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Watching back WrestleMania 24 the other day I noticed that Ric Flair got the best retirement I have ever seen. It was emotional and in my mind would have been the perfect end to an outstanding career. Now I turn on Impact and see him blading and getting his clothes ripped off every week. Has this devalued Ric Flair as a Wrestling Icon?
I fully believe that the answer to that is a personal question for each individual to answer. Nothing can take away from how great he was for so many years but to me he has become kind of embarrassing at this point in his career. I just wish he would have taken better care of his money along the way and been in a better position to choose what he does at this point in his life. Knowing Flair, he may have stayed involved in the business anyway but given his need to earn, he really doesn't have a choice at this point. He has to work and in his sixties he is limited in what he can reasonably do, unfortunately. So, he has become a bloody caricature of his former self.
Do you think the person helping the network in TNA could be Mick Foley?
He would make sense.....probably a lot more sense than other people they could put in the spot. But I also think it would be a let down. To me, it would have a been there, done that feel to it.
With all the hoopla about WWE taking the "wrestling" out of World Wrestling Entertainment, the comparison I have not yet heard is to KFC. Several years ago they took Kentucky Fried Chicken and rebranded themselves as KFC. WWE believes that wrestling is perceived in a negative way just as KFC believed "fried" was perceived as a negative, so they both removed the bad word. However KFC chicken is still fried (other than that horrible grilled stuff they are trying to push) and WWE Superstars still wrestle. Am I right? It's just aesthetics?
Yes you are. As I have said before, I can say I am a good looking stud all I want. The mirror will always tell the truth. The same holds true for WWE in this case. But, they know that. They get that they sell wrestling. They are just trying to move outside of what they are doing now to grow the company.
Given that Eric Bischoff's scintillating promo at Lockdown lasted about 6 minutes, do you think it is possible that TNA thought, until near the last minute, that Mickie James would be able to go better than she did and had her and Madison penciled in for 6 to 7 minutes? Then when it became clear she couldn't go, they cut that match to 1 minute and sent Bischoff out to fill that other 6 minutes?
I haven't heard that. If it were true, there are so many things that they could have done that would have been better than that insipid promo, like just ending the show early.
I have heard that many announcers (Mick Foley comes to mind) are told what to say and are screamed at by McMahon in their headphones. OUCH!! I just watched a DVD of The history of The WWF/E Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. I watched Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog with McMahon and WWF/E Hall Of Famer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Now...I love Heenan's wise cracking commentary. Especially when McMahon and Gorilla Monsoon keep telling Heenan "Will You Stop?". Was this Bobby Heenan on his own being allowed to be himself or was McMahon telling him what to say?
It was Heenan on his own doing what he was great at. You also need to remember that the business was different back then. TV was a means to get fans to shows and to buy PPVs. Vince McMahon wasn't as controlling of the TV presentation back then. Now, it's a major revenue source and Vince is very hands on with what is said and done. If Gorilla and Monsoon were around today though I don't think that they would have heard from Vince a lot in their headsets since he trusted them both so much.
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