The Wade Keller Appreciation Thread

[Guest Spunk]

In the Matwatch 1991 Annual/farewell issue (released in March '92; which may deserve its own thread), Steve Beverly mentioned that Wade Keller, after selecting someone as "Torch Turkey" for the week, would call the "winner's" house to say "gobble gobble."

Speechless.

[Bix]

He went on to say that Wade was really good at his job but needed to grow up.

 

http://www.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/article_21481.shtml

 

KELLER: Giving Orton-Cena its just-due after being admittedly too harsh and hasty last night

 

By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

Aug 27, 2007, 17:45

 

There's a discussion in the VIP Forum on my harsh initial judgment of the John Cena vs. Randy Orton main event from last night's Summerslam PPV - particularly the first half (as I liked the second half a lot). After discusssing the match last night with Torch columnists Pat McNeill and Bruce Mitchell in our post-PPV VIP Audio Roundtable, rewatching the match last night and again this afternoon, and today reading other cases made by VIP members for why I misjudged the match - I have been swayed.

 

I was indeed too harsh on it after first viewing. I still have a problem with the approach they took early in the match. I've consistently said I thought the last half was really good.

 

Here's where my problem still lies: (a) They went to the headlock/chinlock too early and too often in that opening ten minutes; ( Orton and Cena both have a history of settling on the mundane headlock too often for just time-filling, and I let that affect my judgment on this occasion. (It also didn't help that the show was so mundane, and the previous match so bad with such a lame finish, that my state of mind was more negative than typical headed into a main event.)

 

I think they did a nice job applying the headlock, actually. It wasn't up to the levels of superb application and selling between Chris Benoit and MVP a few months ago, but it was much better than Cena or Orton six and twelve months ago when utilizing that hold. Orton was better than Cena overall in this case, as Cena still seems cartoonish with his facial expressions; Orton has gotten better about looking like he was in a fight.

 

If the headlocks had come at eight minutes into the match rather than a minute or so in, so there was a reason for Orton to neutralize Cena and catch his breath a bit, I would have been okay with it. The fact that he dropped down into a headlock/chinlock four times in the opening ten minutes did drive me a little nuts - in part because the spurts of action in between were so promising.

 

I understand that Orton was trying to capitalize on the Cena concussion storyline by going after his head. I wish there was a greater sense of urgency, though, in what he was doing, and a greater variety. His Orton Stomp was methodical, like he was slowing down to fill extra time rather than in a rush to destroy a hated rival and win the coveted World Title as soon as possible.

 

I do understand why many people think it was a great match now. It took a second (and third) viewing and an open mind (and some distance from an otherwise mundane show) to not let the headlock/chinlock frequency early - no matter how intensely applied - drag down my enjoyment of what was very good about the match. So it's not a Match of the Year level effort in 2007, but it deserved more credit than I gave it last night. With some reservations still (noted above), I withdraw some of my harsher comments about the match last night.

 

In fairness, too, I want to mention a few things I think were excellent about the match:

 

-The struggles to get out of the headlocks and chinlocks were most very good, sometimes excellent, and added a sense of drama and realism to a hold that so often in the past has been used to kill time and rest.

 

-The particular spot where Cena was on the ring apron early trying to recover, and Orton saw it and charged at Cena to knock him to the floor was really well executed. What really stood out was how Orton's facial expression communicated that he realized he had a great opportunity to knock Cena off the apron. It felt improvised, like he "just had a great idea," rather than something planned.

 

-When Orton went for a superplex and Cena blocked it, that was especially well done. When Cena shoved Orton to the mat, then came off with a legdrop to the back of his neck, it was more realistic than when Booker T does the scissors kick usually because the opponent has to stand there awkwardly bent over waiting for the kick. In this case, it seemed totally natural and had a good flow to it.

 

-The moment where Orton was setting up for the RKO for the second time, on all fours, waiting for Cena to rise, and then changed the gameplan to the Legend Killer punt kick, was a really effective moment at drawing from his arsenal and what's been established as a devastating kick in recent months.

