OUTSPOKEN PUNK

THAT SLY SMILE. CM Punk in Manila during the SmackDown/ECW Tour back in 2007. Photo by Hub Pacheco.

The Driver Seat

By Hub Pacheco

We've all seen and heard CM Punk loud and clear on RAW last night. I've watched it for like twenty times already and it's still sounds so unreal! And because I and the rest of the IWC can't get enough of it, HERE is the transcript form that historic promo.

RAW aires two days late in Manila so I normally didn't want to be spoiled, but after reading tweets left and right from David Lagana and Joey Styles, I was curious what has happening right there and then. Lagana later tweeted a link to a Youtube video of a TV grab showing Punk's promo. I literally stopped work and sat down in a corner to watch it. Hey, it was only five minutes!

Needless to say, Punk has done the unthinkable: rip on the product just enough to be understood by both smarks and marks alike. The "Oops, I'm breaking the fourth wall" line is my fave. Hell, the entire promo was ill! The Cageside Seats blog nicely puts his promo into perspective HERE.

I actually kinda guessed he was going to do this after seeing his backstage segment at Capitol Punishment where he said he was going to do something historic. It's pretty known in the IWC that his contract was coming up in July. And when he said that "historic" comment, I kinda felt he was going to do something connected to his contract being up. I just didn't expect it to be THAT unbelievable.

Yes, we've all heard that bit where there's nothing fresh in pro wrestling any more. Not since The Montreal Screwjob, the Matt-Edge/Lita storyline, ECW One Night Stand 2005, Bret Hart's WWE return, the Nexus' invasion of RAW has there been something THIS compelling to watch on the WWE, save for Zack Ryder's Z! True Long Island Story webisodes (But that's a whole other topic for discussion on another day.).

Just a spoke on the WWE wheel? Sad but true.

Although haphazardly put together, this feud between Cena and Punk will be good. I actually R-Truth to get more main event time, but I guess that's off for now. Much like Montreal where Vince feared Bret would leave with the WWE Title, Punk built up on that idea and ran with it like crazy! This is a feud requiring no long drawn out drama, no run-ins, no inclusions of loved ones, and most importantly, no weekly back-and-forth banters. Hell, they could have the match right now and it will be great. That's how compelling it was. Punk turned the WWE product on its head before getting cut off. God knows what else he could've said and for how long had he been allowed to continue. I tired to lip read after the cut off but all I could make out was, "You wanna silence me? I'm the best!"

Punk certainly did his job, blurring the lines of work/shoot, suspending everyone's disbelief. He made it as real as he could, even if it was planned. WWE.com, the ultimate mark's website, even announced Punk's indefinite suspension and even took down his merchandise. It got everyone talking, right, Duy? That's my Colt Cabana for you! Haha!

As of writing, Punk's last tweet is,"I'm in full, "What are they going to do, fire me?" mode."

The beauty of all this, as pro-wrestling should be all the time, is that everyone is left scratching their heads. How real or "real" is this? Did Punk break character on live TV by saying he likes John Cena as a person, but the idea of Cena being the best is wrong? How far were the lines he actually crossed once he went backstage afterwards? I bet it was documentary-worthy.

Casual fans are giving more thought to what they were seeing (and maybe becoming smarter) and hardcore fans like myself are curious if the WWE will really let Punk go after the Money in The Bank pay-per-view or reel him back for the long term? Obviously I want him to stay, but stories are circulating right now that points to Punk actually leaving.

Punk's honesty is very refreshing. I know I'm going overboard by saying this but imagine if you could be that honest in other aspects of your life and get away with it? Well, kinda. Imagine telling people off, telling it like it is. A big "F-ck You!" to authority. It could and will get you in trouble. Hmm, now I'm beginning to think Punk will really be let go after this. Ugh.

Whatever happens to Punk, know this: I am now a CM Punk fan for life.

And I can't wait to hear what Punk has to say next.

(Guest Post) Devil's Advocate: Looking at DC by way of WWE

John Cena: the WWE poster boy of this generation. Photo by Hub Pacheco

[Note: This post crossposted in Duy Tano’s Comics Cube blog. Thanks Duy, Hub!]

