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Morning Glory RCC:
After months of discontent
from the fans, last week’s episode of RAW was a four year low for the WWE. Despite
promising ‘Hot Lesbian Action’, a complete T&A segment, the rating was still
incredibly low. Now, being a Brit, I usually take no notice of ratings. But when I see a
‘four year low’ pop up on the newsboards, I know there’s a problem. After
the highs of wrestling’s boom during 1998-2000, wrestling is definitely slipping to a
low. Even with the incredible roster the WWE has, and all the TV time, they honestly
haven’t produced a decent run since early 2001, before Wrestlemania X-7. The question
isn’t whether the WWE has dropped the ball, the question is when did they drop it? I
believe the problems began slightly after Wrestlemania X-7. But of course, the WWE had
dropped the ball before that, twice in fact.
Both instances came in 2000. 2000 was undoubtedly an awesome year for the WWE, as their
ratings were skyrocketing, and they barely put on a bad show, let alone a PPV. They had
basically killed off the challenge of WCW, and the Turner-based company was on it’s
last legs. But even on this high, the WWE managed to drop the ball twice. The first time
came during the hottest angle of the summer, the ‘love triangle’ between Triple
H, Stephanie McMahon, and Kurt Angle. The angle not only drew huge interest from the fan
base, but was incredibly built up for nearly 6 months before culminating at Summerslam
2000. Building up to the match (Angle vs Triple H vs The Rock), Kurt had kissed Stephanie,
helped her win matches, and had generally been sucking up to her. Steph's loyalties were
constantly being questioned, and the fans immediately got behind Helmsley, the man who was
being 'cheated on'. The feud came together nicely at Summerslam, where HHH became de-facto
face, and Angle carried Stephanie away. However, in the blowoff at the next PPV,
Unforgiven, things didn’t go the way most people thought they would. The logical
ending would have been to have Stephanie turn on HHH, sending him full babyface, and
joining Kurt. However, Stephanie stayed with HHH, and although he remained a babyface for
the next couple of months, the WWE had wasted a great chance to make Angle into an even
bigger star, and thrown away the angle, giving it no real ending. The ball had been
dropped, but it didn’t matter to ratings, because the ball bounced, and landed in the
hands of the man who began the wrestling boom: Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Austin had carried the WWE through 1998 and a lacklustre 1999, with some great ringwork
and the hottest character since Hulk Hogan in the 1980’s. He had brought wrestling up
to the height it was at, but got seriously injured in 1999 just as the WWE was ready to
come to it’s peak in 2000. He was taken out by being ‘run over’ in a hit
and run angle at the Survivor Series in November 1999, and upon his return to the WWE in
September 2000, the immediate question on everyone’s lips was “Who ran over
Stone Cold?” Austin’s comeback was huge, and even managed to take the focus away
from the love triangle, so that it didn’t matter as much when the ball was dropped
there. All Austin’s angle needed was an easy payoff. It didn’t matter who the
culprit was, be it Triple H, The Rock, or even Test. As long as they had a logical reason
for committing the crime, they would be well over as a heel, and would provide Austin with
a great program of matches upon his return. Rumours abounded around the net.
"Billy Gunn did it, because he was HHH’s lackey at the time, and the driver was
blond!"
Gunn came back from his own injury, and was revealed to have nothing to do with the hit
and run.
"Shawn Michaels did it, because he wanted revenge over the man who ‘retired
him’!"
Michaels came back, and of course, it wasn’t him.
"Triple H did it, to take Austin out of the match later in the night!"
Nope, Helmsley remained a full babyface during Austin’s initial return. So the focus
then turned to the good old Commish himself, Mick Foley. Granted, Foley had nothing to do
with Austin at the time of the incident; in fact he teamed with Al Snow in a midcard match
at the Survivor Series PPV. However, Foley had been retired a while, and a comeback feud
with Austin would have rocked. The WWE teased this, as Austin stunned Foley and showed him
no respect, but he was never really considered as a suspect by anyone but the net fans. So
of course, the impetus then went onto the WWE’s top face besides Austin, The Rock.
Evidence was shown that Rocky may have been the culprit, but although he was in the ring
when the culprit was revealed, it wasn’t him.
It was Rikishi. Rikishi was a highly over face at the time, dancing with Too Cool, and
almost getting a main event push during the Spring of 2000. However, his gimmick had
become somewhat stagnant, and pushing him as the driver would get him way over as a main
event heel, right? Wrong. When Rikishi admitted to the crime, and gave his reason of
‘Island boys being held down, so he did it to free up the top spot for The
Rock’, the fans actually cheered him. And this is where they dropped the ball. Rather
than doing something logical, on the fan reaction, for example having Austin destroy
Rikishi, and then The Rock, turning him heel and sending the culprit and Rocky babyface,
they decided that Austin HAD to stay face. No problems, except Rikishi, no matter how hard
he tried, wasn’t over as a heel. Their match at No Mercy in October blew, due to lack
of heel heat for Rikishi and Austin’s shocking ringwork, and the WWE decided it was
time for a rethink. But did they do the logical thing, and turn The Rock?
