You are here /wrestling
/guests
/Morgan
Guest Columns

Tyler Morgan

Main

BLAH

WRESTLING REPRESSION

The World Wrestling Federation did nothing but set the bar higher and higher in terms of show quality and overall product in the past month and a half. They took what everyone was labeling as a throw away pay per view, and turned into one of those few shows that will be remembered twenty years from now.

Monday Night they paid for doing so well for so long.

Don't get me wrong, the WWF did put on a tolerable show Monday night but it wasn't at the level where they have been for the past month or so. Marks and smarts across the continent are disgusted, and have been voicing their disgust in chat rooms, discussion boards, email and just about every other place they possibly can. Does the WWF really deserve it?

The truth is they probably don't. The fact is the WWF has almost raised the standard of what a wrestling show should be; simply with just one month of arguably the greatest month of WWF TV; ever. Now they're heading into what is their centerpiece show; WrestleMania with a large fanbase not feeling the momentum that the promotion should have?

They had the momentum two weeks ago. They had the momentum just one week ago. They even had the momentum Sunday Night; AFTER No Way Out went off the air. They put two hours of just tolerable TV on, and they've lost that momentum.

Even WWF loyalists have to question some of the booking decisions the company has followed through with in a 48-hour period. Terri's heal turn doesn't have enough motivation for the fans to really care much about it. Nobody really wanted to see Christian & Edge get tag team title shots at WrestleMania everyone wanted to see The Hardyz get the shot. Everyone was expecting a stellar main event setup for WrestleMania to pan out either through No Way Out or at least the next night on Raw. People would have been happy with either Cactus or Triple H as long as The Rock was the challenger at WrestleMania.

Sure, all these things could happen, but because they didn't happen MONDAY NIGHT, sacrifices are going to have to be made.

I can't think of any way for The Rock to get into the main event without Triple H losing credibility in his word. I guess the word shouldn't really matter from a sadistic heel who we are supposed to hate in the first place but its still going to hurt Triple H in the long run if The Rock somehow gets into the main event on April 2nd.

The main thing working against the WWF right now is time. Monday's Raw had to finalize the stage for all the major programs we were going to see at WrestleMania so the WWF would still had the time to promote the card the way WrestleMania should be promoted. The show hasn't been PROMOTED the way it should be since Mike Tyson refereed Shawn Micheals and Steve Austin way back when. It just doesn't feel like WrestleMania or even like we're approaching WrestleMania.

What it truly feels like is that WrestleMania was Sunday Night.

The true climax of the year, no matter what happens at WrestleMania is the end of Mick Foley's career. I know that's what I'm going to remember anyway.

I still remember the week the WWF hired Mick and gave him the role of Mankind. You have to realize that at the time Mick was hired the Mankind character was still VERY rough around the edges. No one expected Mick Foley to be a success under the gimmick. No one expected Mick Foley to succeed at all.

Four years later we are saying goodbye to the most admired and respected personality to ever come out of this business. The admiration this man carriers with him is larger than anyone else this business has ever seen, and that's covering all the Vince McMahons, all the Shawn Micheals and all the Ric Flairs this business has ever seen. That's a bold statement, and that's the statement that belongs to Mick Foley.

Although Mick isn't going out at the top of his physical career, mentally and emotionally this is the top of the game. That's two out of three so he must be going out on top.

After all that's the way it's meant to be.

And that's the only way all the hardcore wrestling fans will accept it.

But life in proffesional wrestling will go on. We'll still see Smackdown! Thursday, The Rock will continue to be the top face in the industry. Triple H will continue to be the most valuable man to the WWF. Arenas will still sell out, ratings will still be high, ECW will continue to grow and WCW will continue to suck. But proffesional wrestling; OUR world just won't be the same without Mick Foley.

Tyler Morgan
Thompson Championship Wrestling
Thompson, Manitoba, Canada


Mail the Author

BLAH

Main

Design copyright (C) 1999, 2000 Christopher Robin Zimmerman & KZiM Communications
Guest column text copyright (C) 2000 by the individual author and used with permission