Thoughtdown. 

First off the beer of the show this week was Warsteiner premium verum.  A nice beer.  Not as sugary as many other German beers and it doesnt have the sour taste I sometimes associate with German styles such as Heineken or the Chinese/German styled Tsing Tao beer.  Ill buy more.

The music is Robert Cray.  I like his voice and guitar playing but the 80s synthetic sound that surrounds that throws me off.  Ive listened to it multiple times already so thats a good sign at least. 

The morality problem.  Wrestling has become a big ball of self serving bias (people attributing good things to an internal cause and bad things to an external cause).  Id just once like to see a wrestler who had depressive realism (depressed people dont use self serving bias as much.)  For instance, wouldnt it have been cool for Zach Gowen to admit how little he had to do with his beating Big Show?  Sure he thanked others but shouldnt it have bothered him that I could have won a WWE contract the way he did?  I know I dont deserve this, I had very little to do with my victory over the Big Show.  In fact he was kicking my ass until Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle ran out and won the match for me.  I understand this but Im still going to take the contract and Ill just prove that I deserve it later.  In the storylines why did Zach Gowen deserve a contract?  As far as I could tell because A. it was his dream, and B. he had one leg.  Does every handicapped guy who wants in deserve to be in the company?

  Zach is good for one thing and they will blow that in this upcoming match against Vince.  It SHOULD become an unwritten law for a few months that you dont attack Zachs leg.  In a few months when you need to turn someone heel (lets say Benoit instead of the silly Rhyno thing they are going to do) you have Vince ask Benoit to take Zach out.  He refuses.  Vince being smart books Benoit in an I quit match vs Zach with the winner being the number 1 contender.  Benoit will struggle for a few minutes in the match before asking Zach to quit now.  When Zach refuses Benoit will savage the leg.  Absolutely brutally.  Kicking it when Zach cant even stand anymore. Till finally Zach has to quit.  Whoever the champion can do a segment condemning Benoit for going so low and doing what they had all agreed not to do.  Benoit can say that he didnt want to but YOU havent given me a shot so I had no other choice.  Its a little more interesting then the dumb Rhyno thing.  And you could do it with anybody.  Kurt Angle for instance.  What will they do?  Why of course Vince will attack the leg at Vengeance to show how evil Vince is for the 1000^th time.  Zachs a one trick pony you can get heat from attacking his leg one time.  They will blow it at Vengeance and accomplish nothing. 

I think Ill write more later on how wrestling needs to establish things that not even heels would do so that every year or so you can get someone a major boost by having them do that.  Does wrestling have any now? 

Stephanie just looks worse every week.  They need to take her breast down a size or two because no matter how big her breast are shes not going to be sexy right now, AND put more classy clothes on her.  Steph just cant do the sex pot thing but IN THE PAST (I dont know now) she could look good when they tried to make her look pretty as opposed to sexy.  Steph isnt sexy.  She could be pretty.  And. please for the love of god never book that woman to scream again. She sounded like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Thank you Toronto fans.  Thank you for giving a big FU to WWE creatives idiotic idea of turning Eddie heel.  Its clear they were positioning Eddie as a heel both from placing him against face Ultimo and then against face Billy Gunn (talk about a situation where the face will be booed) but the fans said NO we want to cheer Eddie!  Hopefully the WWE will grow some sense in the next week and book Eddie as a face next week.  Eddie is working as a face.  There really is no need to play with one of the few things that is working.

Kurt Angle is still a dork.  Right now the fans seem to be willing to cheer the dork.  He looked like a major dork rapping, but the fans cheered which is a good sign.  Itll be interesting to see how long that last.  Id keep Cena away from him because John is just to cool right now (he damn near turned the crowd again this week, actually he did for a bit) and long term the fans would turn on Angle for Cena.

Brock Lesnar is also a dork right now and that needs to end.  In the ring Brock is cool and people react to him. Outside of the ring hes death.  You can book him in more simple roles (such as they did while he was a heel).  This might work because Brock has such a great physical charisma. But they need to do something different if Brock is every going to become the draw they want him to be.  Tying him to Kurt Angle is a bad idea because then you get the dueling dorks.  Cena got a huge reaction just shaking his hands about Angle and Brock which shows many fans are thinking the same thing about that angle Cena is.

What else.  Eddie vs Ultimo got jipped.  Those two should have gotten 10 minutes to show just how good they are instead of the 3 they got. 

People love Rey.  Kidmans turn is so predictable its sad. 

Does Billy Gunn not still come off as gay.  I mean last time he was booked to spank Torrie and he spanked her about as stiff as a Sid Vicious punch.  This week he is booked to kiss her and I note that when the camera pans up Billy isnt kissing hes close but pulling away.  So we never actually see lip contact.  Again if Im in this angle Im saying Look Vince for realisms sake I think we need some tongue.  I know Billy is married but he still looks gay in this angle.  If he is not comfortable with the angle (understandable for a family man) he needs to say so and end it because this just looks awful.  BTW he still sucks in the ring. 

Will SOMEBODY in the WWE buy a clue on Jamie Knoble.  This guy can work like a madman, has charisma with his valet, and can get his character over on the mic.  He should be the top heel in the cruiserweight division.  Billy Kidman has no charisma and he is not as good in the ring as Knoble.  This is so stupid.  Kidman is still living off those carry jobs Juvy did in 1998. 

The main event was fun.  Brock sold really well until it was time to get on offense where he summarily dropped everything.  I loved the way he sold Charlies dropkick.  Looked like it really caught him.  The finish was fun as well and Brock still looked awesome despite jobbing.  Big Show is an effective heel.  He isnt good or anything but you can protect him and still get mileage out of him.  Hopefully Big Show after the match at Vengeance will come out of it strong enough to put over an up and coming face.  Lord wouldnt the fans eat up Cena badmouthing Show!  Eddie cheating to beat Show would probably work as well. 

Cena vs Taker could really launch Cena so it should be interesting.  Will this be another egofuck for Taker, another time to pay your dues kid match for Taker, or will Taker try to make a star.  Whoever goes over they need to put a lot of thought into the match.  Cena is just so not good in the ring right now that hes going to have to be carried to have a match that impacts people.  Taker is solid when he wants to be, but this is not generally his type of match.  They need to REALLY book this match so it is memorable (ala Vince vs Hogan) and does the trick of making Cena look like a real star. 

Thats all folks. 

The XPW rant intro and first 3 hype show

This should be an analysis to equal my WWE rant from a few months ago.  Each part will be published both on http://purotapes.tripod.com and http://www.xtremeforums.com if they get the main page up ever I may also put it as my first writing for http://www.smarkschoice.com .  The place to discuss anything I write would be over at Xtreme unless Matt Couch decides he doesnt want this stuff on his site which would be his decision.  If you go to his site from one of the others please be polite enough to not point out the obvious (xtreme should be spelled with an e).  Im sure he gets that all the time. 

XPW has gotten quite a bit of discussion in the past few months.  The range of beliefs on it can easily be seen simply by reading XPW fan sites or the XPW board over at xtreme and then contrasting that with XPW being voted worst promotion in the world by the Wrestling Observer.  The fact that XPW and  CZW even get considered for that award shows something.  They really shouldnt be considered in the same breath as WWE, New Japan, AAA etc who also got votes but yet they are.  Obviously on an objective measure the overall product of WWE or New Japan is almost certainly superior to XPW or any indy but they are being considered now in the same breath.  Meanwhile XPW has a growing net fan following who passionately believe that XPW is the future and will hope and believe possibly XPW could be the next national promotion.  Of course thats a pipe dream and XPW is much more likely to go out of buisness in 2 months then to go National in 2 years however if your comparing XPW to indies who draw about 150 people paid or so to a show then it also clearly just from brief watching isnt the worst promotion on the planet. 

