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Submitted by Wevv Mang on Sunday, December 12, 2004 at 5:25 PM EST
Ridin’ With The Bossman – The Rise And Fall Of WWE Greetings! Welcome to another edition of Ridin’ With The Bossman! Well, it’s that time of year again. That time when I decide to start cleaning off my hard rive and updating all the old programs I use. It’s also the time when I routinely crash my system, and spend hours trying to put it back together. So far, so good. I only lost all my bookmarks, my preferences, and various bits and pieces. But, on the plus side, the old punch card reader is working, and that’s a plus. So, let’s get to some wrestling, and thanks Phantom, for sending me that link. Thanks to Dubz as well. Before we get too far into the wacky world of wrestling, I’d like to take a few paragraphs and talk about some horrible news. "Dimebag Darrell" of Pantera fame was shot and killed by a crazed fan at a show in Columbus. The fan apparently blamed Darrell for breaking up Pantera. He got up on stage, and shot Dimebag, and three other people. It is a tragedy. Pantera was a force for the metal world in the early nineties. I can’t say I was a fan of their music. But I knew who they were, and what they were about. It’s just that I was in college at the time, and experiencing a new world of music. The grunge phase was big, and I was more into Sound Garden, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana. Also, I started listening to Phish, Hendrix, The Doors, and the Grateful Dead. I was also living in Philly, and the great rock station WVVX (Scott Loftus and Glen the Phone Man were the champions of metal in Chicago) was back in Chicago. Philly didn’t have anything close. But Pantera didn’t need my approval to rock the world. They were everywhere. They kept the metal legacy alive and moving. I saw tons of Pantera T-Shirts on folks. When I said I used to be into metal, Pantera was always brought up. Dimebag was a top guitarist, who inspired countless others to follow in his footsteps. The saddest part about this story is that Darrell died needlessly. The paper is saying that one of the motives for his shooting was that he broke up Pantera. Yet, there he was, with a new band, which could have been even better than Pantera in time, and yet this kook decides to kill the guy. So, to honor a metal great, let’s not have a moment of silence, but instead crank up the stereo, and crank your favorite Pantera song for a minute. If Pantera is not your cup of tea, then go pick your favorite metal band and go nuts. Flash the devil sign, bang your head, and make your neighbors wonder what the hell is going on. I think Dimebag would like that. Now, how bout some wrestling? WWE- The TV Series Raw I will say this about the guy dong the recapping. That’s one thorough recap. Raw Truly Is Jericho Jericho comes out and does a bit about getting laid. Or is it Leid? I have no idea, but I thought it would tank. Jericho pulled it off. Now, why is this guy not champion? Vince was his guest on the Highlight Reel. Jericho puts Vince to the question. "Who is the Champ"? H comes out. I did notice that H didn’t get to say one word the entire time. Vince did mention H’s book, and the movie, almost, but not quite leaving Wesley Snipes out of it. The answer is given. The belt is vacant. So, no title shot for Jericho, because, well, he might be good and we can’t have that. Everybody LIMBO! That was a great segment. Good thing Christy won. Good placement for the Arabs spots as well. Time to see if this guy can really wrestle or not. Batista Very nice use of Batista. He got to be the one in control, and he took control well. He calmed down a spastic H. The hint of his turn is getting better and better. Chick Main Event A very solid outing from Lita and Trish. Once the obligatory early high spots were taken care of, it got down to business and business was good. Nice build to the main event. The past skits were good, and when edited, effective. Nice backstage skits as well. Lita and Snitsky. Trish and her great ass. All very well done. Jericho, given nothing meaningful to do, made the most of his situation and set the tone for an entertaining show. I did read that H did a number on Benoit and the ref with his ultra stiff chair shots. Way to go buddy. Once is an accident, two maybe, three? Deliberate and/or sloppy. Which is funny since he commented on Hardcore on his press junkets last week. Just another reason to drop down the card. Smackdown Recap Info Provided by Chad "CMV1" Mathews - Chad, thanks for all your hard work. JBL opens the show again, with his entourage in the ring. He cuts a good promo, goes racist (haven’t they learned anything? SIEG HEIL!). Bradshaw and everyone get their asses handed to them by Undertaker, who goes to take a nap before hearing that he has to wrestle AGAIN! How dare they! One spot per night! It’s in his contract! Jackie, Charlie, and Dawn Is it obvious enough for everyone now? Now, when the expected swerve doesn’t happen, will anyone care about it? No? Hello? Anyone? Bah, just