Match of the Month: January

This is a lumberjack match on August 17, 1994 that Owen Hart initially won and was announced as World champion but then reversed due to interference. Owen had originally won the match and title at 3:06 after Jim Neidhart interfered as Owen was caught in the Sharpshooter and clotheslined the champion - however several of the lumberjacks and other officials had the finish replayed on the big screen so the referee could see what had happened; the match was ordered to continue. I am of the mindset that this should be a recognized title win, and Owen Hart should be known as a former World Champion, albeit a brief one.

More on This Story...

My Top 10 Favorite Raw Moments

Well folks, tonight's the night. This has been built up for quite a while and I admit that I'm actually looking forward to watching RAW tonight. I'm sure this is one the WWE will be going all out for, and many surprise appearances will be in store. WWE.com has been counting down RAW's greatest moments of the last 15 years. I'd like to share my favorites with you…

10. Intercontinental Title Battle Royal

This was the 20 Man Battle Royal for the vacant Intercontinental Title from 1993. While Bobby Heenan's Bastion Booger jokes would have been reason enough to rank this #10, this would be the shot in the arm of the singles career of Razor Ramon (aka Scott Hall.) He and Rick Martel would co-win this and meet next week for the title with Razor coming out on top. That win was the first of several Intercontinental Title reigns for "Da Bad Guy," and while Scott Hall is nothing short of sad nowadays, he was one of WWE's major players in the early years of the Raw era.

9. ECW Invades (Part 1)

This may not seem like that big of a deal now with ECW as a 3rd Brand, but tuning into Raw during the attitude era and seeing Paul Heyman was a pretty big deal at the time. ECW was invited to show up and give WWE fans a taste of extreme, as ECW stars wrestled each other in 3 matches of the Raw telecast. It was pretty surreal seeing The BWO, Little Guido, Taz, Mikey Whipreck, Tommy Dreamer, and D-Von Dudley on Monday night programming. The highlight of this, of course, was Sabu appearing and jumping off of the RAW letters in the entrance way onto Team Taz. I, for one, was very excited to find out that this angle will be a featured as of the 15th Anniversary Best of Raw DVD coming out later this month.

8. Edge's Birthday

One of my favorite backstage segments EVER… Edge, Christian, Kurt Angle, and Triple H sitting around in a locker room celebrating Edge's birthday. What made this so awesome? Theme music played via kazoo by Christian with Edge covering the vocals. This continued on for a few more weeks with the Canadian duo paying homage to Chris Benoit and Crash Holly using this method. For this initial segment, however, these four played off of each other perfectly, and was one of the early stages of developing Edge & Christian's personalities.

7. Replay of Hart/Smith from In Your House

My memory isn't kicking as to when this actually occurred, but it was sometime between the night after and two weeks after the December 95 In Your House Pay Per View. It was pretty awesome of them to do this, as they aired the WWE Championship Match between Bret Hart and The British Bulldog in its entirety. It doesn't hurt that the match was pretty damn good, too.

6. Mike Awesome wins Hardcore Title

The Hardcore Title, held by Rhyno, was under 24/7 Rules at the time. Rhyno is shown walking backstage when all of a sudden he gets blindsided by Mike Awesome who promptly pins him to win the Hardcore Title. Why was this so important? Mike Awesome was a member of the WCW roster. This Again, my memory isn't the best but I think he laid Rhyno out with a chair then put him through a table. Regardless, this is what kicked off the WCW Invasion, and while that failed in the end, this moment was at least pretty intriguing.

5. DX Parodies The Nation

One of the all time classics. Jason Sensation playing Owen Hart, Triple H as the Crock, and X Pac as Mizark Henry were all very humorous. While this opened up a can of worms to let them think they could recreate the awesomeness of this by doing impersonations of the Corporation and more recently The McMahons again, this was something that I remembered and people were talking about for a very long time.

4. ECW Invades (Part 2)

This almost would have ranked higher on my list had it not turned into "The Alliance" by the end of the show, but the night that Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam debuted on Raw was pretty sweet. Kane & Chris Jericho were facing Lance Storm and Mike Awesome of WCW when they attacked. Members of the Raw roster (The Dudleys, Tazz, Justin Credible, Rhyno, and Raven) came to make the save, only to realize that they were all former ECW wrestlers and lay the boots to Jericho & Kane while Paul Heyman reveals it all as an ECW Invasion. For me, this was one of the most unbelievable moments I had witnessed in wrestling. They were sitting on a gold mine with this, but somehow they managed to screw things up royally. Just like they did again in 2006...

3. Lita & Trish Main Event Raw

These last 3 are kind of feel good moments for me. Lita and Trish Stratus had countless battles between one another and at this point were capable of putting together a pretty kick ass match. The bookers had a pretty good feeling that they would and let them go out there and close out the show in December 2004. The feel good moment stemming from this is the faith in these two to run with the ball. They delivered, and while Lita fucked up her neck in the process, she beat Trish to regain the Womens Title. While Lita winning the title initally from Stephanie McMahon in the Main Event of Raw in 2000 felt pretty good too, this felt a little more special headlining the show considering there was no one in the match named McMahon.

2. Eddie Guererro Tribute

While his death was a tragedy, the Raw where they paid tribute to Eddie was a special night. Seeing Raw stars vs Smackdown stars was a treat, as was Chris Benoit going over cleanly on Triple H. The match that stood out, however, was Shawn Michaels vs Rey Mysterio. They had a great match, and Shawn did the selfless thing by putting Rey over clean. To me, that win helped legitimize Mysterio as being able to hang with Main Eventers on his way to winning The Royal Rumble and eventually the World Title.

1. Mick Foley wins World Title

This was the ultimate feel good moment, as nobody saw it coming, or at least until they posted it on Wwe/f.com and Eric Bischoff blurted it out on Nitro. Foley had already gotten screwed over by the Rock at Survivor Series and Rock Bottom, and got screwed one more time this night by Shane McMahon in a match against Triple H. Frustrated, Foley did the only thing he could... hold Shane McMahon hostage in order to get one more rematch with Rock later that night. After some help from DX, the unthinkable happened, and Mrs. Foley's baby boy was the WWE Champion. Contrary to what Bischoff believed, it did in fact put some asses in seats, and some viewers on the TV.

A lot has happened in the last 15 years, but Monday Night Raw is still around, and will most likely be around another 15 years from now. I'm looking forward to seeing what they end up doing for this, to see will become of the Evolution Reunion, to see if Carlito will win the Intercontinental Title as part of the agreement for him to stick around, to see the return of Sunny, to see what will most likely be the second coming of the Gimmick Battle Royal… WWE can easily bounce back from Thursday's ratings loss with a good number here. There's enough hype surrounding Raw tonight. Here's to hoping they deliver, and here's to hoping for one more feel good moment for Monday Night RAW...

More on This Story...

DiBiase; IC Title Match

Mike DiBiase, the son of former WWE agent and WWF star Ted DiBiase passed along the following to me:

December 8 in Charlotte,NC I will be facing Damien Wayne for the NWA North American Heavyweight Title. If you know the history, my father held this title before it became what we know now as the WWE Intercontinental Title. It originated out of Stu Harts Stampede. Bret Hart held this Title as well. Basically there is a ton of history with the NWA and my family, Terry Funk being my God father held the NWA World title numerous times as well as Harley Race who trained me and is a close family friend was an 8 Time NWA World Champ. As a 3rd generation wrestler this is huge as history is beginining to repeat itself and get better....it may be destiny to hold the prestigious NWA North American Title...maybe even the NWA World title....we will see!

Just thought you all may be interested in this story!

Thanks, Mike DiBiase

More on This Story...

Why We Watch...

I distinctly remember the beginning of my relationship with professional wrestling. I was taking advantage of the opportunity that having a babysitter gives you. Long past my bedtime, I was sitting on the couch in my pajamas. With a tootsie pop in my mouth, I flipped the channel to Saturday Night's Main Event. I saw Hulk Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage and it was as if He-Man had become real. The fuse was ignited that night that would eventually make the MegaPowers explode at that year's WrestleMania. During a match with the Twin Towers, Savage was tossed violently into Elizabeth. Hogan went to the back to help her, leaving Savage alone to face Akeem and the Bossman. I thought back then that if I only had a few minutes with Hogan and Savage I could help them squash their beef. Twenty years later, I still feel that way.


Sooner than later I found the National Wrestling Alliance/World Championship Wrestling on TV. I remember being amazed watching an I Quit match between Terry Funk and Ric Flair on free TV at the Clash of the Champions.

I loved the main events, but I always had an eye towards the midcard. It always seemed to be the case that I would find a cool heel to enjoy just up until they turned him babyface and the whole world loved him. Examples of this were Shawn Michaels and The Rock. About the only heel that didn't lose something when he became top mainstream babyface was John Cena, and that's cause half the fans still hated him always.

There is something special about feeling ownership of a wrestler, and I'd argue that that is why we watch. Remembering Bret Hart's days in the Hart Foundation or Steve Austin's days in the Dangerous Alliance make it that much sweeter when they meet as major stars at WrestleMania 13.

Today I look at Shelton Benjamin and Elijah Burke with the same anticipation I have previously looked at Brian Pillman, Randy Orton, Buff Bagwell, and Droz with. Of course sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't.

Still, it's hard not to be cynical when you can think fondly on the old days and imagine Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Sting, The Ultimate Warrior, Rick Rude, Vader, Jake Roberts, Arn Anderson, Ted Dibiase, and others at their peak.

It's also difficult to remember tag teams like Demolition, the Road Warriors, The Rockers, Doom, The Skyscrapers, the Midnight Express, and so many more and not long for them.

Even the days when WCCW, USWA, or GWF would come on ESPN on Wednesday afternoons bring some nostalgia.

By comparison when you compare today's wrestling atmosphere to all the memories of the past 20 years, it just doesn't compare. Still, we watch…

We watch because we are waiting for the next big breakthrough. Will it be Mr. Kennedy? Will it be Jeff Hardy? Only time will tell.