It seems the fallout from DC's Flashpoint announcements has been fully felt by now. Among other things, their decision to reset all titles from zero has probably upset fans the most. All of a sudden, DC's rich superhero lore has been set aside to start over anew. Hardcore fans are complaining left and right, with many threatening and going through with cancelling their subscriptions. Stupid move all around, right? Not necessarily.

Let me play devil's advocate for a minute and say that hardcore fans, for any hobby, are just plain hard to please. You do the same thing they liked before over and over again, they hate it too. You try anything new, they hate it. You take away the new thing they liked after they'd gotten used to it, and they will hate that too. Customer retention is important, but it does reach a point where it's no longer worth the effort, at least to try to keep everyone happy.

To make an analogy out of left field, let's switch hobbies and take a look at the state of pro wrestling, particularly the WWE. It's easy to scoff at pro wrestling as a fake sport, but it has a rich history in the world of entertainment, affecting the fields of live events, cable television, and just the way sports has been portrayed in the mainstream.

And the WWE are pioneers in entertainment, from helping launch closed-circuit television with Wrestling Classic/Wrestlemania I, Monday Night Raw, outdoor events in Caesar's Palace, etc. And WWE seemingly reached its peak creatively and financially during the Attitude/Monday Night Wars era, between 1996-1999. Post Monday Night Wars, WWE slowly lost their biggest draws (Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind) to injuries, retirements, and career shifts.

I would argue that at this point WWE was in a similar situation to where DC had been for a few years now. Like DC, WWE would ocassionally come up with a few pearls, but the comparisons to the more succesful era would linger and hurt them. Are they trying hard enough with the storylines? Are the wrestlers they're using likable enough? Why is this really talented technical workhorse not making them money if fans like him/her so much? And so on.

Essentially, they are stuck in a situation where they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. How can they please this or that fan if they aren't being given a fair shake? In the WWE, this question would be: Is it fair to condemn every little John Cena promo as inferior to the Rock? In DC, this would translate to: Is it fair to damn every Grant Morrison/Warren Ellis work as derivative of Alan Moore's?

But, see, DC and WWE may have found themselves an out: newer fans. Not only do newer fans not have these preestablished biases older, more hardcore fans may have, they may have more purchasing power, and are more important to the future of the company. They may lose a huger, more established fanbase in the short term, and lose money in that target shift, but it would pay off in the long term. They also see this as starting with a clean slate, literally starting storylines from scratch wihtout worrying about preestablished histories.

Of course, this analogy is imperfect, especially as DC's actions seem reactionary to the success of their great competitor Marvel. Another fault with this comparison is that unlike DC, WWE's shift from hardcore to casual young fan was more gradual and subtle. Some argue Vince McMahon Jr. splitting from the NWA and pro wrestling's terriories model, to usher in the Rock N' Wrestling Connection was the impetus of his break from hardcore fans.

Still, some parts of this analogy should ring true to anyone who was a wrestling and comic book fan throughout the '90s. The Death and Return of Superman was immensely popular, but left a bitter aftertaste that some fans still haven't forgiven DC for. Likewise, the push of HHH into a solid, if uncharismatic, 13 time World Champion, was both lauded and condemned by fans through the years. Some say he deserves credit for all the hard work he puts in, others point at his inability to draw like his predecessors and how he has undue influence over his career in his capacity as an executive senior advisor.

Where is the WWE now? In recent years, they had slowly but surely conquered the world of social media, topping searches in Yahoo Video and succesfully launching their own social network, the WWE Universe. Furthermore, Wrestlemania 27 topped the 1 million buyrate they had predicted, thanks to the involvement of crossover draws like The Rock, Steve Austin and Snooki. Although some people may still criticize how they did this or got that, they met their goals and they're definitely making money.

Where will DC Comics be next year, or in ten years time? Hard to tell, but if they play their cards right, even without the hardcore fanbase backing them up, they may do pretty good for themselves.

