Columns - Online World of Wrestling

WRESTLING COLUMNS

A Look At Two Different Styles
June 14, 2006 by Graham Kilday

Editor's Notes: You may have noticed that there are multiple columns up on the website about the rumored return of Degeration-X. If you read a column (ANY column) and decide to send in feedback, PLEASE be sure to indicate which column you are responding to by typing the TITLE of the column in the subject line. Also, DO NOT FORGET to sign your name. Thanks!

Hey people reading this, I'm Graham Kilday, I'm 14 years old, from Scotland and I love wrestling. This is my first column, so please give me some feedback. My email address is [email protected], which is also my MSN address. With that out of the way, I'm writing my first column on two different wrestling styles going around today. A lot of Indy promotions use a hybrid of styles, such as hardcore, high flying and technical. In this column, I'll tell you a little about each style and who I think are the top two wrestlers who portray it. The wrestlers I use as examples will only be modern ones, so no Ric Flair, Mick Foley or Terry Funk, I respect them all, but I'm keeping this modern.

HARDCORE: Hardcore promotions take pro-wrestling to the extreme, adding a more adult nature to the product and shows. Wrestling is still an important part of the mix, but strong characters, memorable angles, and edgy interviews are equally key. While a lot of the internet fans loath to admit it, the hardcore style is relatively close to Sports Entertainment in content, just with gritty realism in place of glamour. A very good example of hardcore promotion is of course ECW. Now I'm must say that I love ECW, I got out a lot of tapes and have watched them. The Hardcore style is good as it hides a lot of wrestler's flaws and in sports entertainment, used as a way to end feuds.

Sabu: No one can argue that this man defines extreme. Sabu mainly uses chairs and tables, but has been known to use a lot more than that. The promotions he appears in, he usually does gimmick matches. Whither it's in TNA facing Abyss in a Barbed Wire Massacre, or facing Joey Matthews in a TLC in 3PW, he'll always do his best to make his matches brutal and entertaining.

Recommended match: Sabu vs. Abyss -Barbed wire massacre, TNA Turning Point 2005

The Sandman: Not as well known as Sabu, but this five time ECW World Heavyweight Champion can battle with the best of them. Sandman's weapon of choice is a Singapore Cane, and he damn well knows how to use it. Sandman has been in a lot of promotions over the years, most notably ECW, NWA:TNA and WCW. He has held a total of nine different belts, but this man is one tough son of a bitch.

Recommended match: The Sandman vs. Steve Corino and Justin Credible -TLCC, 2001-ECW Guilty as Charged 2001.

PURE: Pure promotions have perhaps the narrowest remit of all, as they are exclusively about the in-ring product, with skilled workers competing to see who the best of the best is. Every Pure promotion treats its own wrestling as a sport rather than a cheap form of entertainment. There slogan is often that they are new, innovative and the complete opposite of sports entertainment. One of the best examples of this is Ring of Honour, but they are slipping into a hybrid promotion. These types of promotions are good to get very skilled workers over without the need to good microphone skills.

NOTE: I would like to have said Chris Benoit, for the wrestling examples, but I'm keeping it modern. Also I feel that Alex Shelley is not as good as the two I picked.

"The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson: American Dragon went from a backyard wrestler, to the BEST WRESTLER IN THE WORLD TODAY. He was trained by Shawn Michaels, and by in ring ability, he is far better. I would like to go on about how he would kill Michaels, but I don't think everyone wants to read that. But I'm not going to rabble on about how good he is, in fact I suggest you all read a great column by Langdon Beck, which is http://www.OnlineWorldofWrestling.com/columns/misc/langdonbeck03.html.

Recommended match: Any RoH match.

Chris Hero: The second one is CZW regular Chris Hero. Don't be put off by him being a CZW regular, fact is, this guy is a wrestling God (if your face JBL). While not as good as American Dragon, this man can reverse loads of moves into submission moves. He is a natural heel and can get under anyone's skin in a matter of seconds on the microphone. He finally debuted in RoH in January, as part of their war. In his debut match, he fought toe-to-toe with American Dragon for the RoH world title, he came up short, but left a great impression on RoH fans by this match. After years in CZW he captured their world title in the 13th of May 2006, at CZW's 6th "Best of the Best" event.

Recommended match: Chris Hero vs. American Dragon -RoH World title, January 14th 2006.

