I read this article on the AV Club yesterday and immediately thought about wrestling critics and the culture of instant reaction. Here’s what I found most relevant:

It’s important to note, though, that the Devo skeptics weren’t “wrong” per se. Devo intended to provoke with its science-fiction mission statements and its emotionless renditions of ’60s party music, so the affronted reactions that the band received from some quarters weren’t just expected, but to some extent, desired. Art and criticism are supposed to be in conversation with each other, and the Devo-haters were just answering the band in the terms its members had established.

WWE provokes its audience in a similar way quite often. “Oh you like this guy? We’ll build him up then tear him down, just to get you to really boo his opponent.” WWE is not above manipulating fan demands to build up another project they’re working on.

Plenty of music-lovers dug Devo back in 1978. If anything, the loudest adverse reactions to Devo were an example of what happens when a solidly entertaining rock band is rejected by writers who’ve been hyped up to expect genius. The Devo phenomenon is representative of the way critics sometimes rush to apply the brakes to a trend or an artist that seems to be racing to premature canonization.

What wrestling critic isn’t guilty of this? Someone catches on and the IWC instantly turns on them: The Rock, Steve Austin, John Cena, hell, even before there was an internet, that segment of the wrestling fanbase turned on Hulk Hogan. 

Ryan Adams talked about this… noting that each album he releases seems to be greeted with a shrug by critics who a year or two later will cite those same albums as the kind of excellent music that Adams doesn’t make any more. “What’s really happening is this: I’m making records, and people are fucking trying to have an instant emotional connection with something that’s bigger than them, bigger than their immediate response.”

In the 90s, I heard: “Why can’t WWE be like it was in the 80s? I miss the REAL wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Jake the Snake and the Ultimate Warrior.”
In the 00s, I heard: “Why can’t WWE be like it was in the 90s? I miss the REAL wrestlers like Stone Cold, The Rock and Mick Foley.”
In a few years, we’ll be pining for the days of Edge, CM Punk and Rey Mysterio.

Consider 2007, when two of the best American movies of the ’00s were released: No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood. The buzz on both was high before they were released, and throughout the end of ’07 and into early ’08, much ink was spilled about which of the two—if either—was really a new American classic, and which of the two was better. Who cares about these questions now? Both movies are so rich, powerful, and entertaining that they’ve easily outlasted the immediate attempts to pigeonhole, position, or nitpick them.

I usually shy away from bullshit self-help slogans that people post on their Facebook pages or retweet from Rev Run, but I read something a couple days ago that really stuck with me, “Will this matter a year from now?” And it can be applied to anything like worrying about what happened a work today to critiquing wrestling. Last year, Sheamus and Daniel Bryan were “buried” when they were bumped off the WrestleMania card. This year? They’re battling each other with the World Heavyweight Championship on the line. Did their snub last year matter a year from now? Obviously not. Even if it did and they faded into obscurity, wrestling is a continuing form of entertainment that just keeps rolling along. WWE’s missed a lot of opportunities over the years, but wrestling’s still on every Monday night and WrestleMania still happens every year with plenty of great and memorable moments along the way.

reacting nearly in real time to stories that sometimes take years to play out isn’t always fair to the writers and actors who are trying to develop ideas carefully over multiple episodes. Plus, the need to have something to say every week means that TV critics sometimes scrutinize beats and jokes more than they can withstand.

Raw and Smackdown are on every single week, 52 weeks a year, add in a monthly PPV and you have 244 hours of programming a year. Your average sitcom does about 8. Critically-acclaimed hour-long cable dramas do less than 10. Trying to analyze all 244 of those hours match-by-match, segment-by-segment, minute-by-minute is always going to make it seem worse than it really is. We all go into this knowing we’re not dealing with anything likeBreaking Bad or Game of Thrones, can it really stand up to that kind of scrutiny? Does it need to?

I hasten to add that I’m not pointing any fingers here that I wouldn’t point at myself. I know firsthand that when I’m writing about a show, I tend to be harder on it than if I’m just watching as a fan. I also know from decades of TV-watching that sometimes a series that seems to have gone off the rails looks much better than I remembered when I catch up with it again years later.

The Invasion wasn’t that bad. The Fingerpoke of Doom could’ve worked. WWECW was actually a really great wrestling show. But the hype, the refusal to let things play out (both by viewers and writers, fussing over a name, it killed our enjoyment at the time.

