The Heel Champion Over the Face: Why Heel’s Should Be on Top Longer
“The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, “Superstar” Billy Graham, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Yokozuna, Triple H, Vader, “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan, and Chris Jericho. What do all these former World Champions have in common? As heels, they had longer title reigns than they had a faces, and longer than the faces around the time they were World Champions.
Why would the wrestling companies have longer reigns with their World title with a heel than a face? In my opinion, to bring in fans to buy tickets, to watch the program on television, and order the pay-per-views. I say that because when we have the face defeat the heel for the World title, the fans would be happy, and we can throw more heels at him to build another big heel to challenge him and win the title.
Look at Ric Flair when he was the NWA/WCW World Heavyweight Champion in his prime. Flair had the title most the most part during his reigns as champ. He was able to go from territory to territory and face the top babyface and make them look even better than they normally look for the World Heavyweight Championship, win by skinning the cat, and go to the next territory and defend the championship another night. I’ve heard interviews done about heel champions don’t work, but Ric Flair worked as World Heavyweight Champion Heel, he is considered to be the greatest World Heavyweight Champion in pro wrestling history.
Let’s look more modern World Champs, let’s look to after the draft in the WWE, and let’s look at John “Bradshaw” Layfield. I’ll put it out there; he isn’t as good in the ring as Ric Flair. Heck, at JBL’s prime, wrestling ability, he’s nowhere close to Flair on Flair’s bad day. But JBL is what the WWE needed in 2004. JBL won the WWE Championship at the Great American Bash in 2004 after defeating Eddie Guerrero in a Texas Bullrope Match, where we seen JBL sweet gallons and bleed buckets. JBL can talk people to the arena and talk them to put their butts in seats. JBL didn’t have to wrestle great like Ric Flair, JBL had to brawl, had to use his power moves, his “Last Call” fall-away slam, and his Clothesline From Hell to take his opponents. JBL was the longest reigning World Champion in Smackdown history, since the show’s been around in the past ten years. To me, that’s a great World Champion.
I know there’s other great heel World Champs, like Graham, Savage, Hogan, to name a few, that I didn’t mention, but if you look at then they were faces and World Champs, their title runs were a lot shorter than their heel runs. And when you look at their heel runs, their title runs were longer than the face title runs around theirs. As a conclusion, Heel World Heavyweight Champions are smart for the business, for the title history, for the fans, and for the babyfaces. To quote the greatest World Heavyweight Champion in pro wrestling history… “To be the man, you have to beat the man!”
Monday, June 29, 2009
McMahon Becomes Raw, Once Again: Bought Monday Nights Back From Trump
McMahon Becomes Raw, Once Again: Bought Monday Nights Back From Trump
For my second article for CamelClutchBlog.com last week, I wrote about how I was excited on Donald Trump buying out Monday Nights from Vince McMahon. Well, it only lasted seven days. Storyline wise.
When McMahon offered to Trump Monday to buy back Raw “twice for what he sold it for.” Personally, I wished they would drug this storyline out longer, with McMahon trying to “find Trump’s price” on buying back Raw (sounds a little like the storyline they had for the “Million Dollar Man,” eh?). Trump last night did mention WrestleMania XXVI. I would of enjoyed seeing him around until then, but I think the storyline would of went south way before then. I would have enjoyed seeing a feud between McMahon and Trump…
Here’s what I would have done with this feud. Trump having full control of Monday Night Raw, McMahon being angry about it, bringing in Paul Heyman to run ECW every Tuesday night’s on the SciFi network, and McMahon running Friday Night Smackdown. With Heyman running ECW for McMahon, the two shows would help each other out, having superstars from both Tuesday and Friday nights going back and forth. Come SummerSlam, McMahon/Heyman try to out shine Trump with whose SummerSlam main event is hotter. Trump would get the last laugh that night, enraging McMahon. The feud would last to Survivor Series, were Trump’s Monday Night Raw team would eventually be defeated by McMahon’s team of ECW guys and Smackdown guys, which would signal that Trump would have to sell Monday Night’s back to McMahon.
That’s what I would have loved to watch. Bring back the “competition” that the wrestling business needs badly, which is why I got excited last week after the news. I was hoping that McMahon would have brought this storyline out through the summer, at least, to help bring in more ratings. But that didn’t happen. It was nice, though, having him in even for a night, for him being “the reason” by Raw went commercial free this week.
