Feedback from the "Good Wrestler" Column

Hey, I got some really great feedback on the "What makes a good wrestler" post from a few weeks ago but one of the more insightful responses I got was from Tim Long, here is what he sent me:

"How ya doin? I know you don't know me, but trust me, I been around a looooong time. I was intrigued by your question about workers and wrestlers. Great wrestlers (pistols) more often than not make good to great workers. They have the athletic ability and competitive instinct to feel the crowd. And believe it or not, it's the competition factor that most dictates the talent of the worker. Even though pro wrestling is a work - it IS a competiton. It's a game played out in an arena between the workers and the marks. The truley great workers are very simply the one's with a true love for the game. Lawler is a grade A, number 1, first class, asshole. But he is arguably the best WORKER of all time. Being an asshole and wanting to get one up on the fans gave him that drive to out wit the marks. The art of telling the story is lost today. What makes a great worker is not just being able to tell a story, but rather being able to take a story idea and improvise and impr! ove upon it in the ring in front of the crowd. It's all for the love of the game. The passion for the game is weak now because most of the folks entering the business today don't take the biz seriously. It really breaks my heart. Getting back on the subject, in the day, the workers protected the entertainers. You know, the sideshow freaks that sold tickets but didn't have a clue how to work a crowd - ie, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Lex Luger, Austin Idol, Abduhla th Butcher, etc. Not that some of these entertainers weren't good guys, but they were NOT good workers. To combat this, the promotions (before cable) would bill the entertainers in the main event but then run that match in the midde of the card on the night of the show. Because they knew that the match would have a better than average chance of completely blowing, it would run before the semi. Then the semi and main ,or what ever they called the final 2 matches, would match up the best WORKERS on the card. This ! insured that the crowd would leave satisfied and excited. No one used this technique more often than Vince's father in the WWWF. The announcers were paid to create the persona of the entertainer so that he could sell the tickets. Because more often than not, the muscle bound entertainer could not get himself over. If the promotion did not believe in down carding at showtime then they simply would not put 2 entertainers together. Entertainers would only work programs with good workers, and were instructed to let the workers call the spots. When myself and Kenny Shane Hart were the "Streetwalkers" in ICW during the early 80's, there were several times that we were listed as the third match on the card, but at the show Randy Savage moved us to last because in his own words - they couldn't get over us - and he wanted to leave the crowd excited and happy. Savage was one of the better workers in the business but at the time he was running programs with the likes of Crusher Broomfield (ak! a WWF's One Man Gang) and the Barbarian. They were hugh powerful men and really nice guys, but not good workers. Well anyway, I could go on all night, but you get the picture. Now days, the announcers job is to put every body over because nobody can tell there own stories anymore. And though I hate to agree with Kevin Nash (another f-ing entertainer) he hit a home run with the statement referring to the non-WORKING writers trying to dictate matches and stories. Again I could go on and on, but it's easier to talk than type. This message has taken me over an hour to type. LOL
Thanks for the soap box. LMAO."

Tim "Allnite" Long

The 1 Bull Ryder


Thanks, Tim for for the response it's good to hear from someone with a knowledge of the business beyond the usual bullshit I've become used to reading most places.

I will be posting again in a couple of days on recent happenings as well as my thoughts on the recent Ultimate Warrior shoot that I watched(unFUCKINGbelivable)

So be sure to check it out, if your looking for shark talk and comic book pussy shit then you'll have to go elsewhere but if your looking for wrestling talk(and God forbid you expect wrestling talk from someone who posts on a WRESTLING website) then be sure to check it out.

GENE

Recent News and Nash Shoots!

WWE CUTS CUTS AND MORE CUTS

Holy Shit, I haven't seen this many cuts since I watched that Abdullah vs. The Sheik compilation tape a few monthes ago. I know everyone else will do this in there column but let's comment briefly on each one.

• Joy Giovanni- "Who?"
  
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• Kenzo Suzuki- "Decent but nothing to write home about, won't be missed."
  
