Well! So dawns yet another new era in the evolution of this column, Balrog Babblings. What I first began writing as a wrestling column in 1996, I’ve taken the liberty to advance into what I like to think of as a “what’s on my mind” type of article. However, I’m not a scatter brained high school kid like I was almost 7 years ago when I started this site. Actually, I wasn’t too scatter brained back then…just focused on football and wrestling (amateur wrestling, that is)! My interests have changed and so has my focus. You’ll notice that this column is listed in the “Extras” section of TBL. That’s because I don’t plan on keeping it a wrestling themed column.
Nowadays, I’m a few months away from graduating college with honors and a degree in English and three separate minors in Philosophy, History, and Political Science. You might not get a big dose of the philosophy or history in my meanderings here, but you should be prepared to get a bit of the old politics in my writing. That is probably the biggest change that you can look forward to in Balrog Babblings. However, just because I’ve now got solid “credentials,” it doesn’t mean that I’ve given up on wrestling (I do own this site you know)! So before I begin to do a little bit of my political rhetoric, let’s look at the last two days in wrestling.
I have to say that I was enthralled by the latest edition of RAW. I actually loved the entire show (except for HHH). I thought that Vince got a good reaction out of the crowd, but I don’t like the fact that Eric Bischoff is so “replaceable” in the minds of the viewers. Here is a man that has a great deal of untapped potential and, under the guidance of Vince McMahon, could probably grow to be one of the best creative minds in the business. Don’t go throwing bullshit out there about how he ruined WCW. He was in a shitty situation and there were no checks and balances in WCW. In WWE, Vince McMahon is the checks and balances of his staff.
I’m not going to talk much about RAW because you’ll find many different reviews of the show on this site. The only other thing I’ll say is that I think it was a brilliant idea to have HHH on only one segment of the show. This man is not liked by the masses and he’s not drawing the “good” heel heat, either…
Now on to RAW X – let me quote my younger brother’s IM to me during the show:
“If you saw the RAW Anniversary thing, I think it absolutely sucks. I mean come on! Why weren’t you allowed to vote on the other categories? It’s stupid. You know it was all planned out. And there was a commercial every 5 minutes. The only thing you could have voted for was the best moment of the decade.” – written to Joe Balrog from Chris…ummm…we’ll call him Chris Balrog…midway through the event.
“And you know what? The Rock wasn’t even there! I think it was a bad idea that he was there on satellite. And the crowd booed the shit out of him the whole time he was on the screen. They were chanting ‘boring!’ ” – Chris Balrog after The Rock was booed out of New York (again).
“Ok Joe. I just got done watching the show and I have to say there was not one old superstar there and they couldn’t even give their awards to some of the people because they weren’t there. I think you need to put something about this on your web site. I mean the only good part was with Triple H and Steph, the rest was useless – it was just a big waste of time. I expected a better show as you can see I am very upset about it.” – Chris Balrog after the RAW X show.
So, that’s a little peek at my fifteen year old brother’s ideas on the RAW X show (with some corrections by his older brother for spelling and grammar). Well, I have to agree with Chris. There are a few things that I will say, though. First, I think that Christopher has done a great job putting the entire show into perspective – The Rock was embarrassed and kept on the screen WAY too long. Second, I agree that the fans should have been able to vote for all of the categories. What? Was WWE scared that Sable would have won Diva of the Decade? Or that maybe Chyna would have won? Was WWE scared that Mick Foley’s huge internet following would have led to him sweeping the event? Perhaps they were scared that arguably the worst of the TLC series of matches wouldn’t have been named as the Match of the Decade?