And I was happy to see to see Trump on Raw, where one segment McMahon was being booed out of the arena for him being his typical “Mr. McMahon” character and the next segment with Randy Orton, McMahon was cheered, all within about three minutes.
At least with this storyline of Trump “buying out” Monday Nights, it gives us something to talk about, and history for us to scratch our heads and wonder, wonder why McMahon even let this storyline go.
For my second article for CamelClutchBlog.com last week, I wrote about how I was excited on Donald Trump buying out Monday Nights from Vince McMahon. Well, it only lasted seven days. Storyline wise.
When McMahon offered to Trump Monday to buy back Raw “twice for what he sold it for.” Personally, I wished they would drug this storyline out longer, with McMahon trying to “find Trump’s price” on buying back Raw (sounds a little like the storyline they had for the “Million Dollar Man,” eh?). Trump last night did mention WrestleMania XXVI. I would of enjoyed seeing him around until then, but I think the storyline would of went south way before then. I would have enjoyed seeing a feud between McMahon and Trump…
Here’s what I would have done with this feud. Trump having full control of Monday Night Raw, McMahon being angry about it, bringing in Paul Heyman to run ECW every Tuesday night’s on the SciFi network, and McMahon running Friday Night Smackdown. With Heyman running ECW for McMahon, the two shows would help each other out, having superstars from both Tuesday and Friday nights going back and forth. Come SummerSlam, McMahon/Heyman try to out shine Trump with whose SummerSlam main event is hotter. Trump would get the last laugh that night, enraging McMahon. The feud would last to Survivor Series, were Trump’s Monday Night Raw team would eventually be defeated by McMahon’s team of ECW guys and Smackdown guys, which would signal that Trump would have to sell Monday Night’s back to McMahon.
That’s what I would have loved to watch. Bring back the “competition” that the wrestling business needs badly, which is why I got excited last week after the news. I was hoping that McMahon would have brought this storyline out through the summer, at least, to help bring in more ratings. But that didn’t happen. It was nice, though, having him in even for a night, for him being “the reason” by Raw went commercial free this week.
And I was happy to see to see Trump on Raw, where one segment McMahon was being booed out of the arena for him being his typical “Mr. McMahon” character and the next segment with Randy Orton, McMahon was cheered, all within about three minutes.
At least with this storyline of Trump “buying out” Monday Nights, it gives us something to talk about, and history for us to scratch our heads and wonder, wonder why McMahon even let this storyline go.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Intercontinental Championship: Who’s the Greatest in History?
The Intercontinental Championship: Who’s the Greatest in History?
What are your thoughts when you hear and think of the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship? Do you think of such great matches like Steamboat/Savage/WrestleMania III or the Michaels/Ramon/Ladder Match at WrestleMania X? Or do you think of such great wrestlers that held it like Ricky Steamboat, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “the Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Jeff Jarrett, Randy Orton, Santino Marrella, or even Chris Jericho? I do hope that when you guys hear and think of the Intercontinental Championship, you do think of when the title did mean something in the business, like it did prior to 2000ish and, in my opinion, in the past couple of years.
The reason why I believe the Intercontinental Title didn’t mean anything more a good part of the 2000’s is because I couldn’t think of any matches for the IC title that stood out like recently or even from the 90’s. In my honest opinion, I don’t think anyone (or any match for that matter) could outdo the Intercontinental Title match from WrestleMania X.
The match at WrestleMania X in 1994 put Shawn Michaels, part challenger, part guy who never lost the title before he got suspended in ’93, against Razor Ramon, part champion, well, most champion, but never beating Michaels for the title. So when Michaels came back on television after his suspension, he came back with the title he originally had when he was the champ. With this tension, and WrestleMania around the corner, add a steel ladder, you had a great match waiting to happen.
I watched this match last night just to relive that match. I remember renting the VHS tape from the video store when I was younger, gee, must have been 1995ish to, gee, must to about 2000ish when I moved, then when the WrestleMania Anthology came out, I had to get it on DVD and relive that match. I pull out that ppv and match everyone couple months. That had to be the greatest IC title match, ever… Or should I say eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever!
