Well, for this being the final week's post, I figured I would cover the real reason that many people bought the book, "Heartbreak and Triumph". Moving on the the evening of November 9, 1997. The place...Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The home of the Montreal Expos, uncrowned World Series champions of 1994. Home of the Metallica/Guns n Roses riot. Yes, good old Montreal. Shawn actually started talking about this match in the very beginning of the book. Unfortunately, this match would be the most memorable moment of his career. Kind of sad when you think about all the other classic matches he had in his 25 years in the business. But this match would go down as the most real moment in all of sports entertainment and would change the course of the WWE for years to come.
For those who don't know about the night in Montreal, let me break it down for you. The WWE was in dire straits financially in 1996 and 1997. Their rival organization, World Championship Wrestling, was killing them in the ratings and was able to bring in guys from WWE for more money than WWE could pay them. Bret Hart was the biggest star that WWE had at the time but could no longer afford the contract he had signed a cuople years prior, so he was talking to WCW about a move there. When that was finalized, Bret had in his contract that he would have what is known as creative control during the last 30 days of his stay in WWE.
Now, there was a ton of friction between Bret and Shawn by this point. All the respect they had for each other prior to Wrestlemania 12, when they had the one hour Ironman match that is widely considered the greatest Wrestlemania match of all time, was gone by November of 1997. So Bret was not about to give up the belt to Shawn again, especially in his home country of Canada. This did not sit well with Vince McMahon as he had already been embarassed one time by Alundra Blayze who took her WWE women's title belt to WCW with her and dropped it into a trash can on national TV. So with all that being said, it left Vince in quite a precarious situation.
So after some conversations with Bret and Shawn regarding the PPV, it was devised that if Bret would not give up the title willingly, or as they say, do the job, then Vince would be forced to do the unthinkable: screw Bret out of the title. And that's what they planned on doing. From the way Shawn describes it in his book, nobody really wanted to do it. They all were hoping they could trust Bret to do the honorable thing and drop the belt to Shawn on his way out. That's the tradition and Bret was well-known for being a man of his word and a man that honored tradition. That is also part of the reason the events that transpired were so shocking to everyone watching.
Shawn did a great job, to me, describing the situation and how he felt during the time leading up to that fateful night and also what happened during the day and so forth. He talks about the emotions he felt during that day and how scared he was that they were actualyl going to take the belt from him the way they were. He compared it to a mafia hit. He even talks about a converstaion he had with Bret a couple hours before the show started and how awkward he felt and how bad he felt for Bret.
He also goes into detail about what happened after the match was over and he got back to the hotel. One thing he says that I found very interesting was how he didn't know if he would be able to have fun in the ring anymore. Also, how deep down he really wished that people would like him. The things he says here remind me of myself in some ways. I've always wanted people to like me but if I get the slightest inkling that they don't, then I get rebellious and just do things my way, instead of trying to repair what was wrong. I'm glad that I don't do that as much anymore. But nobody is perfect, we all just want to be and think we can be. And we want our heroes to be, as well.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Week 9 Blog
We are going to dive further into the Shawn Michaels Biography, "Heartbreak and Triumph". I like the next parts of the book as it brings Marty Jannetty back into the picture as he returns for a short time and actually beats Shawn in one of the greatest matches of all time to win the Intercontinental Championship. This was a huge deal for me personally as it gave me bragging rights as a fan of the Rockers. I could now say that both members of my team had won some sort of singles acclaim in the WWE and that was a huge deal back then. Up until that time, not too many teams could claim that. Bret Hart had won the IC title and would win the WWE Championship later that year (1993) but his partner, Jim Neidhart would have an issue just keeping a job in the WWE. Neither member of Demolition had any kind of impact in the singles ranks. Heck one of the members of that team never had a singles match in the WWE. Also, for all the acclaim that The Legion of Doom received while teaming up, neither one of them would ever be a serious threat to anyone in the singles ranks. So to have both members of your favorite team win singles gold was a big deal.
Of course, Marty would not last with the company because of his partying ways and his little demons he had to deal with. So the story starts to resort to the new reltionship between him and Bret Hart. It was the beginning of one of the most storied relationships in wrestling history. One that went from two men at the tops of their respective games and who respected each other very much for their abilities. During the years of 1993 to 1994, both Shawn and Bret were at the top of the WWE. Bret held the WWE Championship for the majority of the time between 1993 to Wrestlemania 12 in March of 1996. Shawn had 3 stints with the Intercontinental Championship during that time including the famous storyline between he and Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) where they both layed claim to being the IC champion. This storyline concluded at Wrestlemania 10 when they had the classic ladder match to determine who the rightful champion was. Shawn talks in detail about this match as well, concluding at the end by saying Gorilla Monsoon called it the greatest match he'd ever seen. Which is a great compliment from someone who, at the time, had around 40 years in the business!