I am not as good of a writer as the AV Club’s Noel Murray, so I’ll leave this piece the same way he left his brilliant piece:

But professional critics and casual enthusiasts alike can always benefit from a little perspective, and a little patience. We should try to remember that sometimes the moment when we feel most compelled to comment on a piece of art is the moment when we’re least equipped to appreciate it.

It’s hard to be awesome all the time, we all eventually have our downfall. Sometimes you awkwardly stick your leg out at the Academy Awards, sometimes you lose a lot of wrestling matches, being awesome is a gift and a curse. 

The Miz has already accomplished far more in WWE than anyone ever thought he would before the draft in 2009. When Miz & Morrison split up, it was because Morrison was going to become a singles star and Miz was going to be the guy that Big Show knocks out in one punch. Okay, bad example, but the fact is, no one expected this meteoric rise from The Miz and he did it by overcoming all the doubters. The doubts may be back, but this is just another bump in the road for the Awesome One.

Yes, he’s on a losing streak, yes he got crushed by Big Show and no, he doesn’t have a WrestleMania match—but let’s just look back one year. This time last year, Sheamus got destroyed by a returning Triple H, got bumped off the WrestleMania card and only had two PPV appearances between Elimination Chamber and SummerSlam. Do you remember anything significant Sheamus did in that period last year besides almost murdering Sin Cara?

But a quick face turn later, Sheamus is one of the most beloved figures in the company, won the Royal Rumble, and is poised to win the World Title at WrestleMania. He’s not quite at that level of mega star, but that’s the same problem Miz is facing right now: they’re both in a place where they can be bumped down the card. In fact, that’s pretty much a problem any main eventer they’ve created since 2006 is facing—they’re not at that level.

What is that level? Remember last week when Punk told Jericho, “you’ve never really been the man, the way that I’m the man, have you?” It’s kinda like that. Punk is arguably the first guy since Edge to get to that level and it happened three years after his first World Title reign. That’s a problem for WWE, but it’s because they still have their safety net.

I’m not faulting WWE, but every year at WrestleMania time, they find a way to not have to make someone a true blue, top tier guy. WM24 was a solidifying performance for Edge, he got to headline a WrestleMania in the real main event match and it could no longer be argued that he wasn’t a top guy, even if he’d already been a multiple-time World Champ. Orton was a bust in that role the following year, but it’s okay because he was mostly established and everyone remembers that show solely for HBK vs. The Undertaker. The next year, they knew not to take the risk and let those two guys headline. Last year, it could’ve been a star making performance for The Miz, but just to be safe, they threw The Rock in there too. And just like WM26, they know to play it safe this year and just let Cena and Rock headline, the title matches are secondary… hell, they’re even behind Triple H vs. Taker.

Making new main eventers is easy, but it’s incredibly difficult to get guys on that level. Whether it’s Miz, Sheamus, Punk, Bryan, Del Rio, Ziggler, Swagger, Henry or anyone else that’s captured their first World/WWE Title in the last four years, they’ve all hit (or will hit in Bryan’s case) that rough patch because they’re not on that level. It’s not their fault. They can fill roles down the card because WWE can fall back on Cena, Orton, Undertaker, Triple H, Kane, Mysterio, Jericho, Big Show, and now even The Rock for main events, especially around WrestleMania. Until those guys cease to be viable options for big match situations, which is going to be soon for a many of them, the younger stars can’t climb up to that level. 

Bringing it back to The Miz, he’s just the latest in a long line. I remember Sheamus was buried last year when Triple H Pedigreed him through the announce table and Kevin Dunn supposedly “didn’t like his look.” Punk was buried in 09 when he was demoted to IC Title range and teaming with Kofi Kingston. Bryan was buried when he was on NXT, when he got fired, when he never got to defend the US Title, with the Bellas…you get the point.

Guys hit slumps, sometimes they bounce back (Sheamus, Punk), sometimes they don’t (Kennedy, Morrison), but it’s too early to make the call on The Miz either way. WWE obviously sees value in him, otherwise he wouldn’t be one of the five people they allow to talk to the mainstream media on a regular basis. He has a presence that you can’t learn in a ring or in any acting class, and that carries serious weight with WWE. I’m quite confident he’ll bounce back after WrestleMania, but don’t be surprised if he drops down again next year in favor of Stone Cold’s triumphant return. 

What? A guy can dream, can’t he?

