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Pick My Brain:
Todd Martin
Internet Wrestling Columnist
March 31, 2003
Contrary to popular
belief, we at the Armpit are not all fun and games. Sure, we aim
to be as light-hearted as possible, but there's always room for good,
meaty, intelligent, down-to-business wrestling discussion. For such an
interview, we picked the perfect brain: Todd Martin's.
We love interviewing
wrestling writers, because they don't skimp on answers, and the good
ones have a very good mind for the biz. Much like we were shocked at
Nilton Fernandes' tender age, we were also dropping our jaws when we
read that Todd is even younger. So much knowledge, so little time.
Todd is indeed the prototypical student of the business.
Todd spends so much time
analyzing and researching the business, that we hope one day he can make
money doing it. If U.S. wrestling ever makes it through this slump and
thrives again, look for Todd Martin to be one of its best writers for
years to come. Check out his articles, and you will not be
disappointed.
1. Before we get
into anything, please tell all of us where we can read your work, and
about any other plugs you'd like to tell our readers about.
Well, I write a weekly column for
www.wrestlingobserver.com, so you can check that out every
Tuesday if you are so inclined. Also, when I am in the area, I am a part
of the Inside the Squared Circle wrestling TV show. It broadcasts on
Saturdays in Washington, DC and Sundays in Montgomery County, MD. Check
your local listings for that. It actually debuted as a TV show in 1993,
within weeks of Raw’s first show, and was around as a radio show since
1989.
2. For my research, I went and read all your columns on the
Observer site. I must say, I was blown away. How long have you been
following wrestling, and when did you begin writing about it?
Thanks for the compliment. I’m going to bury myself here, but you asked
so I’ll go ahead and answer. I’m only 21, and I got my first dose of
professional wrestling in 1991. That’s not something I advertise, given
the fact I always contextualize the current scene in light of periods I
did not live through but instead have reconstructed after the fact
through tapes, books, newsletters and discussions. That’s what any
historian does, I guess, but there’s a particular suspicion of this
within professional wrestling because there are so many people who claim
to be “experts” on pro wrestling that don’t have a fundamental
understanding of what the business is.
My father works for the state department, so I rotated living in the
United States and other parts of the world like Argentina and China. I
was living in Singapore in 1991, and WWF wrestling was one of the only
American shows that was on at the time. I immediately took to it. I grew
to be more of a fan when I moved back to the States later that year, and
my interest in wrestling accelerated at an unhealthy pace. I’m the
definition of a student of the game. It’s scary how much time I put into
studying the business. I think it is absolutely fascinating.
As far as when I started writing about wrestling, you can find just
about every piece of writing I have ever done on wrestling by perusing
old Observers dating back to 1995 and looking at the archives of the
Observer online site. I haven’t really written anything about wrestling
outside of that. I have never had much interest in writing on wrestling
elsewhere, and I doubt I ever will. The Observer has the most
sophisticated base of readers of any wrestling publication by far, and I
want to interact and clash with people who know the business, not get
praised by people who don’t.
3. Of all your pieces, I enjoyed your Curt Hennig tribute the most.
As someone who obviously followed his career closely, what is the most
memorable moment you have of Hennig? (Mine is the "my spot" speech,
even though Arn did most of the talking).
Two highlights in particular stand out for me. I loved his match with
Bret Hart at SummerSlam 1991, as it was a tribute to what a talented
performer he was. The announcement of his return as a babyface on Prime
Time Wrestling the next year was also very memorable. I can still recite
the interaction between Heenan, Savage and Hennig, almost verbatim. I
wrote that article very quickly so people could read about his career
shortly after his death, but thinking about it now it is so surreal. How
can Mr. Perfect not live to see his 50th birthday? It’s a
damn shame.
4. I was in 100% agreement with your 10-step plan on what NWA TNA
needs to do to take it to the next level. My only feeling is that, even
if they did everything right, WWE would just strip them of all their
talent and leave them for dead. Do you believe NWA will be in business
1 year from now?
That’s a tough one. My inclination is to say no, but who knows. When TNA
was formed, we had a pool with the people who do the aforementioned TV
show, and I had TNA lasting 4 weeks. Obviously, it keeps going, and the
money marks seem happy to flush money down the toilet. I think one of
two things will happen with TNA. Either they go out of business, or they
become a relatively successful alternative to WWE. Their current
business plan isn’t financially viable. They don’t get enough buys, and
they never will. A thousand years of good word of mouth won’t do it.
They need to move to a feasible business model.
