Continuity, a word that has inspired this entry into In Ring Issues for me is a big subject, and a very important issue in the world of wrestling. Continuity in wrestling terms is the permanence of one thing, for example the WWE. We know they’ll always be there, continuous. To balance this out, something which has no continuity for example is the direction and booking of an organisation, constantly adapting and constantly changing to suit the current era, unless you’re TNA who are stuck in a wormhole somewhere between 1996 and 1999. Continuity is the subject because over the past month many wrestling fans have witnessed huge on screen change in terms of the product, and for me it is questionable that the current direction and continuity of wrestling in its current state isn’t as good as what it could and should be.
To examine this, I have two main talking points. One refers to WWE’s current direction with CM Punk, John Cena and the WWE Championships credibility as a whole, and the other looks at that ‘other’ company, brother! More specifically I am looking at the Kurt Angle heel turn, and why TNA hasn’t even learnt the word ‘continuity’.
We begin with recent events leading into Summerslam 2011, with the “Champion vs. Champion” match between John Cena and CM Punk. Let’s begin by saying that when Cena won the ‘fake’ WWE Championship on RAW two weeks after the Money in the Bank PPV, for me it was cringe worthy. Not only did it appear they were given John Cena another pointless world championship reign, but it further indebted the view that the WWE Championship means nothing anymore. Following the short lived leave of CM Punk who was also champion, seeing Punk return a mere two weeks after ‘leaving’ made me feel stupid for watching RAW and WWE TV programming up until Money in the Bank and beyond, because, well it was another shot in the foot for educated wrestling fans who are continually slapped in the face by wrestling bookers and promotions for having half a brain cell when it comes to wrestling. I always forget that we’re all supposed to be clueless goons who have no recollection of the events from two weeks ago.
My point regarding the championship is simple: Lack of continuity has completely ruined the title belt and the competitors in the process. Why did Rey Mysterio need to win a tournament on RAW for the strap? Why was there a tournament? Why did John Cena get a shot against Mysterio? Why were there two belts once Punk returned? Are the WWE Champion’s so awful that none of them can defend the belt? Will Cena be a seventeen time world champion before Wrestlemania XXVIII? The lack of continuity has been frustrating, because they are parading the title belt as if it is the be all and end of the WWE, when in reality, there were two decent performers in CM Punk and John Cena caught in a feud over who wants the horribly designed, ‘Word Life’ WWE Championship. I could not personally wait until Summerslam was over. I’ve “Cena nuff” in regards to the lack of continuity that RAW had, but that was not meant to be.
I know the WWE are trying to be more unpredictable with their current direction, but there should be a limit that should not be crossed, for business sake. Right now, CM Punk is the man. Not Cena. Not Rock. Not the limelight stealing Triple H. After the historic CM Punk promo on RAW, there was no going back. It’s simple though right now: CM Punk = money. Punk should be the focus on television, and not Alberto Del Rio who cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the title at Summerslam. It’s not the fact Del Rio shouldn’t be champion, it’s the fact that by WWE having Del Rio cash in, they have completely pissed on the fire CM Punk has created, and all for what? A feud with Kevin Nash? An eventual feud with Triple H? All this whilst John Cena retains his place at the top of the WWE food chain, fighting for the WWE Championship belt he doesn’t need anymore. So that’s my problem with continuity at the moment. We have got to love and adore the CM Punk character for over two months, and just when he is taking centre stage on Monday Night RAW where he belongs, and people have finally come to terms with that fact that he is the very best in the business right now, they have taken that away from every fan watching, by having the over-rated Kevin Nash go over Punk like a green rookie who hasn’t been in the business for five minutes. Now that Punk isn’t the main focus on WWE TV, whilst Del Rio and Cena who aren’t as over as Punk hogs the main event spot light, for a title CM Punk should hold, it might have left a bitter taste in some fans mouths.
And then we have the other talking point. “Impact Wrestling”, the Hulk Hogan show or whatever you want to call it. The name change alone shows ‘TNA’ have no continuity, that they are creatively stuck in all departments. They are so desperately trying to restore continuity in terms of the word ‘wrestling’ that they have changed, and potentially hindered themselves as a company. I’m not here to talk of the inner workings of that company though; I’m here to talk about Kurt Angle as an issue of continuity of wrestling.
Following Angle’s victory over champion Sting at the Hardcore Justice 2011 PPV for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, a title which itself has little or no meaning anymore because of the number of title changes since RVD held the title in 2010 (Yes that was only one year ago), and most importantly the number of different title designs that the belt has had since October alone when Jeff Hardy was presented the ‘Immortal World Heavyweight Championship’ belt on Impact, a belt which is a look alike to the Diva’s title over in the WWE, the thought of Kurt Angle as champion once again was not only surprising, but completely off. TNA by having angle win the belt ruined the continuity of Sting’s feud with Hulk Hogan’s Immortal, a feud which is transpiring into nothing more than a Sting vs. Hulk Hogan match at Bound for Glory in October, a match that is not only silly on paper due to Hogan’s back problems, but one stupid on television as well.
Since his face turn at Bound for Glory two years ago, Kurt Angle has been a successful face, and a person who actually gets cheered in the ‘Impact Zone’ where TNA films. We got to finally see some continuity in Kurt Angle, and because of his real life issues with Karen and Jeff Jarrett, his face persona was completely believable and understandable. When Kurt won the World Heavyweight Championship against Sting, many thought it would be Kurt’s first face run as champion, but the continuity was ruined as he randomly, yes RANDOMLY turned heel, just because Hulk Hogan told him a lie about Dixie Carter. Two years of good continuity ruined, Kurt’s great in ring presence ruined, the TNA title ruined. There’s going in a different direction, and then there’s TNA’s out of this world direction. There is and there’s hardly been any continuity on their product, so they went ahead and turned an icon into a rip off of the Joker from Batman, and the baby face world champion into a monster, for literally no reason, thus ruining the only continuity TNA had.
Now we’re left in a predicament in TNA where nearly all the heels are somehow aligned with Immortal, and all the faces are getting no air time or presence on TNA television. With Bound for Glory coming up though, expect TNA to go in another direction, which will most definitely ruin the last shreds of continuity and permanence they ever had. However, don’t look down and think of me as a negative wrestling commentator, I’m merely a wrestling fan being forced away by the powers that be because they don’t know what the wrestling fan like myself wants anymore, as I recalled in my last blog vouching for an audience that doesn’t exist. But no, I’m looking forward to the future. There is permanence in wrestling, one we should all embrace and love, because for the foreseeable future, the only constant is the near fact that for the next ten years we’re going to see Hulk Hogan wrestle and entertain the few fans wrestling will have left, dropping elbows and the atomic leg drop. Dixie Carter, take a bow, you really know how to pick em’.
Robert Austin
In Ring Issues