This problem of separating the hype from the hate with the reality is why I am writing this.  I recently purchased off ebay 18 hours of XPW TV from August to December of 2002. The price was low.  Quality is  very good except I have a slight problem with rolling occasionally and it takes about 2 minutes when I start the tape for the footage to stop rolling regularly in case anyone wants to trade for these tapes.  These tapes should give me a very good idea of where XPW is and what direction they are going in.  This starts basically when Rob Black took a step back from XPW and gave almost total control of the company to Shane Douglas.  A person whose opinion I respect tells me that he used to hate XPW but once Douglas came in the company changed and vastly improved to the point where he really likes it.  My opinion will be unbiased by how good or bad it was before Douglas.  Ill simply be judging XPW as it is now under Douglas.  Also this review will be very nit picky but hopefully I will be able to nitpick the good equally as well as the bad (but if more is bad then good the reviews will obviously have more bad then good.)

The videos start out with 4 No Sleep Till Philly videos sent to a Philadelphia station to hype XPWs move to Philly from L.A. and its first show in Viking Hall called Hostile Takeover.  The main event for Hostile Takeover was Terry Funk vs Shane Douglas.  Evidently the point of issue is who made ECW.  Of course thats a tough issue to settle in the ring.  Its debatable really.  Its actually hard to decide that.  ECW always emphasized getting the company over more then getting the individual over.  Sabu, Sandman, Public Enemy, Raven, Funk, Dreamer, and Douglas were all important in a way but when any of them left for a period ECWs buisness did not suffer.  ECWs best period of growth coincided to Ravens run on top where his feuds with Dreamer and with Sandman were the focus.  Douglas was in the midcard feuding with Pit Bull 2 when ECW went to PPV the focus of the program was Sandman, Funk, and Dreamer chasing Raven.  ECW stopped growing when Raven left but wither that was Raven or ECW had just gone as far as it could is impossible to know for sure and I would lean towards ECW had gone as far as it could go.  However I would suggest that Douglas believes his hype and that possibly Rob Black does as well which shows when the myth becomes fact.. give all your money to the myth and ignore facts.  Really when you get down to it Paul Heyman built ECW and Paul Heyman destroyed ECW. 

The key thing to remember is that Douglas seems to believe his hype.  So we get down to question 1 to be answered at the end of the rant Is Shane Douglas more interested in expanding his legacy or in building XPW and its young talent and question two, Can Shane Douglas carry a promotion.    We may address some of these questions throughout but until the end no definative answer to my though though the message board might look at them and think on them. 

The hype videos show us a lot about Douglas.  Each video has one or more Douglas promos and except for an out of date promo by Funk no one else gets promo time in the hype videos.  Most of the Douglas promos were pretty standard Douglas egomaniacal fare.  The only one I liked was one from the la braia (sp?) tar pits to make the point that Rob Black and Terry Funk both needed to be there.  It was a nice historical twist on the standard Funk is dinosaur stuff. The feel of the promos with Douglas in locations with hot girl is very reminiscent of his initial anti pitbull promos with Francine.  Which is kind of a problem that Douglas is doing something almost exactly like what he was doing 6 years ago. 

There are a couple of pretty obvious problems with the promos.  The first is they needed to give some of their other talent time to talk to get over their issues and themselves.  Douglas is being Douglas so you really only need one promo to get across the point that Douglas is still doing the same thing.  From the videos it would be tough to have any idea what many of the issues really are.  At times the matches they show dont make things clear.  Angel vs Supreme match clips are shown.  It shows some major flaws in Supremes work as they dont bother the early teases and build to the first impact stuff that is so essential to a good deathmatch instead first spot Angel goes into the nails, then again, then head arm suplex into the lightbulbs.  Anyway the match ends on a scaffold when Douglas shoots tranquilizer darts at Angel so he falls off.  So the match is Angel vs Supreme at Hostile Takeover.  Now personally it seems the guy Angel should be pissed off at is Douglas.  If he doesnt cut a promo or do something to get even with Douglas he just looks weak.  The next is its tough to figure out what Douglas is.  I assume hes a heel but shouldnt he be a face from what hes done?  He took the title from heel Webb.  He ran heel Rob Black out of the promotion.  He has the hot girl.  Finally he is moving the promotion to Philly and dissing L.A.  So to me if I were in Philly Id think Douglas was a face except hes doing that sleezeball  and heel schtick he always does as a heel.

The best match clips that are shown are Damien 666/Halloween vs the New Panthers.  It looks like a pretty decent contest though you cant tell for sure.  The main crux of the hype shows are hype videos for various XPW wrestlers.  The videos are set to the wrestlers theme songs and show them beating big names and try to give you glimpses at their personality.  With a bit bigger budget they could have inter cut some promo bits into the video like the WWE does but they couldnt.  Still the videos show you some of the guys styles and let you know their theme music.  So I think they were good and a good idea. 

Thats about all that can be gleaned from the hype videos.  I may talk about a match on the 4^th one if its of note but for now that is part one.  Next time I should have opinions on the Hostile Takeover show itself assuming its shown in reasonable form on the succeeding TV.

NWA TNA Dec 18th 2001

Okay they are flooding Nashville with Free tickets. They are on the counters on Athalon Sports just to pick up. Only the floor seats did anyone pay for so maybe they got 100-150 paid. They had to move people from the bleachers to the floor after the first xplosion match because they were all related to this Kodiak guy who was debuting. Now here is a sad story. This guys whole family comes they pass out Kodiak signs pictures everything for him. He comes out they do a minute of sloppy stuff then he throws his opponent outside. He goes to the top and hurts his ankle on the savage axe handle so bad he can't put pressure on it. Kaos and his manager are kicking and stomping him. they role him back in. Kaos hits a bret hart second rope elbow drop and a legdrop to pin him.

The little girl in front of me gets this angry look and rips up the picture his family gave her and the fans on the other side of the arena start to chant loser at him as he is carried off. So his family leaves.

I was evidently abnoxious enough to drive them away which is good they were really annoying me and my friends with their desire to get on TV.

Jeremy Borash is the most unabashed cheerleader you can ever see. Before the show he tells us they are going to have a contest and whoever cheers the best will get to come back stage. Yes they were bribing the fans for pop. Jeremy also reminded us that the letters of the company name were T....N...A so if we like anything the wrestlers do let them know by chanting TNA. Well you know we could chant the wrestlers names but no chant TNA. Borash literally cheerleads during the matches signalling for a pop here or there. If you here a sudden pop that doesn't make sense it probably came from Borash. But he does a good job. The crowd was very hot for much of the show and these efforts probably didn't hurt.

Its a promotion that needs to clean house really. The X-division guys are just incompatable with the Hennig's, Harris Brothers, Disciples of the New Church and the BG James' etc. The crowd once they see the insane spotfest that the x-division guys throw out really arn't going to respond to anything else. So basically I'd say if you can't work at least a very fast paced and maybe even toss in a couple of missed spots they should get rid of them.

