Wrestling Things We're Thankful For

Usually, we're pretty ashamed of our wrestling fandom around here, but this is a special time of year. It's a time for giving thanks.

*cough* ThatWasInOctoberComeOnAmericaCatchUp *cough*

Yes, I'm Canadian. That explains why this post is a day late. I don't entirely understand your Thanksgiving. So here's a clip of Bret Hart berating America for my enjoyment.

Oh yeah.... that's the stuff. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Thanksgiving. In the spirit of this holiday, we thought we would each list a couple of things we are thankful for.

Jay is thankful for.....

Finn Bálor's abs

Drew Gulak’s PowerPoint Presentation

John Dos Passos 2 is thankful for...

NJPW and Mexican wrestling 

Because nuts to the WWE.

Asuka

Rick City is thankful for...

Alexa Bliss

 To be fair, the entire women's division (on both brands) is pretty incredible.

I complain about WWE a lot, but the Network always gives me something to watch and how else would I keep viewing 20-year-old content over and over?

Honourable Mention: AJ Styles

He's so good that he got famous wrestling for other companies and Vince still pushes him.

We hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Finn Balor: Not Over?

Monday November 20. Monday Night Raw after Survivor Series. Roman Reigns takes the Intercontinental Championship away from The Miz.

My skin is clear. My crops are flourishing. My depression is cured.

Rick: Booooooo

Tuesday November 21, I cruise social media to unfortunately see this:

I suddenly have acne, my crops are dying, and my heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

Roman picking up the IC title gave me hope that maybe there was a chance Balor could go for that Universal Title with Rumble coming up. I discussed it with my best friend, unfortunately before seeing this.

Finn is my favorite and that's no secret, but bias aside, the man is an incredible athlete and in ring performer. Founder of the Bullet Club as Prince Devitt in Japan, 292 day reign as NXT Champion, and of course, first Universal Champion in the WWE.

Balor was injured during his Summer Slam match last year and had to give up the title he was unable to defend. Fast forward to the Monday night after No Mercy in August, he stated he planned to go back for it. Finn was still never given his rematch.

My first thought was, "Not over? Did no one see the match between AJ styles and the demon at TLC?" The same AJ Styles who definitely proved his worth against Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. AJ and Balor had a match that was full of speed, chain wrestling, and high flying acrobatics. It was incredible to watch regardless of the outcome, and absolutely a contender for match of the year. Not over? A wrestler who seems to have an unlimited amount of merchandise and gets any arena he is in do "the arms thing"? (Does it have a name? I don't care. Its the "arms thing")

Love for Finn aside, lets talk about the current Universal Champion holder. Someone who only shows up, oh I don't know, once every three months to defend it? Yet you hear the announcers ogle over this "feat" of holding the title this long. A guy who was kicked out of the UFC, and is the most boring in ring performer to watch. He's more boring than Baron Corbin, as Rick kindly pointed out in his Survivor Series Recap. Part timer, for sure.

I don't know what Vince sees in this guy, honestly. I'm not even trying to be sarcastic. I sincerely wonder what is so appealing about Brock Lesnar? I also wondered if this was Vince's way of getting back at Hunter? Triple H has found amazing talent and brought them through NXT, but as discussed about Survivor series, this same talent was squashed earlier in the men's match in favor of old rivalries between Kurt, Shane, and Triple H.

Logging on to twitter today, I came across this absolute gem.

Is this a threat to the new Intercontinental Champion, or is Finn discrediting Meltzer?

Is this finally the heel turn I've been waiting to see? I hope so. If you never witnessed anything of his character Prince Devitt, you are in for an absolute treat. He might even top Miz.

Five Petty Things That Were Annoying About Survivor Series 2017

Survivor Series is over and, despite the predictable "It's All About The Game" ending, the show was pretty enjoyable. But, because I am a cynical person who has grown jaded over the years and who always expects the WWE to somehow let me down, today I'm looking at the negatives.

But I'm not talking about the BIG negatives, like the fact that Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, and Bobby Roode were portrayed as afterthoughts to Triple H, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, and Shane McMahon. I'm talking about the little things that annoyed me during the show.
So here we go.

John Cena Wore Green

Yeah, I said this was going to be petty. But WWE did a very good job of having all of the Raw guys wear red (even HHH, who wore a different shirt, but still a red one) and the SmackDown guys wear blue (even Nakamura, who typically wears red) and then they had John Cena come out in all green everything.

Unless this was done to show that Cena was a hired mercenary and not a loyal SmackDown competitor (and, if that was the case, it's actually great) it looked weird. And I don't have enough faith in WWE to give them the benefit of the doubt here. Or anywhere. Ever.


