{"id":61,"date":"2011-08-21T18:46:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-21T18:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/2011\/08\/21\/everything-i-needed-to-know-i-learned-from-pro-wrestling-pt-2-cagematches\/"},"modified":"2019-03-31T18:53:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T22:53:16","slug":"everything-i-needed-to-know-i-learned-from-pro-wrestling-pt-2-cagematches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/2011\/08\/21\/everything-i-needed-to-know-i-learned-from-pro-wrestling-pt-2-cagematches\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything I Needed To Know I Learned From Pro Wrestling (Pt. 2&#8211;CageMatches)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">As I&#8217;ve already noted in this space, <a href=\"http:\/\/icarusanybody.blogspot.com\/2010\/09\/everything-i-ever-needed-to-know-i.html\">I have been a fan of professional wrestling<\/a> for over thirty years.\u00a0 One of the things I appreciate about wrestling is the storyline aspect of a good match.\u00a0 When things are done right, two grapplers will battle over and over again, sometimes exchanging victories, until there is a final showdown.\u00a0 This showdown (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Professional_wrestling_slang#B\">known as the &#8220;blow-off&#8221; in wrestling vernacular<\/a>) is often timed to take place at a major event; which in the case of large national promotions like the WWE,\u00a0 would be a Pay Per View (PPV) event.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Of course, it isn&#8217;t always cut and dried.\u00a0 Many times the rivalry is between a good guy (a &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Face_%28professional_wrestling%29\">babyface<\/a>&#8220;) and a bad guy (a &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heel_%28professional_wrestling%29\">heel<\/a>&#8220;).\u00a0 In these cases, you can never expect the heel to play by the rules.\u00a0 Chances are, at some point in the build up he will have won by cheating, perhaps using one of the following methods:<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><a style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-OaKUv5KKV08\/TlE1VttxYCI\/AAAAAAAAAEY\/k5YjWGhfnDE\/s1600\/cage_spring_ring.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-OaKUv5KKV08\/TlE1VttxYCI\/AAAAAAAAAEY\/k5YjWGhfnDE\/s1600\/cage_spring_ring.gif\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">using a foreign object, like a chair<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">getting assistance from a partner, a manager, or a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Professional_wrestling_slang#V\">valet<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">distracting the referee so that he misses an obvious violation of the rules<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Regardless of how it happens, if enough tension has built up between the two wrestlers, the blow-off needs to be something that guarantees a final victory for one of the contestants.\u00a0 For decades, the best way to ensure this is to have the match take place &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Professional_wrestling_match_types#Enclosure-based_variations\">inside a steel cage<\/a>&#8220;. In a cage match, the wrestling ring is enclosed in a cage, and the victory can only be had by pinfall, submission or escaping the cage.\u00a0 In many cases the referee is actually OUTSIDE the cage, so inside the walls, anything goes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">********************************************************************<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Recently the <a href=\"http:\/\/thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com\/\">Sassy Librarian<\/a> and I got a treadmill for our house. I have come to enjoy using it in conjunction with Netflix on my iPad.\u00a0 I just set up a video to stream, and the miles go by in a snap.\u00a0 Today I traversed my 4+ miles while watching <a href=\"http:\/\/www.netflix.com\/Movie\/WWE-The-Greatest-Cage-Matches-of-All-Time\/70190471\">WWE: The Greatest Cage Matches of All Time<\/a>.\u00a0 I hadn&#8217;t previously watched any of the WWE sets on Netflix, but I was quite impressed with this one.\u00a0 It contained a half dozen matches covering the mid-1970&#8217;s through 2009 (the actual DVD set has many more matches, but this is 2 hours of fun for free).\u00a0 I was worried that I wouldn&#8217;t be able to get into the matches, since I wasn&#8217;t party to the build up of the rivalries, but I was quite wrong.