Foot On The Rope 11.11.00: The Defection Checkup

Posted by Bryce McNeil on 11.11.2000

In the past two years in wrestling there seems to have been a slight tweaking of a famous saying. That is "the grass is always greener on the other side unless you're in New York."

In the past two years in wrestling there seems to have been a slight tweaking of a famous saying. That is "the grass is always greener on
the other side unless you're in New York."

Meaning that no matter who is charge of the till in Atlanta, people
will always want to work for the WWF. There are some currently in
WCW's employ that have at various times been very public about this
(Kidman, Page, Bagwell and Kanyon). A strange scenario given that in
late-1996 and early-1997 the situation was practically reversed. In
both cases, there have been some exceptions (Steve Austin was pretty
happy where he was even during the nWo period. Jeff Jarrett isn't
likely complaining that he's not a Titan employee right now). By and
large, however, these time periods share the distinction of being times
when most people shared a desire to be on the same side of the fence.

What happens when that side gets crowded?

This column is inspired by Widro's lament of the currently lagging WWF
career of Chris Jericho. When Jericho departed WCW in mid-1999, most
people lauded the move, citing that he was moving on to greener
pastures and that his creativity would be given full and proper space
to blossom. Let's face facts, though: a lot of people did not really
think this opinion through and were instead viewing the situation in a
very black-and-white text. The WWF was up, WCW was down, the WWF was
organized, WCW was in shambles, the WWF had a flexible strata, WCW
didn't. Not a thought was given to other factors, such as overcrowding
or that maybe certain talent belongs in a certain organization.

With that in mind, I began to think of the slew of talent defections
to the WWF in the last two years. I put aside the ECW defections, as
those are cases of talent moving from a company whose national status
is very young. I instead focused on talent that WCW held as recently
as early 1999 and lost to the WWF. The general consensus amongst savvy
observers is that every one of them is better off because the WWF is up
and WCW is very much down. I contend that it isn't that simple.
Having every wrestler thrive and prosper in the same company is a
daunting task, no matter how successful that company may be. There
are seven wrestlers I will discuss to properly analyze this point.

Paul Wight

In early 1999, Eric Bischoff was faced with a rather large dilemma, as
several contracts were expiring. Rumours swirled around the 'net about
various offers that were on the table. Yet I do not recall hearing
much on his efforts to re-sign the Giant. In fact, unless my
perception is way off-base, he basically let him walk away. Judging
from Paul Wight's career, this might have been the best move.
There really wasn't anything left for the Giant to do in WCW. His
physical condition was already deteriorating and his appeal was waning.
The WWF was a fresh start. However, in a matter of months, the WWF
and Wight both contributed to the demystifying of a man well over seven
feet. The WWF did their part with constant nonsensical turns, Wight
did his part by not keeping weight off (albeit a man with his condition
has a difficult time with this anyway) and by reportedly having a
negative attitude. He is currently working weight off and getting back
into his groove in OVW.
There is no longer a place wrestling for men who are "just big", and
that's all Wight has been since late-1998: just big. He has had a
difficult time recovering the athleticism that amazed us all in his
96-98 run. The WWF is bound and determined to make the most of him:
the contract he signed still has over 8 years remaining on it. Whether
or not the Giant is capable of reliving his monster heel days very much
remains an uncertainty.

My personal opinion: Wight was better off in WCW than he has been in
the WWF. Yet he is no worse off than he would be in the WCW of today,
which is a #2 company cutting excess talent, so he is better off having
jumped when he did.

Chris Jericho

General consensus in mid-1999 was that Jericho was better off being
over in a company that could draw money and would allow him to the top
of the card. However, soon after "Lionheart's" WWF entrance, Vince
Russo jumped to WCW and Hogan disappeared for two and a half months.
Chris Benoit advanced in status at that time. I think Jericho would
have advanced by leaps and bounds.
His early WWF success saw "Y2J" T-shirts sell wildly, and this means a
great deal of incentive money. "WCW Monday Jericho" T-shirts also sold
wildly, but were not as widely distributed. However, this is something
that also would have likely changed under Russo's regime. Also,
Jericho would likely be working for more upfront money. Bischoff did
not take the Paul Wight approach to his situation and offered a very
lucrative contract only to see Jericho head North.
If Jericho would have had one more year of patience in him to endure
the WCW political situation, he might be in the echelon with Booker T
and Scott Steiner in WCW. The only difference being with his talent
and charisma, the company would probably have more viewers. This said,
he has already worked a program with HHH, and his recent RAW match with
the Rock was nothing to sneeze at from a status point of view.
Overall, despite being in RAW main events and prolific PPV encounters,
Jericho still had more heat in 1998 when he was tormenting Dean
Malenko. His humour was not as cliched and, while I am not a Vince
Russo fan, I can't help but feel that Jericho would fit in nicely in
his scheme of things. His WWF career seems very much to be a
rollercoaster of ups-and-downs.