Shawn also talks about a great program he had with Curt Hennig in 1993 that lead to their match at SummerSlam that year. Curt Hennig was one of the greatest heels of all time and to me, is the greatest Intercontinental Champion ever. So his feud with Shawn was a dream match for me. I really enjoyed watching them both since they were both so athletic and loved to bump around all over the place. Shawn actually blamed this fact for the reason he wasn't too proud of the match. Both guys were both so great at making their opponents look good that it was difficult for them both to take charge of the match between each other. This was still a great match in my mind though.
Of course, Marty would not last with the company because of his partying ways and his little demons he had to deal with. So the story starts to resort to the new reltionship between him and Bret Hart. It was the beginning of one of the most storied relationships in wrestling history. One that went from two men at the tops of their respective games and who respected each other very much for their abilities. During the years of 1993 to 1994, both Shawn and Bret were at the top of the WWE. Bret held the WWE Championship for the majority of the time between 1993 to Wrestlemania 12 in March of 1996. Shawn had 3 stints with the Intercontinental Championship during that time including the famous storyline between he and Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) where they both layed claim to being the IC champion. This storyline concluded at Wrestlemania 10 when they had the classic ladder match to determine who the rightful champion was. Shawn talks in detail about this match as well, concluding at the end by saying Gorilla Monsoon called it the greatest match he'd ever seen. Which is a great compliment from someone who, at the time, had around 40 years in the business!
Shawn also talks about a great program he had with Curt Hennig in 1993 that lead to their match at SummerSlam that year. Curt Hennig was one of the greatest heels of all time and to me, is the greatest Intercontinental Champion ever. So his feud with Shawn was a dream match for me. I really enjoyed watching them both since they were both so athletic and loved to bump around all over the place. Shawn actually blamed this fact for the reason he wasn't too proud of the match. Both guys were both so great at making their opponents look good that it was difficult for them both to take charge of the match between each other. This was still a great match in my mind though.
Week 8 Blog
Ok, so we are going to return to the Shawn Michaels autobiography, "Heartbreak and Triumph". And I'm going to start with one of the saddest chapters in his career (at least to me LOL), the breakup of the Rockers and the beginning of his singles career.
Shawn talks about how the Rockers were screwed out of the tag team titles in these chapters and how that pretty much started the issues between him and Marty Jannetty. That may not be a fair statement but it was shortly after that, that Shawn started to think about going singles. The Rockers had been together for 5 years which wasn't that rare back in the late 80's, but nowadays it's almost unheard of. About the only teams I can think of that were together that long now are the Hardy Boyz, the Dudley Boys, and maybe Edge & Christian. There are some others but it's still a long time for one team to be together. The book then goes into the whole debace of how the Rockers got screwed on a deal to appear on a Wheaties box and how they found out they were only getting paid half of what the other wrestlers there were getting. This set off Marty calling Vince McMahon and quitting, telling Shawn they could get a deal in rival WCW. This was not the case yet however and that's when Shawn starting talking to Vince about going singles and breaking up the Team of the '90's.
From there, he talks about the famous "Barber Shop" incident that officially broke up the Rockers. The incident where Shawn throws Marty through the window on the set and he is off and running. He goes into how he took the initiative to walk in ahead of the other guys and marched into Vince's office at a TV taping and demanded to be a larger part of the company's future. Shortly after that, he won the Intercontinental Championship and his career starting taking off from there.
Again, winning the IC belt back then was a huge deak for a wrestler. Nowadays, it seems like they put it on guys to see how they will do with a title. Back then, it was not something you received because there was nobody else to put it on or as a way of finding out how good you are. It was a title that was given because you earned it. So it was a huge deal when Shawn beat Davey Boy Smith to win the belt. Especially since you consider that Smith won it in a classic match two months earlier from Bret Hart. Now, Shawn may have won the belt from Davey because Davey was injured. I've heard that and it would make sense but I don't think there was a doubt that Shawn would have won it eventually anyway. He was thrust into the IC belt race pretty much from the outset of his singles career and he was in the main event of the Survivor Series event with Bret Hart a month after winning the IC belt.
Shawn talks about how the Rockers were screwed out of the tag team titles in these chapters and how that pretty much started the issues between him and Marty Jannetty. That may not be a fair statement but it was shortly after that, that Shawn started to think about going singles. The Rockers had been together for 5 years which wasn't that rare back in the late 80's, but nowadays it's almost unheard of. About the only teams I can think of that were together that long now are the Hardy Boyz, the Dudley Boys, and maybe Edge & Christian. There are some others but it's still a long time for one team to be together. The book then goes into the whole debace of how the Rockers got screwed on a deal to appear on a Wheaties box and how they found out they were only getting paid half of what the other wrestlers there were getting. This set off Marty calling Vince McMahon and quitting, telling Shawn they could get a deal in rival WCW. This was not the case yet however and that's when Shawn starting talking to Vince about going singles and breaking up the Team of the '90's.