show the chicks. Stick to the chicks, and let the angles just fade from sight. Luther I believe that’s generic big goof gimmick #2. Crazy is one, broken home is number 2, and the third one is happy, but crazy. I will say that Joy looked really good. What no hair sniff? Oh wait, that’s Kane’s gimmick. The guy is better than this crap. I saw him in Girl Next Door. His segment later was solid. No originality from WWE. None. Vince just loves prison sex. Hiroko and Torrie Not a bad skit. Hiroko is no Torrie, but she’s good enough. Nice tag match as well. A little early, but then again, RVD is being punished for something he has no control over, namely that ECW is popular. So they get pulled from the PPV. So that Hardcore Holly can get that spot. Mark my words. Big Show Well, finally, Big Show got to beat some one up. Even if it was Jindrak. So, how long is Big Show going to be crushed to cover up the fact that Angle can’t wrestle? Just take some time off already Kurt. Go home and relax. Learn to chill. Big Show deserves better than this. Heidenriech He says he doesn’t want to come back to TV. YAY! Stay the hell off my TV, you piece of crap! Main Event Good, but it’s become clear what Booker and Eddie are doing there. They have to carry Bradshaw and Taker, and then do the job, since Taker isn’t going to win the belt, to prove how loyal he is to the boys in the back. He won’t get pinned, of course not, but he’ll make sure to beat everybody up at least once, then go outside, while Bradshaw sneaks in and steals the pin on Eddie or Booker. Then Taker will beat everyone up again. See? I don’t have to spend money on this, I can already tell what’s going to happen. How? It’s the millionth time that WWE has done this type of thing on both shows. Blah. Well the slide is starting, but it wasn’t as extreme as I feared it would be. Still don’t plan on seeing the PPV in any way shape or form. The Booker Eddie stuff is good, but with Taker there, it just sucks the life from it. Oh, and it’s become clear that the Bashams will get the belts soon, so that Taker can beat up your tag team champions again. Time to take another long extended break Taker. See you at WM. If we’re lucky. Kane’s House The house is quiet. No one is around. The phone rings. Kane comes bounding up from the cellar. Kane stops and looks around. He can hear sounds coming from upstairs. The phone keeps ringing. Kane scratches his head, and then answers the phone. Kane: WHAT? Voice: Hello sir or madam. I assure you this isn’t a solicitation. I represent the American Institute of research. Do you have time to take a survey? Kane: Well, I’m kind of busy now, but I can make time. That hole will just have to wait. Voice: Thank you sir. I have just a few questions to ask you. Do you, or anyone in your household have access to the internet? Kane: NO! Those damn internet writers just don’t understand! Voice: What TV shows do you like to watch? Kane: Comedies for the most part. Voice: What are the names of the show you enjoy watching? Kane: Well, I find CSI hilarious, and that’s on CBS. I also like Fear Factor and find it very romantic. I like that show where they cut up girls and stick stuff in them. It’s very informative, as well as sexy. I can’t remember the name. I also like whatever is on the Stalker Channel. Voice: OOOOO-Kay sir, They have a channel for stalkers? Kane: Yes, it's hosted by DDP Voice: Next question. Do you or any member of your household own their own home? Kane: yes. Voice: excellent sir. Is that the house you currently reside in? Kane: Well, there’s this house, and the guys I keep locked up in the basement owned a house, I think. I know the postman owns a house, and the milkman owns a house, but the drifter I captured last week didn’t own a house. That’s why he’s a drifter. HAHAHAHAHA! Voice: Um, ok. Let’s just move along. Do you, or any member, wait, do you or any immediate family members own a car? Kane: Yes. Voice: OK then, what type of make and model do you drive? Kane: Well, I drive a hearse, and my brother drives a hearse. I don’t let the wife drive. It’s hard to drive when you’re tied up. Voice: Um, ok sir. Do you have insurance? Kane: NO. Those bastards pulled my insurance when I accidentally dragged a casket home from work. Voice: Right. Do you own homeowners insurance? Kane: I used to, but they pulled that too. Seems they don’t like the way I keep setting fires. I can’t help it, sometimes things get out of control, and when I’m really angry, things just happen, that’s all. Honestly, you light some people on fire, and the insurance companies want to make a big deal out of it. It could happen to anyone! The police haven’t said anything about it yet have they? NO! So, what’s the big deal? And as for pets, well, they can be replaced can’t they? Voice:…. Kane: Hello? Voice: Yes Sir, we’d like to thank you for taking part in our survey today. You have a nice evening. Kane: Thank you. You too. Lita comes down the stairs, wrapped in a bathrobe, and drying her hair. Lita: Who was that Kane? Was it Matt coming to take me away from