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The Crippler, Chris Benoit

Kaz Hayashi

WWE RAW

Slobberknockers abound
Ringside Shadows #109: A Return, A Reintroduction, and A New Beginning

What a week to go on vacation, eh?

I've returned from sunny Sarasota, Florida.. landing in a now snow-covered Muncie, Indiana home, and my how things have been shaken. As is common knowledge now, I've been writing my PPV previews with John C. for about 4 months and I've known him for well over a year. There's been a great deal of uproar surrounding his departure, and I'll have a thing or two to say about that further along. As is right now, I've a bit of catching up to do.

Like the complete gimp, I set my VCR to record the Monday evening programs here in the frozen tundra while I was away. I just checked the tapes out late last night after situating myself once more, and I've a couple words on the goings-on therein.

Nitro was a waste, plain and simple, with the only possible redeeming areas falling short with unclean finishes in Psychosis vs. Kaz and a teaming of Booker & Kidman.

Then again, Raw wasn't much better. We had a couple nice little gems with the Radicals vs. Edge and Christian, and Benoit vs. The Rock (Who would've imagined the Crippler would go that strongly with the WWF's top name, not one month into his contract?), but a great collection of ass-suck to counter it all out, majestically featuring Mark Henry and Viscera's ugly mugs. A subpar card with a weak introduction from which the audience never really recovered. Again, it's too bad the night's best match (The Radicals vs. The Old Brood) couldn't end more cleanly. Malenko and Saturn were putting on a clinic, for anyone interested in the finer values of straight ring psychology and superb tag team dynamics. There's a feud that deserves a clean finish. Oh yeah, and how about Kurt Angle's breakneck elevation? Not even 6 months into his rookie year, and he's already halfway to a grand slam champion... and much better than the majority of his elders. This guy's going places.

At any rate, much more of an in depth dissection would fall on deaf ears this late.. I'll return to the standard Tuesday Review format this coming week, where we should get more of a solid feel for the upcoming Wrestlemania and Uncensored cards.

A word about John C...

I've always told John I'm not the one to carry grudges, and that certainly holds true here. My only hope is that he realizes how poor a taste this entire ordeal was in. It seems everyone I've known in my short time on the net has tried this 'false identity' schbang at one time or another (Be it my buddies Dale and Bill as Todd and Happydude respectively, or John's years-long "master plan"), and I still don't claim to understand it. It's distanced me from nearly everything I put faith in on the net, all seemingly without cause. If anything, this puts yet another barricade of mistrust between the writer or reporter and the only people who really matter, the readers. It's nearly crippled the once-proud Big3 Oratory, and there isn't any rhyme or reason aside from a sick power trip.

What am I getting at? I've decided, in the words of one Vince McMahon, to turn this negative into a positive. It's no secret my words have lacked emphasis lately, and I've been pushing out columns more for the sake of finishing them than for the enjoyment of it. I'll take this shocker as a kick in the ass, and dive back into what I like to think I do best... watch and observe. It's a new beginning of sorts, in more ways than one.

I've recently been asked to join the crew at one of the internet's premiere wrestling sites, The Pro Wrestling Daily, which I've gratefully accepted. Honestly, it couldn't have happened at a better time. To emphasize this new beginning, as well as formally introduce myself to this new audience (as well as to others, who never really recieved a proper introduction), I'll do my best to answer a simple question;

who am i?

Quite honestly, a dull man with a passion for the different. I'm a 20 year old graphic design major who puts together banners for a large number of my online friends. My true passions lie in art, wrestling, the internet, and music.. but to uphold the clarity of it all, I'll focus on my wrestling interests.

I know what I like, and I'm painfully blunt... often times to a flaw. If I see something that sucks, I'll call it as I see it.. there's no in-between. I'm a big time fan of the more established, near-beauty of submissions expertise and technical prowess, as well as the flash and danger of high flying lucha libre. I've seen maybe a half dozen perfect matches, none of which fall within the last 3 years (the last being Hart/Austin at WM13). I've been against the chosen path of the last few years, and only recently really found myself excited again when the WCW Four made their leap to the greener pastures of the WWF.

Simply, I'm in heaven when Super Crazy and Tajiri get into the ring. I'll be on the edge of my seat if I see Benoit going up against Bret Hart. I don't like seeing New Jack or The Wall, and though I don't dislike him as much as several others, I'm no fan of the Rock. I'll go for the athletic portion of the sport long before I'll take the monotony of a 15 minute promo.

All this, but I don't consider myself to be closed-minded. My mind can be changed, you've just got to convince me first. I'll welcome all e-mail, and I'll respond to every one of them (be it in my column or personally through e-mail).

And I guess that's it. Again, I'll be back Tuesday for the return of my Tuesday Review format and I should be back later in the week with part three of my four part WCW talent evaluation.

until next time, i remain
drq

 


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