Rise and Fall of WCW Review

I finally got a chance to watch the documentary part on the WWE’s new DVD release “The Rise and Fall of WCW” and I wanted to share my thoughts on it without trying to give an exhaustive and comprehensive review of the whole thing. This DVD set has been highly anticipated ever since the WWE put out the “Rise and Fall of ECW” a few years back. Obviously, WCW had a much richer history than ECW and I’m sure fans were expecting a really great set chronicling the history of the company. And since WCW fought the WWE tooth and nail through the mid to late 1990’s, one had to wonder if there would be any revisionist history and would the documentary try to take any cheap shots or try to really bury their former rival. So the question is, did the set meet expectations?

For the most part, “The Rise and Fall of WCW” was a very good and well produced documentary, but I think it fell short of being something truly special. All of the documentaries that the WWE makes are a good watch in my opinion, but some stand out as being better than others. I feel this documentary was a notch below the ECW one and I believe it could have been more in depth. The documentary only clocked in at about 1 hour 45 minutes and I think it could have been much longer and more comprehensive. With that said, some areas of the history of the company were well documented and overall it was a nice stroll down memory lane.

The beginning of the documentary part was very good and the viewer was able to gain a good sense of how WCW was built up from the territory days. You were able to see how things slowly morphed from Jim Crockett Promotions to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and then finally to WCW. It was obvious how much talent was present throughout the 70’s and 80’s and you got a very good look at how WCW was instrumental in creating the “big time” wrestling event and also how they helped to shape Pay Per Views. The documentary made you realize just how big things were back then for the company and the sky seemed to be the limit. Many of the people interviewed made reference to the 6:05 pm to 8:05 pm time slot on Saturday nights and how that became required viewing for fans back in the day. I was pleased to hear this myself because even though I don’t have sharp memories of things, I know I used to tune into TBS and watch when I was a little kid. I can remember being mesmerized by the athletic skill of the wrestlers and the larger than life personalities of guys like Sting. And even though I did not have an appreciation for the talents of a legend like Ric Flair at the time, those shows did seem like a big time thing and something special for a kid.

After a really good telling of how WCW slowly grew into a phenomenon, the main theme (from my perspective at least) of the documentary was introduced, which was no matter how good things looked for WCW on the surface, there was always trouble brewing behind the scenes that threatened the company. The first of these problems was that the company tried to expand too much too fast, and even though the money was pouring in, the company could not keep up with expenses. So after failed partnerships with Ted Turner and even Vince McMahon, Jim Crockett was forced to sell the entire company and operations to Turner and allow him to take over. Once Turner got his hands into things, it was only the beginning of the major problem which plagued WCW: people with no knowledge of the product screwing things up and then later allowing the “inmates to run the asylum” even when you had smart enough people in power positions.

In the early 1990’s, WCW had a wealth of talent with the likes of Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Sting, the Steiners, Vader, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, and the list could go on and on. But sadly, extremely bad decisions and bad management held the company back. The people who gained control of the booking just could not find a way to gain any momentum at the best and didn’t know what the hell they were doing at the worst. The morale of the performers slowly started to disappear and the fun vanished. Many wrestlers just saw dollars and a paycheck and the ship was not righted until Eric Bischoff came along.

Bischoff was mostly portrayed in a positive light for what he did with WCW, and rightly so. He was a very smart and creative business man and he had enough sense to listen to other people and also channel Ted Turner’s money effectively. I don’t need to go into detail about how WCW was able to lure away WWE stars like Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan, and Randy Savage. The WWE made these guys into stars and when they came to WCW, the company was legitimized and people took notice. The NWO was then formed and WCW took off like a rocket. The company dominated in the ratings for almost 2 years and WCW seemed to be unstoppable. They featured cruiserweights like Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio and Dean Malenko, and these performers gave fans an exciting style that the WWE was not offering. Goldberg also hit the scene during this period and his rise to stardom only helped WCW along.

