SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT

I grow ambivalent with the Raw main event scene. On one hand, Goldberg, one of my most despised wrestlers, is champion. On the other, some of my favorites still see the top of the card sometimes. Chris Jericho. Shawn Michaels. I feel that some of Raw's greatest resources, most of them untapped, remain in the midcard region. One of those wrestlers is the topic of today's column: Christian.

Jason "Christian" Reso was born in Kitchner, Ontario. He is most certainly not the true brother of Adam "Edge" Copeland, but the two men have a strong bond albeit not of blood. They have been wrestling together for a very long time. Sometimes as a tag team and sometimes as rivals.

Early in their careers, Adam and Jason were known to the wrestling world (though, their "world" was more limited at the time) as Sexton Hardcastle and Christian Cage: The Suicide Blondes. It may sound silly to us now, but is it any more ridiculous than their mainstream gimmicks? Copeland debuted on then WWF television as Edge, the enigma. Utterly silent (which made sense considering his amatuerish mic skills at the time and to some extent today) and very mysterious. Soon to follow was Reso as Christian, a follower of the wannabe vampire Gangrel. Together, the threesome formed The Brood, a nod to the growing teen goth subculture of the 90's.

Time went on and The Brood stable was no more. Edge and Christian ditched Gangrel and became one of the greatest tag teams, both in terms of talent and marketability, of the last ten years. They stunned the world with their ladder matches and hushed critics when they proved they were able to perform more technical bouts without the aid of dangerous spots. As good as they were, the WWE saw the team to be potential singles wrestlers. Edge and Christian were split during a feud between the "brothers," and they went their seperate ways. Both have forged successful singles careers in the past few years. While Edge is currently on the shelf due to a serious neck injury that will keep him out of action until next year, Christian is in the midst of an endless stream of television time both on Raw and often on Pay-Per-View. Which leads me to the point of this piece...

On the internet's wrestling forums and news websites, there exist fan darlings. Wrestlers who "smart" fans adore because of their ability. Wrestlers who can't only be hype, as the learned wrestling fan is able to look past well-marketed paper tigers and see the true talented performers. Darlings of the internet crowd include obvious exceptional in-ring performers like Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero and so forth. Though, there is also a strong fanbase amoung smart fans for midcard talents like Lance Storm, Hurricane, Nunzio, and the man who is the subject of this column.

Yet, in recent months, Christian has come under fire by a handful of anti-fans. Some have jumped on the hate bandwagon without even looking at the reasons. They must be watching Raw with heavily-tinted sunglasses. Many WWE wrestlers deserve our spite. Christian is not one of them. While some of the points that expose his weaknesses have validity, many do not. Certainly not enough to justify the recent surge against this remarkable Canadian.

So, what is a Christian fan to do? Well, if you're me, and chances are that you aren't, you write a column in his defense. What follows are actual quotes (except the conclusion) from wrestling fans that deal with the most common anti-Christian arguments as well as my defense.

"He's the wrong size for everything."

Ridiculous. Christian's height (approximately six feet, depending on the source) and weight (again, approximately two hundred and ten pounds) allows him to move at cruiserweight speed but also stand up well against the generally tall athletes in the WWE. The lean but muscular physique for men around the six foot mark is becoming more popular amoung today's wrestlers. Overly bulky frames may get one noticed, but it usually doesn't make for a good matches.

Talented wrestlers of similar builds include Shawn Michaels, "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, Ron "The Truth" Killings, Steve Corino, Elix Skipper, CM Punk, and Frankie Kazarian.

"He's akin to Nash in the ring since neither man has much of a moveset."

First of all, nobody with even adequate ability should be compared to chicken legs Kevin Nash.

Second, it's not true. All WWE superstars are limited to only a handful of moves. It is, unfortunately, part of the style of the company. Wrestlers use moves that are very familiar to the crowd. It's not their fault. It is a management decision. All the greats in the WWE only have a few signature moves. My favorite is Chris Benoit, but I know he'll only use a diving headbutt, rolling German suplex, Crippler Crossface and only sometimes anything else in the course of a match. He'll give us something else from time to time, but so will Christian. The problem some have with Christian's moveset is not that it is limited, but some don't like seeing reverse DDTs or The Imprettier. That is a matter of personal taste. Not an issue of Christian's talent.

"Edge is much better than Christian."

I don't know how true that is, but for the sake of argument, let's say that Edge is more talented than Christian in terms of in-ring ability. It's definately not true on the microphone, so let's stick with wrestling. Even if Edge were better, that's a poor argument to use against a wrestler one doesn't like. Edge and Christian were a tag team. Now, they are not. They are entirely seperate wrestlers. Even if they were still together, Edge's so-called superior ability doesn't take away from Christian's at all. I like Shelton Benjamin more than Charlie Haas, but that doesn't mean Haas isn't a good worker.

I've seen practically all of Christian's great WWF/E matches. From his cruiserweight title reign to his early tag matches with Edge. From the first Hardy Boyz vs. Edge and Christian ladder match to TLC. From his Rebellion Pay-Per-View cage match to his series with Booker T. Christian is a good worker who can sometimes be a great worker given the right environment. In a few days, he'll only be thirty years old. He has so much more time in his career to improve to greater heights and to also entertain us for years to come.

"Gee, you're right. Christian is a very good worker and deserves a chance to elevate himself further. He's both technically skilled and performs unique signature moves. He's excellent on the microphone. He moves about the ring with fluidity and grace like a Greek god. What's it like always being right, Leon?"

I strain under the burden.