"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Hellloooooo Ladies. Issue #8 of everyone's favorite weekly column has arrived. This is Wraith, webmaster of WCW AND WWF ACTION!! speaking. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving this week. How was the turkey? Well the turkey was not cookin' for Hollywood Hogan. On the Tonight Show with Jay Leno,he announced his retirement from pro wrestling and also, he confirmed his candidature for president of the USA in the year 2000. Hulk Hogan MADE wrestling. Without him, the WWF and WCW would not have worth sh*t. I guess we all owe him that. Even if you dispise the guy, you certainly have to give him some amount of credit. He played in movies, commercials and even on gameshows. Hollywood, we will miss ya! Now on with the column. This week, the topic will be gimmicks and originality. Enjoy!
££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££
In any organization, the most important parts is gimmick originality and talent. Well, in this issue, I will point out some good gimmicks, bad gimmicks, and underrated wrestlers.
The best gimmick of all time, is the Undertaker. In his first year, he was incredible. Mark Callaway is the perfect human being to play the role of a Dead Man. In every aspect of his gimmick, he was brilliant. His theme music, his walk, his moves, his finishing move; The Tombstone, and even his manager Paul Bearer were totally affiliated with death. You have to respect Vinny Mac for at least that. Undertaker gave us some breathtaking, thrilling and unbelievable matchups. From the Hell in the Cell with Shawn Michaels to the Burried Alive match with Mankind to the Inferno match with Kane and maybe the best match of the Century: Undertaker VS Mankind at King Of The Ring 1998. Undertaker played his role well, Vince McMahon awarded him the World Title at Wrestlemania 13 I think when he defeated Psycho Sid. But recently, Vince McMahon began slowly to change the gimmick of the Undertaker. New theme music, no makeup and more moves to his arsenal. From dead man to normal human.Great Job Mark! I give his gimmick a 9.8 on 10.
Next case is Val Venis. How often do you see a porno star that wrestles? In my case, never. How often do you hear a wrestler say things like: "Maybe Dejon Sanders is scoring on prime time, but the Big Valbowski is scoring ever time!" or " Ladies, if you want to cross the finish line in first place before the Big Valbowski, hop aboard this Stallion". How much people do you know that name their hmm.. well you know what. No one. I would'nt be surprised if we see the exact same thing in WCW.. Back to the gimmicks. It's original, ladies and gay men love him, a good technical wrestler, excellant mic worker and most importantly, he is affordable. He is willing to do the job even he does'nt want to. I give Val Venis a strong 9.1 on 10. Congrats.
Next Situation is Scorpio. He is the world's most underrated wrestling champion! He is spectacular, fun to watch and nice guy in person. His finishing move, the 450° splash is one of the most difficult moves in pro wrestling (believe me, I know) . The WWF tried 10 or more different gimmicks with him, but the WWF officials are unhappy with the crowd reaction. They recently tried to team him up with Faarooq, nope did'nt work. The WWF is now trying to do something with him joining the Job Squad but it looks doubtful that he will be an important factor in the newfound stable. I give Scorpio a very poor 3.7 on 10.
Al Snow with his ever-popular head. The gimmick started back in the ECW, WWF liked it so they used it too. Even I am impressed with the popularity of the HEAD. Every Time he enters the ring, the crowd starts a "HEAD HEAD HEAD" chant. It's really cool to watch. But, (yes there is always a but) I think Al Snow is really overrated. He does has some talent, but not enough to be in the WWF. He is slow in the ring, he is a boring person. If it was'nt for HEAD, he would get booed every time. Now let's do a little trivia..What other wrestler goes to the ring with a plastic animal, talks to it ect..? You are right, Chavo Guerrero. WCW copied WWF AGAIN! But he like completely sucks at this gimmick. Chavo has really a lot of talent, but WCW can't quite find the perfect gimmick for him. I give Al Snow's gimmick a 8.9 on 10, and I give Chavo a 5.8 on 10.
Shattered dreams productions presents.......Goldust. When he first debuted, I thought that the gimmick would'nt last a month just Like Avatar or someone else. But Goldust showed me that he has talent, and when you have talent like Goldust has, any gimmick will be good for you. So Goldust impressed me, like he did to everybody else. Dustin Runnels was on his way to his first Intercontinental Championship when he defeated "The Bag Guy" Razor Ramon. Even though Razor was my favorite at that time, I was happy that Goldust won. After a long absence, Goldust returned and the gimmick was reborn as well. Congratulations Dustin, you have just received a 9.6 on 10.
Mortis and Wrath. Their gimmicks were not explainable. Wrath came out dresses like god knows who, and Mortis was dresses in green with a cool mask. Just when you look at their outfits, you know it will be something good. It's a shame for us that they did'nt last as long as we wanted too. Now, they both are seperated, and they both have successfull gimmicks at this time. Mortis has turned into Kanyon, and Wrath is ..Wrath again but with a different attitude. But Mortis, before, makes me think of Kwang in the WWF. Kwang was portrayed by Savio Vega. And just in case you were wondering, Savio is now the leader of the Los Bariquas. He is working on Shotgun Saturday Night and on certain house shows. So Wrath and Mortis both, receive a 7.8 on 10.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
POLL OF THE WEEK
Please send all poll results to krajca@sprint.ca and please title your e-mail "Poll Vote" or it won't be counted. Here are the results from last week's poll. 21 people have voted. Thank you.
What is your favourite wrestling weapon:
A-Chair--------------------------------14 votes
B-Thumbtacks----------------------2 votes
C-Championship Belts-----------4 votes
D-Barbed Wire----------------------1 vote
E-Trashcan---------------------------0 votes
F-Others (please specify)-------0 votes
This week's new question is:
Who will be the rookie of the year in pro wrestling:
A-Goldberg
B-Edge
C-Gangrel
D-Christian
E-D-Lo Brown
F-Other (please specify)
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
COOL THING OF THE WEEK
This week, the cool thing of the week is the a theme music page that I have found. It contains the New Rock theme music, The Brood theme music, and it is cool. It has everything (almost) on wav. Real Audio and Mid. format. Please check it out. The url is:
http://wwf.simplenet.com/themes/
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Well this concludes this edition of Wraith's Thoughts. In next issue, There will be either two things. The first possibility is that I continue this issue by talking on gimmicks and talent, or the second possibility is that I talk about Tag Teams that have marked the world of pro wrestling. Take Care Everybody!
Wraith
November 28th 1998
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>