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• Matt Morgan- "I really don't understand why they spend so much money and time to develope some of these guys and then cut them so easily Cornette(another one who bit the dust this week) has made him his pet project and got him over both times he was in OVW but WWE just couldn't figure it out. Personally, with his size and lack of charisma, I would have put a masked monster gimmick(ala Kane back in the day) on him and tried to use him that way, and if he didn't get over they could have fed him to Kane or Snitsky or someone on his way out."
  
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• Charlie Haas- "Good wrestler, I think they could have done something with him on RAW, perhaps put him back with Benjamin after Shelton dropped the IC belt to Carlito, to help get the tag team division off life support."
  
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• Jackie Gayda- "One less pair of tits. That's about all she contributed."
  
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• Marty Jannetty- "Janetty had a HELL of a match with Angle on Smackdown, I think they should have kept using him there, at least on the house shows to help the young guys learn how to work."
  
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• Dawn Marie- "Another pair of tits gone, plus she's pregnant. No big loss here. I'm sure they can find a diva search bimbo who will work for less."
  
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• Mark Jindrak- "I've never cared for this guy and after all this time in the business he still looks like the same power plant stiff he did when he was a so-called 'Natural Born Thriller'. Maybe he'll look better doing the job to Monty Brown on the internet feed of IMPACT."
  
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• Maven- "Poor ol' Maven. He lasted longer than most figured he would. I always thought he would be funny playing the Rock's mini-me protege, trying to dress like him and do his lines and fuck them up. A way to keep the Rock's persona on tv while he's away. Oh well, Jindrak needs someone to split a room with in Orlando."
  
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• Shannon Moore- "Moore is a talented guy who they couldn't figure out what to do with either, he was a good fit as Matt's MF'er, but nothing they did after that seemed to fit. Maybe the 'mattitude follower' can follow the 'Angelic Diablo'(WHAT THE FUCK?) to some indy bookings."
  
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• James Yun (Akio)- "Who?"
  
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• David Heath (Gangrel)- "The question isn't why did they realease him, the real question is, What the fuck was he doing back in the first place???"
  
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• Billy Kidman- "Kidman is a great worker but I've never been able to make myself give a shit about him, apparently I'm not alone."
  
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• Spike Dudley- "You knew it had to happen eventually. How much can you do with a WWE Superstar with the build of a 12 year old girl?"
  
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• Kevin Fertig- "Hope you still got Corey Maclin's number. Well for what it's worth, when Memphis is so dead you have start running in MISSISSIPPI!?!? It's time to hang it up."
  

And of course the most shocking cuts were Bubba and D-Von, The Dudley Boyz. Kinda makes you wonder if there isn't some truth to the rumor of a new ECW brand coming soon??? We should know pretty soon if they don't turn up somewhere else before long. I find it funny they sent Heyman in to replace Cornette in OVW, perhaps they might convert OVW into the new ECW, or they are letting him tune his creative juices for another run with ECW. Time will tell.


"Daddy, Can I come back home, I won't do it again I promise"

Well after leaving the WWE and a six figure salary to pursue his "dream"(hope his 'dream' was making a total ass of himself cause that's what he did), Brock Lesnar has come crawling back to Vince looking for a job after realizing he can't get of the no compete contract that would keep him from wrestling anywhere else for another several years. After not making it with the Vikings and the NFL, Brock says he's matured and is ready for the fame and fortune that comes with being a WWE Superstar. But having walked away from a 'Triple H' sized push when the company needed him most, the question is, Will Vince be willing to forgive him? Will Vince do what's go for business and push him, or will he make an example out of him? Also, is it good for business to let someone who very publically showed he couldn't cut in the NFL to come back in and start dominating the WWE stars, what will that say about them? Anyway, this will be an interesting story to watch unfold in the coming monthes.


FINALLY!!! The real HBK comes home!!

I know the real test will be tonight on RAW to see how far he takes it as a heel, but I have to say I was thrilled to death to see Michaels superkick Ozzy, uh I mean Hogan in the mug last week. Michaels was one of my all-time favorite heels but I haven't really cared for his 'holy roller' gimmick he's had since coming back. I'm not looking for a return of DX or anything. Just a little more of the arrogant prick he plays so well.


