Plausibly Live (like the NBC Olympics) from Pittsburgh, Welcome to the On the Road edition of From the Darkside.

If I hadn't read the results here on Wrestleline before hand, I would have thought I was delirious last night when flipping back and forth on the hotel TV and seeing David Arquette allegedly winning the WCW title.

I certainly agree with the pundits that said that this is "just" another sports entertainement media tie-in and it will give WCW some publicity.

Sorry, can't completely agree.

It's one thing to have Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman wrestle in a tag match or Lawrence Taylor to wrestle in one of the main events at Wrestlemania. I mean, at least they are professional athletes and there's only a small violation of the old suspension of disbelief going on.

But a scrawny actor winning the title? I have nothing against Mr. Courntey Cox (other than the annoyance factor of the 1-800-COLLECT commercials), but, to quote the late, great Gorilla Monsoon, GIVE ME A BREAK!

This is the world heavyweight title. Sure, it's just "a piece of tin" (TM Chris Benoit), but it's still your top strap. It's not like using one of your lower-tier belts for comedic value. I wasn't happy when Hacksaw Duggan won the TV belt by fishing it out of a trash can or having Stephanie mcmahon winning the women's title.

It's funny to compare the treatment of the world title by the Big Two. WCW puts their strap on a non-worker (who pinned a non-worker in a tag match to boot) and the WWF continues to build the credibility of theirs by having HHH pin all comers (usually with some heelish help) and almost always winning with his finisher.

It's no wonder the WCW product is in the toilet and the WWF is riding high.