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Real quick Monday Night RAW thoughts... GREAT to have Brock Lesnar back even at the expense of the flawed logic of his return. You know, the Authority just suspended him for injuring WWE employees and destroying property... BUT, I guess what's "best for business" is to have Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar at Battleground PPV. Cool, but if we're working under Brock's previous contracts, that would mean that SummerSlam 2015 would be Brock Lesnar's LAST wrestling performance of 2015. Think about that... 4 months without Lesnar unless WWE opts to remove Lesnar from the Royal Rumble 2016 Pay Per View (yeah right). Kevin Owens had a damn great night... Huge RAW victory against Dolph Ziggler and then probably gets some babyface heat by attacking that musical act. Speaking of Kevin Owens... And I credit Tigerboy83 for this column based on the following Comment posted below my Money in the Bank Review Column. Just nailed why Kevin Owens is so appealing compared to other recent John Cena opponents: The reasons Owens works and Rusev/Wyatt didn't is people can identify with Owens, he isn't fighting for some non-sensical reason (A Bulgarian fighting for Russia) or a cult, he just wants to put food on the table and the best way he can is by seriously kicking ass. The best character on WWE TV in a long time, like 15 years long He nailed it, but I have another wrinkle to add... But first, let's compare the wrestlers. Kevin Owens appears to be a real human being who is a closer representative of his real life story than Rusev or Bray Wyatt who are clearly characters. Owens talks about supporting his family, which is true, and his 15 year struggle to get to the WWE, which is also true. What is true about Bray Wyatt? He used to be called "Husky Harris". Yes, I went there... He's a fictional character who is a mixture of something seen on the movie Deliverance and steals production techiniques from the Undertaker. Man, how much do Wyatt and the Undertaker pay those guys in the production truck to turn the lights on and off at the right time? Ditto for the crazy entrances... Then, you have Rusev... WWE does realize that the Cold War ended more than 20 years ago, right? Sure, relations have been intense lately, but it's no where near the threat of Nuclear War as it was at various points between 1945 to 1991. Wrestling fans cannot relate to Rusev/Bray Wyatt... Too cartoonish. But they can relate to Kevin Owens. I reviewed Money in the Bank 2015 last night which you can read by clicking here. I just watched the John Cena vs. Kevin Owens from Elimination Chamber 2015 which I unable to catch at my friend's house. However, now that I have the WWE Network, I am playing catch-up. BOTH matches were amazing... I've said it for years about how good of a worker that John Cena is but I am quite impressed without how awesome Kevin Owens is in the ring. He's deceptively fast and agile for his size and you can just tell that John Cena loves wrestling him. Especially in the MITB match, John Cena brought his A-Game and was busting out moves that many thought he couldn't do. I enjoyed both matches and they are both going to be in the running for "Match of the Year" for many publications, including mine... But best part about BOTH Kevin Owens vs. John Cena matches was the crowds... Fully invested in those matches. We're talking major heat here that nobody else on the roster is matching. Sure, just about everyone can draw a response from John Cena, but this was much passionate. The "Let's Go Cena/Cena Sucks(or Fight Owens Fight)" chants were at all time highs fans were into the drama of the match-up, particularly the second one because Owens won the first match. For all of the stuff that WWE has tried with Rollins, Orton, Roman Reigns, and sort of now with Dean Ambrose, it took a NXT call-up to outdraw them on reaction. We'll see how Owens does outside of John Cena, but so far, so good... And you can tell that John Cena WANTS to work with Owens. Big difference. On the WWE Network, in honor of "the American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, I watched his amazing Rivalries documentary regarding his feuds with the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. AMAZING documentary, by the way... Wow, WWE. But what made Dusty vs. Flair so appealing was the clash of two opposites. On one hand, Dusty represented the "common man" as he was as son of a plumber and was the man of the working people. Ric Flair, on the other hand, was lavish and rich. Flair