this horrid existence? Kane: HAHAHAHA! Of course not. It was just a telemarketer. Now excuse me honey, I have to finish stuffing the Wilson’s pet cat. Lita: I didn’t know their cat was dead. Kane: Who said it was dead? Over-Analyzing Wrestling Today’s Topic: The Rise and Fall Of ECW ECW, the pinnacle of wrestling to some, the death of wrestling to others. But one thing is for sure, the name carries weight in the world of wrestling. ECW has been gone for years now, but there’s the nagging rumor that it will be coming back. It just won’t seem to go away. The chants are still heard in arenas today. Some former ECW talent still get a pop, simply because they worked in ECW. There is still a strong interest in ECW, and a hope that the glory days will come back. The DVD is flying off shelves. There’s now talk of an ECW PPV. When I first heard about ECW, I had just made my return to regular wrestling watching. A friend told me about this crazy wrestling show he got on cable. It was on channel 62, which came out of Indiana. He didn’t know here it came from, but thought it was out of Philly. He gave me a tape. I watched it, and was hooked. Here was some stuff I’d never seen before. Guys jumping off of balconies, high paced matches, and some of the most wacked out sports entertainment I’d ever seen. I was hooked. I didn’t have cable and lived on the north side of Chicago. Needless to say, I didn’t get the show at home. So I would go over to his house to watch the show. It was amazing. ECW had been around for a long time, and I came in late. Benoit, Jericho, and Eddie were all long gone, and I think it was a couple of months after Raven had left. I did get to see RVD, the Dudleys, Tazz, New Jack, Shane Douglas, Dawn Marie, even Lita before the boob job. Brutal and finesse all on one show. The production values weren’t great, but they really didn’t need to be. The crowd was excited, and that carried through the screen to me. The action was seen, and that was enough. What was it about ECW that was so appealing? Was it the level of violence they brought to their matches? Was it the wrestlers themselves? I’d say it was all that and more. ECW was a small time wrestling promotion. It survived based on the passion of it’s fans for it’s product. Watching the DVD I was surprised at how good it was. It was an honest, open look at what happened. Vince tried to spin things, and Bischoff was simply stating how business is done. It’s hard to see Bischoff as the bad guy in that situation. WWE was doing the same thing. Raiding talent. But WCW didn’t try to steal their ideas, since they couldn’t get most of them past Standards and Practices. I haven’t seen the Monday Night Wars, but it is something I’d like to see. But more on that later. From the history piece, I drew a few conclusions about what made ECW so good. Fans: The key element in ECW was the way they interacted with their fans. They kept the basis of angles simple. "Why is that guy fighting that guy?"" He stole his title from him." Basic yet more complex than that. The details could be filled in later, but the gist was easy to get a hold of. I’d also say that ECW treated its fans with respect. From simply thanking them for coming to the angles themselves. The angles weren’t insulting. Offensive maybe, but insulting no. ECW didn’t treat it’s fans like idiots who couldn’t put two and two together. No rapid changes in character direction without an explanation. Matches were set up to mean something. It could range from a grudge match to simply see who was the better wrestler. When fans clearly didn’t like something, ECW would respond to the desires of the fans. If some one was getting booed, they worked with that, instead of doing a knee jerk alignment switch. Like with Mikey Whipwreck. Like with Tommy Dreamer. Like with Tazz, and so many others. They tried to figure out what was wrong, and fix it if necessary. If it was for a greater purpose, then ECW would use what the fans had given them and incorporate it into the show. Realism: I’d say this was just as important as fan respect in keeping ECW alive against the big two. When one of those crazy hardcore matches was underway, and a guy acted hurt, it was believable, because of the situation. Fake injuries were kept to a minimum, and when they were used, as a swerve, they didn’t draw it out too long. Moves had a cause and effect, as opposed to simply being done. High-risk moves were part of the show, but were backed up by honest wrestling. Angles were based on real life situations, even if they were from Springer, they were still real. If a guy was nuts, he wasn’t "just plain nuts", but "nuts for a reason and with a purpose". Crazy stuff happened, but once again, it was used to build to something, and that something usually delivered. Joey Styles: One of the best announcers in the business today. He kept his focus on what was happening in front of him, and when necessary, he brought up the back-story. But only the back story. He took sides, but emphasized it was his personal position and kept it to a minimum. He didn’t