In that regard, they are actually in pretty good shape. They have built
up a large quantity of programming with good production values and some
good talent that they can market to TV networks. The costs aren’t very
high, and they have performers under contract. They don’t need to take
any major steps to get a TV deal except convince a TV company to take
them. If they get the right TV deal and start functioning like any other
wrestling company, building up big cards, they could have some moderate
success. I think wrestling fans will support an alternative if a good
one arises. WWE is not satisfying their fans, and there are a lot of
hardcore, serious wrestling fans that want to support a wrestling
product, but don’t care for WWE much. Unfortunately, I don’t know if
anyone wants wrestling programming on TV, and the clock is ticking on
TNA in its current format.
5. On paper, it would make sense for NWA to get a sweet TV deal and
compete with the majors. However, before that happens, Russo would need
to disappear, or else they'd be doomed to failure. Aside from yourself,
whom would you personally recommend Panda anoint as their top
booker/writer for NWA TNA?
Your first two sentences there sound like an opinion, but it bears
emphasizing that they are fact, not opinion. TNA could compete to some
degree with WWE, but it isn’t going to happen with Russo around, for too
many reasons to mention.
Four names come to mind to use as a top booker/writer. All of them are
experiments, so I would not be afraid to pull the plug if it wasn’t
working out. The four men I would have as my top choices would be Mike
Tenay, Raven, Konnan and Dave Meltzer. I am of the belief that I can
listen to someone talk about wrestling for 10 minutes, and I will know
whether they truly understand the business. All four of these guys do.
Mike Tenay is a student of the business and understands it very well. He
knows different historical periods, and he has seen promotions flourish
in Mexico, Japan and the United States. His limitation is that I don’t
know how creative or forward thinking he is. You don’t necessarily need
to be creative to be a good booker. Look at Sam Muchnick or Giant Baba.
But TNA does need to have a unique battle plan to differentiate itself
from WWE, and I don’t know if Tenay could come up with it. He is better
served as an editor to look at the big picture and determine what would
work and what wouldn’t.
Raven has a brilliant mind for the business, and is very creative. He
has learned about the business from some great teachers. The question
mark with him is his reliability, and if he is burned out. The fact he
is getting close with Russo in TNA is a major yellow flag as well. But I
think he knows how to put people in seats, and he thinks outside the
box, which I like.
If Konnan were Caucasian, he would be booking wrestling somewhere in the
United States right now. This guy has an amazing mind for the business.
He’s hip, he’s smart, and he gets it. He’s been a major player in the
Mexican scene, and you only have to listen to him briefly to tell he
could make a major impact from a creative aspect. It’s too bad there is
such a stigma against Latinos in the American wrestling scene, because
this guy should be a major player. I want him on my team.
And finally, if I ever end up in an executive position in a wrestling
promotion, I am going to beg Dave Meltzer to come aboard. I don’t think
he would give up the Observer, but I would try to get him anyway. He
knows more about the wrestling business than anyone else alive, and he
understands what works and what doesn’t work. He doesn’t need to have
experience booking; he understands all there is to know about booking
already. It would be like the French New Wave of cinema. Intelligent
writers who loved movies, watched all the movies they could and
carefully studied and critiqued cinematic history were of course well
suited to make movies. Same principle applies here. I would tell TNA to
interview those four, see what ideas they have, and go from there.
6. The only column I found myself disagreeing with you on was your
analysis of John Molinaro's book of the top 100 wrestlers of all-time.
I haven't read the book yet, but looking at their list, it's hard to
tell what they exactly based their criteria on. Regardless, I totally
concur with their top 5 (Flair, Thesz, Rikidozan, Inoki, Hogan). In
order, who would be your top 5? If answering that is too difficult, can
you tell us whom you'd rank as #1?
That’s one hell of a task, and why I think a lot of people were unfair
to them in making the list. That said, I agree that at times it is hard
to understand exactly what their criteria were. Some criteria seemed to
matter a lot in some places and not at all in others. But it is such a
tough task and wrestling’s history is so subjective that it is hard to
fault them.
My top five in order would be Rikidozan, El Santo, Hogan, Thesz and
Inoki. If I were to make a list like this, my top criterion would be
influence on the business, and that would be far and way the top
criterion. In-ring work, and drawing power would be secondary concerns
to me. With that in mind, Flair doesn’t make the top 5. I actually feel
very confident about that top 5, but I’m not sure what the best order
is. I would order the top three the way I do because I think those
individuals had the most impact on their respective countries’ wrestling
histories.
Rikidozan ranks number one because of what an important figure he was in
Japan. He was a cultural figure on a totally different level than any
other wrestler of all time. His wrestling feuds came to symbolize
Japanese society itself fitting into the post World War II world. The
ratings for his top matches still stand as some of the highest in
Japanese television history. As the most important actor in drawing
those ratings, he parallels top Super Bowl heroes, Best Actor/Actress
Oscar winners and celebrities of that kind. He played a big role in the
careers of Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki, two other wrestlers who belong
in the top 10. He’s still a very important figure in Japan so many years
later. That makes him a clear number one in my book.
