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Submitted by Wevv Mang on Saturday, August 21, 2004 at 3:14 AM EST
RWTB – Wevv Week – We Need Vince Greetings all! Welcome to the final Ridin’ With The Bossman - Wevv Week special edition. Dammit, I missed my Friday Deadline. Oh well. Folks seem to really like the Kane’s house segments. That makes me happy. Two folks even suggested doing some kind of television or animated deal. If I could I would, since I have a bunch of ideas that would work so much better if there was a visual. One is just a video montage of Kane trying out for various jobs with "Working’ Nine to Five" as the musical backdrop. I’d pitch it to WWE but really have no idea on how to contact them, or have an agent (which I would need, trust me on this) to handle the deal. Some might say it’s offensive to the world of wrestling, but I counter with this simple question. Is it really more offensive or damaging than: all the pregnancies and miscarriages, racial insults, sexual depravity, sexual assaults, homosexual innuendoes, attempted murders, and cruelty to animals? WWE has done these actions to itself. They have presented more offensive material on a far greater scale than I have in my entire year of writing a main page column and 9 months of forum writing. And they have done it in a far shorter period of time. And my cracks are usually clearly intended to be a joke, while WWE is dead serious. Before I start the OAW, there is one thing I’d like to mention. WWE is coming to Phoenix and it’s going to be my first Smackdown taping. In four years of attending wrestling events, I always got Raw. Even moving to Phoenix from Chicago, it was Raw, and then SummerSlam. There was a Smackdown house show, which was great, but it’s clearly not the same as the TV events. I was all stoked to go. Now, after Thursday, I’m kinda blah on it. Big Show is the main reason I’m even thinking of going. Well, RVD too. Heck, I’m hoping Big Show appears the week before, and then gets the Phoenix show to give his promos and have a solid match. I’m not sure Angle or Eddy will make it, since they now have to carry the show, and that means long, intense matches, and both guys health is not at it’s peak. So, while tickets go on sale this Saturday, I’m going to wait before buying them. America West has tons of great seats, so while they may not be the usual sweet ones I get, I’m sure what’s left will be good. And if next Thursday sucks as hard as last night, well, I can back out gracefully, and be just as happy sitting at home getting loaded, money still comfortably in my pocket. I will need to get loaded, my Wevvy Sense tells me so. Last night sucked? Yes, for me it did. I’ll explain more on Sunday. In some ratings news, Smackdown finished fourth in the Thursday night ratings. It beat ABC and the WB. It was beaten for third by Fox, who scored a 3.6 with Preseason Football (New York Giants vs Carolina) to UPN’s 3.0. This information is according to Zap2it.com. That is better news than it first appears. It also bodes very bad for WWE. Why? Next week, my friend, next week. So close and yet so far away. Over-Analyzing Wrestling Today’s Topic : We Need Vince On June 27, 2004, a PPV happened. The Great American Bash is regarded as a bad PPV. Many complaints are that things were too rushed, the angles made little sense, and frankly, the show quality was poor, with many technical difficulties. One critical factor in the show was missing. Vince was not there. Vince had been hospitalized earlier that week with diverticulitis. Control of the show passed through various hands. H, Steph, Shane, JR, and Kevin Dunn were all supposedly in control of the show at some point. Vince was said to have been constantly on the phone during the show, which is understandable, as you watch one part of a great experiment crash in flames. Vince did make an appearance backstage the next night at the Raw show. He had to. The situation spiraled in a frighteningly short amount of time. Suddenly the plan was changed and things started getting schlocky. Raw had also started to nose dive, but Vince’s presence helped stop the slide. Who knows what would have happened if Vince hadn’t shown up. Where would wrestling be now? For the past few years, I have been noticing a pattern in the financial transactions of one Vince McMahon and WWE Entertainment. They are hell bent on getting as much money as possible. Multiple PPV’s in a month, plundering their video library, making musical CD’s, skimping on live event merchandise ( Have they changed the programs yet from WM 20? I bet they have, and now you can buy SummerSlam programs for the next four months). They’ve even opened up an auction site, so that crap that was on TV can be sold. Employees have been let go, Wrestlers have been cut. Anything to make a profit. Which they remarkably have, just about each and every quarter. Surprising, because their main product, TV, has been haphazard at best, and utter crap at worst. Some parts have been really, really, good, don’t get me wrong, but putting it all together, the balance evens out at below par. Shortly before the PPV, Vince McMahon made a surprising move. He sold a chunk of stock for nearly $100 million dollars in late May. He also late last year bought a $10 million condo in Florida. All