Snippets of Greatness: Remembering The Macho Man Randy Savage

WIPCOMICS pays a lil' tribute this week for The Macho Man. (Art by Teddy Pavon)

THE DRIVER SEAT

By Hub Pacheco

Pro-wrestling related deaths are as common as, well, the common cold nowadays. At the top of my head, I list Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit (who shall forever be unremembered), Umaga as some of the most recent and notable deaths. Then, just last week, The Macho Man Randy Savage joined the list. (See the report from TMZ.)

I won't go on about the cause of pro-wrestling deaths. They are as varied and as simple and/or complicated as any other death in any industry. Stress & substance, I think they're about all the same.

Being born in the late '80s, I have barely a handful of memories of The Macho Man. After reading numerous posts remembering Savage (like this one by ESPN's Bill Simmons), it's a shame I didn't live through the Savage-Steamboat feud. By the time I was fully into pro-wrestling, it was already the end of the Federation Era and the start of the unforgettable Attitude Era.

Honestly, the fondest memory I have of Savage is his unique voice. So unique that I marked out when, as a kid, I watched, in a episode of Dexter's Laboratory, the Dial M for Monkey segment called Rasslor, which Savage lent his all-too-perfect vocal chords for.

Of course, during the Monday Night Wars, I saw Savage sporadically on and off the WCW/NWO. It was only after his untimely death that I found out he had a brief stint at TNA.

I've read and seen that Savage was the total package: great in-ring work plus undeniable charisma. Sorry, Lex Luger. From his tassles-laden and colorful ring attire (those solid shades that would shame rappers) to his outlandish promos, man, he was something!

Snippets of greatness is what I've seen of The Macho Man Randy Savage. But greatness, nonetheless.

So here's to you, Macho Man, dropping that elbow from way, way up the top rope of the heavens! OOOOOOOH YEAHH!!!

THE CASE FOR CAPTAIN CHARISMA

Christian hoisting up the World Heavyweight Championship at Extreme Rules 2011.

(All screencaps & photos by Hub Pacheco)

THE DRIVER SEAT

by Hub Pacheco

They say the WWE is too predictable nowadays. Too predictable that suspension of disbelief is a rarity in most, if not all, feuds.

When Edge abruptly retired weeks ago, it suddenly put Christian on the spot - the top spot. That is something a self-confessed Peep has been waiting for ever since Captain Charisma came back on board the WWE in 2009. Christian cut a promo during the last ECW show and said that his coming back on ECW was viewed as a demotion by most people but he saw it as an opportunity to reach a new height on that show.

Christian pointing to his Peeps during the SmackDown!/ECW Tour on July 2009 at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila.

He then tumbled in mediocrity on RAW and SmackDown! in 2010. During last year's Money in The Bank PPV, it was more than expected of him to win, but they instead gave the ball to Jack Swagger. A legit injury would sideline him and lead to an angle with Alberto del Rio. We all know what happened afterwards and what culminated at Extreme Rules last Sunday.

Christian Cage, at last, has become a WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

I was ecstatic. On both the Battle Royal to determine the other contender for the World Title and the ladder match at Extreme Rules, my heart skipped beats several times until it was over. Yes I know that by virtue of Edge retiring and Del Rio headed to RAW following Extreme Rules, it was more than given that Christian will be the World Champion. But the feeling of him actually reaching the pinnacle of pro-wrestling success after all this time? Man, my disbelief sure was suspended there!

You don't need to be an industry insider to empathize with Christian moments after he unhooked that World Title. If i read his mouth correctly, I think he said, "I can't believe it!" That is the look of a man finally achieving his goal, finally reaching where he deserves to be. "Goals are dreams with deadlines"..5/1/11," he tweeted hours after winning the World Title. "Got lots of great msgs about last night..Know a lot of peeps never gave up hope the day would come..Thanks for always believing," he later added.

Color commentary billed Christian as having felt that he didn't deserve to reach that level of the World Championship. That is kayfabe at its basic level but I can't help but feel that it is as real as Edge's career ending injury.

