This week's AS I SEE IT is based on a children's fairy tale...eerily set to real life....or as real life as the world of some in wrestling will allow.

Let me set it up first.

There is a children's story, set in a time long, long ago. It's about a mad Emperor and his subjects.

The Emperor, you see, is told by a weaver that he will weave him the finest suit in all the land. The emperor, in all his vanity, loves this idea.

The day comes when the emperor gets his new suit of clothes...which are absolutely nothing. When the Emperor asks about what appears to be nothing, the weaver says "No, no....only certain people can see these clothes...only your subjects that are loyal to you."

One of the Emperor's servants is shocked...but realizes what he must do....so he gets out the word to the people that they'd be well served to go along with their mad Emperor, and tell him his suit of clothes is the most beautiful in all the land.

The Emperor goes out on a trip through his land...and the people tell him, one after another that his suit of clothes is beautiful... indeed, the most beautiful in all the land.

Until they get to one village. One little boy on the parade route looks up at the Emperor, and realizes that the only suit the Emperor is wearing is the one God and nature gave him. The little boy says to his mother, "Mother, the Emperor is wearing no clothes..." His mother, realizing that the Emperor is mad, tells him to be quiet. But the little boy will not be silent and says again and again, "But Mother, look for yourself...the Emperor is wearing no clothes."

Then the people of the village on the parade route hear the little boy, in all of his earnestness. They look at the emperor, and realize their foolishness. Then they begin to laugh. One after another. Then the emperor hears the laughter of his people...and he realizes what has happened.

Indeed, it took the wisdom of a small child to make the people realize that the emperor was wearing no clothes.

You see, in the land of Louisiana, in the former empire of the Kingfish.... and in the land of Marmora, a land near the sea... there are two "emperors" who have been wearing no clothes for quite some time now, figuratively speaking.

They've gotten away with doing and saying pretty much what they wanted for years, both in public and in private; whether what they say has been truthful or has not been truthful.

In 1996, the Emperor from Marmora managed to forget one of his friends, one who'd help set him up in his position of influence within ECW. All this person asked for was to have a letter of farewell printed, something that would have seemed an easy thing to do for a friend. But Paul Heyman and the people deemed this too controversial, and the Emperor from Marmora refused to print this letter.

PWBTS did print the letter. Fritz Capp, Dan Moreland and I let the emperor from Marmora know exactly what we thought of what he'd done, both publicly and privately. You could say that we took the role of the child in the fable and said, "the Emperor is wearing no clothes..." But back then, ours was a smaller voice. Most people weren't ready to see that the Emperor from Marmora was wearing no clothes.

As the years passed, however, some began to see the truth of what we said. But the Emperor from Marmora dismissed what was said as mere "jealousy".

In 1998, PWBTS pointed out that the Emperor from the land of the Kingfish owned a website, one well-known by all, that reported news and rumors, had opinion columns and the like; much like many on the Internet. According to InterNIC, he also owned a website of a promotion he was covering, ECW...a fact that both of the emperors didn't particularly want made public, and even tried to deny.

Again, we took the role of the child in the fable and said "The emperor is wearing no clothes..."

In that same year, as a form of retaliation; the emperors made a video tape...better known as a worked shoot interview. On that video tape, they aired the ramblings of a failed promoter who slandered the wife of the webmaster of PWBTS. They marketed it on their website, known by some as Bob.com. Some have suggested that the emperors could and should be sued for what they produced.

In 1999, they began a policy, for reasons known to themselves, to encourage people to click the advertising banners on their site...and encourage...and encourage....and encourage.

Recently, MANY have been saying that the emperors from the land of the Kingfish and the land of Marmora along the sea are wearing no clothes.

One of those saying this is a woman named Carrie (Messantonio) Zohn. Carrie writes for PWBTS, as well as the SCOOPS website. She works with her husband, Ed Zohn in the Lethal Arts Wrestling promotion, operating in Pennsylvania.

In the last three days, she's fallen victim to a slanderous e-mail campaign from the Emperors. It seems they didn't appreciate being told in her column of the fact that they weren't wearing any clothes. Some highlights from Carrie's column:

"This leads me to wonder how a certain Internet entity has come to enjoy such immense success when their loyalty blatantly falls on the WCW side of the fence?

The webmasters of said website continue to sling an inordinate amount of arrows in the direction of the WWF. Again, much like Bischoff, they claim that the WWF is guilty of using sex to market their product to children and overstepping moralistic integrity..... They even went as far to lambaste TV Guide for "stooping to tabloid practices in order to drive people to their website" when TV Guide reported information regarding Chastity being involved in the X-rated movie "Live Bait".

These webmasters who are openly angry over the TV Guide's "tabloid practices", are the same ones who vehemently supported ECW at the pinnacle of their popularity. When ECW was claiming that they were "innovators of violence", including violence against women as well as utilizing children in their angles while simultaneously using strippers as....well, these webmasters couldn't say enough good things about the "hardcore" promotion.

Said webmasters also condemned TV Guide for "taking advantage of the situation to try and generate a few more clicks to their website".

Again, these are the same webmasters who have used practices much more deceitful than those stated above in order to sway traffic in their direction. These practices range from Hogan's retirement to the selling of "worked" shoot videos (which border on slanderous, might I add), burying photos of the infamous catfight that transpired in ECW and not only burying the daily newsletters but also breaking them down into several pages in order to generate more revenue. Not to mention the blatant "begging" that goes on for people to click on their advertisers banners (which, given the banner companies they utilize, goes against the rules and regulations of those companies) is simply pitiful.

Let's also back up a moment to the "worked" shoot video tape they so assiduously marketed to the wrestling community. On this tape, they saw fit to permit an ex-promoter to slander a competing webmaster's wife. They never attempted to find out if any of these malevolent remarks were true (which they were not) and still consented that they be video taped and not only sold, but the webmasters of this particular website did the marketing themselves."

So the Emperor from the land of the Kingfish and the Emperor from Marmora decided to send vulgar e-mails to Ms. Zohn and to her husband, Ed; ironic since Ed was a former friend of the Emperor from Marmora. They're of a nature that if I printed them, I'd endanger the relationship of PWBTS, as well as the other sites this column runs on with their webhosts. So, folks, I'll just have to allow you to use your imagination.

But you can contact the Emperor from Louisiana...the land of the Kingfish, which if you haven't figured it out by now, is Bob Ryder. Or you can contact the Emperor from the land of Marmora by the sea... who, if you've not figured it out by now is Dave Scherer. You can e-mail them through their site.

Let them know what you think of what they've done...TWICE slandering another man's wife... selling out to whatever promotion will pay them... abandoning friends...and in a dozen ways being obsessed with wrestling to an extent that it qualifies as unnatural.

Let them know, that like the small child in the fable, you've seen that the "Emperors" aren't wearing any clothes. One wonders if they will ever have the wisdom of even the mad Emperor in the fable...and realize that they were wearing nothing to cover their personal and professional inadequacies but a birthday suit all along.

Until next time...

If you have comments or questions, I can be reached by e-mail at bobmagee1@hotmail.com