A Work In Progress
By Jason Pachkowski [ jpachkowski2@shaw.ca ]

Hey yo and welcome back to A Work In Progress. I apologize for my long hiatus but rest assured I have not left. Absence makes the heart grow fonder some say and I hope this is true in this case. Today I look at what is wrong with our beloved WWE and what we can do to solve it. The results of the first feedback question is up and a new one has taken its place. So make sure your tray tables are locked in place and your seats are in the upright position because we are taking off.

It was bound to happen. Everything that goes up eventually comes down. But what really matters is how you react to it coming down and how you get it back up. WWF/E was at the highest point it ever was and everyone was riding high. The McMahons had billions of dollars, the wrestlers were being paid handsomely, PPV buy rates were high, TV ratings were high, house show attendance was high, etc... I think you get the picture. But everyone knew that wrestling works in cycles and that wouldn't last. You have to give them credit for trying because they did try to keep the product at the top but it couldn't last. A lot of people that started watching in 1997/98 just stopped watching. Wrestling wasn't cool anymore so they stopped watching and moved on to the next popular thing. Shock TV was fine for a few years but America got all the shock they needed on Sept 11th. But instead of moving on they kept doing it. It all culminated with the Katie Vick debacle on Raw. How could anyone think this was a good idea. It is amazing to me that supposed professional writers and wrestling writers let this crap hit the air. Contrary to what some internet writers would have you believe there is no quick fix. There is no magical angle that will bring the product back up. Maybe two years ago one angle could have brought them back to the promised land but they have let the product bleed for too long. So if there is no quick fix then what the hell are they going to do? If I didn't tell you, what kind of columnist would I be.

The first thing is to do a total overhaul of the writing/creative team. It is blatantly obvious that 95% of the time these guys have no clue what works on a wrestling show. Raw specifically has been the worst of the two brands and that somewhat shocks me. They have at least two wrestling guys on that team so you would think they would have some idea of what works on a wrestling show. These guys don't have a clue. The first to go should be Michael Hayes. He broke the dam this week when he manipulated Vince into going along with his stupid idea. I agree that John Cena should be pushed in the same mold as Steve Austin but not totally in that mould. Steve Austin would have stunnered every one in that ring but Hayes wants Cena to FU only Benoit. Obviously he has lost touch with the wrestling audience and should be let go. Next is Bruce Pritchard. This will never happen because he is one of Vince's yes men but he should not be on the team. The long overdue firing of Brian Gerwitz should happen soon. This guy is such an idiot it isn't funny. He is like a 12 year old boy with his lame attempts at humor. The only way he should be allowed to stay on is if they put him in a room and make him watch the full history of the WWF.

So if we fire these guys who can we bring in? Jim Cornette needs to be promoted to the Raw Writing/Creative team. Cornette is a wrestling guy that still knows what works and what the fans want to see. He has been doing great things in OVW in terms of characters and angles for these young guys. But as much as that helps the guys in development we need him on the main show. He would push the right talent and give them gimmicks that work. I can almost guarantee he wouldn't make Lance Storm a goof. Then you put Steve Austin on the team. Austin like Cornette knows what the fans want and really loves the business. I think it is only natural that they guy mainly responsible for wrestling's highest peak ever is part of the team trying to take it there again. Then add Flair to help out guys with promo's and some writing/creative stuff. Flair is one of the best promo men ever in wrestling and would help out some of these young guys greatly. As for SmackDown! There is only one man that should be in charge of the writing team and that is Paul Heyman. They can keep the guys they have because they have some good ideas but they just need direction. I have always said that to be able to write wrestling you have to be a fan of wrestling first. Talent comes in after but the most important thing is being a fan and I really doubt that Gerwitz was ever a fan of wrestling. Things don't seem to be changing because every time Vince wants to hire another writer or a consultant he gets people not involved in the wrestling business. It was two wrestling guys that brought the WWE to its highest point and only wrestling guys will get it back.

Patience. I cannot stress this point enough. Wrestling angles need time to build and develop heat. At least the good ones do because if you give away the climax too early then not enough people care and it falls flat. Austin/McMahon did not happen over night. It happened over months, it built up heat to the point where people were packing arenas just begging Austin to get McMahon. Bret's heel turn and the formation of the Hart Foundation didn't happen overnight. The built up the heat to the point where people were packing arenas both sides of the border. Even without the building of heat and interest having patience lessens the mistakes. How many times over the past few years have we seen the past ignored and angles dropped? How many inconsistencies have there been. A lot and all that could have been saved if they had given the angles time to develop and done some research to make sure they don't make any mistakes. Even if an angle starts out slow in terms of heat and interest they should not abandon it. Not every angle or wrestler is going to get huge heat right away. I think a big reason why we don't see patience is because of the heights WWE reached. They made so much money and got used to having all that money. Now that they are losing money they are desperate to get it back and are not thinking through their decisions and ideas. Sometimes you have to take a step back to go two steps forward. The sooner they accept that they will have to lose some money to move forward the better. Once they do that then they will allow the angles to develop and have patience.

