WOLVIE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS
(Just your regular everyday highly biased and highly opinionated wrestling column)
Every Friday, report back here for my latest rant about the big-time pro-wrestling monopoly that is WWF-WCW-ECW. You may not agree with my views...but that's all right, since I don't always agree with yours, either.
THE THIN GREY LINE
by Chris Wolvie
[Vented September 7, 2001]
Remember when life in the World Wrestling Federation was cut and dry?
Like...two months ago?
Way back in July, we knew who to jeer and who to cheer. We knew who was good and who was
evil. We knew where our allegiances lied.
We knew a simple fact: WWF wrestlers were all faces and WCW/ECW "Alliance"
wrestlers were all faces.
I guess we should've known it wasn't gonna STAY so simple.
In actuality, it never WAS so simple: at INVASION, X-Pac was still getting his fair share
of boos from the crowd...and Rob Van Dam from the "dreaded" Alliance got as much
cheers as Jeff Hardy, his opponent...if not more.
This shouldn't have been happening. The Alliance was the enemy...and X-Pac, though he
supposedly "sucks", was a WWF-loyalist. We may not like X-Punk's attitude, but
we HAD to applaud his allegiance...didn't we? And RVD was still beating up WWFers and,
though he was very skilled, he deserved no love from us...right?!?
Well,...apparently not. Remember that Steve Austin never asked for the fans to like him,
never looked for their approval (before, anyway). He was the same old beer-swilling,
finger-waving, ass-whooping bionic redneck that was jeered when he proclaimed his famous
"Austin 3:16" credo at KING OF THE RING '96. The fact that he was cheered for
what he did later on meant very little to him. Deep down, he hadn't changed until he
joined the Alliance.
The same holds true for X-Pac and RVD. They are still the same people they were before.
X-Pac is fast and spiteful, RVD is vicious and skillful. Alliance be damned, the fans know
who they like and who they hate. Kurt Angle may have been successful at pulling the sudden
'180' in the fans' hearts, but X-Punk still "sucked" to them...even when he
proved that he didn't by unifying the WWF Lightheavyweight and WCW Cruiserweight
titles...TWICE. AND, he dragged his remaining X-Factor member, Albert, into staying a WWF
heel as well.
As for "Mr. Monday Night", considering how popular he was when ECW was just a
lowly Philly show, we should've guessed it was only a matter of time before his enthusiasm
and charisma would remind the crowds just who WAS "Da Man" of Extreme
Championship Wrestling. And, lately, he's been solidifying that with his battles against
Alliance members, INCLUDING the major upset against Austin on the last SMACK DOWN! show.
The defection away from the norm continued on RAW this week, when Christian FINALLY
succumbed to his jealousy for Edge's success and clocked his bro with the One-Man
Con-chair-to. He still seems to be a WWFer, since we didn't see him on SMACK DOWN! with
Shane or Austin or Steph or any other Alliance member.
Why aren't X-Pac and Christian in the Alliance? They're heels, right? And why isn't RVD in
the WWF now? He's a face, RIGHT?!?
Well, two things might be happening here...
The less-likely possibility is that they are getting ready for a severance of the WWF and
the Alliance so that E/WCW can finally be a 'separate but equal' organization and have
their own airtime. When (and if) this happens, everyone in the Alliance can't be a heel,
so RVD's taken the role of a face to get things started. This can only happen, however, if
they trash EXCESS and make into an all-Alliance show...as they SHOULD'VE done from the
start!
The only other explanation is that X-Pac, Christian and RVD are setting up a third
group...sort of like the "nWo Wolfpack" were in the old WCW. Their train of
thought: the hell with the WWF/Alliance crap. We're not gonna pretend to be good or bad
just because of our allegiance. We are who we are, and we'll take on anyone who don't like
it.
I doubt that these three (and whosoever turns in the future) will be a solid stable and
take on both WWF and Alliance members, but they have certainly proven that not everything
is black-and-white in the WWF anymore as it has been since the Alliance invasion began.
X-Pac, Christian and Rob Van Dam are the touch of grey in an otherwise well-defined
set-up.
Once can only imagine if, in a PPV down the line, RVD faces either X-Punk or "Roman
Catholic" one-on-one. An Alliance member getting all the cheers and a WWFer getting
all the boos?
Where did the McMahons go wrong?
Chris Wolvie, the .netter who ALWAYS tells it like it is
Comments, detractions and general praise to cwolvie@go.com
The opinions are mine and do not reflect those of the Webmaster...and he will
never...E-E-E-VER...be the same a-gain!
