The Internet and the Rise of the Mid-Card

[Blueshirt]

If you do not know me, that's cool, but if you do know me (chances veeeery unlikely) I normally only start threads about trends in the WWE that have begun to get severely out of hand. Normally my posts start controversy (see my death of attitude thread that almost started a war between myself and a moderator). And I have a feeling (maybe not, who knows) that this will be one of them. Get to the point . okay, sorry.

I have been reading wrestlezone since 1998. I love this website and in NO WAY is this a slam against wrestlezone, they report the news, its their journalistic responsibility to do so and they do it extremely well. This is not a call out to websites that report news. This is a call out to interactive websites that give awful wrestlers a mouthpiece to be obnoxious and the millions (okay...thousands) of fans who follow these sites who make the wrestlers feel important, thus starting a vicious cycle of barely literate wrestlers using the internet as a stepping stool to fame. These midcard wrestlers (because lets face it, HHH or CENA or HBK would not be caught dead using these sites) have little to no wrestling talent, in most cases moderate mic ability, and yet...for some reason are lauded by the IWC. My plea to the IWC is...please stop. Please stop following these morons. Please stop making them feel important. Because, well, they are destroying what is left of what makes wrestling enjoyable.

Twitter, facebook, myspace you are the reason why anyone cares about worthless midcard talents. Matt Morgan, Ken Anderson, and Chavo all use the internet as a desperate attempt to stay relevant. What has any of them done to deserve your attention? NOTHING. These are midcard equivalents of The Mountie, Mo from Men on a Mission, and Greg the Hammer Valentine. Nobody cared about them. But suddenly, they start spouting off their uneducated political and socioeconomic views and the entire IWC starts to drool. I don't have to tell you who the worst one of all is. Matt Hardy has got to be the biggest fame****e this side of Paris Hilton. Why exactly is he famous? He publicized his girlfriend leaving him on the internet. And, since the fans followed him through this, the WWE brought him back. Not because of talent, but because the IWC read about Lita on the internet and decided that he had to be brought back to the WWE. Even before this, Matt used the internet to his advantage. He knows that he doesn't have the talent, so he uses his twitter and facebook page to put up BS stories about his more famous brother so he can go back to the WWE and tell them how popular he is. Whatsmore, is he has even TOLD the IWC that he likes effing with them and people STILL follow him. Matt Hardy is single handedly going to cause a mistrial for his brother with his current legal problems. Seriously, what has Matt Hardy done in his career without his more talented brother? ONE ECW championship, ONE lightweight championship, ONE U.S. championship and ONE hardcore championship. Seeing as the lightweight and hardcore championships are gone, that leaves 2 relevant championships. I dare you to name ONE feud he's had thats worth talking about. And yet...the IWC cares about his opinion.

These wrestlers on twitter and facebook...they are wrestlers for a reason. Stop making them out for more than they are. And until you realize your mistake, this cycle of worthless midcard talents feeling important will continue.

This isnt even going into my feelings on Mark Madden and Disco Inferno.

 

[beefthelegend]

Pretty sure that Mo from Men on a Mission was never in line for a Main event push. And that the Mountie lacks the natural charisma of Matt Hardy.

What about Jericho? He tweets. And everyone loves him.

Don't be a twit. Wrestlers know that the IWC is such a negligible part of the population that most just shrug it off. Others embrace it.

Whatever. We don't change Vince's mind. And i, for one, find most of the stuff on Twitter amusing, and Anderson's facebook is gold.

You're not posting an opinion-and that's why i am nailing you. You are posting a call to arms, like no one can possibly see ANY good in these. Fool.

 

[CKDaimen]

If you do not know me, that's cool, but if you do know me (chances veeeery unlikely) I normally only start threads about trends in the WWE that have begun to get severely out of hand. Normally my posts start controversy (see my death of attitude thread that almost started a war between myself and a moderator). And I have a feeling (maybe not, who knows) that this will be one of them. Get to the point . okay, sorry.

I have been reading wrestlezone since 1998. I love this website and in NO WAY is this a slam against wrestlezone, they report the news, its their journalistic responsibility to do so and they do it extremely well. This is not a call out to websites that report news. This is a call out to interactive websites that give awful wrestlers a mouthpiece to be obnoxious and the millions (okay...thousands) of fans who follow these sites who make the wrestlers feel important, thus starting a vicious cycle of barely literate wrestlers using the internet as a stepping stool to fame. These midcard wrestlers (because lets face it, HHH or CENA or HBK would not be caught dead using these sites) have little to no wrestling talent, in most cases moderate mic ability, and yet...for some reason are lauded by the IWC. My plea to the IWC is...please stop. Please stop following these morons. Please stop making them feel important. Because, well, they are destroying what is left of what makes wrestling enjoyable.

