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CALDWELL'S TAKE
CORNER CUBE WEDNESDAY 8/13 - Finally, Matt Striker has found his calling with ECW on Tuesday nights Aug 13, 2008 - 12:35:34 PM
Updated daily from the corner cubicle, Torch columnist James Caldwell's weekday blog focuses on hot topic current events and other items of interest from around wrestling.
Updated Wednesday, August 13
Over the past few years, Matt Striker has been the Simon Dean of WWE - the under-sized wrestler with the funny gimmick who was always beat up because, well, he's annoying. He's seemingly been one step away from the "creative has nothing for you" conversation, but WWE has finally found the niche for Striker.
Assuming Striker remains on ECW in the color commentary role - and all signs point to that being the case with Mick Foley on his way out the door and Tazz presumably remaining on Smackdown - WWE might have finally found its combo for Tuesday nights.
Todd Grisham isn't trying too hard to be a sports entertainment commentator, like Mike Adamle was, and Striker isn't taking himself too seriously adding to the action and telling stories.
Striker has toned down the over-bearing teacher gimmick to simply analyze what's in front of him with a touch of sophistication that enhances the product. His dry humor is smart, his wrestling references show he has a backbone to acknowledge that there are other wrestling promotions in the universe, and he doesn't immediately jump on the babyfaces or support the heels without reviewing their behavior.
Striker, like Mike Adamle as the Raw GM, is being produced to simply calling what he sees. Adamle is hearing boos on Raw because, well, he's Mike Adamle, but he's not allowing that to impair his judgment. It's been refreshing to see a GM simply make decisions without the appearance of an ulterior motive (from the Eric Bischoff school of thought) or to spite someone (e.g. Armando Astrada).
Similarly, it's refreshing to hear a color commentator on WWE TV simply call what he sees. Expectations were low for Striker joining the broadcast because all we knew was the annoying teacher character. Striker is certainly not annoying on commentary, and he adds a tremendous amount to the broadcast to sharpen the viewer's eye to pay attention to what's on the screen.
His color commentary during the main event of Hardy & Henry vs. Miz & Morrison was particularly strong, as he played up the "sporting event" feel with Hardy and Henry scouting each other in a new setting.
WWE notoriously tries to dummy down its product to appeal to a broader audience, but Striker is keeping it simple, while also keeping it smart for the audience that cares about what they're watching. Striker's approach has made the last two Tuesday nights that much more entertaining.
***
Updated Tuesday, August 12
Pro wrestling is an art form built on a morality play of good vs. evil. That's the basic foundation of why fans cheer and why fans boos. In some cases, fans have their own perception of good and evil, such as is the case with John Cena, where a vocal minority of the audience has chosen to view Cena as a fraud who panders to the audience.
The fact that Cena has remained consistent with his character over the last several years has given the audience an opportunity to take-it-or-leave-it. We know what Cena's character stands for and what the character believes in terms of ethics and morals.
You can apply that idea to what made the Jericho-Michaels program the best part of Raw the past two months. Jericho has decided to tell the audience and gloat about his moral superiority, which has essentially canceled out any of his gregarious actions. The audience doesn't want to hear about its own short-comings in making character judgments, but Jericho is more than willing to shove it in their faces.
Jericho twisting the truth just a smidgen for his own personal gain has created great TV to set up the hero, Shawn Michaels, for an eventual comeback win. The same type of good vs. evil fundamental story was applied to JBL vs. Punk in the drinking game last night. I thought this was Punk's finest hour and JBL at the top of his game.
It worked because JBL immediately established Punk's personal morals and ethics. We had forgotten about Punk living a straight-edged lifestyle because it had not been played up on TV recently. JBL taking ten seconds to talk about no beer and no drugs set up the tension for Punk. Would he cave into the bully and join JBL in a category of deteriorated morals?
The morality play led to Punk's finest hour as he passionately defended how he arrived at World champion status and how he planned to retain the belt without changing his outlook on success. It's debatable whether Punk stepped over the line by splashing JBL in the face with alcohol before delivering a knee strike, but I believe that was fair retaliation considering JBL had verbally provoked Punk for nearly a month.
Because JBL established where Punk's moral compass is pointing towards and because Punk stuck his guns in a respectable manner when faced with the temptation of becoming what the fans loathe (JBL), Punk wasn't going to lose the audience or come across like a heel with a basic retaliation that didn't go over-board.
Punk's character is that much stronger because WWE built up a simple, easy-to-understand ethical dilemma that everyone 8-to-80 could relate to. When wrestling sticks to the basics of good vs. evil with shades of gray being a tool to be utilized, but not the only tool in the toolbox (TNA), great TV can be created, characters can be developed based on their own interpretation of morals and ethics, and fans will actually care about what's going on.
Punk vs. JBL stood out on a crowded Raw because they played up the basics exceptionally well. It's not complicated. It's simple, fundamental pro wrestling.
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