One of my better columns

[Adam 0]

This is a sample of my work, written in late April.

 

Axels Angle – The Need for Improvement

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, and welcome to Axels Angle. It seems that everyone is talking about the state of WWE at the moment, and what needs to be done. While I stress I am not an expert, I am a fan, but I know I speak for quite a few fans that I know when I say what am about to say.

 

Just now, I had a look on the WWE Corporate website, and under its ‘Contacts’ page, it states that it will not look at suggestions from fans. This is the first mistake. I can see WWE’s point as it does not want people coming up with storylines for them, because they have writers for that. But, if WWE is to improve, and I know this has been said a million times before, it HAS to listen to the fans. Back in ’97, when big Vinnie delivered his ‘new direction’ speech, he outlined that the fans don’t want to watch the product anymore because they don’t want their intelligence insulted. Well now fans want to see good product, not just stupid interviews and segments that have no point. We want wrestling, not talking.

 

Promotions like Ring of Honor and Xtreme Pro Wrestling remind me of ECW in the mid nineties. Fans want to see WRESTLING, and that is why more and more flock to see Ring of Honor. They want to see hardcore wrestling, which is why they flock to XPW. Ring of Honor provides no-nonsense, flat out wrestling, and good wrestling too. I have not heard a bad word against the ROH product from anyone as yet. WWE just has to look at the reactions that Angle-Benoit, Jericho-Michaels and Angle-Lesner got to realise the direction that they need to take. They need to get more wrestling on the show and less talking.

 

WWE also scraped the hardcore division because it was getting too stupid. If they had pushed the hardcore division a little bit and we saw title runs like Rob Van Dam’s in 2001, then the hardcore division would have been a lot more successful. RVD had scintillating matches with the likes of Jericho, Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle for the Hardcore Championship. The 24-7 rule probably did more to ruin the Hardcore Championship in the long run than it did to help it. That gimmick should have stopped when the Crash thing stopped. If WWE had kept the Hardcore title on wrestlers like RVD, Tommy Dreamer and Steven Richards, the men who can have good Hardcore matches, then the Hardcore title would have been a big draw.

 

WWE needs to listen to its fans in regards to bringing in new stars. Sure, they pop for Steiner and Goldberg for name value, but how long will that last. Look at 2002, the ratings went down when who had the Undisputed Championship? Hulk Hogan, that’s who. All you past readers already know my feelings on Triple H, so I won’t go there, but WWE needs to have a fresh face at the top. They did the right thing with Brock Lesner, now they just need someone to carry the ball on RAW.

 

This is a list of the top ten WRESTLERS in WWE at the moment, injured or not. (not in any particular order) Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guererro, Brock Lesner, Booker T, RVD, The Rock, Edge, and Lance Storm. Now a total of four of those wrestlers have been former (or current) WWE Champions, in Jericho, Rock, Angle and Lesner. The rest have at least been Intercontinental Champions. Why haven’t all those men had WWE Championship runs in the past year. All are Main Eventers with WWE (apart from Storm, who can be a Main Eventer if WWE gave him a chance), so why can’t these men be given a chance to ‘run with the ball’?

 

OK, OK I’m getting too caught up. As I said at the start of this column I am a fan, plain and simple, and I’m entitled to my opinions. That is why on some sites these are called ‘opinions’ columns. To any columnists that want to say ‘do not have your opinions, leave it to the professionals, you don’t know anything’, well I will say this once and once only: ‘Shut Up!’ I may not be a WWE writer, but I know what I want to see, and I know what my friends, other diehard wrestling fans, want to see. I’ll be dammed if I’m going to pay a ridiculous amount of money to see a ‘Hoss-fest’ where 300lb guys kick the c**p out of each other for 20 minutes and show no technical ability whatsoever; or watch two 50 year old men try to sell punches and kicks and get in the occasional good chair shot to the head that will make them think they can wrestle even more.

 

WWE has the talent to do it. Look at the Smack Down roster, which has Lesner as its top man, followed by Benoit, Guererro, Rhyno, Cena, and the injured Angle and Edge, who should be back within a year now. Even without Angle and Edge, the top guys can still put some great matches if given the opportunity. The Cruiserweight division on SD is now spearheaded by Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, Tajiri and Jamie Knoble, not to mention Nunzio. The Tag division has Team Angle, Los Guererros, and the FBI could get in there if given a chance, because we all know that Chuck Palumbo is a good tag team wrestler, and a tag team with Johnny Stamboli would make for a good division.

 

RAW is lead by Triple H, who I am not a big fan of, but if he puts his mind to it and really has a red hot go, he can have great matches, like his encounter with Booker T at WrestleMania, even with the result. RAW has a barrage of talent at the top with Booker, Jericho, Shawn Michaels, RVD, The Rock, and even Jeff Hardy. Hosses like Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Kane aren’t that bad for Hosses, and they can also be entertaining. Steiner is a small problem, which can be rectified one way. Bring in Rick so we can at least keep him away from the World Title and let him go after the Tag Title. The Tag Division is a worry, because apart from Champs RVD & Kane, former Champs Storm & Morley, and The Dudleys, there are really no other teams to contest this championship. I have suggested Dreamer and Richards in the past, as I think that the team would really work, as would a Nowinski-Christian team, as the two are both good on the mic, and in the ring. I have expressed my thoughts on the women’s division before, but if it must be there, at least limit it to one match per RAW like it is now, so we don’t have to watch it for too long. Put Jazz as the forefront of Racial Discrimination, so we don’t have to ‘Back the Mack’ as much (dear god, why?).

 

So there you have it. WWE has all the tools to make for a great product; it just needs to use these tools in the right way. Again, I am just a fan, suggesting my way of doing things. If you have any queries or would like to comment on anything, my email is at the top of the page. I would like to hear from you, and get your thoughts on the current WWE situation. As far as I know word has been spreading that there is a planned boycott of RAW on May 5th to prove a point to WWE, and there has also been a call for all fans that are unhappy with the WWE product to contact the WWE in some way to express their concerns. I urge all fans that feel similarly to what I do to take action. Thank you for reading Axels Angle.

Regards,

Adam Webster