Vince McMahon can never rest can he? I mean, every time he turns around he has a brand new problem facing his worldwide Pro Wrestling enterprise. If it isn't that no-good Nailz testifying against him for no reason, or the failed Diesel and Razor Ramon return which almost ruined Kane's career before he premiered, Vince always has his share of problems. This is one of his biggest problems of all. Maybe even bigger than the arms of the steroid fanatics that used to wrestle for him in the '80's. The problem is an oversized roster with no direction. Alot of wrestlers on the roster now just wrestle, with no mention of their troubles, who they're feuding with, or why they're pissed off. The writers may have dug themselves a hole during the Invasion angle, let's hope that they haven't dug themselves so deep that no one knows that they are down there and refills it with dirt.
With that said, I believe that the WWF needs a massive overhaul of their roster. If they leave the wrestlers that the fans care about alone, they should have no problem giving facelifts to all the characters that need it. Below is a guide to remixing the WWF song into a track that we can all listen to.
STEP ONE: Make lists analyzing the roster.
List one should be the top stars, list two should be the mid-carders, and list three should be the expendables.
Everyone knows who the top superstars in the WWF are. I'm not talking about one-time crowd poppers either, I'm talking about the big names. Here is the list of the wrestlers that should not be touched. Vince should announce that there will be roster cuts in the near future. Just like in High School when students tried out for the football team, Vince should post the following three lists in all the locker rooms.
SUPERSTARS
Billy Kidman
Booker T
Bradshaw
Chris Benoit
Chris Jericho
Christian
Edge
Jeff Hardy
Jerry Lynn
Kurt Angle
Kane
Matt Hardy
Raven
Rhyno
Rikishi
Rob Van Dam
Steve Austin
Test
The Rock
Triple H
Undertaker
William Regal
X-Pac
Then, VKM should post the midcard list. He should also make it known that the midcarders don't have to worry about being denoted, but do have to worry about doing some good old fashioned J-O-B's.
MID-CARDERS
Albert
Big Show
Buh Buh Ray Dudley
Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Chris Kanyon
Chuck Palumbo
Diamond Dallas Page
D-Von Dudley
Eddie Guerrero
Faarooq
Hardcore Holly
Justin Credible
Lance Storm (With a chance to advance to the Superstar level.)
Mike Awesome
Perry Saturn
Shane Helms (That's right, turn him back into Shane!)
Shawn Stasiak
Spike Dudley
Taka Michinoku (Drop the silly Kaientai gimmick already. Let him really shine in the lightweight division.)
Tazz
Val Venis
Yoshihiro Tajiri
ANYMORE F-UP'S AND IT'S OVW FOR YOU
Billy Gunn
Bull Buchanan
Crash Holly
D-Lo Brown
Essa Rios
Godfather/Goodfather
Haku
Hugh Morrus
Mark Jindrak
Scotty 2 Hotty
Sean O'Haire
Sho Funaki
Steve Blackman
Tommy Dreamer
The wrestlers on the third list should be split into three groups. Group one being the potential Ohio Valley group, group two being the potential Heartland group, and group three being those being potentially re-assigned to backstage jobs. Hugh Morrus, Tommy Dreamer, and Billy Gunn wouldn't do too bad backstage would they?
With the Mid-carder group, they should set aside who they want to be in programs and who can sit back for tweaks to their character. They already have more than a few possible fueds there. Since there is not enough TV time for them anyway, keep the talking minimal with the mid-carders, and let them speak with wrestling moves (unless of course they're good on the stick like Buh Buh Ray or Shane Helms.)
The Superstar group should be the easiest group to handle, since the WWF already has a gauge on where they want to go with those characters. With Undertaker retiring soon, that would open up a space for whoever the best mid-carder is (Eddie Guerrero would be my pick.) This denotion-promotion idea will work pretty well, with the wrestlers knowing that when they mess up, there is a possibility that Vince can call down to the minors and bring up a substitute at any time. This re-structuring should take place soon, so they will be organized when the "Real" Invasion begins next year. Nature Boy anyone???
STEP TWO: Regain fan interest by making controversial moves and bringing back the Attitude.
Fans of the WWF have been recently saying that due to the PTC's fued with the federation last year, the WWF has lost it's attitude. That may be the case, but when was the last time you heard of the PTC? I bet if the WWF didn't form the Right To Censor, fans and media would have forgotten about the PTC sooner than they did. When I say bring back the Attitude, it doesn't necessarily mean chopping at your crotch, or giving middle fingers every five seconds. It means bring back the edge. Even though there has been more bloodloss in the past month than there has been in the past year, bring blading back into prominence for PPV's and let's see a few more garbage matches with wrestlers who enjoy doing them. Raven vs. Justin Credible could be one of the most brutal matches in WWF history if they let them do their thing. Introduce barbed wire into the hardcore division. This will let the crowd know that you're serious, and that WWF isn't afraid to look like hard-asses. Bringing back Attitude means slowly losing the comedy vignettes. How many times are we going to hear "WASSUPWIDDAT?" before we're desensitized to it?
STEP THREE: Sign as many former WCW top stars as you can.
WCW fans wouldn't be able to resist seeing the Stinger sitting up in the rafters for 3 straight episodes of Raw, with Heyman and Ross speculating as to what he's doing there. Re-sign Hall and Nash and have Shawn Michaels manage them. Also re-sign Scott Steiner, and look into signing Goldberg for a one-time only matchup for WMX8. Also, use the Excess show to show old WCW video footage to hip the WWF's fans to what WCW was all about in the 90's. WCW vs. WWF 2 could be next year's biggest story if pushed properly, making the Invasion pale in comparison. Ric Flair anyone???