So, things were great for the company until the same old problems as before crept up. Bischoff and other management people within WCW started to become arrogant and cocky. They really had no longer term vision and they only cared about the ratings and doing whatever it took to beat the WWE. Bischoff foolishly thought that he could actually put Vince McMahon out of business. On top of that, the wrestlers were getting huge contracts and too much creative control. The hiring of Vince Russo, who was pretty much killed in this documentary, was the beginning of the end. As many people probably know, Russo slung every stupid idea that he could against the wall until nothing stuck anymore. We got to see the infamous “finger poke of doom”, Jeff Jarrett laying down for Hulk Hogan, and David Arquette: WCW World Champion, among other things. Truly, things just spiraled out of control and the company was forced to fold under the weight of horrible decision making and the amount of money that was being lost.

All in all, this was a solid timeline of events which did show the rise and fall of the company. In my opinion, I would say that the facts are pretty much accurate, but you can never assume that you are getting the full story. In fact, I would have loved to see more of the story. I think this could have easily been a more comprehensive documentary and should have clocked in at about 3 hours. WWE could have spent more time talking about how Ric Flair and the Horsemen carried the company in the mid to late 1980’s and how they were able to develop more and more big events. I would have also liked to have seen more about the feuds that bridged the gap from the early 90’s until the NWO came along. Even through the bad management, WCW had a great in-ring product and it would have been nice to see some of those feuds highlighted. I admit to being a big mark for the NWO, so I would have liked seeing a more comprehensive look at how the faction evolved and then how it basically devolved into a farce and a joke which hurt the product. A greater examination of the cruiserweight division should have been included in my opinion. And lastly, I believe the documentary should have discussed the major angle that WCW tried which pitted the “New Blood” against the “Millionaires Club”. This storyline was not even mentioned and I feel it should have been talked about along with more information about the final months of the company’s existence.

“The Rise and Fall of WCW” was a good documentary, but it could have been better. Maybe the brevity of the whole thing is just yet another “jab” that Vince McMahon likes to do sometimes. For a wrestling junkie, this documentary was not as big of a “fix” as it should have been. I haven’t gotten around to watching the matches yet, but there appears to be some really good stuff on it. I am sure the earlier matches from the late 80’s and early 90’s will be better than the later material, but that is to be expected. With all that being said, I do recommend a purchase of this set. While it may not be perfect, I feel that it does deserve a place in your wrestling DVD library.

The Game’s Quick Hits:

Monday Night RAWind: I thought that Monday Night Raw this week was much better than last week’s offering. There seemed to be a little more focus on building toward the Breaking Point PPV and it was nice to see a greater emphasis on in-ring action as opposed to pointless and stupid backstage segments and “comedy” bits. Now this makes sense since Dusty Rhodes was the guest host. I have to admit…I like Dusty and always was a fan of the “common man” shtick and there is no question that Dusty could talk on the mic and bring it to ya. The opening segment involving Dusty, Randy Orton, and Cody Rhodes, which set up the main event title match between Orton and Cody Rhodes with Dusty in his corner and John Cena as the referee, was infinitely better than last week’s DX birthday celebration for Vince McMahon. In fact, I think it was a good move to keep DX in the back with Dusty this week and only have them do a little harmless merchandise schilling. Yes, I did laugh at the Shockmaster segment which featured Arn Anderson doing the Shockmaster’s voice. I thought it was fairly funny and saved the segments as a whole. As for the “main event” itself, I was cool with it being a bait and switch.

After the opening segment, I figured that either Orton would just decide to attack Cena and make the match a no contest (and then Legacy would come help) or Orton and Rhodes would just stop the match mid-stream and go after Cena. So, I was pleasantly surprised that they had Dusty do the heel turn right away and Legacy went right after Cena. DX made the predictable save, but Dusty knocking out Triple H with his cowboy boot and then eating an RKO at the end for his troubles was a nice touch. This ending worked because Legacy was able to get their heat back from Cena and DX and the fact that Cody wanted to beat the hell out of Orton for dropping Dusty but whimped out will be effective down the road. At this point, Rhodes and Dibiase continue to look like puppets and totally under Orton’s control. So when they do turn and stand up to him, it will hopefully be a major break for the two and the audience will get behind them. Maybe the whole ending segment was not perfect, but I thought it worked.

