P.O.G’s HEEL VIEW:THE DRAFT-crash side.

I dedicate this column to Sherri Martel.A woman who was more about the wrestling rather than other things. A great manager and a superb storyteller.

This week I’m looking at the crash side(whatever that means) of the wwe draft and what it could mean for the future.

Before I begin I want to request all you guys to give me your thoughts on how to make this blog better and more popular. Using the term ‘bigger’ last week was probably not okay, so, whatever.

It’s quite ironic that 2 days after the last edition of the heel view which explicitly stated that Vince McMahon should get off air and stay there that this is exactly what happened.

What should I say about the ‘death’ of Vince that hasn’t already been said? I’ll say this:
All those who emailed me asking if he’s really dead .I say that if that was indeed true the first channel airing it would be Ted turner’s CNN .Even if there was a freak chance that Michael Jackson became black again, Elvis was still alive and that the pyramids of Egypt were actually alien aircrafts hoarding tons of alien eggs ready to hatch and all these things came to light on the same day. Ted turner would drill the fact that Vince had died into our heads.

This is an instance of the soap opera style of programming that isn’t entertaining. Bits like the Warrior going paranoid and Orton imagining the Undertaker’s presence pale in comparison to this nonsense. The car blows up and the firemen arrive in less than 20 seconds. The body has magically disappeared and the ‘feds’ who have less important things to do like solving real crimes release a statement because the wwe idiots decided to hand out a few t-shirts to the feds’ children.

Just wait for the time when Vince’s music hits and you see the goofy walk and J.R yells “oh my gawd king, it’s Mr. McMahon” to which Lawler says “but J.R isn’t he dead…..I can’t believe my eyes”. Talking anymore about this only gives Vince the unwanted publicity he doesn’t deserve. So that’s all there is to say as far as I’m concerned about his ‘death’.

This brings me to the draft. Many on the site felt that smackdown was robbed. It doesn’t worry me too much.Smackdown has always been the show that develops characters and sends them to raw. Remember Cena, Carlito, Edge.Smackdown will somehow manage to entertain us with Khali, Masters & Flair. The smackdown creative team always gets the short end of the wwe stick but they manage to make things work. I’m just happy that Finlay, MVP & Kane weren’t drafted. That would’ve spelt ‘the end’ for smackdown.

Raw on the other hand is always treated like a king and this time everyone drafted here should presumably find themselves in stupid, non entertaining storylines and weak matches. There isn’t a single technically gifted mat based wrestler on raw .This is what is most disheartening. Booker and Kennedy will now be put in matches that mask their potential. The raw team uses the best possible resources in the worst possible way.

In a few months if all of us don’t complain about how raw bores us even more than before, then I will be surprised. The wwe seems to have gotten things right as far as ECW is concerned and not just because of the Benoit transfer but because they’ve realized that the brand needs it’s own stars. Part of their brand building strategy this time has been to put their existing roster in good storylines and matches. Thus building the brand from there, creating their own stars much like TNA impact did when it began.

This is a good move because in 1 year ECW has lost Angle,Big show,RVD&Sabu among others. Those are huge gaps. Instead of filling them with other wrestlers they’ve decided to stick with CM Punk,Burke,Cor von and others. With Benoit at the helm of things in ECW and a long overdue return as world champ, things should pick up for the new ECW.

As far as boogeyman goes, instead of hearing Cole say that he eats worms we now have to hear the shrill tone of Joey styles’ voice saying that he eats worms.Snitsky to raw is the most unflattering move. Consider this: a few months ago Snitsky WAS on the raw roster appearing on heat. Then they shaved his head, painted his teeth and sent him to ECW where he spent 2 minutes every week beating up some guy. Now, he’s been drafted to raw. I don’t call that a draft. I call that a return from a paid vacation. Bloody morons. Are we supposed to get excited over this? The guy can’t wrestle either way.

Do you think that the wwe can make raw work in spite of booker and Kennedy? Are they enough to generate interest? Let me know.

Before I end—Eric from England-thank you for your email. I don’t know nor have I ever heard of an Indy wrestler named Xavier Maroulis.Maybe you should ask Jade-the resident Indy expert and maybe buy some of his DVD’s (you or anyone for that matter).

Ian Aldous-always great hearing from you.

Polefoam-the new site looks good, I don’t know what pogs are.

And Lex who’s down in Texas-thank you for putting our names (including mine) on the contributors section of the blog,looks cool. Also nice touch with the news section it looks good. Also I have a goat, he’s 3 years old and he’s called Rambo.