We watch because some of those larger than life characters we remember are still around like the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, and they have been intertwined with those we've learned to care about in the meantime like Edge, Triple H, and Rey Mysterio.

We watch because even though we aren't likely to see a big interesting defection the way we did during the old WCW/WWE days, we can still mark out months after waiting for Chris Jericho to return on TV, because that moment when he does will undoubtedly be incredible.

We watch because Cody Rhodes and DH Hart keep us grounded and remind us where we came from. We watch because new generation stars like AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels show us where we are going.

We watch because every week Jay Lethal or Santino Marella is going to do that little something extra that makes us smile.

No matter how disillusioned we get with what wrestling is and no matter how much better we think it could be, we watch.

Now I am certainly not going to sit in any bleachers and cry that it's still real to me, damnit. I am not sure that it ever was real to me. It was larger than life.

A few weeks ago I sat at a local Indy show in the bleachers about to cry because the first half of the show was incredibly bad. It picked up though, and by the end I felt I had gotten my money's worth.

In a time where the most newsworthy wrestling happenings involved Candice Michelle falling on her face, I struggle to write, but I refuse to just dump on the product.

Is it easy to come up with anti-WWE and anti-TNA banter? Of course. Right now I probably like wrestling less than I have at any point in the past 20 years, but still I watch.

Professional wrestling seems to have cast a weird spell over thousands. It's one that those who aren't under will never understand. Those of use who are don't even get it sometimes.

Maybe I will never get the wrestling show I wish for until I get to heaven. I assume that at 25 years old, by the time I get there all my favorites will be there with me.

Rest In Peace to all the former warriors of the squared circle. Your contributions are why we are here today. You are fondly remembered and greatly missed.

The Outcast, the Legend, the Wolf is back for another opinionated commentary:

When I first read the teaser to your current column, I thought that Vince had fired the fans again, but then I wondered, how can you fire someone that you haven't paid, have constantly berated for being wrong, whom you've constantly given one thing when they've been asking for something completely different, who have seen your ass more times than they've seen Jenna Haze's (and seeing as most of the core fans are teenage boys with internet service, that's a lot of times!) and with everything that you've done they keep coming back for more as if the cookies on this side of the fence are better.

But since the column isn't about US getting fired, I'll talk about the guys that you mention while I keep checking the mail box for that check from Vince (hell, with all the ideas that he's stolen from the internet, I'm shocked that he hasn't sent out a check, and that he keeps shutting down e-feds. they're a gold mine to him!)

Seeing Teddy Hart get the axe is SOOOOOOOOOOO Shocking to me (did I lay on the sarcasm enough? Ya think so? Ok, moving on) why do people keep signing this guy? (quick check on the last name and ok, I guess we know!) Ya think if Kid Kash were Kid Hart that he'd get that many chances? Exactly. I say, let the guy rot in the independents until he gets his desire, energy, and a respect for the business that he is riding the coattails of. If he ever grows up and stops using his name as a springboard then things might turn up better. If he does not, then he'll be the worst Hart ever (Including Bruce. C'mon, he might have been all right in the ring, but he had the personality of a cheese-it!).

To Ryan O'Reilly and Krissy Vaine I have this to say: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! You two are the dumbest mutha f*ckas on the planet! You wait until you get called up to leave the company? If you two are really in love, suck it up (once again this is a FAMILY show, so minds out of the gutter) and deal with it. You obviously don't care about the business if you are ready to leave the biggest company around so that you can be close to each other. Hell, one Sunday a month you'll be in the same building, and that right there is more than I see my wife sometimes AND WE LIVE TOGETHER! Go to TNA where you'll be two more people who don't get any face time and wonder why you chose love over the passion for the business that brought you both together. See what happens if you two don't last. You won't get another chance that easily!

As far as Daivari is concerned, the guy lasted longer than I ever expected one they bailed out on the whole Hassan thing (although if they put them on Raw and run with it, they would've been KILLER heels) he had a decent run, made what I'm sure is a decent amount of money and I'm sure had a blast for the most part living his dream (unlike Hollywood Hassan who seemed to only want fame!) Good Luck to him, although he'll need a little bit of a gimmick change.

Now for the release you've all been waiting for me to comment on, King BOOKA And Queen Sharmell! For someone who gave everything he had for the last zillion years or so, did everything that he was asked since he's been apart of the WWEmpire, they treated him like crap the entire time, and he didn't deserve it! Should he get a title run on his way out of the door? No, but a nice send off would be better than "The WWE has come to terms with..." It's insulting to him and anyone who is a fan of his. But then again, something tells me that if Shane pissed off Vince enough (We all know that Steph couldn't possibly piss him off, so it'll have to be Shane) then the only thing we'd see is "The WWE has come to terms with the contractual release of one Shane O' Mac. We wish him well in all future endeavors." All kidding aside, if Book wasn't so closely linked to WCW his send off would be much more celebrated, no matter what. Just look at how many times Hogan's gotten the warm send off, and Vince HATES him now! Not that Book was ever at Hogan or Flair levels, but you get the idea. All in all, I hope that TNA gives him a short, midcard send off for a couple of months, and he beats someone like Christian Cage or Scott Steiner in his "final" "big two/three/four" match.

Then again, knowing TNA, they'll sign him and (Points thumbs at himself) R...V...D! And recreate the most misused and misguided tag teams in the history of wrestling. RVD and Booker should've never been a team. That's almost as dumb as X-Pac and Kane!

I agree Wolf. X-Pac and Kane were a horrible tag team. Here, watch the greatest tag team of all time in the match that made me a wrestling fan.





More on This Story...

“HITMAN” PUTS HIMSELF IN THE CROSSHAIRS FOR TELL-ALL MEMOIR

By Anthony Kingdom James for ProWrestlingPundit.blogspot.com

When I was in my early teens, growing up in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, my friends Bobby and Wayne introduced me to the exciting world of professional wrestling. Soon, we were watching every minute of every match we could get our hands on. There was Jim Crockett’s NWA from the Mid-Atlantic States. Verne Gagne’s AWA from the mid-west. The hours upon hours of Japanese tapes the Wayne brought home from his job as a dish-washer in a local sushi restaurant. The three hours of Bill Watts’ incredible UWF promotion that my cousin had on tape. A new version of Stampede Wrestling was being shown across Canada on TSN. And of course, there was Vince McMahon’s WWF.

Back then, there were three wrestlers in the WWF (now WWE) that I couldn’t get enough of: The Dynamite Kid, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart and Bret “The Hitman” Hart. The latter two formed a tag team aptly named “The Hart Foundation”. When we wrestled on the lawn next to our apartment building, that’s exactly who Wayne and Bobby and I thought we were. Dynamite, The Anvil and The Hitman. Then, as well as now, I was shaped more like Neidhart, so that was the part I played... but man, did I want to be Bret Hart.

As the Dynamite Kid’s body succumbed to years of abuse in and out of thering and Neidhart’s star faded, I followed along as Bret Hart’s career blossomed. From opening match “jobber” to mid-card workhorse to World Champion to icon, Hart grew in both stature and ability.

When I became a professional wrestler myself, I was still always more Anvil than Hitman but I tried to emulate Hart in small ways. When I finally had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with Hart in January 2006, he had been living in Italy for some time after remarrying. I tried to soak in every moment I could; asking him questions, listening to his stories... catching him up on NHL and CFL goings-on. And still, those few days only gave me a small window into this man who was still a personal hero to me.

Now, Bret Hart has thrown that window wide open for fans and detractors alike to get a good look at the life of the man behind “The Hitman”.



"Life as a pro wrestler is highly addictive”, says Bret Hart in his new autobiography "Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling". "Once you get a taste for it, your old life fades away and disappears", and oh, what a strange new life awaits those who join Hart and make the journey.

Hart describes a life that harkens the reader to thoughts of living within The Matrix. He paints a picture that makes life on the road as a wrestler sound vibrant, colorful and adventurous yet fraught with pitfalls and temptations. And much like Keanu Reeves’ character of Neo, Hart must learn a very special and sometimes logic-defying fighting system to survive in this surrealistic world. When Hart occasionally disconnects from that life, a life he knows isn't quite real, it means returning home to the drabness of marital strife and the type of familial in-fighting that most people attribute to Shakespeare's writing.... or possibly an
episode of some tawdry afternoon talk show.

The 7-time World Heavyweight champion calls upon over two decades worth of audio journals he recorded during his time on the road as the foundation for writing the monstrous 500+ pages of this book. Hart chronicles his long struggle to protect the honor and integrity of his wrestling persona while admitting to a laundry list of indiscretions in his personal life and Hart's recounting of his life as meticulous as it is scathing. On one hand, Hart praises himself repeatedly for his professionalism as a wrestler; never missing shows, never injuring opponents, never “screwing” anyone. On the other hand, he frankly admits to dabbling in steroid and narcotics use in the spring of his career and having a voracious sexual
appetite. And while he doesn’t absolve himself of his sins, he at least attempts to justify the latter vice by claiming that chasing women distracted him from falling into the bottomless pit of heavy drug and alcohol abuse that swallowed up so many other wrestlers of his generation.

Part of the fun of this weighty tell-all tome is that Hart doesn’t just employ these moral yardsticks for his own behavior but rather as a set of standards that he held everyone to. Both good and bad, Hart scrutinizes the behavior and the work ethic (or lack thereof) of everyone in his life: wrestlers and employers, fans and family. No one is spared, especially those closest to him.

Hart comes off as thoughtful and well-spoken, truthful and deeply emotional. At the same time, he uses the book to offer himself up as one of many martyrs to the wrestling industry. The problem with this is most people expect our martyrs to be humble and while it might be wrong to call Hart braggadocios neither could you quite call him humble. And although a lot has been said, written and put to film about Hart’s life already, this book is a must.

Growing up as one of 12 children.Trying to measure up to his famous father’s reputation and expectations. Learning the art and science of professional wrestling. The growth of his career. The slow death of his marriage. The infamous, industry-altering “Montreal Screw-Job”. The death of his brother Owen. The accident that ended his career. His stroke and recovery. And all of the friends, enemies, parties, fights, triumphs and tragedies in between.