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wwe.com\/superstars\/halloffame\/inductees\/jimross\">Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross<\/a> provided so much plot exposition that I quickly caught on to the excitement. Two matches stood out in particular:<\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lex_Luger\">Lex Luger<\/a> v. <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ric_Flair\">Ric Flair<\/a> (1990) for the WCW Heavyweight Championship<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dwayne_Johnson\">The Rock<\/a> v. <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Triple_H\">Triple H<\/a> (1999) for the WWF World Title<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0********************************************************************<\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><a style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-z6B--vWR-4g\/TlE8SGL6BJI\/AAAAAAAAAEc\/vLHkVA_ctEE\/s1600\/Lex%252BLuger.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-z6B--vWR-4g\/TlE8SGL6BJI\/AAAAAAAAAEc\/vLHkVA_ctEE\/s200\/Lex%252BLuger.jpg\" width=\"159\" height=\"200\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><a style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\" href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ib3ivnpF8Gk\/TlE8T0em6TI\/AAAAAAAAAEg\/mJxNBxF2l6M\/s1600\/ric-flair-flair-and-the-gold-11-disc-set-57044.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ib3ivnpF8Gk\/TlE8T0em6TI\/AAAAAAAAAEg\/mJxNBxF2l6M\/s200\/ric-flair-flair-and-the-gold-11-disc-set-57044.jpg\" width=\"157\" height=\"200\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>In the first match,\u00a0 the challenger Lex Luger came down to the ring first, followed by WCW champ Ric Flair.\u00a0 Parenthetically, I was on an airplane with Flair the previous year, and it was amazing to see him maintain his persona in the airport and during the flight.\u00a0 He was &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5Yinr7RVSdM\">stylin&#8217; and profilin<\/a>&#8216;&#8221; with the flight attendants&#8211;it was a sight to see!\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">For this match, Flair was accompanied by his valet, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nancy_Benoit\">Woman<\/a>&#8220;.\u00a0 Woman later went on to marry wrestler Chris Benoit, who tragically murdered her and their son before taking his own life.\u00a0 Before the match went on, the referee frisked both wrestlers, looking for foreign objects.\u00a0 Luger demanded that the ref check Woman, which caused Flair to erupt in anger.\u00a0 But when a blade was found in Woman&#8217;s glove, it proved to have been a wise move.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The cage used in this match was not like the one pictured above&#8211;it also had a roof.\u00a0 There was no way out of this cage&#8211;a final victory by pinfall or submission was the only way to win.\u00a0 As the match began, Ross told us that Luger had only just got out of the hospital, where a knee infection had kept him for the past two weeks.\u00a0 The announcers wondered whether this would restrict his legendary strength, but when <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Military_press_slam#Gorilla_press_slam\">Luger slammed Flair twice with military presses<\/a>, it seemed that his knee was fine.\u00a0 This was important, of course, because Flair&#8217;s most famous move, the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Professional_wrestling_holds#Leg_locks\">figure four leg lock<\/a>&#8221; was known to target weak knees.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><a style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\" href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-4w8z7L8Q0MU\/TlE_v5hRDgI\/AAAAAAAAAEk\/0SwkqZtiCgs\/s1600\/ric-flair-43608_crop_340x234.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-4w8z7L8Q0MU\/TlE_v5hRDgI\/AAAAAAAAAEk\/0SwkqZtiCgs\/s200\/ric-flair-43608_crop_340x234.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"137\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Luger dominated the match early on, with Flair showing his craven cowardice (like all heels) by trying vainly to escape the steel structure.\u00a0 During one of these attempts, Luger slammed his head repeatedly (&#8220;like a tennis ball&#8221; as we were told) into the cage, busting Flair&#8217;s head open, and making him wear the crimson mask. Eventually Flair turned the tide while working over Luger&#8217;s knee, illegally using the ropes for leverage while the ref&#8217;s back was turned.\u00a0 Then suddenly all Hell broke loose!\u00a0 Flair&#8217;s posse, the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Four_Horsemen_%28professional_wrestling%29#Reformation.3B_Sting_and_Sid_Vicious_.281989.E2.80.931991.29\">Four Horsemen<\/a> ran down to the ring and tried to get into the cage.\u00a0 And they succeeded!\u00a0 As the cage rose, they ran into the ring to attack Luger.\u00a0 Then Luger&#8217;s fellow &#8220;Dude With Attitude&#8221;, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sting_%28wrestler%29\">Sting<\/a> (in real life, business partners in a well known bodybuilding gym in Atlanta) came down with the late &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jorge_Gonz%C3%A1lez_%28wrestler%29\">El Gigante<\/a>&#8221; to make the save.\u00a0 Flair was disqualified, but you can&#8217;t lose a title by DQ, so he was able to leave with the belt, while making a frightening spectacle (something like the one above) in the post match interview.