Back again for my second column after returning to The Balrog’s Lair website. A main reason why I decided to come back was for the sake of having fun. While my interest in wrestling is nothing near to what it once was, I do enjoy watching Raw and following the rest of WWE more casually, rather than a die-hard. Having said that, I will continue to write here, probably on a bi-weekly basis, with my columns reflecting my general reaction to the latest news and happenings.
I will generally begin with my reaction to a story or happening that gets the most reaction from myself, and then elaborate on it. I will finish my column with my thoughts to other misc. tidbits coming from the latest news, rumors or other happenings.
Having said that, let’s get this show on the road…
The situation involving the WWE and the Dudley Boys by far has gotten the most reaction from me. This may not be the week’s top story, but I find this to be rather disturbing. The WWE is preventing the Dudley Boys from using the Dudley name outside of the company. The story continues with Paul Heyman, who supposedly promised that he would file the proper paperwork, to allow the Dudleys to use the Dudley name after their exit from WWE. At the very end, it was Vince McMahon that put a stop to it and decided not to allow it.
When the Dudley Boys left ECW for the WWE, McMahon copyrighted the Dudley name, thus giving him the rights to it. Legally, this is ok. But morally? The Dudley’s were not WWE originals. Vince McMahon did not create the Dudley Boys. So why does Vince McMahon feel he has to prevent other promotions from benefitting off the Dudley Boys? If his company actually created the tag team and the gimmick, I could understand him not allowing another promotion to make money off his creative. Yet, it was okay for McMahon and the WWE to benefit off the Dudleys, after they were already well established from ECW.
The Dudley Boys brought a lot of success to WWE and it benefitted both themselves and the company. There really hadn’t been a lot of bad things reported about them backstage, so I would say they were good company workers. After giving their best to the company, Vince McMahon screws them at the very end. I also can’t help but get the feeling that McMahon made this decision out of anger. How dare the Dudleys not want to take a pay cut. Fine, WWE releases them. No harm done right? Sure, the Dudleys are free to work anywhere, but they just can’t go by the name of the Dudley Boys.
I would speculate that McMahon would say that he made this decision for business reasons. According to general reports in the last few years, the WWE doesn’t see TNA as competition. So why does Vince have a problem with perhaps TNA, or a different promotion benefitting by having the Dudley boys and being able to call them that? This decision by Vince McMahon proves two things. Number one, regardless of how much you dedicate and success you earn while working for him, he can care less about most of the wrestlers. Number two, he is concerned about TNA. While TNA is not a direct competitor to WWE yet, the potential is there for TNA to grow and eventually, serve as a competitor to WWE.
Will this decision by WWE hurt the Dudley Boys? In the long run, I would guess probably not. It will make it harder for other promotions to promote them now, because they can’t promote them as The Dudley Boys. The Dudleys also will have a harder time promoting themselves, if they wish to do so. They can call themselves “Team 3D” or whatever else they want, but for the time being, there will be a group of fans who won’t identify them under a new name. Eventually, that can make it harder for them to make money or achieve less success. That very reason is why I think it is morally wrong for McMahon to prevent them from using the name.
After years of hard work and dedication, McMahon lets them go and prevents them from using the label that easily identifies them. Nobody is really criticizing WWE for releasing them. That is fine. But when a company releases an indivudal or individuals after they dedicated part of their lives for you, and then you go around and do something that may decrease their chances of making money afterwards, that is a new low, even for Vince McMahon.
– The WWE has proudly introduced Kerwin White to our television sets. With WWE fading La Resistance out and dropping Muhammad Hassan, you knew it was only a matter of time before they introduced yet another lame and offensive character. Why does WWE feel they need to put these offensive storylines on TV all the freakin’ time? The fans are fucking sick of it! Nobody finds this stuff entertaining and I don’t see how on earth it will make any money for the company. The creative just assumes that any character who can draw cheap heat by either attacking our country or being a racist is somehow going to be a draw. A huge thumbs down, once again, to the WWE creative team for this pile of garbage.
