As
I sit here writing this in my Father Christmas hat, eagerly awaiting my
presents to be delivered on Christmas morning, I have already been immersed in
the Christmas spirit for close to three months already, ever since I walked
into my local shopping centre and heard the sounds of ‘Rocking Around The
Christmas Tree’ blasting out to the annoyance of most. Regardless of it not
even getting to Halloween yet I couldn’t help but give a small dance to the
horror of two girls caked in make-up and the amusement of a store assistant.
Now we’re in the Christmas month and the mince pies and fizzy pop is flowing
like wine at the feeding of the five thousand, I can happily say that I am in
my element.
Of
course, I do take a moment to ponder on what type of a year I’ve had and it has
to be said it’s been pretty awful. Don’t get me wrong, nothing truly tragic has
happened in my life. I haven’t lost anyone in the family for the time in many
years but where the main problem lies is that nothing major has happened either.
They say that you make your own luck and like most of you wonderful minions, I
have worked my particulars off – both of them if you’re wondering – to make my
luck better than it has been. Despite hours upon hours of hard work, I’m still
sitting here hoping 2014 will be my year. But saying that I was sitting in this
exact seat last year, wishing the same thing. I like to stick to theory that if
you keep going and don’t give up then something good will happen.
Of
course with Christmas comes New Year’s and those New Year’s resolutions we all
make but can’t ever stick to. I’ve made them in the past as I’m sure you have.
To lose weight, stop eating so much rubbish, do something we haven’t before and
the list goes on and on. Personally, I have two New Year’s resolutions. The
first being to finally learn to play a musical instrument without losing my
temper with it. The instrument I have my eye on is a Ukulele as I once tried to
play a guitar but after two months of struggling to learn to strum two strings
it unfortunately met with the sole of my shoe in a very nasty purpose filled
accident. The second is to do something I never have before. Be that say yes to
more things or live a little more. I want to do something I never have and the
first pinpoint in that quest will be to make my sisters birthday cake complete
with little fondant people from television shows she loves.
I’m
sure all you good people are pondering over what yours will be and some of you
will even be sneering at the thought of promising yourself to do something
knowing damn well you have no intention of following it through. I think we
should. It gives us something to work towards and a great sense of self pride
when we complete it. Everyone reading this should just try to do one thing they
never have before or the one thing they’ve promised themselves to do for years.
It doesn’t matter what it is. If you’ve always wanted to parachute from a
thousand feet then throw yourself out of a plane and think how wonderful it is
to be alive. If you’ve been yearning to tell that certain girl or guy how you
feel about them then do it, take that leap (it’s just a shame I don’t follow my
own advice). Just do something. Personally, I’m still contemplating whether or
not to go that holiday camp audition I mentioned a while back. I’ve prepared an
audition piece and everything but it’s just finding the nerve to actually go.
I
have actually already begun this and before New Year – aren’t I a good boy?
Maybe Santa will leave me an extra under the tree for foresight and effort this
Christmas. Because this year, I took the leap and actually attended my first
acting audition in years, in the complete knowledge that I would never ever get
the part offered. So hey, it’s a start right? Though I think Christmas is much
more exiting when you have children in the house and I can’t wait until I have
some of my own. The judge has ruled that I can no longer invite random ones
into my house (that for all of the humourless, was a joke – come on it’s
Christmas).
Whilst
we’re wondering what our New Year’s resolutions will be, I wonder if Vince
McMahon has made his and if he’ll keep to them. If not and Vince if you’re
reading this then allow your Wrestling God to suggest a few resolutions you
could keep to which could boost business all around. You never know maybe by this
time next year, McMahon will have taken note of these suggestions and we’ll see
them implemented on WWE television and we can tuck into our Christmas pudding
with a smug grin knowing that we were responsible for 2014 in wrestling – not
that we’ll ever be credited for it.
I
could mention a long list and keep you here for the next hour whilst I dust off
my soap box and wax lyrical about where WWE are going wrong. But let’s be
honest, it’s Christmas, you have better things to do and I still have presents
to wrap whilst trying to get a sneak peak at what my family have brought me –
you all do it! Instead of writing a list which you’ll all be slashing your
wrists at by the time you get to the end I’m simply going to mention one or two
things and see if we can spot them on WWE programming in 2014.
