The first would be the appearance by the Muppets on RAW last week. Many fans are still split on the whole Muppets/wrestling thing. Many diehards are still pissed about it, while many casual fans seemed to really enjoy it. As a diehard fan of both wrestling and the Muppets, I was a little split about it myself. It was hard to understand how such an appearance could be pulled off without making both sides look bad, but overall, I enjoyed the show. I felt they did everything just right, with the opening skit being a real highlight (Kermit calling Vicki Guerrero Jack Swagger's "mother": PRICELESS!). I also thought revealing Shemus as Beaker's cousin was also great. I never would've thought that Beaker was Irish.
So yeah, I enjoyed the show. What makes a lot of the diehards angry is that they want to see some "Attitude" again. They miss wrestling from 1998-2001. I admit, wrestling was a hell of a lot more entertaining back when I was a teenager but the facts are this: the extreme era had its time, as did the rock 'n' wrestling era and the brief time in the mid-90s when all wrestlers had day jobs. The whole point of WWF Attitude was shock value. At the end of the day, however, you can only see it so many times. The WWF pulled so many violent stunts back then that after a while, people started getting desensitized to everything. When it ain't shocking anymore, what's the point. If anything, the WWF should've dumped the whole "Attitude" thing ten years ago after the "Monday Night Wars" ended, as that was the true end of the era. Another reason they dropped the excessive violence was due to increased injuries. As I've stated before, wrestling may be scripted, but accidents do happen, and these matches can be very dangerous. I do see some improvement though, thanks to CM Punk. The return of the Rock should also help in giving WWE some of it's edge back. We'll just have to see how it goes.
The other thing that has the wrestling world talking is the recent ESPN report on Scott Hall. From 1993 through 1998, Hall was probably one of the ten best performers in wrestling. Great on the mic and even better in the ring, the man had charisma and a presence that the fans just ate up. His ladder match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania X was one of the greatest ever and really set the bar as ladder matches became more common. His return to WCW in 1996 shocked the wrestling world and launched the infamous Monday Night Wars, bringing pro wrestling to heights unheard of. Over time, however, Hall began having issues. Actually, he'd always had issues, but they started becoming bigger and then started costing him jobs. In the fall of 2000, WCW fired him. In the spring of 2002, the WWF fired him. Most recently, TNA fired him in the summer of 2010.
As I said earlier, things weren't always like this, and Scott Hall really was an awesome wrestler. To prove it, check out this match from RAW back in 1993 against the 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman).
In those days, Hall wrestled as Razor Ramon, a character heavily based on the Scarface film from 1983. It should also be noted that as Razor Ramon, Hall had one of the best entrance themes ever, something that today's wrestlers are sorely lacking, although I love that Living Colour's Cult of Personality is being used as CM Punk's new theme (He actually used back in ROH as well). The point is, it's really heartbreaking what has happened to Scott Hall. It's even sadder that most of today's fans have only seen him as a pathetic figure beyond redemption. I, however, choose to remember Hall as the awesome performer he was, and still could be if he can get his life back together. Hopefully, things will get better for him. If you call yourself of wrestling fan, I only ask that you keep Scott Hall in your prayers. His is a soul worth saving.
Well, that's all for this week. I'll be back next time with a tribute the late, great "Overweight Lover," Heavy D, who sadly passed away this week. I ain't even 30 yet, and I'm already having to do tribute pieces for dudes I grew up watching. I know death is inevitable, but why does it have to be so sad? Anyway, take care and I'll catch y'all later!
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