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Matt Talbot

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THE OUTSIDER'S EDGE
Top Ten Revisited

OK, so last column I wrote out the first five reasons why I dig the new Nitro, but for the sake of time and suspense, I decided to keep the last five for this column. So, here we go the Top Ten Reasons Why I Dig the New Nitro. By the way before I go on, I'd just like to say two things.

1) Stanford Sucks
2) Cal Students are like the dumbest people on the face of the planet

The Top Ten Reasons Why I Actually Do Dig The New Nitro

5) This is just a smaller reason, but I like the new production a lot better. It still is not as good as Raw's stuff, but it is on the way up. They used to have that dumb graphic with the two guys standing there. IMO, those just seemed stupid, because the wrestlers were in dumb poses. It was dumb when Raw used to do it and it was dumb when Nitro did it. Now, though, they utilize video packages. They have ones for small matches like Luger-Meng. They have ones for big matches like Goldberg-Sid. The video packages can get over the point of the match a lot better than just one dumb little picture. The video packages are nothing to new to Nitro, but they seem better this time around. Remember when they use to be black and white shots with weird static and words in the background. Now, at least they use color and stuff. They used to replay the whole Nitro segment and, well, they still do. So, they haven't improved to perfection. Nonetheless, I think that with some time, WCW's hype packages will improve a lot more from their current "good" state. Now, if only they could rid of their fat, announcer hype package called Tony.

4) As was with the push of the FAs, I also enjoy the push of the Filthy Animals. I like the way they have the two different feuds going on. One, with the FAs and the other with Benoit. There is a lot of talent in Benoit, Saturn, and Douglas. Before, they were kind of wasting it when they were going after the old guys. See, it was a great angle, but none of the old guys wanted to be in it, except for Flair. Savage and Hogan and Nash did not want to be noted as "over the hill". That was what really hurt that angle. Finally, though, they got them away from there and started to feud them with the FAs. There were some small face/heel problems with the FAs, which I covered in my last column, but those have been sorted out and now that feud is rocking. It really elevates both parties to have them feuding against each other, because then they can showcase all of their skills instead of having to kowtow to the no-selling skills of Hogan or Sid. Plus, with the feud against Benoit, who is really close to being a legit ME, the Revolution is going to shoot to the top. I think, though, that they should have had one of the guys go a little farther in the tourney. The problem was that, I think, both Revolution guys, Saturn and Malenko, ran into the eventual finalists of the tourney early on. Instead of having Sting go so far in the tournament, they should of had Malenko go far and face Benoit at Mayhem. Of course, it was not like Malenko was terrible in the Elim match at Mayhem, but that easily could've been tinkered with to allow him to wrestle in either both or just change around the match setup for the Revolution-FA feud. Anyhoo, I see good things for the Revolution in the future. As long as Douglas keeps cutting great promos and Saturn and Malenko backing him up in the ring, nothing can go wrong. I am just wondering where Saturn is going with his new interview technique? Only time (or Vince Russo) will tell.

3) A lot of people do not like the Title Tourney, but I think it is awe-inspiring. It makes a central angle for all of the wrestlers to gather around. A lot of angles for Starrcade and Mayhem came out of the tourney and it can get some wrestlers over, i.e. Hart for competing on a bum ankle or Jarret as getting pushed through it. It is kinda like Marvel Comics when they had the Infinity series. Marvel Comics is like WCW in that they have a lot of different characters with their own storylines and stables. They three different Infinity Series, each with six books. I cannot seem to remember the names off of the top of my head, even though they were my favourite books (the last was called the Infinity Crusade, but was the worst of the three), but they gather all of the characters from Marvel Comics into one huge storyline. A lot of things developed in these six mags (they did have smaller, more personal details in the specific comics, i.e. Spectacular Spiderman) and afterwards there would be changes in the Marvel World. On the same wavelength, this tourney is making huge changes in WCW and afterwards a lot of good can come out. Not only does it help get over Bret as a deserving champ, because he went through the whole thing, but it gets over Benoit, Sting, and Jarret and upper midcarders or MEs. Some of the angles that came out of it are the Sting/Luger stuff (cause Luger did not want to face Sting), the Benoit/Malenko was furthered (because of their opening round match), the Goldberg/Outsider's (because they helped Bret Hart beat him), the US title stuff (because Hart did not want to win it THAT way), and some more smaller angles were furthered, i.e. Hennig and Bagwell. So, IMO, the tourney was good, because it centralized WCW (and not in a bad communistic way).

2) The Powers that Be angle is awesome. I love it!!! People get mad, because it is too shoot, but it is a logical angle from them jumping ship and the Jarret stuff is logical too, because he came over more or less at the same time. It is just like the McMahon angle with Austin of '98, except people have problems with the shootness of it. I don't personally have any problems with the shootness. I think it is great to have an evil boss character trying to ruin the careers of the wrestlers. Just in the same way that you can't have a face champ hold the title for too long, you need a heel boss for the faces to rebel against. The PTB are that boss and Bagwell, Rhodes, Hennig are those faces. This could be like the new nWo of WCW, because the angles that centralize the company are usually the best. The nWo and McMahon both centralized their respective companies, because they were both huge heels trying to change the companies in their own image. Same with the PTB. People also are mad about the PTB overkill, i.e Scott Keith with his PTB count, but it worked for an unover HHH and it will work for the PTB. What I do not fully understand is the Chavo/Duggan portion of the angle. Maybe it is to get PTB more over as a heartless bastard. Once again, I guess we will just have to wait on that angle to develop more.

1) Scott Hall! Scott Hall, Scott Hall, Scott Hall!!!! He is back and the US champion. Praise the Lord for we hath the greatness that is Scott Hall returneth to the promised land of Nitro. Even if Bischoff was still in and Hogan was still on top, Scott Hall would still rock. Now, he does not have people to hold him down and has two titles. I cannot emphasize just how great Scott Hall is. He has charisma, can wrestle, and oozes machisimo. Now that he is in a good angle, his first in a long time, life can only improve. Scott Hall not only makes Nitro better, but he makes Raw better. Hell, he makes english class just that much easier to live through. Praise Scott Hall!!!!

OK, so there you have it the Top Ten Reasons why Matt Talbot Digs the New Nitro. I don't think anyone really cares what I think, but it is good to be out there with my ideas instead of hiding behind a wall of Mark Madden and silence. More Madden, though.

Anyway, if you have any comments, concerns, complaints, or questions, or just wanna chat about how Czar Alexander the Second could probably have done a better job with WCW than Czar Alexander the First, just e-mail me at talboito@uclink4.berkeley.edu

Matt Talbot
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