Dean Ambrose Is Starting to Realize His Potential

I first remember hearing about Dean Ambrose was him having a match with CM Punk down in FCW. That was the former developmental prior to NXT. I watched the match and was blown away by this guy wrestling Punk who at the time was at the height of his popularity and the WWE Champion.

I was so intrigued, I did my research and found out this guy was John Moxley on the independent scene. The promos this guy was cutting for independent promotions that I had never heard of were amazing. They were dark and had a real edge to them. Bray Wyatt in current WWE draws comparison Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Which are valid but Ambrose was cutting promos of a similar nature back at this time and they were all very good and stood out. There is a short list of great talkers you find in the independent scene as the opportunities to cut promos are far less.

Ambrose when The Shield first started was billed by most hardcore fans as the big potential star when they first arrived. It was well deserved and you could understand why. Dean Ambrose for me still is the most complete package for money as we see The Shield clearly going their separate ways.

Set Rollins is the first ever NXT Champion and has shown the ability to cut a promo and has always has the skills in the ring. I was not following ROH closely during his time as Tyler Black to be honest but he is always mentioned as one of the guys talked about. The follow up to his turning on The Shield has lacked any real big build to it. He is heading towards a match with Ambrose which should be a heck of a match. They have been working the house show circuit and did go at it Hamilton where I call home. I was not at the show but heard the reviews from folks that were as very positive.

Roman Reigns is thought of as the WWE’s Golden Boy and could be thought of as a guy that eventually replaces Cena by the company. I can see the reasons for them thinking along those lines. He is big which has always been a positive in the WWE based on history. He has been getting better and better in the ring and is advancing quickly. His work on the mic and in segments is also getting better as the weeks go on.

Ambrose though sells everything so well and is already in my mind a master at his craft. The thing most remember about the Rollins turn was the reaction of Dean Ambrose which was just perfect. He sells everything so well as this half crazy maniac. Another guy beyond a Jake “The Snake” Roberts that he reminds me of is “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Piper was always a guy that was one short step away from losing his mind at any point. That is something Ambrose does so very well and when he snaps he is a "wild man" much like a Piper was back in the day.

The fact I am comparing Ambrose to long-time WWE Legends is not out of place praise it is well deserved and earned. They say that you need to be your character from the moment you hit the stage to moment you go back behind the curtain. Dean Ambrose embodies this concept and is brilliant at it. Every movement of Dean Ambrose means something and that is top level work by a professional wrestling in any era.

People love Dolph Ziggler and they question why he is where he is at given his obvious talent. I would say compare Ziggler to Dean Ambrose and you have at least part of the answer as to why. Ambrose is just as good at selling things as Ziggler but he goes about it in a much safer way. WWE especially based on recent events with lots of injuries happening has to always be concerned with the longevity of their top talent and be able to count on them to perform. Once in awhile there is a time to take risks as we saw in the feud with The Shield and Evolution. Still you want those moments to mean something and the rest of the time you want guys to choose the safe route. Dean Ambrose can sell with his face as good as he can with his body. He knows when it is appropriate to use both skills. Dolph clearly struggles in this regard.

Dean Ambrose is off to a great start to his singles path and for fans that are missing CM Punk this is a guy that offers a different kind of unpredictability that Punk offered on weekly basis. Punk was a huge fan of Ambrose and was a guy that was an advocate for him advancing in the WWE System. You can see why and can see that many of the same people that loved Punk are the same people that should and are supporting Ambrose now. He will always be a favorite for the hardcore audience that is looking for people to get behind.

I believe in Dean Ambrose and he gives me more and more reasons to believe on a weekly basis these days.

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Bray Has Come To Save Us All Or Just Get Himself Over?

Who does Bray Wyatt represent when he is speaking? He is speaking a lot more truth than lies in the minds of many pro wrestling fans. He asked was he snake venom or the cure? Even in actions designed to make him look like a bad guy it is actually righting a wrong. He chooses to target Jerry Lawler as he was the man that for years had spread the lies about John Cena. Well that is kind of true he has been that guy. What he also has been is not that great at his job for a decade. JBL trying to defend him draws little sympathy either as he too has become nothing more than a shadow of his former self on commentary.

If the People's Champion goes after John Cena in The Rock maybe there is a new man to carry that claim. Bray Wyatt and the Rock have nothing in common other than they both come from wrestling families. In a very different way is what Bray Wyatt doing not the will of the people? For at least the majority of them that see John Cena as a played out plastic corporate puppet.

Actually another similarity to The Rock is the ability to talk. Sometimes Rocky would not make a ton of sense with his off beat humor and it really got to the point “IT DIDN’T MATTER WHAT HE SAID,” because we all had bought in. Bray has a much more serious message and when he laughs it really isn’t from a joke. It is a more evil and sinister laugh.