Santo is 2 because he is the wrestler that comes the closest to that
sort of status. You can’t study Mexican cinema without looking at an
entire genre of films that he created. He was unquestionably Mexico’s
biggest wrestling star for most of his career. His mask became a symbol
of historical Mexican identity. Earlier this year one of my professors
spoke at length about his role in Mexican popular culture at a Latin
American Studies Senior Seminar. I can’t imagine Hogan, Inoki or Thesz
being taken seriously in such an academic setting. Santo transcended
wrestling, but he brought wrestling with him to a place it typically
does not occupy.
I’m much less confident about how to rank the bottom three. I give Hogan
the edge because I feel he changed American wrestling more than Thesz
did and more than Inoki did in Japan. You can clearly trace the business
as it stands right now back to Hogan. He played such an important role
in the evolution of wrestling the past two decades, and was a phenomenal
drawing card all over the world. He is a different sort of cultural icon
than the other two, but he is also an extremely important and
recognizable figure.
Thesz goes four because he was such an important and revered figure. I
would label him the father of modern American wrestling. That’s not to
dismiss the contributions of his predecessors like a Lewis, Gotch or
Londos. However, under him the business evolved into the basic format it
still holds now. I think there is a strong argument that he belongs
above Hogan.
Inoki at 5 is such a fascinating figure. Here’s a guy who’s had more ups
and downs than just about any wrestler ever. But he always comes up on
top in the end. His fingerprints are all over so many important events
in Japan of the past 3 decades. His match with Ali is one of the most
important matches in the entire history of wrestling. He was a
tremendous drawing card and he has had important matches or feuds with
so many legends, from Hogan and Flair to Choshu and Fujinami.
7. I'm asking this question one week before WrestleMania takes
place. Please give us your thoughts on Kurt Angle's decision to do this
match with Brock, given the risk he's putting himself at.
I come from a very different perspective than Kurt Angle. I haven’t put
my body through the sorts of rigors he has for years and years. So it’s
hard to evaluate his decision. I think he would be the best judge. The
fact he thinks he will be fine gives me confidence that he will be. He
has gone to the limit in the past, and he can avoid doing anything he
doesn’t want to do at Mania. He’s also been working with this injury for
a little while now, so it isn’t as if he crossed a line into even more
dangerous territory. Considering he’s going to make hundreds of
thousands of dollars for this show and is going to help the company out
in the process, the decision makes sense to me. But obviously that could
be proven to be a very, very bad idea, even if the odds are strongly
against it.
8. You remarked how much Akira Maeda changed the business in Japan.
I'd agree, although how he got his initial fame (unprofessionally
potato-ing Riki Choshu) is a major blemish on his legacy. If UFC were
to get a major TV deal in the US tomorrow, do you think its effect on
the US wrestling scene would be similar to the effect UWF/RINGS had on
Japan in the 80s/90s?
That’s a really interesting question. I would say probably not. The
American wrestling public right now has a totally different vision of
wrestling than the Japanese wrestling public did in the late 80s and
early 90s. I think UFC’s potential is to grab the mainstream sports
fans. My friends who are sports fans but despise wrestling have loved
UFC when I showed it to them. My friends who are wrestling fans by and
large don’t like UFC. There’s a lot of resentment towards it in some
wrestling circles. “Sports entertainment” has changed the business so
much that I don’t know if American fans care about who really is the
toughest any more. They don’t care about the worked matches, let alone
the theoretical shoot ones. The fantasy isn’t there that existed in
Japan.
That said, if UFC presents itself like a wrestling show with real
fights, WWE is going to take notice, and probably modify its style to
some degree. You see that already with the use of the triangle choke,
which is a ridiculous move in the pro wrestling context. You also
shouldn’t overlook the impact a transcendent star could have. If a UFC
star became a gigantic television figure, there’s no doubt WWE would try
to recreate that excitement. In other words, UFC needs a figure
comparable to Maeda, or even Takada, that would change pro wrestling’s
vision of what a drawing card is. As Dave pointed out to me after the
last UFC, if American fans thought like Japanese fans, Phil Baroni might
be that figure. But American fans don’t care about warrior spirit. They
care about winning and losing. That makes it a lot trickier to create
that big star, because fans give up on anyone but the best.
