WWE

Tully Blanchard was put on this earth to be a professional wrestling bad guy. His name, synonymous with the NWA Television Title, remains one that instantly conjures memories of bloody, brutal feuds with some of the top babyfaces of the 80’s. Bobby Roode, cut very much from the same cloth, is currently in the middle of a career which may well still be on the rise. A former TNA Heavyweight Champion, as well as being a member of one of the greatest tag teams of the last decade, Beer Money, Roode is one of the very best in the business today. As great as he’s been with TNA, however, would a change of scenery not potentially propel him to even greater heights?

I very rarely do this, but this one time I’m making an exception because after watching the May 2nd episode of Impact Live, I need to vent a little. What I saw in the Matt Morgan vs. Sting Main Event was one of the biggest jokes in close to 30 years of watching Professional Wrestling, and keep in mind I’ve not only seen the Ding Dongs tag team, but also once saw David Arquette win the WCW World Heavyweight Title.

I’m as guilty of this as just about anyone, but after taking a step back and really looking at his entire body of work, I feel very safe in suggesting Paul Wight, aka The Big Show, may well be the most underappreciated big man in the history of professional wrestling. On sheer presence alone, the man is larger than life, the likes of which the wrestling world hasn’t seen since the prime years of the legendary Andre the Giant. But right there, that comparison, seems to get all sorts of people up in arms. How dare anyone try and compare Big Show to the almighty Andre.

Don’t misunderstand me, Johnny Curtis could always ‘go’. Long before the ball room dancing, the pyro, and foxy dancer on his arm, long before it took 10 seconds to say his name, Johnny Curtis was an underutilized talent within the ranks of WWE. However, as we’ve seen time and time again, being a good wrestler isn’t the quickest way to get to the top of the WWE power rankings. More times than not, you need that indefinable ‘it’ factor, that thing that makes the WWE Universe stand and take notice. For Johnny Curtis, the character Fandango is just what he needed to finally showcase his high level of talent and skill.

It's amazing to me how many pro wrestling fans have no concept of anything outside the often sterile WWE Universe. Much of this has to do with the way in which the WWE markets themselves as the be all, end all, but quite a lot of it is just plain, old indifference. I’d wager the majority of WWE fans aren’t actually very big wrestling fans, but rather fans of the spectacle. That’s really a shame, because for much of the WWE Universe, they remember certain wrestlers a certain way, not realizing that quite a few of those who were buried while under the “sports entertainment” banner, have moved on to other places and become huge stars. One of these places is Japan, where professional wrestling remains a respected form of entertainment, not only for the show aspect of it, but for the athletic part of it as well. It is because of this that many former WWE Superstars have made their way to the Far East, resurrecting careers and, in some cases, finding themselves in the process.

In and fair and just world, wrestling fans would be treated each week to storylines created, at least in part, from the mind of Scott Hall. Announcing legend, Jim Ross, has called Hall a “brilliant wrestling mind”, and many others, from Eric Bischoff to Kevin Nash have echoed those sentiments. Were it not for a myriad of demons, many of which crippled him emotionally and physically for a large part of his life, Scott Hall may well have found himself in a position similar to the ones currently held by Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff in TNA. Instead, the former 4-time Intercontinental Champion is fighting each and every day of his life against his addictions.

This is bound to anger a few folks, but I’d like to toss out the following question: With his sour, often childish attitude, has Bret Hart, often referred to as “The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be”, actually done more to hurt professional wrestling that he ever did to help it?

Few things in pro wrestling make me happier than watching Mark Henry work. The man is an absolute beast in the ring, with strength that is unmatched by anyone in the industry, and promo work that is always aggressive, on point, and totally believable. Guys like Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair are ‘over’ because of their in-ring ability and gift of gab. Undertaker and Kevin Sullivan are ‘over’ because their respective gimmicks are/were frightening, bordering on downright insane. Mark Henry, he’s just a legitimate bad dude, and whether you’re in attendance at a live event or sitting in front of your television, you see it, hear it, and feel it the moment his music hits and he makes his way towards the ring.

A few weeks ago I did an article describing a direction I would have liked to have seen WWE take Jack Swagger’s character. I’ve always been a fan of his talent, but far too often he was shoehorned into terrible storylines and/or half-baked scenarios where there was little hope for success. Since that time, his current “We the People” angle has unfolded, and it, quite simply, one of the most interesting things I’ve watched on WWE television in months. I've lived on both sides of the illegal immigrant issue and see the good and bad with it all. For close to 10 years, I lived in Costa Rica as a quote/unquote "illegal". For several of those years, I worked, taking a lower wage than what I deserved, all because of Costa Rica's difficult, sometimes completely corrupt, immigration process. Was I taking a job from a Costa Rican? Yeah, I was, but a guy's gotta eat.

Somewhere in the world right now, there is someone going through their day to day fully invested in the idea that The Great Khali is the greatest wrestler of all time. If you were reading this while driving, you likely just hit a tree, or maybe a cow, but I’m being serious. Someone, somewhere lives and dies over Khali losses, and ‘pops’ like crazy the second his music hits and he stumbles his way down to the ring. When I see Khali, I see a giraffe on roller skates, but that’s okay. We all have different likes and dislikes. The problems arise, especially with pro wrestling social media, when people forget that words like “greatest” and “worst” are completely rooted in opinion.