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Dmikester

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INSIDE THE WRESTLERS STUDIO (INTRODUCTION)

Hello everyone and welcome to my addiction over the next year or five. My name is Michael Feldman, but please, call me Dmikester. It's my online name and I'm much more comfortable with you calling me that if you decide to send me e-mail, which I hope you do. All right, God, you can call me Mike.

Let me give you a basic background of my life. I'm a high-school student at New Roads School in Santa Monica, California that absolutely loves wrestling. I have been into wrestling for a very long time, actually longer than most people know. I was enchanted by it as soon as I caught my first glimpse of it. It was fascinating to me, and when I learned it was all scripted and acted, I became even more interested in it.

You see, I'm also an actor, and a pretty damn good one according to other people who have come up to me and talked to me about it. I have actually been acting ever since I was about eight years old, and have recently landed major roles in almost everything I've been in. My good friend Christopher "Zippy" Kaufman, who is a truly incredible actor and who has become one of my "acting partners," can take full credit for getting me back into wrestling last year. Ever since then, I've been catching up on what I missed, and also going farther back so that I know everything my brain could possibly take on the subject, which is a lot.

So what's my favorite federation? Well, concerning the Big Three, I like each one for different reasons. The WWF probably has the most well-rounded and professional feeling product out there, even though they constantly aggravate me with horrible wrestling and at times, even worse acting. In general, though, their acting is the best. WCW is an interesting story. I enjoy the wrestling they put on, and in general, I feel the wrestling there is of much higher quality than the WWF. The acting is a different matter. Especially ever since Russo/Ferrara joined, I feel that the acting is unbearable most of the time with an occasional good piece of acting (take Scott Steiner's retirement speech a couple of weeks ago on Nitro as an example of good acting on WCW). ECW can be summed up pretty easily: Incredible wrestling; in fact leagues above the other two right now, and pretty good acting in general but weaker than the WWF. So there you have it. My take on the major scene right now.

So, what is this column going to be about, you're probably wondering. I guess I have to tell you, huh? Well, here goes. This site is going to be the part of wrestling that sadly interests me the most: the acting. Occasionally, when there's a truly incredible match on a show such as the Hart/Benoit match on Nitro last year, I'll mention it. However, the vast majority of this column is going to be about the promos. For all of you who claim that I'm a product of Vince's "Sports Entertainment" generation, let me tell you right now. I enjoy the actual wrestling content as much as the next wrestling fan. Hell, if Raven wasn't on ECW, I'd still watch it just for the wrestling. Truly awe-inspiring stuff there.

The main reason I wanted to do this was that I wanted a chance to reflect my opinions on the wrestling world and also because I feel that this is an area that very few people ever delve deeply into. I find that depressing, since there's some golden acting hidden underneath all the horrible acting. People just don't seem to enjoy the promos because they detract from the actual wrestling on the show. That I'll agree with for the most part, but a good promo can greatly add to the match or situation it hypes even if you don't know it at the time. Believe me, you'll know when you feel pitiful for someone or hate one wrestler's guts because of a promo they cut. Trust me.

What I will do with this column is simple. I will provide the script for the promo and I will recap the actual promo, giving my opinion on it. Later on, I may start a scale that shows how good I think the acting is. But in the beginning, it will be probably be my humble opinion on the matter unless I have a stroke of genius over this next week and figure out exactly how the scale will work. We'll see.

Now I want to get a few things clear right here and now. First off, the shows I'll be doing are the Monday, Thursday and Friday shows. The Saturday and Sunday shows tend to just be recap shows now, although I may occasionally do a mini-recap of Sunday Night Heat. Secondly, for the next couple of months, this column may be a little erratic since I have the lead role in the play I'm in alongside my friend Zippy. Expect them to come out every Saturday, but they may be slightly delayed.

Third, I will do PPV's, but only as I get them. Zippy tends to tape them and lets me watch them, but it doesn't always happen. So I apologize if that doesn't happen. Fourth, I may be a little shaky on WCW in the beginning. It's been a while since I watched Nitro with regularity, but I know most of the people there, so I'll do my best. Bear with me on that one. Lastly, I want to clarify a couple of things.

When I say someone's a good actor, I don't mean overall. I mean that they do an excellent job at their character. The truly brilliant ones, which I'll outline in a list below, are the ones that can transcend their written characters and make themselves become their characters. Mick Foley and Raven are two perfect examples of this. Also, there will be certain things I say that non-actors may not catch on first glance. This doesn't mean you're a bad person or anything, it just means that you don't have a trained eye or ear. On RAW a couple of weeks ago, The Rock was cutting a promo and slipped up. He covered it nicely, and it was probably barely noticeable to most people, but to me, it was a glaring error and made me have a little less respect for the Rock. I'll point these out when they come up.

So now that you understand what the deal is, to end this introduction, I am going to provide you with a list of my favorite actors in wrestling today, and give a short description of why they're my favorite. All right, here goes:

The Undertaker (of old): Without a doubt, the Undertaker is my favorite character of all time in wrestling. He has easily got one of the single best personalities ever conceived for wrestling. What is his personality? None. That's what makes him so great. Of course, in order to give him a little flavor, the Undertaker had to develop a demonic laugh and become a biker-type, but before that he was incredible. One of the single hardest things to do in acting is to be emotionless and be convincing. People are not naturally emotionless, and to pull it off as well as the Undertaker has is a truly remarkable feat.

Mick Foley and his three personalities: Mick Foley is, without a doubt, the most effortless actor in wrestling today. Acting seems to come as naturally to him as breathing. He is consistently brilliant, and all his characters have little quirks that make them incredibly unique from the other. I have to admit, seeing him go from Mankind to Cactus Jack in a matter of 15 minutes on a RAW last year was pretty awe-inspiring. He is truly one of the most gifted personalities in the wrestling world, acting, wrestling, and otherwise.

Raven: What I can say about Raven other than WOW! His acting is truly one of the greatest things I've ever seen. While he may not be as effortless as Mick Foley, he is always amazing and can never seem to cut a bad promo. His promo on TNN where he talked about his father beating him up as a child was one of the most incredible acting jobs I've ever seen in any venue or genre. He also happens to be involved in one of the greatest feuds of all time, in my opinion: the Tommy Dreamer/Raven feud. Watch him cut a promo and tell me you aren't convinced by what he's saying.

Vince McMahon and the whole McMahon clan sans Linda: Well, who would have thought? The owner of a company happens to be a great actor and his kids can equal him. Vince is one of the greatest heels I've ever seen. Sure he's over the top, but that's his character and he does it better than anyone. Some of the moments between him and Austin or Foley have been golden, and he has never been out of character whatsoever. His family is much the same way. Shane is incredible, and many times, I feel he's bested his father at the heel thing. Come on, who didn't hate him or at least didn't respect his acting job when he was a heel? Stephanie is much of the same. I would say she's the weakest of the three, especially in her heel phase, but she's much better than most of the wrestler's in the WWF acting ability combined.

So there you have it. There are almost certainly some wrestlers I'm leaving out, but I think I covered the bases pretty well here. So, look for me next Saturday with my first real column. I hope you enjoy this as much as I will. Oh yeah, I love e-mail, so send it to me. I'll read anything: fan mail, hate mail, or otherwise. Hell, I'll even post my favorites in this column and reply to them. All right, see ya next week.

Dmikester
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