A Feud With A View

WrestleMania 30 is right around the corner. Since the Royal Rumble the Creative Department has been building toward this event. Daniel Bryan and the "Yes!" Movement have dominated most of the upper-tier story. Batista's return has fallen flat, and WWE, in response, turned him heel. For a long time, it looked as though the main event at WrestleMania 30 would be Batista vs WWE Champion Randy Orton. A "hijacking" of Monday Night Raw later left us with Daniel Bryan vs Triple H, with the stipulation that if Bryan won he would enter the main event with a shot at the title. A week later, in a fit of anger, Triple H expanded the stipulation that whoever won the Triple H vs Bryan match would enter the title match, giving WrestleMania a potential Triple Threat main event.

Wrestling icon Hulk Hogan returned to the WWE and announced that WrestleMania 30 would feature the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, a 30-man, over the top rope, elimination event. The winner will receive a special trophy, which in wrestling terms means someone is getting a trophy broken over their head or back. While the prize is a throwback to the first ever Royal Rumble in 1988, the competitors will feature athleticism beyond that seen in the first battle royal.

WrestleMania season also means the return of the Undertaker for his yearly match. The Phenom is 21-0 at WrestleMania, having recently taken down CM Punk, Triple H (twice), and Shawn Michaels (also twice). This year, Taker goes up against Brock Lesnar. The build for this one, admittedly, has been quite weak. Undertaker has twice humiliated Lesnar with no reprisal. I figure that changes at Raw tonight.

The best built feud for WrestleMania is, without a doubt, the upcoming battle between John Cena and Bray Wyatt. Cena is the undisputed face of the WWE, garnering the support of what I refer to as a demographic full of toddlers and soccer moms. Bray Wyatt is a backwoods cult leader who has twisted the minds of two big men to do his bidding (Harper and Rowan).

Wyatt and Cena have crossed paths several times, as the Wyatt family cost Cena the title at Royal Rumble, and then again found themselves inside the Elimination Chamber, where they again denied Cena a chance at championship gold.

Wyatt confronted Cena while the latter was in the ring talking with Hulk Hogan. In what has become typical fashion for Cena and WWE booking, Cena proceeded to mock Bray Wyatt. Cena has a history, thanks to WWE Creative, of burying up-and-coming talent in an effort to keep Cena acceptable to the toddlers. Thankfully, though, Wyatt was not buried. Why? Because Cena is the most polarizing figure in the WWE. While the kiddies and soccer moms love him, adult fans, and members of the vaunted Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) cannot stand him.

Bray Wyatt has put forth some of his best promo work against John Cena. As a quick aside, the report is that Bray Wyatt writes his own promos and submits them to Creative for approval, which they usually are. He tends to record his promos ahead of time, but that does not diminish the effectiveness of Wyatt. The best of the promos he's recently delivered saw Wyatt dressed in Cena's t-shirt and wearing a Cena armband, spouting that he could "sign autographs, and kiss babies, and make sure that everyone buys all my merchandise...I could go home to my plastic girlfriend in my castle." The plastic girlfriend line being a not-so-subtle dig at Cena's real-life girlfriend, Nikki Bella.

The next episode of Raw saw Cena take on Luke Harper in a brutal match. Just as Cena looked poised to win, the lights went out and some scuffling was heard in the ring. When the lights came back on, Cena was tied up in the bottom ropes and was wearing Rowan's sheep mask. It was a particularly creepy image for the toddlers.

I wouldn't be surprised if Wyatt and Cena clash tonight. Whoever comes out on top tonight will likely lose at 'Mania. That's sort of WWE's code. (Don't believe me? Just watch Raw tonight.)

But so long as the promo work remains top-notch, then this feud will continue to be the best of the bunch.

The Anatomy of a Babyface Turn

The wrestling history books are littered with stables. For those of you not in the know, a professional wrestling stable is a group of wrestlers who come together and join forces. Sometimes this is done just to be a bigger threat to the rest of the promotion. The most famous stable in wrestling history is probably the Four Horsemen.

 The Four Horsemen
(Ole Anderson, Tully Blanchard, James J. Dillon,
Arn Anderson, Ric Flair)

The Horsemen came together in the old regional territory days. Ric Flair, who had debuted as a cousin of Arn Anderson and Ole Anderson, had surpassed both men in terms of popularity and talent. He was world champion. Flair and the Anderson’s terrorized everyone. Joining them was a brash competitor named Tully Blanchard. They acted as a unified front against Dusty Rhodes, the Road Warriors, and Magnum T.A. The name didn’t come about until an impromptu interview at a TV taping. Arn Anderson, commenting on the group’s dominance, said “The only time this much havoc had been wreaked by this few a number of people, you need to go all the way back to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!” And just like that, the name stuck.