It’s all there and it’s all true, even the "fake" stuff. In fact, the fake stuff may be the truest of all.

"Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling" by Bret Hart is available now in Canada from Random House Publishing. Visit the publisher’s official webpage for the book at http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307355669

* * * * *

Anthony Kingdom James is a former professional wrestler living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. James now promotes shows under the banner of The Union of Independent Professional Wrestlers. For more information, please visit UIPW’s official website at www.wrestlersunion.ca
More on This Story...

The Cyclical Wrestling Business

So two weeks ago I asked what it is that even makes a superstar? One week ago I talked about professionally wrestling's surprisingly deep free agent market. I got some great responses on a free agent roster that I will share a bit later, but first I want to talk about the cyclical nature of wrestling, because it's an argument that I have heard 1000 times that I am just not buying.

Months ago, Linda McMahon stated that professional wrestling was about to reach another boom period. So what creates these cycles?

Well, the first is simply talent. In the 1980's, Vince McMahon purchased the best superstars from every territory to create his national brand. The chance to see the best of the best from around the world together in something other than a Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine was undoubtedly exciting, and Vince was printing money.

However, Vince seemed to forget something very important along the way. His business is with human beings. Human beings grow older. Human beings have wants and needs. Pretty soon the early nineties appeared, and many of those from the Rock N' Wrestling Generation had retired. Ted Turner purchased those remaining, much the way they were purchased by Vince a decade earlier.

In the meantime, Vince hadn't created any new stars. He had latched his wagon onto workhorses like Hulk Hogan and let them take him as far as they could pull. So when Hogan was gone, Vince had to turn to Bret Hart and Lex Luger to pull the weight. The results were less than thrilling.

In time, Razor Ramon, Diesel, and Shawn Michaels separated themselves from the pack as special talents. Ramon and Diesel were then lured away by the almighty dollar as well, but luckily for Vince, he had recently acquired the underappreciated former WCW talent Steve Austin, and there was a third generation superstar on the horizon.

Initially Vince stuck with his tired formula. The third generation superstar was called Rocky Miavia, and pushed down the throats of fans as an undeniable babyface. Austin was given the gimmick of the Ringmaster and the Million Dollar Belt to boot. Nothing was going to change ratings until Vince McMahon changed his philosophy.

A rumbling was taking place that would shake the core of professional wrestling. Paul Heyman took a group of WWE and WCW rejects, matched them up with guys no one had ever heard of, and created one of the most exciting products in wrestling history. When the cult following started to become a mainstream fanfare, Vince had the answer.

WWE Attitude took the audience back from WCW and created the second significant wrestling boom of the past 30 years. Much like when Vince McMahon had put all his eggs into Hogan's basket in the 80's, he was going to milk Attitude for all it was worth as the late nineties rolled into the new millennium.

If the Attitude Era were a large plentiful orange in 1997, WWE was still squeezing the hell out of it in 2006 in order to quench the fans thirst. Then one day, Vince woke up and looked at the talent around him. Steve Austin had retired. The Rock had left to go do movies. Mick Foley was not going to be flying off any cages. Instead a new crop of talent surrounded him. Bobby Lashley, Ken Kennedy, Umaga…

Vince decided the first thing to do was release Scotty 2 Hotty. After all, nothing screamed hanging on to 1997 like this guy still doing the Too Cool dance and the worm ten years later.

It was time to shake off a half decade of bad investments. Since the WWF became the WWE, Vince and company have put a great deal of time and money into guys that simply didn't pan out. The emergence of the NWO in the WWE didn't work because of injuries to Kevin Nash and the conduct of Scott Hall. Hulkamania was reignited, but only long enough to give him some big wins over guys like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Randy Orton, only to see him disappear again with no real benefit to the company.

For a full year Vince pushed Brock Lesnar on Smackdown and Goldberg on Raw. By the time their dream match was scheduled at Wrestlemania, both had decided that they were done with the WWE, and a retired Steve Austin got the rub from stunning them both on their departure.

WWE chose to let go of the Dudley Boyz. While their routine was admittedly tired, shouldn't they have put someone over on their way out for the future viability of the tag division? What about Christian and Chris Jericho? These guys were in the title picture at Summerslam and then gone before the Royal Rumble.

One can't miss prospect that WWE was looking to was Muhammed Hassan. After the time they put into making Hassan a true contender, he was drafted to Smackdown and then had to be removed from TV for a controversial angle.

It wasn't just the men's department where WWE was hurting. In a short period they lost three of their most established divas as well when Stacy Keibler, Trish Stratus, and Lita all said goodbye.

Just last year The Big Show quit after a lengthy run as ECW champion and a main event program with Degeneration X.

All of these releases as individual instances are not a big deal. All of them together, however, are pretty significant. Figure into that the deaths of Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero, and you have a recipe for disaster.

It's actually quite impressive that WWE is doing as well as they are right now. With Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker as the corporate backbone, WWE was able to develop John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, and more into this new crop of superstars.

However, just when things were looking up, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker go down to injuries. Following suit are Rey Mysterio, King Booker, and Ken Kennedy. Rob Van Dam leaves the company. Chris Benoit kills himself. Edge gets hurt. Bobby Lashley gets hurt. Then after Triple H, Mysterio, and the Undertaker come back, 10-12 superstars get Wellness-related suspensions. When those guys on the Wellness suspensions return, John Cena tears his pectoral muscle.

So John Cena is injured and smarks around the world are rejoicing as if the war in Iraq were finally over. I for one don't see the upside.

Say what you will about John Cena, and wrestling sites have about said it all ad nauseam, but John Cena has proven to be something special. His name on the marquee draws crowds, his image on cotton sells t-shirts, his persona both live and on television stays over, and his programs with Edge, Randy Orton, Triple H, Umaga, and others make for damn good wrestling television.

So what do people have to say about the heir-apparent to the WWE throne? He's no Hulk Hogan. He's no Steve Austin. He's no Rock. You know what? That's completely true.

Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock are arguably the three biggest stars in the history of professional wrestling. John Cena has commonalities with all three men, but he certainly is not able to fill their shoes.

Like the Rock, Cena came into the WWE as a bluechipper. Fans didn't accept his babyface character, and he was quickly pushed into being a heel and developed his own personality. Like Steve Austin, John Cena became an ass-kicking anti hero, as his foul mouth and controversial actions only endeared him more to the WWE crowd. Like Hulk Hogan, he captured the imagination of children everywhere and became an almost unstoppable force.

What the Rock, Steve Austin, and Hulk Hogan had going for them is that they were allowed to be themselves with the volume turned way up. What John Cena has working against him is that he is expected to be some type of amalgamation of those who came before him.

When Randy Orton was kicked out of Evolution shortly after winning the WWE title, he suffered a similar fate. For months, Orton had developed his cocky legend killer character to the point that fans began to like it. When the time came to pull the trigger on Orton's inevitable babyface run, they placed him on the stage and gave him a Rock-esque promo to cut. It didn't work. Why? Well for starters, Randy Orton is not the Rock. He is Randy Orton.

When The Rock finally turned babyface, he did not magically turn into a new generation Hulk Hogan. He stayed true to who he was, and the fans ate that up. This was the character that fans had grown to love. No one wanted to hear The Rock telling us to train, say our prayers, and eat our vitamins.

The more over John Cena's rap character became, the more he got pushed in a direction where he had to fit a mold that was created before him. Cena has since abandoned the throwback jerseys, locks, and chains that brought him to the dance and has adopted the persona of being "The Marine," a role that was initially intended for Steve Austin.

When given mic time, Cena is rarely ever the brash arrogant kid we grew to love. He is often simply too goofy to be taken seriously. It's strange how the Rock can call Umaga a shriveled up monkey penis and it works, but when John Cena calls the Big Show poopy pants it doesn't. It's the same type of sophomoric humor, but it just rolls off The Rock's tongue more naturally.

Then again, I was 14 when I loved hearing the Rock say those things. I am now 24, and I would hope my sense of humor has evolved. Still, when the Rock makes his occasional appearance, I expect this from him and welcome it. When I see John Cena, I would prefer not to see a subpar rehash of places I have already been.

John Cena has had some fantastic matches in his career. Of course Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Edge, and Shawn Michaels had the ability to make anyone look like a million bucks, but Cena's recent Summerslam effort against Randy Orton should also serve to silence a lot of critics.

Cena's reputation as a hard worker is well documented. Often I think the criticism he gets for no-selling moves and having a tired predicatable offense is unwarranted, because I believe this is what he is instructed to do by the WWE higher-ups. If Vince McMahon wanted Cena to deliver a consistently better and more diverse in-ring product, I am sure he could step to the plate.

Case and Point: John Cena's injury is not a positive for professional wrestling. It is very much a negative. What Linda McMahon predicted to be a "boom" period for professional wrestling has become a period where the product is really suffering. Those who have enjoyed the most success due to circumstance thus far? The Great Khali and Hornswaggle. There is something wrong with that picture.

Every move that WWE makes right now is critical. Every signing, every release and every push is essential to sustaining the momentum the company had been building over the past year. Every booking, every storyline and every angle needs to be carefully constructed to maintain the relationships with fans who have tuned in over the past seven years to see people who may or may not be on their televisions due to a number of circumstances.

So in this sensitive time period that requires a great deal of focus, what is the WWE doing? A Teddy Long Viagra-induced heart attack and a Hornswaggle/Melina love story. These are two angles that take TV time, and don't build anyone with the ability to draw a dime or even result in a match.

They are building Santino Marella into one of the most interesting superstars on Raw. The problem? On the way there, they are going to further devalue their most underrated talent in Val Venis. Venis has the look, the charisma, and the in-ring ability, yet he is saddled with eternal job duty. What is Marella's ultimate destiny after getting the rub from Val? That's quite simple. He will receive kick-wham-stunner from an inactive Steve Austin. How does this elevate a new superstar? It doesn't.

