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Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the second edition of “The Main Event.” I appreciate all the positive feedback from the first edition, and look forward to your correspondence on this article, as well.
Well, as we all know, several WWE superstars were recently suspended for the alleged drug scandal. While this list may not be completely comprehensive, from what I understand, the names on the list include: Chavo Guerrero, Gregory Helms, Ken Kennedy, Funaki, Umaga, Charlie Haas, Edge, William Regal, John Morrison, and Randy Orton. On this list, we have seen several storyline punishments to explain the suspension of these wrestlers. Chavo Guerrero ended up losing a match to Rey Mysterio in the same fashion that Rey lost to him when he left to recover from his knee injury. We saw Umaga lose the Intercontinental Title to Jeff Hardy, and then get squashed by Hunter Hearst Helmsley. We saw William Regal get thrashed by John Cena. We saw John Morrison (Johnny Nitro) finally get defeated for the title by CM Punk (which I believe was long overdue, anyway). We saw Ken Kennedy lose his opportunity to play the character of Vince McMahon’s son to, of all people, Hornswoggle. That has to be heartbreaking for him. He is injured earlier in the year, thus losing the Money In The Bank Briefcase (with his title shot being given to Edge), and now this. He also was injured at the beginning of his career, forcing him to miss his very first Wrestlemania opportunity. Kennedy used very poor judgment, and is now paying for it. However, nothing yet has happened to Randy Orton.
What is very disappointing about Johnny Nitro’s suspension is that he JUST witnessed his partner, Joey Mercury, get fired for illegal drug use. What was on his mind? The person that he not only was a tag team partner of, but traveled up and down the roads got canned, and then he went on to do the same thing. He, of all people, should have known better.
It will be interesting to see if Edge will receive any type of punishment when he returns back from his injury. I personally feel that he should, because he should not be excused simply because he is out recovering from surgery. He should be jobbed out in a few matches, similar to the punishment HHH received after the infamous Madison Square Garden incident (for some of my younger readers who may not be familiar with that, Google it to learn more about it… it involved HHH, Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, who at the time, went by Diesel, and Scott Hall, who at the time, went by Razor Ramon). I also think that Randy Orton definitely deserves to be punished. From many accounts, he has been an absolute jerk backstage on multiple occasions, and let’s not forget the amount of damage he did to the hotel room over in the UK tour. A combination of bad behavior plus illegal drug use warrants a huge punishment.
This is the time for the WWE to push some of its midcard wrestlers to main event status. As mentioned in the previous article, Ron Simmons was punished for not showing up to Monday Night RAW the day after Survivor Series 1997 (which was where the Montreal Screw Job of Bret Hart took place). Ron Simmons protested Vince McMahon’s actions against Bret Hart, and paid dearly. His feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin was cancelled, and a midcard Rock was pushed to main event status, winning the intercontinental title, and starting a feud with Steve Austin that lasted for years, and headlined Wrestlemania on more than one occasion. I would love to hear from some of you about your thoughts on what midcard wrestlers should now be pushed to main event status to replace some of the suspended wrestlers.
For some of the old school wrestling fans here, I would like to take a stroll down memory lane. What I truly think is missing from wrestling today is a true monster heel, and a true monster face who is looked at as the last home to wage war against the monster heel. Let me explain. For those of you who do not remember The Undertaker when he first debuted at Survivor Series 1990 in the then WWF (right after leaving a pretty successful career in WCW as Mean Mark Callous). Mean Mark Callous was made into an incredible new character like the wrestling world had never seen. The Undertaker was arguably at that time, the most intimidating wrestler in history, rivaling the scariness of a heel Andre The Giant. This was a masterpiece by Vince McMahon, as prior to The Undertaker, the only recent monster heel being Earthquake (heel version). The Undertaker struck fear into fans, and even into other wrestlers. He was absolutely feared, on a much different level than today. This was not the face Undertaker that everyone cheers for today. Back then, when you heard the gong of the bell, people began to sweat. There were no cheers; there was terror on the eyes of people. His theme music was much more eerie than it is right now. It was literally that of a funeral home. He came with his first manager, Brother Love. This Undertaker was absolutely destroying people, and putting people in body bags (anybody remember the untelevised feud between The Undertaker and The Ultimate Warrior where they were going around the country doing casket matches and body bag matches?). When The Undertaker wrestled, people did not believe that he was going to lose. Fans did not even know what would hurt The Undertaker. After The Undertaker’s victory to win the WWF Title over Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series 1991 (which I do believe was cheapened by Ric Flair’s interference), The Undertaker was established as a mega superstar. I do think that he was absolutely robbed by having to job back out to Hogan the very next week at the not so popular, seen by few “Tuesday In Texas” event. As a result of the controversy, the then WWF President Jack Tonney stripped Hogan of the title, and it was then vacated. Who all thinks that The Undertaker was deprived of a great title run by only being allowed to keep the title for five days (Survivor Series was on Thursdays back then, not Sunday)?
The Undertaker once was the youngest champion ever. He was 26 years old when he won the title from Hulk Hogan. To this day, only three WWE Superstars have taken that record. Randy Orton was 24 when he won his championship. Lesnar was 25 when he won his championship. The Rock was 26 when he won his championship (but a younger 26 than The Undertaker). The youngest champion WWE Champion ever is Brock Lesnar. The youngest World Heavyweight Champion is Randy Orton. Orton is also the youngest person to receive a world title in the WWE.
Getting back to the subject at hand, while The Undertaker was feared as by far the most powerful heel, there was an equally powerful monster face. The Undertaker’s former WCW fellow employee, Sid Justice (which was the WWF’s version of Sid Vicious), was absolutely destroying his opponents, as well. This was the one person who matched size and power with The Undertaker. This was the one person that children across America would say to each other, “We need Sid Justice to take on The Undertaker! He would be able to stop him!” Enter WWF Superstars, 1992, with Vince McMahon and Macho Man Randy Savage at commentary. Jake “The Snake” Roberts came out in disguise as “El Diablo” to take on Sid Justice. The crowd was already popping really loud with Sid Justice’s introduction. Right before the wrestlers lock up, Paul Bearer comes outside and gives El Diablo a briefcase full on money, convincing him to leave. Out comes The Undertaker. The crowd is going completely @pe sh!t. My friends and I are going nuts! We were like, “YES, YES, YEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!! THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!” The Undertaker at the time was feared for his choke (I am not even talking about the choke slam; I am speaking specifically about his grey-gloved choke). The Undertaker began to choke Sid Justice. But, for the first time ever, The Undertaker’s opponent did not go down to the choke, and Sid choked The Undertaker back! The crowd was going crazy! Camera flashes from pictures being taken were going off all around the arena. This was one of the largest ovations in wrestling history. The crowd wanted to see these two combatants take each other on! You could hear, “Sid! Sid! Sid! Sid!” all throughout the arena. The horrible thing about this is that this feud was killed, and Sid and The Undertaker did not take each other on until five years later at Wrestlemania 13 (1997). At this point, Sid and The Undertaker were not in their prime, as Sid was billed as a crazy man (he rightfully was named Psycho after stabbing Arn Anderson with a pair of scissor), and The Undertaker was a face. This feud should have taken off back when The Undertaker was still a monster heel, and Sid was the only monster face in the WWF. Much more could have been gained from it back then.
If anyone ever saw any house shows with Sid Justice Vs. The Undertaker, please let me know, because I would love to hear about it. I did hear that they had a few untelevised matches, but whenever the WWF came to my home town of St. Louis, Missouri, The Undertaker always took on The Ultimate Warrior.
I look forward to everyone's feedback!
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