"LONG TIME; NO WRITE" - Updated March 26, 2004 4:00PM
WHY 99.9% OF THE MARKS ARE BLINDED BY THEIR OWN HIDDEN AGENDA AGAINST VKM. In the 80's Vincent Kennedy McMahon bought off talent left and right from Independent territories and in part he helped to cripple many regional promotions while doing this. Vince did this to add depth to his own territory because he had visions of global expansion in his mind. A lot of regional promoters did not want Vince to attempt this and laughed at the idea because it was "suicide" and "couldn't be done".
But Vince did it. No one can argue this because it is a well documented fact. Vince took the territorial business and molded it in to what he envisioned it being. At the same time he was booking a product that was as far away from traditional wrestling as any promotion ever could be. Vince gained a real reputation during this period for being the 'anti-Christ' of pro wrestling in a sense. By this people said Vince McMahon wasn't promoting "wrestling" but "sports entertainment". Vince himself coined the phrase "Sports Entertainment" when he got wrestling de-regulated in New Jersey. Vince testified that professional wrestling was "pre-determined" during this infamous trial to help de-regulate the business. A lot of wrestling people & wrestling promoters hated Vince McMahon for doing this and saw him as a villain for doing this. They didn't think the business should be exposed and didn't like the fact that Vince was buying up "wrestling" acts left & right and using them as "sports entertainers" first and as professional wrestlers second. And in some cases he didn't even promote them as being "wrestlers" at all. During this period everyone hated Vince McMahon's company who was an "insider" and openly criticized him for running a "circus". WWE was called "The Circus" by many "smart fans" during this period. Dave Meltzer's National Wrestling Observer generally spear headed the rally against Vince McMahon's company. I remember when BIG TIME WCW/NWA "wrestlers" (like Ric Flair) would leave WCW/NWA for WWE their careers would be 'over' in the sense that the publication would down play them as being legit marketable attractions and when guys the publications hated would leave WWE for WCW/NWA all of a sudden they were highly marketable competitors. This still goes on with the "insider's". Guys like Jerry Lynn & D Lo Brown & Raven are stuck underneath in NWA TNA yet when they were in the same positions with Vince McMahon the same fans who now rally around them in NWA TNA were blasting WWE for "burying them" and "misusing them". The knock on Vince was he would not push any of them because they had "wrestling talent" and he didn't respect "wrestling" and would never allow a "wrestler" to win his title. Of course they discounted the fact that Ric Flair was brought over from WCW and given the WWE Title multiple times back in the early 90's.
They discount the fact that NWA TNA isn't pushing these "wrestlers" either and make excuses for why TNA isn't pushing them. Never once have I seen any of them admit the three are no better off with NWA TNA. And they aren't. In fact they are worse off. At least when they were in WWE working on the undercard they were making a hell of a lot more money then they currently are working for NWA TNA. But lets get back to the real subject matter of this column. Vince gained a reputation with the "inside" fans during the 80's because he largely concentrated on pushing talent like Hulk Hogan on top at the expense of every other "wrestler" ever to enter his company. McMahon latched on to "Hulkamania" and rode it until the craze started to fade away (become stale). He even rode it years after it had run its course but did decent business. It was during this period when the "inside" newsletters created the marketability for Mr. McMahon to exist on camera. Vince was always 100% behind the scenes back in the 80's. He was doing play by play on RAW but he kept it quiet that he was the actual owner of the promotion, he didn't want his fans to know that for some reason. By doing this he gained a lot of credibility & depth as a character. He was always present on WWE TV so it would not be a stretch to see him expand his role in front of the camera one day. But with out this anti-McMahon sentiment spawned in the 80's, there would have been no marketability (no place to go) for the Evil Mr. McMahon character of the 90's. In a sense the rhetoric surrounding Vince helped to allow him to become everything that was ever written about him. No one wrote anything good about Vince McMahon. No one on the "inside" ever promoted the fact that Vince McMahon was the greatest wrestling promoter of all time. He was just a guy who was the "anti-wrestling" promoter and screwed over talent left & right. He had little respect for his talent and lied to them. HE cheated them. He swindled them. He did this time and time again, yet they all wanted to work for him (doesn't this strike you as odd that the guy that supposedly acted like the Evil Mr. McMahon character still got all of the talent to work for his company? Oh it was the money he paid. Certainly it was they got paid the most money they ever made working for Vince's company because he was brilliant at getting them over to the mainstream public).
And now as Stephanie's entrance music basically says, "I'm all grown up now!" and so are all of the Meltzer followers of that era. They are not the writers of inside information. They are the one's who grew up understanding Vince was this EVIL guy who hated PRO WRESTLERS and PRO WRESTLING and generally speaking wanted to push Hogan & Warrior over anyone else. Hell they still are fighting the same war they were fighting in middle school or high school. They are fighting this war against Vince McMahon to prove he doesn't respect pro wrestling. When that could be the furthest thing from the truth. Vince McMahon has never been an individual who set out to HATE wrestlers or wrestling. Vince had just understood what is marketable and what isn't marketable. There was a time when is brand wasn't able to produce quality wrestling but the talent he had was marketable. Hogan, Andre, etc etc were not GREAT WRESTLERS, but they were marketable. So he ran with them on top. Any company in that era that had the services of Hogan & Andre & Piper would have used them on top. That would suggest they were "anti" anything, it would just prove they were brilliant promoters. It should not matter if talent A is a great wrestler or sucks as a wrestler, if he is what the fans want to see then he should be promoted to the moon. To disqualify someone from the list because he or she isn't the greatest "wrestler" is an absurd thing to do. Bob Sapp isn't the greatest "wrestler" in the world but if WWE had the ability to promote this guy on top, then they should! He draws money and that is all that counts in the wrestling business. But these "all grown up now!" insider fans who became writers started to criticize Vince McMahon all over again on 1wrestling.com and other news pages during the "Attitude" days. Now he did not respect "good wholesome, clean wrestling". Damn straight he didn't because it didn't make any money. Once again he was ahead of the curve and was doing what would make his company marketable nationally. But he was also producing some of the best wrestling content in the wrestling business during this period and he didn't get any credit for doing such.
Austin v. Bret Hart was a smorgasbord of good wrestling action. Shawn Michaels was an excellent wrestler and his series of matches with Hart were awesome. Yet these critics still scoffed at the idea that McMahon actually did promote "wrestling". They found reasons to continue to brag about how Vince was the SATAN of pro wrestling. It all began to center around "The Clique". Now the "Clique" was keeping talent down left & right and was causing the "internet's" favorites to JOB. Shane Douglas was "run out of WWE" by "The Clique" and forced to hand over his recently won IC Title to Razor Ramon. NO one could just accept that Shane Douglas has been a miserable person to get along with his entire wrestling career. Shane Douglas burned his bridges in ECW many times because he has a EGO. He has always found a way to belly ache and whine when leaving a territory or claim someone, somewhere was out to get him. When ECW was born all of the talent that eventually wound up in WWE was going to be "buried" by Vince. Yet one by one they weren't. Still no one saw the writing on the wall or were too hell bent on hating Vince to write about it. Foley's debut as Mankind was going to "kill his career" and bury him. In short it got him two best selling books and multiple World Titles.
Austin going to WWE as "Ringmaster" was the end of his career. In short he became the most marketable performer in the history of the wrestling business, even bigger then Hogan. Yeah you can name guys that went from ECW that didn't "make it", but so what. You can name guys that left WWE to go to ECW that "didn't make it" as well. The point is, there was no lack of respect, no lack of upward movement for talent that could help Vince make some money. Vince McMahon always put guys on top that he thought had the slightest chance of making him some money. Yet he was still hated and bad mouthed. Even when he was presenting 5 star matches on every single PPV he ran based around throwback wrestling attractions like Austin & Bret Hart. Every now and then he would give the belt to Undertaker and people would say "see, told you so!" and brag on about how Vince only pushed "bigger wrestlers". When there was no upward movement in WCW under Eric Bischoff and talent like Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit & Eddy Guerrero were talking about going to WWE a lot of the brass in WCW laughed at them and called their bluffs. Vince McMahon would never give them a shot on top because they lacked size. They were "midgets". Some high ranking WCW officials even called Jericho a "midget" in interviews after he left WCW for WWE. Of course most of the people who had an agenda against Vince McMahon saw this as their chance to prove he hated "wrestlers".
None of these guys would be any better off in WWE then they were with WCW. They would be BURIED to death by Vince. They would be midcarders for life in WWE. Jericho arrived in WWE and was given a huge push right to the main event, but he never made it that far. He worked the undercard for a lot of years and allowed these critics to brag about how Vince would never allow a "wrestler" like Jericho to actually win the WWE World Title. It just wasn't going to ever happen. They took pleasure and pride in bragging about this fact and trying to tear down the entire business. Vince McMahon didn't rush Jericho to the top and he waited. He then put Jericho over as the "First Undisputed Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" in wrestling history beating both Steve Austin & The Rock on the same night to unify the WCW & WWE Titles. Still this wasn't good enough for these critics. Somehow the push wasn't done correctly and Jericho wasn't really a legit champion. They effectively turned on Jericho and no longer were asking WWE to give him the World Title (he had it now), but were writing about how Jericho would simply be a transition champion and post title reign wouldn't be anything special. I saw them turn on him and it pissed me off. Vince was still somehow the villain in all of this. There was other wrestlers like Rob Van Dam & Tazz & Chris Benoit & Eddy Guerrero who the internet wanted to see on top. Instead of writing or putting over how Jericho had made it to that level they began to talk about the other wrestlers. If one of them lost a match they were being buried.
If one of them won a match they weren't being pushed, just were being misused. If the win happened it wasn't big enough or didn't mean anything. If a loss happened it meant they were doomed to stay on the undercard for the rest of their careers. Benoit & Guerrero would go on to actually holding both versions of the WWE World Titles at the same time. Eddy the WWE Smackdown World Title and Chris the WWE RAW World Title. Did anyone give Vince McMahon credit for pushing these two wrestlers to the top of the mountain at the same time? NO! In fact, I have read columns about how Guerrero is "only a transition" champion. Guerrero was obviously going to drop the belt to Kurt Angle at WMXX, but that didn't happen and Guerrero has been pushed on Smackdown. I read how Triple H was never going to allow Chris Benoit to look strong and was going to bury him at WMXX. I read about how Benoit wasn't being "PUSHED CORRECTLY" on RAW leading to WMXX and was second fiddle to HBK. But yet he still made Triple H tap out at WMXX and won the RAW World Title. The emphasis during both these title reigns IS NOT placed on how many weeks or months they survive with the World Title, it is placed on when they are going to lose the titles. And when they lose the belts no matter if it is a year from now or a day from now the columns are going to be the same. They are going claim they were buried and send back to the midcard. I don't know a former World Champion who wasn't sent back to the midcard after dropping the title. They have to go somewhere, unless they are just going to win the belt right back instantly and then the guy they beats has to go somewhere as well. What is the midcard? Anything under the main event? Only 2 guys can work the main event on a given PPV (unless its a tag or match with multiple talent involved). But my point here is, no matter if Benoit or Guerrero are pushed "correctly" or not the internet community has already TURNED on them.
I read about how Smackdown still lacks STAR POWER/STAR APPEAL and how HHH obviously has a ego problem and perceives Smackdown as the in superior brand and has gone back to RAW to bury Edge. I am laughing at this! Just about six months ago people were upset that Booker T was being used as a midcard wrestler when he deserved to be up their with HHH & HBK & AUSTIN, etc. Now all of a sudden Booker T & D Von & Bubba being traded for Triple H so Booker T can be a main event player over on the Smackdown brand is a BAD BUSINESS DECISION driven by HHH's ego? What happened to the love affair with Booker T being ready and able to be a major player on top? I thought he had some major star appeal and was being misused on RAW? And what about Rob Van Dam. How many times have I read that the type of reactions he gets over on RAW are the same type of reactions that the main event players are getting and he should be closer to the top of the card then he is? Well what happened to this? If he is getting the pops that main event wrestlers are getting then doesn't that prove he has STAR APPEAL? Do fans want to see HHH more then RVD? I thought fans wanted not to see HHH because they "hated" how he was being rammed down our throats? Now all of a sudden these morons want HHH on Smackdown over Booker & RVD? It doesn't make much sense because RVD & Booker are closer to the top of the mountain with Smackdown then they would be on RAW.
But it isn't about the facts with these people. It isn't about who is or isn't being pushed. Damn we have Eddy Guerrero who people claimed deserved to be where he is currently at but then they write columns disrespecting him by saying Smackdown doesn't have any "established" stars. How can they not have any established stars post Lesnar when Eddy himself beat Lesnar and beat Angle at WMXX. I don't understand how any one in their right mind can argue that RVD & Booker T & Eddy Guerrero are not 'stars'. These are three guys who should be at the top of the business and get the reactions to be at the top of the business. Instead these people who hate HHH wanted to see him go to Smackdown? I understand why, so when he beat Guerrero for the title (and he would have) they could claim Vince was doing it again. "OH HE'S DOING IT AGAIN!"... "HE'S BURYING EDDY! TOLD YOU SO! ITS THE DREADED TRIPLE H EFFECT!". Give me a break. There is on Triple H on Smackdown so there is in essence no way Eddy is going to be "buried" and none of the Smackdown wrestlers (outside of The Undertaker) have held the WWE Smackdown World Title and thus there is no possibilities of Eddy losing the title to someone who is above him. Well, Angle could return but who has a problem with Kurt Angle? LOL. My point is there is no way for Eddy to be "buried" now on Smackdown and I think in part that is why a lot of people are pissed off at HHH going to RAW.
No reason to bitch at Vince over on the Smackdown business model because Vince has set it up to promote new talent to the top positions on the brand. If Eddy drops the belt to Booker T there is no way for anyone to claim Booker T doesn't deserve the title. There is no way for them to claim Eddy was buried either. If Eddy drops the belt to John Layfield, again there is no way for anyone to prove that Eddy was "buried" because he is wrestling a guy who has never been to the top of the mountain in the wrestling world and thus it would just be WWE trying to establish someone fresh on top. The only guy on Smackdown that has a chance to bury anybody is Undertaker. And I don't think Undertaker is going to be put in matches with babyfaces upon his arrival on the scene. So the chances of Eddy dropping the belt to Undertaker are almost non existent. Over on RAW there is a better chance of Benoit dropping the title to someone who has already held the World Title, since RAW has most of the already "established" names. But Benoit has the great ability to be a "throwback" champion who in my opinion is bullet-proof. They can't bury a Chris Benoit if they wanted too. It is my opinion the hatred directed at Vince McMahon stems from this subconscious fixation to hate everything he puts his hands on. Even if it is 100% "pro wrestling" related. No one can claim they saw this era coming where we could brag about Jericho being the first ever Undisputed Champion and claim Benoit & Guerrero held WWE World Gold. No one could claim that saw it coming because no one believed Vince McMahon had it in him to allow these guys to make it to the top spots in his company. Vince deserves praise for allowing these talented individuals to make it to those spots, when other promoters in the same position refused to allow them to rise to those spots. He should not be shunned and his legacy should not be written as a guy who "doesn't" respect professional wrestling or professional wrestlers.
NEXT COLUMN I WILL BREAK MY SILENCE AND DISCUSS ROB FEINSTEIN, I won't be nice!
"THINGS III" - Updated February 8, 2003 4:00PM
A LACK OF CREATIVITY? So the knock on the wrestling business right now is there is a lack of creativity. Columnists have even come up with cutesy names to define the WWE Creative Team ("Stephanie's Boobs" was a term coined by Dave Scherer or PWInsider.com to describe the WWE Creative Team led by Stephanie McMahon-Levesque. I'm not a fan of such terminology because in my honest opinion it demeans the individuals present on the WWE Creative Team as well as diminishes the writer who came up with the terms credibility. I mean if you were 16 then perhaps using such a term in your daily updates would be "cool" but for an adult it is sophomoric humor that misses its mark quite a bit in my opinion) to show their discomfort and displeasure in the state of the business.
Has the business really fallen as far from grace as these columnists suggest? Or are they just spoiled? I happen to think in most cases these columnists have become spoiled in a sense. I look at some of the storylines & angles written during the height of WWE as opposed to what is being written in today's product and I scoff at the idea that todays product is worse off then yesterdays. Does anyone care to remember skits like "Rock this is your Life" or Mae Young Giving Birth to Mark Henry's Baby, which by the way turned out to be a hand! Does anyone remember when Ahmed Johnson went in to apparent cardiac arrest and Goldust decided to give him the french version of CPR? Does anyone remember when WWE thought the answer was to bring in The Inane Clown Posee (thanks to Dave Whitaker for coming up with that one!)? Does anyone have a memory? Maybe the problem with todays columnists isn't having a good sense of what is good or what isn't good, maybe just maybe they have ADD.
Attention Deficit Disorder. Maybe they have done to many drugs back in the 70's and have bad long term & in some cases bad short term memories. Or perhaps they just forget the past and like to yell at Vince McMahon for doing the same thing with his company. I mean how many times have you heard someone scream that WWE doesn't remember their own storylines? Perhaps the Creative Team does remember them quite fondly and understands they were HORRIBLE! Perhaps in the moment when the masses were hooked, WWE realized they could program 2 hours of golden crap and the mainstream fans were going to buy it hook, like & sinker! Perhaps when "Rock this is your Life" got an 8.4 in the ratings, Vince McMahon was grinning from ear to ear because he had peddled smut.
Not smut like that peddled by Larry Flynt, Hugh Heffner, Howard Stern or CBS/VIACOM. But defined as smut by TRUE WRESTLING FANS. Wrestling fans who tuned in to RAW that night to perhaps see Mick Foley wrestle a hardcore match against someone of equal status and instead got Yurple the clown, actresses & actors purporting to be from Rock's past and a bunch of talk for nearly half of the show. To me it was the single worst skit ever produced by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and I hated every second of it. But you know what? I laughed my ass off when it happened. In hindsight I can recognize it was the ANTI-WRESTLING. But I can also admit it was the most watched segment in the history of WWE and RAW. But does that mean WWE should bring back Yurple the clown next week to get back to the glory days? Most fans of today look at the numbers as compared to the one's before and automatically think the writing has gotten a lot worse then it actually has. It really hasn't. What happened was the masses revolted back to watching moronic shows like "Survivor" or "Fear Factor" or decided to watch less tv and play more PSX.
Don't worry, ratings are down across the board with the key demographic WWE seeks. But lets get back on track. This isn't a column about ratings, this isn't a column about the past. This is a column about doing something about what you are thinking about. So you agree with the people who think the product has gotten worse storyline wise and want to give something back? I have written "fantasy columns" before and refuse to do them now. I think it shows a lack of respect for the entire industry and the entire creative process for me to be so sanctimonious and toss around a few good ideas and suggest that if I was in fact in control of the WWE Creative Process I could somehow do a better job then those currently in place. Because frankly, I couldn't. Sure I can come up with ideas on the fly and pop my readership. I can write column after column and get messages flooding my e-mail box with people telling me WWE should hire me as the head writer of the Creative team. But I know absolutely NOTHING about what it takes to be in that position. I would be lost on the first day in charge of the WWE Creative Team. Sure over time I would learn how to exist in that structure, but during the first few weeks of my employment the RAW show would suck eggs.
Because I wouldn't have clue #1 how to implement any of my ideas. Do I hold meetings and just give orders to the talent? Do I write scripts and hand them out to the talent? Do I schmozz with VKM first and run all of my ideas by him? Do you even know how the process works? Sure I could pump ideas to the head of the creative team and probably help invent some interesting storylines. But this would simply make me an "idea" man. I would be as good as Vince Russo was until my ideas dried up and then I could probably work the world in to thinking that I actually "turned" WWE around and created their boom, hell I could probably work groups like WCW & NWA TNA in to thinking I actually single handedly did turn WWE business around and sign huge contracts with them promising to turn their brands around as well. But I would be full of it. I'll the be the first to go on record right now and say that I really think Vince Russo is full of it. And I have talked to Russo before on the phone and I thought he was full of it back then as well. Now contrary to what some people are going to write about what I just wrote, the entire intention of this column wasn't to see how many times I could say Russo was full of it, but in actuality, it was because I wanted to pen the first quality based column that I have tried to write in a long time.
You see, I lost my passion somewhere along the road to covering pro wrestling. I decided that perhaps my readers didn't want hear my voice so much as read the news that I provided to them on a daily basis. But I have since discovered that perhaps my talents have been wasted for some time. And also I wanted to write a long column to piss of my critics. I want to quote one of the greatest American's of all time (in my eyes) right now and say when I die, I hope they bury me upside down so my critics can kiss my ass (thank you Bobby Knight for that quote). I don't really care what people think about me or what they think about what I write. I have always written for myself and for no one else. I might get off track every so often and venture in different directions, but that is okay. Right now I am trying to talk about the Creative issues. As I stated above I don't write "Fantasy Columns" again and I won't print them in my newsletter either. But what I will do is give ideas on occasion. I will pass along my ideas of what should or should now happen on occasion. This to me is not showing the creative team a lack of respect. This is perfectly okay.
The Creative team loves ideas. Ideas are what inspires creation. So what I am suggesting here is that we open the flood gates up and perhaps turn this all around on to you my readers. You think you can come up with 10 good ideas that will turn WWE business around? Write them down and send them in to me! I want to see ideas, ideas and more IDEAS! I want to see so many ideas flooding my e-mail boxes that I get sick of ideas.
MORE ON ICP SITUATION AT THE MID-ATLANTIC FAN CONVENTION. Mike Mooneyham recently wrote a column detailing the Insane Clown Posse's situation at the Mid-Atlantic Fan Convention. I bring this up again because there are some morons online who actually believe it wasn't ICP who caused the disruption at the convention, but instead two ICP fans dressed up to look like ICP and an Independent Wrestler who caused the disruption. In an issue of LEWD I openly discussed how ICP had gotten heat backstage at the NWA TNA show because of their assault on Jim Cornette (who is a legend in the Nashville region and remains one of the most respect performers of the Smokey Mountain market). Cornette agreed to do a "question and answer" session at the convention and it was disrupted by The Insane Clown Posse, who were then asked and required to leave the building due to their unprofessional behavior. Cornette has since gotten rave reviews for the way he handled the entire situation and actually had his legend grow because of the quick witted response he had for ICP's attempt to heckle him that night. Cornette was joined on stage by Les Thatcher (who owns and operates Heartland Wrestling Association based out of Ohio), James J. Dillon (who works with and form Major League Wrestling based out of Florida and is a legendary wrestling figure himself) and Bobby Eaton (who is semi-retired from the ring and is a legend himself).
Mooneyham wrote in his latest column about the convention that, "All, however, didn't go smoothly. Two members of the rap/wrestling group Insane Clown Posse were asked to leave after reportedly heckling Cornette during his VIP members-only session. Although ICP had passes for the event, their loud and disruptive comments prompted their departure, said several fans in attendance. When the two declared that they had VIP passes and weren't leaving, Cornette responded, "And that means one thing. You paid 100 bucks to come see me," before launching into one of his inimitable diatribes and shouting them down." Through this the majority of the audience was laughing, note to all ICP fans, laughing at ICP not with them. ICP were thoroughly put in their places by Cornette and then shown the door by the security at the event. Cornette however continued his assault on ICP Mooneyham wrote in his column by saying the following as they were being escorted out.
"Rap is noise that no one wants to particularly hear, which is why you boys have to pick up those little outlaw bookings for $25 a shot." And that was the end of ICP as they were tossed out of the convention. Interesting is Bobby Eaton helped to personally escort the two morons out of the building as the fans in attendance were heard erupting with loud "raucous" cheers according to Mooneyham. He also stated the fans began singing "na na hey hey hey goodbye" at the two clowns.
Mooneyham also discussed the situation involving Buddy Landel which also happened at the same convention. Landel has since apologized for his behavior at the convention and has vowed to get help for his alcohol problem. Insane Clown Posse on the other hand hasn't offered an apology for their behavior at the convention and instead probably are supporting the theory that they were not even at the convention and it was simply two fans and an independent wrestler dressed up as them. The fact is it was Insane Clown Posse and Bobby Eaton, Gary Price, Les Thatcher, Jim Cornette and everyone else who was at the convention can testify that it was in fact Insane Clown Posse who caused a major disruption at the event.
INSIDE THE BUSINESS; A LOOK AT WHY WCW REALLY WENT OUT OF BUSINESS. You can talk about finances all you want and a lack of being able to 'create stars' as well, but the reason why WCW went out of business was a different story altogether.
There was a pattern which I want to discuss in this column, which I think points to the reason why WCW went out of business. And it isn't something that was exclusive to one power regime. This was something WCW management had accomplished ever since it began to compete with WWE. Call it a lack of understanding of how the business operates or a naive business nature if you will, call it what ever you want to call it (it doesn’t really matter what you label it). Ever since I can remember WCW operating on a semi-national level there were problems with the way they operated.
There was a problem with WCW signing certain talent to short term contracts and then not recognizing this talent was good enough to make it to the highest level obtainable. Lets look at a few names so we can begin to recognize this pattern. "Mean" Mark Callis. He was a midcard character in WCW used in WCW's tag team division. There was no recognition in WCW that this guy was going to one day be a legend. In fact, no one in WCW ever talked about his talent or the fact that he was one day going to be a World Champion. So what happened? He left after only a few months of working on WCW Television and signed with the competition. He debuted in WWE with a new character known as The Undertaker. It is now around 13 or 14 years since Calloway worked for WCW and he is still wrestling and is still at the top of his profession.
Scott Hall was brought in to WCW and put in the midcard tag team division with Diamond Dallas Page. He was going nowhere in WCW pretty quickly and he had signed a short term deal with WCW. WCW did not recognize the talent he had and thus didn't plan on doing much with him. He eventually accepted an offer from Vince McMahon to venture to the World Wrestling Federation, where he became Razor Ramon. He went on to become one of the most popular characters in WWE history. He made WWE a lot of money with the Razor Ramon character. Yet WCW did not recognize his talent until after he left WWE to return to WCW years later, may I add after Vince McMahon made him in to a money making machine.
Kevin Nash was with WCW first, before he went to WWE. In fact he was handed his debut by Jim Herd as part of a midcard tag team known as The Master Blasters. WCW saw more in his tag team partner Al Greene then they saw in Nash. Nash was under a short term contract with WCW and after months and months of being pushed as a midcard talent in a tag team with Diamond Dallas Page he opted out and went to the competition, where he became Diesel. Diesel eventually became one of the hottest attractions in WWE history and had one of the longest WWE Title Reigns in the history of the company. Eventually Vince McMahon turned Nash in to such a star that he went back to WCW and was credited with turning the entire business around as part of the New World Order.
Lets talk about Terra Rizing, who was in WCW for a short period of time as part of a mirdcard tag team. He was part of William Regal's Blue Bloods team and balked at staying with WCW when it was apparent he was never going to materialize in to being a major player. And it didn't take him long to figure this out either and where did he end up at? WWE. He was given the ring name of Hunter Hearst Helmsley in WWE. Vince McMahon saw something in him and now he is probably one of the greatest World Heavyweight Champions of any era. By the way he also married Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie McMahon and is going to be a fixture with WWE for the rest of his life. This is a guy who was under the complete control of WCW prior to Vince McMahon getting his hands on him
Steve Austin. Here is another talent we can throw in to the stuck in midcard tag team role by WCW. He was under contract for a longer period of time then most of the others but eventually went to WWE as well. He became the biggest draw in the history of WWE and remains as over today as he was then. But WCW didn't recognize this potential and let him go to the competition.
Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero. These are all names of talent that were stuck in WCW on the under card and eventually left for the competition. Certainly not all of them are representative of the names on the list above.
But Benoit, Jericho & Guerrero certainly are. I can point to how all three are headed to becoming the top wrestlers on this era in WWE. And WCW had all of them under their control, locked up in contracts prior to Vince McMahon getting his hands on them.
But I saved the best for last. The one man who WCW let slip through their hands who not only could have turned their business around, but could have offered them so much more then just a wrestling talent. Mick Foley.
Mick Foley was stuck in midcard tag teams his entire WCW career and was never given any type of a chance to reach the top of his profession. Some people laughed at the idea of Foley being pushed as a top hand with WCW because he was never looked like he fit the role. But he went to WWE and got his chance and made it. Not only did he become one of the most popular WWE superstars of all time but he also became a #1 best selling author with WWE. And this is someone WCW controlled! Someone Vince McMahon should have never been able to market.
So we can see the pattern. It existed. WCW didn't know how to direct the talent they had. It wasn't about creating talent because WCW controlled this talent from the start. Vince McMahon didn't create these talents more so then just nurturing them to becoming top attractions with his company. The problem with WCW was a lack of recognition. They were not able to recognize good talent when the talent was right under their own noses. Instead WCW let these guys go to WWE time and time again.
Vince McMahon must have been grinning from ear to ear because he saw what he had in these guys. He knew that with the right exposure and the right time in the ring, eventually these guys would become the future of his company. And that is what has happened. Not all of them were going to be the future in year one, but some were. I compare it to what good baseball minds can do with limited funds. The Yankee’s might have the highest pay roll in baseball but that doesn’t mean a team with half the pay roll can’t compete with them. As long as the team hires good baseball people who know the game, they can win out in the end by making solid baseball decisions. But even If you give hundreds of millions of dollars to teams with inadequate baseball minds then they will spend the money in the wrong areas and pass over good baseball talent along the way. And this is what happened with WCW. They had a lot of money to throw around but had insuperior wrestling minds operating their company. Vince McMahon knew the wrestling business better then WCW’s executives did. Vince McMahon never spent as much money to compete against WCW but he got all of the talent required to beat WCW, because the WCW executives knew NOTHING about directing a wrestling operation outside of in most cases being worked by the veteran talent (who were out for their own financial gain). It would be like the St. Louis Cardinals passing on Albert Pujuls because their baseball people knew nothing about baseball talent and asked the guy who he was about to replace if he was worth signing or not. In most cases in that situation the veteran talent is going to look out for #1 and tell management to pass on the player because he isn’t quite as talented. This is what happened in WCW. And Vince McMahon never did this.
Some of the talent WCW passed on took 11 years to be the future, some took 11 months. But the thing is WCW could have had all of this talent to themselves and at one time did! Instead of spending millions and millions of dollars on Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, etc all WCW really needed to do is hire someone like Paul Heyman to run their organization (from a creative perspective, not a business one). If WCW would have spent all of its bank on bringing in a solid WRESTLING mind and kept all of this talent, then Vince McMahon would have never got this talent. Imagine if WCW had Eric Bischoff running the business end of the company and Paul Heyman writing the creative end. They would have been dominant! Funny thing is WCW also at one point had Heyman under contract, they didn’t recognize his talent, he left and created Extreme Championship Wrestling. Ultimately WCW would have shined through this if they had only recognized the talent they had right under their noses,.but they failed to see in them what Vince McMahon saw in them and let them go to WWE.
FIRST FAN RESPONSE TO CREATIVE ISSUES:
CREATIVE ISSUE'S: OPENING UP THE DISCUSSION TO THE READERS (MAIL BAG). Over the next few weeks I hope to bring you more quality response to my recent column. The first such response was written by Dale Spear and follows unedited in its original form.
"To LEWD:
I enjoy your well reasoned rants and your newsletter, but I have to tell you that the recent one on WWE storylines is a little over protective of WWE and a little targeted at Scherer. Simply stated, I want storylines that I CAN suspend disbelief...not The Undertaker embalming anyone, not stupid cartoon characters and people getting run over by a semi truck and appearing the next week, not hitting people with a sledgehammer, etc. The This Is Your Life segment for The Rock was NOT an angle but a comedy bit. It was funny and at the time I thought fit the Foley character. Then Mick would go out and bust his ass in a match. I like some of the recent direction of the WWE having wrestlers as champs pushing the Kurt Angles, Chris Benoits and Eddy Guerreros. I've actually enjoyed The Triple H and Shawn Michaels matches (I, like you, am not a Triple H fan, but he has taken up a notch lately against a great worker like Shawn) Perhaps I'm old school and we'll never return to those days again since Kayfabe has died. I still like a good story, a good feud and a sinister, believable act or two and I sometimes see it on WWE programming.
As for 10 story ideas to turn the WWE around...not for free and I'm lucky if I could come up with three, but I did send one to Jim Ross a few years ago and he sent me a nice thank you note back. I suggested that instead of having Mick Foley retire at the peak of his career when rumors were flying that he might, the WWF should make him Commissioner and he could wander the back halls of events and suggest the type of crazy matches he used to work. This was at least three months before the WWF did this. Maybe it was obvious. Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe I helped. Maybe I'm full of it, but it's the truth.
Thanks for a great newsletter. I'm a Boston sports fan too having grown up in Maine, but now live in Minneapolis. It's HARD to be a Minnesota sports fan. They don't GET IT!
Dale Spear"
"THINGS II" - Updated December 11, 2003 8:00PM
I am currently watching Smackdown. They just did a promo with Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman to set up Misterio v. Lesnar in a non title match. Very well done skit and I certainly look forward to seeing the match between Lesnar & Misterio. It really does not matter if Misterio loses this match, because he is so over in San Diego that the people will overlook a loss. He is the biggest underdog in the world on this show and thus a loss won't hurt his career.
Right now Rhyno is on his way to the ring to take on Bradshaw. It is good to see Rhyno back in the swing of things on Smackdown. I think Rhyno is one of the talents that has been under utilized on the Smackdown brand and if he could get back on the show full time he could help out quite a bit. Rhyno is a very intense superstar who is ready to break through to the other side, so to speak.
How about WWE sending the superstars to Iraq to tape a show? Imagine what that show is going to be like. I just hope they have a "falls count anywhere" match and brawl in to the desert. That would be so cool to see something like that happen. Then they could have some Saddam impersonator show up and have the talent beat the crap out of him. It would seem realistic since they would be in Iraq. This is a once in a life time opportunity for WWE to do something like that.
WM is so far away but it seems like it is right around the corner. I can't wait for WM 20 in New York. I think it is going to be the greatest WM of all time. We know that Rock is going to wrestle on the show. We know WWE is going to bring back some of the legends from the other twenty WM's. It certainly could be the greatest WM of all time if WWE spends enough money to get everyone involved in the show. I know it talent wise will be the most talented WM of all time. WWE has so much talent on the roster that the show could be the greatest line up of all time for a WM. Top to bottom they could have 12-14 main event matches. I just hope they build them all up properly so they all mean a lot.
Well that is about it from me. Rhyno is about to beat Bradshaw. When that happens all is right in the world of pro wrestling for three seconds at least.