Now everyone has there own preferred style of wrestling, and everyone has their own preferred worker. I myself am a mark of Raven for the hardcore style and a big mark of Chris Hero for the pure style. Honourable mentions for the hardcore side are - Raven, Balls Mahoney, Mike Awesome, JC Bailey, Necro Butcher, New Jack and Abyss. Some honourable mentions for the Pure style are - Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Alex Shelley, William Regal, Doug Williams and "Fit" Finley. Pure and hardcore styles are things everyone can enjoy, in CZW; you can get both in one match, which makes a great combination.

My Wrestling Views:

Just to finish off, I've got some things to say. This may get me hate mail but screw it.

1. John Cena sucks, really he does. He has piss-poor in ring work and his promos are mediocre at best.
2. ECW is great.
3. HHH is a good storyteller in the ring.
4. Matt Hardy rules!

I hope you all enjoyed my column, and I look forward to the feedback/hate mail. If you send any hate mail, I will read it all and reply to some of them, my email address again is [email protected] and I hope to write for OWW again in the future.

by Graham Kilday ..

Jose Aguirre wrote:
I have some criticism on your article, this is not a personal attack. Sabu is a glorified stuntman, I would see a lot of high flying and weapon use but this man cannot wrestle. John Cena is not the best wrestler but he put an amazing match at One Night Stand, that being said RVD was not at his best and John Cena carried the match and I think the heroin addicted hicks in New York were just being cynical, really booing him for no reason.

Abraham Bitoy wrote:
I do understand that you're 14 years old and it's your first column.Honestly I never wrote a column in this site but I know how to distinguish a good column from a terrible one.I'll say that this one is a pretty good read knowing that you are 14 and you know that much about wrestling but, no hard feelings,I'm gonna give some constructive criticism

Now I know that this column is about "two different styles of wrestling" so why go to letting people know that "this wrestler sucks and so and so...".Honestly, some people care, some people don't.Although I have almost the same views as you do but I'd rather talk about "how much I hate John Cena and so and so..." in another column.Again I'd like to stress that this column was about "2 different styles of wrestling" and not about how Cena's promos are mediocre(I don't think so),Matt Hardy being one of your favorites or how Triple H tells a story in a ring.Although I did enjoy your views on these topics but you can write about these topics in another column.People like me would enjoy more if you elaborated on your topic further rather than ranting on some topics that aren't even on the same mold in your topic.

Aside from that pretty decent article.Decent job.Remember this is just my opinion.

Erkka J�rvinen wrote:
This finally proves that bad quality is not a concern in OWW column section (no offense, there are some good columnists aswell) Let me just say one thing, John Cena does NOT suck. He is a solified pro, especially for a guy his age. Look at the way he handled the reaction from the hostile ECW crowd, amazing! Same thing goes for the weekly haters on RAW, he takes it and still performs 100 %. He never botches a move and can go a long match. I have never heard Cena giving any trouble backstage and he respects ppl. This is a basic hating column "OMG BRYEN DANIELSON THE BEST AND JOHN CENA SUXXXX"...give me a break.

Jon Rosaler wrote:
Ok Graham lemme guess. uhuh, yeah, You were most definitily at ONS2. Here are my Wrestling Views. 1. Cena doesn't suck, you suck. 2.WWE/ECW is awful especially with that Zombie guy who used to be Gangreil and Kelly the prostitute that lied about taking "ALL" of her clothes off. 3. Triple H and HBK are 2 men with 2 words directed at you. 4. Matt Hardy does not rule, the Hardy Boyz do.

You see" You watch wrestling in general, but you are lacking 3 I's Integrity, Intensity and Intelligance, especially intelligance. Graham, I am very disappointed in you. You only used 4 wrestlers as an Example. What about Tazz or CM Punk" Chris Sabin or Alex Shlley" They call me a newbie, but you, my Cena-Hating friend, are no way close to a breakthrough. I admit, I was marking for RVD that night, but with WWE ruining ECW, I pretty much boo the man and cheer Cena on. Edge I hope never gets the title, but unfortunetily, with the Raw vs.ECW feud, he will. Lita is just a ceasfire being Edge's "girlfriend" until WWE management think of what to do with what the fans call a crackwhore. ECW: ONS2 are what mostly male fans would mark for. They got to chant what mosr male fans wanted to say to Cena fpr a long time, but ECW on Sci-Fi, man, I could make a better ECW.

If you want to roleplay in ECW, go to rpghost.com to be your own character. I got kicked out for being a newbie, but you know, in the words of the guy you thinks sucks, if you didn't know by now, I didn't want to to know.

got something to say about it, Graham Killmyday, contact me @ myspace.com/yentlman

Garret Folsom wrote:
Ok, honestly I read the articles on this website and most of the time and listen to the bitching and moaning that you people do and laugh it off because you're all entitled to have your own opinion. But this is was freakin' ridiculous.