 

It really is clear that a lot of thought went into this match and a lot of things were done that were smart and realistic. There were a lot of parts of this match that would be good to use when showing developing wrestlers small things they can do to make a match better and more realistic. So, if it sounds like a loved this match, well, that's not true. But there were parts of the match I really did like a lot and they deserve credit for. Maybe after a year of the headlock and chinlock being applied as well as Cena and Orton did, I will be over my bias against the hold - and my belief that fans have been conditioned to look at it like a rest hold due to years of people like Orton and Cena applying it half-heartedly to catch their breath. My statue of limitations on that hold being a crowd-killer isn't up yet, but they're working on fixing it. So I give them credit for correcting course.

There's still that little problem of pro wrestling fans who also watch MMA wondering why headlocks and chinlocks are never applied in an MMA match. That can be a non-factor as long as WWE producers make sure the headlock and chinlock is never applied in the half-hearted way it was the past decade or two.

Does Wade understand that people outside of his readership know that wrestling is a work?

[Guest KCook]

There's still that little problem of pro wrestling fans who also watch MMA wondering why headlocks and chinlocks are never applied in an MMA match.

This is... simply not true, though.

[Al]

It wasn't up to the levels of superb application and selling between Chris Benoit and MVP a few months ago, but it was much better than Cena or Orton six and twelve months ago when utilizing that hold.

To be fair, Chris Benoit could get a little too stiff with that hold from time to time.

[Guest *FH*]

It wasn't up to the levels of superb application and selling between Chris Benoit and MVP a few months ago, but it was much better than Cena or Orton six and twelve months ago when utilizing that hold.

To be fair, Chris Benoit could get a little too stiff with that hold from time to time.

 

I was about to post the same thing.

 

Wade thinks he's Roger Ebert when he's really Gene Shallit, btw.

[Guest Some Guy]

i saw the match over at my friend's house. When it started out with all the headlocks and then Orton grabbing a chinlock I thought that they were going to go at least 30 minutes. But the psychology of a guy who has become the concussion king trying to cut the blood flow off to his opponents head before kicking it off is sound. he should have used a headlock, as you can do more reversal sequences and near falls out of it and then keep going back to it.

 

I liked teh Garvin stomp bit that Orton pulled out and thought that it showed the new methodical killer attittude. Stomping someone on all four limbs before nailing them in the head, when once again your gimmick is that you end careers by giving out concussions makes sense.

 

I'm not saying it was the greatest match ever or that I'll be running out to buy the DVD but it was tge best of the night. I thought that easily could have put the belt on Randy or done a DQ finish to better set up rematches. But, they already pulled that with the shitty Batista/Khali match that no one wants see again and should have been booked differently. The ending sequence in the Orton/Cena match was good and in no way buried Orton.

[jdw]

In the Matwatch 1991 Annual/farewell issue (released in March '92; which may deserve its own thread), Steve Beverly mentioned that Wade Keller, after selecting someone as "Torch Turkey" for the week, would call the "winner's" house to say "gobble gobble."

One really needs to take just about anything Beverly wrote with a grain of salt. The most easily worked of the sheet writers of the era. Also had several axes to grind, and the Torch was one of his major ones.

 

Not to defend Wade, but I've had wrestlers say things about Wade to me, or to others that was passed along to me, that were a 180% from reality. I recall one Foley story from some who talked to Mick regularly in the mid-to-late 90s that was far past reality, and I had to explain that it was more evidence that Mick's losing his grip with reality... or just likes to lie more than people knew at the time.

 

 

John

[Bix]

I've also heard that Wade would regularly prank call the RF Video "Pro Wrestling Store" cart at the Mall of America (pre-pedogate). Given that it appears he's been slowly losing his mind for years, I'm inclined to believe it's true.

[Loss]

God, he's STILL going on about headlocks and about MVP and Benoit. This was in the latest newsletter.

