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That Special Feeling
March 29, 2003
WrestleMania XIX is one day away as of this writing. I'm excited
to see the show, but even I will admit, despite what is on paper
the most loaded card in the show's 19 year history, something does
seem to be missing. A certain something that by now, sadly, is undeniable.
What's missing is that special feeling.
Why doesn't a WrestleMania that features Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin,
The Rock, Vince McMahon, Triple H, Booker T, Shawn Michaels, Kurt
Angle, Brock Lesnar, and Chris Jericho all in main event level matches
have the same electricity as the WrestleManias of previous years?
Why is it with all of this star power - the most in the history
of the show or perhaps even of the industry, WrestleMania has a
dark cloud over it?
I won't cop out and say The War in Iraq. Too easy. Maybe that has
something to do with the public's mood as of late, but the war is
a scapecoat that dodges the real issues.
The first thing missing from WrestleMania this year is the sense
that when RAW comes on at 9pm on Monday night, Things Will Be Different.
WrestleMania has always been the end of the year for WWE, the culmination
of the previous year's storylines and action. The day after WrestleMania
is New Year's Day - the slate is wiped clean somewhat and things
start anew. But it doesn't necessarily feel that way this year.
When WrestleMania ends, we could have a series of new champions,
we'll know "who created Hulkamania" (an issue that was
never hotly debated among even longtime fans such as myself), and
perhaps The Rock will have beaten Stone Cold Steve Austin.
But what will CHANGE on Sunday? Will the company go in a new direction?
Are there new stories they will tell, new thrills to empart, a new
emotional roller coaster to take the fans on? Will there be new
risks taken or will the company continue to play it safe, fearful
that the loyalists still in love with WWE will abandon them as others
have if they change what little still works? In all my years as
a fan, I have never before sensed that WWE was afraid. Certainly,
during the Attitude era, WWE was afraid of nothing, and in many
ways, they continue to pay for their hubris. Today, the feeling
in the air is that WWE lacks a strong vision for the future and
will wait out the next few years Remembering and Re-enacting What
They Were instead of looking for What They Will Be Next.
A good example is Booker T. I am fully in Booker T's corner at
WrestleMania because he is the Newest Thing at the top of the card
- the one thing I haven't seen before, a brand new WWE main eventer
going for the World Title at the biggest show of the year. But if
Booker wins the belt, will he lose it back to Triple H the next
day? In a week? At Backlash? It's too risky to put all my faith
in Booker as the new flagbearer of RAW because of the fear that
he will be a one trick pony. I don't know if WWE truly is serious
about him. The fear all fans share is that when the smoke clears
at WrestleMania, Triple H will get his belt back soon after and
lodge himself back atop the card while Booker is banished as an
also-ran: the status quo will be resumed and maintained. We'll have
to wait and see, but fans have every right to be skeptical.
WrestleMania this year is also tinged with a sense of Loss and
Sadness. No matter how well the match with Brock Lesnar goes, at
the end of the night we are losing Kurt Angle, perhaps for a year,
perhaps forever. Angle has been for 3 years the most consistently
excellent all-around performer in the company. WWE WAS serious about
Kurt. The fans knew it too. Whether it was comedy or violence, promos
or skits, wrestling clinics or brutal fights, the fans believed
everything Kurt did. Kurt was a piece of magic. Losing Kurt is devastating.
Losing Edge was a blow but Edge is young and has not yet reached
the level Kurt had. The company will need Edge in the future, but
WWE needs Kurt NOW, and unfortunately for everyone, we will have
to make do without him.
Meanwhile, the Icons of Attitude are going through the motions.
Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock are both back, but for how
long? Austin is still the most famously disenfranchised megastar
in the company, while The Rock is at best a generous part-timer.
What's more, their long-time rivalry from 1997-2001 ended when they
sang a duet together on RAW. This third WrestleMania battle for
the two men who took WWE to its greatest height is the best example
of going to the well once too often. They are having fun with each
other, and the odds are favorable that they will have a great outing
at WrestleMania, but is it anything we haven't seen before? Not
really. Perhaps the Rock will win. Perhaps Goldberg will arrive
on the scene. Either way, The Rock will be back in Los Angeles soon
working on his real career.
