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/wrestling /guests /Turner |
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/wrestling /guests /Turner |
| Guest Columns | Brian Turner |
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ECW IS DEAD! I'm going to preface this by saying that the whole thing is built on rumor and innuendo, and may, ultimately, be just a pipe dream. Fortunately, pipe dreams are kinda fun! Getting back to actual wrestlers, this week's column will focus on the rumored migration of the Dudley Boys, from ECW to the WWF. The gloom and doom crowd are citing this as the ultimate blow to ECW's tag team scene. I would submit that this move is the best of all worlds for everyone involved. There are three principal bodies affected. ECW, the WWF, and the Dudleys themselves will be feeling repercussions from this deal, for some time to come. First, let's talk about ECW. Everyone seems worried that ECW's tag team ranks will be hopelessly depleted by the Dudleys' departure. People feel that ECW arena shows will never be the same without a Dudley entrance rant. And what will happen to Sign Guy and Gertner? The truth is that the Dudleys have run their lap for ECW. They are at the top of the tag scene, and dominating all opponents. It's a predicament similar to that suffered by WCW bookers regarding Bill Goldberg. Once a monster is developed, how can the belts be reasonably removed? ECW sidestepped this issue by having Ballz and Spike, perennial losers to the Duds, finally take the straps. The Dudleys can now enter another feud to regain their belts, or simply slip back into the regular tag ranks with occasional singles forays for lesser belts. I don't think that ECW or the Dudleys will be well served with either of these angles. Final conclusion: Time for the Dudleys to go away for a while, at the minimum. Oh, and by the way - Sign Guy is unnecessary, and Gertner will do just fine on his own. Now let's talk about the WWF. The WWF has a tag division, which, while populated fairly well, is also fairly flat. There are a few teams with personalities, like The Acolytes, and The Hardy Boyz, but for the most part, the WWF is just throwing together teams when the storylines dictate that two wrestlers have two foes in common. Makes for good angle development, but not necessarily for good in-ring interaction. Of course, so many of these ad hoc teams are composed of stable mates, or workers who have been paired frequently in the past, so they tend to work together better than strangers, but not as well as long time, solid tag teams. The Dudleys will bring a cohesive, dynamic, true tag team style to the WWF. The Dudley's have the potential to be today's Road Warriors, adding the smart ass style so popular today to the brutal, dominating, "Please fight back, it's no fun just kicking your ass" power-teaming wrestling style that has always established monster teams. The WWF is also more experienced with the "borderline of good taste" which national TV shows must tiptoe along. ECW's "fast and loose" style of production offered no concrete boundaries to the Dudleys' routine. The WWF will be able to exploit it, without (necessarily) allowing the Dudleys to go too far and excuse themselves from the national TV spotlight permanently. And then we have the Dudleys themselves. How could anyone possibly fault a wrestler, particularly a wrestler who has the in-ring and out-of-ring talent possessed by either (but particularly Buh Buh) of the Dudleys, for getting out of ECW as quickly as possible? ECW is an excellent place for wrestlers to develop their careers, or revitalize their careers, but most of all to end their careers. How long before every one of the long time ECW workers winds up nursing a failed back ala Tommy Dreamer, or worse. The Dudleys will be adopting a slightly less dangerous working style, while vastly increasing their pay scale and their familiarity with the wrestling crowd at large. They will, of course, be giving up a home where they are loved, and the potential long-term payoffs of ECW's growth. But I think that these things are far outweighed by the payoffs the WWF will bring them. Finally, we have ourselves, the fans. Here's one of those places where we have to straddle the curtain in order to understand the benefits to ourselves. While on one hand, we will be losing what we have come to love of the Dudleys in ECW; we will be gaining something truly wonderful. A team we know to be exceptional will have the chance to redevelop in front of a worldwide camera. They will go from unbeatable (and thereby sort of boring) terrors to hard working, venom spewing bad asses who will work their way up, potentially for over a year. This is going to be great! It is great that the "mark" within us all is foreseeing the end of The Dudleys and ECW in this transaction. It means that we have bought into both The Dudley character and the ECW mystique. But if we would step back behind the curtain, just for a moment, we can see how such a jump will be best for everyone involved, even ourselves. Of course, the WWF may, in their infinite wisdom, misuse the Dudleys to the point that they are destroyed and forgotten in all but the long time ECW fan's mind. That would be too bad. At least they weren't bought by the WCW, where the odds say that they'd become mid-carders, get split up, and wind up jobbing to the booking committee. The WWF offers them at least an even money chance of becoming international stars with career life spans that could go 5-10 years. The Dudleys have earned this chance, and I hope that everyone will join me in wishing them the very best. Brian Turner freelance Mail the Author |
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