Takin' A Mulligan 10.17.09: Fixing The Rising Star - Circa 1999

Posted by Chris Remington on 10.17.2009

How did you survive three weeks without me?



Jumpin' On The Gun

Gee – it's been 3 weeks since a column and you will lose all of the audience you built up in the first 9 weeks, when are you coming back, Gun? Did Eubanks put you in your place in the comments section and you decided to crawl under a rock? Did you finally admit that Weyer and Cook are superior to you?

Yeah! Those are the reasons!

Actually, my job and my life have taken a unique turn. One of my management team members lost their husband a few weeks ago. I have another new clerical that needs intense training and I have been preparing for court over a fraud scheme that makes Madoff smile in delight. So, as punishment, I give you the only comment that fits tightly into the Jumpin' On The Gun window – from my former Killer Bee partner, G.E.

Now take off those ridiculous yellow and black undies.



The Killer Bees have finally broken up and you know breaking up is hard to do.

I need a new tag team partner, one that will respect me with or without the yellow and black underoos! Applications are being accepted.

The Address



The last column was dedicated to the State of Cena, not because I think SuperCena is a bad guy but I believe SuperCena is being overbooked at the expense of the heels that attempt to pull off his cape. Maybe the WWE took a step in a new direction with the Orton victory at HIAC but really my original premise for the column hasn't changed. The top faces and heels are booked to push the midcard far down the card. The WWE has a top card and a lowercard. I don't believe they have much of a midcard anymore.

This isn't restricted to the WWE though, TNA has adapted this model as well. While TNA attempted to give us the ultimate surprise in having AJ win the belt in the four way match, the booking tendencies for the last 2 years really spoiled the surprise. Instead of being met with jubilation because AJ had worked himself hard enough and knocked off people on the imaginary stairway to heaven to secure the belt, we were left with what Lansdell referred to as "awkward" in watching the post-match victory celebration of AJ's title win. The reasoning is simple, it was so random (a Russo trademark), that the payoff desired was wasted. AJ, who has been the golden child of TNA for so long, was only given the belt so he could have an interesting match with Sting. Really? This was the best a long term booking program could do?

There has to be a better way! The better way is sometimes the old way and the old way can still work.

The Bad Shot



Long lives the king, even when the king isn't worth hailing anymore.

The WCW/NewWorldOrder era is responsible for plenty of abuse in wrestling over its span. As many of you have witnessed through current DVD releases, these were not WCW's best years and eventually the contracts signed ended up being the death nail of the federation. I certainly don't blame any of the talent for taking what was available to them during that time period. Wrestling doesn't have a union and a career altering injury is a walk to the ring away. Who could blame any of them; especially the Bagwell's and Virgil's for participating in the cash grab thanks being in the right place at the right time.

The above isn't what killed WCW though. WCW died when they attempted to kill off the king, a king that just wouldn't die.

Bill Goldberg isn't especially talented but he had the perfect intangibles to perform in professional wrestling. He was:

Big
Powerful
Passionate
Fierce
Aggressive
Killer Instinct like few others

Who could blame WCW for being tempted to rapidly ascend Goldberg up the ladder to challenge, which is the ultimate payoff to Hogan meteoric rise to the top of the mountain 15 years earlier? The top of the WCW card was full of stale faces and faces that the "New World Order" had dispatched quite easily in the "takeover" of the federation. The Four Horsemen were no match for them, not even a Giant could derail them. Goldberg was fresh and new to a mass audience, similar to Hogan prior to the Rocky III movie, so why not strike the ultimate hot iron?

Desperation leads to devastating consequences.

The program of Goldberg's rise to the top was littered with questions and debate. The streak that Tony Schiavone shilled was revealed to be more and more of a hoax by the Internet with each passing Nitro installment. Goldberg might have jack hammered through the competition, getting fed lower mid-card talent along the way but there was something hollow about the rapid pinfalls and advanced pyro for the PowerPlant hero. Goldberg, while all the things mentioned above, didn't have what Hogan had 15 years prior or even at the time. Goldberg lacked soul. A lack of soul with any worker is a lack of connection with the audience, especially over the long term. Samoa Joe has a lack of soul ever since he entered TNA. Kanyon is loaded with lack of soul. Even one of my best buddies Brad Armstrong suffers from it. While Goldberg was tearing up Raven, Virgil and Meng on the way up to the Hogan summit, the audience felt more and more disconnected in the process.

The payoff happened for FREE on Nitro, with Goldberg pinning Hogan clean in the middle the ring in the town which WCW staked their flag, Atlanta, GA. A celebration followed and it felt…awkward. Once Goldberg got the belt, it was clear the booking committee at WCW was clueless as to what to do. Much like Simmons post Vader, WCW had the look of "now what". It showed in a product that begun to spiral downward and never stopped sliding. A product that had so much talent, both young and old, lost its backbone because they allow a rise of the new great thing to discover that they moved too fast to forge a relationship with the fans. Left with little else after DDP challenges and a drop of the belt, Goldberg began to be as unpredictable as the random bookers in charge.

