Getting Yourself Over

Z! True Long Island Story on YouTube

By Chad Smart

I had planned on doing a write up recapping Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s show from Saturday night. Honestly though, I don’t like recapping shows. If you really want to know what happened you can check out the PWG message board on their website or any other wrestling website that  posts results. The one comment I will make about the show is if Willie Mack isn’t on the TNA roster or in FCW by the end of the year, whoever is in charge or signing talent for TNA and WWE should get a new job. Willie could be the breakout star of the year.

Okay, so if I’m not going to recap PWG: Card Subject to Change 3 what am I going to write about?  I wanted to throw out some comments about what appears to be a possible growing trend amongst wrestlers. I say growing trend when the total number of wrestlers doing it stands at 2, but I can see others joining the group. The trend I speak of is creating YouTube shows.

Zack joins LOD (from Z! True Long Island Story)

Zack Ryder was the first to create a weekly youtube show, The Z! True Long Island Story. While not the flashiest or most thought provoking show, it’s a way for Zack to show off his personality and gain a following since his WWE television time is mostly regulated to the now cancelled Superstars show. Zack has put out 8 episodes so far and their impact is slowly starting to be seen on WWE shows.

Each episode of the ZTLI Story features a Broski of the Week. At Wrestlemania there was a sign held up throughout most of the show proclaiming the sign holder the Broski of the Week. Watching Raw as I type this and I’ve seen a couple Broski signs in the crowd. Zack’s show has not been promoted on WWE programming to my knowledge so his cult following is based primarily on word of mouth, or word of Twitter.

Curt Hawkins' YouTube channel "Callin' Sports"

Not to be outdone by his former tag team partner, last week Curt Hawkins put up a teaser video on YouTube for his new show.  While Zack has taken a couple of creative shots about WWE not using him, Curt flat out said if he wasn’t going to get any time of WWE programming then he was going to use YouTube to get over.

I think this is a clever (and maybe overdue) outlet for wrestlers who seem to get overlooked. Several wrestlers have been using Twitter in the past couple years to express their opinions and attract fans, but YouTube has been a largely untapped market. What will be interesting to watch is if Zack, Curt and any other wrestler who decides to use YouTube can build up a large enough fan base to affect their position in the company.  Not only that, but will WWE management start to monitor wrestler’s YouTube accounts and take action against them if the wrestler says something management doesn’t like? Or if the wrestler gains a large fan base on their own will someone in a position of power who may not be a fan of said wrestler try to keep the wrestler down through means of backstage power plays?

I know I’ll keep watching the YouTube shows and hoping Zack, Curt and whoever else makes a show can use this new means of reaching out to fans as a way to grab their moment. As Steve Austin said on the second episode of Tough Enough, you can’t wait around hoping for your chance. If you want it, you’ve got to seize the bull by the horns and create your moment. Those may not have been his exact words, but that was the general sentiment. And that’s exactly what Zack Ryder is trying to do with his YouTube video. Only time will tell if it works. 

And don't forget, you can check out My 1-2-3 Cents on YouTube too. Subscribe and leave your comments, good or bad!

Living on the Edge

Hanging with Edge and Chavo before Wrestlemania 24

By Kevin Hunsperger

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Edge has announced his retirement.  The current World Heavyweight champion sited medical reasons for the decision.  At just age 37, it's sad to see him go.  But obviously it's better to see him WALK away and not be carried away.

My buddy Chad wrote up a post earlier about Edge's retirement.  You can click here to read it.

I made a YouTube video with some of my memories.  Go the My 1-2-3 Cents YouTube Channel for my thoughts.  And don't forget to subscribe.

Thanks for reading and for watching.

Losing Their Edge

Edge & Christian at Wrestlemania 27

By Chad Smart

April 11, 2011 will be a day I wish could be stricken from the wrestling calendar. It started off with finding out one of my favorite wrestlers had passed away and ended with another one of my favorites had to retire due to injury. Oh, and WWE announced a Jerry Lawler/Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole/Jack Swagger tag team match as well. Was there anything good in wrestling on this day?