Heel Versus Heel Matches

I know this was "SmackDown versus Raw" but it's hard for the crowd to get into a heel versus heel match. For example, who were we supposed to cheer for when The Miz faced Baron Corbin? I know, the obvious answer is "The Miz" because Corbin is incredibly boring (fight me, Jay), but The Miz is an excellent heel and he should never be cheered. The same goes for The Usos versus The Bar. Both of these are heel teams. Yes, they're both entertaining, but heels are supposed to be booed and we can't boo everyone all the time. We need to conserve our booing for Roman Reigns. (I will fight you, Jay.)

Both of those matches had worse crowd reactions than the rest of the show because fans aren't used to cheering for any of those competitors. WWE had two title changes in the build-up to this show and they still gave us two heel versus heel matches. Why?


We Knew Lesnar Would Win

I mean, we always know Lesnar will win, but this was more obvious than usual. WWE made a HUGE deal about how it was 3-2 for SmackDown going into this match. We knew the only two matches left on the show were Lesnar/Styles and the men's elimination match, and it was obvious that we weren't going to go into the main event with a 4-2 SmackDown lead (which would have made the match even more pointless than it already was), so the Brock Lesnar victory could be seen from a mile away and it took something away from what turned out to be a very good match.

This show was a good example of modern WWE: Great matches, entertaining superstars, awful storylines and booking.


No Titles on the Line

I'm not counting the Cruiserweight Title because it was on the pre-show and I'm pretty sure Vince McMahon doesn't know it exists.

All of the company's major champions were on the show, and not one of them had anything on the line. So why should they try? I know there's pride and everything but, for example, a title reign should be more important than pride and proving you're the best champion.

AJ Styles knew going into the match with Lesnar that he was going to face Jinder Mahal for the title very soon (wasn't it supposed to happen on this week's SmackDown? Why is it now at Clash of Champions? Sigh.) so what reason did he have to give it his all against Lesnar, and risk injury, when he has an actual title match coming up? Doesn't it make sense to try to avoid injury in a non-title showcase match so that he stays healthy for a match when his title is on the line?

Which brings me to....


Nothing Was at Stake

I really like the idea of making Survivor Series a Raw vs SmackDown pay-per-view. It adds something special to the event, which it has certainly been lacking in recent years. However, it's weird that absolutely nothing was on the line.

If we're supposed to believe that pride is enough to fight for, since Raw and SmackDown hate each other so much, then they shouldn't have had the "Superstar Shake-up" in April. It's hard to believe that these two brands really hate each other when they switch sides all the time. If the intent was to prove who was the better champion, then why did both the WWE and SmackDown Women's titles change just weeks (or days) before the show? That devalues that concept.

Besides, if Raw and SmackDown are bitter rivals, why do they plug each other's pay-per-views and recap each other's shows? Why did SmackDown lend AJ Styles to Raw to face Finn Balor recently? Either treat the two brands like they're WCW and WWF, and they hate each other, or treat them like two sports conferences (like the Eastern and Western Conferences in the NHL, for example) and admit that they don't hate each other, they're just different parts of the same company. You can't have both.

Anyway, something should have been on the line at this show. Maybe the winning brand would get extra Royal Rumble entries, or a guarantee that it would get the 30th entrant in the Royal Rumble or the last match of the night at WrestleMania or something. Otherwise, the show felt more like an all-star game where everyone goes out to put on a show but the final score is ultimately meaningless.

And an "All-Star Game" would have been fine, expect the commentators just kept mentioning what the score was and how "critical" it was that each brand win. Why was it critical? Why was it so bad when Zayn and Owens attacked Team SmackDown if SmackDown didn't actually lose anything by losing the match? Even Bragging Rights had a dumb trophy...

Anyway, it was a good show and even the petty things I found to complain about were pretty petty so, I guess good job WWE. I'll keep waiting for future disappointment.

Survivor Series Preview

Rick_City: Welcome to our Survivor Series preview!

JohnDosPassos2: This is going to be shameful.

Rick_City: I'm not even sure what the card for this show is anymore, they've changed it so often. I just really think that...

Tony Schiavone: WAIT..... HERE COMES @jayyyyynine!!! SHE IS IN THE BUILDING!!!!

Bobby Heenan: BUT WHOSE SIDE IS SHE ON!?

Jay: That's right, I am the third man. Well, not really, but you get the joke right? I'm a lady, and I'm here to present my terrible opinions about wrestling, which if you know Rick, I apologize because I'm worse.

Rick_City: Hey yo!

JohnDosPassos2: Too Sweet.... and such

Rick_City: I think this terrible joke has run its course. Not that running something into the ground has ever stopped me before.

JohnDosPassos2: This is like a twenty-year-old reference, you know that, right?

