Falls Count Anywhere

02-25-03

I am played with heavily and often.

Welcome to Falls Count Anywhere. My name is Chris, and I'm gonna rock right now.

RAW
RAW was a good show this week, made better by the presence of the Rock. I think this is the start of a serious RAW turn-around, at least for as long as The Rock stays around and the crew is healthy.

This week, the talking did a great job of pulling the show together. Bischoff introduced the Rock, who then gave one of the greatest Heel promos of all time. Seriously, he had perfectly timed comments to get big reactions from the crowd. He is amazing, and I see him running with this and reestablishing how a heel is done.

The Rock also had a great exchange with the Hurricane backstage, which may have ended up giving the Hurricane the rub he deserves. I really think he should move to SmackDown! where he can have matches with the great cruiserweights.

The Girls Gone Wild segment was kinda lame, but it served its purpose, so I can't complain. Goldust did the beginning of his tourettes angle, and while I don't think it is a good idea, he does it far more believably than Dean Jones did on LA Law.

The matches varied a bit, more so than most weeks. Jazz beat Jacky in a match that was OK, and Victoria was at the announce table, not saying much, but a general figure of menace. Steven Richards was also there and made a few good lines. Trish returned from her 'injury' and brawled with Jazz, kicked Victoria in the face, and generally got a huge reaction.

Kane vs. Storm was not good, even though Storm always puts out a good effort.

Steiner and Booker took on the returning Randy Orton and Batista in a match that was fast, well-paced and really stiff when Booker was in with Randy. I hadn't seen a heavyweight match move that fast in a long time, and Booker was great, and got the best crowd response he has in ages. BOOKERMANIA is running wild! Randy Orton got pinned, but I don't think he lost much as it was a really good match.

Stacy and Test returned to action to take on Christian and Jericho, and it was interesting to see Test trying to keep up with the pace of the previous match during the minute of actual match before Jericho did the chair shot to get the DQ, and then handcuffed him to the ropes. Jericho put Stacy in the Walls of Jericho while Christian took care of the interloping Jeff Hardy. Stacy tried to look like it was hurting, but she came off almost comical. HBK made the real save, and things are starting to look good for their Mania program.

The King returned to action, taking on Chief Morley. The King bumped like a superball, as usual, and the crowd loved it. The suspended Dudleys returned and helped Jerry out with a 3D on Morley. The fist drop returns as Lawler gets the win.

Harvard Chris gets a pinfall overturned because Jeff Hardy kept beating on him. This was kinda dumb, but I think we are going to see an overturned finish in a bigger match soon, so we need to be reminded that refs can do that.

Justice will be done.

The battle royal for the shot at HHH at Mania was good for a regular battle royal, though without the drama that a Royal Rumble produces. The Hurricane, who had interrupted a Rock promo earlier, and the Great One had a great segment where Rock sold Hurricane's offense before tossing him. The crowd loved it, and the Hurricane may be the most underrated RAW superstar whose last name is not a consonant. By the way, that man eliminated The Rock, so the RAW championship match at Mania is HHH vs Booker T, which could be a decent match.

All in all, a good show, entertaining with few real down spots. I am glad for the return of Trish, as she gets good pops, and nice ratings…and there's always the possibility that she and Victoria will start making out in the middle of one of their matches. I hope the Rock stays at least a month after Mania, as he is what this show needs right now. Austin returns next week, and that should be HUGE.

News
Big news is the shake-up of SmackDown!'s writing team. Paul Heyman, who had been head writer, was removed and is now officially television consultant for both RAW and SmackDown!.

Apparently, Heyman claims he offered to step down, but the move came from the top. He had failed to prepare for meetings and had been holding back ideas to make sure they weren't changed by Vince and others. He hasn't really been willing to work, and it started to show in the product.

Bruce "Brother Love" Pritchard, and Dave Lagana are apparently the head writers for SD! now, and knowing what I do of both these guys' style, I am expecting some good things.

FlashBack!
The last non-WrestleMania FlashBack! takes us to the land of action figures. Action figures have been around since the '50s in various forms, but the first real wrestling action figures didn't come around until 1984, when LJN released the WWF figures that everyone seemed to buy during the high point of the Rock 'n Wrestlin' Connection. But just slightly after the first round of figures came out, a company called REMCO made a deal with the AWA to do a series of figures.

Not the first, but perhaps the best.

REMCO had been in the action figure business for a long time. In the '60s, they had done a series of "Big Head" monster figures that had not sold well, but are still highly prized to this day. REMCO wanted the WWF deal bad, but LJN made a better offer. REMCO had made deals on to other action figure companies that would allow them to use their style, including Appleworks for Rocky III. The first Hulk Hogan figure ever was actually a REMCO-styled Thunderlips figure from that set. After the WWF turned them down, they went to Verne Gagne and the AWA.

The LJB figures were 8 inches tall, and made of rubber, so they were not posable. Kids still loved them, and they sold very well, especially in the larger toy stores. The REMCO figures were based off the molds for Lost World of the Warlord figures (yes, the Mike Grelll DC comics series), and could move their arms and legs and waists, which made them ideal for having little matches, especially in the little ring you could buy.

They got carried at most toy stores, and at places like Best and JC Penney's, where I bought all my figures. They were cheaper than WWF figures, and you got a bunch of little pieces, like title belts, glasses, and robes. These were a ton of fun, and most were played with heavily and often.

The crew they had to choose from was impressive as well. Curt Hennig and Scott Hall had a set, as did Ric Flair (then NWA champ, but a frequent visitor to AWA shows) and Larry Zbyszko. The Freebirds, Carlos Colon, Abdullah the Butcher and about 20 others had figures, sometimes with two or three variants each. By 1986, with the AWA in serious decline, they stopped production of the figures.

How could we have been so foolish as to actually play with these little goldmines?

Why are these toys important today? They are the basis of every wrestling figure since. The LJN figures started adding little bits like belts and canes in the second series, which made them even more popular.

When the WWF moved to Hasbro to produce their figures in 1990, the new figures had moveable arms, and were smaller. Mexican wrestling figures to this day are based on the REMCO figures. All sorts of copies have been made, basing themselves on REMCO figures mostly because there is no one left to sue them, and that WWF's early figures just sucked.

By the way, some of these figures go for upwards of $400.00 if they are mint on card. I'm rather upset I spent my entire youth recreating matches with them instead of keeping them in cryogenic stasis.

Anyhow, that's Falls Count Anywhere. Come by Friday for more news, reviews, and a FlashBack! to a classic WrestleMania moment.

Chris Garcia