Let It Snow - Winter's Weakest Link: Round 3
    Submitted by Winter on Thursday, December 2, 2004 at 3:41 PM EST



    Hello all, and welcome to the latest edition of 'Let It Snow', which, as always, is brought to you by Winter.

    Before I get on to the 3rd round of my Weakest Link competition I'd like to briefly talk about the WWE's new TV schedule on Sky Sports. For the last 9 years us fans in the UK have been watching RAW on Friday nights (although it changed to Thursdays around 2 months ago), and since 1999 we've had Smackdown on Saturdays. We also have Velocity, Heat, Afterburn etc, but viewing figures for those shows don't even reach 100,000 homes so they're practically worthless.

    Now personally, I've always loved the WWE's schedule in the UK. Yes, we may get the major shows a few days later than Americans, Canadians and Australians, but we also get free PPVs which more than makes up for that. While everyone else shells out $50 for WrestleMania, we just press the record button and watch it in the morning for absolutely free. That's the way it's always been and should have remained.

    But now we have a new deal. No more RAW on a Friday, oh no. Instead, it's been moved to Wednesdays. Now, that's isn't ideal for me, as I usually have to get up pretty early on Thursday mornings, but it's not too bad either; if I need to the watch the show I can always record it and watch it the following day. Smackdown has also moved, taking the traditional place of RAW on Fridays. No problem there, I'm use to Friday night being a wrestling night (as well as RAW, WCW Nitro was also aired on Fridays in the UK). But then the WWE forces Sky into doing something so stupid that it will cost the WWE dearly in the end - charge us for 8 PPVs a year!

    Those of you who already have to pay for PPVs probably see this as a fair move, and maybe you're right, but it's an extremely stupid business move. Fact is, the PPV business is not big in the United Kingdom at all. Figures for past WWE PPV events have been embarrassing, and even Premiership football matches struggle when it comes to pay-per-view. The WWE is guaranteed to lose fans in the UK with this move, as a lot of people aren't going to bother watching RAW or Smackdown if they aren't going to be able to see the conclusion of feuds at events such as WrestleMania or SummerSlam. And it's not like the WWE is the only thing to watch on a Wednesday or Friday, as they face some extreme competition from terrestrial TV channels.

    I'll likely buy the Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the Survivor Series, as I haven't missed one of those events since 1995. But there are going to be a lot of Brits out there who won't pay for a single one of these PPVs and may end up watching RAW and Smackdown less frequently. The popularity of the WWE has been in serious decline in the UK since 2001, and this move by the WWE and Sky will only further escalate that. Maybe once this new schedule proves to be failure we'll get out free PPVs back, but until then I'm just one extra person who won't be watching as many WWE PPVs as I use to.

    Anyway, enough talk about Sky and the WWE, it's time to move on to the 3rd round of Winter's Weakest Link.


    Winter's Weakest Link: Round 3

    The surprise elimination from the last round with 3 votes was YourAyatollah, who shocked all that have followed his work with a very weak argument by his standards, although if you check out his work in the columns forum you'll be pleased to know that he's back on form. That leaves Pt2, Y2Kdogg and 3 columnists from the columns from - Valleyboy, XanMan and Morpheus. I'm sure everyone's aware of how this game works by now, so let's get straight to it.


    The first participant this week is fellow Englishman; Pt2, author of Take Up Thy Wrestling Boots and Walk and he's also a huge supporter of Birmingham football club.

    His statement was: Unrealistic expectations and dishonest hype led to WrestleMania XX being a disappointment to many. To prevent this from happening at WrestleMania XXI, the WWE should wait until after No Way Out to start hyping the event and should treat it as nothing more than 'the biggest PPV of the year', as opposed to 'the biggest and best PPV you'll ever see'.


    Here is how Pt2 responded -

    Pt2: I'm going to agree with the conclusion, but not the logic, of this one.

    Yes, the WWE should only promote Wrestlemania XXI as the biggest show of the year. You don't want to raise expectations too high, naturally. I also think they should keep a tighter lid on information coming out of the company, closer to next wrestlemania time, because as we all know, some things being general knowledge "affected" the last wrestlemania, for good or bad depending on your view.

    But I don't think I've come to this conclusion in the same way that you have. I don't think it has much to do with the way they promoted Wrestlemania XX. Lets face it, if you're in two minds about whether to order the PPV, and it's as much of a landmark as Wrestlemania XX, and they're not promoting the hell out of it, your going to think something is wrong. If you don't make a big fuss about shows like this, then you'll miss out on a lot of the market that only pays for the big shows. As for Mania XX being a disappointment, I think opinion is split on that - the people who were realistic in their expectation seem to think it was a decent Wrestlemania, better than some in recent memory. It may not be Mania 17, but it was better than say... Mania XV for example, the last so called landmark event.

