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The Main Event - 07/05/08
By Jorden Taylor Jr.
Jul 5, 2008 - 10:07:43 PM
Thank you so much, everyone, for the positive feedback on my comeback article. I truly enjoyed reading each reply, and look forward to speaking to you in the future. I would like to give a special thank you to those of you who offered such kind remarks of condolence in regards to my Dad. I appreciate you more than you know. To those of you who have lost an immediate family member, my heart goes out to you, as well.
I'd like to start off this edition of The Main Event by talking about Vladimir Kozlov. I miss those weekly segments where he used to say, "I LOVE DOUBLE DOUBLE E!" I would laugh uncontrollably as I heard him say this each week, and then hearing the crowd boo him like crazy. He got some true heel heat, just by saying "I LOVE DOUBLE DOUBLE E!" He also got a lot of fans putting up signs that said they also loved double double e. I think that if they brought back these segments, especially with him having that sh!t-eating grin he used to have when saying that would put him to definite upper-midcard status. This is very similar to how no matter what promotion Psycho Sid was in, he would say, "I am the man, the master, and the RULER... OF THE WORLD!" The crowd would pop HUGE and go nuts, even though this was pretty much the extent of Sid's speeches on the mic. Sid had about 5 moves in his entire arsenal, but the fans (including me) used to mark out like crazy with all 5 moves. Vladimir Kozlov actually has some great moves, and is very talented. He is a fully trained expert in amateur wrestling, kickboxing (where he is a former United States Kickboxing Association International Heavyweight Grappling Champion), and judo. In addition, he is a very talented shoot fighter, and a deadly Combat Sambo artist. He took his Sambo skills to the mat and won the 2005 United States Open Sambo Heavyweight Championship. Trust me when I say, he beat the caca out of his opponents. On a side note, I laugh SO HARD every time Mick Foley refers to him as "Mambo Champion" and asks why they don't play some Spanish music as his entrance theme. I honestly would laugh for about 10 minutes if I saw Kozlov come out to some Latin music (I personally think that "Mambo Con Dancehall" by Brooklyn Funk Essentials, "Grita Conmigo" by Charlie Cruz, or the theme song Alex Wright used after his heel turn in 1997 would be great). An angle that I think would work would be Kozlov comes down to this Latin music, and Mick Foley really plays up him being a "Mambo" champion. After the match when the music starts playing, Mick Foley gets up and starts dancing, and Kozlov comes over and BLASTS Mick Foley and kicks the sh!t out of him. After he leaves Mick Foley knocked out, he then goes to the production truck and beats the stuffing out of the guy who played the Latin music. From this point forward, whenever Kozlov comes out to the ring, he uses the theme music formerly used by The Truth Commission when they first came to the WWF. This song would be PERFECT for Kozlov, as it even fits his walk to the ring. After his first entrance to the ring using The Truth Commission music, it should be introduced that he has resurrected the World Television Title. This title would be PERFECT for him, because as many of you may remember, the TV title can only be defended on television, and all matches must have a 15-minute time limit. If they put a clock up to see how quickly he beats people, this could really build him up as a legitimate heel. I would have him keep this title for literally 18 months before I had someone take it off of him, to give the belt value. At the same time, I would have Umaga resurrect the European title, keep it equally as long. I would also have Umaga and Kozlov become a tag team, take the titles off of Miz and Johnny Nitro, and keep the belts for at least a year. Kozlov's and Umaga's careers would go to new levels, and this would build back up the tag team division, along with two titles that were misused by the WWE.
In my last column, I stated that I would talk about some rehashed angles involving HHH. This angle was actually used by the WWE twice, but the original angle takes us back to 1989, starting at Starrcade. In the last column, I talked about the Iron Team Tag Team Tournament that took place then. This time, I would like to touch briefly on the Iron Man Singles Tournament. I won't go into great depth on the tournament itself, but I will give you a quick overview on the results. Sting won the Iron Man Tournament over The Great Muta, Lex Luger, and Ric Flair. As a winner of this tournament (which was an absolute CLASSIC... if you have not seen this, you need to rent the DVD), Sting got a future title shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (which he could cash in at anytime, much like the Money In The Bank Briefcase of nowadays). Sting and Ric Flair had a recent alliance because of their feud with The Great Muta and Terry Funk. Because of this alliance, The Four Horsemen stable (perhaps the greatest wrestling stable of all time) was reformed, with the members being Ric Flair, Sting, Arn Anderson, and Ole Anderson. Sting was the youngest member of the Four Horsemen. Even though he was apart of the group, and saved Ric Flair many times from beatings from The Great Muta and Terry Funk, as well as never wavered from his loyalty to the group, At the PPV "Clash of the Champions," Sting announced that he wanted to cash in his title shot at the PPV "Wrestle War." Ric Flair (the World Heavyweight Champion), being very threatened by this, along with the other two Horsemen, had a severe problem with this, and Sting was kicked out of the group. Sting suffered a legit injury, and ended up being out of action for five months. When he came back, he did cash in his title shot at The Great American Bash (1990), where he did win the World Heavyweight Championship.
Let's fast forward to 2004... there is a stable in the WWE that consists of HHH, Dave Bautista, Randy Orton, and (drum roll, please...) Ric Flair. In this situation, HHH is holder of the exact same World Heavyweight Championship that Ric Flair held back in 1989. HHH loses this title to Chris Benoit. Randy Orton (the youngest member of the group) wins a title shot against Benoit at SummerSlam 2004. He cashes in his title shot and wins the World Heavyweight Championship. The next night, HHH, who is threatened by Orton, along with the other two members of Evolution, beat the stew out of him, and kicked him out of the group. HHH rehashed (poorly) the Four Horseman angle with Sting from nearly 15 years prior. The only difference is that HHH did not put over Orton (unlike Flair, who put over Sting).
On a side note, in my opinion, this single-handedly ruined Randy Orton's career. Yes, he has had success since then, but the permanent damage has been done. Randy Orton was derailed from being SUPER over to now being a champion that many people did not take seriously. I think that HHH also did similar damage to Chris Jericho's career the night that Chris Jericho defeated him on Monday Night RAW for the World Heavyweight Championship, but then insisted that it be reversed immediately. HHH only put Jericho over one time ever, on an episode of Smackdown (where Jericho did not get a true clean win). Also, when HHH took titles off of both Orton and Jericho, each time it was done in a fashion that completely took away the legitimacy of their title reigns.
Getting back to rehashed angles, Dave Bautista wins the 2005 Royal Rumble. He is still in Evolution with Ric Flair and HHH. He decides to cash in his title shot at WrestleMania 21, which makes HHH feel threatened. Dave Bautista is kicked out of the group (which subsequently disbanded), but, in this scenario, HHH does the right thing and puts Dave Bautista over (like Ric Flair did with Sting).
Well, I hope you enjoyed this edition of "The Main Event." I'm listening to "All For The Money" by MC Eiht, and am drinking a pretty delicious watermelon drink where I got the recipe from the Food Network. I'm about to fire up the grill and eat some grilled chicken with a sweet heat sauce. Cheers to all of you. I look forward to hearing from you, as always. On behalf of all of the other columnists here at Wrestling Online, as well as our editor, and the rest of the staff, good night!
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