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Submitted by Wevv Mang on Sunday, October 30, 2005 at 8:50 PM EST
Ridin’ With The Bossman – One Spooky Column Greetings! Welcome to Ridin' With The Bossman. The column that shapes WWE. Sorry about last week. I started a column, got halfway through, and felt it was just too negative. Shocking I know, that I would think something too negative. But, well, after re-reading my work, I just didn’t have the motivation o go on. SO I took a week off. Sorry about that. But we got ourselves a brand new column, on the eve of Halloween! And there’s a very special PPV coming up. HALLOWEEN HAVOC? No, Taboo Tuesday. Where’s Snitsky when you need him? And of course, this column will be jam packed full of spookiness! In fact, I know of something that scares even the Boogey MAN! AHHHHH! BOOGEY MAN! WWE TV – The Series We got two weeks to cover. And a lot has happened. We got another Taboo Tuesday coming up, and that means that WWE is going to try and swing the fan voting like they did last year, only I don’t think they’re going to get the results they want. And that means that WWE is going to go nuts and try and push the vote. With unintentionally hilarious results I’m sure. We got one show left, and the hard sell tomorrow night. Be ready. This section is going to be a collection of random thoughts. Like when WWE is going to change the name of Smackdown to Heat. It’s about the same thing. Hyping Raw. But enough about that. Since I have missed the previous week, I’ll going to skip the regular review and focus on the big items. The most important things happening on WWE TV. Three Skits Three big skits happened on TV. Not matches, skits. Looking at the timeline and reactions to these skits, you can see the future. In fact, these three skits can sum up the entire cycle of WWE feud building. Perfectly. For the last five years. It’s truly amazing. There is no better way to visualize the cycle and problems with WWE creative than these three skits. Let’s take a look. Keep in mind, the main cause for all these skits is the same. JR coming back to Raw. Austin and Steph It was a great bit. The fans got into it. Why? Austin went off script. I slow motioned the tape to watch Steph’s reaction when Austin did his own thing. The look in her eye? Panic. Fear. “What are you doing?”. She had no clue it was coming. And it was great. Hilarious. Funny. And it made fun of Steph. Which the fans liked. Steph covered well, but she wasn’t pleased. This wasn’t planned. Coach, undoubtedly being fed through the headset, brought the segment back to the plan. He had to put over Steph as a hot chick. The emotion settled down, and it was back to business as usual. In fact, I’d say the ending was the weak, with Austin picking on Coach. That didn’t fit from where we were, emotionally. Key points - Austin was funny. Austin was an equal. Austin exposed the ridiculous attempts of WWE creative to make Steph feared and lusted after, by mocking their poor choice of words, namely “Steph has balls!”. Austin unleashed his new catchphrase. And it worked. - Steph was clearly not in control. Steph was made to look weak. While the segment was focused on Steph, once the focus was put on some one else, it was stronger. Fan reacted to Austin being Austin, not Creative’s idea of who Austin is - Coach, in his sucking up role, worked well. He came across as a lackey, not a mindless tool. He had only a supporting role, and that was good. When he chimed in, it fit, because it was just Coach, playing his character. When Austin focused on Coach, and tried to get him involved, it was fine as well, since that should have been the end of it. Not the beginning. Why do I think the Angle worked? I think that the angle worked because the angle did two very important things. Number one, it showed a character standing up for themselves and being portrayed strong. Not just because it was Austin, but the way Austin did it. He didn’t back down, he didn’t slip and say “You’re good, and I respect you”. While there is a place for that, nine times out of ten, it’s not during a face off. Austin was allowed to be strong. The second was his opponent was allowed to look strong, but vulnerable. That being Steph. Steph had the strong hand, but Austin was allowed to match that strength. Well, maybe allowed is the wrong word. Austin made that decision, not Steph. If the segment had ended when Steph walked off and Austin headed up the ramp, it would have been tremendous. But once the real opponent was revealed and made to look like a total pussy, the segment lost heat. Steph and Coach The segment started out with Coach showing some guts and calling out Austin. It looked like another segment where midgets would run in or something. Another lackluster ending. But when the truck showed up, folks went nuts. Expectations were running high. Steph turned out to be the driver