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VIP EXCLUSIVE COLUMN - Early-release from PWTorch Newsletter #997...

"McNeill Factor"
Newsletter Headline: "Know your enemies"
Originally published: November 7, 2007
From Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #997

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
-Dylan Thomas

Shorter Of Breath...: If you don't know any better, you'd think the biggest problem in this industry was the criticism of WWE and TNA television programs by wrestling newsletters. How else to explain what we've seen on WWE Raw and TNA Impact over the past week?  

Monday's episode of Raw featured one of the more unusual opening segments on the program in some time. The show was touted as a Degeneration X reunion, and it opened with a 20 minute promo starring Shawn Michaels and Triple H, interrupted at the end by Jonathan Coachman. Vince McMahon likes to have the wrestlers and announcers reference current events, which makes sense, seeing as WWE and USA Network are shelling out real money to put Raw on live every week. Plus, Raw was taking place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. So, it made sense to have Hunter reference the Hollywood writers' strike.   

But one of the points of the segment had nothing to do with tweaking the writers' strike. Since Triple H turned babyface eighteen months ago and reformed Degeneration X with Shawn Michaels, the heat has been on the two former champions. As McMahon's son-in-law and the husband of head writer Stephanie McMahon, Hunter has an unprecedented amount of pull for a WWE wrestler. Many of us in the wrestling media, along with some inside WWE, noticed that the DX duo hasn't put any young wrestlers over in a meaningful way. The duo destroyed the Spirit Squad, beat up the McMahons and Big Show, got the better of Edge and Randy Orton, and are now working over the new top heel tandem of Randy Orton and Umaga. This is a problem for a promotion that needs to constantly move different acts up and down the ladder. Hunter and Michaels aren't playing ball. 

Triple H [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

What's more is that the original Degeneration X group, back in 1997 was designed to get Triple H over as a main eventer. After Michaels got injured, it became a vehicle to help make stars out of the New Age Outlaws. A few years back, Triple H's Evolution stable was used to move Batista and Randy Orton into the upper echelon of Raw wrestlers. Anyone who added to DX in 2006 would benefit greatly from the additional exposure and the chance to rub elbow with The Game and The Heartbreak Kid. Of course, this hasn't happened either. 

This week's Degeneration X promo on Raw was ostensibly about Michaels and Hunter adding "honorary" members to their faction. First, Hornswoggle came out to join the crew, then The Boogeyman, and finally Great Khali. It was all comedy, ending when Michaels talked Khali into beating up Coachman. It also made a mockery out of the three potential additions. In the cases of Hornswoggle and Boogey, they could probably get away with the occasional comic segment. Khali, on the other hand, is one of the top wrestlers on Smackdown. So, Vince McMahon and WWE gave Khali a huge credibility hit in order to get across their "point" that Degeneration X doesn't need any additional members. At best, that's a questionable move.

...And One Day Closer To Death: On the other hand, WWE is high atop the North American wrestling business. The McMahons can afford to get sidetracked every once in a while. For Total Nonstop Action, a promotion that has been hemorrhaging money for five and a half years, there's no excuse for taking your eye off the ball to go after your critics. Naturally, the TNA bookers, headed by Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett, did just that last week on Impact. Twice.

First came Team 3D's heel promo in the second quarter hour of the show. This was designed to forward the team's feud with the Motor City Machine Guns. Then, for some reason, Brother Ray launched into a tirade about how wrestling writers had no business making suggestions on what to do with the X Division. Of course, this promo was recorded during the first TNA taping after PWTorch editor's Wade Keller editorial in the October 20th newsletter. The rant could be seen as a "hidden message" if it had actually been, you know, hidden.

Then, during the second hour of Impact, heel wrestler Chris Harris read a bunch of complaints about TNA Impact. It wasn't clear whether the grievances were supposed to be Harris's own complaints, e-mails from fans, or gripes from the other wrestlers, but the list would be familiar to anyone who......

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