So, here you have "Watch Wresslin' Wednesdays," the ORIGINAL wrestling-themed, YouTube video comedic co-commentary. Please feel free to suggest a better title, because we are woefully uncreative when it comes to naming stuff.
Better at naming stuff than us.The idea of W.W.W. is we each send the other a video that is related to wrestling (a match, promo, interview, guest starring spot, etc.). The only restriction is that it cannot be user-created, so your insider picks for a fantasy wrestling league ain't going to fly here, pal. Neither of us know what kind of video we're going to get that day.
After viewing, we each write a response. This could be anything we choose: a straight commentary, a philosophical enlightenment, or classless ridicule. Just as we don't know what kind of video the other will select, neither do we know what the other will write or how they will write it. What you end up with is a mash-up of styles, which in our book equates to two-blogs-in-one, and we can take the rest of the day off.
Adam's video to Matt - Jake "The Snake" Roberts Wasted! part 1 - Drunken Interview
Matt's reponse...
"A man of his word - Jake the Snake Roberts. Back to ringside." -Overwhelmed Backstage Interviewer
Ahhh, Jake. There you are. True to form as always. In those few words up there, the poor man tasked with interviewing at the Heroes of Wrestling PPV, who surely had to have had a long night up until now, pretty much says the only thing that can be said. A true hero of wrestling, that man stuck it out with a straight face and threw back to the ring in style. Kudos, my friend.
Now, as I said a moment ago, this was at a PPV event called Heroes of Wrestling, from Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis, Missouri. The idea was to bring a bunch of aging wrestlers in for a few matches and make a load of money off nostalgia; pretty much what TNA is doing now, only this was ten years ago. Only 29,000 homes purchased the event. I'm pretty sure we could generate more pay-per-view buys with video of us shirtless picking our belly button lint. The rest of the planned events were canceled, and the organizer places a lot of the blame of the failure on the shoulders on Jake.
I'll get to that more in a minute, but I want you to check out the rest of the card for that night:
- Samu and the Samoan Savage versus Marty Jannetty and Tommy Rogers
- Greg Valentine versus George Steele
- Too Cold Scorpio versus Julio Fantastico
- The Bushwackers versus the Iron Sheik and Nicolai Volkoff
- Tully Blanchard versus Stan Lane
- Abdullah the Butcher versus One Man Gang
- Jimmy Snuka versus Bob Orton, Jr.
- Jim Neidhart and King Kong Bundy versus Jake Roberts and Yokozuna
Now, it should be noted that King Kong and Bundy and Yokozuna were slated to main event, but they were called in to clean up the Roberts mess. Still, would any of those matches get you excited to buy this thing?? Even ten years ago?? I think Jake, if anything, made this event a legend, rather than destroying the show. I can guarantee some dude called his friends and said, "Man, you have to pick this up. Jake is losing his mind." That surely generated at least one more buy, because no one else was going to pick this dog of a pay-per-view up, which the "wrestling community" has dubbed the "worst of all-time."
Back to Jake. You may have noticed the "Part 1" on the video. That means, yes, there's a part 2, and yes, I'm going to show it to you. If you do anything on this site, watch this video:
This video cuts off before the match starts, at which point Jake "held his snake between his legs, representing an erect penis, and then simulated masturbation for several seconds before lying down on the mat, apparently disoriented or close to passing out." (Wikipedia) I'd like to believe that Jake was simply committed to act and once he was done simulating rubbing one out, he simulated what most guys do afterwards and took a nap. It was here that Bundy and Yokozuna were called in to "save" the match.
Some might say that Jake is familiar with gambling; you might even say that he does it every day just getting out of bed. But I think you can tell from his promo earlier in the night that he really doesn't know much about it, considering he seems not to realize that "21" and "blackjack" are the same thing, that having 22 does not benefit you in either, and that having "too many" aces and 8's really doesn't mean a damn thing. So say what you want about Roberts, at least he's not blowing his cash in the casino. GOOD JOB!
Matt's video to Adam-Jeff hardy vs D'Lo Brown Heat Match (VERY RARE)
Adam's response
It seems as if the new bit dujour round WWW is the concept of ownership for these videos. Now, we specify in the beginning that the one rule here is that a video cannot be user created, thereby inferring all ownership to the original party that broadcast it (more often then not, World Wrestling Entertainment). Still, we often see in the video description something along the lines "I don't own this, please don't remove!" We also see, as in this case, someone watermarking there own logo onto the video.
For those not in the know, watermarking is a form of Digital Rights Management (DRM). DRM is rather hot issue in the media business right now, as it is an attempt to protect intellectual property rights by punishing legal consumers. In short, DRM is a form of control software that has been expanding with the proliferation of the Internet and digital music downloads.
In addition to watermarking, DRM exists within CD's that prevent ripping, subscription models in services like Napster and Rhapsody, and unique access codes to use, sort of like playing a video game on a PC. Additionally, there are usage restrictions. Until just recently, Apple's iTunes service sold DRM song files that could only be put onto Apple's iPod music player. Essentially, to use iTunes, the world's leading music seller, you had to own Apple hardware, thereby providing a competitive disadvantage to the consumer.
Of course, this is all done for some fairly noble reasons. Afterall, artist's and IP rights holders should not be subject to end-user abuses or piracy. This also encourages the consmumer to have a responsible purchase behavior and promote artistry.
Still, it's a hot button issue because of its attitude towards the legal consumer. In addition to being a public relations nightmare, it's also fairly worthless to stop piracy. At its most basic, DRM can be circumvented through the "analog loop", which is the digital equivalent of putting two tape recorders together and pressing record on one and play on the other.
Which brings me to THEBESTJEFFFAN (TBJF to his homies on the top left and right). This is an analog loop. Look at the terrible quality in both video and sound. I can hardly tell Jeff Hardy is a drug addict (or "young daredevil" as Jerry Lawler calls him) from this video. Or who blew what spots. It's a degenerated, degraded mess thanks to years of illegal tape trading.
But that's not for me to decide. No, it's far more important for you, the humble media scholars of the LOL, Wresslin' army to make your own choices. Ponder this questions and leave a written response in the comments or email. You will be graded.
- Should the government become more involved in the DRM debate to regulate its use?
- Do corporations lose cache with their customers by using DRM on their properties? Do the benefits outweigh the negatives?
- Will DRM become standardized throughout the world eventually?
- How do you think artists feel about their creations being protected by DRM? Should it be enhanced to protect their IP?
