Post by auph10imitated on Jun 19, 2019 9:21:51 GMT -5
With Raw ratings at their lowest level in four years, Smackdown ratings at the lowest level in history and attendance at its lowest level in nearly five years, it would be easy to write the brand extension off as a failure ten weeks in.
Thus far, not one new superstar has been created. Instead of opening up new spots for interesting talent, it has served to dilute the star power of both shows. Now that fans understand who is on what roster, ticket sales for the split house shows have declined greatly. And there is no sign of a turnaround any time soon.
On the other hand, what did anyone expect? All numbers were bound to fall at first. And they are going to stay at lower levels for a while. This has to be considered a rebuilding phase for the company, and the split crew gives them more opportunity to make new stars, that can hopefully be of ticket selling variety.
As with almost every WWE idea of the past year plus, the handling of it was botched from the beginning. They had a year to come up with the angle of all angles to explain the split, and start a simmering war, which would allow for raiding, perceived competition, putdowns and the like. While nobody would buy it at the level of the Raw vs. Nitro war, which took the industry to levels it had never been in this country and that many couldn't imagine it ever getting to, done correctly, it had a chance to make a one-party business a little more interesting.
It seemed so simple. A big angle to create a huge divide with wrestlers, choosing sides for heated reasons. Or, at worst, being pawns of two owners with a reason to hate each other. Instead of a violent split, we had a Linda McMahon interview about brand extension. Now that's a term that propels great emotion and builds a big rivalry--brand extension. Ali and Frazier spent three years building a brand extension. WCW and NWO had a hell of a brand extension. New Japan and UWFI brand extensioned three Tokyo Dome sellouts.
The draft portrayed the two owners as comedic doofuses, as opposed to calculating generals in a war. Ha ha ha. There was interest and curiosity, but there was no true emotion. All those picks, and nobody got over. The draft was executed poorly, with the rapid picks making it a joke and half the guys portrayed as so insignificant they weren't even being picked on TV. Then, to make sure there was no heat among the top guys, HHH and Austin weren't eligible for the draft. Still, Raw numbers stayed remarkably strong when you consider the shows were generally bad and with the exception of Austin and Flair, it didn't seem like anybody was a draw on that side for the first month. Smackdown fell immediately, but that was also to be expected with Rock gone and with Hogan's ratings drawing power fading fast. The up side is that it forced the ascension of Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle to main events. The down side is that neither them, nor HHH, has been able to become a ticket seller when put in that position, and Angle is still being used at his most entertaining best, a great character for the middle of the card but only effective at elevating others when placed in a higher role.
And then both companies ended up running the exact same major angle, owner vs. star babyface, the key angle that has been run to death and beyond. And they ran the same style of promotion. And worse yet, they built no heat or rivalry, simmering for long-term or otherwise, and never even attempted a facade of reality, sharing the same web site, combining on the same PPV shows, plugging each others' house shows and highlights of each show airing on the other. And they wonder why fans don't understand why they've done this and are largely rejecting this.
On the bright side, they have opened things up so that the top guys can only bury half the upcoming talent. There have been a few notable pushes. Edge was doing the best with a true all-out attempt at making him a new superstar, courtesy of Angle, who is either unselfish, or hasn't learned to play the game as well as the others on top. Unfortunately, Edge blew out his shoulder this week. Injuries happen and always will, now with more frequency than ever due to the combination of physical demands in the ring, and physique requirements leading to physique enhancing chemical use that creates the imbalances that lead to muscle tears. Kane, who was something of a retread, was in line for a big push, but he tore his bicep. Bradshaw got a big push as Steve Austin's new tag team partner, but was quickly given up on as a headliner. Big Show and Mark Henry got renewed chances to justify their ten-year contracts, with Show turning heel, joining the NWO, and growing heavier by the week. Henry was also given up on rather quickly after a few weeks of Mighty Igor strongman stunts. Rev. D-Von was given a boring gimmick, the 2000s version of IRS, a character who will get the easy boos, but that will never mean anything past the middle of the show. Kevin Nash was in for a big push, but also tore his bicep. Scott Hall predictably bombed, in more ways than one. Angle is still portrayed in a very entertaining manner that limits his main event aura despite being the best performer in the company. So who has benefitted? Brock Lesnar and Edge for sure, along with Eddy Guerrero. Rob Van Dam might. But even the Lesnar push, which is so easy to do and usually works, has been the victim of politics. The idea of giving him ref stoppage gimmicks to set him apart was nixed. In positions where he should be totally destroying people and covering up his weaknesses, he's showing vulnerability. He is the only newcomer who has a star aura about him, and whether he makes it or not, he needs to be groomed as a guy who will headline against whomever is the champion after next year's Wrestlemania and protected until that time.
