Greetings.
Like many of you, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the finish of the heavily hyped showdown at Survivor Series between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar recently.
In case you missed it (and if you happened to blink, you may well have), the match lasted a matter of seconds, with Goldberg spearing, jack-hammer suplexing and pinning the supposedly invincible Lesnar.
My initial take on the surprising outcome was that either Brock was finishing up and was being jobbed out as a consequence, or that maybe Goldberg was injured (as had been rumoured before the fight) and because of that, the match had to be abbreviated. I’m still not sure if either of those were the case, but in any case, the whole thing was still a hard to fathom shocker.
About the only thing good thing about it was that even though it was a rip-off, from a purely entertainment perspective, at least it was a straight, no bullshit finish – unlike so many others the WWE’s creative department have seen fit to inflict upon the poor marks over the years.
After the match, I figured with Brock now seemingly out of the picture, or so I thought, I was wondering whom the WWE brass were setting up to take on Goldberg next. I thought it might be Universal Champion Kevin Owens or perhaps Brawn Stroman – who’s been given a pretty good monster push as of late. Much to my surprise, though, on RAW the next day, it was announced that Goldberg would be entered into the Royal Rumble Match. And the week after that, Paul Heyman announced that Brock Lesnar would be in the Royal Rumble as well. Their paths will cross and the third installment of Brock vs. Bill will happen.
Far be it from me to cast aspersions upon the enlightened despots orchestrating the schematics from Titan Tower, but having Bill and Brock meet again, after Survivor Series’ short-lived fiasco and their other similarly short and unsatisfying outcome a decade and a half ago, doesn’t really make a whole hell of a lot of sense. I could see the merits of having them meet again if their Survivor Series clash had been a five star match with a hot finish, but after last week’s decisive ass-kicking that left nothing else to be resolved, what the hell is the point?
In reflecting on what the powers that be in the WWE might be thinking, I was wondering if the they perhaps might be mistakenly confusing Brock and Bill’s third encounter with the epic Muhammad Ali and Smokin’ Joe Frazier “Thrilla in Manila”, which was the culmination of their epic trio of fights – which, in the eyes of many, myself included, rank among the greatest series in boxing history. If so, they’re sorely mistaken, given that Brock and Bill, tend to more closely resemble the dubious rivalry between Ali and the listless Sonny Liston, featuring the bogus “phantom punch” – which, in case anyone’s unfamiliar with it, nearly killed the heavyweight boxing championship.
To their credit, at least the boxing promoters back then were smart enough to not try to flog Ali and Liston a third time, unlike the WWE – which, for some reason, seems to think there are enough mindless marks out there who will buy into Goldberg and Lesnar one more time at Wrestlemania. If nothing else, I’ll be intrigued to see how Vince, Hunter and the resident spin doctors choose to hype the whole thing and even more intrigued to see if the marks out there decide to buy into what they’re selling.
I’ve said it before and will reiterate it again, that the wrestling business must truly be an incredible product to have survived and continues to thrive in spite of the many times it drops the ball and misses the mark and this is just one more example of that. Hopefully, the return engagement of Brock and Bill spin will exceed my expectations and get their proverbial shit together. We shall see, I suppose.
On a sombre note, I was saddened to hear, this past week, of the untimely passing of an old and dear wrestling comrade, John Cozman, who wrestled as the villainous Principal Pound in Stampede Wrestling back in the 90’s, but was one of the nicest and most inherently decent guys I’ve come across in the wrestling realm.
Although most people outside of western Canada are probably unfamiliar with John, he was one of the better heels in Stampede Wrestling history, which is saying a lot, when you consider that names like the Dynamite Kid, Jake Roberts, Gene Kiniski, Mike Shaw, Superstar Billy Graham, Archie “the Stomper” Gouldie, Bad News Allen, Sweet Daddy Siki, Johnny Valentine and Abdullah the Butcher were all part of that stellar congregation. My sincere condolences to his family and God bless.
I look forward to catching up with you all next week.