From there, he talks about the famous "Barber Shop" incident that officially broke up the Rockers. The incident where Shawn throws Marty through the window on the set and he is off and running. He goes into how he took the initiative to walk in ahead of the other guys and marched into Vince's office at a TV taping and demanded to be a larger part of the company's future. Shortly after that, he won the Intercontinental Championship and his career starting taking off from there.
Again, winning the IC belt back then was a huge deak for a wrestler. Nowadays, it seems like they put it on guys to see how they will do with a title. Back then, it was not something you received because there was nobody else to put it on or as a way of finding out how good you are. It was a title that was given because you earned it. So it was a huge deal when Shawn beat Davey Boy Smith to win the belt. Especially since you consider that Smith won it in a classic match two months earlier from Bret Hart. Now, Shawn may have won the belt from Davey because Davey was injured. I've heard that and it would make sense but I don't think there was a doubt that Shawn would have won it eventually anyway. He was thrust into the IC belt race pretty much from the outset of his singles career and he was in the main event of the Survivor Series event with Bret Hart a month after winning the IC belt.
CM Punk Interview
Ok, so as we all know by now, I think it’s pretty obvious I’m a pro wrestling fan. If you don’t realize this by now, you need help. Anyway, with that being said, I’m going to take a little bit of a change of course with this week’s reading. No, I’m not going to go away from the pro wrestling theme but I’m going to get away from biographies and go to an interview that was done with arguably the hottest commodity that the WWE has right now, CM Punk. This interview was put on the site on July 14, about 2-3 weeks after Punk’s now famous tirade on the WWE, Vince McMahon, Triple H, and others. Punk is the #1 contender for the WWE title at the time of this interview and is planning on leaving the company after the Money in the Bank PPV on July 17. The promo on RAW was so well-done that two days after it, I was on my way to my Algebra class when I heard national sports radio talk show host, Jim Rome, talking about it and talking about how real it was and that he wanted Punk on his show. The promo turned the world of pro wrestling on its ear and brought about a new superstar who had already had a measure of success in the WWE.
One thing I loved about the interview was how it opened. In his 2nd promo the week after the original, Punk tore into the WWE by stating that the only times that the WWE gets national attention is when he’s talking or someone dies. So this interview started off with a question about that and Punk backed up his very true statement by talking about the recent death of “Macho Man” Randy Savage. That story was all over ESPN and every other news outlet. He could have went further into that by talking about the deaths of such WWE stars like Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and the tragedy of Owen Hart. How much did the nation outside of the underground world of pro wrestling know about them before their tragic deaths? Not much unless you exclude Nancy Grace. She seemed to know everything about Benoit, even though she had probably never seen or much less talk to him before in her life.
The rest of the interview talked about the reactions to his promos and the reality of the situation. Punk talks about how he can leave the WWE and be happy because he has taken care of his money and doesn’t really have to work at all if he doesn’t want to. He also talks about getting into the WWE and how he actually trained for 3 months after they first called him so he could be in shape and they couldn’t deny him. He has a lot of things to say that could be very inspirational when it comes to how hard you have to work to be successful in wrestling. The interview is at: http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/201107/cm-punk-wwe-wrestling-interview
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Book Review Log - Week 6
I'm going to take a break from the Vince Russo memoirs and switch to another wrestling related topic. I'm going to do a review on the Shawn Michaels biography, "Heartbreak and Triumph". In 1986, Shawn burst on to the national scene as a new member of the American Wrestling Association (hereby called the AWA). The AWA was carried by ESPN at that time and Shawn used that chance to the utmost along with his new tag team partner, Marty Jannetty. Together they formed the Midnight Rockers and established themselves as the most influential tag team of their era. I've read his book before after borrowing it from a friend but I found it at a Border's that was going out of business. I enjoyed reading through it again as there were many things I forgot from when I read it the first time.
The Midnight Rockers are a HUGE reason I started to watch and love wrestling the way I do. As the Rockers in the World Wrestling Federation, they were the most entertaining tag team, to me, of all time. The formats of their matches were almost always the same but it always seemed like they broke out some kind of new move in every match you saw. Nobody used the team aspect better than they did. That was what made it so easy for them to come up with new moves all the time. When alot of teams were just wrestling as two singles wrestlers, the Rockers were double teaming, using their athleticism and aerial skills to re-write how tag team wrestling would be done from then on. Future stars like the Hardy Boyz and Chris Jericho have listed the Rockers as major influences and a big reason they had the desire to wrestle.
Reading throuth this book before, I just wanted to skim through certain parts and so I started with, obviously, my favorite part. The part of the book where he meets Marty Jannetty and they form the friendship that would change wrestling history.
They first met in Kansas City working for Central States Wrestling and the promoter actually had them ride together. Later on they tagged together and that's where they realized that they had something together as they worked like a well-oiled machine together. The foundation for the Midnight Rockers was laid that night. It would pick up again as Marty would get a call from the AWA in early 1986 and he instantly told Verne Gagne about this young kid named Shawn Michaels and said they should hire him. They did and as was Marty's plan, the Midnight Rockers were officially born.