Razor is a regular contributor to Fair to Flair and the founder of Kick-Out!! Wrestling. It’s pretty difficult to miss him on Twitter, trying to be clever in 140 characters or less. You can also check out Kick-Out’s Facebook and Tumblr pages, because there just aren’t enough social networking sites out there.

Edited by K Sawyer Paul.

The last time Dwayne Johnson hosted Saturday Night Live, it was in early 2009 with musical guest, Ray LaMontagne. It was a solid episode, nothing as great as the first time he hosted with AC/DC and we got amazing sketches like “Nicotrel”, “Papa Peepers” and The Rock as an undercover cop dressed as a prostitute on “The Lady’s Man with Leon Phelps.” Still, there was one sketch on Rock’s 2009 appearance that really stood out, “The Rock Obama”, featuring Fred Armisen as Barack Obama, trying to keep his cool as bad news and outraged commentary surrounded his first 100 days in office, and Johnson as The Rock Obama, Barack’s angry, Incredible Hulk-like alter-ego. A hilarious idea, topical and something only The Rock could pull off. 

Perhaps WWE should’ve worked on getting The Rock on SNL to hype WrestleMania rather than last night’s Raw.

I don’t know what happened last night, but I can’t think of a time when The Rock was that bad. Even when he’s just popping in to spew catchphrases (which is always), it’s still fun, it’s The Rock! You get to do the sing-along thing, Rock will get a zinger or two in, the crowd goes bonkers, he disappears for a few months, rinse, repeat. But The Rock’s first appearance (I think?) since Survivor Series was a complete bomb; oh sure, the crowd was bonkers, but I suspect that’s because they got The Rock and last week’s crowd got the worst WWE moment in years, but that was not a good moment for ol’ Dwayne.

The biggest mistake was opening with “yeah I know said I was never leaving again, but you’re smart enough to know that I was lying.” Obviously no one expected The Rock to be on Raw every week and we all knew he meant he wasn’t going to be taking another seven-year vacation, but it was a gaffe to say it in the first place and an even bigger one to try to spin it like he did. Considering he named-dropped Roddy Piper later in his promo, perhaps he should’ve tried to equate his absences to the Hot Rod’s. He could say something to the effect of while he may step away from WWE TV, he’s out there raising awareness of WWE in his high-profile appearances in blockbuster movies and numerous talk show appearances. It’s hard to find a better brand ambassador than The Rock, Cena certainly doesn’t have his mainstream appeal.

Rock only made matters worse when he attacked Cena for “fighting for the guys in the back.” Rock claimed no one fought for him and while Cena fights for the guys in the back, Rock fights for the people. So basically The Rock created a situation where it’s him and the WWE fans against John Cena and the WWE wrestlers? I’ve often worried that The Rock’s return highlights how much bigger he is than the rest of the locker room, but I never thought he’d come right out and say it. That’s almost as bad as when Triple H made himself the only good guy against the revolting locker room last fall.

The rest of the promo was nothing but catchphrases and nonsense (Kung Pao Bitch, really?) until John Cena showed up and saved the segment. Yes, Cena saved the day and totally threw The Rock off his game, by saying he’s not even sweating their WrestleMania match because he knows he’s not fighting The Rock, he’s fighting Dwayne. The Rock, visibly shaken after the exchange, basically responded with “Nuh-uh, The Rock and Dwayne are TOTALLY the same guy because I say so… smell what The Dwayne is cookin!”



I felt bad for The Rock by the time it was all over. Cena showed up and killed his momentum with just a few sentences, despite The Rock whipping the crowd into a frenzy for 25 minutes with his psycho babble baby talk. Don’t get me wrong, The Rock can control a crowd like no one else, but when there’s no substance behind his words, we drift away from entertainer and into cult leader territory.

It reminds me very much of the Republican presidential primary race that essentially began around the time Dwayne did the Rock Obama sketch. You could probably make this point about any of the crazies that have popped up in the race, as they all share many qualities with The Rock’s performance last night: Donald Trump (celebrity), Sarah Palin (psycho babble baby talk, writing notes on hand), Ron Paul (cult leader), Herman Cain (smooth talker who makes no sense), or Rick Santorum (rampant homophobia), but there’s one that really stands out - Newt Gingrich.

