My Opinion

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="040d2c00dvldtc.gif"> <div> <IMG SRC="24fb4de0.jpg" border=0 width="180" height="222" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <bR> <div> My Opinion</div> <div> <IMG SRC="25061610.gif" border=0 width="97" height="97" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Each month I will pick a subject and give you my opinion, I don't care if you like it, agree with it or not, it's my opinion. You can give me yours by filling out the form below, I may display it here I may not, it's my choice. </div> <div> Got a topic you'd like to know my opinion on? Fill out the form and I may just give it to you.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> AND/OR</div> <bR> <div> Visit my</div> <div> <IMG SRC="05a1c480.gif" border=0 width="28" height="72" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="http://badnewsallen.proboards15.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://badnewsallen.proboards15.com/"><U><U><IMG SRC="39aa04a0.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="74" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></U></A></div> <div> Now, my opinion</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="225" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 106 ><NOBR><div> <B>August, 2003</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Email Questions    </B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <B><IMG SRC="3fb42630.gif" border=0 width="66" height="99" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <B>       </B></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="496" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 2015 WIDTH="490"><div> The majority of email I receive from visitors via my web site consist of “Why did I retire? How different is wrestling from when I started? What do I think made the WCW fold? What do I think of the state of wrestling today? Was there as much drug abuse then? And Who do I think was the biggest influence for change in wrestling?</div> <bR> <div> I started my wrestling career on October 24, 1977. My 22 years as a wrestler ended May 10, 1999. One of the reasons for retiring was my badly injured knees, the other, I was just too old for the ring and should have retired 5 years earlier. I, unlike Hogan, Flair and Piper was not afraid to let go, I have no inflated ego to appease.</div> <bR> <div> When I started there was a different set of rules, a different mentality and different type of performer. Today, wrestlers are more athletic, in better condition and shape and look it. In my day the majority of guys were out of shape and did very little in the form of high spots, but, they worked hard. In my day if you didn’t work you didn’t get paid. Then, the WCW introduced the ‘Guaranteed Performance Contract’, which, in theory, was a fantastic idea. It helped the seriously injured who were unable to work. Unfortunately, there were ‘those’ who took advantage and sat at home on their lazy asses, collecting a pay check, with nothing more than a broken toe nail. I believe that and trying to imitate the WWE instead of creating their own signature, was the death warrant for the WCW.</div> <bR> <div> Something that has not changed are the stooges. The brown nose's who run to the boss stooging out everyone in hopes that it will boost their career, get them the push they think they deserve. There are more stooges today due to the large amount of money at stake. </div> <bR> <div> One of the biggest differences today, is that there is no one who is truly unique.  Everybody performs the same, they all use the same high spots. Years ago, we all had our own finishes/high spot, mine was the Ghetto Blaster, and no other wrestler in the company was allowed to use it. Today, everyone uses every body else's high spots and each match is a replay of the one before. It gets boring. It's like going to a three ring circus and watching the exact same performance in all three rings, only the players are different. I believe it's one of the reasons the ratings are down in the WWE. </div> <bR> <div> What is most lacking these days is the ‘ring psychology’. There is no longer a distinction between the Heel and the Baby face. It's to the point now, when you watch the WWE, you don't know who's who. One week he's a Heel, the next a Baby face, the next week Heel again.  The championship belt changes hands so many times that it no longer holds any meaning. It's almost like a dart is thrown at a wall full of photos and that determines who gets the belt for that particular day or week. There seems to be no rhyme or reason, no psychology to back it up, to make sense of it. </div> <bR> <div> Years ago, a heel created a frenzy just by walking into the arena, which, for the most part, was due to ‘ring psychology’. Today, a lot of the young guys and cruiser weight guys think that if they can go out and do a hundred and one high spots, and jump off the top rope with all kinds of flips and spins then everyone will accept them. They have no idea how to tell a story, no concept of ring psychology, it seems to be a lost art. Today it is more acrobatic than it is wrestling, it is more burlesque than it is wrestling, it is  a night, a week, a month, a year of wanna be clones. There seems to be no distinctive personality or  style, everybody wants to be The Dynamite Kid (I consider him to be the greatest wrestler there ever was and had the privilege of working with) and if everyone is the Dynamite kid who the hell is different? There needs to be a variety of styles. There are talented workers, such as Chris Benoit, whom I consider, pound for pound, the best worker today, who deserve a push and are not getting it. Vince McMahon, who is a marketing genius, a snake in the grass back stabber, hasn't had the experience of year in and year out, stepping into the ring, in a different city, with a different crowd every night, to gain the psychology of the ring. Insulting  peoples intelligence and morals does not make you a great worker, booker, thinker or storyteller. </div> <bR> <div> Drug abuse was around back then but not as prevalent as today, back then alcohol was the most common addiction among the boys. </div> <bR> <div> There are two people who were instrumental in the change in wrestling. One is The Dynamite Kid who changed the style of wrestling to what you see today. The other is Vince McMahon who is responsible for the farce it's become. Putting a woman in the ring to work in a bikini or rip another woman's clothes  off has nothing to do with wrestling. Yes wrestling is show business, and everything is pre determined, but I believe if you're going to represent it, then do it in the best light possible.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="3f8ece20.jpg" border=0 width="236" height="226" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> What the hell does this have to do with wrestling?</div> <div> Do you think BS like this has something</div> <div> to do with people being disgusted with todays pro-wrestling?</div> <div> Is nothing sacred to this <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00FFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>BUFFOON</B></FONT>?</div> <div> Adultery, necrophilia, sexual harassment and now</div> <div> the handicapped...</div> <div> Will a pedophile be the next WWE superstar? </div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="245" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 90 WIDTH="116"><div> For past Opinions<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFF00" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> click here <IMG SRC="234140c0.gif" border=0 width="20" height="12" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Opinion Archives"><U><IMG SRC="25164540.jpg" border=0 width="100" height="84" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <form action="http://formmail.trellix.com/servlets/TlxMailer" method="POST" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded"><input type="hidden" name="tlx_SortOrder" value="Name,Email,City,State,Comments"><input type="hidden" name="tlx_FormIndex" value="1"><input type="hidden" name="tlx_OKMessage" value="Thanks for your comments."><input type="hidden" name="tlx_SendMode" value="1"><input type="hidden" name="tlx_Subject" value="A comment form was submitted"><input type="hidden" name="tlx_EmailTo" value="fans@badnewsallen.com"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" border="0" align="center"> <tr> <td align="left">Name:<br> <input type="text" name="Name" size="30" maxlength="100"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Email:<br> <input type="text" name="Email" size="30" maxlength="100"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">City:<br> <input type="text" name="City" size="30" maxlength="100"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">State:<br> <input type="text" name="State" size="30" maxlength="100"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Comments:<br> <textarea name="Comments" rows="5" cols="30"></textarea></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right"><input type="reset"> <input type="submit" value="Send" name="tlx_send"></td> </tr> </table> </form>  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="404" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 118 ><NOBR><bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Interviews"><U><IMG SRC="0be64200.gif" border=0 width="100" height="32" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Site Map"><U><IMG SRC="31982700.gif" border=0 width="130" height="112" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stuff"><U><IMG SRC="0c064200.gif" border=0 width="100" height="32" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>