Eric Benner column: And Nothing But The Truth
Flair's return a blessing or a curse?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Eric Benner is SLAM! Wrestling's regular Friday columnist.
No matter what your point of view, there was enough big wrestling news this
week to please just about every kind of wrestling fan. For World Wrestling
Federation fans tired of the clunker Alliance storyline, the WWF came out on
top at Survivor Series, eliminating their competition. For fans of the
former WCW, the return of Ric Flair may have been a sight for sore eyes.
Back on the WWF side, Linda McMahon's announcement this week of the
formation of a second, separate promotion in the near future is an
intriguing prospect.
I could probably write a column about the end of the Alliance. Or I could
save all of us some time and just say that the Alliance storyline was a dead
horse and it was about time the WWF buried it. It was botched from the
beginning and toward the end, took away more value than it added. I could
discuss Linda's announcement, but that second promotion has been ‘almost
upon us' ever since the WCW purchase. I'm not holding my breath just yet.
Ric Flair, on the other hand, is always worth discussing.
When WCW aired its final Nitro broadcast, few were complaining about the
chosen main event. Sting going over Ric Flair is as appropriate a final WCW
match as anyone can hope for. Equally, when there were talks that the WWF
would try to run WCW as a separate promotion, the one man that everyone said
they needed to hire to make that work was Ric Flair. Not Goldberg, not Scott
Steiner, not the Outsiders, not Hulk Hogan, perhaps Sting, but definitely
Flair. Instead, WCW fans were offered Buff Bagwell and Booker T and Shane
Helms and Shawn Stasiak, which they soundly rejected.
With the WCW storyline going nowhere, Paul Heyman and much of the former ECW
roster were used to bolster the lineup and form the Alliance. That was a
welcome development when it happened, earning a great buyrate for the
Invasion pay-per-view. The angle soon fizzled, be it because of an
over-focus on the McMahons or for some other reason.
Now, the Alliance storyline is dead and Ric Flair has been brought in as a
'half owner' of the WWF, which then reiterates that it will be starting up
that second promotion soon. Most folks are drawing the conclusion that Flair
will be instrumental in setting up the angle that starts the second
promotion, and may play Vince McMahon's role in it. That leaves people
wondering whether the second promotion will be another attempt at reviving
WCW, or something entirely new. With all the rumours circulating about a
possible return for the Outsiders, WCW seems as likely the name for the new
promotion as anything.
Either way, hiring Ric Flair strikes me as a move to appease former WCW
fans. Even if not, one of the great advantages that Flair brings to the
table with him is his long history. He arguably carries a piece of the WCW
brand value with him. He represents more of World Championship Wrestling
than most of the talent the WWF acquired from them, at least.
The problem, though, is that the WWF has already alienated WCW fans. Many
fans were turned off just by the thought of a WWF-owned WCW. The appearance
of Vince McMahon on the final Nitro and Shane McMahon at the final Nitro
didn't help and made WCW seem like a minor league WWF promotion. The first
few matches offered under the WCW name in the WWF, between the likes of Buff
Bagwell and Booker T, were terrible. WCW was quickly buried. Ratings showed
that the WWF lost the extra ratings they gained after Nitro's demise.
They're back to 1998 levels, when they competed with a healthy Monday Nitro.
All of this to suggest that bringing in Ric Flair at this point won't help
bring anyone on board for a WCW revival. He's a great talent, and you don't
need to hear that from me, but he can't resurrect WCW by himself. If
anything, unless he's better marketed than his WCW predecessors, he may find
himself devalued too.
Flair brings a lot to the table to the WWF, but if they think he can make up
for their mistakes this past year, they're wrong. If they expect that from
him, then wrestling fans will be complaining about how stale Flair's act is
by Wrestlemania. If, however, they use him for his own skills, or to build
an entirely new second promotion, then Flair will be worth his weight in
gold.
Have a good one.
Here's the mailbag.
Frank Rodasky, from frankrodasky@hotmail.com, writes:
Eric --
Love your column. I'm writing in response to the new direction of the WWF
promised by Vince McMahon. Say this for the Vin-man, when he promises
something, he delivers! With fresh, creative, cutting edge entertainment.
Oh, sure, maybe it was a little confusing as to why Kurt Angle turned heel
after turning face this summer, heel a month ago, then face at Survivor
Series. But he made up for that by pushing the 'Attitude' envelope with the
Regal ass kissing segment! Brilliant! And you thought you'd seen the height
of television with Sexual Chocolate/Hermaphrodite segment, or the Mae Young
pregnancy! WWF viewers, you ain't seen nothing yet!