LOD if they were cheap arn't a total loss. Everyone but me I think popped like crazy for them and thought it was cool to see them. However I don't think LOD vs Harris Brothers will get any reaction whatsoever with the spot crazed crowd at least not for long. So if they are free you get the benifit of a sense of unpredictability. HOwever I doubt that will sell that many tickets.

The bad about the show is Russo was almost omnipresent. He was the star of the show. The heels were put over probably a bit to strong and the only ass the showed was for LOD who arn't a future star. The fans truely took to Red like crazy and really drafted him as the top face in the company. It was weird to watch it because for some reason in the first match I just decided me and my friends would cheer for Red we even tried to start some R...E...D chants but it didn't catch on. He was over but not super over. In the main event though everyone was absolutely crazy about the guy espiecally the kids (probably BECAUSE he's small). So it might have been a good idea to you know not job Red twice which really shat on the fans who just totally got behind the guy. Some Red's strikes espiecally kicks missed by a good distance and the red star press on Low-ki looked like a total miscommunication but it didn't matter he was our man.

Jose and Joel just came off like Red's partner which probably wouldn't be the best idea. Joel at the very least showed he could get across some intensity as he looked to be delivering a hell of a beating at times to Elix which I was enjoying.

Low-ki has very little charisma I think. But he works hard to interact with the crowd which is nice. Even after their segments Low-ki would heel it up with some fans to turn them against him. It was nice to see him trying so hard to give the live audience a little extra. Anyway 6 man was a spotfest but it was a fun spot fest that had the right amount of face in peril and the right face so it worked for me and probably less for me then just about anyone else.

I'm sure some will say Red was the star and he should have been and if the bookers have one lick of sense he will be next week but he wasn't this week. It was as AJ said Totally Non Stop Russo. He didn't kill the show for me but I would wager if I was a paying customer on PPV he would have. It was just way to much.

Sonny Siaki is just very underwelming. He didn't even show as much charisma as Low-ki which is sad. That match felt like only Jerry was any good and he wasn't good enough to hold it together or make sense of it. E.Z. Money didn't do much for me either which disappointed me. The Road Dogg match was horrid and I couldn't see the action well and the monitor didn't look good. I didn't get anyone more over and may have hurt Killings' heat.

So anyway as far as wrestling goes they need to either go totally x division or totally old school. The spot fest kills the other. Tone down the Russo. Put Red over big next week. Etc. But seeing it live it was fun to be there and I had a good time but I don't see how they stay in buisness.

Smackdown shows it all.

Smackdown this week will in many ways properly be praised as an amazing show.  Yes I know and believe that anytime someone pulls out a ladder experts everywhere pull out the proverbial ratings bong.  The Eddie vs Edge match is already getting vastly overrated but lets look at the show analytically to see things that are looking good and things that are looking poorly.

Eddie vs Edge- The match had several flaws such as the ladder being included for no reason other then to pop the crowd and rendering the first 10 minutes of the match totally pointless.  Then you go to the mindless killing of each other.  It was a fun match but totally wrong for several reasons.  1.  The last time Edge was in a gimmick blow-off match he got injured and was out for a couple of months.  These matches shorten careers and injure people. The WWE cannot afford to lose either one of these two guys.  Lucky for them though both are evidently healthy.  2. Obviously people paid to see them wrestle on PPV.  So why give away the blow off match for free?  Only midcarders have blow off matches for free and this sent that message.   Plus the match got silly which really hurt it. 

Benoit vs Angle vs Rey-  This was a hell of a lot of fun as well but again I have problems with the booking of it.  Some good things though were shown here.  One is that the fans have clearly decided Benoit is a face and seem to really be getting into cheering for him thats awesome.  Kurt is the best heel in the WWE right now and it shows that the fans enjoy booing him.  The plan was and I expected for Kurt to turn face through this feud but it hasnt happened and the WWE should defiantly scrap plans for Kurts face turn. Eddie was also getting a strong face response tonight.  Yes it was in California but it was still noticeable.  Would the WWE be wise to turn Eddie and Benoit face right now?  I dont know about anyone else but I could go for an Eddie and Benoit vs Brock and Angle feud leading to a Brock and Angle break up and match. I understand the thought of having Rey win in his hometown but this continues the running in circles process that all midcarders in the WWE are suffering from.  Benoit beat Angle and has a US match of the year candidate and gets a good entrance pop so the WWE capitalizes on his momentum by.jobbing him to a midget? Of course this will lead to a rematch where Kurt will probably cause Benoit to lose again killing all his momentum. Rey is good and all but due to his size he can never be more then a side attraction so I dont see the wisdom in hurting Benoits push. 

Brock and Taker-  Im going to write a cheappop for Brock pretty soon.  Hes just so impressive.  I dont like how hes being booked though.  It was nice to see how over Funaki is getting but Brock squashing him really didnt do that much for Brock.  Brock needs to destroy a midcarder to impress people but he really needs to go out there and have strong matches and go over strong to take the next step.  Hes capable when will the booking team wake up. 

You know Matt Hardy was getting over.  Last week the fans really seemed to be enjoying getting under his skin.  He seemed to be finding a nice gimmick that could solidify him as another solid midcarder.  Not to mention the match last week with Hurricane was exceptional.  Im really glad the respected locker room leader has taking it upon himself to elevate Matt.  Matt is so much better off after this show I mean lord he got 2 moves in on the Undertaker!  The Undertaker is better then Rock you know he destroyed Lesnar who destroyed Rock.  I mean Undertaker didnt even beat him with the Chokeslam that makes Matt look tough right? 

Anyway other good things-  Less Steph, Chavo getting time, the fun tag match.

WWE Really Sucks Part III

I left you off with a freshly turned Austin.  As I said before the evidence at the time did not actually support the now popular belief that the fans were just not willing to accept Austin as a heel.  Ratings (even adjusting for Nitros absence) were up the month following his turn.  The next month however the ratings took a down turn into the low to mid 4s where they have hovered a bit above and below since.   So it seems reasonable to assume that something happened in those two months that turned off a million fans.  Lets look at what happened.

How much of this is HHHs fault is tough to know it is possible that he just did what he was told.  The fact that what happened was to seriously weaken his top rival for the top spot is suspicious.   The WWFs logic was someone as despised as HHH could give Austin the heel rub. It was a stupid idea because by this point HHH was hardly despised in fact he was very respected, got a huge entrance pop, and the fans only booed him out of obligation.  They then said that with two top heels like Austin they could elevate all their young faces.  Again this is flawed logic as you had two guys the fans really respected and basically liked going up against people the fans didnt care nearly as much about.  Also putting HHH with Austin rendered pointless Austins No mercy job.

The obvious problem was that between HHH and Vince (two characters who cant play second banana) Austin basically had to play third banana.  He came off weak pathetic and like HHHs lap dog.  He wasnt the killer monster out of control heel we all knew he could be he was a loser.   It was to far of a jump for his character and without question hurt his viability.  