Triple H gets to destroy Umaga, Carlito, Cade, and Murdoch. Who's next? Well most likely with Cena getting hurt, Orton will be thrown into this match at the pay-per-view and it will be made for the vacant WWE title. It is likely good ole' Trips will bury Orton too on the way to another long meaningless title run, and heck, while he has the belt, let him destroy Ken Kennedy too. What's the point of having something new to look forward to? Right WWE?

Speaking of something new to look forward to, how about Cody Rhodes. Oh yeah, that's right. He is jobbing to Bob Holly. The fans have never accepted Holly as more than a weak midcarder, so Rhodes losing to him on a weekly basis is especially damaging. You think Cody would get a better deal because of his daddy. I guess this is supposed to end with Rhodes earning Holly's respect. Whoopdee shit. I'd rather see Rhodes spit in his face and ask him why in the 15 years he's been in the WWE he hasn't had any real success. Then ask him why he's still going around calling himself Hardcore. In the last WWE Smackdown vs. Raw game, Lawler exclaims, "1998 called, they want their word back." Amen.

Even when Brock Lesnar legit injured Bob Holly, his return to get revenge garnered him no fan support. I am happy Holly beat his terrible staph infection, but that doesn't make him any less boring. Bob Holly never was a star and never will be one. I wish that WWE would wish him the best on his future endeavors, or throw him back on ECW where nothing matters anyways.

If those viral marketing promos are actually for Chris Jericho and not for the new and improved WWE.com featuring old school pics of Dusty Rhodes' valet Sweet Sapphire, wrestling fans around the world need to realize something. I said last week that no one man is going to save the WWE. I take that back. There actually is one guy that has that power. His name is Vince McMahon.

It is up to Vince McMahon and the WWE creative team to build intriguing storylines that make sense, attract viewers, and lead to an even bigger payoff. Until they get that process down, even a returning Chris Jericho is likely to be nothing to get excited about. In fact, he's just another guy for Triple H to run over while we all wait patiently for wrestling's next big boom period.

Chris O offered up his 30 man roster alternative to the WWE

World Championship Division
Sabu
CW Anderson
Rob Van Dam
The Sandman
Steve Corino
Bryan Danielson
Brent Albright
Marcus Cor Von
The Human Tornado

Lightweight Championship Division
Too Cold Scorpio
Austin Starr
Sean Waltman
Jushin Liger
Mistico
TAKA Michinoku
Ultimo Dragon
Matt Bentley
Jack Evans

Tag Team Championship Division
Kings of Wrestling: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli
Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe
Joey Mercury and Christian York
The Mexicools: Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera
The Naturals: Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas
Cryme Tyme: JTG and Shad

My fed's roster kinda resembles the original ECW. In the World Title Division there are Originals such as Sabu, Sandman, and RVD. I have guys with technical prowess such as Danielson and Albright. I have a monster in Cor Von, and have Anderson and Tornado in there as heavyweight jobbers. My lightweights are stacked and should provide exciting matches like lightweights in the old ECW. My tag team division is a mix of indy teams like the Kings of Wrestling and the Briscoes, and ex-WWE or TNA teams like Cryme Tyme and the Naturals. If Heyman booked for this fed, it would be able to create a cult following. While it probably wouldn't compete with WWE, it can still be popular on a national stage.

Stephen Straka also gave his 30 man roster
A roster of 30 based on the free agents? Hoo boy.

The first thing I'm gonna do is divide the 30 into groups. 10 slots will be set aside for 5 established tag teams. 6 slots will be for the "devlopers", the type of guys you see winning tons on Heat but jobbing almost everywhere else. Hacksaw and Val Venis for example. Their primary role is to both test the incoming rookies and take under their wings the signed contract that still need some freshening up on the B-show. 1 of the tag team slots will be for this purpose as well. 7 slots will be for the upper-card wrestlers while 7 will be for an X-division.

Tag teams:
- La Resistence; I personally liked their gimmick and they're able to draw heat better than a lot of heels.
- Briscoe Bros.; duh. The only proviso is that they dress up as Mario and Luigi during Halloween episodes. Why? Why not?
- Cryme Tyme; sadly, I never got to see them in any matches aside from squashes but their skits are good for comedy value. Probably most liekly to be the B-show team but again, I haven't seen enough of them to tell.
- Basham Bros.; whatever you're gonna call them, they can be great in the ring if you let them be. Unfortunately, they were used as enforcers, which is never good for your in-ring work.
- Gymini is your "big" team.

Developers:
- Scotty! Even though he's at the tail end of his career, the fans still love the worm and I can see him tearing up the B-show in my promotion.
- Ace Steel; again, getting along in years but still more than capable of main-eventing the B-show. He can also double as a trainer/manager for someone who has a boxing/MMA gimmick given his training ofthe Second City Saints.
- Eugene; it's sad that he never got a chance outside the retard gimmick. I'd probably let him go back to being Mr. Wrestling and make him the heel developer.
-

X-Division:
- Essa Rios!
- TAKA Michinoku!
- Human Tornado!
- Ultimo Dragon!
- Jushin "Thuder" Liger!
- Yuji Nagata!
- Zach Gowen!
In case you haven't figured it out, this will probably be the equivilent of WCW's cruiserweight scene. Lower in the card and don't expect much for English promos but damn if the matches aren't gonna be exciting! Human Tornado gets to be Ken Masters for Halloween. SHOOOORYUKEN!

Upper card:
- Bryan Danielson; DUH
- RVD; ALSO DUH. Robbie V can also do double-duty in the X-division if there's injury or he's not doing anything.
- Mistico; can also slide into the X-division if neccessary
- Big Show and
- Giant Bernard are your monster heels. They can also do double-duty as a monster heel tag team if neccessary.
- Sylvester Terkay; is most likely to have Ace Steel as his trainer/manager
- Brent Albright and
- Monty Brown to round things out

Ideally my promotion would have a Raw/Heat deal with the A and B-shows. The A-show would be two ohurs long so as to give everyone enough exposure.

Karl Belanger checked in with this note on Pierre-Carl Ouellet
Just a quick note on Pierre-Carl Ouellet. He is now a color commentator for the TNA shows on RDS (Quebec's equivalent to ESPN or TSN). He's actually not too bad and way more tolereable than Lawler.

Last week, to my surprise, there was actually a 3 way match shown with him, Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles on the TNA broadcast that took place in Ottawa (not shown on TNA's regular boradcast obviously). He still looks great despite his age and can still work a crowd quite well. I always really liked him in the Quebecers and was always amazed at how well he could move for a big man. WWE wants their version of Samoa Joe? He'd be the perfect guy (much more so than Umaga I feel).

More on This Story...

What It Takes To Be A Superstar

For has long as I have been watching professional wrestling, big men with big personalities have dominated sports entertainment.

Occasionally, a unique talent will come through and break the mold. When a man like Dusty Rhodes, Mick Foley, or Rey Mysterio leaves the ring with a World Heavyweight Championship, the fattest, ugliest, and shortest guys find themselves believing that they too could one day realize their wildest dreams.

Now it is undoubtable that Rhodes, Foley, and Mysterio brought their own unique blend of talent and charisma to the ring, and they are all three undoubtedly deserving of their successes. They have shown the world that there is no blueprint to being a professional wrestling World Champion.

Just when we believe that, Vince McMahon puts his foot down and reminds us: professional wrestlers are supposed to be larger than life. In a similar vein to anyone who is a fan of professional wrestling, Vince McMahon views his product and finds certain individuals, which he marks for. In the almost 25 years that McMahon has been in charge of WWE, he seems to have come to a conclusion that the in-ring product itself is not the determining factor in what makes a superstar.

It wasn't always like this however. Superstar Billy Graham, Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, and others can be credited with the current emphasis on the human body in professional wrestling.

Obviously current WWE superstars feel the pressure, as recently 10 men have been suspended for their association with Signature Pharmacy.

Following the death of Eddie Guerrero, WWE appeared to be taking their Wellness Policy much more seriously.

When Chris Masters arrived on the scene in the WWE, it appeared that the world would be handed to him on a silver platter. The Masterpiece was very reminiscent of Luger in his Narcissist character, and he appeared destined for superstardom based on his tremendous size and serviceable charisma. Masters may indeed have been the future of the business.

That is until the WWE exercised a new Wellness Policy, and Master's push vanished along with his muscles. Masters returned "leaner and meaner," but to folks at home he looked more like a "wiener." WWE had the option of restarting Masters right where he left off. Instead, they gave him a series of losses to Super Crazy. Master's career has been ill fated ever since, as mere technicalities with Ron Simmons and a soldier in Iraq are all that have kept any legitimacy to his "Masterlock Challenge."

Masters became a tool in the building of one of the men that Vince views as a real superstar, Bobby Lashley.

Why do you put anything over for two years to simply toss it aside with no feud, no payoff, nothing. Chris Masters' identity was lost as an accessory of a storyline he is not even involved in.

What does this say to Masters? Well, the answer is apparent, as "The Masterpiece" bulked back up rather quickly. How does this enforce wellness?

At Unforgiven, WWE continued down the path of hypocrisy. Now, I am not trying to insinuate that any of the winners at the most recent PPV are currently on the gas, but it is undeniable that John Cena and Batista are two wrestlers without a lot of technical ability and a whole lot of muscle.

Now the last time that WWE went through a steroid trial, the belt was immediately put on the technically sound, not-so-large Bret "Hitman" Hart. Who in the WWE thinks that Batista is a good figurehead in light of the current scrutiny?

The WWE has no shortage of athletic looking guys. Shelton Benjamin and Elijah Burke are two that uphold the legitimacy of what a pro wrestler should be without carrying an extra 50-100 pounds of unneeded muscle mass. What do they get for it? They get to be jobbers on their respective programs.

Burke got a chance to be a part of the Unforgiven Pay-Per-View, jerking the curtain along with "Straight Edge Superstar" CM Punk. In light of recent goings-on, you'd think these guys would really get a chance to shine. Instead, they are just an afterthought.

Now why aren't agility, technical skill, and charisma elevating these men to the same places that Batista's muscles have taken him? Why isn't a healthy athletic look celebrated, and the body builder look discouraged?