Nope…..instead they decided to make HHH into the ‘mastermind’ behind the
attack. This was not only pointless, but ruined Rikishi’s push totally. The
Austin-HHH feud produced some awesome matches, but also ruined Kurt Angle’s title
reign by taking all the heat, and using Angle’s title defenses against both men to
further the angle. The WWE had dropped the ball again, but once again, it luckily took a
bounce, and landed on the culmination of the wrestling boom. It landed on the buildup to
the best PPV ever, Wrestlemania X-7.
Wrestlemania had an incredible build-up. No pointless feuds, each match was well planned
and had a reasoning behind it. Austin had fought back from a career ending injury, and
fought past the men who took him out, to make it to the main event where he would face The
Rock for the WWE title. Rocky had lost to Austin twice before, and was desperate to keep
the title. Triple H was kept away from the main event, having an awesome feud himself with
the Undertaker, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit put on a technical masterpiece, while Edge,
Christian, Bubba Ray, D-Von, Matt and Jeff put on the best spotfest ever. The event
absolutely blew the roof off the Houston Astrodome. The main event was an incredible
showdown between the two biggest stars in the sport, and by my own rating was an easy
*****. Austin turned heel in the main event, joining with his former nemesis Vince
McMahon, and ‘selling his soul for the WWE title’. The WWE had an easy and
logical reason for Austin’s turn. The man had returned from a career ending injury,
and didn’t think he could get to his former glories without Vince’s corporate
help. Simple, and effective. Austin also had a logical opponent, given that The Rock was
taking time off. Triple H. The man who attempted to end Austin’s career had come off
his feud with Undertaker, and was eliciting babyface pops. Austin vs Triple H, in a role
reversal of what the WWE had already done would have drawn huge. But on RAW, this
didn’t happen.
What happened was not only illogical, but can also be earmarked as the point when the WWE
dropped the ball for good. Austin didn’t give an explanation for his turn; instead
McMahon merely said that Austin didn’t need to answer to anyone. The main event was
set up: A rematch from Wrestlemania, Rock vs Austin in a cage. Austin won the match, and
as he and McMahon beat down on Rocky, Triple H’s music hit and ‘The Game’
came running out with a chair. It was all set, and Helmsley got a huge pop. But instead,
the WWE threw away their chance, and decided to have HHH join with Austin. The two men who
just one month ago had tried to end each others careers, and some time before that had
tried to kill each other, were together. And did the WWE explain it? Of course not. I
still don’t know to this day why HHH joined up with Austin, but I do know that it
marked the end of the wrestling boom. With HHH and Austin together, the best babyface
contenders that could be found were Undertaker and Kane. They did two months worth of
programs with the ‘Two Man Powertrip’, and drew low ratings. So upon the begging
of the internet fans mainly, the WWE then pushed Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit as the
babyface contenders. Even though the ringwork was much better, the cold hard facts are
that Benoit and Jericho drew as much on top as Taker and Kane. Why? Everyone knows that
interesting heels sell tickets, rather than hot babyfaces, and Austin at that point, with
no explanation for being a heel, wasn’t interesting enough. Benoit and HHH then got
badly injured, and the WWE rushed through the WCW invasion, and the ratings continued to
slide, through Ric Flair’s return, Austin’s return to being a babyface,
HHH’s comeback, the return of the nWo and Hulk Hogan, and the comeback of Shawn
Michaels, until this very week, when they hit a four year low. So why do I think it would
have been so different if the WWE had decided to go with Austin/HHH after Wrestlemania
X-7?
Well, quite simply, it was the logical thing to do. HHH, although pushed as the WWE’s
#1 heel, had been getting his fair share of cheers since mid-2000. His mini-run as a face
in 2000 had done well, and against a heel the calibre of Austin, it would have been
golden. Of course, there was the Stephanie factor, being that she would always be hated by
the fans, and couldn’t really be with a babyface such as HHH. However, money would
also have been made from the Triple H/Stephanie breakup. Just for a second, imagine that
the Triple H/Austin feud would have lasted until King Of The Ring. It isn’t like the
fed would have been devoid of feuds afterwards. In fact, imagine a Summerslam co main
evented by HHH and Austin’s matches. Austin had the logical feud with the returning
Rock, and HHH could have faced the heel turned Jericho, with Stephanie by his side, like
the Wrestlemania match but with a better build. Of course, nothing is to say that both HHH
and Benoit’s injuries were fated, and they may just have been injured in other
matches. But I truly believe that had the WWE explained Austin’s heel turn, and made
HHH into his first contender, they would not be in the mess they are now.
Any feedback, as always, is appreciated….scott.newman@ntlworld.com is the address,
and if you wanna talk to me yourself, I am thesuperstar24 on AOLIM.
Morning Glory: Where else in an internet column do you find praise for Nash?
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