Pro Wrestling: Really Wish They Would Return To the Ring

Reminiscing today about how fun wrestling used to be back in the day. There was a time I would sit through those fun interviews even from the mid card wrestlers. The next few slides are things about wresting and those great wrestlers I miss and in some capacity wish they would return.

***Just in case your confused about the picture. There are two different wrestlers everyone would wish return. If you can identify the type of snake it is, then you will know which two wrestlers I am referencing.

Dusty Rhodes

No, I do not want Big Dust to return to the ring to wrestle. He had his time and is a legend.

We get Dusty every now and then on special RAW and PPV moments. I would love to see the American Dream being the new General Manager of RAW or as a manager.

As a GM, Dusty would not take any crap. As a manager, he could be the mouthpiece to elevate certain talent to the next level.

Managers

An awesome manager such as The Brain can really get a talented in-ring performer over with the fans. Many of the youngsters today in TNA and WWE do not have those mic skills and the audience can tell they are just reciting a memorized script.

The use of a manager adds so much more to a character. The stables of a manager can elevate a wrestler to the next level.

Stables

I am not talking about stables such as Legacy, MEM, and Millionaires Club.

I want a return to the two models which actually work. The Horsemen and Sullivans Army of Darkness are the types of stables I wish would return.

The Horsemen model is a top superstar, a tag team, and a second tier superstar. A manager can also be used to add heat.

The AOD model is one whereas an evil wrestler, or preferably manager, gathers as many monsters to inflict damage on the champion and top good guy of the area.

Both can get wrestlers over with the audience and can provide excitement to an area. These stables allow wrestlers to grow and get ready to move on to bigger and better things. The two storylines to get wrestlers over are to have a good guy turn and join the group or when a wrestler turns on the group and does battle with the stable.

Stratusfaction

She may have been nothing more than eye-candy when she first started, but Trish grew into one of the greatest women wrestlers ever.

Trish was best as an evil b****. She retired too early in my opinion. If she did return, Trish could add some valuable talent to a very weakened female division.

Trish could even return to lead a group. Either way she is missed by the wrestling community.

The Game

It is inevitable The Game will return to the ring. When he returns, I do not want the fun loving HHH, but the sarcastic evil SOB who will do anything and everything to get or keep the World title. Realizing he only has a few years left in the ring, cherish his antics because when he is gone for good, he will be missed (except by the IWC).

Kayfabe

Growing up I always believed my hero, Dick the Bruiser, really hated Dick Murdoch and wanted nothing more than to kill him. My earliest memories of finding out wrestling was staged was when my uncle told me a story of him drinking with two wrestlers who were supposed to be feuding. But for some reason, I did not want to believe my uncle. As I grew, I realized wrestling was predetermined. How else can one explain why Andre the Giant was not World Champion forever.

But the realization never turned me away from the excitement of pro wrestling.

I know in todays technological age, it is virtually impossible to keep kayfabe. Back in the 1980's, VKM made his wrestlers stay in character outside the ring. That myth was kind of blown away by a certain incident involving the Iron Shiek and Hacksaw Duggan.

I do long for the days of long ago. I do not want to turn over to CNN and see Jericho and HBK laughing and talking with each other like they are best of friends when I just seen the two try and kill each other.

It has even gone so bad, TNA even alludes their is no kayfabe each week. When they constantly talk about the boys in the back and giving to the business. I want to hear in interviews how the wrestler is going to tear apart his opponent next week.

The Steel Cage

I long for the days where the Steel Cage match was the end to a feud. Blood, Sweat, and Tears, not the band, were involved in these matches. They were a special event, not just another match in a series of later matches. Today there is way too much interference in these matches and they are not the end all matches of days gone by.

Christian

We know he will be gracing us with his presence in a few months, but go back to the smart-ass, arrogant punk we all came to love when he was with E&C.

Wrestlers Looking Like Wrestlers

What I mean by this is have the World Champions look like World HEAVYWEIGHT champions. As talented as they are, MCMG and Generation Me do not strike me as wrestlers who are competing for the top tag team title.

