Sometimes in wrestling, a real life situation is used either because A) the fans know what’s going on or B) the saying, “Any publicity is good publicity” is what’s going on inside the heads of the creative team, which of course, is a term I use very loosely. With the heel turn of Lita on Raw this past week, that’s all anyone seems to WANT to talk about, but it’s obvious that the WWE set us up for it. Damn them!! Anyway, while we are puppets on the strings that the WWE pulls us on, it seems that Edge and Lita (or Adam Copeland and Amy Dumas, which ever you prefer) have become just like us. They are the puppets that the WWE is dangling in front of Matt Hardy with a vengeance, but it seems that Matt Hardy might have the last laugh on the WWE and Edge…and Lita…and?
Jeff and Jerry Jarrett and Panda Energy seem to have realized almost too late that Dusty Rhoads as head booker was just doomed to fail. After the bad buyrates of the all-caged PPV, Lockdown, Panda Energy and the Jarrett’s knew where to put the blame: Dusty Rhoads. In this most crucial of times for TNA, the company needs a new direction and what the wrestlers did at Hard Justice, was nothing short of a miracle. Unforutnely, a change was in order when Jeff Hardy (who seemed to have bettered his ways) missed several flights and Sean Waltman (who seems to be on the outs with TNA) was his replacement to battle Raven. With that minor setback in the PPV, TNA has done what WWE could only hope to do: bring a PPV that actually sticks to storylines, instead of back and forth shit that no one either remembers or wants to remember.
I’ve never really commented on a wrestler’s death, with the exception of my favorite wrestling diva, Miss Elizabeth, but Chris Candido, who died two weeks ago, was a special kind of wrestler. Many people have talked about him, but what many of you may not know, is that it was Chris Candido who got me interested in wrestling again, after so many ups and downs. Many people have praised him, but I praise him for a different reason, and in this edition, I’ll tell you why.
In this edition of the Widow’s Peak, I’ll be looking at the fiasco that is the Edge and Lita coupling, TNA’s turnaround and Chris Candido: Wrestling’s Cinderella Man. So much to talk about and so little time to do it in, I better get straight to the point of this column, shouldn’t I?
Coupling works in England, not the US
All people had been talking about, me included, was that Lita’s heel turn was going to happen sooner or later. I mean you didn’t just think the WWE would ignore the fans chanting “You Screwed Matt” at her for much longer, but they did hold out longer than I thought that would. In the world of internet, nothing the WWE tries is ever kept secret, they might like to think that they have the IWC all figured out, but they don’t. Its wrestling columnists, like me, that just thrive on rumors, many, unfortunately, do become fact and it seems that fact doesn’t bother the WWE at all. I guess I can’t blame them for not thinking us a threat, but most fans, hang on our every word, something that Matt Hardy awhile back was pissed at us for, what he called, unjust things about Lita. But, now he can thank us because Matt Hardy has become more popular now than he ever was in the WWE (can I really say that? Yeah, why not?!).
As seen this past week on Raw, Lita helped Edge beat her “husband” Kane to face World Heavyweight Champion, Batista on Raw this week. At the end of Raw, Good Old J.R. was livid and called Lita a jezebel, but I can think of a few other words to call her; apparently Kurt Angle hasn’t been watching Raw, or he’d see the real gutterslut! The WWE thinks they have solved everything by turning Lita heel, but the pairing of Edge and Lita could be one of the biggest mistakes the WWE has made and I can say, they’ve made plenty of them. You see Lita can come out on Raw next week, explain that she fell out of love with Kane and saw Edge as an alternative, but that explains nothing. So you pair them up and she tells us nothing as to why? I guess when the man who’s your husband, stalked, raped and forced you to marry him, falling for a long haired whiny Canadian is a better alternative.
The WWE is just destined to shoot themselves in the foot with this angle and if Lita doesn’t admit to cheating on Matt Hardy as well, then the heel turn was fruitless. No one cares that Lita cheated on Kane, we care that she admits she cheated on Matt Hardy and if we can’t get that, why the hell are we supposed to care about the angle at all? There is actually more questions than answers to the problems this will cause, so she explains herself, no one cares enough about Lita anymore to actually listen to her. However, I believe that Matt Hardy will have the last laugh and I’ll go on record to say that : It’s true! It’s damn true!
New Champion and everything is well
At Hard Justice, Jeff Jarrett was finally dethroned when TNA’s golden boy, AJ Styles pinned him for the 1…2…3. A new champion and it looks like TNA is on the road to recovery, a place that no one thought TNA could make it to, but along with good things, the bad things come to. As I was writing this, I heard via the net that on Impact that AJ Styles, the NEW Heavyweight Champion was made to look like a smock, something which is as ominous as it is sad. I guess the title of this section shouldn’t be everything is well, because nothing is ever well, it might be a sign that TNA will just always be stuck in the rut they find themselves in.