Kevin Nash Shoots!

I recently got in the Kevin Nash shoot interview that was conducted at WrestleReunion in Tampa awhile back and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The first impressive thing about it was there was a set and both Nash and the interviewer appeared on camera rather than one of these taped in a 'Cum & Go Motel' with a Handycam shoots your used to seeing. Also they had former WCW announcer Scott Hudson conducting the interview which really helped cause he was there and actually had some clue of what the hell he was talking about and didn't just ask stupid mark questions like Feinstein always asks, "So what are your memories of the heat between Bret and Shawn?" I swear he asks everybody that fucking question, guys that didn't work in WWF at the time, and they look at him like, 'What the fuck?' Anyway, sorry about that rant. All and all a good shoot, way better than the DDP one they did the same day where Page answered half the questions with, "I'll cover that in my upcoming audio book." However you could tell they were on a strict time schedule cause everytime Nash would stray off topic, Hudson would reel him back in quickly. I'll let everyone watch it and draw there own conclusion, but here a few quotes I thought I'd share:

When asked about people getting mad at he and Scott Hall for leaving WWF:

"They call it the business, but as soon as YOU start to treat it like a business then your a fuckin' jackoff."


When asked about his thought's on WWE's current product:

"They used to give us bulletpoints on what to do, now they don't get bulletpoints, they get fuckin' scripts, It should be called Monday Night Contrived, it's the most unraw, scripted shit I've ever seen."


When asked about the WWE writers:

"You've got a bunch of people who've never been fucked or been in a fight trying to write a show about sex and violence."


Talking about people getting mad about the 'fingerpoke of doom'

"You were supposed to be mad, it was a fucking heel turn."


I'll be back in a few days with some more stuff. Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on "good wrestler" post, I'll get back to that soon.

GENE

What makes a "Good Wrestler"??

This is something that has bothered me for a while, but after reading the recent 'Rants & Raves" I felt moved to write about. Now I would like everyone who reads this to respond whether it be here, on Jimmy's board, through email or wherever. I seriously would love to hear people's logic on this, be it workers, fans, whoever.

What in YOUR OPINION makes a good wrestler? It's really hard to determine what people are looking for that makes a "good wrestler". Because the guys who are the most over and draw the most money are very rarely great "wrestlers" (at least by definition) however they are great "workers" (which is a whole different ballgame) It seems the "smart fans" go for the more technical type wrestlers (i.e. Benoit, Low Ki, Guerrero, etc.) while guys like Hogan and Goldberg have drawn more money but are looked down upon by the "smarks" for their lack of technical skills. Now, I'm not exactly talking about the ECW crowd that Burcham was refferring to, there a whole different breed of "fans" altogether. I'm talking about the people who criticize the "workrate" of the old school guys but jerk off to ROH tapes of Low-Ki and CM Punk.

First off, the term "workrate" was created by sheet writers and internet marks and didn't previously exist in the business. Back in the day, promoters didn't give a shit about who was the most technically sound, it was all about who put asses in the seats, and realistically the guys who put the most asses in the seats wasn't always the most 'gifted atheletes. Take Jerry Lawler for example, by the smart marks way of thinking, he is a piss poor WRESTLER, but by the numbers of how many years he stayed on top in Memphis, how many weeks he sold out the Mid South Coliseum(he outdrew freakin Elvis) and the ratings drawn for Memphis tv, he is one of the greatest WORKERS of all time. Kamala, Bruiser Brody, Andre the Giant, JYD, The Road Warriors and countless others sold out buildings all over the country for years and they never worked any one hour ironman matches, had little to no "technical" skills but made the business millions of dollars, but these smarks shit on there legacys because they can't match workrate with Bryan Danielson or AJ Styles!?!?! I think that's a crock of shit.

