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I heard they're doing a Lawler DVD this year.
I have actually been enjoying most of Jerry's involvement with feuds lately, but why are they doing it? He has been getting more of a push than pretty much anyone. It seems fresh and enjoyable, but why?
If there's one thing I hate more than the WWE booking every heel to be a chickenshit, it's this notion that every wrestler who gets a main event push needs to be booked like Hercules. Also, if I may add another, I also don't like the notion that if a guy is old, he's automatically worthless to the grand scheme of things and should be thrown to the side. There's value in every character of every age, alignment and ability. Some of those characters have very little merit, like Rob Terry. Others have loads.In my opinion, both the Miz and Jerry Lawler fall in that latter category. That's why I feel like the WWE Championship match at Elimination Chamber *sigh* is not only a good one, but is the only logical stopgap between Miz's showing at the Royal Rumble and his eventual showdown with John Cena at WrestleMania. Throwing Randy Orton at him again would just be old and tired. Having Cena go in there would blow WrestleMania's presumed main event out of the water. Lawler has a story to tell, and he has heat with Miz. Aren't those two things supremely important when booking a major title defense on a PPV? I would think so.But that's not enough for people, I suppose. Lawler's too old to contribute, some say. Miz has to sell for an announcer when he should be going over the roster like a steamroller, others claim. Yeah, about that. Let's attack that first claim. Yes, Lawler is 62 years old. Yes, he's not an active roster member and really never has been a full-time WWF/E wrestler, splitting time between the ring and the announce table for the most part. However, none of that is relevant. Why? Because Lawler can still work, and he's over. I mean, the first part is academic, as any time he gets into a WWE ring, he impresses everyone who watches. The second part... well, let's for a second ignore the massive pop he gets every time he comes out to wrestle. The guy is still in demand on the indie circuit. Just recently, he and Bill Dundee drew 1,700 in Tennessee for the final match of their feud, outdrawing a TNA house show in the same vicinity. He's done guest spots for several indie feds around the country, the most notable being JAPW. So yeah, the fact that he still brings in numbers, still elicits crowd reactions and still puts on good-to-amazing matches every time he steps into the ring makes the cliché "Age ain't nothing but a number" ring so true.Secondly, any time I make the argument that the WWE has too many chickenshit heels, it refers to guys who really shouldn't be playing the role. Sheamus, for example, is a heel who should be inducing boos through domination, bullying and fear, not through running away and jobbing every time he gets in the ring with someone more established on the card than, say, Mark Henry. That's not to say that the cowardly heel is a bad archetype because it isn't. It's a mold that fits the Miz to a TEE. He's always been varying degrees of yellow-bellied anyway. That was masked a lot in the past year since he was very well-protected and got a lot of big wins over midcard faces, but he was still a cheating, sneaking, sniveling little shit who did whatever he could to protect his titles and his pride. While the chickenshit booking has effectively buried Sheamus, it has done wonders for Miz. Why? Because Miz SHOULD be playing that kind of role, and because, in case you've forgotten or are willfully forgetting, Miz can get any lost heat back from any kind of perceived injustice against his character just by opening his mouth.To quote Razor of Kick-Out Blog in a recent Tumblr post, "The only people who are worrying about Miz being seen as a “legitimate” champion are pedantic smarks who obsess over that kind of shit." It's true. Presentation matters, but in this case, the presentation of Miz fits his character and his heat. Selling for a 62 year old man who happens to be the biggest face in the company right now is not going to hurt him. Of course, if Lawler wins, I'd start to get more worried, but even if he does, it's only going to be a 24-hour reign at best. The narrative for Lawler isn't to be WWE Champion, it's to get on a WrestleMania card as an active wrestler for the first time in four-plus decade career. He doesn't need to be WWE Champion or challenge for that belt at the event to do that. My guess is, either Alex Riley or Michael Cole will interfere in the proceedings and set up a match at the big event where Lawler is either wrestling (read, kicking the ever-loving shit out of) Cole or taking on Riley with Cole as special guest referee.In the meantime, there is nothing, absolutely NOTHING wrong with Lawler challenging Miz for the WWE Championship as an interim program at the EC PPV. They had one of the best matches of 2010 in their TLC RAW match, and I think even without the hardcore trappings, this match will be of the same caliber, maybe even better. And really, isn't that what you want out of a PPV? Great wrestling action between two or more gifted pro grapplers? If that's not a big reason, then I think I have to question why you would order/pirate events such as these.
Maybe it's just the giant glaring oversight that Lawler has never wrestled on Wrestlemania, and now they're looking to fix it.Could be.I'm hoping Booker does color commentary
Oh God, no. I don't know how he was on Smackdown, but that shit he did on Impact a couple of years ago was horrible.
Dude, that wasn't Booker that was Black Snow
