The Wrath of Tito - Ric Flair, Women in the WWE, RAW, and more
Submitted by Mr. Tito on Tuesday, November 25, 2003 at 5:38 PM EST
Greetings from home, as Thanksgiving/Christmas vacation has begun. Thank GOD! It has been a long quarter for yours truly, probably one that limited my column productivity on some weeks (as I took almost 2 weeks off one time). Plus, WWE wrestling is pitiful lately and isn't providing me motivation to care as much as I used to. Now, a Ric Flair DVD, that's different, which is why I didn't write a Smackdown Wrath of Tito on Friday.
-Congrats to Ric Flair on being honored with a fantastic 3 disc DVD and for exploding sales. The first print or shipment of the Ric Flair DVD sold out in stores nationwide, which brings a smile to my face and warms my heart. No other wrestler in the business deserves this honor more than Ric Flair, and I'm serious. The WWE finally got their shit together and produced an awesome tribute to one of the bests, ever, in the business. The DVD boasts 10.5 hours of footage on 3 DVDs, and I highly recommend it to any wrestling fan. I will probably review it in the future.
The DVD is just loaded with great matches and commentary by Ric Flair. Hogan's DVD just had Hogan talking for a while, and then off to the matches. Flair's is different in that he talks in between every match and gets very intimate about his opponents. The match choices were superb, too, going from Harley Race, to Barry Windham, to Ricky Steamboat, to Terry Funk, to Royal Rumble 1992, and to his recent great effort against Triple H and celebration afterward. There are bonus features galore, including angles shot, many many interviews, and some bonus matches, such as Eddie Gilbert/Ricky Steamboat vs. Flair/Windham, a personal favorite of mine.
It's HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! By far, the best video achievement by the WWE/WWF thus far. They took the time, preparation, etc. for this DVD and it's going to payoff, bigtime. Well worth your money, even if you didn't watch WCW/NWA back in the day.
-I guess this week's Smackdown is being held in Boise, ID? I just read an article about how the Boise State Women's Center Advisory Board was upset at the WWE coming to town. Here's what they said:
"I would challenge people to examine why they find it entertaining to see women disrobed, attacked and figuratively raped in the middle of a cheering crowd. We've been devoting precious staff and monetary resources toward violence prevention activities, including a 24-hour sexual assault response team. This event works against all those efforts. It is one more roadblock to our success as a university in promoting a safe and healthy learning community."
They have great points. The WWE's content towards women have been very out of hand, and the shock value of the women helped a little bit in 1998 for RAW to get on a ratings swing. A good example of this was RAW's 'bra and panties' match between Trish Stratus and Jackie Gayda, or better yet, the many instances of males attacking females on RAW/Smackdown throughout the years. It was a key point of the Parents Television Council (PTC) in 2000 on their attacks of the WWE on Smackdown. The use of women in the WWE can sometimes be very softcore porn, at times, such as Hot Lesbian Action.
My only complaint is the violence towards women. If the WWE wants to claim that they have a reality towards their programming, then have a male wrestler arrested for beating up women. Remember the violent attack from Steve Austin in 2001 on poor Lita? Good example. I don't mind seeing bra and panties, however. For the most part, though, I've seen too much of the WWE using the shock value stuff with the women that it really has no reaction from me anymore. In my opinion, overexposing that element of the WWE shows HAVE hurt ratings.
HOWEVER, the women of the WWE can get out whenever they want. Sable is a good example of this, for she left the WWE in 1999 when they asked her to do a Lesbian angle. Trish Stratus, Stacy Keibler, and Torrie Wilson have NEVER complained about any ideas given, last time I checked. Each "diva" is well paid and their matches are protected enough to where they don't become injured often. If the poor taste was so bad in the WWE, then Stratus, Keibler, and Wilson would leave and easily persue other ventures, such as modeling, magazine covers, etc.. However, they are in the WWE, and that alone provides great opportunities outside of the WWE to give them money.
I see both sides to the story on this issue and it's a pretty good debate, overall.
-Wrestlemania 20 to be a 5 hour show? That's suicide, in my opinion. If the WWE wants to do anything, they should create a long pre-game show, such as what they did in 2000. 5 hours of sitting on a couch would be tough, but sitting in a hot arena for that long is even worse. By the time the main event rolls around, the crowd will be extremely tired and won't pop for whomever is booked in the main event. 4 hours is a perfect choice of a timeframe for Wrestlemania 20. 5 hours is suicide.
-The police report for Michael Lockwood (Crash Holly) has come out. Here's what Bill Gramblin in Santa Rosa County, Florida, reported in a newspaper about Holly:
"Holland opened the home for Deputy Arthur, who found Holly laying face down in the kitchen partially clothed. Holly, 32, was pronounced dead at 2:37 p.m. on Thursday and is survived by his wife and daughter. Holly had a pool of vomit and blood around his face and rigor had set in the body by the time it was discovered. Deputy Arthur found an open fifth of Southern Comfort on the kitchen counter and an empty pill bottle. Authorities found the bottle to have contained 350 mg capsules of Carisoprodol, which is a generic medication for Soma. The prescription for the generic Soma was issued on Nov. 4 with 90 capsules and Holly was prescribed three pills per day, but was found to be empty when officers arrived."
The death looks to be hovering over downing 90 pain pills in 2 days and excessive amounts of drinking to cause the vomiting. I'm sad to hear about Crash Holly dying, but the news on his death is very ridiculous. 90 pills in 2 days? That's on average of taking 45 per day instead of the prescribed 3 per day. It's somewhat like the Louie Spicoli death, who died of taking Soma, while Crash died taking a generic form of Soma.
As I've said before, the pains of wrestling, such as trying to actually make money, having no financial future, and to work through the pain are destroying many wrestlers under 50 these days. It's a helluva lot worse in terms of ratios in wrestling than in any other sport. It makes you wonder on how informative the wrestlers are about the stuff they put into their bodies, but then again, Vince McMahon won't pay you top dollar until you have size or look like a million bucks.
This business just can't rid itself of the major black eyes.
-As for MONDAY NIGHT RAW... I only casually watched parts of the show last night. Color me disappointed with the Triple H vs. Goldberg finish. The bell rang when Randy Orton ran in, but yet Mike Kioda still tried to count to 3 on HHH. Speaking of that, HHH had Goldberg beat for the title before Kane's fire went off. It just looked very bad, and Kane attacking both superstars created confusion on if he was a heel or a face. The organization and booking of the Monday Night show seriously came into question after this. I will say, though, that the in-ring work between Goldberg and HHH was their best together yet.
The handicap Singapore cane match between Rob Van Dam vs. Steiner/Test was an eyesore to watch. Other than this, I missed much of RAW. What a pity!
-Get John Heidenreich off of WWE television! during the heat tapings last night, Heidenreich injured Steven Richards AGAIN with a reported botched Electric Chair Drop. That's the second time Heidenreich has hurt Steven Richards, and both times have been on careless moves applied by Heidenreich. He better go down to OVW and play with "little Johnny" some more.
But hey, ignorant decisions by WWE management has put them in this bad business position in the first place and lost them viewers during the mid 1990's.
Willygoat Valley Wrestling (WVW) - The Best Backyard fed around today!
LoPForums.com
@That's all for today. Thanks a million for reading.
Mr. Tito © 1998 - 2003 LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com
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