This kid put one line about John Cena sucking in his column that was of decent length and people are jumping all over him about it.

Erkka and Jon, try pulling your heads out of John Cena's ass for this. Erkka, I'll start with you. There are people out there who dislike John Cena, deal with it. You say John Cena is a solidified pro, for his age. The dude is almost 30(Thank you OWW profiles page...CHEAP PLUG!) he should be solidified by now. You do have a point though he doesn't botch moves...because it's kind of had to botch a shoulder block, or a hip toss, or dropping a fist to the mat. The WWE is turning him into a cross between Stone Cold and The Rock. He's a bad ass and he's always on top. I'm waiting for him to start kicking out of finishers every match just like the Rock used to. Before I go pissing off Rock fans, I would actually like to see The Rock come back even though the chances of that happening are slim and none. Now, after that rambling back to my point. Not everyone is going to feel the same way about Cena as you. Next time try not to flip out and start telling people they suck, because odds are you swallow!

Now, on to Mr. Rosaler. See my above comments for your wrestling view number 1. Number 2, WWE/ECW was piss poor for the opening night, but it was the opening night. Give it time, let them run through this ECW vs Raw crap just like they did with SmackDown! vs Raw and it will get better. In the mean time throw in some classic footage and calm down. Number 3, was there really a point to this other then to show that the only insult you can come up with is you suck" I've been able to do that for quite some time now. Number 4, Matt Hardy does rule...MF'er for life V1 BABAY!!! however the Hardy Boyz ruled too.

You then go on to mention that Graham lacks the 3 I's" how the hell would you know this, do you hang out with Graham" do you go over to his home for the holidays" Most likely not, but I could be wrong.

Lastly, anyone who doesn't think Edge should have a title is showing an "I" themself...that "I" my friends is Ignorance. Try thinking about what I've said next time you go bashing someone for having an opinion.

Don't worry Graham, I got your back YO! Yeah, I'm corny...but come on that's funny!

James C. wrote:
No bad for a first article, but you really did leave yourself open to a lot of criticism with you simple, Cena sucks and ECW is great, analysis. But saying that the people who have responded to your article are doing exactly the same thing in the manner they criticises you. In my opinion Cena is very similar to Triple H in that he is a harder worker trying to make up for his lack of general talent in the ring. Further more both of them are still were they are now due to backstage connections. Triple H uses his family ties to stay on top, while the fact that the whole 'homeboy' image Cena has is the brain child of Stephanie McMahon, is the only reason way Cena is still the Champ. Any other face who gets booed like he does would have been buried by Triple H, but due to the fact that McMahons are never wrong, Cena stays Champ just to prove Triple H's old lady right. Regarding Jose Aguirre's view that Cena carried RVD, that's just rubbish, it's obvious that the WWE booker, if not Stephanie herself put the match together to insure their precious Champ does not look lame. Cena got all the offence, just like the match against Sabu, it's difficult to hold your own in the ring if the powers backstage are just concerned about Cena's image. RVD never has to be carried in a match, his the whole f**king show, if he uses his array of moves, there is nobody who can match him, just watch his matches with Jerry Lynn and Chris Jericho. The whole Edge interference and Heyman making the count was a slap in the face of RVD, who had worked hard everyday since he kissed the Million Dollar Man's foot for $100 to get where he is. Regarding Cena, I do not hate him, he seems like a nice guy and a decent champion, but its up to him to get himself over with the fans of the WWE, it's not about making wrestlers like Jericho, Angle and Triple H look bad to make him look good. On a final note a mark of a good champion is being able to drop the belt graciously, like Hogan at WM6, Hart at WM12, Michaels at WM14 and Angle at WM19, the way he lost the title at ECW ONS 2 was pathetic, I know it was up to the WWE how he did it, but he should have insisted on a clean finish, he would have got a lot more respect from people, especially me.

Craig O'Donnell wrote:
Hey I visit this website most days and see a lot of cena hating that annoys me. But I felt compelled to put my bit onto this one due to Mr Fulsoms ignorance, which typifys that of a cena-hater.

If you are gonna slate Cena my friend,at least get your facts straight,you say its hard to fluff moves when all you have is a fistdrop,shoulderblock and a hiptoss" In joey styles words to jerry lawler at ecw head to head "im beggin ya to watch the product!"

