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Edge vs. Matt Hardy back in ’05 was sort of a preview. I remember getting a small taste of what it might be like if the WWE really geared their entire product toward more realistic situations that were founded in some degree of truth. That type of stuff can be used to ignite entertaining television not just at the bottom of the second hour of Raw, but throughout the shows. Edge had always been missing something as a character until he had an affair with Lita and Hardy blabbered about it all over the internet. Finally, Edge turned a corner because he was stuck defending himself about a situation that – based on usual wrestling etiquette – had no business being aired out in public. It was REAL. And it WORKED. The rest is history. In an age where just about everything is accessible to the media, I think taking a full turn onto Reality Street would do the WWE a lot of good. It starts with a guy like CM Punk who has enough pent up aggression and enough of a fan base to unleash many a personal tirade laced with backstage rumors – the kind of stuff that the part of the audience that I and most of the folks reading this represent will eat up. He’s the leader of the movement, but he’s just the beginning. He’s the first to really base a character around it, but he’s not the only one with a lot on his or her mind. Look at Beth Phoenix and Nattie Neidhart – they’ve given another little preview of what could happen if people were allowed to (controllably) get off their chest what has been building up inside them for months and years. Beth and Nattie, too, are voices of the voiceless. They are wrestlers; not models pretending to be wrestlers. It has to frustrate them that they’re ready and able to produce, but the WWE insists on bringing in stick figures and waiting for them to learn what Nattie and Beth already know how to do. Could we see this trend of “speaking your mind” trickle down into each division? This is the type of material that makes rivalries more engaging. The “reality” trend on TV is not the furthest they can take this, though. Sure, I’m all for seeing the Reality era of the WWE on television and PPV, but isn’t it time that the WWE embraced all aspects of the fan experience? For all that they do well, they have long since missed the boat on one aspect of fandom that other sports and entertainment outlets knock out of the park: the media. ESPN is nothing more than a bunch of sports fanatics that got together and made a television network dedicated to nothing but talking about and broadcasting what they love. Long before that, the powers that be within the major sports entities for basketball, American football, soccer, tennis, golf, etc. knew that the media members had to be let in to do interviews and things of that sort so that they could gain greater exposure and, thus, have better ratings and make more money across the board. Now, in today’s society, it has reached the point where there are TV networks dedicated not just to certain leagues (the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, etc.) but even college conferences and ONE college team (Univ. of Texas). The bottom line has expanded infinitely with social media and the amount of coverage for sports and entertainment (like Hollywood actors and actresses) and has grown to unprecedented heights. It creates jobs and diehard fans and the leagues embrace most of it because it drives interest in their product. Then, there’s the WWE. The image of the diehard wrestling fan is that of the “booger eater” who sits in his mom’s basement fantasizing about the divas and criticizing John Cena on his wrestling skills despite never having been in the wrestling ring. Who created that image? The WWE did, at least in part. Instead of embracing the most passionate part of their fan base, they mocked it into the ground. Despite the fact that they have quite a large wrestling media that writes and blogs about it every day just like sports beat writers do – only for no money in most cases – the WWE has not seemed to want much to do with that part of the audience. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an NFL owner mock ESPN for being a “dirt sheet.” They may get irritated about certain things they don’t want being public, but who the hell really cares when you’re making millions and billions of dollars every year in large part thanks to that same media that ensures that people pay attention to your product? Increased coverage thanks to diehard sports fans has driven sports like international soccer, NFL football, and NBA basketball to becoming more successful enterprises. Why does the WWE not seem to understand that they could have their product get a huge boost in exposure by dropping this illusionary veil that they try to pull over everyone’s eyes? Vince comes from an era where kayfabe – not letting on that wrestling was pre-determined sport heavy on the athletic entertainment in a similar light as figure skating or dancing - was king and he did a little bit of work toward tearing that down. However, his company is the only major sports and entertainment conglomerate that still doesn’t embrace its media. The next