Enter Chris Jericho, the record setting nine-time Intercontinental Championship, winning his seventh (at that time, record setting) in September 2004 at Unforgiven against Christian, get this, in a Ladder match. Jericho won his eighth Intercontinental Championship (breaking his seventh title reign) on Raw in March 2008 against Jeff Hardy, then his ninth against Rey Mysterio at Extreme Rules in a No Holds Barred match. It’s giving the title to guys, like Jericho, a former World Champ, or guys who will be future World champs.
To me, that’s why the IC title sucked in the 2000’s, it changed hands way too many times for a good champion to come in and hold it, or even good match or two to come in and steal the show.
That’s why I believe Jericho is the greatest Intercontinental Champion. He’s a former five-time World Champion, he doesn’t need to be put in the mid-card matches, but he’s there. He can help make the new faces of the business with being the Intercontinental Champion. And whoever tries to break his record, closest has to win it four times to even come to pass Jericho’s record by one. And we all know if Jericho catches wind of this, he’ll win the title a couple of more times, just to stay on top.
What are your thoughts when you hear and think of the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship? Do you think of such great matches like Steamboat/Savage/WrestleMania III or the Michaels/Ramon/Ladder Match at WrestleMania X? Or do you think of such great wrestlers that held it like Ricky Steamboat, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “the Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Jeff Jarrett, Randy Orton, Santino Marrella, or even Chris Jericho? I do hope that when you guys hear and think of the Intercontinental Championship, you do think of when the title did mean something in the business, like it did prior to 2000ish and, in my opinion, in the past couple of years.
The reason why I believe the Intercontinental Title didn’t mean anything more a good part of the 2000’s is because I couldn’t think of any matches for the IC title that stood out like recently or even from the 90’s. In my honest opinion, I don’t think anyone (or any match for that matter) could outdo the Intercontinental Title match from WrestleMania X.
The match at WrestleMania X in 1994 put Shawn Michaels, part challenger, part guy who never lost the title before he got suspended in ’93, against Razor Ramon, part champion, well, most champion, but never beating Michaels for the title. So when Michaels came back on television after his suspension, he came back with the title he originally had when he was the champ. With this tension, and WrestleMania around the corner, add a steel ladder, you had a great match waiting to happen.
I watched this match last night just to relive that match. I remember renting the VHS tape from the video store when I was younger, gee, must have been 1995ish to, gee, must to about 2000ish when I moved, then when the WrestleMania Anthology came out, I had to get it on DVD and relive that match. I pull out that ppv and match everyone couple months. That had to be the greatest IC title match, ever… Or should I say eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever!
Enter Chris Jericho, the record setting nine-time Intercontinental Championship, winning his seventh (at that time, record setting) in September 2004 at Unforgiven against Christian, get this, in a Ladder match. Jericho won his eighth Intercontinental Championship (breaking his seventh title reign) on Raw in March 2008 against Jeff Hardy, then his ninth against Rey Mysterio at Extreme Rules in a No Holds Barred match. It’s giving the title to guys, like Jericho, a former World Champ, or guys who will be future World champs.
To me, that’s why the IC title sucked in the 2000’s, it changed hands way too many times for a good champion to come in and hold it, or even good match or two to come in and steal the show.
That’s why I believe Jericho is the greatest Intercontinental Champion. He’s a former five-time World Champion, he doesn’t need to be put in the mid-card matches, but he’s there. He can help make the new faces of the business with being the Intercontinental Champion. And whoever tries to break his record, closest has to win it four times to even come to pass Jericho’s record by one. And we all know if Jericho catches wind of this, he’ll win the title a couple of more times, just to stay on top.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Anyone Needs a Job? Monday Night’s Alright For Managing!
Anyone Needs a Job? Monday Night’s Alright For Managing!
With Vicki Guerrero out as Raw’s General Manager, we all can speculate on who could possibly be the new GM every Monday Night at 8pm Central. Some of the great General Managers came through the television screen every Monday Night, like William Regal (maybe), the Coach (sure), Eric Bischoff (Uncle Eric!), and Mike Adamle (really?). This past week on Raw, Vicki Guerrero quit from her position as General Manager and this coming week on Raw, the three hour special “3-on-1” Raw, WWE hopefully will announce a new General Manager. Raw this week will be from Charlotte, North Carolina, and after thinking of couple of possibilities, here are the options I think I would enjoy seeing as the new General Manager of Raw.
