Posted in: Column of the Month
January 2011 COTM - Resurrection by fenixx
By fenixx
Feb 15, 2011 - 5:35:34 AM

Note from Morpheus: Every month in the LOP Columns Forum, there is a vote to determine which columnist had the best month out of all the writers in the forum. The winner of Columnist of the Month is then given the opportunity to post one of their columns on the Main Page. In January, this honor was bestowed upon fenixx for the first time. Without any further ado, I am pleased to present to you his main page effort. Congratulations, fen.





We made it PIG-E



It’s different writing to a new audience. It’s like getting a shot at a promotion or getting a meeting with someone famous. In my line of ‘work’, getting this spot this month is almost the pinnacle of my writing exploits. Staying here is that point that can’t be topped, but just having that many people know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was the top dog for January is humbling. You probably don’t think too much of it, but to me, it means a hell of a lot. Having your efforts recognised is a rare pleasure that not many of us achieve. So many times, people have been ignored or pushed aside when they have given their all. I have been writing columns on and off for almost two years now. I tied for this award last month with jovanbkt, who deservedly won, but this is my plateau. This is the high point, but somehow I’m guessing it doesn’t mean much to you.


It’s like winning a championship when you’re part of a wrestling promotion. It should be the highest honour than any wrestler can be given. To be told that you will be carrying the company and representing it to the wider community is a feeling that I don’t think can be duplicated. It’s why I love watching wrestlers win their first ever title, no matter what title it is. It is a way of saying that somewhere in the company, there is at least one person who believes in you, which is a luxury in a promotion with as many active wrestlers on a roster like TNA or the WWE. From all I read from the dirtsheets, it a dog-eat-dog world out there with backstage politics that create unscripted rivalries backstage. It’s one thing to have friends in this business, but everyone wants to hold the brass ring and any step closer to it is a welcome one.


Yet, as a wrestling fan, the belt is starting to mean less and less. I started watching wrestling back in 2007, at the height of ‘SuperCena’ and things certainly have changed. We don’t have that champion who defends his title day in and out. You don’t see the heel being vanquished. More often than not, the heel is getting craftier and more adept at ‘stealing’ the title from the fans’ hero. You don’t see the title defended much like how John Cena and Batista defended it between their successful and multiple title reigns between 2006 and 2007. The faces of each brand are men who are better known as heels. Edge and Randy Orton were the most despised men in the WWE only two years ago. They were cheating and stealing their way to title reigns only to be thwarted by the likes of John Cena, Batista and The Undertaker.


I find it hard to believe that these men, who were painted as being cowards when push came to shove are now somehow bigger men. Edge who I’ve never taken seriously as a wrestler is still a transitional champion in my eyes. As Hustle mentioned in one of his previous dailies, the number of titles he has now amassed is simply ridiculous for a wrestler as average as he is. He relied on a real life affair with Lita to kickstart his career and then needed Vickie Guerrero to win him another five or six more. I’m not just talking about in a kayfabe sense, I’m talking about what I see on my television. Edge has never created heat or made people cheer for him. He has been made successful because of the strength of the people managing him. He inherited heat for making out with Lita when she was Matt Hardy’s girlfriend. He inherited heat because he had an on-screen relationship with a deceased wrestler’s wife. He has never elevated his character and taken it to new heights. He is still the Rated-R Superstar on a show that has PG for quite some time, which shows either how one-dimensional his character is or also demonstrates how uncreative this Creative Team can be.


Meanwhile, you have people earning their title shots and putting in the hard yards to make themselves stick out of the crowd. You have the rising talent like Alberto Del Rio, Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler, all of whom can back up what they say by putting on more than solid performances. These men don’t coast off a reputation, they make people want to tune in. I want to watch Smackdown! to see what Alberto Del Rio is going to do and I love seeing Cody Rhodes’ promo work. Dolph Ziggler, despite having the help of Vickie Guerrero, impresses me every single week. The man knows how to use in-ring psychology in a match to suck the audience in. His charisma in the ring is almost unmatched in the WWE, and I can only fault him on his microphone skills which has smartly been aided by having Vickie Guerrero as his manager. Now I understand that Superstars like Edge are now getting old, but that doesn’t mean that these Superstars should coast off the reputations of what they achieved two or three years ago. I’m more entertained by Dolph Ziggler when he was with Vickie Guerrero than I was with Edge when he was with Vickie Guerrero. Why can’t we see Superstars like Edge push themselves every week, or at least once every month? It’s almost as if they are not hungry for the gold any more.


Don’t get me wrong, I doubt that they think that their title reigns are irrelevant, that’s not what I’m getting at. All I’m saying is that the top tier of WWE Superstars are becoming complacent. They have become comfortable with their position at the top. When did you last see Edge do a solid TV match? When was the last time The Undertaker had one? It’s what makes me want to see new blood reign supreme in the WWE. You see that hunger in their eyes. You know that they want to prove themselves to the world and excel each and every night that they are in the ring holding that championship. Exhibit A is The Miz. Although I dislike the reputation that he’s building for himself, he is going out there and giving everything he’s got to make people boo him. Alberto Del Rio is going out there and making people want to hate him and despise him for who he is. John Morrison consistently delivers week in and out to make fans out of the haters. When you see wrestlers like these involved in matches on TV, it makes you want to watch because you know that you’ll see something new from their ever-expanding arsenal. Instead of watching wrestlers like Orton and Edge do their same old match with a different opponent, we can see something different and fresh. All I want is to be entertained.


The future of the WWE and this new movement of younger and hungrier Superstars are exactly what the WWE needs. Feuds that the WWE’s top stars are being involved with are more interesting because of the fresh talent that is involved in the confrontations. I wouldn’t be interested in Edge right now if it wasn’t for Dolph Ziggler being involved with him. I wouldn’t care about Randy Orton right now if it wasn’t for CM Punk. We crave for something fresh and out of the ordinary because we’re watching an old dog do the same old tricks. Give us something fresh. Build on what you have. If Wrestlemania is truly going to be the turning point of this era, where the new talent is ushered in while the older talent is slowly pushed out of the limelight then let it happen. We as wrestling fans need change, we have already begun to embrace it, all we need is for the WWE to give the green light. Give the fans some wrestlers who are hungry for that belt, wrestlers who will take it to new levels, wrestlers who will make the quest for the gold and holding it mean something.


Writer’s Note – I just want to use this opportunity to say how proud I am to be writing this to you all right now. If you reached the end of the column, then you have unintentionally made my day. I hope you have been entertained and that this has made you reconsider what you believed in. I will still keep writing in the forums alongside many of the names who frequent columns like the TripleBanger and LOP Magazine. You really are missing out if you’re not reading some excellent columns in the CF when it’s only a couple of clicks away. You won’t regret it.

You can reach me in the forums or feel free to email me at: [email protected].