The Forzese View - Comfort Level
Submitted by Jim Forzese on Wednesday, September 24, 2003 at 7:37 AM EST



Comfort Level

Complacency is one of the worst things that can happen in any facet of your job. When the desire to try and push yourself to the top is gone and the comfort level sets in you are bound for either failure or boredom. WWE has let the comfort level set in to the point that almost everything that is done is either uneventful or predictable. Look up and down the Championship titleholder’s list and see my point. Is HHH really the political genius we all make him out to be or is it that he is the safest bet for Vince’s comfort level? Everyone has said it and no truer words have ever rung clearer than WWE needs competition to thrive and survive.

WWE has hit a wall with pushing the envelope in a tasteful yet intriguing way. HHH has been the champ for almost the entire year and yet Vince did not change things even after ratings steadily decreased during his reign. The ratings have now seen a steady increase but none of that can be attributed to HHH as champion. Goldberg getting back into the main event picture in wrestling after two years off and the Kane unmasking storyline were the cause. The ratings have slowly dipped ever since Kane started feuding with Shane O Mac however instead of when it was red hot against RVD? Coincidence? Highly doubtful.

Again as the Kane storyline started to become popular what happened to it? Instead of Vince going with pushing a new wrestler as the savior of the company from the evil monster, Vince goes with the safe bet of his own son. It has been said before and I will say it again, how sad it is when Kane can destroy RVD, a wrestler but Kane has his hands full with “holy shit”Shane McMahon an owner. Even Goldberg winning the title at Unforgiven was predictable as hell. Goldberg would not have signed with WWE without a clause in his contract stating at one point in his career he was guaranteed the World heavyweight title. WWE just waited for HHH to be forced to give it up because of his impending marriage to the billion-dollar princess. On Smack down you have the same match Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesner forever. This feud has been going on almost an entire year now. Not that it’s a bad thing but who is next to go for the WWE title?

Look at the IC title situation. Booker T worked very hard to get the Intercontinental title and show the WWE he is a worthy champion but an unfortunate injury kills his momentum and title reign. So what does WWE do? They give it to the chosen one of Brain Gerwitz, Christian.Christian was the wrestler that Booker defeated and now he gets to be champion again because it was the safe bet. Next he wrestled Jericho and RVD at Unforgiven.It did not matter who won because all three of them were the obvious choice of next champion. That’s because no one else is getting a chance to get over to any degree other than the select group of comfort level wrestlers. These wrestlers are not elevating the title the title elevates the wrestler. With that said wouldn’t it have been better to give Tommy Dreamer or Maven a chance?

La Resistance debuts and immediately become champions of the tag division on Raw so surely that was risky right? Wrong because who else was there to be champs next. Name a tag team besides the Dudley Boys who are a real, not thrown together team on Raw. It was obvious that La Resistance would be the next champions and now are stuck in an endless feud with the Dudley’s because there is no other established team on Raw to step up to the plate and challenge them. Now the titles go back to the Dudley’s for more of the same. Look at the tag titles on Smack down with Los Geurreros.Eddie and Chavo were supposed to win the titles but Chavo goes down with an ill-timed injury. Tajiri temporarily fills in for Chavo as Tag champ but the belts were quickly returned to the World’s Greatest Tag Team.

A few months later and Chavo returns to claim the title he was promised, and at the same time Shelton Benjamin goes out for knee surgery. Again another safe bet for the new tag champions because that was supposed to happen months ago before Chavo’s injury. Eddie is also the US champion, a title won over the likes of Benoit and Rhyno.Again who did not know that these wrestlers would be competing for that strap? What about Cena or Mattitude or even Sean O’Haire holding the US title? It is too obvious which wrestler is reduced to be in which specific division. You have heard fans say that I could watch Angle or Benoit wrestle for the title every day of the week right? Well WWE is making sure that you are getting that very thing in the same wrestlers fighting each other every week now.

The cruiserweight champion just happens to be the greatest cruiserweight in the sport today so again what was risky there? I think Rey should be champion because he is just awesome to watch but who is really going to beat him and at the same time make it shocking. Zach Gowen would be the only name that pops into my mind other than someone from another company or possibly Spanky. The rest of the names in the cruiserweight division will not be amazing to witness become the champion and that is the biggest problem of all.

Bottom Line:

A wrestling company cannot have a surprise every single week like NWATNA is doing but surprises are a key to success. Great wrestling like we get from an Angle vs. Lesner or Benoit or Eddie is what we watch for essentially but there has to be more substance. My point is that the titles are what drive everyone in wrestling to the pinnacle of what one is looking to accomplish. Therefore titles are the most important and when they are frowned upon by fans because of complacency then the mystique is gone forever.

With no competition and a very tough opponent in MNF shouldn’t WWE want to give fans surprises that piss fans off that miss them? What happened to must see TV? People wanted to see Goldberg defeat HHH but in essence would have accepted anyone who could have taken his title. It would have made more sense for Kane to go after the title after WWE spent all this time re-establishing his monster status then to wrestle a meaningless match against Shane McMahon. Does defeating Shane make Kane a number 1 contender or even more scary?

Remember when Jericho defeated HHH for the belt only to have the decision reversed? It was not supposed to happen so when it did it had such impact that fans will never forget that moment. Right now there is too much forgettable things happening on WWE TV. Remember when Schaivone told the world that Mankind was about to win the world title on a taped Raw? What happened next will forever live in wrestling lore. Goldberg defeating HHH will never be remembered in the same vein as those occurrences. WWE needs to start to take chances again in whom they push to the top.

Stop sticking with the comfort level and break through to the new era. An era that will see Kane, Cena, Eddie, RVD, and Mattitude all feuding for their respective world title. Throw some caution to the wind and see if you can get fans to flip by your show and say holy shit, not about a wrestling move but about who is now the new world champion. Before the comfort level sets in so deep WWE is chasing TNA for the top spot in wrestling. Until next time that’s just my view.

Jim Forzese
forzeseview@yahoo.com









*NEW GALLERY* Must See Hot Shots of the TNA Knockouts CROSSING THE LINE!

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