Breaking The Walls Down: Fact From Fiction Submitted by Chris Dailey on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 2:07 PM EST
Breaking The Walls Down
Hello all and welcome back to yet another edition of Breaking The Walls Down. These are some more turbulant times in the wrestling world. A world that has had its fare share of uprisings in the past few years. One federation that is hurting through all of this is obviously the WWE. The departure of Stone Cold Steve Austin has hurt them, maybe not financially (yet), but emotionally. And, I'll get into that and much more in the column. But for now, it's onto Bits and Pieces.
Bits and Pieces
The King of the Ring is this Sunday and I am predicting RVD vs. Lesnar in the finals. That would make for a good match. Both men are getting good pushes and I'm willing to bet that we'll see an excellent match between the two. Hopefully the WWE decides to go this route.
When did Rikishi and Rico lose the tag belts? To top that off, who really cares? I think The European Title is worth more right now that the tag belts.
Somehow, someway Tommy Dreamer's new gimmick is slowly getting him over. How is that possible?
Back to the RVD vs. Lesnar possibility for the King of the Ring finals. Perhaps the WWE could bring in Bill Alfonzo and put him in RVD's corner to counteract Heyman. I think that would be a cool thing to have happen. I don't think it would take anything away from RVD with having a manager, as Alfonzo could be there to counteract any outside interferance by other managers.
Fact From Fiction
He's the ringmaster. The one who leads them all. Call him the puppet master, if you will; he certainly pulls their strings . . . as well as ours. Welcome one, welcome all to the WWE. Welcome to Vince McMahon's world. His world is one of fiction, but reality has been known to creep into its lavesh history. Often heralded as one of the more ingenious and craftier persons of our time, Vince McMahon has made and destroyed wrestlers careers, made and lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and made and lost the respect of millions of people. However, through it all there was always one thing, something that is considered by most to be humankinds most innate instinct, survival.
I've said it time and time again, Vince McMahon knows how to survive. Through the turbulent 80s, through the steroid scandal of the early 90s, and through the night after night of ratings victories by WCW, Vince McMahon sat scheming. He sat scheming, congering up some of the most wackiest and questionable storylines and characters this business has ever seen. Yet, amid all the half-brain, craziest ideas that Vince McMahon has come up with, there were always a handfull that kept us all watching. There were always a handfull of ideas that kept all of us tuning in week in and week out. Whether it was a storyline or a twist in a wreslter's character, McMahon always kept us interested, even if only a little.
And now, now Vince McMahon faces another challenge. The ratings are falling, the attendance is dwindling, and the gate revenues are dropping. Yet, how has Vince McMahon always responded with having his back pushed up against the perverbial wall, with pushing the envelope to an area fans never thought he'd take the business. Degeneration X, sexual innuendos, profane language, more extreme matches, sex appeal, etc. However, now Vince McMahon and the WWE claims that Austin has walked out on them. McMahon and the WWE have made it publically known that Austin has left them, that he's walked out on them. They've made it very believeable, too. To be honest, I don't know exactly what to think. I will say this, though, there's truth and fiction in this story. Has Austin been burned out, yes, he has been. Did Austin walk out on the WWE after Wrestlemania, yes, he did. Is Austin gone from the WWE now, well, that's where it gets tough.
Something keeps hitting me that this situation is somewhat similar to what Sting did in WCW's storyline after the nWo invaded WCW in 96-97. There are too many hints of that storyline. Also, something of this situation with Austin reminds me of Paul Heyman. In my opinion, Paul Heyman is a master mind when it comes to innovation. Again, it is my opinion that Paul Heyman is one of the most innovative persons in the business today. Heyman took ECW to places that most people hadn't dreamnt of, and if they did dream of it, they didn't dare take it there. Heyman had the creative mind and the talent to back that up. Now, Heyman's with the WWE and I wonder if all of this isn't a huge storyline.
Do I doubt the fact that Debra and Steve had a violent encounter, no. I think something did happen. The fan in me simply wants it to be a storyline, as shocking and appaling as that is, I want it to be a storyline, but it isn't. The facts are real, something did happen to Debra. And, Austin is out driving around right now visiting with family members, I do believe that. But, all of this seems like a dream to me, a dream that has eerily taken the form of true life.
When an average person (average being a person who is not famous) feels burned out and needs to be alone can escape (usually). Steve Austin is feeling burned out, he has felt this way for quite sometime, and now he needs to get away, but the price to stardom is the fact that you can never really get away. Austin needs time to himself. Time to sort things out and, if possible, to make things right with his wife. Steve needs to do this, but the media won't let him alone, especially since the altercation between he and Debra.
I honestly want to believe it's a storyline. I want to believe this is an ingenious plot formulated by McMahon aimed at boosting the ratings, but the more and more I think about it, the more and more I come to realize that true life has taken an ugly turn for the worse. After writing this column (some of it while watching RAW), I've learned that writing out your thoughts can really help you see the subject at hand. I started out by believing that there was a good chance that this was all a storyline, and, in some small, infatesimal chance, it may be, but all the facts point to one thing: The WWE has lost one of its (if not its greatest) all around money producers, and this will hurt the company in an unknown capacity. Personally, I don't see Austin as a walking dollar sign. I see Austin as a human being who had it all, who had what many dream about. The only problem is, the price was too high for him to handle. Austin needs time away (maybe for good) to heal. Austin went out on top. He beat Ric Flair, the very man who started to build him up in WCW as its top heel. One day Steve may return as Stone Cold Steve Austin and learn to handle the responsibilities therewithin. But for now, Steve Williams must learn how to heal and take time out for himself and his wife before becoming Stone Cold Steve Austin again.