If a wrestler is small, like Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, at least their bodies were chiseled enough to pass as heavyweights. I do not want to see a wrestler where the average gym rat is more defined.

Tag Teams

Please give us REAL tag teams, not just two guys thrown together. And while your at it, please have them stay together long enough for us to care about them.

Tag team wrestling was once an art form to watch. The Harts, British Bulldogs, Demolition, etc  took this art form to the next level. The Road Warriors revolutionized tag wrestling.

Nowadays tag wrestling is used as a filler or a way to promote a feud, such as when Cena teams up with Orton to take on the NeXuS. Or in the case of Hogan/HBK, a segue for those two to have a match. In the case of Hogan/HBK, this is fine, as it used to work out really well. These examples are ok to use, but bring back real tag teams.

It is ok to have a wrestler turn on his partner, but at least make it interesting and have the team together long enough for the fans to care about the teams demise.  

HBK

Raise your hand if you miss HBK's promos, the great matches, or SCM.

Shawn Michaels seems to be quite content in retirement, so it seems as though last WrestleMania was the last match.

He was on his last tank of gas, but I truly believe Michaels had a few more miles to travel before retirement.

Lita

As with Trish, we could use her to bring some prestige to a terrible WWE Diva division.

She retired a few years too early and I feel she could have stayed around a few more years.

World Champions More Than a Few PPV's

When the World titles really mattered, the World champion was someone respected and held the belt sometimes for a few years. Fans would come to watch the champion defeat the latest challenger or see the champion drop the belt. Nowadays, a World championship seems to drop every few months, which really devalues the belt. In addition, it would be nice to have a champion who can carry the belt and not just give the strap to someone based on loyalty to the company.

In certain cases it is acceptable. Transition champions are a perfect example, but these days, can anyone really know who is a transition champion.

A transition champion is a perfect solution to reward a hard working wrestler until the next face of the company is crowned. In the WWF/WWWF, this was used perfectly to give the belt from Bruno to Pedro. Ivan Koloff was given the strap. Later, when Bruno decided to come back, Stan Stasiak was used to get the belt back to Bruno. The Iron Shiek was used to usher in the Hulk-A-Mania era.

In other cases, mainly used in NWA/WCW/JCP, the transition champion was used to give the champion a break, pass the torch, or reward a hard working wrestler. In the end, the face of the company got the strap back and kept it for more than a few weeks. The Funks were given the straps to give Harley Race a break. Kerry Von Erich was given the belt as a tribute to David Von Erich, who was scheduled to get the belt, but died before achieving his dream. Dusty Rhodes and Ronnie Garvin took the belt off of Ric Flair as a way to show Flair was not invincible and show the crowd Flair could be beat.

Secondary Titles to The Next Level

Now not to be hypocritical, but I do not see a problem with the secondary and/or third tier titles changing hands more frequently. But nowadays, these titles seem to be useless. Luckily, Daniel Bryan seems to be bringing back prestige to the strap, but Ziggler, UGH!!!

Use the secondary belt to see who is capable of being the next face of the company or the next big feud for the World champion. The belts can also be used to award a hard working wrestler for years of loyalty and dedication.

The WWF used to have a great system in place. To an extent, they are still using the formula, but the prestige from defending the title is taking a hit. Look at all the greats to hold the IC title to go onto the World title. Macho Man, Warrior, Hart, HBK, Rock, Stone Cold all used the strap as a catalyst to the World title. Other wrestlers such as Muraco, Santana, and Valentine were given the belt because that was as far as they were going. Not to say these wrestlers were not great, but they were at times when there was someone else who was a better fit for the World title.

The NWA, JCP, and WCW (1980-1995) primarily used the secondary and regional champions as a gauge to see who was ready for the big time. Most of the time the secondary title was as far as the wrestler went as far as championships.

Please bring back prestige to these titles by having the belts defended at each PPV. Lets make the titles mean something by having meaningful feuds for the belt. Magnum vs. Tully and Snuka vs. Muraco were excellent feuds for the belt.

