Straight Shooting: Stephanie, Sabu, Raven, and Madden!
Praise and ridicule to the above four and more
February 10, 2000
By Fritz Capp
While it makes me personally sick to say this, I believe that the best thing that WCW has going for them right now is Mark Madden. Whether this was planned or done because he was in the right place at the right time, I have to give it to Mark as he is probably the best color man WCW has had in a long time. Madden lives this persona in all he does on the Internet, which drives me nuts because you don’t have to play heel to get over on the net. But in his current role on WCW television, this is exactly what is needed and he does it real well. From his comments to his facial expressions, Madden is exactly what is needed to help play the yang to Schiavone’s ying. Now if WCW would only have interesting story lines and characters for Madden to have fun with.
I have received quite a bit of e-mail about the WWF "ruining" the Radicals debut in the WWF. I am still wondering why everyone is fearful for them because they came in as heels. Austin was a heel as was Wight and Jericho. In fact if you want to look at it the way they are being used is perfect. Have you noticed they aren’t being "squashed" and are allowed to wrestle? The 10-man tag match was a perfect vehicle. Here they are new to the company and they are already in the main event at RAW getting rubs from HHH, The Rock & Foley. Putting Too Cool in the match was brilliance as these guys can wrestle as can X-Pac, so it gave Benoit, Malenko & Saturn a chance to do what they do best. Rikishi is also over and with the run in by Road Dogg and Billy Gunn, combined with the appearance of Paul Bearer and the reemergence of Kane after the match, these guys were sitting in the middle of the majority of the WWF’s elite crew. How is this hurting them? People wanted to see another Benoit vs. HHH match. But what about Benoit vs. Jericho? How about Malenko/Saturn vs. The Hardys? Or Edge/Christian? The possibilities are endless right now. This also brings the McMahon/Helmsley era gang almost to the size of The Corporation. I can hear Jim Ross right now, "My God the carnage! Isn’t there anybody who can stop this?
One has to remember that the WWF does not book by the day or week or even the month. The WWF plans for months in advance where they want to go in a story line. Of course while there are many ways this can go, one has to wonder if this isn’t setting up the return of a few people or maybe just one to save the day so to speak. You know, the only people who could stop this rampage by HHH and Stephanie? Considering that this could play out for a few more months, any idea who that one person who could stop all this could be? (Please, that was a very rhetorical question)
Speaking of Stephanie, while everyone else is getting tired of seeing her, I for one have to applaud how well she has done in her role. From how snotty and cocksure (absolutely NO pun intended) she is at times to her facial expressions, she is what I think is the personification of a heel female personality. She plays the role almost too well as you can see that her role requires her to almost be the absolutely spoiled brat who now has her way and is going to run with it as far as she can. As a heel she rivals Vince himself, save the fact that Vince can actually get in the ring and has been at this a lot longer. My question is: are all McMahon’s born with the ability to work a mic?
Did you hear the pop that Paul Bearer and Kane received at the end of RAW? Can you imagine how much louder that would have been if it would have been the Undertaker? It’s a shame that Mark hurt himself again and that Vince isn’t using him in an out of ring role. The place would have been shaken to its foundation on RAW if it would have been Mark. Hopefully he will be back in an on air role soon.
If Terry Funk is going to continue to chastise Flair over the mic, he has to stop over emphasizing every word that comes out of his mouth. It comes off really bad.
Could Madusa hang any further out of her costume on Nitro? Please save it for the younger women okay?
What was the deal with Scott Steiner? How many weeks in a row will we hear someone in WCW mention the WWF? Is this really the best game plan for WCW? While it is being reported that he was "sent home" from the Thunder taping because of this, once again this shows how WCW DOES NOT have control over its workers or its product. How long do you think the WWF would put up with this?
With everyone that is out of action in WCW, is it really a smart idea to start a breakup of the NWO? Also when did Jarrett become the top heel and how was that determined? Lack of people available in the locker room to fill the position?
The Torch is reporting a verbal altercation between Scott Levy (Raven) and Paul Heyman and printed diatribes from both. It is a well-known fact that Heyman has done this before with Candido, so one has to wonder if this is what he is doing again. In case this is an actual shoot (is there such a thing in wrestling?), with Sabu mired in controversy right now, and Jerry Lynn and Rob Van Dam out of action, is it actually wise for Paul to be publicly insulting Scott at this time or airing more ECW dirty laundry. Wouldn’t the higher road for Paul to have taken would have just been not to reply? Or if he really felt the need to say something couldn’t he have just went the generic route? ECW is at a junction in its existence where they need to put on as positive a light as it can. It really doesn’t need this petty war of words aired all over the Internet.
I want to take a minute to respond to a letter I received. To set this up, in my last column I said Sabu was making a mistake by going to WCW. Here is a letter I received from Kelvin Abong :
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Hello,
I think it is a smart decision by Sabu to move to WCW. Why you ask? Because he is 39, his body is broken, and he's only running at 20% at what he used to do back in 1997. There is only so much time left in his career before he can't physically keep up. He needs to make money now before it's over. Paul Heyman and ECW don't have the capital lying around to pay Sabu what WCW is offering. Sabu won't be a success in WCW (like Shane Douglas before him) and no one except Terry Funk would feud with Sabu or sell an Arabian Face Buster, but you have to reason with the fact Sabu won't be around as long as Flair or Hogan and he needs the money.
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I have to say some very valid points in Sabu’s defense for going to WCW. Sabu probably will not be around as long as Flair or Funk and maybe it is time he takes the easier road in his career. I still do not believe that WCW will know what to do with him and his stint will once again be short lived as far as WCW is concerned. I guess only time will tell.
And with that I am outta here. Remember wrestling is nothing more than it appears to be.
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