The Crossface Report
By: John & Michael Cross

for 8/2/03













Welcome to the Crossface Report!  Mike and John are together, getting ready for the
'Point-Counterpoint' that thousands and millions have come to know and love.  However,
this is going to be a momentus Report, because it will be the last one....the website,
bodyslam.cc, is going to be shutting down after a great three-and-a-half year run.  This
report will be dedicated to a review of that time, the changes we have seen, and what the
future holds for wrestling....now, on with the FINAL Crossface Report!

John:   Well, here we go.  I think that my wife will probably be the happiest person of the
bunch to see the Crossface Report, and bodyslam.cc, come to it's inevitable conclusion,
since I haven't had a Saturday Night completely off in almost four years.  You know we
did the first Crossface Report in January of 2000?  I remember it well.  Uh, no, I don't.
However, there wasn't a time where I can remember it not being a great time.

Mike:    I remember it.  It was a little different from what we are doing now, considering
we had three different feds to get storylines from.  However, the reason behind the
Crossface story is better than the first one was.  You see, John and I used to go to the
Waffle House late at night on Saturdays.  We would order some grub, and sit and BS
about anything we felt like.  Usually, it was professional wrestling.  As we discussed the
different storylines and characters, we realized that we enjoyed talking about pro
wrestling, and that we knew quite alot about it.  So, we put our heads together, and
decided to attempt to have our own radio show based on pro wrestling.  However, after
doing some investigating into the field, we were given the advice to do an internet radio
show. 

J:   That ends up being a little harder than it sounds.  After looking into the process, we
decided to take the route of writing a column about the week that was in wrestling, and
come at it from the 'smark' point of view.  We wanted to talk about the characters, angles,
and the industry in general, and that is what we did.  So, the Crossface Report was born,
and our first posting was the first week of 2000, and it was on OCMAN.

M:    That's right.  Ocman, of www.ocman.com gave us our big break.  After a few
months of posting our column on his website, we decided to pursue getting our own
website.  So, we got with homestead.com and built our website, that which became
www.bodyslam.cc.

J:    Now, we DID make a demo tape (and it was a riot to do), and we sounded...well...not
as smooth as we would have liked, OK?  We didn't really have it down to a science
during our first try.  I suspect that dream of ours isn't going to go away just yet, and as
long as we have an interest, I think we will keep toying with the idea.  However, with the
demands of five kids under the age of 10, and the fact that this has always been just a
'hobby' (read as: 'no money made'), time and the real world conspired to make it harder to
run the site.

M:    Exactly.  Don't get me wrong, both John and I love doing the website, and all that it
entails.  However, like John said, it is time to step away for awhile and focus on what is
really important.  The three most important people in my life.  My beautiful girls, and my
little buddy.  Not to mention my very patient wife, who has been very lenient of my
constant micro management of our site.  I can't thank her enough for her understanding.

J:   So, the last Crossface Repot is being typed as we speak.  However, it was simpler
back at the beginning.  It is no surprise that subject matter had dwindled over the past
year or so. 

M:   Jeez, John.  Remember how we used to bash the snot out of WCW week after week?
I would love to have them back.  It's like being told you could only have your favorite
food for supper the rest of your life.  It would be cool at first, but after awhile you would
be glad to have liver and onions, just for the change.

J:   A long time ago, the WCW was, far and away, the more talented fed.  The WWF(E)
had real problems with their talent, but their production and storylines were tighter and
more avant guard, and WCW couldn't put two good shows together in a row if they tried.
Soon, they degraded so far that they were laughable. 

M:   Back then, the positions were switched.  WCW had their ducks in a row.  Had the
good production, the big bucks, the smart writers, and the WWF had no money, crappy
storylines, and their production was on a shoestring budget.  Then it all started to change.
What, would you say, caused the swing in the tide?

J:   Well, it was the improvement in production, DX, and the emergence of The Rock and
Stone Cold Steve Austin.  Along with the weakness of the response from the WCW when
the WWF was becoming more original.

M:    John, you hit the nail on the head.  Steve Austin, in my mind, can be credited for
turning the WWF around.  When he told Jake "The Snake" Roberts what Austin 3:16
meant, he ushered in the 'Attitude' era.  Like you said, DX came from that, and the WCW
failed to counter balance.  That is what saved the WWE.  Now, the downfall of the WCW
had little to do with WWF, but their demise was internal.

