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Jason Robar

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ROBAR'S RAMBLINGS

You know, it's really hard to write a column.

No really, it is.

Take this column, for example. It started out as a column about how a month ago, everybody expected WCW to make a move back to actual wrestling first, with angles being second. But now, it seemed like the WWF was the one who was trying to re-define themselves as the "wrestling" organization. The theory was two parts: First, the WWF realized that by losing Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera to WCW, they were going to be facing something similiar to the same product as they were/are producing. So, somebody's going to get burned. Knowing that Russo prefers to produce a Crash TV show, where the segments are short, and it is fast paced, the WWF decided that maybe they should move back to wrestling. Second, the WWF realized that their product is getting stale. So, they make the move back to wrestling.

The signs are there. The WWF chose to hype the ladder match from No Mercy as the must-see event of the evening, and now seem intent on pushing the participants in that match (Edge, Christian, Matt and Jeff Hardy). More "straight" wrestling matches are being seen, where the wrestlers actually wrestle in the ring, and don't stray outside for brawling. Heck, Raw opened up this week without a 20 minute interview to set up the rest of the night.

Now don't get me wrong. They still have a long way to go. The fans are educated to expect short matches on television, so they are going to need to be re-educated. The WWF has started this long task, but it isn't going to be easy. But they are doing the right thing. Instead of waiting until they hit rock bottom in terms of revenues and ratings, they are doing it while still making their money and hitting their ratings. And I hope that it succeeds.

But that column wasn't fated to succeed. It was really speculative, as well as being rather preachy in tone. So instead, I gave up on that topic, and moved on to something else: Pro Wrestling Illustrated. I got a copy of the PWI 500 issue, and there is a few columns which discuss the placing of Rob Van Dam. Van Dam was placed 2nd, right behind Steve Austin. One columnist, Dave Rosenbaum, ripped apart the selection committee, saying that RVD didn't deserve to be number 2, because he hadn't proven himself against the "big fish" in the WWF or WCW. He then noted that the selection committee would have named RVD number 1 if he had wrestled in Japan more often. This caused him to go off on "smart" fans who think they know more about wrestling than your average fan, and "smart" fans place way too much value on wrestling in Japan.

I didn't have any problem with this. Heck, I agreed with Rosenbaum on the Van Dam issue, no matter what perspective I look at it from. Where I took exception was with the rebuttal of one of the people who supported RVD, Frank Krewda. He took offence at being called a "smart" fan, saying that he doesn't talk about workrate or two and one half star matches. And to me, that is the wrong perception to have of "smart" fans.

Workrate is a discussion of wrestling talent, and the application of said talent. That's something that PWI took pride in talking about during the 1980's, when it consistently rated Ric Flair higher than Hulk Hogan, even though by their own standards, Hogan should have been rated number one. PWI always said that even though Hogan had the better record, Flair had the better selection of opponents, and was more talented. But now, they criticize those who use talent as the main reasoning for their evaluations of wrestlers? Ridiculous.

And taking a shot at star ratings? That's fine, but it's just another way to express an opinion about the match. Instead of saying "It was good," a smart fan says that the match was 3 stars, and then other fans know how enjoyable of a match it was, and how it compares to other matches. There's actually more meaning in star ratings than in three word descriptions.

And in the end, we are all fans of wrestling. What type of wrestling people enjoy varies, but it's still wrestling. Why PWI is taking shots at a certain sector of fans is beyond me, especially when they are a part of their target market.

Unfortunately, this column was rather untargetted. It wasn't developed well, and it went off on too many tangents, so I had to scrap it.

Today, I sat down to write about the Buff Bagwell angle that WCW is currently running, and specifically how it's something that shouldn't be run. It destroys kayfabe in every way, shape and form, and will only hurt WCW's product. Why? Because now you have to view WCW's shows and think about when things are "real", and when things are "fake". You shouldn't have to do that, and any fan who doesn't have a general understanding of the wrestling business will only be confused and possibly turned off of wrestling by this confusion. The people who are most likely to understand the angle, the "smart" fan, will also understand that it is just an angle, as Bagwell would have been fired on the spot if he pulled actions like he did on Thunder. Plus, it is well known among the "smart" community that Vince Russo thinks that Bagwell is the next major star in wrestling, so why would he embarass Bagwell on television?

So who benefits from this angle? Bagwell? No, because he'll be remembered as the guy who was stuck in this angle. Bagwell's opponents? No, because they are chosen mostly because they aren't supposed to be getting wins, so they aren't elevated in the fans' eyes. Russo? Possibly, because he seems to be setting himself up to be some sort of nWo like angle, where you have the divide of those who are Russo's boys, and those who aren't. Building Russo up as a power-hungry tyrant will only help this angle. But at the same time, this could backfire on Russo, because everybody seems to be supporting Russo, save Bagwell.

But as I wrote this column, I started wondering what Bret Hart is thinking about all of this. I mean, the Bagwell angle has a lot of comparisons to what Bret had to suffer through in the WWF. First, you have a wrestler in Bagwell who is seemingly being buried by the front office, for reasons that are not clear. Bret saw the same thing happen to him during his last few months in the WWF, when even though he was the WWF champion, he was constantly being pushed aside for Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker. He was also put in a position where he was doing things that weakened his character, whether that be making comments about the U.S. which would only hurt him, or whether it would be him finding himself in a losing position of a match, even as world champion.

Then there's the situation on Thunder, where Buff Bagwell "screwed" Scotty Riggs by "shooting" on Riggs, and the ref counting three. Bagwell kicked out of a flying body press from Riggs, causing Riggs and the referee to act like that wasn't supposed to have happened. Bagwell then put Riggs in a small package and the referee counted the pinfall. Riggs ends up looking like he should have won, but got screwed. While nowhere near as severe as what happened at Survivor Series 1997, it is still a little reminder of what happened to Bret at that event. And would anybody be surprised if the angle advanced to a point where referees start calling for phantom submissions against Bagwell in order to prevent Bagwell from "shooting"? How much of a slap in the face would that be to Bret? As it stands, he has to watch an angle that wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for what happened to him in the WWF. Should it progress to the point that I mentioned above, would Bret just quit?

And that's not the only thing that Bret has to be thinking about. He also has to be wondering about the new direction that WCW is taking. In the last few months of his stay in the WWF, and especially during his time in WCW, Bret has voiced his opinion about how the WWF's angles have gone too far. Now, not even 3 weeks into the Russo/Fererra era of WCW, we have seen much more risque angles, and a lot more T&A. Bret discussed how he was proud to be in an organization that was "Family Oriented" and his children were able to watch it without being exposed to the tastelessness that the WWF was airing. Now, his kids couldn't watch Nitro for exactly the same reasons as the WWF. And all this is happening as he seems to be moving toward the top of WCW, and possibly even becoming their World Champion. Will he lead a federation that seems to be willing to be based in the very values that he despises? I don't know.

Much like I don't know how to end this piece of writing.

Jason Robar
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Guest column text copyright (C) 1999 by the individual author and used with permission