Randy Orton was thrown out there to languish. Deacon Batista was far from ready to be brought up, and was saddled with a gimmick that in being dressed in clothes, hides the only thing he's got going for him, his freaky body parts, and has had to let his hair grow, which ruins his aura, because of the fear fans will chant "Goldberg" at him (which they did at Lesnar instead).
There is little choice but to stay the course for the time being. Putting all the stars on both shows will burn out the top guys quicker, and retard the upward mobility of everyone else. It will result in a temporary upswing of house show business for about two or three months, but it'll wind up back where it is now anyway, as history usually shows when a company that had run two cities per night pools talent and cuts to one stronger show. Injuries have hurt badly, but you have to expect those nowadays. Rock leaving hurt a lot as well. And some of the initial talent decisions, in going with people like Show and Bradshaw as new top guys, led to some lackluster television. The split has forced more focus on people like Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Angle, Edge and Chris Jericho and allowed the Lesnar/Heyman duo to be in the spotlight, and if they can make two of them into real draws this summer, much easier said than done, they'll have accomplished a hell of a lot for the future. But they have to keep them in the spotlight for as long as it took people like Mick Foley, HHH and even Rock to go from working with top guys to actually being people that fans would pay money to see, without giving up on them, before it has a chance to work.
Ultimately, the company right now needs to go under the mindset they have to build Wrestlemania right now. Without definite ideas and long-term stories vaguely of how they get there, they'll have little next year but a name. Calling Hogan back won't bail them out. The only hotshot left is Bill Goldberg, and if the last year is any indication, he won't be handled right either.
The problem is that WWE has become WCW, in nearly every way. As mentioned before, the way the contracts in WWE are structured only make it even more of an economic incentive to not allow newcomers into the upper echelon. With guaranteed contracts, at least you make the same money if you create a new star and he moves up to your level or ahead of you. That theory didn't help WCW, because the guys making huge guarantees did everything to make sure nobody would be elevated anyway. The only answer is flat out cutting top guys, ironically like WWF inadvertently did with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels to lead to Rock and Steve Austin being unencumbered, or like All Japan did with Genichiro Tenryu, Kabuki and others leading to main event pushes for Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi.
In a declining revenue period, there isn't a prayer WWE switches to guaranteed contracts now because their structure is going to enable them to be profitable (or if things get really bad, lose less money) in a decline, which was a luxury WCW didn't have when its revenues plummeted, not to mention there is no benefit to them for management, and they have more control than ever before due to lack of alternatives. If a top guy making $2 million per year brings a new guy to his level, and goes from top guy to high middle status, that income can drop to $800,000. It's that paranoia of losing the spot that keeps everyone except Rock, who isn't around and when he was seemed to have more confidence in his ability to stay on top than the others at his level, on edge and creates the current environment.
Austin's comments, if they aren't part of a new bizarro world angle, on WWE Byte This saying that the writing and creative have been the shits and that the split so far has been a flop are also reminiscent of WCW. Besides the public complaining about management, it also creates the double standard. Austin walked out. No punishment. Austin complained about the writers. No retribution. Average guy walks out. Never allowed back. Average guy complains about management, punishment like crazy. WCW had that double standard and it was a killer.
Unlike in previous periods of ratings and business declines, including the post-Mania decline last year, everyone in the company made excuses, like the summer excuse, or that the WCW talent wasn't any good excuse, for the decline, but never blamed management or creative, or for that matter, the guys on top who weren't drawing, publicly.
