriplehcough who all ready are saying that this proves Randy isn’t a draw and the title should be put on shall we say a more established star.
It’s a load of bullshit, but hey we all know how petty and political wrestling is. Randy by all accounts is a prick but I wouldn’t hold that against him. The fact remains that this rating was a long time coming for the WWE. John Cena getting hurt was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Granted there was Monday Night Football and MLB Playoffs on against RAW, but even with out that RAW has been in a decline for a while. 90% of the show usually is horrible. The only saving grace usually is a good match in the opener, middle, or main event.
I could fantasy book RAW but I don’t want to. All I know is the WWE needs to keep the belt on Orton, push Kennedy to the moon, and for God’s sake do not rush to put the title back on Triple H. It’s great that he came back, but Triple H as champion right now would not be good. I mean it would all be about him and Vince and who wants to see that. It would probably end up being a rehash of Vince vs. LASHLEY only with dick and gay jokes thrown in. It would be like Armageddon 99 all over again if that happened. Only thing missing would be Stephanie revealing to Vince that she and Hunter were still married the whole time.
Moving along to other creative things of interest, there has been some rumbling on the sheets that RAW Writer Brian Gewirtz wants to move Rey Mysterio over to RAW. Why he would want to do that I don’t know, but thankfully Vince hasn’t made up his mind on that for now. Since Rey is a huge draw for Smackdown if they move him to RAW and Smackdown would be dead in the water. Kids love Rey Mysterio and he’s a huge draw with the latin demo’s.
Personally I never understood this whole move guys to other shows for fresh opponents theory. Fresh opponents have nothing to do with it. What you need are Fresh Idea’s and if you’ve seen those Save Us 222 spots that is what you call a fresh idea.
No one is pretty sure for certain what these little promo video’s are for. Most seem to think they are for Chris Jericho and his glorious return to the WWE. But knowing the WWE for all we know they could be the return of Mantuar. I’ve found it funny how people are going nuts over these promos. People have actually gone out of the way to screen cap every frame so that they could look at the background for subliminal clues.
“SEE THAT FILE NAME…IT’S JERICHO’S THEME FROM THE CD. THAT PROVES HE’S COMING BACK”. There’s also a lot of Biblical stuff in these codes so it’s going to really be interesting when there’s a payoff to all this.
Of course it could end up like the now legendary Sean O’Haire Devil’s Advocate promo’s. Those got a lot of buzz on the internet and with fans and in the end they just dropped it and did nothing with him. So as usual until I actually see Jericho in the ring saying he is the personal Jesus of the WWE and he’s here to save us all from boring wrestling I won’t be over analyzing it. It’s cool and all, but I’m not going to go insane trying to figure out what a passage in the Book of Revelations and a track on WWF The Music volume 4 have in common.
Before I go, speaking of the creatively inept we come of course to our friends at TNA. They finally got their long awaited two hour time slot and well nothing’s changed. It’s still the same show with the same booking that can drive even the most diehard of fans insane.
TNA has their Bound for Glory PPV tonight live in Atlanta and it’s chock full of gimmick matches galore. I’m sure there will be plenty of swerves seen coming a mile away. All I know is for the love of God end the horror that is Pacman Jones tonight.
I don’t ask TNA for much and God knows they don’t give me much in return. But please get this waste of space off the show and roster. All he does is stand around and look like he wants to be anywhere but there. To make matters worse this schmuck has been making it rain.
Making it Rain is when you throw a bunch of dollar bills in the air. He did this in a strip club and the ensuing mayhem afterwards is the reason Tommy Urbanski is in a wheelchair. Has TNA donated any money to him? Not that I know of. Now unless TNA plans on getting Pacman in the ring so he can get one from “the boys” I honestly don’t understand why he is here. He has had ZERO impact on the ratings and I can’t think of one person (Titan’s Fans included) who has said I have to watch TNA just for Pacman.
If TNA is ever going to be worth a damn they need to actually be different. Just being a place for old WWE guys to put over how great they were back in 98 isn’t going to cut it.
Well I believe that is it for this week. I promise I will be doing this column more frequently then I have been in the past. It’s just been a rough few months but I think I’m over the hump so to speak.
So until next time, remember someone has to give you this information and it DAMN well has got to be me.
You can click here to send me any and all feedback at phantomlordnyc@yahoo.com or leave me some feedback in my
Live Journal
And now the Plugs
Join The Psychotic Wrestling Alliance, The muthaship of E-Fed wrestling if you will. It’s booked in part by me so you know it’s way better then TNA
Click here to visit TheHomeForMusic.Com for free live & Independent streaming music 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year.
Click here to visit LethalWrestling.com…The site Vince Russo looks to for inspiration
If your bored bug me on that Myspace thing at Myspace.com/phantomlordlop
If I pissed you off here, then for all my opinions outside the world of professional wrestling, Visit my Blog at PhantomLordNYC.Blogspot.com
Click here to let us know what you thought about this column on TWV's official discussion forums!
Copyright © 2005; TheWrestlingVoice.com & Douglas Nunnally.
All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer & Privacy Statement