of this is on top of Vince’s pay, earning about $1.5 million a year in salary. Vince ain’t hurting. His pay is warranted, as he is the ultimate say on what appears on TV. Nothing happens without Vince’s approval. Smackdown or Raw, heck, probably even Velocity, heat, and whatever the Saturday Morning show is called have to have Vince’s stamp of approval. Without Vince, things get, …how to put this…shitty. For years now, Steph has been in control of creative. Aside from fan likes and dislikes, the main complaint for WWE has been it’s crappy angles. One after another, crap keeps getting onto our TV, against all rational thought. How is a mystery. Well not really. Since one guy said it all. "They’re very creepy people…." Anonymous wrestler in a PW Torch newsblurb about the McMahons. Notice that the statement is about the McMahons, not just Vince. It seems to be a family thing. Though Shane seems normal, and maybe that’s why the fans like Shane. The hierarchy of WWE used to be something of a mystery. After Vince and Steph, the waters grew murky. Was it Shane or JR who was next in line? Where did Kevin Dun fit into things? Did the bookers have any power whatsoever? It was a cluster of factions and cliques. One would seem to rise in power only to fall. H was always in the picture, yet his role was seen more of one who took most of his power due to his close ties to Steph. Well, Vince did an interview recently and the question came up. If Vince McMahon were to die today, who would take over? Vince’s answer? Shane, Steph and H. Equally of course. It’s easy to say H is a McMahon, but seeing it in black and white is something different. The impact hasn’t hit most folks yet. He’s now in the top three behind Vince McMahon himself. Linda is out, simply because she wants to, and has to focus on keeping the business side afloat. In the past couple of years, she has only hinted that creative needs change, mainly in stock meetings, where the question couldn’t be dodged, and she got tired of making excuses. Once the wedding was finalized, she’s been silent on that front. Top three, H, Steph and Shane. So in reality, it’s been two and one. It’s something I thought might be going on behind the scenes, ever since Shane was forced from the air back during the time of the Invasion. His recent return late last year was a farce, and ended badly and accomplished nothing. Something forced his planned return off track, since having him just show up and wrestle (HAH!) wasn’t the real plan was it? It’s what happened none the less. The power base of Steph and H has proven from past instances to be nearly unstoppable. There was the McMahon Helmsly era, the Invasion,. And other questionable booking decisions regarding H. A point to ponder is that when things are going smoothly, and fans seem to like an angle, why does it always seem to hit a snag before picking up full steam? Case in point Eugene. Eugene was one of Vince’s ideas. When rumors first leaked to the net, it was met with scorn. Yet once Eugene made his appearance he started picking up steam. Suddenly Eugene was over, and thriving. Eugene Mania was running wild. Yet here we are a few weeks later and talk is already beginning of Eugene having burnt out. What happened? H happened. H latched onto that poor retard and ran him into the ground. Just like Booker T. It was over before it ever really began. But this isn’t about what pushes H gets. He’s a McMahon, Hess going to be pushed. The point is that H has creative control over his character. H is allowed to decide whom he faced next. H gets to set the tone for the feud, both by determining what is aid, how and how long. But H also gets to decide, as a member of creative, of what his opponent is allowed to do. The next member of creative is Steph. Steph has been in charge for a while now, and frankly, with her track record, CEO heads have been fired and ridiculed as they were forced out the door. There is no valid reason why is still in charge of creative. Efforts have been made to improve the creative team, from hiring outside consultants, to the constant quest for new writers. WWE has been looking for a Soap Opera writer for over three years now. Even after all this time, they’re still looking for a soap opera writer. Opinions may vary, but only one soap opera angle has been met with a degree of acceptance from the fans in the past two years. Jericho and Trish. And that one didn’t come from the writers, but from Jericho and Trish themselves. That angle was rocky at times too, when it was clear management was tinkering with the angle at points. One writer has shown a flair for connecting with the fans. He has proven that he can make crap interesting. He has been saddled with big goofs, time after time, and made them buzzwords, right up until they wrestler, where their greenness shines and folks realize that they suck or aren’t ready. Who he gets is out of his hands. But how it gets done was at a time. And it worked. Paul Heyman is no longer a member of creative, and has been relegated to the role of simple manager. Yet even then, his talent has shown through. He was then taken off of TV. Why? Wasn’t he doing his job? My god, he was the brightest star of Smackdown and has carried that show time and time again after an abomination of angle has taken place. Yet