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The 7 - Guest Columns - Yes, I'm back and guess what? I'm pissed Register and log in to post!
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hardygrrl
Tocino
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#1 Posted on 26.4.03 2104.46
Reposted on: 26.4.10 2110.43
You Can't Go Home Again, Vince

I remember writing in my Shooters days about how nostalgia would kill the WWE. Sometimes, I hate being right. What's next, Backlund? The Bushwhackers? Classy Freddie Blassie? The corpse of Andre getting a upper card push?

Vince, I know the ratings are dropping faster than Missy Hyatt's thong backstage. You're getting desperate and it shows. However, the last time you got desperate, you pushed new people. Remember those carefree days? When you took someone WCW fired and made a star out of him? When you oversaw the creation of one of the biggest stables ever, Degeneration X? You managed to make Billy freaking Gunn a star, Vince. You gave us Austin, heel Rock and the many faces of Foley.

Now, you're reheating WCWHelper. Hogan? Nash? Steiner? Goldberg? You managed to take over the two major competitors you had and that's the best you can do? While they fit in with your love for the large and lumbering, the fans consider them boring. In Steiner's case, coma inducing. (strike that, I do watch Steiner in the off chance he will hit Maximum Steroid Level, either snapping and biting his arms off in a blood lust frenzy or simply blowing up real good)


Let us take a good look at the roster, shall we? There is some talent there - some talent that is quite over despite who is holding the belt at the moment. Not to be the typical smark whining about Trips and his evil ways, but the man is boring. You have RVD, Booker, Hurricane. Three performers who can perform without an oxygen tank or "Daddy's Special Medicine". Three who are over. Three who are currently the second WWE string. That's just not right. While Grandpas Collide should not be the main event of Raw. The main event should not be sponsored by Oops I Crapped My Pants.

Vince, the last time you pushed youth, you won the ratings war. Keep that in mind
Promote this thread!
Stefonics
Frankfurter
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#2 Posted on 27.4.03 0431.34
Reposted on: 27.4.10 0437.24
You make a good argument in your column, but it's one that has been made so many times before. The problem as I see it is that smarks want instantanious change. Austin wasn't built in a day. Rocky was once a green wrestler with a shit haircut and a stupid gimmick. And the Three Faces of Foley? I love his work as Mankind, I love his work as Cactus Jack. But Dude Love sucked. That's a part of that whole nostalgia thing you were talking about. The tape got out where he crapped his pants jumping off of his roof, and someone thought it would be a good idea to give him another character. Foley managed to make it work on an elementary level, but that's only because of Foley's abilities on the mic and in the ring.
The three people you suggest to push right now will in no way be pushed the way you want them to be. RVD is a straight up pothead who in no way can be trusted in the ring. I love watching his spotfests, and yes, he's over as hell, but nearly collapsing a man's windpipe in a match doing your finisher? Dangerous. How many times can he be trusted to do something like that again until he seriously fucks up? D'Lo Brown never got the same push after he crippled Droz. Arguably, Owen Hart never got the same push after he broke Austin's neck. Granted he had that whole "Owen 3:16" thing going for him, but he wasn't main eventing as he was with his brother. Booker T's problem is one that he cannot change. He's a brother. Sounds racist as hell, but there have not been that many Black wrestlers who have been elevated passed the Intercontinental level. I'm sure you could count them on one hand. And what makes Booker different from all of the other Black wrestlers in the past who could not get the glory of holding the title? Case in point would be Ahmed Johnson. The guy was so over it was unreal. He was the perfect build for Vince. But he couldn't get passed that IC title. Then he fucked up in the ring, never to be pushed again. And Hurricane? Please. The man's gimmick is an overdone Blue Blazer. It's humorous, but I honestly can not see Hurricane progressing to the same level of superstardom as Austin or Rock. He's the darling of "smart" fans, and yes, he's over. But in order to get him to that next level, they would have to drop the whole Hurricane gimmick and start from scratch. By the time that happened, he would no longer be relevant in the minds of the fans.
After those three, who else to you really have who is over, young, and talented enough in the ring and on the mic to carry the belt? Vince likes nostalgia just as much, if not more, than the majority of wrestling viewers. But he's painted into a corner here. I'm sure that he was banking on The Rock to carry his company through the next decade, but with Hollywood calling every 4 months, it's a little difficult to go through with that plan. Austin is boarderline cripple. The man is awesome in the ring, but the question arises of how much longer he can go. IMO, HHH is at the head by default. He has heat with the crowds, he's a big guy, and his ringwork isn't as bad as some make it out to be. Vince had to bring in guys like Goldberg, Nash, and Steiner in order to convince the fans that there is a legitimate threat to HHH's title. Steiner shit the bed, but Vince had no way of knowing it would go down as badly as it did. Nash got hurt the first time he stepped into the ring, but he's back now. The jury is still out on Goldberg. Hopefully, he is that legitimate threat that Vince has been looking for, because honestly, it's not going to come from the three men you mentioned.
And what about Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle? They're both home-grown talents who have been pushed to the moon. In comparison to those you have mentioned as "reheats", they're new people. Give Vince time. You don't become the head of a multi-million dollar corporation by chance.
hardygrrl
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#3 Posted on 27.4.03 0642.20
Reposted on: 27.4.10 0649.15
I was ranting about Raw.

It's bad when I end up switching Raw off but watch every minute of Smackdown. It's bad when I haven't marked out for a while watching Raw - the last time I did was when Dreamer and RVD ran down the ramp during Invasion. How long ago was that?

JST
Toulouse
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#4 Posted on 27.4.03 1814.27
Reposted on: 27.4.10 1814.28
Dang, girl, where you been? I missed your columns.
hardygrrl
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#5 Posted on 27.4.03 1927.31
Reposted on: 27.4.10 1929.01
Tod, getting the life straightened out. Between the job and the man, I'm a busy woman. :D
JST
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#6 Posted on 28.4.03 0051.02
Reposted on: 28.4.10 0055.07
I hear ya. Welcome back!
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