It appears patience is beginning to run a little thin these days. Thin with wrestling in general, but specifically with the WWF and it's current downward spiral of sorts. Two of my good friends in Matt Spence and Dale Blasingame have become fed up enough to basically leave it off their viewing lists until things change, and I honestly can't argue with their logic. As I touched on in my last column, today isn't a good day to be a wrestling fan. If you're a Sports Entertainment fan, this must be like seventh heaven for you.. I can only imagine.. but the sport is in serious trouble.
A few short years ago, WCW was on top of the game. The nWo was in full swing, Bischoff apparantly had a good thing going, and McMahon was slowly watching his stars say goodbye for the greener pastures of the South. There was constant talk about who the newest member of Vince's crew would be to walk out on that week's edition of Nitro. Rey Mysterio Jr was young, the Giant still offered an effort, and Benoit and Malenko were seeing their initial elevations as a member of the 4 Horsemen and a cruiserweight champ, respectively. Then something changed.. Vince altered his product, shifting the focus even further from the original attraction, the physical confrontation from which the sport had grown. Fans started to check out the revamped 'Raw', to see what Vince would try next. The Attitude that's become legendary took the viewers by storm with inventive storylines, strong mic work and a sharper edge.. Now the talk was centered on which workers would be headed North, about who would guest star in Val Venis' next porno, about who'd be appearing on the next release of WWF: The Music.
What I'm trying to get at is this; Vince McMahon has been quoted as saying he hopes to someday be able to completely erase the 'wrestling' from the World Wrestling Federation. Entirely. The man behind 'sports entertainment' is sick of the 'sports' and the management at WCW, still worried about the precious ratings, can only follow in his footsteps. Given the right men behind the scenes and some time to gather its senses (not to mention some free thinking), WCW could become the only game in town. While the WWF moves their program to compete with the afternoon soap operas, WCW could go back to their roots and offer quality wrestling.
Or, they could go where the money is and catch 'The Young and the Wrestlers' Vince before cashing their checks at the bank.
But there's a chance that given some liberal thought, a love for the history, and a little power, things could change. Hey, maybe Shane McMahon doesn't share his father's dream. Maybe the WWF will take another 'new direction'. Maybe we can get a little wrestling back in our programming for a change
That hope is why I keep watching Monday nights. Be it WCW or the WWF, I still hope. Fads come and go. By the time this one passes the WWF may well be beyond repair. You'd thought they'd have learned their lesson last time, but things aren't completely out of hand yet.
And I still hope.
Call me too optimistic, or call my a shitty columnist with too much free time.. but I can still see what true wrestling was all about, and I can see it happening again. This time, I want to be the first in line to show my support. Be it through the evolution of the WWF or the 'Revolution' of WCW, I want to be there when the reversion happens, and I want in.
Anyway, sorry about the rant... but I figured it was about time I put together an actual 'column'. The Tuesday Review will return next week, and look for a "Complete Idiot's ECW Preview" sometime tomorrow or Saturday from John C. and myself
until then, i remain
drq
drq
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