Well well well ... more misfortune has struck the WWE. I do feel sorry for John Cena, a true work horse in this business. He is a man that numerous people have spoken highly of. Will his in-ring loss be such a big deal for the company? I realize that he sells a TON of merchandise but that can all be worked around with vignettes and just playing the whole storyline up waiting for his return. I will be happy when we can get back to a place where we have someone who means so much to the business that it would take a drastic turn if he was gone. Please make no mistake about it, we don’t have that now. In truth, as long as you can cut a promo today, you’re not gone anyway. If we polled the locker room you would find twenty guys who believe they could be over bigger and better than Cena if given a chance anyway. So draw straws and give someone a chance. It would hopefully be someone with Cena’s strong moral fiber and work ethic. Hmmm did I just drastically cut down on the number of people who could actually draw a straw?
How would you act if every move that you made was going to be printed on the front page of tomorrow’s paper? How about if it was going to be the lead story on the news?
On November 1st, 2007, WWE policy changes so that wellness policy violators will have their names released to the public. If this doesn’t cause a change in behavior I will have no sympathy for the violators. At this point, if I am Vince McMahon, it should be one strike and you’re out. There is no piece of talent currently on the roster critical to WWE success. What should be important now is flying under the radar and company respectability and credibility.
A few years ago the APA (Farooq and Bradshaw) Ron Simmons and JBL were working in OVW for an extended period of time. I happened to be in Louisville so I spent some time with Ron Simmons while I was there. We had a few meals and I went to one of the towns with him. It was like the good old days just yakking about old times. While I was there I also got some exposure to a guy that impressed me. He seemed to have all the tools that are needed to make it to the big time. I wondered for awhile if this guy would ever be given a shot. When I finally saw him get a break I was pleased. His name is Lance Cade and along with Trevor Murdoch they make up a tag team that reminds me of the good old days. Of course it doesn’t hurt that when they made Trevor Murdoch they used Dick Murdoch’s DNA for the cloning. I had the chance to work with Dick many times. We didn’t hit it off when he was in the WWE but in the NWA we got along fine and he was a lot of fun to work with. I think these guys make a great team. They make tag team wrestling enjoyable. I hope they leave the tag teams championships on them for quite a while and let some of these other teams chase them.
Here is a novel concept ... why not focus on London and Kendrick for awhile and their failure to get the gold from these guys? Let’s follow them for months, maybe a year, as other teams are fed to the champs. How about having them seek out tag team legends for advice. How about having them sit down with The Rock and Roll Express, The Midnight Express, Afa and Sika “The Wild Samoans” etc. They could seek out advice and strategize with the legends How about training sessions with the legendary teams? Let the audience identify with London and Kendrick and make the girls fall in love with them. If this is the wrong team so be it. Then pick the right team. Just give people a reason to tune in. Let them bond with the talent. This would be a great time to reward proper conduct. Please help motivate people to act like true stars. STOP REWARDING STUPIDITY AND IMPROPER CONDUCT. Use this as a beta test to tie into the audience’s emotions. If this isn’t making sense to you, you’re probably already employed by WWE. If it makes sense to you and you’re a part of WWE creative feel free to steal the idea or make up one of your own. All I ask is that no matter what storyline you pick stop insulting people's intelligence.
I was lucky enough to spend some time around the legendary Gene Anderson before he passed. If you knew Gene thie few moments that I am going to bring up will make you laugh. If you didn’t know him this will give you some insight into a legend taken from the world long before he should have been. When teaching young kids to take bumps you might hear him yell “Hey kid don’t reach for the mat it will come to you”. I remember when we were doing TV for George Scott that Moondog Rex (Randy Colley) was standing around with longtime referee and agent Ron West. I heard him say as Gene walked by when you wrestled the Anderson’s that the one there that would put the clamp on you. I have heard that Ricky Steamboat once said he had to legit stick his finger in Gene’s eye just to get him off of him. All that being said, Gene was a great guy that had the respect of everyone. If you’re a Ric Flair fan, it was Gene who got Ric back into shape after the plane crash. It’s a shame he is gone but the respect for the Anderson’s live on. Ask any wrestling fan from Charlotte and the surrounding areas about the Anderson’s the stories could go one for days.
This picture is from the Yokozuna Memorial Show me and my pal Ron Simmons. Isn’t it sad that week in and week out one of the more interesting things is hearing him yell DAMN?
This has been a piece of my mind