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">What made this match so cool, of course was the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Professional_wrestling_slang#S\">swerve<\/a>. We had been conditioned to believe that the cage was impregnable, and that a final verdict would have to come (and, of course, that justice would be served with a Flair loss), but it didn&#8217;t happen.\u00a0\u00a0 Despite this match being over 20 years old, from a promotion that doesn&#8217;t exist anymore, I was totally gripped by this match.\u00a0 The wrestlers (with the help of the announcers and referee) told a great story.<\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0********************************************************************<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><a style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/--dJx6QWFCn0\/TlFFU3dhcwI\/AAAAAAAAAEo\/YmKdYmOb9uQ\/s1600\/The-Rock-in-WWE.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/--dJx6QWFCn0\/TlFFU3dhcwI\/AAAAAAAAAEo\/YmKdYmOb9uQ\/s200\/The-Rock-in-WWE.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><a style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\" href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-hLDVDsFu4P8\/TlFFeP4kfxI\/AAAAAAAAAEs\/rpkWE_dKPdU\/s1600\/chyna_hhh2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-hLDVDsFu4P8\/TlFFeP4kfxI\/AAAAAAAAAEs\/rpkWE_dKPdU\/s200\/chyna_hhh2.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"153\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>The second match took place in the WWF (now WWE, after complaints from the World Wildlife Fund), during a PPV from Manchester, England in 1999.\u00a0 This match pitted two &#8220;young&#8221; (according to JR) superstars against each other, the emerging face hero &#8220;The Rock&#8221;, versus the villianous Triple H.\u00a0 HHH was affiliated at the time with his real-life girlfriend Chyna, a very muscular female bodybuilder who now does X-rated movies. HHH&#8217;s name comes from his initials, which stand for &#8220;Hunter Hearst Helmsley&#8221;.\u00a0 Back in the &#8217;90&#8217;s this was supposed to symbolize his wealth (like <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Leona_Helmsley\">Leona Helmsley<\/a>).\u00a0 What is ironic about this is that in 2003 he married <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stephanie_McMahon\">Stephanie McMahon<\/a>, whose father owns the WWE.\u00a0 This marriage was for real, unlike the storyline marriage they had in the 90&#8217;s.\u00a0 Now in 2011, HHH is in senior management of the company, and even <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=buhQz7MfTGU\">campaigned heavily for his mother-in-law when she ran for the Senate<\/a>. During this match, the announcers went back and forth between calling him Triple H and &#8220;Helmsley&#8221;.\u00a0 Nowadays, while some wrestlers call him &#8220;Hunter&#8221;, the other two H&#8217;s are forgotten.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Anyway, back to the match.\u00a0 It was a back and forth affair for quite a long time, with several <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Professional_wrestling_slang#F\">false-finishes<\/a> where each man NEARLY, but not quite, escaped over the top of the cage.\u00a0 At one point, HHH had his head and arms out the door, with The Rock hanging on to his feet.\u00a0 While the door was open, HHH &#8220;accidentally&#8221; punched the referee, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Earl_Hebner\">Earl Hebner<\/a>, knocking him unconscious.\u00a0 While the ref lay prone, The Rock managed to escape, earning him the victory.\u00a0 But the official did not see it!\u00a0 When Rocky realized what had happened, he and HHH took the match outside the ring, beating each other into the crowd and over to the announcer&#8217;s table.\u00a0 Then The Rock grabbed a microphone, and treated us all to a little &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Attitude_Era\">Attitude Era<\/a>&#8221; dialogue:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i><b>ROCK: <\/b>Now The Rock obviously had the match won, but that <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jabroni\">jabroni<\/a>, rooty-toot candy-ass obviously didn&#8217;t see The Rock win.\u00a0 So before The Rock whips your monkey-ass some more, in front of all of his fans, The People&#8217;s Champ&#8217;s got a little gift, compliments of The Rock and the fans of Birmingham&#8230;<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i><b>FANS<\/b>: (cheer)<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i><b>HHH<\/b>: (rolls around barely conscious)<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i><b>ROCK<\/b>: (picks up a chair, and beats HHH over the head)<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i><b>JIM ROSS<\/b>: Oh my God!\u00a0 Great God Almighty! The Rock just hit HHH with a steel chair!