"THINGS" - Updated October 26, 2003 8:00AM
Have things calmed down a bit? Triple H (Paul Levesque) is no longer the RAW World Champion and he has dropped the title to Goldberg a while back. Goldberg has been running with the ball on RAW and the ratings haven't rebounded. There was this thought that once Triple H dropped the title the ratings would rebound back to the levels they should have been at if it wasn't for the strangle hold Triple H held over the brand. Of course now the argument is Triple H didn't allow Goldberg to be pushed correctly and thus he isn't as effective as he would have been if he was pushed as a total dominant monster his entire stay with WWE. I don't buy it. I don't think the ratings had much to do with who was on top personally. I think anyone who carries the belt isn't going to make the ratings rebound. WWE needs to hit the home run they hit when Mike Tyson came onboard to help Austin become as big as he became. No one knows what that home run is or how to manipulate it in to happening.
No one knows who is going to be the next Austin. Certainly the company would like to think they can judge who is going to be the next big superstar to carry the business to new heights, but they can't. I would think with the right platform there are a few wrestlers in WWE right now who could be that big thing WWE needs. One of course is John Cena. Cena has all of the tools and only needs to be given a huge push to make it to the next level. I don't think Cena is ready just yet though, I think he needs another couple of months underneath before he is ready to rule on top in WWE. I think once Cena is ready there will be no stopping him from becoming one of the top superstars in this industry. I would look to WrestleMania 20 as the coming out party for John Cena in WWE. If they presented him correctly at WrestleMania 20 and brought in the right celeb to be in his corner, by his side, then I think the sky would be the limit for Cena's popularity to grow. I have my ideas on how they should market Cena to the young kids and the quickest way to get to the young kids is to put Cena with someone like Eminem. Eminem is controversial enough in the media to fit in to what Vince McMahon likes to accomplish with this kind of publicity and he connects with the younger demographic WWE needs to attract. Cena's gimmick would only gain a lot more credibility by pairing up with Eminem, it is almost a no brainier to bring in Eminem for at least some type of appearance at WM20.
Eddie Guerrero is poised to be one of the biggest superstars in WWE if he is pushed correctly over the next few months and weeks. I really think Guerrero has the ability and look to be a top attraction on Smackdown. All Guerrero needs is the chance to be the World Champion for a few months to make it to the next level. The big question is whether or not Guerrero has the ability to break through to the next level and drive business like others have. I am not so positive Guerrero has the ability to do this, but I could be wrong. I would like to find out if I am wrong and see Guerrero win the Smackdown World Title sometime in the next few months. I think Guerrero deserves this honor and he would be one of the greatest Champions of all time in my opinion. I think if WWE doesn't present Guerrero with this chance to wear the World Title, they would be doing their company & brand a disservice. Also to give a talent such as Eddie Guerrero the honor of holding one of the two World Titles would show the underneath talent that hard work does pay off in the end. It would up morale in my opinion because Eddie Guerrero has always been one of the hardest workers in the history of the business who has never gotten to the top of the business. It certainly would make all of the younger talent take notice and realize they to through hard work could obtain the same accomplishments Guerrero obtained. I think just for that reason it would be a strong move on WWE's behalf to give Guerrero the title in the future.
Who on RAW has the potential to carry the business to new heights? Some are looking at Goldberg and thinking if he only got a better push he would be able to do this. I am not so certain he would have been able to do this. I don't think Goldberg could have reached a new level in WWE. I think Goldberg is as over as he is ever going to be in this business. It isn't as if the fans dislike Goldberg these days, it is just the audience has changed quite a bit since Goldberg's WCW days. The audience who paid bucks to see Goldberg don't watch wrestling anymore and even if Goldberg is back they aren't going to start watching again. So the project known as Goldberg in WWE hasn't been a failure by any means, but it hasn't been the success WWE hoped it would be. Obviously they thought by bringing back Goldberg it would bring the ratings back around the 5.0 level. This didn't happen. It was insane to think it would happen. I think Goldberg can be marketable if he is pushed correctly over the next few weeks and months, but I don't think he is going to be as marketable as the WWE had hoped him to be right away. I think Goldberg could be a break through star in other entertainment industries if he is given a chance to shine in those industries.
Rob Van Dam is in my opinion the one wild card talent WWE currently has on their rosters. I don't have faith in RVD to make it to the next level because he doesn't seem to have the fire he had in ECW and it shows. There are times when RVD turns it back on and looks great in action and other times when he doesn't. Some would say this is due to the WWE pushing him incorrectly. But for some reason I think there is something there to RVD being World Champion and lifting up the entire business. I don't know why but I just think it is RVD's destiny to win the World Title and lift the business to new heights. It doesn't matter what WWE does to Rob Van Dam in the end, because if I am correct it is his DESTINY to do this. Nothing WWE can do is going to stop him from reaching his destiny in my opinion. This doesn't mean it is going to happen in WWE mind you. It just means that one day RVD is going to be wearing a World Title and he is going to lift business up. I feel this in my heart and hope for WWE's sake they re-sign RVD to a new contract. I really think RVD is going to be a megastar in less then 3 years.
In the end WWE has a lot of talent under contract. You take a look at the talent and you have no idea what you really have. Especially with the young talent. It is a crap shoot nine times out of ten and developing the talent in to superstars isn't as easy of a task as some make it out to be. You have to hope the talent catches on with the audience in one way or another. In some cases it isn't easy to get the fans to care about the new talent, in other cases it is hard to make the fans not care about the new talent. Is the business okay? I think it is. I think WWE has brought up enough new talent to help the business reset in a sense. It was needed for the business to slow the product down and that has happened. It has been a slow re-education but it is coming along nicely. I think the automatic reaction to the slow down was to blast the company and claim they were watering down the product. It was to claim they were destroying their company by watering down the product.
But now they have two viable brands that operate their own PPV shows and will have their own Magazine's in 2004. The extension is right on schedule to where WWE can honestly begin to create new PPV platforms in 2004. No one ever though two brands being run by one company could work. It has worked. We will look back at this and understand this was the smartest move WWE ever made in a few years. For a while you didn't know if we would look back at the extension as another failed angle that was ended less then a year after it began. Enough time has passed with the extension that people are not questioning when it should end anymore, they have accepted this is how things are. And that is a good thing.
"Mark's v. Smart's" - Updated September 1, 2003 8:00PM
I read the awesome column that contributing editor Mike Maynard sent out a few minutes ago. Although I do not agree 100% with the content, I do share some of the opinions on pro wrestling as were addressed in the column.
I have been toying with the idea of writing this column for some time now. This is how I feel about the educational process that went on to educate “marks” in to “smart fans and what I think it did to the business. I think it may have helped to kill the business to a certain extent. I think a lot about how Bill Watts governed his promotion. Watts was a strange fellow when it came to ruling his empire. Watts had some really strange rules the talent had to follow or they would be fired. One of those rules was: heels & faces could not associate with each other in public.
Today (in part due to the education of non smart fans) this would be scoffed at by talent. Heels & faces do interact with each other in public. It is my opinion that I itself has hurt wrestling. So when I think about how Watts would struggle to exist in todays wrestling climate, I think back to the day when Vince McMahon testified in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On that day he told the entire world that wrestling was just ‘entertainment’. Ever since that day the business educated "marks" in to “smart" fans. The proliferation of the "insider" began on that day and has grown so large today that most of the "insider’s" really are no more inside then they were when they were considered "marks".
Wrestling fans watch wrestling these days with the intent to analyze each segment on each show and pick them apart. They do this so they can re-write each segment their own way and suggest a better way the company could have brought it all together.
There are millions and millions of bookers-writers online who actually think they could write a better edition of RAW then the WWE creative staff could. But what is it all about? Do any of them understand what the business is really about? Or do they simply look at the wrestling business as "entertainment". Do they look at the talent as pawns in a chess game to be positioned by some omnipotent force who controls them? Or do they look at the talent as human beings who have emotions and feelings and may not agree to go along with every storyline concept you throw in their general direction. Do they even grasp the concept of reality themselves?
Often at times I struggle to think they understand what reality is. But perhaps I am getting a bit sidetracked with this column. This was most certainly supposed to be about the education of the "marks" creating a hybrid wrestling fan who bitches, belly aches and whines about anything that doesn't go their way. It is like that old saying, opinions are like assholes, because everyone has one.
There I was watching the NASCAR race this week end and the NASCAR announcer told me that this years race would not take place in August of next year, but instead was being moved to November next year. I chuckled, because to me that was the punchline to a funny hysterical wrestling joke. Imagine what would happen if WWE decided to move a PPV event to another month, the wrestling fanatics would have a cow about it.
Vince McMahon would be destroying the business by making an improper decision and or attempting to kill the PPV concept. I guess I can point to King of the Ring as my direct evidence to prove my point. Even though in the past the KOTR Tournament was started, stopped and re-started as a working concept, when Vince McMahon decided to do away with it this past July in favor of the first ever exclusive RAW PPV ("Bad Blood") a lot of wrestling fanatics decided Vince McMahon was "killing WWE".
They neglected to understand the decision wasn't any different then what had happened in the past, more or less they were naive about it. They were not "educated". They were not "smart". They were enlightened "marks".
Finally we have arrived at the point of the column. See, there was no education of the "marks". Certainly they learned the terminology (carny language), but once they learned it, the carny language in itself went out of favor. Today the talent do not toss around terms as much as their predecessors did in the past. Mainly because it isn't 'cool' or 'in' to use those terms these days because the “marks” use them now. There was a time in this business when an announcer going on television and using a term like "booker" or "mark" would have POPPED me. Because it was unheard of. Now it is ho-hum.
Do you understand what happened in the wrestling business to create the Mr. McMahon v. Austin angle?
Maybe no one understands why it was able to get as big as it got. Dave Meltzer deserves just as much credit for creating that money making angle as Vince McMahon & Austin do in my book. Because Meltzer began the grass roots movement which allowed a Paul Heyman to exist, to create Extreme Championship Wrestling, to begin to educating "marks". Dave Meltzer's newsletter grew and grew and grew to such heights that it allowed enough of a wide scale fan base to exist who would be able to support ECW, who in turn would BUY the Mr. McMahon v. Austin act years down the road in WWE.
With out Dave Meltzer's "National Wrestling Observer" in the 80's paving the way for this to happen, I honestly do not think WWE's angle would have been as big as it was. The reason Austin v. McMahon worked so good was because it seemed as if it was a gigantic SHOOT. It all was an offshoot of the actual SHOOT against Bret Hart in Montreal. And there was a market for that type of an angle, because of the Meltzer's and Heyman's. But after it ran its course, it killed the concept (the same angle would never work again for this reason).
Everything that was done with McMahon & Austin had been done in the 80's and no one understands that. It all happened, but it wasn’t part of the on camera show. Those types of situations happened in this business, but for real. What became popular was to take the reality of the backstage situation and use it for monetary purpose in front of the camera. And it created a hybrid wrestling fan that isn't happy about anything that happens in the current wrestling climate. You can have the greatest two performers wrestling in a "five star classic" on television for free and those fans are still going to nag about something else that happened on the same show.
So we have in a sense spoiled ourselves to such an extent that by itself we have warped ourselves. We have skewed our perceptions of what is or isn't a good wrestling show. We have deviated away from what led us to the dance and have begun to nit pick and chastise the company for doing things that just five years ago we would have considered the greatest wrestling angle of all time. These are my points:
- We no longer accept to sit back and enjoy the product unless we have our 'talent' winning the titles we want them to be winning.
- If the company is not pushing the 'talent' we want them to push we harp on how the company is burying them on a weekly basis.
- If the 'talent' we suggest should be pushed is pushed by the company, we will find some reason why the push they are given isn't good enough to meet our standards of the push they should have gotten.
- If the company does anything that we do not agree with in using this talent, then the company was ultimately attempting to kill the talents career on purpose.
- If a decision is made by upper management to change a business practice, we seem to collectively jump to conclusions and suggest doomsday type scenarios that will follow those decisions. I.E. The Brand Extension was going to murder the business and Vince was making a real big mistake by going forward with the extension. I.E. The split PPV concept was going to lower the number of buys so much that WWE would be out of business quickly after the "Bad Blood" PPV happened. None of this came true and logically it was never going to come true. But this is the hybrid wrestling fan we have created.
No longer is the wrestling fanatic simply happy or content with watching a show on television, now they want to mislead themselves and others in to thinking they could actually book a better version of the show. But the metamorphosis of the wrestling fan in to this new hybrid wrestling fanatic is killing the business and no one understands that. No matter who's ideas are being used on WWE TV, those ideas will never be good enough for these fanatics, even if WWE stole their ideas and used them!
WWE could shoot the greatest angle of all time and these fanatics are going to find something wrong with it, because it isn't about the company anymore, it isn't about the talent anymore, it isn't about having an entertaining show anymore. It is about the fanatic themselves who have deluded themselves so much to think they are actually "inside" the business because they may write a column about it. I'll be the first to admit that I am not "in the wrestling business".
I am not in the wrestling business because I run LEWD. I am not in the business at all and neither is anyone else who runs a webpage dedicated to pro wrestling. Neither is anyone else who may happen to have a newsletter dedicated to reporting about the business. Dave Meltzer wasn't "in the business" when he was penning his National Wrestling Observer Newsletter on a weekly basis and he still isn't in the business. All Meltzer and others like him do is report on the business. They are not performers, they are not employed by WWE. There is a difference between writing/covering a business and actually being in that business. If you collect a paycheck from WWE, then yes, you are in the business. But if you just write about the business, then no you are not in the business.
And it is this desire to "be in the business" that has created this delusion which has in turn created this situation I am writing about today. This all may seem like a lot of double talk and some of it is, but some of it isn't. It is your job to read this and soak in all of the information and all of the misinformation contained in this column and logically deduct what it all means. It is your duty to translate this column and tabulate what is contained herein and come away with a better understanding of what it should mean to be a Wrestling Fan. To be a fanatic.
I tell you what. When I was watching Ricky Steamboat v. Ric Flair in 1989, I did not care who was holding the other down nor want to discover who was either for that matter. I just enjoyed the great match that WCW put on for me. I didn't care if it could have been booked differently or if the finish could have been better. I did not judge the match based on my preconceived (and in most cases naive) ideas of what should or should not be a wrestling finish. I watched the show, I soaked in what was on the show and I enjoyed what I was giving from WCW. Certainly that doesn't mean I automatically LIKED everything WCW did in those days. But if I didn't, I didn't think it was my birthright to blast James Crockett for putting on a bad show.
Maybe our priorities have changed, maybe I am out of touch with the current fanatic that governs what a wrestling fanatic should be based on. I don't think I am. I think wrestling fanatics have lost their way. I think there are lot of wrestling fanatics who think this business is their business and think WWE should listen to what they want WWE to do, even if what they want WWE to do is stupid. They can not take a look from the outside-in - to recognize that perhaps their ideas are actually no better then the current ideas WWE uses. But they will never admit their ideas are not as good or do not measure up to WWE Creative's ideas. Because to do that would be to admit their entire existence was a total crock. And more or less in the end, that is what this has been all about. Those fanatics who think they can write a better show then Vince McMahon, are deluded.
They have no idea what it takes to run a company the size of WWE. If they did have the knowledge and or ability to run a company like WWE and make money by doing it, then what exactly are they doing wasting their time online? Why don't they start their own company and put WWE out of business or at least attempt to do it? Why don't they put their money where their creative pencils are? Paul Heyman didn't just come online and begin chastising WWE & Vince McMahon.
Paul Heyman didn't delude himself in to thinking that his ideas were better then Vince's with out first testing to see if his ideas were better. Paul Heyman put his money where his creative ideas were at and created his own company to compete with WWE. He actually gave WWE a run for their money doing it for a few years. So everyone that claims they have better ideas then WWE Creative, should follow Heyman's lead. But perhaps inside they understand their ideas are actually no better then WWE's.
Or maybe they don't know a thing about the business they claim to "be in". But in the end result their lack of motivation, their lack of dedication, their lack of follow through on their own ideas, pretty much dispels their delusion. For how can they actually be "in the business" when they are afraid to "of it".
"GREATEST TITLE REIGNS & WHERE TRIPLE H FITS IN" - Updated July 19, 2003 4:00PM
I decided for my own amusement to gauge the impact of Paul Levesque's current strangle-hold on the RAW World Championship and how it fits in to wrestling history. What I found was very interesting on so many levels, because even though Levesque has been reportedly 'playing political games' to keep the title, in terms of long title reigns he would rank 75th currently. Yes, there have been 75 Championship title reigns in professional wrestling history which have been longer then the current title reign Paul Levesque is on. The following list might be like reading a foreign language to some reading this column, so please let me give you the key to decipher what follows below.
The list is as complete as any list documenting title reigns for the last 100 years (including the following Championships: WCW, USWA, WWWF, WWF, AWA, WCCW, NWA, NWA TNA, UWF, ECW, IWGP, AJPW, WWE RAW & WWE Smackdown. How you read the chart below is to look at the corresponding rank and three digit number which follows in terms of years months and days. In the case of #1 Bruno Sammartino you would read it as the following: Eight years, Eight Months and 1 day he held the championship. I did not take the time to specify what Championship was specifically held during the title reigns, because that would have taken way to much time. But let me do one more example just to make sure you can follow the chart below. #62 Hulk Hogan would have held the title for 0 years, eight months and 3 days.
As you can clearly see where the list ends, Paul Levesque's (Triple H) current title reign would come in as the 75th longest title reign in the history of the wrestling business. Some would say it is unfair to compare the current business with the business of the yesteryear, that would be an opinion you are going to have to come to on your own.
CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE REIGNS LIST: 1. Bruno Sammartino 8.8.1, 2. Verne Gagne 6.4.0, 3. Bruno Sammartino 4.4.20, 4. Nick Bockwinkel 4.4.10, 5. Dory Funk 4.1.13, 6. Hulk Hogan 4.1.13, 7. Dan Severn 4.0.20, 8. Harley Race 3.3.15, 9. Gene Kiniski 3.1.4, 10. Lou Thesz 2.11.13, 11. Bob Backlund 2.10.18, 12. Pedro Morales 2.9.24, 13. Pat O'Connor 2.5.21, 14. Ric Flair 2.2.23, 15. Bob Backlund 2.2.5, 16. Terry Funk 2.1.27, 17. Shane Douglas 2.0.25, 18. Mitsuharu Misawa 1.11.24, 19. Bob Backlund 1.10.12, 20. Buddy Rogers 1.6.25, 21. Shinya Hashimoto 1.4.2, 22. Terry Funk 1.2.0, 23. >Ric Flair 1.2.0, 24. Ric Flair 1.1.24, 25. Keiji Muto 1.1.4, 26. Yuji Nagata 1.1.0, 27. Ric Flair 1.0.18, 28. Shane Douglas 1.0.18, 29. Big Van Vader 1.0.9, 30. Jumbo Tsuruta 1.0.9, 31. Curt Hennig 1.0.7, 32. Randy Savage 1.0.4, 33. Shinya Hashimoto 1.0.2, 34. Mad Dog Vachon 1.0.1, 35. Kesuke Sasaki 1.0.0, 36. Jack Brisco 0.11.29, 37. Hulk Hogan 0.11.29, 38. Mitsuharu Misawa 0.11.28, 39. Hulk Hogan 0.11.24, 40. Diesel 0.11.23, 41. Naoya Ogawa 0.11.17, 42. Keiji Muto 0.11.6, 43. Antonio Inoki 0.10.27, 44. Verne Gagne 0.10.25, 45. Verne Gagne 0.10.18, 46. Kerry Von Erich 0.10.9, 47. Nick Bockwinkel 0.10.3, 48. Jerry Lawler 0.10.2, 49. Verne Gagne 0.10.1, 50. Tatsumi Fujinami 0.10.0, 51. Harley Race 0.9.28, 52. Billy Graham 0.9.21, 53. Ultimate Warrior 0.9.17, 54. Kazuyuki Fujita 0.9.16, 55. Vader 0.9.10, 56. Yokozuna 0.9.7, 57. Tatsumi Fujinami 0.9.0, 58. Jerry Lawler 0.8.28, 59. Keiji Muto 0.8.16, 60. Tazz 0.8.9, 61. Raven 0.8.8., 62. Hulk Hogan 0.8.3, 63. Bret Hart 0.8.3, 64. Kenta Kobashi 0.8.1, 65. Keiji Muto 0.8.1, 66. Rhino 0.8.0, 67. Billy Watson 0.7.24, 68. Jumbo Tsuruta 0.7.24, 69. Steve Corino 0.7.21, 70. Harley Race 0.7.18, 71. Shawn Michaels 0.7.18, 72. Rick Martel 0.7.16, 73. Bill Miller 0.7.13, 74. Riki Choshu 0.7.12, 75. Triple H 0.7.7
But I didn't simply end my journey with the current streak Levesque is on. What about combined time as World Heavyweight Champion? Where exactly does Triple H rank on the all time list? The following list has been compiled using the same formula as the above list used (which will be explained) to determine the greatest World Champions of all time. How you read this list is to look at the corresponding rank & name and the number which follows. In the case of #1 Bruno Sammartino it would come in as 156.12 which would break down to 156 total months and 12 days he held a World Title. Note some of the talent may have switched companies and won multiple versions of the World Title. All of these titles have been counted and compiled in to the total number of months. In the case of Paul Levesque he would come in 31st with 19 months and 9 days total. Again some would argue comparing today's talent to the talent from the yesteryear is unfair. I don't make those conclusions and think it is fair to guage todays talent using these lists. If the business returns to the way it used to operate, and title reigns start to become longer (or at least as long as they once were) then the talent is going to have a fair chance to break the records compiled by the talent of the past. Oddly enough, Triple H's current title reign is not close to being the longest in the history of the business and he would have to hold the World title or a version of the World Title for 137 more months to come close to breaking Bruno Sammartino's record. Which would break down to Triple H having to hold a World title for close to another decade solid.
The following list is a complete list of all of the World Title holders over the last 100 or so years. You can notice the trend with the talent pushed today was to have more title reigns but for less time. The older you go back to the origins of pro wrestling the longer the title reigns get, the closer to todays generation you get the shorter the title reigns get. Triple H's current title reign is actually the longest in North America for a national company since Diesel held the WWF title for 11 months in the mid 90's. If you put that in to historical perspective it is kind of sad that the only way Triple H could reach this point is by playing political games to keep a strangle-hold on the respective title he is currently holding. In my opinion, the business MUST allow champions to be booked to look strong and hold titles for a long period of time. It helps the company build up the titles and build up the talent. Changing the titles to frequently is not going to turn the business around.
1. Bruno Sammartino 156.12, 2. Verne Gagne 131.18, 3. Hulk Hogan 101.2, 4. Jerry Lawler 79.3, 5. Bob Backlund 74.8, 6. Ric Flair 73.2, 7. Nick Bockwinkel 70.6, 8. Harley Race 62.8, 9. Dan Severn 51.8, 10. Dory Funk Jr. 49.13, 11. Lou Thesz 49.3, 12. Mitsuharu Misawa 47.4, 13. Terry Funk 47.2, 14. Keiji Muto 45.21, 15. Shinya Hashiomoto 42.7, 16. Gene Kiniski 38.1, 17. Pedro Morales 33.24, 18. Vader 33.2, 19. Pat O'Connor 32.21, 20. Shane Douglas 31.14, 21. Tatsumi Fujinami 28.9, 22. Mad Dog Vachon 25.6, 23. Jumbo Tsuruta 24.10, 24. Bret Hart 24.6, 25. Kerry Von Erich 23.9, 26. Kensuke Sasaki 21.17, 27. Stan Hansen 20.14, 28. Buddy Rogers 20.11, 29.
Randy Savage 20.4, 30. Steve Austin 19.28, 31. Triple H 19.9, 32. Kenta Kobashi 18.16, 33. Naoya Ogawa 17.28, 34. Jack Brisco 16.12, 35. Sting 15.25, 36. Jeff Jarrett 15.9, 37. Kevin Nash 14.28, 38. Genichiro Tenyru 14.27, 39. Sandman 14.21, 40. Shawn Michaels 14.4, 41. The Rock 13.12, 42. Yuji Nagata 13.0, 43. Riki Choshu 12.23, 44. Raven 12.14, 45. Curt Hennig 12.7, 46. Antonio Inoki 11.5, 47. Sid Vicious 10.11, 48. Steve Corino 9.23, 49. Billy Graham 9.21, 50. Ultimate Warrior 9.17, 51. Kazuyuki Fujita 9.16, 52. Yokozuna 9.7, 53. Al Perez 9.2, 54. The Undertaker 8.18, 55. Tazz 8.18, 56. Kurt Angle 8.11, 57. Toshiaki Kawada 8.10, 58. Booker T 8.9, 59. Rhyno 8.0, 60. Steve Williams 8.0, 61. Big Show 7.26, 62. Billy Watson 7.24, 63. Rick Martel 7.16, 64. Bill Miller 7.13, 65. Mike Rapada 7.12, 66.
Chris Jericho 7.11, 67. Mike Awesome 6.20, 68. Brock Lesnar 6.17, 69. Terry Gordy 5.23, 70. Don Muraco 5.22, 71. Bill Goldberg 5.21, 72. One Mang Gang 5.10, 73. Justin Credible 5.9, 74. Larry Zbyszko 5.3, 75. Ron Simmons 4.28, 76. Barry Windham 4.27, 77. Lex Luger 4.19, 78. Eddie Gilbert 4.18, 79. Sabu 4.15, 80. Scott Norton 4.14, 81. Masahiro Chono 4.7, 82. Orville Brown 4.3, 83. Kamala 4.1, 84. Scott Steiner 4.0, 85. Nobuhiko Takada 3.25, 86. Snowman 3.20, 87. Ron Killings 3.16, 88.
Dusty Rhodes 3.13, 89. Chris Candido 3.5, 90. Dutch Mantell 2.26, 91. Big Bossman 2.21, 92. Johnny Hot Body 2.18, 93. Yoshihiro Takayama 2.18, 94. Ricky Steamboat 2.17, 95. Jimmy Snuka 2.17, 96. Rick Rude 2.14, 97. Chris Adams 2.11, 98. Jimmy Valliant 2.10, 99. Sgt. Slaughter 2.5, 100. Godfather 2.3, 101. Ed Carpentier 2.3, 102. Ronnie Garvin 2.1, 103. Akira Taue 2.0, 104. Mr. Saito 1.28, 105. Dick Hutton 1.24, 106. Tadao Yasuda 1.19, 107. Mick Foley 1.19, 108. Andre The Giant 1.19, 109.
Ken Shamrock 1.18, 110. Salman Hashimikov 1.17, 111. Ahmed Johnson 1.14, 112. Bam Bam Bigelow 1.14, 113. Iceman Parsons 1.13, 114. Bill Dundee 1.11, 115. Mikey Whipwreck 1.11, 116. Otto Wanz 1.10, 117. AJ Styles 1.9, 118. Jerry Lynn 1.4, 119.
Tito Santana 1.4, 120. Koko B. Ware 1.1, 121. Diamond Dallas Paige 1.0, 122. Iron Sheik 0.28, 123. Scott Hall 0.28, 124. Black Bart 0.27, 125. Ivan Koloff 0.22, 126.
Junkyard Dog 0.21, 127. Giant Baba 0.20, 128. King Reginald 0.15, 129. Owen Hart 0.14, 130. Dr. X (Destroyer) 0.13, 131. Awesome Kong 0.13, 132. Vince McMahon 0.12, 133. David Arquette 0.12, 134. Fritz Von Erich 0.11, 135. Kevin Von Erich 0.10, 136. Stan Stasiak 0.9, 137. King Cobra 0.9, 138. Chris Benoit 0.8, 139. Dragon Master 0.8, 140. Tank 0.7, 141. Ricky Morton 0.7, 142. Tatanka 0.7, 143. Mighty Igor 0.7, 144. Dick the Brusier 0.7, 145. Gary Steele 0.7, 146. Vince Russo 0.7, 147. Butch Reed 0.5, 148. Tommy Rich 0.5, 149. Masato Tanaka 0.5, 150. Todd Champion 0.3, 151. Tommy Dreamer 0.1, 152. Kane 0.1
"SOMETHING TO BABBLE ABOUT" - Updated July 10, 2003 4:40PM
I don't have a lot to write about. The reason is I started a new job recently and find myself tied up with that more often and thus my columns section has suffered quite a bit. But that is okay. I am going to work on writing my columns during the week end and that way I can do one every week on Saturday or one every two weeks on Saturday. Right now I am listening to Byte This! with Eddie Guerrero.
They are talking to Eddie Guerrero and fielding phone calls. The first fan wanted to know how he came up with the "Frog Splash". Eddie answered the "markish" question with a "markish" answer and talked about how one day when he was running from the "border patrol" in Mexico, he had to jump over a wall with barbed wire on it in to a river and did a "frog splash" over the wall and decided it would be a great move in pro wrestling and that was how it was born. The next caller wanted to know what Eddie wanted to accomplish in his wrestling career and what his next goal was. Eddie sarcastically answered he wanted to win the U.S. Title. My question for these fans is: Are you smoking pot?
Are you on drugs? You have to be on drugs to ask questions like that. You have one of the greatest workers in the business on the phone and you ask him a stupid question like, "how did you come up with the "Frog Splash"?. No wonder the talent doesn't think that high of the internet fan base. I think there are more important things to discuss then how Eddie came up with his finishing move. Josh & Prichard talked about Eddie's problems with demons in the past and Eddie said it was a struggle for him every day to stay on the right track. I respect Eddie G a lot for staying on the right track and wish him the best of luck. He is one of the greatest workers in the history of our business and I wanted to mention that. Sometimes what the talent gives to us each day, each week, each month and each year goes unnoticed and un talked about. People forget these are human beings that are just like you and me. We should respect what they give to us and honor it.
Lets talk about the Kane situation for a second or two. So I hear some people think WWE screwed Kane (Jacobs) by ripping the baby bottle away from him. No longer can Kane suck on the plastic nipple of his mask and remain a baby. Now he has to grow up and become a man with out the mask. And he is quickly becoming a man on a weekly basis, working minus the baby bottle. I think any fan of Jacobs would have no problem with the mask being gone, because Jacobs didn't get any recognition over the years for playing Kane in WWE. Lets face it, Talk shows are not going to invite a goofy looking guy with a red & black mask on their show to talk about WWE. Kane had no marketability away from WWE. Kane couldn't appear on a talk show to plug WWE and Jacobs suffered because of it. While other performers were making the rounds on the talk show circuit and being booked on television sitcoms, Jacobs was stuck in a mask and had absolutely ZERO chance to cross over to another entertainment industry.
C'Mon lets be honest. Did Kane ever stand a chance of getting a movie role? NO! And the reason why other entertainment groups use pro wrestlers in movies is to get cross over buys. Thus, They would require Rock to be Rock or Triple H to be Triple H in the credits. That way the wrestling demo understands that Triple H is in the movie or Rock is in the movie. Thus, Jacobs appearing in a film as Kane wasn't going to happen. And Jacobs appearing in a movie as himself wasn't going to fly either. But now Kane can appear in a movie as Kane. Or Kane can appear on a talk show as Kane. Kane can break kayfabe on a talk show now and talk about the career he has led with WWE, and not come off as a complete retard because he is wearing some goofy looking mask. A lot of people think the MASK made Kane.
When the truth is, Kane made the MASK. With out Jacobs being behind the mask there would be no craze of kids wearing the mask. There would be no fans bitching about him losing the mask or WWE screwing him by taking the mask off of him. Just look at the possibilities for Jacobs now. His career can easily take off and the sky is the limit now that Kane isn't a big red goofy mask wearing retard with limited marketability. So next time you get upset because there is no more Kane mask, think about the potential that exists for Jacobs to move further up the ladder with the company minus the mask.
"WHAT HBO SHOULD HAVE TALKED ABOUT" - Updated June 28, 2003 3:00PM
HBO SHOULD HAVE TALKED ABOUT. With all of the online furor in regards to the HBO special, which again was one of the most blatant hatchet jobs in the history of news reporting, no one questions why HBO didn't talk about the good things WWE has done over the years in the face of substance abuse problems. In fact, all I have read online about this situation is how Vince McMahon is part of the problem and hasn't 'doing' anything to solve it.
I am not so eager to even admit there is a problem in the wrestling business. I don't think there is a problem in the wrestling business with illegal substance abuse. I don't think there is because I think there is a bigger problem in society with illegal substance abuse then there is a segregated problem to one cross section of society (wrestling business).
Pro wrestling athletes fit in to the category of being a part of our society, and thus the problem shouldn't be exclusive to the wrestling business but it ought to be exclusive to American Culture. And if we are going to scream and holler about illegal substance abuse in one cross section of American Culture (in this case professional wrestling athletes), we must first take a look at the whole picture known as American Culture. Because that is where the true problem lies.
But first lets take a look at WWE. What has WWE done to correct the problems American Culture has? They recently released one of the most popular superstars in the history of the wrestling business because he refused to go to illegal substance abuse treatment and complete a rehab program (Jeff Hardy). To me this doesn't sound like a company that is interested in covering up its athletes substance abuse problems for their own financial benefit.
In the past they sent William Regal to alcohol abuse treatment because he was an alcoholic, and required him to complete the program before he was allowed back in the organization. Again, this doesn't sound like an organization that is solely interested in financial gain at the expense of one of its athletes, does it?
In the past they fired Eddie Guerrero when his substance problem became to BIG of a problem for him to handle. Guerrero was sent to rehab first by the company and required to complete the program and get clean before he was hired back. It would have been so easy for Vince McMahon to turn the other cheek and act as if Guerrero didn't have a serious problem and continue to use him to financially gain, but again he didn't.
But no one talks about these instances, not HBO, not any of the media that is against WWE and not any of the online critics who are against WWE because it does sort of vindicate Vince McMahon from the charges levied against him by the HBO story.
Would WWE be in the position to tell if 100% of their athletes are "clean"? NO.
But this isn't a problem that is exclusive to the wrestling business.
There is no way for society to tell if 100% of its citizens are clean! Why should be hold WWE to a much higher standard then we hold American Culture to? If we are going to require professional wrestlers to take urine tests every so often to maintain a certain level of.. well of what?
What is the reason we want our professional wrestlers to be drug-free? Is it to protect them from potential health problems down the road? Or is it just to make the public feel better about themselves?
I think the public doesn't give a damn about the health of the athletes they so eagerly want tested, they just want to feel better about themselves by knowing the testing goes on. The facts are the urine tests are simply PR tools used by companies and promoters to give a false sense of security to the public, hey I guess in this sense the urine testing actually does work!
The public demands the tests, not so much for the health of the athletes taking the tests, but for their own peace of mind and the professional organizations decide to submit their athletes to tests to get the media & public off of their backs, knowing full well that the tests are trivial & meaningless. Why are they trivial & meaningless? These urine tests are the most unreliable tests in the history of testing. They can be beat and are beat every day of the week by people abusing illegal substances.
But again, this isn't a problem exclusive to pro athletes and or pro wrestlers. So let me take it one step further. If you think WWE should urine test its athletes so you can feel better about yourself. I say American Culture should also submit to urine tests!