J:   Egos, like Bagwell, Lex Luger, Hogan (that's been proven, huh?), the refusal of the
older talent to put the younger guys over, and the failure of the WCW (Time-Warner)
management to decide firmly what to do with the WCW.  It would have been easy to
make it competitive again, but there was no will to do so. 

M:   Yup.  Maybe we will see a return of WCW someday, but I doubt it.  John, what are
some of the other memorable events we have seen or covered on our website?

J:  I would say that the biggest thing we covered was the Collapse of the WCW.  Bret
Hart's retirement was a biggie (and history will prove that more so than our columns
about it), the arrival of Bischoff on the WWE was HUGE as well.  Scott Hall's utter
destruction was a huge story as well.  I think that he might have been the biggest
disappointment.  Now, I think that the best thing that happened was Kurt Angle. 

M:   Now, I have to disagree with you on that.  I remember watching WCW one day, and
I saw Hugh Morris wrestle an unknown.  This unknown, who I thought might be a jobber
at the time, was named Bill Goldberg.  After he flattened Hugh, I thought this guy might
add up to something.  He surely did.  One of the few success stories to come out of WCW
is Goldberg.  He is as big, if not bigger, than Austin, let alone the Rock.

J:   Another thing that grew was Goldberg's ego.  What amazes me is the fact that the
WWE seems to be making the same mistakes as the WCW was, to a lesser degree.
Allowing people like HHH to book his own Title run, relying on older talent to carry the
high-end storylines (Nash, HBK, Hogan, Undertaker), and not finishing good storylines
with finality (the Stephanie/HHH/Angle storyline, as well as the whole nWo WWE run).
Also, not allowing the WCW to battle the WWE (at least in a scripted manner), and
refusing to pay the money to sign the big WCW names right off the bat, like Goldberg,
Flair, Sting, and Nash.  Oh, and the XFL. 

M:   The XFL.  I have a football on my TV!  There has been so much that has happened
in the last 4 years, but there have also been some very sad losses.  Classie Freddie Blassie,
Owen Hart, Rick Rude, Miss Elizabeth, are just a few.

J:  The injuries to Bret Hart, the drug problems (don't forget the British Bulldog), the
almost total collapse of the Indy fed system in 1999-2001.  However, the NWA-TNA has
come onto the scene, and has restored my faith in pro wrestling.  It was great to go down
there (to Nashville) and talk to the wrestlers, and hear their excitement and motivation to
live their dream.  It is one of my regrets that I can't keep reporting on their growth and
performances, but one is bound to have a few regrets when making a decision like this. 

M:   John, it's not the end of the world.  You still have your forums at Ocman and Solies.
We may not have the website anymore, but we will always have Paris...uh, something like
that.

J:  Yeah.  Well, I will be writing the Crossface Connection for Solie's Vintage Wrestling
from now on, and the Crossface Corner will make an appearance now and again at
OCMAN and whoever else will take it.  That will have to be the remaining literary proof
of my love of the industry.  However, dear readers, Mike deserves a lot of credit, more so
than me.  Mike has updated News and Rumors EVERY STINKIN' DAY for three and a
half years.  Over a thousand times.  Mike, you made the site run, and you deserve a whole
hell of a lot of credit. 

M:   Well, I was just the foot soldier.  John was, and always be the brains behind this
outfit.  He gets just as much, if not more credit than I do.  I must say, the best part about
this website is that it kept John and I close.  We share many hobbies, but this was the
most fun because we spent some part of almost every weekend together hashing out our
column.  It's not often when your brother is your best friend, but I can honestly say that
this is the case.

J:   Thanks, Mike *sniff*  OK....now, What else was.....John.  Surprised?  No?  Ah, so
what?  What can I do about it?  OK....the site will be closing down as of Monday, the 4th
of August.  Thanks to all of the readers, thanks to everyone.  I won't personally say
"Goodbye", but I will say, "See You Later..."
M:   Ditto.  Thanks to all the people to give a crap about what we had to say every week. 

Now, since this is the last Crossface Report, we will announce the winner of the 2003
T-shirt contest.  First, however, we will announce the winner of last weeks question.  The
question was:
"What does APA stand for?
The correct answer is Acolyte Protection Agency, and the winner is Kittykat9!  Good job!
Now, the winner of the Grand Prize T-shirt for 2003 is king4722!  Congrats!  To claim
your prize, just e-mail us at crossfacereport@aol.com!
Thanks for reading, and thank you for visiting www.bodyslam.cc.