Check out that header picture!

Decided the blog needed a bit of a face lift so I went on the hunt for a good picture to use in the header. After a bit of searching I found this awesome painting of Blue Demon and decided it was perfect.

The artist is Jorg Dubin and you can check out a bunch of his work here, I think his work is pretty rad personally.

http://www.sdgallery.com/catalogs/dubin/gallery/index.htm

Be forewarned there are paintings of women with their naughty bits exposed to the world so don't say I didn't warn all of you folks with delicate constitutions out there.

The Hart Dynasty

I am really not into the name of this new group on ECW. Where do you get off throwing around a word like dynasty when a group has just begun? Usually a group has to establish themselves over time, in any sport or historical event, to be referred to as a dynasty. You can't just walk off the street and say you're a dynasty! We have rules for this shit for a reason! I can't just say I'm the grand chancellor of pizza! I have to be appointed that position!

Let's take a look at some famous dynasties!

Ming Dynasty: Led a revolt against the Yuan Dynasty and the Mongols, built the Great Wall of China and lasted from 1368 - 1644 A.D. as the rulers of freakin' China.

Chicago Bulls: Led by Michael Jordan considered to be the greatest to play the game, a total of 6 NBA championships that consist of two three-peats. 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98. No other team has ever been able to do two three-peats!

Now let's list the Hart Dynasty's accomplishments

Hart Dynasty: Has a penchant for leather vests, wears neon pink spandex, beat up an Irish guy two weeks ago on ECW.

Not really much of a comparison here folks!

You could argue that the definition of dynasty would give them the go ahead to use such a term.

Dynasty: a series of members of a family who are distinguished for their success, wealth, etc.

You could try and say that as all three are related or affiliated with the original Hart family members. While you could say that, it does seems pretty presumptuous at this point to assume that all three of these members will be future legends. Let's take it down a few notches here with the name, perhaps the Hart Coalition, Hart Inc. or even recycle the old Hart Foundation name but screw dynasty!

I am not going to say that these three aren't talented wrestlers who have the potential to go far, because they do. However, let's not count our chickens before they are hatched with using a name like dynasty.

17 Time World Champion

Ric Flair is currently the man who holds the most world title reigns in the history of wrestling with 16. 16 world title reigns is an amazing and staggering accomplishment. Very few wrestlers have ever achieved obtaining double digits in terms of world title reigns. For example Hulk Hogan has held the WWF/E and WCW world titles 12 times collectively, Stone Cold Steve Austin 6 times, The Rock 9 times and Shawn Michaels has held the belt only 3 times. The wrestlers mentioned there are all legends in my opinion but you will notice the numbers for their title reigns differ greatly. Notoriety does not always equate multiple title reigns.

HHH currently has 13 title reigns under his belt and would seem to be the prime candidate to become the man who either ties Ric Flair or captures the unthinkable 17th title reign. It's hard to say how much longer HHH will be around given how prone his leg muscles are to serious injury. He's already come back from two "career ending" injuries which is incredible to say the least but could his body handle a third? It's difficult to say if HHH could capture 4 more world titles before something gives.

If you want to know who I really think will beat Ric Flairs record? My money is on the Rated R Superstar himself, Edge. Keep in mind that they may seem like a silly proclamation as Edge only has 9 title reigns at this time. Having 9 reigns is impressive but it's a far cry from 16. Understood, but what makes the reigns unique as that his first world title reign was in 2006. That means in the past 3 years Edge has managed to capture the world championship 9 times. In 3 years he has managed to become more than halfway to the dream of 17 world championships. That's an unprecedented climb up the ladder!

Let's do some math here shall we. HHH won his first world title in 1999 so in a decade and he has won the belt 13 times. That means on average HHH wins a world title 1.3 times a year where as Edge wins 3 world titles a year. Given that Edge (35) is younger than HHH (39) and is less injury prone it is likely that not only will Edge surpass HHH but will even surpass Ric Flair as well. Statistically speaking it would seem like a sure thing. The only thing you can't factor into those numbers is poor life choices or serious injuries.

Given that Edge is a very good wrestler, has fantastic mic skills and a good mind for the business I don't see him going anywhere any time soon. Expect him to stay in the world title scene for some time to come and eventually break Ric Flairs record. Take a good long look at the picture below. I have a feeling you'll be seeing this image at least 8 more times.

What's old is new again

While watching RAW the past few weeks I noticed that RAW has rehashed a couple of ideas from the past as of late. Any wrestling fan worth a lick knows what I'm talking about here and is probably just as excited as I am that it is happening.

