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Bill Gillon

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FROM THE BRIT SIDE

First things first, thanks to CRZ for giving me the opportunity to contribute something here. Quick bit of background. I live in the UK ( I remember David Fit Finlay when he had black hair and wrestled 55 year old fat blokes on the ITV station over here on a Saturday afternoon), and have been an avid reader of CRZ's stuff for about a year since I connected up to the net and was pointed CRZ's way by a fellow wrestling fan. Since us UK types don't get Nitro and Raw until Friday's, Chris's recaps have been a Tuesday must for me to see if Nitro will amaze me with some proper storytelling, or whether Raw will open with something other than an Austin/McMahon confrontation. ECW I only see by way of video, and admit here and now that I find it the best organisation entertainment-wise of the three, and Joey Styles is a commentary deity.

Anyway, what I plan to do here is just give my thoughts and opinions on the happenings in the wrestling world for you to agree or disagree with, plus a couple of little extras....so, as commentary deity would say, "OH MY GOD" and away we go.



I'm writing this up on the afternoon of Friday 16th April. It's nearly the weekend, I'm going to see The Phantom Menace on Monday evening, I've got a half-day off work and I'm in a good mood. But, knowing all this, you know what I'm most looking forward to over the next few days? Tonight, at approximately 9:20pm, on Nitro on TNT, I will see Vampiro and Konnan hook it up, and Vampiro will throw a chair at Konnan and generally beat up on him. This gives me perverse pleasure because, along with countless others, I absolutely loath the character of Konnan. When this counts as the highlight of my weekend there are two possibilities:

1) I am an absolutely sad person, with no friends and without a great deal of a life.

2) Konnan is so hated that it has this effect on sane people with a great life and loads of friends.

Myself I would plump for number 2 in my case (well, maybe not looaaaddss of friends). Vampiro, go to it my man. Vampiro for WCW heavyweight champion!!!!

Among the big two I won't hide the fact that I've got a preference for the WWF. This has not got anything to do with the current state of WCW's product, it's just that I started off my wrestling viewing by watching WWF in the early nineties, when Hulkamania was strong and The Rockers were just starting out. Saying this, I would just love WCW to make a recovery, as the wrestling world needs strong competition between the two main bodies (hopefully ECW will be challenging strongly as well in due course). Which makes me even madder when looking at the storylines and basic crap that WCW produces.

For example, for weeks now WCW has been pushing the Humvee driver angle, only to drop it, saying that the driver was the Fake Sting. Now, for me the Greater Power pay-off was a massive disappointment (personally, I was hoping against hope for Jake Roberts), but the Humvee ending just had the effect on me of "oh well, it's WCW...that doesn't surprise me". Just another angle which has disappointed, and it saddens me. The Greater Power one, I don't know, I was expecting more because the WWF use storylines well. WCW hads the chance to really grab attention and prove that they could really do a good angle, but it's just been allowed to fade away as usual. Come on WCW, I'm willing you to get back up there, but you need to improve big-time. Was Monday's Nitro a first step on the way? I'll find out for definite when I see it tonight myself. On reading the recaps, maybe so, I hope so, although I do wish they could find another way of doing it than bringing back Hogan. To me that's short-term damage control. I am hoping that WCW are aiming to build their future around the talents they have such as Raven, Benoit, Kidman, Mysterio minus Konnan, Douglas (when he eventually signs) and of course Goldberg. Bagwell as well if they use him properly. The boxing match at BATB sucked big time, but what really got me was Piper having as his second Ric Flair, admittedly past his best but at least he's respected while Bagwell on the other hand, this cool, leader of the young guys in WCW...who does he bring to the ring to second him? His MUM??????? Buff, 1) You were better as a heel and 2) If you want to be a cool and hip face, don't show that you need your mum to win matches for you.