While the Rock is making his exit plans, we are still waiting for
the real Stone Cold Steve Austin to appear. The Steve Austin who
returned to RAW just a few weeks ago is pensive and uninvolved.
Granted, Steve Austin has a history of being a slow starter. When
he appeared at the Ringmaster, it took him months to find the inspiration
to be Stone Cold. When he returned from his neck surgery in 2000,
he wasn't himself until Kurt Angle battled him on RAW in January,
2001 and gave him his first great match in over a year. Then Triple
H and Austin had their two out of three falls Match of the Year,
and Stone Cold was finally back. After turning heel at WrestleMania
X-7, Stone Cold spent several more months figuring out his new heel
character before being too good at being a sniveling comedic coward
forced him to turn back into a face.
But when the real Stone Cold does return to raise some Hell, who
will it be against? Eric Bischoff, the current substitute for Vince
McMahon? How many times can the angry employee (who is now well-known
as wealthy and capable of quitting at a moment's notice) wage bloody
war against his arrogant employer? And besides, this story already
found its logical end when Steve Austin joined Vince McMahon two
years ago: the employee finally saw it the boss's way and joined
him instead of fighting a noble but futile battle to remain employed.
We potentially could see a dream match: Goldberg vs. Stone Cold
Steve Austin. Three years ago, this could have been promoted as
an epic, but today it is merely a curiosity. Essentially, the only
star a dead company ever created, and one who is vastly overrated
to boot, would take on the biggest star in the history of the industry
at a time when the industry is weaker than it has been in 5 years.
What's more, Goldberg vs. Austin is really just a wrestler vs. a
wrestler. There is no apparent Greater Theme involved, no Story
That Fans Can Innately Relate To (like a renegade company coming
to take over, or the best idea ever - an angry employee vs. an evil
boss.) No matter how one looks at it, as the solution to WWE's many
problems, Goldberg is not it.
And yet, despite all of this, I am excited for WrestleMania XIX.
Not as excited as I could be, but excited nonetheless. It is still
a loaded card bursting with historical significance and the potential
for excellent matches. Why, if I were cryogenically frozen in 2000
and awoke Sunday afternoon, and you showed me the card for this
year's WrestleMania, I wouldn't believe you. Vince McMahon fighting
Hulk Hogan? Booker T in the main event at WRESTLEMANIA against Triple
H? Shawn Michaels against Chris Jericho? Plus (after some explanation
as to who Lesnar is) Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle? Those are dream
matches. The rest is icing on the cake.
At 8pm on Sunday, I'll be sitting with the same friends I've watched
wrestling with for over a decade, and I will watch WrestleMania
and I'm going to enjoy myself. I'll be looking for the little things.
I'll be happy as I watch Trish Stratus continue her brave and wonderful
uphill climb as the first fully-capable babyface female wrestler
and champion in the company's history. I'll hope against hope Nathan
Jones doesn't embarrass himself or the Undertaker, and I'll swallow
the bitter pill that the Undertaker is this low on the card babysitting
the Australian Hillbilly Jim. I'll thrill to the Triple Threat tag
team match for the WWE Tag Team belts. I'll enjoy watching Chief
Morley get his comeuppance at the hands of RVD and Kane and perhaps
the Dudleys as well. I'll be bursting with appreciation for Mattitude
as Rey Mysterio defies gravity to take the Cruiserweight title from
him. I'll probably even squeal with delight like the King will when
the Miller Lite Catfight Girls make their special appearance.
And I'll watch the top matches looking for the Big Things. I'll
say goodbye to Kurt, cheer on Booker T, hope The Rock eats a few
Stunners and does his crazy supersells, enjoy the dream turned into
reality when Jericho and Michaels collide, and I'll be beside myself
with amazement as two fifty year olds bleed and fight to bring their
20 year mutual legacy to a close. But also I'll be looking for the
signs of change, the hope for tomorrow that things will be different.
Hey, you never know. As I understand it, Anything Can Happen in
WWE. That's probably why I keep watching. That and I still love
it, even after all these years.
That probably won't ever change.
- John Orquiola
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