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I was in Los Angeles a few weeks ago for WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.  It was a big trip for me because now I’ve attended all four of WWE’s legendary shows, a goal I made for myself when I was a kid.  It took me 24 years but I finally did it.

I was particularly excited for this one because SummerSlam has always been one of my favorites.  I have a lot of great memories dating all the way back to when Miss Elizabeth helped the Mega-Powers defeat the Mega-Bucks in 1988 (by ripping off her skirt, no less).

For a long time my favorite moment was when Randy Savage married his longtime sweetheart Miss Elizabeth in 1991.  Oooh yeah!  (Yes I know they were married in real life, and soon divorced…)  Macho and Liz will always be my favorite pair, and I’ve always loved televised wrestling weddings for some reason, so this was really special.

I never thought this moment would be topped because I never thought a female performer could mean more to me than Miss Elizabeth.  But then during SummerSlam 2008, after Beth Phoenix and her partner Santino Morella won their respective titles in a mixed gender match, Beth scooped him up and carried him all the way to the locker room.  And, to my amazement, she carried me right along with her.

At that time I had actually taken a break from wrestling because of other commitments.  But my friend convinced me to watch, and during the mixed gender match my first reaction was “what a waste of time”.  Next thing you know Beth hits the Glam Slam, and I thought “hmmm…interesting”.

Over the next few months Glamarella became one of my all-time favorite gimmicks.  I loved Beth’s “tough girl” act playing off of Santino’s goofball character.  I even remember being on travel and rushing to hotels just to catch Monday night Raw.  I remember how nervous I was when Beth defended her title at the 2009 Royal Rumble, eventually losing to Melina.  (Ugh!)

As disappointed as I was that night, I was very excited because I CARED about pro wrestling again.  Wrestling is really fun when you care about the characters.  Match results come and go, but the characters themselves endure.  I started watching WWE in 1985 and I’ve gone through phases where I ignored the programming (college, work, marriage, and kids will do that to you).  Now I was excited about wrestling again.  I owe that all to Beth.

Since I was going to be in attendance this year I was hoping for a new favorite SummerSlam moment.  That didn’t happen because there was no real Divas action to speak of (no, I’m not counting dancing with Kevin Rudolph).  AJ’s role is great, and Aksana, Eve, and the Funkadactyls get some screen time, but the role of women has changed since Miss Elizabeth escorted the “Macho Man” to the ring.  Now I expect women to settle their differences in the ring.  So what I really wanted at SummerSlam was some actual wrestling!

The girls were involved in the Axxess sessions and autograph signings all weekend, but to not include any of them in SummerSlam, especially the Divas champion, hurts the credibility of the division.   Layla will defend against Kaitlyn at “Night of Champions”, but those shows eventually get swept away by history.  SummerSlam was a missed opportunity because you never know when a showcase match will make a big impact on someone in the WWE Universe.  I’m proof of that.

— Mr. Glamazon

 

This article appears in the recent edition of Honour Magazine:

http://en.calameo.com/read/000061846a52738608b1f