No Gimmicks Needed
Vol. 2 – No. 5
Are You Cool with the Staples?

Welcome back to No Gimmicks Needed. It’s been another extended break since I last wrote this column, but it’s still here and it’s still running strong. I’ll be running down my thoughts on the post draft effects of each brand in the WWE so far, the latest on Dragon Gate USA, what’s up with Paul London, and a brief examination of those wanting to transition from wrestling and MMA to Hollywood. So let’s not waste any more time and get this party started.

===

Opening Bell
“A top story and my opinion about it.”

Ric Flair has the itch.

Why am I not surprised?

“I want to wrestle again,” he admitted to Alex Marvez in an interview last week. “I watch [World Wrestling Entertainment] and I can still do better than 90 percent of the guys there.”

In terms of the Raw roster, he’s right. And he proved it starting with a shocking appearance at the Judgment Day pay-per-view to help Batista fend off WWE Champion Randy Orton and The Legacy. He followed by a show-stealing performance throughout the next Monday night’s Raw. He alone has become the shining light in an otherwise dark void that Raw has become since the results of the draft finally took effect more than three weeks ago after the Backlash pay-per-view.

As most people predicted, Raw ended up becoming the weaker brand in terms of overall presentation. The original idea behind the draft was generally to strengthen the Monday night show. The problem was that all there’s barely any thing fresh with a roster headlined by John Cena, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Batista, and The Big Show. Those six names have feuded with each other for the past five years. There is nothing new they can offer.

Granted, Flair isn’t quite the breath of fresh air the roster needed either. But given how far downhill Raw was going, he is enough of a help to turn things around. Temporarily.

Realizing this fact rather suddenly, the higher-ups in the WWE made it known that they were looking to push new stars. All fine and dandy, but they seem to have a problem with actually booking this new stars properly. WWE United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter, Matt Hardy, Kofi Kingston, and The Miz have obviously been tapped to being the next top stars they want to push alongside Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes.

The results have been mediocre at best so far. They still can’t seem to book MVP as truly being an equal to the Raw Six despite his improvements in virtually every department. Hardy suffered an arm injury at Backlash and has been performing with a cast since. Kofi has not been given any sort of opportunity to work the microphone. Miz has done nothing but work the microphone thus far. DiBiase and Rhodes come off as important because of their association with Orton, but that’s about it.

The rest of the roster is a mish mash of talent that most people just don’t seem to care about. The Colons are barely showcased despite being the Tag Team Champions, thanks in part to the company’s continuing mission to devalue tag team wrestling as much as possible. The Santino Marella comedy act is quickly becoming overkill. Mr. Kennedy is very injury-prone that it all but destroys whatever potential that was seen in him in the past. The Brian Kendrick has become a glorified jobber. Chavo Guerrero is second fiddle to his General Manager aunt Vickie. The Divas are as dismal as ever. And everyone is not being used.

To be blunt, Raw does not look all that good right now. Just as we figured. And just as we figured, the other two rosters are doing just a little bit better.

Extreme Championship Wrestling remains the developmental brand as it had been prior to the draft. Christian and Jack Swagger are the leads. Evan Bourne is the emerging face. Finlay and Tommy Dreamer are the veterans around to help mold the talent whenever needed. Mark Henry is in the intimidating figure. Vladimir Kozlov is the monster in training. The Stampede Bulldogs have finally united. Gregory Helms is doing backstage inviews while he recovers. Zack Ryder is working on his new character. Paul Burchill and Katie Lea are still around. Aside from DJ Gabriel and Ezekiel Jackson not being used, it’s pretty much business as usual over at the Land of Extreme.

SmackDown! has obviously benefited the most. Right from the start, we have been getting some fresh air on Friday nights. Sure Jeff Hardy against Edge is familiar, but its under new circumstances. You have Chris Jericho taking on Rey Mysterio. CM Punk against Umaga. John Morrison against Shelton Benjamin with Charlie Haas at the latter’s side. Dolph Ziggler against The Great Khali. Fresh faces, fresh feuds. And what makes the whole thing even better is the great booking job Michael Hayes and his creative crew have been doing. In the three shows and the matches showcased at Judgment Day, SmackDown! has become the roster and the show to watch this year.

You look at all this and you can see that Raw is looking at getting help from any one and any where. And they decided upon Ric Flair, playing to his desire to get back into the ring after witnessing his best friend and greatest rival Ricky Steamboat have a successful in-ring return in April. Flair is still, as of writing, connected with Ring of Honor. If he can’t wrestle, he is still in the belief that he can make more money being book independently for appearances around the world. But he will jump at the opportunity to get back in should Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels give him the okay. He has made it clear that it is their call from the promises he made to them.