Much like The Rock, Newt was a superstar in the 90s that rapidly rose to power when the public began to grow frustrated with the establishment. Newt ended a generation of Democratic rule in congress and is largely responsible for the modern conservative movement, The Rock helped end the “New Generation” and is largely responsible for the Attitude Era and modern professional wrestling. Gingrich vs. Clinton and The Rock vs. Austin were the defining rivalries of the 90s, they both relied on catchphrases and buzzwords to work the crowd (or media) in their favor, and though it was for wildly different reasons, they both left in the height of their popularity.

But neither really went away, Newt slinked away to write several best-selling books while The Rock went on to make blockbuster movies and when the time was right, they both returned to what made them famous. Immediately upon their returns, they threw out some red meat to their base: Newt Gingrich complained about gay people, The Rock made gay jokes about John Cena. The Rock rambles about Kung Pao chicken, Newt talks about colonizing the moon, neither really make any sense, but when it comes out of the mouths of these particular men, it warrants discussion based on their names alone.

This is the way both men operate, they know how to rile up their audience and get people talking, but once you scratch the surface, things start to fall apart. Whether it’s Newt’s hilarious hypocrisy on family values despite cheating on two of his ex-wives while they were both gravely ill, or The Rock twisting himself in a pretzel on “never leaving again,” they’re not as bulletproof as they think are. 

Meanwhile, John Cena’s been taking a beating from all angles. Some of it’s justified, he hasn’t moved the dial upward for WWE, despite being promoted as the company’s #1 guy for seven years, and sometimes he can really disappoint, whether it’s in the ring or something like he did to Eve last week. But on top of valid criticisms, he has to deal with an audience that largely agrees with his message, they just hate the messenger too much to see it. He also has to deal with people with crazy eyes, like Kane and a guy who uses way too much bronzer, like The Miz. Sound like a certain President you might know? 

Obviously I’m not saying that Dwayne Johnson the man is as vile and disgusting as Newt Gingrich, but in terms of his performance last night, it was positively Newtonian. He threw out the red meat, he spun the negatives into positives, went on and on about Twitter, and had the crowd believing his bullshit, no matter how crazy (seriously… Kung Pao Bitch? That deserves another “Really?!”), but two minutes of scrutiny shattered the illusion. Cena did more in those two minutes than The Rock did in 25 and the only people that should surprise are the Cena haters. Those of us who have been watching the guy with a fair eye for seven years know he can work that mic like Obama works a teleprompter, he just doesn’t need to show off every time like The Rock does. 

If The Rock wants to hold onto this lead he has in the polls, he’s going to need to do a lot more than “Arrive. Gay Joke. Leave.”, otherwise, he could find himself flaming out spectacularly. He certainly has the home field advantage at WrestleMania, but so does Mitt Romney tonight in Michigan and he’s trailing the guy whose name is defined as “the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is often the byproduct of anal sex.”

Oh and “frothy mixture?” Now trending worldwide.

Razor is a regular contributor to Fair to Flair and the founder of Kick-Out!! Wrestling. It’s pretty difficult to miss him on Twitter, trying to be clever in 140 characters or less. You can also check out Kick-Out’s Facebook and Tumblr pages, because there just aren’t enough social networking sites out there.

Edited by TH.

I’ve long been a defender of the brand split and multiple World Championships. I always thought merging the belts and unifying the rosters would lead to too many guys losing their gig and their card placement, but after watching the last two WWE PPVs, I just don’t see the need for it anymore.

During the Elimination Chamber, we saw a Raw Superstar defend the US Title against a Smackdown guy and Santino Marella challenge for the World Championship … in a match that also had to feature the Great Khali. And the Royal Rumble, while incredibly fun, struggled to fill the ring with 30 big-name Superstars. When Epico, Primo and an Uso made it in, on top of the fact they had several gimmicky entries like Road Dogg, Hacksaw and Kharma, you know the roster isn’t as loaded as it was ten years ago.

And that’s okay! WWE’s been getting back to basics and we no longer have the star overload that the remnants of the Attitude Era left us with. Right now, the only true HUGE name WWE has is John Cena; Triple H is part-time at best, Undertaker works once a year, Jericho is in Roddy Piper mode, and Rey Mysterio is shelved at least three months out of the year. The Rock could pop in and out now and then, Batista might return and who knows, we may still get one last Stone Cold match, but let’s face facts: the 1998-2005 WWE is long gone.

In its place, we have CM Punk, who is on the cusp of something big, and then a bunch of guys who are kinda big, but not really. And that’s all they’ll ever be as long as WWE oversaturates their programming with too many titles and too many brands. It worked when the Attitude Era overlapped the Cena era, but we’re in the beginning of something new now and there has never been a better opportunity to get back to basics.

