The Forzese View - I Play Devil's Advocate
Submitted by Jim Forzese on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 at 7:56 AM EST



I Play Devil’s Advocate

The backstage drama in WWE is at an all time high right now as a lot of happenings are currently going on. Vince has made some new demands to his talent pool and of course there are plenty of “sources says” information leaking out through the Internet. As the title says I will play devil’s advocate a little as it pertains to some of the recent actions that have taken place within the WWE.I definitely do not think that all of what has happened is that bad nor do I find any of what I am reading to be an unreasonable request. Change is always good when we are watching a show with no breaks or off-season whatsoever, so I agree that Vince needs to add some new elements to his programming for it to freshen up.

First, Vince stated that he would like better pacing in all matches so that they tell a story from a pure wrestling standpoint. HHH vs. HBK was given as the prototype model in which all wrestlers should fashion their matches to be like. I agree completely with this notion and I have for a long time. I appreciate daredevil acrobatics but I feel that wrestling is best as a mat based style that has high impact. The first complaint I heard from the “sources” was that wrestlers were upset with this new endeavor because unlike HHH and HBK, they only receive around three minutes per match and not the thirty minutes allotted to the HBK/HHH match. First, I do not think that Vince expects three minute matches to be paced the same as a thirty minute match.

Pacing of matches will be directly proportionate to the time given to said match. That is common sense that both the wrestlers and road agents should be highly capable of figuring out. The flip side however is that some wrestlers need to work a match that is befitting of his individual style. Certainly if Rey Mysterio were to wrestle with just rest holds and headlocks he would lose all fan appeal. Conversely if some one like Tommy Dreamer were asked to wrestle a pure mat style without any shred of violence he would be absolutely worthless to the WWE.So there has to be some train of thought as to who wrestles what style but overall a mat based, less high risk style is exactly what the majority of superstars ie. Angle, Benoit, Eddie, Edge, Jericho, and Orton should be wrestling like.

Losing wrestlers in the middle of hot programs due to injuries that occurred because of unnecessary risks are the number one thing that needs to be avoided. So to Vince I say that as long as you do not generalize that request and point out candidates to be exceptions to that rule then I whole-heartedly agree. The counterpoint to this however is that even a three minute match requires some thought into the storytelling going into the match. The other part of what made the HHH/HBK match great was the storyline that has years of drama to intrigue fans. Matches that are toned down will require more thought to the outside storylines and, this is where WWE is their weakest. They are however getting better with the Guerreros, HHH/HBK, Jericho/Trish, and Benoit/Cena/Heyman storylines so creative will need to be at an all time high for fans to accept a more psychological match.

The other subject I would like to touch upon is the release or quitting of one Brian “Spanky” Kendrick. I will applaud the choice of a man who feels he is doing what is best for himself and his career but again I will play devil’s advocate here. What Spanky did does not make him a hero like so many others have heralded him as. It makes him a man who feels that he is worth more than WWE was willing to give him at the moment .Now I recall that just a few short months ago many fans were upset that both Tajiri and Jamie Noble were both being underused and sent to Velocity hell. Fast forward a few months and both have good programs going on Smackdown right now. So maybe Vince was waiting so that the team of London and Spanky would come out of nowhere and beat the Basham Brothers for their tag belts. Now we are the ones that are ripped off for not getting to see it. What did Spanky want from WWE with under one years experience in the company? Why was he underutilized when he had not even paid his WWE dues yet? Independent federation dues are nowhere near the comparable level as the WWE’s dues.

I know most fans won’t agree with me on this but Spanky put more worth into himself than he deserved at the moment he left and with all the great work he and London were doing he probably was in line for a good push. Now Spanky has left Paul London to pick up the pieces and may now never get the chance that he and Spanky were, at least I feel, about to get. I respect a man’s choice and his free will but I don’t think that Vince just did not know what he had with that tag team and was willing to squander them just because they are below the six feet quota that everyone thinks Vince rules under. Unknown, underestablished wrestlers should not expect much thought in the time between Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania.I know that Spanky could have been pushed prior but again other wrestlers were top priority at this point in time. Vince however loves to push new guys following Mania and that was when I feel that Spanky and London were going to become players. Maybe Spanky will see the forest through the trees and return to WWE soon and become the star that I think he was meant to be. I am a Spanky fan so do not misconstrue what my meaning is here.

Bottom Line:

I think that personally, Vince is taking the WWE in the right direction with his meetings as of late. If the WWE slows the pace down in the ring and goes back to storytelling then WWE is only heightening the pleasure when something of serious consequence happens. PPV’s will be worth more in the long run if ‘holy shit moments’ are regulated to the paying consumer as opposed to giving the fan everything that they would want for free. Also, if the WWE enforces the rules and the authority of the referees, then when someone breaks the law they will be punished in a manner that has impact to a match. This will also make what Stone Cold does more important because he is the one who was appointed the head of keeping law and order. When someone does cause an infraction it makes what justice Austin bestows upon him or her more meaningful as opposed to giving everyone the stunner for the hell of it.

I know this may not be popular to all the fans either but I think that Vince is also correct in having Tazz be more of an antagonist rather than he and Cole acting like a tag team. The only way to get heels over better is to have someone point out the areas of strength that each heel has. If both men in the booth are always belittling the heel then no fan will take them seriously enough to be believable. The announcers have to be bias in the fact that both competitors should be respected for what they bring to the table. All face announce teams will not give the devil his due if you will. Conversly two heels, like what we have on Heat is also counterproductive to the product because it always seems as though the face is the underdog that has no real chance at succeeding. It also makes the face seem like a joke when the announcers are treating them like sub-par athletes.

In closing I do wish Spanky the best of luck but, I do think that he should have forced the WWE to take notice and make him the star he feels he is as opposed to letting perceived politics run him out of the company. Spanky in the long run would have benefited monetarily if he waited patiently like the Hardy Boys did. I am not saying that Spanky is wrong or that WWE was right but I am saying that not everyone is going to be a star right away even if they thought they should be. Benoit is rumored to be finally getting the World title push everyone demands that he deserves but it did not materialize for Benoit until three plus years after his debut. Why should Spanky get a monster push quicker than that? I know that Benoit was at least involved in programs from the beginning but that is also directly proportionate to his status prior to joining the WWE. I do not feel that just being on Velocity and or Heat is enough to qualify a wrestler as underutilized or buried. Better that a wrestler gets opportunities with endless possibilities on the b-level then no chance of ever bettering himself on the a-card. Vince has made mistakes with whom he pushes and whom he chooses to ignore but sometimes it just wasn’t their time, YET!

Onto the Royal Rumble, my second favorite PPV of the year. The Internet sites have an almost unanimous vote that most fans believe Chris Benoit is finally going to win the big event. I am going with Goldberg.Either way the PPV should be great and I for one am looking forward to it. I just wish I were going like last year but anyway, until next time that’s just my view.

Jim Forzese
forzeseview@yahoo.com









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