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.