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diversions
Roundup marvels
at changes in WCW
Fans, this next
statement may be the most shocking thing ever said in this
column: World Championship Wrestling is actually showing signs
of improvement!
No, this is not
advance copy for an April Fools' Day special. For the past
few weeks, WCW has been putting on entertaining programs,
one of which, the cruiserweight division, is growing, which
means fans can expect to see wrestlers pulling off daredevil
acrobatics.
Television ratings
and pay-per-view buyrates began taking a dive in the spring
of 1998, and the Atlanta-based federation tried anything and
everything to keep up with its nemesis, the World Wrestling
Federation. Nothing worked, WCW lost millions and was on the
verge of folding. Ted Turner, who owned WCW, saw the mounting
losses and rid himself of the federation when the AOL-Time
Warner merger was being finalized this year.
For the time being,
WCW is more coherent than chaotic. Storylines are beginning
to make sense and younger, talented wrestlers now have better
opportunities to make names for themselves. Despite the recent
strides it has made, WCW still has major flaws.
This edition of
Wrestling Roundup examines what is right and wrong with the
current WCW.
Right: Rebuilding
the cruiserweight division. Between 1996 and 1998, WCW had
a great thing going when it had an active division of wrestlers
like Rey Mysterio Jr., Juventud Guerrera, Billy Kidman and
dozens of others who were small but extremely talented. These
wrestlers, all 235 pounds and under, mixed elements of Mexican
lucha libre with technical and freestyle and made their matches
nothing short of amazing.
The cruiserweight
division fell apart when many of the established stars like
Mysterio and Kidman were immersed in the upper card while
many others were simply let go. There is no doubt that the
cruisers had the talent to work a match, but not with guys
like Kevin Nash or Scott Steiner.
WCW has several
wrestlers to build a credible cruiserweight scene, and this
year may mark the beginning of the second great era for the
cruisers.
Wrong: Destroying
cruiser-weights' credibility. The best thing WCW can do is
to keep the cruiserweights separate from the heavyweight superstars.
What happens when cruiserweights wrestle heavyweights, besides
a boring match that places both wrestlers out of their element?
A total squash, like when Scott Steiner wrestled four cruiserweights
on the Feb. 5 "Monday Nitro."
To make a long
story short, the four cruiserweights (Jamie Knoble, Evan Karagias,
Yang and Kaz Hayashi) tried in vain to beat Steiner, but Big
Poppa Pump still ended up beating his opponents by stacking
them on top of one another and making all of them submit to
the Steiner Recliner.
This does not make
Steiner look like a monster. This makes the cruiserweights
look like weaklings.
Right: Dueling
commissioners. The idea of having two WCW stars, who are often
at each other's throats, booking matches and laying down rules
to stack the deck against a particular wrestler did not turn
out to be so screwy.
The rivalry is
mostly between Ric Flair and Ernest "the Cat" Miller.
Flair primarily helps the Magnificent Seven and other heels,
while Miller acts as a check and balance against Flair going
mad with power. Fortunately, WCW allows both commissioners'
rulings to stand, which cheapens things less than if Flair
and Miller had the power to nullify each other.
The single evil
commissioner has also been done to death by both WCW during
the New World Order era and WWF during the several times Vince
McMahon tried to screw over "Stone Cold" Steve Austin,
Two commissioners introduce twists that can create better
storylines and matches.
Wrong: The commissioner-ship
as a prize. The big difference between Flair and Miller is
permanence. Since Miller is still an active wrestler -- Flair
is apparently retired -- he often has to put his commissionership
on the line as if it were a championship belt.
By having Miller
defend, lose and win back his role, this just cheapens the
prestige that comes with the commissionership. Positions of
authority are usually awarded based on skill and experience.
Flair has both, which makes him a logical choice for commissioner,
even if he is evil. If he constantly has to put his job on
the line, the commissionership is trivialized and fans will
grow weary of seeing power switch back and forth.
Right: The way
things are right now. WCW still has a long way to go before
it can be a viable competitor to the WWF. Eric Bischoff as
an executive and Vince Russo as a booker have tried to ride
to copy the WWF formula and apply it to WCW. They have failed
miserably. Instead of trying to ride the WWF's coattails,
WCW must build its own long-term identity. The current roster
and storylines are a good step in WCW re-establishing itself,
and the ratings show it on TNT and TBS.
If fans see that
WCW is willing to stand behind its product and not make shotgun
changes because something is not working, they will help boost
the federation's ratings and profits. They just need something
to get behind. The Magnificent Seven angle and a reinvigorated
cruiserweight division are the viable foundations.
Wrong: The way
things may be. WCW has never been a patient company, and with
Eric Bischoff about to take the helm once again very soon,
it may get more impatient. If Bischoff sees that ratings are
not shooting towards the sky, he simply reforms the New World
Order, brings in Hollywood celebrities to wrestle or lets
Kevin Nash run things behind the scenes. He tried this a thousand
times before, and he has not learned that he failed nearly
every time.
WCW may go through
a major revamping this April, and if Bischoff's second reign
of terror looks anything like his first, the progress WCW
made is going to end up in a septic tank.
Chris Ledermuller is a print journalism major at Cal State
Long Beach.
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