When Monday Night Ruled

Last Monday, I was flicking through the television channels when I came across Bret 'The Hitman" Hart on Channel 29. Bret Hart is one of the greatest wrestlers to ever step foot in a WWE ring. He retired about 10 years ago but there he was, standing back in the ring again. And wouldn't you know it, there was the CEO of the WWE, Mr. Vince McMahon standing alongside him. McMahon was the same guy who booted Hart out of the WWE in the most unconventional way.

And there they were celebrating with each other, raising each others hands, apparently Hart having forgiven McMahon for the issues that were explained in the link above.

So everything was good and everyone was happy, but then in classic WWE fashion, this happened.



Yep, it was a good old-fashioned back stabbing. The kick to the groin. Watching this live, I started to flashback to the days of my youth when wrestling was king in my life. 1998 was when I first entered the world of wrestling and, boy, was it ever an explosive world. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Kane, Mankind, DX, The Corporation, The Ministry of Darkness, even Drew Carey.



I learned that wrestling was scripted within a few years, but the years where I thought it was real had me yelling at the television on numerous occasions. "You suck, Undertaker", "Hell Yeah, Stone Cold". I think that's where the Kevin Hirschfield potty mouth originated.

But after 6 or 7 years of weekly wrestling watching, I suddenly lost interest. A massive part of my childhood was suddenly not so important any more. How could this have happened? Here are 5 reasons why I think wrestling lost its lustre.


1. Lack of Competition for the WWE

The "golden" years of wrestling as I like to call them, approx 1998-2001, featured some of the most memorable moments in wrestling history. Like this match:



THE main reason the WWE was on it's game is because of the competition of the WCW. Vince McMahon owned the WWE, Ted Turner owned WCW. They both had shows on Monday nights, Monday Night Raw(WWE) and Monday Nitro (WCW), and competition was at its highest between these two companies, making for more outrageous things happening every week to try and secure the viewers to their show. But in 2001, Vince bought WCW, and just like that, there was no more competition for the WWE. This was the beginning of the downfall.

2. Fail to properly promote new stars

I mentioned it earlier but back in the "golden" years, there were more stars in the WWE than at the Academy Awards. Austin, Rock, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Undertaker, Kane, Mankind, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, X-Pac, the list goes on...and on.... and on.

It was at a point where the whole Monday show was filled with at least one superstar in every match, and people couldn't leave the TV set, including yours truly.

But now it doesn't seem the same. The main attraction is a white guy who pretends to be black in John Cena. Who would you rather have as your main attraction? Would you rather have John Cena? Or would you rather have a beer-chugging, foul-mouthed, redneck from Texas, who constantly flipped people off and who wasn't scared to kick anybody's ass including his own boss? That man was Steve Austin. And I'd much rather have him. Even the main attraction before Austin was some blond dude named Hulk Hogan. Yeah, that guy. He's the reason wrestling even exists. So you go from Hogan and Austin(2 legends) to Cena?!?!? What happened there?

They're still trying to push the legends at us. Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker are still wrestling after 20 years!! Even Ric Flair comes back for a match or two. But it appears the only way they can get a big buzz going is by either putting these legends in matches against each other at 50 or however old they are, or by bringing them back for a week (like Bret Hart).

3. Repetition of Storyline

Honestly, what can they do now for shock and awe that they haven't done before. Throughout those 4 years of competing against WCW, there were so many twists and turns to the plotlines that the Young and the Restless seemed normal.

We had Steve Austin being thrown off of a bridge, The Undertaker being lit on fire in a casket, yet surviving (amazing!!), Triple H drugging Stephanie McMahon and then marrying her, Val Venis getting his pee-pee chopped off. Yes sir, those were the days.

And either they've completely thought of every idea in the book, or they need to hire a new creative team fast, because they've got nothing. It seems every year the Undertaker dies and then comes back to life to haunt the opponent that "killed him". Honestly, I could see that Vince McMahon kick to the groin of Bret Hart coming from a mile away.

4. The changing of the name

This one has always been the most defining one for me. The day they changed their name from the WWF to the WWE is when professional wrestling died. It was already dying as a result of the WWE being the only show on TV. But this was the nail in the coffin. I will stand by this statement forever. Of course the name changed because of the confusion between the World Wildlife Fund and the World Wrestling Federation. So the tree huggers won and got their name, and wrestling was stuck to change from an F to an E. Just say these letters to yourself. F just sounds so hardcore and it stands out. E sounds so sappy and happy, not something wrestling was known for.

5. They got rid of the Hardcore Championship

This last reason is mainly in here for filler but this is something that has always bugged me. The Hardcore matches were matches that allowed opponents to use absolutely ANYTHING in the arena to hit their opponent with.

Trash cans, fire extinguishers, sledgehammers, thumb tacks, whatever made your opponent hurt the most. And it was no coincidence that these were every wrestling fans favorite matches to watch. But then in 2002, they suddenly got rid of the belt. I'm assuming it was for the safety of the wrestlers but this was a BIG mistake, WWE. There's nothing quite like watching a wrestler get hammered with a steel chair and then watching him as he tries to cut himself in the forehead without any seeing.

(Watch CLOSELY between :40 and :50 as Austin frantically searches under the ring for a cup of blood which he then proceeds to quickly pour over his forehead)




The reason why I am bringing this up is because 1) I'm bitter and 2) TNA Wrestling has launched their own Monday-night show to go head-to-head with the WWE. And guess who's running TNA? Hulk Hogan. And he's brought along some old friends as well.

So it appears the WWE may finally have some competition again. To remind you, because this post has been so brutally long, that was the first problem on my list of 5 problems with wrestling. So it appears that one of them has been corrected.

Just think, we're only 4 steps away from Monday nights being eventful once again.