Physically, Flair cannot possibly go all that well. Just from watching his last match, you can see that he really wanted to do the things he used to twenty years ago, but can’t. However, he has that charisma and energy that trumps just about any one he gets into the ring with. From his surprise appearances at Judgment Day and the following night’s Raw, you could tell that he has more talent in his pinky than Batista has in his whole body. And even Batista knows it.

It becomes a question of do you really want to see Flair back in the ring at the age he’s in. Me personally, I will only agree if it means him and Steamboat get one final go. Their rivalry is unmatched, and for them to engage in the 21st century would be incredible. Even better if they manage to make it for WrestleMania, because God knows that’s the one place their battles needed to be showcased on. They won’t be at the same physical level as they were, obviously. But damn would it be sweet to see them square off on the biggest stage in wrestling.

===

Around the Ring
“Wrestling news and events you need to know.”

It was just recently announced that former Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight Champion Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski will be making his Strikeforce debut on June 6 in St. Louis, Missouri. This is the same show that will be airing live on Showtime and will be headlined by Robbie Lawler against Jake Shields. Arlovski, who is 15-6, will take on Brett Rogers, who is undefeated at 9-0. The rest of the main card currently signed for the show will have Nick Diaz against Scott Smith, Phil Baroni against Joe Riggs, and Kevin Randleman against Mike Whitehead.

Arlovski is coming off of a devistating knock out loss in the first round to Fedor Emelianenko from back in January 24 in Anaheim, California as part of the Affliction: Day of Reckoning show for the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship. In that time since then, he joined the cast of the upcoming “Universal Soldiers: The Next Generation” which reunites original film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. His opponent, Rogers, is coming in from defeating Abongo Humphrey in the second round by technical knock out on the last Strikeforce show back in April 11 in San Jose, California.

—

The Dragon Gate USA show at The Arena in South Philadelphia on July 25 will feature Open The Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi, Open The Brave Gate and one-third of the Open The Triangle Gate Champions CIMA, Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid, Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk, YAMATO, and Susumu Yokosuka flown in from Japan to compete. Additional talent being booked for the undercard so far include Too Cold Scorpio and The Young Bucks of Matt and Nick Jackson. CHIKARA Pro Wrestling will have a special attraction eight-man tag team match. Thus far, The Colony of Fire Ant and Soldier Ant have been confirmed as half of one team. The first three rows for the show were sold out with eleven hours of going on sale despite an initial fan concern over high price tags such as front row going for $75.

The second show has already been set to take place at the Congress Theater in Chicago, Illinois on September 6. No talent has been announced as of writing, though the first group will likely be named before tickets begin to go on sale on May 27. The plan Dragon Gate is looking to do is to promote about three or four shows in the United States per year. With Philadelphia and Chicago announced, it is likely Los Angeles will be the next city given their strong relationship with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and the success they had with their first US show there last September. Speaking of said show, it will have a DVD this year with the goal to have it out in time for the Philadelphia show. PWG’s Disco Machine and Excalibur recently recorded an alternate commetary track.

—

I haven’t heard any thing new about the situation down in Mexico, specifically Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, in regards to a backstage fight back in March that left Juventud Guerrera badly bruised and with a broken nose. Here’s what I know: After having a match with Jack Evans earlier, Guerrera returned to the back to find that someone had defecated in his bag. Guerrera immediately went straight to Konnan, with whom he still has personal issues with, accusing him of being responsible. Silly part was that Juvi went back and forth speaking in Spanish and English. Konnan denied involvement. Guerrera then voiced how he felt Konnan was responsible for having Jack work stiff on him during the match earlier. At some point, the fight happened. I don’t know who started it, but I do know that Jack was the dominant one.

As a result of the incident, Juvi left AAA and was seeking legal action against Konnan, Jack Evans, and even AAA for allowing the situation to happen. Earlier in May, the Distrito Federal Box y Lucha commission, as officiated by Fantasma, officially suspended Konnan and Jack. The suspension prevents both from competing at the TripleMania event on June 13. AAA has been staying out of taking sides, leaving the wrestlers to deal with the situation themselves primarily so that Fantasma won’t shut down their shows including TripleMania. Konnan and Guerrera’s lawyers did meet at one point to talk about settlement, but it fell apart almost immediately. With Konnan and Evans out, AAA managed to acquire El Hijo del Santo recently.

—

Paul London has been canceling a number of scheduled bookings lately. While they do seem last minute in nature, it is being reported that he had given the promotions a heads-up that he is on a minute-by-minute decision awaiting medical clearance. It seems his been banged up pretty bad since making the independent circuit rounds, something I notced when he competed at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s 100 show. As of writing, PWG is still hopeful that he will compete this Friday teaming with Bryan Danielson, whose birthday is Friday, in the third annual Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, otherwise known as DDT4.