Shawn also goes into what happened the first time he and Marty were hired by the WWF and how they were fired two weeks later. He also talks about how they won the WWF tag belts and how they were stripped of them because of the broken top rope that totally messed up the entire match. I loved re-living these memories through the book and hearing about how in this time he was also married. A fact I didn't know growing up and watching them on TV. He also went into detail about some of the road stories like their visits to Graceland.
I really enjoyed revisiting these memories of my youth and reading about my favorite era of wrestling. This era was also my favorite in large part because of the tag team division in the WWF back then. You had the Hart Foundation, Demolition, the Powers of Pain, The Rougeaus, the Brainbusters and the Rockers. A great blend of size, strength, and athleticism that the WWF has never seen since then.
The Midnight Rockers are a HUGE reason I started to watch and love wrestling the way I do. As the Rockers in the World Wrestling Federation, they were the most entertaining tag team, to me, of all time. The formats of their matches were almost always the same but it always seemed like they broke out some kind of new move in every match you saw. Nobody used the team aspect better than they did. That was what made it so easy for them to come up with new moves all the time. When alot of teams were just wrestling as two singles wrestlers, the Rockers were double teaming, using their athleticism and aerial skills to re-write how tag team wrestling would be done from then on. Future stars like the Hardy Boyz and Chris Jericho have listed the Rockers as major influences and a big reason they had the desire to wrestle.
Reading throuth this book before, I just wanted to skim through certain parts and so I started with, obviously, my favorite part. The part of the book where he meets Marty Jannetty and they form the friendship that would change wrestling history.
They first met in Kansas City working for Central States Wrestling and the promoter actually had them ride together. Later on they tagged together and that's where they realized that they had something together as they worked like a well-oiled machine together. The foundation for the Midnight Rockers was laid that night. It would pick up again as Marty would get a call from the AWA in early 1986 and he instantly told Verne Gagne about this young kid named Shawn Michaels and said they should hire him. They did and as was Marty's plan, the Midnight Rockers were officially born.
Shawn also goes into what happened the first time he and Marty were hired by the WWF and how they were fired two weeks later. He also talks about how they won the WWF tag belts and how they were stripped of them because of the broken top rope that totally messed up the entire match. I loved re-living these memories through the book and hearing about how in this time he was also married. A fact I didn't know growing up and watching them on TV. He also went into detail about some of the road stories like their visits to Graceland.
I really enjoyed revisiting these memories of my youth and reading about my favorite era of wrestling. This era was also my favorite in large part because of the tag team division in the WWF back then. You had the Hart Foundation, Demolition, the Powers of Pain, The Rougeaus, the Brainbusters and the Rockers. A great blend of size, strength, and athleticism that the WWF has never seen since then.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Book Review Log - Week 5
In the next few chapters Vince goes more into details of what happened in his days with WCW. He goes into his impressions of Bill Goldberg, the rising star that almost saved WCW single handed. He also goes into as much detail as he could remember with his match with Ric Flair that ended up giving him a concussion.
Another intersesting and notw-worthy part of the book has to deal with someone coming out at the time this book was being written and calling Vince Russo a racist. This accusation came from the simple fact that Vince did not think that Ernest Miller (an up and coming African-American wrestler who actually had a role in the movie "The Wrestler" a couple years ago) did not need his Japanese manager, So, of course, the certain Japanese manager had to air his grievances to certain dirt sheets and anyone who would listen.
Now in the book, Vince Russo talks about something else that apparently got him labeled as a racist and that was his attitufe towards foreign wrestlers. I bring this up because there are a few things in this book that I agree with and this is one of those things. When asked by a magazine his thoughts on foreign wrestlers, he pointed out two issues that foreign wrestlers face and they are very true in the world of pro wrestling.
Fact #1: Most foreign wrestlers wear a mask. This eliminates a very important aspect of story telling and that is facial expressions. How can you get a wrestler over if the fans never know what emotions are going on behind the mask they wear? It's really hard to build any kind of character if the audience cannot tell what your emotions are in certain situations.
Fact #2: The Language Barrier. Just like not being able to tell facial expressions, how can we know what a wrestler's response is to a situation if we can't tell what they are saying? Many foreign wrestlers have English speaking managers but then the focus goes on the manager and not the wrestler. There have been many great athletes come through the ranks of the WWE that could never get over just because of that language barrier.