There was a rumor going around the locker room that the Jarrett’s were on purpose trying to sabotage TNA so that Panda Energy would pull out there support. I hope that this is not true because it seems that Panda Energy really wants TNA to succeed because they would have pulled out already, right? Whatever the case may be, TNA is still around and so is Panda Energy, so the pairing seems to be working for them or it is against them? No one thought that TNA would be around this long, but they’ve come to show that even if they don’t have that one Superstar that will gain them the attention they deserve, they will survive. With the rumors of Gail Kim’s TNA debut, the talks of Jushin Liger and CM Punk and the no-compete clause of Matt Hardy expiring in July, TNA seems to be heading in the right direction, only if they use the incoming Superstars correctly and to their full potential.
Chris Candido: Wrestling’s Cinderella Man
The upcoming movie, Cinderella Man, doesn’t tell the tale of Chris Candito, although it could be. Chris Candido’s death was felt by not just his family and friends, but the fans that looked up to him as a way of leaving your dull life behind you. I know that many people have talked about him and what he meant to them, but Chris Candido means more to me than he will ever know. I wrote a column way back when I was just chosen to be the first female WZ columnist, about how wrestling and one bad experience changed my outlook on becoming a wrestler myself. I said that:
“It was there that she saw the history making ladder match pitting the virtually unknown tag teams of the Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian. She sat in her seat in the third row and got ready to have the worst night of her life; however, that “worst night” brought back her enthusiasm and intrigue for wrestling.”
Looking back on it now, that was just the cake for me and the icing hadn’t even been put on yet. I’ve met both the Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian, all great guys, but it was a chance encounter with Chris Candido that truly changed my entire outlook on wrestling. I met Chris Candido shortly before his hard lifestyle caught up with him and it was an experience like no other. I never got to meet Chris again after that night, but I took with me the comfort knowing that I knew, when he got past all his problems, that he’d come back better than ever.
I watched TNA for awhile until my cable company dumped FSN, so I’ve had to rely on friends and the net as a constant companion. Not being able to see Chris Candido in action was sad, but I knew I’d see him again; however, at Lockdown, where he suffered his injury, I had no idea that would be the last time I’d see him. When I woke up the morning after his surgery, I got onto the net and went to see if he surgery went well and it did. “So good so far”, I thought to myself until a few days later when I saw the headline: CHRIS CANDIDO DEAD AT 33. It was hard to see someone who had so much promise have his life ended just as suddenly as he was on the top of the world.
There have been few wrestlers’ deaths that have touched me to the point of tears, Miss Elizabeth being one, but Chris Candido’s death was a hard blow not just to his family and friends, but to me as well. I know that I’m just a small portion of people whose life was touched by him, but it was something that he did that made me realize just how many people he touched. He went out every time he was either involved in a match or just standing at ringside and gave it his all; it is Chris Candido I can thank for getting my interest back into wrestling and for that he will be missed.
Well, the WWE’s Happiest Couple revealed something that I never want to see again: they made Kane cry. Oh, how the might have fallen, right? Then they made out, which actually looked better than their previous licking last week; but not even Lita’s heel turn can make what happened right again, but the WWE isn’t really concerned with that, remember? I guess the WWE thinks Edge can sell tickets, but no one really wants to see a man who cheated on his wife of a little less than six months with his best friend’s girlfriend. In the end of this, only bad can come from it, but I’m hoping to God that my prediction is wrong.
AJ Styles wants TNA to succeed, but how many times can he praise them, when they make his first title reign in a long time, seem like a fluke? Who knows how long it will be before AJ (who signed a long term deal with the company) realizes that he made have made the biggest mistake of his life? Hopefully, TNA will correct the wrongdoing, but if not, AJ Styles is out of luck and his time is running out. Without a TV as of now, TNA is in the same predicament that it found itself in the beginning, but centering Impact around AJ Styles is the best option for TNA. He lacks a bit in the mic department, but that goes with years of not being able to show what he can do, but his wrestling ability is something that TNA will want to capitalize on in the near future.
Chris Candido’s death touched many people, including a very emotional CM Punk, but we can take comfort in the fact, that he gave us his all every time he stepped into the ring. It wasn’t his personal life that most people were concerned about, but it was his wrestling persona that brought people to their feet in adoration and admiration. He will most definitely be missed, but the legacy he left behind will never be tarnished, no matter how hard anyone tries.
I hoped you enjoyed this edition of the Widow’s Peak, as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m not sure what I’ll talk about next, but if you have anything you want to hear my opinions on, let me know. Until then, good night (or morning) and have a pleasant tomorrow (or today).