Rick_City: Nobody can stop me! *Starts spray painting things*

Jay: Anyway.... you can call me Jay or J9, I go by either. I tried to get a feel for how I fit into the wrestling world because I'm new to this, and its kind of a controversy according to Twitter. I'm either a really good heel or a 'tweener, but they cant decide. If you want a feel, I probably hate your favorites and love the trashiest wrestlers. That's just the kind of girl I am.

Rick_City: Oh look who's professional all of a sudden. *Pours another drink*

JohnDosPassos2: So... Survivor Series is this Sunday.  *Pours another drink*

Jay: Survivor series is this Sunday, but lets not forget about NXT Takeover on Saturday night. There's some great matches scheduled for Saturday and Im really excited about it.

Rick_City: I haven't watched NXT in months. This one is all yours, Jay.

Andrade Cien Almas vs. Drew McIntyre: Drew finally gets vengeance for that gross chewing gum Zelina stuck to his nice dress shirt.

Women's Championship Match: I really love Ember Moon. That's it. I have nothing to add.

Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream: In the words of my favorite super hero movie: "This shit's gonna have nuts in it!" Velveteen is a lot of drama and Aleister will not be saying his name, but the "blxck mass" will be kicking his face.

Lars  vs Kassius: As long as Kassius wears a cool vintage t-shirt, Im really indifferent.

War Games: My heart will probably stop sixteen times and my stomach will turn every time Adam Cole's face gets smashed into the steel cage.

Rick_City: War Games should be fun to see again after so, so long....

JohnDosPassos2: The 90s WCW references never stop around here!

Rick_City: I'm posting a 1990s Survivor Series logo right now.

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore vs. Kalisto (Kickoff Match)

Jay: The Cruiserweights once again are an aside, and if WWE does not give me any Power Point Presentations, I riot.

JohnDosPassos2: I won't recognize the legitimacy of Cruiserweight division until they bring in KeMonito to beat Endzo.

Rick_City: Everybody hates Enzo, so I'm picking Enzo because, deep down, WWE hates the Cruiserweights and all of us, so they want us to be unhappy.

Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. United States Champion Baron Corbin

Jay: Who's your daddy, Miz?

JohnDosPassos2: The Miz wins by just mocking Corbin's bald-spot. He's that evil of a heel.

Rick_City: The Miz is incredible. If anybody cheers for him though, I'll scream. JUST LET SOMEONE BE A HEEL, DAMMIT!

Women’s 5-on-5 Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match

Jay: I know Asuka is a murder machine, but I watched Becky Lynch throw Ellsworth last week in Manchester. Don't mess with Becky.

JohnDosPassos2: Remember when both shows didn't have enough strong women wrestlers to do this? I do. Also, isn't the whole "rival shows" thing kinda silly? Anyway, Team Smackdown wins somehow, Asuka will be pissed, and then she'll kill someone.

Rick_City: How is anyone picking anyone other than Asuka to win this? As an aside, women's wrestling is now one of the highlights of any WWE show. Who could have possibly predicted that a decade ago?

Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair

Jay: I'm crying. Don't look at me.

JohnDosPassos2: They are going to have Charlotte win. Call it a hunch. Or call it the fact that someone's dad has an ESPN documentary on currently.

Rick_City: I am actually SHOCKED that they didn't keep Natalya in this match so they could do a "Survivor Series Screwjob 20 years later" finish, but here we are. I say Charlotte wins, even though Alexa Bliss is everything that is great in the world. (Or maybe the only thing that is even close to good in the world. Thanks, 2017.)

The Shield vs. The New Day

Jay: It is no secret I love Roman Reigns (the pinned tweet on the Wrestling Shame account was specifically aimed to make me mad) and you probably just stopped reading, called me about six inappropriate slurs, and tweeted angrily about me. (@ me next time @jayyyyynine)  But if you didn't, bear with me: Big E is going to get power bombed, and I am going to enjoy every second of it.

Don't count out any shenanigans from Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn. I think they'll make some kind of an appearance to cause trouble. Speaking of, how did Raw break in to Smackdown last week?...

JohnDosPassos2: I don't like the Shield. There, I said it. I'd say it again. Also, there's going to be a run-in during this match or a surprise partner for The New Day. I don't know who --- Steve Austin?

Rick_City: Yeah, like Roman Reigns is going to lose en route to defeating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.

Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos

Jay: This can't possibly top Cesaro shoving his teeth further into his face at No Mercy.

JohnDosPassos2: I can't root against a tag-team called The Bar. I just can't.

Rick_City: I'm going to say The Usos because SmackDown needs to win something and WWE won't let Cesaro succeed.