I think all of us should take these tests from time to time to make sure we all are clean. To extreme of a thought? I can sense that some of the people who favor WWE making their talent take urine tests are saying, "WAIT A SECOND HERE BUDDY! I don't want to be tested, why should I be tested? I don't do anything wrong and there is no evidence that I do, so I shouldn't be tested.".
Why exactly are pro athletes tested for illegal substance abuse? What exactly did they do wrong and where is the evidence they are using substances? What exactly do they do that normal citizens don't do that requires them to be more sober then we are?
They play SPORTS FOLKS! THEY play a game! So their game playing is more crucial then say, a doctor? Or someone driving a bus? Or someone operating a fork lift? I don't think so.
In fact, I think the last person on the face of the planet that should be urine tested is the pro athlete. Their profession is not as dangerous to the surrounding public then that of a bus driver or a cab driver or a fork lift operator. In some cases drug tests are required to get the more important jobs. But once the tests are over with, thats that.
Maybe we should hold the rest of American Culture to the same standards we hold our professional athletes to! We should urine test them year round. That way we could all feel better about each other and know each of us is drug-free, or that at least some of us have the ability to pass urine tests when we still abuse illegal substances. But hey, then the cheaters would still be cheaters and the non cheaters would have the impression that there were no cheaters, so in a sense the testing would work as it was designed to work, to give the non cheaters a false sense of reality.
Do I favor urine tests? No I don't. They don't work.
Anyone who has ever taken a urine test while abusing a substance and passed that test can tell you that. In some cases urine tests are harder to pass if you DON'T use illegal substances then if you do! How is that possible? False-positives. The drug user KNOWS exactly what they have put in to their bodies to be able to mask the urine tests and pass, whereas; the person who has not used a substance may not know what they have put in to their bodies which is going to flag the test as "positive" when in actuality it wasn't "positive".
And then who is going to tell me that these tests actually catch those intended to be caught? Will some of the substance abusers be caught through urine tests? I'd say 1% of 1% of the substance abusers will be caught through these tests, those who do not know how to mask their system correctly and or beat the tests.
Which would indicate why you only see one or two athletes suspended from major league sports for abusing the substance abuse programs every few years. Don't tell me there are not hundreds of professional athletes abusing substances (there are). We see more DRUG RELATED ARRESTS in major sports on an annual basis then we see urine tests being flagged.
How is this possible? This would suggest those busted for illegal possession aren’t using the substances they are caught with, hey maybe Darryl Strawberry was telling the cops the truth, the drugs weren’t his, he was just holding them for someine.
Are you telling me that someone can be busted for marijuana possession yet continually pass every urine test they take? It is possible, but highly unlikely unless they know how to beat the urine tests. The possessor of marijuana usually possesses it to use it. Even if they sell it, they use it. So the #'s do not add up to support urine testing as a viable solution to keeping athletes clean.
But then as noted above, I don't think the urine tests were ever meant to keep athletes clean. I think they were meant to make the public get a false sense of security about professional athletes. It was a PR tool used to make a cross section of American Culture feel better about themselves and about the world surrounding them. And it was used to get the heat off of the sports franchises.
But these tests are a complete joke and don't work. But as I stated if we are going to test our professional athletes, including professional wrestlers, we ought to test ourselves as well. So, if you support Vince McMahon urine testing his talent, give me a HELL YEAH! And if you did scream "HELL YEAH" after that sentence, then I suggest you write your local congressman and tell him you support a nation-wide urine testing program to test every American Citizen for illegal substances.
If you think this is going to far, then don't ask Vince McMahon to urine test his athletes. It is that simple. You probably have a more IMPORTANT position in life then a professional athlete has. You probably have more of a risk to injure another citizen through your job tasks then does a professional athlete. But then again, you are not making as much money as John Cena is, and perhaps that alone makes you think John Cena should be tested before you are. I don't agree.
I don't think Cena should be tested, and I don't think you should be tested either. I don't think anyone should be tested. Not until we can find a test that actually exposes those who ought to be exposed and not those who don't know how not to be exposed.
"GERWITZ HAS HEAT WITH ME" - Updated June 17, 2003 3:00PM
I was thinking about letting it slide, but then hey I figured it is 8:21PM and I am steaming.
Maybe not steaming as in upset, but it is very hot in this room where I am writing this column. And thats a shoot. So I am going to let Gerwitz have it. I don't do this very much, because I don't think there are many, if any at all, positives about what I am about to do. But I am sick & tired of Gerwitz. First I must point out that I dislike COMEDY on a pro wrestling show (I mean ANY comedy, really I am being dead serious). When Foley became Dudelove, I was pissed off.
I was, am and always will be a Mick Foley mark (and damn proud of it). So I wondered why WWE was compromising one of the toughest sons of a bitches to ever step foot in the squared circle. Of course I would later find out it was Foley himself who wanted to become Dudelove, hey I was wrong. I can admit I was wrong. It doesn’t happen every often, but it does happen occasionally.
Through Dudelove’s appearance in WWE I actually began to enjoy comedy on a wrestling show. No, I didn't become soft, my writing style didn't lose its seriousness. My outlook didn't change. I just realized that perhaps with the world the scary place it is, perhaps there are worse things then laughing a little each week while watching a wrestling show (Not to mention Michael Maynard kept trying to convince me on a nightly basis that comedy in wrestling wasn’t such a bad thing; hey he was right… Psss. Don’t tell him though, or I will never hear the end of it!). Again, I can deal with limited comedy skits on a wrestling show (now) as long as the skits are FUNNY or ENTERTAINING, Preferably both.
So with that said. That brings me to Brian Gerwitz. What the hell does this guy think he is doing? Who exactly is he writing his comedy skits for? Isn't the main demographic the company is going after A. males and B. Teen Agers or C. Teen Age Males?
Does he think teen age males have "burping contests" on a regular basis? Does he think they sit around in semi-circles 'belching' to see who has the loudest one? And does this schmuck actually think wrestling fans want to watch two grown men doing the same thing on a wrestling PPV? Does he think it is funny for it to happen on a wrestling PPV? Or is this schmuck just trying to prove a point? All I hear is about how it is a giant EGO trip for Vince McMahon. But no one ever questions whether or not maybe this is a giant ego trip for Gerwitz.
Wait before you laugh off that premise, think about it. Maybe the joke isn't the joke itself, maybe the joke is Gerwitz is getting these tough & serious wrestlers to act like they are six years old on a weekly basis! Maybe Gerwitz is laughing backstage because he realizes he just got one of the TOUGHEST SOBS in WWE history (Austin) to look foolish belching on a wrestling PPV. Maybe that is why Gerwitz continues to write horrible comedy skits.
And one must question why this putz is still writing for the company at all. Maybe Vince McMahon enjoys Gerwitz humor, but I don't (Yeah, I know my opinion is not the do all and end all of opinions out there, but to me it is. And generally speaking if I think something sucks on a wrestling show, nine times out of ten so does my reading universe.) If I wanted to see a belching contest, and let me assure you I don't, I would rent "Revenge of the Nerds".
I think Gerwitz probably owns a copy of the movie. In fact, he probably watches it every single day and laughs hia ass off. I think maybe Gerwitz doesn't even write for WWE anymore. Maybe he is to busy reading his Marvel Comics collection during the week and has his 6 year old son? Nephew? Cousin? Imaginary playmate? Gay lover? Writes the show! I would like to think this is what is actually going on, because then, I would have an explanation why a grown man, a college graduate even, would write such illogical smut.
Now I know some are going to read this and shake their heads at me classifying his writing style as "smut". You are going to be thinking, why this is not pornography at all, so it isn't "smut". I disagree. To me "smut" is what Gerwitz is churning out because he is prostituting the wrestling business on a weekly basis with his drivel. And why is he doing it?
What does the company gain out of this? Absolutely nothing. Take away the skits on Bad Blood last night and the PPV would have been able to give Booker T & Christian 10 more minutes and Flair & Michaels 10 more minutes. Or could have added two more short matched to the show. We would have been able to have a classic IC Title Match and turned Flair v. HBK in to a classic battle between two legends. Instead Gerwitz thought it would be better to write 20 minutes of pointless comedy skits.
Not only that he took two of the top talents on the brand (Austin & Bischoff) and wrecked their entire characters in three skits. Yes, the once mighty Texas Rattlesnake, “THE TOUGHEST SOB IN THE BUSINESS” according to Good Ol’ JR was on screen belching to sound effects! This wasn’t the Rattlesnake we watched beat the snot out of Bret Hart! This was a shell of the former Rattlesnake we used to fear, because in those days he wasn’t belching on television for a laugh here or there, he was kicking ass and opening up cans of whoop ass to prove he was the baddest MOFO in the universe. And Bischoff, who was once one of the sleaziest heels in the business, and now he reduced to rolling around in pig shit. The real pig shit was the shit that Gerwitz wrote.
Gerwitz doesn't "get it". At one time that is what Vince McMahon would have said to this column. "Well you just don't GET IT!".
He might have even responded by telling me, "IF you don't like it, GET THE F OUT!". And if someone else had written this column six months ago, I probably would have said the exact same thing in response to the column. But I am not laughing now.
There is no smile on my face.
There is no laughter that is brewing inside of me right now.
I am not going to happy until Gerwitz "GETS IT!" or until he "GETS THE F OUT!".
Because I want wrestling to return to the wrestling fans. I want wrestling to return to the people who pay to see wrestling. I've given Brian Gerwitz the benefit of the doubt on numerous things he has written. And no more. I will still watch WWE. I won't ever stop watching WWE. But every time Gerwitz snubs his nose at wrestling fans by writing dopey skits, it destroys my interest in the product a little more and a little more, and who knows, maybe one day I will stop watching..
I hope Gerwitz, I hope WWE and I hope Vince McMahon saw what happened at the Bad Blood PPV. I hope they read the feedback and realize that the only reason people hated the PPV was because of the Austin/Bischoff skits. I hope they realize they killed Bischoff off as a viable heel through the skits. I hope they realize all of this before 9PM and someone else writes tonights RAW show.
First a little background information on who Tommy John is may be needed to set up the comparison of what Kurt Angle's recent neck surgery could mean to the wrestling business.
Tommy John was a baseball player in the 1970's. He was one of the best starting pitchers of his era pitching with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1974 he suffered a career threatening arm injury, which in previous years would have meant the end of his career.
Tommy John did not want to end his baseball career and sought out Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Frank Jobe. Jobe consulted with Dr. Robert Kerlan about Tommy John's elbow injury. Jobe determined John had tore his ulnar collateral ligament, which as I stated normally would have meant the end of John's pitching career. Jobe suggested John allow him to perform a 'new' procedure on his injured arm. There was not any guarantee this surgery would work, but Jobe & Kerlan believed it would give John a fighting chance to step back on to a Major League mound. John elected to have the surgery, rather then end his MLB career. John had to rehab the arm for nearly one year before he was even able to start throwing again, but after the end of his rehab he returned to MLB.
Tommy John would go on to win 164 more MLB games in his professional baseball career. The procedure Tommy John allowed himself to be a "guinea pig" for is now currently termed "Tommy John Surgery".
Many of today's current baseball pitchers have had "Tommy John Surgery" at one time or another in their professional baseball careers. In fact, the procedure has now allowed for pitchers to have more longevity in the game with out fear of suffering a serious elbow injury which would end their careers pre-maturely. Before Tommy John had the surgery, hundreds of young pitchers saw their careers terminated due to serious elbow injuries (which became not so serious after "Tommy John Surgery" ended up revolutionizing the business). It took Tommy John 18 months total to return from his "Tommy John Surgery" but since the first procedure, the time has been reduced by six months. Pitchers who have "Tommy John Surgery" can now return to soft tossing around 4-6 months after the medical procedure and hard tossing 8-12 months after the medical procedure. When Tommy John had the surgery it took Dr. Joke 4 1/2 hours to complete the procedure and today it takes less then one hour (also when Jobe was performing the surgery he was the only surgeon to perform it, now there are hundreds of qualified surgeons who can and do perform this procedure).
And then we come to Kurt Angle's Cervical Disc problems in 2003. When Kurt Angle injured his neck he compacted he Cervical Disc's. Typically this meant he would be out of a professional wrestling for at least 12 months minimum, and perhaps up to 18 months maximum. It was either elect to have neck fusion surgery to fuse the Cervical Disc's together or retire from the wrestling business.
If Angle elected to have the Neck Fusion done, he would have to rehab for 12 months and hope the fusion took during the rehab correctly, or he would have to have it done all over again. So when a professional wrestler learned he had Cervical Disc problems, needless to say it was a horrible feeling to have. Because the wrestler knew they would be away from the business for 12-18 months. Scotty Taylor has been out of action for close to a year now with Cervical Disc Problems and it looks like he might be out of action for another 6 months. So Scotty Taylor's case is what every professional wrestler faces when they are diagnosed with Cervical Disc issues. Scott Taylor's case is what every professional wrestler would fear. Whereas; it is not the end of their careers, it could financially damage them and possibly cause them to lose their 'spot'. Those are two things pro wrestlers do not want to ever have to face. In pro wrestling if you lose your 'spot' there is absolutely no guarantee you will ever get it back.
So being away from the business for 12-18 months could potentially mean career suicide in this industry. And the wrestlers understand that. Kurt Angle allowed himself, much like Tommy John did in 1974, to become the "guinea pig" to a brand new procedure. If this surgery turns out to be a viable alternative to the current procedure, it probably will wind up being referred to as "Kurt Angle Surgery". The procedure Kurt Angle had was "functional spine surgery" at the hands of Dr. Hae-Dong Jho out of Pittsburgh, Pa. Dr. Jho believes the spine surgery should be as minimally invasive as possible. He doesn't believe in neck fusion at all. The neck fusion surgery takes metal plate screws and implants them in to the spine to fuse one or two (in extreme cases even three) Cervical Discs to each other to strengthen the spine.
This procedure thus limits the mobility of the individual having the surgery. According to Dr. Jho's theory this procedure is is not anatomical, not physiological and thus is not functional. Dr. Jho's procedure removes the herniated disc or protruded bone spurs, while preserving the remaining disc and allowing the spine motion to stay intact. Dr. Jho makes a tiny incision at the anterior neck and then makes another small incision (5mm in diameter) at the side of the Cervical Spine to operate on the damaged area. The damaged material is removed through this incision and thus bone fusion is not necessary after the procedure (bone fusion is necessary with the alternative method because the actual Cervical Disc plate has been removed and thus the Cervical region must be fused at that point). Dr. Jho's procedure does not require the individual to wear Cervical collars and they will have motion in their necks immediately following the procedure.
Recovery is quick, with most patients being able to do routine daily activities starting the day following the operation (which is amazing considering the alternative procedure would limit the day to day activity of the individual requiring the surgery). Individuals who do not have hectic lifestyles could even return to work a few days after the surgery has been completed, but those with more hectic lifestyles (including athletes) would probably need 4-6 weeks of rest and relaxation (rehab if so desired).
The surgery does not necessarily exclude patients who have undergone previous neck surgeries either (which is an important note when dealing with the wrestling business). Dr. Hae-Dong Jho is the Director of the Jho Institute for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery and Professor of Neurosurgery at Drexel University School of Medicine in Pittsburgh, Pa. The wrestling business (promoter's, wrestler's and critics) will all be looking at Kurt Angle from this day forward. We will watch and hope he doesn't require further neck surgery over the next few years. So in the future when Dr. Jho performs this procedure on other pro wrestlers, we can all look back at the "guinea pig" (Kurt Angle) and feel good about the "Kurt Angle Surgery" that was just performed on one of our cherished professional wrestlers.
This could be as big for the wrestling business as "Tommy John Surgery" was for the Baseball business. If Kurt Angle can have a productive career following this procedure (and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest he shouldn't) then when other wrestler's have Cervical Disc problems, it will not be as "big" of a deal as it previously was before. Losing a top hand for 4-6 weeks is not as bad as losing him or her for 12 to 18 months (considering the talent could appear in vignette's and skits during the entire 4-6 week period and it wouldn't even be as if the talent was ever gone from the promotion in the first place).
Imagine if "Stone Cold" Steve Austin only had to vanish for 4-6 weeks, instead of the 12-18 months when he suffered his Cervical Disc problems? He may still be able to wrestle today if he didn't elect to have the fusion surgery. But Austin will be remembered as the first wrestler who had neck fusion surgery, which started a bad trend in the wrestling business with other wrestlers following his lead. Today pro wrestler's might have a better alternative to neck fusion surgery, and tomorrow the new procedure might improve and reduce the down time. And that could only mean positive things for the wrestling business and for the talent involved.
"Statistics" - Updated May 20, 2003 11:26AM AM
HOW THE WRESTLING WAR BETWEEN WCW & WWE HURT THE WRESTLING BUSINESS...
I decided to take a look at the era when the WCW v. WWE war was at its height (1997 to current will be considered the height of the wrestling war between WCW & WWE). What did this era actually give back to the wrestling business?
A lot of people remember huge ratings, lots of sold out shows and money rolling in hand and fist to both companies. But during that same period both WWE & WCW began to murder the wrestling business with frequent title switches and it is my belief the wrestling war era educated fans to think title switches make a show hot and solid wrestling with no title switches doesn't make a show hot. No title switches just means the product is not moving forward any longer and is boring compared to the "height" of the business. Now those who will defend this ere as being the most productive in the history of the business will claim all of the title changes led to ratings & business booming. I would respectfully disagree with this opinion and sight how after the boom ended, WWE still constantly changed their Championships and business did not turn around or rebound in any shape or form.
Changing Championships on a frequent basis is counterproductive to turning the business back around and the only way WWE is going to build the business back up again is to establish a more meaningful product. One of the ways business always re-generated itself before the height of the wrestling war was to establish a hot wrestler on top as THE CHAMPION. But if everyone or anyone could hold the top Championship and it wasn't considered "elite" to hold the Championship, why would fans consider any new talent as special if they conquered the belt? Isn't that the way some fans are looking at Brock Lesnar right now? Brock won the WWE Title and some fans have stated it doesn't really matter because so many other wrestlers have won the title as well.
So it isn't really special that Lesnar won the WWE Title since he did something a lot of people have accomplished over the last few years as well. And it is this thought, no matter how incorrect, which is the reason why Championship's were not meant to be passed around like chicklets.
WWE during the height of the wrestling war with WCW was not as bad as WCW was in changing their Championships, but as the following will prove even WWE followed WCW's lead and increased the number of title switches during this era almost two times more then before the era began. But don't take my word for it, take a look at the numbers yourself.
From 1948 until 1996 (48 years) in NWA/WCW there were 61 World title changes and during the height of the wrestling war from 1997 until 2003 (6 years) there were 50 title changes (I counted the changes when WCW was sold to WWE in this, minus them it was 43 title changes by WCW).
From 1963 until 1996 (33 years) in WWE there were 34 World title changes and during the height of the wrestling war from 1997 until 2003 (6 years)there were 42 title changes (realize at one point WWE was only averaging 1 title switch per year and during the wrestling wars they averaged 7 per year).
From 1979 until 1996 (17 years) in WWE there were 41 IC title changes and during the height of the wrestling war from 1997 until 2003 (6 years) there were 51 IC title changes (which is why the title became meaningless and had to vanish for a while).
From 1971 until 1996 (25 years) in WWE there were 73 World Tag title changes and during the height of the wrestling war from 1997 until 2003 (6 years) there were 71 World Tag title changes.
I think these statistics speak for themselves. I believe even though Triple H is using backstage politics to keep the RAW World Title on himself, at the same time the title is becoming more 'elite'. Obviously one would agree the Championship right now is a lot harder to win then it was in the past. The regular fan does not know why Triple H is keeping the Championship and thus doesn't understand the title isn't changing because of backstage politics. All the regular fan understands is Triple H has beat everyone that has challenged him for the Championship.
Whereas; this might turn off a lot of the regular fans who were educated through the Wrestling War Era to accept constant & frequent title changes, that is not an altogether bad thing to do. The business right now, being down, needs to use the down turn to re-educate the marks. The longer Triple H plays politics in the back to keep the title on his shoulder, the better the business is going to be after he loses the power struggle in the back. Obviously if Triple H can hold the title for another couple of months and actually reach the 6 or 7 month mark as Champion, it is going to set up the next Champion to carry the belt in to 2004.
And the business needs to get back to a time when they only crowned ONE or TWO Champions per year. This is possible as long as one or two things happen. One, you have a champion on top who the fans respect and love. In Example, Brock Lesnar on Smackdown. There is absolutely no reason for WWE to take the title off of Brock as long as the fans are reacting good enough to him as Champion. The only way to make the SD World Title mean something again is to have challengers challenge Lesnar for the title and have Lesnar successfully defend his Championship. Once he has had the belt long enough (around 6 months to a year) the company should consider changing the title and having the next wrestler hold the title for six months to a year as well, this would create a situation where the Championship seems "elite" since is isn't changing as frequently as it had in the past. The same has to be said about the RAW World Title. Online fans fully understand why Triple H has the belt and it has created a situation online where the RAW World Title does not mean as much as the other Championships the company currently pushes.
But this is not a big deal since the bread & butter for the company are fans that do not know why Triple H has the title. And the longer Triple H can keep the belt the better the business may be when he drops the belt. A wrestler such as Goldberg holding the title for as long as Triple H has held it, after Triple H has effectively held it hostage, wouldn't be a stretch. In fact, If Triple H kept the belt for 6-7 months by holding it hostage through politics, I would argue Goldberg could keep the belt for 14 months and the fans online wouldn't be upset about his title reign.
And the only way the business is going to get healthy again is have prestigious Championships that the bread & butter fans and online fans care about. At one point the IC Title was changed once or twice a year as well. And it meant something when a wrestler actually won the Championship.
But the fact that WWE could have an IC Battle Royal on Judgement Day, exclusive to one brand, and have 9 former IC Title holders enter the Battle Royal to determine the Championship proves the title does not mean as much as it once did.
How could it? The only guy that hasn't held the title will be competing for it next month in Houston, Texas. The only reason why WWE should give the title to Booker T is because he would be able to carry the belt for a year with out the fans being upset that he still has the belt. Booker T can establish the IC title through title defenses and make the belt mean something again. And by this it would be like its own mini World Championship again.
Right now WWE should book the entire title picture with one thought in mind. Why are we even considering changing these Championships when business is down?
There is absolutely no reason to book a title change. So what if the fans think the business isn't moving forward. Constant & frequent title changes need to be eliminated. Certainly the tag titles are a bit different because the tag titles have always historically changed at least 4-6 times per year. So WWE can use the tag team titles to make it seem as if titles are still changing. But I really think the split PPV's could be a godsend to re-establishing the prestige of the titles in wrestling. With less highly visible title defenses per brand (ON PPV) it will mean less title defenses and less call for title changes. I certainly hope the business can win this battle and re-educate the masses. It is what the business needs to do right now.
"COMMENTARY" - Updated May 7, 2003 12:26PM AM
WWE Attempts to police itself in the Elizabeth Hulette tragedy.. WWE announced it would cover the Elizabeth Hulette & Larry Pfohl situation on Confidential this weekend.
This has itself caused controversy online as some have claimed WWE is attempting to exploit the situation, but I don't see it that way.
The wrestling business should POLICE itself, so the national media can not use this situation to blast them. The national media has shown a willingness to blast the wrestling business at every turn.
Some in the national media have made entire careers out of blasting the wrestling business over situations such as this one.
A major reason why they can blast WWE over a situation such as this one is because WWE typically ignores the situation and runs from it. WWE running this story is actually refreshing.
Refreshing in the sense that WWE is willing to discuss these controversial issues in a responsible way. WWE isn't running away or attempting to sweep these issues under the carpet.
However; WWE is now being hammered from the other side, the wrestling community. The same people who for years have scolded them for running away from FACTS & TRUTH. Scolded them for ducking situations such as this one and acting irresponsible by doing so.
Is the company "taking advantage" of the situation or simply running a story? I think they are policing themselves with the story and that is a good thing.
I applaud WWE for running the story on Confidential. I don't think this death warrants a 100% fluff tribute to the career & life of Hulette.
I don't think anyone in this business should be CELEBRATING her career with out first pointing out the COLD HARD facts about WHY we HAVE to CELEBRATE her career, and the cold hard facts in to why she actually passed away. No matter how negative or controversial that might be.
WWE OUGHT to and has an OBLIGATION to cover this story on a factual basis. To discuss how Larry Pfohl was arrested for illegal possession of drugs. How Elizabeth Hulette may have overdosed on drugs and how it is feared that is why she passed away. I think WWE owe's it the business to finally handle this tragedy in an open fashion.
Because to neglect to handle the worse case scenario on your wrestling show is to allow the worse case scenario to be exploited by the national media. To connect yourself to Elizabeth Hulette & Larry Pfohl in the face of impending controversial situations NOW when the story is hot, is to disconnect yourself from these issues later on down the road when the toxicology report comes in.
WWE Should not simply ignore the events that happened to "Miss" Elizabeth, should not sweep the facts under the carpet and turn tail in the opposite direction. It would be easy for WWE to just tuck tail and run in the opposite direction.
And it would be wrong for WWE do do such.
For years I have read how the wrestling business (and WWE) was 'ashamed' of itself and would run from stories such as this.
For years people even inside the wrestling business scoffed at WWE IGNORING problems such as this.
Now WWE covers the situation and they are attacked by their own? (wrestling media).
Okay. So now we suggest they are "wrong" for discussing these issues. We are sending them a message they should run from these situations and not discuss them on their television shows.
WHAT? So what we are really saying here is it is fair game for any other news outlet to run this story, but WWE SHOULD NOT TOUCH IT.
Otherwise they are "exploiting" the situation for monetary gain.
Now if anyone thinks WWE is running this story at 11PM on Saturday Night to MAKE A LOT OF MONEY off of the story, they are beyond ignorant (in my opinion) and bordering on senile.
The fact is the Confidential show is a ratings loser and always will be a ratings loser because of the time slot and the type of show it is.
Only the hardcore WWE fans watch the show, even if they run stories such as this. So WWE knows this, and if they were trying to "exploit" the situation they would have requested for the show to be moved to 8PM this week.
TNN has done that before and would probably do it again if WWE asked them to move the show up to 8PM this Saturday.
So should WWE give Elizabeth a "free-pass" and promote a "fluff" tribute to her instead?
Should the company simply honor & celebrate her career & life rather then discuss the facts in to her death?
I would say LOUDLY & BOLDLY, HELL NO! WWE should not cover up the facts in this case and or the rumors that go along with those facts. WWE should handle this situation with class and have interviews with Randy Savage, Lanny Poffo and others who actually KNEW Elizabeth.
WWE should DISCUSS the fears of the wrestling world in to this tragic death and the fears of her family members in to her death. They should talk to her friends and everyone connected with her while she was living with Luger. And yes, They should expose the arrest of Luger in the news story.
If WWE doesn't police itself in this situation and in future situations, the national media is going to! And they won't be nice about it.
They will take advantage of the wrestling businesses lack of responsibility. And they would be right to do so, because simply celebrating the life and career of someone who may have overdosed on illegal substances is irresponsible.
I will reserve judgement on the Confidential story UNTIL I ACTUALLY WATCH IT. How refreshing?
I don't jump to conclusions to push my political, social and economic agenda's at the expense of the business I suggest I love.
I will leave that for others do.
"War Pigs" - Updated May 3, 2003 6:26PM AM
There are times when I don't want to continue to write about wrestling, because of the closed minded bastards who think the game belongs exclusively to them. They think because someone does not live up to their standards, that person should never be given a chance to shine by the wrestling promotions.
Take for instance Matt Bloom (A Train). Bloom is never going to be Kurt Angle in the ring. He is never going to have classic 'wrestling' matches that online fans can jerk off over. But does this mean he should be shunned by the wrestling promoters? Does it mean he should never get a chance to draw money in this business? Is the magic trait one needs to simply turn themselves in to a great "wrestler" in the ring to draw money in this business? If that was the magic formula then guys like Dan Severn would have been on top of this business from day one. If that was the magic formula then guys like Lou Thesz would have been leading the charge on a national basis and not guys like Hulk Hogan & Ultimate Warrior. And this fact pissed a lot of people off in the early 80's. People were pissed off at the fact that Hogan & Warrior drew more money then Ric Flair ever drew in this business. People used to compare every match to Ricky Steamboat v. Ric Flair in that era.
If another talent came along who did not live up to the standards of Ric Flair or Ricky Steamboat inside the ring, they were not worth a damned thing according to some narrow minded wrestling fans. These fans like to consider themselves to be "SMART FANS". But they are closed-minded-assholes most of the time. Because they couldn't look behind Steamboat-Flair and realize the facts. Was Steamboat-Flair one of the greatest pure wrestling matches ever in the history of this business? YES!
Did Flair-Steamboat set the North American Record for the most watched wrestling match in the history of this business? NO! Did it draw the most money for any match in the history of this business? Again, NO! Less people watched Flair-Steamboat then saw Uncle Elmer being married on WWF Television (Saturday Night's Main Event) and that upset, need I say PISSED OFF, a lot of SMART fans. These fans to this day have never forgiven Vincent K. McMahon for 'ruining' pro wrestling. That is their opinion, that is their take on what Vince McMahon did to this business. They can not look at the whole picture because they are blind to the facts.
Vincent K. McMahon took this business and cleaned it up. He pretty much gave these athletes a platform to perform on with out the risk of being ripped off by some shady back alley promoter. He gave them a chance to become household names with the WWF and tour the world. Sure Vince McMahon made a lot of money as well, but so did the wrestlers who worked for him. Some of them became Hollywood Superstars through exposure on WWF Television (in the 80's and today). Some of them made a lot of money because of the exposure they got on WWF Television. Some of them even turned their popularity in to Political Success (Jesse Ventura). The proof as they say is in the pudding, and the pudding proves that Vince McMahon collectively helped a lot of athletes make a lot of money in this business and in alternative businesses.
So, SCREW VINCENT K. MCMAHON! That bastard ran all the rinky dink promotions out of business in the 80's. He took over the wrestling business and globalized it. He took merchandising to a whole new level and made a killing while he corrupted the institution known as Professional Wrestling in North America. Would wrestling have been better off if Vince McMahon & WWF did not happen to it?
But what am I really upset at? This hatred that exists online towards one man. A man that had a vision and was a success at accomplishing this vision. Because his standards did not gel with the standards of a bunch of losers who own computers and think this business belongs to them. The SMART MARKS. These idiots actually think they have all of the answers and can do a better job of promoting the WWE then Vince McMahon can. My question for them is, why are they writing about it? Why not open their own companies and put him out of business if they have all the answers?
Certainly if Vince listened to their ideas and they helped Vince make a lot of money, those ideas could be turned in to money by anyone with a vision. With the knowledge and no how to capitalize on those ideas. So why are these individuals wasting our time on a weekly basis bitching about the WWE product, when they themselves could be implementing their ideas in to their own push to do what Vince McMahon originally did? I will tell you why.
Because they are a bunch of nobodies. Their ideas are crap. Their ideas play to 1% of the market WWE plays to. So you have 2,000 people online jerking off all over each others ideas and concepts, OH YEAH that was a good idea!.. OH YEAH so was yours!! OH YEAH.. That was another good idea! OH YEAH so was yours! We have losers named Dumbass Dave who have termed the WWE Creative Team as Stephanie's BOOBS. This is a guy who is supposed to be fair and balanced towards WWE. This is a guy who is one of the biggest losers online today. He claims he has more wrestling knowledge them half of the Creative Staff at WWE, yet he doesn't draw a dime with his ideas.
And he has connections to NWA TNA, because his boss works for them. So if his ideas are so fucking good then why isn't he writing for TNA? Because even TNA doesn't give a fuck what this son of a bitch thinks. No one does. The only people that do care about what this person has to say is his cult following. It is limited to a circle of about 2,000 people online. And WWE plays to over 100 times that many people on a weekly basis. So 2,000 people who do not represent a pimple on the ass of the Wrestling Business make the decisions for the rest of the fans? LOL.
Right. If that was how things were handled, this business would have gone out of business a long time ago. Because the online idiots only want to see their boys reach the top of this business. They don't want to see someone like Lesnar or Cena reach the top of this business. My god, when Lesnar debuted with the WWE these idiots claimed he would NEVER make it. WWE was ruining him by ramming him down fans throats. And he made it. He is considered to be a legit main event wrestler by the fans that really matter, you know the one's that actually buy tickets to the shows and don't try and get comp tickets to attend events.
What an original concept. Fans who actually pay to see shows might have more say in the product then a bunch of idiots who think they are inside the business since they write online columns. And then we have the stupid sons of bitches that decide since WWE did not respond to the tragic situation with Luger & Elizabeth immediately after it broke online, it means WWE doesn't care about the situation. Why, MY GOD it took them an ACTUAL DAY to respond to the news. Why they should have responded right after it broke online, because the people who write about it online have no lives themselves and instantly wrote columns about it. GOD FORBID someone in the WWE is actually BUSY and can not respond instantaneously.
These rotten sons of bitches used this woman's death, this woman who I actually had respect for to blast Vince McMahon. These slime balls decided this was something they could use to further their agenda against the WWE. And in the face of being called on it, they defended their actions. One of these rotten bastards actually told me the WWE should have responded the same day as the news broke. Yet this person took A DAY to post his column or even acknowledge the situation himself. So it was perfectly okay for him to collect his thoughts on the situation and hold off on breaking any new ground in to the situation, but it wasn't okay for the WWE to do the same thing. The thing that has really bothered me about this is, who the fuck made this bastards the ONLINE GOD's? Who made them so god damn GOLDEN?
What the hell gives them the right to use this woman's death to blast the McMahon's. That is beyond being slime in my opinion. That is downright low. And these are the guys who are going to tell us how the business should be run? Are you kidding me? I would rather watch two A Train's roll around on the mat then see what these people want me to see on WWE Television. Because if they are going to use a tragedy such as the death of Miss Elizabeth to write "told you so" columns about the WWE and the WWE Owners, then they don't have any sanity or credibility left in my opinion.
I don't claim that I am above anything. I don't claim that my ideas are the correct ones. I state what I feel would improve the business and equally admit that I could be wrong about it. Yet I guess I am alone in this as most people online seem to be swaggering towards the thoughts and concepts of the few. The few that greedily want to see their own ideas and personal agendas pushed ahead of others. It sickens me, it disturbs me and sometimes it makes me want to quit reading anything online about this business I love so much. But to do that, to give in to their demands, to allow them to go unchecked, would be to become one of them.
"NWA" - Updated April 18, 2003 10:23 AM
Something has been bugging me for quite some time now, and I finally decided to write about it. Sure the recent controversy going on internally with the National Wrestling Alliance gave me some incentive to write this column, but that is not the sole reason I am writing this column. One of the major reasons I am writing this column is because I love the National Wrestling Alliance.