But the people love him and they have embraced him. The Rock originally was a good guy but the people didn’t like him so he was turned into a member of the Nation on Domination. It soon became The Rock that overshadowed all in the group. Bray has always been the leader of his group and treated as such.

In the end is Bray Wyatt not just the New People’s Champion but is he the Voice of the voiceless too? He says a lot of the stuff that we all are thinking. Where and how does this long drawn out feud with John Cena end or does it even end or does it just get put on hold.

While most pine for a return to the attitude era Bray Wyatt goes back further than that to Jake Roberts. It is crystal clear that Wyatt has studied so Jake “The Snake” Roberts material. Roberts always made comparisons to life that was often sick, twisted and very dark. Keep in mind all of this in the supposed PG Friendly Era of Wrestling. By the time that Attitude Era was coming Jake had been in and out of rehab and the WWF and found God. That finding of God led to the most famous phrase uttered in wrestling

“Talk about your psalms took about John 3:16, Austin 3:16 say I just whipped your ass”

That was the launch on millions and millions of T-Shirts being sold. Bray Wyatt is at his core different from everyone else and creates moments that are magical. When he comes on the screen you look up, you stop tweeting and you turn up the volume and listen.

For whatever people want to say about John Cena his message has become stale and outdated and people have stopped paying attention. People roll their eyes at Cena promos more than relate to him. Stop and think about it when is the last time you turned up a John Cena Promo. For most I would venture to say it has been awhile. Last time I did was when he reprized his old persona and rapped about The Rock.

I guess what is frustrating is nothing about Cena seems real. In his old heel days he talked like a white rapper kid from Boston. Now as the corporate face he has no accident and sounds like he belongs in a race for mayor not to be the WWE Champion. He dates a girl that seems so much like a Barbie doll come to life it isn’t funny. John Cena is the perfect Ken doll to her Barbie.

Using an Eminem song for Bray Wyatt was interesting. Not that Bray will be making a Rap album like John Cena has. He likes the old gospel tunes it would appear. Still Bray is kind of twisted and sick in the same way that Eminem can view the world through his rap lyrics.

Bray Wyatt presents a real world that does not have fair tales and super heroes. In a world that is not always just judging the book by its cover. The thing about this whole thing is where does the truth in what he says stop and is anything really a lie in what he says? Well he probably isn’t a God but we once had a Wrestling God that was taken out for a few matches.

Bray Wyatt speaks and we all listen and relate to his words. He is likely the best promo in the WWE right now and I would put him up against anyone on the roster. That is how much he is knocking it out of the park. This feud with Cena has dragged and the performances of John have been hit and miss. At the end of the day this has been all about Bray.

The mission of making a huge star however rocky and twisted that road has become it has happened. Bray Wyatt is now on a different level from everybody else. In those writers meeting that question is asked what are we doing with Bray? A true sign you have made it.

Follow the buzzards to the bank because Bray Wyatt has made himself a star for the next decade or more assuming he is able to stay healthy.

Wrestlemania Memories

As cynical as we all can be as Wrestling fans, the thing about Wrestlemania that makes it special is how it ties to memories of our youth. They make you remember fond memories. I can remember my dad taking me to see Wrestlemania 2 on closed circuit television at Copps Coliseum. Even as a kid I could tell he really didn’t care much for this wrestling stuff, but he was going to take his son to something he enjoyed. Funny thing is even he got excited watching the British Bulldogs match with The Dream Team. My dad marking out for false finishes just like me was just amazing to see. 

Dad for whatever reason took a liking to Ricky Steamboat and as a kid my favourite and still to this day was Randy Savage. Mom took me back to the same venue to see Randy Savage lose to Ricky Steamboat in Wrestlemania 3. It would go on to be considered one of the classic matches of all time. As a kid I didn’t care about that in the slightest, all I cared about was my guy Randy Savage had lost and I was crushed. Needless to say I was not that happy with my dad for a week or maybe two after that match.

Sadly my father would pass away months later but I will always look back on those moments with him tied to going to wrestling events as some of my most fond memories of my father. I struggled after losing my father in June. Still getting use to life without him I would be back at the same venue to see Wrestlemania 4 and the tournament that would see Randy Savage go on to win the WWF Championship.

If I had paid more attention by the time Randy Savage met Greg “The Hammer” Valentine it should have been obvious that Randy Savage was going to win it all. Still I was just a nervous fan wanting to hope that my guy was going come out on top. Maybe young kids today have that same feeling about Daniel Bryan and if we will win the Championship.

Maybe all those kids that root for John Cena are in fear that he will lose to the evil Bray Wyatt. I think we lose that prospective of what it feels like to be that kid. They are not concerned with how good a match is or if someone is getting a push or being buried. They have no concept or knowledge of what those things are. They just have someone they root for and want them to win.