Another example of it becoming WCW is the situation involving Kevin Nash a few weeks ago. When Nash & Scott Hall were signed, the company claimed this was a totally different environment than WCW (more and more people who have worked in both places are saying it's no more organized and there are more similarities than differences), which was blamed for their attitudes and what happened. Those comments were a joke than and are a sadder joke now. Hall was the same Hall, and eventually, when left with no other option, he was dumped. Nash was the same Nash. When Nash complained about the writing of the NWO segments, instead of anyone standing up to him (which one has to say he knows when and how to pick his battles), they instead created an angle where the NWO had to go on a winning streak (anyone who loses is out). No more jobs for his crew. There is only a slight difference. Nobody has tested the waters to go totally against the script on a live broadcast, which several in WCW did, with basically no repercussions to the top guys.
Shawn Michaels was brought in, but since Michaels' back still seems to be in the condition where he's not expected to wrestle (there is talk of him doing one match as a try-out and see from there), it's just a short-term TV pop. Nothing wrong with short-term, but if Michaels is on Raw every week in a non-wrestling role taking time that could be used to elevate new talent, this isn't the time for it. Even if he helps ratings for a few weeks, worrying about ratings at all this summer is a waste of time. All thought should be that the summer is nothing but a build for the late fall and mainly, the winter. Trying to build the summer is a wasted effort which will yield little return and just dig the long-term hole deeper. Nothing wrong with him as a guy who shows up from time-to-time. One should take a healthy skepticism about the new man and finding religion, since that was similar to what we heard about Hall (new man, proud parent), and 80% of the finding religion stories end up being pro wrestling cons. Granted, he could be the other 20% and time will tell.
Another problem with booking long-term is, and Edge is the prime example, injuries will be a killer. We don't know who will be injured over the next nine months, but if we build, say, eight programs to peak at that time, odds are more than half will be at least interrupted, or screwed up, due to injuries. But the summer has to be for rebuilding, because there is no business on the horizon. It may even need a temporary house cleaning of the top. Sending people like Hogan and Undertaker home, and using them in the secret partner role every few months, would give more time to rebuilding rather than trying to build TV's around proven commodities. Flair is one of my favorite performers and can cut a promo when motivated that blows most everyone away, but his being such a focus of television isn't the answer.
If we look at companies who successfully rebuilt, with the exception of WCW, here's what worked:
Dallas 1983: Fritz retired the year earlier. Largely built around three babyfaces who weren't competing with their father for the top slot or in his shadow any longer, all in their early 20s, and young heels as their opponents. Led to a few strong years and burned out because they ran their course. Never rebuilt a second time.
Mid South 1984: Junkyard Dog was magic, but his drawing power was waning. Business picked up after he left (except in Louisiana, where it never recovered) because it allowed a crop of new face to have their run.
All Japan 1990: Half the top crew was gone due to a talent raid, and the company was thought to have been left in bad shape. Instead, it started its most successful arena run ever. Midcarders Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada moved to the top and Kenta Kobashi was pushed years faster than he conventionally would have been due to lack of talent that was on top with the jumps. End result was it was made the company as successful as it ever had been.
New Japan 1990: Antonio Inoki was in the Senate and almost never around, so the new stars didn't have anyone to overshadow them. While existing stars Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami were there and kept strong, they also put over newcomers at key times and made Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono into the superstars that carried the company to its best box office ever five years later. For all the praise Foley gets for making HHH, Choshu, with more longevity and legend as a top star than Foley, made a whole crew of HHH's.
WWF, 1998: The old guard was gone. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, the focal points for many years, were both gone and Undertaker was in and out due to chronic injuries. It forced people like Steve Austin, the three faces of Foley, HHH and Rock to be put in the top spots and be the focus of a new generation of stars and matches.
If there is an eternal truth in covering wrestling long-term, it's that a pat hand of stars eventually burns out, no matter how great their interviews are or how great their match quality is. Once people have seen the matches, it's very difficult to draw as well with what they've already seen. Even people pointing to a Bruno Sammartino, who headlined the same territory, with one few year break, for 15 years, need to note two things. One, the entire nature of the appeal of the product was so different (then again, that could be said about using wrestling history about anything involving WWE). Second, his opponents were constantly rotated and he never was programmed with anyone on top for more than three months or so at a time. Vince's father had a couple of long-time fixtures on the babyface side on top, but kept things fresh by constantly importing and getting rid of the top heels.
No company went through the big ups and the big downs over the 80s and 90s more than All Japan women. The key was, the top stars were dumped when their drawing power started waning. They'd have their few year run and were then gone. The next generation had no blocks from becoming main eventers and weren't overshadowed by names they could never surpass.