The
first is the long awaited and much talked about John Cena heel turn. Yes,
before you pepper me with messages telling me this has been throw around and
rejected several times by Vince McMahon and John Cena, let’s not forget that
McMahon is a man of great integrity even though he doesn’t show it half of the
time. More than anyone in WWE Vince knows that the company has to move forward
or risk sliding backwards. It’s an effect which WWE suffered during the Monday
Night Wars and one they may face again if they don’t soon do something about
the Cena situation.
We
all know the reason Vince doesn’t want to turn Cena and it’s the same reason why
John Cena is so opposed to turning himself. When it comes down to it, neither
is bothered about what is best for business, just how much they can line their
pockets with from the sizable merchandise sales. When it comes down to it, John
Cena can preach that he loves this business all he wants but unless he’s
willing to prove it by doing what is best then as far those who hate him
concerned, he’s only in it for the money. It’s up to the man himself to prove
us wrong and for all the member of the Cenation who dispute this, then ask
yourself why won’t Cena turn heel? Apart from the money situation there is no
reason not to. The majority of the WWE Universe can’t stand him anyway and he
knows that he’s done everything he possibly can.
Should
Vince McMahon take his head out of his bank account for a few minutes then he
would see that a John Cena heel turn, maybe at WrestleMania XXX combined with
the recreation of a brand new NWO lead by Cena, then the merchandise sales
would triple what they currently are. Suddenly, a heel John Cena would be cool
to support even if his in ring output was still poor. Sales of NWO shirts would
sky rocket and as long as WWE implemented some wrestlers under Cena who needed
the exposure and don’t go to stupid lengths with the angle like WCW did, it
could be one of the defining moments of this decade. Surely both Cena and
McMahon know that if they could pull it off the financial rewards would be ten
fold to what they already are.
The
second resolution McMahon needs to make is the emergence and building of new
talent. It came some way in 2013 before it cooled off and now McMahon has stopped
the journey of his young stars completely until he finds someone he believes is
good enough to carry the candle forward. What is ironic about this and slightly
infuriating is that had he continued the Dolph Ziggler push in mid 2013 then
Ziggler would have been a full time main event star by now, but like everyone
else, McMahon lost interest in Dolph and relegated him to the curtain jerker
position. What is even more baffling is that whilst Ziggler is treading water
on the under card, Big E. Langston, one of the men who has shown the least
sparkle since his debut has been given the Intercontinental Championship. What
I’d give to live one day inside Vince McMahon’s head.
In
2014, McMahon must back his younger stars before the damage is done for good.
Already, the company and its leader has shown it it’s more bothered about John
Cena and its bigger stars by sacrificing the likes of Alberto Del Rio to them.
It would be nice for 2014 to be the year of the new blood. When McMahon has to
have a younger wrestler take on a main event star either have them go over the
main event talent – which wouldn’t hurt the talent anyway – or have them go
down in a blaze of glory instead of being enhancement talent for men like Cena.
McMahon needs to remember when booking these stars in 2014 that this is no
longer 1992.
There
are going to be some minor changes to this blog in 2014. Yes, before you all
ask I change regularly but you have to in order to stay ahead of the game.
There is competition believe it or not and I would hate to lose viewers because
I’m not modern or spontaneous enough for you. Most of the changes you won’t
even recognise but they are all designed to make your reading experience
better. The biggest change however will be to what I like to think of the
monthly feature. If you’ve read every other blog this year then you will have
heard me mention a few months back that the series ‘The Unforgettable...’ would
be returning in January with ‘The Unforgettable: Rick ‘The Model’ Martel’. That
statement remains true.
That
so called episode of ‘The Unforgettable...’ has been written and completed
reading for your reading pleasure. But thanks to time constraints and only one
person voting on my poll which you can still see to the left side of this blog,
January’s edition will be the last of ‘The Unforgettable...’ until I get some
feedback from all of you. I have asked nicely for you to give me your thoughts
via the poll, which will take you five seconds to vote on, but so far only one
person has bothered. I don’t do this for my own amusement, I do it because the
truth deserves to be heard and I love writing, especially about our wonderful
industry. But if people don’t want to give me feed back on what they’d like to
see then as far as I know, I could be wasting my time.