bragged about flying in private jets, wore flashy robes, and many women. Ric Flair was a "larger than life" character that most could NOT relate to. How many people actually live like that? On top of that, Ric Flair told you how great he was repeatedly and was in your face about it. Dusty was the polar opposite and they drew amazing houses in their day. As I assess the John Cena vs. Kevin Owens feud so far, we're seeing the fingerprints of the Dusty vs. Flair feud, although slightly reversed. John Cena is the "larger than life" character as he's like a superhero in the WWE with a mysterious private life. In fact, if you saw Total Divas when Nikki Bella wanted to move into John Cena's house, he was quite snobby in that episode. Cena's success has made him very wealthy and Cena has been on top of the WWE for 10 years now. Meanwhile, Kevin Owens is married and has 2 kids. He has been working his way up to the WWE for 15 years. That's a struggle that many can actually relate to... I can certainly relate to him as a father myself who wants to do nothing but work hard and maximizing your earnings potential to take care of your family. But grinding for 15 years before his official main WWE roster match? That's a real life story that all of us can follow and respect. Hard to relate to a completely fictional character like Bray Wyatt. Look at the ridiculous things that the WWE has him doing with the over-the-top entrance, the vignettes, and the senseless promos. Kevin Owens gets on the mic and talks like a real human being. Bray Wyatt is talking complete nonsense. Ditto for Rusev. They push him as if we're stuck in the 1980's for the Cold War sentiment but nobody cares. Fans cared more about the valet, Lana, than Rusev. Did you know that Rusev grew up in Bulgaria and then became an immigrant to the United States to become a pro wrestler? And he took 6 years of grinding in the indies and WWE developmental to eventually make it to the WWE. How about that story? He came to the United States to specifically become a pro wrestler. How can you not admire that? Alberto Del Rio was pushed like a Million Dollar Man clone... Who can relate to a guy who drives expensive cars and brags about his large wealth? Nobody can because that's NOT Alberto Del Rio in real life. Hence, why his gimmick failed to catch on. Sheamus? Look at how many character changes he underwent. How can you relate to that? You have no idea of Sheamus's backstory in real life because instead of marketing that, WWE creates a new iteration of his character. It is SO FAKE. Ditto for the Miz... After all of those character changes, we're supposed to believe that he's a major Hollywood star? Jack Swagger, same thing... Oh good God on the Big Show. So many character changes. Look at how many times the Kane character has changed. How can he become a leader within the Authority one moment and then the "Big Red Machine" the next? Kevin Owens is an extension of the real life guy, Kevin Steen. Dusty Rhodes was an extension of the real life guy, Virgil Runnels. The unique dynamic with Kevin Owens vs. John Cena is that the real life guy, Kevin Owens, is the HEEL while the larger-than-life character, John Cena, is the FACE. That is a twist on Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair... Or is it? Listen to those fan chants during Owens vs. Cena. "Let's Go Cena" is yelled in a high pitch cheer, which are mostly children, while the "Cena Sucks" chants are real deep from the adult fans. In other words, the Dusty vs. Flair formula is actually working to get Kevin Owens over. Adult fans are tuning in because they want to see someone they can relate to, like Kevin Owens, beat the character John Cena. To them, Cena is the modern day Hulk Hogan for the way he's pushed and marketed while it's quite clear that Cena is quite wealthy from his WWE success. Adult fans can't relate to John Cena but they sure as hell can relate to Kevin Owens. Look at him right now... He was a top notch Indy star who had to do time in the WWE Developmental system, NXT. He quickly worked his way up and yet because he's NXT Champion, he's still considered a notch below the main WWE roster. Kevin Owens vs. John Cena very much has some elements of Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair. And if I were WWE, I would push that "common man" element of Kevin Owens. Brag up that it took him 15 years of hard work to make the WWE and mention that he has a family at home. Think about the personal sacrifice that Owens has to make on a weekly basis. I miss my kids when I'm away at work