My Monday Night Delight

Tell it to the world!!
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Serujuunin
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Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 19:56

My Monday Night Delight

Post by Serujuunin » Feb 8th, '11, 11:34

Alrighty folks, here's my go at an actual column, not a personal rant or whatever you want to call "My Rainbow Haired Warrior"...

I tried to keep my own personal bias out of it, so here goes.


My Monday Night Delight

In every good story, there are good characters. Characters are fundamental to the development of a story, they draw the reader in, make them interested, and encourage an emotional investment on the part of the reader. Good wrestling is much the same. Good wrestling encourages you to make an emotional investment in your favorites. You cheer when they win and boo when they lose. Even the smartest wrestling fan has a Superstar that brings out the "mark" in them.

But what really makes a good character? There are essentially two things- actions and dialogue. Dialogue makes a character more interesting and gives some insight into how and what that character thinks, but consider the old phrase "actions speak louder than words." Not only does it retain it's truth in reality, but in fiction. Actions give a much deeper insight into a character's emotions, without using dialogue at all, and many times people prefer the standard character development through dialogue to the character building potential of one’s actions. The same can be said with professional wrestling. Many will argue that several of the most interesting and watchable Superstars of the WWE fit into the "dialogue" category of professional wrestlers. Guys like Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Chris Jericho and more recently, The Miz (not taking anything away from these mens respective in-ring capabilities, as each has made a valuable contribution to the industry), just to name a few, are men that were wildly successful on the mic. And people enjoyed (and still enjoy) listening to these men work their craft. But men like them, those that have attained a level of success based on their mic skills tend to overshadow those men that have not necessarily had the same success.

Enter John Morrison.

Now, I consider myself to be a smart wrestling fan- a "smark" if you will- but it is no secret that John Morrison for me is that one Superstar that brings out the true fan in me. Whenever John Morrison graces my television, I forget, if only for a moment, about all the backstage and behind-the-scene aspects of the business and just enjoy his performance.

There are several reasons why I find John Morrison to be a compelling Superstar, despite his linguistic shortcomings. Even though he has not had much of a chance to prove himself on the mic, and what we have seen from him has gotten a lot of critics up in a flurry of discussion. No, John Morrison is not particularly skilled on the mic, not like his contemporaries, but he more than makes up for it with his actions.

For instance, his WWE Title Match on RAW with The Miz. It was a Falls Count Anywhere Match, clearly leaning heavily on Morrison's free-running or "parkour" abilities (while also showcasing The Miz's endurance and brawling skills, but that's for another column and another author). Morrison did an incredible job of telling a story in this match through his actions alone, and many of his matches are the same in this regard.

A more recent example would be the Royal Rumble. Most of us are aware of Morrison's incredible spot in this match (once again building on his character without having him speak on the mic at all), and while several other men with more established mic skills would have had a promo the following night, suggesting that they deserved a one-on-one match for the title based on their performance alone, John Morrison didn't do this. Instead, he competed in the RAW Rumble match later that night, impressing once again with his abilities, not his words. He's gone on in this fashion essentially since he and The Miz went their separate ways in April 2009 and he became a face, and built a solid career both on RAW and Smackdown without much mic work at all. He has established himself as a legitimate contender for the WWE Title, and as one of the most underutilized Superstars on the RAW roster.
I believe that John has what it takes to become the next WWE Champion for several reasons, and his ability to develop a solid character without much dialogue at all is one of, if not the most important, reason I believe he could make it to the top of the mountain.

In an industry like modern wrestling, character comes first and talent comes second. While John has established his character in the WWE, it is his talent that has allowed him to do so. In the ring, he is able to do things that many men could not, and that some of us couldn’t even conceive. I am not suggesting that he is uniquely talented among professional athletes, but his athleticism is something that is rare in professional wrestling.

Not only does John have the talent to become a top Superstar in the WWE (something that is a cornerstone for the success of a Superstar but is arguably overlooked in several cases), but he has the right look as well.