My personal opinion: Jericho was and would be better off in WCW,
although he would have had to suffer in-between.

Chris Benoit

The first on the list of the "Radicals" and the most important.
Benoit was poised to have a run as WCW Champion. He threw it away on
various principles and led a revolt out of the company. He has been in
WWF TV and PPV main events in the past few months, and has been one of
the company's more prominent heels.
It is impossible to say whether or not Sullivan & co. would have been
overthrown had Benoit swallowed his pride and remained with WCW. It
does seem, however, that Bill Busch was willing to force his hand so
that Sullivan would prominently feature Benoit as a top dog in the
organization. Benoit left not so much for fear of a de-push, but for a
personal dislike of Sullivan and a fear of his friends' potential
de-pushes.
In the WWF, he has the aesthetic pleasure of working in front of
sold-out audiences. However, it is difficult to gain fiscally from
this if you are a heel (let's face it, no one is buying shirts with
Benoit's face on them yet). As well, it is not yet clear if Benoit
will stay near the top of the WWF heap. His straight-laced, more
dramatic style makes fans like myself enjoy his work, but some WWF
followers may still be adjusting.
If Benoit were in WCW today, he would likely be making more money in
front of far less people and would still be on the top of the card.
Would he be happy? It is difficult to say, given how much the
political situation may or may not have changed had he chose to stay.

My personal opinion: Benoit is slightly better off in the WWF if only
because of the potential aggravation of dealing with Sullivan for even
another week.

Eddy Guerrero

The WWF's use of Guerrero has been hotly debated. Some feel that the
"Latino Heat" character is a demeaning stereotype and an insult to a
man whose pure in-ring skills are second to none. You could have used
my forehead to fry eggs when Chyna was awarded a pinfall over Guerrero
at Wrestlemania XVI. Others argue that the character is over with WWF
audiences and that is all that counts on the business side of things.
Eddy Guerrero fit in nicely in an Eric Bischoff-run WCW. He never
progressed to the top of the card, but was rarely shamed at the hands
of the "big boys." He received a U.S. Title run and his late-1997 heel
run was very successful. However, by 1999, Guerrero's WCW career
stagnated. Russo's idea to put him in the Filthy Animals just didn't
seem right. While "Latino Heat" seems rather silly, it has at least
garnered heat and is probably no sillier than some of the gimmicks that
Russo might have concocted for him (see: Mike Awesome). If
Sullivan/Busch were calling the shots, Guerrero may very well have
faded into the background for good.

My personal opinion: Guerrero was better off in most of his WCW
tenure than he is now, but is better off in the WWF now than he would
be in WCW today.

Dean Malenko

No wrestler has seemed more out-of place than Dean Malenko has in the
WWF in the past few months. The WWF's inexplicable attempt to turn the
"Man of 1,000 Holds" into a "Man of 1,000 Hos" was dull and tired. No
matter who runs WCW, Malenko would never advance to main event status.
However, another U.S. Title run would not be entirely out of the
question (many forget Malenko's successful three month run in 1997). I
do not see any merchandising or top slot possibilities for Malenko in
the catchphrase, promo-oriented WWF, although success within a group is
possible. The reunion of the Radicals is good for him in that regard.
Still, WCW was a much better fit, and was likely the more financially
secure and viable option.

My personal opinion: Malenko was and would be better off in WCW.