There was a time that I lived & breathed the National Wrestling Alliance. The NWA stood for something special in my heart, because I was a wrestling fan. The NWA to me meant everything that was good in this business at one point, and now I can not think about the NWA with out feeling sick to my stomach these days.
Certainly I will admit that at times I take things personally when it involves this business, because this is a business that I have grown to love over the years.
NWA TNA quite simply put IS NOT the NWA. I don't care if people who support TNA want to argue TNA is the NWA because the NWA BOD (Board of Directors) prostituted the good name of the NWA out to the Jarrett's. It doesn't make it so.
TNA is far from being the actual NWA and it is a shame the NWA BOD allowed the heritage of the NWA to be mutilated in this fashion.
First of all, what is the NWA BOD gaining out of this deal with TNA?
What are the NWA Members gaining out this deal with TNA?
Are Jarrett & Triple X traveling to NWA Wildside, NWA East? Etc.. etc.. to defend the NWA World Titles? No.
Are the Jarrett's offering the NWA any support outside of pushing the NWA Umbrella every Wednesday night? No.
If this was done correctly and TNA was sending Jarrett around the circuit, much in the same way Flair was sent around the circuit in the 80's, then perhaps TNA would actually deserve to showcase the letters NWA.
The fact is sending Jarrett around to the other NWA Territories would actually help TNA's cause as well as the NWA's cause. TNA could tape the matches and showcase them on their weekly PPV's.
If TNA did this then perhaps it would be more representative of the old NWA. But the way things are currently done today is shameful.
But the problem with the NWA isn't only what is going on with NWA TNA, it also involves the NWA BOD itself.
The NWA BOD doesn't give a crap about the NWA as an organization, and only care about their individual business interests. Promoters who care about the NWA were pushed out, and promoters who could care less about the NWA run it now.
Who suffers? The fans suffer. The organization suffers. The heritage of the NWA suffers.
Still some people who disagree with me are up in arms reading this column. Why TNA IS the real NWA!
I will again point out anyone can pay the NWA BOD enough hush money to get the rights to the NWA name. But that doesn't make it the actual NWA.
So what did the NWA BOD get out of this deal with TNA? The NWA is on PPV?
Big deal. Anyone can get on Television. All they need to do is buy the air time. Some questions need to be answered by the NWA BOD's.
What exactly are they getting in return for prostituting the good name of the NWA every Wednesday night to the Jarrett's? The entire reason behind the National Wrestling Alliance was a support system for local promoters.
Each promoter joined the NWA and signed off on the NWA bylaws. Now the NWA BOD are violating their own bylaws by allowing NWA TNA to control the NWA World Titles.
Each NWA Promoter MUST (according to the bylaws)book the NWA World Champions a certain # of dates during the year or they can be booted out of the NWA. This is not happening now, because the Jarrett's now control both NWA World titles.
The NWA BOD even screwed over their own title lineage to arrange for the World Title's to be vacant so NWA TNA could crown brand new champions on their first PPV.
The Shane Twins were stripped of the NWA World Tag Team Titles down in Florida and the titles thus became vacant. The odd thing about this is The Shane Twins signed a deal with The Jarrett's to debut with TNA as "The Johnson's". So there was no real reason for the NWA BOD to strip them of the titles in the first place. The only reason one can deduct is TNA (Jarrett's) did not want to admit there was an NWA before TNA existed. Is this respecting tradition?
The same happened with "The Beast" Dan Severn, who was stripped of his World Title three weeks prior to the first TNA PPV.
Through Brad Clements (the host of our former online radio show) we talked to Dan Severn two days after the news leaked.
Severn confirmed he had been stripped of the title, due to "scheduling problems".
Severn said he had a previous obligation for "King of the Cage" and it was scheduled on the same day as the first NWA TNA PPV, so the NWA BOD decided to strip him of his World title. Severn was not upset or bitter over this, but he was a bit unaware why the decision was really made. Severn said he told the Jarrett's he would be happy to come in and work for TNA and put anyone over they wanted him to put over. He looked forward to perhaps working with TNA down the road, but had not heard word one from them since their decision. Severn also indicated the TNA people knew ahead of time that he was not going to be available for the date discussed for the TNA debut, and even before they finalized their first PPV date. It was fairly obvious the people at TNA did not have any intentions of ever using Severn on their shows. And or ever acknowledging that he was the Champion prior to the title debuting on their PPV's.
A fact that boggles my mind, since booking Ken Shamrock v. Dan Severn in a World Title Match on the very first NWA TNA PPV would have delivered a marquee match online fans would have marked out over. And also delivered a match WWE planned on doing in the late 90's but could never deliver.
Severn v. Shamrock could have been the most anticipated NWA Title Match in the history of the company if it was marketed correctly. It had all of the aspects involved to cause online fans to go crazy.
While I am speaking about TNA's snub of the NWA Title Lineage on their first PPV, I direct everyone to go to the TNA Web Page and look at the NWA TNA Title History (http://nwatna.com/history/index.shtml) and check out who is listed as the NWA World Champions.
NWA TNA does not even recognize the lineage & history of the actual NWA itself. Instead they simply list the TNA Title holders on their web page. Maybe I am getting a bit off track in this column. So let me go back to the main point I decided to sit down and write this column.
That being the support system being corrupted by people like Richard Arpin, who are only looking out for their own individual interests. What exactly did The Jarrett's do to get the NWA BOD's to allow them to violate the NWA Bylaws?
NWA TNA is not even a member of the NWA itself, yet they control the NWA World Titles? The other promoter's who actually pay dues annually are unable to book those champions now? It must be pointed out that NWA TNA is more representative of Nashville Wrestling Alliance then National Wrestling Alliance.
The other NWA Promoters can not invade other NWA Territories with out paying kick backs to the local promoters in that region, or they face being booted out of the NWA itself. That is another bylaw in the NWA rules, yet the Jarrett's are booking their show in the same region as other NWA members (NWA MAIN EVENT)and offer no compensation to those territories, no support to those promoters, and nothing in return for hurting their business.
One must ask why are these promoters still involved with the NWA? What is the point of paying the National Wrestling Alliance money each year, when you are getting absolutely nothing in return? If the BOD's think NWA TNA being on PPV is good for the entire NWA, they are wrong. NWA TNA has not exposed the NWA to new fans by being on PPV every Wednesday night.
NWA TNA plays to a limited online audience, who already know about the National Wrestling Alliance. So the NWA BOD did not serve to further the cause of the NWA by prostituting its umbrella out to the Jarrett's. TNA has actually damaged the good name of the NWA in my opinion.
Because TNA doesn't give a d**n about the NWA, they never did.
If TNA did care about the history & lineage of the NWA they would have never asked for the NWA BOD's to compromise their own title history.
Point blank the fact that the Jarrett's did not respect the title lineage of the NWA tells me quite a bit. Certainly the Jarrett's knew their audience knew Dan Severn & The Shane Twins were stripped of the titles, so one has to ask what exactly did they hope to accomplish by making the titles vacant?
HOW IS THAT PAYING HOMAGE TO TRADITION?
Why did TNA do this? Again, because TNA doesn't give a crap about the NWA and never did. TNA wanted the NWA umbrella to prostitute itself, with the hopes of attracting former NWA Wrestling fans to buy their PPV's. With the sole intention of furthering their own business interests, damned be the NWA. It didn't work.
If it did work, it just shows you how bad off the NWA became under the NWA BOD's, because next to no one orders the TNA PPV's and no one will because the promotion is run half ass backwards.
TNA doesn't co-promote around the NWA territories, like they should. If they did, they might actually gain 20-30 viewers in each region they expose their product in (through Jeff Jarrett traveling around the NWA Circuit).
If TNA did this thing correctly they would show Jeff Jarrett touring the regional NWA territories, defending his NWA World Title with honor on a weekly basis. TNA would show the promoter's rolling out the red carpet for The World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. TNA would show Jeff Jarrett being honored & respected by hundreds & hundreds of pro wrestlers, who one day want to rise to his level.
It would be like when Ric Flair was sent around the circuit in the old NWA days. When the NWA actually meant something, when the NWA World Heavyweight Title actually meant something.
Why isn't this happening? Are the Jarrett's so afraid they'll have to show footage of their man defending their title in some small venue with next to ZERO fans in attendance?
Is TNA ashamed of the reality known as the NWA in 2003?
Is TNA upset at the possibility that Jeff Jarrett really is not a draw outside of Nashville?
If they are so afraid of having to air footage of small venue's with next to no one attending the shows, they could create the perception that more fans attended the show then were actually at the show with trick photography (they could send a bunch of people with Jarrett to each town and shoot the match from one angle, so on camera all you see are tons of screaming fans in the audience cheering on Jarrett. THIS HAS been done before in post production work with WWE, and it does actually look legit!).
TNA could shoot a tight shot of the closing moments of each match and show highlights on their PPV's. They would not even have to show all of the match to their fans to emphasize Jeff Jarrett went to another town to beat another challenger. And by only showing highlight's they would effectively help co-promote that regions shows on their PPV's and give something back to the local promoter's.
But the fact is their fan base KNOWS these other NWA offices exist and do not CARE they play to small crowds. The TNA fans respect the other NWA offices and promoter's and would LOVE to see them involved more with the NWA TNA project. So the question that has to be asked and answered is, WHY ARE THE JARRETT's acting POLITICAL when it comes to co-promoting the National Wrestling Alliance?
Lets be honest, the fans TNA attracts understand TNA is a regional promotion. And in such TNA is missing the boat by not joining up with these other NWA Promotions. TNA could create the perception that it is MUCH larger then it actually is by hooking up with these local territories. TNA could send Jarrett & Triple X around the circuit and it would seem as if TNA was actually "touring" the nation. They would begin to take on the perception of being the second national company. And I must also point out when discussing their business interests with Television Executives they could brag about how Jarrett has been meeting & greeting fans all across the nation and is a "national" attraction.
Certainly the TNA title would mean a hell of a lot more if Jarrett was shown going around the world defending the title and beating the best wrestlers in each region!
Remember this business is still governed by perceptions and perceptions often times mean a lot more then realities. If the perception was Jarrett was defending around the world, he would become a much more prestigious Champion then he currently is. TNA itself would gain more prestige by showing Jarrett go to each local region defending his title.
And the Jarrett's could even have an open invitation for those local promotions to send talent to TNA weekly, with the promoter's paying the talent.
The concept would be the exposure on the PPV would be money in the bank for the local promotions. This would allow the Jarrett's to have some free talent every week on their shows. Of course the Jarrett's would retain the right to book the talent in any fashion they see fit, unless the local promotion sent two wrestlers to work with each other on the show with a designed finish in mind.
That is what the NWA once was and once meant. It was a support system concocted to allow local promoter's to help one another. It wasn't meant to be political. It wasn't meant to be controlled by one company.
The promoter's and promotion's inside the NWA actually cared about each other and cared about the lineage of the NWA itself. Today it is obvious the Jarrett's actually could care less about the NWA organization, outside of simply getting the prestigious rub from the three letters, but from where I stand the NWA died when it became political in nature.
When guys like Richard Arpin started compromising the good name of the NWA, the organization died.
"WAR II" - Updated April 7, 2003 3:23 AM
We just took control of Saddam Husseins Presidential Palace in Downtown Baghdad. At the same time the Iraqi Defense Minister claimed U.S. Troops were not in Baghdad.
It looks like a very good day for the U.S. & U.K. Troops in Iraq. War should always been considered the last resort. But in some cases the only action is the last resort. In this case, we made the right decision.
I heard the horror stories of the "liberal" media attempting to spin this action as turning in to another Viet Nam quagmyre with tons of American soldiers dying daily on our television screens. It has not happened.
Now let me make this perfectly clear, any U.S. casualties are horrible. But in any war you are going to take casualties. In this war we have taken minimal casualties. We have had free reign of the air, the land and the sea in this war. We have done everything we have set out to do. And the "liberal" media has sat by, watched and criticized the war plan as being 'horrible'.
The "liberals" in Washington have criticized George Bush for taking this action and suggested it would turn in to a Veit Nam Quagmyre. It didn't. Politicians like Tom Daschle & Bob Kerry have pretty much killed off the Democratic party by banking on our troops failing in this war. They banked on the wrong side and now they will see their political days numbered, mark my words.
"Liberal" journalists like Peter Arnett described the American & U.K. forces as feeble and suggested the war plan had "failed". He was DEAD wrong. He is alive, because American's died to allow him to be alive. That fat bastard eats because American Soldiers fought for his freedom and allowed him to eat. That son of a bitch is a journalist because American soldiers bled for him to write words on paper and make a living doing such. He shows a lack of respect for America, for the world, and for anybody with a reasonable notion in their mind. Arnett deserves to taste what war is all about first hand. He is a traitor in my opinion.
In the end, we will prevail because we have to. Hollywood "Liberals" like Jennifer Garaffalo (or however the hell it is spelled) can BEND OVER AND KISS MY ASS! She is ignorant. She predicted on FOX News a few weeks back that the war would kill 500,000 Iraqi civilians in the first week. That did not happen. These sons of bitches do not even have the balls or common decency to admit they were WRONG. They come back on television and change their stories but will never admit they were WRONG. We see Iraqi citizens with open arms and smiles on their faces for our troops coming to their towns and bringing them FOOD & WATER! And these sons of bitches are afraid and looking to make some type of a political statement for their own agenda. We were and are afforded the luxury of aiding our brothers and sisters who have no cloth for clothes, or shelter for homes or bread for supper.
To allow these people to perish because some son of a bitch socialite wants to predict some bullshit on American television would be to turn ourselves in to the satans they speak of. We need to feed their hungry and clothe their cold. We need to shelter them homeless and be their Jesus. If we do not do this, we become their Satan. And to be their Satan is to be our death.
"WAR" - Updated March 21, 2003 1:03 PM
The United States of America is currently at war with Iraq. Twelve years ago I was against war against Iraq. Twelve years later I am 100% behind the actions against Iraq. We, the U.S., have to take Saddam Hussein out of power before he gains the power to use weapons of mass destruction against Kuwait, Israeli, The United States and or his own Iraqi citizens. I am not attempting to push my own political or social agenda on to you, I am simply stating my own personal opinion.
For twelve years Saddam Hussein disobeyed the United Nations resolutions and decided to move forward with his programs to produce weapons of mass destruction. This has already been proven during the war as Hussein authorized the usage of Scud missiles against Kuwait and the United States. Saddam had previously informed the United Nations he complied with all of their resolutions and had destroyed all of the scud missiles he owned. This was obviously a lie as Iraq has been using scuds in the last few days. If Saddam would lie about destroying the scuds, what else would he lie about? I am positive we will find weapons of mass destruction stockpiled in Iraq once the war is concluded. The rest of the world who was against this action will learn on LIVE television how destructive Saddam Hussein actually was.
Our best wishes should go out to the U.S. & Coalition soldiers. Even if you are against the war action and feel it is wrong. You should still support the men and women who are only carrying out the orders of their nations. They had no choice in this matter but to go to war, because that is their obligated duty. I am sure they wish this could have been resolved in a peaceful fashion and not in a war action. So I ask for everyone to at least recognize the awesome sacrifices these men and women are making to protect the world's freedoms. You do not have to agree with it, but you should cherish, honor and respect it.
Those who are against the war actions have every right to demonstrate their thoughts and beliefs in a peaceful manner and I will respect and honor their rights to do such. But those who decide to violently demonstrate how they feel, do not earn nor deserve my respect in the slightest. I certainly hope this war ends fairly quick and with no civilian fatalities. That of course is an idealistic feeling as some civilians are certain to be caught in the cross fire through the war action. This is a shame, but can not be avoided. Precautions have been taken to minimize the loss of civilian life in Iraq by the U.S. and Coalition forces.
This update was not about pro wrestling, and I apologize for that. But I felt I needed to discuss something a bit more serious in this update. I will not break it down in to subcategories this time and talk about wrestling as well, because I think that would be disrespectful to the soldiers who are fighting in Iraq. So you will have to wait until my next update to talk about pro wrestling.
"WWE ON THE RISE?" - Updated March 7, 2003 1:03 PM
Well the time away from updating this column has given me quite a bit to talk about in this update. So I will break it down in to mini columns.
NECK INJURIES - World Wrestling Entertainment has seen a number of its roster go down recently with neck injuries which will require one year away from the product. I personally have a theory that the reason why these injuries are on the rise is because Dr. Lloyd Youngblood sells the need for the surgery. I think other companies have talent on their roster who would be sold on the same surgery as well but it goes undetected and they perform through the neck pain. If they went to see Dr. Youngblood and had an MRI, he would recommend the surgery for them as well.
I am not saying Dr. Youngblood is milking these injuries to get paid more, I am just suggesting that he opts to sell the surgery to repair the damage right away and not risk it getting worse by future injury. Is it a good thing or a bad thing for WWE? I think it is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is good because the talent will return stronger then ever with a stronger neck region. It is bad because in the short term the talent is away from the product. Then again in some cases that is a good thing as well, because not only does the talent get fresh while they are gone, but it allows new talent to be plugged in to their spots. I.E. Edge is out, Rhyno takes his spot. Edge can freshen up while he is gone and return a much larger part of the company then when he left.
BILL GOLDBERG HAS SIGNED WITH WWE?!? - Well according to ESPN Radio he has signed a WWE contract and in now onboard the Titanic. This is a good thing if it true, especially with Kurt Angle going down with his neck injury. I think Bill would or could become the biggest marketable attraction in the entire world if he plays ball the right way. If he goes in to his WWE career with politics in mind,
I think he will be 86'd rather quickly.
With Hogan on Smackdown, I really think WWE should consider having Goldberg come in as a heel with either Paul Heyman or Vince McMahon (or both). I think the short term could be to feud Goldberg with Hogan or Lesnar. But we will have to wait and see what does or does not happen with this.
COMPUTER PROBLEMS ARE A BITCH - I had some major computer problems over the last few weeks and finally got them corrected. I am not promising this will be updated any more then it has been, because quite frankly, I dont think there is much that warrants me writing as much as I once did. With the daily newsletter, I keep myself fairly busy doing that. And that is enough for me. I wish wrestling would peak or boom again so I could fluctuate the Internet with some good writing on a bi weekly basis again, but until that time...
"WWE ON THE RISE?" - Updated February 22, 2003 11:53 AM
There is talk WWE is considering splitting the brands up even further and running 4 exclusive PPV events per year per brand starting after this years WrestleMania. Personally I think this is a good idea. I would love to see Smackdown & RAW have their own PPV shows. In fact, I would love to see WWE allow Eric Bischoff to promote new PPV concepts through the RAW brand. I really think this could be a good thing over the long haul for the wrestling business. Growth, even in times when business is down, is good for any business to go through. It creates the illusion of stability.
Some people might dislike change, because they fear the unknown. But sometimes change & evolution is the only way to go. WWE is burning out their talent roster doing 12 PPV shows a year (combined shows). They need to get their talent off of PPV at least once every other month. There are two choices to accomplish this task. One is to simply reduce the number of PPV shows the company does in a given year. Which for a couple reasons is suicide.
Reducing the number of PPV shows the company does in a given year would cut the PPV revenue down considerably each year and it would cause fans to think WWE was in financial trouble because they were not offering as many PPV events as they had been offering previously. So for the cosmetic health of the industry, it can not contract. It has to continually grow and move forward. Much like if the MLB franchises saw one of their own GO UNDER and MLB deleted them, it would send a message to the world that MLB was in financial trouble. Which is why MLB as an entity always floats troubled owners loans internally, to ensure the franchise never goes under. Just look at the Expos for example, MLB is doing everything in their power to make sure the ball club doesn't go under. Even if it is a conflict of interest for MLB to do this (and it is) they are still doing it for the stability of the entire industry. It makes sense. It might not be right, but it makes perfect business sense.
WWE with 12 PPV events each year, can not abandon any of the smaller one's. Mainly because over the years they have made all 12 of them in to BIG PPV events. They are all priced on the same level, and they all deliver the same content. So eliminating one of the lessor events would simply cause fans to think WWE was in trouble. So instead the only other option is to rotate the lessor PPV events between the two brands. Run 4 exclusive PPV events per brand and 4 combined PPV events.
The combined events would be strategically placed during the year and serve as sort of HOME BASE for the brands.
"Things" - Updated February 11, 2003 12:53 PM
"MR. Perfect" Curt Hennig passed away yesterday at age 44. The news was shocking as it came down. I have seen it happen too many times over the past year so it was not unfamiliar territory. A lot of the stars from the 80's era have died at young ages. One has to think if it doesn't have something to do with the steroid craze of that era. I remember reading in the National Wrestling Observer that in ten years we would find out what if any serious damage all of the heavy steroid abuse would bring to these performers. A decade later nothing seemed to happen in this respect. But when these performers were nearing middle age, they began dropping like flies or having serious medical problems. One can not be 100% positive this is a result of the heavy steroid abuse of that era, but one has to wonder if it does. It is a shame if it did.
Curt Hennig was always one of my favorites. It was a shame to see how time had slowed him down a bit and how his behavior backstage caused him to be released from his WWE contract. I had hoped Hennig would get one last run on top in WWE prior to the problems in the back. But at least
the national audience had a chance to see Hennig before he passed away.
I do not mean to be disrespectful to Hennig by moving on to another topic, but that is what I am going to do. After the RAW show went off the air last night, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin returned to WWE. Austin came down to the ring and confronted Bischoff by flipping him off. The crowd went completely bonkers when Austin came out and chanted WHAT at him. Austin
was then confronted by Sean Morley. Morley was hit with a stunner and Austin began catching beer (which is not really beer these days) and he
began to do his four corners toasting act. Jericho came down and wanted to share a beer with Austin and ended up getting stunned as well. It was a run over which lasted around 25 minutes and the crowd loved every second of it. It was good to hear Austin was back in the fold and now we do not have to "guess" or "wonder" if he will actually be at the PPV.
I wish they would have done this on TV, but I understand why they are keeping him off of television until the actual PPV. Austin was said to be in great condition and I can not wait to see his match against Bischoff at the PPV. I am looking forward to seeing Austin finally get revenge for Bischoff firing him from WCW. Although it is a worked match, it still will be cool to see Bischoff get his ass kicked by Steve Austin. I think Bischoff would be wise to have some type of a plan for the PPV, like hiring some protection! Because if he doesn't, I seriously think he is going to get his ass handed to him in the contest with Austin. Bischoff might think he knows enough karate to stand a chance against Austin, but
I don't hold out much hope for him to last more then 3 minutes. Did I just say 3 Minutes? I guess I did.
One more topic before I go. Kane & Rob Van Dam. I know a lot of people are down on WWE for putting RVD in a tag team with Kane. I disagree with them. This is the best tag team I have seen in a long time. They do tag team moves and actually have really good chemistry with each other. I really think they should get a crack at the titles sometime in 2003. I would love to see RVD & Kane v. D Von & Bubba in a serious feud for the titles at some point during the year. I wish RVD was working in singles action and getting a serious push, but if he isn't. I will be happy to watch him and Kane team on a regular basis, because to me they are a really solid tag team. I enjoy every tag match the two work in, well outside of the one they lost v. Evolution.
"Don'tcha just know it" - Updated February 1, 2003 12:53 PM
HulK Hogan is back in WWE again folks. And he got a huge reaction upon his surprise return on Smackdown. This one was larger then the others
he got before his exit versus Brock Lesnar. Hogan is still "the man"
and it warms my heart to see him get these ovations everywhere he goes.
It was smart for WWE to keep Hogan off of this Thursdays Smackdown show, because there is absolutely no reason to burn out those receptions by having him featured on every show. He is not a ratings draw any longer and his appearances seem more special if they are few and far between
one another. I may be the only person in the country looking forward to Vince McMahon v. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania, but I can't wait to see that match. To me that is the ending to Hogan's career. Vince was the promoter who gave Hogan his first break in the business, and who has claimed he created Hulkamania for years. Hogan is the talent that helped create Vince McMahon's billiondollar empire and has claimed with out he was the real reason why Vince has all his money. So the two now get the chance to settle their dispute inside the squared circle. I will look forward to seeing Vince McMahon take the LEG DROP O DOOM and get beat by Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania.
Tampa Bay proved once again that winning championships is based more around solid defensive play and less around West Coast antics. I so hope this puts an end to the craze of teams trying to scramble to operate the West Coast offense. I call it the West Toast offense now. Because it was TOAST as soon as it stepped on to the playing field against Tampa Bay. I think a lot of teams are going to see what Tampa Bay did to dismantle the West Toast offense and are going to attempt to duplicate it for next season. Realize most of these attempts will fail since no one will have the speed to accomplish what Tampa accomplished against Oakland in the Super Bowl, but the attempt will SLOW down the offense quite a bit. The news doesn't bode well for teams like the New York Jets who base their entire offensive philosophy around the West Toast approach. Now my New England Patriots will focus on defense in the off season and attempt to put out a Tampa Bay like approach to defense, and shut down those annoying Jets.
I wanted to also talk about the D Lo Brown / Teddy Long angle on RAW for a few moments and decided to close out this column with that. I think it is hilarious. I love the "WHY DOES A BLACK MAN..." type lines. Call me nutty but they are hilarious to me. Teddy Long has a comical voice because he sounds so serious when he is saying it. I hope they let Teddy go really off in to some really goofy areas to make it sarcastic in a sense and humorous. Like, "Why is it that a black man always has to get the tables first? Why can't Bubba Ray get the tables first? He has two hands, I'll tell you why. Because the black man is discriminated against in WWE." I think they could do a lot of stuff such as that with the Teddy Long character and make it seem as if the guy is nuts, but at the same time deliver some comical lines through the gimmick. I think that is the way they should build this storyline. If it is sarcastic and almost satire on real racism in this country and makes a joke out of the issue, it will be a good thing for WWE to approach, in my honest opinion. Hey,
nothing like a little laugh here and there each monday. Well, I am gone, I'll be back soon. Homey's!
"Devox Illustius Cansalleos Mantabius." - Updated January 15, 2003 XX:66 PM
I am trying to get back in to the mix of writing these columns on a weekly basis again. But it is hard. I think the time away helped me recharge my batteries a little bit over the past few months. I still do not have a lot of things to write about wrestling, because right now wrestling is still in a holding pattern.
But I think 2003 should be a good year for pro wrestling all around. I want to see Triple H finally get his and I think 2003 could be the year that Triple H finally falls from grace. I think the writing is on the wall and I think 2003 is going to be the best year for all of us Triple H detractors. I could be wrong, but I don't think that I am wrong. I hope I am not wrong. I hope that by February Triple H has gotten his on a major PPV (*COUGH* Royal Rumble *COUGH*). But of course we will find out how that goes in a few days. I am really looking forward to Royal Rumble this year for some reason, and I can not quite put my finger on what that reason is right now.
Of course it looks like Brock Lesnar is going to enter the Rumble and walk out as the winner of the Rumble this year. I really wish they would do a swerve and have Lesnar not win the Rumble and have someone else win the Rumble this year. I think the predictable outcome is that Brock Lesnar is going to win the Royal Rumble and go on to face Kurt Angle at WrestleMania. Now if this happens, it will give us a really really really really good match at WrestleMania. But I would like to see them find another way to get to the Kurt Angle v. Brock Lesnar match at WrestleMania. I think teasing the match is not going to happen and making it by February would be the best way to build towards the match. I think having Chris Benoit beat Kurt Angle for the WWE Title because Brock Lesnar causes Angle to lose the title at Royal Rumble would be a better plan to go with. Benoit could hold the title until the PPV in February and drop it back to Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle could then be forced to take on Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania by Stephanie McMahon. And then we get right to the WrestleMania match we have all been waiting for. In the meantime we could have someone such as a RVD win the Royal Rumble, I am not going to hold my breath for this outcome to happen. But believe you me, if WWE put a Rob Van Dam over at Royal Rumble and shook up RAW and had him go on to WrestleMania to headline against either HHH or Scott Steiner, it would do wonders for the product in my opinion. One of the problems with the RAW product right now is it is too predictable.
Who could be elevated on RAW right away to make things seem fresh again? Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho even. There are numerous talents on the RAW roster who could be pushed better and help elevate the product by pushing them better. But they never seem to see the light of day for various reasons. But I think it is time for me to forget about saying these things on a weekly basis, because frankly I am tired of saying them.
I have something on my mind and it is bothering me. I don't want to talk about that either, because frankly I don't want to write about it yet. I just think it is hard to be positive at times and we have to always be positive, we can not allow the negativity to seek us out and take over our lives. I understand that is easier said then done, and I know that a lot of people are going to consider me to be a whacky nut for saying this. But I think DDP has the right philosophy on life. And I think we have to find a way to remain positive through all of the negative situations we find ourselves in. And I wanted to end this column with that thought.
"Well, Well, Well.." - Updated January 7, 2002 12:42 PM
J.R. called it quits this past week. He decided writing the Ross Report on a weekly basis was not worth all of the trouble & hassle he got. The decision caused the same people to publish "the real reason the Ross Report was discontinued". The reason they list was to blame Vince McMahon for the decision. It is a testament to J.R. he did this report as long as he did with these brainless-half-assed goofs constantly trashing his good name online. But isn't that how our culture works these days? Everyone thinks everything is THEIRS?
I played Madden Football 2003 online and the people on the server think the online play is THEIRS. They even have a web page service dedicated to
"blacklisting" cheaters. The funny thing is the people who run the page are the biggest cheaters on the server. It is amazing this is what our culture has become. People abuse their power. Power corrupts. That is the truth jack. Did I just write that? Please tell me that I did not just write that. Well this is the first time I have had the chance to write since the year flipped over from 2002 to 2003.
I remember when the year flipped over from 1999 to 2000. I remember the BIG STINK that went in to the 1999 digit flipping over to 2000 and how the WORLD WAS GOING TO END. Looking back on the hysteria known as the Year 2000 problem, I have to wonder how those people feel right now. You know the one's who actually were afraid their computers would stop working, who actually thought the world would cease to exist. It to this day still amazes me that people down the line were so freaked out about 2000. They actually bought in to the hype (marketing strategy) by the computer industry to sell "patches" and computer updates (or entire new systems) to combat the Y2K bug (bogus). Quite interesting nothing really ever came out about the problem anywhere after the digits flipped over. But people were scrambling weeks ahead of time to make sure they were Y2K compatible.
Can this ever be duplicated? I don't think it can. There is not going to be another chance to cash in on such a minor change as the Y2K deal. I guess in the year 2999 it could happen. Of course we will all be long gone by that time, and hopefully people will be so far advanced they wouldn't think of doing shady crap like that by then. But you never know, the human spirit never amazes me. The fact some people would even think about cheating on life surprises me. The fact people need to cheat at online games that have absolutely no impact on life is astonishing to me. The fact people have to bad mouth and trash a respected person like J.R. because he writes an online report, is disturbing.
The idea they decided they know what is best for the entire wrestling community, what is or is not true, what should or should not be reported about a given situation and concoct most of their information to benefit their own ego's - well, well well that is just the way things have become.
Why even name names. It is obvious to the naked (nekkid as Bradshaw would say) eye who is or is not doing this. I think people have the ability to recognize who is or is not doing this. OR DO THEY? The sad fact is in this culture most of us are trained from day one to be FOLLOWERS. We do not want to form our own opinions on a given situation. We want others to tell us how we are supposed to act. And that is why these individuals have as much power and say as they do. People LOOK up to them because they had the gumption to say it was so. The written word carries a lot of impact because of this reason and this reason alone. The old saying, IT MUST BE TRUE BECAUSE SOMEONE TOOK THE TIME TO WRITE IT, is valid in our culture. The written WORD has so much impact. Even lies can become facts of truth if they are written enough times. Take for instance the biggest example in the wrestling world ever. Fritz Von Erich lied about how his son David died in Japan in 1981.
The Dallas Press being close to the Von Erich's bought the lie and printed it as a fact. Over the years when others were doing research in to the Von Erich family, the lie thus became the truth. To this day some good people actually still believe David Von Erich died of Toxic Shock Syndrome (which is a crock of shit designed to throw people off the truth of his death, the truth was reported in Japan - he overdosed) because that became the truth. IT was written so many times by people doing research that it simply became the accepted fact in the death. Even though it was not even close to being the fact. And this is what I am talking about. If it is written, people believe it. No one cares enough to do the right type of research to find out if a fact is fact or a concocted story.
This past week we had another good example of how reporters understand this and abuse their power. Chris Yandek helped Shawn Stasiak concoct a story about an "imposter" going around acting as if they are Stasiak and saying things that will hurt his standing in the wrestling community. I laugh at this, first of all, nothing an imposter could ever say about Stasiak would hurt his standing in the wrestling community, because no one takes him seriously in the first place. Second of all, there was NO IMPOSTER and the entire story was concocted to save face for Stasiak, who put his foot in his mouth again earlier this week by shooting it off. Stasiak has this problem called diarrhea of the mouth. He shoots his mouth off about things he shouldn't be shooting his mouth off about and it gets him in to hot water. This time he stated something which was not even close to being true, and then after the fact needed some cover story to deny he had ever stated it. He was caught with his pants down once again and has now become the punch line of the wrestling world.
Yandek knowing how POWERFUL the written word can be released a report saying Stasiak was the victim of a "imposter Stasiak". So now that has become the official story. I have seen news pages pick it up and report it as fact. Who knows, in twenty years maybe it will be a fact, even
though it is not close to being true. And this is the example I wanted to use to prove my point. This happens every day in wrestling terms.
It happened every week with the Ross Report after reporters online decided what Ross really meant. They wrote what he really meant and it became fact. Even though it wasn't even close to being true. This caused a lot of problems internally at WWE. And it caused the report to be ended by Ross because quite frankly, none of it was wroth the problems it had caused. So now we are screwed out of reading his report on a weekly basis because of some dillhole's that couldn't simply report the facts as they were reported to us, and had to write their own two cents about what they THOUGHT Ross was actually trying to say. Gotta love it.
"Its Time for the Review" - Updated December 19, 2002 12:42 PM
It has been a decent year. It is time to look back on a few things and take a moment of silence. First and foremost I wanted to take a look back at 9.11. We should all take a moment of silence and remember what happened on that day. This was a wake up call for us all. It showed us that life is short and there is simply no time to waste. Be thankful for the time you have with your loved ones and do not let a momemt pass where you do not recognize it could end in less then 90 seconds.
I wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season and hope you have a nice holiday season. I do not distinguish between Christmas and Honakah or any of the other religious holidays in this column because I do not want to discount anyone, not eve festivas! THANK YOU COSTANZA! For those that do not watch Seinfeld, you will not understand what that was all about.