A lot of the time, a Superstar can have a lot of talent and charisma, but if they don’t have the right appearance, then they can simply fall flat. John Morrison has the appearance of a rock star, something that children can look up to (as many children have done for as long as there have been rock stars). Male fans are drawn to the look because they think it’s “cool” (or perhaps because of the play on Jim Morrison of The Doors), and female fans are drawn to him for this reason as well, but also for another that is quite obvious- John Morrison is a good looking man. His appearance has aspects that appeal to all three different target demographics, children, men and women (the latter of which is often a difficult one to target in professional wrestling).

However, even if a Superstar possesses all of the above traits, both an appealing appearance and outstanding athletic capabilities, there is one thing that, above all others, determines what kind of a push a Superstar gets and what level of success they experience. The support of the fans. In an industry that is as undoubtedly dependent on fan reaction as professional wrestling, a Superstar must have the backing of the fans before they can truly be successful. But sometimes this can be a hard thing to measure. Nevertheless, there is one fool-proof method of determining a Superstar’s “overness”- that is, how much the fans are behind him and wish to see him succeed. His pop. This is something that John Morrison definitely has. The fans support of him is evident when his music hits and the arena erupts into a deafening roar of cheers and applause, a surefire indicator of a Superstar the fans wish to see succeed.

It’s these three factors that determine the success of a Superstar in an industry like professional wrestling, and without all three, a man stands little chance of becoming a WWE Superstar, and all of the Superstars that we have come to respect or even admire over the years have had the crucial concoction of talent, appearance and “overness”. I believe that John Morrison stands a chance at becoming a consistent main event performer, and even a Superstar whose name will be remembered years, and even generations into the future.

ECWFlairfan
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Joined: Jan 4th, '11, 19:55

Re: My Monday Night Delight

Post by ECWFlairfan » Feb 8th, '11, 12:06

I hope to be wrong about this, but John Morrison will be talked about by historians in discussions of Best Wrestler to never win a World title... and that is an indictment of WWE Creative...

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Serujuunin
Posts: 2441
Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 19:56

Re: My Monday Night Delight

Post by Serujuunin » Feb 8th, '11, 12:13

ECWFlairfan wrote:I hope to be wrong about this, but John Morrison will be talked about by historians in discussions of Best Wrestler to never win a World title... and that is an indictment of WWE Creative...
You know, I might have undue faith in WWE Creative, but I believe he's going to get one, and soon.

ECWFlairfan
Posts: 510
Joined: Jan 4th, '11, 19:55

Re: My Monday Night Delight

Post by ECWFlairfan » Feb 8th, '11, 12:17

Serujuunin wrote:
ECWFlairfan wrote:I hope to be wrong about this, but John Morrison will be talked about by historians in discussions of Best Wrestler to never win a World title... and that is an indictment of WWE Creative...
You know, I might have undue faith in WWE Creative, but I believe he's going to get one, and soon.
Question: When is the last time that a tag team was broken up in WWE & BOTH end up becoming World champions? Lets look at breakups:

Edge/Christian: Edge
Hardys: Jeff
Rockers: HBK
Hart Foundation: Bret

See the pattern? and unfortunately, Miz is the World champion in the Miz/Morrison partnership...unfortunately...

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Serujuunin
Posts: 2441
Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 19:56

Re: My Monday Night Delight

Post by Serujuunin » Feb 8th, '11, 14:07

ECWFlairfan wrote:
Serujuunin wrote:
ECWFlairfan wrote:I hope to be wrong about this, but John Morrison will be talked about by historians in discussions of Best Wrestler to never win a World title... and that is an indictment of WWE Creative...
You know, I might have undue faith in WWE Creative, but I believe he's going to get one, and soon.
Question: When is the last time that a tag team was broken up in WWE & BOTH end up becoming World champions? Lets look at breakups:

Edge/Christian: Edge
Hardys: Jeff
Rockers: HBK
Hart Foundation: Bret

See the pattern? and unfortunately, Miz is the World champion in the Miz/Morrison partnership...unfortunately...
There is a first time for everything though. I mean, they're not stupid enough to blatantly ignore a talent like his. Even TNA wouldn't be that stupid.

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