by Scotty Szanto-Nicodemus
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

Nic Diamond wrote:
Now that I think about it, the thing that has ruined 
wrasslin' for me is probably the fact that it is presented 
live too often.  Wrasslin' is a dubious form of entertainment to begin with, and sometimes (as would be the case for RVD matches) wrasslin' benefits from the editor's knife.

Jeb Lund responded:
That's a good point, and you ought to write a column about it.

 …And that’s how we got to where we are right now.  Jeb had written a column discussing RVD as over-rated, and in my reply I stated that if Van Dam was still given 15-20 minutes for a match and then it was edited down to 5-10 (as in the old ECW days), then RVD’s artistry would possibly come through.  You see Jeb’s response.

I didn’t want to do it at first.  I am a recapper, and I feel uncomfortable writing opinion pieces.  Back in ’97-’99 I wrote mostly opinion pieces for various bush-league websites.  It didn’t really get me anywhere, and I believe that it might even have precipitated my fall from wrasslin’ fandom.  When WCW was becoming unwatchable, my discomfort with the program was doubled by the fact that I was looking for something to rant about while I watched.  That’s why I like recapping so much…it affords me the opportunity to watch as a pure fan, holding a pen in my hand only to record the memorable high spots.  So how does that lead us to the column that you are reading now?

Well, my wrasslin’ watching has diminished to less than an hour per week these days, and I was slowly over the course of a couple weeks putting together a recap of the Brian Pillman Memorial Event from 2000.  I was a little less than halfway done (I still haven’t re-watched the Benoit v. Regal match) when the Ring Of Honor DVD that I had ordered arrived.  So I put the Pillman tape back onto the back burner, but there still wasn’t enough time to watch and recap the ROH show…

By the way, I have watched parts of the ROH show, and what I have seen is fantastic!  I haven’t watched the 4-Man 60-Minute Iron Man Match yet…in fact, I have only watched two or three of the matches, but I have watched most of the promos, and I am already set to declare ROH light years ahead of just about any other indy fed that I’ve been getting tapes from.  It helps that most of the top guys running ROH were on the road with ECW for years, and ROH has the same vibe that ECW used to have…the vibe that makes the fan feel that they are witnessing something special.

Of course, if ROH is the new ECW, then it stands to reason that NWA: TNA is the new WCW.  Is it any wonder that I decided to drop TNA in favor of diving head-first into the independent scene?  Well, the answer to that question is “no”, and this column will hopefully help you to understand why, which in turn will (again, hopefully) help you to understand where I am coming from in my writings.

In order to write fairly regarding present-day WWE programming, I watched most of Smackdown last night.  This was the first time that I’ve tuned-in to WWE programming in many months, and it’s been even longer since I’ve seen Smackdown!  The 3-Way Dance between Tajiri, Rey Mysterio and Noble was really exciting, but it was in the first 15 minutes, and little else that I saw had me on the edge of my seat.  Kidman had an early match too, and it was good, but after those two matches, the show took on the feel of a two hour commercial for itself.  The first two matches started to take on a token feel, trotted-out there early as a way of appeasing the smart fan that would complain about the lack of workrate otherwise.  By the time Hogan and Vince came out for their 20-minute promo, and A-Train had a match, I was bored.

My goal is not to bash last night’s show…I’m sure there are plenty of online pundits ready to do that.  But my experience watching last night mirrors my experiences over the last couple of years each time that I have tried to become a fan of the WWE.

You see, I was a big-time ECW freak back in the day.  I had just begun trading for ECW tapes when they landed on TNN, and I was confident that ECW would be able to give WCW a strong run for #2 promotion in the U.S.  Hindsight being what it is, I do not believe that TNN entered into their relationship with ECW in good faith.  I think that the evidence shows that they picked-up ECW to “test the waters” to see if people that normally don’t watch The Nashville Network would tune-in.  Once it was determined that wrasslin’ fans will watch any network that airs The Sport of Kings, TNN went after the big fish, WWF.

When TNN signed the WWF and dropped ECW, I raised a minor ruckus online, calling for wrasslin’ fans to boycott not only the WWF programming, but also all shows on the new National Network.  I quickly realized that most wrasslin’ fans didn’t care so deeply about these issues as I did, and those fans that did care took the same road that I did and stopped watching televised wrasslin’ all together…the overall wrasslin’ audience is about half of what it was 3-4 years ago, right?