I’ll go into my own diatribe here for a moment. My major gripe with the anniversary show is best described as a two-headed monster. The one head we’ll call the internet and the other head we’ll call the “e” in WWE. The first head of this monster promised the fans that there would be the return of Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Hulk Hogan, etc. at this awards ceremony. Folks, read WWE’s release on this show. You won’t see any of those names mentioned anywhere nor will you see anything about surprises. You might see something about honoring stars of the past – and Mick Foley did win an award, as did Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The second head of this monster, the “e” in WWE, is probably the biggest culprit of the night. Many fans, such as myself, have been watching wrestling well before RAW was a show and will probably watch wrestling for a long time to come. For those of us who fit this category, we could tell you at least one person or event that should have won the categories listed at the awards show other than the person or event that did win. Why is this? It’s because we have a memory that remembers life before the attitude era. Did you notice that most, if not all, of the nominees for the awards were from the past 5 years or so? They really should have called this the “RAW V” Anniversary. I was disgusted that there was no credence given to anything before the attitude era other than a bullshit video montage of terrible past gimmicks (not all of which sucked, mind you).
I believe it was in poor taste for that “e” in WWE to look at this event as an opportunity to advance storylines (Big Show debacle) and to not give homage to reality. I could go in to a more in-depth look at the show, but I’m sure that you’ll read tons of reviews about it on the internet.
Before I go on to some of my thoughts, I just have to tell my little brother – nothing with HHH in it is good!
Now for a small dosage of some of my “other” thoughts. I don’t want to hit on the Middle East right yet – that’s going to have to wait a little while longer. I do want to talk about this SUV thing that the idiots at the Detroit Project are bitching about.
For those of you that don’t know, the Detroit Project actually consists of many Hollywood celebrities who are looking to fight for a good cause. What is this cause you ask? These Detroit-Hollywood folk want to ban Sport Utility Vehicles. Why? Well, this is their reasoning: SUVs gobble gas, gas comes from the Middle East, the countries we buy gas from support terrorism – so people who drive SUVs support terrorism.
Ah, the Detroit Project – how I hate thee, let me count the ways…
Come on folks. Let’s look at this logic a little more. Anyone who drives ANY vehicle that uses gas supports terrorism with this ideology. My SUV that I have in my driveway that takes me to and from work “gobbles” less gas than that huge Lincoln Continental that I used to drive! I get my SUV’s tank filled once every two weeks (sometimes three if I have no where to go). I had to get the Lincoln filled up at LEAST once a week. No questions asked. It ate gas.
But do the Hollywood nimrods tell you about that? Nope. You see Hollywood is packed to the brim with something called “liberals.” I don’t dislike liberals. I think that without the liberal side of the debate, this great country wouldn’t have progressed to the heights that it has in the past 200+ years. However, I have a MAJOR issue with the Hollywood Left (the liberal actors and actresses) sticking their nose somewhere that it doesn’t belong. Do I think that they should have their First Amendment rights revoked? No. However, I do think that people should have the common sense enough to realize that just because we have the freedom of speech doesn’t mean that you can spew out close minded political rhetoric; especially if you don’t have a damn clue as to what it is you’re talking about.
Does the Hollywood Left that supports the Detroit Project tell you that THEY own SUVs (they do, folks)? No, I thought not. You see this is all a bullshit game that these morons play because they happen to be in a position to open their mouths and have many people listen. They don’t take into consideration that with great power comes great responsibility (Spiderman reference). They don’t want to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions…so you’ll never hear these feeble minded fools tell you that they, too, own an SUV.
Now, as for the issue itself – I do think that people who blatantly waste a precious resource like gas should be held accountable for it. I do NOT think that someone who drives ANY car responsibly should be looked down upon for their choice of transportation.
I think that this little introduction to my “other” thoughts is getting a bit long. I’ll be giving more thoughts on a myriad of subjects as time goes on. I’d like to hear some of your feedback or read some of your e-mail on these topics. If you want to respond about the political part, feel free to do so as well. And if you’re a youngun’ and you made it down this far and want to say something about the politics part, I’d be more than happy to read it. I also think that too often in today’s society, the thoughts of the younger generations aren’t listened to or fostered at all. YOU GUYS HAVE A SAY, TOO! So whether you agree or not, let me know. Or hey, if you want more information on the topic, send me some feedback and I’ll be happy to tell you more about it.
Until next time, take care and be good!
– E-mail feedback to joe1897@gmail.com
– Read more Balrog Babblings!
