Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of Off The Record with me Euan Conway. It has been over a month since I have last written to you but a lot has happened within that time. The first thing I would like to touch on is that in that time I have enjoyed 2 sold out shows with my local promotion the Scottish Wrestling Alliance (SWA) in which the combined attendance at both of these shows was well over 1000 fans. While my local promotion continues to go from strength to strength and I continue to enjoy the shows the same cannot be said for the WWE. I don’t think I have liked one show from them since the beginning of the year whether it is an episode of Raw or Smackdown, or a PPV. The Royal Rumble match itself was pretty decent but they spoiled it by having John Cena win back the WWE Title and by having Mark Henry in the main event. It is nonsensical decisions like these that make me want to switch off when watching WWE TV. However by far the worst thing that has happened recently in professional wrestling is the disrespecting of the late great Eddie Guerrero (and his family) and to a lesser extent Rey Mysterio by the WWE and this is what I am going to be looking at in today’s column.
When Rey Mysterio was victorious in the Royal Rumble match I was truly amazed. Seeing him eliminate HHH and Randy Orton at the end made me think that the WWE were finally giving the fans what they wanted – A decent main event match between 2 deserving guys at Wrestlemania and a push for someone in Rey Mysterio who has always been considered not good enough for the main event slot because of his size. However I was quickly to realise when I fast forwarded my video and saw the advert for the Edge V Cena match coming up next that this was not the plan of the WWE booking team or more importantly Vince McMahon. The Royal Rumble match had not been the main event at its own PPV, has this ever happened before? I can’t remember but this is not the point. Seeing Randy Orton be eliminated last made me think. He was supposed to win the Royal Rumble. I had seen this reported as early as November on the Internet so why the sudden change of heart. It all soon became apparent to me and everyone else on Smackdown two weeks ago when Randy Orton challenged Rey Mysterio to a match for his number one contender spot at No Way Out. Now this means that there is a chance that the winner of the Royal Rumble may not get his Title shot at Wrestlemania. This is total disrespect to The Royal Rumble and Rey Mysterio in my view. It is ever wrestlers dream to win The Royal Rumble and go on to Wrestlemania and a headlining main event shot at the Heavyweight Champion of whichever brand they choose. What is the point of having the Royal Rumble, if I was Rey Mysterio and I had known about this storyline plan before the match I would have refused to win the Rumble. What the hell is wrong with Kurt Angle v Rey Mysterio at Wrestlemania. Nothing. However back to the point of having the Royal Rumble and it seems as though this years match was booked totally so that the WWE could disrespect the legend that is Eddie Guerrero.
As I sit here and write this on my computer (13th Feb) I remember that it is exactly 3 months to the day since the death of Eddie Guerrero. I wonder if he could have ever imagined that only 3 months after his death the WWE would be disrespecting him like this by having Orton come out in a low rider on Smackdown and by having him refer to Guerrero as “being in hell” on the previous weeks episode. How in the hell can Mysterio be happy working this storyline, he must surely be taking out some of the anger he has inside him against Orton in the ring. I read somewhere the other day the Chavo Guerrero is far from happy with this storyline and who can blame him. What must the other Guerrero’s such as Chavo Snr, Vicky and her daughters to name a few be thinking. I know Eddie Guerrero was not always a saint in life, I know he had his problems but he does not deserve to be treated and disrespected like this now that he is no longer with us. There is a difference between this and the Tim White suicide angle. The Tim White thing is storyline but the Eddie Guerrero story is real. It is not some dodgy angle such as Al Wilson being screwed to death by Dawn Marie live on TV, Eddie Guerrero sadly has passed away and will not be returning. It is not something to laugh and mock about, Eddie is someone that should be remembered for the true legend he was. The sad thing about it is you rather wonder what are we going to have next, Orton coming out to Guerrero’s music? I have heard that some countries TV have apparently being editing bits of Smackdown off recently because of this and to be honest I am not surprised. Vince McMahon apparently finds humour in this storyline. Now anyone who finds humour in making fun of the dead is quite frankly sick and twisted if you ask me.
Now the next thing that we hear is that WWE have asked Vicky Guerrero and her children to turn up at No Way Out and sit in the front row for the PPV on Sunday. I mean this when I say it, if the WWE come up with anything disgusting for Vicky and those poor children – who have been left without a father – in terms of storyline in relation to Eddie’s death then I will not be ordering Wrestlemania (not that I was 100% going to order it anyway). There is a fine line here and the WWE have crossed it. In the long run they can perhaps be forgiven for one out of hand comment such as MNM making fun of Hawk of LOD but they should learn their lesson from this type of thing. It is clear WWE have not learned their lesson though and time is running out for them to learn that lesson. I guess No Way Out will show the true, caring and decent wrestling fans whether the WWE want us to watch Wrestlemania this year. Please WWE do not disrespect the Royal Rumble, do not disrespect Rey Mysterio, do not disrespect the Guerrero family, do not disrespect Eddie and most importantly do not disrespect the dead. Have Rey Mysterio in the Wrestlemania main event and pay homage to Guerrero or if we must have Orton in it, make it a triple threat match.
Well that is all for this edition of Off The Record, if you have any feedback on what you have read please email at euanconway@hotmail.com.