As an older fan I grew to appreciate the talents of Shawn Micheals and what he could do in a ring. He to me was the guy that replaced Savage as my favourite. Strange that being in Canada for Wrestlemania 12 and the Ironman Match I wanted to see HBK win it all. That match I watched with a good friend of mine that I recently re-connected with. Part of how our friendship began was both being fans of wrestling and video games. We met because our dad’s both bowled in a league on the same night. We as kids would tear around this bowling alley and wrestle and play video games. This once had a bad result as I took a belly to back suplex into the edge of a pop machine which resulted in my getting stitches for the first time in my life. Seeing my own blood was a lot different than watching Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan bleed that is for sure. Don’t try this at home was never professed back than.

Another story I remember from my days in high school was about a house show at the Copps once again. I watched Curt Henning from the first row of ringside and yelled after he completed a move “that was perfect” and he pointed at me and said “your damn right it was.” I attended the first ever Royal Rumble although it was not called that at the time it was a special for U.S cable being taped up here not a PPV. Hacksaw Jim Duggan as you all maybe aware won that first rumble. I am here to tell you though if the fans on that night had their way it would have been HOF Inductee this year Jake “The Snake” Roberts.  The Chants of “D-D-T” were loud from the moment he entered to the moment he was eliminated. Not really good advice from us as crowd to eliminate people but was a sign that Jake was very over more than anyone on that night. In fact, even more than Hogan who was there to sign a contract for his big re-match with Andre The Giant that would end up setting the wheels in motion for the tournament Savage won at Wrestlemania 4 I mentioned earlier.

The points I make here are a couple I guess. Wrestlemania has become an event that we tie memories to not just of the matches and the events that take place but of our lives. I realize this comes off as a bit of a sappy thing like the WWE Network commercial with the boy that grows up to have a son and family through his WWE Fandom. Thing is you swap those Cena and Punk shirts for Steamboat and Savage and that was me and my dad. It’s something I can relate too, even if you want to consider it sappy dribble.

Wrestlemania has grown to be an event that has a rich and long history that ties to our memories of the past and represents some of the current events of those times. I just listened to Review-A-Wai and they reviewed Wrestlemania 7 which was another famous Savage moment. His Career vs. Career match against Hall of Fame Inductee the Ultimate Warrior. It is the core of why I will never like the Warrior as he ended that match by putting his foot on Savage’s chest after kicking out of 5 elbows from Savage.

This might be the point where the jaded fan and smarter fan started for me. That jerk just ended Macho’s career at the time by covering his with his foot? Savage would not be gone long as this was my first experience at realizing the wrestling retirement was not exactly binding. Brett Favre must have been a wrestling fan given his career. The point was Savage carried that sack of garbage to the best match he ever had and he ended it by putting his foot on him. Worked or not that just seemed so wrong to me.

The fact we are over 20 years removed from that event and I still feel that way tells you what Wrestlemania does in terms of creating lasting moments. The results are pre-determined and they can be predictable but still those Wrestlemania Moments they talk about are real. Not just for the wrestlers but for fans as well.

People look back and review these shows that never experienced them at the time and I always find that interesting. They often see how horrible these cards were in the context of today. In reality that just isn’t fair in some sense because out of context a great many things don’t look good by today’s standards. I can still laugh along though at how goofy some of the stuff seems now-a-days.

The other thing the CM Punk loving John Cena hating me learned from this was that maybe I forget what it was like being a kid watching this stuff. Maybe while I am tired of John Cena and his entire act which is nothing more than a modern version of Hulk Hogan that I forget what it was like as a kid. Although, being a Savage fan, I never liked Hogan and only tolerated him during his time with Savage in the Mega Powers. I was the exception not the rule and just like many kids today love John Cena I maybe should respect that a little and remember how I felt as that kid.

Every wrestler I have ever loved has some tie back to that original love of Randy Savage. Punk wearing those tribute tights after the death of Savage made me as a grown man get teary eyed. His doing the Savage Elbow and keeping Savage alive through chants of his name in crowds today is the best gift he could give to me as a Savage fan.

It all in the end comes back to those magic moments at a Wrestlemania that cement our fandom in the people we love. It isn’t always about how good or bad a match was. About who should win or lose and booking of the product. It is about those memories that are created and that connection it creates for us with a wrestler. Mania provides wrestling fans with moments that can take them back to where they were and what they felt at that time. Like this is you life type of feel all connected to this event. Something that when it began no one could have imagined what it would truly become. Vince McMahon regardless what you think of him has given us all something that we can look back to as part of our history as both fans of wrestling and people in general.

That is something that is priceless. Not even the Million Dollar Man can take away the memories you have for this iconic wrestling institution. 

