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Mr. T

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BLAH

BITTER

It's not f'n right.

The WWF is literally on top of the wrestling world right now, blowing away the other two in most every manner possible [buyrates, house shows, popularity] and they've got some of the greatest wrestling talent coming in in the form of the Rad 4, Tazz, and more is rumored. Even with three of their greatest 90's main eventers on the sidelines [Undertaker, Austin, and Shawn Michaels, for those of you keeping score], they are smoking the world, and why shouldn't I [a WWF mark from the beginning of my fanship in 1994], be happy?

Well, even if we expand RAW to THREE hours, there is no way you can showcase ALL this talent. Even having ruled out short-term returns for Austin or Undertaker, they WILL return eventually. Stevie Richards is rehabbing his broken ankle, D'Lo's got a shoulder injury, there's the debuts of Trish Stratus & Amy Dumas (w/Papa Chulo?), and there are even rumors out there that the WWF is picking up the DUPP Brothers out of ECW for development. The WWF has TONS of talent, so much a contrast from just six short months ago, when Triple H's music was played 10 times in a show, and you STILL saw people like Hardcore Holly and Godfather wrestling on a regular basis on RAW.

ECW is on the other end of the extreme. Having already lost RVD & Jerry Lynn to injury, the Dudleys and Tazz to the WWF, and looking to lose the Dupps to the WWF, as well as Sabu to WCW, ECW is HURTING for talent, and on the topic of hurting, several of them [Tommy Dreamer, and Raven come to mind] are working with severe injuries. Yours truly did the Guilty as Charged PPV for [slash] and since it aired, they have lost SIX of the workers from that PPV [assuming that Sabu HAS been signed by WCW.]

Vince & Co. have tons of talent, some of which they are not even using on TV.

WHY NOT send some of it to ECW?

While Ted Turner and Vince McMahon may be mortal enemies, Vince and Paul Heyman have worked together before. Vic Grimes [among others] are up in Philly, developing themselves, and the list of WWF stars that have seen the bingo hall is lengthy:

  • All of the "Radicals": Beniot, Guerrero, Saturn, Malenko
  • Mankind
  • Steve Austin
  • Al Snow
  • The Dudleys
  • Tazz
  • Jericho
  • Stevie Richards
ECW made several of the people on that list huge stars [Cactus Jack, Beniot, Snow, the Dudleys], so sending someone to ECW *can* pay off for the WWF in the long run, while helping ECW get through the hard times they are having here in the early months of Y2K.

Do us all a favor, Vince, and give something back to the promotion that has provided you many of your stars [and a training ground for future ones]. Hey, it's not like the wrestling federation that only has a TNN show and a bingo hall is gonna suddenly turn into the juggernaut that will finally topple the WWF Empire. Hell, WCW had the bottomless wallet, prime-time TV leverage, one of the richest talent rosters in the history of wrestling, *and* the two most identifiable icons of wrestling circa 1980-1996 [Ric Flair & Hulk Hogan], and all they managed was two years of having the upper hand, only to get stomped into dust once the nWo angle ran it's course.

It's a win-win situation, because people that are not on TV will get TV exposure in Philly, ECW can have some fresh blood to help them get through this injury/signed away-plagued January, and the talent(s) will be bigger stars upon their eventual return to Stamford.

Will it happen? No, probably not, and that's why I'm bitter.

It's just not f'n right.

Mr. T
[slash] wrestling

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