Wrestling was in a down cycle for most of the year. But we did get some really amazing moments (mostly on Smackdown). I want to thank WWE for giving us those moments and thank all of the talent for busting their asses and giving us those moments. I also want to thank NWA TNA for doing the same this year. I do not agree 100% with the direction of TNA and do not think they are utilizing their potential in the right fashion, but I recognize their talent base also busted their asses to entertain the fans and that deserves high praise!
I also want to thank every independent company and wrestler in the U.S. and internationally for busting their asses to entertain legions of fans across the world. It is a testament to how this business operates that talent can work through severe injuries, simply to entertain paying
fans. There is no other business like the wrestling business. In all of the other major sports, if a star is injured, typically they sit on the bench protecting their contracts. Does this make wrestlers tougher then other sports stars? I think so. In wrestling there is really never any down time, unless the injury is so severe the talent can not operate through it. I might be knocking NFL, NBA and MLB players by saying this, and if I am, so be it. But in my book, Wrestlers are the toughest SOBS in the history of sports.
I want to thank Trish Stratus especially for working through her broken nose and helping put on an entertaining match at Armageddon with Victoria and Jackie. Trish did not have to work through this injury as it was a triple-threat match and in the confines of a triple-threat she could have easily been covered for if she made the decision to exit to the back. It
is a testament to her toughness that she decided to work through the broken nose, finish the match, and put on one hell of a contest. I know a lot of people are down on the women. Not me. Trish Stratus has worked her ass off and become the BEST female wrestler since Bull Nakano. I know some will dispute that comparison and call me crazy, but that is how I feel and I am sticking to it.
Even though I do not see eye to eye with his backstage antics. And I think he needs to lose a lot more matches then he has been. I also have to give credit where credit is due and thank Triple H for working with a partially torn quad at Armageddon v. HBK. Triple H didn't have to do it and probably should not have done it. I wish he didn't do it only because it would have put someone else in his spot for the match. But he did it and I recognize the toughness of Triple H to once again work through an injury and meet a booking. I know Triple H has a love for this business and I just wish he would go back to his roots and realize he is killing the business more then nurturing it these days. There was a time when Triple H being pushed as heavily as he is would have helped business, those times are over. It is time for Triple H to understand if he is not pushed as hard as he has been on television, the company will actually become better. And by removing himself from that push he will help to rebuild his own career and one day will be in that spot again. But I don't hold out much hope for Triple H to figure this one out and that makes me sad to write.
I want to thank Jim Ross. JR brought Rey Misterio and Little Guido to WWE. THANK YOU! I am so happy Ross signed these guys to contracts. I am also happy Ross signed Scott Steiner to a deal, even though Ross has a lot of personal issues with Steiner. Ross is the man that signs talent and brings them to WWE and with out JR doing such a great scouting job, we would not have as many top notch WWE performers as we have currently. I
think JR gets a lot of heat online (most of it is undue heat) and I for one just wanted to thank the best play by play man in the business, well outside of Gordon Solie (who I really miss a lot).
I would like to thank everyone who helped with LEWD this past year. If you want to contribute in 2003, send in columns. We deleted all of the columns due to the lack of submissions over the last 6 months. This does not mean we do not value your columns. It just means we move forward and change with the times. No need to stay in the past with outdated material.
I wanted to thank the webmaster of LEWD (ERIK R) for doing the HTML code for the entire web page, minus my section (which I deal with). With out him doing those awesome splashes and front pages, the web page would not be as good. He does a wonderful job and that is something that I really appreciate.
Lastly, I wanted to thank each of my readers. If I could I would do it individually. But that would be impossible. Collectively I think I have the best readers in the business.
"FEAR FEAR BUT DON'T FEAR" - Updated November 29, 2002 12:42 PM
Sometimes things do not always go our way in life. But that is cool because if everything went our way every time, what would be the point of having things go your way occasionally? It would all be the same. There would really be no happiness of getting something you really wanted since you would always get everything you wanted. The absence of something you really want from your life dictates how much you actually want it. And sometimes even if you want it bad enough, you are not going to be able to obtain it that easily. Look at the Tough Enough competition. Some of the students want to become WWE Superstars so bad, they have their dreams crushed by being cut from the competition. It is at that point they must decide whether or not they actually really wanted it bad enough to pursue it outside of the competition. If they do want it bad enough, they will one day perhaps make it all the way to WWE on their own. Like what happened with Christopher Nowinski, Josh Matthews and a few others who lost the competition only to continue to pursue their dreams outside of WWE.
Most of it is an illusion concocted to establish if one has the desire and dedication to actually beat out the test and obtain their dreams. If you have the patients and virtue to follow what you know should be yours in your heart, chances are you will obtain it in the end. With hard work and some good luck perhaps it will not take as long as it takes others to obtain their dreams. But this is not all about a wrestling competition, it is about life as well. Life throws us obstacles and swerves from time to time and takes as far away from our dreams and goals as possible. At times it seems as if we are never ever going to obtain the place in life we want to be at. But we have to continue or else we are going to cave in to those obstacles and remain at the place we do not want to be. It is almost like a cosmic game of chicken.
NO matter how fast the car on the other side of the universe is coming towards us, sometimes the correct decision is to go straight at it and hope to collide with it. Because it really doesn't exist. It is only fear that creates the vision of the vehicle in front of us. If we allow fear to dictate our decisions we are going to constantly shy away from the car and we will never make it to the good place we want to be at. This is sometimes easier said then done. I myself have seen the car and have taken the long road around it from time to time and it never seems to reach the place I need to be. Nor the place I want to be. Fear is a funny thing like that. You have to conquer fear to be able to understand what fear actually is, and then even after you defeat fear sometimes it conquers you when you least expect it.
Death is feared by many. But death is just another gateway to another level of consciousness. Those who fear death hold themselves back from doing things they would dream of being able to do if they did not fear
death. Daredevils are always looked up at by these individuals since
they cheat death every day of their lives. But daredevils are not
cheating anything, because eventually death will come for them just
as it will come for the non daredevils. In this the lesson is to do
what you want to do, with in reason, and do not allow fear to dictate how you live your lives.
In the end all of this ties together. Dreams, Fear, Death, holding oneself back from one's dreams due to fear, etc. It is all the same. It sucks to have to want something so bad and think you have no way to obtain it. To fear if you ask someone a certain question you will lose them and they will vanish from your life. It seems like its own prison, because quite frankly it is. It feels like hell on earth to watch a loved one move forward with out you by their side, when that is where you want to be in life. But in certain cases you are unable to do anything. For the fear is to great and even those who have conquered fear are trapped in the pentagram known as fear again. There is never an easy way out for going forward with one's dreams could be a nightmare. Moving backwards with fear could be the last retreat, and moving sideways could hinder one's ability to obtain one's dreams. I have no answers to these important questions in the end. I only salute those who have the ability to jump feet first with out fear. For those are the one's who truly deserve to be cherished in this instance.
"Another update; Another day gone by" - Updated November 11, 2002 1:42 PM
Man has it really been a month and 8 days since I updated this section? I apologize to those who check back on a semi-normal basis. I have been burned out for a while now and had absolutely nothing left in my tank.
It has nothing to do with the direction of the product or the state of the business though. I have been playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
quite a bit lately and that soaks up a lot of my free time. I am
going to attempt to write on a semi-regular basis from this point on,
but can not promise anything.
I have not even had time to edit the radio show, which was put on hiatus for quite some time anyways by the host (Brad Clements). I have a show which came up one segment to short, go figure, to edit and it should be up in a week or two. I am currently watching college football and hope that OSU loses to Purdue so the dumb BCS crap doesn't screw Miami out of being in the championship game at the end of the season. How can #1 go from #1 to #3 because of a stupid computer system? Especially when they have not lost a game yet. Go figure.
I am really looking forward to Survivor Series. The Elimination Chamber is my kind of match. I really love gimmick matches and love them a lot when they are brutal and violent. I have hopes this is going to make the Hell in the Cell look like a playground. I also am interested in the hardcore match with Trish v. Victoria for the womens title. I really do hope one of the ladies blades. I know some will cringe if this happens but I would love to see it happen. Its a business and in a business you should treat all of the performers equally. If the men can blade, so can the women. I think that would be shocking in itself to see a woman bleed on WWE television. We will see where they go with this one, but I think they have a great chance to put on a blow away match with some awesome spots. It should be interesting regardless of the quality.
Brock Lesnar v. Big Show has been getting some nice build up and I for one and actually interested in seeing if Lesnar can F5 show. They are
making it abundantly clear on television (through Heyman) that he can
not do it. So the fans are being milked by the company to POP for
when he DOES do it. Sort of like how they made the fans think Hogan had
no chance to pick up Andre and bodyslam him at WM. And when Hogan did it the fans went bonkers and popped like he was the biggest star ever. I
have the feeling WWE is hoping for the same type of a reaction with Lesnar doing the F5 to Show. If that isn't what they are banking on, I don't know what they are doing the build up for. I for one would love
to see Lesnar do an F5 and Show gets his foot on the rope or something, building up the fact he can't beat Show. And Show could then chokeslam Lesnar, who would kick out. And Lesnar could finish off Show with a new move, the Shooting Star Press off the top rope for the pin. If he did
that move, in New York's MSG at Survivor Series no less, Lesnar would walk out of the building as a megaface in my estimination. And that is what the company really needs. They could even have Lesnar teasing he
is going to pull out all the stops before the match in a backstage skit
with Heyman. Heyman could look at him and say, "you aren't thinking what I think you are thinking? That is insane! You aren't a 170 pound guy like Rey Misterio Jr! You are the heavyweight champion of the world Brock, Heavyweight Champions of the World do not attempt risky moves like that!! Especially not on Survivor Series in Madison Square Garden against the biggest wrestler in the history of the sport! As your agent I am ordering you not to do something as crazy as that. I can not sit back and let you make these insane decisions any longer Brock. What did you hire me to do?" And then Lesnar could "fire" Heyman at the PPV before the match and do the Shooting Star Press to win the match.
Or fire him after the match, after the move which Heyman told him he was nuts to do. Heyman could be bragging about how it was all his idea to do the move and then Lesnar fires him. That way Heyman is set up to bring in some talent (Nathan Jones etc) to remove the title off of Lesnar. In that respect you have a Heenan/Hogan type feud with Heyman trying to take the title off of the guy he created. Great stuff.
"Another update; Another day gone by" - Updated October 3, 2002 12:42 PM
Of course it is October and that means it is Major League Baseball Playoff time. I root for the Atlanta Braves first and every American League team outside of the New York Yankee's second. I hope Anaheim can overcome the magical strike zone, umpires human errors and fans catching doubles which turn in to home runs. Otherwise The Yankee's will move on to the second round and have another chance to move on to the World Series. It just is odd to me that all of the calls happen to always go the Yankee's way helping them make it to the World Series. And it strikes me as odd the only game on FOX (the big network) is the Yankee's game, while the other games are stuck on the crappy Family Station, which no one watches. It
is odd the league favors the Yankee's, actually maybe it isn't odd since they have always favored the big markets. New York has an unfair advantage because they are pushed as heavily as they are pushed by the networks. Which is probably why fans would rather watch the Yankee's in the World Series then the Kansas City Royals. If the Royals got as much national exposure during the season as the Yankee's got, perhaps fans around the country would know who played for Kansas City. Maybe then the fans in Kansas City would care about their franchise and actually pay to see Major League Baseball in Kansas City. But when the national climate has absolutely no idea that Kansas City even has a team, since they are never aired on National Television, the local fans don't care about the team either, since all the national exposure is about NEW YORK this and NEW YORK that.
I conclude my rant by saying, Yankee's MUST LOSE in the first round to promote the health of baseball. If the Yankee's make it to the World Series this season, I will stop watching MLB. If I stop watching MLB, then that would suggest others will stop watching MLB as well. And if
that happens, MLB is in big trouble. So for the health of the game,
the Yankee's MUST go down to the Angels in the first round. Allowing
two teams who have never squared off to fight for the chance to go to
the World Series. Well at least in the Finals. Doesn't this seem as
if it is the same problem pro wrestling has right now? Well if it does,
that is because it IS!
Undertaker and Triple H have been so dominant for so long they constantly get thrusted in to the BIG GAME. And fans cheer for these athletes since they have been so heavily pushed. No one cares about the Jerichos, or the Angle's, or the Rob Van Dam's since these superstars never seem to get the victory (and or exposure) as Undertaker & Triple H always get. For the
health of pro wrestling Triple H & Undertaker have to start to put over the talent under them in a strong fashion.
If that does not happen, the only thing which will allow wrestling to heal is the absence of both Triple H & Undertaker from the product. If
these talents do not play ball and elevate the talent under them and
yet stick around in the company. Even if they are removed from the main
event, it isn't going to re-build the company. As has been proving in
the past, it was only when Hogan left WWE that the WWE fans began to accept those new talents being elevated to his spot. While Hogan stuck around in the company while WWE was attempting to elevate new talent to
his spot, the WWE fans rejected all of the talent put in the position Hogan was in. Because Hogan was still working in the company and people
still expected Hogan to be the MAN. Hogan failed to elevate any of the younger talent with clean jobs (outside of Warrior). Warrior was the only younger talent that was able to break through the glass ceiling, when he was elevated by Hogan.
Triple H & Undertaker know this. They have both been around the business long enough to know what a victory over them could mean for the talent under them. But the deal seems to be selfishness with these two. They
do not want to put the guys under them over because they fear they are going to lose their spots in the company if they do so. And they are right. The company is at the point where they have to use Triple H and Undertaker as complimentary talent and not as main event talent. These
two athletes need to be as far away from the World Title as possible unless they are going to be used to elevate the talent with the title. It
is not going to work out that way in one case (Triple H) for sure, since Triple H is never going to do the right thing for the business.
Oh, I don't doubt Triple H is going to politically position himself as a guy who is doing the right thing for business by putting over Kane at the next PPV. But then he shifts the position of elevating new talent to the top of the company on to Kane's shoulder. This is what Triple H is great at. He did this when Jericho was coming up. Somehow Triple H escaped putting Jericho over and shifted that task to other people in the company. And when Jericho was elevated, Triple H came back and buried him by defeating him for the title at WrestleMania. All of the work to build Jericho up and elevate him was negated by Triple H. And Triple H knew that was what was going to happen and that was why he shifted the task of elevating Jericho to someone else.
Now we are at the same crossroads in WWE. Rob Van Dam needed to be elevated. Bubba Ray Dudley needed to be elevated. Triple H always gets the first victory over new talent. Because he IS THE GAME. But now he is going to give the task of elevating these new talents to Kane, because he realizes these guys have to be elevated and management knows they have to be elevated. So he is going to take himself out of the spotlight and eliminate his duty and obligation to the company and business to elevate these new superstars. Which means now Kane is going to be asked to put one of them over down the road. No doubt Kane is a company man and will elevate either RVD or Bubba Ray Dudley in a few months. Then Triple H will lobby to have a feud with the new elevated talent and point out it was him who did the right thing for business by putting over Kane, so Kane could work a program with them to put them over and demand he get the
title back, thus negating any of the elevation offered through Kane to the new talent. I certainly hope WWE doesn't allow Triple H to play his GAME all over again.
I have witnessed him do this two or three times. He learned from the master of it, HBK. I personally think HBK should be put in to a feud
with Triple H and keep Triple H away from the World Title for the rest
of his career. It is sad when you have to hope a talent is injured so
the business can become healthy again. It was sad when I had to hope
Steve Austin would either be injured or quit the business so the WWE
could start to become healthy again. Minus Steve Austin WWE has been
a hell of a lot better off then when they had Austin. The same would
happen if Triple H dropped off the face of the earth. Because WWE is
never going to be able to get Triple H to play ball and elevate new
talent in my estimation. And he has to much power with the bosses
daughter to get in hot water for his political GAMES. So unless he is
injured, I really do not hold much hope for the RAW side of the business.
"HLA & TNN & CBS/VIACOM" - Updated September 26, 2002 1:42 PM
I have a problem with TNN being upset at WWE because of Hot Lesbian Action being on RAW. TNN needs to do their homework. If TNN is so upset at Hot Lesbian Action, TNN ought to look at its parent company a bit closer. TNN is owned by CBS/VIACOM, which also happens to own MTV.
MTV has a show called "The Real World" which always has Hot Lesbian Action involved on the show in one form or another. In some cases they
also have Hot Male Homosexual Action on the show. MTV has been pushing the liberal homosexual agenda for almost seven years. CBS/VIACOM has
been allowing MTV to push the liberal homosexual agenda for the past seven years. CBS/VIACOM has allowed other forms of HLA on its roster
IN PRIME TIME hours over the past decade. I believe the 'first' Lesbian Action was on a CBS-BASES SITCOM in PRIME TIME HOURS.
TNN has questionable television shows on EARLIER then RAW itself and it should do its own network justice and clean itself up before it attacks WWE for HLA. I don't understand what the problem is though. Two women fondle each others asses and kiss on RAW. What is the big deal?
So what these executives are saying here is. It is perfectly okay for a man and a woman to kiss and fondle each other on RAW, but it is not okay for two women to do it on RAW. In other words, TNN is a homophobic network. TNN discriminates against homosexuals. TNN is afraid of the world surrounding us known as REALITY. TNN should be ashamed to be upset at HLA being involved on RAW. HLA is not wrong. Gay on Gay relationships are not wrong. Showing them at 4PM or 8PM or 11PM is not wrong.
If you are against same sex relationships being exposed on television, you have to be against non same sex relationships being exposed on television. Do I think children should be watching two women kissing?
NO! Do I think they should be watching a man and a woman kissing? NO!
If TNN has any sense. The next time a woman and a man kiss on RAW, TNN will be just as upset at WWE. But they won't. Because TNN is run by a bunch of conservative losers. TNN needs to come in to 2002 and realize
their old-school mentality is a dying breed. And while they are moving
in to 2002, how about GROWING UP as well.
"9.11.02 is silent and silent can be." - Updated September 16, 2002 1:42 PM
The cynic in me KNEW something would happen on 9.11.02. Even if it was not an actual Al Queda attack on the United States again, but there would be some type of terrorist movement on 9.11.02. Certainly some of the sympathizers to the Al Queda cause would make some sort of noise to inform America that this campaign against terrorism is not OVER with.
Or some disgruntled fundamentalist militia men in the U.S. could use this chance to send a message to the United States Government. A copy cat attack on the American public designed to send a message to the Government that the militias do not agree with everything the Government does, and wants to start a revolution against them.
And 9.11.02 came, John Ashcroft put the country on the highest alert level of security bracing for the copy cat attacks or an all out Al Queda assault on this country. And NOTHING.
It was SILENT. There was no attack. There was no copy cat attack. There was no sympathizer attack. There was NOTHING. The war on terrorism took a POSITIVE turn on 9.11.02. Obviously the date had great significance for the terrorists because it would have sent a direct message to the U.S. and the U.S. population. WE ARE NOT DEAD, WE ARE STILL HERE! In fact, We can attack you when ever we want. A year after we attacked you on 9.11.01, and 9 months after you declared WAR on us, WE still have the capabilities and power to reach out and smack you when we feel it is needed. IT would have been one of the biggest PR blows the terrorists could have pulled off against the U.S. Government. For that reason, I expected SOMETHING.
For me this proves two things about this war on terrorism. First of all the terrorists were not "brave" as Bill Mahr stated on "Politically Incorrect". Because if they were BRAVE they would have done something on 9.11.02 even if it caused them to lose their lives. That date to the terrorists was as important at the Fourth of July is to us. 9.11 would be their independence day. So the fact they passed up the chance to try and attack us again, to me suggests they are cowards. And not only that WEAKENED cowards. Second of all the terrorists are WEAK now.
Our strategy to eliminate their power to attack the U.S. worked. These fundamentalists have absolutely no method of attack any longer. And it just goes to show the rest of the world if you screw with the U.S., we will turn your country in to a parking lot with such a dominant air attack, you simply stand absolutely ZERO chance of survival. It also
proves to me another very IMPORTANT thing.
Bin Laden is dead. If Bin Laden were still alive he would have bragged about 9.11.01 on video tape and released it on 9.11.02 for the entire world to see. He could have easily gotten the video tape to a Middle Eastern TV station and released it on 9.11.02 to send a strong message of defiance against the U.S. It would have been a great PR hit for the U.S. to have Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9.11.01 attacks on the air on 9.11.02. Every station in the U.S. would have picked up on the video tape and American Citizens around this country would have been afraid and terrorized all over again. But NOTHING. Which tells me Bin Laden is dead. Not only is he dead, he is stupid. He should have pre-taped an announcement a year ago and sent it to someone in his organization in case of the U.S. forces killing him. With the instructions to sit on the tape until 9.11.02. Even if the U.S. Government proved the tape was pre taped a year prior to it being released, it still would have sent a message to the world. But again, SILENCE.
Some other cynics would tell me, "Always silent before the BIG storm!". Yeah, I don't think so in this case. Mark my words, THE TERRORIST ATTACKS ON THE U.S. are OVER. Their structure has been destroyed. Bin Laden is dead. Their training facilities are now a parking lot. And now it is time to turn our attention to Saddam Hussein. We need to remove Hussien from power in Iraq for two main reasons. First of all If Iraq was more or less in our control, it would mean stabilized oil prices and less chance of the prices fluctuating up to really high levels, unless those who control the oil in this country want to make money. And second if Saddam or someone such as Saddam ever got a hold of a Nuclear weapon there is the potential of an all out nuclear war. So it is time to say GOODBYE to Saddam.
"More Wasted Words" - Updated September 6, 2002 3:42 PM
September 11, 2001 (9.11) was one of the worst events in American History. It was like the Pearl Harbor of our era. A lot of innocent people died for no good reason. But it was not something that was brought on through an accident. In fact, it is going to happen again sooner or later because of our policies against other countries. The United States of America has absolutely no business sticking its nose in to the affairs of other countries unrelated to our national security. We have absolutely no right allowing the Israelian government to treat the Palestinians like door mats and turn around and expect Fidel Castro, Yassar Arafat or Saddam Hussien to treat people with respect and dignity.
There is no difference with what Israel has done to the Palestnians for hundreds of years and what is going on in third world dictatorships. The one difference is we accept Israel as an ally and thus we refuse to tell them to stop killing innocent Palestinians for absolutely no reason. We refuse to tell them to pull out of the Palestinian territories and stop occupying them. Israel has never pulled out 100% and never will, because it is against what the Israelian government wants to do. They have shown through history they want to dominate the Palestinian people. This has caused the Palestinian people to rise up and fight for their independence through any means possible.
It is almost the same as when we broke away from England. England did not want the United States to become possible and fought us tooth and nail to make it an impossibility. The Palestinians are fighting for their own state, an independent state away from Israel that is recognized by the world. But the problem is the one force which could make it all possible (The United States) is shutting its eyes while Israel disallows it as a possibility. But what is worse is the United States is stepping in and demanding the Palestinians "cut it out".
Imagine if a world force stepped in during our fight for American Independence and told us to "cut it out" or else. We would not have our freedoms away from the imperialistic rule of the Kings and Queens. We would not have had the United States of America or all of our pride and glory. But it is somehow different to some what is going on over there and what went on over here. But it is not different.
We have absolutely no business in dictating to any country what they can or can not do. It is as simple as that. And when we decide to stick our noses in the affairs of other countries, that opens us up to be attacked by their supporters. And that is what happened. And it will happen again and again and again, until the situation resolves itself.
There is no reason why Israelians and Palestinians can not live in the same region with two independent states. The one big problem is Israel does not want to recognize Palestine as its own state. They want the land for religious reasons. And that spells doom for the entire region. An ignorant, closed-minded decision by a religious zealot in control of Israel caused the deaths of 2,338 innocent civilians last year. And it is going to happen again, probably on 9.11.
Until people start to wake up and realize what is actually going on in this world, these things are only going to get worse. Sure there are two options to attempt to stop it from happening again. One is to try and work for a peaceful solution to all of these problems, which is very possible if only the two sides would listen to each other and become tolerant to the others cause. Or the termination method, which is to terminate everything you can not be tolerant of and replace it with what you can control. The Afghanistan method to the solution. We would have to systematically dismantle every regime in the Middle-East that supports the Palestinian movement. We would have to attack every regime and knock them out of power and put our own people in place. We would have to control the entire region.
Take out Saddam from Iraq, Take out the government in Iran, Take out the government in Beirut, Take out the government in Saudi Arabia and every other regime in the region which supports the Palestinian movement. Once that is accomplished, there will be nothing to worry about. Well, we would also have to allow genocide as well because the people who live in those countries would inevitably fight to save their regimes and thus we would have to effectively wipe Islamism off the face of the earth. But I guess that is not as big of a price to pay as being tolerant and accepting them for who they are, right?
"JUST A RUN OF THE MILL UPDATE" - Updated August 29, 2002 1:42 PM
Well SummerSlam 2002 came and went, and it was one of the greatest WWE PPV's of all time. Each of the matches delivered on the show. HBK v. HHH was the match of the year in my opinion. We will have to wait and see how the voting turns out at the end of the year. I thought it was
easily the PPV of the year. RAW was decent, but not great.
I was at the Smackdown! taping and it was an excellent show. So WWE seems to be on the right track. Lets just hope they keep it up and
do not take any steps backwards. I think RAW may have done that, but
we can not be positive until this weeks television is over with. It
will all be known by next week at this time whether RAW did take a
step backwards for WWE. Certainly if it did, we will discuss it.
I wish to turn towards MLB for a minute. This bastards are going to actually go on strike with the one year anniversary of 9.11 approaching, and they wonder why the rest of the world hates America? It is losers like the MLB Players that give this country a bad name. These greedy bastards earn on average 2.5 million dollars a year and are complaining about working conditions again? As always it relates to MONEY with them.
I know a lot of the defenders of the players claim this one is not about greed or money, but it is. They are afraid the proposed changes are going to create a situation where the owners do not SPEND AS much on contracts as they have previously. In other words, they are afraid the A Rod contract will be the last of its kind and no other players will make a ridiculous amount of money for no apparent reason. To me, that is a money concern, that is a money issue, that is GREED.
These bastards make more money annually then 99% of the world's population. People are starving in other countries because they have NOT. And these idiots are worried about earning more money. Worried about not being able to earn 20 million or 25 million in one season.
Lets see these jerk offs go to a 9 to 5 job and earn $10 bucks an hour for a 60 hour work week and then tell me the 2.5 million average per year isn't ENOUGH. They wouldn't survive in the real world, because their rich wives would leave them for movie stars and their world would collapse around them. No more ten cars to break the law with! No more money to get you out of legal troubles when you are busted for DUI or illegal drug use. No more special treatment by the American public because you won't mean crap to anybody. They won't like to live that life, they won't like to go back to being a nothing.
But they want MORE and MORE and MORE and MORE. Gee, I really feel sorry for them. Let me go get my giant Violin so I can play them a song. I really hope they do strike. I really hope when they come back, the fans do not come back. I hope they KILL MLB. I hope by killing MLB they lose their homes, their lives and everything important to them. I hope MLB survives in its true form and kicks these primadonna bastards to the curb. Break the union. And send these losers to the shower!
"SUMMERSLAM: SHOW OF THE YEAR" - Updated August 22, 2002 12:42 PM
I do not write many columns about upcoming PPV events. But this time this column is all over SummerSlam. The show top to bottom looks to
be one of the strongest PPV line up's in WWE history. I think they
could add one more match to the show and still have enough time to allow all of the other matches to develop in to classics.
Rey Misterio Jr. v. Kurt Angle.
This match is guaranteed to be a solid match. Both Rey Misterio Jr. and Kurt Angle have the talent to give us a memorable match this Sunday at SummerSlam. The match could easily challenge for Match of the Year honors at the end of the year. I expect a blow away match between Angle
and Misterio at the SummerSlam PPV. Kurt is simply the best wrestler in the world right now and putting him in a match with a talent such as Rey Jr. will equate in to an excellent contest. These two have a chance to put on the best match on the entire SummerSlam PPV on Sunday, and that
is not going to be an easy task with the line up this PPV has.
Edge v. Eddie Guerrero.
When I heard about this match being added to the PPV on Sunday, I was excited. Edge is one of the fastest rising superstars in the business
today and has steadily gained popularity with the fans. He has all of
the tools to be a top player in WWE. Eddie Guerrero is one of the top five workers of all time. I could not say a bad thing about Eddie Guerrero, because there is absolutely nothing bad to say about him. He
has awesome wrestling ability. Put Edge and Eddie Guerrero in a singles match on one of the biggest PPV shows of the year and give them enough
time to work a competitive match, and you have another Match of the Year candidate in the making. The first two matches I have covered in this column very well could compete with each other for those annual award
honors.
Booker T & Goldust v. Lance Storm & Christian.
This is a solid tag team match for the tag team titles. Goldust is very entertaining these days and Booker T is really starting to get over big time with the fans as a babyface. I think it will be a solid tag team match. It obviously is not going to compete for Match of the Year honors, but has a chance to be an excellent match itself.
Test v. Undertaker.
This is the one match on the SummerSlam card which has a giant question mark hanging over it. If Test is treated like a true equal to Undertaker and is given the chance to work a back and forth brawl on the show. I think it could be a decent big man v. big man contest on the show. But if the entire match is worked around Undertaker being the dominant "American Badass" mutilating the "Canadian turncoat", then I think the match is going to fail big time.
HBK v. Triple H.
I will go out on a limb and predict this match will be excellent. I have faith in HBK. I know how he goes all out on BIG shows. He worked a match against Steve Austin (his last match) and put on one hell of a show when he should have realistically opted out of performing in the match. It was that attitude which cut his career short. I know HBK is going to pull out all of the stops and make this match a 'must see' contest, even if it is not good for his health. In a sense that really does frighten me, because I know HBK is going to do something crazy to make sure the fans rave about his return match with Triple H. Speaking about Triple H, I think he is going to have his working boots on at SummerSlam. Triple H is going to want to make sure he carries HBK to a decent match. And I think he will in the end. I think for sentimental reasons alone a lot of people are going to vote this one as a challenger for Match of the Year honors.
Rob Van Dam v. Chris Benoit.
Now we come to the rocketbuster on SummerSlam. Rob Van Dam and Chris Benoit are exceptional talents. Give them 8 minutes on RAW and they have a classic short match. Give them 15 to 20 minutes at SummerSlam and they could have the greatest Intercontinental title match of all time. Yeah,
even better then Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat v. Randy Savage from WrestleMania III. Chris Benoit is the greatest technical wrestler ever to step foot in the squared circle. Rob Van Dam is the best high flyer to ever step foot in the squared circle. You can look at both of their past accomplishments and realize just how good these two talents really are, and it still would not do them proper justice. I think again this could be a Match of the Year candidate.
Ric Flair v. Chris Jericho.
I don't think this one is going to be as good as it should be. I am not a fan of Ric Flair any longer. I think Jericho is going to have to put on one hell of a one man show to drag this one up to a decent enough quality to not be overshadowed by the rest of the card. This will be a test for Chris Jericho to see if he really has what it takes to be in the upper echelon of WWE talent. I think he has it in him. I think Jericho is going to prove he is "Larger then Life" by pulling out a show stopping performance to allow Ric Flair to look really good at SummerSlam. But I don't think it will be a Match of the Year candidate.
and finally.. Brock Lesnar v. The Rock for the WWE Title.
It is here! I have been waiting for a month to see this match. I want to see this match so bad because I want to see how Brock Lesnar reacts in a pressure situation against The Rock. I want to see how the two put the match together and how the finished product comes out. Brock has all of the tools needed athletically to get the job done. The Rock with out a doubt is exceptional at what he does, and that means the match is going to be entertaining. But will it have that drama of a HUGE match? That is the big question that is looming over this main event. When the bell rings, is this match going to have that buzz? That excitement? Will Brock Lesnar v. The Rock have that special feel to being one of the biggest matches in the history of WWE? Or just another title match on PPV that was hyped to levels it could not realistically deliver? I think Rock is going to establish Brock Lesnar as a legit player in WWE. I think Brock Lesnar alone is going to come out at SummerSlam and prove he is just as talented as anyone else who has come before him. I know they have the ability to establish Brock Lesnar as a legit stud Sunday, and now it is up to WWE to do it. It won't be from a lack of enthusiasm from The Rock, because The Rock is always "on". I just hope they do not rush the match and give them the extended time to work a classic. I don't think 8 to 10 minutes will do this justice. I think they need to go at least 20-25. The reason is, if Brock can go 20-25 and prove he can hang with The Rock. Then the fans will start to realize he is the 'real deal' and not just some Goldberg want to be. Goldberg never went 20-25 minutes in his matches, and that would set Brock Lesnar above Goldberg and put him in to his own league.
All in all, it should be the PPV of the year. It might be the best WWE PPV in a decade. We will have to wait until Monday to determine just how good this show was compared to past PPV events. We have four or five Match of the Year candidates on this show alone. And the other three matches have a chance to be really good. Lets hope the strong line up translates in to a strong show on PPV. Enjoy the show!
"What else is new" - Updated August 15, 2002 6:02 PM
I have been enjoying WWE Television for the past month or two. I know a lot of people are still down on the product. Not me. I look at what is going on in WWE today and understand it is excellent material.
Those who are upset with the product should take a trek to the local video store or dig up some old 80's and 90's video tapes of prior WWE
footage and compare the two products. Certainly attractions like Jim
Duggan, Dino Bravo, Earthquake, Typhoon, The Goon, TL Hopper, The
Who, Rad Radford, Kamala and Bastin Booger being used on a weekly basis will prove to these critics how GOOD the business is today.
Who is involved with the product today, compared to back then, who we can say UGH about on a weekly basis? Certainly one could be in UGH mode when Mark Henry is announced for a match on Smackdown!. I can admit Mark Henry is not that greatest worker in the history of the business, but he is certainly a better quality worker then Earthquake or Bastien Booger.
And yeah, people can always go UGH when The Big Show is announced to wrestle on RAW weekly. But comparing The Big Show to TL Hopper or Jim
Duggan is like comparing Ric Flair to Buddy Landell. Obviously Big Show
is not the greatest wrestler in the history of the business but he is a
lot better then the wrestlers of the past who were in his position on a national level.
What is my point? TWO wrestlers of the UGH variety in our product today is a lot better then the 100's of UGH talents the business used to have.
Shannon Moore & Hurricane v. Billy & Chuck on a weekly basis is a hell of a lot better then The Nasty Boys v. Earthquake & Typhoon on a weekly basis. So in the end it is my opinion the fans of today have been SPOILED. They have the greatest talent base in the history of the business working for them on a weekly basis. And all they can do is complain about the match quality on the shows?
Lance Storm v. Booker T is a great match. Never before in the history of this business has the talent depth in one company been so great that Lance Storm v. Booker T could be an "opening" match and lead to the main
event (and have the main event be ten times better). I don't care who is or is not being pushed on top. I care that the match quality exists and the product is evolving in new directions.
