The Forzese View - There Is A McMahon On My TV
Submitted by Jim Forzese on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 at 7:06 AM EST



There is a McMahon on my TV

If you are a devout Christian then you believe in such things as heaven, angels, and especially GOD. If someone were to come and test your resolve by stating the fact that since you cannot see GOD how does one know he exists. The simple fact is that as a Christian you learn that God is an omni-present force that surrounds all living things and the pure fact that one cannot actually see him is no ones place to second guess. We as good Catholics know for sure he exists and that’s all there is to it. We accept through faith that he is there.

My point on the opening paragraph is that lately Vince McMahon and the entire McMahon family are pushing hard the fact that yes, McMahon’s do exist and we will make sure you understand that by being all over both Raw and Smack down weekly. The fear that permeates from the Mcfamily is so strong that they believe if one week goes by that they are not involved on their own programming people will stop believing that they exist. Why leave a wrestling program to actual wrestlers, fans don’t want that anymore what they want is a Mcsoap opera. Vince has lost his faith in his fans that he cannot leave it up to the fans to just believe he is there sight unseen.

Now I will say in fairness to Vince that his Mr. McMahon character is still very over as a hated heel. Vince actually lectures talent on how to be more like him and his character. Also his involvement in the main event picture might be nauseating but he is the owner of the company and his placement anywhere else on the program would probably be misplaced. The owner of the Yankees doesn’t try to rally his team by saying that the water boy performed badly does he? No, he goes after the top dogs of the team because he will only associate himself with the money players.

The problem is that the McMahon hierarchy is only good in doses that are very small. The worst mistake being made right now is by having all the family on TV at the same time. The defense from the WWE will be that it is only two per show but still that’s quite a lot in a weeks span. Vince and family need to leave the programs to the wrestlers unless they have a specific reasoning to be there. If something “big” were going to happen that requires a McMahon on TV to accomplish that task then that would be acceptable. Otherwise WWE needs to give the first family a rest from weekly TV.

Just because Stephanie is the Smack down General Manager doesn’t require her to be on TV for more than two minutes per episode. Kayfabe storyline wise I highly doubt Stephanie is booking the show the night of the show so once her format is laid out to the talent Stephanie just needs to oversee what is happening during the broadcast, A job that can be accomplished off screen. Linda typically is the only McMahon that appears only when something of great importance is going to happen. That is not the case however this time around. Shane is great as a wrestler who will sacrifice everything for his cause but it’s so few and far between appearances that fans want to see Shane return every few months. Fans want to see him disappear that quickly as well.

This leaves Vince as the one McMahon that has become far too visible on TV lately. His involvement is great when it’s to give the rub to a new wrestler like Zach Gowen but what does he gain by being involved with Brock Lesner? The fact that he started to cancel house show appearances for himself because of poor attendance should speak volumes. The novelty of Mr.Machon has worn very thin on the fans. There will never be another McMahon vs. Stone Cold era again. That fact is plain and simple and the fact that Vince keeps trying to recreate it is only getting more and more fans visibly upset.

Stone Cold led the blue-collar revolt against the establishment so that the little man gets what is rightfully his. That cannot be redone by changing the names and faces who are now doing the same angle. Why wouldn’t the bosses of WWE want to be fan friendly? Why wouldn’t Vince and company try to be the personification of perfection in the workforce? Instead of being what everyone trudges through everyday why not be the place of fairness and opportunity? Is WWE trying to say that everyone who isn’t a kiss ass hates their job and bosses and WWE is just copying the real world? It’s time to change the mcformula in McMahon land.

A current example of an egomaniac is when Vince brought back Roddy Piper to host Piper’s Pit once again. Vince quickly stepped right in front of Piper and stole the entire spotlight. Vince immediately started to host the show himself and had Piper standing in the shadows trying to hide his expanded waistline. Vince jumped from Hogan to Piper to Mr. America to Zach Gowen to Brock Lesner and Kurt Angle to being Sable’s sugerdaddy. If that much effort was given to the talents being wasted weekly then maybe the ratings would be higher than they currently are. Please for God’s sake stop advertising Stephanie as appearing at house shows. Stephanie will not ever sell one extra ticket to a fan that was on the borderline of going to the show or not. Tonight appearing live at MSG, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and some guys in tights won’t sell out the arena now will it?


Bottom line:

On Raw this week you can see that the major effort being put forward is the dysfunctional first family and their ongoing storyline dominance. As the story plays out between Vince and Linda and Shane and Kane the footnote is that HHH will be fighting Goldberg for the World title at the next PPV. An afterthought that needs to take a back seat to the Mcdrama that is unfolding before us. If Vince let Bischoff into his house then why did Bischoff keep ringing the bell because he would have had a key already? If Vince was there and let him in why did security escort Bischoff out like Linda said? Wouldn’t Vince have instructed security to let Bischoff stay?

Reality shows that continue to feature a dysfunctional family are not trendy anymore. Just ask the Osbournes who have now become yesterday’s news. People move on and things need to continually evolve to stay fresh. For a company that promotes Evolution as a top faction you would think that they would want to evolve themselves. If the purpose of all of this stuff between Linda and Bischoff was that WCW was going to return then great there is a worthwhile purpose. What does Bischoff get for hitting on Linda by Vince? What happens even if Shane defeats Kane in their upcoming match? What are the payoffs that the fans can look forward to?

Vince needs to start letting the wrestlers take back the WWE.If Vince wants someone to be like the Mr. McMahon character then teach someone as opposed to lecturing them about how they suck at it. Maybe if there was a wrestler that came to Linda’s defense instead of Shane you would have a money feud started instead of a feud that will be over before the year is. I guess my last rhetorical question will be that if Linda did not like the job Bischoff was doing so that she hired Stone Cold then why doesn’t Vince do the same thing to Stephanie on Smack down?

Wouldn’t someone like William Regal be the perfect fit for a co-General Manager role on Smackdown? The evil boss vs. the blue-collar hero is long over. Let’s hope that something fresh is right around the corner because if not WWE better be fearful that football season is. Until next time that’s just my view.

Jim Forzese











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