WO
Thus far, not one new superstar has been created. Instead of opening up new spots for interesting talent, it has served to dilute the star power of both shows. Now that fans understand who is on what roster, ticket sales for the split house shows have declined greatly. And there is no sign of a turnaround any time soon.
On the other hand, what did anyone expect? All numbers were bound to fall at first. And they are going to stay at lower levels for a while. This has to be considered a rebuilding phase for the company, and the split crew gives them more opportunity to make new stars, that can hopefully be of ticket selling variety.
As with almost every WWE idea of the past year plus, the handling of it was botched from the beginning. They had a year to come up with the angle of all angles to explain the split, and start a simmering war, which would allow for raiding, perceived competition, putdowns and the like. While nobody would buy it at the level of the Raw vs. Nitro war, which took the industry to levels it had never been in this country and that many couldn't imagine it ever getting to, done correctly, it had a chance to make a one-party business a little more interesting.
It seemed so simple. A big angle to create a huge divide with wrestlers, choosing sides for heated reasons. Or, at worst, being pawns of two owners with a reason to hate each other. Instead of a violent split, we had a Linda McMahon interview about brand extension. Now that's a term that propels great emotion and builds a big rivalry--brand extension. Ali and Frazier spent three years building a brand extension. WCW and NWO had a hell of a brand extension. New Japan and UWFI brand extensioned three Tokyo Dome sellouts.
The draft portrayed the two owners as comedic doofuses, as opposed to calculating generals in a war. Ha ha ha. There was interest and curiosity, but there was no true emotion. All those picks, and nobody got over. The draft was executed poorly, with the rapid picks making it a joke and half the guys portrayed as so insignificant they weren't even being picked on TV. Then, to make sure there was no heat among the top guys, HHH and Austin weren't eligible for the draft. Still, Raw numbers stayed remarkably strong when you consider the shows were generally bad and with the exception of Austin and Flair, it didn't seem like anybody was a draw on that side for the first month. Smackdown fell immediately, but that was also to be expected with Rock gone and with Hogan's ratings drawing power fading fast. The up side is that it forced the ascension of Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle to main events. The down side is that neither them, nor HHH, has been able to become a ticket seller when put in that position, and Angle is still being used at his most entertaining best, a great character for the middle of the card but only effective at elevating others when placed in a higher role.
And then both companies ended up running the exact same major angle, owner vs. star babyface, the key angle that has been run to death and beyond. And they ran the same style of promotion. And worse yet, they built no heat or rivalry, simmering for long-term or otherwise, and never even attempted a facade of reality, sharing the same web site, combining on the same PPV shows, plugging each others' house shows and highlights of each show airing on the other. And they wonder why fans don't understand why they've done this and are largely rejecting this.
On the bright side, they have opened things up so that the top guys can only bury half the upcoming talent. There have been a few notable pushes. Edge was doing the best with a true all-out attempt at making him a new superstar, courtesy of Angle, who is either unselfish, or hasn't learned to play the game as well as the others on top. Unfortunately, Edge blew out his shoulder this week. Injuries happen and always will, now with more frequency than ever due to the combination of physical demands in the ring, and physique requirements leading to physique enhancing chemical use that creates the imbalances that lead to muscle tears. Kane, who was something of a retread, was in line for a big push, but he tore his bicep. Bradshaw got a big push as Steve Austin's new tag team partner, but was quickly given up on as a headliner. Big Show and Mark Henry got renewed chances to justify their ten-year contracts, with Show turning heel, joining the NWO, and growing heavier by the week. Henry was also given up on rather quickly after a few weeks of Mighty Igor strongman stunts. Rev. D-Von was given a boring gimmick, the 2000s version of IRS, a character who will get the easy boos, but that will never mean anything past the middle of the show. Kevin Nash was in for a big push, but also tore his bicep. Scott Hall predictably bombed, in more ways than one. Angle is still portrayed in a very entertaining manner that limits his main event aura despite being the best performer in the company. So who has benefitted? Brock Lesnar and Edge for sure, along with Eddy Guerrero. Rob Van Dam might. But even the Lesnar push, which is so easy to do and usually works, has been the victim of politics. The idea of giving him ref stoppage gimmicks to set him apart was nixed. In positions where he should be totally destroying people and covering up his weaknesses, he's showing vulnerability. He is the only newcomer who has a star aura about him, and whether he makes it or not, he needs to be groomed as a guy who will headline against whomever is the champion after next year's Wrestlemania and protected until that time.