And then we get the Jericho turn, which makes perfect sense, since now the
WWF only has two main faces, the Rock and Undertaker. Oh well, the Big
Slow's waiting in the wings to challenge Y2J's popularity.
We follow that with the return of the face Austin, and the renewal of the
Austin-McMahon feud. Thank God, they hadn't pounded that angle into the
ground. "If you want to see ol' Stone Cold stomp a mud hole in Vince
McMahon's ass, gimme a 'What!'"
Let's not forget Vince's best move. Letting one of the greatest performers
of all time, one of the greatest mic men, one of the most loved men in the
history of the business, Mick Foley, walk away from the WWF. Foley doesn't
like the direction of the WWF? Screw him, who the hell needs Mick Foley?
What did he ever bring to the show, besides being the only reason a good
portion of viewers didn't quit the WWF all together after the '97 Survivor
Series debacle.
Oh, but Vince did drop the ball with the rehiring of the King. I mean, they
had Paul Heyman on color! How much better can you get than that? Oh well,
maybe Heyman can find a job at CNN, doing the next Presidential election
coverage--
Heyman: Estimates for the state of California are in. We predict that the
winner of all 54 electoral votes to be... Gore! Gore! Gore!
Oh yeah, I guess it's okay that Flair is back. Hopefully, though we can get
that charismatic dynamo, Test, to give him a few pointers on how to do an
electrifying promo.
I'd been very interested to hear your comments on the recent direction of
the WWF.
Thanks.
-- Frank Rodasky.
I'm obviously pleased about Flair, but I'm equally disappointed they let go
Mick Foley. At this point, I don't think that Flair is a whole lot more
entertaining in the ring than Foley, so both of them are on the payroll for
their personalities. In that sense, I think the WWF may have lost as much as
they gained.
As for all the turns, I'm of two minds. I actually agree with a lot of the
actual moves made. Assuming Triple H returns as a heel, then having Austin
as a face could be beneficial. What I'm against is the constant turning
itself. Each turn diminishes the value of all subsequent turns, not only for
that wrestler but for others too. If Triple H himself turned face the moment
he returned, few people would care since so many others of his caliber have
already switched sides this month.
I'm not sure I quite share your cynicism. I'd like to give the WWF the
benefit of the doubt and judge the work they do between now and
Wrestlemania, but I'm not entirely optimistic about their recent direction,
either.
Shawn F Bowman, from shawnbowman@home.com, writes:
Yeah, I know you haven't proclaimed yourself to be the ultimate source of
wrestling knowledge, able to answer any and all questions. But quite a few
years ago, I had a question I wanted answered and just recently it's come up
again.
The question I have has to do with the British Bulldog / Warlord match at
Wrestlemania 7 (at least I THINK it was 7).
First, before I continue, yes - I DO in fact have a life. :) But just the
other day I dusted off the old Wrestlemania 7 tape and was watching it for
"old times' sake". Now I remember watching the Event on Satellite TV and
seeing the match between the British Bulldog and the Warlord, but it didn't
make the videocassette when it was released.
I was wondering if you have ever heard if there was more to this than simply
some kind of time-editing. It wasn't actually a half-bad match, I thought at
the time, with the standard fare for a power-match, and there were even a
few nice suplexes. The match had some fairly good heat, it seemed as well.
What do you think? Can you answer this question?
-- Shawn Bowman, Ottawa.
I'm glad I don't have to reiterate that I'm not the world's foremost expert
on wrestling history. I can offer only three insights. First, I remember
watching that pay-per-view when it happened and I recall the match, so it
did happen. Second, my tape of the show (a copy of a friend's purchased
videocassette), lacks the match. Third, I know that sometimes matches are
edited out of shows, and for a variety of reasons. It could be a time issue.
It could be a quality issue. You may have liked the match, but I don't
remember it as fondly. Or, it could be some kind of strange copyright issue
we don't know about. I'm never sure about these.
What I do know is that this web site's editorial staff and readership are
full of experts and historians, so if anyone knows what's up with this
issue, please write in so we can ease the mind of our friend Shawn from
Ottawa.
That's all for this week. Have yourself a belated happy American
Thanksgiving, and if you're Canadian, happy American football weekend.
Send email to
ebenner@hotmail.com.