    So it's not really connected to any disappointment that I come to this conclusion, but more along the lines that Wrestlemania XXI shouldn't be as big an event as Wrestlemania XX, and the WWE should recognize and allow for that. I do think they have gone overboard in recent years with their advertising for Wrestlemania. XVIII and XIX seemed overhyped too early in my opinion.

    As for when they should begin promoting Wrestlemania, I'd say a week or so before the Royal Rumble, and kick in with the heavy advertising just before No Way Out. They should have had started the ball rolling for Mania by now, and "the road to wrestlemania" begins at the Rumble, so by starting to mention Mania then, it should get the idea firmly rooted in everybodies minds come march. Underpromoting and having to change at the last minute hurts a show the size of wrestlemania. Just look at Mania XIII.

    Wrestlemania XXI has no reason to be the biggest PPV ever. Wrestlemania XX did. Wrestlemania XXI will still be the numero uno outing of the year for the WWE. So yes, that is how they should promote it



    Winter I honestly feel WrestleMania XX was a huge disappointment for everyone. Potentially great matches such as the cruiserweight gauntlet were given little priority while Eddie/Angle didn't reach expectations and The Undertaker's return was an absolute joke. One reason these things may have been so disappointing is that the WWE hyped the hell out of them and forced fan's expectations to become more than they should have, but I have no doubt that the overhyping of WrestleMania XX led to many being unsatisfied and unimpressed with the PPV.


    Up next is Valleyboy, who writes excellent Selective Memory in the LoPforums.

    His statement was: By giving extremely green talent such as Carltio Caribbean Cool a title belt on their debut, the WWE not only hurts the prestige of one of their titles but also put too much hope and pressure on talent who just aren't ready for it.

    Here is how Valleyboy responded -

    Valleyboy: Even though guys like Randy Orton and Carlito Cool aren't terrible wrestlers, I can't help but feel that it should be the wrestler that puts over the title and not the other way around.

    When it comes to the titles in WWE, there used to be a certain awe and prestige that surrounded them. Not just anyone with a pair of boots and a set of tights could be given the belt. They had to be able to take the ball and run with it... and have proven it with an impressive track record in their ring work.

    Even though guys that are just emerging on Raw or Smackdown may have paid their dues in OVW or some other farm league, they hardly earned a reputation as a money player.

    When I think of a champion in professional wreslting, I think of someone who puts asses in seats. And when you're a newcomer and the title is put around you solely to get "buzz" on your character, you're not raising the image of the title... the title is raising your image. And that comes at the expense of the value of the belt itself.

    Did anyone think that A-Train (then known as Prince Albert) was really deserving of the Intercontinental title when he won it in 2001? I didn't think so.


    Winter: I'm in 100% agreement with Valleyboy here. There used to be a time when winning a title was a big deal, and only the most elite main event, upper midcard and tag wrestlers would be seen with gold around their waist. These days every wrestler and their brother has held a WWE title of some form, but even more worrying is the fact that the main titles are being given to unproven 'talent' such as Orton, Carlito and La Resistance. As Valleyboy says, the wrestler should be putting over the title, not the opposite. Unfortunately, with so many new guys debuting each year I only see this trend continuing, and in 5-6 years time will the WWE or World title be worth anything anymore? Only if it's reserved for proven talent that is established with the crowd, no for wrestlers who have had 1 or 2 impressive promo videos.


    The 3rd participant this week is XanMan, author of The Northern Star and Excuse The Aggravation, with doublehelix.

    XanMan's statement was: An enormous rise in gimmick and stipulation matches has led to an increase unrealistic storylines and has put a demand on wrestlers' bodies which is likely to shorten careers. The WWE should take a several-month long brake from all matches of this sort and focus strictly on pure wrestling matches in order to give their writers some time to think up new ideas and to get their wrestlers actually wrestling again.

    Here is how XanMan responded -

    XanMan: On the surface, I agree with you. In practice, it would never work. Fans have now been trained to expect some kind of gimmick match to end a big feud, and if they don't get it, it just isn't going to feel right. Can they be re-trained? Sure. But, it would take a while and along the way, people are sure to think, well, that was a good match, but just think of what they'd do in a Hell in a Cell. Why shouldn't they? That's how they've been taught, and I think there would be a drop in business if that way of thinking went away now.

    The pure wrestling fans would still be there, but the casual ones wouldn't because there just doesn't appear to be the writing talent there now that could write around not being able to use stip matches. Granted, they've been a lot stronger lately, but again, take away one of their tools and we don't know how good they'd be. I suggest an alternative solution: get rid of the monthly PPV concept. Not only does it limit story-telling, but it's damned expensive for all the fans.