In short. A talent such as Brock Lesnar in the past would have been just another BIG MUSCLE HEAD with limited ring skills. Like Sid Eudy. But it isn't that way anymore! Brock Lesnar is a monster, yes. But he is also a legit wrestling machine! The guy has legit wrestling credentials and could stretch anyone on the WWE roster, well maybe not Kurt Angle. To
be honest, Kurt Angle v. Brock Lesnar in a pure legit wrestling match would be a very interesting competition. Because either of the two could beat the other with actual wrestling moves. Not the fake wrestling moves the fans want to see (Hurricanranna's and Plancha's and Moonsaults) but
the legit wrestling moves amateur wrestlers use to win matches.
People who are upset because Lesnar is being pushed, sighting he does not have the ability, are obviously idiots. Because he has the ability needed to OUT-WRESTLE anyone in the business today. Of course the term
WRESTLING to some has evolved in to a magical word that means using chairs and tables and luchador spots. When the term WRESTLING means to
WRESTLE, MAT WRESTLE.
Again, to sum it up. Brock Lesnar of the past would have been Sid Eudy. A guy with a great body (physique) and limited wrestling skills who was pushed to the moon as a total monster heel in hopes of fooling the fans in to thinking he has actual wrestling ability. How can I say that? IT HAPPENED!! WWE pushed Sid Eudy like he was the second coming of the wrestling GOD or something and the fans BOUGHT in to his act. Sid did not have the wrestling ability of Brock Lesnar, still doesn't. And it
was not something exclusive to the WWE product, because WCW pushed many muscle-heads with limited wrestling ability as well.
Brock Lesnar is a different breed of WWE performer. He has the muscles (Physique) and he has the ability to work an actual match. He with out a doubt could be the greatest wrestler in the history of the business based
on his look alone. Put his actual ability with his look and there is no
doubt in my mind he is going to be one of the greatest wrestlers the business has ever seen. Once he gets over on his look alone and people
begin to catch on to his actual credentials and ability, he is going to win every fan over. I don't think the future of Lesnar is as a monster
heel. I think the future of Lesnar is as a total babyface that the fans
mark out over.
"Fighting the "free-Pass" - Updated August 8, 2002 2:42 PM
On 7/31 NWA TNA produced one of the dumbest angles in the history of wrestling when Puppet pulled a gun on Jeff Jarrett.
(Editor's Note: This is a reprint from a column written by Muriel Dobbin about gun 'violence' in America. The American Medial Association (AMA)
has deemed 'gun violence' in America to be a 'epidemic' (since 1999). It
was published on July 22, 2001.
WASHINGTON -- A California doctor who is the new president of the American Medical Association has antagonized the gun lobby and offended some fellow physicians by vowing to spend his year in office on a crusade against "the epidemic of gun violence," which he denounced as a public health crisis.
Dr. Richard Corlin is seeking to set up a federally coordinated and funded violent-death reporting system that would allow states to collect detailed information about homicides, suicides and accidental fatalities that could be used as preventive guidelines for police and public health officials.
He underscored the need for such a tracking system by offering statistics showing that since 1962, more than 1 million Americans died in firearm suicides, homicides and unintentional shootings. In 1998 alone, 30,708 Americans died by gunfire, and 64,000 were injured."
On 8/1 Dave Scherer published the following in defense of the dumbest angle in the history
of wrestling, "I didn't much care for the use of the gun either, but in this day and age, I guess there are no unwritten rules anymore. Guns are apparently not off limits anymore. It's not what I like to see, but it's "sports entertainment" and not "wrestling" nowadays."
According to Dave Scherer since this is "Sports Entertainment" and is not "wrestling" anymore, in this day and age, there are no UNWRITTEN RULES.
In essence wrestling promoters can do anything they want since it is "Entertainment". Dave was defending NWA TNA by suggesting by todays standards created by "Sports Entertainment" there simply are no rules.
On 8/5 WWE RAW included a promo by Lance Storm, which I admit offended a lot of people because of its political nature.
On 8/6 Dave Scherer wrote the following blasting WWE for airing the Lance Storm promo on RAW, "I have to say that I found myself almost wishing that the PTC wasn't out of the picture anymore because when WWE chose to make the incidents of 9/11/01 part of a lame storyline, they showed that they absolutely deserved Brent Bozell biting at their heels. Hell, they deserve that a whole lot more. Innocent people died here on 9/11, just as innocent people die in wars and conflicts all around the world. To make light of that is incredibly crass and WWE should be taken to task for it. Aside from it also being ridiculously disrespectful and in horribly poor taste, WWE doesn't even learn from their own failure, as they have tried this same thing in the past.
WWE may think it's cool to trivialize one of this country's great tragedies but I surely don't. And I don't want to watch real people's deaths serve as fodder for a wrestling angle. It's shameful and embarrassing. WWE deserves anything negative that comes to them for being that classless last night.
And again, in defense of the NWA TNA product Dave Scherer wrote, I guess there are no unwritten rules anymore.
So on 8/1 in writing about NWA TNA there were "no rules" but somehow on 8/6 in writing about WWE, all of a sudden there were "rules".
Does this seem strange? In the span of less then a week (even less then a business week) Dave Scherer totally contradicted himself.
Yet to be fair to Dave Scherer, perhaps we should wait for his comments on this weeks NWA TNA PPV (8/7) and see if he defends them again with the "No Rules" line.
It is now time for me to get something off my chest about the Lance Storm promo. For all of the people who think it was 'tasteless' to run such an angle after 9.11, how many of you knowingly support the commercialization and celebratory nature of the United States dropping two bombs on Japan?
Do you know certain organizations with in this country are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the United States of America killing over 200,000 Japanese civilians? Do you even care?
How is this any different then Middle-Eastern Arabs celebrating the bombing of the World Trade Center on 9.11? It is NOT any different.
If you think Arabs are 'wrong' for openly having celebratory parties and ceremonies for the 'suicide bombers' who bombed the World Trade Center on 9.11 and killed 2,338 American Civilians in the process, but somehow think it is perfectly fine to honor United States Military who dropped bombs on Japan and killed over 200,000 Japanese Civilians then I have news for you. You are no better then the your Arab counterparts!
I for one will not support the innocent slaughter of civilians on the behalf of any nation.
Some people are upset at the Lance Storm sympathizer character being used by WWE. Guess what? IT IS REALITY!
There is a REAL PERSON named Johnny Walker who sympathized with the Taliban and actually fought with them against the United States. THESE PEOPLE EXIST! If you want to ignore reality, that is your own choice.
But why does WWE have to ignore reality? Because you don't like the fact they aren't? There are a lot of people who disagree with the philosophy of the U.S. Government.
I understand what the real reason behind people being upset at WWE doing the Lance Storm character is all about. It is about CONTROL.
It is called CENSORSHIP. You do not want certain views to be heard. And the ironic thing is, the UN-American gimmick you hate so much is a lot more AMERICAN then you are! Because Lance Storm is telling the truth and standing up for what his character believes in.
Just because YOU may disagree with what his character thinks or feels, doesn't mean he shouldn't be able to say it on television. All of you
people who would rather shut Lance Storm up are UN-AMERICAN.
Just because an individual has a different philosophy about life then you do does not give you a right to CENSOR him or call for someone else CENSORING him. The only reason you want the different view point off the TV screen is because it makes you feel uncomfortable about yourself.
You are UN-AMERICAN. Because the United States Constitution gives each of us the right to Freedom of Expression. I know, I know, that makes me a LIBERAL right? Because I know my rights. That makes me a bad person because I am pointing it out to you right now! You want me to be 'fired' or eliminated from having the ability to stand up for my rights and write
the truth, because it does not fit in to your narrow minded view on the world?
Of course, I totally understand some people do not want any of us to have Freedom of Expression unless that Freedom of Expression is limited to their skewed way of thinking.
I for one support each and every citizens right to Freedom of Expression, even if I have a different philosophical outlook on life then they have. Even if I disagree with them 100% of the time.
For I understand I may not have all of the correct answers, or even any of the correct answers. And only through dialogue and disagreement can we begin, as a functioning society and culture, to gain a better insight of the world and our surroundings. It is through disagreement and philosophical debate which will allow us to gain these new insights in to ourselves and others with the hope of finally understanding one another.
Only with open discussion with no mental or physical limitations implied or instituted by an individual or government on our freedoms can we begin to gain these insights in to areas we may have never thought to venture in to. If not for the freedom of expression afforded to each of us we would never have thought to venture in to these new areas of thought and philosophy. In essence those who wish to limit our thoughts, ideas and concepts and who wish to squash our right of freedom of expression are certainly far from being AMERICAN.
The individual or organization which hopes to prohibit, and more so hopes to outright BAN freedom of expression, wishes to control thought patterns and censor anything against their narrow minded outlook on life.
No individual, no group, and certainly no government should have the responsibility nor the power to limit our thoughts, ideas or concepts.
For to have that awesome ability, that unwavering power, and more so to yield and exercise that awesome power is to squash everything this country was founded to be.
Yet there are those who wish to gain this type of awesome ability and awesome power and do wish to yield it when they see fit. They certainly are more UN-AMERICAN then a wrestler who is reading a script with a political message hidden in it.
A simple entertainment skit designed to 'entertain'. A skit which did not cross any unwritten rules or barriers, except
those concocted in one narrow minded reporters mind.
Because as stated previously, entertainment should not have any unwritten rules. For if you dislike one story and attempt to CENSOR it, what is stop someone else from doing the same to something you like?
What is to stop someone from saying Shakespeare or Mark Twain crossed
some imaginable UNWRITTEN RULE or barrier thus making it literature or entertainment which should be censored?
Certain individuals in our culture have agendas. These individuals seek the power to decide what can and can not be written or aired on television. Those individuals are closed minded, narrow minded, UN-AMERICAN zealots who think they should decide what you and I watch or do not watch. They do not want us to have the freedom of expression or the freedom of choice.
These zealots operate using the same type of circular logic that allows an individual to decide on a Wednesday that there are "No rules" and then turn around a few days later and decide, OH, THERE HAVE TO BE CERTAIN GUIDELINES OR RULES FOLLOWED!
In essence this may have been a bit longwinded. This may have been a bit overdrawn. But at least in the end the theory of the "free-Pass" was proven and the word HYPOCRITE can not be written when describing yours truly. However; Dave Scherer could not say the same now could he?
(Editor's Conclusion: Clearly one can see "gun violence" in America is an ongoing 'epidemic'. The defense of "Entertainment" having no boundaries when one "Entertainment" company books a "gun" angle
only to turn around less then a week later and say another "Entertainment" company has to follow some 'UNWRITTEN RULES' to govern what they can or can not do on television, based around what a wrestler speaks about on the show and relating it to the 2,338 innocent American's being slaughtered in a meaningless terrorist attack against the United States borders on lunacy! Over 90,000 AMERICANS HAVE DIED SINCE 1999 FROM GUN SHOT RELATED WOUNDS! Do you think the families of the 90,000 fatalities want guns used as "fodder" in a "lame storyline" on a wrestling or "Entertainment" show? I would stand firm in suggesting they would not want it taken lightly. But again, some people think one company has a 'free-pass' and can do anything they want, because they have no "UNWRITTEN RULES", while another "Entertainment" company must follow a set of "UNWRITTEN RULES".
The biggest question which remains unanswered is: Who writes these UNWRITTEN RULES? Are they SET-UNWRITTEN RULES, or do they just change from time to time according to one mans mind-set?
"We don't need no wrestling heels.." - Updated July 31, 2002 2:53 PM
In the last update of this section I said (at the end) I would discuss heels & babyfaces in this weeks column and relate it to how the online critics demand for heels & babyfaces ruined pro wrestling.
A cutting accusation and a tough one to prove. But I honestly think pro wrestling had evolved in the right direction with the 'shades of grey' mentality and has taken a step backwards with well defined villians and hero's. I don't think in this day and age mainstream audiences know what is evil or good anymore. So how can we expect them to pay to see a product that defines to them what is good and evil? But not only tries to tell them what good and evil is but also labels, packages and markets it as being good or evil? It is my contention the mere process involved in labeling, packaging and marketing something as good or evil to mainstream audiences in this day and age insults the audiences intelligence. People do not want to be told what is good or what is evil, they want to define that for themselves.
For instance, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin & The Undertaker being pushed heavily as heels over the last 12 months insulted the intelligence of the fans sitting at home consuming the product. Fans did not accept either of Austin or Undertaker as heels, and when the fans did not accept either of them as the pre-destined heel (remember the company wanted to push them as a heel and the online critics demanded they be more well defined in their heels roles) the business changed (evolved) their characters to fit the well defined heel criteria. You read that correctly, the business decided since these superstars were not 'getting enough heel heat' as heels they would simply tinker with their character and make them more 'heel-like'. In the process the tinkering insulted the intelligence of the audience watching the product at home (the consumers) and some of them decided to quit watching a product which force-fed them the product (how they were supposed to react and think, etc).
So what if Undertaker gets huge pops and the business has groomed him to be a heel? What does it hurt? Keep him fighting the top babyfaces and keep him doing the heel tactics. Don't tinker with his character and change his entrance music because some of the online critics do not understand why he is getting huge pops, when he is fighting babyfaces.
There was absolutely nothing broken to fix with the Undertaker character. The fans chose to pop for him for what ever reason, and the business should have accepted it as fact and moved forward, the business should have written the story around Undertaker's character and not around the reactions of the fans watching at home. If a heel gets huge pops and the business wants to push him against top babyfaces, what is the problem? WHAT THE HELL IS BROKEN?
Maybe some ego's are shattered on the creative team because their plan of creating a huge super-villain (heel) didn't work out quite as it was intended to work out. But BIG F'N DEAL! The worst thing that can happen is the fans do not react either way. The business should not care if the fans love the babyfaces or hate the babyfaces or hate the heels or love the heels. All the business should care about is providing good logical entertainment, solid compelling storylines, good athletic competition on a weekly basis and getting the audience to react one way or the other towards the characters.
Certainly if the fans POP HUGE for a heel, the business should allow his character to become more fan friendly. But he should not become less violent or change anything else his character was doing. Imagine if WWE evolved "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in to a total "wuss" when they pushed him initially as a super-heel and the fans POPPED for him like he was the biggest super-face in the history of the business. WWE did not tinker with his character and allowed Austin to kick everyone's ass. And it got his character over even more as a 'babyface'. What if the business had decided since Austin was getting huge babyface reactions he should not be as 'hard-edged' as he was? They would have insulted the intelligence of the audience consuming the product.
Just because fans are popping for a character that was developed and intended to be a heel should not create a situation where the creative
team decides to to tinker with the character to allow him to get a more
traditional heel reaction. The business should not attempt to make every character fit in to the businesses ideals of what a babyface or a heel is all about. And the same has to be said about a babyface that gets heel heat. The business should not tinker with a character who was intended to be a babyface and shove him down the audiences throats as a babyface if the fans obviously react to him better as a heel.
I don't think you can create heels anymore. I don't think you can create babyfaces anymore. And I personally feel the online critics push and rush to demand traditional heel and babyface roles in wrestling has crippled (ruined) the ability of the business to attract a widescale audience. The business can not force fans to dislike Brock Lesnar.
On the same token, the business can not force the fans to like Brock Lesnar or John Cena or any new superstar they debut. It either happens or it doesn't happen. Sometimes (Austin) you intend to create a mega heel and the fans decide he is a babyface. Sometimes you intend to create a babyface and the fans disagree and hate the character. When these situations happen it is in the best interest of the business to simply continue what was planned with the character and allow the fans
to continue to like or dislike the character.
Having a character such as Rock cheat (if they intended to turn him heel) WILL NOT all of a sudden make the fans dislike him. It would only be insulting to the fans if all of a sudden the business decided to turn Rock heel because he 'cheated' and tell the fans they are supposed to 'hate' him now. Like all of the other babyfaces who cheat on a weekly
basis are supposed to be cherished, but since the business has decided The Rock is now a 'heel' (evil) the fans sitting at home consuming the product should have the typical pavlovian approach to the character. It simply does not work that way.
The only way to turn characters heel or face in this day and age has nothing to do with the physical nature of the business. It has nothing to do with cheating in the ring to win matches. It has to do with the speaking portion of the business (the promos). Heels have to get real personal with the audience consuming the product to get them to dislike
them. Heels can be just as strong as babyfaces in the ring and win by clean pinfall just as much as a babyface. But if they do not get on the fans nerves, or push the fans buttons during promos, then the game is just about over with.
With that said. Heels the business wishes to turn babyface should not cheat less or become less physical in action. They should start to kiss the fans asses and become fan friendly to the audience consuming the product at home. Having a heel kiss the fans asses at home is about the only way to start to get the fans to react in a pavlovian fashion to how the business wants them to react. But it can not be forced, the trick is trying to fool the fans in to thinking they have chosen to like the wrestler, and the character really hasn't changed one bit.
In some cases that would not work. So you can not force feed heels and faces anymore. All you can do is debut a character and wait for the fans to select if they are a heel or a face. When the audience finally decides if they like or dislike the character, the business at that point should take over and start to evolve the personality of the character in either direction. It should not happen before the character debuts on TV.
In essence, this is what I feel.
If for what ever reason John Cena was bood like wildfire when he debuted, and the business wanted him to be groomed to be a top babyface. I don't think having him fight top heels and beating those top heels would have magically caused the fans to react in the pavlovian fashion towards his character. If the fans decide a new wrestler is a face and the company wanted to present him as the next BIG HEEL, I don't think anything he could do, short of calling them pricks, would get him over as a heel.
The business should allow the fans to cheer and boo who they like and dislike and keep the physical antics of the characters the same, and only tinker with the personalities of the characters. It is through
the speaking portion of the product (promos) where good heels and faces are now well defined.
But again, in some cases (Undertaker & Austin) it is almost counter productive for the business to listen to the so-called "Smart" critics
and try really hard to develop heel persona's for these superstars.
Because it isn't going to work. The fans do not have a definition set
in their mind about what is GOOD or EVIL and they WILL NOT accept someone else telling them what is GOOD or EVIL. Until we have clear definitions of what is good and evil, and I seriously doubt our culture will de-evolve in this respect (even after 9/11), the business can not try and market certain attractions in a certain directions based on having a well defined role of "good" or "evil".
Everything must remain in the shades of grey mentality to stop short of insulting the audience the product is attempting to market towards.
A key example is. The Unamerican's. These guys did not change how they act in the ring. They just attacked America. That in itself was a total personality trait change in all of the athletes, who did not hate America before the angle began. That is the only way to create heels and faces, attack the audience on an intellectual or personal level. Fans have seen babyfaces cheat for so many years (in all sports) that simply having a wrestler put his feet on the ropes to win a match, is not going to make the fans dislike the character any more then they had before he won a match with his feet on the ropes. There is very little non rule breaking (in a traditional sense) going on in any match. SO how can you expect for mainstream audiences to accept one wrestler is a heel because he cheated, and another wrestler is a babyface because he cheated? You can not. It is as simple as that.
"A day Late" - Updated July 25, 2002 12:53 AM
So I am a day late again. I don't have an excuse, it was not a really busy week or anything. I just did not know what to cover in this column.
I could talk about NWA TNA and be negative for the entire column, since there is not a lot positive to discuss when NWA TNA comes up. But what is the point of harping on a promotion I choose to not watch? To many
times the people who cover this business write columns about companies
they do not like enjoy and or watch. I don't see the point in writing
a column about NWA TNA because I have not watched one of their shows
yet. I did expect to get a few of the prior PPV shows on video tape and
review them on my own time, but alas the person in charge of engineering that transfer did not come through. I wish he did because I really want
to watch one or two of the shows to see what it used to be like.
But turning away from NWA TNA. We have Goldberg giving chats and bringing up half of the WWE roster in a favorable fashion. Could Bill
be politically positioning himself in the right fashion to sign with
the company? Then we have the "insiders" reporting his demands for compensation are "ridiculously high". Is that "ridiculously high" for NWA TNA standards or for VKM just bought a new $14 million condominium in Boca Raton, Florida standards? Lets face it, Bill Goldberg is a Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin type impact player on any roster. And he should get Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin type money to come in to any company. So
if Goldberg is asking for $1-2 million per year, I don't think that is "ridiculously too high" unless you are talking about a group who can not afford to purchase a BIGGIE SIZED COKE with that extra value meal.
So now with Bischoff doing this thing on RAW, and his thing has been really cool so far and well written to I may add, and Stephanie doing
her thing on Smackdown! (and so far she has been good in her role as
well, but we will have to wait a few months and see if she starts to
get on our last nerves again). WWE really looks like it has a story
that is going to stick and create a ton of interest in the company for
a few months. I certainly hope this thing lasts longer then most of
the other storylines WWE has run. Most of them start off really hot
and flop in 2 months time. I think this one needs to remain strong
until around this time next year.
But with all of the new talent additions to the roster, WWE is starting to look and feel like a totally different promotion. It is a good thing the talent roster is starting to resemble unknown territory. Because if WWE can attract the fans to return to the product, and the fans see a bunch of unknown guys (with a mix of known talent) competing on a weekly basis, they just might get HOOKED again. Last week's RAW delivered the fans, and hopefully the RVD-Jeff Hardy Ladder Match and Rock-Guerrero main event hooked them to return next week or give Smackdown! a glance.
Smackdown! is a strong show tonight (this week) with Rey Misterio Jr. debuting and actually getting a RUB with the Heavyweights on the show. I really think Rey Jr. has the talent, the look, and the charisma to one day make it to the Heavyweight Division. If he did make it to the Heavyweight Division in WWE he would transcend the business and turn it on its ear. I personally think a talent such as Rey Misterio Jr. should be the WWE Champion one day. He should have won the WCW Championship when he was SO HOT, but they dropped the ball. WCW even booked Misterio v. Flair for the WCW Championship when Misterio was SO HOT. Why didn't he beat Flair for the belt? I remember watching that edition of Nitro and thinking, Flair is to old to beat a talent like Rey Misterio. If WCW does not promote Misterio to the title this week, the game is OVER.
WCW did not present Misterio in a great light on that show as Flair beat him, as usually happened in wrestling (in WCW) when a smaller more talented wrestler takes on an aging dinosaur who doesn't belong in the business anymore. I am sick and tired of these LEGENDS (or so called self promoted legends) beating younger, faster and stronger wrestlers (in most cases more talented). The role of the dinosaur in wrestling has its place! Make no mistake about it. Guys like Hogan & Flair have their place in the business until they want to leave. If they want to stick around until they are removed in a pine box, they still have their place in this business. But that doesn't entitle them to beat guys that are half of their age on a weekly basis and relive their glory days! I was sick and appalled when Rey Jr lost to Flair that night on Nitro, and I was equally sick and appalled when Ric Flair beat Steven Richards a few weeks ago on RAW. That should never happen! N-E-V-E-R!
To me it doesn't matter if Hogan or Flair have won titles galore or have been the top draws in the business, or WOOOOOOOOOO ARE THE NATURE BOY! I don't care about what they have accomplished in 1979. Neither does the mark sitting in their living room at home! We don't give a damn about the history the aged veteran has had in the business. Certainly we RESPECT these wrestlers when they are supposed to be respected, but we do not respect them when they are performing against guys half their age and acting as if they can keep up. BECAUSE THEY CAN'T! When Flair was 35, yeah he could keep up with a Steven Richards. But he is not 35 anymore! By having Flair booked strong against a Steven Richards, you drive a stake right through the heart of the entire promotion!
Steven Richards has a future in this business. Ric Flair only has a past in this business. Any one who thinks Flair has a future in this business is fooling themselves, and living on borrowed time. Hulk Hogan doesn't have a future in this business either. These two guys have a lot of history and no future. Hogan has been used correctly though. He has been giving key wins when he needed them, but he has also jobbed to a lot of the younger talent and helped elevate them in the process. This is the way an aged veteran talent should be booked in a company. Flair
on the other hand has been used half-assed by the creative team. Part of the blame has to be thrown at the feet of the "Whaaaatlesnake" Steve Austin because Austin refused to allow Flair to look strong in their program. Part of the blame has to fall on the creative team for booking Flair as the heel in the Austin-Flair storyline instead of keeping Flair face. Who really gave a good god damn that a babyface Austin was beating up a babyface Flair? Why did one of them have to be heel?
I will examine that in next week's column. Why heels and faces are not really required in pro wrestling and how the stupid smart critics ruined pro wrestling by demanding heels and faces. That is my next column, so beware, be scared and return next week!
"SHOCK OF A LIFETIME" - Updated July 17, 2002 4:53 PM
What do we have to discuss about pro wrestling? Everything has happened, hasn't it? In a day when it was thought WWE could never do something to
drag us all back in and turn us in to MARKS, WWE proved us all wrong yet again.
This time Eric Bischoff appeared on RAW and proved to us that anything can happen in this business. Eric Bischoff working for Vince McMahon is something I never thought I would witness in this business. Some things are just impossible. But Vince McMahon once again proved he is above holding grudges when working with someone can financially help his own company. A lessor man may not have made the phone call to Bischoff and asked him to come on board the WWE Express. A lessor man would have scoffed at the notion of working with a bitter enemy who at one point attempted to put WWE out of business. The bad blood between the things Bischoff did to WWE still exist in people's minds.
Yet Vince McMahon rose above the bad blood, rose above the bitter feelings and he did what was best for his company by bringing in Eric Bischoff. Do I like everything Eric Bischoff did in WCW? No, I hated
some of the things Bischoff did in WCW. But that was then and this is
now. Bischoff was in charge of WCW at one point and in most business atmospheres he was put in charge of WCW to attempt to run the competition out of business. Bischoff at times used questionable tactics and at times I questioned his ethics. But that was then and this is now.
Now he is an on air talent. He has been brought in to use his past reputation to hopefully spark interest in the product again. I think if he is booked correctly it will work. I have always thought Bischoff was a good on air personality. I just questioned his business decisions behind the scenes. Now we will finally get to see if WWE can make use of a credible equal to Vince McMahon in charge of the RAW brand. Lets face
it, Ric Flair was not a credible equal to Vince McMahon as "owner".
Part of the reason why that angle did not deliver was because Flair was never in control of a company in pro wrestling. Eric Bischoff on the other hand was actually in control of a million-dollar company at one point and has the credibility to be booked as an equal to Vince McMahon.
Flair had to rise above himself and act as if he was on the same level as Vince McMahon, it was a character. Eric Bischoff is acting as himself and has always been an equal to Vince McMahon. Thus I think the best angles in the history of this business has been true to real life. They
have not been 100% concocted storyline. And Bischoff does not have to act as if he is a "General Manager" because at one time Bischoff WAS a "General Manager". So all Eric Bischoff has to do is do what he did in WCW, but do it on WWE Television. So now we can sit back and take a ride on this tsunami Vince McMahon has unleashed on us.
I talked about lost potential in the last column. Sean Waltman was part of the discussion. Waltman has been sent home from WWE because he was missing meetings and showing up late to buildings. He was also becoming quite a headache backstage when it came to doing his job. He refused to put over a few wrestlers in the last few weeks and claimed he was injured to get out of the jobs. He refused to work twice on a RAW show because of the said neck injury. Waltman was on thin ice with the company and he was simply sent home for the time being.
I would not be surprised if Sean Waltman has wrestled his last match with WWE. I also hear through the grapevines that a few other veterans might find themselves on the outside looking in if they do not change their attitudes. I do not want to speculate on who these wrestlers are, that would not be fair to anyone. There is increased talk of Dusty Rhodes being used on the creative side of the business (RAW). I would not be surprised to see this deal done fairly soon (some are claiming it has already been done and Rhodes is starting in a few weeks). There is also talk of a few BIG NAMES heading in to WWE over the next few months.
Bill Goldberg's chances of ending up in WCW probably drastically improved with Eric Bischoff in the fold. Bischoff has worked with Goldberg in the past (WCW) and the two are very good friends. It looks as if Goldberg is going to eventually end up working for RAW in the next few months (with speculation he could debut really soon). Scott Steiner is also on the wish list once again and there is increased speculation of his name being inked really soon as well.
Is it a coincidence WWE signed Bischoff and is thinking about bringing in ex WCW talent? Probably not. With Bischoff promising to SPEND SPEND SPEND to make RAW #1, one would have to assume WWE signing Goldberg and Steiner would fit right in to the storyline.
"LOST POTENTIAL" - Updated July 9, 2002 1:32 PM
So five days ago I discussed how WWE did not put a title on Jeff Hardy and his match against Undertaker still elevated him to a higher status.
It would have been lost this week if WWE did not follow up his push of
last week with another push this week. I was of the opinion WWE was
not going to be able to follow through and give Jeff Hardy the right type of a push this week to follow up his push of last week. Boy was I wrong!
Certainly a lot of the critics are going to write about how the European Championship does not mean much. I would agree with them, the European
Championship means absolutely nothing at this point in time. But giving
it to Jeff Hardy should do something for RAW that has been needed for quite some time. A consistent match (segment) that is quality-based. I have the opinion Jeff Hardy could have good matches with anybody on the entire roster. Unlike some of the talent in WWE, Jeff Hardy is small enough to allow any of the wrestlers on the roster to have competitive matches against him for the European Championship.
This would suggest the hottest title in WWE could be the European title if Jeff Hardy is pushed correctly. And the only way he has to be pushed is to have strong competitive matches defending the Championship on Heat and RAW against all of the talent on the roster. It does not even have to be the top talent on the roster. It can be all of the midcarders on the roster to give the perception Jeff is defending the belt against all
comers and winning these matches. In a few months the European title will actually mean something if WWE follows through with this push. The
fact is there is absolutely NO reason to take the belt off of Jeff Hardy in the near future. Jeff Hardy should be giving the chance to elevate the European Championship and make WWE fans care about it again. Jeff has the popularity to make fans care about that Championship and I think he will get the job done (if he is pushed correctly).
Of course we can also talk about lost potential. A talent such as The Big Show. He was sent down to Ohio Valley Wrestling to get a new attitude and lose some weight. He found a new attitude and came back to the big club. For a while he seemed to be heading in the right direction and seemed to be dedicated to his craft. But now he is slow, fat and boring. He is lumbering in action and in my opinion makes all of the talent he squashes look really bad. It is one thing to be dominated by a monster who is a HUGE SPECIMEN and a fat slow out of shape lumbering slob that can't move fast enough to make any of his offense look realistic.
Sure I am down on Paul Wight. The guy had the genetics to be something special in this business. He could have easily been the most marketable attraction in the history of the business, but instead he is just a huge sore spot in the business. Guys like Matt & Jeff Hardy do not have ripped, chisled and JAKKKKKKKKED physiques but they keep themselves in reasonable condition to at least perform on a high level. Big Show has
lost his dedication to the trade and seems to be content with being a midcard attraction. If Big Show cared about his physique enough to keep himself in decent working condition and at least be a step or two faster then he is now, he would have so much more potential then he has now. Right now I feel Big Show is a failed project and is dead weight on the WWE roster.
I think WWE is at a cross roads and talent like Big Show should be dumped. If NWA TNA wants to book them, good for them.
Then we turn to a talent like "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Where do we begin with our criticism against the 16 time World Champion? He should not be wrestling matches in this day and age. His uniqueness as a wrestler is over with now. Sure having one or two matches with Undertaker or Vince McMahon worked. Wrestling Brock Lesnar and Steven Richards does not work. His style is a chop here and a chop there and then the figure four slapped on for good measure. He is two or three steps to slow now and his age is apparent at every moment he works a match. He is 53 years old trying to compete with guys half of his age. It would be one thing if the fans marked out for his every last breath in action, but he does not have the Hulk Hogan appeal anymore. He never did. He was always one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the business, and now he is trying to live off of his reputation.
I wish he would just hang up the boots or do a retirement tour. Because having him beat guys like Steven Richards on RAW is not going to promote the right kind of a product kids want to watch. Steven Richards should have easily thrashed "The Nature Boy" and dominated him. But he didn't because Ric Flair is a "legend". Legend of what? The problem with using talent as old as Flair in pro wrestling is the business is pre-arranged, and we all know it. Even the kids at home know it. The fans that do not want to know it, know it. That means when Flair is pushed over a young kid, it means management obviously decided to job the young kid to the old talent. And that is not the type of product kids want to watch.
Certainly using Flair in a small role is not going to upset the kids. But when he begins to beat their generation, it is not a smart move. If the
wrestling business was not pre-arranged it would not be a problem. But
when management selects who wins and losses and the selection becomes a direct representative decision of how the product is perceived. Then it is a bad decision to book 53 year old men in matches on shows you want to market to a demographic 3 or 4 decades younger then the talent being showcased on the television show. And the fact is, Flair is not going to draw any fans to watch the program by beating Steven Richards. He is not going to draw any buy rates on PPV by beating Steven Richards. He is not going to product quality television for WWE by beating Steven Richards. And even if he beat any of the other talent on RAW it would not help produce the right type of product to help WWE re-build. So the question now has to be, why is WWE allowing Flair to wrestle?
Certainly it is a fine line to walk. Loyalty to the past and loyalty to the future. Hulk Hogan is the exception to the rule because he is as over as the most popular youngster in the business right now. So on the
one hand having Hogan give younger talent a rub and then re-building him to do it all over again, is a sound business decision. Doing it with Flair is not a sound business decision because if you listen to the reaction Flair gets when he comes down to the ring, it is not nearly as huge as the reaction Hogan gets when he comes down to the ring. It is a good theory to build the future by using the older talent (ICONS) but in
some cases (FLAIR's) it is flawed.
Does Flair have a place on WWE television? Sure he does. But it is not wrestling matches. It is talking. Maybe as a manager or in some power position such as owner or Commisioner. Right now Flair needs to go away and not come back until he hangs up the boots.
"NO HARDY BOYZ TITLE WIN." - Updated July 4, 2002 1:12 AM
First off I want to wish everybody a happy Fourth of July. I hope you all have a safe holiday and lets hope it is not a horror filled holiday as some are predicting. There is a lot of discussion that some type of
a terrorist attack is going to happen on the 4th-6th. Lets hope the
good guys have their eyes open wide and can stop the bad guys on this
day.
Jeff Hardy did not win the WWE Title on RAW in the Ladder Match. But he was elevated when Undertaker turned babyface and showed him some respect after beating Jeff. I liked the booking of that match quite a bit and did not think Jeff came out of it hurt at all. In fact, I think he got more elevation by jobbing in the match then he would have gotten if he had won the match and the title. Note to those who think losing a match hurts a performers standing with the fans.. it doesn't providing the right type of circumstance is written in to the job.
Right now I do not think Undertaker should drop the title until he comes face to face with Brock Lesnar. With the PPV show only a few months away it doesn't make much sense to take the belt off of Undertaker only to turn around and take it off the person Undertaker drops the title to a month later. I think Undertaker should get the huge run with the belt
and then turn around and job out to Brock Lesnar. I really think The Undertaker could make or break Lesnar's career by putting him over in strong fashion at SummerSlam. Of course I would much prefer that job
to take place at WrestleMania. But of course WrestleMania is way to
far away to hold off on the match. Unless they decide to go with Rob
Van Dam v. Undertaker at SummerSlam for the WWE Title and not Brock v. Undertaker at SummerSlam. Either of those two matches are okay with
me.
