Breaking The Walls Down - Bits and Pieces Submitted by Chris Dailey on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 at 6:55 PM EST
Breaking The Walls Down
Hello and welcome back to another edition of Breaking The Walls Down. I’ve noticed that the news has continued to filter in at a quick pace, so I think that I will focus on that. As a result, this column will focus on Bits and Pieces this week.
Bits and Pieces
The first thing that strikes my mind is the obvious; The WWE is in chaos without Vince McMahon. Why is this? Vince McMahon should have capable employees who are able to step in and not replace him, but fill the necessary voids while he is gone. However, sadly, this past Monday night it did not appear that way. The WWE was said to be such a chaotic state that wrestlers were being handed promos with short notice and storylines being re-written while RAW was going on. This is truly sad, as none of this should be happening. It’s scary to think what will happen when Vince decides to retire. I know myself, as a fan, is worried about an already lackluster product. Things are not well in WWE land, hopefully someone can help turn it around.
I would like to say this as an avid ECW fan, leave the federation alone unless you are going to bring it back. I am absolutely tired of hearing how ECW is coming back or ECW is going to be in an article with Paul Heyman giving his opinions. My statement to this is, “Who cares?”. I’m tired of hearing about a product that has been defunct for over three years now. This is the last time I’m going to comment on this (I hope), but it’s so aggravating, it merits a mention.
I was able to watch two matches from RAW last night and I must say I was very happy with both matches. Jericho and Benjamin put on a darn good match for what the time they were given. It was really nice to see such quality in the ring. Then, I saw Randy Orton vs. Ric Flair and again I was happy. The match told a story and it worked on all levels. Then, follow up the end with the Triple H beat down and, in my opinion, RAW had a solid ending. The crowd loved the Triple H beating, and I feel it was long overdue. I believe that ending was one of the best I’ve seen from RAW over the past year. I’m only hoping that the WWE can build off the success of that ending.
I had a chance to watch NWA-TNA this past Saturday night and I have to say that it was pretty good. I’m happy to see that there is a wrestling company that lets their talent perform in the ring. I have to admit, that I’m not very interested in seeing Jeff Jarrett take on Jeffy Hardy. But, what I am interested in seeing is the X-Division Championship Match. I do not remember the one wrestler’s name, but he is the champion and his finisher is absolutely the most unique/jaw-dropping move I have ever seen. It is my hope that these kind of wrestlers are allowed to continue their superb matches.
Over the past ten days or so reports of Kane leaving the WWE over a contract dispute were running rampant over the Internet. The Honkey Tonk Man was the first one to report this on his website. The one thing that bothered me about this whole report was that it didn’t make sense for the WWE to let Kane go and it didn’t make sense for Kane to want to leave the WWE. Kane makes too much money from the WWE (money he would never see anywhere else) and the WWE makes too much money off of Kane to let him go. I found it almost funny how upset wrestling fans were getting over these stories. Sometimes it’s important to remember the line that accompanies posts such as these which states that the post is a rumor and should be treated as such. Most people treated it as if it were the truth and were very angry at the WWE or very angry at Kane. All this had me doing was shaking my head. Why would a person let a rumor make them so angry?
Here’s a thought. Is Brooke Hogan feeding off of the attention her dad, Hulk Hogan getting or is Hulk Hogan feeding off of the attention his daughter is getting? Also, why isn’t Brooke being called by her real last name, Bollea? I understand that many stars use false names, but if Brooke dislikes professional wrestling so much (as has been reported), why not use her real name? It’s not as if Hogan’s real last name is that big of a secret, especially after the steroid scandal. I am guessing she is feeding off of what star value is associated with her father’s “stage” name, but I’m wondering how she’ll feel about it ten years down the road.
Something of note that needs to be watched is the highly publicized (on the Internet) politics that exists in the WWE’s locker room. I don’t believe the politics have escalated to the point of the levels found in the final days of WCW, but the level of politics is very high. Sadly, I’m not sure how the WWE goes about fixing this problem. And, it is my belief that Vince McMahon only encourages the politics by his own actions. Now, granted, that is pure speculation on my part, but judging by Vince’s character, it can’t be too far off. I hope Vince keeps a close tab on these things, as politics can quickly get out of hand, as was demonstrated last night on RAW when certain groups were working to hinder other groups to make them look bad in Vince’s absence.
And, to wrap up this column, I have to ask what all the hatred is about by wrestling fans on the Internet? I’ve noticed a lot of animosity by wrestling fans towards other wrestling fans on the net. And, even more so, towards columnists on the Internet. I don’t understand it at all. Frankly, I think it’s a waste. With all the other ridiculous hate in the world, why go starting things on the Internet with someone who you will likely never meet? None of it makes sense to me. I don’t care what the reason is, some of the stuff I’ve seen posted on message boards is a waste of space. Why bother posting the words when the words you post instantly discredit you in the eyes of the readers on the boards?