and that's just 20 minutes from my house. Could you imagine being across the country and not coming home for a while during an extensive WWE road trip? I would lose my mind as a pro wrestler I couldn't see my family... And did you that Kevin actually named his son "Owen" after Owen Hart. Yeah, there's another family man for you. Instead of pushing Owen Hart as a proud family man, they wanted to have Love Triangle angles with Debra and Jeff Jarrett and then sticking Owen back into his Blue Blazer gimmick. I've been watching the Monday Night Wars documentaries on WWE Network. Holy cow, those are really good! But what was interesting about Scott Hall and Kevin Nash is how they ditched their Razor Ramon and Diesel gimmicks in order to play themselves in WCW (well, WWE trademarked those names). Hall & Nash had Brinks trucks driving up to their houses in WCW. They pushed more of their real life personalities into those NWO characters during 1996-1997 and became huge draws. Diesel was WWE champion for an entire year yet Kevin Nash became a better known quantity by being himself and never winning the World Title until later during 1998. Better yet, Steve Austin was the "Ringmaster", an apprentice of the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase. Nobody cared... Shave Austin's head and push the redneck stuff hard, fans could relate... So simple to realize and I thank commenter Tigerboy83 for the column idea. Pro wrestling needs more realism, not less... As my buddy Justin Bateman suggested on Twitter, if John Cena vs. Kevin Owens was suggested or recommended by the late Dusty Rhodes, it would be "bittersweet". -------------------------------------------------------------- PHAT QUESTIONS Question #1: What do you like best about the WWE Network so far? I love documentaries. I'm fascinated by behind-the-scenes stuff and how certain things work. By waiting as long as I have, there is so much content for me to binge watch. I've just started into the Monday Night Wars specials and I'm loving it. I loved the Dusty vs. Flair "Rivalries" show as mentioned above and would love to check out more. I'll give NXT a try... I watched last week's episode and what I liked about it was atmosphere. NXT nails what TNA fails... TNA doesn't look like a wrestling. It looks like a parody of a wrestling show. The lighting, the presentation, and the focus on stuff actually occurring inside the ring (you know, actual wrestling) lets NXT succeed. TNA's overproduction of their shows hurts their shows. Question #2: Can TNA and/or Ring of Honor succeed on the Destination America channel? Consider the household numbers as reported by Zap2It.com. The Destination America channel is available 57 Million Households. By comparison, USA Networks, home of the WWE, is available to 96 million households. Syfy is available to 95 million. Availability is an issue... But I go back to what I've always said... If you're good, fans will find you. As I said in a column years ago... If TNA could generate just 1 transcendent star that the WWE never had, they could move mountains in the wrestling world. For whatever reason, they can't seem to create a big superstar that makes wrestling fans willing to buy the expanded Cable package from Comcast or other cable/satellite companies. Question #3: Explain why Royal Rumble 2000 is your favorite Pay Per View? Sure... Triple H vs. Mankind was the 2000 "Match of the Year" during a year with many amazing matches from that stacked WWE roster. That match solidified Foley as an amazing worker and put Triple H on the map as the next great superstar. That was a legacy defining match. Then, you have a Royal Rumble match... Seriously. I LOVE the Tazz debut against Kurt Angle. It was the right timing with the Rumble being in Madison Square Garden and Angle sold the fear perfectly. Sadly, that was Tazz's peak. Dudleys vs. Hardys was an absolute battle. That match, in my opinion, legitimized the Dudleys and helped inject them into the Hardys vs. Edge/Christian feud permanently for the next year or 2. It's just a fun show with tons of heat and great moments. Is it match-for-match as good as Wrestlemania 17, Great American Bash 1989, or several of the SummerSlam events? Maybe not, but for a fun factor, Royal Rumble 2000 does it for me. Especially that Swimsuit competition... SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE! Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments. © Mr. Tito and LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com - 1998-2015
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