Sometimes a stable is formed to combat a threat, such as the “Dudes with Attitudes,” an incredibly aptly named group from the very early 1990s, who formed to fight against the Four Horsemen. This group was comprised of some absolutely fantastic wrestler, and some utterly wretched wrestlers. Sting, Lex Luger, Paul Orndorff, and the Junkyard Dog comprise the former, while El Gigante basically holds down the latter. The Steiner Brothers were thrown in for good measure. El Gigante would soon leave for WWF, where he would become Giant Gonzalez, and give Undertaker his worst WrestleMania match ever.

Then, the idea of what a stable could do took on a different meaning. On a cold Sunday night in November of 2012, at a pay-per-view event called Survivor Series, a new group debuted for the WWE. Three of the top guys from WWE’s developmental series, NXT, appeared at ringside as security guards, and proceeded to beat one of the championship match competitors senseless. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns made their presence known immediately.

 The Shield
 (Rollins, Reigns, Ambrose)  

During a later interview, the trio referred to themselves as the Shield of Justice. Eventually, they took on the name of “The Shield.” While they claimed to be in favor of ‘justice,’ they only ever attacked babyface wrestlers. Their dastardly tactics even turned previously heel wrestlers, like Big Show, into babyfaces. For over a year, the Shield dominated everyone they faced. They took down several “super-teams.” These teams were basically just loose alliances of wrestlers trying to knock off the Hounds of Justice. The Shield, though, continued using their standard heel tactics to outnumber and destroy their opposition.

But a funny thing happened on the way to today…people started to cheer for the Shield. Never let it be said that WWE’s fan-base is not fickle. Try to shove a wrestler down our throats and we’ll turn on him in a heartbeat. Case in point: Batista at the Royal Rumble. (When the Rumble came down to Batista and the Shield’s Roman Reigns, almost everyone in the arena chanted loudly in favor of Reigns. Let that sink in. The fans would rather have had a guy just barely a year on the main roster main event WrestleMania than have a proven guy who had been champion in the past. That’s how over the Shield had become.) However, allow three incredibly talented guys to do what they do best on a daily basis and watch the fans turn to their side.

The individual members of the Shield started using moves that rallied the audience. Seth Rollins was willing to jump over any ring rope to land on someone. Dean Ambrose had the look of a very dangerous loose cannon. Roman Reigns, though, gained the most. He had always used the spear as a finisher, but he began adding theatrics that signaled to the audience the end was near. He also picked up a move called the “Superman punch.” Prior to the punch, Reigns squats in the corner, holds up his right arm and cocks it like a gun, then runs, leaps, and punches the person in mid-air. These are not the moves of a heel wrestler. These are the moves that fans can get behind.

But WWE won’t fail to capitalize on this changing momentum. About six months after the Shield had debuted, the WWE brought up the next trio from NXT: Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family. Portraying the character of a backwoods cult leader, Bray Wyatt has proven himself to be the best talker in the WWE. His promos are rambling ravings, maniacal in their intensity. The Family, made up of Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, are not shabby either. Rowan is probably the least progressed of the group, though he is the most physically imposing. Luke Harper has a style and personality in the ring that is reminiscent of Kevin Sullivan and Mick Foley.

 The Wyatt Family
 (Luke Harper, Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan) 

The Wyatt Family had danced around fighting with the Shield for some time. Just as it seemed infighting would begin tearing the Shield apart, Bray Wyatt lead his soldiers to the ring. The Wyatts played mind games with the Shield, stepping up to the ring apron, then backing away. Staring down the Hounds of Justice. Bray Wyatt spewed venomous promos that tried to get inside the heads of the Shield. Luke Harper chimed in with one of the best promo lines I’ve heard in some time: “You reap what you sow…you three boys…picked a beautiful hill…to die on.”

The groups finally faced off at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Their match was a show-stealer. The Wyatts claimed victory, but in typical booking fashion, it was a victory aimed at keeping both groups strong. Bray Wyatt eliminated Dean Ambrose by fighting him into the crowd and leaving him. This “abandonment” created dissension within the Shield.