What direction such a change would take the business is also hard to
say. It probably wouldn’t be very good though. I think the shoot
movement in Japan has done the same sort of damage there that Russo and
crash TV did here. Much of the Japanese wrestling industry lost
confidence in its core product, which is putting on entertaining and
important worked matches. Now it’s about putting pro wrestlers in shoots
or shooters in works, and the emphasis on building up programs based on
worked matches between talented workers has been lost. The shoot
movement has been great for shoot organizations in Japan, but horrible
for work organizations. I fear the same would happen in the United
States. Look at the way Meng has been used in the past 10 years, against
all logic. The same thing could start happening on a larger scale and
suddenly Chris Benoit would find himself in the same position of a Yuji
Nagata. Well, he is anyway, but that is for a different reason.
9. What sort of feedback have you gotten on your columns, both from
fans and Meltzer himself?
The feedback I get from fans has been almost universally positive. I
think I’ve gotten less than 5 pieces of negative feedback my entire time
doing the column, and most people are really enthusiastic. I appreciate
that. It’s actually pretty surprising, because I always figured people
who write about wrestling get more negative feedback than positive. I
look forward to hearing what people think about my columns, particularly
when I get very thoughtful responses to the points I make. I haven’t
gotten that much feedback from Dave since I started doing the weekly
column in December. Hopefully he is pleased with the work. I know he
likes my writing because he has told me that many times in the past and
asked me to write more for the site. But I rarely hear much from him
about the columns. Oh well, he’s busy as hell and I do intend for each
column to stand on its own. As Jake Roberts once said about Ricky
Steamboat, it would probably embarrass Dave to know how highly I think
of him, so I do wish I heard more from him on my writing, positive or
critical.
10. You had a piece published in the actual Observer
newsletter, detailing the racial breakdown in wrestling. We all know
your thoughts on WWE's use of racial and ethnic stereotypes, but how
well do you feel the following promotions represent/represented a
diverse roster?
Diversity isn’t inherently positive. What is more important to me is how
those diverse groups are portrayed. You can employ a diverse group of
workers, but still show them no respect as human beings. Look at the
United States army’s exploitation of African Americans in World War I
and II. The army certainly was more diverse than in the past, but black
officers were frequently treated worse than enemy prisoners of war. So
let me address what I think of their portrayal of different racial and
ethnic groups. And another preface, these comments are made off the top
of my head. I haven’t gone through these promotions in depth, and it is
possible I would come to different conclusions were I to put a lot of
time thinking about it like I did in the piece you referred to.
NWA TNA: For a southern wrestling show that has overtly played
the race card in the past, I actually think TNA has done a pretty good
job in this regard. They have utilized Konnan, Ron Killings and D’Lo
Brown well. While their identities as black or “luchador” are
acknowledged, they aren’t dwelled on in a manner that troubles me. TNA
even gave Killings a chance as champ. Overall, they are doing a fine
job.
New Japan: I’ve never been particularly fond of the way New Japan
treats foreign wrestlers. Japanese society in my view is very racist,
much like our own. But it is a different sort of racism, and more
complicated due to Japan’s homogeneity and different cultural norms.
While racism frequently manifests itself in overt hostility and violence
in the United States, in Japan from my studies it seems to me it
manifests itself in a more subtle suspicion of “the other.” This is
particularly true of New Japan, which has used menacing monsters from
the United States and elsewhere for years. It’s like the reverse of the
portrayal of Masa Saito or Mr. Fuji here. Blacks in particular have been
characterized in an offensive manner. If UFC were to portray Bob Sapp
and Quinton Jackson the way they have been portrayed in Japan, they
would be thrown off the air. That characterization of foreigners is a
staple of Japanese wrestling, and while it isn’t universal, much like
the patriotic flag-waving American nationalist, it does rise up
frequently. So I’m not a fan of the way New Japan uses non-Japanese
wrestlers, even if they do give them a chance to play a major role.
All Japan: All Japan is to me a more tempered version of what New
Japan does. It’s hard to untangle the two promotions since there are few
foreigners who haven’t portrayed the same character in one promotion
that they also have in the other. Perhaps because Stan Hansen and
Bruiser Brody became such popular figures in All Japan, the promotion’s
fans have a different perspective on foreigners. Those two were
initially treated as oddities and ruffians, but now they are remembered
as beloved figures, and that rubs off on the portrayal of other
foreigners today. That’s not to say there aren’t horrible characters. I
mean they used the Kamala II gimmick for years. There’s a whole lot more
to say about the subject of All Japan and New Japan’s treatment of
non-Japanese, but that’s the basic gist of it without going into too
much depth.
Ring of Honor: ROH is so based on in-ring work that they don’t
really need to rely on overt stereotyping to sell their product. I
haven’t seen any of their shows for a number of months, and it seems
they are moving towards more angles and gimmicks, so perhaps they are
getting worse in this regard. But the tapes I have seen of them had
little to no racial or ethnic stereotypes.