he isn’t rewarded for his work. Instead he’s buried. Arn Anderson, Pat Paterson and Michael Hayes have shown they can put on a decent show. Their input is very limited, since they are only bookers. But a while back they made a trip to Smackdown and that show was well received. The main problem is that instead of making the necessary changes to his upper management structure, Vince loyally backs them. Vince has given more many chances to those he considers loyal. There was Rock, Mick Foley, Austin, and while many of these put the business first, there have been others who put themselves first. Nash, Hogan, Piper, and while those folks can all be debated as to their true motivation, they are all gone now. Yet some remain, who have just as questionable loyalties. Family is important to Vince. Think about this. Those Vince has considered close family members, even extended family have almost all left voluntarily. I can’t remember a single firing of a close personal friend. For all the accusations of Vince being a heartless bastard, Vince sure grants a lot of leniency. Vince just doesn’t seem to have it in him to get rid of those who have proven to be bad for business, if they’re close to him. If they disagree with him, they may get punished. Like JR being set of fire and made to wrestle. But they don’t get canned. Some even get perks if they know how to push his buttons. Yet Vince is scarred. Deep in his heart he knows that when he lets go of WWE, that the company doesn’t have a leg to stand on. The track record is there. And it’s not pretty. So Vince has stockpiled against the day he can no longer run the company. He’s built it up to withstand a strong down turn in the wrestling business. He’s made a nest egg for himself. He’s protected. He’s now even seen what will happen, after all the possible lessons learned, that if he goes, so does WWE. The people who have the power have no clue, no love for the business of entertaining the fans, of putting on the best show possible. Self-aggrandizement is the name of the game now. They know how to play the game too well. There’s a wedding coming, and for all the hate for the Divas search, it is a ratings grabber. What is surrounding all the Kane and Lita segments? Divas Contest. All the ratings have still dropped. H is now back on top and Vince’s pet project of a lovable wrestling retard is almost dead. Bradshaw had such potential and is now a total waste of TV time, getting no reactions, putting on boring matches, and sinking his once unflappable stalwart, the Undertaker, who is a friend of H’s and was in his wedding. The reconciliation with Bret Hart is dead, due to others pushing Ric’s buttons. In a side story, Shane was out-maneuvered on that one as well. Vince has quietly been putting his affairs in order for quite some time now. He’s been making amends to past foes, and offering an olive branch. He’s thought about how he wants his legacy to carry on. His health is starting to slip. The grind is getting to him. He’s been fighting the good fight in more ways than one for a better quality show. Yet it’s been met with mixed results. Vince has been our great protector, and benefactor. He’s the only one who can stem the flow of crap that been invading our TV for years. He’s made some bad choices, but if he wasn’t there to nix ideas, what could have been on our TV? The crazed Vince of national interviews past has been replaced by a calmer, tired Vince, whose years of battles have taken their toll. It’s getting to him. But I hope that Vince still has the strength to do what must be done. I hope that Vince has the will to carry on the fight. I hope Vince still ahs that knack of coming up the right idea or at least recognizing the right thing at the right time. We need Vince. WE need his guidance. But here is one thing from Vince we need more than ever. WE need hi to say one sentence, one brief sentence that has been his for so very long. We need Vince, because he’s the only one who can say that magic phrase, which all wrestling fans have come to know and love. We need Vince to say," You’re fired!" and mean it. Well that brings Wevv Week to it’s penultimate finale. There’s still the regular column, with the new format, to crank out on Sunday. This may well be the shortest edition of RWTB all year. OAW just takes a lot out of me, since I have this tendency to ramble all over the place. See one idea leads to another, and then another, and then it’s back on track, and then it’s off on another tangent. It’s all connected, in a way that only I may be able to understand (for better or worse). It’s why the OAW special editions are few and far between and why OAW is always at the end. Sometimes, it’s just a few paragraphs. And others take time to explore. See? I’m off topic again? Time to say goodnight folks, since this now Saturday. Wevv Week, the Final Chapter is On Sunday. Quick Plugs! LOP Forums! They’re back! What are you waiting for! Get to Posting! LOP Merchandise! Not only reasonable Priced but stylish too! LOP Creative Writing Forum! See what all the fuss is about! Wevv Week Continues.  Until Next Time Thanks For Reading and Thanks For Ridin’ Wevv Mang mrwevv@mac.com *NEW GALLERY* Must See! Torrie Wilson Out PARTYING HARD in the Clubs!
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