On Monday Night Raw, the groups would face off again. Rollins would carry the workload in this match, and when he finally looked for a tag, Ambrose and Reigns were away from the corner fighting the Wyatts. Ambrose finally tagged in, and after some back and forth action with Luke Harper, Ambrose turned for a tag. Rollins, though, dropped of the ring apron and walked away. Reigns confronted Rollins on the walkway, and Rollins claimed he could no longer be the glue holding the Shield together.

Reigns went on a rampage, knocking out all three members of the Wyatt Family. It wasn’t enough, as the Wyatts once more beat the Shield. But the cracks had fully formed. The Shield was primed to splinter and go their separate ways. That is, until the Authority stepped in.

The Shield had a brief run-in with Director of Operations Kane on Friday Night SmackDown. This did not sit well with the Authority. Kane confronted the Shield on Raw and the Shield confirmed to him that they were united. On that same Monday Night Raw, Kane called out Memphis legend Jerry “The King” Lawler as being behind Daniel Bryan’s hijacking of the previous Raw. Kane called out the Shield to dismantle Lawler. The Shield forced Lawler into the ring. Rollins grabbed a microphone. He told Lawler that the Daniel Bryan wasn’t coming to save him…and that the Shield would always do what was best for business. Rollins dropped the mic and slowly all three members of the Shield turned to face Kane. Kane tried to dissuade them from what they were doing, but the Shield proceeded to beat down the Director of Operations, leading to a triple powerbomb.

On SmackDown, the Shield would find itself in a precarious situation, as Kane brought reinforcements to the fight. The Shield was decimated like never before, as Kane, the New Age Outlaws, the Real Americans, and Ryback and Curtis Axel beat them down. Which brought us to last Monday. The Shield exacted retribution as only the Hounds of Justice would. The interrupted Ryback and Axel’s match to crush Ryback. Later in the evening, the Shield was put in tag team action against the Real Americans. Rollins and Ambrose took on Cesaro and Swagger in what proved a really good match. Rollins was his usual leaping self. At one point, Cesaro kicked Ambrose to the ground and slapped him. Ambrose, looking quite like the maniac he is, goaded Cesaro to hit him again.

As the Shield won, Cesaro attacked Rollins, bringing Roman Reigns into the fray. Reigns hit a superman punch, then speared Cesaro outside the ring. Ambrose and Rollins took apart the announce table and Reigns powerbombed Cesaro through the table.

So what does all this mean? It means the Shield has been given new life. Sometimes a babyface turn is a quick process. A heel wrestler watching another heel beat down a babyface may suddenly turn and help the babyface. Other times, like the one written about here, you get a slow burn babyface turn. It took the Shield about a month to truly turn babyface. The seeds were planted long ago, as their moveset changed. Rollins was always a natural babyface. Reigns has the look of a wrestler who could play the heel or the face easily. Ambrose, on the other hand, is a heel through and through. I expect he’ll turn on the group at some point. For now, though, the Shield still exists. They have a high-profile match at WrestleMania XXX. And they have the fans behind them.

Terms of Wrestling

I’m pitching this wrestling blog toward some people who may not have any knowledge of wrestling. 

Therefore, I wanted to give a quick list of some of the terms I’ll be using, and what they mean.

Federations

WWF / WWE: World Wrestling Federation, now called World Wrestling Entertainment, is the current primary promotion in the United States. Based out of Greenwich, Connecticut.

WCW: World Championship Wrestling. This was the primary promotion of Ted Turner. Dominated the southeastern United States for many years. Came about from the many regional promotions folding, merging, or selling out.

ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling. This federation was the brainchild of Paul Heyman. It featured more violent matches and more adult content. It basically generated its own cult following.

NWA: National Wrestling Alliance. This defunct federation was the precursor to the WCW.

Stables

Four Horsemen: The first incarnation of the Horsemen was comprised of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard. James J. Dillon served as their manager for a time. Forming in 1986, the Horsemen rapidly became the most dominant stable in wrestling. The Horsemen were portrayed as being snobbish in their wealth, confident in their ability, and cocky beyond measure. They lived the gimmick in and out of the ring. Several different incarnations of the Horsemen existed, including wrestlers like Lex Luger, Sting, Barry Windham, and Sid Vicious. None seemed to have the gravitas of the first incarnation.

nWo (new World order): In 1996, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash left WWF and joined WCW. They were portrayed as still being a part of the WWF, though no mentioned was ever made of the rival federation. They interrupted matches and interviews, constantly alluding to a third member of their group.  At Bash at the Beach, Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy Savage took on Hall and Nash. Toward the end of the match, Hulk Hogan made his way to the ring. He shocked the world by turning on Randy Savage and revealing himself as the third man. Hogan called them the “new world order of wrestling” and the name stuck. The nWo also went through several incarnations, and frankly grew to be too big. The idea for the stable, though, remains one of the most innovative in wrestling history.