In addition, have wrestlers earn their rights to the World title by winning and dominating the secondary title ranks. I would not have a problem with Barrett or Sheamus being World champions, but have them earn that belt by going through the ranks first. It works better, the formula is tried and true.

The Great Feuds

Bring back the energy, excitement, and emotion to feuds. Have a tag team we care about turn on each other. Give us an evil manager who wants to take out the top champion. Give us a feud to care about.

The last great feud was probably VKM vs. Stone Cold. It had everything. Blood. Emotion. Turncoats. Emotional promos. Great matches.

Cena vs. Orton is a good feud, but it has been overplayed. Jericho vs. Edge could have been a great feud.

For those who remember, Buzz Sawyer vs. Tommy Rich was an awesome feud. Before that the Masked Superstar vs. Rich was memorable. Most remember the great Dusty vs. the Horsemen feud. It had all the makings, just like the aforementioned Austin/McMahon feud.

Hogan had great feuds. The evil manager wanted to take him out with the latest monster. Or sometimes a friend got tired of being in Hogan's shadow and turned. The fans cared. The wrestlers seemed to have true hatred and not just going through the motions.

The WWE and TNA have lately dropped the ball on what could have been great feuds. A great feud does not always need to be about a belt. It can be revenge. It can be emotion. It can be about getting to the top. Just make us care about the wrestlers involved. Make us want to see the good guy get revenge. Make us want to see the bad guy get what is coming to him. Lets see some beat downs. Just make us care. And like any good saga, there should be a beginning and ending.

Blood

Now I do not mean Ric Flair making himself bleed on TNA, and I especially do not mean blood for the sake of bleeding. Its like watching a movie and the director throws in a sex scene when it is not necessary. There is a time and place for everything.

If there is a chair shot (yes bring back chair shots also), then I expect to see blood. A cage match I want to see blood. Lets make it believable writers.

I believe one of the main reason why the Kane vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell match was such a disaster was the lack of blood.

When Brock Lesnar took the Undertakers blood and spread it across his chest showed some true emotion, it was believable. I hated Lesnar for that act, which is what I was supposed to do. The worst reaction a wrestler can get is no emotion from the fan.

Commentators

"Gimme a Break, Jess."

Damn, I miss those days of good announcers. David Crockett got a little riled up as well as Shiavone, but they showed emotion and not just read the script. Shiavone lost some luster when he announced Nitro, but in the old JCP he was great on the mike.

Lawler is good, but should be favoring the bad guys.

Lance Russell, J.R., and the Walter Cronkite of pro wrestling, Gordon Solie, were the standards of announcing matches.

Guerrilla showed way too much favortism, but the Body got the best of him and kept him in check.

Muhammed Hassan

By now this guy would have been a multiple time World champion. Would have been great to see him carry the U.S. title, renaming it something like the Arab Heavyweight Championship to really 'delight' the fans.

Hassan had that it quality. He was the first casualty of the PG era.

After a successful evil run, he had the potential to carry the WWE as a good guy. Maybe during his evil run, Hassan could have made a great stable.

After he was sent packing to redo his gimmick, Mark Copani lost interest in the sport and went a different direction in life.

The fans are left with 'what if.' The guy is only 29 and could very well come back. Would have been cool if he did return and was the man who incapacitated the Undertaker, instead of Kane.

If Copani decides to return and the WWE would get over the PG stuff, then he could come back. Easy explanation could be he has been training in a militia over the past few years plotting his revenge. I do not believe he could get over coming back under a different alias, especially if he came back as a good guy.

Perhaps returning as a fan favorite, he could explain he went away to reassess his hatred of America and realized he loves the U.S. Another instance could be return under a mask.

Conclusion

Time is done to stop reminiscing. Just a few thoughts of wrestling which was fun and missing from todays product.

****For those of you who do not know herpetology or snakes, the opening slide was that of a Crotalus Lepidus, the rock rattlesnake.