John “Bradshaw” Layfield
Last time we say this New York planted Texan; it was his retirement match at WrestleMania XXV when he lost the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship to Rey Mysterio in a 21-second match. We know that JBL can talk the talk and make the crowd mad, as well as take the sides of the heels and make the faces work for their position, I really couldn’t think of anyone who would fit the role better with a fresh face on the screen. And with JBL as the new Raw General Manger, that could boost up ratings every Monday night, hopefully.
Hulk Hogan
For one, he needs the money; why else would he do it for? And everyone loves the Hulkster, and each and every decision he would make, the crowd will pop for. Now giving it more thought, Hogan could take too much from everyone on the crowd and probably become the center of Raw and the only reason people watch Raw, which would be sad. But come on, Hogan as the Raw GM, that would be kind of cool to see.
Eric Bischoff
Why not bring back the first and longest Raw General Manager back? Bischoff is known for helping ratings, which Raw has been lacking since the draft eight days after WrestleMania this year. Raw could really benefit from Bischoff coming back and becoming the General Manger once again… It would really be fitting hearing “I’m Back” playing on the speakers.
Ric Flair
He needs the money. He cannot say away from the squared circle. With this on-air role, he “can” put himself if matches whenever he wants to. Flair also loves the business, so this gives him the opportunity for so. Flair also has a history with the top guys on Raw right now. Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista were all in Evolution with Flair several years ago. Personally, I would really enjoy seeing Flair as the new Raw General Manager. And if Wikipedia is correct, Ric Flair already signed a deal with WWE to be the Raw General Manager, and we know Wikipedia isn’t always credible. We have to wait and see.
With Vicki Guerrero out as Raw’s General Manager, we all can speculate on who could possibly be the new GM every Monday Night at 8pm Central. Some of the great General Managers came through the television screen every Monday Night, like William Regal (maybe), the Coach (sure), Eric Bischoff (Uncle Eric!), and Mike Adamle (really?). This past week on Raw, Vicki Guerrero quit from her position as General Manager and this coming week on Raw, the three hour special “3-on-1” Raw, WWE hopefully will announce a new General Manager. Raw this week will be from Charlotte, North Carolina, and after thinking of couple of possibilities, here are the options I think I would enjoy seeing as the new General Manager of Raw.
John “Bradshaw” Layfield
Last time we say this New York planted Texan; it was his retirement match at WrestleMania XXV when he lost the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship to Rey Mysterio in a 21-second match. We know that JBL can talk the talk and make the crowd mad, as well as take the sides of the heels and make the faces work for their position, I really couldn’t think of anyone who would fit the role better with a fresh face on the screen. And with JBL as the new Raw General Manger, that could boost up ratings every Monday night, hopefully.
Hulk Hogan
For one, he needs the money; why else would he do it for? And everyone loves the Hulkster, and each and every decision he would make, the crowd will pop for. Now giving it more thought, Hogan could take too much from everyone on the crowd and probably become the center of Raw and the only reason people watch Raw, which would be sad. But come on, Hogan as the Raw GM, that would be kind of cool to see.
Eric Bischoff
Why not bring back the first and longest Raw General Manager back? Bischoff is known for helping ratings, which Raw has been lacking since the draft eight days after WrestleMania this year. Raw could really benefit from Bischoff coming back and becoming the General Manger once again… It would really be fitting hearing “I’m Back” playing on the speakers.
Ric Flair
He needs the money. He cannot say away from the squared circle. With this on-air role, he “can” put himself if matches whenever he wants to. Flair also loves the business, so this gives him the opportunity for so. Flair also has a history with the top guys on Raw right now. Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista were all in Evolution with Flair several years ago. Personally, I would really enjoy seeing Flair as the new Raw General Manager. And if Wikipedia is correct, Ric Flair already signed a deal with WWE to be the Raw General Manager, and we know Wikipedia isn’t always credible. We have to wait and see.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Extreme Results from Extreme Rules
Last night at Extreme Rules, four titles changes hands five times, the Intercontinental Championship to Chris Jericho for the ninth time, the ECW World Championship to Tommy Dreamer, the WWE Championship to Batista (what a joke!), and the World Heavyweight Championship (twice), the first time to Jeff Hardy, and the second to CM Punk after cashing in the Money in the Bank. I made predictions yesterday, I went 4-4, a lot better than WrestleMania XXV, but not as good as I would of hoped. I was right on the Intercontinental title No Holds Barred match, the Samonan Strap match, the Miss WrestleMania Hog Pen match, and the Submission match, with Jericho, CM Punk, Santina, and Cena (respectively) won their matches. Next couple of days, I will discuss more on my thoughts from the pay-pew-view, as well as watching it live!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Extreme Rules Predictions
Tonight is WWE's Extreme Rules Pay-Per-View. Here are the listings of the match and my predictions of the matches...
