Finally. I'm not even that big of a Rock mark, but he's definitely on the short list of the greatest wrestlers of all time. What he lacked in technical prowess, he made up for with an absurd workrate and the versatility to have great matches with essentially anyone, and he's really on an entirely different level in terms of pure charisma. As far as the DVD set goes, if you take into account the fact that the Rock has graduated from wrestler to Hollywood movie star, his pro-wrestling body of work as it currently stands is about as definitive as it ever will be. People like to point to Hulk Hogan's sub-illustrious Hollywood resume and his subsequent returns to wrestling, but the difference here is that the Rock can actually act, and will thus never need wrestling again. Hogan? Not so great of an actor. Regardless, I'm definitely grabbing this one when it comes out. Aside from the Curt Hennig set that's also supposedly coming out later this year, this is the one release that I've been really looking forward to. Here's to hoping that they include the HHH/Rock iron man from Judgment Day 2000.
What's funny is that as boring as the current product can be, I'm always willing to throw my money at Vince whenever the WWE puts out one of these spiffy 3-disc DVD collections. The nostalgia factor is certainly a part of it, but I think the bottom line is that the product can still be entertaining once you cut away the unnecessary fat and get to the core of things. I've given up on watching 2 hours of RAW to catch one or two solid matches/segments, but much like with anything else, hindsight is 20/20, and if the WWE sees it fit to go back and spotlight a bunch of entertaining bits in a retrospective release, they should by all means do so. What they lose in ratings and PPV buys, I imagine they can stymie with DVD and merchandise sales, so there's really an often unperceived degree of symmetry there.
Sunday's Wrestlemania 24 card:
Bunnymania - Ashley & Maria vs The Glamazon & Melina
No comment.
Belfast Brawl - Finlay vs JBL
Could be a sleeper. If there's two things that JBL can do, it's cut a killer promo and do garbage matches, so he should be in his element here. Finlay is one of my guys; probably the smartest, most crisp brawler on the roster, so I'm not particularly worried about him carrying his end of the deal. Both guys have been well documented as stiff motherf*ckers, so I'd be a happy camper if this one got 10+ minutes.
ECW Battle Royal (winner faces Chavo, ECW champ)
I actually like Chavo a bit, so it's a little unfortunate that he'll likely job to the winner of the battle royal. It's even more unfortunate that the winner will likely be Kane or Khali.
Batista vs Umaga
More or less an excuse to get these two guys on the card - expect Dave to go over. Batista attempting to Dave-bomb Umaga provides the only real intrigue (and potential hilarity) to the match. Umanga has actually grown on me a lot though; he's taken a stupid, absurdly outdated gimmick and made it work better than it has any right to.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Chris Jericho vs MVP vs Kennedy vs Shelton Benjamin vs Carlito vs CM Punk vs John Morrison
Should be a good one. I'd put my money on MVP or Punk, but we're really tuning in to see Shelton and Morrison do some some silly, silly things off of ladders.
Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels
In a way, it's a waste on two counts. HBK is probably the best worker on the roster, and would have probably been better utilized as a challenger for one of the titles. Flair, in likely his last big match, should be giving the rub to a young up-and-coming player, something that HBK certainly is not. If the booking committee had a lick of sense, they would have booked an Orton/Flair match, with the "Legend Killer" Randy Orton taking out his onetime mentor and arguably greatest legend of all time in Ric Flair. An HBK/Cena/HHH main event would have worked just as well as the Orton/Cena/HHH one, with Cena going into WM as champ after winning the title from Orton at No Way Out. But I guess that probably would have made too much sense and would have required some foresight.
Floyd Mayweather vs Big Show
Is this a traditional wrestling match? You can tell I haven't really been following the product as of late, because I honestly have no idea. I'd pay money to watch a shoot fight between the two - if only to see Show kill Mayweather, perhaps literally - but as is? No thanks.
World Heavyweight Championship - Edge vs Undertaker
Probably the lone forgone conclusion of the night. Taker's really at the point in his career where he doesn't need to be anywhere near a world title, but if the intent is to give him one last run with the belt, so be it. Despite his age and size, Taker can still inexplicably go in the ring, and Edge is Edge, so the match itself should be okayish at the very least.
WWE Championship - Randy Orton vs John Cena vs HHH
The gold standard for triple threats remains the HHH/Benoit/HBK masterpiece from WMXX, and although this year's offering has but a slim chance of unseating the former, it'd be fair to expect a good match considering the participants. Cena, though he has the coordination and grace of a hunk of metal and throws those terrible wooshy punches, almost always brings it in the big matches. Orton, is spite of his penchant for crapping in gym bags and being a spectacularly well rounded douche, has had his moments as champ and has managed to develop into a fairly solid worker. From HHH, we can expect multiple entrance themes, props (sledgehammers, crowns, ugly boots, or otherwise), tons of knee-based offense, and JR gushing and saying the words "cerebral" and "assassin," usually in conjunction, several thousand times over. Logic says Cena goes over. HHH-logic says HHH goes over.
1 comment:
damn, i hope the Rock's DVD doesn't denote his permanent departure from wrestling. the truth is: he ain't gettin' younger. however, he could probably cut a good-ass promo like a hot knife through butter no matter what his age is. if that's the case, he'll still outshine Hogan in every aspect if he returns in his 50s.
WM24 is lookin B+ at best. let's hope Morrison and Benjamin are straight flying in the MiTB match.
The anticipation for Flair/HBK is pretty much the only nail-biting aspect. unless Flair goes insane and has HBK throw him off the top turnbuckle and onto the ring floor. come to think of it, i might shed a tear if Flair gets thrown off the top turnbuckle like he used to back in the days - along with that groggy-stance-to-floor-headbutt.
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