Never thought I'd Say it. by Lance Crucifix I never thought I'd say it, as I watched September 26's edition of monday night RAW, it seemed there was something missing. As I remembered the days of the Additude Era, I found myself looking for something to remind me of the days gone by, and then I realized what more of us need to, WE NEED TRIPLE H! It's true. Triple H is the backbone of the WWE. You may be asking yourself this very minute while reading this article, "How in the hell could someone say Hunter is the Backbone of the WWE?". It's actually common sense to an extint. You see, since his last feud with World Heavyweight Champion, and Smackdown! superstar Batista, the product has seemed to give a lackluster proformance on both sides of the feild, RAW and Smackdown!. Triple H is one of the WWE's surviving members of their "Additude". I am in no way, shap or form a Triple H fan. I was actually one of the fans who thought it was time for Hunter to hang his boots up and let the Product get better with out him, but we can't do that. Why? Because Triple H is the product, thats why. We always tuned in next week to see Triple H, wether it be to see him win or fail, we tuned in to Monday night RAW every week, to see which situation came about. From the day he won the WWE(F) Federation Championship, Triple H was on a rise to the top that never stoped. From standard singles action, to big Gimmick matches like the Hell in the Cell, Triple H has never let us down, nor has he let his opponents let us down, if needed Triple H can carry anyone to a decent match, I.E. his matches with the likes of Bill Goldberg and Batista. Yes, Triple H has the connections, which may be the very reason he is a ten time Champion, but those connections that he has, may very well be the life lines keeping the WWE going. Triple H is one person the fans can always depend on, good matches, entertaining Storylines and angles, and he's not bad on the mic either. Triple H really is the backbone of World Wrestling Entertainment.

N.O.D. The Greatest Heel Team of All Time by Peter I am a huge fan of the Nation of Domination. The biggest reason being that I personally have never seen a team so hated as the Nation. Bar none the Most hated Wrestling faction in there time. I personally think the most disliked faction ever. Not the team that necassaraly got the most boos but the team that was most disliked. In wrestling I allow things to push the bar cause its supposed to get you heated and riled up. The Nation Delivered exactly that in full effect. Simply put the Nation MADE Degeneration X. Once the Nation dispand Degeneration X was no longer a big deal. This I personally belive is when Farooq was at his peak coolness. And this was When Farooq had a title shot! Cause he won king of the ring! The Nation made X Pac and D-Lo Brown. When D-Lo won the European championship title? Ahh man that was awesome. Then every episode he would come out from a new city in europe? Pure genius.... The Nation was when the Rock put out the peoples elbow!! And at that time the peoples elbow was a totall diss cause everybody hated tyhe rock. And back then the peoples elbow had no damaging effex!?! The best..... that was better than the new one jusr for that reason. Oh yeah and Ive never seen the crowd hate on a cat so hard as the Rock. Most cats wont agree but thats how I saw it. The Nation made Stone Cold even Better, specifically with his run ins with the Rock!

What about when Owen Hart joined the Nation! That was a FANTASTIC career move... Owen Hart was already a genius heel. People loved to hate owen. But when he joined the Nation? Wow a great way to get the people to notice you. Perfect... They shoulda had there own video like Degeneration X Theres too too much to list. The NATION was instruental in making the "good" guys

A Brit of Alright by Stewart Brower In recent years there has really only been one British wrestling star. From his early days as a scrawny teen wrestling in carnivals in his native Blackpool, to opening two consecutive WrestleManias, Darren Matthews, or William Regal as he is now better know, has been a shining light in the industry for almost twenty years. In these times there are not many people that wrestle a style like Regal does. His is a unique and polarizing approach. Many think that his moves are interesting and authentic looking with some agonizing looking submission holds. Others think it is a slow and outdated style that is completely out of sync with modern techniques, but my opinion is a mixture of these: his moves are authentic looking but seem a lot more methodical than the other superstars, yet this works in his favor as it builds his usual character as a sophisticated yet extremely dangerous English gent. Although Regal has been in the wrestling business for almost thirty years, it is arguably only in the last five that he has become a major superstar. Spells in WCW and even a disastrous spell in the WWE as 'The Man's Man' were largely forgettable. Upon his return to the WWE he was given what at first appeared to be a stereotypical character: that of an upper class British gent, or 'Goodwill Ambassador'; yet Regal made it far more interesting that it had any right to be with his superior athletic ability, excellent promo skills and a unique and often hilarious diction. It is a reflection of Regal's ability that he has managed to stay over for the last five years with essentially the same character (save a poor face run with Eugene).

