The New "Stone Cold" and "The Rock'

I have been watching a lot of wresting lately (you would hope I have if I’m writing a blog, right). I must admit, I like a lot of what I see.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of things I would change if I were Vince. Like I have said before, I would keep the “brands” completely separate, even down to the pay per views. I would develop the tag team division, bring back separate titles, and have the “brands” do more competing as if they were different companies. That’s just WWE. TNA, of course I would fire all of the writers. I would get some of the young guys who have not made a name for themselves in WWE a chance to shine. Then I would totally get rid of that “TV” title that they don’t defend anyway.

But like I started off saying I like what’s going on. I think I am seeing two guys in the WWE elevate themselves to the point where, in the eyes of the fans, they can do no wrong. These wrestlers are Randy Orton, and John Cena.

Cena has been the darling in the WWE for the past 5 years. Champion, face of the company, movies, the whole nine yards. And of course, though a lot of us hate to see Cena always win, he gets a huge pop from the fans all the time. Cena has done it by being a face (baby face). Playing the part of the good guy. His shirts say “Never Give UP”. He is the guy.

But Randy Orton is an interesting case. Randy Orton has done it very differently. He has been a heel for more than 3 years, and proud of it. But he has had some great matches. So much so, that the fans actually started to like Orton. This reminds me of the late 90s when Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock, were ruling the wrestling world. Cena, like the Rock, is the movie star, the guy grazing the cover of video games, the pitch man for the WWE. Where as Orton is a heel (bad guy), who has never stopped doing what he did that made him a bad guy, but the fans still love him because he is not changing. Just like Austin. And Orton is now referred to as the Viper. Austin was the Rattlesnake.

With these two guys leading the company, like their predecessors 10 years ago, I believe the WWE is getting ready to have another big boom.

Wait……..is this any different?

As I was watching TNA impact on Thursday nights, I have noticed they talk a lot about how different they are than the WWE. I guess in some ways they are. TNA has only had one show (or brand, if that’s what the WWE wants to call it). TNA not only has a women’s (knockout) division, but they actually have good wrestlers, not just some chicks that look hot. They have a real tag team division, not just a couple of dudes they threw together. But the more I watch, the more I notice that things there aren’t all that different.

I’m sure I'm not that only who has noticed that a lot of the wrestlers who are getting a big push on TNA right now are the same guys who were made famous in the WWE. Most of the guys working in upper management for them are WWE guys. Vince Russo is the head writer at TNA. Vince Russo made his name as the head writer in WWE during the big huge swing in the pro wrestling business, “The Attitude Era”. Eric Bischoff, former president of WCW, and behind the scenes worker in WWE, is now an executive producer with the authority to book matches, in TNA. Even Hulk Hogan, who single handedly popularized the pro wrestling business in the 80s and early 90s, is involved in TNA in a backstage capacity.

Now let’s talk about championships. In the begging of this company, Jeff Jarrett was the owner, and because of that, he was always the world champion. But since Jarrett lost his power in the company and he is now just another regular wrestler, he has not been champion. Since that time, there have been 10 champions (7-TNA, 3-NWA). Of those 10 men, including the current champion, 8 of them at one point in their careers, were or still are WWE wrestlers. And that is just the World heavyweight championship. Let’s not get into the other championships in TNA

The reason I am writing this blog in particular, is because I thought TNA would be an alternative to WWE. They have some great wrestlers who have not made a name for themselves in WWE, that I wish they would give a chance to be stars. In the finals of the most recent world heavyweight championship tournament all of the final four wrestlers were from the WWE. When you have a roster full of young up and coming guys, I would think you would give them the push. I have made it no secret that I am a huge fan of WWE, but there are times when I like what I see out of TNA. I thought I would be seeing the future of pro wrestling, but the more I watch the more it looks like what I saw on Monday and Friday nights, 3-4 years ago.



AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes I think of the blog topic all week, and I will just stick with it. But every now and again, I will see something on TV or read something that will make my job as a blogger extremely simple, and get me exciting to share what I saw with you all. That being said, Raw this week provided me with this opportunity, to go away from the topic I was going to write about, and write something better. So this leads me to Raw. During the beginning of the show, John Cena had to join "The Nexus". He started off by beating up one of the members he was in a tag team match with. After that the Raw GM (as spoken through Michael Cole) said he has to go with the Nexus or he would be fired. And right then, the most amazing thing, the crowd, the entire crowd, not women, and not kids, but everyone, all of the fans, hell even me, sitting at home watching it, we were all cheering for Cena. Cena is a very strange case in pro wrestling. He is a good guy. What they call in the business, a (baby) face. The consummate good guy. He will fight all of the guys perceived to be "bad guys"(or heels). He will have all of the slogans that will make the crowd cheer, "If you want some, come get some", "You can't see me". He will have a new t-shirt every few months. He will be on the cover of WWE Magazine at least 3 times a year, and he will be in WWE movies. But all of that has not won him over with the fans, and I mean the "real fans". Not the fans who watch and cheer for the face all the time, and give no respect to the up and coming guys, who are either finally getting their run in WWE (Edge, Kane, Randy Orton), or will seemingly never get their respect (Matt Hardy, Christian, Shelton Benjamin, who is gone). But the real fans, who respect the guys who can go out and give a great match. Who can create art in a wrestling ring. Who can entertain a wide variety of us, the real fans. We were the ones who saw the meteoric rise of John Cena. Mid-card guy who came up through the developmental league and wrestled on Smackdown! We watched him start off as the "white rapper"(which wasn't a bad gimmick and made him very popular). He later went on to fight for the US Title, against the Big Show at Wrestlemainia 20. We should have seen then what was going to happen. The following year Cena was once again at Wrestlemania, this time battling for the WWE Championship. He won and proceeded to have a 9 month championship reign, defeating the likes of Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, and surviving 5 wrestlers in an Elimination Chamber match, and he was the first one in. In doing all of this, WWE did John Cena no favors. They made him an unrootable figure, even though he was a face. They turned all of the real fans against him because he seemed unbeatable, and unbelievable. But this week Cena has hit a little bit of adversity. It seems that all odds are against Cena, and for the 1st time since he debuted in the WWE, it doesn't look like Cena can overcome this. But isn't that why we watch? Isn't that what made the whole McMahon vs. Austin feud so great? We watched because we couldn't wait to see how Austin would overcome. I have that same feeling again, for John Cean of all people. So, finally after 5 years, I join the fans from last week in chanting to Cena, “NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER GIVE UP!”


AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!