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" The Gravel Pit "
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Wrestling
Searching for Answers 4/25/03
Posted by Matt Ditaliano on Apr 25, 2003, 19:02
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Well folks, I�m back again after a grueling three days or whatever it was that I waited. You just can�t get rid of me. I�m like X-Pac. Or maybe I�m one of those evil little Peep Marshmallows that can survive a bulldozer. I guess I�m whatever you want me to be as long as you keep reading, Okay, that sounded like an add for cheap phone sex. Anyway, the point that I was trying to get to before I immediately got sidetracked with X-Pac, phone sex, and disgusting Easter candy is that this is my new home. With the exception of an occasional DVD review or Crossface (which I think comes out on Fridays anyway, although�MUST�. STICK�TO�TOPIC) Searching for Answers will be a Friday evening article. That can make or break your weekend, I guess.
Now before I get into today�s article, I feel that I�d like to acknowledge some particularly funny feedback I got in response to my SUCCESSFUL (!) Fire Jeff Hardy article. This person actually has to deal with Hardy fans on a daily basis, so the least I can do is reprint her e-mail. You can send her sympathy flowers if you like.
So I just finished reading your article on Jeff hardy and I agree with you on pretty much everything and am going to attempt to explain the gothgirl/fat chick Jeff hardy obsession. Being a female...I just don't see it I'm more a Steven richards and raven type of gal but I digress, you see I work at a hot topic and that makes me a Jeff Hardy fan expert. These girls come in wearing concert shirts of terrible "metal" bands pants that are a little too big for them (though in some girls cases...it's a good thing) and that hardy boyz necklace in almost every case this girl is either 14 or fat and here is my analysts. These girls are simply put white trash more often or not who come in with their white trash boyfriends who wear lounge shirts with tribal dragons on it and buy "barbed wire" necklaces. So these trashy boyfriends watch wrestling and since these girls are mindless they watch with their men. Being as that they are so "alternative" and "extreme" they can "relate" to a man such as Jeff Hardy, he is their whitetrash Backstreet Boy. He is the wrestler they can maybe...see themselves dating...going to a slipknot concert and snorting coke in the bathroom followed by a romantic night at Arbys talking about how no one understands them and how different they are compared to the rest of the world and what color bodypaint looks best all over their face and clothes. That explains the crying ,Jeff Hardy is nothing more then a gothgirls Justin Timberlake. He is the teenybopper/fatchick idol for the girls out in the middle of the suburbs who know nothing of this world and most importantly know nothing about wrestling....cause if they did they would not be cheering for this waste of space. Anyways I believe I bothered you enough...the smartmarks is awesome, hope you enjoyed your feedback. Thank you for taking the time to read this I hope this analysts helped you understand the "Jeff Hardy thing"
Dominique
Dominique, we all feel for you. And none of us would hold it against you if you reacted violently.
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Now, I have some good news for you guys. That was the most negative I plan on getting today. I don�t expect to curse at all and I am positive that I won�t be ranting and raving. For today, I have a nice constructive idea on how to improve the title situation in the WWF. You may agree, you may not, but at least I�m not going to be angry. Because it�s not as fun as I make it look.
Obviously, there are a lot of midcarders just kind of floating around doing nothing and feuding for no real reason. How much would a secondary belt help guys like Hurricane, Nowinski, Lance Storm, The FBI, or even the cruiserweights? Yes, they have the cruiserweight title. But as I hope to point out later in the article, I think that belt itself creates just as big a problem for these guys as their lack of push or exposure. A real secondary title with real meaning could help midcarders tremendously. It would certainly make people care about their feuds a little more. Now they would be feuding over a belt as opposed to someone�s girlfriend or whatever. It adds that much more prestige to a feud. Also, if someone like say, John Cena were to get a belt and a long reign, the fans would be SCREAMING to get it off him, in a good way. He could get mega-over with a championship run like Rock�s 1998 Intercontinental championship run. Don�t get me wrong, he is very over, but that could bring him to the next level. Another thing a minor title will create is the sense that a wrestler is �climbing up the ladder� to the world title. Kurt Angle won the European, Intercontinental, and even the King of the Ring before finally becoming world champion. That gave the impression to many fans that Angle was working his way up the ranks, for some fans, caused them to be worried that he would make it to the world title and dethrone Rock. Even someone like Funaki could eventually be built up to world title contention if they slowly work their way through the lower titles.