Remember now they were supposed to elevate young talent.  The first talent to get called upon were the Hardy Boys.  The Hardys were fresh off losing a typically spotty but memorable ladder match at Mania X7.  They were already by this point stale compared to how they had been just a year ago.  Despite that and their lack of mic skills I think its always a good idea to push the Hardys.  No Im not a Hardy Boys mark as much as Tim is but Matt and Jeff appeal very well to the female, the young, and Jeff and his stylish hankies appeal to the Homosexual demographic.  Its always a good idea to push people who broaden your market.  One of the things that helped the WWF during the dark years of the mid 90s was having Bret Hart who while not a great draw in America was huge internationally and in Canada.  Bret helped the WWF draw huge overseas and pull in some tidy profits when they needed them.   This is also why it would now be a good idea to tone down the sexism in the womans division since they are showing potential in the ring and its a good idea to appeal young girls which someone like Trish, with a less sexist character, might be able to do.   Such as Lita was actually doing during this period but especially the year before. 

To rant further its absolutely silly the way the WWE cultivates the fickle teen demographic at the expense of every other demographic.  If you have some cool wrestlers, some cool moves, some T&A you will keep a reasonable portion of that demographic. But the WWE just by going back to crash TV and sexist storylines and cussing will not win back a significant portion of that audience.  It will take an angle like the original NWO or a wrestler like Austin or the Rock to make wrestling cool again.  Just changing the format wont make those things happen and if they do happen the teen group will come without all the stuff that turns off every other group and makes wrestling an embarrassment in the medias eyes.  Right now the WWE would make more headroom cultivating females, younger children, and adults.  I would wager they could get some of those groups without turning off the teens if they would just not be so sexist and vulgar.  They could have some but it shouldnt be every interview or every female character.  I mean really Molly Holly looks like a normal attractive woman she could appeal to older men or girls but instead shes a prude with a big ass (even though her ass is within the normal range and really Trish has quite the buxom bottom.) 

See people this is why the WWE rants take so long to do because Ive gone 2 weeks and already written enough that I could publish it.  Anyway here is how the Hardys were elevated.  First they put on a good showing in a tag match getting good heat before Austin and HHH won and then destroyed Lita.   This was not a bad way to start.  Then Jeff got a big win of HHH  after getting squashed the whole match and with the help of a chairshot from Matt.   So far really not to bad.  Then the Game gets his revenge, squashing Jeff totally and then pedigreeing him with Jeffs only offense coming off cheating.  Then HHH squashed him again and pinned him as an after thought to help Austin in an outside brawl.  Oh yes the whole elevation of the Hardys had just been to segway HHH and Austin into the Undertaker and Kane feud. 

The problem with this feud wasnt that it happened.  Undertaker was a logical first challenger for the heel Austin while someone else was being built up if HHH couldnt do it. The fans were willing to watch this feud for a month but after that the terribleness of the matches caught up with the WWF and the ratings started to drop and drop fast I believe almost a point in a month. 

The WWF realized they needed to do something and fast so they panicked (for the first time of many) and gave the push two their most talented midcarders Benoit and Jericho. Benoit had been in a decent midcard feud with Angle that went to far to comedy to be effective for his character.  Jericho had been in a midcard feud with Regal.  Both had gotten into some issues with Edge and Christian.  This and some mutual issues with Regal lead to a respect pairing of the two.  They did a surprise teaming in a gauntlet match with the winners getting a shot at the tag champions (HHH and Austin).  They won to get the big shot at the top two men in the company.  

The match itself was wonderfully laid out.  With Benoit doing the majority of ring work  while Jericho worked the crowd.  It was probably one of the best matches in the history of WWE television.  The ending was slightly bad with HHH hitting Austin with the sledgehammer to cost his team the match.  However the crowd response was great anyway and the Benoit/Jericho push was off to an excellent beginning.  One immediate problem though was HHH got hurt in this match quite seriously.  This shouldnt have hurt the angle but I think it did.  Most likely the plan was to have Jericho wrestle Austin and Benoit wrestle HHH at King of the Ring.  That plus the tournament plus the freshly starting invasion angle should have guaranteed a reasonably successful PPV.  HHH going out I think might have caused the WWF to panic a bit quicker then they would have normally when things didnt immediately turn around for the Benoit/Jericho push.  Without HHH they felt they needed a possible title change so they booked it as a handicap feud which ended up making Benoit and Jericho look weak. 

It must be noted that things did not turn around for this push.  I think it was unfair though to expect that to happen though.  Benoit and Jericho had been booked poorly and hadnt been primed for this push.  The WWF had a substantial amount of downward momentum at the time.  The ratings freefall stopped during this period and who knows if they could have turned it around.  They only got two weeks before Vince pulled the plug. 

Paul Heyman reared his ugly head as well to hurt the push.  He came up with the brilliant idea of putting Benoit and Jericho in a four way TLC match.  It was another fun but spotty match.   The problem is that on one of the crazy bumps Benoit hurt his neck and lost feeling in one of his arms. Meaning that even if his push had been sustained Benoit wouldnt have been able to capitalize on it like he should have.

A further problem was that while Jericho had tremendous charisma with HHH he had terrible charisma with Austin.  Jericho was supposed to be the main guy to feud with Austin but they just never did click together.  Meanwhile Benoit turned out to be the best opponent for Austin since Bret Hart.  Due to his lack of charisma though management didnt have faith in Benoit to carry a feud with Austin.  They were silly though.  Austin has enough charisma for both of them and Benoit has a great physical presence.   With the right booking and the type of matches those two were pulling off it could have been a great feud. So at the King of the Ring Austin pinned Benoit.  Jericho had no heat as the crowd was behind Benoit or Austin in the match.  Jerichos push was dead till the Rock would single handedly revive it and Benoit needed neck surgury.

At the same time the invasion storyline has started off.  The feuds beginning was basically WCW guys running into matches and hitting a finisher and then running off often chased off by WWF wrestlers.  The real beginning though came when it was revealed that DDP was the mysterious stalker of the Undertakers wife.  DDP was probably the second biggest star the WWF had signed from WCW behind only Booker T.  Him revealing himself stirred immediate interest.  Then the Undertakers ego got in the way.  There was only one way to book the DDP vs Undertaker match.   They fight hard, DDP does something acts like an asshole, DDP hits the Diamond Cutter and serves notice that he is coming after anyone in the WWF and will do whatever it takes.  WCW had such a bad image for the feud to work they had to push it strongly to begin with and the only way to do that was to have DDP go over in the first interpromotional match.  Instead the Undertakers ego got stroked as he completely squashed DDP in the match.  Then the Undertaker squashed him even worse in every subsiquent match till even his wife got to pin DDP.  It killed DDPs, who should have been a hot item in the storyline, and hamstrung the invasion angle from the beginning.  Honestly with the exception of HHH no wrestler foots more blame for the WWFs collapse then the Undertaker. 

Booker T didnt help matter by in his first appearance getting overly excited and injuring Steve Austin.  The WWF locker room at this time was in full protect our spots mode and this gave them a another piece of ammo to hurl at the WCW guys.  In subsequent weeks WCW, who needed to be put over at this point,  got whipped, beaten down, run off, and humiliated.  The most startling example was when Austin and Kurt Angle basically kicked Booker Ts ass from the ring to the exit door.

I dont want to act like this angle was a sure success because it wasnt.  I think that people when they imagined WCW invading the WCW imagined these people in about this order:  Goldberg, Hogan, Flair, Nash, Steiner, Booker, Hall, DDP.   The feud was going to be a natural let down because they brought in the sixth and eighth guys only.   Ive always thought that had the WWF brought in Hogan, Nash, Hall, Flair Booker, and DDP all at the same time the angle would have worked better because they would have been fresh, and that crew would have been a realistic threat to the WWF.  Booker and DDP were not perceived as being on the level of Austin or Rock and the WWF wasnt going to do the hard steps that it was going to take to bring them up to that level.  The way theyve been brought in has defused the effect.   The deathblow to the feud was when the WWF had the bright idea of using Buff Bagwell in the showcase match for WCW.  It was one of the most disastrous matches in the history of Wrestling as the fans booed he and Booker out of the building.  This forced them to turn WCW heel.

