The evocation of emotion in professional wrestling has been lacking for quite a while now, I think the last time I was truly emotionally involved in a match was at Survivor Series '03 when Shawn Michaels was bleeding profusely from his forehead, and basically got splattered to the mat via the Batista Bomb. The last time I was emotionally involved in a storyline? I can't remember off the top of my head. I LOVE wrestling, so I will always watch, emotional draw or not, but I have to admit, and so will you, I believe, that when the people running the show hit an emotional button-the kind that makes you believe in the "fairy tale"-that is when you are affirmed by the sport that we love.

I think that emotion is the primary reason the ECW One Night Stand Pay Per View has gotten the acclaim it has. All of a sudden, we have something new on our TV's-men who feel passionately about something, who look back at something in their past with true reverance, and men-like Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer- who when they talk about their past they look into the camera, and straight into our souls with that love, and that raw(no pun intended) Emotion.

The WWE in the past 3 years has taken many attempts at engaging the emotion of its viewers-The one thing that comes to mind is the Ric Flair night in Greensboro S.C.-trying to capitalize on the nostalgia Ric Flair carries with him, and for just that one moment we believed ol Flair could do it just one more time. But therein lies the problem: They never give us what we want to see. Not anymore at least. Like the lyrics to the old song go: "Why do ya build me up, buttercup baby, just to let me down?" Replace "Buttercup" with "Vince" and you'll get the idea.

This is why the ECW PPV was different. It did everything but disappoint. We were given expectations, and it came through on them We were told it would be bloody, insane, EXTREME, and it was. We were told we were going to hear things UNSCRIPTED...and we did. We were told to brace ourselves for the most entertainment on the lowest budget the WWE has ever dished out, and we got that too. They called it One Night Stand, but in the pit of my stomach I believe that we havent seen the last of ECW and with any luck, Paul Heyman will finally rub off on Mr. McMahon, and we will see the E(motion) put back in the WWE.

Till next time,

Gabe