Hell In A Basement

I seem to have hit a nerve with my C.M. Punk-Undertaker column, with many of you metaphorically filling your parents’ basements with rage as you pound out insulting e-mails, message-board posts and other screeds on your keyboards. You take issue with my perceived disrespect for Undertaker but don’t notice the contradiction you purvey.

You want wrestling to be better, but want things to remain the same. You want new stars to be created, but think old stars should be allowed to maintain their top spots indefinitely.

You can’t have it both ways.

I forgive you. After all, you’re stupid.

I’ve been down this road. WCW crumbled for many reasons. Most of them had to do with the personal preferences of TBS executives.

But some of the reasons had to do with WCW becoming a nostalgia act built around performers for whom longevity had become a curse. They were stale. By the time the decision was made to use those performers to build new stars, it simply couldn’t be done. The old stars didn’t mean anything, and the up-and-comers had been presented as mere garnish for so long, there was no way to elevate them. It was too late. They couldn’t be made special.

But yeah, keep the Undertaker on top forever. He’s paid his dues. It will all work out great.

And now, some of you get a brush with greatness as I acknowledge your poison pen:

From: Ellen

*The only people who get a bigger pop than DX are Cena and Undertaker.

First off, Ellen, that’s not really a question. My question for you is, why aren’t you in the kitchen scrubbing the carrots and washing the potatoes? Pops can lie. I remember when Sting was anointed to succeed Ric Flair as the NWA’s No. 1 guy. Sting won the world title at the 1990 Great American Bash, and the crowd in Baltimore went INSANE. Sting kept getting GREAT pops. Every arena, every night. But the crowds kept shrinking…every arena, every night. Sting wasn’t even world champ for a year, and those were the days when belts changed hands infrequently. They gave it back to Flair in January, 1991. Point is, don’t judge the success of headliners by the pop they get. Look at attendance, TV ratings, PPV buys and merchandise sales. Those don’t lie.

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