Straight Shooting - Issue #80
by Fritz Capp
Exclusively For PWBTS.com
August 11, 2000
It has been an intense past two weeks for yours truly. So many people "think" they know what is going on. So many people are attacking the WWF from all fronts, the sad thing is they make their money off of selling news on the fed. I have re-written this column three times because to be quite honest I am trying not to sit here and take apart the majority of your reporting Gods because I know how much you hate to see just how human they really are. Also how wrong they are a lot of the time. Sure they get some news here and there, but mostly they give their own viewpoints and assumptions as news. Isn't this what everyone complains about when the smaller lesser known reporters do that exact same thing? Why is ok then for the self absorbed big boys to do it? Shouldn't the criteria be the same for all?
Anyway, there is one thing that is certain, I will be at Unforgiven. And yes, I have tickets before they even go on sale thanks to Philadelphia radio station WYSP. Now depending on the seats I will be the exact person the PTC has been complaining about lately because I will be the parent who takes his kid to a WWF event. And why shouldn't I? He watches RAW and Smackdown. (usually on tape the next day) Now while it is true I do not have any control over what he will see or hears, I highly doubt one night of a WWF PPV will warp his three year old mind. OMG, that's right everyone, he's only three years old. I can hear the cries from the moral minority, "How could he do that to his child?". Give me a break, the kid loves wrestling and why shouldn't I take him? My only concern is where the seats are. Unless they are close to the front he will never see a thing. I have been to many events and everyone holds their signs up all through the show. It makes it hard for adults to see let alone kids. Don't get me wrong, I love to read all the signs and see all the support, be it in the WWF or WCW or ECW, but the fans have to learn to remember that there are people sitting behind them that cannot see if the people in front of them constantly hold a sign up in the air. Signs are cool at the opening of the show and at certain times during the program, but I have yet to meet anyone who pays money to go to an event that is happy about looking at the back of a sign for the majority of it. So if you take signs to any shows, just try to be a little considerate of the people behind you. We will have signs of our own. If the seats warrant Danny being able to see the show and he does go, he will be the one holding the WFAC/WWFVote.com sign.
I have asked before and I will ask again, where does everyone gets their numbers? We have Internet reporters stating that the Internet wrestling fans only make up 1% of total viewership of wrestling while I have heard other state that it could be up to 50%. I for one have to go with the mind set that it is a lot higher than the 1% that is being reported by one wrestling smart. But then again, this is one of the guys who dispute the WWF's voting numbers without having one piece of evidence to refute their claim. He has supposition and uses contrived numbers and random counts to back up his claims but that is about it. Even Shane McMahon on "WWF Byte This" was asked the following question and gave this answer, " (Byte This) How many of the WWF audience do you think goes to other websites to gather dirtsheet information? Shane replies: I would say very little. I know that there are 1,000's and 1,000's of wrestling dirtsheet's out there, but I doubt it. I do think though most of our fans will hit WWF.com and that's it." What the heck is Shane smoking lately? I understand putting your site over but he really cannot believe what he answered there. I do not know one person who only goes to "one" wrestling website. That is ludicrous to even suggest. Just as ludicrous as it is to suggest that the Internet wrestling fans only make up 1% of wrestling viewership. I wish these people would just stick to the news and stop interjecting their claims and assumptions onto the wrestling fans as gospel.
Can the WWF take anymore shots at L.Brent Bozell with the Steven Richards character? On Smackdown when Michael Cole and Steven Richards were having their exchange during the RTC/Too Cool matchup, I was amazed at how well Stevie got the WWF's and the fans perception of Bozell and the PTC on air. While Bozell will continue to play off the WWF's shots at him, deep inside I am sure that his ego is seething.
Speaking of the PTC, everyone knows that the PTC Marketplace has been effectively and categorically shut down. One small victory for the wrestling fans who came out in defense of pro wrestling programming being able to show what it wants and have the people choose for themselves if they want to support it. But the fight isn't over yet, not by a long shot. Also everyone who ever wrote to one or more of the companies that were in the Marketplace asking them to drop their sponsorship should now take a moment to write to the former sponsors and thank them for dropping the sponsorship and for backing our "no censorship in any form" campaign. Go to the Wrestling Fans Against Censorship (http://www.geocities.com/wfac_2000) starting on Monday to see where you can send your letters of thanks to these people who took the time to listen to us. One reminder to everyone, Bozell has stated on many occasions that he will be starting to bring WCW under scrutiny. Do not think that once ECW signs a new deal that they will be far behind. I would hope that all of the wrestling fans who defended the WWF's right to broadcast will also help defend WCW's and ECW's right as well wen the time comes. The PTC is very quiet at the moment. The last time they were quiet all of a sudden MCI pulled their advertisements from WWF broadcasts. Be forewarned.
WCW is once again in the forefront of wrestling news going across the Internet, only this time it is due to the many reports that they are considering dropping a lot of their top talent due to financial losses within the WCW organization. I said over a year ago they should cut a lot of the talent, not due to money but because they were so hard to work with. The surprise name that I hear and read is so hard to work with anymore is Bill Goldberg. While I find it hard to believe that someone who was so humble a year is now the focal point for so many to bash, it is possible that the older workers in the company spouted off their rhetoric enough that it finally got into Bill's head. It is not secret that a lot of the older guys in the company were jealous of Goldberg's status. It is also not much of a stretch that they would do everything they could to sabotage his relationship with the company. Since they really could not match up physically with Bill, nor could they equal his popularity, the only thing they could do was destroy from within, and that would mean that they get into Bill's head. I still find it hard to believe that someone like Goldberg could grow such an ego so fast, but this is wrestling and more than one has fallen into the trap of believing his own press.
Question : So how many of you are now buying the Hogan/Russo story line as shoot?
Answer : Most of you.
Question : Why?
Tammy Sytch is reporting that she was recently in a car accident. Can this girl get a break? I know I have come out and had my say about her in the past, in fact at times I have been pretty hard on her but the fact of the matter is that while everything I have said may have been the truth, I may have been a bit out of line. Here is someone who is trying to change things in her life to the positive. It is not an easy journey to do that. It takes not only a strong will but also a lot of support. When I walked that road I did it by myself with no support from anyone. In fact I refused any help. In retrospect it would have been a lot easier to have swallowed my pride and allowed those closest to me to lend a hand. Tammy has and will continue to face obstacles in her life and it is up to us, the wrestling fans, to support her and give her positive feedback instead of picking her apart every chance we get. I say that more for me than anyone else as I have seen a lot of support for her from her fans. Mark it on your calenders everyone, I admit I was wrong in how I handled things. I thought more of the story than the person the story was about. Hey, even I'm human and make mistakes.
And with that I am outta here. Remember wrestling is nothing more than it appears to be but also remember a quote from James Billington, "Intellectual and cultural freedom is the most important single precondition for the breakdown of the kinds of tyrannical and totalitarian systems that periodically threaten us."
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