Mat Musings: Cool, Vicious & Clever

With the “Road To Wrestlemania” now upon us and the wheels to that event fully in motion, there’s an awful lot to talk about this time of year in the world of professional wrestling. It’s no secret that our friends at WWE put a lot of faith in the annual extravaganza known as Wrestlemania and thus expect surrounding events such as the Royal Rumble and the Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View’s to do great business themselves. With all the furore following the start of each calendar year, other wrestling promotions try their best to effectively cash-in on what’s happening in the largest company this brand of entertainment has to offer and this year shall surely be no different. With that said, on with the topics!

• Online Hype Surrounding Michelle McCool

There’s been a lot of talk over the past few years regarding one Michelle McCool and her position within World Wrestling Entertainment. Her off-screen and very much real-life relationship with one of the biggest stars in the company, The Undertaker, has led many to suggest she is only still hired due to the backstage clout of her hubby.

Regardless of the strings he can pull, this writer feels anyone who bluntly ignores the woman’s talents and puts all her success down to her husbands ability to pull some strings with the office, is extremely short-sighted. Indeed, an ex-writer for the Smackdown brand, John Piermarini, has recently surfaced on a large number of wrestling-related new-sites decrying these suggestions.

Piermarini states that McCool can talk (which is true) and can wrestle (which, depending on your opinions about what makes a good wrestler, could also be seen as true). In my humble opinion, the lady in question is easily one of the most accomplished females in wrestling today. She easily rivals much-heralded women as Lita, Chyna and Sable inside the ring and actually shows more personality than all of the above combined. Like it or not, her duo with Layla, “Laycool”, is over with the fans. This is evidenced by the mass amount of boos which accompany their entrance and matches.

Sure, Mrs. Undertaker isn’t the best female performer ever to burst onto the scene in North American wrestling, but she isn’t that far away from being one of the best, certainly in the modern-era. There’s a joke in here somewhere about being “Flawless”..

• Sid Vicious Arrested

Various online news sources are reporting the arrest of former WWF/WWE, WCW and ECW talent Sid Eudy this past weekend on drug charges. Mr. Eudy was apparently pulled over for driving without a seatbelt before the law officer found a bag containing large quantities of marijuana in his car. The man has since been released on a $1000 bond. Rumours that he threatened the policeman/woman with a Powerbomb whilst muttering something about being “the master and the ruler of the world” are unsubstantiated.

Having seen the mugshot of Sid, which is readily available online right now looking to search mugshots of him, it’s very clear that he’s getting on in years. I know, I know, that’s kinda obvious. What I’m really getting at here is that we’ve all heard rumours regarding his possible return to the spotlight with WWE over the past number of years. Sid himself has even been quoted to be interested and feels he’s ready to make a comeback to the promotion which gave him so much in the early and mid-1990’s.

Being a big fan of the man formerly known as “Sycho Sid”, “Sid Vicious”, “Sid Justice” and plainly, “Sid” – I’ve always loved the idea that he may make his way back into a wrestling ring at some point in the near future. The big guy was always one of my most favoured characters in a pre-Attitude era WWE and many countless hours were spent imitating his fiendishly creepy laugh which permeated his promos.

One of the better big-men wrestlers, Sid was surprisingly nimble for such a huge figure. Never the most technical of workers, he nonetheless had a presence which stuck with the fans and still keeps him fresh in so many people’s minds, even so many years after his last appearances on the grand stage for WCW.

Will we ever see him back in WWE? With the group’s new decree that they won’t be hiring anyone over the age of 30, this surely rules the monster out?

• Triple H Beginning To “Wind Down” In-Ring Career?

This is another huge topic which is sparking debate amongst fans all over the internet and one which will definitely polarise opinion. The master of the Pedigree manoeuvre has long had a love/hate relationship with those of us who happen to use a keyboard and watch pro wrestling. He doesn’t really think much of the IWC (“Internet Wrestling Community”) and clearly feels there’s too much negativity doing the rounds on wrestling message boards across the land.

I’ve written about it in great length many, many times and will not bore you with the details but, I actually agree with HHH on this one. There is far too much whining that goes on about the overall product, with people nit-picking until they can nit-pick no more. Indeed, it often times feels as though these folks don’t actually enjoy what they watch on a weekly basis, which begs the question as to why they bother to tune in.

In any event, there will still be a large number of fans who will be a tad disappointed that the man is supposedly contemplating taking a backseat as it pertains to being a main-event regular. “The Game” has been one of the linchpins holding together the top-line scene in WWE for over a decade now and has participated in so many fantastic matches down throughout the years, even before he was competing for the top belts.

It’ll be extremely intriguing to watch and see if the rumours are true that Triple H is being groomed as the eventual true successor to Vince McMahon and is effectively then given full control over World Wrestling Entertainment, from an in-ring point of view. Perhaps his wife, and Vince’s daughter, Stephanie will oversee the business and marketing aspects of the company leaving Mr. Helmsley to fully focus on boosting the ratings and crowds for live events, TV and PPV.

One thing is for sure, there are few other people employed by the promotion who have the drive, commitment and shrewdness to take over the steering wheel.

If you’d like to email me any of your thoughts, please feel very very free. I enjoy hearing from all of you, even if your opinions and thoughts don’t exactly match my own! jamiekennedy@live.com! TAKE IT HOME!