The action involving the divas was not that exciting, but at least it was good to see an immediate payoff for a change and a greater focus on some wrestling. Beth Phoenix won a 6 diva battle royal early in the evening and then got a shot at Divas Champion Mickie James later in the night. Beth was booked to look like a beast again and it was pretty effective. The dead crowd did not help the match and the sudden win by Mickie off of a DDT seemed uninspiring to me. I actually would have liked to see Beth win the title. It would have been a surprise and they could have immediately cemented Beth as a dominant bad ass again. I have no idea what the longer term build is now since Gail Kim keeps losing, so I guess we will have to wait and see.

I thought they did the logical move of having Chris Jericho vs. MVP and Big Show vs. Mark Henry to try and build the Unified Tag Team Championship match coming up at Breaking Point. They needed to do something since this match was just thrown together, and opting for some matches instead of pointless bantering or brawling was nice to see. Jericho and MVP put on a good match and Show vs. Henry was a slow and plodding snooze fest as one would predict. But both matches did their job of trying to prove that MVP and Henry are capable of hanging with JeriShow.

The fatal four way match for the United States Championship was also a nice little affair that featured some good action and allowed the contenders to be showcased. Again, I think a sudden title change would have been awesome to see, but maybe they are saving that for Smackdown this week, when I fully expect Rey Mysterio to drop the Intercontinental Title to Dolph Ziggler. The match did a great job of making Kofi Kingston the plucky “underdog” champion who works hard and finds a way to persevere and win. I was glad to see The Miz in there trying to be a sneaky heel and also glad that Carlito, not Miz, was the one who took the pinfall. I still think The Miz needs to complete his quest and win the U.S. Title in the near future.

And finally, the Chavo Guerrero and Hornswoggle angle has just moved into being stupid and absurd. It was funny the first 2 or 3 times, but now it is total crap and I want it off my TV. And speaking of stupid…why in the hell is Bob Barker hosting Raw next week? That makes absolutely NO sense for the last Raw before a PPV.

ECW Thoughts: I didn’t get a chance to catch ECW live as it aired, so I am only able to discuss the results. I am seeing that Sheamus defeated Goldust in a no count out, no disqualification match. These two have meshed together surprisingly well in the ring and the matches have been pretty good. Sheamus going over is obviously the right result and hopefully he will get a chance to move onto a new feud. I think Sheamus has the potential to be a player down the road, as long as they don’t start putting him into stupid matches or involving him with Hornswoggle. Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov squashed two jobbers and then tried to beat them down more along with William Regal before Christian and Tommy Dreamer made the save. This set up a tag team match for next week between Christian and Dreamer and Jackson and Kozlov. I will be very interested in this match to see how Jackson and Kozlov can hang. The feud between Christian and Regal is heating up nicely, so hopefully it continues. Shelton Benjamin defeated Zack Ryder last night as well. I am hoping that Benjamin is somehow able to break out of the mid card and move up the ladder again. Of course he needs to either get on Raw or Smackdown to have a shot at a secondary title or maybe he can somehow challenge Regal if he takes the belt from Christian down the line. I think Benjamin has been working hard to improve and I would like to see him get a bigger push.