As Batista begins his third title run and Cena begins his second calendar year as WWE champion, it almost makes you wonder where the Ric Flair's and Bret Hart's have gone…

It seems today that only things that Vince cares about are the preservation of sports entertainment, the downplaying of wrestling in his product, and the creation of these beefed-up moneymaking megastars.

The WWE has the ability to do whatever they want at their leisure, until fans show them their decisions are incorrect by tuning out. All of us who disagree with the current product, regardless of the reason, are in Vince McMahon's back pocket.

We are the one's blogging, buying DVDs, and we will be watching "Raw" this Monday and purchasing Pay-Per-View's regardless. Vince is trying to appeal to the ones he hasn't already hooked, and he knows that first and foremost.

As a fan, I believe there is a place for the Undertaker's, John Cena's, Batista's, Big Show's, Hulk Hogan's, Ultimate Warrior's and other larger than life superstars. However, there is room for a great deal more. I am not calling for a drastic change. I would just like to see the wrestling put back into World Wrestling Entertainment.

I touched on WWE's reluctance to push guys who are not extremely large. I suggested how this sends the wrong message, and is a huge contributing factor as to why seemingly can't miss guys like Ken Kennedy, Umaga, John Morrison, King Booker, and others are sitting on the sidelines serving Wellness related suspensions.

Reader Rick Helley wrote in to suggest some other ways WWE could possibly improve the product while ensuring the safety and long-term health of their workers:

"The WWE could become a better alternative to its current incarnation if it banned chair shots, and other sorts of trauma, to the head. I remember Eddie Guerrero's final match, on SmackDown, when he took a wicked chair shot to the head from Mr. Kennedy. Although the cause of Eddie's death was ruled a heart attack, I cannot help but think that that nasty chair shot might have precipitated or hastened his demise.

And now, it's been learned that Chris Benoit, at 40, had brain damage comparable to an 85-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease. I know a great deal about Alzheimer's and dementia; and if Benoit did, in fact, suffer from dementia, then he was in a desperately bad mental condition. Every time I saw Benoit perform his flying head-butt off the top rope -- and plough head-first onto the mat in some cases -- I wondered what all that trauma must have been doing to his brain. And now we know -- as well as the horrible consequences.

I cringe every time I see chair shots and head bumps, and always have, long before the deaths of Guerrero and Benoit. I don't need to see such useless and risky nonsense in order to be entertained.

Some of the most exciting wrestling matches I ever saw were the televised National Wrestling Alliance matches from the San Francisco Cow Palace in the early 1970s, featuring such greats as Ray Stevens, Pat Patterson, Peter Maivia, Rocky Johnson, Pepper Gomez, and Stan Stasiak. These guys put on fantastic matches and exhibited pure professional wrestling skills superior to most of what I see today -- with nary a chair shot or a flying head-butt.

In the wake of the Chris Benoit tragedy, I hope that WWE will come to its senses, and ban chair shots and other moves that induce head trauma -- and tragedy afterwards. In that way, WWE will become a better and more entertaining alternative to itself -- and a safer alternative for its hard-working wrestlers. And maybe, when wrestlers pass away, their obituaries will indicate that they died in their 80s instead of their 30s and 40s."

Thanks for the feedback Rick. Here is a classic match from the 1970's, just for you:


More on This Story...

PWP Founder Tim Haught Hired By 411Mania.com

On September 1, 2006, I opened this blog with a scathing article that I felt needed to be written about Bret "Hitman" Hart. On September 8, 2007, one year and one week later, I received confirmation from Larry Csonka of 411mania.com that I am their newest staff member.



411mania is a pop-culture website covering movies, television, music, pro-wrestling, politics, sports, video games, MMA, and more. The site dates back to August of 1996 and is independently owned by founder Ashish Pabari.

The site houses a large online forum community with over 10,000 registered members. As of June 2006, 411mania claimed four million unique visitors and nearly 20 million impressions per month.

411mania started as 411wrestling slightly prior to the boom in pro-wrestling interest during the late 1990s. 411wrestling shifted their core focus in 2002 from pro-wrestling only, adding sections for video games and action figures. 411wrestling continued to expand out of the pro-wrestling area and by 2003 had established sections in movies, music, television, video games, action figures, comics, politics, and pro-wrestling. The site also re-launched in 2003 as 411mania.

Pro wrestling remains 411mania's main focus, followed by movies, games, and music.

Notable past readers include WWE wrestler Matt Hardy, who, in 2004, responded to a column by 'Asteroid Boy', in which the author claimed that Hardy's career had suffered due to his relationship with Lita. Writing on his site www.wwemattitude.com, Hardy denigrated Asteroid Boy's column. Hardy's response was removed within 24 hours by WWE. Hardy most recently praised a positive 411 article by Daniel Wilcox on his official MySpace page, in his blog entry titled "The QUEST to be the BEST begins now!"

411mania.com has been mentioned in several mainstream media outlets, including most recently in The Boston Globe, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune, and the Toronto Star.

Screenshots of 411mania.com's forums and news pages have been seen on CNN, most recently regarding the death of WWE wrestler, Chris Benoit, and his wife and son.

I want to assure all of our PWP readers and staff that this does not mean the end of Pro Wrestling Pundit. I still have big dreams for where I want to steer this vehicle.

I am honored to have an opportunity to be on the 411 staff, and I hope I can do the best for both audiences.

More on This Story...

Mr. Awesome... Awesome

If you read PWP, especially the Soup Du Jour, it is no secret how big of fans we are of Ken Kennedy. He, like Val Venis, has the total packaged. The difference is, WWE is actually using Kennedy to his potential. Wait, I take that back. Both are jobbing to Super Crazy. Anywho...

Ten days ago I wrote an article titled: Mainstream Media Misses the Mark. I did this mainly because I love alliteration. Baa-zing on the literary jokes!

Well, recently, PWP's resident hero stepped up to the plate again, and boy did he have a lot to say. Straight from Ken-Kennedy.com, here are his comments:

"Please GOD, I'm just BEGGING for someone who has actually wrestled in a WWE ring in the past decade besides Jericho, Bret Hart, John Cena, and Ted Dibiase to come forward on one of these shows and tell the world what's really going on. For these goofs, like Lanny Poffo? Ultimate Warrior? and Marc Mero???!! to repeatedly act as "experts" and "wrestler advocates" on the current situation is like having a frustrated ex-jock who rode the pine bench throughout his high school sports career give advice to Brett Favre on how to improve his game! It's ridiculous, insane, and it really makes me sick that these so called reporters like Bill O'Reilly, Nancy Grace, and Geraldo Rivera, call upon these silly bastards who are bitter and frustrated that their careers have ended to represent the WWE which of course makes all of us look like a bunch of babbling idiots who are all addicted to steroids, drugs, alcohol, etc.

THINGS ARE MUCH DIFFERENT THAN THEY WERE FIVE OR TEN OR TWENTY YEARS AGO! Most of the "expert", frustrated ex-wrestlers that they've had on the show came from an era where everyone wrestled every day and then went out and partied like rock stars until dawn, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, snorting cocaine, taking fistfuls of pills, and injecting massive amounts of steroids. They would take pills to go to sleep, snort coke or take speed to get up and do this day after day after day! This would not be even remotely tolerated in today's environment. We have a strict drug policy in place. The WWE's wellness program was designed and instituted by the same doctor who implemented the NFL and the NBA's substance abuse programs. Contrary to what somebody recently said on one of these "tabloid" shows the WWE's allowed levels are exactly the same as the NFL. (Someone, I can't recall exactly who said it, said that the WWE allowed a 10:1 Testosterone to Epitestosterone level, which is false. We have a 4:1 level exactly like the NFL and the NBA.) In fact, I knew of someone who took an over the counter supplement from GNC which he didn't know was on the banned list, which caused him to have an elevated testosterone level. This individual was suspended and fined because of it. We can't even take Ephedrine which is another legal supplement that can be bought at any gas station in the country. Since I've been with the company, I've seen the few people that did have problems with drugs either sent to rehab to try and help them overcome their addictions, (sent to one of the top rehab facilities in the country and paid for in full by the WWE) or be fired for repeat offenses. Look at the list of wrestlers who have prematurely passed away over the years, and most of them made the decision to live their lives this way. That's right, I said "made the decision" because we have this cool thing in the United States of America called "freedom of choice". I have the choice to quit my job if I don't like it, or if I feel that I'm on the road too much. I have the right to choose whether or not I want to break the law and use drugs. I have the right to choose between eating healthy food and exercising regularly and eating fast-food three times a day, not going to the gym, and becoming obese like a good majority of the citizens in this country. When will individuals be held accountable for their own actions? Will it ever happen, or will we always try and point the finger at someone else? Unfortunately as much as I respect the man, Superstar Billy Graham is ultimately responsible for the health problems he suffers from right now because of the choices he made in his career. I find it both sad and humorous that the man who many say is largely responsible for starting the whole "steroid craze" in pro-wrestling is now pointing the finger at the industry rather than blaming himself.

I, like everyone else in the company, have the luxury of being able to go home almost every week, play with my dog, hang out with my girlfriend, sleep in my own bed, and eat good home cooked food. This wasn't the case with these frustrated ex-wrestlers who are trying to grasp on to FIVE more minutes of fame and recognition.

I hear some of these guys talking about how the WWE doesn't have any type of benefits. I heard Johnny Grunge's widow on Nancy Grace saying that wrestling leaves you with nothing, and that two weeks after her husband was released from WCW that they lost their cars and their home. It apparently wasn't obvious to Nancy Grace, who is reportedly an extremely intelligent person, that they were obviously living outside of their means, and they weren't doing something that my parents taught me to do when I was a little kid……SAVE MONEY. This job pays well, but I know that it won't last forever. It's the same problem with pro athletes and actors in Hollywood who spend, spend, spend, like the money grows on trees and like it's always going to be there, and then falls flat on their faces when their careers are suddenly cut short. Who's fault? The team? The studio in Hollywood? I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy for people who don't save money and spend everything that they earn so they can impress everyone around them with all the NEAT THINGS that they own. As far as the having no health insurance thing goes, I've been seriously injured twice since I've been in the WWE. Every red cent has been paid for in full by the company, which is the case for any employee who is injured during a work or work-related event. Yes, I have my own supplemental insurance which is a bit expensive, but if WWE paid for it, I'm sure that, just like every other company in the country that offers health insurance to their employees, I would just be paid less, so it's a wash!