While WCW are in the doldrums just now, hopefully WWF aren't sitting back, laughing and settling for what they've got. Let's face it, most people are now coming to the conclusion that the Vince McMahon-Austin angle is starting to drag on a bit, and it's time to close up. The signs are, thankfully, that this is happening. I am praying that there is a clean finish one way or another at Fully Loaded. I think a DQ finish would disappoint me as much as the Greater Power angle, as here is a chance for the WWF to take off in a totally new direction with Vince taking more of a back seat, or Austin staying out of the title picture for a while (I'm hoping Austin wins myself, as to me, Austin adds something as champion or contender). Hopefully, they'll learn from the Greater Power fiasco and take the chance.

Along with others I can't wait for Chris Jericho to arrive at Titanland. Chris has the potential to be great, which wasn't realised in WCW. He's always been one of my favourites on the mic, and would love him to enter WWF as something similar to his WCW character-wise. Which angle they'll use him in is anybody's guess, the favourite seeming to be as a new member of one of the DX factions. Admittedly, this seems sensible, but something I read on "cough, cough" one of the Wrestleline forums (good to see other fans opinions , even if they are on Wrestleline) seemed like a good idea to me. Basically, it has Chris showing up at Raw with a briefcase saying that he has 'things' on Austin which will shock and amaze, from his childhood and his past, that will force him to vacate the WWF title, thus making Shane McMahon interested in Jericho, though Jericho will refuse to become part of the Corporation as it's his own plan.

I'm not saying that I'd like that exact angle, but the concept of it sounds good to me. The only niggle I would have is putting Jericho into the title picture straight off, as then the only way is down. Whatever way they do use him, can't wait to see Chris in the WWF where he's got a chance of having his talents used as they should be.



Right, now for a couple of sections which I hope you might like. Firstly, a little take on one of today's wrestlers who I think deserves a mention. My first subject:

ERNEST "THE CAT" MILLER - MISUNDERSTOOD GENIUS

Yes, you read correctly. In my humble opinion, The Cat is one of the main reasons to watch WCW at the moment. Yet another angle not carried through properly (the "You Can't Dance" one at BATB, although in this case I'm glad that was dropped, as Disco and Cat's characters depend a lot on their dancing abilities). If WCW was in a better condition, The Cat probably wouldn't be noticed as much as he is just now, as the focus would be on the other great angles which are happening. Unfortunately, there aren't that many great angles happening, so The Cat has more attention on him than there would normally be. Saying that, The Cat is a heel. The Cat draws a huge amount of heel heat. Say what you want about his matches (and I think they mostly suck just as most other people do) but on the mic Miller knows how to get people riled, and you have to admit, comes up with some pretty funny stuff (I particularly liked the one reported from this weeks Nitro about being unable to fight Judy Bagwell as he'd then be out of his weight class). So, Bischoff's friend he may be, not the best wrestler either, but give The Cat credit for being a great heel 'character' in the present climate. It's not his fault that the current state of WCW means he's been pushed further wrestling-wise than he should be.



Back to the past with one of yesterday's stars. My first subject here:

THE MOUNTIE

Jacques Rougeau's Mountie character was around when I first started watching wrestling and for some reason still remains one of my all time favourites. The most vivid early memory I have is of The Nasty Boys tying Big Boss Man in the ropes whilst The Mountie came to the ring with his tazer and proceeded to give Boss Man a number of shocks, as the two of them battled over their right to be the 'law and order' of the WWF. Of course, Boss Man eventually won the feud with The Mountie being dragged away to spend a night in the cells. In time The Mountie won the Intercontinental title but lost it to Roddy Piper if I remember correctly. His later entrance music was very similar to Steven Regal's short lived WWF one....remember it "I'm The Mountie, I'm handsome, I'm brave and I'm strong", as Rougeau marched arrogantly to the ring, uniform and shades, telling everybody who would listen how great Canada was (never been there, don't know how true this was ;-). It's characters like The Mountie that I feel are missing from wrestling today. They will never be strong title contenders, but for entertainment value, worth their weight in gold. The Mountie, I salute you.



Well, I'll sign off for now. Hope you enjoyed reading my bits and pieces, and I hope to appear again soon. I'll be thinking of more ideas just in case Chris wants be to do something else in the future.

In the meantime, feel free to e-mail me at the address below with any comments/criticisms, I can take either. For now, best wishes to everybody, and congrats to Chris for a great site.

Bill Gillon
freelance

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