Christian finally winning the big one is as feel good a story as Shawn Michaels winning the WWF Championship for the first time against Bret Hart. I remember that feeling when, as a kid, I witnessed HBK drop down on his knees and cradled the WWF Championship on his chest. I had that exact same feeling when Christian hugged the title on top of the ladder. Classic Cinderella storyline. Again, disbelief, suspended.

Edge with Christian moments after the latter's victory.

That is until Randy Orton beat Christian days later on SmackDown! and suddenly everything came back down. Christian came back down. Are you serious, bro? Did you just pull a Kane on Christian? Kane's first WWF Championship lasted only ONE night. SmackDown! is taped on Tuesdays. So technically, Christian had TWO nights as Champion. You could imagine the anger I felt after knowing what happened. (I was actually spoiled on a YouTube clip that Orton had won the Title. I, still giddy from Christian's win, searched for a clip of the moment when he climbed the ladder en route to victory. Big mistake.)

Which brings me back to my point of WWE's seeming predictability. In that episode, GM Teddy Long even emphasized that he had to make SmackDown! as unpredictable and exciting as possible. Foreshadowing perhaps? Has Vince pulled a fast one on us? It may have been too predictable when Christian won, but to make a full 180 and have him drop the Title days later? We never saw that coming. So, kudos to that, VinnieMac. You have my full attention back again.

So what now?

I truly hope, for Christian's sake and for all those who empathized with him, he'll be World Champion again sooner rather than really later.

MY MAP

P.O.L.I.T.I.K.O

by Jefferson Ty

The renaissance of The Top Turnbuckle fittingly came on Easter Sunday. Nice, Hub Pacheco.

Hub Pacheco was so shocked by Edge’s retirement that he had to dig The Top Turnbuckle out of the rubble to properly air his endearing remarks for Adam Copeland. But it set up this match result that prompted me to bring out my map.

I have been through questionable pinfalls. Although these decisions were against my personal logic, I knew they were in the best interests of WWE. This past Smackdown!, Christian lost his World Heavyweight Championship to Randy Orton. I do not understand. It took Christian 17 years to win it all, but just 2 days to savor it all. Eight years of experience in continuously following WWE is still not enough for me to decode some of their profound decisions.

Christian: 17 years to win it all, 2 days to savor it all.

There is no point in getting upset or angry with this title change. The problem lies in transparency. However, we cannot expect WWE to explain to their “Universe” the real reasons behind Orton’s victory. Remember, as far as I can see it, WWE Superstars are no different from TV drama or comedy characters. When they are scripted to do this and do that, however irrational or illogical it maybe, they are still bound to do what is asked of them. The TV audience’s role is to watch these shows for personal entertainment and nothing more. But to the point of saying what should be done or what shouldn’t be done is simply left to the scriptwriter and in essence, to the producer and whoever the boss is overseeing the show. If they want to screw the audience by going against unconventional wisdom, then so be it. TV show series have come and go throughout history, and yet RAW and Smackdown!, despite the controversies, still stand firm as weekly staples on television.

WWE is a business. It exists to make profit. I am not sure if its goal is to preserve and showcase professional wrestling, but then again, in doing so, the money has to be there continuously rolling. If it is a business decision to have Orton as the champion now, then who am I to question the WWE boss? I have tried playing the General Manager Mode on Smackdown vs. Raw and I know how hard it is to achieve high ratings, and at the same time, keep my favorite wrestlers winning. At some points, I had to let my favorite wrestler lose just to maintain that high rating. It doesn’t mean my fave has to be a face; he/she can also be a heel. I have my personal liking, but my rating liking will say differently. In the end, more might mean less, and of course, vice versa.

The key is to suspend judgment until it is the right time to do so. This development on Smackdown has proved to be another situation wherein we must be open-minded. Not everything that appears on the map is what it really appears to be.

THANK YOU, EDGE!

Edge in Manila, February 2006. (all photos by Hub Pacheco)

The Driver Seat
by Hub Pacheco

"The MRI showed that I have to retire," revealed Edge in the April 11 edition of RAW, less than a week after WrestleMania 27.

Edge's sudden retirement came off as a bigger shock to the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) than The Rock's run in with John Cena and The Miz at the WrestleMania 27 main event.