Seriously though.

Current WWE World Champion Edge announced his retirement during Monday Night Raw. There had been no reports during the day or even weeks prior about Edge possibly retiring.

When Raw started and Josh Matthews said Edge had a major announcement, retirement wasn’t even a thought that ran through my mind.

I’m not going to sit here and type a recap of Edge’s career. One, I’m writing this on the fly so I don’t have a cheat sheet of Edge’s accomplishments in front of me and I’d hate to get any information wrong. Two, I’m guessing there will be Edge retrospect’s on various wrestling websites in the coming days and they’ll be written by far better writers than me.

All I’m going to say is I can remember when vignettes for Edge first started appearing on WWE programming. I’ve watched him grow and mature as a wrestler and character over the last 15 years. I’ve always been impressed with Edge and enjoyed seeing him breakout of the mid-card and become one of WWE’s main event talents.

Edge heads to the ring at Wrestlemania 22

I remember at Wrestlemania 22 during Edge’s match with Mick Foley, because we were upset with Edge dropping the WWE title to John Cena three weeks after winning it from Cena, Kevin, Jeremy and I started a "should be champ" chant when they were brawling near our section. Needless to say, all the John Cena fans were not in agreement with us.

When Christian returned to WWE after a couple years in TNA, I was excited to see both an Edge and Christian tag team reunion and a possible feud over the World Title. We got a few E&C tag matches, but the feud never came. In hindsight, we Edge’s career ending as abruptly as it has, I think ending with an E&C tag match was better than ending as opponents.

It’s been a long road over the last 15 years for Edge in WWE. From the outside looking in there were more high points than low points. I had the opportunity to briefly meet Edge and get a photograph with him during an autograph signing at Wrestlemania 24. Outside of that, I don’t know Adam Copeland the person behind the Edge persona. But I would like to thank him for 15 years of memories and for sacrificing his body for my enjoyment. I hope his retirement does prevent him from any serious (or more serious) damage to his body.

Thank you Edge.

Life Just Got Less Sweet & More Sour

Photo from: Wikipedia.com

By Chad Smart

This is a first for me. Writing a tribute to a wrestler who I didn’t know personally but was one of my favorite performers of the last 6 years. “Sweet and Sour” Larry Sweeney passed away today at the age of 29.

I don’t know how many of you reading this are familiar with Larry Sweeney. He never wrestled for the TNA or WWE. He did show up one night on Raw though. In the build up to the Randy Orton/Hulk Hogan match at SummerSlam, Randy brought out Hulk’s “family.” Larry Sweeney portrayed Nick Hogan. Outside of that one moment though Larry Sweeney spent his career wrestling across the country for various independent promotions.

I became a fan of Larry’s when I started getting into the independent promotion Chikara. At the time Larry had a group called Sweet and Sour International and was feuding with Jolly Roger, Lance Steel and Allison Danger. I also got to see Larry wrestle a show in Vincennes, Indiana for IWA:Mid South. Larry had more personality than most of the roster combined.

Twenty years ago Larry Sweeney would probably have been the heir apparent to Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Jimmy Hart and Jim Cornette. Unfortunately he came along in a time when wrestling managers are considered unnecessary. I always held out hope TNA would see the potential in Larry and bring him in to lead a stable of guys who weren’t great on the mic.

Though TNA never brought Larry in as a manager, ROH saw the upside and used him as a manager for a few years. I’m not that familiar with his time in ROH so I can’t offer more detail. I believe Larry left ROH in 2008 or 2009 turning over his managerial rights to Shane Hagadorn.