Dudes with Attitudes: Formed to stand against the Four Horsemen in the early 1990s, the Dudes with Attitudes was comprised of Sting, Lex Luger, the Steiner Brothers, Paul Orndorff, the Junkyard Dog, and El Gigante. This group was short lived.

Degeneration X (DX): Formed at the outset of the Attitude Era in the WWF, DX lead the charge against WCW, decency, and respect for authority. Their interplay with Vince McMahon and his lackeys made for great TV. The original group (Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chyna, and Rick Rude) eventually gave way to the DX that got more air time (Triple H, X-pac, Chyna, the New Age Outlaws). Even years after their dissolution, Triple H and Shawn Michaels would occasionally regroup as DX.

The Nexus: A group of rookies from season one of NXT (back when NXT was a competition and not a brand), these guys showed up under the leadership of Wade Barrett and proceeded to wreak all kinds of havoc. The group was not properly booked, and that, more than anything, lead to their downfall. But Nexus was the debut for guys like Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Darren Young, Ryback (then as Skip Sheffield), Daniel Bryan, and Bray Wyatt (then as Husky Harris).

The Shield: Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns make up the Shield. They debuted at Survivor Series 2012, taking out CM Punk’s opponent, Ryback. Originally pitched as a type of mercenary group out to provide their own twisted brand of “justice,” the Shield has slowly turned from the heelish ways over the last few weeks.

The Wyatt Family: Originally formed in NXT, this stable features Bray Wyatt as the leader, with followers Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. They are portrayed as a type of backwoods cult. Their wrestling style is stiff and high-impact. Wyatt carries the load of the work on the mic, and Harper chimes in from time to time. Rowan, the weakest on the mic, acts as a kind of terrifying muscle, standing behind Bray Wyatt and wearing a creepy sheep mask.

Basic Terms

Booking/Booked: Booking determines what matches are on a card, how the matches will play out, and who will win.

Gimmick: The persona of a wrestler. For example, John Cena’s gimmick is that he never backs down, never gives up, and is just an all around good guy. Gimmicks in modern WWE range from the straight-forward (Daniel Bryan as the scrappy underdog chasing a title) to the morbid (Bray Wyatt as a backwoods cult leader) to the silly (Los Matadores, a pair of Spanish bull fighters). A gimmick can truly make or break someone.

Babyface: The good guy. Always follows the rules (ex. John Cena). Also called a Face.

Heel: The bad guy. A rule breaker and cheater. Often booked cowardly. (ex. Randy Orton)

Antihero: an antihero is a wrestler who display tweener or even heel characteristics, yet is over with the crowd for their stance against the authority figures of the federation. (ex. Steve Austin)

Tweener: a wrestler who displays babyface and heel characteristics.

Kayfabe: Wrestling jargon for the insistence on one’s gimmick and feuds. Maintaining kayfabe means not reacting certain ways to certain events, or not talking to fans, or traveling from one event to another in a certain way. In WCW, maintaining kayfabe meant the heels were never seen outside with the babyfaces.

Feud / Angle: When two or more wrestlers engage in a long program of matches and promos that constitutes a feud, or an angle.

Promo: A speech or video in which one wrestler talks about their feud or angle. Like a gimmick, having good promo skills can make or break a guy (ex. Bray Wyatt has great promo skills).

Shoot: A promo in which a wrestler goes off-script or brings up real-life events to either promote a feud or to undermine another wrestler.

Worked Shoot: A promo that comes off like a shoot interview, but is in reality all part of the plan for the feud or angle (ex. CM Punk’s infamous 2011 ‘pipebomb’ promo).

Match Types

Standard: Basic match involving either one-on-one or tag team wrestling. Can be given stipulations like “no holds barred” or “no DQ.”

Falls Count Anywhere: Similar to a standard match, though the option for wrestlers to be counted out is taken away.

Cage Match: A match taking place inside a cage. The usual objective is to escape the cage to win.

