I have been a die hard wrestling fan since 1988. During the war of the two wrestling titans my loyalty and faith always stood as tall and as large as Andre The Giant for the WWF, (as it was named back then and will remain in my soul till the day I die). My loyalty and faith for the WWE product of today is the size of The Haiti Kid. The WWE has been going in the wrong direction for the last two years. Sure they have had their moments, but their product pales in comparison to their product four or five years ago. Back then I would have been livid if I forgot to tape RAW because every week there was the unexpected and 75% of their matches were new and exciting. Today you can name one out of four wrestlers who would be guaranteed to be in the last segment of RAW and that's not a typo I did say segment. The reason I say segment, is that half the time the last segment on RAW revolves around a boring skit or interview, instead of a great main event calibre match that makes the fans unable to wait for next week's RAW. Boy, I miss the good old days.

On a personal note something happened to me in the last few months that if the Pope himself told me would have happened a few years ago I would have called him a liar, THE POPE!!!! The year 2004 and so far into 2005 marks the first year since 1989 when I didn't purchase and watch every WWE PPV. The final straw for me was "New Years Revolution." For these next few statements I will probably have a fair share of critics, but I ask you all to keep an open mind and picture everything I say. I decided to give the WWE PPVs one more chance and ordered the PPV for mainly three matches that were on the card. First and most obvious was the Elimination Chamber. Overall I thought it wasn't as good as Survivor Series 2002 but is was superior to SummerSlam 2003. The ending pissed me off big time. I am a die hard HHH fan, but to go through all those hours of TV time and story lines of HHH being stripped of the title or the title being held up, or whichever way you want to look at, and then simply put it back on HHH was a huge waste of time and effort. The only reason I can see for all that drama is HHH going to Vince with the idea for the whole thing and Vince saying, "Sounds great son, whatever you want." Mainly so HHH can get one more step closer to Flair's record of 16 world title reigns. It breaks my heart to think that HHH has finally gotten to the point were it's HHH before what's best for the WWE, but it's the only reason I can see to justify that whole month of absolute crap RAW became. The way it climaxed at New Years Revolution PPV still makes me sick to my stomach. I can't believe what the WWE has become.

The second match I was looking forward to was the Womens Championship. After seeing Trish and Lita put it all out there in their match on RAW when Lita won the title the month prior, I knew we were going to see something special that night. Unfortunately Lita blew out her knee in the first minutes of the match and the match was shot. Nothing WWE could do about that, it was just bad luck. The only positive outcome from the match was watching Lita never give up even after suffering the leg injury very early in the bout. I have suffered the same injury in my life and I know the pain Lita was going through the second it happened. To see Lita not only try to put even a little amount of weight on her leg by standing on it, but still to persevere and try to perform actual spots during the remaining few minutes of the match showed me another side of Lita that left me fan of hers for life. The lady has more guts then most of the men on the RAW Roster. Lita, my hat's off to you, get well soon.

The third and final point I will make, (this one may have more than a few doubters), I was looking forward to see Maven lock up with Shelton Benjamin for the IC title (believe it or not). A week before the PPV their house show matches got very poor reviews to say the least, but I still thought if the WWE put them in the ring in a back-and-forth ten to fifteen minute pure wrestling match, they would have delivered at least a seven. During their air time I have never been more PISSED OFF at the WWE than I was for those fifteen-twenty minutes. I felt cheated and truly ripped off that the WWE, knowing people have paid good money to see these matches, would allow these two future young stars to perform a skit. Not wrestling match, but a skit. It showed me a side of the WWE that I never knew existed. I would rather watch Paul Bearer and Oliver Humperdink in a bra and panties iron man match than have watched what the WWE called its Intercontinental Championship match at New Years Revolution. How was that for an insult"

WWE has the door wide open right now for any competitor to come in and take their fan base away. Mainly right now it's TNA. I have only been watching TNA since October 2004 and what I can say so far is, "Thank God!! This is wrestling!!" In a few years if TNA continues to grow with new talent, fresh new matches and story lines every month, and most importantly leaves Florida and travels across America, the WCW vs. WWF war will look like a squirt gun fight compared to a TNA vs. WWE war if one was to ever happen. WWE has had no competition since WCW and this thought occurred to me during the war and now I see it's finally coming true. WWE's purchase of WCW has become the largest detriment in the companies' history. WWE thinks every story line they put out is gold and we the fans will watch and love every minute because where else will we go" I have been watching TNA over the last few months and I must say WWE has got a problem. If they don't get back their sports entertainment ways of a few years ago, then this problem could result into a cancer for the WWE with no cure in sight.

by Phil T...