of the truck and things were still good. Then Steph started talking and things went south. Way too long. But it was saved, at least temporarily, by the appearance of Mick Foley. Foley talked, and then got kicked in the balls, and Coach beat up Foley. Key Points - Coach – Looked strong to start. His smack talk had the right mix of cowardice and false confidence. His weasel side was good, but it was stretched out to long, and the effectiveness was weakened. Also, the focus shifted from Coach to Steph too quickly after Steph showed up. - Steph – Steph is the main protagonist in this feud, but in this segment, she was portrayed as invincible. She also got way too much time, as she is not going to wrestle Austin. Coach is. She also got to humble a well-known name for no apparent reason. Feud wise that is. Foley may be a voice in the feud, but he’s not directly involved, and that well, - Foley: Is he part of this feud? No. He’s not. He’s facing Carlito. The guy involved in the Steph Austin feud left. So the angle suddenly changed directions. Foley then had to sell a common injury as if it was serious. Like he got stabbed or something. Why Do I Think the Angle Worked It didn’t and I don’t. Too much was added, and the point got lost in the mess. The match is Coach vs Austin, not Foley vs Carlito. One very hot feud had it’s heat sucked away by trying to make it work for more than just the match, and the two angles do not mesh well. In fact, I’d say that Carlito vs Foley has lost steam, as Foley was used in attempt to bolster an angle that was already strong. And instead of strengthening it, it was weakened. So now, Steph is involved in two feud and being portrayed as the strong one in both. Vince’s Skit This one was a doozy. Basically, Vince made fun of JR. Vince posed as the man who gave JR his surgery. Lots of butt jokes, and props. Sound effects, and a hot chick. The skit was a bomb. In fact, it wasn’t even creepy, just bad. You had to look for something to laugh at. Key Points - Vince introduced, and wrapped up the skit, and it was all about Vince. - Just an observation, but Vince wasn’t wearing a shirt under his hospital gown. Now THAT is creepy. - I regret that not once, was the phrase “Succulent buttocks” uttered. - Vince stood in the ring, while the skit played out. When coming back form the video, Vince wrapped up his speech and then did an extra jaunty Vinnie Mac dance. Did I think the Skit worked? No, not in the least. Instead of being funny, it bombed. Instead of being creepy, it wasn’t. In fact, I don’t think the skit did much of anything, other than show what a weird dude Vince is. He wasn’t evil in the skit. He wasn’t mean. Just way the fuck out there. The capper, Vince getting it on with the nurse? Weird. Vince pulling stuff out of JR’s butt with glee? Weird. The stuff Vince pulled out of JR’s ass? Highlights of previous skits that failed. In other words, weird. It was like the skit where Kane got his “revenge” on Triple H for accusing him of being a necrophiliac. Only not as funny, since JR , or the guy representing JR, had no say. And Vince got to see the reaction first hand. Instead of outrage, he got silence. Instead of laughter, he got nothing. And Vince, and Vince alone was there to face it. To see the reaction first hand to this skit. A lot of work went into that skit. From taping it, to adding the sound, which I think was a late addition, to writing Vince’s after speech, which was probably re-written at least twice. Conclusion The cycle can be summed up like this: 1) The fans get something good. Usually something the wrestlers thought up and just threw out there. 2) WWE tries to capitalize on it, unusually not understanding what exactly they have, and change the momentum to something they want. 3) Due to negative feedback, WWE overcompensates, and things go horribly, horribly wrong. And it went from good to crap in two weeks. TO be more accurate, it died in one show, with two different skits. Only about an hour apart. It could have survived the second skit. But the third skit made you forget what the whole thing was about. So, Austin and Steph had a funny skit, that people liked, Steph tried to change the focus back to her, and then Vince tried to make the angle more than it should have been. The results, something fans once cared about has been squashed. And the focus of the skit, JR coming back to Raw, is not even part of the equation. It was a tool for heels to get heat, and now, it’s not even that. If a heel talks about JR, they’ll be tainted with the Vince skit. Since it’s Vince, faces can’t say anything bad about that skit, or they’ll have to go over the top in trying to say how horrible it was. Austin reacted honestly and acknowledged that the writing was bad. Something fans have thought for a long time. Think back to when WWE appeared on USA, and Austin stunned everyone. The segment was way too