Yes, it may mean some guys will get shunted down the card, but what difference does it make when the World Championship match is the fourth most important match at WrestleMania? And that’s assuming they don’t come up with some kind of big special attraction like the rumored Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal match. Simply keeping the World Title around and Smackdown as a separate show doesn’t make Sheamus and Bryan bigger deals, it just makes the World Title and Smackdown look lesser. Bryan and Sheamus will no doubt tear it up at Mania, but do you think the Miami crowd is going to be as into it as Rock vs. Cena, Triple H vs. Undertaker or even Punk vs. Jericho? Of course not, and that’s okay, let’s just stop pretending it needs to have a World Title involved to make it a great match. 

So let’s just get on with it and merge the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships and US and Intercontinental Championships. I don’t care when they do it — Night of Champions, SummerSlam, or WrestleMania 29 — let’s just make it happen. It’ll instantly increase the value of the WWE and IC Championships, guys in contention for them will seem like bigger deals and WWE will have to come up with new reasons and stories for guys to feud other than “it’s my turn to get a shot at the title.”

I can’t think of a better way to shake up the program, get people talking and make wrestlers feel like Superstars again.

Razor is a regular contributor to Fair to Flair and the founder of Kick-Out!! Wrestling. It’s pretty difficult to miss him on Twitter, trying to be clever in 140 characters or less. You can also check out Kick-Out’s Facebook and Tumblr pages, because there just aren’t enough social networking sites out there.

Edited by Jason Mann.

There are good Raws, there are bad Raws and then there’s last night’s Raw. It is possible for a show to be so bizarre, ridiculous and quirky that you totally love it and the guy next to you thinks it’s the dumbest thing that’s ever been put on television. Hell, even a flat-out great episode of Raw can elicit that kind of reaction, so just imagine how polarizing last night’s acid trip will be perceived. 

And that’s really the best way I can describe it. I woke up this morning at 5:18am wondering if I had dreamed the entire thing after a Cheetos bender gone wrong. Surely they didn’t bring back Brodus Clay as Amish Flash Funk, the dancing dinosaur from an undiscovered planet outside of our solar system, right? Right?! Well…

Only in wrestling, my friend.

And while that’s the most obvious example to illustrate Raw’s oddness, it was really just the beginning. 

The major storyline throughout the show was a mini horror movie… literally. Kane made his intentions clear(ish) to start the show: he wants Cena to embrace his hate because he always gets what he wants, the fans suck or the camp counselors let him burn while they were off having sex, one of those. John Cena tried to confront Kane early in the show, because every good horror movie needs the first encounter with the monster, but managed to stun him well enough to send him running.
Inspiration: Sydney fighting off Ghostface in her house early on in Scream

But like any good villain that gets embarrassed by the protagonist, Kane decided to murder John Cena’s friends instead. All throughout the night, Kane was lurking in the shadows while Zack Ryder performed various tasks like hitting on the hot chick, brushing his teeth and babysitting the Doyle kid.
Inspiration: Michael Myers in Halloween

Late in the evening, Eve was supposed to battle Beth Phoenix for a shot at the Divas Championship, but instead Kane’s music played, in a clever ruse to draw out Zack Ryder. Ryder “rescued” Eve and took her to his Kia Soul, except the tire was flat! Oh no, whatever will they do?! They have a flat tire in the middle of nowhere this 15,000-seat arena with cabs lined up around the block to pick up drunk wrestling fans, they’ll never get out of this one! Luckily, Zack Ryder (sorta) knows how to change a tire, but Eve’s just a girl and can’t figure these things out, she just hopes Zack knows what he’s doing!
Inspiration: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, any movie with crazed hillbillies in a small town.

And while Ryder struggled with changing a tire (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey, c’mon!) and Eve cried from the passenger seat, their best buddy John Cena just went about his business in a main event match with Dolph Ziggler. Hey, he can’t worry about something as silly as a serial chokeslammer on the loose, he’s got a football game to win! Eventually Cena did the right thing and tried to save his friends, but of course it was just a clever trap; Kane finished him off with “The Nasty Hold on Cena’s Face Again™” and Raw ended exactly the same way as it has for the last month.
Inspiration: Any horror film with more than three entries in the franchise.