– I’m not sold on a John Cena and Kurt Angle feud. I will always remember John Cena’s WWE debut when he came out on Smackdown and wrestled Kurt Angle. Cena screamed that he possessed “ruthless aggression” and then slapped the shit out of Angle. Today though, I wonder how the fans will react to Angle and Cena. The fans generally love Kurt Angle. Despite being a heel, he is entertaining and the people buy into his character. It was enough for them to boo the crap out of Eugene. The people are tired of Eugene, and rightfully so. During the Jericho and Cena match at Summerslam, there were enough cheers for Jericho to be noticed, while the boos for Cena whenever he went on offense were noticeable as well. Having said that, what happens once Angle and Cena meet toe-to-toe in a match? The next question, what happens after Angle and Cena? Will Triple H return and make his way into this somehow?
– Many expect to see Triple H return and feud with Cena over the WWE title. I would prefer to keep the title on Cena for a while still and build him up to become an established veteran. I would rather avoid a Cena and Triple H feud for the time being. The last few years have been dominated with Triple H feuding with less established superstars, thus making it easier to push them around and make them look weak. The last thing we all need is for Triple H to comeback and make Cena look weak, thus making his reign as WWE champion a joke.
I would rather see Triple H feud with more established veterans for a change. He was far better while feuding with Undertaker, The Rock, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle. It was rumored that Triple H and Ric Flair were going to have a match at Summerslam, but that obviously didn’t happen. I wish not to see a Flair and Triple H feud. Just as Triple H makes the younger stars look weak, I think Triple H can do the same to Flair. Despite being a legend, I can see Triple H walking all over Flair and making him look bad. I don’t think Triple H would have that type of pull against an Angle, Undertaker or Michaels.
– Smackdown moves to Friday nights starting next week. I think overall, this move will greatly hurt both UPN and the WWE. Who the hell is going to stay home on a Friday night to watch wrestling? If this move were to happen in 1998 or 1999, I wouldn’t expect Smackdown to do well on Friday nights. In year 2005 with the current storylines and creative booking? I don’t think so!
By the way, nice name change for Smackdown. Friday Night Smackdown. That sounds incredibly name. I understand why it was done and all, but it has no ring to it. The new Friday Night Smackdown logo looks lame too. It’s the same Smackdown logo, with Friday Night on top. Being somewhat into graphic design for a few years now, usually when you have to alter a logo for some upcoming change, it usually doesn’t look as effective as it once did.
– Watching Eric Bischoff on Raw last night made me think… his whole GM thing really is a bit old. I’m not faulting Eric, because he’s doing as much as he can, I’m sure. Remember when Shane objected to Vince hiring Eric as the general manager years back? Shane claimed that the first chance he gets, Bischoff will screw the company. Back then, I was hoping that WWE would eventually steer in that direction. Is it too late now? Perhaps not, if WWE can build it right. But with this creative team, I won’t hold my breath.
– I was bored a few nights ago, so I had the impulse to download the old Raw is War theme song (the one used prior to the current one). After doing so, I had the urge to download the original Smackdown, Nitro and Thunder themes. I went on to download the nWo theme, Un-Americans, Steve Austin, and a few more. I use to have all these themes on my old computer, but I never bothered to transfer them to my new one (which isn’t so new anymore, being two years old now). But damn, listening to that old music brought back a lot of happy memories. Those fond memories had me thinking…
I remember walking the halls in eighth grade and early high school thinking to myself, “hey it’s Monday night! Wrestling is on tonight!” Those were the days… which are now long gone, and sadly, I’m sure a lot of you reading will agree with me.
– My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Here’s to hoping that those effected will be able to move on and start rebuilding their lives after this devastating situation.
… and that will end this week’s column. Any questions or other feedback is welcomed. Until next time, check out the TBL forums if you haven’t done so. They are a lot more fun when more people contribute. Thanks for reading!
– E-mail feedback to martinondemand@hotmail.com