People say cena's move set is shallow but whose in the WWE isn't.They are told to wrestle that syle for pete's sake! Benoit,everyones golden boy,best technical wrestler of all time smarks like to cry,he has no moveset in the WWE,let me level with you, head to head Cena and Benoit

Cena: DDT,release fisherman suplex,powerslam,spinout powerbomb,belly to belly suplex,FU Benoit: german suplex,northern lights suplex,back suplex

Thats twice as many wrestling throws as benoit,cena has as big an arsenal as any other wwe'er

Now aside from people saying cena sucks! when do they ever properly back it up" Most people only boo cena because they think its cool to. His promos had good quality and he is a hard worker who puts on a good match.

Do people think he sucks and isnt technically sound because he doesnt do much of the headlock/hammerlock/armlock chain wrestling" hulk hogan,the warrior,diesel,sid and stone cold never had huge movesets but they are not given the hard time cena gets nor the crap reasons whey they don't like him.

Why don't all you haters admitt it --- Your just sheep following trends --- I wonder how many of you have cena t-shirts from 2004"

Andrew Betts wrote:
I was reading the column and Grahan made some very valid points while i'm not the biggest fan of Cena the people at ECW ONS2 spoke loud and clear by chanting "same old bullshit" it's not that he sucks it's just people are just getting tired of seeing John Cena shoved down their throats week after week I like John Cena he's talented but i'm just sick of him and give the kid some slack he's still young I don't go around bashing people because they have a different opion than me for people like that I got two wrods for them Grow Up

Pedro Guiterra wrote:
Jose, you are the biggest mother f*cker of all time. Sabu CAN wrestle, watch some of his matches. I think you're just mad 'cause you've missed out on ECW.

Lance Crucifix wrote:
Ok, The Column was decent, but I wass say something to the commentors, JOHN CENA DOES SUCK!!!!!!! Any body who says he dosn't should get their finger outta there ass. Cena, is lack luster at best! He has little knowledge of the bussiness, I have seen him, in a training session, lock in a hammerlock, when he was told to apply and Arm Wringer. Mind you this happend after he had debuted the Prototype gimmick in UPW, where most people say Cena was at his prime. And someone compared Cena to Chris Benoit, and I felt the immediate urg to smack someone. Granted Benoit's moves are somewhat repetitive, but he is a technicle wrestler, and that makes it ok, cause he chains into his moves. While Cena goes out there and hit big move after big move, thus makeing his match less entertaining. Thats all o.o;

Cpugsley wrote:
Sabu is not a glorified stuntman. I like how you have to take someone elses comments and apply them some where else. Sabu is an innovater the moves he can pull off can only be done by truely gifted WRESTLERS. John Cena isn't horrible either but he did not carry the match at One Night Stand. Rob Van Dam while not at his best is still one of the best out there easily.

John A. wrote:
Erkka, my fellow Finnishman. Let me ask you something. How many of Bryan (Yes, BryAn, not Bryen) Danielssons matches have you even seen" Or maybe you're just a fan of brawling style matches. Danielsson has great technical abilities and he's had great matches with many wrestlers. I'm not saying he's an OMG-type of guy but absolutely a great wrestler.

What I've seen you write as responses to columns, Erkka, have always been praising guys like HHH and Cena and bashing any other oppinions. You'll need to give the others a brake with that n00b ranting. It doesn't matter a rats ass how Cena can handle the heat that he receives. The heat he recieves is bad heat, because he indeed is showed down the throat of people who don't care about him anymore. He's far from solified, plain boring, few-move man and a belt rapist, since he's turned two belts into freakin' toys. Sure, he may get the stupid n00b fans(including you) to buy that stuff but makes no impression to me. What I suggest Erkka, is that you either watch some Danielssons matches before start whining about him and praising Cena here or just shut up. Educate yourself more about the W-R-E-S-T-L-I-N-G that is out there and stop beeing a n00b.

Ryan McLear wrote:
Look, I'm in no way defending Cena, but didn't Bret Hart always win his matches the same what" Talk about repetition, look at Hulk Hogan. You could call the end of the match before it even began.

Mike C. wrote:
Let's give the kid a break, I liked what you had to say and Matt Hardy does rule. Mr. Roseler, you need to chill out- what are you so angry about. John Cena is overrated. He is popular, yes, but has turned into Hogan Jr. same moves and the crowd loves him despite his lack of in ring story telling, though he does have good mic skills. His lack of moves is evidenced by this: Erkka J�rvinen said Cena never botches a move, but he uses a submission move in the STF that is making Stu Hart roll over in his grave it's applied so poorly.

wrote:

If you have any comments, reactions, rebuttles or thoughts on this column, feel free to send them to the email below,
If your email is intelligently written, they will be posted underneath this messege..
We at OnlineWorldofWrestling want to promote all points of view, and that includes YOURS.