A World Without McMahons

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December 4th, 2007 [IMG]http://www.mattsworkshop.com/fun/wwe/wwe1.jpg[/IMG]

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December 19th, 2007 [IMG]http://www.mattsworkshop.com/fun/wwe/cnn1.jpg[/IMG]

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December 23rd, 2007 [IMG]http://www.mattsworkshop.com/fun/wwe/wo1.jpg[/IMG]

[Greg McNeish]

Cool. This should be interesting.

[chris caulfield]

Wonder what you do with the roster.

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Everyone love's an underdog story. But the truth is, and it's pretty plain to see, there is nothing that has defied the odds about World Wrestling Entertainment in, well, almost the history of its existence. Vincent K. McMahon Jr. was the benefactor of good timing and location -- he bought the company from his father, in failing health, and the company happened to be positioned in the largest and most lucrative wrestling territory in the Northeast -- perhaps in all of North America. And though McMahon liked to boast about overcoming the attacks of congress and Turner Broadcasting, a corrupt defense attorney saved him from the former and WCW's own inexplicable incompetence saved him from the latter. McMahon and the WWE was, it seemed, always the elephant in the room. And though congress had finally, in it's third attempt, managed to oust McMahon from professional wrestling -- if only temporarily, and even though World Wrestling Entertainment had entered the hands of speculative ownership and an unknown new President, and even though the on-air product was arguably as stale as it had been in twelve years -- even with all of those things working against it, the WWE marched along in the wrestling world as the undisputed, unchallenged king. Anthony Schaunfeld was the new man in charge, a complete and total unknown, and yet suddenly with the power to change everything in the wrestling business. Wrestling had, after all, spent the better part of a half century discovering it's place in popular culture; working hard to turn it's reputation as carnies and con-men into mythical, envious, truly "popular" culture. And that was evident in the modern wrestling formula: it's foundation reliant heavily on the idea of nearly comic-book style good vs. evil. The wise, benevolent, fair good guy vs. the dangerous, corrupt, seemingly unstoppable villain. And sometimes even two super heroes against one another. Wrestling was, as it would be, the greatest tales of mythology unfolding before us elaborately. Schaunfeld sat down at his new desk in Stamford, Connecticut to review the roster under contract for World Wrestling Entertainment, and all of its assets. Jim Ross was returned to his pre-2000 role as on-air personality and vice president of talent, and Johnny Ace was reduced to a mere advisor -- his unsuccessful role in both the failing WCW and the current WWE incarnation enough to keep him off the book. Donald Trump had put together his own crack financial team for the organization, and this left Schaunfeld solely with assuring the quality of the on-air product. Something he had longed for on this level, on this stage. The roster was stripped bare of Superman's and Batman's and Lex Luthor's, however. The overexposure and therefore over-saturation of wrestling from 1997 to 2001 had left a bitter taste in the mouth of wrestlings most loyal fans, even, and the general change in culture overall of the US in the first century of the new millennium had left almost all of American culture jaded, drenched in cynicism, dying a slow, vulnerable death and looking for something to believe in. Reduced mostly to young children and smart marks, wrestling's fan base had dwindled from some 20 million less than a decade previous to just about 6 million a week as 2007 came to a close. Ring of Honor, the top independent wrestling organization, perhaps in the world, was turning it's first profits, but was a niche product, much in the same way as the original ECW, and would probably never grow a large enough base to secure national television. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, TNA for short, had been born out of the dust of the previous WCW, and though they had secured a national television deal and looked to be growing their product, they had never turned a profit and were the victims to poor writing, poor money management, and generally poor decisions. While the in-ring product was the best a national audience could see on a weekly basis, the five-year-old company was losing money fast enough that it made need life support before it could create a consistent product. And WWE was, Schaunfeld noted, had become the victim of it's own arrogance. When Vince McMahon inherited the company from his father in the early 1980's, he was lucky enough to have purchased as smorgasbord of different talents, from the behemoth international icon "Andre the Giant", to the flamboyant "Superstar Billy Graham", to better in-ring technicians like Mr. Fuji, McMahon Jr. was able to tell virtually whatever story he pleased, and began to assimilate other regional organizations talent. But by the time he had successfully defeated the territories and turned wrestling into a national conglomerate, Vince McMahon Jr.'s worst affections were beginning to become apparent. A fitness freak and sucker for the muscle man, McMahon had slowly turned his company's product into the largest national draw possible, but had also in the process bastardized it of any future earning potential. He had replaced even the under and mid-card wrestlers on his roster that were able to fly and put on exciting and compelling matches for the fans with steroid-laden muscle men -- men who were not only athletically ungifted, but also boring to watch tell a story. McMahon's infatuation with the muscle man put his product into a recession in the early-to-mid 1990's, and legal action by the government eventually forced him to change pace. But as the legal qualms quieted and the challenges of Turner's WCW were squashed, McMahon was again free to turn his virtual creative dreamland into what he saw fit -- and fans were forced to accept it and regurgitate it. And so much like 15 years prior, when men like Dino Bravo and Hercules Hernandez, The Barbarian and the Warlord were being developed, men like Chris Masters, Chuck Palumbo and Gene Snitsky were brought in, in 2006 and 2007. It was the same old story, it seemed, except this time, McMahon was somewhere in Greenwich, reforming the troops, and the WWE was under the control of someone else, someone with the power to change it. Rumors had been running rampant on the dirt-sheets since Schaunfeld had been announced new head of creative for the WWE in the 3V Media purchase, about the idea of separating the federations back into the WWE, WCW and ECW, about recreating a new regional system, but most prominently, about unifying the three rosters, something Schaunfeld did, indeed, plan to do. He looked over the major players from all three programs -- the rosters were far deeper than that, but he wanted to see how many workable "stars" he truly had. He was convinced afterall, that WWE had been putting on three programs with only one programs worth of serviceable talent. [b][u]Raw[/u][/b] John Cena -- Injured until April, 2008 Bobby Lashley -- Injured until January, 2008 Randy Orton -- WWE Champion Shawn Michaels Chris Jericho Triple H Jeff Hardy -- Intercontinental Champion Umaga Mr. Kennedy Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch - World Tag Team Champions Hornswoggle [b][u]ECW[/u][/b] CM Punk -- ECW Champion John Morrison Big Daddy V The Miz Tommy Dreamer Elijah Burke Shelton Benjamin [b][u]Smackdown[/u][/b] Batista - World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker Edge Kane Fit Finlay Rey Mysterio Jr. Mark Henry MVP - US Champion Matt Hardy Great Khali The Miz and John Morrison - WWE Tag Team Champions Schaunfeld was not too pleased at what he saw, and nevertheless, as Christmas was rolling past and 2008 rolling in, Schaunfeld had a plan to turn the tide of the WWE and wrestling as we knew it -- it would, in one felt swoop, eliminate all of the failures of the WCW Invasion angle, and the draft, and the brand split. It would, in one felt swoop, be the single biggest Pay Per View event in the history of wrestling. Royal Rumble 2008 would be the battle for unification.