    Would they take a financial hit doing things this way? I don't know. It seems obvious that they would, doesn't it? But, the obvious answer isn't always right. Take me, for instance. This year my brother and I ordered the Royal Rumble, No Way Out, Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Bad Blood, and Survivor Series. That's 6 and we split the cost. $35 a month for a PPV is a lot of money, and the cost really builds up when they run 2 in one month. Is it selfish for me to want them to limit the PPVs? Yeah, it probably is. But, if they went back to the Big 5, I honestly don't think they'd lose that much, if anything.

    First of all, how many people can afford to buy every PPV they offer? Not many, I'd warrant. Secondly, with great writing building up for 2-3 months for a match I believe they'd get a bigger draw for each event. After all, interest would be high and people may have money available they otherwise would have spent on other PPVs. Then, you save the gimmick matches for those events and voila, you limit their use. That both makes the gimmick matches mean more and means they aren't used as much, so careers aren't shortened terribly.



    Winter: I have to agree with Xan in that less PPVs would equal more quality. Since the introduction of the brand exclusive PPVs we've seen the quality of WWE pay-per-views gradually slip, and the introduction of 4 new PPVs will do nothing to solve that problem. In fact, if anything it'll only increase it. I'd suggest the WWE go to around 6 PPVs per year, all of them RAW and Smackdown, and it would also be a good opportunity to bring back the much missed King of the Ring.

    As for gimmick matches, I feel the WWE has gone way overboard with them. Between 1990 and 1995 there were 2 or 3 Ladder matches in the WWE. Between 2000-2004 we've seen 10 times as many, and that's not including TLC matches or hardcore matches where a ladder has become involved. There's nothing wrong with one ladder per year, one cage match per year etc, in fact, it's all the better for the business. Cage matches used to be a highly exciting prospect, whereas now fans could care less for them. If the WWE wants to reduce the risk of injury while increasing the unique feeling of witnessing a gimmick match.


    The penultimate contestant is a good friend of mine from the LoPforums; Y2Kdogg, soon to be enrolling in a university of his choice.

    Y2Kdogg's statement was: Instead of releasing potential talent such as Johnny Stamboli and Rico, the WWE should have cut the likes of the Dudley Boyz and Hardcore Holly, 2 acts who have nothing left to offer the WWE and have long overstayed their welcome.

    Here is how Y2Kdogg responded -

    Y2Kdogg: I can't say much about Johnny Stamboli, I'm afraid. Johnny Stamboli was given a few opportunities to show his skills, and I can tell you that I really wasn't impressed with any of his matches, but it's nothing I'd fire him over. He was in the FBI, they really didn't have much of an impact in the long run. But those are the breaks.

    However, I have a very big problem with the WWE releasing Rico. I found myself actually tuning-in to Smackdown over the last few months, simply out of anticipation for Rico to make an appearance. (My only other interest in Smackdown is to relive old nostalgia moments of the Undertaker.)

    Rico was more than a replacement for the 'bizzare homosexual' gimmick that Goldust tortured viewers with over the years. Rico was actually way over with the fans. Sure, his gimmick wasn't as classy as Snitsky punting babies on Raw but it was a good balance of silliness and wrestling. At the time, Rico was helping out the tag division AND continuing to solidly improve his in-ring skills. His backstage segments were nothing short of hilarious either.

    I know the releases were all for "financial reasons" but I don't understand; why terminate a potentially successful gimmick in the midst of its blossoming? Rico could have been a creative writer's outlet, but I guess it's easier not working and starting over with
    someone completely different.

    Now, I'll get this out of the way right now. The 'Dudley Boyz' are fucking boring. This whole time they've been in the WWE, I've been bored out of my fucking mind with every one of their matches. I can't stress how serious I am when I say that if I was locked inside a room with nothing to do but watch footage of Dudley Boyz' in the WWE, I'd find a gun and make that my way out. They don't have an impressive moveset, nothing really unique about their characters except one guy is black and the other is white, and they like to tease the crowd about using tables in their matches. I'm sure they're really nice guys and all, but they're about as stale as they come. If ECW came back then these boys should be first to sign up, but until then they should be out losing weight or getting new personalities. Preferably both.

    On to thrashing Bob "Hardcore" Holly. This guy is a fucking tool and I'll tell you why. Throughout his thirteen years in the WWE, his highest acheivement was capturing the intercontinental title YEARS ago. Who remembers that? Yet, this guy is the same guy who has the attitude of someone who's boinking the boss' daughter. He's taken his "hardcore" gimmick over the line on several occassions. Sure, it suited the WWE's need to hire someone to kick some teenagers' asses on the Tough Enough series. But I've got breaking news; the Hardcore title is dead, The attitude era is over, and Holly poses a legitimate danger in the ring because he can't control himself. Ask Renee Dupree. Holly's new nickname should be "The Risk" because even speaking financially, that's all he is.