I�m sure we are all pretty much in agreement with that. Create a TV title or something like that for both brands and let the guys play. But now, this is the part of the article that separates it from all the others like this. I�d also guess that this is the point where we will disagree. I want them to get rid of the cruiserweight title. Abolish it. Pretend it never existed for all I care. Just make it go away.
Before you all call for my head, just hear me out. As we all know, the cruiserweight division really kind of stinks. There are like five people in it and very few real (I say real meaning non-smart marks) fans truly care about the division. Now, the easy thing to do is to blame Vince, Stephanie, HHH and whomever else you choose. But I�d like to submit this possibility: Maybe the division itself is just too hard for fans to get behind? I mean, let�s just strip this division to its simplest meaning: It�s a championship for competitors 220 pounds (or whatever it is this week) or lighter. By its very definition, it is a title for guys too small for the world title. I love their matches, and even I have a hard time getting behind that concept. I think it�s demeaning to the guys in the division, and counterproductive to any upward mobility.
Look at it this way. If Johnny Cruiserweight himself feels that he can never be world champion and is looking for some consolation prize, why should I get behind him? He�s a loser who will never be world champion anyway. If he had balls he would fight in the heavyweight division like everyone else. I want more than that for guys like Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio. I don�t think they should be relegated to a division that segregates them from the rest of the company just because of their size. That makes them look second rate. Now, that does not by any stretch of the imagination mean that I don�t want matches between cruiserweights. I just don�t want them to be cruiserweight matches. Confused? Don�t worry. It will hopefully make sense when I explain it. If not, y�all are probably used to it. You watch the WWF, don�t you?
Anyway, I want to see Matt Hardy vs. Rey Mysterio in a big match, not over some worthless belt for little guys. I want to see Tajiri and Kendrick fighting in a match that could actually mean something in the future. I want these guys to be in number one contender matches where they actually have a chance of winning.
A new title could do that for them. If it�s on Smackdown!, obviously, mostly cruiserweights will contend for that. But that doesn�t mean it has to be for only cruisers! Have John Cena vs. Matt Hardy. Have Charlie Haas vs. Tajiri. It has come to my attention that the NWA: TNA X title is just like that. Mostly for cruisers, but that demeaning weight restriction is not there. (By the way, if this is not what the X title is, please let me know.) That will get the cruisers over like nobody�s business. They can still fight over a title. They can still put on amazing matches. But now they will be in a position where they can one day be viable world title contender. They will be fighting over a belt that can be viewed as one step below the world title, as opposed to some consolation prize for small guys. If this goes on long enough, they will be possible world champions, no matter what their size is. If they continue to fight in a division based on their size, they will never be champion.
Now, I know people will still be upset about my idea of dropping the belt. But I ask you. Is a match between Matt and Rey for the cruiserweight belt somehow better than a match between Matt and Rey for the TV title or Matt and Rey for no title at all? I think that way too many people put way too much stock in the name �cruiserweight match.� People, it doesn�t have to be a �cruiserweight title match� to be �OMG awesome.� It�s the competitors in the match that cause it to be great. So why not let them have a great match that has the benefit of a respected title? And really, as much as you may want the cruiserweight title to mean something, it never will. It just has way too much going against it.
Now anyway, we�ve got the cruiserweight title abolished and TV titles on both brands. So, where do we go from here? Well, duh, we need a champion. Well, how do we get one? We have two options. We can have a battle royal. I�m not really fond of that idea, but I don�t think we can do the same thing on both brands. But here is what I would certainly do on one of them: A Gimmick Tournament. Round up sixteen midcarders, on let�s say, Smackdown!, and start a tournament. And have every single match be some kind of gimmick match. Of course, things will repeat, so you would have to have all 80 different names for �hardcore match� Each week have the �Insert city� Streetfight. Have various �on a poll� matches. Do whatever with it, I really don�t care. But just make sure that every match is an entertaining gimmick match that the fans will get into. Have this culminate in a big gimmick match high on the card of a huge pay-per-view. The fans will care about the title and the champion. And maybe a new star will be made.
Well, folks, that�s it for this week. But I don�t think that we are done with this topic. I can see this coming around several times in different forms in the next several months. Look for me in the Crossface tonight, and I�m trying to get my DVD player working, so you might see a Mothman�s Prophecies review this week. Aside from that, you�ll have to wait for next week to see which of my many personalities will shine through.
See you whenever,
Matthew Ditaliano
PS. Look for PICTURES~! next week.
[email protected]
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