 

This Week with Wade Keller

Headline: Advancing the Style - Cena-Orton as a case study in the small details

By Wade Keller, Torch editor

Originally Published: August 28, 2007

PWTorch Newsletter #987

 

I have been outspoken against headlocks and chinlocks in recent years. My argument is simple: They're boring. They're perceived as a resthold. They've been leaned on by unimaginative, lazy wrestlers for decades as a way to fill time in a match and catch their breath. They historically have elicited chants of "boring." Fans of both pro wrestling and MMA know that trained, skilled fighters do not apply headlocks or chinlocks - at least not while lazily lying on the mat - in a real fight. Wrestlers when locked in a hold where their limbs are free do not just sit there and grimace; they swing and writhe and twist until they're free or further restrained.

 

It's because of all of those reasons, and the specific history of Randy Orton and John Cena, that I initially thought the opening half of the very good main event at Summerslam was disappointing. There have been many times, in big matches, where wrestlers had a long match schedule and settled, unimaginatively and routinely, into a mundane headlock. It's probably one of the major marks against Shawn Michaels's otherwise stellar in-ring accomplishments that in his longer matches over the years, most notably his 60 minute match with Bret Hart, he has settled for such time-filling tactics.

 

When Orton and Cena began exchanging headlocks early in their match, I was reminded of their previous half-hearted applications of that hold. My initial review of the match was met with surprise by others as being overly harsh. I went back and rewatched the match twice, and liked it more each time. My initial reaction, while understandable given their track record, is now revised.

 

I think their usage of the holds was fine. In fact, in terms of "feeling real" because of how intensely they appeared to be applying the hold or trying to escape, it was stellar by pro wrestling standards. The timing of them is still an issue, as it didn't make sense to go to that hold so early in the match or as often as they did.

 

Let's take a step back. The point of a pro wrestling match is primarily to entertain and elicit a response from fans in attendance and at home. In the end, it should settle a feud or forward an ongoing feud. If the match is at any point fake-looking or boring, it's counterproductive to business. Fans don't want to pay or invest time in anything that's boring. Viewers also would prefer, as is the case with any form of scripted entertainment, not to be reminded that what they're watching isn't real. People want to get wrapped up in the moment and, for that moment, believe.

 

That's why I've hated headlocks and chinlocks in recent years. It's both boring and unrealistic.

 

Chris Benoit and MVP elevated the headlock earlier this year to a worthy, entertaining, compelling hold. The way they applied it on each other, the way they struggled to escape - it was remarkable how the hold could become an outright exciting part of a match.

 

Cena and Orton raised their game to that level at Summerslam. The only thing that caught my eye is that the person in the headlock had his arms free, but wasn't punching at his opponent. That would be a nice touch that would again make it seem as if both wrestlers weren't cooperatively taking a breather or filling time, but instead convey that the wrestler in the hold was in intense pain and would do anything feasible to break free.

 

The headlock, though, would not realistically or practically be applied so early in a match. The opponent is too fresh, too able to punch and kick and struggle to break free. The headlock, more realistically, would be reserved for a time in the match when a wrestler has battered his opponent enough to expect less resistance to the hold, and also allow the wrestler on offense a chance to apply punishment without taking risks himself and perhaps catching his breath a bit.

 

What Summerslam's Cena vs. Orton match ultimately deserves to be seen as is a step - albeit imperfect - toward an advanced, more contemporary WWE style, one with an eye not just on doing things the way they've always been done, but on improving the style to be more realistic, more compelling, more believable as a real fight.

 

There will always be embellishments of realism within a pro wrestling match, but they should only be present as a necessity, not out of laziness, inertia, or complacency. The embellishments of realism should be included in a match only if it's the only way to tell the story and only if there is some benefit, such as a level of excitement generated in a not-easily-substitutable manner.

 

There were other tweaks to a typical WWE-style match worth noting by Orton and Cena. When Orton threw Cena back into the ring from ringside, he lifted Cena almost as if Cena were dead weight. Over the years, wrestlers have usually practically thrown themselves into the ring as the opponent supposedly throwing them into the ring was barely touching them. In this instance, Orton gripped Cena as you would if you were actually having to lift somebody's limp weight. Cena didn't appear to cooperate or help. That's a small thing, but when a dozen of those small things are corrected as a matter of rote, it makes the necessary embellishments more acceptable and less obtrusive to the goal of getting fans to suspend any knowledge of the match being a staged show rather than a real fight. I believe, in the interest of the success and popularity of pro wrestling, it's important that the payoff battles in the ring - what ultimately WWE (and other pro wrestling companies) ask fans to pay to see - resemble as closely as possible, while still keeping an eye on entertainment and excitement, what fans would believe a real fight would look like.

