Falls Count Anywhere

06-30-08

Just like WALL*E

I sit around and think about the future of wrestling a lot. I’ve been watching some more wrestling lately, mostly RAW and TNA (and a little UFC, too) and I’ve sorta realized that there is a pace being set that will change the entire business. MMA and wrestling are going to be battling it out for viewers and MMA might be able to win the thing, but the WWE is strong enough to stand around for a few years, even on a very low level of interest, and might just see itself rebound when MMA has burned out.

TNA really doesn’t have that option, and being on a network that has MMA as a centerpoint with UFC, you have to wonder how long they can last and what will happen when they go. So, for this thought experiment, I started with the idea of TNA folding as of today, and where they’d go.

First off, does Vince buy what’s left of TNA for a song like he did with WCW? My guess is yes, since it’d mean more footage that he could use on DVDs of his stars. But there’s a question: would he need the footage? He passed on a couple of libraries because they didn’t feel they had stuff that could be useful. If they had the FMW library, for example, they’d own Sabu and Terry Funk footage, neither of which they’d really need.

Buying the TNA library would give them Sting footage, which might help, and Scott Steiner footage, and of course the end of Kurt Angle’s career footage. It would also only be a good idea if he’d want to use some of the guys from TNA. There’s a lot of talent there, but not the kind that Vince is most fond of.

And that’s the second question; who would he take? Abyss has twice almost been a WWE employee, only to be lured back, so I figure he’d be a sure bet. There’s also AJ Styles. His stock was at it’s peak about 18 months ago (maybe even three years ago with the Samoa Joe-Daniels-Styles feud) but he’s still a big deal and actually at times has moved ratings as well. He’s lost a lot of steam, but he’s probably still the guy they’d go to. I think he was also in WWE developmental for a while. Christopher Daniel was for sure, and was even one of the replacement Conquistadors against Edge and Christian. I’d say he was a lock, but they may not believe he knows how to work Main Event. Still, who wouldn’t want to see Daniels vs. Rey Mysterio? Christian Cage would probably be let back in, and I couldn’t imagine them not taking Tomko back. Jim Mitchell’s a maybe. The big question is would they get Kurt Angle? My guess is no, they’d let him go off to Japan where he could fight or wrestle or do whatever.

Every caption I come up with makes me feel just wrong.

The big question mark is the Knockouts. The Diva concept has been refined over the course of the last 13 years or so, starting with Sunny and carrying on through Sable, Chyna, Trish, Lita and on to today. There’s been more focus on wrestling in recent years, with Fit Finlay training them and turning folks into better workers. Hell, he made Candice Michelle into a decent match-haver.

The Knockouts are built around decent workers like Gail Kim, who was in the WWE, and Awesome Kong, along with ODB, who was an OVW worker if I remember correctly, and others with a focus on working good matches and telling decent stories. The look of most of the Knockouts is close to what Vince likes, and I would think that a Divas vs. Knockouts feud, with a Survivor Series blow-off between the teams would be awesome.

And there’s another question: would Vince do a WWE vs. TNA feud? He did it with WCW, but WCW was made to seem inferior and the WWE had to stand tall over them or Vince would seem like a failure. Would Vince even give TNA that much? Would he bring in Jay Lethal with his Macho Man gimmick just to annoy Randy Savage? Would he consider TNA as a real competitor, or just bring guys in with nothing to tell of where they came from? It’s an interesting question and one that I think would be revealed pretty quick if it were to happen.

Sadly, I think that TNA will survive. I don’t mean I want to see TNA fail, but I’d want to see what Vince would do and I really think it would strengthen the WWE to have new talent, new matches, a new potential direction. There’s a certain staleness right now in both products, and I don’t think another draft will solve the WWE’s problems. They need new talent, and TNA’s got a lot of talent, but it’s also talent that isn’t the type that typically gets pushed, which is even better because it would give some difference.

Joshi
I’ve been watching a lot of Japanese Women’s Wrestling from the 1990s. That was really the great match peak of Joshi Pro Wrestling in Japan (while the 1980s were the times of huge gates due to the popularity of the girls as singers). The biggest stars of the time were Minami Toyota, Akira Hokuto, Mayumi Ozaki, Aja Kong, Bull Nakano was still around, and you had Cutie Suzuki and Dynamite Kensai as well.

The best match I watched as a December 1993 classic between the teams of Ozaki and Kensai and Toyota and Yamada. The match was fantastic and we just don’t see American Women’s wrestling like this. Of course, there are few times when we see American Men’s wrestling at that level.

There was also a great Akira Hokuto vs. Minami Toyota match that really got me watching. Hokuto, who was briefly around WCW, was a tough, tough woman, and she didn’t always win, especially the big matches, she always took a great deal of punishment. In a way, she had a Cactus Jack thing going, without the insane bumps. She just took kicks and suplexes and got her neck broken and went on and on. She’s a legend and I’m glad to say that she’s in the Observer Hall of Fame, along with Toyota.

You can find a lot of the matches from the 1993-1995 time frame on YouTube, and some more on Google video. If you look for Dreamslam or Hokuto, you’ll find them.

There was a TNA House Show that saw a lot of No-Shows. Some of it was possibly the weather, but many just plain weren’t told to go. This started happening towards the end of ECW, you may well remember, but I doubt that’s what’ll happen to TNA since they’ve got a big ol’ company behind them.

Get Smart has two wrestlers in it: The Rock…I mean Dwayne Johnson, and Giant Singh, aka Dalip Singh. The film wasn’t bad either, taking Get Smart from being a spy comedy and turning it into a legitimate spy movie that’s funny. Singh is much better than you’d expect, though he’s only playing the silent big villain type. I was amused…far more than I was with The Love Guru.

OK, that’s all for today. More next week!

Chris Garcia