They should set up some kind of committee or team to work directly with house shows because those are the heart of the business. The midcard guys don't have guaranteed contracts or big downside's so they rely on the house shows to make money. When the house shows business is down moral drops because the lower card wrestlers are struggling to get by. The midcard is a huge importance, which I will get into later. If they are happy and working hard then your whole card looks better and much more appealing. A couple ideas I have to improve house show business is to create some kind of belt only defended at house shows. A big knock on house shows was predictability but with a house show belt you can give that air of unpredictability back to at least one match. They could do good things with it like title for title matches or ladder matches. But to make sure people can follow the belt they could put out a magazine dedicated to just house shows. They could have pictures and descriptions of the cards that happened that month. They could put wrestlers comments about the cities or wrestling stories. Fan comments would be a great section too. Making house shows seem important goes a long way in determining what the attendance will be. If you have a guy on the fence on whether to go or not reading the house show magazine may convince him to go. Plus if you can make the house show title work and build up a World title vs House Show title match then you can create interest in the main event, just like a PPV or TV event. People may think it's a stupid idea but it couldn't hurt to try it. Anything to help out the guys that rely on those payoffs.

One of the best things about WWF/E over the years is now one of it's worst. The midcard right now on both brands is horrible. There are no feuds, no angles, not storylines, and the few that there are get practically no TV time and are pretty bad. When the WWE was at its peak the midcard was great. Hell the strong midcard is the reason that Stone Cold, HHH, and the Rock got elevated to the main event. Austin had the KOTR and a successful run with the IC belt before making the jump. I don't have to tell you how important the KOTR was to Austin. HHH would have been just another failed gimmick if it hadn't been for DX. DX was a mid card stable when Hunter took the lead and it was DX that elevated Hunter to elite status. Rock would have been another failed gimmick if it weren't for a strong run with the IC belt and the Nation. The "big 3" gained their momentum from the midcard angles they had to work with. You didn't see any of there pushes stop because a city didn't react to them. Today if they don't get the desired reaction in a city their push is stopped and they are forgotten. But it wasn't just those 3 that got a midcard push, there have been so many great mid card feuds and angles. One of my guilty pleasures was the Val Venis/Kai En Tai feud. That was such a well put together feud. They had mic time, they had match time, they even had a swerve put in there. They were given enough time for a gauntlet match and this was during the Austin vs McMahon era that dominated the TV time. If the biggest angle ever didn't cut the mid card TV time then why does it now. Back then they didn't even have SmackDown! HHH/Rock, Pillman/Goldust, Jericho/Benoit, Jericho/Angle, Benoit/Angle, Rock/Austin, Shamrock/Rock, Shamrock/Owen, Owen/HHH, Owen/Austin, just to name a few. These angles were given time to develop and were effective in making the show better. If your mid card is good then your show as a whole will be better. Now they rarely give mic time and if things aren't going perfect they stop it. They need to go back to what worked and give these guys time. It will payoff big time when you need someone to make the jump to the main event because if you allow them to build momentum with great angles and feuds then you get a situation similar to Rock, Austin, and HHH.

The last thing is that they need to get over this obsession with size. In wrestling bigger isn't always better. Just because some guy is big doesn't mean he will be a hit with the fans. We have grown accustomed to good wrestling. Does that mean there is no room for the bigger guys, hell no. But they need to stop giving every guy that looks big a monster push. Cruiserweights can draw money if promoted right. WCW marketed the Cruisers perfectly, they let them open the show and get the crowd into the PPV. People loved watching these guys and the matches got them pumped for the rest of the card. The Cruisers were one of the only reasons I watched Nitro every week and bought the PPV's and I know I am not the only one. They need to get behind the guys that can actually wrestle because that is where you get your PPV buys. At least today that is where you get your buys because the angle needs to be really good for the fans to be into a match involving guys with no talent and I have no faith in the writers of today except for Paul Heyman. If you have guys that can wrestle and you have a good angle between them then you have succeeded in making the perfect situation. Those types of situations are the ones that make the fans talk about the show at work. Those are the situations that fans never forget. Those are situations that 10 years from now will be remember as clear as day. There is always room for bigger guys or guys that can't wrestler that well but they should be the minority not the majority.