Now the big question this week was WWJD: What Would Jericho Do? After being “overwhelmed with emotion” last week, as Jerry Lawler put it, surely Jericho would talk tonight, right? Sorry, he just couldn’t, the tears were welling up in his eyes and he became even more overwhelmed! “MY EMOTIONS! MY EMOTIOOOONS!”

Remember that episode of The Office, back when it was still funny, when Jim couldn’t talk and he makes up a story about a family member affected by substance abuse and he conveys it entirely through fake crying? It was kinda like that, so my only guess is someone has placed a jinx on Jericho and he can’t speak until he buys them a Coke.

My other theory is that Chris Jericho is playing Hulk Hogan circa 2002 where he just basks in the adoration of the fans every week for five to ten minutes. Maybe next week he’ll team up with Edge and beat two gay guys for the tag titles. Don’t worry, it’s just a publicity stunt, so it’s totally not homophobic.

Elsewhere on Raw, CM Punk battled Jack Swagger in the 10pm main event and it looked like things were finally going to settle down. Hey it’s Punk and the very capable Swagger in the longest match of the night, surely this would be our moment of zen? WRONG! Right in the middle of a great match, CM Punk landed the Flying Elbow Smash, only for the ref to screw up a near fall and count the three too early. CM Punk look pissed, but commentary did an awesome job covering things up and it felt like one of those moments where an NFL ref blows an obvious call. As well as it worked, it continued the bizarre thread that weaved its way through the evening.

Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston was a one-minute squash with the World Champion easily dispatching one half of the tag champs. Apparently there was a backstory to this match on WWE.com, but they put up the link while the match was going on. Like I said, weird show. Bryan’s excessive celebrating escalated further, which I love, but apparently Big Show does not. Show came to the ring after the match to tell Bryan he has to defend the World Championship again this Friday, and this time it’s no count-out and no DQ. If that match happened on this show, Bryan would’ve made Big Show tap out in 45 seconds.

Oh yeah, did I mention Curt Hawkins was Brodus Clay’s opponent? Like I said, weird show.

Another ongoing story throughout this show was The Miz trying to lure R-Truth out of hiding to give him a beat down. This culminated with Miz forcing Ricardo Rodriguez to go out to the ring and say “really offensive things,” which made me really nervous. Also, why the hell does Ricardo have to work while Del Rio is injured? Did Virgil have to work when Ted DiBiase was vacationing at his seasonal residence? That ain’t right!

Anyway, Truth finally came out of hiding, but fought off a Miz blindside (that’s what happens when you broadcast your evil plan on a TV show watched by 5 million Lil Jimmies) and this story ended exactly the same way as it has for the last three weeks. Sound familiar?

And finally, Sheamus & Santino Marella (what?) took on Wade Barrett & Jinder Mahal (what what?!) in the most pointless tag match ever. This was a match that made you question if WWE knows what the word “super” means when they call it a “SuperShow.”

There were two really awesome bits of news though, they announced the first two inductees into the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame: Edge and The Four Horsemen! That’s really sweet of them to give the nod to Edge so soon. I bet he nerded out when they told him. And I’ve wanted them to induct The Horsemen as a group for years now and it’s especially great because Ric Flair will be the first-ever double inductee in the HOF. I know there were a lot of people wondering if he’d be at the ceremony due to his contract with TNA, but somehow I think WWE can work around a legal document written in crayon. And yay, Arn Anderson’s finally going in!

Oh and I need to put the kibosh on this now: Chris Benoit is NOT a Hall of Famer due to this. No, not even “technically,” unless you also want to say Heidenreich is a Hall of Famer since the Road Warriors went in last year. Just knock that shit off right now.

So yeah, that was Raw. There were ass loads (that’s slightly less than a shit ton) of problems, problems that have plagued Raw for the last two months, but somehow they didn’t really matter. It was so absurd and stupid that it would’ve just pissed me off more if they tried to fix it on this show and it probably would have made things worse. My guess is they figured no one would watch due to the BCS game and just dove in head first. Sure, it’s the middle of January, so the pool was empty, but sometimes wrestling is more entertaining when you’ve suffered massive head trauma.

Razor is a regular contributor to Fair to Flair and the founder of Kick-Out!! Wrestling. It’s pretty difficult to miss him on Twitter, trying to be clever in 140 characters or less. You can also check out Kick-Out’s Facebook and Tumblr pages, because there just aren’t enough social networking sites out there.

Edited by Jason Mann.