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Angle-Lesnar good enough to piledrive any reservations

By DON 'Cyrus' CALLIS -- For SLAM! Wrestling

The word "classic" is often used far too liberally in describing
wrestling matches. I tend to use it rather sparingly, but when I do
use it I tend to mean that the match in question is really above the
fray of the"really good" four-star match you might get every so often
on pay-per-view. Think Flair-Steamboat 1989 and you get the idea of
what my criteria is for a classic matchup.

Really, in order to qualify as a classic, a match should embody
several qualities: First, it must be a match that fans are dying to
see. It should also be between two opponents that the fans believe in
on some level, to the point that the idea of the two of them going
head-to-head makes you want to pay to see it -- kind of like a dream
match. The match should have something important on the line, like a
title, or a career, or a place of power and influence for those
"smart" fans who don't believe in titles and prefer backstage
intrigue. Lastly, of course, it should be a helluva wrestling match
that tells a great story and suspends disbelief with its psychology
and athleticism.

Pretty tough standards, but by that yardstick I believe we may have
seen just such a match on Thursday night between Kurt Angle and Brock
Lesnar. It is hard enough to have a really good match, much less a
classic, but to do so in the context of a 60-minute ironman match is
really moving the bar up a notch. As a former wrestler, I can tell you
that going 60 minutes in any context is very tough physically. It is
even tougher to keep fans in this day and age interested in something
that goes much longer than 10 minutes. Brock and Kurt pulled it off on
Thursday.

It is also rare that I recommend actually seeking out a tape of such a
match, as I have done in the past with the great Muto-Tenyru match of
last year. That said, I strongly suggest that you get the tape of this
match, after giving yourself a good swift kick in the butt for missing
it in the first place. The only downside of the whole thing is how in
the world is the Raw world champion ever going to be able to call the
Smackdown titleholder a paper champion again? That comment looks a bit
laughable at this point.

Thursday was indeed something special. Two legitimately world-class
athletes at their best, literally beating the living hell out of each
other for one hour and taking the "sports" part of the term "sports
entertainment" to a new level -- all the while captivating fans with
the sheer reality and athleticism of their match. How the heck does
anyone follow that up? Short answer: you can't. Oh, by the way, Brock
won the match five falls to four, but as is often the case in a
classic match, it really doesn't matter who won and who lost, because
both men came out stronger than they went in. Now that is what this
business is supposed to be about.

K-5 NEWS 

Raven got his head shaved by Shane Douglas on the last TNA show after
being DDT'd by Vampiro, who showed up in a huge surprise. The match
was a great war between the two men generally regarded as the two most
influential ECW World Champions in history. Douglas suffered a serious
stinger in his elbow and toughed out the match. Raven looks completely
different with his head shaved. ... Roddy Piper showed up at the show
and I had the pleasure of doing a segment with him and banning him
from the building. I guess Tony Condello would have liked to have been
able to be there for that. ... If you are interested in becoming a
wrestler, manager, valet, announcer, referee or writer, you can do it
at the NHB Training Centre by e-mailing us at Cyrusofecw{at}shaw.ca. ...
Don't forget about the big Smackdown shows coming to Winnipeg and
Brandon -- tickets are still available.


--- Internet Rex 2.29