So
take note of what is going to happen next. After ‘The Unforgettable: Rick ‘The
Model’ Martel’ has been put up for you to read, the poll on the left will
disappear and be replaced by another poll. This time it will be for you to vote
on which of the former articles you would like to see return in 2014, as well
as a few new ones. To choose from you will have the return of ‘The
Unforgettable...’ series and ‘Fantasy Warfare’ to name but a few. There is no
charge to vote so there’s no reason why you can’t do it. If you don’t then the
regular monthly feature will disappear totally. You see it takes me a solid two
weeks to write ‘The Unforgettable...’ as it did with ‘Fantasy Warfare’ and if
people don’t vote for what they want to see I’m not going to bother writing it.
I like fan interaction, so vote or lose the regular monthly feature. I can’t
keep taking a huge amount of time out of my life to write the massive monthly
feature if I’m not sure you want to read it or not.
For
the things that will change however, there will be a lot which will stay the
same. The layout remains for at least another year before I think about
tinkering with it. Also staying in 2014 will be your pay-per view previews
which seem to be the lynchpin of this blog and of course ‘Review Corner’ as our
relationship with Fremantle Media Enterprises continues into its second year.
I’ll be dropping in a few off the cuff blogs as well for the weeks when there
is nothing else lined up such as ‘Review Corner’ or a pay-per view preview.
Change is good. Let’s embrace it as we come down from the massive Christmas
hangover and disappointment of the presents we received but we didn’t really
want.
Almost
finally we come to the most thought provoking part of this years Christmas
blog. The time we spend remembering those who have left us in 2013. It’s never
easy saying goodbye to people who you have spent so much time with over the
years and even though we do not know them personally, we have spent years in
their presence and our time watching them. When you do that with someone for
long enough, they almost become part of you. People think this is a business
which is heartless. In which we bay for blood when things don’t go our way and
to be fair, it can be like that sometimes. The side of the business they don’t
see however is this side. The side in which whilst we expect the very best for
our money from those performing for our entertainment, we also feel it greatly
when we lose one of our own.
It’s
a touchy subject death. No one really knows how to go about explaining the
feeling to others. We close up and go into our own shell especially when it’s a
member of our own family. When we lose heroes, it’s more profound. People who
don’t understand this industry read the news and think “another roided up
wrestler died of a drugs overdose or suicide, who cares?”, well we care. All of
us in our own way and if you don’t then you’re not a real fan. We felt it when
Owen Hart died. When mourned when Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit passed on
despite what rumours the press felt like spreading without the real facts. And
it’s like that when anyone in wrestling dies.
Out
of all the names in the following short obituary of recognition, for a WWE fan
the biggest losses of the year were Paul Bearer and Doink the Clown aka William
Moody and Matt Borne. I have gone over what effect Doink had on me as a child
and the importance of Paul Bearer so I won’t go over it all again. Just to say
that anyone who isn’t a wrestling fan reading this, your beliefs that we don’t
care when we lose one our own are wrong. We care deeply, whether we liked them
in the ring or not. And to all those names who left us in 2013, we thank you
and we miss you. The pleasure was all ours.
And
that’s all I have to say. Personally the year may have been uneventful, but
inside the ring there has been some highlights we shall never forget. Matches
which will live in infamy and moments which will transcend time. All that’s
left for me to say is that you Wrestling God will return to action on January
4th 2014 so come back because I’m not going anywhere fast and we’ll have
another unforgettable year together. It’s always been a puzzle to me, even
after two years how to end a blog like this. And I can think of no better way
than to simply say, thank you.
I
know I’ve said it before, over and over until you’re probably sick of hearing
it but without you guys there would be no blog. I don’t write for my own
amusement, I’ve had enough of doing that. We end 2013 with 12,000 plus regular
readers, more than I could ever have imagined when I began this prior to
WrestleMania 28 nearly two years ago. I didn’t believe I’d even get one reader
let alone 12,000. So give yourselves a big round of applause and know that you
Wrestling God will be raising a glass to you. Because without you I may have
just gone mad with no one to listen to my rants and raves; this is the blog for
the people. And it’s the people who have kept it running.
So
have a great one, get drunk, sing songs until you can no longer talk and then
stuff yourself with turkey, stuffing and that sauce which tastes like sour
vomit and throw up the three days food you’ve consumed in three hours and start
over again. Because in January we’ll all be thrown back into the real world
with our worries and stresses reaffirmed for another year and that’ll be less
than fun. So here’s to us and may all your wishes come true.
Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year...