There were hints of Edge retiring soon but for him to announce it abruptly, especially after a tough title defense at WrestleMania, it's too much of a shock for me. I still haven't gotten over Shawn Michaels' retirement speech the RAW after WrestleMania 26. If you look at the speeches Edge made in both RAW and SmackDown!, you could really see the sincerity in his eyes. His smile, his thank-yous to various peeps - it was genuine. People in general dismiss pro wrestling as fake or staged, but seeing his demeanor in his last week on TV, you can't get any more real than that, man. That was from the heart.

Manila loves the The Rated-R Superstar.

Respect, Edge said, is the most important thing he can take away from this tragedy. And I agree. On February 2006 when RAW held two shows here in Manila, Edge was then the WWE Champion. And honestly, I wasn't convinced of Edge as a world champion, the world champion at that. You see, he had just cashed in his Money-in-the-Bank briefcase and took the title from John Cena a month ago on New Year's Revolution. Hey, I'm no Cena fan, too, but I felt Edge hadn't proven himself yet. He wasn't main event material for me. I guess the same holds true for other midcarders suddenly pushed to the top.

Oddly enough, a few world championships later, Edge grew into it for me. From the Edge-Lita teamup to team Rated-RKO with Randy Orton to the Edge-Vickie Guerrero-La Familia-Edgeheads to his surprise return at the 2010 Royal Rumble, he solidified his character of The Rated-R Superstar and The Ultimate Opportunist.

Edge retained the WWE Championship vs Cena in Manila. Circa 2006.

It was fortunate that Edge ended his career as a face, although his retirement speech would've been more interesting to formulate had he been a heel. But hey, there are a lot of WWE greats who had a bad sendoff when they retired (Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret Hart). How many wrestlers can say they had two retirement speeches and retired as the reigning World Heavyweight Champion? So it's still a blessing even if we will never see that Edge-Christian feud we all have been waiting for since Christian came back to the WWE in 2009. Much like Rey Mysterio when Eddie Guerrero suddenly passed away late 2005, Christian now has the unenviable but well deserved chance of carrying Edge's momentum as Captain Charisma is currently in line for a World Heavyweight Championship match at Extreme Rules this Sunday.

I can say the same about The Miz, too, but that's a another topic altogether. I won't delve deeper into Edge's main event status because I think other IWC bloggers can say it better than I can. Hey, Edge's career wasn't all roses and cherries. He had his fair share of controversy (Lita/Matt Hardy, steroids), but he (pun intended) speared his way though all that and achieved more than anyone else in recent memory. Check the T-shirt to see what I mean.

As briefly as he said it in his speech, thank you, thank you very much, Adam Copeland.

THE BLOG IS BACK!

The Driver Seat

By Hub Pacheco

About five years ago, my good friend Jeff & I started this blog after the WWE RAW team held two shows here in Manila. This blog was supposed to gather and collect our thoughts and opinions on WWE happenings. We are HUGE fans of the WWE and other pro wrestling federations and this blog was the outlet for all of our mark out moments, character sentiments and booking frustrations. All in good fun, of course.

School work started to pile in a year later and although SmackDown! held two shows on July 2007 in Manila, we just couldn't find the time to get back to writing here. So we just stopped. I loved discussing anything and everything about wrestling, but I wasn't motivated to do so any more then.

July 2009 - Smackdown/ECW held a one-night only show in Manila. At the first RAW of 2010, Bret Hart appeared on RAW. HBK retired that same year in a WrestleMania match with The Undertaker. February 2011 - The Rock came back and announced on RAW that he would be the special guest host of this year's WrestleMania. To quote good ol' JR Jim Ross, business picked up!

I also started writing a webcomic called Work in Progress (WIP) last year and that kinda reenergized me to write some more. And what better way to get my writing chops back in order than by writing something I'm passionate about other than basketball, comics and photography?

Long story short, that is the reason why I just shined this blog up real nice, turned it sideways and will be sticking this up on all your candy@$$ screens!

Now can you dig that, sucka!