Randy Orton was thrown out there to languish. Deacon Batista was far from ready to be brought up, and was saddled with a gimmick that in being dressed in clothes, hides the only thing he's got going for him, his freaky body parts, and has had to let his hair grow, which ruins his aura, because of the fear fans will chant "Goldberg" at him (which they did at Lesnar instead).
There is little choice but to stay the course for the time being. Putting all the stars on both shows will burn out the top guys quicker, and retard the upward mobility of everyone else. It will result in a temporary upswing of house show business for about two or three months, but it'll wind up back where it is now anyway, as history usually shows when a company that had run two cities per night pools talent and cuts to one stronger show. Injuries have hurt badly, but you have to expect those nowadays. Rock leaving hurt a lot as well. And some of the initial talent decisions, in going with people like Show and Bradshaw as new top guys, led to some lackluster television. The split has forced more focus on people like Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Angle, Edge and Chris Jericho and allowed the Lesnar/Heyman duo to be in the spotlight, and if they can make two of them into real draws this summer, much easier said than done, they'll have accomplished a hell of a lot for the future. But they have to keep them in the spotlight for as long as it took people like Mick Foley, HHH and even Rock to go from working with top guys to actually being people that fans would pay money to see, without giving up on them, before it has a chance to work.
Ultimately, the company right now needs to go under the mindset they have to build Wrestlemania right now. Without definite ideas and long-term stories vaguely of how they get there, they'll have little next year but a name. Calling Hogan back won't bail them out. The only hotshot left is Bill Goldberg, and if the last year is any indication, he won't be handled right either.
The problem is that WWE has become WCW, in nearly every way. As mentioned before, the way the contracts in WWE are structured only make it even more of an economic incentive to not allow newcomers into the upper echelon. With guaranteed contracts, at least you make the same money if you create a new star and he moves up to your level or ahead of you. That theory didn't help WCW, because the guys making huge guarantees did everything to make sure nobody would be elevated anyway. The only answer is flat out cutting top guys, ironically like WWF inadvertently did with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels to lead to Rock and Steve Austin being unencumbered, or like All Japan did with Genichiro Tenryu, Kabuki and others leading to main event pushes for Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi.
In a declining revenue period, there isn't a prayer WWE switches to guaranteed contracts now because their structure is going to enable them to be profitable (or if things get really bad, lose less money) in a decline, which was a luxury WCW didn't have when its revenues plummeted, not to mention there is no benefit to them for management, and they have more control than ever before due to lack of alternatives. If a top guy making $2 million per year brings a new guy to his level, and goes from top guy to high middle status, that income can drop to $800,000. It's that paranoia of losing the spot that keeps everyone except Rock, who isn't around and when he was seemed to have more confidence in his ability to stay on top than the others at his level, on edge and creates the current environment.
Austin's comments, if they aren't part of a new bizarro world angle, on WWE Byte This saying that the writing and creative have been the shits and that the split so far has been a flop are also reminiscent of WCW. Besides the public complaining about management, it also creates the double standard. Austin walked out. No punishment. Austin complained about the writers. No retribution. Average guy walks out. Never allowed back. Average guy complains about management, punishment like crazy. WCW had that double standard and it was a killer.
Unlike in previous periods of ratings and business declines, including the post-Mania decline last year, everyone in the company made excuses, like the summer excuse, or that the WCW talent wasn't any good excuse, for the decline, but never blamed management or creative, or for that matter, the guys on top who weren't drawing, publicly.
Another example of it becoming WCW is the situation involving Kevin Nash a few weeks ago. When Nash & Scott Hall were signed, the company claimed this was a totally different environment than WCW (more and more people who have worked in both places are saying it's no more organized and there are more similarities than differences), which was blamed for their attitudes and what happened. Those comments were a joke than and are a sadder joke now. Hall was the same Hall, and eventually, when left with no other option, he was dumped. Nash was the same Nash. When Nash complained about the writing of the NWO segments, instead of anyone standing up to him (which one has to say he knows when and how to pick his battles), they instead created an angle where the NWO had to go on a winning streak (anyone who loses is out). No more jobs for his crew. There is only a slight difference. Nobody has tested the waters to go totally against the script on a live broadcast, which several in WCW did, with basically no repercussions to the top guys.