ECW: I’m not one of ECW’s biggest defenders, or one of the more
pro-Heyman observers. That said, I think ECW did an excellent job in
this regard. Heyman brought in Misterio Jr., Psicosis, Juventud Guerrera
and the luchadors into ECW before they were given a serious chance in
either WWF or WCW. It was ECW that proved Mexicans could make an impact
in this era of wrestling. That has opened up tremendous opportunities
for Latinos in the years that followed. ECW also pushed Super Crazy very
strong later despite his lack of English. While the New Jack gimmick
certainly was a racial gimmick, it really seems like that is his
personality, so it’s hard to blame ECW for using it. Jazz’ race was
never an issue and she was pushed strong. Ditto D-Von Dudley. ECW was a
small lower-middle class promotion that ran in large, liberal
metropolitan areas in the Northeast, and was owned by a Jewish New
Yorker. One would hope it would be sensitive to these sorts of issues,
and I think it was, by and large.
11. Without a doubt, wrestling has a problem with injuries and
painkiller addiction. As a result, many have different theories about
what to do about it. In a nutshell, what's yours?
You could go about combating the problem in a number of ways. The
problem is all of them have downsides. Testing for painkillers doesn’t
make any sense, because most of them are prescription drugs. They aren’t
illegal. The downside guarantee contracts exacerbate the problem, as
wrestlers feel they have to get back in the ring before they are ready.
However, if you give guaranteed contracts you have less safeguards
against financial woes, and you get the WCW problem where guys find ways
not to perform, or to not work hard. If you tell the guys to take it
easier in the ring, it’s going to take a reeducation process for the
fans, and there will likely be some decline in popularity. You could cut
down on house shows, but I think that is a bad idea for a variety of
reasons. Steroid testing I think would make the situation more safe.
This opinion isn’t founded on any medical evidence, but I am of the
opinion that the combination of painkillers and steroids is what really
gives people health problems. With just the painkillers I don’t think it
would be as bad. However, again, there is an issue there of reeducating
the public on what wrestling is.
Really, I don’t see any solutions that the wrestling business would be
willing to take. The best hope is for the two sides to agree to regular
medical testing and doctors that have the authority to disallow
wrestlers from competing if they are not healthy. A check needs to be
put not only on the promotion, but on the wrestlers themselves. Unless
there is someone to tell them they can’t wrestle, wrestlers are going to
compete unless they are very seriously injured. The promotion isn’t
going to want doctors telling them who can and can’t wrestle, either. It
could potentially wreak havoc on their booking. But if you found a way
to do mandatory medical tests every 2-4 weeks, wrestlers would be forced
to take time to heal, and the promotion couldn’t fault them for it. That
wouldn’t eliminate pain killers altogether, but it would reduce them to
levels where the risks wouldn’t be nearly as bad.
12. I got a really bad feeling watching that guy from Tough Enough 3
get cut for wanting to nurse his tennis elbow. To me, that exemplified
everything wrong with the mentality in wrestling when it comes to pain
and injuries. Would you have made that cut, if you were the Tough
Enough judge? If you didn't see that episode, skip this question.
Here’s the predicament. I agree with you that incident exemplified a
real problem with the way the wrestling business thinks about pain and
injuries. However, Tough Enough is just a reflection of that. Tough
Enough tries to get its competitors ready for the WWE. The reality is
that if you don’t play through that sort of pain in WWE, you’re not
going to make it. So while I may not agree with that mentality, I still
have to accept it as a given if I’m trying to find future WWE wrestlers.
For an example, let’s assume I’m a Hollywood agent, looking to recruit
actresses for major motion pictures. I would love to just hire the most
talented actresses, but I know that isn’t all that important to the big
studios. I hate the way Hollywood has created this young, skinny,
big-breasted archetype that every actress has to be. But as an agent I
can’t do anything about it, so I’m going to take the hot looking 22 year
old blonde.
Same thing with Tough Enough. I don’t know how common that sort of
injury is in wrestling, but given the fact the Tough Enough judges
thought most wrestlers would work through that, I’d assume it’s pretty
common. If he can’t deal with that sort of pain, he’s not going to make
it on the road, so there’s no point keeping him. That sucks, but the way
to change the situation is what I talked about in question 12, not the
Tough Enough decision making process.
13. What was your favorite year to be a wrestling fan, and why?
Every year is a fun year to be a wrestling fan. Even if the key American
promotions aren’t doing as well, there are always plenty of
alternatives. You can study a different era, you can look overseas, or
you can figure out how to turn around the key American promotions.
Wrestling’s always great if you’re genuinely interested in learning as
much about it as you can. That said, I do wish the current American
scene were more like it was in 1997, when you had three entertaining
products and lots of really exciting stuff.