If you haven’t already seen it, there’s an awesome promo London and Danielson had cut that tops everything else that has been done in wrestling thus far this year that I posted here on iFight365. How awesome is it? It immediately spawned a T-shirt.

===

Finishing Move
“Something I need to get of my chest.”

Kurt Angle recently mentioned in an interview with Pittsburgh television station WTAE that he doesn’t have too much time left in wrestling and that he will eventually make a full-time transition into acting. This was stated while on the set of a movie he is currently filmming called “Warrior” starring Nick Nolte, in which he has a minor role as a Russian Olympic gold medalist who enters an MMA tournament. Angle also noted that there’s four more movie roles he agreed to do after finishing this film.

From wrestling to acting: Steve Austin in 'The Expendables'

Wrestling and MMA seem to be getting a lot more attention from Hollywood than other sports athletes lately. And why not? These guys would be ten times more believable at portraying action characters than any one from baseball, basketball, or even football. They are recognized by the audience as being legitimate tough men, so there’s no real concern about people not being convinced that the action they are performing on screen works.

Coupled with a critically acclaimed view into the world of MMA by highly respected storyteller David Mamet in “Redbelt” as well as the overwhelming success of “The Wrestler” and it’s easy to see why Angle would consider making the move to acting.

Now that doesn’t necessarily mean this is an automatic route wrestlers and MMA fighters should take at the end of their careers. If you noticed, much of the films WWE has been producing as of late haven’t exactly been box-office hits. Hulk Hogan hasn’t really been seen on the big screen since “Muppets from Space” ten years ago. Aside from “Redbelt”, Randy Couture’s only other film appearance in “The Scorpion King 2″ went straight to DVD, though he and Steve Austin are filmming “The Expendables” starring the film’s writer/director Sylvestor Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, and Mickey Rourke. And the MMA film “Never Surrender” that featured the likes of Georges St. Pierre, Quinten “Rampage” Jackson, Anderson Silva, and BJ Penn pretty much as themselves barely had a theatrical run before going to DVD.

Any one looking to have the cross-over success that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has had since appearing in “The Mummy Returns” would be mindful to remember the future isn’t Hollywood. Just ask Roddy Piper, who has pretty much appeared in virtually B-films and straight to video features despite the success of “They Live” more than twenty years ago. There are not a whole lot of directors like Peter Segal, who is obviously a wrestling fan in that he used The Great Khali and other wrestlers like The Rock, Steve Austin, and Bill Goldberg in his last two films “The Longest Yard” and “Get Smart”.

Wrestlers and fighters will likely end up getting straight to DVD roles or small roles on the big screen as heavies. Very few will luck out like Tyler Mane, who played Sabretooth in the first “X-Men” and is playing Michael Moore in Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” films despite a rather lackluster wrestling career. Nathan Jones has pretty much been out of the wrestling scene since leaving WWE in December 2003 and has really only appeared as a heavy in films such as “The Protector” and “Fearless”.

John Cena has made it clear that, like Hogan before, he wants to be both a full-time wrestler and a full-time action star at the same time. Given that “12 Rounds” was far from a success at the box-office, that’s sure to give him some trouble in being the action star that he, and to an extent Vince McMahon, probably expects to be in five years. So wrestlers and fighters should look at this be mindful that being successful in one venue doesn’t guarantee success in another. They should know what they are going to get themselves into if they think of making the transition to acting.

===

Closing Bell
“All good things must come to an end.”

Fans looking forward to the Dragon Gate shows in the United States are sure to be treated to a rocking good time. I speak from experience, having been to their Los Angeles show last September. Though they don’t do it all the time, the wrestlers like to have some fun with the fans waiting in line. A practice they picked up from their partnership with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Every now and then, they’ll do more than just interact with the fans. They’ll entertain them. The first DDT4 event PWG put on back in May of 2007 also happened to be Stalker Ichikawa’s first trip to the United States. Hours before Night Two of the show was to kick off, CIMA and Don Fuji joined Ichikawa in checking out some of the scenery around Burbank, California. Seeing the line of fans waiting for the show, CIMA and Fuji decided to give them a little something to enjoy. At Stalker’s expense.

On a personal note, there’s one scene I wish was captured on video. And that’s when Stalker was directing the other Dragon Gate wrestlers into parallel parking. In full costume. In broad daylight. That was so bizarre it was awesome, especially when cars were passing by and you could see the drivers looking at the scene in utter bewilderment.

Dan Short
dan@ifight365.com