Vince next discusses probably the most famous storyline he had come across while in WCW. The angle that got a very talented but very under-appreciated wrestler named Booker T the World Title at the "Bash at the Beach" PPV in 2000. Now, at first, another guy named Jeff Jarrett who is also very well known in wrestling circles, had the World Title and was set to defend against Hulk Hogan. Now, Hogan was supposed to look really strong in his match but NOT leave with the title as Jarrett was going to lose it later that night to Booker T. Hogan didn't like this finish and so it was devised that they would do it in a "shoot" setting. They would work Jarrett and have him think that Hogan was not going to do the job of losing and have Jarrett lay down for Hogan. Jarrett did this just as planned and Hogan left the building with his belt while there would be another belt put on the line later on between Jarett and Booker T. All of this would be tied in by a scathing promo cut by Russo himself to set up the Booker T/Jarrett match. A match that would end with Booker T winning the title and off they would go. This event would also strip Russo of his spirit according to the next chapter in the book. He also goes on to chronicle the end of WCW up until it's demise in March of 2001 and how it effected him physically, mentally and emotionally.
Another intersesting and notw-worthy part of the book has to deal with someone coming out at the time this book was being written and calling Vince Russo a racist. This accusation came from the simple fact that Vince did not think that Ernest Miller (an up and coming African-American wrestler who actually had a role in the movie "The Wrestler" a couple years ago) did not need his Japanese manager, So, of course, the certain Japanese manager had to air his grievances to certain dirt sheets and anyone who would listen.
Now in the book, Vince Russo talks about something else that apparently got him labeled as a racist and that was his attitufe towards foreign wrestlers. I bring this up because there are a few things in this book that I agree with and this is one of those things. When asked by a magazine his thoughts on foreign wrestlers, he pointed out two issues that foreign wrestlers face and they are very true in the world of pro wrestling.
Fact #1: Most foreign wrestlers wear a mask. This eliminates a very important aspect of story telling and that is facial expressions. How can you get a wrestler over if the fans never know what emotions are going on behind the mask they wear? It's really hard to build any kind of character if the audience cannot tell what your emotions are in certain situations.
Fact #2: The Language Barrier. Just like not being able to tell facial expressions, how can we know what a wrestler's response is to a situation if we can't tell what they are saying? Many foreign wrestlers have English speaking managers but then the focus goes on the manager and not the wrestler. There have been many great athletes come through the ranks of the WWE that could never get over just because of that language barrier.
Vince next discusses probably the most famous storyline he had come across while in WCW. The angle that got a very talented but very under-appreciated wrestler named Booker T the World Title at the "Bash at the Beach" PPV in 2000. Now, at first, another guy named Jeff Jarrett who is also very well known in wrestling circles, had the World Title and was set to defend against Hulk Hogan. Now, Hogan was supposed to look really strong in his match but NOT leave with the title as Jarrett was going to lose it later that night to Booker T. Hogan didn't like this finish and so it was devised that they would do it in a "shoot" setting. They would work Jarrett and have him think that Hogan was not going to do the job of losing and have Jarrett lay down for Hogan. Jarrett did this just as planned and Hogan left the building with his belt while there would be another belt put on the line later on between Jarett and Booker T. All of this would be tied in by a scathing promo cut by Russo himself to set up the Booker T/Jarrett match. A match that would end with Booker T winning the title and off they would go. This event would also strip Russo of his spirit according to the next chapter in the book. He also goes on to chronicle the end of WCW up until it's demise in March of 2001 and how it effected him physically, mentally and emotionally.
Book Review Log - Week 4
Now we are off into chapter 19. Here we get more into the teeth of Vince Russo's on-air career at WCW after his initial suspension and his true thoughts on the main event talent in WCW at the time. But yet at the same time, he's not done preaching about the world around us and how we are all just wanting to gain acceptance in the world. And on we go to the wrestling aspect again...
One thing he does talk about in chapter 19 is how it was so much better for him in the WWE just due to the fact that it was only him and Ed Ferrara doing the booking there. In WCW, the big problem Russo had (and I agree with him on this point) was the fact that WCW wanted to do everything by committee. He talks about how easy it was to include everyone in the show with only 2 people booking as it was easier for ideas to become reality. This was lost on the WCW personnel that he had to report to and therefore not everyone was included in the show because ideas would get lost in the shuffle.
Vince also brings up the fact that Bischoff wouldn't judge the shows until after they aired as opposed to shooting down ideas before they aired. I don't know how to feel about this statement because alot of times ideas that look good on paper don't carry over as well on screen. I know there have been actors in shows in movies that thought the scripts they were working with were great until they saw them in action. Sometimes it's also the talent that turns a good idea on it's ear just by not being able to follow through on their ends. These are just some thoughts of mine though so take them for what they're worth.
He also dives into his relationship with Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair in this part of the book. He defends himself alot here by talking about how much of a fan he was of both of them before working with them but how he had to deal with them and their egos during his stint in WCW. He compares Flair and Hogan to the likes of Pete Rose, Willie Mays, and other legendary athletes who knew when to call it quits. I also totally agree with Russo here. Ric Flair is still out there wrestling on occasion and to me, every time he steps in the ring it does a little more damage to his legendary legacy. Add to that the fact that Hogan wrestles and refuses to lose to anyone or return favors when he is asked and you have situations that are almost impossible for a writer to deal with. How are you going to appease your two biggest stars while keeping your product fresh and new with newer talent being showcased? It was an almost impossible situation.
