Breaking The Walls Down - Four Years of Columns
    Submitted by Chris Dailey on Monday, September 29, 2003 at 6:58 PM EST

    Breaking The Walls Down



    Hello and welcome back to another edition of Breaking The Walls Down. We’re not going to discuss the first two games that The Eagles played this year. Instead, think of what happened on Sunday. It was a thing of beauty. Anway, once again, news has been fleeting, so I will include Bits and Pieces this week, but in a shortened form.

    Bits and Pieces



    First, I want to say I’m sorry for not including (at that time) the current Smackdown WWE tag team champions, The Best Tag Team Period. I don’t know how I forgot them, but I did. I apologize for the major oversight, and in the one in one trillion chance they read my column, I humbly apologize to them (no, I don’t think they or anyone in the WWE read my column, but just in case).

    Also, a reader sent me an e-mail criticizing me on my little paragraph at the end of my columns that refers to my quest for employment. The reader sited that I should not include that in my column and I should find ways of marketing myself (or something like that). Well, this column is just one way I am “marketing” myself in a search for a job. I put it at the end of my column because I don’t want to put my job search ahead of my column when I’m writing my column. However, I’m not going to ignore the power of the Internet, either. My solution to any readers who are upset about this is: deal with it.

    Anyway, onto the column.

    Four Years of Columns



    I started typing this column on September 21, 1999. It has been an interesting four years in professional wrestling. In those four years of columns, I remember plenty of things happening, some of which I’ll somewhat recap in this column and comment on. However, first and foremost I want to say thank you to Calvin Martin for the generosity and understanding he has shown me in the past four years. My schedule has been hectic (especially now working four jobs), but Calvin has stuck with me and I cannot express in words how grateful I am for his understanding and for giving me the opportunity to type a column on the greatest wrestling site on the net. Also, I want to thank you, the reader. For the past four years I have received a TON of positive feedback and constructive criticism from readers. I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read my column and for those of you who take even more time to write to me. I really am appreciative of that.


    And now for a four-year review.

    First up is ECW. My beloved ECW is now gone. At the time I started this column ECW was at the pinnacle of its popularity. I remember the days of RVD vs. Jerry Lynn, Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven, and The Sandman vs. Raven, but those days are long gone. ECW was the innovator of extreme. No one holds a candle to ECW. No federation has a more hardcore loyal following than ECW. ECW has been defunct now for a few years and you can still hear some pretty loud ECW chants break out in WWE arenas.

    The New World Order. Anyone remember those guys? Kidding, just kidding, no ideas here Vince, please. Throughout the many incarnations of this most influential group, The New World Order was still around when I started (or at least ready to be brought back). But, then we got to see The New World Order come to the WWE, which at the time in my mind was great. Sadly, however, the group would prove to be a bust, but one man stood out in the group. One man made his triumphant return to the WWE. That one man. . . .

    Hulk Hogan. That’s right, Hulk Hogan, after being gone from the WWE for almost ten years came back and who could forget the absolutely mind-blowing reception Hogan received at Wrestlemania XVIII? Toronto loved Hogan. I remember getting goose bumps on my arms listening to them cheer. I also remember getting worried that Hogan would hear that reception and let it get to his head and try and run the WWE by himself. Thankfully, that didn’t really happen.

    Mick Foley. “The Hardcore Legend” himself retired less than one year into my column. And, I couldn’t have been happier for him. He needed that retirement to allow his body to heal. The bumps and bruises he received throughout his career make almost every football injury pale in comparison. No matter what anyone says, no one gave more in the ring than he did. No one.

    The height of tag team wrestling. I can recall seeing some of the best tag team matches of all time happen in the past four years. The ones that truly stick out in my mind are the TLC matches, of course. Who can forget those matches? Now The Hardy Boys and E&C no longer exist, but their matches will forever live on in my head. I saw, we all saw, something really special in their matches, it’s not something to ever be forgotten.

    And, how could I forget the collapse of WCW? Geesh, I almost completely forgot about that. But, sadly, when I started writing this column WCW near complete shutdown anyway. In fact there where the whole New Blood angle came into play. It wasn’t a bad angle at that. Also, with the fall of WCW, who can forget the face of Vince McMahon appearing on WCW’s Monday Night Nitro? I know I’ll never forget it. Then, who can forget actually seeing Shane McMahon appear live on Nitro. That day is one day to never forget.

    The failed WCW/ECW invasion was horrible. I’m glad they stopped it. This is where the WWE really fell into the toilet. They had everyone’s dreams and hopes in their hands and, when you think about it, we were asking for much. We were asking for storylines and matches that we knew were possible, but, sadly, the WWE failed miserably in this matter. The angle failed and they have never brought it up again. I know I could have written a better storyline, why they went the way they did is beyond me.

    Regardless, no matter how you look at it, the past four years have been packed with some amazing stories. Certainly the events of the past four years are not all chronicled in my column; rather these are just an inkling of what has transpired in the past four years. Hopefully, the next four years and beyond will be an improvement and eventual boom for professional wrestling once again.

    Before I end this column, if anyone knows of a company in need of a software/hardware documentation specialist, software/hardware trainer, and/or QA Specialist for software, please let me know. My office is capable of telecommuting to work if necessary. Thanks.

    Well, that will do it for this week. I hope you all have a safe and happy week. And, as always, join me as I try to “educate people on the realness of the fakeness of professional wrestling” ©.


    Later,
    Chris Dailey




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