In the end, we are all responsible for our own actions. Saying that Vince McMahon is responsible for the deaths of the Benoit's is like saying that you and I are responsible for the deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and her son. The millions of people who tuned in every week to be entertained by "how funny" she was when she was all PILLED up and DRUNK, suddenly became the same people who acted SHOCKED and APALLED when she died of a drug overdose. Somebody, PLEASE, stop the insanity!!!!"

I dunno how you all feel about what you just read, but I think that it was totally awesome...

Awesome!!! More on This Story...

PWI Reporter's Notebook

Each week, Pro Wrestling Illustrated senior writer Brady Hicks provides his insights into the world of professional wrestling for you to study. He can be reached by e-mail at bradyhicks@gmail.com. ***

I still have an hour of Raw to watch, an hour of ECW to watch, and last week's entire SmackDown on tape waiting for me. And I really need to get those done before iMPACT tomorrow night, otherwise I'm going to be running out of room on my three VHS tapes. Thank god there's no more Wrestling Society X, right? No - I mean seriously.

Such is the lonely life of a PWI reporter.

It's still not as bad as back in the day when I had 16-1/2 hours to contend with between WWF, WCW, ECW, and local programming that took up hours on end. I mean, have you ever in your entire life HAD to sit through an entire three hour taping of Thunder just in the event that WCW might be planning something original, different, or - at the very least - worthy of writing about?

Didn't think so.

You wrestling fans today have it easy. You complain because you don't like John Cena (the most important champion since The Rock or Steve Austin). You complain because you don't like the particular creative direction that this week's watered down ECW show has taken or you aren't happy that Snitsky is now a monster or you don't even care if Batista learned a new move this week. And does it matter the slightest?

No.

Because Triple-H is no longer raping Katie Vick. Because we don't have to sit through two years of Sting dressing up like the Crow and doing nothing week after week only to come back and appear to conspire with Bret Hart to screw Hulk Hogan out of the title. You don't have the Bushwackers. You don't have preliminary wrestlers main eventing your Saturday Morning Superstars. You don't have Sean Mooney to bitch about.

I think you should all be kissing Vince McMahon's ass for keeping wrestling from returning to what it used to be. I'd take MVP any day of the week over Earthquake's Damian pancakes.

***

To the mailbag Batman:

Tim writes: WWE needs to protect this guy [Lashley] from the wrath of the smarks, cause he's on his way down Batista Boulevard to John Cena Drive.

Dear Tim: And would that be such a bad thing? I hope for Lashley's sake he is one-sixteenth as successful as John Cena or Batista. That would automatically make him more important than Chris Benoit. Wait a minute. He might be more important as we stand now! More on This Story...

Examining McMahon's Megastar Mentality

In a similar vein to anyone who is a fan of professional wrestling, Vince McMahon views his product and finds certain individuals, which he marks for.

In the almost 25 years that McMahon has been in charge of WWE, he seems to have come to a conclusion that the in-ring product itself is not the determining factor in what makes a superstar.

The main point for arguing his case would be the 1980's where Hulk Hogan, production values, and merchandising sent the World Wrestling Federation on a meteoric rise, integrating sports entertainment with pop-culture and the mainstream, while the NWA, their top competitor, always took a back seat despite having Ric Flair and a superior in-ring product.

Regardless of what method greater pads promoter's pocketbooks, wrestling fans today expect a mixture of both the glitz and glamour of sports entertainment and the art of professional wrestling. For the most part these two vastly different concepts exist in harmony in the unbelievable world of professional wrestling. However, it is inevitable that on occasion the two collide, and when they do, it's an all-out war.

Many fans cringed when Hulk Hogan made his way into the tradition-rich WCW and defeated Ric Flair in his first match. They can't argue however that Hogan's presence helped spawn the organization's most successful business period. That match occurred thirteen years ago, and today's fans have chosen new generals. For the sports entertainment faithful, that man is John Cena. For the fans of great wrestling, it has been Chris Benoit.

When the WWE made a decision to have “SmackDown!”'s United States Champion rendezvous on “Raw” for a night, they likely did not understand the implications of this match to fans. In Vince McMahon's eyes, John Cena is the megastar of the future. Benoit on the otherhand is an expendable superstar whose day in the sun was not as lucrative as McMahon would have liked.

In the creation and sustentation of a WWE "Megastar," there is no sacrifice too great.

Perhaps in one moment, "The Masterpeice" Chris Masters was thought of as a potential megastar based on his tremendous size and serviceable charisma. No matter to the fact that he was dangerous in the ring, breaking the nose of a great worker like Steven Richards with a double-axehandle blow. Masters may indeed have been the future of the business.

That is until the WWE exercised a new Wellness Policy, and Master's push vanished along with his muscles. Master's career has been ill fated ever since, as mere technicalities with Ron Simmons and a soldier in Iraq are all that have kept any legitimacy to his "Masterlock Challenge."

In recent weeks it seems that the WWE has had a change of opinion. Masters has rebuilt himself into the muscular juggernaut Vince adored in the first place. Suddenly, he is receiving plenty of TV time on the road to WrestleMania to reestablish the Masterlock. In past years men in the same position have gotten convincing wins at Mania and found themselves in main event title feuds by SummerSlam.

This was not to be for Masters however, as Masters himself was just a tool in the building of the man Vince truly views as the next WWE Megastar, Bobby Lashley. Despite being referred to as "my man" and "Lindsay", Lashley has certainly received a tremendous rub from his position in the McMahon/Trump feud. While his title and brand have been devalued, Lashley, himself, has not.

It just goes to show that the WWE has no problem in breaking continuity, giving weak payoffs to long-running storylines, or cutting the legs out from under a favorite (office or fan favorite) in order to establish the guy that they see dollar signs on.

In reference to the breaking of the Masterlock this past Monday Night on “Raw”, Why do you put anything over for two years to simply toss it aside with no feud, no payoff, nothing. Chris Masters' identity was lost as an accessory of a storyline he is not even involved in. Some view his loss as a positive new beginning and a chance to move on. Regardless of the popularity of the Masterlock Challenge, after being fed 5-10 minute segments weekly for two years, Masters and the WWE fans deserved more from it's inevitable "breaking".

Masters was not the only casuality left on the road to WrestleMania. The same night, WWE promoted a "Reversal of Fortunes" set of matches. When it was announced that John Cena would face one of Shawn Michaels former WrestleMania opponents, fans popped for the idea of Akeem, Pat Tanaka, The Barbarian, Haku, Tito Santana, or Tatanka returning to face the "Dr. of Thuganomics." Ok, maybe they didn't. In reality, the only legitimate option was Benoit.

Earlier in the night, Shawn Michaels had a verbal showdown with former Cena opponent, John "Justin Hawk Blackjack Bradshaw" Leyfield, or JJHBBL for short. JBL is an interesting superstar, as after years of languishing in the midcard, Leyfield was repackaged due to his vast knowledge of investments.

He committed some fantastic "smark sins" along the way to the WWE championship which include being pushed way too fast and taking the world title off of long time smark favorite Eddie Guerrero. A DVD release of the longest WWE title reign in ten years would not exactly be filled with a list of classic matches, either. Still, his ability to establish himself as an incredibly believable heel, despite his large stature, and his fantastic mic skills were enough to win many fans over to the side of JBL.

Some were disappointed when constant backpain and a lack of bladder control prevented JBL's return, despite the fact that he too would have only been an accessory of a bland Shawn Michaels/John Cena storyline.

Unfortunately for Benoit, there was nothing that would be able to save him from the same fate that the Tag Team titles have currently in the WWE title feud. Benoit, a former World Heavyweight Champion, current U.S. Champion, and darling to anyone that appreciates workrate and wrestling ability was about to become an accessory to the John Cena/Shawn Michaels storyline.

In the aftermath, smart fans are outraged. How did the man who represents everything they stand in opposition of defeat their hero with a submission move? Those with short memory spans may forget another essential battle in the war between sports entertainment vs. professional wrestling.

By the time Chris Benoit made his way to the WWE along with the Radicalz in 2000, he was a former WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a legit superstar. Benoit's rise was a bit surprising, as he is easily as vanilla a character as Lashley is currently. The fact that he was over is a testament not only to his wrestling ability, but the fans passion to watch great wrestling as well. Upon his arrival, the WWE already had two legitimate megastars, with others in the making.

The WWE is on one of it's hottest streaks at this time, and established tag teams are being jobbed out to Megastars in handicapped matches, the glass ceiling that men like Benoit, Jericho, and Guerrero left WCW over still seems to exist in the WWE, and often as the best workers in the company, they make the perfect accessories in storylines involving megastars.

One of these megastars was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Austin's place in the war of sports entertainment VS. professional wrestling is significant, as Austin's battles were internal. As "Stunning" Steve, Austin showed all the promise of the next hot commodity in the early 90's world of WCW.

With his long flowing locks, Austin's workrate was tremendous and he was consistently having fantastic matches. When Eric Bischoff felt he couldn't market a great wrestler in black tights and black boots, he famously fired an injured Austin via FedEx.

Upon his entrance into the WWE, Austin was named "The Ringmaster," an obvious allusion to his ability in the ring. However, as Austin's popularity soared, his in-ring offering decreased. This is not to say that he wasn't having great, classic matches. However, when Austin and McMahon noticed how a punch, kick, and stomp was receiving a greater reaction than a majority of moves in Austin's extensive arsenal, he began to use fewer and fewer of them. Eventually Austin's reputation as a brawler overtook his reputation as a fantastic wrestler.