Larry had been out of the wrestling business for a few years. I had read reports of him suffering from bi-polar disorder and having a breakdown. Larry resurfaced last year during one of ROH’s Internet PPV’s as the third member of the commentating team. As far as I know, that was his only appearance.  In October, he showed up as a mystery masked competitor at Chikara’s annual Cibernetico event. I had hoped this would lead to a return of Sweet and Sour International. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

I don’t know the circumstances surrounding Larry’s death, and I’m not sure I want to know. The only thing I do know is the wrestling industry lost another talent too early. RIP Larry Sweeney. You will be missed.

For those of you not familiar with Larry Sweeney, here are some links to various promos and matches on youtube.

http://youtu.be/ez6sL-7_j6Q

http://youtu.be/_rZdgGJDpb0

http://youtu.be/Axj6mdmMuqU

http://youtu.be/5rfWtOvqe5Q

The New Streak

With the CLTV crew in Chicago (Wrestlemania XXII)

By Kevin Hunsperger

For years, people have been talking about the Undertaker's undefeated streak at Wrestlemania.  In fact, many years it overshadows the title matches on the card.  The Deadman is now 19 and 0, a feat that is likely never to be matched.  But the My 1-2-3 Cents is working on that.

You see for the five Wrestlemanias that we have attended, we have been interviewed by some form of media.  And in each case the interview has never seen the light of day.  It's a streak we're proud to keep going.

Wrestlemania 22: This was our first Wrestlemania. We went all out and purchased the package deal which included the tickets to the event, Hall of Fame, an autograph session, and the Bagels, Bacon, and Biceps Brunch.  Since the brunch was on the morning of Mania, we headed to the event dressed in our costumes.  That year we were the Spirit Squad.  The look must have caught the eye of the local TV news crew (Chicago Land TV)  The reporter asked us if we'd do an interview.  So, we did and ended it with a cheer.  See, we had worked on several different cheers to impress the others with.  Apparently we didn't impress the CLTV folks, as our clip never made air.  Being a reporter myself, I know sometimes it's necessary to cut subjects from a story.  But we were truly awesome. Or so we thought.

Wrestlemania 24: After a break between Manias, Chad and I headed to Orlando.  We were lacking good ideas and dressed like Hornswoggle that year.  It was a last minute decision, and a choice we still talk about regretting.  But someone from Direct TV (I think it was Direct) thought we were interesting looking enough to talk to.  Again, we did another interview and again our 15 minutes of fame was denied.

Wrestlemania 25:  Since it was the 25th anniversary of Mania, we decided to pay homage to the first ever event.  So we dressed like Hulk Hogan and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.  As a couple of legends, we garnered a lot of looks, and caught the eye of a crew from THQ, the company that produces the WWE video games.  I'm not exactly sure why they interviewed us, but they did.  Not sure what they did with them, but we never saw it or heard from them after it was over.

Wrestlemania 26: In 2010, Chad and I became Money Inc., and walked the streets of Phoenix before heading to the stadium for the big show.  As we were walking out, a college student stopped me to see if he could ask me some questions.  He was a reporter with the University of Arizona newspaper.  I answered he questions, and when I went back home checked the newspaper's website several times, but there was no sign of the story.  There were a couple of other writeups about Wrestelmania, but nothing after the show.  Oh well.

Wrestelmania 27:  This year our friend Travis joined us for Mania in Atlanta.  We decided to honor members of the Heenan family, circa Wrestlemania 5 as we dressed up like the Red Rooster, Bobby Heenan, and the Brooklyn Brawler.  We walked around Axxess all morning in our garb, and headed in to Spicy Town to check out the sites and of course snap into a Slim Jim.  We were approached by someone with the company (Slim Jim) and asked to do an interview.  We agreed, and stayed in character most of the time.  He told us it would appear on the SJ Facebook page, but nearly a week later, it's still not there.  So I'm officially declaring the streak alive.

So Undertaker, you may be 19 and 0.  That's great and all, but we're coming to get ya.  Long live 5 and 0...

One More Match!

