Stuck in the Middle With You - What Can We Do?
    Submitted by Da J-Train on Saturday, October 23, 2004 at 11:26 PM EST



    Welcome back to my column everyone. Wow. It certainly has been a while hasn’t it? What can I say? My apologies for not writing lately, but it’s just come down to the fact that I have been extremely busy lately. College is really kicking my ass this semester. So, between 20 credit hours a week, 25 hours at my job, eating/social life, a girlfriend, studying, and my own down time, wrestling really hasn’t been the first thing on my mind.


    To tell you the truth, I am actually writing this column tonight because I have been meaning to do it… and to assure you all that I am alive. To be honest, I am in pretty rough shape mentally and physically. My schedule made me cut out gym time, so there that goes. That’s compounded with the fact that I decided to grow out my hair to at least 10 inches so that I can shave it and give it to Locks of Love to be made into a wig for a cancer patient. So now, my hair is really big and I look and feel like a mess. So, to make a long story short, I am running on fumes right now, so sue me if this column really isn’t up to my usual par.


    So what’s on the menu for this column? Well, I want to talk about the fans’ desire for change in professional wrestling and question if professional wrestling is an area where one fan can make a difference. Can some kind of progressive act of a single fan result in a change in the WWE, or are we all irrelevant in those circumstances? A bit of a somber subject, I know… but hey, Notre Dame lost, so I’m not happy.



    BUT FIRST...



    Letters! I get Letters! I get sacks and sacks of Letters! LETTERS!!! That's right; it's time to answer some of my Love, Hate, Kind-Of-Care-For, and I-Only-Like-You-as-A-Friend-Mail… My hiatus is the reason the New York Yankees lost the ALCS. Joe Torre is a big fan of the column and emailed me asking for advice on how to close out the series to be posted in Feedback O Rama. We all know how THAT ended up! GO SOX!

    Remember that if you want to be included in Feedback O Rama to keep the emails concise, or I will edit them for length like you will see below.




    Feedback O Rama


    Letter 1 :


    Hello J-Train - Here's hopin' this email finds you doing great!

    I just came off reading your latest column and once again man, mad props for a job well done. But I gotta say, the most part that I enjoy reading in each and every edition of your column, is the Cheers and Jeers. It seems like you and I always see eye to eye dude cuz I agree with mostly everything you cheer and jeer for. But you knmow what, after reading your column, it hit me that I wanted to ask ya a question that I really badly need you to answer. So here it goes man and thanks for taking the time to read this. I know you've gotta a hectic shcedule.

    After watching Stone Cold Steve Austin offers us his thoughts on SmackDown! last Thursday and let me add that the I dig the Texas Rattlesnake's new look with no goatee but only a mustache. Anyway, when do you think Austin will return to WWE? I am sure that his WWE career aint over even though we haven't seen him in a WWE ring for a while now. I know that in the not so distant future, Austin will return to WWE in some role be it on RAW or SmackDown! So what do you think man? When do you think Austin will return to WWE and in what role?

    N. Almutairi



    N. Almutairi,

    I can’t say that I have a timeframe in mind before Wrestlemania 21 for Stone Cold Steve Austin’s return. Basically, just like The Rock, if Austin keeps out of trouble in his personal life, he can return whenever he wants. All he has to do is pick up a phone and Vince will bring him back.

    As for his role… I can’t say I am too sure of that. I mean, Austin can basically do anything, but at the same time his character is limited. That is, almost anything he will do will probably be good for him, but he’s not gonna show up as a cruiserweight. The only thing I wish is that they bring back Stone Cold in a way that is new. I mean, he have seen the employee vs. boss Stone Cold. We’ve seen the psychotic side, the funny side, even the bland side. We’ve seen him as an enforcer, a referee, and a sheriff. We’ve even seen him as the boss. Sure, they all bring back fond memories, but I’d love to see something new.



    Letter 2 :


    J-Train,

    Excellent column regarding Triple H and his legacy. I agree with you on the
    points that you made, but allow me to add a few of my own.

    I don't believe that most fans are incredibly angry with H because he married
    into power in the WWE. I certainly can't blame him for ditching Chyna to hook
    up with Steph. I think what angers most fans is that Triple H keeps himself in
    the main event and at the center of every RAW despite the fact that the fans
    clearly aren't interested and that, as one of the heirs to the throne, he should
    have the best interests of the company at heart.

    I believe that, in the end, Triple H will be regarded in the same way that many
    people regard Scottie Pippen when discussing basketball. He was a key part of
    winning teams, but when asked to carry a team on his own, was not able to get it
    done. While he can and should be regarded as one of the best of his era, he'll
    always be in the second tier.