One thing he does talk about in chapter 19 is how it was so much better for him in the WWE just due to the fact that it was only him and Ed Ferrara doing the booking there. In WCW, the big problem Russo had (and I agree with him on this point) was the fact that WCW wanted to do everything by committee. He talks about how easy it was to include everyone in the show with only 2 people booking as it was easier for ideas to become reality. This was lost on the WCW personnel that he had to report to and therefore not everyone was included in the show because ideas would get lost in the shuffle.
Vince also brings up the fact that Bischoff wouldn't judge the shows until after they aired as opposed to shooting down ideas before they aired. I don't know how to feel about this statement because alot of times ideas that look good on paper don't carry over as well on screen. I know there have been actors in shows in movies that thought the scripts they were working with were great until they saw them in action. Sometimes it's also the talent that turns a good idea on it's ear just by not being able to follow through on their ends. These are just some thoughts of mine though so take them for what they're worth.
He also dives into his relationship with Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair in this part of the book. He defends himself alot here by talking about how much of a fan he was of both of them before working with them but how he had to deal with them and their egos during his stint in WCW. He compares Flair and Hogan to the likes of Pete Rose, Willie Mays, and other legendary athletes who knew when to call it quits. I also totally agree with Russo here. Ric Flair is still out there wrestling on occasion and to me, every time he steps in the ring it does a little more damage to his legendary legacy. Add to that the fact that Hogan wrestles and refuses to lose to anyone or return favors when he is asked and you have situations that are almost impossible for a writer to deal with. How are you going to appease your two biggest stars while keeping your product fresh and new with newer talent being showcased? It was an almost impossible situation.
Reading log week 3
Again we return to the random diaries of Vince Russo and his exploits in WCW and beyond. When we last left this book, I believe Vince was just beginning his tenure with WCW and was not flattering them with his writing style. As we move on now, we find that his meetings do not go as he wants.
Only 3 months after his hiring at WCW, Vince is told that he is being suspended and obviously, he's very disappointed with the suspension. He leaves us in chapter 14 with more thoughts about how God needs to be in control of our lives more and does not pick his book back up for another 21 months.
These 21 months were spent soul searching and looking for his place in the world. I don't really think this stuff would appeal to wrestling fans but you never know. He does talk about how he ran a promotion called Ring of Glory, which was centered around finding wrestlers in the Christian faith and running shows with religion in the forefront. He talks about how it only ran two shows because of it was impossible to find churches where he could do the shows. I wonder why that was such an issue for a guy that was in charge of the WWE crative process when Sable went topless during a show with only a painted on handprint covering up her vital areas? I know there are alot of religous people involved in pro wrestling but what kind of conflicts are you going to get when everyone in the company is religious and everyone in the audience knows they are? Just a thought....
Anyway, Vince begins chapter 17 of the book on a basic tirade getting back to what the book is really about, how WCW killed him. He goes through his rant and talks about how Time/Warner and everyone else associated with TNT looked down on WCW. He also goes through his relationship with Eric Bischoff and how they were supposed to try and work together in 2000. He goes into great detail about their previous meetings in 1996 or 1997 and how neither of them trusted the other person. How they are totally different people who enjoyed working with different levels of talent. According to Vince, he was a "blue-collar guy" who enjoyed working with all the talent while Eric just liked dealing with the main eventers and such. Now, I'll never know how much of that is true. I'm just doing a review on this book for now.
Now in concluding the chapter I'm going to talk about here, Vince brings up the storyline they came up with together and how Vince was supposed to make his on-screen debut in WCW as an ally of the younger talent in the company called the "New Blood" while they were being held down by the older talent on the roster, named the "Millionaire's Club".
Only 3 months after his hiring at WCW, Vince is told that he is being suspended and obviously, he's very disappointed with the suspension. He leaves us in chapter 14 with more thoughts about how God needs to be in control of our lives more and does not pick his book back up for another 21 months.
These 21 months were spent soul searching and looking for his place in the world. I don't really think this stuff would appeal to wrestling fans but you never know. He does talk about how he ran a promotion called Ring of Glory, which was centered around finding wrestlers in the Christian faith and running shows with religion in the forefront. He talks about how it only ran two shows because of it was impossible to find churches where he could do the shows. I wonder why that was such an issue for a guy that was in charge of the WWE crative process when Sable went topless during a show with only a painted on handprint covering up her vital areas? I know there are alot of religous people involved in pro wrestling but what kind of conflicts are you going to get when everyone in the company is religious and everyone in the audience knows they are? Just a thought....
Anyway, Vince begins chapter 17 of the book on a basic tirade getting back to what the book is really about, how WCW killed him. He goes through his rant and talks about how Time/Warner and everyone else associated with TNT looked down on WCW. He also goes through his relationship with Eric Bischoff and how they were supposed to try and work together in 2000. He goes into great detail about their previous meetings in 1996 or 1997 and how neither of them trusted the other person. How they are totally different people who enjoyed working with different levels of talent. According to Vince, he was a "blue-collar guy" who enjoyed working with all the talent while Eric just liked dealing with the main eventers and such. Now, I'll never know how much of that is true. I'm just doing a review on this book for now.