- Reports today are saying that PG Ricky Rubio backed out of an agreement that was in place to bring him to the NBA and the Minnesota Timberwolves this season. Minnesota had reached an agreement with Rubio’s agent and his Spanish pro team, but then Rubio came to the Wolves and told them he would prefer to stay in Spain for 2 more years to better prepare himself for the NBA. I don’t know, but this could start smelling fishy. Who knows, maybe in 2 years he decides that he still wants to stay in Europe and tries to squeeze as much money out of Minnesota as he can. Timberwolves president David Kahn is saying that the team was always willing to wait a year or two to bring Rubio over and Rubio is on record saying he has a desire to play for Minnesota, so Kahn had better hope Rubio still has that desire in 2011. As everyone knows however, a lot can change in 2 years, so I’m sure we will have to deal with this in the news for a while to come.

- Brace yourself Canada and get some extra security at those nightclubs because Adam “Pacman” Jones has just agreed to a 1 year contract with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers. This was the next best option for Jones after the Dallas Cowboys released him in February and no NFL team even bothered to invite him to training camp. My short and sweet opinion on this guy? He is a total idiot. Here is another young player (still only 25) who is trying to flush his career and talents down the toilet due to stupid behavior. Since Jones was drafted in 2005, he has been arrested 6 times and involved in 12 instances that required police intervention. That is just plain stupid and it is amazing this guy is still getting opportunities out there. I am all for second chances, but Jones refuses to stay out of trouble and try to better himself. But that is what happens when you are an athlete and you have talent. If you can still play and a team has a need for what you can do, you will most likely get another shot. Maybe Jones can finally realize this might be his last shot to get to the NFL or else he will be stuck in Canada the rest of his career.

- Quick NFL notes: Patriots QB Tom Brady tested his throwing arm and shoulder in practice on Tuesday and showed no ill effects. Seems like the whole injury “scare” is now overblown and people in New England can breathe easy…Oakland Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha is expected to be sidelined about two weeks with a chipped bone in his left wrist. Asomugha is arguably Oakland’s best player and this kind of injury could very well limit how effective he would be in bump-and-run coverage this year. The Raiders didn’t need any more bad news since they will still be terrible this season…New York Giants DE Osi Umenyiora returned to practice on Tuesday after going AWOL on Monday and giving no reason on why he did. This is just a strange occurrence and there is obviously more to this story and I want to hear it…Bengals rookie OL Andre Smith will be out a few weeks after fracturing a bone in his foot. This looks like a case of bad karma to me after Cincinnati tried to lowball Smith with his rookie contract. I read that they have a weight clause in it though, so maybe Smith reported to the team not in the greatest of shape. No matter how you slice it though, it is typical Bungles…

- U.S. Open Update: Women’s #1 seed Dinara Safina barely survived and avoided becoming the first #1 seed to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open by beating 147th-ranked Olivia Rogowska 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4. As I stated before, I have no idea what in the hell they do to get these rankings but Safina should not be a #1 seed at these majors. It is one thing to rack up points at smaller events, but the major tournaments are where the best come through and she has proven nothing yet. The only upset of note on the second day was women’s #11 seed and former world #1 Ana Ivanovic losing in 3 sets.

A Rose Not in Bloom

The Hall of Fame. Truly it is the final stop for any athlete who dominated his sport for years and it is the final recognition that you were one of the best and your legacy is cemented. It seems as if there has been a great deal of talk these past few months about the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. And this past weekend, I couldn’t help but be drawn into a story on ESPN about Pete Rose. It has been 20 years since Commissioner Bart Giamatti banned Rose for life due to his betting on baseball. It is my opinion that even though Pete Rose has generally been a buffoon in all this, he still deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Without question, Pete Rose was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. To this day, he is still baseball’s all-time hit king and the mark may never be broken. Pete Rose was Charlie Hustle. He gave it his all on the field and he played with reckless abandon and passion. Unfortunately for Pete though, he also took that passion and applied it to sports gambling. I don’t need to retell Rose’s story of betting on games while he was managing the Reds. He screwed up and received a lifetime ban from MLB and he is still paying the price to this day. To me however, it seems wrong to not have Rose in the Hall of Fame based on his on field accomplishments.