Hell in a Cell: A cage match variation in which the ring and the immediate ringside area is within the cage. There is no escape in this match. Instead, the objective is to score a pinfall or submission from your opponent.

Elimination Chamber: Another cage match variation. Like HiaC, the Elimination Chamber does not allow escape. Two wrestlers start the match while four others wait in ‘pods’ around the ring. At timed intervals the pods open and another wrestler joins the fray. Pinfall or submissions leads to a wrestler being eliminated until only one is left.

Royal Rumble: An over-the-top-rope battle royal. The objective is to toss your opponents over the top rope and have both of their feet hit the floor. This match is held every January with the winner getting a title shot at WrestleMania.

Money in the Bank: A ladder match in which six wrestlers compete for a briefcase suspended above the ring. Climb the ladder and take hold of the briefcase and a guaranteed title shot is yours. This guaranteed contract lasts for one year.

My Wrestling Experience

For as long as I can recall, I've been a wrestling fan. I can remember Saturday nights sitting in the floor, back against the couch, with my Dad sitting beside me, watching hour after hour of wrestling on TV. We watched Joe Pedicino and Bonnie Blackstone introduce match after match for the National Wrestling Alliance, the last days of Georgia Championship Wrestling, the American Wrestling Association, and many others. We watched as the Four Horsemen had classic match after classic match against guys like Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T. A., and other.

Bonnie Blackstone & Joe Pedicino

I remember going to the National Guard Armory at Lawrenceville, GA to watch local promotions put on matches. The wrestlers were guys you'd meet anywhere else in everyday life. It was kind of like Fight Club. They were the people who made your food, changed your tires, pumped your gas...but for a Saturday night, for a young boy, they were gladiators. For a kid having no inkling how the industry actually worked, watching these behemoths go at it was primal.

I remember going to the Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville and watching NWA, and later WCW, put on TV tapings. This was the heyday of the Four Horsemen. This was the time of the dreaded "Dudes with Attitudes." And I loved every minute of it.

One night at the Mountains Center, my Dad and I watched a young wrestler named "Mean" Mark Callous wrestle five or six matches. Given the television taping schedule, this was not uncommon. That wrestler, "Mean" Mark, wasn't a common wrestler. He went on to a long and storied career in the WWF/WWE...as The Undertaker. He was managed by Paul E. Dangerously, played by Paul Heyman, who would go on to found Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and now leads his client, Brock Lesnar, in a quest to end Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania.

"Mean" Mark Callous and Paul E. Dangerously

After another night of TV tapings we left the Mountain Center and headed home. We had to stop at a gas station and while my Dad stood there filling up the tank a big black car pulled up. When the driver door opened out stepped Ric Flair. Arn Anderson sat in the passenger seat. It was an awesome experience for a kid like me.Of all the memories I've told so far, this next one takes the cake.

Once more at the Georgia Mountain Center, my Dad, my uncle Gene, and I sat in the folding chairs along the ringside area. We watched the night's proceedings up to the point that Kevin Sullivan and Norman the Lunatic were coming to the ring. Their feud had been a fairly violent one. Sullivan was a dark figure, a precursor to guys like the Undertaker and Bray Wyatt. Norman the Lunatic was a lovable fat guy with the gimmick of an escaped mental patient.

They locked up in the ring and went back and forth for a bit before the action spilled out into the crowd. People moved to get out of their way. Chairs were knocked over. I quickly darted to the side. My Dad stepped back several feet from the action. My uncle, though, calmly folded the chair he was sitting in, extended it out to either Sullivan or Norman, whoever would take it, and said, "Here, hit him with this."

I'm sure the recording of that event is somewhere in my parents' house.

To catch up to modern times, here's a pretty good encapsulation of my likes and dislikes.
I don't get the toddler and soccer mom devotion to John Cena. His character is stale.
I like Daniel Bryan as a wrestler, but I'm thinking that we may reach a point of over-saturation with him and the "YES" movement.
I don't like how WWE brings back part-timers to sell their big pay-per-view events.
I don't like how WWE is failing to properly book the mid-card champions.
I like the Shield.
I like Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family.
I don't like the Divas division and their reliance on the cast of a reality TV show to bring in fans.
I don't like Batista.
I like the level of heel that Stephanie and Triple H have achieved.

I'm sure I'll write more on these in the coming days and weeks.
Welcome to my new wrestling blog, Kicking Out at Two. I hope you enjoy it.