Chris Benoit made his way through the ranks of the WWE, and an epic clash with Austin was inevitable. "The Rabid Wolverine" was riding the gimmick that he was the best wrestler in the world, and who could argue? During a confrontation, Benoit scoffed at Austin's reputation as a brawler, and the two were scheduled in a pure-wrestling match the next week on Monday Night “Raw”.

In events that unfolded similarly to this past Monday's match with John Cena, Benoit entered the ring with only a short amount of time left until “Raw” was off the air for the night. After a few short minutes, Austin booted Benoit square in the gut and dropped him with the Stone Cold Stunner for the three count. A bloated Jim Ross got up out of his chair and proclaimed that Austin had beaten Benoit with the Stone Cold Stunner, a wrestling move!

To a pure wrestling fan, the mere notion was a travesty. Austin had long forsaken wrestling in that regard. In a match that was gimmicked to give Benoit the advantage and could have positioned him as a serious main event heel, the WWE instead decided to bury both Benoit and the idea of "wrestling" in around five minutes.

Still, there is something special about Chris Benoit. Something that carried him through that defeat and will carry him through the one he suffered to John Cena. For whatever reason, no matter what the WWE does, they can't put Benoit under.

With rumors floating inconsistently that Benoit will not be resigning with the WWE and may either retire or take a final tour of duty in Orlando, the WWE has attempted to get as much out of him, while downplaying to fans the fact that he is truly a big time superstar. Whether because of age, size, charisma, or any other factor, it is apparent that the WWE does not view Chris Benoit in the same light as they view current WWE champion John Cena.

Now, with Benoit's submission loss to John Cena, the fastest growing professional wrestling site is abuzz with the concept that certain people should not tap out. Names mentioned include Benoit and Bret "Hitman" Hart. While both of these men are submission specialists, I would disagree with the latter, as Bret Hart's reputation is certainly not that of a tough guy. Just because he perfects his own submission moves is no relation to his resistance of them. Some complain that he tapped to a guy like Lex Luger. Regardless of his workrate, Lex Luger's torture rack would have been an established submission hold for at least 10 years by that point.

Benoit is a better fit for the persona of a guy who would never tap, but I disagree that any wrestler who's gimmick isn't that of a no-selling monster should be immune from a submission loss, no matter how good they are at applying submission moves themselves. WWE fans are willing to have a sense of disbelief more often than not.

However, if you ever wrestle around with your buddies and neither guy wants to lose, it's relatively impossible to hold their shoulders down for three seconds. Making them quit to a painful submission move is a far more realistic finish, as either they are protecting themselves to fight another day, or the pain is just too excruciating and there is truly no way out of the hold.

Ever since Steve Austin passed out in the Sharpshooter at WrestleMania 13 there has always been a stigma to tapping out. Triple H waited what seemed like an eternity before finally tapping out at WrestleMania XX to Benoit. Kanyon questioned whether or not he took any heat for it, and he most certainly did by receiving "you tapped out" chants in the aftermath, but as Kanyon presumed, those chants were short lived.

Since that time, it appears that the WWE has tried to again legitimize the use of submission moves through guys like Benoit and Kurt Angle, because of the popularity of mixed martial arts.

An aside on Kanyon being the innovator of tapping, while I will not dispute that he was the first wrestler to lose a decision because of tapping out, I will say that that finish had to have been very confusing to wrestling fans at the time. With MMA fighting still largely flying under the mainstream radar, professional wrestlers had been tapping out for years. They weren't using it as an indication of submission, but rather a vehicle to sell how painful the moves were.

Pop in a DVD and you will see many superstars tapping out to Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Sting, Rick Martel, and any other star of that era who had a submission finisher in which their opponent laid on the mat. This could be very confusing to a newer fan watching classic wrestling matches. I think I actually witnessed that Kanyon match and had no idea what the hell was going on based on my wrestling fan conditioning at the time.

I am not sure that Benoit tapping to a main-event-level star is necessarily worth a great storyline and a pay per view match, although it undoubtedly couldn't hurt. The reason I say this is that Benoit tapping is not something that has been protected for the duration of his WWE run.

I believe The Rock, Brock Lesnar, and Kurt Angle have made Benoit tap. One or two might have even made him tap to the crossface. Still, Benoit tapping is at least deserving of a great lengthy match, as Benoit's gritty persona screams that he would never give up until he is either exhausted or finds no other alternative.

One booking suggestion was involving MVP in the decision, as he is Benoit's U.S. title opponent at WrestleMania 23. Of course, this brings us back to the Megastar VS. Superstar concept, as this match was not ever supposed to be about Benoit or the US title in the eyes of WWE.

It was to be used as a vehicle for further legitimizing John Cena, in the same vein as the other major stars who have made Benoit tap in the past. However, here is an alternate booking idea. With the drama on commentary not being centered around the match at all, and rather being centered around when Michaels is going to deliver "Sweet Chin Music" to Cena, why not incorporate Michaels into the match rather than waiting until the match is over for his involvement.

Michaels levels Benoit and we are left to wonder who the kick was intended for in the first place. This seems to me a much better way to save face for Benoit and advance the storyline.

The main thing wrong with the way it played out is that it does nothing for either story. He also brings up a valid point about the STFU.

The STF is nothing to mess with, and is a reputable hold that has brought Masahiro Chono many victories, and Erik Watts significantly less victories. Cena's quick execution of the hold provides a great pop from the crowd, but the crossface he applies is pathetic, and it's amazing to me that the WWE agents would let any major star tap out to it, until they make Cena look more convincing while applying it.

Vince McMahon and the WWE don't take any consideration for these things, because the only things that Vince cares about is the preservation of sports entertainment, the downplaying of wrestling in his product, and the creation of money-making megastars.

As someone who often comes to the defense of John Cena in the face of constant bashing online, I must admit that even I cringed when the decision of the Cena/Benoit match was a submission victory. It's easy to understand the intent of the WWE, wanting to add dimension to their current "golden boy."

No doubt, having a superstar like Benoit tap out would legitimize the STFU, however, in this case the backlash is greater than the result. That is because the WWE didn't give Cena and Benoit enough time to build a match in which that scenario was believable.

This is all just another win for the WWE and sports entertainment in their campaign to bury traditional professional wrestling. In addition, it is a evidence of the company's indifference to the undercard. Fans like us have been complaining about this ever since Al Gore invented the internet. The WWE has the ability to do whatever they want at their leisure, until fans show them their decisions are incorrect by tuning out. All of us who disagreed with last Monday's finish, regardless of the reason, are in Vince McMahon's back pocket.

We are the one's blogging, buying DVDs, and we will be watching “Raw” this Monday and purchasing Wrestlemania regardless. Vince is trying to appeal to the ones he hasn't already hooked, and he knows that first and foremost. How he accomplishes that by putting Lance Storm in the ring week after week and having Steve Austin come out and tell the fans it's boring, I'll never understand.

A testament however to the legacy of the business and guys like Chris Benoit is, even new fans being assimilated by the current anti-wrestling, pro-sports entertainment product tend to form a respect and appreciation of great wrestling matches. That fact will always protect a hard worker who gives 100% and lays everything out on the line every single night, regardless of how crappy the booking is.

No matter what Vince McMahon does, no matter what he thinks, no matter who he pushes, and no matter what he books, there are some megastars he has had no say in the creation of, and some guys he can never bury.

More on This Story...

From the Vault: Tag Team Wrestling on Life Support

8/16/06: It's great that WWE is convincing some that they are taking interest in reestablishing tag teams, but they haven't convinced me...

Case in point? The Bashams...

The Bashams were a sweet team, brought in, given the tag gold, then dropped into obscurity. Soon perhaps they will reappear in ECW...

Case in point? La Resistance...

Two different pairs, Rene Dupree and Sylvan Grenier, and Sylvan and Rob Conway, broken up so that the talent can pursue singles aspirations.

I guess once you reach the tag belts, there isn't much more to accomplish as a team...

But the problem is, teams get the tag belts almost immediately upon their formation. There is no chase...

Murdoch and Cade won them almost immediately, then after they lost them were split up. WWE.com did a cool little article about how they realized they were the most successful together when they were paired again, but the initial idea was to push Murdoch towards the IC title.

WWE is very short sighted when it comes to tag teams, which is ridiculous, because they have had plenty of workers who could use the seasoning that tag wrestling for a while would have given.

Gunner Scott and Chris Benoit could have had a long tag title reign. Now Scott is off the main roster. That time with Benoit in tag matches would have given him time to become something.

Bret Hart was on the verge of getting released before he and the Anvil teamed up. How far would Shawn have gone if brought in as a singles wrestler... Probably not very. He needed the time and experience of being a tag wrestler to prepare him. He also needed the heat generated when the team broke up.

Snitsky and Tomko could have been a new team in the vein of the Powers of Pain or Skyscrapers. Now Tomko is gone and Snitsky is with Val Venis. How does that make sense?

Viscera and Charlie Haas? Why, cause Charlie knocked Lillian off the mat?

And still, I prefer these makeshift teams to makeshift star teams. They are trying to find something for these guys to do.

That's much better than Rey & RVD, RVD & Booker, Edge & Benoit, or whoever else winning the tag belts. Only one thing bothers me more than two singles wrestlers coming together to embarass established tag teams.

One single wrestler embarassing established tag teams. The Rock defeating both Dudleyz in a Tables Match?

That type of stuff happens often in the WWE. Had Kane and Big Show stayed together, their dominance would have been a good chance to breed some teams without the belts having to be in the picture. Right now, every time a new team is introduced, they go straight for the champs. They either win them, lose them, and break up, or they lose and dissapear.

The belts are never featured. They don't Main Event free tv, and they seldom make PPV. Despite two real feuds for tag belts, neither one will be decided at Summerslam.

And now they are talking about breaking up the Spirit Squad...

Imagine if the WWE had broken up the New Age Outlaws after their first title reign... After all, they were just two crap guys thrown together. They caught lightning in a bottle once, and if they don't see the same flare, they immediately split the team up and look to do something else.

