From the Podium: New Kids on the Block
Welcome to the party, ladies (are there any out there?) and gentlemen! I’m back from a very busy start to my third semester of graduate work (as well as teaching part-time)—for how long, I can’t say. To your pleasure (or chagrin, for some of you), I look forward to soon continuing the “Wrestling with Music” series that I initiated about two months ago (refresh your memory by clicking RIGHT HERE). As far as columns go, this will be pretty “run of the mill.” I’m okay with that, and hopefully you will be too!
Here we go…
Chapter XXIII: New Kids on the Block
When the original ‘boy band’ New Kids on the Block announced their reunion in 2008, the music elitist in me groaned and scoffed. Sure, some of their hits were catchy, but in an ‘awesomely bad’ way. Think ‘You’ve Got It (The Right Stuff).’ Catchy, but pretty awful as music goes…even pop music. But I became a fan of Joey McIntyre after his fifteen minutes on the inaugural season of Dancing with the Stars and in the Broadway musical Wicked. His 2006 album of ‘standards’ (titled Talk to Me) is particularly enjoyable. Having been a part of the original NKOTB, and joining the revival, was enough to peak my interest and check out what they were doing. As Lieutenant Jim Dangle of Reno: 911! fame would say, “Curiosity killed my cat.”
What I expected to bomb then fizzle out of existence has turned into quite a successful run for the revitalized NKOTB. I didn’t believe the hype until I finally youtubed (yes, ‘googled’ isn’t the only website-inspired verb nowadays) their first single, ‘Summertime.’ That led to youtubing the next single, ‘Single.’ I fell in non-homosexual love, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I dare you to go listen to those two songs and then tell me that the group hasn’t matured into a much better (albeit not all that much different) style of performing and singing. The whole album, track by track, is actually quite good.
Hmm…it just occurred to me that likely most of you have no idea of the group to which I am referring. At any rate, this long winded introduction is to serve as a segue to speaking of some professional wrestlers who fizzled out, only to revitalize themselves years later. Yes, HERALD THE MIGHTY LIST COLUMN!
Goldust
If you want to talk about a comeback kid, Dustin is one of those guys who has just come back over and over again—he’s stood a real test of time, if you will. It could be argued that each time the Goldust character came to the screens of the WWE fans (I refuse to say ‘universe’) he has found some sort of success. In his first run, Goldust became a three-time Intercontinental Champion, when the title meant a lot more than it does now (no offense, JoMo, or people who take offense to the portmanteau ‘JoMo’). Also, the ‘Bizarre One’ was involved in some edgy angles at the time, including some homosexual stalker-like arcs with Razor Ramon and Ahmed Johnson (as an aside, one of my favorites back in the ‘New Generation’ days). After leaving in 1999 for WCW, then his father’s Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, he returned in 2002 and eventually formed a strangely successful team with Booker T. After leaving again, returning again, and having an ill-fated run as ‘Black Reign’ in TNA Wrestling, he came back to WWE to reprise Goldust once again in late 2008.
He was assigned to the RAW brand, and was ho-hum when teaming with Hornswoggle against The Brian Kendrick, but then something unexpectedly amazing happened—he was drafted to ECW. At first glance it may not be anything particularly grand, but the move has turned out to give Goldust’s career a certain amount of revitalization. Look at his well done feud with Sheamus. He has taken over the role of Dave Finlay, essentially, by becoming the guy a rookie is put with if they want to look good.
There’s so much more to it than that, though. Now that Goldust is arguably in better shape than he has been in years, is it so hard to believe that he could be the ECW Champion somewhere down the line? For me, it’s not as inconceivable as one might have originally thought. As mentioned in a gloriously composed column on the ECW brand, the Tuesday night show is the only wrestling show on television that has a ton of athletes who could very well be at the top of the brand. Even though it is the ECW Championship (it is building its prestige up, by the way), the gold guy has never been this close to major gold in his career (ironically, the ‘gold’ is actually silver), and I believe that we may see a Goldust ‘thanks for your years of on-and-off service’ title reign in the future.
Ric Flair
I don’t need to tell you about the prime of the ‘Nature Boy’s’ career, now do I? Flair was a 16-time world heavyweight champion and one heck of a draw in the Jim Crockett Promotions/WCW days. Unfortunately, Flair was in a dark place by the time WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon, as stated in his well written book To Be the Man (if you haven’t read it, you should). Flair was, self-admittedly, in terrible shape both physically and mentally, and was glad to see the promotion shut down for good.
Enter the ‘consortium,’ Ric Flair himself, to the WWE in 2001; the day after the ‘war’ was won against the Alliance of WCW and ECW. Flair went on to have a very successful program with Vince McMahon, having his first match in nearly a year against the owner at the 2002 Royal Rumble (and not a bad match, to boot), and an even better match against the Undertaker at WrestleMania X-8. Eventually he would lose his ‘co-ownership’ of the company and align himself with Triple H. Throughout the next several years he would have a fantastic World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H, win the Intercontinental Championship for the first time, and help up-and-comers Carlito and Kenny Dykstra (boy, I miss this guy…) and remain in a prominent role until 2008, when he worked his last great program with Shawn Michaels. ‘I’m sorry, I love you’ from WrestleMania XXIV will remain in infamy as the wrestling end to Ric Flair’s career, but the sendoff he got the next night is too great for words. What a comeback, I’d say!