I was able to appease myself by buying tapes of old ECW shows, and it was around this time that I first began investigating independent promotions.  Amey and I moved across the country (from Wisconsin to Texas) somewhere around this time, and while we were able to do without cable living in WI, once we got to TX where we didn’t know anyone, we got cable installed quickly.

Once the cable was installed, I found myself jonesing to watch wrasslin’ on Monday nights…every Monday night.  The timeframe for this was during the beginning stages of the InVasion angle.  I even bought a ppv or two…how glad am I to have the Kurt Angle v. Shane McMahon Street Fight on tape…that match is easily in the top five best WWF(E) matches that I have!!

The InVasion angle had some wonderful possibilities, by the way, but it would’ve required Vince to have the balls to allow WCW/ECW to go over in the big match for total control of the company.  Think about it…you want to increase viewership by creating a weekly “can’t miss” moment, then make the WWF (and performers like Stone Cold, The Rock, Kurt Angle, Edge, HHH) the renegade promotion that will do anything to take down the evil promotion that has taken over.  Then as the WWF starts to promote “it’s own” shows that could be seen on…let’s say Heat, each show is interrupted by the Alliance, which of course has “the full financial backing of World Wrestling Entertainment Industries”.  A thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters could’ve come up with something better than the anti-climactic “nevermind” storyline that we got…and for the second time in this young millennium, I quit watching televised wrasslin’ because of the WWF(E).

I was able to keep from looking back this time, as soon enough the WWA aired a couple of shows, and then NWA: TNA began, of course.  I feel like I am coming full-circle at this time, buying tapes from independent federations, looking for the next big thing.

The WWE might be able to get their ratings to go up or down by a point or more over time, but nothing short of Brock Lesnar showing-up on a TNA show and throwing down the WWE Title is going to cause another wrasslin’ renessaince.  Today’s large audience owes half it’s numbers to Hulk Hogan turning on WCW and joining the nWo.

And so it is my estimation that there is a large underground (in the closet?) wrasslin’ fanbase that is not being attracted to WWE or NWA: TNA shows.  (I haven’t said much about TNA because I think that my reasons for dropping their shows are well covered in the archives, and the only thing that I’d add now is that I’ve already seen Dusty Rhodes v. Nikita Kolloff…and S.E.X. is no nWo.)

So far I have watched about one-fourth of the ROH video, and I have already come to the conclusion that they are reaching-out for the disenchanted wrasslin’ fan that would rather see The Sport of Kings as opposed to Sports Entertainment.  There is a difference.  I don’t want to turn this into a spoiler-report for my next recap, but the guys on this video discuss wrasslin’ as an art form in their promos, and storylines are based on things like Wrassler X looking for revenge because he lost a 3-Way Dance without being pinned.

The ROH show practically oozes respect for the business, and I think that they more than anyone else have the best chance of building a fanbase that will enable them to grow from a regional to a national promotion.  It is going to take years not months, but it helps that they have guys in charge who were deeply involved with ECW when it made the same growth, coming out of the same area.

My own personal inner-fire has been rekindled somewhat, and who knows, maybe now that I am excited about wrasslin’ again, I can start to watch WWE from time to time…I saw that Rhyno is back, and if I was to tune-in to watch one guy, it’d be Rhyno.  Of course, getting back to my original point, if I am to watch WWE programs, it would have to be on tape so that I can make liberal use of the ffw button!

Next week, don’t miss my recap of ROH “Crowning a Champion”, which includes Jay Briscoe (w/ Mark) v. James Maritato, The Natural Born Sinners v. The Carnage Crew in a street fight, Adam Jacobs v. David Young v. AJ Styles (champ) in the first-ever defense of the NWA: TNA X-Division Title outside of an NWA event, Scoot Andrews v. Xavier, and the 4-Man 60-Minute Ironman Match to determine the first-ever ROH champion…and bonus footage of Low-Ki (champ) v. Eddy Guerrero from Queens, NY as Low-Ki defends the Impact Championship Wrestling Title.

…And I promise to try and keep my opinions to myself!

PEACE

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