Raw Notebook: Realism and Proper Babyface Booking

In my transition into writing on wrestling I have tried to not fall into the typical stereotypes of what I see out there. Doing blogs or podcasts after Raw is the standard thing to do if you cover wrestling. I am not saying I will never fall into that standard type of things, but at this point I am focused on building myself an audience for this.

With that all said last night’s Raw in San Antonio had me compelled to talk about it a bit. From an in ring point of view the show wasn’t anything special at all.  Although I thought a couple of things on this show for me caught my attention that was different from the standard stuff we have come to expect from Raw.

The biggest thing I noticed was the treatment of Daniel Bryan. While on the surface it seemed the standard way Daniel Bryan has been treated on the program since Summerslam.

But look a little closer and it was different. Michael Cole who I have never praised for his commentary to any large degree at any time I can recall did a good job on this show. He drove home a theme of the night about Daniel Bryan causing problems between all the various heels on the show.

The show began with a promo by Triple H in which he would be interrupted by both Batista and Randy Orton. Batista and Orton were to say the least upset about HHH granting Bryan a match that could see him be a part of their main event match.

This caused HHH to be angry with them doubting his abilities to beat Bryan. In reality everyone does expect HHH to lose to set up the main event match that people want to see. HHH cut a great promo that actually was attacking both Orton and Batista using actual feelings of the fan base on both. 

Than he dropped the bomb on Batista and Orton but more in reality the fans watching when he declared there will be a triple threat match for the title at Wrestlemania 30 but it will not be Bryan in the match it is going to be him. In other words the winner of the Bryan vs. HHH match regardless of the outcome will put the winner in the Main Event for the title.

Brilliant because now fans that feel HHH is out to bury people now have a concern that maybe he just might now win his match with Bryan. This match lacked any drama to it and now it has some for people that question HHH’s desire be it in storyline or in reality to put over Daniel Bryan.

Cole did a good job selling the fact that Daniel Bryan was the cause behind all of this drama between the three. Fans are fully aware of the history of the three in evolution and in reality most are fully aware of the friendship between the three. Daniel Bryan even in storyline causing a riff between them makes him seem more important.

During the body of the show the riff also extended to between HHH and Stephanie. This again was sold by Cole as being caused by Bryan. In the end this tension was proven to be just a work that would get revealed in the final segment.

Still now it took people plotting to destroy or set-up Bryan which makes him important. In the end the show ended with HHH and Stephanie being on the same page. Steph would come out and call for the cops to arrest Daniel Bryan for his actions last week disrupting Raw. As it turned out the Cops were fake and had cuffed Bryan while Steph and Hunter were fighting outside of the ring. HHH enters the ring and at first looks like he is going to call off the cops but instead reveals the cops are phony and a beat down of Bryan commences. The fact Bryan is handcuffed makes him seem again important and a threat. HHH if he was so confident he could handle Daniel Bryan why go to the extent to have him handcuffed to beat him down.

The combination of Cole getting it over and the storyline made Daniel Bryan feel like he was being treated by the company as a top baby face.

While many will leave the show more concerned than ever about Daniel Bryan getting to the finish line at Wrestlemania the subtle seeds have been planted that he will.

What I also liked on this show was all the subtle jabs of the reality we had mixed in the program. From the opening segment we talked about to Bray Wyatt’s promo on John Cena to Christian on commentary. The WWE on this same show introduced a show for kids called Slam City that is basically the cartoons on the net that are a modern version of the old Hulk Hogan’s Rockin' Wrestling.

The Attitude Era is dead but for fans of that era if you can add more of those “Real Life” lines into promos it will be something that will appeal to that older Attitude Era crowd but sill stays in the WWE’s PG world. If you think about Jake” The Snake” Roberts  mainly existed in that kid friendly WWE era with Hulk Hogan and still did his thing. Bray Wyatt often draws comparison to him and can have that same amount of success. In the Attitude Era we likely see Bray Wyatt not just subtle reference to Nikki Bella but he likely kidnaps her and does God knows what. Back to Jake “The Snake” Roberts and his feud with Randy Savage. He would just intimidate Elizabeth and never cross that line too far. There is no reason to think Bray could not do something similar in his current situation.

There is a way for everyone to be somewhat happy at the end of the day. WWE just has to work extremely hard at doing that. Regardless of if people will believe it or not the exit of CM Punk might have served as a wake up call for folks in the WWE to work harder at reaching that goal. It seems like at least a legitimate theory as you can’t argue that Punk’s absence has not had an impact on the company having to alternate plans and re-evaluate.  This along with the continued strength of Bryan and the lack of strength of Batista has led to the most winding road to Wrestlemania we have seen in some time perhaps ever.

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