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[CENTER][IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/reptilia1996/wwe_raw.jpg[/IMG] [b]Week 1, January, 2008 Richmond, VA, USA Monday Night Raw[/b][/CENTER] [b]MAIN EVENT[/b] [i]Six-Man Tag[/i] -- Randy Orton, MVP, Umaga vs. Batista, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk The Undertaker vs. Santino Marella Cody Rhodes & Bob Holly vs. The Miz and John Morrison Triple H vs. Mark Henry Tommy Dreamer vs. Shelton Benjamin [ The first raw of WWE's new era! As the ECW brand is in it's dying days, will Tommy Dreamer prove his worth, or will tier 3 challenger Shelton Benjamin rise to the occasion? As former members of the Smackdown and Raw rosters square off, how will Triple H deal with "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry, and can the mouthy Santino Marella survive a match with the Undertaker? Also, in the main event, the two combatants who will square off in the WWE World Title unification match meet in a six-man tag in Randy Orton and Batista, partnered with Umaga, MVP and Jeff Hardy and CM Punk respectively. ] [CENTER][IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/reptilia1996/290px-RoyalRumble07.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [b]DOUBLE MAIN EVENT:[/b] [i]Royal Rumble 2008[/i] -- Featuring: Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Kane, Edge, Umaga, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Big Daddy V, Rey Mysterio Jr., Mark Henry, Bobby Lashley, The Great Khali [b]DOUBLE MAIN EVENT:[/b] [i]WWE World Title Unification Match[/i] -- Batista vs. Randy Orton [b]TRIPLE THREAT MATCH[/b] [i]WWE North American Title Unification Match[/i] -- Jeff Hardy vs. MVP vs. CM Punk [b]NEW TITLE MATCH![/b] [i]WWE Tier 3 Title Match[/i] -- Mr. Kennedy vs. Elijah Burke vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Fit Finlay [b]TAG TEAM MATCH[/b] [i]WWE Tag Team Title Match[/i] -- Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. The Miz and John Morrison [ Royal Rumble 2008, kicking off the year of unification, is set to be the biggest pay per view in WWE memory, including three unification title matches, the birth of the Tier 3 Championship, the premiere championship for the WWE's rising stars and the #1 Contender Royal Rumble, where the winner will earn a contract to wrestle for the WWE title at WrestleMania 24. ] [SIZE="1"]* -- Card Subject to Change.[/SIZE]

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[QUOTE=Greg McNeish;319720]Cool. This should be interesting.[/QUOTE] Thanks man, I appreciate, hope ya keep reading! [QUOTE=chris caulfield;319729]Wonder what you do with the roster.[/QUOTE] It should play out pretty quickly as I want to get everything evened out by WrestleMania, but expect a lot of turnover. :)

[Greg McNeish]

Great write-up on the history of wrestling and the WWE. I'm always a little leary of games that just call off the brand split right off the bat, but this actually looks to do it rather tastefully. Something's bothering me, though. Tier 3 Championship sounds a bit demeaning. Sure, we all know that that's what it is, much like the European or TV titles, but at least sugar coat it. Anyway, with how well you write, I'm definitely looking forward to RAW.

[chris caulfield]

Six-Man Tag -- Randy Orton, MVP, Umaga vs. [B]Batista, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk[/B] [B]The Undertaker[/B] vs. Santino Marella Cody Rhodes & Bob Holly vs. [B]The Miz and John Morrison[/B] [B]Triple H [/B]vs. Mark Henry Tommy Dreamer vs. [B]Shelton Benjamin[/B]

[Lexa90]

The beginning sounds cool... MAIN EVENT Six-Man Tag -- Randy Orton, MVP, Umaga vs. [B]Batista, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk[/B] [B]The Undertaker[/B] vs. Santino Marella Cody Rhodes & Bob Holly vs. [B]The Miz and John Morrison[/B] [B]Triple H[/B] vs. Mark Henry Tommy Dreamer vs. [B]Shelton Benjamin[/B]

[rjhabeeb]

MAIN EVENT Six-Man Tag -- [B]Randy Orton, MVP, Umaga[/B] vs. Batista, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk [B]The Undertaker[/B] vs. Santino Marella Cody Rhodes & Bob Holly vs. [B]The Miz and John Morrison [/B] [B]Triple H[/B] vs. Mark Henry [B]Tommy Dreamer [/B]vs. Shelton Benjamin