 

There was another moment in the match, where Orton went for a superplex and Cena blocked it, that was especially well done. When Cena shoved Orton to the mat, then came off with a legdrop to the back of his neck, it was more realistic than when Booker T does the scissors kick because usually the opponent has to stand there awkwardly bent over waiting for the kick. In this case, it seemed totally natural and had a good flow to it.

 

The moment where Orton was setting up for the RKO for the second time, on all fours, waiting for Cena to rise, and then changed the gameplan to the Legend Killer punt kick, was really well done. Viewers sensed that Orton had one plan, and then changed it mid-course once he saw a better opportunity to do even worse damage.

 

Cena and Orton produced footage in their Summerslam match which, when isolated on video, could be used a demo for wrestlers in training to emulate. That's a high compliment for two wrestlers who don't have a lot of competition for top spots, have tenure and clout within WWE, and could just phone it in. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, in different ways, have set a tone the past few years of advancing the WWE style. Cena and Orton deserve credit for joining in that effort to set an example.

[Guest KCook]

trained, skilled fighters do not apply headlocks or chinlocks

I know that I already protested this talking point, but if Wade is going to use it again I will protest it again, because this is just not true.

[Al]

They also don't apply swanton bombs. Wrestling is not MMA and fans don't expect it to be.

[Tim Evans]

They also don't apply swanton bombs. Wrestling is not MMA and fans don't expect it to be.

 

Yes it is, Brother.

[Guest *FH*]

Chris Benoit elevated the headlock earlier this year

boy i'll say

[jdw]

I've also heard that Wade would regularly prank call the RF Video "Pro Wrestling Store" cart at the Mall of America (pre-pedogate). Given that it appears he's been slowly losing his mind for years, I'm inclined to believe it's true.

I don't think RF ever rated on Wade's radar. As in I'm having a hard time remember RF's name ever coming up in any conversation that I had with Wade over the years. Unlike Meltzer, Wade never was much interested in the tape trading business.

 

If you said prank calling "the Wrestling Lariat Headquarters" or "Bob.com Central, while I would say that's it's highly unlikely, at least Schemer and RYDER were on his radar. But the obsession tended to go in the other direction.

 

John

[Bix]

I think it was less that it was RF and more that it was a "wrestling" presence in his hometown.

[Loss]

Now, he has the rest of his staff parroting this:

 

The Specialists

WARZECHA'S BLOG: How Headlocks and Chinlocks can matter again

Marc R. Warzecha, PWTorch contributor

Aug 29, 2007, 17:29

 

 

Updated Aug 29, 2007

 

In the past several years WWE has slowly – and smartly – adjusted its in ring style.

 

Realizing that the high energy, high impact style of the attitude era was leading to a high risk of injury (causing WWE to lose top stars and possibly big money), WWE went retro.

 

They created and implemented a "new style" with more emphasis on ring psychology and wearing the opponent down. Moves that hadn't been seen in a WWE ring in years crept back into vogue.

 

Moves like the headlock and chinlock.

 

But WWE missed a step. Headlocks and chinlocks can't simply be stolen from yesteryear – taken from a time when they truly had consequence - and dumped into a modern day WWE ring.

 

WWE forgot they had to get the moves over again.

 

There is a very simple way to get moves like the headlock and chinlock over: let them end matches.

 

WWE should begin to book matches mid card or lower that occasionally end with a chinlock or headlock. After some strong offense, a WWE superstar could apply a tight headlock, weaken the opponent, and pin his shoulders to the mat.

 

A WWE Superstar could catch his opponent in a snug chinlock, wear him out, and cause him to tap or lose consciousness for a victory.

 

Using these moves regularly as a finish to a match would convince viewers that the holds are relevant in 2007 and would increase drama in all matches when they are applied.

