By Richard Gardner, Torch specialist

"These guys need to step up. If there was a young guy who could step up, Vince (McMahon) would push them in a heartbeat. They've got every opportunity in the world to grab the ring and get to the top."
-- The Big Show on the WWE's young talent in an interview with The Sun.

The distance between the mid-card and the main event has never been bigger in WWE. Aging stars are doing everything they can to hang onto their spots, while showing contempt for their fellow professionals by treating everything as a joke. Once portrayed as the underdog in the fight for Monday night supremacy, WWE has developed into the kind of bloated, corporate monster that WCW was in the late '90s.

Mike Tyson returned to Raw this week - his first appearance in the WWE since WrestleMania 14. Considering WWE had a built-in storyline with Shawn Michaels, the end result was WWE squandered any impact that Tyson's appearance may have had. Not that it was surprising. A deep creative malaise grips WWE and a comparison with Tyson's previous stint with the company only underlines this fact.

WWE was firing on all cylinders in January 1998. Despite being defeated by WCW on Pay-Per-View and in TV ratings, Raw had arguably been superior to Nitro for some time. For the build for that year's WrestleMania, Vince McMahon decided to spend $3 million to bring in Tyson, who was banned from boxing for an infamous fight when he bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear.

It was part wrestling angle and part PR stunt. Steve Austin and Mike Tyson had a heated pull-apart that received considerable mainstream media coverage, exposing a new set of fans to the WWF's exciting product. This was followed up with another hot angle that included a fight with Shawn Michaels that ended with the shocking revelation that Tyson had become the latest recruit of D-Generation X. The culmination of Tyson's involvement with WWF was his role as special enforcer in the match between Michaels and Austin at WrestleMania. He counted Austin's pinfall and KO'd Michaels after the match. $3 million well spent.

Granted, Mike Tyson is no longer the hot property he was in 1998, but he is still one of the biggest stars that WWE has managed to book to host Raw. The way he was used on Monday night is an indictment of the whole WWE creative process.

Any time WWE advertises someone the caliber of Mike Tyson in a match, it is liable to be a bait-and-switch situation. Yet, the most famous boxer of the last 20 years was thrown out there with all of an hour's build-up. His participation in the main event could have garnered the mainstream media coverage that the company obviously craves.

The storyline for the match was totally non-sensical. Chris Jericho, who had yet again been kicked off Raw forever the week before, appeared and said that he would be competing in a tag team match with Tyson against D-Generation X. Tyson proceeded to threaten both Shawn Michaels and Hornswoggle.

Tyson worked well with Michaels during the limited time that he was in the ring with him, but the whole thing was the set-up for the predictable swerve. Hornswoggle appeared during the main event yet again, this time dressed in boxer's gear. He distracted Jericho while Tyson took off his t-shirt to reveal a D-Generation X t-shirt, which was a low-rent version of the 1998 angle. He then proceeded to deliver the knockout blow to Jericho, banishing him from Raw forever... once again. What a waste.

Mike Tyson could have worked an angle that could have led to increased media coverage, an increased rating, or more buys for the Royal Rumble. Yet selling PPVs seems to be the last consideration the WWE creative team makes when devising its main event storylines. Don't believe me? Check the terrible buyrate for Survivor Series.

Goofy comedy, guest hosts, and Hornswoggle have been pushed a lot harder than any of the young, up-and-coming talent, and that includes Sheamus, who is rapidly turning into the invisible champion. That WWE didn't seem to know how to book the return of Mike Tyson illustrates how creatively bankrupt WWE has become.

Next time Big Show, Dave Batista, or anyone else in the established elite wants to talk about the so-called great opportunities for the up-and-coming stars in WWE, maybe they should consider the alarming deficiencies in the creative process.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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