14. Everyone keeps whining about how WWE needs to create new stars.
Of course that is true, but in my opinion, no one will be allowed to get
over as long as HHH has the power he has. What is your opinion on the
power HHH wields in WWE, and how harmful/beneficial he is to the
company?
Up until just a couple months ago, I was of the opinion that Triple H
played too many politics backstage, but still needed to be kept around
and kept strong since he was a solid performer and one of WWE’s biggest
stars. I think very frequently the wrestling community is quick to
vilify someone, and in doing so they become unobjective in critiquing
them. I think Triple H has value to the company as a performer, just
like Hogan. But, that doesn’t matter if he acts as much more than just a
performer. Recently I have come to the conclusion that Triple H just
does too much damage with his backstage politicking.
I now think the WWE would be better off getting rid of him altogether.
The optimal situation would be to keep him around but knock out his
influence and use him to help get other guys over. However, that isn’t
happening. So he needs to go in order to turn around the company. He’s a
cancer. He has cut off so many rising stars in the past couple of years
that it would be funny were it not so troubling. You can just follow the
machinations of backstage politics through the way hot characters are
treated. It’s like WCW from 1999. The “A” players are in and out, and
the company puts “B” players on top. Just like Nash and Savage were
counterproductive as headliners then, HHH and Undertaker are
counterproductive as headliners now.
WWE needs to build around fresh headliners, and instead it uses the same
recycled guys they have been using for years. That needs to change. What
makes matters worse is that Triple H is overtly trying to keep anyone
from taking his spot. In doing so, he is making it hard to ever pull the
trigger on a new push, because wrestlers are ruined before they get to
that point. Overall, HHH does great harm to the WWE’s product, and more
importantly, to its future. WWE would be better off without him.
15. Which of the following scenarios do you predict will play out
this year concerning Bill Goldberg?
A. He'll cause a huge resurgence in WWE business for the long haul
B. He'll be misused, buried without him knowing it, and end up a major
disappointment
C. He'll pop a few good buyrates, but soon fans will catch on to his
poor ring work and turn against him, ala Scott Steiner
D. He'll butt heads with all the politicking backstabbers backstage, and
quit halfway into his contract
E. Other (please specify)
B and then D. This week’s Observer talks about how Rock is scheduled to
feud with Goldberg over the next month. That is such a horrible idea.
Rock is going to cut off all of Goldberg’s momentum just like he did to
Austin. Goldberg needs to come in as an avenging face to stop a menacing
heel that has serious heat. Rock has no heat at all on him. He’s a
comedy figure, and practically a babyface at that. That character is an
atrocious matchup for Goldberg, and it will hinder all his future
programs. He’ll be buried by the end of the year, and considered a
disappointment.
At that point he’ll start getting frustrated with the politics like he
was in WCW, and he’ll quit. He couldn’t get along with Russo in WCW.
There’s no way he’ll be able to get along with HHH in WWE. He doesn’t
need the money, so he’ll likely just leave the American wrestling
business, possibly for good. That said, the potential is there for him
to have a major impact on business long term. I don’t think he’s a poor
worker in the sense that Steiner is, and the fans genuinely like him. If
they can put serious heat on a heel, Goldberg is a great top face. He
also is just about the only top star in American wrestling that hasn’t
been tainted. The only possible danger was his heel turn, and everyone
has forgotten about that by now. My pessimism on his return is
predicated on the fact WWE has already blown so many big money angles,
and this is going to be harder to pull off, not easier. If I were
booking his return, I’m confident it would do big business. But WWE
couldn’t even make WWF vs. WCW work.
16. Who screwed Bret?
Julie and perhaps Sunny. No seriously, I’m not that adamantly in the
“Bret screwed Bret” camp or the “Vince screwed Bret” champ. I’m
sympathetic to some degree towards both men, and I feel both men also
acted like jerks. For Vince to treat such a loyal employee the way he
did was just wrong. But I don’t completely dismiss the argument that
Vince was worried about protecting his company and his title. I’ve read
the Observer’s analysis saying why Bret wouldn’t take the WWF Title to
WCW. However, regardless of any rationality, Vince feared Eric Bischoff
and hated Eric Bischoff. Bischoff wasn’t above anything, and Vince was
in a very precarious situation at that point in time. Only a creep would
treat Bret Hart the way Vince did, but sometimes you’ve got to be a
creep to succeed in the way Vince has over the years, particularly when
you’re down and out.