Now in concluding the chapter I'm going to talk about here, Vince brings up the storyline they came up with together and how Vince was supposed to make his on-screen debut in WCW as an ally of the younger talent in the company called the "New Blood" while they were being held down by the older talent on the roster, named the "Millionaire's Club".
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Week 2 review
During week 2 of this class assignment, I further explore Vince Russo's autobiography: "Rope Opera: How WCW Killed Vince Russo". Now, first off, I need to apologize for the error I made in the first review of this book. I accidentally forgot to include the "Rope Opera" part of the title so I apologize. On to the review!
When we last left this book, we were talking about how Disco Inferno likes martian invasion angles. As we proceed further into the book, Vince goes into his love for Barry Bonds (and attempts to make excuses for his alleged use of steroids), he talks about his first days at WCW, his encounters with WCW personnel J.J. Dillon and Bill Busch and how the meetings with them went after the first few weeks at his new job. He also goes over an incident with Dillon where Dillon was talking trash on Vince within earshot of Vince and how that confrontation turned out.
The middle of the book is alot more focused on his time at WCW than the rest of the book. He goes over how he brought up the idea of former UFC champion Tank Abbott winning the World title and how that went over. You would think upon reading that last line that having a former UFC champion as your champion would be a good thing but in Abbott's case, it wasn't. While being tough and rugged is good in the MMA field, being that way in pro wrestling does you a limited amount of good. In order to be successful in pro wrestling, the best thing to be is athletic and easy to work with. Tank Abbot was neither of these. He was also terrible on the microphone, which is considered a great equalizer. So the idea of him being anything but a lower level champion was ludicrous. Almost as ridiculous as having David Arquette as the World Champion but that's another story for another blog.
One thing that is interesting about the book, and I'm not really sure how I feel about it, is Vince's constant commentary about his Christian faith. He refers to it a great deal throughout the book and uses it to reference the decisions he makes through his life and so forth. Some people, one of my friends included, may feel he talks about it to excess. I know if I were having an intimate conversation of any kind with mr. Russo, then it would bother me to have to talk about it so much but in this book setting, it's a little different. It may be because I've been one to ridicule the storylines and angles he has been known to create throughout his career, it's nice to know that he has something such as religion in his life.
When we last left this book, we were talking about how Disco Inferno likes martian invasion angles. As we proceed further into the book, Vince goes into his love for Barry Bonds (and attempts to make excuses for his alleged use of steroids), he talks about his first days at WCW, his encounters with WCW personnel J.J. Dillon and Bill Busch and how the meetings with them went after the first few weeks at his new job. He also goes over an incident with Dillon where Dillon was talking trash on Vince within earshot of Vince and how that confrontation turned out.
The middle of the book is alot more focused on his time at WCW than the rest of the book. He goes over how he brought up the idea of former UFC champion Tank Abbott winning the World title and how that went over. You would think upon reading that last line that having a former UFC champion as your champion would be a good thing but in Abbott's case, it wasn't. While being tough and rugged is good in the MMA field, being that way in pro wrestling does you a limited amount of good. In order to be successful in pro wrestling, the best thing to be is athletic and easy to work with. Tank Abbot was neither of these. He was also terrible on the microphone, which is considered a great equalizer. So the idea of him being anything but a lower level champion was ludicrous. Almost as ridiculous as having David Arquette as the World Champion but that's another story for another blog.
One thing that is interesting about the book, and I'm not really sure how I feel about it, is Vince's constant commentary about his Christian faith. He refers to it a great deal throughout the book and uses it to reference the decisions he makes through his life and so forth. Some people, one of my friends included, may feel he talks about it to excess. I know if I were having an intimate conversation of any kind with mr. Russo, then it would bother me to have to talk about it so much but in this book setting, it's a little different. It may be because I've been one to ridicule the storylines and angles he has been known to create throughout his career, it's nice to know that he has something such as religion in his life.
Book review week 1
I'm starting my weekly blogging with a pro wrestling book called "How WCW Killed Vince Russo". Now, to start off with this title is just a play on words. There have been many tragic deaths of wrestlers and wrestling personalities over the past few years but Vince Russo has not officially died yet. Now, to clear up the play on words, I must first let you in on who exactly Vince Russo is.
Vince Russo was the head writer for the creative team in World Wrestling Entertainment or the WWE (then called the World Wrestling Federation, or WWF, but for simplicity's sake, it'll be referred to as the WWE from now on) back in the 1990's. He was credited for being a big part of the success of the WWE back in the "Attitude" era of the mid to late 1990's. The chief rival of the WWE at the time was a long-standing organization known as World Champoinship Wrestling, or WCW. A VERY creative moniker but that's another story. Anyway, Vince Russo was an integral part of the WWE overcoming WCW in the ratings war of the 1990's and in 1999, he decided to leave WWE for a larger contract in WCW. Alot of the reason he chose to leave was due to his feelings toward WWE President, Vince McMahon, but again, another story for later on.