hype something completely different every few minutes. Each and every match was important, and not made to feel like filler. That is a skill that JR used to be good at, and has now lost. When he later teamed with Gertner and Cyrus, they stuck to their roles, and didn’t flip flop because of a face or heel. Both stuck to their positions, and that was a great thing. Instead of sticking with the company line, Joey would acknowledge what was going on, and use it to further the angle. It was Joey who was the small, intangible element that helped make ECW great. Us Against Them : It was a mentality that worked. ECW really was the under dog in this case, and it was clear to see. It made them easy to root for. It was also clear that ECW had a clue, while the other two really didn’t. When Tazz appeared in WWE, he came in strong, but wasn’t really booked as a threat. When Sandman appeared in WCW, it was a joke. Hardcore Hak? Who the hell is that? Why isn’t he acting hardcore? The raids took their toll. It also become clear that ECW was a breeding ground for future superstars. When fans got a look at what guys they used to like became, it was better to stick to this little fed that told great stories, and had great wrestlers. Who were allowed the freedom to do what they wanted in the ring. Which paid off big time. Some of the best matches I’ve ever seen are from ECW. Also, knowing they couldn’t compete with the budgets of the other two, ECW made the most of what it had. The promos were done on location, and it gave a personal feel. It forced the talent to dig within themselves to make their impact. The one time they went out for a location that I can recall was the New Jack subway promo. No special effects, no extra plot, just the intensity of New Jack. It still gives me chills. If ECW was so great, why did they fail? I’d say a combination of things, but ones that are more clearly defined than WCW. Money was the main culprit. No money, no TV, no shows. But the fact that ECW had to keep recreating stars was also a factor. Guys were coming through the revolving doors of ECW so fast that it became impossible to create the kind of angles that ECW was famous for. The long drawn out feuds had to be scrapped, because you didn’t know if the guy was going to be there next week. The fans also played a part. Late comers wanted to see what all the fuss was about. ECW tried to show them. Hardcore got more and more insane, and the toll it took on bodies and minds was telling. Instead of having an extreme hardcore match once a month, it became once a week. Angle vs New jack lost it’s momentum, because the high level of punishment couldn’t be maintained and it became just another match. With lots of weapons and blood. Getting on a different TV station would have helped, but the hole was already dug. The other two companies had taken notice, and they wouldn’t have let ECW exist to threaten their dominance. Once WCW began it’s slide, the only true threat remaining was ECW. For all the respect Vince had, Vince wouldn’t have batted an eye at crushing them. Better to let them self-destruct and fade away, then to have that happen. Yet the legend of ECW remains today, and has never really faded, nor will I think it will any time soon. ECW did something the other two couldn’t do. Mix old school wrestling in a new school style. Old angles and ideas got an update, and when presented to the public , were received well. They didn’t try to hide it, either. With all this talk about a return of ECW, it makes me wonder if they can really pull off a repeat of the past. Expectations are high. Now that there is a fresh reminder of what ECW was like, fans will have an idea of what to expect. But I just don’t think it’s a good idea. It won’t be the same. Time has glossed over those rough spots and made the bright spots shine even brighter. If Paul E was serious about bringing back ECW, there is one place he should go. TNA. Those folks could use Paul and if he was given creative control, I really do think he could create a viable number 2 to WWE’s number one. Will it happen? Probably not, but if I was Jerry Jarrett, I’d pick up the phone and see what can happen. That’s all for today. Next week will be the big Christmas column. I’m out of town the following week. But when I get back, it’s time for the Third Annual Bossman Awards. One quick random thought, and then it’s plug time. I saw Dodgeball the movie this week. Great film. Some really funny stuff. But I couldn’t help thinking that this movie was the source of the last three months of angles. I mean from the S&M gear to the final scene. Not a bad film to lift ideas from, but the well has run dry on most of those jokes and the way that WWE used them, well, less than good. Quick Plugs! THE MOVIE BAR – New look, new reviews, and more fun than a barrel of monkeys Lop Forums LOP Columns Forums That’s all for today, Until Next Time, Thanks For Readin’ and Thanks For Ridin’ Wevv Mang mrwevv@mac.com WOW! Very Rare but AMAZING Pix of Lilian Garcia!
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