The WWE Really Sucks Part II

I left you at the build for Summerslam.  The stage had been set quite easily for a rematch between Benoit and Rock after Foley screwed him out of the title at Fully Loaded.  However as I already pointed out to the detriment of Jericho HHH wanted back in the title picture.  This left Benoit and Jericho out of the picture so after their elevation they were right back fueding with each other as they had been before they were elevated.  HHH vs Rock had been done to death and the buyrates for their Iron Man Match at Judgement day was okay but didnt say that the public was demanding another match between the two.  Plus HHH was in the love triangle angle with Angle (pretty cool alliteration their dont you think.)  So even though Angle had just been squashed by Undertaker he got thrown into the title match.  The problem with this was several fold.  First off Angle hadnt been built for the title.  Second the fued was between Angle and HHH so Rock literally floated around aimlessly for a month without doing anything notable.  HHH was being booked like the top man in the company even though Rock was over on a level that only Austin and Hogan have ever reached. 

The result of all this was the very disastrous HHH face turn.  The problem here was that people really were interested by the love triangle and how it would end up their was only one way for it to end.  That was with Stephanie leaving HHH for Kurt to both elevate Kurt and to give HHH his just deserts for how he got her in the first place.  Instead first Kurt (who if you remember got huge face pops early when he was screwing HHH over and especially when he first kissed Steph or hugged her or anything) became the special fella (or gay) which killed his face momentum so HHH ended up being the one turned.  Then of course they never payed off the angle supposedly because HHH could never be left by any woman or it would weaken his character.  The payoff was simply Stephanie low blowing Kurt to choose HHH over him.  Then the angle was basically dropped as Rock got the task of putting Kurt over and HHH went off to feud with Benoit for insulting the honor of his wife.

WWE hadnt lost hardly any momentum since losing the biggest man in the business, Steve Austin (in ways they had gained it).  Since Austin had left Rock and HHH had established themselves as true main eventers, the Undertaker had returned with a fresh persona, and Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Kurt Angle were all on the verge of super-stardom.  Now Austin was back and not only back but with his neck better, his body healed to some extent by being away from the bumps for months, and determined to prove that he was still the best in the business.  Business should have been ready for another boom but things actually started to decline.  One of the reasons has already been discussed in the failure to pay off the Angle/HHH/Stephanie angle which the fans had invested in.  Another was the piss poor booking of the Rock who had been carrying the company in Austins absence and the final was how Austin was used.

First off Austin was brought back anti-climactically.  He showed up at Unforgiven promising to look for his assailant and just basically stunned Steve Blackman and Shane McMahon.  Then Austin wondered around aimlessly arguing with Foley while the booking committee decided who the hell ran over him.  Many have questioned the selection of Rikishi but I think it could have worked.   The first problem was Rikishi wasnt built up prior to the revelation.  He wasnt even really being pushed that hard so while it was a shock it was a disappointment.  Rikishi gave a good (in wrestling terms) explanation on why he did it.  His reason of doing it to help the Rock was the perfect way to drive a wedge between the Rock and Austin for the slow build to Wrestlemania.  Rock would have been the innocent man wrongly impuned by a family member he used to respect and Austin would have been the increasinly paranoid victim going about getting revenge in the totally wrong way.  Rikishi would help the Rock but Rock would reject it for their feud which Austin would constantly be sticking his nose into against both.  It basically booked itself. 

However while the initial part of the angle were handled well as I said the build to the angle had been flubbed  and Rikishi and Austin just really didnt have chemistry in the ring.  He wasnt a good opponent for Austin to work the rust off against such as a guy like say Benoit would have been.  The fact that Austin and Rikishi were bad opponents made many fans feel wrongly that Austin was washed up and going to have to live off his legacy.  The first sign that we had the best Austin we had seen in years was when he delivered consecutively his best matches in years against first Benoit and then Angle late in the year.  However it took some fans such as Ehren, JD, and Justin (the http://cpwtapes.tripod.com boys) time to realize that Austin was all the way back.  With fans thinking Austin was Hogan and the fued stalling HHH came in to save the day. 

HHHs babyface turn hadnt really worked like anyone really hoped.  He wasnt accepted as a top face he was clearly beneath Rock and Austin and was really jousting with Undertaker and Jericho for number 3 in the fans hearts.  A heel turn was honestly needed for HHH the problem was again the WWE obviously hadnt planned on it.  HHH at the time was locked in duel feuds with Benoit and Angle the number 2 heel and the number 1 heel/champion respectively.  (I know if your wondering how the number 3 face was feuding with the top two heels at the same time while Rock was doing almost nothing you just remember the booking around HHH serving only him is a pattern.)  Basically one show Austin realized that Rikishi must be a henchman and started to search for the real mastermind.  HHH reminded him to his face DTA then later in the show attacked Austin and revealed he in fact was the mastermind.  HHH turning heel hurt four people.  First it hurt Austin who looked like Sting for trusting HHH who had been the set up man in the original angle and the man he was feuding with at the time.  Next it took Rikishi from being the self validated heel to being a mere pawn for the Game.   Then it left Benoit and Angle without a real fued.  They had to scramble together an Angle vs Undertaker feud and Benoit got to try to carry Billy Gunn through a feud something the Rock couldnt even do. 

There was another problem.  HHH was injured and needed time off.  As he usually does he sucked it up and worked through it but it basically guaranteed another bad match for Austin.  The abject failure of this to save Austin is shown by the fact that with this appealing match on top Survivors Series did the lowest buyrate of the year.  It also coincidentally was the only card of the year when Rock wasnt in at least the co-mainevent.  Its mind boggling that HHH won wrestler of the year over Rock and people to this day say HHH carried the WWF while Austin was gone.  There isnt a shred of real evidence that points to anyone but the Rock being the guy who the fans were paying to see that year.  Survivors Series also marks the beginning of the Stephanie era as head booker.  As much blame as she gets I think Ive shown the WWF was already being booked poorly before she took over.  Of course this PPV is notorious for the dumb finish in the main event where HHH was dropped 20 feet in a car and suffered only minor  injuries. 

The next month as Benoit and Jericho continued to work pointless midcard feuds  the main event featured the top 6 men in the buisness  Undertaker, Rikishi, HHH, Angle, Rock and Austin in a Hell in the Cell match.  The build up only further established how unimportant Angle was as champion.  Angle and Rikishi were both played as pawns for HHH (yep after their feud Angle was HHHs lackey).  Rock wondered around aimlessly even longer as none of the storylines leading to the match revolved around him. Now the wear and tear started to show on the Rock.  The match ended with Angle pinning you guessed it The Rock again (no one else in this match could job of course) after Rock ate a Stone Cold Stunner.  To put over the match HHH took a few weeks off while a quickie Austin vs Angle feud was happening.  Jericho and Benoit went back into a feud with each other of course and the Rock was still wondering around aimlessly. 