step toward a reality era is to tear down the wall that separates the WWE from being able to be legitimately covered by its fan base. I don’t see any reason why the Wrestling Press should not attempt to gain more traction moving forward. It may seem silly, but something like the Teacher’s Lounge (under a different name) ought to be legitimately featured on a radio station dedicated to sports entertainment/pro-wrestling. LOP Magazine should be real. LOP and other top wrestling-related sites should not be looked at as “dirt sheets,” but legitimate print media outlets (i.e. in a more positive light). It couldn’t hurt to think bigger. LOP is anywhere from the 2nd to 5th ranked wrestling website on the World Wide Web. Viewers per day have frequently crept into the millions. We’re talking a lot of people. And it’s not as if we’re the booger eaters that we’re made out to be. There are two legitimate doctoral degrees on the column writing staff alone…and it’s just a hobby! As Hustle mentioned not too long ago in one of his columns, the wrestling fan and the members of the “media” that cover it should not have to feel bad about it. Young writers should be able to cut their teeth in forums like ours and others and then go on to journalism school with the goal to cover the WWE like Adam Schefter went to journalism school and is now one of the top 40 most influential non-NFL player/coach/owners in the National Football League. That shouldn’t be a pipe dream. It won’t happen, though, unless the WWE stops being blind to the amount of extra exposure that they could gain from it. What is LOP, but a sports entertainment version of ESPN without the backing of the very “leagues” that it covers? Imagine the drop off in interest should the NFL pull the plug on ESPN or Yahoo Sports, disassociating with them and giving its writers and staff and fans that frequent those sites a bad name. Would that help the NFL? Absolutely not! It would do nothing but eliminate one of the very things that drive its popularity. In the spirit of what we discussed today, I will be working on a joint venture with multiple other writers to bring you a legitimate piece of Wrestling Media material on a bi-weekly to monthly basis. It will be a top 10-25 that you, the wrestling media, can vote on. College football here in the States has an Associated Press that determines a top 25 ultimately used to help crown the two teams that play for the national championship. You will be part of the WWE Press and have the option to vote. We’ll send it directly to the WWE for the hell of it. The reality era is upon us...we may as well embrace it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summerslam Champions League Final Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels in a Non-Sanctioned Street Fight at Summerslam 2002 “The two best ever in quite possibly the best match ever. Simply the best.” – Matt W. “That match is the only match in the history of wrestling that I cried over.” – Andre S. VS. Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog for the Intercontinental Championship at Summerslam 1992 “Not only was it the only time the IC Championship main evented a PPV and is considered to be the greatest IC Championship match of all-time by a lot of people it also showed that Bret Hart had what it took to draw, carry a match and could be trusted to carry the company. It was a very important match on a lot of fronts.” – Lunchbox “Great technical show, great finish, great crowd/ unique Venue, magnitude of IC being the Main Event, launch of Bret into Main Event, no gimmick needed” – Westuva07 Well, I suppose it was fitting that the two matches that I selected last year as the first and second best bouts in Summerslam history would end up facing each other in the final. I think that pretty much goes to show that the consensus considers these two matches the cream of the crop from the summer classic. Personally, I did not vote in this round and relegated myself to being the tiebreaker. Last year, though, I stated that although Bret Hart was Mr. Summerslam (and you backed that up with your votes of so many of his matches), the best match in Summerslam history belonged to Shawn Michaels and Triple H. I will say, though, that there was never a more brilliant performance at a Summerslam than Bret’s in 1992. Davey Boy Smith was not a good worker back then. Bret, for nearly 30-minutes, basically told the Bulldog where to go and what to do and when to do it. The fact that this match was so good and is still so well-received today is a huge testament to the Hitman’s skills. However, when you look at HBK vs. HHH, you’re dealing with a special performance that really could not have been any better – in my opinion. HBK’s return from injury brought about a lot of emotion from yours truly, mainly that of concern for his well-being while he was attempting some of the moves that he pulled off so gracefully. I think it’s a 5-star performance, which of course is a rarity. The results are in… With 59% of the votes, the winner of the Summerslam Champions League to determine the greatest match in Summerslam history is…. HBK vs. Triple H
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