However on the flipside, for all these old people who bitch and moan about how they need to go back to the old days and how it's a shame wrestling is all about "entertainment"now. I hate to tell you but it's always been about ENTERTAINMENT. Maybe they have gotten out of hand with some of the stupid shit they try to pass off as entertainment but the fact remains, all the outragous characters who ever drew huge houses despite there lack of pure "wrestling" skills prove the business has ALWAYS been more about entertainment than wrestling skills (you old timers telling me midget matches didn't expose the business years before Vince did) and that's fine, if you want to watch 'WRESTLING', watch amatuer wrestling.

In case my point isn't clear, I think there is a need for all the different types of wrestling to be able to have something to suit everybody. At every show, there is someone in the crowd that came to laugh, someone who came to see a technical match, someone who came to see blood, and someone who came to see there's cousin's boyfriend who just got trained by a guy he works with at the local grocery story. So you need something for everyone. The thing that pisses me off is when people say "So and So sucks cause he only does four moves", or "That guy can't work" even though he's one of the most over guys in the promotion. What is your basis for these statements? So all this makes me wonder judging by all the crap you read on the internet bashing this wrestler and that wrestler. What the hell do you want?? What are you looking for that makes a good wrestler? Is it the number of moves he can do? Is it the fancy tights he wears? Is it the music he comes out to? What is it?

Please give me some feedback, either on the boards or at my email address genejackson@charter.net

I will discuss what I hear as well as who I think the top 5 workers of all time are.

Untill then,
GENE

"War Machine" Gene Jackson

Well it's official........

I spoke to Tia last night through email and Cheap Heat is no longer apart of HollywoodJimmy.com. Nothing against them I just don't have the time to update it regularly, there's no hard feelings or anything and she's gonna put a link to this blog on the links page and I will post on there message board when I do updates here.

I will probably post some stuff later today or at least in the next few days as there are several things to talk about, the ECW PPV, Raven wins the NWA title, amongst others.

Again check back soon for updates

GENE

I've got your Cheap Heat right here.....

Well as it turns out due to a conflict with my work schedule I will not be in Tupelo this saturday for the benefit, I wish that I could be there, it sound's like it's gonna be quite a show. I hope it does very well and is able to help out Cody and Josh with what I'm sure are outrageous medical bills.


As for Jimmy's little tirade Sunday night on the board about me updating my column, I say f*** him, pull my column off the website, I don't give a shit, there's enough "fat retards" posting there already without my two cents, and speaking of which congrats on finally updating your shit for the first time in monthes. Pot meet the f***** kettle there buddy.

As for the people crying on the message boards about the "death of Memphis Wrestling" because Corey Maclin lost his tv deal and can't get another, I've got news for you, Memphis Wrestling died ten years ago and nobody told you. Memphis Wrestling died with the USWA and it ain't been back from Power Pro to all the shitty incarnations since, they are all trying to breathe life into something that is dead and gone and will NEVER be the same again, no matter what channel you put it on or how many has-beens you trot out there. It's over with, done. Speaking of dead promotions trying to rise from the grave........

Saturday night the IWF returned.............again. From what I've read and heard it's a really good angle and I hope it works out well, but before all you "IWF Fans" on the boards start singing "happy days are here again", why don't you just let this thing play out and see what happens. I like all these guys but let's face it, we've seen it all before, they'll have a good angle maybe even have a few IWF shows but before the summer is over they'll all be back on seperate shows doing "shoots" on each other........

Well so ends the first edition of the all new "Cheap Heat" and as you can see things have changed a bit, no more being nice, no more pulling punches. I say whatever the hell I wanna say and damn anybody that don't like it. You want "heat" folks, well it's coming..........

To all the Cryin' Little Bitches......Here ya go.

Since I couldn't find time to sit and write up columns and send them in frequently I have decided to start doing all my writing here as I can drop in anytime and post things and not have to come up with a whole column at once. Hopefully Jimmy and Tia will be ok with this I emailed Tia asking her to post a link here from my column. Now maybe this will cut down on all the pissing and moaning on the boards about my column being updated, if not then the hell with them.

I'll be back on here in a day or two to comment on some things.