Shawn Michaels was brought in, but since Michaels' back still seems to be in the condition where he's not expected to wrestle (there is talk of him doing one match as a try-out and see from there), it's just a short-term TV pop. Nothing wrong with short-term, but if Michaels is on Raw every week in a non-wrestling role taking time that could be used to elevate new talent, this isn't the time for it. Even if he helps ratings for a few weeks, worrying about ratings at all this summer is a waste of time. All thought should be that the summer is nothing but a build for the late fall and mainly, the winter. Trying to build the summer is a wasted effort which will yield little return and just dig the long-term hole deeper. Nothing wrong with him as a guy who shows up from time-to-time. One should take a healthy skepticism about the new man and finding religion, since that was similar to what we heard about Hall (new man, proud parent), and 80% of the finding religion stories end up being pro wrestling cons. Granted, he could be the other 20% and time will tell.
Another problem with booking long-term is, and Edge is the prime example, injuries will be a killer. We don't know who will be injured over the next nine months, but if we build, say, eight programs to peak at that time, odds are more than half will be at least interrupted, or screwed up, due to injuries. But the summer has to be for rebuilding, because there is no business on the horizon. It may even need a temporary house cleaning of the top. Sending people like Hogan and Undertaker home, and using them in the secret partner role every few months, would give more time to rebuilding rather than trying to build TV's around proven commodities. Flair is one of my favorite performers and can cut a promo when motivated that blows most everyone away, but his being such a focus of television isn't the answer.
If we look at companies who successfully rebuilt, with the exception of WCW, here's what worked:
Dallas 1983: Fritz retired the year earlier. Largely built around three babyfaces who weren't competing with their father for the top slot or in his shadow any longer, all in their early 20s, and young heels as their opponents. Led to a few strong years and burned out because they ran their course. Never rebuilt a second time.
Mid South 1984: Junkyard Dog was magic, but his drawing power was waning. Business picked up after he left (except in Louisiana, where it never recovered) because it allowed a crop of new face to have their run.
All Japan 1990: Half the top crew was gone due to a talent raid, and the company was thought to have been left in bad shape. Instead, it started its most successful arena run ever. Midcarders Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada moved to the top and Kenta Kobashi was pushed years faster than he conventionally would have been due to lack of talent that was on top with the jumps. End result was it was made the company as successful as it ever had been.
New Japan 1990: Antonio Inoki was in the Senate and almost never around, so the new stars didn't have anyone to overshadow them. While existing stars Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami were there and kept strong, they also put over newcomers at key times and made Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono into the superstars that carried the company to its best box office ever five years later. For all the praise Foley gets for making HHH, Choshu, with more longevity and legend as a top star than Foley, made a whole crew of HHH's.
WWF, 1998: The old guard was gone. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, the focal points for many years, were both gone and Undertaker was in and out due to chronic injuries. It forced people like Steve Austin, the three faces of Foley, HHH and Rock to be put in the top spots and be the focus of a new generation of stars and matches.
If there is an eternal truth in covering wrestling long-term, it's that a pat hand of stars eventually burns out, no matter how great their interviews are or how great their match quality is. Once people have seen the matches, it's very difficult to draw as well with what they've already seen. Even people pointing to a Bruno Sammartino, who headlined the same territory, with one few year break, for 15 years, need to note two things. One, the entire nature of the appeal of the product was so different (then again, that could be said about using wrestling history about anything involving WWE). Second, his opponents were constantly rotated and he never was programmed with anyone on top for more than three months or so at a time. Vince's father had a couple of long-time fixtures on the babyface side on top, but kept things fresh by constantly importing and getting rid of the top heels.
No company went through the big ups and the big downs over the 80s and 90s more than All Japan women. The key was, the top stars were dumped when their drawing power started waning. They'd have their few year run and were then gone. The next generation had no blocks from becoming main eventers and weren't overshadowed by names they could never surpass.
WO
