"The Gospel Truth"

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.

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!

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

"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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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!