Well, like I promised this post would be ridiculously huge. So huge, in fact, that I will probably post it into two separate parts.
Let’s start with last week’s episode. I think this episode should be dubbed “Surprise, surprise.” This episode was filled with so many shock-and-awe moments that I decided to just leave my jaw hanging on the floor instead of wasting energy picking it up over and over again.
The non-shocking parts were when Ibis, Johanna and Susie were plotting to get Veronica sent into the elimination. The surprise: Veronica sitting underneath the balcony hearing the girls’ entire conversation. Another no-brainer was Wes telling KellyAnne that he was planning to go into the elimination to take out Cohutta. The surprise: Cohutta defeated Wes, pretty handily in the elimination. Last but not least, no one was surprised when Susie and Ibis decided to gang up against Veronica.
But the biggest shocker of all time was when the Champions were forced to come up with a decision about who to send in the elimination for the girls, since they had used up the allotted 30 minutes discussing the matter. What happened next will be forever ingrained in my memory.
Veronica filibustered her way out of an elimination and it was magnificent. When the Champions were deliberating who was going to be sent into the elimination, going into it I can’t see how anybody watching thought that Veronica had a chance of avoiding the elimination, but she pulled it off. I don’t know if she did it on purpose, but regardless it saved her tail for another episode.
She talked and talked, and continued talking until the 30 minutes ran out. “The Ruins” host TJ Lavin told the six representatives to make a decision by voting. Derek, Susie and Ibis voted for Veronica to go in against KellyAnne, while Wes, Evan and Veronica voted for her to go against Kimberly.
Stalemate.
What happened next was anyone’s guess, because this was a first.
TJ then pulled out the trump card and said the entire Champions team would have to come in to vote. I still can’t believe it, but somehow it went from Veronica definitely going into the elimination to Ibis going into the elimination against Kimberly. WHOA!
(Had to take a breather)
It made for great television. With Ibis getting the proverbial kick in the tail, I knew for sure that nothing else would top it. I was proven wrong.
In a elimination that relied less on strength and more on agility and patience, Cohutta demolished Wes in the elimination and the Challengers went for the sweep by having Kim defeat Ibis, as well.
It was one helluva an episode.
Last night’s episode didn’t disappoint either. With the Champions down to nine players to the Challengers seven, tension was simmering. Veronica was still on the outs with most of her team, even after her surprising avoidance of last week’s elimination.
After defeating one of the strongest competitors to ever grace the show, Cohutta and the Challengers had a newfound swagger, but were still looking to win another challenge, so they could have some power as to who would going into the elimination.
This brings me to Casey, my least favorite person on the show. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear she was throwing the challenges. There’s no way she’s just this bad. And, if that is the case, why come to “The Ruins?”
I won’t lie, I’m rooting for the Challengers and she’s worthless. If you were to look up dead weight in the dictionary, Casey would be smiling ear to ear as she ruined another mission for the Challengers.
She’s so inept, that the Champions feel that they have the final challenge locked up. I believe they’re thinking since practically every man on their team is a behemoth – naturally and unnaturally, if you know what I’m sayin’ – they should be able to dominate the rest of the challenges from this point on. And, regardless how strong they are, as long as Casey is on the Challengers, she is their biggest asset.
Man, I hate you Casey.
Part II will be posted tomorrow. Stay tuned.
‘You can’t see me’
A few weeks ago, I was flipping through channels during a Monday Night Football commercial break when I ended up on WWE Raw.
From 1992-2000, you couldn’t find a bigger wrestling fan than me. I ordered all of the pay-per-views, owned all the action figures and practiced all the coolest submission moves on my older brother. But around nine years ago, I quit watching it when I realized how fake it was and slowly transitioned into “real” sports like the NFL, NBA and MLB.
Now, after years of observation, I have come to think these professional sports are just as fake, if not even more fake than pro wrestling. Nothing in the MLB seems real to me anymore with the constant suspicion that every game changing home run is the result of steroids, and the NBA’s credibility took a hit after the Tim Donaghy gambling scandal.
My father once told me that the WWE – formerly known as the WWF – is just a big soap opera where everyone plays a fictional character.
He was right about that, but I also think wrestlers are not the only ones that play make-believe characters. There’s a sociological term called status set, coined by Robert Merton, that I think backs up this idea. A status set is “an array of social positions (for example: brother, co-worker, boyfriend) found in one person,” according to encyclopedia.com. Basically this means we perform different roles based on the situation, thus we all play different characters. If you don’t believe that just ask Tiger Woods.
Woods portrayed the character of a straight laced role model when the cameras were on, but when the cameras were off it seems like he got out of character a little bit. A lot of us realized that after his car wreck, which led to allegations of adultery. Woods never completely confirmed the allegations the tabloids reported, but did post an apology on his personal Web site saying he was sorry for letting his family down.
So what is the point I am trying to make?
I’m just saying that I might get back into watching pro wrestling again because I don’t think it’s any faker than any of these so called “real” sports. You may say wrestling is filled with nothing but violence, sex and profanity, but I say wrestling is an art, and the job of art is to reflect culture.
Think about it.