By Drew Lapoint As an avid fan and observer of professional wrestling, or perhaps a more modern term would be sports entertainment, I can tell you straight from the heart that there's nothing that gets my blood boiling more than when non-fans refer to wrestling as "fake." There are many other terms that us "marks" deem much more acceptable such as "pre-determined," "scripted," or perhaps even a "simulation." These same people calling wrestling fake are more than likely the same people lining up at their nearest movie theatre eagerly anticipating the next Fast and the Furious action adventure. I could sit there and criticize the films scripted and "fake" nature, the same way that they talk about my favorite television program, but in all honestly it would probably be a waste of time and energy. Some people just don't understand what draws us into the world of wrestling, but those that do, all may have a very different reason for why the enjoy the business. One thing for sure though, even in its pre-determined nature, the bumps, the blood, the sweat, and the action is anything but a farce, and us fans appreciate these amazing performers putting it all on the line for us 300 or more days out of the year. You tell me any sport that constantly goes, goes, goes and doesn't stop without an off-season other than wrestling? You'd be hard pressed to find a legit answer. Perhaps there is one sport that can stake that claim however, and that would be the ruthless, aggressive world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) lead by its biggest mainstream promotion, and Vince McMahons most threatening competition as it applies to pay per view buy rates, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). Formed in the early 90s, the initial goal of the promotion was to take legit trained fighters and martial arts experts around the world and place them in real world competition with a "anything goes" mentality, battling within the confines of a cage in an octagon shaped ring. It was a new and unique idea to fans around the world because the scripted nature of pro wrestling indeed did turn many a spectator off that yearned for real, brutal competition, and lets face it, boxing was losing its edge in that market.
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By Kalon Webb I'm sure most of you guys are wondering where I been (for those who know me) or exactly who I am, right? Well, I'm Kalon Webb, a writer who has been uninspired to write articles about wrestling because of todays current product. Now, I could be like the rest of the “smarks” out there and claim to know what's best for the product, but that is not what my intentions of this article. Simply enough, I just want share my views and opinions of how I feel about wrestling today in WWE. Typically when you hear a wrestling event is going to be three hours long you would be stoked, right? Well, that doesn't seem to be the case today with Monday Night Raw. I'm sure most thought of when WWE announced that they would be going to three hours on Monday nights that it was great idea. We would get more time for the mid-card, Divas, tag divisions and hey, maybe even a relaunched cruiserweight division because it would be enough time. Turns out it was the complete opposite it of what wrestling's big leagues had in mind. Instead we would get the exact same thing we were getting before, nothing! How is it possible with three hours of Raw, SmackDown,Superstars, Saturday Morning Slam, AND Main Event we still don't get these things and still manage to only see tensuperstars out of a roster with over 25 guys? One thing I don't understand is how a company can hire dozens of workers to beef up the company. Only use 10% of them and when those 10% leave they still don't use the other dozens they already have. Instead those 10% seem to get part-time deals to comeback with a lighter schedule and maybe even a slight pay raise to “bring in the ratings”. By Graham "GSM" Matthews Nice match with Austin Aries and Bobby Roode successfully defending their World Tag Team Championships against Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero. The crowd came alive for the final few moments of the bout, but that was about it. Nonetheless, these teams work well together and it was another good win for Roode and Aries. Fun Triple Threat match with Kenny King successfully defending his X-Division Championship against Sonjay Dutt and Zema Ion. As expected, the action was fast paced and exciting. I never bought into the possibility of anyone else winning the title, but I still enjoyed the contest regardless. The new rules for the X-Division are a nice change of pace. Although they might get old after awhile, only time will tell to see how they truly benefit the dying division. Triple H assaults Paul Heyman during the contract signing. Meaningless match with John Cena defeating Darren Young, Cena's promo was pretty basic, but it wasn't anything we haven't heard before from him and it lacked from the absence of WWE Champion The Rock. As much as I enjoy the Prime Time Players, their pre-match shtick felt random and wasn't all that humorous. The match was mostly taken up by commercial taken, so it hardly served a purpose. Basic squash match with Ryback dominating David Otunga. We've seen the same thing from Ryback for weeks now, so the match was nothing out of the ordinary. The post-match angle with Vickie Guerrero putting Ryback in a match against Mark Henry at WrestleMania 29 was logical, but why did it take so long to get to this point? Nonetheless, I'm glad we'll be getting that match at 'Mania, as it could make for an exciting clash of the titans. Standard segment with Fandango refusing to compete against The Great Khali. This was essentially the same segment we've been seeing from Fandango for weeks aside from the fact he actually made his entrance this time around. While he's garnering some mild heat from the live crowds, it doesn't exactly mean that they care about his character. He needs to take the next step soon or suffer from becoming stagnant. Fine match between R-Truth and Damien Sandow. These two haven't feuded in several weeks, so it felt odd for them to resume it on this show. The match was nothing special and was over before it even started. Sandow losing via count-out protects him, but why should he be losing in favor of Truth anyway? I'm not sure what role either of these guys will be playing at WrestleMania 29, but I guess time will only tell as far as that goes. Solid segment featuring CM Punk and Undertaker. Undertaker's promo was good, but not nearly as strong as I expected it to be. The same could be said for Punk, who showcased his excellent mic work, but it left a lot to be desired. The fact the segment was rather brief might have hindered it, but I feel like there should be more to the feud than just Paul Bearer's death. That has seemed to take precedence over everything else for some reason. Decent match with WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No defeating Primo and Epico. It was well wrestled and felt fresh, but the ending outcome was never in doubt. That being said, this bout felt like dragged on a bit longer than it needed to, but I won't complain about getting more wrestling. AJ Lee's interference was well done and was nice nostalgia from the angle involving those three from last summer. |
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