The Rock lays the smackdown on John Cena

By Kevin Hunsperger

It seems like a lot of fans were booking a John Cena-Rock match BEFORE Wrestlemania 27.  So many were counting on that contest that the Cena-Miz match was kind of forgotten about, at least that's my 1-2-3 cents on the situation.

So now that it has been confirmed that the Great One will take on John Cena 51 weeks from today, there's more buzz about other WWE alumni getting back into the ring for that "one more match."  I wonder though if this match at Wrestlemania 28 will be the Rock's only match.  I'm under the assumption that he will head back to Hollywood and continue working there before stepping back into the ring with Cena on April 1, 2012.

Austin serving as special guest referee at Wrestlemania 27

I read an interview with WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin this morning.  In it, he says "...I could still get two years out of my carcass on a full-time basis...At about 90, 95% of what I used to do."  He went on to say "But I'm happy where I'm at.  And in ten or twenty years I still want to be doing the things I'm doing with my hunting and fishing.  I want to continue to do that in a pain-free fashion.  And right now I'm living a pretty pain-free lifestyle." (from Xfinity TV)

I think that last part of the interview sums it up.  Austin was taken out of the game early due to his nagging neck problems.  I was sad to see him retire because he is one of my all time favorites.  But in the long run it's going to be better for him to stay out of the ring.  Ten years ago, the "dream match" for many would have been Hulk Hogan vs. Steve Austin.  A battle of two of the all time biggest names in wrestling.  I think Austin should look at Hogan and consider staying out of the ring.  In recent months the Hulkster has had several back surgeries and has had a lot of difficulties with his recovery.  When Austin says he's pretty much living a pain-free lifestyle now, he needs to consider that.

Sure the "WWE Universe" wants a big return to the ring for that "one more match."  But what cost are they willing to pay?  I'm happy to see Austin come back from time to time, do a couple of stunners, and drink some beer.  Of course that in no way helps to put anyone over, but it's all in good fun, right?  I also like his role as the host of Tough Enough.  You can tell he's still truly passionate about the business.

Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon

Other guys have come back after long retirements for one more run.  Most notably, Bret "the Hitman" Hart.  In 2010 he returned to the WWE to seek closure I believe.  He buried the hatchet with Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon.  He defeated the CEO in a dismal match at Wrestlemania 26 and then went on to win the U.S. title from the Miz, only to surrender it later.  I'm not sure what the whole point of that was.  For Hart, who has been plagued with health problems through the years, including a major concussion and a stroke, I'm not sure he needed to return to the ring.  Although he never really got the proper sendoff after everything went down in Montreal, and then he was forced to leave the ring in WCW without saying goodbye his way.  I think his run last year gave him that opportunity to go out on his terms.  So I don't begrudge him for wanting to come back, I don't think he overstayed him welcome either.  I still think he'd be great in a trainer/agent role with the company and occasional on air appearances to help put over other guys.

Ricky Steamboat goes for the pin on Chris Jericho

Another Hall of Famer who came back was Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat.  This was quite a shock to me when he stepped back into the ring in 2009 at Wrestlemania 25.  Again, Steamboat was forced out early due to injuries and for the 15 years prior to the big match in Houston, he stayed out of the ring.  His match (a 3 on 1 encounter with Chris Jericho) showed me even in his 50's, "the Dragon" still had a lot of fire.  He went on to face Jericho at the following month's pay per view.  He put Jericho over both times, but I think his brief return helped him gain a sense of closure too and wrap up a storied career in the ring.  I'm glad he's still working backstage with the WWE and look forward to when his son Ritchie gets called up to the main roster from FCW.

Comebacks are great for a bit of nostalgia, but I don't think they should be done to sacrifice the young talent on the roster.  I think back to Hogan's return in the mid-2000's.  He pinned Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton at back to back SummerSlams.  I felt like his time had come and gone and it was time to put over someone else.  Even though Shawn was nearing the end of his career, Hogan was certainly well past his prime.