As for Bret, I don’t see why he couldn’t have dropped the title in
Canada. He didn’t have to lose clean by submission. Losing a hard fought
battle to Shawn after interference from Hunter wouldn’t have done any
damage to Bret on his way to WCW. Just because he had the right to use
the creative control clause doesn’t mean it was morally justified. He
should have been willing to put over the company’s choice for champion
at the time they wanted, even if Shawn was a prick. So what if Shawn
wouldn’t put Bret over? Bret should have proved he was the better man.
That’s not to mention the fact that Bret assaulted Vince after the show.
In the wrestling context, screwing a performer out of a match seems like
a much bigger deal than the sort of violence we see every week on TV.
However, a criminal court would see things very differently. Punching
people, spitting on them and breaking monitors is not a very mature way
to deal with a crummy situation. Bret didn’t exactly handle the
situation very maturely in the years that followed either. Then again,
Vince really hurt Bret personally, and it’s hard not to sympathize with
Bret regardless.
The whole situation is
so tragic. I still watch Wrestling with Shadows every once and a while,
and it makes me so sad. Bret Hart was one of my two favorite wrestlers
when I first became a fan, along with Mr. Perfect. Bret wanted to leave
a wonderful legacy, and he was so close. Yet it all fell apart like
something out of a Greek tragedy. Vince acted like a monster towards a
man he once viewed almost like a son. And over what? The stupid finish
to one match. It’s depressing.
17. What is the greatest match you have ever seen? If you can't
narrow it down, name the top contenders.
Oh man. I’ll save you another long answer on this one and just say Steve
Austin vs. Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13. It was an exciting match, it
told a great story, and an argument can be made that it was the key
catalyst in creating the biggest boom period in the history of American
wrestling.
18. In my opinion, the biggest hidden, untapped goldmine in wrestling
is the huge, extensive collection of old wrestling videos sitting in
Titan Towers. He's got WWWF, 80s/90s WWF, hundreds of PPVs, NWA, WCW,
and will eventually have ECW, AWA, and probably UWF. I have so many
ideas about how to turn that stuff into millions. How would you
capitalize on that video library if you were in Vince's position?
I was just thinking about that yesterday. The problem is I don’t know
how much it costs to transfer an old video on to DVD, or to try to sell
it in stores. So I’m at a disadvantage when it comes to the economic
realities of the situation. That said, I would get someone who really
follows the business, and would be able to tell you which shows are the
best from each group. I would make them available in DVD format on the
website, and I would advertise it on TV. After a couple of months, I
would study which DVDs sold well and which ones didn’t. I would then
find DVDs like the ones that sold well and make them available in stores
as a special line. I would then put out different lines at later times.
For example, a line of NWA tapes from 1986-1989, a line of AWA tapes
from 1978-1982, a line of ECW tapes from 1994-1997 and so on. You could
have wrestlers do special commentary tracks for their old matches in
other promotions, and you could have short mini-documentaries on what
made each period tick.
It would encourage hardcore fans to collect all of them before moving to
the next group, and you could sell them in boxed sets as well. By
choosing just the best tapes, people would know after seeing a few of
them that they are all must see. I think the money in this sort of plan
is getting a smaller group of fans to pay large amounts of money, as
opposed to a larger group of fans paying a smaller amount of money. I
don’t think WWE will ever take advantage of that collection, however.
Vince doesn’t want to acknowledge WWF’s history, let alone the history
of other products. Maybe he’ll burn all the old tapes so in 50 years
there will be no evidence that his story of wrestling history isn’t
true.
19. Like anyone who has common sense, you're a Russo detractor. What
is the single most disgraceful, damaging thing you've ever seen Vince
Russo do to the wrestling industry?
I can only choose one? Now there’s a Top 100 List. Just thinking about
it makes me angry. I’m objective in my thought process towards every
figure in wrestling except that man. I loathe him for what he has done
to this business, and I think I might actually physically attack him if
I ever met him. My choice has to be when he put the WCW Title on himself
and then vacated it. What unbelievable disrespect to the industry, and
no conceivable upside.
20. And finally... you've just been given a $50 million budget to run
your own wrestling promotion, and you'll have a prime time, weekly TV
slot on a visible cable network. Based on all the free agent wrestlers
(ie, non-WWE guys) around, what 5 wrestlers would you build around? And
what 3 non-wrestling personalities (ie Ventura, Zbysko, Tenay, etc)
would you use in on-camera roles?
Oh man, this is another subject I could write pages and pages about. If
I had a $50 million budget, I would immediately devote a large portion
of it to raid a couple of key WWE figures. They don’t necessarily have
to be top guys, but they need to be guys with upward potential. If I
couldn’t conceive of them as main eventers, I wouldn’t try to sign them.
