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| The ultimate example of "the rub" Photo Credit: WWE.com |
@__NickX opens things by asking if I put any stock in "the rub" like other wrestling fans do.
How does one define the rub? Like, does it involve just winning matches or working with an already over star, or is something else required? I don't think that any old wrestler can enter a program with, say, John Cena and come out for the better just by being in the same ring. I think the wrestler in question needs talent, and he or she needs to look good. The best example of "the rub" working had to have been with Randy Savage and Diamond Dallas Page. DDP always had weird charisma and a money finisher, but he just needed that program to get him over the hump. Savage had perhaps the most name cache in wrestling outside of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. If anyone could provide a launch point for Page, Savage would have been that man. DDP benefitted from the rub because he had talent. Anyone else? Iffy at best.
@HitTheRopes asks if I've ever dressed up like a wrestler for Halloween, and if not, which one would I go as?
I have not, but I totally would. Savage would be my first choice, but I'd have to lose a lot of weight for me to be able to pull that one off (even though I can totally do the impression). My next choice would require just a little bit of body modification, but I could make it work. Dusty Rhodes, baby. I can do the voice, I know the mannerisms, and all I'd have to do would be dye my hair blonde and nair the shit out of my hairy back and stomach to be photorealistic. In fact, I might just go as Big Dust this year, if you weeeeelllll.
Scott T. Holland of Irresistible vs. Immovable asks if I buy or sell WWE doing "Halloween Havoc" episodes of Smackdown in the same vein as their "Great American Bash" episodes.
Buy. Theme episodes make for good television, and WWE oddly enough does them well. They often have "Halloween parties" where everyone dresses up in costume, so they're aware of the holiday. I don't see why they couldn't take some of the things that set WCW's ghastly, ghoulish October pay-per-view apart and impart them in either Smackdown or even a themed RAW.
@Jessico09 wants me to put the last five years of Sting's career in perspective.
Hey, speaking of "the rub," Sting was a recipient of a bit of a shine from Ric Flair by going 60 minutes with him at the first Clash of the Champions. With the hindsight of history, I think Sting really didn't have as much juice as we thought from that star-making moment. Sting has parlayed that match into a career of playing second fiddle. In wrestling, being second fiddle can be a lucrative career with how big the main event scene can and needs to be in large companies. In fact, I find it a propos that he's spent the twilight of his career being the legend in what will always be remembered as the ultimate second fiddle company, TNA. I don't know why Sting has never really entertained the thought of going to WWE, and I won't pretend to be his psychoanalyst. But I think him staying in TNA and being lauded as some conquering hero when his entire oeuvre has been getting duped by everyone who wanted to get ahead at his expense feels right.
@CodyWhiteEsq asks how feasible it would be for Bray Wyatt and the Swamp Monster to have met in the past?
Have you met Brandon Stroud? Do you know his running theory that WWE is causing disturbances in the Chikara Force? Wyatt is actually at the center of that notion through his employment of the former Brodie Lee and mentioning of Icarus. Subscribing to that theory as well as Robert Newsome's that the Swamp Monster is at the center of the Chikara turbulence and EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE NOW. GAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH *brain explodes like in Scanners*
@OkoriWadsworth asks whether the piledriver should come back en vogue or whether it's too threatening a move.
I plug them all the time, but you've gotta listen to What a Maneuver! for their take on piledrivers. Basically, during the late '90s, people were kicking out of the piledriver, which is a move in real life so dangerous to pull off that it ended at least three careers in effect (Ricky Steamboat, Steve Austin, Darren Drozdov). I would like to see it come back as a special SEEK AND DESTROY finisher though. Let it become like the Punt for Randy Orton; if someone hits you with the piledriver, you're out for substantial periods of time. Teasing it would become a big crowd popper. No move should be totally banned, but if any move is going to be used, it should be used by someone who knows what he/she is doing.
@CrigBididman asks why WWE would have El Generico ditch the OLE! bit just to give it to Los Matadores.
WWE loves branding guys with their own mark, and honestly, because of that fact, Rami Sebei probably didn't want to sign over the El Generico character to WWE. I mean, even the best indie guys sometimes flame out in WWE. Why sign over what could be a fallback option back to the indies so WWE could own the patent? As fate would unfurl, the Sami Zayn character looks like an enormous success in waiting. So in the same small-minded corporate philosophy, if fans are already chanting Ole!, why not try to use that to get another act over (the most circuitous way of giving someone "the rub" ever).
Marc Normandin of Over the Monster asks aside from Sami Zayn, which developmental talent I'm most excited to see come up to the big roster.
As awesome as Sarcastic Bo Dallas is in NXT, he'd need a reset when he hit the main roster, which means we'd have to suffer through at least six months of him as the next Rocky Maivia, only unironically. Sylvester LeFort is the next great manager, but in WWE, "next great manager" means you'll end up like Zeb Colter, an entertaining sideshow that ultimately may not end up on the show on a given week. Emma would be immensely fun on the main roster as well until you realize the Emma Dance would be wasted on just being on the show every third week as a throw in for the Total Divas vs. AJ Lee tag match.
However, if we're going on entertainment value, instant gratification, and TV time, the sure bet HAS to be Enzo Amore, right? He seems to have a quick wit, which will get him points in Triple H's WWE. He's got a money catchword (SAWFT, S-A-W-F-T SAWFT), and while he's still got a little bit to go before he's WWE speed in the ring, I don't think he's a total stiff. He'll get there. Let him and Big Cass run amok in the tag division. In fact, I look forward to feuds with both the Prime Time Players or the Real Americans.
Finally, Dirty Dirty Sheets photographer Gregory Davis wants me to relay some #ShaneMatthewsMemories.
The time he was misogynist on Twitter for satire purposes to the point where a bunch of folks who'd normally be fans of his were uncomfortable with him? I love him as a performer, but his Twitter angle is confusing at best.