Mae Young
The Mae Young of old was not always so ornery, at least not so openly. Living during the depression, Mae got her start wrestling on a high school wrestling team when her four brothers taught her how to wrestle. In Tulsa, she legitimately challenged then-champion Mildred Burke to a shoot fight, AND defeated her in seconds. She was then lobbied to become a professional wrestler, and the rest is history. In the ‘40’s, Young and Burke were revolutionary in popularizing women’s wrestling in the Americas, most notably during the outset of World War II, when not many men were available for the purposes of professional wrestling (think A League of Their Own, except not baseball—“There’s no crying in [pro wrestling]!”). They were also the first women to tour Japan after WWII. Mae was an institution in the early days of female professional wrestling, and became a trainer later on (including training none other than the Fabulous Moolah, her running buddy later on). She could have ended her association with wrestling and still remained one of the most influential figures in the sport.
Moolah and Mae were sitting ringside during a Jeff Jarrett interview. After he hit Moolah with a guitar, and followed up with a figure four on Mae, the two became regulars on WWE programming up until 2001. Not many knew Mae Young for her accomplishments in the world of women’s wrestling (and by looking at some of the antics the ‘divas’ pull these days, I’m not sure those achievements did much good…), so it was pretty neat that she got introduced to an entirely new generation of wrestling fans. Equally as cool was that Mae was give then opportunity to show a very different side of herself that she didn’t have the opportunity to display before, both because of the serious nature of the sport at the time, as well as the societal norms which were in place during the period in which she wrestled. In this new lease on her professional wrestling career, she managed an elderly women to a women’s championship, flashed her ‘puppies’ to Jerry Lawler (and even Andy Richter liked it!), was powerbombed through a table from a stage, was intimate a large black man, and gave birth to a hand. Wow. Most recently she slapped Michelle McCool. Always a plus in my book.
Sting
I’ve never been Sting’s biggest follower, because I didn’t watch a lot of WCW when it was in existence (I bled WWF!), and I don’t really watch TNA Wrestling all that much (although I do give it an occasional watch, failing to have ever made it through a whole episode beginning to end). I can tell you one thing, however; Sting is likely the most prolific wrestler in the history of the Modern Era to have never worked for Vince McMahon. He was an instrumental part of both the Four Horsemen and New World Order feuds, and is remembered fondly for his participation in many matches with the formerly mentioned Ric Flair. In fact, the matches with Flair were so good that it was the match chosen to close the very last Monday Nitro when WCW was purchased in 2001.
I think we all assumed that Sting would be coming to WWE eventually, but it never seemed to pan out. It was assumed then (by me, anyways) that he would do his independent promotion thing, and then slowly phase into retirement. I couldn’t have been more wrong. In 2003 he agreed to make four appearances with TNA Wrestling. Four turned into more. By January 1, 2006, it was announced that Sting had officially signed with the company. He became instrumental in making the company more successful; in fact, the first Pay-Per-View he appeared on was, at that point, the most purchased event in company history. He even had a fairly successful heel run as the leader of the Main Event Mafia (even though, in the few times I saw him, he didn’t really seem to know how to play the heel role). Now he’s done the noble thing by proverbially ‘passing the torch’ to one A.J. Styles, and is rumored to get a Ric Flair-like sendoff when he finally decides to hang up the boots for good.
Chris Jericho
I don’t want to say much about this guy (because he’s so prevalent that you already know); he is probably my favorite active wrestler at the moment. Jericho took two years off to recharge his batteries and pursue other projects. In 2007, he got the ‘itch’ to return to the squared circle again, and did so to some mixed reviews. After gaining Intercontinental gold, he revitalized himself with a bad-A heel turn, and in the process became the top heel in professional wrestling right now, while gaining two world championships in the process. Yes, his promos are the same, but they draw plenty of heat, don’t they? I’ll answer for you—yes. Yes they do. Chris Jericho is perhaps the most prevalent example of somebody coming back to equal (or bigger) success than he had the first time around.
Ladies and gentlemen, even though I don’t like multiples of five (consider it advancement in my Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder battle!), may I present to you the New Kids on the Block!
I was like, ‘Hey, girl, can I get your number?’
I remember what you told me, too,
‘Don't call after ten’
But you know that I did,
'Cause I couldn't stop thinkin' 'bout you.
I think about you in the summertime
And all the good times we had, baby
Been a few years and I can't deny
The thought of you still makes me crazy
I think about you in the summertime
I'm sittin' here in the sun with you on my mind
My summertime.
Well, I’ve proven two things here on this outing. First off, I am a horrible photo editor…though you have to admit, it is marginally fun. Secondly (and more importantly), dropping out of the business (or anything, for that matter) doesn’t mean that you’re done for good. NKOTB and these five athletes have shown that sometimes the brighter days are ahead. It’s a thing to keep in mind in life…look at the silver lining, and make the most out of future opportunities. Please note that I only took a sampling of professional wrestlers that have taken a break only to revitalize—Jeff Hardy and Shawn Michaels are two notable examples that I left out. Let me know if you can think of any more examples like this. At any rate, I hope you enjoyed the twenty-third edition of ‘From the Podium,’ and be sure to tell me what you think, either here at the forums or at lenjr04@gmail.com.
Until the next downbeat…
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10-25-2009, 06:17 PM
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