Hart Murmurs 152 by Bruce Hart
Greetings.
In the past, the WWE generally seemed to opt for were finishes, such as DQ’s, run-ins, referee bumps and other contrived outcomes in major title matches, usually because many of the superstar champions had a pronounced aversion to doing a job.
I was expecting more of the same on the Clash of Champions pay per view, but was pleasantly surprised to see virtually every match and a myriad of the WWE’s most esteemed superstars, including the likes of Seth Rollins, Brawn Strowman, Randy Orton and Charlotte Flair dropping falls right in the middle of the ring.
I might add that I don’t think it hurt their images whatsoever to have done the job as such, but it also added some perceptible legitimacy to the belts and also enhanced the image of the respective champions and the championships, which should be good for business, as well.
I commend all of those who put the business ahead of their respective egos and also would like to extend props to those orchestrating the finishes – I’m not sure if it was Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, Triple H, Vinnie Mac, Shane or whomever, but props to any or all of the above for this refreshing deviation from the prevailing norms.
The WWE was here in town (Calgary) recently and I joined many of my family members at the show, including my brother Bret’s family, my sisters Diana, Alison and Georgia, and my brothers Ross and Wayne, among others – all of whom were guests of my niece Natalya and her husband Tyson Kidd, who’s now an agent for the WWE.
After the show, I took my kids, including my handicapped son Rhett, backstage to meet some of the wrestlers – all of whom couldn’t have been more accommodating or gracious. I was particularly impressed with WWE Universal champion, Seth Rollins (Colby Lopez), who went out of his way to take photographs and visit with my son – which made a great impression on him.
I was gratified and pleased to hear from several of the WWE superstars how they had been huge fans of Stampede Wrestling back in the day and how Stampede stars, such as Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, David Shults, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho, Jushin Liger and my brothers Bret and Owen had inspired them to pursue careers in pro wrestling. I know that somewhere up yonder my father and the likes of Owen, Davey, Dynamite and Pillman are beaming with pride to know that guys like Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler and Ricochet are such huge fans of theirs.
On another note, I used to be a big fan, back in the day of some of the great heel managers, such as Bobby “the Brain” Heenan, Jimmy Hart, J. R. Foley, Eddie Creatchman, Paul Ellering, Sherri Martel, Col. de Beers and the aforementioned Paul Heyman (aka Paul Dangerously) – all of whom were incredible at generating heat and cutting riveting promos.
For some reason, managers seem to have disappeared from the wrestling scene in the past few years, however I’ve been quite impressed with Sami Zayn’s heel manager work in the past few weeks, managing Japanese heel, Shinsuke Nakamura. Not only has Zayn helped Nakamura generate considerably more heat than he had before, but he has also regenerated his own heel heat – which had been stuck in neutral, as well. I could see lot of potential in having Zayn manage some other heels, including perhaps the likes of Harper and Down, or maybe Dolph and Bobby Roode. I urge the powers that be in the WWE to give it some serious though.
On that note, I’ll call this a wrap but will look forward to catching up with you all next time