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Submitted by Tom Guzik on Sunday, August 26, 2001 at 2:07 PM EST
Gimmicks Die Hard The Weekly Rant - Tag Team Apathy It's really hard trying to figure out what the long-term future of the WWF is. I'm not sure whether we are all to assume that WCW is never going to be a separate company. Well that's what I thought, until a WWF Press Conference last week, where Linda McMahon stated that they are looking to split the companies in early 2002. Another indication of my doubts was the 'Unification' of two titles at WWF Summerslam. The WCW Cruiserweight Title seems to be now affiliated with the WWF Light-Heavyweight Title, and the Tag Titles have also merged. Or have they? The Tag Team situation is dire at the moment. I have nothing against Kane whatsoever, because after going through so many dud gimmicks, he finally struck gold with the 'Big Red Machine'. He's the only wrestler left that still keeps the 'cartoon-like' gimmick believable, and still he has not lost the mask. The Undertaker is really taking the piss though. The flaws are there for all to see. I know the WWF fans love him to pieces, but he's overstayed his welcome now. I hope I can rest my case because The Undertaker will never get another title shot again, but you never know. Mick Foley did the honourable thing and retired. Shawn Michaels had no choice, but to retire. Steve Austin had major neck surgery, and could of retired, only to return back to action and raise the quality of his matches to a new level. The Undertaker just won't quit. So my point is that the two guys are doing nothing but keeping the Tag Team #1 Spot warm, until the WWF get their asses into gear, and think of what to do next with the tag team situation. I feel that maybe we have seen too many Dudleyz vs. Hardys vs. Edge & Christian matches, in any order. Not sure what the WWF are doing with the Hardy Brothers. Matt Hardy seems to be happy with wearing the European Title, and Jeff is embarking on career suicide. He needs to stop taking these 'sick' bumps, as proved on Smackdown. I wonder whether it's Jeff who wants to do them, or the WWF keeps putting pressure on Jeff to do them. The Dudleys are on the road to nowhere at the moment. They had a hell of a lot more momentum when they were faces, but they seemed to have gone completely off the boil. Their style in the ring needs to change, and so does their entire gimmick. I just can't see where they are going as a tandem, I only wish the WWF would let them take the mic, and rip on the WWF fans. Edge and Christian seem to be the more exciting of all three 'TLC' teams, because they are playing the 'face-heel' role within a tag team. Edge is the face, and Christian plays the hell fantastically. Again, like before they really have not got anything else to do as a tag team, but as singles wrestlers, they have already planted the seeds for an eventual feud. The 3 above teams are obviously not going anywhere at the moment. I have a sneaky suspicion that we might see the new team of Big Show and Billy Gunn win the tag titles. I agree, it sucks, but there is nothing else. The WWF don't seem to have the reliance in Palumbo and O'Haire. APA are only there for the ride, as Bradshaw is destined to go at it alone. It's the 'tag team apathy' problem that comes around every so often. It happened in 1997, when the best tag teams that the WWF had were the Smoking Gunns, The Godwinns, and the Bodydonnas. This era of tag team wrestling was labelled as the worst ever. After a good two years of great tag team action, we are back to square one. What shall we do with the Tag Team Division?. Answers on the back of a stamp. News Bytes Interesting to see Jim Ross put his foot in his mouth, and then admit to it. Last week's 'Ross Report', JR was criticising the WCW wrestlers, and then the current injury list. Even referring to the wrestling in WCW as 'ballet'. Bob Ryder amongst others were quick to react to this, and even spurn Ross to update his report, and explain what he had written. I want to ask some questions if I may, and hopefully if Ross reads my column, he could update his report yet again. First question is "Does your BBQ Sauce actually exist?" and the second one is "If not, then how long has it been on the drawing board?" Summerslam in my opinion, was a good solid PPV. The Hardcore Title Ladder Match was excellent, and I enjoyed it very much. The WIC labelled the match as 'boring', with the only evidence to back up their claim, that it wasn't as good as past ladder matches. What the WIC forget to realise is that with every ladder match, the level of expectancy is raised to a newer level. Thus it gets to a level, where wrestlers would get seriously injured. RVD and Jeff Hardy tried something different, and refreshing. It was very enjoyable. I felt sorry for Chris Jericho. With a concussion, and the ring not in proper working order, he botched two of his 'big' moves. Everyone get's on his back and says that is the reason why he is not the WWF Champion. 'He botches too many moves'. If he does, then so be it, and I do agree he is a little scrappy around the ring, but how the hell is The Rock 6-Time WWF Champion, and he can't wrestle a lick. Two new inventions that have appeared over the last couple of weeks. 'The Rock Right Hand Counter'. Surely his matches can't be that boring, to then start counting how many times he hit's his left thigh! Honestly, as soon as Rock starts punching someone, watch his left hand slap his thigh because it's more interesting. The other invention, is to time the duration of each match, adding the totals together, and subtracting it from 2 hours. This gives you the total amount of wrestling action. Wow, what excitement again. I wonder who came up with that genial idea. Raw was pretty awful, but for the last segment. I thought the 'Austin Appreciation' stuff was funny as hell, especially seeing the ECW wrestlers sing. I'm glad it was a crap edition of Raw, because the crowd in Sacramento deserved being shown crap, for being the most non-responsive crowd in WWF History. On Sunday Night, the IWF has it's first ever PPV. It's called Uprising, and it will be taking place in the evening. If you are interested in having a look, or even having a go at roleplaying in an e-fed, check out http://www.iwfsuperstars.cjb.net ..and that my Friend's concludes another edition of GDH on LOP. Visit the e-fed, which I run, and sign up! - http://www.IWFsuperstars.cjb.net Thanks for Reading... and Remember you don't always need a Gimmick Tom Guzik & "Gimmicks Die Hard" © 2001 Exclusive to LordsofPain.net
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