by Erin Anderson
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

WWE is in a difficult position right now. Ratings are lackluster, top stars are injured, and the biggest superstars aren't exactly a bunch of spring chickens. Let's examine a few of the key players in WWE right now to get an idea of where the company stands:

Hulk Hogan: Benched for the time being and pushing 50. The man's fan base is huge, but his back problems aren't going to go away any time soon. His days are numbered.

Undertaker: Trimmer and more focused than I've seen him in quite some time, but elbow surgery looms on the horizon, on top of his chronic knee and hip problems. The Deadman probably doesn't have more than two years left in him.

Steve Austin: A huge question mark. He's got neck problems in the continuing trend of potentially career-ending injuries that are plaguing WWE right now.

The Rock: Still young, more than capable in the ring and on the mic, and highly marketable (translation: I'm off to Hollywood, chumps). Who knows when or even if we'll see him again once he leaves to make his next movie?

Goldberg: A total wild card. Hugely over with most fans, but limited mic skills and in-ring arsenal mean that he could very quickly become stale. His unpredictable personality (we've all heard about his backstage spat with Chris Jericho) could get him fired before he leaves the company.

Shawn Michaels: Wrestles only every few months.

Kevin Nash: Injures himself every few months.

Not very promising, is it? WWE needs to make some major changes in the main-event scene to maintain its already diminishing fan base before most of the top superstars retire or leave the company. The solution seems simple: elevate new talent, and establish them as major players with the current top-tier performers. But is anyone seeing this happening?

To a certain degree, yes. But WWE seems to be dropping the ball more often than they run with it. I'll to take a look at what they're doing right, as well as when they completely miss the mark.

Good idea: Bringing in Brian Kendrick.

This kid has the goods, and for what he may lack personality-wise, he makes up for in the ring. When was the last time you saw so much build-up go into establishing a rookie cruiserweight? A great match with Kurt Angle, wins over Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore, and… um… streaking? All right, so the kid should have kept his clothes on, but otherwise, he's been very impressive, and spotlighting the cruiserweight division is always a good thing. Mysterio, Noble, Kidman, Tajiri, Hardy, Moore, Funaki, Kendrick… there's nice depth in the cruiserweight roster. Move the Hurricane back to SmackDown!, and let these guys wow the audiences every week.

And please, for the love of god, somebody do something about Kendrick's entrance music. Does WWE expect us to take him seriously with a theme song like that? Yikes.

Bad idea: Bringing in Nathan Jones.

He started out promisingly enough. A few killer vignettes to introduce him (with Jones sounding like a pro in the voice-overs), and a great gimmick. But things began to look a little suspicious after house show/dark match reports started coming in -- we learned that he looks sloppy in the ring and has a problem with injuring his opponents. His on-screen in-ring debut was postponed not once, but twice, leading me to believe that WWE has lost all faith in him as a viable wrestler.

To top it all off, we finally got to see his first real match last night on SmackDown!… against Bill DeMott? One minute, a few punches, and a big boot later, I was not impressed. The live audience didn't seem too enthralled either. Somebody needs to pull the plug on this guy; he never should have been given such huge a buildup if WWE so obviously didn't think he could get it done in the ring.

Good idea: Teaching Torrie Wilson how to wrestle.

Torrie's already developed a moveset as diverse as Kevin Nash's, and she's looking more confident with every match. Laugh all you want, but she looks to be following in the footsteps of Trish Stratus. Give Torrie a little more training and maybe six to eight months, and she'll be ready to compete on Raw with the big girls. Raw only has one competing female babyface, so Torrie can join Trish in the Victims of the Weekly Heel Beat-downs Club. Adding Torrie to the women's roster on Raw, along with Nidia, Ivory, and a newly returning Lita can make for the best women's division WWE has ever seen.

Bad idea: Sable.

It's easy to joke about Sable looks like she's got more miles on her than an old Toyota and walks to the ring like Peg Bundy… but it's true. Did anyone notice how none of the cameras zoomed in on her face when she interrupted Torrie's party on Smackdown! last week? Her fading beauty, boring mic skills, and past history with WWE all add up to a waste of money for Vince McMahon.

Good idea: Giving upper mid-carders shots against the top-tier performers.

Booker T carried his weight in Triple H's best pay-per-view match in recent months at WrestleMania. Chris Jericho got a shot against a wrestling legend in Shawn Michaels. Chris Benoit took part in the best match of the year against Kurt Angle at the Royal Rumble. John Cena won a match against the Undertaker last night. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you elevate mid-carders to main-event status. Remember Edge's memorable feud with Kurt Angle last year? That made him a bona fide superstar, and I expect to see him in the title hunt when he returns next year from neck surgery.

Bad idea: Never allowing the mid-carders to win when it counts.

Despite several pinfall victories over Triple H, Booker T didn't walk away from the big one with the title. Jericho lost to Michaels at WrestleMania to nobody's benefit, and Benoit still doesn't have the strap around his waist. John Cena's victory over Undertaker came only after he got his ass soundly kicked, a ref bump, and interference with the FBI. Thus, the win meant nothing.

Why tease us with these guys, only to shove them back into mid-card purgatory? Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, and Austin won't be around five years from now to headline pay-per-views. Where will we be then? Stuck with a roster full of mid-carders that nobody will take seriously as title contenders? WWE is trying too hard to hang on to the past to concentrate on what's best for its future.

E-MAIL ERIN
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Erin Anderson is an Atlanta native and a student at Georgia State University. Since writing about wrestling didn't go over too well with her English professors, she vents here at Online Onslaught.

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