Matter of Opinion... Random Ramblings

November 22nd, 2004

First off, congrats to my boy, Sean O’Haire, on his 30 second win over Shungo Oyama. While Shungo is no pushover, he was no match for Sean who went in quick dominated his smaller opponent. Now it’s on to Japan for December 31st. More details on that soon….

As some of you may know, every Sunday I am a guest on the Voice of Wrestling (www.voiceofwrestling.com) webcast. These past few weeks have been interesting and educational. Les Thatcher has joined the group and has a great mind for the business. These past few weeks, I’ve sat back and done more listening then talking. It’s great to hear Les and the stories he graces us with every week. Tune in on Sunday and you’ll know what I’m talking about…..

I really enjoyed the past weeks edition of Byte This! On WWE (www.wwe.com). Now I worked for WWE and with all then guys that appeared on that show (except for Josh), but never have I heard such a great telling of ECW. Each and every guy deserves a pat on the back for putting their emotions out there and telling it like it is. A lot of guys don’t have the balls to say have the stuff they said, but once ECW, always ECW. From Paul being Paul and telling it how it is, to Tazz being Taz and laying his heart out, this was definitely an interview that if you have not seen, check it out. Kudo’s to Josh on a job well done. Of course, don’t forget to pick up your copy of The Rise And Fall Of ECW. With all the talk of TNA doing so well on their first major PPV, the buzz is that they are now a huge threat to WWE. Now, everyone is jumping the gun on this. I’m sure the PPV did very well, by TNA standards, but by WWE standards? No. TNA are slowly making a name for themselves, but it takes more than a successful PPV to be a threat to anything.

Granted, TNA has a great roster, a lot of talented guys, but they need more than that to climb the mountain. There is talk they may move to a Monday night spot, which for the short term will get the company some recognition, but in the long term, it will be the death of the company. There is plenty of room for two big companies in this industry, but by going head to head with WWE, you’re setting yourself up for a disaster. You have some of the same guys who held the book for WCW and a smaller budget than WCW, and WCW crashed and burned. What’s to say TNA will survive? If their investors want to keep pouring money in, then it will be interesting, but you can only go so long before the purse strings can’t stretch anymore. TNA needs a quick fix and they should be capitalizing on the release of the ECW DVD by using the available ECW stars that are not in WWE. I feel throwing your money into the older guys is a long term mistake, but while they are there, give your younger talent a rub, don’t kill them.

Maxim listed Brock Lesnar as being a person who made a bonehead move this year. In reference to his departure from WWE for a shot at the NFL, they mentioned how he gave up a shot at $45 million with WWE for $200,000+ in the NFL. To me, Brock is somebody with value. How many people would give up that amount of money for a shot at their dreams? Not many. Brock is obviously not driven by money alone. Not to compare, but Tillman gave up his NFL contract and was killed in Iraq. Some people say he was crazy to do what he did, but he too was following his heart. Again, not comparing the situations, but the motives; what was in their heart. You can’t fault anyone for that. Brock will always be welcome back to the industry and I believe we’ll see him back before the middle of next year, maybe even in time for WM 21. Just let’s hope his match is better than the crap he and Goldberg put on at WM XX. I dunno, Brock vs. Heidenreich for WM 21 could be interesting.

Slainte!