    Paul (EDITED FOR LENGTH)




    Paul,

    Sorry to butcher your letter, but I wanted to use it and it was a little long to use. Basically, you made the best point about Triple H in the analogy to Scottie Pippen. I very much agree there. I’m sure he has the best interests, and I also believe that he traded up for Stephanie. I just questioned his legacy, and you followed up well.



    Letter 3 :


    I am so tired of people blaming everything on Triple H. I actually like his work and I do think through his career he has proven himself to be one of the best. Yes, ratings are down and wwe is sucking big time, but in my opinion it isn't all his fault. He may be to blame for a bit of the crap that happens, but in truth it wasn't until the WCW writers and GM made their way to WWE that things started to go down hill. They recycled stuff that destroyed that federation and they brought their lack of (constantly noted on tape) discipline into the WWE. While Step and Shane already had their hands in the WWE's shows, they were doing okay. Even after Steph and Triple H were together, the show was respectable. It was only after Eric and his loser friends came over that things diminished.
    I love the WCW wrestlers that came over : Chris Jericho, Benoit, Eddie (all before the wcw's collapse), and Rey, Flair (after the collapse, I'm sure).
    It is a lack of discipline and not really caring about the fans that has brought wwe down. Before they cared to a degree, but now they are to concerned with the Flair's and Eric's and political positions in the org. that things are all about the inside and not about what they are putting out. Why, maybe cause the guys from wcw lived that way before and brought that shit over. Maybe, it was working after a while in the Wwe also and others like Steph, Triple H, and Shane had no choice but to play the game of politics that the other wcw guys (like Eric, Flair and Heyman, along with others) were playing.


    Anyway, Vince let your balls hang comfortably. Stop talking advice from guys who failed where you succeeded. They may have made NWO but what else did they make. You were their to help facilitate Stone Cold, The Rock, D-X, The Corporation, Shawn, The Ministry, and your own family's fued. Your character's heel was great too. Help yourself already. Do you want to go down in history only for 10 years or 100 years. The way it's looking your show could be over sooner than you think, and no one is likely to remember Vinny Mac after 10 years.

    H. Leckter (EDITED FOR LENGTH)



    H. Leckter,

    Calm down there tiger, I wasn’t blaming everything on Triple H. In fact, I would say that my last column was more objective than anything. I was only hypothesizing what his legacy may look like due to his marrying into the company and his constant spotlight thereafter, and even before. I hate people who irrationally think that just because someone is critical of something, that means that they absolutely hate it. I get that all the time with my film reviews. Just because I wrote a critical of Triple H and I suggested that his legacy may be tarnished doesn’t mean that I hate the man. That’s like saying life is in black and white and that there are no shades of gray.

    Anyway, I don’t agree that the WCW wrestlers are the reason for the WWE’s decline. After all, it’s a problem on many levels and if you’re gonna argue that it’s a creative thing, you have to realize that the bulk of the WWE creative team are WWE people, not WCW people. To be honest, if people like Chris Jericho and Eddie Guererro came to the WWE because they didn’t like the politics, why would they bring that baggage with them? Other than Flair, who hasn’t been jockeying for power reportedly, no one really has caused all that much trouble compared to that of WCW, even Eric Bischoff.




    Well, that’s that. I had to wrap it up, it was getting too long. Heh… that’s what SHE said.




    What Can We Do?


    In the last year, we have borne witness to two single men who have, through the expression of their medium, set out to explore certain issues. For Morgan Spurlock, his documentary Super Size Me set out to explore, and possibly expose the world of fast food and its effects on our bodies. For Michael Moore, his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 explored the possibility of dishonesty and incompetence in the Bush Administration. It can be argued that each filmmaker’s motivations were for change, and in a way, each of them got it. After the success of Super Size Me, McDonalds began phasing out Super Size Meals. Although McDonalds denies the film having a role in that decision, the majority of us can read between the lines. Then you have Michael Moore, whose Fahrenheit 9/11 has changed the minds of a number of voters out there. I know this for a fact because some of those voters are my family and friends. You can say what you want about Moore’s tactics and propaganda, and you are free to feel however you want about him, but it’s facetious to assume that his film has not made an impact.


    Those are two examples of two men as separate individuals arguably causing change. They were just two men and one could possibly have had his hand in the phasing out of Super Size meals at McDonald’s, and the other could possibly have made the election closer. After spending most of this semester dealing with Documentary theory, I couldn’t help but wonder if a single wrestling fan could make a similar impact when it comes to professional wrestling, specifically, the WWE.


    Now, I’m not suggesting that some wrestling fan out there should go out and make a documentary design to bring down the WWE corporate machine. I’m just suggesting that we, as fans, tend to want the WWE to do well constantly. I mean, we are fans of their product, and if the WWE are falling on bad times, we naturally want to help because we respect the business and we want to be entertained. Also, as fans, even as human beings, we all think that we have the answers to what will help out the ailing federation. I’m not saying that the bulk of us don’t have good ideas, I’m only suggesting that as human beings, we all have an ego level and a mind set that makes us believe that our ideas are the answer. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. Personally, as many awesome ideas from fans that I have seen one how to improve the WWE, I have seen just as many ridiculously shitty ideas.


