Claire's Report - Issue #3 - 12/15/2001
Sorry its late this week folks, been really busy with Xmas around the corner. There will be another column next week before Christmas, so check back. Keep on sending your thoughts and comments into me. Many thanks to Eric this week!!
Welcome to another edition of Claires weekly columns, "If I could be serious for a minute..." I have a little something to say. It would really be great to see some competition once again for the WWF. And speaking of the WWF, that is my topic here today.
As you may or may not know by now, I have officially stopped watching WWF. Now that's not to say I still don't follow it through Wrestling-Online.com and a few other sites. So I know whats going on to an extent. You see, just reading the words, I can see the crap video in my head. I can see the b.s. that Vince is shoveling to all the supposed "wrasslin'" fans.
In a way I feel sorry for wrestling fans who have just become fans within the past 5 to 10 years. You honestly don't know any better and that's not an insult. It's the truth. I admit to being a WWF junkie. I couldn't get enough. Even when things were bad, I still watched. People thought I would be watching forever and not stop. But then...Vince went too damn far.
With the WCW buyout, Vince conquered wrestling. Or more to his liking...Sports Entertainment. So he has the market cornered. Now...there is no more competition, so what happens? Vince laughs because he knows he can do whatever he wants and can get away with it. And as wrestling fans, we only have two options. One, we can put up with it, or two, we can turn it off and walk away. Well A few weeks ago, I chose the second option and I just walked away. Like I think I said in my last article, to see William Regal kiss Vince's backside was just the last straw. I mean I have walked away before and returned later. But this time...it was for good or until things change. And change a lot! Whether it is an angle/storyline, or whatever, the bottomline as Stone Cold would say, is Vince put himself in to stroke his own ego. I guess he gets off on having other guys kiss his backside...that's whatever, but we shouldn't have to see it on tv.
I respect Regal as a talent and a wrestler and some of the stuff he came out with while with Tajiri as WWF commisioner, well it had me rolling. But then to see him kiss another mans backside and to add to it that it was Vinces, well that was just too much. You shouldn't have to sell your soul to get ahead in this business. And to me that's what Regal did. He sold his soul to stroke Vinces oversized ego. Now, thanks to the Rock, the Kiss Vinces A$$ Club is done. But then we have to see Vince's face get slammed into Rikishis backside? What the hell is going on here people? This is not what I want to see. I want to see matches. I want to see some good "wrasslin'! WWF, from the WCW buyout, has some great talent that they are letting fall by the wayside. Why hire these guys if you aren't going to really use them? Well you can say "Well Vince is a billionaire. what does it matter to him?" Well if you are putting out crap quality instead of good or great quality, you start losing money...fans leave, advertising clients start pulling out and the fortune Vince has created for himself will eventually diminish. Vincent McMahon Sr must be rolling in his grave over what Vince has done to this once great industry.
Vince McMahon has killed wrestling. It is such a shame that it was only a storyline or angle, but everything that Paul E said to Vince's face before Survivor Series was true. It is a bigger shame that they edited out some of what was said. It really is amazing how bold and blantant Vince has gotten. What is sad, is the fans of today cheered Vince and booed Paul E. Why? Paul E was right on the money. But you people don't care. And then as fickle as fans you are, you boo Vince not even a week later! Just a week prior, Vince was your "saviour". Then after Survivor Series, you all boo him. And now you cheer Austin again. What's that all about? What happened to the day of real fans? Fans that when they saw a wrestler, whether he was good or bad, you cheered him. I know I cheer my favorites regardless of their affiliation.
When I went to the XWF, I was probably one of the few who cheered for Buff Bagwell and Bobby Heenan. Undertaker...the moment he stepped into the WWF I was a fan. I liked the character. It was new and fresh. Now as of late I dont like the direction his character has gone. It is plain pathetic. But that doesn't mean that when the time comes, I won't say he wasn't a favorite of mine. Others like Jericho, Benoit, Piper, Orndorff, Muracco, Hogan, Jarrett, etc...regardless of whether they have been face or heel, I have cheered them. You don't find fans like this anymore. Fans of today, WWF hypes people like Triple H, Austin, The Rock and others as the best ever. How many times have I heard Good Ol' JR say "No one else in this business does the elbow from the top rope any better?" Well gee JR?! Does Macho Man ring any bells?! The Macho One was doing the elbow off the top rope while a lot of these guys where still popping pimples on their faces. The wrestlers of today are good...I will give them that.
However The Rock and Austin or even Triple H measure up to Hulk Hogan. Hogan gained his success without much in the way of promotion. He didn't have it as good as they do now. Hell, one of these guys today breaks wind and the next thing you know they are on every tv talk show, game show and everything else. I will say with time, if they have the career length of a Hogan or Savage... that's when they will achieve greatness. If Rock can still pop the crowd like he does now in about another 15 to 20 years... that's when you are truely great. No matter where Hogan goes, he can still pop the crowds even more now I think than back in the day, I am not taking away the genius of Vince. The man can make and break wrestlers. He has true talent in that department. The thing I don't like is the way he breaks down good wrestlers. Lance Storm, Hugh Morrus, Chuck Palumbo, Tazz, Raven, and countless others. He broke up a good tag team in Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo. These were guys that were tops in their respective feds and then come to WWF and are not allowed to show their true talents.
WWF tends to "dumb down" wrestlers. One I feel really bad for is Tommy Dreamer. The guy busted his a$$ in ECW for years to be on top, and now they job him in WWF. Why? I found it a big surprise that they allowed Jericho to win the PPV and become the first undisputed World Champ. I knew he had the talent and said it numerous time in previous articles. Now will he be able to hang on? I can only hope. I keep waiting to see the changes in WWF programming that I read about from when in a meeting, wrestlers told Vince of their disappointment in the programming. Well if things don't change soon, I think wrestlers may start jumping ship and where better to go than the XWF?! That would give the XWF a great boost.
Well before I close this I would like to address a few things Vince could do to make the programming better. I have had help from readers who like my column, so this isn't all my idea. 1.) Vince should leave TV for good. It is better for him to be behind the scenes. This also goes for Linda, Shane and Steph. 2.) Lets give some of the other wrestlers a chance. I know I am tired of seeing Austin, Rock, Angle, Booker T, Hardyz, and the Dudleys twice a week. Now this isn't to say that they don't deserve tv time, but there are others who deserve a shot. Mix it up! 3.) Make the angles/storylines interesting and not so predictable. What fun is that when you can predict the outcome? 4.) There needs to be competition.
I have heard about the roster splits next year. Sounds a bit interesting I must admit. I probably will watch Raw and Smackdown in the new year just to see the outcome of the whole event. Maybe Vince really can change things around? He certainly isn't pushing ratings up thats for sure!
Anyway that's it for this week.
Merry Christmas to you all!
XclaireX