Random Ramblings #6
Written by: Bob Colling
So, Extreme Reunion was a bust. Is that a shock? Is DDP a Hall Of Famer? Fit Finlay is an elite wrestler? Gabe Sapolsky thinks so.
Rambling #1: First off, I want to talk about how badly Extreme Reunion went, according to reports. I also want to talk about how I don’t understand how people are at all surprised by this. So, Shane Douglas books an event featuring ECW talent that was, for the most part, pretty bad even thirteen or so years ago and people expected some kind of kick ass show full of excitement. That’s what all the ECW diehards were hoping for. I’ve never understood why people can’t let ECW die off. It’s never going to come back. There is never going to be another extreme revolution. What made that company, that movement so special, doesn’t exist. Back when ECW was popular there weren’t companies that provided hardcore matches or had a cutting edge feel. Now, nearly every independent company tries, at some point, to have that feeling. Instead hoping for ECW to return, how about you go and watch some PWG, ROH, AIW, 2CW, or some AAW.
Anyway, back to Extreme Reunion. I saw the video posted by Shane Douglas where he announced he would no longer compete in the ring for Extreme Reunion. That’s great and all because Douglas is just a bad wrestler nowadays. He rips on a guy like Flair for staying around too long and now he is doing the same exact thing. I actually can’t remember the last time he had a good match outside of his ECW days. I know his WCW run was pretty bad.
The main reason the event was a failure was because they didn’t use any new talent. Why not get guys like Sami Callihan or something? There had to have been talent around to provide some entertainment. Now, they have lost all their hype and are basically begging people to give them a second chance. Should people give them a second chance? I guess so. They need to cut out the guys clearly still attached to drugs or are in their late 40’s, which would be everyone. Well, I’d keep Jerry Lynn because he can still work like he is in his 20’s. Try to make it a new revolution and not just a rehashing of a revolution with guys that weren’t even major players in the first place.
Rambling #2: I’ve heard some rumblings that people think that Diamond Dallas Page should be elected into the WWE Hall of Fame. I may be a DDP fan, but he is NOT a HOF wrestler. There is just no way. He is not an elite talent, he held the world championship three times, but he was nothing more than a transitional champion. Yeah, he had some successful WCW United States Championship runs but really, he only was relevant from 1997 to 2001, at most. He didn’t do all that much in the WWE and washed out of there in two years. He was an entertaining character, but by no means a Hall of Famer.
Rambling #3: Lastly, I saw an interesting post made by DGUSA/EVOLVE promoter Gabe Sapolsky. He thinks that Fit Finlay should be regarded as the best ever… along with Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, Bret Hart and others. Now, Finlay is a good worker and has his fair share of matches, but how in the world can someone make that statement? The best ever means being damn good in all the categories. It’s rather amusing to me that Finlay, a glorified midcarder in the United States, would be deemed by Gabe to be an elite wrestler. Obviously, it’s just an attempt to get some interest going in his company and since he is promoting Finlay in his companies, there is no harm in it. It just seemed to be a comical attempt to me to promote one of his guys.
That’s all the ramblings I have this time around. Feel free to share you opinions on this topics. You no longer need to register to leave a comment, since I didn’t notice that was the case prior!
Thanks for reading.
Hey Bob, I enjoy your ramblings each week.
No surprise about Extreme Reunion’s failure. ECW was one of the first companies to have the hardcore/extreme feel but that wasn’t all that ECW was. There were some great feuds and storylines and definitely some great wrestlers that didn’t need to use the weapons to put on an exciting match. Now that they are all older and aren’t able to do the things they used to it seems that their matches devolve into smashing each other over the head with weapons. I never understood the appeal of New Jack and don’t understand why guys like Shane Douglas, who focused on wrestling, keep bringing him back for these reunions.
Is DDP a hall of famer? I am a huge DDP fan. The guy could work in the ring and was great on the mic. He didn’t really pan out in the WWE but he did the absolute best he could have done with a somewhat goofy gimmick. To say he was only relevant between 1997-2001 isn’t exactly accurate. He was at the absolute top of WCW during a good portion of that time. During his time with WWE he feuded with Undertaker (certainly not curtain jerking there). I look at other WWE hall of famers who never came close to being at the top of WWE, WCW or even any of the territories. That said, I don’t really see him ever making it into the WWE Hall of Fame. I could see him in other Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fames though.
Lastly, Fit Finlay isn’t a glorified mid-carder. He is a mid-carder. Like you said, he is a great worker and is good on the mic but I would never put him up with Flair or Bret Hart. Love Finlay but you gotta be realistic.
Extreme Reunion was a financial success. 2400 people showed up, that’s more than TNA Lockdown.
It’s a market for this type of promotion, except they need to use younger/newer guys and international wrestlers to make it feel right.
The number was inflated, according to Meltzer. More like 1,700 people. From that standpoint it was a success, but they failed to deliver in the ring. I’d imagine the attendance number will be much lower for their June show.
I doubt it, the fans that bought the tickets to the last show knew it would suck wrestling wise. They seen the card beforehand. Nothing will keep these fans away. They want a new ECW type promotion so bad. Despite the quality, all these ECW reunion type shows been successful even TNA Hardcore Justice compare to the other TNA ppvs.
2 Cold and Jerry Lynn will be back because THEY NEED THE MONEY. As well as FBI, Raven,etc. They need to somehow, blend these old guys in with new talents.
For newer guys, Sami Callihan would make a great choice but they need fresh faces with good gimmicks. They should stay away from the ROH/Chikara/Evolve/PWG circle as much as they can.
I know it cost a lot to get guys from another country but I would bring in one guy from Mexico or Japan for each show. Wrestlers from Big Japan and PdM/IWRG(Mexico) to give the show a special vibe.
Why would they shit on the show then? They were chanting refund and stuff. They were not fans of the show. Scorpio, Lynn, and Anderson are the only guys that should remain on the card. Raven too if he is a talker and nothing more. They have got to get younger guys to start a new trend, in my opinion.
Another promoter can come in right now and promise Sabu,Raven,Lynn,etc. in philly for one show and probably get at least 1200. Why? Because these fans been looking for a replacement for 10 years.
I think Douglas needs to follow Heyman(and others like Cornette in SMW) and start with a solid veteran at top of the card and build around them. They have Lynn,Scorpio but if I was Douglas I would go get someone like Chavo Guerrero Jr. Add Homicide to that foursome, let them carry the company. It will make it easier on him because he can focus on building new guys up.
I disagree on that. Considering what happened, Sabu over dosing and Raven not even wrestling… I don’t see a show with them doing that well, again. People can’t be that dumb.