Thursday, April 12, 2012

DEAD CROWD MAKES FOR A DEAD SHOW

Wrestling fans. It’s been a strange couple of weeks, hasn’t it? Last week was Wrestlemania, but the next night was probably the best Monday Night Raw ever aired in quite some time. I mean the crowd was bananas. I even tweeted that the crowd made the night feel like an original ECW show. Why? Think about back when the crowd would chant for RVD all throughout the show. Now let’s get to last Monday, who was the star of the show? Not John Cena. Not The Rock. Not CM Punk. Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan was the star of the show, and I loved it. It was a magical night for him, for the WWE, and for professional wrestling as a whole. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a crowd that hot for a WWE show.  I feel that if a crowd is that hot for a WWE show, since WWE is the number one promotion, then things are good for the business as a whole. All night you heard the chants of Daniel Byran. All night you heard chants of, “Yes!” Nobody could deny how hot that Miami, FL crowd was. Then you had Brock Lesnar comeback. When I say, I was jumping up and down in the living room? I was that excited. It was a night to remember. After that show, I felt proud to be a WWE fan. After that show, I felt proud to be a professional wrestling fan. And then…

Then you go to one week later. Monday Night Raw is in capital of the USA, Washington D.C. Because of the show last week, this show had all the buildup it needed to be magical. The show starts off with Johnny Ace in the ring with Mr. Jennifer Hudson aka David Otunga. Johnny Ace brings out Brock Lesnar, which leads to John Cena coming out, and the brawl of the year happens. We even saw some color, that’s wrestling talk for blood, for a change on PG WWE programming when Cena got his mouth busted. The opening was epic! And then…

Then the rest of the show happened. First of all they had the stars of the new Three Stooges movie guest host Raw as the characters. Here’s the thing. Moe, Larry, and Curly were real people. They’re dead. Trying to put over a comedy act from the 30s, 40s, and 50s to a crowd in 2012 is not the brightest move anyway. Let’s get to why the “Three Stooges” were there in the first place. To promote the movie? Yes, but let’s remember one important piece of information. David Otunga is married to the beautiful Jennifer Hudson. Jennifer Hudson is in the movie “Three Stooges.” David Otunga is a major part of the WWE Show, or at least he’s being advertised that way. His wife is in an upcoming movie. I guess WWE figured, why not! Probably asked the question, “What could go wrong?” If you watched the show, you know the answer to that question. The Stooges were about as over as John Cena in the Hammerstein Ballroom. I mean it was horrible. And this is coming from a fan of the original Three Stooges. This is coming from a guy that was actually looking forward to seeing the new movie. But after Monday night…not so much.

Let’s talk about the crowd shall we? To quote Stephen A. Smith, that crowd was “so disrespectful!” I mean it was like night and day from Miami to DC. Miami was like ECW 1997. DC was like ECW WWECW. The crowd was dead the whole show. CM Punk cut a tremendous promo, but it went over the crowd’s head like a Three Stooges joke in 2012. Interesting…

All through the night I was tweeting along with others that WWE should’ve hired that Miami crowd and bring them everywhere they go. Miami is what we want to see very week we watch wrestling. When we tune in to wrestling, we not only want the crowd to be hot, we need the crowd to be hot so we can be into the show. When the crowd is dead, it makes the show seem boring. If I was handling WWE’s booking, I wouldn’t go back to DC for at least a year or two.

Now next week, the show is going to be in England. England is always hot. They’re always into the show. So next week should be a good show, but considering how bad DC made the show, how can I be positive about England?

I talked earlier about CM Punk. I for one am loving the CM Punk/ Chris Jericho storyline. It’s compelling, and you know classic matches are coming out of it. The Daniel Bryan storyline is good because the crowd is behind him. Daniel Bryan is going to be a bigger star this year in 2012, mark my words, because the crowd is going to make him so. Zack Ryder should be one of the bigger stars right now, but WWE has flushed him down the toilet so much that he’s become watered down. And instead they push…Eve. And that should tell you all you need to know about WWE management.

Sorry for the long wait. I know it’s been too long since I’ve posted about wrestling, but hopefully I’ll be back doing these things more often. Feel free to share this around with all the wrestling fans you know and let’s get talking about this great sport. Follow me on Twitter @Big_Dusty and friend me on FaceBook at Facebook.com/bigdusty

Stay Saved,

Big Dusty aka Daniel Richerson