I sit back and laugh sometimes when I read a report that WWE is looking for writers and some if their criteria is soap opera writers or sitcom writers. Or that they bring in consultants that know nothing about wrestling. Like I said before, it was two wrestling guys that got the WWE to it's highest point and only wrestling guys will get it back. They need to stop this only hiring soap or TV writer's bullshit and get some people that know wrestling in there. Sometimes I think they don't want to get better. Vince relieves Heyman of his writing duties because he argues too much. So instead of a guy telling it like it is and helping the product Vince would rather have his yes men around who will tell him he is the greatest even if his idea stinks. I just don't get it. Edge was told to submit his thoughts on the shows while he was hurt and when he did they asked him not to be so negative. You would think that would ring some bells but of course not with these fools, they just think he is being negative. There is no incentive to go to management and talk to them about the angles/pushes because if you do you get labeled as a complainer. How many guys want to risk going in the doghouse or going in even farther. Not many I would think.

Don't get me wrong I love WWE and I always will. I have watched wrestling since I could open my eyes and I won't stop but I know there are a lot of things wrong with it right now. They are doing some things better but it's not enough. I know it's hard to take criticism and negative feedback but it's the only way you get better. If I disregarded negative feedback I get then I wouldn't get any better as a columnist. I don't like to see negative e-mails but I know I'm not perfect so there are things I can improve on. Without it I wouldn't know what I am doing wrong. I could love my column all I want but the people that matter are you guys. If you guys don't like it then it means jack because I write it for you. Without the fans I am nothing and same goes with WWE. They need to listen to us too, I don't mean every little thing but our feedback matters. Most net fans deserve to have their voices heard and not disregarded by guys like HHH and Taker. It really pisses me off when those guys say negative stuff about all net fans. I spend forty bucks every month and more when they come to my city so it offends me when I read quotes by HHH bashing net fans. Taker at least gives the good fans some respect but to HHH it's all bad. I know who he is talking about but it isn't good business for him to be alienating people like me because I go on the net and talk wrestling.

Like I said there is no quick fix but the illness isn't terminal yet. WWE can be easily fixed and brought back to the promised land but Vince is going to have to open his eyes and accept the criticism. Only then will the WWE get the help it needs. I just hope Vince has the grapefruits to do it.

Now onto last columns feedback question: Would you like to see Rock vs HBK at WM XX? I have to say I was surprised with the results.

Yes - 3 votes
No - 6 votes
Split - 2 votes

I was really shocked at how many people voted no. I thought people would be overwhelmingly in favor of this match but I guess I was wrong. Here are some comments people had on the match:

Arthur Martinez writes: Yes I would like to see HBK vs. The Rock at WrestleMania XX. I remember being so excited about the possibility of a feud between them back in 1999 when HBK joined HHH Shane and Chyna on Smackdown, then nothing came out of that and I was disappointed. I think it would be good no matter what roles they play whether The Rock is the face or the Heel and the same for HBK. That's my opinion.

Matthew Scheffert writes: The Rock has made it clear to me and many other fans that his priority is no longer the wrestling business. And if he wants to go to Hollywood and make movies, more power to him. But don't expect us all to mark out for him when he does one marginally good match a year. I'd rather see HBK work Guerrero for the strap at the grand daddy of them all. These two would have an incredible match and I don't think that there is anyone alive who could argue otherwise. If The Rock wants to be at Wrestlemania with Michaels let him do what he does best. Talk. Let he and HBK do the color for the show. I would pay the 45 dollars just to listen to them call the show no matter what the card.

Isaac Faulkner writes: Damn right I want to see this at XX. This to me is one of only a few "fantasy" match ups left out there. To the best of my knowledge they have never fought one on one or even in any sort of tag match. Rock said that there is no one new for him to fight, but he is wrong. This could be one of the possible great main event matches at Wrestlemania XX. I think everyone wants to see this one because it is something new and exciting. Mania XX should be built on new feuds, new matches, and long stories between the wrestlers so we get a huge blow off at the PPV. I don't want to see the final card being shaped up on the raw before the PPV, I want to see the final card in place at least a month before the show. I see some matches already shaping up and rock vs. Shawn Michaels is one of them (I hope.)

I got a lot of great feedback but I can't print it all. Keep it coming because I love reading it. I have to apologize about not responding to the e-mails. Our e-mail screwed up royally, I was able to receive messages but could not send any out. It is fixed now so I will be able to answer all the e-mail I get so keep the feedback on the column coming. Now for the new feedback question:

Should Hulk Hogan be allowed to participate in WM XX?

I think he should for the simple reason that he was such a huge part of the company and it just wouldn't feel right without him. He has let me down in the past few months by leaving but I am still a Hulkamaniac at heart and would love to see him one last time at WM XX. But with his appearance on TNA that may be in jeopardy. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. That is it for me, I should be back much sooner this time but until then have a safe Holiday Season and keep watching wrestling. Oh and one more thing, how bout them Phins. Woo! We went on the national stage and whooped the Cowboys. I love it. But we need to make sure there are no more collapses because I want the Dolphins in the playoffs. Even though I am finished this is still A Work In Progress.

E-mail me at jpachkowski2@shaw.ca.

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