By this time more people were noticing Austin had turned it up a notch and in early January he had one of the best WWF TV matches in years against Kurt Angle for the title.  HHH cost Austin the title and they did a memorable staredown and post match brawl.  HHH of course inserted himself back in the title picture.  The plan had been for Jericho and Angle to tangle for the title but evidently they werent over enough so we got a heel vs heel match which never works.

At Royal Rumble Austin cost HHH the title.  Jericho and Benoit had a fun ladder match and Rock was eliminated by Austin.  Since Rock vs Austin was the money match it was quiet obvious that whoever didnt win the rumble would win the title at No Way Out but the WWF went about it the wrong way.  With the plan being to turn Austin heel he should have been champion instead of challenger.  The WWF was already working a difficult situation having the match in Texas.  Ive always noticed what I call the champions disadvantage when it comes to crowd heat.  The fans want to see a title change and its hard to route for the guy who is already there.  So in a face vs face match the challenger has a distinct advantage for cheers.  Look at Warrior vs Hogan were Hogan was more over before and after but for that one match the crowd was probably pro Warrior.  So the crowd which may well have favored Austin anyhow was even more in favor of him in the build up to his heel turn. 

In the interim Rock got his formal win over Angle and Austin lost to HHH clean.  Now of course HHH pinning the top face clean seems strange especially before he is scheduled to main event the biggest PPV ever.   The logic was sound actually.  When Austin turned heel HHH would be strong to be his first challenger.  They could carry the company till Rock came back and they could do the Rock and Austin rematch.  The first sign this plan had been changed was at Mania when HHH lost to Undertaker.  Clearly HHH should have won this match to clearly situate him to challenge Austin as a face but instead HHH put Taker over (Taker being no threat to take his spot) so Taker could be Austins first challenger.  Again HHHs selfishness hurt the company.   HHH didnt want to be the first challenger since he would then have to put Austin over strongly to build him for the Rock and to seal his heel turn.  Clearly HHH absolutely couldnt be used to build someone!   So instead of putting over Austin he sabotaged him. 

At Mania of course Austin won the title and joined Vince.  The next night HHH cost Rock the rematch to join forces with Austin while Rock went off to make The Scorpion King.  There is a myth that  the ratings dropped because the fans werent will to accept Austin as a heel.  The fact that the ratings went UP the first month with Austin as a heel would seem to argue against that.  No fans werent willing to accept the product they were given and part of it was how Austin was booked as a heel but this rant is long enough so that will have to wait till next time. 

The WWE just really sucks

This may be my definitive column on the WWE.   Im just absolutely and positively sick of watching them and writing about them. Im almost to the point where I was with WCW during the Nash era.  The shows are just really bad and I dont know how many different ways there are to say that.  The political BS just makes it that much worse as it did with WCW.  When you have Shawn Michaels out their cutting bull shit shoot promos accusing the Rock of doing to HHH what HHH has done to the Rock, the writing team wanting to sacrifice Steve Austins credibility for a one week rating pop, Vince becoming more a part of the show then ever,  that young up and comer Ric Flair being elevated to the top babyface position, Eddy getting jobbed to hurt Austins credibility if they ever feud, and X-Pac getting bookings changed all the times as if he actually matters all IN THE SAME DAY its just beyond frustrating.  Its getting to Hogan, Nash, and Torrie Wilson in the hot tub bad.  Smackdown is almost as bad everyweek as I have to watch HGH stink up my television and squash all the people who entertain me. I have to watch the original HHH pose, cut insincere promos, and stink up the show as only he can and as he has done for generations.  I get to watch them kill the show.  As Hogan has done for years,  he was one of the reasons I hated WCW and the WWE was idiotic to think they could make it work because they wouldnt make the mistakes WCW made.  And as HHH has since the middle of 2000 when he became secure in his spot and his power and became more lazy and started more clearly defining his terrible agenda. 

This bad booking however did not just begin.  Some would argue the WWF was booking poorly in 1999.  Looking back at those shows from 1999 they certainly do suck.  Ill just go from 2000 when I started to notice signs  of problems.  While I do Ill try to relate some stuff back maybe even show some patterns that have lead the WWF to where they are now:  a company in a state of panic.

Lets flashback.  If you dont believe the timeline I offer for my feelings you can ask Tim about them he can confirm that I was worried about the WWF long before most people were.   My initial problem with the WWF arose during the McMahon/Helmsley era.  I hated those shows.  You had the endless boring HHH promos and the never ending stream of Handicrap matches meant to get him over as an out of control heel.  I was frustrated but their was some good for instance youd get the odd HHH vs Rikishi match that would just totally deliver beyond your expectations.  Foley might cut a great promo etc.  WWF seemed to realize their problem quickly and went into one of their best periods ever over the next few months in every way.  Great TV and great PPVs doing better business then the WWF had ever done before.  The WWF had the future leading the way in the Rock.  The first sign of the problems that have eventually brought the WWE to their knees came in Febuary of 2000 when the Radicals invaded.  Money in the bank had arrived.  With the ratings war still going on the reigning WCW champion jumped ships a rare opportunity and one that created an immediate ratings bump.  While Benoit isnt top draw material by himself the situation allowed the WWF the chance to make him into that despite his personality shortcomings as well as make stars out of Malenko, Saturn, and Guerrero.  First they jobbed them out to DX then within a week Benoit couldnt even get a clean win over Rikishi.  All the momentum they had was killed and a potential huge money angle was lost so as to not upset the existing hierarchy.  Let me just make this clear again people challenging the existing hierarchy draws money if done right and always has.    People will pay to see someone try to take someone elses spot its interesting and it takes very little creativity to do.  To go off on a side rant I think that could be one of the WWEs problems.  I think the booking team simple over thinks everything.  Wrestling is at its core very simple good guy vs bad guy works.  Number one guy vs number two guy works.  You did X that made me angry now Im going to do Y to you is the basic formula of wrestling.  I think the booking committee is of the mind that their creativity and humor is what gets people over.  People cant just get over because of their talent they need help.  People who do just get over because of whatever reason like RVD did get run around in circles.  Plus you have these intensely complicated storylines focusing around midcards with no character depth.  How many love triangles do we need.  Hello Stephanie Maven isnt more over, Tajiri is less over so their fued isnt working.  Torrie was getting Tajiri heat with those geisha outfits but now she isnt getting Maven heat just getting herself heat.  Simple stories propelled by characters with some depth would work about 10 times better then this crap. 

Anyway the WWFs main goal at the start of 2000 was to get HHH over as a big time heel.  The whole machine was behind getting him over and everyone in the company basically was called on to put him over (please contrast this to how everyone since then has been handled).  It even got to the point where HHH became the first heel ever to win at Wrestlemania over the Rock who should have been ascending to the spot of unquestioned number one.  This was the first sign that the Rock was going to get treated like any other top babyface before him had been treated.  Before every top babyface won almost all their matches over whatever odds presented to them.  Rock would be different failing often.  When Rock won the title at Backlash his title reign lasted only one month.  This was a totally dumb move.  HHH getting the title in the ironman match which should have been the blowoff match where the former champ puts over the top babyface clean and they both move on to other things.  Instead we get another title change and then the next month Rock wins the title back without even pinning the champion.  This if your interested was the first sign that not all was as it seemed with HHH. Here he had politiced himself out of the feud with Rock without ever putting Rock over and winning their biggest match (the Ironman.)  It was brilliant on his part but horrible booking on the companys fault.  The Rocks natural charisma was enough to survive this insult but HHH and company would riddle him with so many bullet holes that eventually he would show the wear and tear. 