Soon enough, Goldberg was exposed as someone who had been asked to do too much, too soon. The audience turned on the backbone of the future. WCW never caught its breath and the audience had moved onto a fresher product in the WWE, who had forged a relationship with their new backbone, Stone Cold Steve Austin

Execution Of The Mulligan



Fortunately, I had my own battles to deal with during this time in WCW history. It was only because of my personal life (tornado anyone) that I didn't kick in the TV screen before the mighty wind punctured my tube instead. I don't have a solution to the post Goldberg era in WCW. This is a train wreck that even my powers of imagination have trouble mending. I do believe we are witnessing a parallel universe with TNA and WWE at the moment though. While I understand that the instant generation longs for "meaningful" matches on the card each week, with "the anyone can win mentally", it is eroding the current products in both of the major federations. I do believe that the Goldberg idea was a good idea. It was just executed incorrectly.

WCW had so many benefits for the workers during this time; one of them was a light-working schedule. Instead of using it as it was intended, WCW allowed the workers to manipulate the agreement in place to milk the time not worked or even worse, selectively worked. While it was risky to have so much established top-tier talent on the payroll (TNA are you listening), I believe it was a gamble worth taking to allow rising star to, dare I say, properly rise.

Hogan, Nash, Hall, Hennig, Sting, DDP, The Giant, Flair, Piper were all locked into contracts from 1998-1999. Out of those competitors, you have a mix of matches that hadn't played the string over the years mainly due to lack of being in the right place at the right time. Toss in a random midcarder talent to have them take a peek in the upper-card doorway (Jericho, Mysterio, Benoit, Raven) and you have programs that don't allow the casual fan to catch their breath for a while. There is nothing wrong with allowing the main-event talent to do what they are paid to do, MAIN-EVENT. No Meng's or Virgil's on the top of the program in silly gauntlet matches with The Giant at a PPV. Just enforce the terms of the contract and allow the main-eventers to earn their $$$.

While all of this is taking place, you have Goldberg just march through the under-card. No elaborate ring entrances, no expectations, and just solid quick work of obvious lesser foes. You have to keep up with true under-card matches on the free TV program to make this work (hint: this is something they should still do now). This way someone like Goldberg can ascend without it looking overly staged and you can have random main-event talent take on under-carders to show off their main-event move sets without destroying the credibility of mid-carders like they do on the current programming.

Eventually Goldberg has the "stare" confrontation with a lower level Black n White member on the way to the dressing room after dispatching one of his many victims (Virgil for instance). Have Goldberg dispatch Virgil, not once or twice but thrice to get the free TV point across. Slower burning through the beginning of 1999 to get to the US Title, still no pryo or fanfare from the announcers outside of the fact that Goldberg looks and acts totally motivated to destroy. After a surprise victory for the US belt, then you start to put up the roadblocks only to find out that he wants to equal the playing field with…

A spokesperson

Up to this point, he has never spoken to anyone. Interviews have fallen on deaf ears and he is just known for the drive in the ring. While some of you think that I would have loved Jimmy Hart to be the driving force of wind for the Goldberg sails, you have it all wrong. Goldberg should have been the ultimate "me" guy and only one guy could really understand how someone could have no friends in the ring and few friends outside of it. Goldberg should have had…



Sinister but understanding! Focused but aware! Raven understood the beatings that Goldberg had administered on his Flock. He understood Goldberg so well but he had to lend a voice to the silent monster you all fear. Raven would have been gold as a manager and mouthpiece for Goldberg. Goldberg would have connected with an audience, in some matter, pro or con or both! Raven could have verbally sparred as an equal on the mic with the main-event mouthpiece masters in Nash and Hogan. Goldberg rise would not have been derailed, just slower and more measured until the ultimate payoff at Starcade 1999.

The world would spin a little better and it might have even saved WCW in the process. We will never truly know.

As far as the current WWE and TNA product, I fear that they might want to risk elevating someone at the expense of the current roster. Jack Swagger isn't ready for primetime kids and neither is The Miz. You would be best to relax and give them both some more time to get comfortable being who they are going to be or they will break your heart faster than the next Shelton Benjamin or MVP push. Allow the pot to boil, the ingredients to cook and the juices to seep into the meat before rushing to the next Goldberg. Unless you are going to have Raven be his manager...then I might allow it (especially with Swagger).

If you ever want to catch up with me, I am new to Facebook. Look me up and look for the picture of the San Diego Chicken and everyone favorite president together.

I am also on daily on a sports radio program which you can find here. I may or may not be called "The Gov", you will have to decide.

Until Next Week, "I am your champion"

Chris "The Gun" Remington