WWE King Of The Ring: A Tournament For The Wrestling Technicians?

With news breaking recently that the WWE are looking to bring back the interpromotional event, King of the Ring (putting it on Raw in Nov after the Survivor Series), I continue to see how things come full circle in this industry.

Just look at this year alone: They introduce a dominant group who take over: been done before. They bring back Bret Hart: nice, good to see him. They bring back Raw Roulette: not so nice, quite silly actually. They bring back the Million Dollar Belt: really?! They bring back Paul Bearer: oh, dear. They bring back King of the Ring: well, actually... this may be interesting.

If it's done well, this could add some nice cross Raw-Smackdown links (which there seem to be more and more of at the moment, just look at the new 'unified' belts) that benefit the viewers and the company. I feel that this tournament could be the perfect opportunity to celebrate excellent in-ring technicians rather than pandering to popular faces or hateful heels. If you look down the list of past winners, you see name after name of outstanding in-ring technicians winning the crown: Bret, Owen, HHH, Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Edge...and so on. If this is to continue, I can imagine that we could have some pretty tasty match ups - just look at the quality of the bouts between Ziggler and Bryan over the last few weeks:

People in the WWE are raising their games.

Since the move to PG there was (and had to be) a shift in the style of wrestling. Many wrestlers are now offering different move-sets, trying to change their catalogue of moves to a more progressive one. Its sad to watch people like Undertaker (much as I love him) and for Cole to have to say "this is vintage Undertaker!" every time he wrestles. He was pulling these moves out in the 90s, too, and 20 years on we're still watching them at every PPV. But the new uprising of younger talent is putting pressure on the old guard; we're seeing a higher-paced style emerging because it has to: when we weren't on PG ratings, violence could dominate, now wrestling comes through.

In his documentary, The Bret Hart Story, Bret says that he was chosen to win King of the Ring simply because he was the best wrestler and he had earned it. There seems to have been a distinct lack of this in the WWE of late. Yes, personalities are important, but let's be honest Bret could have done with a personality transplant and look how well he turned out. Not bad for a guy who never smiles.

But things come full circle. Maybe its time for our King to be the best wrestler again? But I guess we're in the business of Sports Entertainment so perhaps it'll be Hornswoggle. I look forward to seeing how this comes together over the next few weeks. Please, though, let's have a visible GM on both brands for the occasion and let's keep Nexus at arm's length.

Celebrating Wrestling: Greatest In Japan, What The Hell Is Puroresu?

Anybody can agree that WWE is too mainstream. They did put wrestling on the map for America and it was very big in the early days like the 80s and 90s but that momentum has slowed down. People still put WWE as the highest bar in terms of quality wrestling. It really bugs me, has any of them seen a Japanese wrestling match?

Puroresu. That is what Japanese wrestling is called. I think WWE has clearly defined the differences between them and puroresu or lucha libre. WWE is sports entertainment. Puroresu is also scripted wrestling, I'll give you that but it is more realistic. There is no outside interference, run-ins, or referees conveniently looking the other way. Blatant cheating draws boos from the audience, no matter how popular the wrestler. Almost every match ends clean, with no cheating and no disqualification.

Japanese wrestlers also like to do "stiff" matches which is pulling no punches. You hurt who you wanna hurt and its encouraged. Promos are rarely used and interviews usually occur after the matches rather than before, where they can be seen sweating and tired, as testimony to the match they have been in.

Let's honor some of the best wrestlers of Puroresu. If you haven't heard of any of them, then now is your chance. Witness what wrestling truly is. 

'Knucklehead': The Tenacious Appeal of Pro Wrestling

“Knucklehead,” the PG-13 comedy starring WWE star Paul “Big Show” Wight, is built from the ground up to appeal to the sensibilities of 14-year-old pro wrestling fans.

Nothing wrong with that. I was a 14-year-old pro wrestling fan once, but this was back when Rowdy Roddy Piper and the Iron Sheik still roamed the ring. I once had a series of very vivid dreams that Junkyard Dog and King Kong Bundy were living in my bedroom closet. At night, they would come out to play Dungeons & Dragons and discuss Reagan’s economic policies. I wish I could say I was making this up.

Like most other kids, I lost interest in pro wrestling when I discovered girls and marijuana, but I’ve kept track of things in a kind of peripheral way over the years. I’m aware, for instance, that Hulk Hogan turned into a bad guy at one point.

Familiar Stories and Wandering Thoughts
So my hopes weren’t high when I was rope-a-doped into seeing Knucklehead. Clearly, Wight is aiming for a Rock-like career shift into family entertainment.


The set-up goes like this: Wight plays Walter Kronk, the 30-something resident of a church-run orphanage otherwise populated by feisty, adorable Oliver Twist types.

Walter never got adopted, you see, because he was six feet tall at ten-years-old. Now seven feet tall and 450 pounds, Walter remains with head nun Sister Francesca (Wendy Malick) until the day when he accidentally burns down part of the orphanage.  
And so, in the manner of the Blues Brothers and 1,000 lesser screenplays, it seems the orphanage needs money fast, and it’s up to Walter to hit the road and save the day.

He teams with down-and-out fight manager Eddie Sullivan (veteran TV actor Eddie Feuerstein), who also needs quick cash. Together with a chaperone from the orphanage (Melora Hardin, The Office), Eddie and Walter cross the country to compete in a series of bare-knuckle bouts, which are now apparently referred to as mixed martial arts competitions.


It occurred to me that Clint Eastwood used to make these kinds of movies – often with an orangutan – back when he made good movies. Perhaps this is unfair. But based on his recent movies, Eastwood has to be the most overrated director working today. Invictus and especially Gran Torino are just aggressively bad movies.


Clearly, Knucklehead gives your mind lots of time to wander. This is basically an odd-couple tag team comedy, peppered with an underdog sports story, and stitched together with chapter titles from the freshman Intro to Screenwriting textbook. Just like every pro wrestling script ever penned. (The movie is a production of WWE Films, of course.)


And that the ‘80s entity WWF (World Wrestling Federation) had to change its name when the other WWF, the World Wildlife Fund, objected to the acronymic encroachment. This might seem silly, until you consider the case of George “The Animal” Steele, who really could have qualified for a paycheck from either organization.


In recent years, I’ve become aware of wrestling again due to the film career of former WWF star Dwane “The Rock” Johnson. My kids have an inexplicable love for this guy, whose many family films – each terrible in its own earnest, unique way – are in heavy rotation on our DVD player. By my calculations, Johnson owes me three years of my life back. I want them now.