Men’s 5-on-5 Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match: Raw vs SmackDown

Jay: TEAM MURDER! I mean Raw.

JohnDosPassos2: They've changed the make-up of these teams at least seven times in the past two weeks, so I fully expect another nine roster moves by Sunday evening.

Also, Team Raw wins because HHH.

Rick_City: WWE is sure trying hard here, sticking both Triple H and John Cena into this match for basically no reason. I say SmackDown wins because Triple H and Kurt Angle just can't get along and they need to fight at WrestleMania to solve their issues.

Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Champion AJ Styles (Champion vs. Champion Match)

Jay: I have a lot of angry feelings about Brock Lesnar and how many times I've had to listen to Paul Heyman say "BRAHK" lately, and AJ Styles deserves this. Fight me.

JohnDosPassos2: AJ will win here, but only because Roman Reigns will interfere in this. Just accept it folks. People will be pissed. We will be pissed (We being Rick and I).

Rick_City: Yeah, like Brock Lesnar is going to lose en route to losing to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. God SuplexSuplexSuplexSuplex Brock is boring. Does anyone else feel kind of bad for Jinder Mahal? No? No one? I'll see myself out.

Throwback Thursday: Thoughts on The Montreal Screwjob

If you're a wrestling fan, you're likely keenly aware that today is the anniversary of arguably the most important event in wrestling history: The Montreal Screwjob.  And no, I don't mean that as hyperbole. It not only capped off one of the greatest rivalries in professional wrestling (Hart versus Michaels), but it also gave birth to wrestling's greatest villain (Mr. McMahon), it helped reinvigorate one company (the WWE), and was perhaps the high-water mark of another (WCW). And depending on who you ask, it served as the moment that "pulled back the curtain" on kayfabe and made "reality in wrestling" a reality. 

But in another sense, I think the real importance of the Montreal Screwjob is not its importance to wrestling history: it's that it actually interests people who aren't wrestling fans.

The last couple years, I've taught an introductory course on performance studies to first-year college students. Over the course of fifteen weeks, we examined norms of social performance, we discussed Judith Butler's writing on gender and performance, and we covered the importance of "theatre" in everything from politics to work.

Right around the end of term, I tried to teach a lesson on professional wrestling. One year, I used promos from figures like Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and CM Punk to illustrate how wrestlers play to the regional and social ideologies of their audiences; the next year, I focused my energies on the importance of Lucha Libre to Mexican culture, emphasizing the mythologies wrestlers present to their audiences.

And each time, my students just stared at me throughout the class periods, their eyes projecting to me a sense of torture and pain I can barely describe.

In hindsight, I probably should have seen these reactions coming. I used to simply chalk my students' ambivalence as a result of semester fatigue, but in a larger sense, I think it was borne out their skepticism about wrestling (or the fact I was wearing a New Japan Pro Wrestling t-shirt under a blazer). Non-wrestling fans do tend to view wrestling fans -- and wrestling itself -- with some degree of suspicion, and to be fair, a great deal of that is justified. 

Despite all this, I think we as wrestling fans do a really poor job of communicating to people why we like wrestling. We sometimes might assert that we are really invested in the narratives being told to us by the wrestlers and the company; or we might say we find the blend of theatre and sport intriguing; we also may note the communal experience of being a fan with people around the world; we could even say it's simply something that has to be experienced live. Heck, I even tried all these arguments with my classes -- and with people in my life --- and it usually doesn't work. 

But a few months ago, I was walking around Milwaukee with my daughter and my girlfriend -- neither of whom are wrestling fans. For whatever reason -- okay, I was trying to embarrass both of them with some wrestling knowledge because they do love making fun of me whenever I pontificate about anything -- I briefly talked about the Montreal Screwjob.  After explaining it a broad sense, my girlfriend said "I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's actually really interesting."

And it IS interesting. And it appeals to a plethora of people because the story of the Montreal Screwjob connects to their interests. They may not like the Tupelo Concession Brawl or Brawn Stroman tipping over an ambulance, but they will enjoy hearing about an employer taking revenge on an employee, of two stars bickering with each other and then putting on a show, the war between corporate giants, and a moment that happened but wasn't supposed to happen -- and how wrestlers, promoters, and fans knew it at the time. And how it impacted a form of entertainment for years afterward and has even sparked its own "truther" movement.

**I really wish I would have done a piece on the Montreal Screwjob Truther Movement now**

The lasting gift of the Montreal Screwjob is that it can provide a gateway for people to maybe not love wrestling, but at least understand some of the elements that makes us enjoy it. And perhaps instead of saying "Here's why I love wrestling!" we, as fans, need to focus on a particular story that shows people why we love wrestling: the stories, the personalities, the context, and the unexpected.