Now, to explain the title of the book, Vince Russo took over the creative dept. of WCW in October of 1999, at a time when WCW needed a big boost that they were hoping he would help provide. After only 3 months on the job, he was suspended by the company. In March of 2001, the company was sold to Vince McMahon and was unceremoniously absolved. To alot of fans and with the help of some wrestlers over the years, the demise of WCW has been widely attributed to the fact that Russo was the man behind alot of bad storylines during the last two years of their existence. Thus the creation of the term, "Vince Russo killed WCW". Now whether this is fair or not is up for debate but in this book, Russo takes his chance and tells his side of the story, along with some other stuff I didn't know about him.
At the beginning of this blog, I'm already about 1/3 of the way through the book. I pick this review up in chapter 10 after he talks about his childhood a little bit and his reasons for initially leaving WWE the first time. Do we see a problem with that last sentence? One thing I have a problem with through the whole book is the fact that he jumps around alot. He explains it in the book as a way for him to make sure that you, the reader, reads the whole book and not just skip to the parts you want to read. To me, this is just the wrong way to write and I hate it. I've read several books that took you through their lives in cronological order without much of an issue. Only really dry books like Bret Hart's presented an issue with this and I made it through that one just fine.
Now I can do a little review in peace now that I have covered that. The 2 hours I spent reading this started with chapter 10 entitled, "Disco Doesn't Suck". This chapter covers Vince's relationship with Glenn Gilberti, AKA The Disco Inferno. For those of you who don't know, Disco Inferno was never really all that popular in WCW. He was ok but it's really hard to believe that Disco is this great TV genius with all these great ideas when his claim to fame is coming out like John Travolta and dancing the night away. But never-the-less, Vince tries to put him over as best he can while describing Disco's best idea as one involving a martian invasion storyline in which they invade and we find out one of the announcers is one and he is the mastermind behind it all. I'll end this review with that thought in your head and return next week for further commentary on this epic classic.
Vince Russo was the head writer for the creative team in World Wrestling Entertainment or the WWE (then called the World Wrestling Federation, or WWF, but for simplicity's sake, it'll be referred to as the WWE from now on) back in the 1990's. He was credited for being a big part of the success of the WWE back in the "Attitude" era of the mid to late 1990's. The chief rival of the WWE at the time was a long-standing organization known as World Champoinship Wrestling, or WCW. A VERY creative moniker but that's another story. Anyway, Vince Russo was an integral part of the WWE overcoming WCW in the ratings war of the 1990's and in 1999, he decided to leave WWE for a larger contract in WCW. Alot of the reason he chose to leave was due to his feelings toward WWE President, Vince McMahon, but again, another story for later on.
Now, to explain the title of the book, Vince Russo took over the creative dept. of WCW in October of 1999, at a time when WCW needed a big boost that they were hoping he would help provide. After only 3 months on the job, he was suspended by the company. In March of 2001, the company was sold to Vince McMahon and was unceremoniously absolved. To alot of fans and with the help of some wrestlers over the years, the demise of WCW has been widely attributed to the fact that Russo was the man behind alot of bad storylines during the last two years of their existence. Thus the creation of the term, "Vince Russo killed WCW". Now whether this is fair or not is up for debate but in this book, Russo takes his chance and tells his side of the story, along with some other stuff I didn't know about him.
At the beginning of this blog, I'm already about 1/3 of the way through the book. I pick this review up in chapter 10 after he talks about his childhood a little bit and his reasons for initially leaving WWE the first time. Do we see a problem with that last sentence? One thing I have a problem with through the whole book is the fact that he jumps around alot. He explains it in the book as a way for him to make sure that you, the reader, reads the whole book and not just skip to the parts you want to read. To me, this is just the wrong way to write and I hate it. I've read several books that took you through their lives in cronological order without much of an issue. Only really dry books like Bret Hart's presented an issue with this and I made it through that one just fine.
Now I can do a little review in peace now that I have covered that. The 2 hours I spent reading this started with chapter 10 entitled, "Disco Doesn't Suck". This chapter covers Vince's relationship with Glenn Gilberti, AKA The Disco Inferno. For those of you who don't know, Disco Inferno was never really all that popular in WCW. He was ok but it's really hard to believe that Disco is this great TV genius with all these great ideas when his claim to fame is coming out like John Travolta and dancing the night away. But never-the-less, Vince tries to put him over as best he can while describing Disco's best idea as one involving a martian invasion storyline in which they invade and we find out one of the announcers is one and he is the mastermind behind it all. I'll end this review with that thought in your head and return next week for further commentary on this epic classic.
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