Yet for all his success, Regal has had as many downs as ups. His much publicized drugs battle cost him his job and almost his life. Just when he had conquered his demons and was enjoying the best success of his career, he contracted a rare virus that put him out of action for a year, and even worse resulted in him having to carry Eugene for a year! In what could be seen to be a metaphorical passing of the torch, Regal is currently teaming with Paul Burchill who is, in the eyes of many, the great British hope for pro wrestling. But he has large boots to fill in those of William Regal.

Why Ric Flair Will Do The Job At Unforgiven ------------------------------------------ by Tim Bullock On Sunday night in Oklahoma City, Ric Flair will be competing for a title that he's never held in his pro wrestling career - the WWE Intercontinental title - versus Carlito. While it would be a nice feel-good story to see the ancient Nature Boy take a bite out of the Cool one's ass, and become the oldest IC champion in WWE history, there are several black marks against that happening: A legend in the sport for over 30 years, Flair has been humble in stepping out of the limelight, giving the newest stars of the wrestling world a push, much like his predecessor Harley Race did with him in the late-1970s/early-1980s. He has shown time in and time out that he would put professional wrestling first, Flair 2nd. He can get a match out of a wrestler that has little or no ring skills, and make the bad ones look good, and he can have all-out wars with highly skilled wrestlers (a la Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race) and put on quite the show. Having won several of pro wrestling's major championships, what else does Flair have to prove? The answer is obvious: he's not nothing else to prove.

Agree or disagree, I believe that Carlito is one of the biggest and best up-and-comers in the pro wrestling business today. His current gimmick almost mimics that of the "Hot Rod" Roddy Piper with his irritating acts, mic skills, and his ability to entertain and play with the fan's emotions. He has decent ring skill, and his ability to get the job done in the ring has earned him that IC strap which he has donned for the last few months. He has the potential in the next couple of years to become an over fan favorite and to win the ultimate prizes (the WWE or World Heavyweight Belts). However, as we've all known, "TO BE... THE MAN... YA GOTTA... BEAT... THE MAN!" A victory over Ric Flair would almost certainly push Carlito to greater heights. He's got everything to gain career-wise with a victory over the Nature Boy, and would surely take a faster route to main event status in the not-too-distant future. He could also push his heel card even further if he were to defeat the legend via cheating, which would make him even more over with the fans and the heel marks. WWE has nothing to gain putting their secondary strap on Flair. A Nature Boy win would surely lead to a short IC reign by the legend, with Carlito likely regaining the title shortly thereafter. In an era where it seems that WWE is giving their title-holders longer reigns, having Flair do the job for Carlito to retain his title would give the IC crown more viability and would as I said before, further enhance Carlito's status in the WWE. A Carlito victory on Sunday? NOW THAT'S COOL!

Is A D-X Reunion Worth It? ------ by Jonathan Hughes After reading the recent Internet gossip about the WWE potentially re-signing Sean "X-Pac" Waltman, I found myself reminiscing about the good ol' days of the Attitude era and in particular the actions of THE faction of that era, Degeneration X. There is no denying that DX were one of the most entertaining groups in the WWE and even in the history of wrestling. DX was the group that propelled some of the businesses top stars to the fame that their name carries with them; without DX wrestlers like X-Pac and Billy Gunn wouldn't be the household names that they are now. Triple H, the man who now basically runs WWE's flagship show RAW, will have fond memories of his time in DX because whilst in DX he enjoyed great success and obtained his first major titles. Shawn Michaels had some of the best matches during his illustrious career as leader of DX (the first ever HELL IN A CELL against Undertaker being one)

But that was then and this is now, most of the young (I say young because I measure by JR's standards and JR always refers Jericho as "young") stars of DX have now flown the nest and are in or approaching their 40s and to be honest seeing a bunch of wrestling veterans prancing about saying derogatory things like "suck it" and making crotch chops at members of the audience just wouldn't have the same effect as it did during the 90's. WWE have also teased its fans with DX reunions during the past and they have apparently decided against it based on fan reactions. The crowd reaction or lack of a major reaction have proved that people don't want to see middle aged men running around pretending to be young Degenerates. If it were up to me, and I wish it were, a New, New DX would be formed with Michael Shane taking the helm as let's face it he is the second coming of HBK, Shane has pretty much everything that made his uncle a success story, Superstar looks, In-ring ability, Charisma and most importantly a great Super Kick to boot. By the time you get to read this, if you get to at all, WWE will have probably resigned some of DX's players and they may already be writing potential storylines for a reunion, but for DX the time is over.