The first being the return of the cast! According to Matt Hardy his hand is broken and now he has to wear an arm cast whenever he wrestles, usually in protest. When he cuts promos he'll whine and complain how painful it is to wrestle and how no one in management will listen to his complaints. Naturally the fans berate him because they don't believe his hand is really injured. Why would they? It seems to be just fine when he uses it to clobber his opponents over the head with it. This gimmick works on a lot of levels and it really makes the person perpetrating it look like a scumbag because he is feigning an injury, whining and then cheating. Boo that man! He is dishonest!

For those not in the know this idea was made famous by Cowboy Bob Orton and it worked very well for the now Hall of Famer. It's simple enough and it works like a charm with the right person, in this case Matt Hardy. Kudos to the creative department for bringing this idea back into fray.

The second rehash is in action every time The Miz hits the ring. The Miz has been coming out and calling out John Cena. Insulting his in ring talent, hometown and his not so successful movie career. Overall I think it's been hilarious as The Miz has been taking some pretty low blows at Cena. That type of attitude is something that has been missing since...well the Attitude Era! Anyways, The Miz will spew of all of his insults when John Cena is unable to come out and actually defend himself, conveniently enough. When Cena does not appear The Miz declares himself the winner and has been keeping a tally of his "victories" since. The crowd boos because The Miz is insulting a man while he isn't even around to defend himself, which of course The Miz knows. It's a cowardly move and of course the crowd eats it up. Eventually Cena will get his hands on him and leave him looking like he was on the ass end of an ass whuppin'. It's nature people, it makes sense.

Where have you seen this before? If you look back you will see an almost exact scenario between Chris Jericho and Goldberg back in WCW. Chris Jericho would run his mouth when Goldberg wasn't around racking up "victories" along the way. Eventually Goldberg caught up to him and speared the bejeezus out of him. It was a satisfying TV moment for all involved. It was the storyline that got me back into wrestling when I was younger as a matter of fact. I suggest reading Jericho's book if you want to read about the behind the scenes of that particular storyline.

What am I getting at here? You don't always need to do something new for every storyline. There are a plethora of gimmicks and stories from the past that can be told again by new talent. These two examples show how you can use past ideas to bring something fresh to the show. I'm all about moving forward and not focusing on the past constantly but why not take proven gimmicks and tweaking them to work for today? It makes sense to me.

What's in a Finisher?

What the hell is going on with finishers nowadays? Why is it that no one can use a flying elbow or a perfectplex? These are legitimate finishers which when used properly could easily signal the end of the match with little setup. Not these 30 second convoluted train wrecks I see being performed as of late.

New wrestling talent seems to be on a kick lately of trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the finishing maneuver. I'm not sure if they are trying to hard to invent a new move to cement their legacy with a timeless maneuver or if these older finishers are just off limits to them. Either way something has to give here because the majority of these finishers require too much setup with a little or no payoff.

A prime example of this is MVP's Playmaker. The picture to your right shows how the move begins. Right off the bat this thing looks awkward. It requires several seconds for MVP to place his opponent in this position and on top of that you will notice his opponent will actually hold his leg in order to help him keep his balance! Why would your opponent help you to knock them unconscious? To finish the move MVP falls forward and no matter the angle you see it from you are never quite sure what this move actually does to his opponent. Perhaps the sheer embarrassment of being looked in this awkward yoga position causes his opponent to lose consciousness, who's to say really. I'm a big fan of MVP but I think he needs a simpler finishing maneuver that actually looks like it does something.

If you look back on popular finishing maneuvers you will find that they really are simple. Sweet chin music is a kick to the face, the choke slam is well...a choke slam,the million dollar dream was a sleeper hold and the perfectplex was just a fisherman's suplex. It's easy to understand what is going on when these moves occur and you can use them at any point during the match. What makes them special is the person performing these moves. For example, a regular flying elbow does not mean much, but if the Macho Man drops a flying elbow you know that was a significant piece of offense. It's a simple maneuver but with the proper build up and delivery it becomes something more.

I feel as though new talent is letting the finishers define them as opposed to making them work for them. If it is the case where the WWE is not letting them use older moves because they feel as though retired wrestlers have some type of entitlement to them then I suggest management needs to move on from this stance. The WWE has a wealth of young talent right now on the verge of becoming big names, with the right finishers a good majority of them could cross that threshold.

Your thoughts are welcome on this matter.