    So, since I have explained our natural feeling, as fans, for the progression of the WWE, my question is… what can we do? What can the single fan do to help or change the presentation of the WWE? I’m not talking about groups. Personally, I feel that it’s easier to get things like this accomplished as a group effort than it is for a single-handed effort. Suppose you don’t like the WWE programming, or just the WWE product in general, and you decide, as a consumer, that you will “show” the WWE by not watching their shows, not buying their merchandise, not getting tickets to shows, etc. However, realistically, what does that do? Do you really think that your television on another channel, your lack of presence at a WWE show, or you not buying merchandise matters? The WWE won’t worry about one person. It’s these situations where group efforts are needed to really make an impact, and that’s not what I’m talking about.


    So what can an individual WWE fan do to make a difference or to promote change? In the event that it were a retail store of some type, the usual way of the individual creating change is by writing a letter to the corporate offices with their grievance. Many times it works according to people I talk to. However, the WWE is kind of a different kind of beast. You can’t really write a letter to their corporate offices in Stamford with a list of angles, gimmicks, transactions, and other things that would make the WWE better… and if you did write that letter, who’s to say that it would even be taken seriously?


    How about you try your luck at the WWE live show? Try to get to them where they perform. My question is, how would you actually go about doing that at a live show? There’s only so much that a single fan can do at a live show. Suppose you put something on a sign, if it’s negative, it’ll probably be confiscated. What about trying to start some kind of chant that may catch on causing the wrestlers and those in the wings to hear? Well, let’s be honest people, how often do those chants actually catch on. Everytime I am at a WWE show, there is some boob trying to start some obscure chant that never catches on. Granted, usually that boob is me or Ganley, but the point is, these chants rarely catch as it is. Physically making your presence known at a show is asking for trouble as well. Fighting through security to try to get backstage will not only get you arrested, but probably some other punishment. And there’s no point in jumping over the barricade to attack the wrestlers. That is not change, it’s stupid.


    So is it that the single fan in the WWE is just irrelevant? Being that I am a single fan of the WWE, that’s hard to accept. Not only that, it’s hard to accept that when individuals can arguably create change in McDonald’s and voting choice, an individual can’t do the same for the WWE. Let’s be honest with ourselves the WWE isn’t near as big of an institution as McDonald’s or the national vote, so why is it that I can’t find a way to instill change coming from an individual fan? Granted, both examples the other way have to do with widely distributed documentaries, but Beyond the Mat was widely distributed and didn’t have these impacts. To be fair, Beyond the Mat was more of an exposure documentary, not a social or politically motivated documentary like the other two, but the fact remains that it didn’t really have that much of an impact.


    So is the individual fan’s voice ultimately irrelevant in terms of the WWE. As much as we might not like it, maybe we all are actually irrelevant. Maybe it doesn’t matter what we do or say. I really don’t know if there is an answer to the question I am asking, nor will there be until someone steps up and answers the question, whether it’s me or someone else. Maybe I’m just wrong. Maybe we aren’t irrelevant at all and someone out there has a solution that I haven’t seen. But maybe we actually are irrelevant. Kind of depressing huh?



    Cheers and Jeers


    Alright, this section has gained popularity, I am pleasantly surprised. So, keeping with demands, I will continue this.


    • CHEERS to The WWE’s handling of Billy Kidman. I can’t remember the last time I was actually interested in Kidman as a character. So many people before this point, including me, thought that Kidman was in a Velocity stalemate. Now, Kidman’s character is doing well as a legitimate threat due to his finisher. If his momentum continues, he could be a very good and worthy cruiser or United States champion. I just kind of find it ironic that Kidman’s deadly weapon, the Shooting Star Press, is being portrayed as an erratic move that hurts his opponents when most of the time, Kidman hurts himself with the move more times than his opponent.



    • JEERS to the WWE’s handling of Matt Morgan. Matt Morgan is on the verge of another call up. He lost his OVW title to Chris Cage with the stipulation that he would leave OVW forever if he lost. Look, I don’t have the disdain for Matt Morgan that most of the IWC has. I think he got a lot of crap because he is a “hoss” (god I hate that term) and because he was usually teamed with Nathan Jones, who could make anyone look bad. I think he has a lot of potential, but they have brought him up too early. He was a rookie when he started in OVW 2 years ago. With OVW losing their franchise players in Dinsmore, Conway, and the Bashams, the WWE should really allow someone young who needs more experience with the potential to become a franchise player to blossom into that role. They should keep young and inexperienced people like Morgan in OVW to remain as a franchise for that federation while he develops.




