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By: Ryan Mulloy
1/20/2005 12:43:11 PM

The last time I wrote a column about professional wrestling was in 2001. At the time of the last column, copies of which I have found on my old hard drive, Steve Austin was joining the WCW/ECW Alliance, The Rock was filming his first movie, the business needed Triple H’s quadriceps injury to heal, and Shawn Michaels was never going to wrestle again. How quickly things change when time flies.

Several days ago, wrestling fans (and the rest of society) embarked on a new year, placing hope on a 2005 that was light years better than 2004. All I feel comfortable saying at this point is “keep hope alive.” Why? Because I’m not expecting much from 2005 myself.

Scroll up and read what I was writing about 2001. Notice the drastic differences? Austin is trying to cut it as an actor, The Rock is prepared to release yet another feature film, Triple H is healthy, and Michaels has had some of the best matches of his career after defeating medical science and wrestling for the last two and a half years. But what it all boils down to is the old saying: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

If you had told me in 2001 that any of what I just mentioned had come to pass, I’d believe almost none of it. Given that Hulk Hogan’s movie career was less than stellar, I would have easily assumed The Rock would have failed, making Austin a little wary of a Hollywood career. I was wrong. And Michaels wrestling again had always been something I held out hope for, but something I deemed impossible. And given his tremendous work ethic and love for the business, it was a given that Triple H would be healthy.

The point is that nothing much as really changed. These names are the same ones that fans heard four years ago and will probably hear throughout the rest of the year. Triple H, in what seems to be a race to beat Ric Flair’s World title record, is still in the main event. Albeit fans wanted him back after the 2001 injury to help lift the lackluster Invasion angle, his act got somewhat tired. He became what Hulk Hogan had been in WCW, pre-nWo, as well as mid-to-end nWo. Remember, the fans grew tired of Hogan and the nWo and instead of good heat, fans were actually sick of seeing the same thing.

That’s the feeling I get these days when I watch RAW on Monday nights. For the first time in my life, I have watched Monday Night Football over RAW when a good game presented itself, especially when the Philadelphia Eagles were playing. RAW has gotten down to the old formula that Nitro once followed. Back in the day, you knew the nWo was going to wipe the floor with someone. Legitimate contenders would vie for the opportunity to win the title, Hogan would run them down, and on occasion, Hogan would drop the World title to someone he would defeat only days or weeks later.

This formula is what I’m seeing with Triple H and Evolution, only with some minor changes. At least look at the contenders who have come and gone: Rob Van Dam, Kane, Shawn Michaels, Scott Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash, Goldberg, and to a less extent, Chris Benoit and Randy Orton. Now, being as clear as I can, unlike most of the Internet wrestling community, I don’t entirely blame Triple H. Some blame is reserved for he or whoever else is behind this creative repetition, but the company is still Vince McMahon’s company. Changes need to be made on his part to avoid following WCW’s example. After all, the final example WCW set is hardly an excellent one.

But fans don’t need to sit on their hands or abandon the product. Look at what fan support did for Eddie Guerrero, one of the most admirable human beings in the business right now. Eddie went through some hard times, but came back from everyone and defeated his problems once and for all. The fans recognized that and noticed the change in his character and his work. Fans chanted his name and got behind him, even when it seemed he’d never make it to the top of the mountain. I remember the genuine fear that Eddie would be fixed in the mid-card, constantly battling it out for the United States title. Then something happened. With the most fan support Eddie’s might have ever seen in the United States, he was granted a WWE title shot, and he won the damn thing.

So if you’re a fan of the WWE or even just professional wrestling in general, I invite you to do for someone what you have done for Eddie. You don’t need to be subjected to the same program, year in, year out. The power may lie in the hands of people like Triple H or Vince McMahon, but so long as you have a ticket stub in your pocket or the remote in your hand, you own professional wrestling.

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