Twitter, facebook, myspace you are the reason why anyone cares about worthless midcard talents. Matt Morgan, Ken Anderson, and Chavo all use the internet as a desperate attempt to stay relevant. What has any of them done to deserve your attention? NOTHING. These are midcard equivalents of The Mountie, Mo from Men on a Mission, and Greg the Hammer Valentine. Nobody cared about them. But suddenly, they start spouting off their uneducated political and socioeconomic views and the entire IWC starts to drool. I don't have to tell you who the worst one of all is. Matt Hardy has got to be the biggest fame****e this side of Paris Hilton. Why exactly is he famous? He publicized his girlfriend leaving him on the internet. And, since the fans followed him through this, the WWE brought him back. Not because of talent, but because the IWC read about Lita on the internet and decided that he had to be brought back to the WWE. Even before this, Matt used the internet to his advantage. He knows that he doesn't have the talent, so he uses his twitter and facebook page to put up BS stories about his more famous brother so he can go back to the WWE and tell them how popular he is. Whatsmore, is he has even TOLD the IWC that he likes effing with them and people STILL follow him. Matt Hardy is single handedly going to cause a mistrial for his brother with his current legal problems. Seriously, what has Matt Hardy done in his career without his more talented brother? ONE ECW championship, ONE lightweight championship, ONE U.S. championship and ONE hardcore championship. Seeing as the lightweight and hardcore championships are gone, that leaves 2 relevant championships. I dare you to name ONE feud he's had thats worth talking about. And yet...the IWC cares about his opinion.

These wrestlers on twitter and facebook...they are wrestlers for a reason. Stop making them out for more than they are. And until you realize your mistake, this cycle of worthless midcard talents feeling important will continue.

This isnt even going into my feelings on Mark Madden and Disco Inferno.

I could not possibly agree more with this. I feel, without any exaggeration, in my honest opinion, that Matt Hardy is the single most overrated wrestler in the entire history of World Wrestling Entertainment.

And the reason for that is because of his internet fan base and how he has exploited that.

The man is slow, predictable, relatively out of shape, and has moderate all around wrestling ability at best. Yet he continues to have fans talking like he is this legend or worthy main eventer when the truth is, the fact that he kept beating MVP while MVP was hot is absolutely sickening in and of itself.

 

[yoyoma4life]

spiegs289, you certainly did a good job of articulating your point so if nothing else you deserve credit for that. However, it seems you are missing the bigger picture in relationship to this topic. In your post you state that people like Triple H and HBK wouldn't be caught dead using sites like twitter and facebook. That is true but only because Facebook and Twitter did not exist back when they were trying to make it. There is nothing wrong with shameless self promotion especially given the field of work they are in. I do 100% agree with you in regards to your quick comment about Madden and Disco.

 

[SMM1991]

Haha apart from the fact tht Jeff has probably had the opposite effect on Matts career and held him back instead of elevating him and did matt hardy not have fued of the year back in 2005 with edge. U see matt hardy deserves 2 be higher than wat he currently is because instead of bein one of the most overrated superstars he is one of the most underrated. He busts his ass all year round to get what out of it while his 'more talented' brother picks and chooses when he wrestles in between takin watever drugs he can get his hands on. So mayb matt hardy likes to tweet but so do alot of people, bottom line is he has never stepped out of line with wwe or anyone he has gotten his head down done watever he is asked to do like so many other wrestlers for wat so wwe can throw them a couple of crumbs now and then.

 

[PEP3]

What amuses me about this is someone who spends the entire first paragraph of his rant introducing and hyping himself only to turn around and call another person an attention ****e. Oh, the irony!

Nonetheless, I would seriously doubt Matt can cause a mistrial in his brother's legal situation. The attorneys trying the case will grill any and all jurors to make sure they have no contact with either Jeff or Matt, whether that's via Twitter, Facebook or, most likely, even general knowledge of sports entertainment. The last thing the prosecuting attorneys want is a juror who is somehow privy to information via the internet or in some way biased. Not only would it hinder their ability to fairly try the case, it would open the door to Hardy later overturning the verdict (if against him) due to unfair juror selection. Worrying about these things, though, is for the people bringing a case against Jeff to worry about, not Matt.

Further, sports entertainment is about promotion -- namely, whenever possible, self-promotion. That Matt or other performers are good at this is a benefit, not a liability, for any organization that hires them. Unless those individuals are using Facebook and Twitter to bash the company they work for, they're in essence promoting it. I don't see anything wrong with this.

All of that said, I personally find Matt to be an above-average performer. Though I haven't found him nearly as entertaining as his Matt Hardy 2.0 phase in quite some time, I think his ring work is good. His mic skills are solid. He's smart about the way he works the general populace to gain support for himself and his career. So, when looked at as a whole, he's unquestionably an asset to the WWE.

And not to nit-pick, but your assessment that "nobody cared about" Greg "The Hammer" Valentine is utterly untrue. Anyone over a certain age knows that Valentine was an incredible heel and a top title contender throughout the early '80s. During his tenure with the NWA, he held the World Tag Team and U.S. titles numerous times and was seen as an extremely viable contender to the World Title. When he jumped ship to the WWF, he held the Intercontinental title (when that belt was still really prestigious) and World Tag Titles. The guy was an amazing heel, got tons of heat and could perform in the ring.

I can only imagine your statement is based on the end of Valentine's career, when he was much older and frequently jobbed in WWF. It's really unfair to base your comments about a wrestler on those days of his career rather than the highlights of his heyday.