It is my opinion that Pete Rose never did anything on the baseball field as a player that jeopardized the integrity of the game. In fact, the way Rose played is how every player should strive to play the game. His accomplishments deserve to be recognized in the Hall. Now Rose is no saint, but the Hall of Fame is not meant to be for people you nominate for Sainthood. I understand that Rose compromised the game with his betting and he screwed up by lying about the whole ordeal for so long. But again, none of this has to do with what he did as a player for all those years.

Rose’s good friends Joe Morgan and Mike Schmidt feel that Pete has suffered enough. I tend to agree. Murderers and rapists get less time in jail for their actions. Now I am not naïve here thinking that is a straight up comparison, but Rose has basically been in jail for 20 years in baseball terms and at this point, I think time has been served.

However, former MLB Commissioner (and deputy commissioner at the time of Rose’s ban) Fay Vincent said in the ESPN piece that it is not about whether Rose has suffered enough. He claimed that again, the integrity of the game needed to be upheld and he said something to the effect of, we need to show that what Rose did will not be treated lightly as an example to future players. Really? So let me get this straight. Is Joe Schmo out there going to decide that he wants to bet on baseball and take the risk and if he gets caught, he will just chill out for 20 years and be able to come back? Are you telling me some young player wants to throw away their playing career and then assume he can come back when he is 45 and maybe manage? Come on, let’s be serious. No one is going to choose to go down that road because they think Pete Rose got a “light” sentence.

Now make no mistake, I don’t particularly have any love for Pete Rose and I certainly do not condone his gambling or his lying for all those years. Like everyone, Rose obviously has his flaws and faults and he should not just expect to be shown mercy or given chance after chance, especially when he will not help himself. But again the fact remains, Rose never compromised the game as a player and his on field performance is deserving of a spot in the Hall of Fame.

After seeing the story and reading a few articles though, it seems Rose will never get his induction day. Truly, it seems like the ship has sailed and Pete will have to live out his days in baseball exile. I truly hope that if MLB is determined to stick to their guns, then they do make it stick forever. I think it would be pretty disgraceful if they put the man in after he dies. In theory, it would be Rose’s lifetime and he would be eligible again right? That may sound cold, but I think it would be cold on MLB’s part to do something like that. Who knows what will happen, but it is just another sad tale in the great American pastime.

I, for one, have grown weary of all the steroid talk and the leaking of names from the infamous “survey testing” back in 2003. This also continues to be a sad tale when it comes to the Steroid Era. And in talking about the Hall of Fame, I think it will be sad that some other players get held out of the Hall. Let’s take baseball’s all-time home run king Barry Bonds. Sure, everyone knows he was on the juice. But if you look back on his career, you can argue that he was a lock for the Hall of Fame before he started with performance enhancers. I believe he had around 400 homers, along with multiple gold gloves and all-star appearances. He would have made the Hall without steroids. Alex Rodriguez could be in the same boat. Even before 2003, the guy was cruising toward 500 homers and was considered one of the best all-around players in the game. Now, the taint of steroids might keep him out. Add Roger Clemens to the list. He will take it to the grave that he never did anything, but the evidence seems to be there. And before he would have ever used PEDs, he was worth of induction.

I am not trying to give these guys a pass for stupid actions, but it is what it is and I still believe these players proved enough when there was no steroid cloud over them. To me, it just becomes sad how great players can ruin their legacies. This is all just my opinion though and I have no problem with baseball purists out there who would NEVER give these guys consideration because of steroids. I just think that they clearly proved they were the best of their era before the “steroid portion” of their careers. If you do cast these players aside, history may tell us that Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas, and Jim Thome were the best sluggers of this era. If injuries didn’t get to Griffey, I believe he would easily be challenging Bonds’ home run record. And with every cloud there is a silver lining and his name is Albert Pujols. He may end up being the very best of all and surpass all of these guys when he is done.

