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/wrestling /guests /Franck |
| Guest Columns | Michael Franck |
Main Thanks to: Jim Gramze BLAH |
FRANCKLY SPEAKING AAAAAHHHHH, as yet another Monday Night falls upon us I've decided to stear away from my usual biased thoughts concerning the WCW/WWF battle. Although I promised last week to write an unbiased "State of Wrestling" column, I have since been bombarded with similiar topics from various websites (and readers) and have decided to scrap the idea altogether and just give my little prediction for the future of wrestling. As I said before, I am honestly trying to keep an open mind on this despite my opinionated views towards WCW and WWF. However, I have a hard time concealing my biases when everytime I log onto {Slash} Wrestling and who do I see.....The worst tag time in the history of wrestling.....The God Damn Acolytes. Chris....buddy....what the hell are you doing to me over hear. I know that was done on purpose. I want a picture of Sting or Goldberg or DDP....hell I'll even take a picture of fuckin' DJ Ran before I'll be satisfied with those two stooges. Okay, I'm getting side-tracked. Sorry. Oh the future of wrestling. The way things look these days, wrestling couldn't get any better. With the huge increase in popularity and the rise in television ratings for the entire wrestling industry, the outlook appears bright as wrestling has crossed over to markets that, in the past, seemingly appeared impenetrable. Despite the intense media scrutiny that has bombarded the industry for their violent and sexual indiscretions (ahem, WWF...oh sorry), wrestling appears to be headed towards even greater success. However, in my eyes, doom is right around the corner. The huge push in popularity really began about 3 or 4 years ago right. I know Hulkamania was running wild in the 80's but let's get serious, wrestling was nowhere near as popular then as it is these days. I've been a big fan of wrestling for many years now and yeah Hulkamania in the early 80's got me, I admit it, but the real rise in popularity began around 1996. I know I'm going to get a lot of heat for this statement but I truly believe that the increase in popularity can be attributed to the 1996 Bash at the Beach where Kevin Nash and Scott Hall started the NWO. Actually, it really began at the Great American Bash when Nash powerbombed Bischoff through the stage. Okay, I know your thinking I'm saying that because I'm bias towards WCW but let me explain first. My reasoning behind this statement is actually quite simple. Before this event (really these 2 events) wrestling had become rather boring. Bischoff decided to increase the dramatization of angles and slowly worked Nash and Hall into what has become the pioneer storyline in my opinion (yeah here comes more heat). Say what you will but before Nash and Hall formed the NWO, wrestling really didn't have any meaningful storylines. Call him what you will but Bischoff was brillant with this move. The WWF got caught with their pants down and WCW soared to the top of the ratings chart and dominated for well over a year. Vince decided to take a step back and re-evaluate his entire company. It took some time but he began to weed out the trash and move his company into a whole new direction. A direction that WCW didn't dare take. This direction being a little more violent then usual and have a little more sex on their shows. The new WWF began to get noticed as ratings for the saging company began to rise. However, WCW still continue to dominate the ratings and as a way of prolonging their domination they began a new show on Thursday Nights so that fans would get two shows during the week to watch their favorite entertainers and storylines. I can't pinpoint when WWF began Sunday Night Heat (a little help on this one please) so I won't comment on it. Although WCW was enjoying some levels of success with THUNDER, it appeared that many storylines became diluted and the talent was being spread too thin with two major weekly shows, the Saturday evening show and the various house shows throughout the week. Star wrestlers were beginning to show signs of wear and tear. This became evident as WWF took over the number one spot in the ratings and has since dominated WCW. Now as WWF has enjoyed being number 1 for well over a year, WCW is beginning to show signs of crawling out of the hole they had dug for themselves caused by injuries and stagnant storylines. In the meantime, Vince and company have decided to circumvent the competition by introducing a Thursday Night Show of their own....Smackdown. With RAW dominating NITRO on Monday nights, HEAT being a good promo to RAW on Sunday nights, and SMACKDOWN going directly against THUNDER on Thursday nights, it appears Vince McMahan and WWF will pretty much shutdown the competition, mainly WCW. This couldn't be further from the truth. First of all there are already grumblings that with the addition of SMACKDOWN, WWF wrestlers will encounter the same problems that plagued the WCW when they introduced THUNDER. Although the addition of the show on Thursday night gives competition to THUNDER and also adds another night to progress storylines, problems are right around the corner for WWF. Storylines will begin to run thin and the wrestlers will begin to run ragged. Vince is good (yeah he's better than EZ-E), but he isn't that good. Secondly, wrestling is enjoying an all-time high. Everywhere you turn, there is more evidence that wrestling, both WWF and WCW, is as popular as ever. Anyone who knows even the slightest thing about marketing knows that this popularity will eventually run its course. I'm not saying that wrestling will return to its dismal past of the early 90's but its safe to say that the attention that is evident now will begin to decline. Its called market saturation. People will only take so much of one thing. The WCW did it with the addition of THUNDER. They had a great thing going with NITRO when Big Ted, Time Warner, WCW, and tiny Bischoff got greedy and began looking for a new way to make money. They came up with THUNDER and, yes, they did make more money. They made more money at the expense of NITRO. People began to get bored with WCW along with the problems I mentioned earlier. Now WWF is about to do the same with SMACKDOWN. Vince had the competition cornered with HEAT leading into RAW IS WAR. The one hour Sunday night show was the perfect compliment to the two hour Monday night show. The WWF gave the audience there best and the combination of the two shows appeared to be enough to satisfy the interests of the fans but wasn't too much to scare them off. Vince is about to make a major mistake by adding SMACKDOWN to his already stellar lineup (in terms of ratings). Although the initial response will be good in terms of ratings (Thunder is so weak it just needs to be taken off the air). However, Vince will eventually run into the same problems Bischoff encountered. Will McMahan amaze us all again (yes, I said that!) and find a way to get around all of these unsuspecting problems. I hope so (What the hell am I saying?!?). I may be a WCW fan but I'm a wrestling fan through and through. I don't want my beloved wrestling to back to the way it was in the dark years. It may not always be as good as it is now (sob!) but it can still be good. Keep the letters coming and let me know what you think. See you after the shows on Monday. Franchise Franck [slash] wrestling Mail the Author |
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