Macho Man For Hall Of Fame -- by Joe Poulton I realise lots has been said about this in previous articles but not enough in my opinion. I am aware now that to be inducted in the Hall of fame you need to be retired, and I believe Macho Man is now retired, so it's time for him to be inducted like Hulk Hogan who seems to be having One More Match every week. Being a fan of the eighties Hulk Hogan Era of wrestling, I would like to argue that Macho Man was the first wrestler to really cross the line between heel and baby face, which is something that I will talk about more later. With Elizabeth as his manager at the time of WrestleMania 2, he was involved in some of the first complex angles that we see so often in modern day wrestling. I am too young to remember the promos of this legendary match but I imagine what the story lines would be in this day and age. George The Animal kidnapping Elizabeth in a dirt truck with Macho Man chasing, Street Fight brawling between the two wrestlers with Elizabeth having to lock herself in a cupboard to escape the Animals "gentlemanly" advances or even an interrupted wedding (something which later happened recently to Lita and Edge). The match of this love Triangle culminated in Macho, Elizabeth and the unorthodox George "the Animal" Steel battling it out at WrestleMania 2 (which Macho eventually won by putting his feet on the ropes) a hilarious site to behold and although Macho was the heel in that match as well as WrestleMania 3 (arguably one of the best matches in WrestleMania history). Winning the tournament at WrestleMania 4 will also go down as a highlight and although I have not seen it I have read on this website that his match with Hulk Hogan "the mega Powers Collide" is a classic. When Macho finally turned complete heel as the Macho King he was still on top his feud with Dusty Rhodes, the first ever mixed tag match at Wrestle mania was such a comic performance that it led Gorilla Monsoon to say that he thought Sapphire would beat Macho if they were in the same ring (the rules stipulated that opposite genders weren't supposed to wrestle each other) surely this proves that the mans work rate was incredible. Macho mans Character crossed the line between heel and crowd favourite which led to how the Wrestling characters are perceived today Stone Cold, HBK and Kurt Angle to name but a few. I have never seen Randy "Macho Man" Savage have a bad match. So forget the laughable Rap records and disappointing behaviour at the end of his career at WCW. For true art of performance and character along with terrific in ring ability, comedy not to mention the high flying (is anyone better than Macho at high flying wrestling?) surely he should be inducted in the wresting Hall of Fame.

Muhammad Hassan: Worst gimmick for the WWE -- by Daniel Greco I am surprised and disgusted over the fact that so many people demand Muhammad Hassan to return. His gimmick is the worst thing to happen in the WWE for a long time. I was more than delighted to find out about UPN's decission to take him off the air. In no way his gimmick is creative. He was the type of character that was meant to get "cheap rattings" for the WWE. The same exact thing as the Diva search and the Kane/Lita wedding. Sadly, the WWE has been relying on these cheap ways for rattings as of lately. It is very easy to make a heel like Muhammad Hassan and get heat from the crowd. The WWE is more than capable of making heels better than Muhammad Hassan, that do not rely on racial patriotism. Not only I found his gimmick extremely offensive, but I was disgusted over the fact that he would be in the same picture with David Batista for the World Heavyweight Title. Gimmicks such as those have no business what so ever in the main events, let alone, in the World Heavyweight Title hunt. Probably the worst WWE champion as I remember was Yokozuna. It was a cheap gimmick to spark racism in the crowd. What disturb me was how talented individuals such as Chris Beniot and Chris Jericho had to job to such a cheap gimmick. What personally annoyed me the most about the gimmick was that before his character was debuted, I was writting College papers, explioting the racist nature of America. I truly believe that America is a racist country and I wrote several papers about it before his character debuted. When his character got introduced, I was humiliated over the fact that some fictional wrestling heel character was saying the same exact things I have been saying, except for the fact that I spent a lot of work and time into it, while this whole gimmick made my work look very cartoon-like. If there was any gimmick that really affected me negatively, it was this gimmick. My other stance is that I have a belief that the WWE should be for everyone. Not just the white, overwieght, adult, American male. I remember when kids under the age of ten would watch wrestling with their dads. It disturbs me that young WWE fans will now have a negative perception on the arab race because of the WWE. Sure Hassan was a hated character, but what about the fans who were against the war such as myself. The WWE represents the pro-war crowd to much, and that was a thing that always got to me. The WWE should be neutral on politics, so EVERYONE can enjoy wrestling. Not just some minority (may seem like majority for a couple of individuals, but every group is a minority to me). This is why I also have a problem with the sexiest exploits in the WWE. Muhammad Hassan was the worst thing that happened to the WWE. There were other offensive gimmicks such as Rene Dupree, but the Hassan gimmick was something that would make the father switch the channel while his segment would come up. That thursday night went way too far. I hope the WWE learns a lesson from this, and that is to never again impersonate real life characters that involve real political issues. the WWE should stick to entertainment, not on gimmicks that sparks racial feelings among the crowd. I am digusted that so many people want him back. The fact that he is a good wrestle means nothing now to me. It is sad that the WWE wasted some talent over a horrible gimmick. Now I am happy. I am happy that Hassan is gone from WWE television, and I am extremely happy that he didn't make it to the main event at Summerslam.