long, but folks lost interest. They were still watching, but things got a lot quieter. When Austin stunned Linda that was surprising, but not the biggest shocker ever. The reaction when Austin was calling for beers after it was over was bigger. Then JR got fired. A mountain was made out of a molehill. Linda went heel, but Linda turning heel wasn’t the biggest thing about the angle, but more about how JR got kicked in the nuts. Again, not a big deal. JR has been lit of fire. It was backstage stuff that made the angle bigger. Bit now it’s a full blown angle, and the ending is not fixed yet. Not even Vince knows for sure what’s going to happen. What riled up fans the most was Coach burying JR and the fact that the McMahon’s harped on about it. Fans reacted. So the “controversial” angle worked to a degree, but not the way WWE wanted it to. Fan liked JR and smarts want JR back on TV, thinking he’s been pulled from the Raw announce team. Marks don’t like the fact that JR got fired and don’t like Coach. Everyone seems to want JR back. So naturally, instead of this being about bringing JR back, it’s turned into how evil the McMahon’s are for firing JR. And the one who did the most “heinous” action isn’t even on TV regularly. It goes like this in terms of who’s to blame. Linda Vince Steph Coach So Austin is basically feuding with the third and fourth bananas. On a final note, the Raw rating numbers seem to be delayed this week. Big surprise. Hey, it takes time to tamper with the results. Do you have idea how hard it was to bump buys from One Night Stand to No Way Out? And that was for a PPV! Smackdown vs Raw With Taboo Tuesday this week, WWE has lots of fans going to the website to vote. The site is getting a lot of traffic. Because the TV is pushing it. I’ll over-analyze the whole enchilada next week, but for now, let’s look at one part. Smackdown has been dragged into it, with the weak premise of a prelude to the Survivor Series Smackdown vs Raw, and is promoting the PPV. The RAW PPV. Let’s take a quick look at what has happened so far: Edge showed up on Smackdown. He speared Mysterio who lost a match because of it, and then ran off. Masters showed up on Smackdown. He put Mysterio in the Master lock. He then took out four cruisers. THEN he ran off. Rey showed up on Raw. He kicked Edge, after his bad mouthing of Smackdown stars was over, and then gave the 619. To Lita. Bradshaw showed up and talked. He then left. Score? Raw – 6 Smackdown – 1 (Edge = .5, Lita = .5) You know what bugs me the most about the Bradshaw segment? On Smackdown, after the run in, what was the next match? Bobby Lashely. Huge guy, who is getting a good reaction. When Bradshaw invaded Raw, Masters stood there like a goof, and absolutely nothing happened. The most obvious and simple thing would have been to have Lashley and Masters face off. I think that would have been huge. But no, the object isn’t to push either guy, but push Bradshaw, and make Raw look good. On Smackdown last Friday, we got a very solid opening match, and a lot of talking. The problem? No one is sure who to vote for. Rey didn’t get much to say. Bradshaw got a lot, and the guy with Charisma, got almost nothing (Christian). Holly got more mic time than Christian. Matt said some stuff, but that angle is long over. It wasn’t handled well, and the first impression is overshadowing the last. That being that Matt Hardy was beaten like a drum and we, the net fans, are tired of hearing about it. Smackdown looks like chumps in this feud. And it’s a problem WWE created for themselves. Bradshaw is tired. Holly is not a superstar. Matt Hardy is once again overcoming a losing streak. Rey has been made to look weak. Christian has been made to look weak. On their own shows leading up to this. On Raw, they have barely made a dent in the feud. Bradshaw can say otherwise, but when the big finish is to hop in your car and drive away (while Masters lets him), while a girl gets beaten up, well, it’s not the same as beating up five guys, and then leaving. If the Smackdown side wins, somehow, then it still won’t really matter. Smackdown came in looking weak, and a win will be seen as a fluke. When it comes time for the big event at the PPV, it will be Smackdown defending themselves, and trying to hold their own, not taking the battle to Raw. The problem is a long one, and can be summed up like this. Raw has the McMahons, proven ratings grabbers, though hated, and Smackdown has midgets, the Boogey Man, and as their tag team champions for the past three months, Heidenreich and Animal. In the draft, Raw got John Cena, Carlito, Kurt Angle, and Big Show. Smackdown got Christian, Benoit, Hassan Batista. Christian is dead in the water, and it’s not his fault. Heidenreich becoming a Road Warrior was more important. Benoit got to beat Orlando Jordan for four weeks straight in record time. Hassan, well, he didn’t last long did