I would look for Hulk Hogan v. Vince McMahon at SummerSlam and also Rock v. Kurt Angle at the PPV. This could be a PPV with three or four main event caliber matches. Are we getting ahead of ourselves? Why we have not even talked about Vengeance yet.
Rob Van Dam v. Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho v. Edge have been named for Vengeance already. We also know Rock v. Undertaker will take place in some capacity on the show. Right now it looks like that could be changed to Kurt Angle & Rock v. Undertaker for the Undisputed Championship in a triple-threat match. I would look for Rock & Angle to cancel each other out and Angle to cause Rock to lose and Angle to blame Rock for the loss and start a collision course for SummerSlam. Which would be a great feud to watch until Rock bows out in September to film Helderado.
I am tired. I am done for this update. I may have ripped all of you off with this short update. I apologize and I will be back in short order during the week.
"Where we stand." - Updated June 28, 2002 1:13 PM
Well it has been 9 days since my last update. Which seems unreal since
I just checked a few days ago to see when I last updated my column area
and it was only 4 days. I guess time goes by fast when you do not expect it to. What to discuss this week? A myriad of interesting topics deserve my full attention this week. So this is going to be a mixed bag of information.
The Pledge of Allegiance. First of all in 1954 Congress was WRONG to vote on adding "Under God" in to the Pledge. The U.S. Constitution clearly states.. CONGRESS SHALL NOT PASS ANY LAW RESPECTING RELIGION...
I have heard it argued that the word "Under God" do not promote any specific religion and thus they are "constitutional". This is WRONG.
The Constitution clearly states ANY RELIGION, and it does not suggest
Congress can vote on issues pertaining to all religions or any religions for that matter. Congress SHALL NOT promote religion in any capacity is what the passage means in the U.S. Constitution. Because the separation of church and state is an IMPORTANT thing. England did not separate church and state and promoted a biased agenda slanted towards on religious outlook on life. This is why our forefathers made it clear the state was to have NO SAY in promotion of any religion. To allow Congress to install the word "God" in the Pledge in 1954 went against the fabric of this country.
Congress did promote religion and it did discriminate against religion. Thus is respected one outlook on life at the expense of another. Like
it or not their is a religion known as Atheism. Atheists do not believe in the existence of "GOD". Which means Congress respected all of the religions that do believe in the existence of "GOD" by voting on a resolution to include "Under God" in to the Pledge. And further more,
the sole reason WHY Congress added this phrase in the Pledge in 1954 was to send a message to the Communist Block (USSR), who just happened to be a nation ruled by an Atheistic community. In essence the intent to add the phrase to the Pledge was to endorse the difference between The U.S. and USSR, and the difference we wanted to endorse was a religious view point (the belief in God).
Therefore the Court ruling suggesting this addition was unconstitutional was the correct court decision in this case. It will not stand because Congress & Senate members have already stated if it is not reversed they will re-write the U.S. Constitution passing an amendment to strike the rule "Congress shall not pass any law respecting religion". Which is very scary considering the reason why our forefathers put that rule in to the Constitution was to stop state sponsored religious (tax paid) events from happening. IF Congress & Senate pass an amendment making it okay for Congress to pass laws respecting religion, it means we have become a state controlled by the church. Because lets be honest, our elected officials are religious and favor catholism and Judaism. Which would mean anything anti-religious would be suppressed in this country.
Turning to other issues outside of the debate on the Pledge. And I do not oppose the "Under God" being in the Pledge. I only oppose the fact Congress put it in to the Pledge. Congress should vote on a resolution to take it out of the Pledge and then urge individual School Boards to put it back in to the Pledge. That way, Congress did not pass a law respecting Religion. It is quite simple.
RAW & Smackdown! are starting to resemble different product. RAW seems to be more Sports Entertainment. Faster and shorter matches, more entertainment vignettes and a less genuine feel. Smackdown! seems to be more extended matches and more serious backstage vignettes and a more traditional wrestling product. I think the difference in products is slowly becoming obvious and that is a good thing.
Some people do not like RAW and love Smackdown! I like both of the products. I think WWE should start to develop the difference in the
products and emphasize those differences to have to distinct brands.
I am all for the brand extension moving forward and think if six months it is going to mean big business at the box office. I think wrestling is right on the edge of turning itself around. I do not know how to explain it, but I think something really big is going to happen in the next few weeks. Certainly Rey Misterio Jr. being on Smackdown! is going to mean great material. I can't wait for Rey Jr. to debut on WWE TV.
I think the new talent being brought up to the national level is going to mean BIG BUSINESS in six months to a year. I think as long as WWE can debut these new wrestlers over the next few weeks it is going to help turn the business around down the road. There are so many promising talents being brought up that no one has ever seen before on a national level and that is always a good thing. The key is bringing in 6-12 new wrestlers and protecting them for 6 months. Once the fans decide which are going to be top stars and midcard talent, the business could start to see itself turn around.
WWE still is missing something though. They need a catalyst to bring the fans back. But they should not look to bring those fans back until all of the new faces are established enough to be top players. I think over the summer the development of new talent is crucial and then in the first half of 2003 the BIG ANGLE needs to develop. What is that BIG ANGLE going to be? I am not sure. I think we will have to wait and see what WWE has planned for 2003.
"The Death of Pro Wrestling." - Updated June 19, 2002 1:18 PM
Do I want to see an 'alternative' product to WWE? Sure I do. I want to see this business grow again and witness the birth of a new company.
A company which can survive and flourish and help the business in future years by offering all of us consumers a healthy 'alternate' choice to WWE.
Now WWE fans do not get me wrong. I am not knocking WWE. I enjoy it
as much as I have in the past. But there was a time when I could get
my 'rasslin' fix and my 'wrestling' fix in the same week. Now there
are some people left scratching their heads right now asking what the
difference between 'rasslin' and 'wrestling' is. I distinguish there
are two categories for 'pro wrestling'. I do not knock either of the
philosophies nor do I intend to categorize one as being better in the
column I present here today.
I enjoyed both philosophies just as much as the other. I know some people are going to determine my use of the 'rasslin' term to define what some people call "wrestling" to be a 'slap in the face of wrestling' but it is not intended to be one. I clearly define 'rasslin' as my own term to describe what used to be 'southern wrestling'.
Editor's Note: Before Ted Turner corrupted it and changed it in to 'northern wrestling' which I classify as 'wrestling' in this column.
Some might think all of this is a bit confusing but it isn't in reality. It is quite simplistic.
Vince McMahon for years hyped his product as 'wrestling' and said WWF
(now WWE) wasn't 'rasslin' which was the term he coined to talk about
Ted Turner's WCW. There was a time when WCW was 'souther wrestling'.
There was a time when WWF (now WWE) was 'northern wrestling'. There
were two distinct styles. 'Southern wrestling' (Rasslin) was more of
a traditional in ring product with good solid rasslin action (and the
term work rate was tossed around quite a bit during southern rasslins
height, because it was centered around solid work rate first and the
storyline proponents second. Often times 'rasslers' did not have the
annoying 'gimmicks' or 'characters' in southern rasslin which northern
wrestling made a point of slamming down our throats).
'Northern wrestling' (wrestling) was more geared towards kids and the
product hyped characters and gimmicks first and foremost and used the
'storyline' more often to hook audiences. Work rate was not that big
of a deal in 'northern wrestling' and guys could survive with next to
no actual ability inside the squared circle. Often times attractions
would survive in 'northern wrestling' based on their mystique, bodies
(physique) or reputations (and some of them were horrible in action).
The day 'rasslin' died was when Jim Crockett made the error of trying
to take the NWA/WCW national to compete with 'wrestling'. Crockett
had the talent to make a national run but he did not have the dollars
to supplement his company. He subsequently ran NWA/WCW in to the dirt
and had to sell the entire operation to Ted Turner. When Turner came
in to NWA/WCW he decided to buck tradition and dump the NWA tradition
out of NWA/WCW. NWA vanished and became WCW over night (literally).
WCW was still 'rasslin' until Eric Bischoff came in to power and then
he changed the formula away from being reliant on 'work rate' and the
entire 'rasslin' formula became extinct in North America. Sure WCW
under Bischoff had some excellent undercard matches with really great
work rate and made 'southern rasslin' fans proud. But the fact is in
the time Bischoff spent promoting WCW, the work rate on top ended.
To be on top in WCW all you needed was a cosmetic look, reputation,
and a good storyline. 'Southern Rasslin' had been killed-off and the
'Northern Wrestling' philosophy had conquered the entire sport. Now
we were treated to watching two 'Northern Wrestling' companies and no
true-alternative to the other. Bischoff neglected to realize WWE was
always the CHOICE BRAND for 'Northern Wrestling'. WCW was generic in
the 'Northern Wrestling' wars and was never going to be anything else
but the generic second-rate brand attempting to out market the brand
fans accepted as the AUTHENTIC brand. It was suicide to market WCW
in the same direction as WWE because WCW couldn't compete with WWE in
this respect. But even 'Northern Wrestling' fans had respect for the
'Southern Rasslin' product and given the right development and a good
marketing strategy it could have turned a decent profit.
And now we come to NWA TNA. I have been asked numerous times why NWA
TNA is getting a raw deal from me. Shouldn't I wait for the first
showing before I negatively approach this company? NO. NWA TNA does
not seem to understand everything I just wrote above. Jerry Jarrett
is going one step further then Ted Turner. And it is FOUL.
Jerry Jarrett is actually bringing back the good name of NWA to bring
forth a company trying to out 'Northern Wrestle' WWE with. They have
booked a Royal Rumble on the 1st show to decide their champion, they
have booked the Shane Twins to appear as two giant penises (I am not
kidding, they have a gimmick of "The Big Johnson's" compete with the
mask routine and the sexually explicit first names. Not to mention
Jerry Jarrett in a press release claimed the duo had teamed before in
some capacity and were a 'very controversial tag team'. The two have
never teamed as "The Big Johnson's" before and Jarrett fabricated all
of the 'controversy' to promote them for his first show), they have
booked a ten woman "lingerie" battle royal to decide who their womens
champion is (need I remind you the reason to use "lingerie" isn't for
'tradition' or to be an 'alternative' for a company which (WWE) was
the group who INVENTED the concept) and a bunch of talented wrestlers
on the undercard wrestling in meaningless matches because they aren't
considered main event talent (no reputation), are smaller (they have
no physique) and do not have fabricated gimmicks or characters (gee I
wonder how people consider NWA TNA to be an alternative to WWE?)?
Yet somehow through it all, I have become the bad guy in this. The
fact I respect what the three letters (NWA) once meant. The fact the
three letters thrown in my direction makes me think about Thesz, Ric
Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes and Magnum TA in
WRESTLING MATCHES! WRESTLING WITH NO CHARACTERS OR GIMMICKS. There
was no "DRAGON COSTUME" in Ricky's NWA days (well until Bischoff used
Steamboat with his 'Northern Wrestling' formula in WCW. And of course
Steamboat had the "DRAGON COSTUME" in WWE as well). And that is what
I have a problem with. The three letters that mean something to me.
NWA. Those three letters are not meant to be tarnished because Jerry
& Jeff Jarrett want to out "Sports Entertain" or out "Shock" WWE. It
is a disgrace the three letters (NWA) are connected with a group that
is heavily pushing an act named "THE BIG JOHNSON'S". It is a slap in
the face of WRESTLERS like Lou Thesz that the NWA TNA group will push
a show based around a LINGERIE MATCH. I don't ever remember LINGERIE
being connected to the NWA. I don't ever remember NWA being used for
the sole purpose of attempting to market an alternative that is being
so blatantly the same as the company they claim to be an alternate of
(WWE is doing the same things NWA TNA have planned! WWE has a Royal
Rumble every year, in fact, it was Pat Patterson (WWE Employee) who
came up with the Royal Rumble concept. WWE does "LINGERIE" matches
all the time, I think they did one a few weeks ago. And WWE has the
over-the-top mentality to push characters with names that insinuate a
body part (VAL PENIS er I MEAN VENIS). SO what is the NWA TNA??)
Its a second rate attempt to present the same product we get from WWE
using an undercut tactic. They are attempting to undercut WWE saying
their programs only cost $40 a month for 8 hours and WWE costs $40 in
one month for 3 hours. But the problem NWA TNA doesn't seem to get
is WWE offers four hours of FREE TELEVISION a month, PLUS 3 hours on
PPV for $40 dollars.
"No More Tears part dos" - Updated June 13, 2002 3:58 PM
Last column I openly discussed how The Undertaker had to elevate Jeff Hardy in some capacity (in a perfect world that elevation being for
the WWE Undisputed Title). On RAW, Undertaker did just that for both
Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy. In fact what Undertaker did for the duo was
establish them as a viable 'extreme' tag team once again.
After months and months of being buried on television (seemingly) the Hardy Brothers got a HUGE pay check on RAW last Monday. They got to
destroy The Undertaker and dominate him on WWE Television. This was
something WWE Television needed to start the progression to the new
era of WWE undercard talent elevating to the top of the card. Both
Matt & Jeff Hardy could be top players in the tag team division and or
in the singles divisions in the present.
Enough of the "Future" talk that has been going on for the past two years (so and so is going to be the future of this company). Shilling for the product in that fashion is no longer going to work. The FUTURE has arrived and it has to start to develop in the present or the future will certainly become the wasted past. Right now WWE has the talent needed to re-stock the top tier divisions and not miss a beat. Talent such as The Undertaker, Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and Triple H have to lead by example and start to establish top attractions for the present.
Hulk Hogan is working with Kurt Angle and is doing his duty. Hogan has jobbed when asked to WWE wrestler (clean in the center of the ring) and
has proven he will play ball with WWE management. Undertaker proved last Monday night he is willing to work with subpar talent (in perceptions not in quality) and establish them as his equals. Undertaker has done this with Randy Orton, Tommy Dreamer, The Hardy Brothers and a few others in the last few weeks of his WWE Title push. Undertaker is playing ball with WWE Management and for the first time ever I can honestly say he does deserve to hold the big belt for a few more months.
Triple H has been elevating the younger talent as well in the last few months. Certainly I would like to see him do it more eagerly and smoothy to elevate talent at a more rapid rate. But the fact is he has done his duty in this capacity as well. This is what these guys have to do to help the FUTURE (which is now) become the PRESENT.
Then we come to "Stone Cold" Steve "Cry Baby" Austin. What?! I said the man is a baby! Steve Austin is a prima donna. Steve Austin is a main attraction superstar who thinks he is bigger then the business. Steve Austin doesn't give two shits about the fans or the state of the business.
Steve Austin was upset he did not get to fight Hogan at WrestleMania and instead The Rock got the match (WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!). Steve Austin was upset he was put in to a feud with the nWo (WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!) and he FLAT OUT refused to put over Scott Hall at WrestleMania when putting over Scott Hall and the nWo was CRUCIAL for the brand extension. WWE decided to re-write the reason for the extension and gave Austin what he wanted.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! But Austin still went home that night and decided he did not want to stay in WWE because he was not on top. When WWE begged him to return and told him things would change, Austin came back and WWE bent over backwards to give Austin everything he demanded.
Austin wanted out of the nWo feud (WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!) and he got it and was put in to a feud with Ric Flair. Austin wanted to be booked as the
dominant S.O.B. he always was pushed as, and WWE caved again. They ruined the Flair-Austin feud to appease the WAAAAAAAA-ttle-Snake.
When Austin wasn't happy with where the Flair storyline was going he demanded to be put in to a program with Eddie Guerrero (WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!) and WWE caved again and brought in Chris Benoit (who was supposed to be on WWE Smackdown since he was drafted by Vince McMahon to that brand, so the company to appease Steve Austin screwed part of the biggest angle in the history of this business) and began an awesome storyline pitting Eddie & Benoit & Flair against Austin.
Why does WWE constantly have to have 3-4 guys v. Austin you ask? Austin needs to look so top heavy.. you see Austin v. one man is never going to satisfy Austin. Hell, Austin v. 21 heels in a Lumberjack Match is not going to make Austin happy unless he STUNS most of them and pins his opponent, creating a situation where the heel roster looks weak compared to the WAAAAAAAAAAA-ttle-Snake (note Booker T joined the nWo as a surprise by Flair and wrestled a Lumberjack match against Austin with 20 hand picked heels at ringside, picked by Flair, and Austin somehow still won the match by pinning Booker T. After that happened all of the fans watching at home collectively said, WHAT!?? did I just see because WWE just screwed the entire roster).
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Austin wasn't happy after he defeated the entire heel roster on RAW and still belly ached about his character
and eventually made Eddie Guerrero, Ric Flair and Arn Anderson look
second-rate on house show swings when the company ran Eddie v. Austin.
At least it was not on television right? Well, Austin was happy to
stun everybody and their grandmothers as long as he was booked to
remain the top-heavy babyface he has always been.
Austin was booked to make Flair look like a complete joke of a heel owner by pinning him out of nowhere in a match to make Flair his "assistant". I
guess wrecking the entire roster wasn't good enough for Austin, well he
is the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-ttle-Snake.
So he walked out last Monday when he was asked to JOB to Brock Lesnar. Thats right. The guy who won nearly 85% of his PPV matches in WWE over his ENTIRE CAREER.. REFUSED TO LOSE A MATCH.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! Why is the WWE doing this to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin? Why is the company asking a MEGASTAR of his magnitude to JOB to a guy like Brock Lesnar? And why is it on RAW and not PPV? I do not remember Austin "walking-out" when he was pushed to beat everybody and their grandmothers doing stunners on RAW during the BOOM years. I do not recall Austin being upset with the creative process when he was being pushed as the #1 guy in this business.
For SIX years this man was pushed. HE BEAT everybody. He got the entire ball of wax and some lint thrown in for good measure. He got the red carpet, the ten cases of beer and the ten gun salute every night from WWE Management. He won the belt 6 TIMES!!!! He was one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and WWE managed to keep him on top for all of those 6 years. And THEY ASK him to put Lesnar on the same level as he is on, and he WHINES, CRIES and QUITS.
Steve Austin used to be one of my favorites. Now, I think Steve Austin can go to hell for all I care. If WWE does do business with Austin in the future, I won't be on his side. I will be flipping off the stupid son of a bitch because he is a prima donna. He is a guy that bought in to his character. Steve Austin is NOTHING to this business. Austin was created because of the fans he walked out on. Austin turned his back on the fans on RAW.
IF he cared about the business and the fans he would not have been so upset at the business asking him to do his JOB. Part of the job description as a pro wrestler is to do what the boss asks you to do. If the boss asks you to put on a clown suit, you do it. If the boss asks you to lose to another wrestler, you do it. You do not walk out on your fans and your career and the business because you would look weak to lose to a younger wrestler.
Point blank. Austin lost more then just his career on Monday. Austin lost my respect and the respect of every other fan with open eyes. He
will never earn my respect back again. Austin is dead to me.
"No More Tears!!" - Updated June 4, 2002 3:58 PM
Who is going to upset The Undertaker for the WWE Undisputed Title? The question we are all asking ourselves these days. Right now it looks a certain match between Triple H & Undertaker will take place at King of the Ring. Previous to the shoulder injury to Edge I thought perhaps their was a chance of Edge v. Undertaker to headline the PPV. I would have bet all of my money on Edge to walk out with the WWE Undisputed Title if that match had taken place.
I really do not think Triple H v. The Undertaker at King of the Ring for the WWE Undisputed Championship is a good match. I personally do not want to see Triple H win the Championship again. I do not want to see Triple H fight Undertaker again either. I want to see something fresh and new done on top for a few weeks or maybe a month.
But should Undertaker even drop the Championship this early after he beat Hulk Hogan for it? My heart tells me Undertaker should not be carrying the Championship because he doesn't add much excitement to the product holding the title. But the company has changed the title so frequently, another change might diminish the value of the Championship again. The next champion should hold the title for a long title reign if they do drop it less then a month after Undertaker beat Hogan for it.
But who is the right person for Undertaker to drop the title to? Who is the one wrestler who could connect with the right demographic and work with all of the talent on the roster? I have to say the tunnel of light looks fairly good for next week's television show to produce the break out star of 2002. The star who could transcend the business and bring interest back in to the product again. The star who could connect with the teen age demographic and also put on five star matches with the likes of Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Undertaker, Triple H, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, Brock Lesnar and every other wrestler WWE currently has on their roster.
Some would argue I am writing about "HBK". No, I am writing about Jeff Hardy. Jeff Hardy is the latest young talent set up to get a shot at Undertaker next week on RAW. Or they could even hold off the match for the PPV. Of course I feel like this is "deja vu" because I was just writing about how Tommy Dreamer could have been the one to upset Undertaker and connect with the younger demographic. Will Jeff Hardy be the latest Tommy Dreamer? Will Undertaker simply run rough shot over Jeff Hardy and squash him like an afterthought on RAW? I hope to high hell that is not what Gerwitz is thinking about booking on RAW next week.
With Undertaker's attack on Matt Hardy to send a message to Jeff Hardy, it would be a great time to have Jeff Hardy dominated during the match leading to Matt Hardy sneaking in and helping his brother squeak out an upset title victory. Jim Ross is left screaming, "MY GOD! THE IMPOSSIBLE HAS HAPPENED! JEFF HARDY IS THE NEW UNDISPUTED CHAMPION!". Jeff Hardy appears on Smackdown! the next night and is challenged by Chris Jericho and the two have an awesome contest with Jeff Hardy pulling out some really 'extreme' antics to keep the championship.
Jeff Hardy squeaks out wins left and right for the next few months on WWE Television and has a decent run with the championship. He finally come face to face with Triple H. The guy who took Jeff Hardy's last major singles Championship away from him (outside of the Hardcore Title) Triple H. Triple H and Jeff Hardy have an awesome feud with Jeff Hardy beating Triple H once or twice leading to the climax match at SummerSlam.
Now it is not that hard to understand a small wrestler like Jeff Hardy, who is very popular with the right demographic, could transcend the business once again and bring it back to boom period. A healthy run on top by Jeff Hardy would change the perceptions of the business again (like when Shawn Michaels carried the Championship after Bret Hart dominated for so long beating everybody left and right and boring viewers with his dominant top heavy non selling technique). By god, If I can
figure this out why the hell can't the creative department at WWF figure it out? Because they have figured it out. For what ever reasons they have not decided to do the right thing for the business. I certainly hope they do not just use Jeff Hardy as another false tease to promote Undertaker as a dominating force.
My god. Undertaker had beat everybody in the company nearly 20 times already. I think the message has been sent that the guy is DOMINANT. There is absolutely nothing exciting about watching Undertaker dominate
smaller wrestlers on a weekly basis. The only positive about this happening on a weekly basis is the pay off of it all. If that pay off is to have a smaller wrestler squeak out a title victory over Undertaker it was all worth it. If this is just a game played to tease us and to eventually put the belt back on Triple H, I say that totally sucks.
"On the Brink!" - Updated May 30, 2002 12:58 PM
This is not meant to be a column that caused fear or terror. But right now it looks more and more like war between Pakistan & India is about to erupt in the Middle-East. The problem with India attacking Pakistan is
India has an army that outnumbers the Pakistani army by such a large margin that conventional defense methods would not work. Which means
Pakistan would have to make a tactical decision to lose the war and see
India slaughter their troops or fire off a nuclear warhead headed straight for India. Such a blow by Pakistan would kill an estimated 8 to 12 million people alone.
That does not count the nuclear retaliation by India, which would kill additional people in the region. The fall out would spread to most of the bordering Middle-Eastern countries and kill off additional millions
and millions of people. Life in the region would forever change and be
mutated for hundreds of years following the nuclear detonation. Think
about what happened in Russia during the Chernobyl melt down times one
hundred (and that might be off by a thousand percent).
Of course I seriously hope this does not happen. But from a logic standpoint I wouldn't put it past the Pakistani government to decide
launching an all out nuclear attack against India is the right thing
to do since an all out conventional attack of Pakistan by India means
the end of Pakistan, unless China and other naboring countries got
involved and attacked India. China attacking India would start an
all our World War and potentially drag the United States in to the
war. An all out conventional war against China & Pakistan would be
devastating for both India & The United States.
If you thought Viet Nam was horrible conventional war, this one would make that look like the Gulf War.
Is there hope for a peace arrangement between Pakistan and India? I would say no. They have no communication between their countries. Even
if a conventional war was launched with out the use of nuclear war heads
the two countries have absolutely no way to establish communications with each other to inform each other they are not launching nuclear war heads
and are only using conventional missiles. So the situation is really
complicated in the region. Any missile launched after a conventional attack could be mistook to be that of a nuclear warhead and cause a nuclear strike on behalf of both India or Pakistan.
I did not want to write about Basketball or Wrestling when this was going on. I felt this needed my upmost attention right now. I think there is a good chance we are going to see a nuclear warhead used in this squabble. I just have a strange feeling that all of this seems biblical
and is going to go down. Unless the U.S. can step in and settle the problems between India & Pakistan, one of those sides is going to drop the other shoe in a matter of weeks.
The odd part is the religion in India is supposed to be peace-loving, but as I have pointed out numerous times, religion is the root of all evil.
"NEVER GONNA STOP!" - Updated May 24, 2002 6:42 PM
Over the last few days I had struggled about the column I wanted to write this week. I was going to write a column discussing the priorities or lack of priorities in the Catholic Church. But I decided not to do that
because quite frankly I think Catholism has been exposed to be a joke of
a religion. I will leave my comments to that limited basis.
This week a lot of criticism has flowed towards WWE for the lack of change to turn the business around. A lot of people do not think WWE can turn their business around and think WWE has no idea what the problem is. Quite a few people have decided to give up on WWE. Through bad times it is when one finds out who his true friends really are. It is easy to stick with something during the high points and good times, but when the chips are down those who stick through the really bad times are the true fans.
Even myself, I have been tempted to chuck it all in from time to time and call it a day. But I have not and have always found this inner being inside of me to allow me to persist on this wrestling front. Because I
truly LOVE THE GAME. I love wrestling in its purest form and in its sports entertainment form. If I want to watch 'wrestling' I can and do
so by obtaining it on video tape. If I want to watch 'sports entertainment' I can and do so by turning on WWE. But even for me, a person with a lot of passion for this business, at times it is hard for me to stick with WWE through the really bad times. Sometimes along the path I lose my train of thought or lose my way through the murky waters. But that is okay as long as I find my way back to what I constantly love.
This lesson was almost lost to me again. But during the 1st half of the Boston Celtics v. New Jersey Nets Eastern Championship Game 2 yesterday,
I was taught the lesson all over again. I was watching what I have passion for, The Boston Celtics, get thrashed. The worst point of the game they were down by 27 points.
I could have given up on my team and turned the game off. And I did want to, it was really hard for me to watch what I loved being destroyed right before my very own eyes. I looked at the big margin and decided if the team started to play smart they could overcome all odds. Still a 27 point lead with under 20 minutes to go in the game is a hard obstacle to overcome. Most teams would just fold and give up. The other team only has to trade baskets. Hell with a 27 point lead the other team only has to score 20 more points the entire game to make the team down by 27 score 47 points JUST TO TIE. So it was a struggle and an uphill battle for the Boston Celtics to overcome these odds. And as a Celtics fan it was an uphill battle not to turn the game off and call it a day.
It began to get better and the Celtics knocked it down to 13 points. If they could only manage to drop it to 9 by the end of the 3rd quarter they
would have a fighting chance to win the game. But that was not to be. It
went back up to 21 by the end of the 3rd quarter and I was left once again thinking it was time to abandon what I had passion for. But I did not give up just yet. NEVER SAY NEVER! NEVER GONNA STOP!
I told my brother that all Boston needed to do was hit 15 three point shots and score 45 points in the 4th and maybe they would be able to pull out a tie. I was shooting very high. I was out of my mind suggesting a team down by 21 points entering the 4th quarter had a chance to win the
game. I knew it was impossible. It had never happened before in 171 games in NBA playoff history. NO TEAM HAD EVER come back from a lead larger then 18 points in the final quarter of any NBA playoff game in the history of the league. The smart money was on the Nets to win the game.
To put this in to perspective, the Celtics could go on a 11 point run and still need 10 more points JUST TO TIE! And that was what happened. The
Celtics went on an 11-0 run to open the 4th quarter. But they were still down by 10 points. The lead fluctuated from 11-13 for the next two minutes and then Boston knocked it down to 9. Eventually it was down to 6. Eventually they had cut the lead all the way down to 3 with around 2 1/2 minutes left in the game. Then it was down to 1 with a buck fifty left in the game. Another stop and Boston was up by 1 point with :49 left in the game.
New Jersey still had a chance to win the game. But they threw the ball away and Kenny Anderson scored on a goaltending call to give the Celtics a 3 pt lead. Next Boston got another stop and Paul Pierce hit one free throw to give the Celtics a 94-90 lead with :17 left in the game. And folks that was the story. The game was over. Boston pulled off the impossible and came back from a 27 point hole and won the game. They did not give up on what they loved. They stuck with it and proved anything can be overcome if you believe.
As a Boston Celtic fan, I discounted the years of the magic above the Fleet Center for nearly 3/4ths of the entire game. I wanted to give up
on my team because they had a bad game. I wanted to bitch and scream at them because they had not lived up to my expectations. I wanted to turn
the game off and call it a day. I made excuses about how the game did not really matter that much because all they had to do is win the 4th game and tie the series to have a chance. But inside my heart I was crying and suffocating because the team I loved was being beat like "government mules" (thank you JR!).
NEVER GONNA STOP! I stuck with the team. They won the game. And it made me feel extra special inside because I had watched my team come back from an improbable hole to be victorious. I had somehow become a better person inside for sticking with my team until the last second came off of the official game clock. Somehow it was a spiritual experience watching Antoine Walker (a player who has been branded as a negative in Beantown since his rookie year. A player who has been scolded in Beantown for being immature and not being a 'team player') take charge at the end of the 3rd quarter and YELL at this team mates! I had in my entire life of watching sports NEVER seen such a scene!
Down by 21 and the one guy who is supposed to be 'immature' and 'not even a team player' SCREAMED at this team mates for playing crappy basketball! And he told them they were getting their asses kicked on the floor and the Nets were laughing at them. The entire world was laughing at them. And he was right. This was the BOSTON CELTICS!! THE MAGIC! THE MYSTIQUE!! It was on the line here folks! The Boston Celtics simply do not lose by 20 points at home in Eastern Conference Division Finals. It JUST IS NOT SOMETHING ANY BOSTON CELTIC FAN ACCEPTS. This was more then just a beating, this was an embarrassment to the entire franchise. To the players before this team, and the one's after this team.
And Walker spawned the comeback. Walker proved he was the MVP of the Boston Celtics. Walker proved he is infact the Scottie Pippen to Paul Pierce's Michael Jordan. With out Walker the game would have been over
in the 1st half. I do not discount the impact Pierce had in the 4th
quarter. He played the greatest 4th quarter in Celtics playoff history,
but the moment before the 4th quarter began - was the greatest moment in the history of Boston sports, EVER!
That moment belongs to all of us Boston Celtic fans, but especially to
Antoine Walker. And I thank the Boston Celtics for teaching the lesson I needed to be taught Sunday. I'M NEVER GONNA STOP when it comes to believing in things I have great passion for. And neither should you!
Now I want to relate this to WWE. I am never going to stop believing in WWE, because I know this low will turn around. All of the people who are doubting WWE in this ratings slump should stop watching wrestling. I
KNOW WWE will come back stronger then ever. And I am never going to stop believing in WWE.
"NO MORE TEARS!" - Updated May 21, 2002 2:02 PM
In the 80's there was a force known as "Hulkamania" running wild across America and people like me crapped on it. Back then I was a "Nature Boy"
Ric Flair fan and a Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat fan. I crapped on the
entertainment value of Hulk Hogan because he did not move as fast as Ricky Steamboat across the squared circle. Because he did not take a back flip in to the corner buckle and flip completely over to the other
side and run across the apron to take another bump. Quite frankly, I
did not like Hulk Hogan because he was not capable of putting on a "FIVE STAR MATCH". I wanted to see high impact 'wrestling' action in the
ring and Hulkamania was never going to provide me with a 'classic wrestling' match. I decided 'wrestling' was more important then what
Hulkamania had to offer me so I crapped all over it.
If the reason I disliked Hulk Hogan was a valid reason, there would be absolutely no reason for me to apologize. But it was not a valid reason. And I must apologize to Hulk Hogan for disliking him for being something
I could not understand. Back then I thought I was able to determine what the wrestling business was all about. I thought I had all of the answers to what the wrestling business was meant to be about. And I overlooked everything this wrestling business was really about and perverted it to suit my own selfish needs and desires. But that is okay because Hulk Hogan got a chance to prove to me what he was all about.
The second coming of Hulkamania upset an entirely new base of wrestling smarks who thought they knew what this business was all about. It upset
a whole new level of wrestling smarks that disliked Hogan because he was
not as polished a wrestler as Triple H and he did not move as quickly as
Rob Van Dam in action. In short these wrestling smarks hate Hulk Hogan
for being something he was never supposed to be. But I did not make the
same mistake twice. I applauded WWE bringing Hulkamania back to life.
Sure I was a skeptic because I did not want to see Hulk Hogan come in and ruin pro wrestling by clobbering all the younger guys in to submission. I wanted to see Hulkamania play ball with the young lions and prove he did have the ability to shine and also make others look good at the same time. I was not upset when WWE decided Hulkamania needed to win the WWE Championship at WWE Backlash because he deserved it! Just like Mick Foley deserved to win his WWE Championship, and just like every other legend deserves to shine in their final moment. Hulkamania deserved to have one last ride on top of the mountain before Hulk Hogan called it a career! And if no one can understand that, they are not true PURE wrestling fans! Because this business is FIXED. THIS IS A BUSINESS that is WORKED. It is not real athletic competition and this business has always been about paying back those who have given us so much over their entire careers. Wrestling is unlike any other SPORT in the world because it has the ability to constantly create a situation where the LEGENDS WIN that extra CHAMPIONSHIP, where the legends go out how they want to go out and do not go out because some stupid loser (Vince Russo) decided to yank the carpet out of the greatest single entertainer this business has ever known (Hulk Hogan).
Hulk Hogan deserved to beat Triple H and walk with the stars, if not for only a second. Because Hulk Hogan spent his entire life building up this business and bringing out of the back alleys and gutters and in to mainstream acceptance. With out Hulkamania to lead the charge during the 80's, WRESTLING WOULD BE DEAD right now.