    Winter: Great argument by the Dogg here. I used to be a huge fan of the Dudleyz, especially when witnessing all of the crazy promos and matches they were involved with in ECW. They also had an excellent first 18 months or so in the WWE, but since then it's been all down hill, despite several face and heel turns. The table gimmick doesn't cut it anymore, and although Spike being 'The Boss' is a nice touch, that too will soon grow as stale as everything else the Dudleyz have been involved since the collapse of the TLC era.

    As for Holly, he's just a huge waste of space. His whole 'hitting people with chairs' thing was entertaining for 2 weeks in 2000, but nothing else at all that this guy does has entertained me. His shining moments in the WWE were as part of the feuding tag team with Crash, and the only that was entertaining was because Crash Holly was such a great character. Obviously the WWE was playing favourites here, as Rico was probably worth more than the Dudleyz and Holly combined. Maybe one day they'll learn.


    The final participant for the 3rd time running is Morpeus, author of Enter the Dream Realm, Check it out in the LoP columns forum or wait for the Column of the Month to be posted on the main page.

    Morpheus's statement was: After stellar matches against top-card superstars such as Chris Jericho and Christian, Shelton Benjamin is on his way to the top of the WWE, and looks set to become the first ever African-American WWE/World champion


    Here is how Morpeus responded -

    Morpheus: First off, there are a couple of arguments that I have heard stating that there have been African American men who have held those titles before. Both Ron Simmons (Faarooq) and Booker T have held the World Heavyweight Championship Belt, as it is the same physical belt that was used in their championship reigns in WCW, but this was not in the WWE, so I feel that it “doesn’t count” in this case. However, Booker did hold that belt as WCW Champion while wrestling on WWE programming during the Invasion, so the argument for him is slightly stronger, though still not entirely relevant since it was technically still the WCW Championship. Also, people have argued that since the Rock is half black, that he counts as the first African American WWE Champion, and again I feel this is a semantic argument at best. When taken in the strictest sense, we have yet to see an African American crowned the top champion in the WWE.

    While I fully agree that Shelton Benjamin is quickly rising to the upper echelons of the WWE Talent Roster, I think he has a bit of work to do before he gets a run with his brand’s top title. He has proven himself to be excellent in the ring, putting on stellar performances week in and week out, but he has to do more than pull out a few good matches to prove himself worthy of the big one. Jericho and Christian are great performers, so it is no surprise that putting them in the ring with Shelton, another great performer, would result in awesome matches. I have no doubt that he can have excellent matches with other wrestlers, and in the coming months I am sure we will see him prove just that. On the other hand, he also has a long way to go on his mic work, but that will come in due time.

    As far as being the first African American World Champion in the WWE, I would have to say that there is someone ahead of Shelton in that line: Booker T. Booker has been at this game a fair bit longer than Shelton, and has yet to be rewarded with his day in the WWE sun, but I think that day may be right around the corner for the Booker Man. He is already challenging for the WWE Championship again at Armageddon, and from where I sit he has a decent chance of winning. So, while Shelton will most likely be World Champion in the WWE someday, I have a feeling that he will be the second African American to do so, as Booker T will be the first, and deservedly so.


    Winter: It's true that some may debate that The Rock was the first African-American champion. However, The Rock's heritage is just as much Samoan as it is African-American, plus he's described himself as 'Hawaiian' on several occasions, so I have to say I wouldn't count The Rock.

    If Shelton can continue the way he's going for another year or two then I see him in main events fighting it out for a major title. The WWE has shown they have faith in him by giving him clean victories over HHH and Ric Flair, plus awarding him the Intercontinental as soon as they discovered he's wo the vote to face Jericho at Taboo Tuesday. The only thing that could stop Benjamin from becoming the very first African-American champion would be if Booker T wins the title first. However, after numerous defeats from the likes of HHH and The Undertaker, plus the fact that he's been made to look like a joke ever since his 2nd month with the company, I just can't see Booker winning either title, as much as I'd like to. If he's lucky enough to avoid any major injuries or pissing off the wrong people, my money is on Shelton Benjamin to become the first African-American superstar to lift either the WWE or World titles.


    Round 3 Over


    And just like that the 3rd round comes to an end. Join us again in around a fortnights time to see who has been eliminated and who is left standing, and once again we'll be even closer to finding our what the winner's super special suprise will be. I'll contact all participants within the next few days with more information.

    If you have anything to say about this column, or would like to get in touch with one of the contestants regarding their arguments, send an e-mail to Winter118118@yahoo.co.uk and I'll pass those messages along.


    Thanks for reading.


    -Winter




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