The Forzese View - The Real Alternative
Submitted by Jim Forzese on Wednesday, September 17, 2003 at 8:10 AM EST



The Real Alternative

It is definitely a secret to no one that Vince McMahon prefers the more muscle-bound, larger than life style wrestler to the smaller maybe more athletically gifted cruiserweight. The wrestling community seems to disagree with Vince’s assessment on who it is that wrestling fans truly want to see as World champion and in the main event title picture. The general conscientious by fans is that in this day and age watching highflying acrobats who risk life and limb for our entertainment purposes is by and large better. All high risk spots done for popping the chant that they live for and that’s the ever-popular “holy shit” chant.

If there was ever anything to praise WCW for in it’s dying days it was that they had a pure focus on building the cruiserweight division into respectability. WCW’s hope was that they would strike gold by doing something that WWE turned it’s back on. Much like ECW did before them WCW and ECW decided that if they presented an alternative to WWE and showcase these smaller wrestlers that it would catch fire and get them in the running to compete with the runaway train known as WWE.Both companies were correct in that there was certainly an audience that preferred the small, daredevil over the lumbering big man.

WWE has been criticized for years now for their absolute disregard for the average size talent who can electrify an audience like no heavyweight ever could, minus a few obvious exceptions. WWE knows that these wrestlers exist and has always used them to the extent that if popular enough Vince would then move them to a more middleweight class such as the IC title contender or tag team wrestler. Vince never fully bought into the concept that a cruiser style wrestler was worthy of performing in the main event for the cruiserweight title. Even when the ratings for doing such a thing showed that the fans were ready to embrace it.

Fast-forward to modern day and Vince still is of the belief that the big man is what captivates the viewing audience and that the average size wrestler has a place but it typically is in a semi- main event role. With that philosophy still in place in today’s WWE every other wrestling organization has decided that they will do what other organizations did before them and push the cruiser size wrestler to the forefront. Companies such as TNA, ROH, and MLW have all decided that big men are useful but the high spot aficionados are what they want to sell their respective companies on.

So this brings me to my point. If every wrestling company has decided that they want to be what WWE isn’t because there is a major calling for something new from fans, then why would these companies be called an alternative? If every company out there were doing the same thing, which is pushing the smaller wrestler as the World champion, wouldn’t WWE be the actual alternative? If WWE is the only company that is pushing big men over cruiserweights then I would think they are the minority over the now popular opinion of smaller is better.

Fans have decided that since Crash TV is over a return to wrestling is what every fan wants. The fun of watching two or more men in a ring together risking their careers and lives are far better than watching the sports entertainment of two muscle bound goliaths. WWE has a vision, which is that perception is the key ingredient in running a successful company. WWE believes that fans cannot suspend disbelief on watching a Rey Mysterio be the champion of the company over a Goldberg or HHH.WWE would rather see the likes of Benoit, Jericho, RVD, and Matt Hardy be the set-up men for the main event stars the like of Lesner, Taker, HHH, and Goldberg.

WWE sees themselves as an entertainment company that produces wrestling while other companies view themselves as a wrestling company that produces entertainment through wrestling. So who is right and who is the real alternative to the status quo? Is it time that WWE changed to the now current trend of having smaller more Bret Hart-esque like wrestlers dominate the main event picture or should they remain the same old? Could you believe a Rey Mysterio or Ultimo Dragon beating a Brock Lesner or a HHH? Would you want to see those kind of mismatched matches? Or should WWE remove big men from the main event altogether and just showcase cruiser vs. cruiser style matches?

Bottom Line:

Is it time for the WWE to do what it was they did back in the mid-ninety’s and jump on the bandwagon of popularity or hold true to their current albeit passé formula? Should WWE try to make the next era by stealing the idea of pushing the smaller more athletically gifted wrestler to the top spot? Is it time for Taker, HHH, and Lesner to move over for Eddie, Benoit, and Matt Hardy? If WWE looks at the last time they went with what the fans were clamoring for they became the only game in town. Does WWE want to do that again? Does WWE want to steal the style of TNA, ROH and MLW like they did with ECW?

If WWE keeps on stealing the ideas and talents of other companies so that they continually put smaller market competitors out of business is this a good idea? WWE will offer better contracts and produce better quality matches and production value on TV so that no one could compete with them. Does WWE want to be the only company period so that every few years some other sucker with money comes along to get his concept stolen along with all his revenues?

Maybe it’s time for every other company to compete against each other and leave the WWE out of it. Maybe the WWE will be the alternative from what everyone else is producing for a wrestling program. Would WWE be so stupid as to know what the fans want and not give it to them purposely or is there some ulterior motive. Are they letting other concepts either become extremely popular so that they have no choice but to steal them or is WWE letting these other concepts burn themselves out because everyone is doing the same thing?

I won’t sit here and say that I can read the mind of what Vince is thinking as it relates to this subject but I will say maybe there is a plan. Maybe Vince saying that someone of RVD’s size or Benoit’s size will never be the WWE champion is nothing more than a smoke screen. Maybe Vince will make it seem as though it will never happen so that when it does happen the win will be of epic proportions. If expectations are low going in on Eddie Geurrero defeating Brock Lesner that when it happens it will propel Eddie to heights not seen since Mick Foley won his first WWF title.

Years of service and dedication to their profession might pay off in a world title reign that will make an Eddie or Benoit an icon like they deserve to be. I can’t really explain the lack of faith in the average size man by Vince but I can tell you one thing. If you truly want an alternative to WWE there is one. It’s called the OTHER channel. Until next time that’s just my view.

Jim Forzese
forzeseview@yahoo.com









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