The HHH vs Rocky feud had been done to death and everybody knew it.  Naturally seeds had already been planted for HHH next feud.  Jericho in a RAW match had for 17 minutes won the World title from HHH.  The fans showed that they were absolutely ready to accept Chris Jericho as a main eventer.  The feud was built nicely with Jericho insulting HHHs wife to build his ire.   Meanwhile Chris Benoit got tapped as the Rocks ceremonial first opponent.  A quick program was done to set up the match.  Shane McMahon came on as a manager for Benoit and a number one contenders challenge was made.  Interestingly enough to get a shot at the Rock Benoit would have to beat the Rock.  In truly awful booking to build up a match for a PPV not only did they give the match away for free but Benoit lost the match.  Benoit got the spot anyway but during the whole build up never got a win over the Rock.  Jericho got some heat on HHH usually running in during his matches (HHH eventually outsmarted him on this one by doing a fake match with X-pac so when Jericho ran in they could ambush him.)   Kurt Angle who had just won the King of the Ring got to take on the Undertaker.  So it was set up three up and comers would take on the top three men in the company.  One of them had to win (logic suggested Jericho.)   However they all lost.  Angle was squashed by Taker.  HHH dominated the last man standing match but Jericho did get a nice run of offense and HHH just barely won by a second (although as I said HHH did dominate most of the match.)   Benoit and Rock did a nice back and forth match with lots of interference from Shane and Benoits hand was held up after the ref made an erroneous call  to DQ the Rock.  (See instead of building Benoit up as a threat to take the belt the WWF decided to say Rock could lose the belt by DQ.  That way they could say Rock could still lose the belt if he lost his temper.  Foley came out and restarted the match and Rock made short work of Benoit.)   In and of themselves were detrimental to the lossers the fact that all the up and comers had lost though spoke volumes.   The worst thing came the next night though when HHH made his first stab to destroy Jerichos heat.  Jericho came out and cut an impassioned promo about the match and admitted he lost but said he would improve and asked for another match.  HHH in a nice piece of psychology wouldnt even come out but instead just appeared at the Tron (see Jericho wasnt even worth going to the ring for.)  Basically saying it was a good match but Jericho couldnt get the job done and wasnt on his league and that he was done with him and that HHH had more important business to attend to. Amazingly at the time no one that I can remember understood how thoroughly HHH had just undercut Jericho.  The fact that Jericho just took it like a lamb and didnt even try to provoke HHH into another match was even further damning.  After all the insults and heat and blood Jericho wasnt even worth a trip to the ring.  Jericho would never again get as close to being accepted as a true main eventer. 

 Next time HHH and Angle do the first Stephanie love triangle,  Austin returns and Steph gets the book. 

Almost anytime a promotion is in the doldrums a call is made to elevate new talent to the top.  Its a simple theorem really.  Fans like to see different people pushed to the top so they can see fresh matches.  Also its pretty damn exciting to wonder if some young guy is going to be able to unseat somebody ahead of him on the hierarchy.  In general this is true although I think less so in Japan then in America.  In Japan the more emphasis on athletics and competition lend itself to a stiffer hierarchy working.  The question is watching to see this person struggle slowly up the ladder facing stiff opposition getting a big win then getting beat back down.  For instance from 1993-2000 Kawada chased Misawa in All Japan and I dont think ever passed him.  He got wins he got pins but Misawa was always the man (until early 2000 when Kobashi finally ousted him.)  American wrestling of course emphasizes stories at least equally to the in ring product.  So its important to have fresh people for fresh stories.  You can do an endless amount of matches between two people if the emphasis is athletic (if the Lakers and Kings meet next year and play 7 I think it will do good business) but in an angle driven company there is only so far you can go with the story lines for two people. 

However is it true that fresh faces have to be elevated to create a hot period.  Well the only was to tell is to look at hot periods.  The WWF from 1984-1990 was extremely hot and did huge buisness.  This boom started with the elevation of Hogan to being the franchise player and they fed Hogan an endless stream of different heels.  During this period Savage was elevated and at the end Warrior was elevated.  Then the next has to be WCW from 1996-1998.  This hot period you had the new players come in (Hall and Nash) and they added a shocking turn to it.  The hot period lasted for a couple of years off the momentum of those three men and then was sustained somewhat in 1998 by the accession of Goldberg.  Then their was the WWF from 1997-2001 this period coincided with the rise of Steve Austin in 1997-1998, the rise of the Rock in 1998-1999, and the rise of HHH in 1999-2000.  After HHH was established as a elite guy no one else reached that level and eventually the surge died and has been in regression as of late.  However while all these booms coincided with new stars being pushed they also coincided to a change in booking philosophy.  From 1984-1990 you had the more cartoonish gimmicks marketed for kids.  In WCW from 1996-1998 you had more rational and dramatic storylines in the main events mixed with a more athletic and exciting undercard ring style.  The WWF of course from 1997-2001 brought in attitude, it should be noted though the most financially successful year of the WWF was 2000 which was post attitude. 

While like most things hot periods are probably caused by a multitude of things lets just say that elevating talent is one we are pretty sure is part of it.  The question becomes how do you elevate new talent.  Well my experience is that it is not brain surgery.  There are also more then one way to do it.  Lets try to except guys like The Rock or Hogan who just clearly were going to be the next big thing unless the company had a total brainfart on them.

The first guy Id like to look at is Bill Goldberg.  Bill Goldbergs run equals about the easiest way to push someone.  What happens is you find a guy with a great luck and good physical charisma and then you push.  You put them over everybody that stands in their way gradually moving them up the card.  Then you get to the main event and you put them over all but a few people on route to the title, never jobbing them.  Then you slowly run the people who havent been routed past the monster.  WCW failed in the next step of finding a young talent to instantly elevate by putting them over the monster.  Of course if you think of Hogans 84 push the WWF never put any over him (till Warrior) and they did quite good business.  The benefits of this push are obvious.  First off since you start small you have plenty of time to gauge how well this guy is building before you pull the trigger on the final stage of his push.  If you have the right guy for this push it is basically guaranteed to make a star.  Goldbergs push did have its failings though.  First off he became almost bigger then the company.  Everyone else looked like a joke next to him so it was very difficult to get behind anyone else.  Also when WCW tried to make him vulnerable it was hard for the fans to accept.  He was built off being larger then life and invincible.  Once he was no longer invincible many of his fans went away.  However again Hogan is a good example of someone who got this push and made lots of money who the WWF never made beatable and drew them great money for years. The final problem is this push gives the wrestler so much so fast that it is a huge risk that they may get a swollen head. Guys who could benefit from this type of push: obviously the WWE believes Brock Lesnar.