Both WWF and WCW did too much raiding without an idea of how to use the
stolen talent. With a startup company, I wouldn’t have the flexibility
to spend $750,000 on a Dustin Runnels or Rick Rude. I would create a
long term plan, and sell the WWE guys on it. Benoit, Jericho and others
jumped to WWF for less money because they thought they would have more
opportunity. I’m convinced they would seriously consider jumping again
if convinced the new promotion was on the rise.
Another problem is that the guys I would want to bring in from Mexico
and Japan are no more available than the WWE guys. I would try to work
out a deal to bring in Bob Sapp from time to time, and book him like
Andre the Giant. But I don’t think I would be successful in getting him.
TNA hasn’t done a particularly good job of utilizing the guys they have
brought in, but I think by and large they have brought in the right
guys. Of the United States guys that are not in the WWE, I would push
Raven, Low Ki, AJ Styles, Ron Killings and Konnan the strongest. I would
be forced by necessity to put together a smaller roster, so the size of
these guys wouldn’t matter all that much.
I would make Raven the heel champ, and I would spend the first 6 months
of the promotion getting heat on him as champ. I would give him a gang
of heels on his side like the Flock/Nest, and have them bail him out of
tough situations constantly. I would give him a lot of time to cut
promos, and leverage to go in whatever direction he wants. I think he
can do promos as well as anyone else in the United States, and I would
exploit that.
Without a Bob Sapp to bring in, I would use Low Ki as the most unique
figure on the show. I would portray him as a mysterious shooter, like a
more realistic version of Taz in ECW. He would come out in a UFC type
robe, with a hood covering his head and an entire team ala MMA.
Occasionally I would bring in real shooters to second him and give him
credibility. I would have him never lose, and win matches with all sorts
of different submissions. His opponents would frequently be stretchered
out. I would never have him speak, and instead I would utilize his
in-ring ability. I would never label him a “cruiserweight” or make any
mention of his size. I would generally keep him out of the ring with
really large guys. I would also tell him to take it a little easier on
his body. He would be a tweener, and I would see how the fans react to
him. I suspect he eventually would be a top face, but I would let the
crowd dictate his portrayal.
AJ Styles would be one of my top heels. I would use him as a cocky
arrogant heel, out of the mold of a Matt Hardy or John Cena mold. He
would have a sort of double personality, sometimes acting really cool
and uncaring, while at other times becoming really violent and sinister.
I would feud him with Konnan as the top undercard feud. I would groom
Styles to eventually be my champ, but the crowd needs to be conditioned
to view him as that sort of star first.
Ron Killings would be the top face for the group at first. I would give
him a lot of interview time, and have him knock the WWE and talk about
why my promotion is better. He would be the classic lone wolf character,
who would reject help from other babyfaces, and go about his missions on
his own. I would try to get a hip-hop star to endorse him as The Truth
at a major PPV, but only if a top name were available. I would have
Raven and his group frequently get the best of Killings, but Killings
would keep coming back for more.
Konnan would be a major face, and I would use him to try to bring in a
Hispanic audience. I would have him use both English and Spanish in his
promos, and have him constantly switch up his look and lingo to portray
him as a really cool character. He would be similar to his role in WCW
in 1998, only I would put him over so the fans wouldn’t think of him as
a loser. I also would give him a lot of time to talk. You need
characters that will get the fans immediately interested in them, and
the best way to do that is by cutting awesome promos.
My three non-wrestling personalities would all be in the broadcast team.
I would use a three man team, with Mike Tenay, Jesse Ventura and Bas
Rutten. Tenay is the no-brainer voice of the promotion, who would bring
credibility to the product and sell the main storylines. He has done
such a fantastic job in TNA. Ventura would be around in order to gain
media coverage. It’s important a new promotion get a buzz going for it,
and if you do that through the signing of a wrestler, it’s going to have
to be a washed up star who would drag down the promotion. Ventura could
bring publicity to the promotion, and it sounds like he is interested in
getting back into wrestling if the arrangements are right. Plus, if he
kept up with the storylines, I think a genuine heel commentator has been
needed in the American scene for years. The hip heel commentator was
entertaining for a while, but you need someone in there who tries to
really get the crowd fired up about the future matches. Ventura was
always very good at that. Bas Rutten is the most entertaining
commentator in wrestling or MMA today, and I would give him a chance to
parlay that into professional wrestling announcing. He has a great sense
of humor, and is really bright, so I think he could really do a good job
getting over the product. He also would add legitimacy to the product,
which I would treat a lot more seriously than WWE. Less jokes, less
humor, and more serious issues.
---------------------------
Whew, did ya get all
that? That was a whole Todd Martin column by itself, and that's a good
thing. If you want more, check out the archives at
www.wrestlingobserver.com, and you'll learn a whole lot. Thanks
a million to Todd for agreeing to our interview.
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