It’s tradition in my household that on New Years Eve/Day we open the front and back doors at the same time. This is following on the age-old tradition that you are letting in the new year and letting out the old. In reality all it does is get the cold air in the house, when doing this it is always a time to think about the year gone and the year starting. With this in mind I’m going to take a break from the Perfect Series for one column and have my own personal look back at this year. Now I know you have probably read 100 of these my now but stay tuned you may be get a bit of a surprise.
First off I’d like to send my congratulations out to Gene Snitsky and Heidenreich, yes those two. Since their debuts I’ve enjoyed watching them on Raw and Smackdown. Yes their in ring ability is sub standard compared to most of the WWE roster and their mic skills are just as bad, but for some reason I’ve enjoyed watching them.
I think it’s down to comic relief, their characters have been given the similar psychotic going to crack at any time gimmick and it’s grown on me. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Heidenreich being transferred to RAW after WrestleMania and being put in a tag team with Snitsky. I do feel that these two could make a great Tag Team they could go through the whole of the RAW roster destroying everything in sight, it could work and I would like to see it.
My next congratulations is to Vince and the Smackdown writers for turning a guy who has only ever really had one gimmick in the whole of his WWF/E career into a credible champion. Not only that but a top heel that can be likened to the super heels of the late 80’s early 90’s. Yes it’s JBL; the guy has come into his own with this new gimmick in my opinion. He’s now held the belt longer than Guerrero and Benoit did and has managed to bring a new side to his character. Earlier on this year I did a column about gimmicks and it was my opinion that the best gimmicks are ones that are an extension of a wrestler’s personality. JBL has done this not only has he made the gimmick work he managed to do something not many wrestlers do with their gimmicks. He got mainstream media attention at the start of his gimmick and got everyone talking about him. The Nazi salute, 10 seconds of action 2 months of controversy, it’s impressive. Now I know it offended a lot of people, but like Goldberg holding the WWE championship, most people have forgotten about already and moved onto to new things to talk about.
It’s been an overall good year for JBL and next year looks to just as good for him and his stable that has formed, in the future I wont be surprised to see JBL as the general manager of Smackdown or running for President of Smackdown if that every happens.
This past year has also been the year of the underdog in the WWE, Guerrero, Benoit and Eugene being examples. For Benoit and Guerrero their years started off amazingly with success leading to championship reigns. These are two men that don’t “fit” the WWE stereotype. One is built like a Cruiserweight but held the championship. The other is a shorter, thinner but just as ugly version of Mick Foley. Both aren’t meant to be WWE champions if the history books are to believed, but they did it and were successful. It was a double hit for Vince, because not only did he has new and credible champions at the same time, but he actually did something to please the Internet Wrestling Community.
Eugene may have been destined for stardom from the day he said hello to Uncle Eric on RAW, but he was an underdog. He didn’t fit in, but fought through and proved everyone wrong and is now a Tag Team champion. People are saying his gimmick is getting boring, but it wouldn’t be hard to turn him Heel to change the character. One example could be Him and regal are defending their championships at WrestleMania and all of a sudden Eugene sucker punches Regal with some brass knucks and walks out on Regal. The next night on RAW Eugene starts the show in his current gimmick, but is really offensive then turns on Regal during the promo becoming more coherent and fluent. He then demolishes Regal and leaves the arena. The next RAW he’s out as Nick Dinsmore with a new haircut etc and is a new super heel with the full backing of “Uncle Eric”.
The final area I’m going to touch on with this look back and forward of the year is the rising stars. 2004 has been the year of debuts and super pushes for younger stars. Cena and Orton being the best example. These two have had great years being pushed to the sky and securing themselves has the future of WWE, even Muhammad Hussein seems to be a guarantee of competition for them in the years to come. WWE seems to be investing a lot of time in their youngsters, which is always good as it’s giving them a secure future.
As all writers on the net I too have hope for WWE next year. Nothing too extravagant but just enough that would make a personal difference to me. My first is that the Cruiserweights get some good PPV time. All I ask is that they get at least 1 match on PPV that is at least 15 mins long, just give these guys time to shine and you’ll be surprise at the reaction.
My next hope is that we have no more Diva contests. This one was hated by so many, and took away some much time away from more deserving wrestlers, and taking time away from the reason why we watch WWE, and that’s to watch wrestling matches, not who can eat pie best.
My final hope is that Ring of Honour, doesn’t change but just gets bigger. This year has seen me fall in love with ROH, it’s a refreshing change from WWE and even TNA. If ROH can continue what it’s doing it could be the extra bit of competition that WWE needs, a bit like ECW was in its time. If ROH got a TV deal then it could be boost WWE needs to get it back to it’s best, when it’s under pressure.
If you have any feedback please send it too thetrebormint@hotmail.com
This has been The Trebor Mint, whether you loved it, hated it, or just want to give you’re opinion or just need to answer my question email me at the above address.
Have a Nice Day!!
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