    • CHEERS to the WWE for Carlito Caribbean Cool. Carlito has really grown on me, and I think that the experiment of giving him the title on his debut may end up working. I like his mic skills and his ring work. So, no complaints here for Carlito.



    • JEERS to the WWE for Gene Snitsky. Look, I don’t dislike Gene Snitsky. I think he has potential. The only problem with it is that Snitsky was an OVW developmental talent for like three minutes before he was called up. I just think that there are other big guys that have been in the system for longer who may have rightly earned Snitsky’s spot before him. He kind of reminds me of Test in that he has a good upside, but the personality of a brick. I’m not bad mouthing Test, but personally, I’m sure that there are some people out there who can’t even talk that have more personality than both of these characters. What’s even worse is that they say that Snitsky is told to be bland. That sucks because it’s not entertaining me. It’s nothing against Snitsky… I just wish it were someone else, that’s all.




    • CHEERS to the new WWE intercontinental champion Shelton Benjamin. I’d say it’s about time, but that’s because I wanted him to beat Orton for it. I like this move. Not only does it free up Chris Jericho for a possible run against Triple H, but it gives the title to someone who is a true midcarder. Personally, I don’t really consider Jericho to be a true midcarder. Maybe Shelton is only keeping the belt warm for Batista, but I am holding out hope that he and Batista or Christian or whoever, have a good series together for the title. Maybe the times they are a changing for the IC title.



    • JEERS to The WWE for allegedly punishing Lillian Garcia by making her kiss another girl. Not that I have anything against two girls kissing, but if it’s true that the WWE made Lillian publicly kiss Christy Hemme on Raw, they could potentially have a pretty bad lawsuit on their hands if both girls weren’t good sports. Not everyone is comfortable with that sort of stuff and you can’t mess around with it. That is, if the rumors are true that it was a punishment.




    Well, it’s about that time again…



    Free Flowing Hostility: Minor cultural items I am Bored With, Tired Of, and Pissed At.



    1. Too many lights on cop cars.

    Honestly, how many lights are cops gonna put on their cars before there’s no more lights to go around. I was driving the other day and I saw some poor schmo being pulled over by what I thought was the car from Ghostbusters. Nope, it ended up being a cop car. We get the picture with the traditional red/white/blue light across the top of the car. But NO! Someone had the bright idea to put more lights on cop cars than the spaceship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The cop car that I saw had a red strip across the front with white strobe lights in it. There were strobes in the turn signals, the headlights, and the side mirrors. There was also a row of yellow lights on the top and a hint of blue on the top. In the mean time, the tail lights and rear signals also had strobe lights… because those lights matter or something. One of these days, cop cars are going to cause an epileptic person to go into a seizure. What really pisses me off is that I get to thinking that my tax dollars are going to make cop cars have miniature models of the Vegas strip on the top.



    2. Rappers throwing their hands and fingers toward the camera in music videos.

    I’ll be honest; I don’t generally get rap or rappers. It’s just not my thing. But why is it that some rap videos have the rappers in low angle shots with them rapping into the camera, but throwing their hands and fingers into the camera? I was watching a D12 and Eminem video, and they did that shit throughout the whole thing. I mean, is it trying to be threatening or something? Someone clear this up for me because I really don’t get it and I think it looks ridiculously stupid.



    3. Traffic for no Reason.

    Does anyone else hate it when there is traffic, but there is no reason whatsoever for it? I mean, if I am sitting in traffic due to construction or an accident or some other kind of legitimate reason, I understand. However, I fucking hate it when I have been sitting in traffic for like an hour going 2 miles an hour, and when it’s all said and done and the traffic clears; there is nothing to be found. It’s as if some dumbass tried to change lanes late and fucked up everyone for 5 miles. It’s the type of thing that you want to intentionally give someone the Clap for.



    Well, that’s that, so let’s wrap this one up before this column gets any longer.



    The Caboose


    What did we learn today?


    • We learned that in terms of change, we as fans may be irrelevant.


    • We learned that Matt Morgan will probably make another premature return.


    • Finally, we learned that police cars are over doing it.




    That’s it for this week… I’ll try hard to write again sometime soon. It’ll be tough though. Jess and I are celebrating our One Year Anniversary on Election Day, so I will be preparing for that. Oh yeah, If any reader from NYC has been to a restaurant called Three of Cups on First Avenue and 5th Street, let me know what you thought of it.

    Thanks guys for reading. No promises on when I will be coming back to write, but I will try to make it sooner than later. In the mean time, have fun.



    ----------------------------------------- Da J-Train -------------------------------------


    merlinJAP@hotmail.com (If you email me, put FEEDBACK in the email subject or it will be deleted)


    AIM: JPAW101…. Feel free to talk to me, I am friendly and give good hugs!




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