The WWE is looking for Attitude Vol. 2. This is why John Cena becomes more like Steve Austin, every other babyface champ becomes The Rock, and Tag Teams can't last.

A lot of people shit on the New Legion of Doom, but hell, it got Animal a payday and got Heidenreich something to do that was over. They released Heidenreich and repackaged Animal as the gay biker from the Village People. They could have had a real tag team for KC James and Idol Stevens to go over en route to London and Kendrick.

It's not impressive to dominate the tag division, because every new team that appears does. When there is a tag team feud, all other teams are off TV, much like the Women's and Cruiserweight Divisions.

I thought the reason for breaking up the Mexicools was to move Super Crazy to ECW. I was wrong. There was no reason. So what the hell are the two of them doing? Absolutely nothing.

When writers need filler for their shows, they break up a tag team. However, these tag teams aren't well enough established that their feuds even make a PPV. How did they blow off the Mexicools break up? It certainly wasn't on PPV. It wasn't even an extended feud on TV.

I am certainly not convinced that introducing tag teams renews a commitment to tag team wrestling. If tag team wresting is alive anywhere, it's on TNA.

WWE has so many developmental guys that would benefit from starting in a tag team. They have so many guys with absolutely nothing to do that could be put together in a way that makes sense.

However the only real tag team feud in years has been McMahons vs. DX, neither of which will still be together by this time next year.

WWE is like MTV. Despite what you want to see, they can get over what they want to get over. WWE does not want to get tag team wrestling over. More on This Story...

How Hard Has Bret Screwed Bret?

Pro Wrestling Pundit is officially launched, and we begin with a topic that is sure to turn a lot of heads.

Some fans would ask, "how can you criticize one of the greatest champions of the 1990's?" I would respond, "how can you not?"

Bret Hart was close to being released when he was lucky enough to be paired with Jim Neidhardt and Jimmy Hart to form the Hart Foundation. They had a successful run as a team that lasted many years, and were one of my favorite childhood tag teams.

Then they split up, and Bret came seemingly out of nowhere to defeat Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental title at Summerslam. So far so good...

When the steroid trial reared it's ugly head, Bret was in position to change the face of the stereotypical WWE champion. This ushered in a new WWE era.

I will give Bret his due. Bret's successful title run paved the way for the actual WWE wrestling product to get better over the years, and set the stage for many smaller wrestlers to have success. Without Bret carrying the ball, would we have had Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit title runs? It's debatable.
We can look back at Bret Hart leading the charge for the "New Generation" and we see a time where WWE business wasn't very impressive. While Bret wasn't offensive as champion, he certainly didn't put the butts in the seats that Hogan did before him and Austin did after...

For me personally, becoming a fan when the Megapowers were sitting on top of the wrestling world, it was hard to support Bret Hart as a World Heavyweight Champion. His defeat of Ric Flair meant no title rematch for Randy Savage. His first title reign would be ended to put the belt back around Hogan's waist, but by the time he had his second reign, it was more than apparant that Hulkamania was either dead or certainly on a long hiatus.

I learned to live with Bret Hart as a World Champion. While I never cared particularly about the stories between Bret and Owen, Hakushi, or Bob Backlund, I knew Bret Hart could produce a great match. I point to his match with the British Bulldog at In Your House as a shining example of what Bret could do in the ring when he had the belt. That match is vastly underated, as most people tend to remember their 1992 Summerslam encounter.

Outside of the ring, I didn't feel like Bret delivered. As a babyface champion, he was boring. I didn't feel that he was the best there is, best there was, or the best their ever would be, and resented him for making the claim.

The WWE groomed Shawn Michaels as a successor to the Hitman. Bret was never happy with the way he was portrayed in the buildup to Wrestlemania, and he wasn't going to be happy with Shawn Michaels from that point on. We all know how that story ends up...

But it wasn't all Montreal Screwjobs. There was a time when the legitimate backstage tension between Bret and Shawn was good for the business, especially while the WWE accidentally found their new savior in a foul mouthed s.o.b. by the name of Steve Austin.

Bret had lost touch with the fans who were tired of his lame babyface schtick. It was time for a change. Bret joined with Owen, The Anvil, The Bulldog, and "Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman to form the NEW Hart Foundation, and while WCW was still dominating the ratings war, the Foundation's feuds were rebuilding interest in RAW. Eventually it would give birth to Austin vs. McMahon and Degeneration X, and the ball would be back in Vince's court.

Before that however, Bret's relationship with the WWE would self-destruct. Bret Hart was sitting on top of the WWE as the World Champion. However, his large contract was too much for Vince to handle, and Bret wasn't happy anyways. Bret wanted a change of scenery. It was time for him to move on.

The Survivor Series came from Canada that year, where Bret was still a crowd favorite. He wasn't comfortable with dropping the title to Shawn Michaels in his home country. We all know the story, as the WWE has revisited numerous times since.

Vince defended his actions by breaking kayfabe on Raw and essentially explaining how the business works. When you are a champion, and you are leaving a promotion, you do the right thing and lose the title. Hell, when you aren't a champion, and you are leaving a promotion, you lose a few matches. They weren't in Calgary, they were in Canada. That's like Hogan saying that he can't lose a match in the United States (which I guess arguably you could say he's pretty much stuck to over the past 20 plus years).

When Vince decided to take the title off Bret, he was doing what was best for himself and his employees. Had Vince let Bret leave as the WWE World Champion, and had a tournament or battle royal for a vacant title while Bret appeared on WCW TV as the man who never lost the title, I guarantee that WWE would not be the promotion left standing today, and regardless of what you think about the current WWE product, wrestling as a whole would be worse off. Could you imagine a WCW product in 2006 with no competition for ratings? I think we can all safely presume that it would be absolutely horrid.

Bret should have done business, point blank. A loss to Michaels in Canada would have done a lot less damage to the Hitman than the aftermath of the Montreal Screwjob did.

Bret Hart has essentially spent the past 9 years publicly crying about what happened at that Survivor Series. His chance to redeem himself in World Championship Wrestling is largely a flop, as he doesn't truly have a memorable match until after Owen Hart dies, and he meets Benoit at the Kemper Arena in a tribute match. WCW does nothing for Bret Hart, and Bret Hart does nothing for WCW.

As much as I criticize Bret, I don't do it without sympathy. In the time between the Montreal Screwjob and right now, both of his parents have passed, his brother died in a very public accident, his brother in law dies as well, his marriage falls apart, his family begins fighting amongst itself, and then Goldberg mule kicks Bret's head off, effectively ending Bret's career. If that's not enough, Bret then has a stroke.

It's impossible to not have compassion for Bret Hart, however it's hard to grant as much compassion as Bret consistently asks for. I mean essentially, everything mentioned in the last paragraph is something that Vince has blamed on Vince McMahon.

Bret Hart's story is tragic, as he has gone from the excellence of execution to a very cynical shell of his former self. Bret has made no apologies for constantly chastizing everything WWE related in his Calgary Sun column since his retirement.

He has attached the in ring work of Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels, two of the greatest in ring performers of all time, and two men who Bret himself has had some of his greatest matches with. He criticizes that their matches are all the same.

However it is Bret himself who is responsible for the popularization of the term, "five moves of doom." Watch the Bret Hart DVD and look for matches that don't reach their climax with a vertical suplex, Russian legsweep, backbreaker, elbowdrop from the second rope, and the Sharpshooter.

Then watch the extras on the DVD, and find out how Bret even learned the Sharpshooter. Made it up in the Dungeon? No. The so called "Excellence of Excecution" had to have Konnan (as Max Moon) teach him the sharpshooter. I was hooking the Scorpion Deathlock when I was 5 years old, and it was damn effective too. I made a lot of little kids tap.

If anything is more important to Bret than his pride, it's his legacy. The Bret Hart DVD only exists because Bret was willing to put his pride aside if it meant he could have control over his DVD.

Bret becomes wrestling's greatest hypocrite as he poses shaking hands with Vince McMahon, who he has publicly chastized for tearing apart his life and his family, so that he can reestablish to fans that he was important to the business.

Bret, no one ever disputed that you were important to the wrestling business. We all know that you mattered. You contributed some fantastic things. You created a legacy for yourself.

However, your continuing campaign to prove to fans that you were one of the greatest of all time is doing much more to tarnish your legacy than it is to build it. Bret was ok with appearing on TV for Vince McMahon so long as it placed him into the WWE Hall of Fame. He flat out stated that he would walk out if Shawn Michaels attended, and he refused to appear on the stage at Wrestlemania, which is the part of the induction especially for the fans to give their appreciation, but Bret did indeed cement his place in wrestling history.

Shortly afterward, he was inducted into an alternate Hall of Fame, and made sure to still get in a shot at Vince and the WWE Hall of Fame.

Everytime Bret Hart makes a veiled comment like that the WWE Hall of Fame means nothing, I don't picture Bret Hart standing on the second rope holding his title belt. I picture Bret Hart standing around the ring, breaking monitors.

Day by day, Bret Hart does more and more to make that image resound in my head at the mention of his name.

Recently Bret said he wouldn't mind appearing on WWE TV to unveil that the whole Montreal situation was a work, but he can't because of his stroke. If it was a work, it certainly didn't work out as Bret had planned, and he's done more than enough to let us know ever since 1997.

The wrestling community as a whole is more than over what happened at the 1997 Survivor Series. Shawn and Vince may not be, but at least when they relive it, they do it in the name of entertainment. Bret Hart relives that night as a spiteful old man, and I've yet to see anything positive come of it.

Bret carries the weight of everything that happened at that Survivor Series everyday with him. Due to his attitude and his column, the event is almost more identifiable with him than his in-ring work. Bret has indeed screwed Bret, and even if he doesn't have to accept fault for what happened that night, he does have to accept fault for the change in public opinion since his retirement.

It's time, Bret, to forgive and forget. It is time to fade from the limelight and let your past actions define how you will be remembered...

Golden Talent or Tarnished Legacy? Wrestling Legend or Wrestling Tragedy?

Only time will tell... More on This Story...