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/wrestling /guests /Gramze |
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/wrestling /guests /Gramze |
| Guest Columns | Jim Gramze |
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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK Who do we have to bomb to get gas prices back down? Wait, that's not it. All campaign contributions should be illegal. Make the media give equal time to all, with ample coverage of ALL candidates on the ballot. Spending 60 million to get a job that pays a couple hundred thousand is an outrage, with too much interest necessarily in other questionable things. No, that's not it either. About the time that Hogan was out with a knee injury for a couple of months, WCW got remarkably better and remains so to this day. Yeah, that's it. About a year ago, you could have a magnificent match between, say, Billy Kidman and Eddie Guerrero. You know, one of those two segment jobs with more exciting action and real wrestling moves than you see for the entire rest of the show. And what did the announcers talk about the entire time? Why, Hollywood Hogan and the nWo, of course! I mean, it was entirely possible that they would not recognize that there was a match happening AT ALL. In the WWF, while they would periodically hype PPVs and other events later in the show during matches, the announcers primary concern was (and is) with the action in front of them. Even more important than that, no matter who is wrestling they give everyone their due and treat them like they are stars. Why did Nitro's ratings drop drastically? Was it a lack of talented wrestlers? I don't see how that could be. Was it a lack of mic skills by most of their stars? Well, there is a small element of truth there. Was it that they only know how to push one thing regardless of where their true talent and strengths lie? Bingo. For quite a while there, WCW seemed to squelch anyone that started to develop something that the crowd was really enjoying. Can you say Chavo Guerrero? Can you say Jericho? But things have changed somewhat. Now, the announcers actually treat Kidman as a star in his own right, although they still must insist, for some unknown reason, that he is a clear peg below the "big boys." But that is a HUGE improvement over refusing to acknowledge that he even exists. And many other young wrestlers are also starting to get similar treatment. An irony has developed in WCW. They treat their first hour, before RAW comes on, as less important than the rest of Nitro. Here they are starting to really push their young stars. The thing is that this first hour is when their ratings are remarkably higher than the rest of the show, so the young guys are actually getting much more exposure than people like Hogan. This could actually lead to people like Benoit and Malenko becoming more familiar and the old has-beens becoming less familiar. The irony is that they are unintentionally giving their true and unrecognized stars the prime ratings position. And that is exactly what WCW needs. In boxing, the heavyweights have always ruled the roost. But there was a time when Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and a couple of others took the boxing world by storm. These middleweights had more charisma than the heavyweights and provided awesome action-packed matches. I would like to see the same thing happen in WCW. Did you see the last Benoit/Malenko match-up? That was pure wrestling and also a magnificent display of action and surprise turn-arounds. A lot of people think these two guys are boring just because the people they are usually matched against can't keep up with their moves so they have to play down to their opponent's level. And Kidman, Juvi, the Guerrero's, Mysterio Jr., and a few otheres are the true superstars in WCW today. Although with most of them, a mouthpiece is in order because they just don't have it in the mic-work department. But any way you cut it, WCW has made giant strides improving their product lately, although to go all the way they have to give everyone an equal chance and let the audience decide who the real stars are. You know, like the WWF more or less does. Then we could have a true ratings war. Jim Gramze Rage Mail the Author Visit Rage |
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