The next example is the Misawa example.  At the start 1990 Misawa was a very strong upper mid-carder with lots of potential.   By the end of it he was a main-eventer and the protagonist in the hottest feud in wrestling.   At the start of the year Baba had a pretty nice arrangement.  His top star was Jumbo Tsuruta beside Jumbo as the top native was Stan Hansen.  Genchiro Tenyru was challenging for Tsurutas spot while Terry Gordy was challenging for Hansens spot.    Gordys partner was Steve Williams who was a firm number 3 native.  Baba had an absolutely awesome mid-card featuring Misawa (under the Tiger Mask), Kawada, Kobashi, Doug Furnas, Dan Kroffet, Kikuichi, Taue, Fuyaki, the Great Kabuki, and Masa Fuichi.  A pretty awesome roster from top to bottom.  Then around April Tenyru left the company to form SWS eventually raiding several off the companies names including Kabuki and Fuyaki among others.  However Tenyrus departure meant that there was nobody to challenge Tsuruta and no angle for him.  So Baba swallowed hard and picked a top mid-carder, Misawa, and made a star.  There is a myth that Misawa was made a star on one day.  It was a quick process but it was a process.  First Baba started the feud, then Baba gave us a video package moment, Misawa ordering Kawada to unmask him and then throwing the mask at Jumbo and attacking.   Then they did a great heat up match where Misawa pearl harbors Jumbo with a vicious elbow heard round the world which Jumbo sells for like five minutes before going ballistic and having a mega brawl with Misawa which is inconclusive.  Just the fact that Misawa was so able to damage and anger Jumbo with one elbow gave him credibility.  The fact he won the match, but not by pinning Jumbo, only added to the build.  Then they did the match June 1 st 1990 at the Nippon Budokan Misawa scores the upset pinning Jumbo clean.  Everyone sells it like this is a huge moment.  Misawa is carried around on the shoulders of Kawada and Kobashi as if to say he has arrived.  From their Jumbo and Misawa feud with Jumbo winning the next three singles matches but Misawa getting several clean wins over Jumbo in tag matches.  The lessons from this totally successful push are many.  First off Misawa wasnt just suddenly given the big win.  It had a short but effective build up to it.  The build established Misawa as a threat so that his big win didnt come off as a fluke.  The next thing is that the win doesnt have to be decisive but it does have to clean and it needs to not look like a total fluke.  Jumbo sells well for Misawa throughout the match.  And while normally the progression of events leads to a Jumbo win it isnt a squash.  Then the win is followed up.  Misawa is not suddenly better then Jumbo, Jumbo still is in every way the man, but Misawa does get the better of Jumbo and beat Jumbo and Jumbos team many times and takes him to the limit in their next two singles matches.  A guy who would benefit from this would be Edge.  You work an Edge and HHH program like this and there is a good chance youve created a new star. 

Ive heard many people say that to much damage has been done to people like Jericho, Angle, and Benoit for them to ever be seen as credible main-eventers.  I dont believe that can ever be true.  A simple retooling is often all a person needs to overcome any damage.  For instance something as simple as a new and effective finisher can be spun as the difference maker between a jobber to the star and the ace of the company.  New Japan was trying this with Manubu Nakanishi and his Frank Gotch German Suplex hold but they werent willing to stay the course or I should say Inoki is a moron. One has to look no further then Steve Austin to see a wrestler who had to be considered damaged goods in 1996 but a simple retooling of his gimmack added to a new finisher was all he needed to become the biggest name in the sport.  HHH is another example of a guy who looked to be just way to damaged goods to ever be able to get over in mid 97 but by the end of the year he was part of the hottest heel group in wrestling.  The change was a total retooling of his character.  Now HHH is an example of another way to make a wrestler.   The try, try, try, try, try, and try again method.   First they tried the blue blood gimmick which never got over.  Then they gave him Chyna which got him some heat but not enough,  still they gave him the King of the Ring.  Then they made him part of DX which gave him a mildly successful run as a heel and then a awful babyface run that got over mainly because of two words.  Then they turned him back heel and gave him wins over Rock, Austin, Foley, and the title but he still wasnt that over.  Then they put him with the bosses daughter and gave him total control of the company in the storylines and he still was only mildly over.  Finally Foley put him over clean repeatedly and then they put him over Rock again at Wrestlemania and HHH was finally over enough to justify his spot.  Of course this only lasted a little while but still the WWF did it they made HHH a money drawer.  The lesson is that if you have someone you believe has what it takes it can be very rewarding to keep shoving them till the fans accept them.  Of course if its that hard then the benefit may not be as much as the risk.  For instance did the WWF really benefit from HHH getting over?  They could have firmly established the Rock as a franchise player but they choose to try to make HHH equal to him.  The Rock has been hurt by all the losses hes had to take to try to keep people close to him.  Also if you pick the wrong guy you risk a fan rebellion.  That didnt happen with HHH because he worked hard to deliver.  The WWF was one step away from doing that with Billy Gunn and that would have been a disaster.   A guy who could benefit from this push would be Kurt Angle. 

There are more examples then these.  Its not super complex you just look at what got over people in the past.  Sometimes with a guy such as Bret Hart its just perseverance.  Bret worked his ass off for years before finally getting the main event push.  The fans had learned to respect Brets determination and talent.  When the WWF finally decided to give Bret the big push the fans agreed that Bret had earned it and were very responsive.  Bret didnt have that charisma that is necessary to become a huge draw but Bret was a rock of stability for the WWF during a hard time and eventually a rock they used to build Steve Austin with.  A man who could be that rock for the WWE is Chris Benoit. 

Solutions for the WWF. 

I don't do this very often.  And as always I'm not going to do any fantasy booking because its Masterbaitory and I know that.  However I will set out a mission plan the WWF should follow.  Point by point.

1.  Kurt Angle needs a mega push.  For the past few months one thing has been perfectly clear.  Kurt Angle is the most over heel in the company.  The fans truely enjoy getting on Kurt's case and his work has been fantastic to back it up.  Kurt just got a US MOTYC out of Edge of all people.  The first one Edge has ever had really (ladder matches are all overrated remember.)  Basically Kurt right now can make people look better then they are which is a great quality in a top heel.  So its time to give Kurt a mega push where you put him over everyone in the company clean ala Triple H in 2000.  Its time to elevate Kurt to equal status with Austin, Rock, and HHH speaking of whom.

2. Depush HHH till he is ready or able to work-  At the moment HHH is one of the most intolerable things to watch on TV. His promos drone on forrrrrrreeeeeeevvvvvverrrrrrrr.  He never says anything worth while and its just getting old listening to the announcer's blowing his cock about how great he is for this or that when he hasn't shown shit since he came back.  The only thing more boring the a HHH match it seems is a HHH promo.  He should put over Angle now not later.  Taker, Hogan, and HHH are all in the same boat in my oppinon as far as guys who should be used to elevate other talent. 

3. Find some people to fued with Austin-  Steve Austin is the best guy in the WWF. Steve Austin is the best draw in the WWF.  Steve Austin is stale.  Austin's what stuff is cute and should be kept but Steve needs to turn it up with some hell fire and brimstone promos as only he can cut.  Of course on of the main problems is that Austin doesn't have any good opponents.  The only solution is to put the belt on him feed him some heels from both shows till you've got Kurt ready to take the belt off of him.  The split going to work of course but the WWF is determined to do it so the only way to make the most out of your top star at the moment is to have him on both shows.

The owners problems- First off they shouldn't turn Flair heel no matter how bad he wants that.  It never works for long and just isn't the proper usuage for him at this time. Vince is to present on smackdown.  He's stale and him living out his masterbaitory fantasies on our television is just getting so fucking old.  No McMahons on my TV would be so fresh.  

Hypnotize the Rock into not being a movie star- NO comment needed.

Really its not complex.  Hogan is tanking again after a strong buyrate start.  Take the belt off him.  Build around guys who can go Austin, Jericho, Angle use the guys who can't go anymore to put them over.