<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i><b>ROCK<\/b>: (putting on announcer&#8217;s headphones conveniently waiting for him): You&#8217;re damn right that&#8217;s what The Rock did.\u00a0 That&#8217;s exactly what The Rock does best: lays the smack down on his candy ass! Look at his ass!\u00a0 There&#8217;s the blood&#8212;the blood of HHH.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not the People&#8217;s blood; it&#8217;s monkey piss!\u00a0 Monkey piss is oozing out of his head! Come here jabroni!\u00a0 Have some more you sonofabitch (slamming HHH into the tv monitor). What do you think of that?<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">And then, after setting HHH (&#8220;deeply lacerated&#8221;) onto the announce table, The Rock climbed onto the ring apron and leaped onto HHH, shattering the table.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">At this point, The Rock\u00a0 (to loud &#8220;Rocky Rocky&#8221;) chants dragged his opponent back into the ring, while Hebner slowly regained his consciousness.\u00a0 Then, just as The Rock had nearly climbed out of the cage, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Davey_Boy_Smith\">out of the back came England&#8217;s own British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith<\/a>! The Bulldog was a heel at this time, and he began fighting with The Rock. And then <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Shane_McMahon\">Shane McMahon<\/a> (now HHH&#8217;s real life brother-in-law) came down and assaulted the Bulldog, until he was viciously bodyslammed onto the concrete floor.\u00a0 Then the British Bulldog went into the ring to keep fighting the Rock, while Chyna came down to help.\u00a0 At one point she slammed the door into The Rock&#8217;s face so hard that the whole cage shuddered&#8211;pretty sick!\u00a0 While The Rock was being assaulted by the Bulldog, HHH escaped the cage over the top.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><a style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-9mG4Ko3eyt8\/TlFN8DN-GRI\/AAAAAAAAAEw\/zACI5Lb7z3E\/s1600\/peoples_eyebrow1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-9mG4Ko3eyt8\/TlFN8DN-GRI\/AAAAAAAAAEw\/zACI5Lb7z3E\/s200\/peoples_eyebrow1.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"175\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Then, to cap things off, while a bloody HHH was celebrating with Chyna, a pissed-off looking <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vince_McMahon\">Vince McMahon<\/a> (who at that time was a regular character on the show, as well as real-life boss) stalked to the ring, and padlocked the door while The Rock and the Bulldog were inside!\u00a0 At that point The Rock proceeded to beat Davey Boy senseless, ending the match with his trademark raised eyebrow.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">What made this match so engaging was that it was kind of like two matches in one.\u00a0 As Jim Ross noted, &#8220;The Rock had this match won twice&#8221;, but to no avail.\u00a0 We were treated to two (at least) cage matches AND the brawl outside.\u00a0 And while The Rock and his fans got satisfaction from his pummeling HHH, the heel still left with the gold.\u00a0 While contemporary viewers were ensured further storyline development for the coming weeks, this match is great on its own.\u00a0 With excitement, brutality and two wrestlers fully exploiting their characters, this was a lot of fun to watch.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><BR><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0********************************************************************<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">This video was very enjoyable (the multi-DVD set might be better) to watch, and you&#8217;ll get to see some fine matches.\u00a0 One of the great things about professional wrestling is that the more often you watch, the more conditioned you are to certain tropes of dialogue, movements and match outcomes.\u00a0 But skillful wrestlers will always find a way to surprise viewers and confound their expectations.\u00a0 That&#8217;s why I&#8217;ll never stop watching.<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Views: 379<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I&#8217;ve already noted in this space, I have been a fan of professional wrestling for over thirty years.\u00a0 One of the things I appreciate about wrestling is the storyline aspect of a good match.\u00a0 When things are done right, two grapplers will battle over and over again, sometimes exchanging victories, until there is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[311,309,199,312,308,310,313,197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hhh","category-lex-luger","category-pro-wrestling","category-rick-flair","category-the-four-horsemen","category-the-rock","category-wcw","category-wwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":497,"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ethanlewis.org\/icarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}