 

Oh, and on a related note:

 

The McMahons might find tag team wrestling a bit more exciting if they didn't book every tag match the exact same way.

 

A delayed, hot tag to your partner would be more effective if it hadn't happened in every single WWE tag team match for the last 20 years.

 

Sometimes the other team has to single an opponent out, make frequent tags, wear him down, and (gasp)…

 

Just pin him.

 

Email me at: [email protected]

This is incredibly annoying.

 

Now Face In Peril is played out also?

[jdw]

I think it was less that it was RF and more that it was a "wrestling" presence in his hometown.

Someone selling tapes and merchandise? It wasn't a presence that Wade would give a shit about. That whole segment of wrestling fandom meant less to him than just about any of the major "wrestling fans" of the era, including folks who did sheets of one kind or another, or wrote for them. I'd have to go back and check, but I think he got out of the "plugs" business in the Torch years before Dave did in the WON. Frankly what stopped Dave wasn't that he didn't like doing it, but that he ran out of space first, and then out of time to put it together as things went nuts with the Monday Night Wars and whatnot.

 

Again, if it were a sheetwriter who started up in the Twin Cities, he might take notice... but prank calling isn't him.

 

John

[Bix]

Re: RF, I believe this was after Jericho went to the WWF/Wade started blatantly losing his mind.

 

Also, I misremembered the whole story, posted by Kyle Wolf:

 

I used to run a store at the Mall of America called "The Pro Wrestling Shop."

 

For some reason, people used to just see 'pro wrestling' in the phone book and call us thinking we were the Torch. When they did, I always told them that the Torch sucked and gave them Dave's number and told them to get a subscription to the Observer

 

Wade found out and was such a little bitch about it that he used to prank call the store like you might when you were 10. He'd keep calling, asking if we were the Torch, and I kept burying him every time he did it.

[jdw]

I buy the first sentence and the second paragraph. I don't buy the third one.

 

On Jericho... I don't think Wade was losing his mind at the time. He simply was really, really, really wrong about Jericho. It's a bit like Dave on Jumbo. I don't see Dave as being insane due to Jumbo - just being freaking wrong.

 

Wade was still perfectly sane when starting to get critical of Jericho. If he had a wigging out, it's a bit more recent as the stress piled up.

 

 

John

[Jingus]

Now Face In Peril is played out also?

I don't know about played out, but it sure as hell is predictable. The ancient hot tag formula has been presented SO[ many times, it's one of those things I'm amazed still gets a pop from the crowd. I've seen Hogan matches that were less formulaic than many braindead "beat on the weaker babyface, then bumpbumpbump when his partner finally comes in" tag affairs.

[Bix]

It pops the crowd because it works.

[Loss]

And if the formula is done right, almost anyone can have a decent match and get the crowd involved.

 

I'm not saying It's The Only Way To Work or anything like that, but it has produced more good-great matches than just about any wrestling philosophy ever has.

[goodhelmet]

THe RAW Bookdust vs. Christian And Jericho tag from 2002 was awesome.

 

Hardys vs. MNM at the Rumble this year was freaking awesome.

 

Both relied on the formula.

[Loss]

More Jericho hate!

 

Jericho is one of those few who was a top tier player for WWE (lower-top-tier, but still top tier) who left on his own terms, has been long enough to be missed, is still young enough to be useful and credible, and has the personality and mic skills to keep things interesting for a while.

 

There is quite a bit working against, him, though. He's still 5-10 at most. He's not a world class worker (he's very good, but due to some details and his hybrid cruiserweight-turned-heavyweight approach, he just doesn't reach the level as a heavyweight main eventer that Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and even Brock Lesnar did). He is perceived as a star by a vocal hardcore group of wrestling fans in their first five or ten years of being a fan of wrestling. But within WWE, among those with power and influence, he's a fallback plan, not a great "get" to re-sign and push to the moon.

[Cox]

He is perceived as a star by a vocal hardcore group of wrestling fans in their first five or ten years of being a fan of wrestling.

Is that really that horrible? How many current WWE fans have been fans for longer than ten years? Maybe 5-10%?