McPinions
By: Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey

Note: This column will be appearing at Get in the Ring Radio The following is my first column for them, but I will use it here, on my home town crew page, The DOI.

This column will be my general thoughts and feelings about independent wrestling and have some WWE reactions. I will also say what I think is good, and what I think is bad. This column will be used not to bash anyone, but more of a tool to express what can be done to make things better. I hope you enjoy my work, and if you’re still with me here, let me start this initial column for Get in the Ring.

I love the indies. I attend anywhere from 8-10 shows a month. Living in NY is a plus, with USA Pro and NYWC and also because there are many great shows only an hour away in New Jersey, with great feds such as JAPW, JCW and SSCW. Let’s not also forget the Philly wars that are taking place between ROH/CZW/XPW/3PW right now. The indy scene is hot right now, due to there being only one top promotion, being the WWE. The hardest thing for an independent promotion, is finding its identity.

Being an avid indy fan, you see about 50% of the same guys depending on the shows you go to. If all these promotions are using mostly the same talent, how does an independent distinguish itself? It’s very hard. Some promotions like using ECW talent, to put butts in the seat and for quality matches. The problem with this is that some promotions heavily rely on ECW names, and are branded as an ECW wannabe. There are some promotions however, that have made a name for themselves, ROH and ECWA.

Ring of Honor, run by Rob Feinstein, is probably the most respected indy promotion today. The head honcho of RF video gave birth to ROH in 2001. ROH is the work rate fans dream. They are known for producing quality shows with pure wrestling, and try to stray away from bad/good guy booking. You see hot talent all the time. Every card is going to have 3-4, 4 star+ matches. ROH is an innovator, even from not using traditional turnbuckles, in the favor of boxing ring style pads. ROH runs in Philly regularly, and if you haven’t seen them, I urge you do, as they have the “wet dream” of smart mark wrestling shows. For more about ROH check out http://www.rohwrestling.com

Another promotion, that has its identity set in stone, is ECWA. ECWA is the brainchild of Jim Kettner. It’s also the home to the independent “WrestleMania” of the year, in the Super 8. Looking at past Super 8s, it always produces stars, and that’s a fact. Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Billy Kidman and Spanky, are just a few of the guys who have worked the Super 8 and now in the WWE. ECWA even has a working relationship with the WWE, and does not sacrifice its integrity by having one. For example, there are no necrophilia angles in ECWA. ECWA is the #1 indy promotion, in my opinion, and have the best booked story lines, matches and angles in the indies today. Even though they run in Delaware, it’s worth the 2-hour drive to see it, and all the hot indy stars go through them. Do you want to meet and see WWE stars? Well you’re watching some of the future ones pass by. Check more about ECWA at http://www.ecwawrestling.com

My favorite promotion right now in the indies is JAP wrestling, run by Fat Frank. A promotion, which started off featuring prominently hardcore, wrestling, has morphed into a promotion that draws a significant fan base at every show. At the last show, we even saw Jerry Lawler defeat Terry Funk in front of 450+! JAP is one of those promotions that use great wrestlers and puts on great matches. JAP fans are starting to flock and build, similar to the early rises of ECW. JAP is one of those promotions that are definitely making a buzz in the area. Check out more on them at http://www.japw.net

Next week in this column, I will be talking about some of the great wrestlers in the indies. Now let’s move onto where most of the indy guys want to work- The WWE.

The biggest thing in WWE right now, or in wrestling in general, is Bill Goldberg and his backstage actions. I have gone on record, and will go on record here saying that Goldberg does not belong in wrestling. Bill Goldberg does not appreciate wrestling. He thinks he’s above the business. He has an ego that has gone to his head. There is a story going around that Goldberg and Jericho got into a fight backstage at the 4/7 RAW, after the show went off the air. It’s rumored that the fight started when Goldberg saw Jericho’s comments on the WWE site, which is more of a promotion tool website, about wanting to beat him in a match. Goldberg is a mark for himself, and someone needs to educate him on how the business works. Goldberg’s crowd reactions haven’t been too hot either, and while I think he will go over The Rock at Backlash, I don’t think he will be in the WWE in 6 months.

Now speaking of problems in the WWE, ratings are not what they used to be. At its peak, wrestling was drawing anywhere from an 8-10 in the Nielsen ratings on any given Monday night. Now, Raw is struggling to maintain a 3.2 rating. What’s the problem? Lack of stars.

In the past month alone, we’ve been subjected to old returning stars, who are not even providing a minor spark. The ratings have been the same. Nostalgia is great in small doses. Nostalgia is not weekly either, like how Sir Adam pointed out on GIR radio this past Sunday. The returns of Piper, Sable, Kevin Nash, Goldberg, will do nothing in the WWE in the long run, as the fans have had enough of them, and will tire of them. Half the fans today don’t even remember these people, as wrestling fans usually come in cyclic boom periods. And where do these boom periods come from? From creating new stars. See exhibit A. Hulk Hogan and Exhibit B. Stone Cold Steve Austin, two stars created and which took wrestling to a new level.

So now that we got the fact that WWE needs to create new stars, and push new people, whom do we go to? Well I think the obvious choice is none other than the 22 consecutive month ECW TV Champion, Rob Van Dam. RVD has been held down way too long. RVD is getting the crowd reaction that the WWE wants Goldberg to have. RVD is wrestling fantastic matches, even though they are not his ECW style. (Due to length) It’s time to stop putting him in worthtless tag matches, time to get him off Heat, and start pushing RVD as the new WWE superstar to carry the ball.

Another guy, who is destined for big things, is John Cena. The former Prototype, is a fantastic wrestler in and out of the ring, 2 things that are crucial in a wrestler, to build a promotion around. From his hilarious mic skills, his serious mic skills and his overall wrestling ability, I think it’s time for John Cena to start getting the big push, similar to Brock Lesnar’s. I think we are seeing the wheels in motion now, but Cena needs to win cleanly over big stars. Three guys interfering with weapons, getting hit by chain and lock, and a ref bump, to beat the Undertaker isn’t going to help Cena, as much as a clean 1-2-3 victory.

Well that does it for me for my inaugural column. I’d like to thank Sir Adam for giving me the chance to write on this great website. Now if he can hook me up with that Trish Stratus imposter porn video, that’s advertised on this site, then we’ll be in business!

Oh yea, I hate Triple H too.

Let me know what you thought, and what’d you like to see me talk about in this column. Email me here:

themic@sscwwrestling.com