he? And Batista got to beat Bradshaw in a series of forgettable matches. Raw got one of the hottest feuds of the summer in Cena vs Angle. Carlito was huge on Smackdown, and once on Raw, he won the Intercontinental title in his first match. Big Show laid low and is now rising to the top. Angle was the real steal in the draft. I’m still shocked at the Summerslam match with Eugene and how into it the fans were. Unbelievable and Vince wants to make him a pet. Vince, just watch the tape from last Monday when the skit ended. Pay close attention to the crowd. The answer is BAD MOVE. REALLY BAD. So, it’s not about Taboo Tuesday’s fracas, but about Survivor Series. What’s going to happen then? You have four weeks WWE. Better put your thinking caps on. Commercial Break! You know, that Boogey Man is one scary dude. But I know what scares him. What you might ask, could scare such a terrifying guy? After all, take a look at him in action:  Oops, I mean this guy. Look at him scaring that poor midget.  But you know what scares that guy the most? It’s this:  BOOOO! HAHAHAHA! Taboo Tuesday I have one simple question. Are the web segments taped delayed for the parts of the country that get the show in time zones other than Eastern? I mean, when they go to commercial, on the west coast, since the show is delayed, can fans see what they’re missing, or are they screwed? I know WWE thinks that the New York audience is the only audience that matters, and since I have never jumped up from my couch, and run to my computer to try and find out what happened, I have no idea. I think it would be too funny if WWE screwed over two thirds of their US audience by forgetting that the show is tape delay in the two other time zones. And that’s the problem. I watch wrestling on my couch, away from the computer. I may run in to check sports scores, but I’m not going to try and log onto the WWE website, wait for the video to buffer, and then deal with choppy images, and dropped audio, when I could be taking a dump or getting a drink. Or watching football. WWE web traffic has picked up. USA on the other hand doesn’t seem to mind WWE trying to drive fans to their website. Why? Simple. The 3 million or so viewers are still watching the network instead of their computers. That means more money for USA every time WWE goes to commercial. The real question is, are fans being satisfied on what they’ve been given on the website, and only the website? On that, I have no answer. I will say that the website only angles are not doing too well. The turn of Hurricane has been met with questions. Like what happened? Where’s Hurricane? And is Sugar Shane Helms going to come back? Are these spots hurting WWE in the ratings? Not yet. See, it’s all part of an angle at the moment. The viewers get a say in what happens. Supposedly. But once the PPV is over, well, that’s a different story. Taboo Tuesday broke ground last year, and the fans know what it’s about. But if they try it for a different PPV, well, it’s not going to be the same for say, an Armageddon. That PPV is something concrete. Taboo Tuesday is a whole PPV the viewers can influence. Not just one throwaway match. And this year, I think the fans are not going to do what WWE expects them to. Over-Analyzing Wrestling Today’s Topic: Shane O’ Mac One Raw, October 17th, the promos said that all the McMahons would be returning to Raw. That didn’t happen. Shane was nowhere to be seen. His big return to TV was glossed over, and the rest of the McMahon’s stole his thunder. Shane hasn’t been mentioned since. Well there was that one time when Vince said that Shane was a braver man than him. But that got lost. Shane is an interesting character. I still remember his hijinks from the glory days. The Mean Street Posse was one of my all time favorite stables. Those guys brought fun to hardcore matches. Something I didn’t think was possible. There was still violence, with broken mirrors and table spots, and jumping from high places, but it was still fun. It was slapstick comedy, and done well. Did it diminish the legacy of hardcore wrestling? Yes, it did, but it was a solid alternative to the trying to match other, crazier federations by topping them with straight up violence. And the matches the Hardcore division put on were legendary. The play place battle was one of the best hardcore matches I’ve ever seen. Just frigging hilarious. Shane was the guy that brought them in. Shane was the ringleader. The Mean Street Posse was the next generation of stooges. And they were ready. Shane was the best wrestler in the group, by far. Sadly the Mean Street Posse was not meant to be, and they were gone too soon. We never did find out who Mean Willie Green was, though I think it was Triple H. The Silhouette matched his perfectly. Shane also vanished from TV not long afterward as well. Steph was in charge. Both on screen and backstage. Shane did make