So those are my thoughts of the day. Like your parents teach you, it is best to own up to your mistakes and not lie about them. Unfortunately for Pete Rose, it seems like he didn’t learn that lesson and instead, he has to remain in exile and he will most likely never get his day in the Hall of Fame sun. Sadly, he looks like he might not be alone.

The Game’s Quick Hits

ECW Thoughts: I thought that last night’s ECW was a decent show, but nothing to write home about. The best parts of the show were the beginning and the end, which conveniently featured ECW Champion Christian and William Regal. As expected, the feud between these two will continue after Regal pinned Christian in the main event match (with a little help from Vladimir Kozlov) to earn a future Championship match. The opening promo between the two was very good and the match had some solid wrestling and action, so kudos to the WWE on that one. The middle portion of the show was pretty pedestrian with nothing that exciting happening. I was happy that Abraham Washington did not grace my screen this week and I wish I could have said the same about Tyler Reks. Unless Washington has some great wrestling ability, the guy is a waste. I don’t think he is that great on the mic and his delivery is too whacked in my opinion. And Reks’ bland surfer dude persona just does nothing for me. Unless he really starts to pull off some moves in the ring, he just will remain boring and not get over with the audience.

- P Billy Wagner was traded from the Mets to the Red Sox for 2 players to be named later just under the final deadline after Wagner decided to “throw caution to the wind” and waive his no-trade clause. Well I guess at this point, Boston will take any help that they can get even though I think they need more help on the offensive side of things. As I have already said, the Yankees should cruise to the AL East title and Boston will have to fight for the Wild Card spot. It will be interesting to see what Wagner has left and he probably made a smart decision to get the hell away from the Mets and go to pitch in a pennant race. He is only 11 months removed from Tommy John surgery and he can only pitch every few days, but he did hit 96 mph on the gun recently. Intriguing indeed…

- Speaking of the Mets, P Johan Santana is now out for the season after opting for surgery to clear out bone chips in his left elbow. Damn, the Mets are cursed by the injury bug this season. This was a smart move to shut him down and get it fixed before something more serious happens to the guy. This is just a lost season for the Mets and they can only hope their ace pitcher recovers for next season. Probably won’t help though and they will still choke it up next year!

- Time for your daily dose of Michael Vick news…as expected, Eagles coach Andy Reid confirmed that Vick will play in Thursday’s preseason game. Reid says that Vick looks good in practice and he wants to see how he will respond to the speed of the game after 2 years away. Well now that it is confirmed, it should be an absolute show in Philly come Thursday night. I expect Vick to look decent and not embarrass himself, but I would be shocked to see some game breaking, jaw dropping play. On the animal rights front, the meeting between Eagles officials and local animal rights groups seems to have gone well. Of course these groups are still skeptical and they are “demanding” the Eagles donate a match of Vick’s salary to local charities. Ahhh, got to love that try at extortion LOL. Like I said before, these groups should be happy to try and work for solutions. They don’t need to “hug” Vick and become his best friend, but they should not be so critical when people want to reach out and try to help.

- Roger Federer and Dinara Safina were named the #1 seeds for the 2009 U.S. Open which begins Monday. American Andy Roddick was seeded #5, while Serena Williams and Venus Williams were #2 and #3 respectively. Roger looks to be in fine form and deserving of the seeding, but someone needs to look at these women’s rankings because Safina continues to get pounded at the Grand Slam tournaments. How she is STILL ahead of Venus and Serena is beyond me. I always like checking out the Grand Slam tennis tournaments so I am hoping for some good and compelling matches.

- Quick notes from the NFL injury front…Bills WR Terrell Owens will miss this Saturday’s preseason game against Pittsburgh, while Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger will be back in action after reportedly coming back to practice and showing no ill effects from his foot injury last week. At this point, Buffalo needs to hope that Owens can be ready for the regular season because this toe injury seems like it was fairly serious. And I guess the Ravens and the rest of the AFC North catch no break with Big Ben *sigh* LOL