Saturn

The last of the Radicals, and an enigma. Despite overwhelming
physical potential, Saturn has never really caught on in a major way in
either promotion. Often in the wrestling business, great talent is
stifled by the creative forces overexercising their influence. Nothing
could more of the opposite in the case of Saturn, whose worst enemy as
far as I can see has been himself.
He refused to accept the overwhelming success of the Eliminators and
jumped to WCW by himself. To this day, he talks very little of his
association with Kronus; this is likely due to personal reasons. Yet
had the Eliminators gone to either company, I am sure that they would
have been an overwhelming success. Saturn chose not to go this route.
Then after roughly a year in WCW, Saturn was on the rise, having
liberated Raven's flock. He was garnering major face heat, and carried
it through a feud with Ernest Miller. Things were looking good.....and
then he chose to wear the dress. Astonishingly, Saturn has taken
credit for the dress idea, and says that it did not work because WCW
didn't handle it properly.
Sorry, Perry: it didn't work because it was a bad idea. It ran
counter to the persona of the man who had defected from the "freaky"
Flock. Despite this, Saturn's WCW resume reads that he was a rising
face at one point, was in a fairly-over tag team with Raven, and was
hilarious in his role in the Revolution ("jump around, jump
around......jump, Dean."). In the WWF, he has been practically
invisible at times, despite a brief European title run. He has
certainly been the least noticable of the "Radicals." The benefit of a
much larger audience hasn't filtered as much to him, as his RAW and
Smackdown appearances have been sporadic. The aforementioned
"Radicals" reunion may help.
Yet as a heavyweight with cruiserweight skills, he'd fit in nicely
against Booker T right now.

My personal opinion: Saturn was and would be better off in WCW.

Raven

First of all, let me assure you that I have not forgotten the year of
ECW in between Mr. Levy's WCW stint and current WWF career. However,
when he entered ECW in 1999, it was with the strongly rumoured
suspicions that he was only biding his time until he would return to
the WWF anyway. Thus I feel that this is is a perfectly valid example
of "WCW to WWF" defection.
Levy preceded the "Radicals" in leaving WCW not at the end of a
contract but on a point of prinicple. It was his opinion that the
Bischoff-Hogan regime held no promise for him and with the WWF rising,
he wanted to quit and run to the winning side. In the following
months, he was very vocal about the fact that he felt Bischoff, but
Hogan in particular, prevented him from moving up on the card.
I found his departure very bizarre as it came at a time when the "Dead
Pool" (Raven, ICP, and Vampiro) were getting major crowd reactions. It
was the best use that WCW had for the character in months. The heat
the group was building went up in smoke when Raven departed; the ICP
would quickly pull one of the major disappearing acts, and Vamp was
left to try to rebuild his character.
It is too early to come to a final decision on his current WWF stint,
but I will say this: it does not look promising. Criticize WCW as he
might, Levy's Raven character had more aura with both the Flock and the
Dead Pool than it does now with Tazz. There seems to be no desire on
the WWF's behalf to explore the facets of the Raven character. History
has shown that sometimes the WWF acknowledges such mistakes and
corrects them. Time will tell if this happens again. There is also
the possibility of Levy becoming an influence in the WWF creative
department, as Vince was rumoured to be quite interested in his
creative participation in his first WWF run. That was quite awhile
ago, but anything is possible.

My personal opinion: Too early to tell, but I'm betting that Raven
was better off in WCW. The Dead Pool might have stayed in the mid-card
but they had heat and merchandising potential, and I'm not sure he'll
rise beyond that level in the WWF.

So what gives? The WWF is far-and-away the #1 company in the business
and yet here I have listed five of seven wrestlers who I personally
feel should have stayed put in the home of the Braves.

The truth is that the WWF hasn't had the room to put everyone in their
proper standing. By "proper standing", I don't mean title runs as I
believe that too many wrestlers hold titles today anyhow. By "proper
standing", I mean prominence in the eyes of the fans. The wrestlers
are only going to see so many wrestlers as "important."

The flow of talent coming into the WWF is not on par with the flow of
talent going out. In the two years that they gained these seven
workers, they also gained Tazz, Kurt Angle, the Dudleys, Rikishi. They
also elevated Edge and Christian, Too Cool, and the Hardy Boyz, and
allowed the Undertaker to return back to his spot. The only major
talent losses in this time were the tragic death of Owen Hart and the
defection of Jeff Jarrett. A large majority of North America's top
talents are in the WWF now.

It is hard to stand out when you are part of such an illustrious
crowd. Many a talent in the 1980s disappeared in the WWF shuffle. In
1996-98, WCW often foolishly signed talent they really didn't need or
had no real use for and it created a glut that was only worsened by the
Hogan grip at the top.

This column illustrates the importance of WCW getting its act
together. Even if it can not challenge the WWF for awhile, it needs to
at least become a viable place to work again. While young talents like
the Natural Born Thrillers may be enjoying themselves now, the major
talents that make main events tick are shying away from the company for
a number of reasons. If WCW can at least identify itself as a place
where wrestlers can a) make a lot of money and b) work in a steady
environment, the talent would be a lot better off.

Because life is a lot better when there is more green grass to go
around.