WWE Championship Steel Cage Match: Randy Orton (C) v Batista...
Winner: Champion Randy Orton, due because I cannot see Batista walking out as champion, and if they keep the title on Orton, when Triple H comes back, and faces Orton for the title, Orton would stronger as champ and Triple H would look better if they give him the championship back.
World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match: Edge (C) v Jeff Hardy...
Winner: Champion Edge, due because Hardy is up for signing a new contract, and also wants some time off. I can see his brother Matt making a distraction for Jeff, letting Edge set up the ladder, crawl up it, capture the title, and walk out as champ.
Submission Match: Big Show v John Cena...
Winner: John Cena with a new submission debuting tonight at Extreme Rules.
ECW World Championship Triple Threat Hardcore Rules Match: Christian (C) v Jack Swagger v Tommy Dreamer...
Winner: Jack Swagger as new champion. I hope this isn't the case, but the two other World titles I can see being retained. I would love to see Tommy Dreamer win the title, but I know he's about ready to retire, so tonight would be his last match.
Intercontinental Championship No Holds Barred Match: Rey Mysterio (c) v Chris Jericho...
Winner: New Intercontinental Champion for the ninth time, Chris Jericho, with a steel chair toss when Mysterio tries to hit the 619/Drop the Dime, and Jericho slaps the Walls of Jericho on, hollers "Ask Him!" and gets the tap out victory!
United States Championship Fatal Four Way Match: Kofi Kingston (c) v MVP v Matt Hardy v William Regal...
Winner: MVP to regain his US title after losing it on Monday Night Raw this past week.
Samoan Strap Match: Umaga v CM Punk...
Winner: CM Punk, due in part being the Mr. Money in the Bank.
Ms WrestleMania Hog Pen Match: Vicki Guerrero (c) v Santina Marella...
Winner: New Ms WrestleMania, Santina Marella, after making Vicki become good friends with the hogs in the pen, and making Vicki embarrassed.
Those are my predictions, and if they're anything like WrestleMania, most of these will be wrong, but we'll see!
WWE Championship Steel Cage Match: Randy Orton (C) v Batista...
Winner: Champion Randy Orton, due because I cannot see Batista walking out as champion, and if they keep the title on Orton, when Triple H comes back, and faces Orton for the title, Orton would stronger as champ and Triple H would look better if they give him the championship back.
World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match: Edge (C) v Jeff Hardy...
Winner: Champion Edge, due because Hardy is up for signing a new contract, and also wants some time off. I can see his brother Matt making a distraction for Jeff, letting Edge set up the ladder, crawl up it, capture the title, and walk out as champ.
Submission Match: Big Show v John Cena...
Winner: John Cena with a new submission debuting tonight at Extreme Rules.
ECW World Championship Triple Threat Hardcore Rules Match: Christian (C) v Jack Swagger v Tommy Dreamer...
Winner: Jack Swagger as new champion. I hope this isn't the case, but the two other World titles I can see being retained. I would love to see Tommy Dreamer win the title, but I know he's about ready to retire, so tonight would be his last match.
Intercontinental Championship No Holds Barred Match: Rey Mysterio (c) v Chris Jericho...
Winner: New Intercontinental Champion for the ninth time, Chris Jericho, with a steel chair toss when Mysterio tries to hit the 619/Drop the Dime, and Jericho slaps the Walls of Jericho on, hollers "Ask Him!" and gets the tap out victory!
United States Championship Fatal Four Way Match: Kofi Kingston (c) v MVP v Matt Hardy v William Regal...
Winner: MVP to regain his US title after losing it on Monday Night Raw this past week.
Samoan Strap Match: Umaga v CM Punk...
Winner: CM Punk, due in part being the Mr. Money in the Bank.
Ms WrestleMania Hog Pen Match: Vicki Guerrero (c) v Santina Marella...
Winner: New Ms WrestleMania, Santina Marella, after making Vicki become good friends with the hogs in the pen, and making Vicki embarrassed.
Those are my predictions, and if they're anything like WrestleMania, most of these will be wrong, but we'll see!
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