This month (2/2015) marks the 14 year anniversary of the
long forgotten (and sometimes missed) XFL football league. And 14 years before
that marks the anniversary of WrestleMania 3 -pro wrestling's grandest show of
the year.
And the brains behind both these stellar creations is none
other than:
Vincent Kennedy McMahon
WWE CEO
Vince,Vinny Mac, Mr.McMahon, The Genetic Jackhammer or
whatever he is calling himself these days.
Some people would call him a sleazy asshole. Some people
would call him a visionary. Some people choose to completely ignore his
exploits all together.
What he is,is a rare,nearly extinct breed of alpha male- the
all guts,all glory,all the time,type of guy.
I've watched WWF/WWE pro wrestling shows since I was in
single digits in years. Vince McMahon was the color commentator on TV back in
those days. I never knew that he was the boss' (Vince Sr.) son. I never knew
there was a Vince Sr until he died in 1984.
When Vince Jr bought out the rights to the WWF brand from
his father in 1983, he changed the climate of pro wrestling for the ages. Vince
bullied his way (using $ and smarts) to control all regional television markets
to broadcast his shows.Now,the WWF was seen all over the country,as opposed to
being relegated to just the Northeast television market.
Shrewd. Ballsy. Immoral. Genius.
Profitable- That's the operative word to be applied here.
This move made Vince a very wealthy,powerful man in the world of pro wrestling
(by this time called Sports Entertainment,in Vince's world).
Hulk Hogan. Andre The Giant. Roddy Piper. Randy Savage.
All household words by 1987. The same year of WrestleMania
3. For my money,the greatest WrestleMania of all time.
93,000 people in attendance at the Pontiac Silverdome (now
demolished)
Hulk Hogan body slamming Andre the Giant
Ricky Steamboat defeating Randy Savage in the greatest
wrestling match of all time
Aretha Franklin and Alice Cooper on the same bill.
Awesome story lines for all the matches.
WrestleMania 17 back in 2001 comes close in matching the
overall excitement of WM3. But not quite.
2001 also brought forth another one of Vince's grand ideas:
a pro football league that plays their season after the NFL season ends.
Enter the XFL.
The XFL lasted for only one season. (bummer)
The XFL used players who weren't good enough to make it the
NFL,CFL or any other pro league, i.e. Desperate for work athletes.
The XFL was 'play for
pay' for its players. You win,you get paid more.
The XFL rules encouraged more hitting. No roughing the QB
penalty flags were thrown.
The XFL had hotter cheerleaders than the NFL.
The XFL had Vince McMahon's $ and NBC as its backers.
In the end,what the XFL lacked was an audience. Strong
opening week ratings soon dropped to almost no audience by the time of XFL
title game.
For all its positives,the XFL's negatives (poor TV ratings)
buried the league.
RIP XFL. You are missed by Krude.
And here we are in 2015. The WWE will present WrestleMania
31 in about 6 weeks. A WWE pay per view called Fastlane will be offered for
free on the WWE Network on 2/22/15.
I have no desire to watch this ppv at any cost. And I'm sure
I'm not the only person saying this.
It seems like every 14 years since 1987,Vince McMahon has
produced something truly inspired for the world to enjoy.
I'm not feeling it this year at all.
I hope I'm wrong and Vince knocks one out of the park at
WM31.
Love. Peace. Soul.
KK
Yea butch those were the days
ReplyDelete-robby mad dogger