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WWE: World Wide Entertainment

By Chad Smart

I touched on this a few weeks ago when an employee of WWE took TV Week to task for printing a headline about Drew Carey going into a wrestling hall of fame. The employee claimed WWE wasn’t a wrestling company, but rather a global entertainment company.  Today WWE issued a press release pushing this mindset a little further. Part of the press release reads as follows.

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To better reflect the company's global entertainment offerings, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) announced today a new business model for future growth, including formally rebranding itself, WWE.

"The new business model of the company better reflects what WWE is all about, being a global entertainment company"

Two key components to WWE's brand expansion will be the active pursuit to acquire entertainment content companies and the outsourcing of WWE's core competencies – television and film production, live event production and licensing. As part of the new business model, the company will also focus on the development of new television products including scripted, non-scripted and animated programs, as well as the launch of a new WWE network in the next 12-18 months. The first new program of the brand expansion is Tough Enough®, WWE's non-scripted program that debuted on the USA Network on Monday.

"The new business model of the company better reflects what WWE is all about, being a global entertainment company," stated Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO, WWE. "We will always be loyal to our core business that made WWE a globally known entity, however, the future of WWE will be the addition of new entertainment content opportunities beyond the ring."

This new rebranding initiative will be highlighted through a national consumer and business-to-business advertising campaign entitled "Bigger. Badder. Better.™" The campaign kicked off at WrestleMania® XXVII on Sunday and will be featured on cable TV, print and online.

Homer Simpson liked the XFL...(photo from flowtv.org)

While I can understand Vince McMahon’s decision to branch out and create other forms of entertainment, I wonder if it’s a smart move. Not to rain on Vince’s parade but his track record for non-wrestling ventures isn’t exactly worth bragging about. The WBF failed to take off back in the early 90s. The XFL was a disappointment rating wise during its only season. Though, I will contend it was more due to NBC scheduling games in primetime then the actual quality of the games. Had the games been played in the afternoon timeslot like other sports, the XFL may have had a chance at more than one season.  WWE films has been around for about five years now and has yet to have even one modest successful film. Over the last six months movies released under the WWE Films banner have been reduced to a one-weekend release on about six screens simply to get Wal-Mart to stock them in stores.

When it comes to television production you can’t really criticize WWE. They do live television as well as anyone and better than any other wrestling promotion. They’ll the king of the hill and more than likely the only way they’ll secede that position is if they take themselves off the hill. And that’s where my main concern with them wanting to expand beyond wrestling lies.

Vince McMahon can say they will always be loyal to their core business, but if you look at the last few years of WWE programming you’ll see the company has failed to build many new stars. And most of the stars they started to build had their legs cut out from under them before they could become Superstars. 

The Miz vs. John Cena at Wrestlemania 27

Even current WWE Champ, The Miz often gets overlooked in the WWE Universe.  He just headlined Wrestlemania but was an afterthought in the match. Sitting in the stands at Wrestlemania, I was surrounded by constant “Let’s go Cena,” “Cena sucks” chants. Not once was there any type of Miz chant. I’m not saying WWE should have another Steve Austin, The Rock or Hulk Hogan on their roster by now. Those guys are once in a decade type personalities. But when in the last 10 years they have only groomed one or two guys to be featured players maybe WWE needs to focus more on improving their one successful company instead of branching out into other forms of entertainment.

How many other major companies are successful outside of their initial claims to fame? Does Microsoft or Apple do anything outside of computers or computer related products? Does Toyota or Ford have any businesses other than automobiles? Is McDonald’s operating anything other than fast food restaurants? In my opinion this is another example to the theory Vince McMahon is either embarrassed to be in the wrestling business or has such an inflated ego that instead of being happy with the global domination he’s created, he needs to prove he can do more.

It’ll be interesting to see where this global entertainment business plan goes in the next couple of years. I’m just hoping Vince and company don’t take their eyes off what put them on the map and sacrifice the golden goose because of greed.