So I salute Hulk Hogan for giving me the chance to apologize and giving me the chance to witness the second coming of Hulkamania. The single greatest moment in the history of professional wrestling happened when 60,000 fans throw aside the NEW ERA OF GARBAGE wrestlers (and garbage
wrestling) and cheered for Hulkamania at the Skydome. The single greatest moment in sports entertainment history happened when Hulkamania
returned to the Yellow and Red and started running wild all over again.
And the single greatest promo happened in sports entertainment history on last weeks Thursday Smackdown! when Hulk Hogan broke down after a seven minute standing ovation and told us he did not want 'the dream' to end because 'reality sucks'. Hogan was right, reality does suck.
We have a war going on in the middle-east and terrorists looming in our future. We have horror waiting for us around every corner. And right
now we have a man (Hulk Hogan) who can make us all forget about what is
going on in the world. We can engulf 'the dream' and forget about 'reality'.
But 'reality' exists and the 'dream had to end' and that was what happened at Judgment Day. It was a good story. Complete to finish the story of Hulk Hogan winning the title and dropping it to Undertaker was a very solid story. But the story of Hulkamania is not dead just yet. We
do not know what he is going to announce tonight at the Smackdown! taping.
It is about 7 hours away. In about 12 hours I am going to know if Hogan is going to bid farewell to pro wrestling or have one more program to work (Vince McMahon) before he calls it a career. In about 12 hours I am going to either feel happy or sad. Either way I am going to know that I was able to understand what this business is really about. It is not about having the greatest matches possible. It is not about putting on the greatest quality of matches available. This business is about allowing us to escape 'reality' if not for only a second. So we can escape and forget about the problems that plague us outside of pro wrestling.
I love great matches. I love quality performers. But I also love the fact this business allows its Dan Marino's to always win their titles. I am happy and proud this business allowed Hulk Hogan to return and do
what he does best. And I know Hulkamania has fixed pro wrestling again
because I feel better having seen this story told then I would have if
it had never been told. And to me that is all that really matters. I
can deal with the horrible work rate, the horrible matches and I can
deal with it because Hulkamania can not live forever. And we should all
just be happy and proud we got to witness this last historic run of Hulk
Hogan.
One day Hulk Hogan is going to be gone forever, and then those who disliked him will cry. I can look at myself in the mirror and feel happy that I embraced Hulkamania before it really passed on. But others will feel empty inside wondering why people cared so much about a guy that was not 1/100th of the wrestler of their 'favorite' wrestler. And they will wonder why other wrestlers who had more ability show up to his service
and put him over as being the single greatest attraction in the history
of this business. Those people are unable to recognize greatness when
they have it right under their noses, because they are too concerned about their own pre-conceived ideas of what this business is all about.
Fortunately they have no power over the product. Because if they did, pro wrestling would suck as much as reality sucks.
"BEHIND MY DEADLINE." - Updated May 16, 2002 10:56 PM
Can you believe I missed me own deadline this week by one day? I can not blame a hectic schedule this week on missing the deadline. What I can blame on missing my own self-imposed writing deadline is the Boston Celtics beating the Detroit Pistons to move on the the Eastern Conference Finals. Because I was watching the game and neglected to update my own column because of the game. Not that I minded missing my own deadline because the Celtics actually beat Detroit 4 games to 1 in the series.
It has been a great years for the Celtics so far but it is not over yet. Boston is going to move on to play the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference Finals for the right to move on to play for the NBA Title. I
also wanted to point out the Boston Red Sox are doing fantastic as well this season and have a 3 game lead on the Yankee's. Of course the chance of a "strike" is hanging over MLB again. These people have to be kidding me? IF they strike again this season, I hope the entire league folds personally. I for one am not going to sit back and be quiet about the 'strike'. If these players 'strike' this year they are going to prove they are 'prima donna's'. I would love to know why they would have a reason to call a 'strike' when most of them are making millions and millions of dollars annually? I guess they do not have enough benefits? Right. Lets see them go back to working 9 to 5 for a living and see if they bitch about what they don't have right now. Somehow I don't think half of them would last working 9 to 5.
We did another radio show this week and it is currently up. Check it out. Sad news out of Japan was Shoichi Arai killed himself (he was
the former President of FMW). Also on the sad news side of the business,
"Big" Dick Dudley (Alex Rizzo) passed away this morning at the age of 34. No cause of death has been listed as of this column being penned. As soon as we have more information we will certainly pass it along.
I am going to cut this short because I don't have a lot to talk about right now. But I will be back in the middle of the week with a new
column. I plan on being early this week to make up for being late last
week. If that makes any sense.
"A LOT OF TURMOIL IN WWE." - Updated May 8, 2002 2:39 PM
Please forgive me calling upon some recent published work I did in my newsletter to update this column section. It has been a very hectic
week for me and I have not had enough time to develop a new column.
I will outline what my week was like in this column. But first I wanted to discuss the turmoil going on in WWE. If you did not hear already Scott Hall was terminated a few days ago. The following is the column I published in the newsletter on the day of his termination.
SCOTT HALL BLOWS HIS CHANCE!: While I was gone at the WWE show, lots
of interesting news was going on behind the scenes in WWE. Scott Hall
was terminated from his WWE contract.
WWE.COM has already confirmed this news. Hall was intoxicated on the
European Tour (most of it) and was intoxicated before RAW last night.
The decision was made before RAW to terminate his contract, but when
he showed up drunk at RAW Management knew it was the right decision.
No word on how the company is going to handle Hall being gone from TV
next week. With Flair turning heel it would not make sense for Flair
to "suspend" Scott Hall (since Hall is a heel as well). And it would
not appear as the company is going to have Hall back to run an angle.
This story is sad on so many levels. Scott Hall is an alcoholic. He
has a major problem and I was pulling for him to 'make it' this time.
A lot of criticism was thrown at WWE for even bringing him back. The
thought was he would not last long enough to make WMX8 v. Austin.
When Hall did make it to WMX8 - it looked like he beat his problem. I
thought for once Scott Hall had his head on straight. But he did not
apparently. I am not going to write a column defending Hall with the
liberal defense claiming it wasn't his 'fault because alcoholism is a
disease'. The fact is Scott Hall is the person that decided he would
find more answers in a bottle then in turning his own life around.
Hall was the person who decided he wanted to 'party' instead of being
a man and supporting his two children. Hall did not lose by 'screwing
up' this time. His children are the real victims in this situation.
I wanted to give Hall another chance because I think everyone should
get another chance. In the case of Hall, he has gotten numerous
chances and always ends up choosing 'the party life' over his family.
And that is a shame. I hate writing this. I wish I did not have to
write this. But I do. And I seriously and sincerely hope Scott Hall
can find the help he needs. Not because I was once a Scott Hall
mark. Not because I want to see him "ooze Machismo" again on tv. Not
because I want to feel better about myself!
But because he has two kids who NEED him to find the will power to be
the victor in this situation. Who NEED him to turn his life around.
Hall needs to be there for those kids and they need him to there. I
will be rooting for Scott Hall to turn his life around for what seems
to be the umpteenth time. Maybe this time he will make it. That
would make me mark out more then anything Hall has ever done on TV in
his entire pro-wrestling career. Because this isn't about fiction,
this is about reality. And the reality is Scott Hall needs help.
What did I have going on this week? It began on Monday afternoon. I put out the afternoon Issue of LEWD and got ready to go to RAW at the Hartford, Civic Center in Hartford, Ct. We left at around 6PM (the show was supposed to start at 7:35). It is only a 15-20 minute drive from our house to Downtown Hartford, but we wanted to get to the building early and find adequate parking in the parking garage.
We arrived at the venue around 6:20 (as expected) and got in to the garage by about 6:30. It took us a good 25 minutes to find a good
parking spot in the garage. So we actually got in to the building
at about 7:15. Of course typically they do not allow anyone in to
the civic center itself until show time. But tonight they were letting people in fairly early. So we waited in line and finally got to the
security spot (pat down city). They checked our digital cameras to
make sure their were no "shannanigans" going on.
What if my digital camera was the bomb? We got in and walked around
looking for our ticket location. We finally go to our seats at about
7:30. We had only a few minutes until the preliminary show began. We
figured there would be no 'dark matches' and they would just kick us
off with the Heat taping. By 8:15 it was obvious nothing was going
on. We commented back and forth that perhaps Heat had been cancelled.
Or maybe somebody in the back forgot about Heat. Or maybe the entire crew had been 'fired' who worked heat because of the problems coming
back to the U.S. on the U.K. flight (we had no idea who was in trouble
at this time, only that some of the boys were in hot water). At about
8:25 we got the show kicked off. Heat taped 3 short matches and then
RAW was to kick off.
Curt Hennig jobbed to Matt Hardy in quick order. I was perplexed as to
why the match was so short and one-sided. Well, that was until I
learned Curt Hennig had been fired. So now it all starts to make total
sense. The Heat matches were decent RVD v. Goldust & Eddie Guerrero v.
Tommy Dreamer for the IC Title.
And then RAW began. I did not think the show was that bad. But it was
the greatest show of all time for a couple reasons. I liked the WWE
Hardcore stuff (so did the fans live). The only areas on the show that
really dragged involved Austin & Undertaker (who control the entire
show - which tells me why the show is consistently bad).
We heard them taping the Undertaker & Hogan Harley skits backstage when
we were waiting for the show to start. Every time they would rev up the
Harley (obviously in hindsight when Hogan was driving around in the
backstage area on the Harley) the crowd would pop thinking Undertaker
was headed down to the ring (which wasn't the case).
I was totally sucked in and impressed by Jazz & Trish Stratus. I think that alone made the show worth the price of admission. Also watching
Rob Van Dam & Eddie Guerrero work twice made my night. I would have loved to get a new debut or something. But at least D Lo Brown came
out to attack Regal and we also got to see the Monster Lesnar in action.
It was 11:09 and we were headed out of the building. Security wanted to
usher us out as fast as possible, because we all know WWE has super
secret dealings that go on after the shows conclude (such as tearing
down the set and ring) which they would never want to get it (note my
own personal sarcasm. It wasn't WWE security doing this it was the Civic Center security).
By 11:15 we are back at the parking garage and in the car. We were planning on hitting Wendy's since it usually stays open until midnight
around here. It gave us 45 minutes to drive 20 minutes to order our
late night snack. Our plans were derailed when for some reason we got
stuck in the parking garage for an hour! We decided just to call it
a night and journey back to the home front. We arrived back home at
about 12:40.
You'd think my night would be concluded. With Smackdown! 70 miles away the next night and since I was planning on going to that show, maybe I
would rest up? No such luck.
All hell broke lose during the RAW show and when I came back I had a
great deal of e-mail messages telling me news bits and information. I
wrote up a report of the RAW show and published another issue of the
newsletter explaining what was going on in pro wrestling. This took
me to around 3 AM. I was about to to sleep when I noticed Brad Lee
(of wrestlingxpress.com) was on MSN Messenger. I always enjoy talking
to Brad Lee because he has such a great passion for this business (as
I do also) and is a very intelligent person. I really enjoy his web
page quite a bit and think it is one of the best online.
So we talked for about 30-45 minutes. It was then time to go to sleep.
The next day I got up around 9 AM and went back to sleep until about
11 AM. Checked around for some news and information and put out an
early issue of the newsletter. We were going to leave around 4PM to
make the trip to Bridgeport, Ct to Harbor Yard to watch WWE Smackdown!
Our trip was delayed because we were uploading photo's to the web page
from RAW. After the photo's had been uploaded we set off for the road
trip. It was not a bad trip (since I brought my CD case and CD's with
me). We stopped at McDonald's just outside of Bridgeport, Ct and ate
dinner. For those curious I had the new Chicken Fingers they have
(which are good; but they forgot my damn honey mustard sauce!). Then
we arrived at the building about an hour early.
Paid the $2 dollar parking fee (which was a lot cheaper then the $8 for
RAW; however at the RAW show we got a garage and here we didn't). We
went to see the thousands and thousands of WWE fans outside waiting in
line to get in to the building. Apparently, Harbor Yard does not let
you in early. The show was supposed to start at 7:30 (but since it was
a taping, honestly they could start it any time they want).
At 6:30 we were told they were supposed to let people in at 6:30. But
no one was moving anywhere. At 6:45 we started to move forward and
reached the security people at about 7:15 (the lines were that long!).
They checked our stuff (pretended to) and let us threw. We got to our
section at about 7:00. Our webmaster stopped and bought a "Get the 'F
Out!" t-shirt. I decided I would wait to obtain mine when they become
available online. We then journeyed to our section. It was a nice
set up. I liked how the arena was set up for this show. I loved the
fact we got in so early before show time to check out the ring and the
backstage area and the set.
Got to watch WWE people working on the set and checking out their video
and sound equipment. Jakked/Metal started on time. We got a dark match
with Slyk Wagner Brown def. Inferno Kid. I was not impressed by Inferno
Kid at all. Wagner Brown could make it in the Cruiserweight Division in
my opinion. But I don't think Inferno Kid will. Smackdown! began next
and it was an awesome show! I will not discuss the results for obvious
reasons. They are up on the newsboard if you want to read them.
GOOD SHOW. When it was over we got to our car and drove back home again.
We decided not to stop since we were not hungry. When I got back I had
another full e-mail box to deal with and more HELL had broken lose when
I was at the Smackdown! show. I have deducted that maybe I need to get
a laptop set up and a cellular modem hook up! I guess I could sign on
with my cell phone since I do have that capability!! But have you ever
tried to browse the web on that small screen? Talk about tedious!
Wrote another issue of LEWD and published it. Which took me to 4 AM. I
had an e-mail from my HOST of LEWD RADIO informing me the show as going
to be taped the next morning and he needed some information and direction
on what the show was going to cover. So I had to come up with that game
plan.
On Wednesday I listened in LIVE to the taping of the SHOW (since we now
have that capability on line via web cast - which might be a secret but
"screw the rules" the cat is out of the bag). It was a damn good show.
I got the material at 6PM and was going to edit it, but decided I was going to watch my Boston Celtics play before I did a damn thing relating
to pro wrestling again. Celtics beat the Pistons and proved they are
for real. I began to edit the show after the NBA game and turned on the
Boston Red Sox who totally demolished the Oakland A's.
Got the show up at around midnight and was happy with how it came out. I don't want to toot my own horn, but toot toot (stole that one from Arn
Anderson).
Now it is Thursday and my duties have just begun. More chaos is going on in this business. Some mind boggling and downright insane things are
going on (not only involving the WWE but other services who are once again shilling their services out by running promotions while continuing
to KNOCK their competition online, expecting us to believe they have
credibility and have no monetary stake in blasting the competition. Come
on! Sleazy bastards! The funny thing is the staff doesn't agree with
the decision the boss has made, but doesn't do anything about it. What
a shame).
I was given total control of wrestlingxpress.com's newsboard last night when I had another online discussion with Brad Lee about a certain reporter who was ripping off Dave Scherer's reports and pasting them as his own material. Brad told me he is not around enough in the day to
make sure everything goes perfectly on his web service. So since I am
around more in the day time, I will be able to watch out for his interests. I am happy to help out in this capacity.
And that was my wrestling week so far. Tonight I get to watch the finished product of WWE Smackdown! on television and WWE Tough Enough. I am really looking forward to this edition of WWE Tough Enough. Well, I
will conclude with that comment.
"WHY BRET HART NEEDS THE WWF MORE THEN THE WWF NEEDS BRET HART." - Updated May 1, 2002 12:39 PM
I could go on another one of my tyrade's about how Bret "The Hitman" Hart
is a horrible human being for his latest debacle (ABC Special to contact
his dead brother Owen Hart and dead mother Martha Hart), but I do not
see it as disturbing as much as I see it as a cry by Bret Hart. Bret Hart is crying for help. I honestly feel Bret "The Hitman" Hart is lost right now and does not know how to get past everything that has hit him in the past five years.
Bret "The Hitman" Hart needs Vince McMahon to accept him back in to the
WWF and further more, Bret "The Hitman" Hart needs to forgive Vince
McMahon to reach his final peace. I am not the only one who feels this
is so, it was my brother who first pointed this out to me. After I did
think about it for a while, I totally agreed with the opinion.
Ever since 1997 Bret Hart has been sinking in his own self-pity. With the WWF being taken away from Bret "The Hitman" Hart his entire world seemed to come crashing down around him. His brother Owen Hart passed away two years after he left the WWF and it served to fuel the hatred Bret Hart has inside of his heart for the WWF & Vince McMahon.
His family decided to make peace with the WWF and this further caused Bret Hart to have inner hatred for Vince McMahon & The WWF. Then his mother died, the woman who had kept the entire family sane for so many years and was considered the "glue" that kept the Hart dynasty on good terms with each other. And now Bret Hart is a little boy inside struggling to find his brother Owen Hart and his mother Martha Hart.
So he subjects himself to torture by thinking a 'spiritual medium' can
answer all of the questions that he has left unanswered in his heart. He
wants to know why Owen Hart decided to do the stunt that led to his own
death, because it doesn't seem like something Owen Hart would have
agreed to do. Bret is wondering if Owen did it because Bret was not in
the WWF to stop him or talk some sense in to him. Or perhaps Bret thinks
Owen did it because he wanted to become the WWF Champion like Bret. And
if Bret was in the WWF it would not have went down as it did.
SO Bret Hart blames the WWF & Vince McMahon for the accident because inside he actually blames himself for Owen dying. Bret Hart has a hatred for himself inside and he needs to forgive himself. He needs to forgive his own selfish need to stay on top of pro wrestling and make as much money as he could by leaving the WWF for WCW. Bret Hart needs to go back to the one place he always considered home, and back in to Vince McMahon's arms.
Because believe it or not, Vince McMahon was like a father to Bret Hart
and certainly Bret does not have much solice in going back to his own
fathers arms. Bret "The Hitman" Hart needs to get over everything that
has happened to him and his family (personally and professionally) over
the past 5 years and the only place he can start to do that is in the
WWF. Bret Hart needs to make peace with the WWF and Vince McMahon so he
can move past everything that is currently tormenting him right now.
I don't blame Bret Hart for seeking answers with a 'spiritual medium' but
I just wanted to point out he is not going to find answers anywhere but
in the WWF. Bret Hart needs to go back home, and until he goes back home he is never going to put this part of his life behind him. I feel bad for Bret Hart and hope he does make the right choice to go home to the WWF.
"INDEPENDENT THOUGHTS & NOTES" - Updated April 25, 2002 3:53 PM
In previous columns I have tackled the complex, yet often simplistic situation in the Middle-East. I have discussed pro wrestling quite a
bit over the past 36 months on this very web service in this very column
section. What possibly can I have to say that has not been said already
in one form or another?
Pro Wrestling should not be about 'politics' or keeping veteran talent off the shows so the smarks young favorites can get elevated status and pushes to Championship glory. Pro Wrestling should remember its hero's
and glory days enough to support those veterans in future programs in
the world of professional wrestling. Pro Wrestling ought to concern itself with the audience that pays the bills first and foremost and the audience that likes to re-book the product second.
Most of the time I fall in the latter category and disagree with the creative decisions the World Wrestling Federation makes. Hell, let me be totally honest with you for a moment or two in this column. 95% of
the time I disagree with anything every company does creatively because I have a different philosophy when it comes to booking a pro wrestling show.
Does this mean my philosophy is the correct one? No. Does it mean the World Wrestling Federation and Vince McMahon should read my columns to know how to fix the World Wrestling Federation? No. What does it mean?
It means that often times I see things differently and would like to have the ability to make my own personal ideological and social concepts come out through my artistic columns known as "Booking" columns. It does not intend to mean any disrespect for the pushes or the talent the WWF currently has decided to push on WWF Television, nor is it supposed to mean any disrespect for the creative department that works so hard in the WWF to give us four hours of unique Federation Television each week. It is simply meant to self-satisfy myself and pat myself on my back. I can admit that. It is an ego thing with me. I set out to re do a show the WWF booked or pre book a show the WWF is going to book, simply to allow myself to know that I CAN STILL DO IT.
There are times when I book something and the WWF books it better and I look back and shake my head and realize I was dead-wrong. Such was when Triple H defeated Mick Foley in his final match. Looking back on the way Foley went out of pro wrestling, it was an incredible booking job. And if Foley had defeated Triple H in his last match (as I had booked) it would not have completed the journey of Mick Foley in pro wrestling and it would have left a void in my heart. So I can honestly say some of the booking jobs that I do are not good. I can honestly say that some of them are good. It is a give and take type of a situation. I give you my heart on paper, and you are supposed to take it as it is given. Nothing more or nothing less is expected through these columns.
Then there is the NIRVANA I find when the WWF Creative Department and I seem to agree on booking concepts. One such was recently when the WWF booked Hulk Hogan to win the WWF Undisputed Championship over Triple H
at WWF Backlash. A lot of people online are up in arms at this decision because Triple H just won the title at WMX8. They sight this was way
to soon for Triple H to drop the title (I challenge them go back and check the record of Triple H title reigns and realize he held it as long as he usually does - on average that is). I disagree. I think Hulk Hogan deserved this story.
I am not so eager to toss Hogan aside simply because he can not deliver a classic wrestling match in the main event. I am not so eager to wipe away everything this man has given back to me as a wrestling fan simply because TAZZ is not winning every match he is booked in. I am not so eager to state Rob Van Dam deserved to win the title before Hulk Hogan won it again. Because those two statements are incredibly 'political'
in nature. And the problem I see with the 'political' nature of those comments is not the comments themselves, but rather the individuals who are forming those statements and releasing them online as fact.
The same individuals who claim Hulk Hogan kept people down for years using backstage underhanded political tactics are now attempting to discredit Hulk Hogan using the same underhanded political rhetoric. They are attempting to undermine everything this man has given back to us as a professional wrestler for the past 20 to 30 years. I am not so eager to discredit the man simply because I disagree with his philosophy on how a pro wrestler is supposed to perform in the ring. I am not so eager to discredit the man because he was in the right place at the right time at every turn of his impressive wrestling career. I am not so eager to discredit the man because every promoter he has ever worked with realized he had "IT" and could turn their business around and draw a crap load of money for their company.
I am proud on this day to admit for the first time ever that I finally SAW what every HULKAMANIAC saw in Hulk Hogan in the 80's. The same thing that all the WCW fans saw in the 90's in HULKAMANIA. The thing that I never understood and never wanted to take the time to understand. Hulk Hogan is real. He is a real person that performs for us every night and gives us his heart and soul in his performances. Hulk Hogan is a man that has always done everything the business has asked him to do and has never once complained about the cards he was dealt with. He moved out of WWF and picked his career up in WCW and when WCW folded he faded away to obscurity and never bitched ONCE during any of his interviews on the radio show circuit.
Hulk Hogan is an individual that I may not see eye to eye with when it comes to philosophy about how pro wrestlers should perform in the ring, but I see eye to eye with HULKAMANIA now. And I am going to go on the record and say I am proud of the WWF for granting Hulk Hogan his last
shining moment in this business. And I am happy the WWF brought Hogan
back to allow him to prove to me that with out a shadow of a doubt, he
DID CARE about this business as much as Ric Flair, Mick Foley and others
who were excellent PRO WRESTLERS in their era. Hulk Hogan deserves to
be known as one of the greatest entertainers to ever step foot in the
pro wrestling ring. And no one should politically attempt to take that
away from him because they want to see Tommy Dreamer winning matches left and right and beating everybody for the Undisputed Championship.
Tommy Dreamer will have his day in the spotlight, I honestly know that will happen one day. Just like I honestly feel all of the talent in the wrestling business right now is going to look back at this final run of Hulk Hogan and hope and PREY in 20 years the business will allow them to have the same GOODBYE. To disrupt or take away the farewell run of Hulk Hogan, is to KILL THE THE FUTURE BUSINESS of the internet favorites 20 years from this column (if they become as legendary as Hogan that is).
So the only question I have left to ask right now is, WHATCHA GONNA DO! BROTHERS!! WATCHA GONNA DO IF your political BULLSHIT stops Hulk Hogan from getting his current farewell push and later disrupts the push of another legend returning to the WWF (Bret Hart, Terry Funk and some others pop in to my head)??? I'll tell you WATCHA GONNA DO! BROTHERS! You are going to bitch, whine and cry at Vince McMahon.
WHY VINCE? WHY DON'T YOU bring back Terry Funk??! Why not bring back Bret Hart?!?!? Come on, Puh-pulease!! And Vince will swagger on by with a gleam in his eye, turn around and he will say, I wanted to remember wrestling history and you told me to forget it! Now you tell me to remember it, and I AM VINCE MCMAHON DAMMIT! So I am going to
tell you FORGET IT!
And then the wrestling smarks will only have themselves to blame for this and not WWF or Vince McMahon.
"MORE OF THE SAME" - Updated April 18, 2002 3:53 PM
Got some negative and positive feedback about my last column about the situation in the middle-east. I was happy to get positive feedback about the column and the subject matter of the column. I have learned after my years of writing columns (sometimes with controversial opinions) to just blow off the negative feedback and leave it at that.
What wrestling is missing. I think wrestling is missing a good regional promotion with a television distribution package that blankets more then one region. I am not so much missing World Championship Wrestling or Extreme Championship Wrestling post "national run" as I am missing the old-school NWA/WCW Region and the old-school ECW Region.
What I miss is the low quality in ring action where I got see the future stars perform. What I would love to see is Ohio Valley Wrestling and or Heartland Wrestling Association get decent distribution packages and NOT
attempt to run "national" televised events. I think this is the problem
with World Wrestling Allstars and X Wrestling Federation.
Both these groups assume they can fill the void by putting on "national" shows and competing against the World Wrestling Federation, and that
simply is not ever going to happen. Both these organizations are doing
the same things as the WWF and it makes them look second-rate in comparison to the WWF. If they would simply put on great shows with out attempting to compete with the WWF, in a sense they would compete with the WWF.
I have been talking with this in e-mail for the past two weeks with other columnists online (one of which wrote an excellent column for 1wrestling.com recently - Dave Whitaker. I would highly suggest you go to 1wrestling.com and deal with the pop up menus for one night and read Dave Whitaker's excellent column on this topic) and we all agree. We do not so much care to see another high-profile wrestling organization that puts on PPV shows monthly or has great production values.
What we miss is the old-school days of seeing the future of wrestling develop before our eyes and watching some good hungry kids perform to
entertain us with little hopes of making a lot of money to start out.
The WWF is not going to produce a show which allows us to see the rookies come up in to the ranks of the WWF (outside of Tough Enough) and that is what I miss about the old-school pro wrestling days. The Shawn Michaels starting out in the Mid-South Region as a television scrub. The stages of development Glenn Jacobs, D Lo Brown, Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, Mick Foley and others went through before they made it big. It was not
about great production quality or high-profile television distribution
deals or running monthly PPV shows to market nationally. It was about
the love for the business and watching some good energetic performers entertain us with great professional wrestling action.
International Championship Wrestling, Florida Championship Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance, South Atlanta Pro Wrestling, Continental Wrestling Federation, Championship Wrestling Alliance, and Texas All Star Wrestling never attempted to compete with the WWF in the 80's. But most of the future talent came
through those regions and wound up working on PPV with the WWF. It was
such a treat to see the talent develop from step A all the way to step
B. It was incredible to watch Keiji Muto start out as a scrub in Florida and become the GREATEST WORKER in professional wrestling history years
later in Japan.
It was a treat to see a GREEN Lex Luger pushed heavily on Florida wrestling only to eventually become a megastar years down the road with both WWF and WCW. It was great to reflect on all of the wrestlers who came through the region, some who made it big and some who didn't. It was part of the wrestling draw to us. We did not need to see the great production rates. We did not need shows selling out 30,000 seat arenas.
All we needed was a solid play by play man, a decent color man, a good sized wrestling ring and some good talent to perform in front of us. I remember watching Mick Foley do one of his very first promos in Continental Wrestling and thinking to myself. WOW! This guy is great!
I remember watching Eric Embry battle the evil forces in World Class Wrestling, who oddly enough invaded the company to 'take it over' (which I still argue was the prototype for the nWo angle years later in WCW) and fighting them off single handedly. I remember a lot of great moments in pro wrestling that did not happen on PPV or in front of 30,000 fans.
So my only remaining question is, if pro wrestling survived before the WWF turned it in to this mainstream popular marketable event, why have
the regional promoters decided pro wrestling can not survive if it does
not attempt duplicate the WWF formula? Where is the creativity? Where is the love for this business? Certainly the WWA and XWF do not love
this business much (in my opinion) because they are constantly trying
to do the same things that the WWF do. Instead of coming up with their
own concepts and ideas.
And then in a bit of paranoid delusion they turn around and claim the WWF and Vince McMahon are ripping them off. I got news for WWA and XWF, SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT WAS INVENTED BY VINCE MCMAHON! So if you are trying to compete with Vince McMahon by out SPORTS ENTERTAINING the masses you are simply stealing his marketable concept. My suggestion to Jimmy Hart and Andruw McManus, put on a good clean wrestling show first, and worry about making money second. Or you will fail miserably.
Just a quick note for the fans of LEWD EXTREME RADIO - The LEWD RADIO staff will be heading to the PPV to cover it for our web page. It should be quite interesting to see what Brad Clements & "Little" Jimmy Kelley come up with to entertain us with during their trip to WWF Backlash in Kansas City, Missouri. For this reason we may not have an updated version of the RADIO show this week. I am working on coming up with some sort of a replacement show in the absence of "Little" Jimmy Kelley and Brad Clements. I can not promise it will be the same quality as the other shows. But as is always said, "THE SHOW MUST GO ON".
"SPLIT DISCUSSION" - Updated April 11, 2002 4:17 PM
What a world we are currently living in. The Middle-East is a mess right now. Every day is another complicated situation created by some giant egomaniac who is more worried about his own political status then the well being of his own people. Whether it be Arafat or Sharon, it does
not really matter. These two individuals are the problem.
Arafat and Sharon have a grudge against each other and are allowing it to come between the stability of the entire Middle-East region. I say get
them both out of there. Arafat must go, and so must Sharon! For the
stability of the entire global economy these two leaders MUST either shape up, or ship out! And if they refuse to shape up, we must SHIP them out. I have absolutely nothing against Israel, Jews, The PLO, Palestinians, Muslims, or Arabs. I have a problem with instability
of an entire region because of political rhetoric.
Arafat is not a saint. Arafat is part of the problem. Arafat refuses to call off the PLO (his people) and supports them killing Israelians. He is one of the major reasons why the region is not stable right now. Arafat should shape up, or be shipped out of the region. Be that by force or by choice.
Sharon is not a saint. Sharon is part of the problem. Sharon refuses to call off his own forces and supports killing the Palestinians (and PLO leadership). He is one of the major reasons why the region is not stable right now. Sharon should shape up, or be shipped out of the region. Be that by force or choice.
Once we have new leadership willing to negotiate PEACE in the Middle-East and compromise to the benefit of each of their causes. The entire global economy is going to turn around. The entire region is going to be better off. The entire world will be able to move forward with out this cloud of the Middle-Eastern problem hanging over our heads.
Saddam Hussein does not want the PEACE in the Middle-East scenario to work out. Because as long as the region is not stable, the United States of America can not move forward with this war on terrorism and
take out Saddam. Saddam realizes this and he is fueling the instability in the region. And Sharon & Arafat are not helping matters.
Once we can finally deal with Arafat and Sharon and settle the problems between the PLO & Israelians, we can then shift our focus to the second half of the war on terrorism and take out Saddam Hussien. And the problem right now is, Sharon & Arafat are not going to see anything eye-to-eye. It just is not going to happen.
If neither is willing to sit down and compromise, neither is fit to lead their causes. We might as well force both of them out of office so the rest of the free world can live in peace and move forward to reach a day of total peace.
©1999 - 2002 InLewd Productions Inc.
Updated 4/4 11:45 PM RAW & SMACKDOWN
"RAW & SMACKDOWN!" - Updated April 4, 2002 11:45 PM
We have already touched base on the complete rosters of the two "brands" last week. Reflecting back on the two brands I think it is going to be
good for business in the long run.
Of course RAW is going to be centered around two superstars in the next few weeks. Rob Van Dam and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Of course Eddie Guerrero v. Rob Van Dam is going to be one of the greatest Interncontinental feuds of all time. It could be a total throw back feud to days of Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat v. Randy "Macho Man" Savage.
Steve Austin of course is going to be the main "bad ass" on the RAW brand
now that he 'stunned' his new boss Ric Flair. I look for Austin to cause a lot of renewed hell on the RAW brand. It should be good for business and for the television show to have Austin a 'bad ass' again and not a babyface or a heel in definition.
Turning to the SMACKDOWN brand. The show is going to obviously center around Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Edge. All three of these wrestlers are going to provide some memorable moments for us on WWF Television over the next few week and months.
What has to be said about Edge? The guy is awesome. He has all of the credentials to be a major superstar and main event wrestler for the next few years. I think he has a lot more ability and polish to his style then even Chris Jericho had. The WWF should waste very little time in pushing Edge to the top of the card in my personal opinion.
Hulk Hogan deserves to have another babyface run as the WWF Champion. I never expected to write that after he burned his welcome out in 1994. I guess it just goes to prove you "never say never in this business".
I personally am really looking forward to seeing Triple H v. Hulk Hogan, but fear Triple H will turn nWo during the match. I guess Triple H as a heel would work better for the "brand extension" then as a babyface. It will add more controversy to both shows and that is what WWF likes.
The Rock is going to be the next Arnold Schwartzennegger (spelling, can you blame me? You try and spell that damned name) in Hollywood and he is going to help promote the Smackdown! brand by doing it. I think Rock is a great ambassador to the World Wrestling Federation. I am really looking forward to seeing how Rock fits in to the Smackdown! brand in the next few weeks and months.
NOW ON TO SOME WEB PAGE BUSINESS
If you have not noticed our web page service has undergone a face-lift, and we have changed the lay-out. I think it is a great update and the
new lay-out is even better then the last one. Of course I may be a
bit biased in my feelings about the lay-out. Perhaps because I myself
had to edit 1000's of files to update my section.
And for those who are asking the million-dollar question, YES that is a photo of myself under the Rob Van Dam "FROG SPLASH". Never in a million years did I ever think I would be under a ROB VAN DAM "FIVE STAR". But
low and behold there I am! I think the photo of myself is rather awesome and long over due! This does not mean I have a gigantic ego, but I guess in some circles I have a huge ego.
That is quite okay. Because I am set in my ways and am looking forward to taking my material up another notch. Certainly I wish to move on and present some in depth wrestling commentary in the next few weeks and months. And I hope you will stick with me as I provide you with my take on pro wrestling.
I do not claim I am the "do-all" and "end-all" authority on pro wrestling. I merely state my own personal opinions, which were shaped by watching this business for the past twenty years.
I am always looking to start a great dialogue with other wrestling fans, and please ask you to send in your opinions and comments.
Updated 1/1 3:32 PM Brand New Year