You may argue that Bash at the Beach produced an excellent buyrate, and so WCW, in good business sense, should keep doing what is working for them. Wrong. Celebrities in wrestling alienate the true fans of the sport and make pro wrestling in general a virtual banquet of sarcastic remarks and cynical criticism to the media frenzy who balk and laugh at the sport, even at the expense of being a hypocritical bastard themselves. (Costas) Let me give you a parallel comparison to go by. The majority of people that I talk to who are legit fans and have some intelligence when it comes to the sport agree that Nitro is the same thing week after week. Yet, Eric decided to stick to the format because, hell, he was getting great ratings and a woody on top of that. All was well, until McMahon heated things up and the momentum shifted. Even with the pressure turned up a notch Bischoff refused to change the format of his show and continued to let Hogan influence everything that he does. What happens? RAW takes firm control of the ratings and Bischoff becomes desperate. His desperation leads him to throw out buckets of money to celebrities who, intelligently, decide to take the cash. They equal their Starrcade buyrate but have to take a ton of cash out to pay for Malone and Rodman. My advice boys and girls is either to take off your seatbelt now, or strap in for a long ride, because Uncle Eric is gonna ride the celebrity train until it de-rails. If you see the comparison I am making I'm sure you will agree.
I've heard no monetary sum that Leno is getting paid for his appearance at Road Wild. Apparently, he is donating it all to charity. LOL, does he think it is dirty money? Oh well, it is an honorable thing to do at least. Who knows, maybe Leno will carry the match. A quick rundown of who else is involved in the match tells you that he won't be the worst athlete involved. I refused to order Bash but from what I heard Malone carried the match. That is pathetic.
One last note to Eric before I sign out: You ruined the 18 month old angle with Sting after Starrcade. I was never a fan of that angle myself, but he got great heat. Putting him back in the rafters reeks of desperation.