Keep those emails coming in for P.O.G here:encore@aol.in

Everybody wants head.

TAKE YOUR SHOW BACK.

Before I get started I’d like to thank:Lex Luthor-for finally letting me post this and the dgnr8 for letting me know stuff about pwb and for being supportive.Thanks,guys

Also, I want to thank in advance all those who took their time out to read this—-Thanks, guys .
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What exactly is the WWE? Is it a media enterprise? Is it a wrestling promotion? Is it something that makes TV shows like a network studio? Is it a monarchy run by the McMahon empire? Or is it a corporate guy who blows his nose into a tissue and then throws it away, because he’s done with it?

Well I think it’s all of the above. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve become disappointed with the kind of crap that the wwe has been feeding me. Unfortunately, there are millions across the world who’re also feeling the same way. Don’t get me wrong –I’m not a wwe hater, read through all of this before you call me that.

Some people are saying that it’s just a slump; well I don’t care, it’s been in a slump for far too long to even call it a slump. Its a problem that the wwe recognized (officially) only when their pay per view sales went down.Something they “remedied” by integrating all three brands into every little ppv.

Wrestlers from raw,smackdown and ecw will now wrestle in every ppv.The wwe hopes of course that this will make people like us buy the ppv’s.Will this work? I think it will but only for a very short time.

A few months ago Vince McMahon stood in his ring and said “you people don’t get to like what you want, I tell you what to want and you’ll like it”. Seems to be true. I paid $50 to watch the worst ever wrestlemania in a decade and ended up watching Khali vs. Kane, Ashley vs. Melina and the ECW originals vs. the new breed. Was this some other ppv or wrestlemania??????

The wwe calls us “fans”. I view us as fans and also as customers-that’s right, we pay good money for a product and expect something in return called customer satisfaction.

I want to see great storylines, greater matches, people who deserve to be in the ring actually occupying it.

What I get in return is ppv after ppv with cheap thrills. Do you really think I’d watch the damn show just because the pyro is brighter and hotter, the explosions are louder and the video preview is more impressive? I don’t give a rats a** if saliva or daughtry played your theme song and I am disgusted with guys like timbaland,the carter morons and some dude called Kevin federline grace the very ring that was and is the life of Bret hart, Steve Austin, the rock, Eddie guerrero,Arn Anderson and hundreds like them.

People I admired while growing up. People I wanted to see more of…… the fact is that I was hoping that the wwe would show me more guys like them in this decade. People who could at the end of the day tell, sell and wrestle a great story.

Since the millennium hit, the wwe has “bought” WCW,-spoilt it and tried to evaporate any trace of it from it’s company.ECW has been brought back to life only so that it can be killed—-again.

Does it even make good business sense to put Paul Heyman under suspended animation? “Release” so many originals with good talent and then dub the four active alumni as originals out of whom one is already gone(Sabu) and another is on his way out(RVD).So that leaves two wrestlers and two announcers left in the company who were actually a part of the real ECW!!!!!

This is a case of something that’s been wwe’d .ECW has been wwe’d.That means, instead of watching one bad show and one “o.k”show a week,we now have to watch two bad shows and one not so bad show. The wwe can call its latest show anything it wants——don’t call it ECW if you don’t treat it like ECW.

What’s even more irritating is the fact that no matter how much we scream and tell them that the show stinks, they still try to shove it down our throats. I get the feeling that the wwe has started ignoring its fans. Well it can afford to…..

But can it afford to ignore its customers? Hell no! At the end of the day, it isn’t the shareholder who influences the wwe but us. —The fans—the fan who is also a customer. If I don’t like a show and I don’t watch it the wwe doesn’t care. What if a million like me stop watching? Then they’ll start caring because it hits their t.r.p’s.I guess that’s the way to make a statement.

Let’s be very clear, I’m not asking you to stop watching raw or smackdown.I’m just saying-let them know that you will stop watching if they try to act like everything’s fine or treat your favorite wrestler unfairly just because they can and then try to shove something down your throat, and make you think it’s good for you.

How do you do this-Its up to you?

Show them that you’ll watch TNA or ROH or anything for that matter if they continue feeding you the same old crap.At the end of the day it’s not the mcmahons or the levesques who run the show, not the usa network or cw or sci-fi. Not even the share holders or the sponsors.

It’s you and me who can make things right. The time is right for us to take our show back. The “fan” needs to remind them who we are and more importantly what we can do.

We’ll play their game but we’ll play by our rules.