one big come back in the biggest event in modern wrestling history. Shane appeared on the final Nitro as the new owned. But that went south as well, as Steph added herself to the mix, and soon it was Steph and Shane, and soon enough, just Steph. Shane made one more TV appearance before this last. He was in a feud with Kane. Highlight of that feud? Getting his nuts electrocuted by Kane. After that, he quietly vanished and was lost from conscious thought. What was he doing during his absences? His title has been Director Of New Media, and that’s about it. I guess it means he was working on the DVDs, the website, and magazines. DVD was taken out of his hands. Now, after an extensive makeover, and becoming a force, the website has been taken away. That leaves magazines, which are a dying media. They’ll never die entirely, but they have become a niche market. An extremely competitive niche market, where specialty is no guarantee of survival. Especially for a monthly magazine. Here’s a hint Shane, take the magazines weekly. That’s just the start. Original content is a must, and you won’t able to compete with the newsites, so think People. Why do people like Shane? He’s normal for starters. He’s a guy that people can relate to. There’s people all over the world just like him, that most folks have met in college, high school, work, wherever. Cocky, arrogant, and a dick, but one that is met with amusement, not outright hatred. A guy you wouldn’t mind going drinking with. Maybe only once, but you’d still go. I’ve followed what sparse newsblurbs there have been about Shane, and they seem to back up this theory. At WM, Shane sat with the fans and just watched the show. As a fan. When rumors first started, about two years ago, of the Bret Hart DVD, the one guy who almost made the deal was Shane McMahon. Bret Hart was actually talking with Shane McMahon. When the deal broke down, Shane got him back. Now, we have a DVD in the making. Shane seems to be go-between for WWE and the wrestlers they have pissed off. Shane can make the connection. Not Steph and her creepy TV, but Shane and his common sense and normalcy. But the times have changed since Shane was a part of the WWE locker room. Shane has changed. Shane is now a father. That seems to be his priority. Wrestling is still a part of him, and I imagine always will be. But if his last outing is any indication, I’m not sure he wants to return to the small screen any time soon. A return would be welcome, but another Kane type feud is not what I want to see. No, a return to the small screen isn’t something I’d like to see if it means that Shane is going to be buried again. Better for me to think that Shane is still out there, and that maybe, some day, the backstage situation will resolve itself, and one more reunion can occur, and this time, it will be good. If having Shane off my TV means that this ray of hope can still exist, I’ll take it. After all, I’ll always have my memories of Rodney, Pete Gas, and Mean Willie Green to keep me going. That’s it for today. Yeah, it ended kind of quickly, but the last time I talked about how Shane was improving the website, and it was a success, well, it got taken away. And also, I’d rather not get into rampant speculation. It wouldn’t help things. But I just wanted to let folks know, Shane was supposed to come out and didn’t. I was disappointed with that. Maybe some others were too. Quick plugs and that’s a wrap. Sorry for the lateness, but damn, it’s sweet to see the Bears win, and then there was the White Sox finally bringing baseball back to Chicago. Oh and I hate you Chad Matthews. No tickets for Wevv. I was willing to fly back home to see Wrestlemania at the Rosemont Horizon (Allstate Arena, whatever). But tickets sold out in two minutes, and now the rumors are that front row seats are going for more than $5,000. FIVE FUCKING GRAND! JESUS CRHIST! Now that’s scary. So, my old media buddies back in Chicago, how about hooking up your old pal Wevvy? Mancow? Kev? Anyone? How about you Vince? Oh well, time to start making the rounds. You suck Chad. I hope there’s an accident on Mannheim that makes you late for the show. May your parking be over fifty bucks. May it take you five hours to leave the parking lot. Bastard. Of course if you get a Wevv Mang sign on air, all will be forgiven. I’ll even hook you up at Harry Careys. I know people. Well, I used to know people. I do have a Harry Carey shirt that Edge signed. QUICK PLUGS! The Movie Bar! The Movie Bar Forums The Project LOP Forums! LOP Columns Forum! LOP's Very Own PWA, Best E-Fed on the net. Period. All Your DVD Review Needs can be filled at : DVDFANATIC.COM Until Next Time, Thanks For Readin' and Thanks For Ridin' Wevv Mang mrwevv@mac.com Please label all email FEEDBACK. *NEW GALLERY* Brooke Hogan BOUNCING AROUND With Her New Toys! MUST SEE!
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