Dangerous Incorporated
12-19-2006, 09:59 AM
Eric Bischoff Responds To Lance Storm's Criticism
Recently Lance Storm had some harsh words about Bischoff and his book, "Controversy Creates Cash". Bischoff has now fired back at Storm in his blog:
BLOG 12/18/2006
Storms Rant
December 18, 2006
It has come to my attention recently that Lance Storm decided to do a critique of my book “Controversy Creates Cash”. Having heard about his comments on another site, I signed on to Lances’ web page to read it for myself.
Lance did a very good job pointing out the obvious. There WERE some typos in the book. I pointed that out on my web site the day I got my first copy of the book. Its unfortunate, and to a degree embarrassing because, after all, it is MY book and it does have my name and picture on the cover…so I’ll take that criticism and apologize to anyone who found the book difficult to read or less enjoyable as a result.
As far as the rest of Lances’ “rant”…I take it in context.
You see Lance was never a part of WCW when the company turned around in late 94 and 95. Lance was not a part of the shift in creative strategy that led to the explosion of the wrestling genre in the mid to late 90’s in either WCW or WWE. Lance certainly doesn’t have any first hand experience with any of the creative, business, or strategic decisions that led to WCW virtually re creating the wrestling business as we know it to this day, For that matter, Lance wasn’t even a part of WWE during the period of time that WCW forced WWE to change their brand strategy from “Family Entertainment” and embrace the edgier “Attitude Era” that proved so successful. Truth be told, Lance wasn’t around when the success of WCW began to wane and WWE rebounded to dominate the “Monday Night Wars” in the late 90’s.
Actually…Lance wasn’t really a significant part of anything during one of the most significant periods of the wrestling business.
If memory serves me correctly (and I could be wrong here as the arrival of Lance Storm was not one of the most outstanding moments of my career) Lance showed up in WCW sometime in early 2000. Long after the wheels had fallen off WCW and the company was being pulled apart at the seams by different divisions of Turner/Time Warner that had their own agendas.
Lance was polite, had a decent “look”, was rumored to be a good worker, and most of all…was a fresh face. WCW needed that at the time. I personally liked Lance upon meeting him for the first time. Lance impressed me as someone who was honest and had a good work ethic. Lance was the kind of performer that one would hope would be successful. Someone that one could point to as a role model for younger performers that not only had “it”, but the work ethic and professionalism that would be a model for success.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Now I know you Lance Storm fans out there are going to blame politics, bad booking decisions, glass ceilings, poor camera angles, wrong entrance music, and any other of a host of reasons why Lance Storm never became a “star” in either WCW or WWE. But the truth is…despite having decent technical skills, and a good work ethic….Lance didn’t have “it”.
“It” is that god given quality we define as charisma. It’s the quality that makes performers in any form of entertainment stand out above the rest. You can’t teach “it”…you can’t buy “it”…you can’t go to a gym and train for “it”. You either have “it” or you don’t.
Lance Storm never did.
The truth is, most performers don’t. That’s why for every aspiring singer/song writer out there, only a very small percentage will ever get a recording deal…even though they may be technically more gifted than those singers/song writers who do. It’s the same reason that there are aspiring actors studying under acclaimed acting teachers for years, and who may excel at Shakespeare…and are forced wait tables to pay the bills while “Borat” is number one at the box office and Jessica Simpson is promoting her next movie.
I appreciate the honest approach that Lance took in pointing out the typos in my book. It was honest criticism and deserved. Beyond the typos however…I sensed an underlying tone of bitterness. To suggest that the real story of what went down in WCW is best told by people who were never even close to the internal decisions and politics? What basis does Lance have for making that recommendation? Does it reflect Lances’ own first hand experience? Of course not….Lance wasn’t there. No…unfortunately Lances’ criticism reflects a general frustration with the fact that Lance never really achieved the level of success in the business he hoped for. That’s understandable.
I wish Lance all the success in the world. I hope that he applies honest critique to the young people who pay him to teach them everything Lance knows about how to perform in the ring. Lance has ample technical skill to teach the basics.
But more importantly I hope that Lance can learn how to discern those who have “it” from those who never will. To take hard earned money and fuel the dreams of aspiring young men and women who have no real chance at making a decent living in an EXTREMELY competitive business is dishonest.
And it leads to bitterness.
Source: WrestlingObserver
Recently Lance Storm had some harsh words about Bischoff and his book, "Controversy Creates Cash". Bischoff has now fired back at Storm in his blog:
BLOG 12/18/2006
Storms Rant
December 18, 2006
It has come to my attention recently that Lance Storm decided to do a critique of my book “Controversy Creates Cash”. Having heard about his comments on another site, I signed on to Lances’ web page to read it for myself.
Lance did a very good job pointing out the obvious. There WERE some typos in the book. I pointed that out on my web site the day I got my first copy of the book. Its unfortunate, and to a degree embarrassing because, after all, it is MY book and it does have my name and picture on the cover…so I’ll take that criticism and apologize to anyone who found the book difficult to read or less enjoyable as a result.
As far as the rest of Lances’ “rant”…I take it in context.
You see Lance was never a part of WCW when the company turned around in late 94 and 95. Lance was not a part of the shift in creative strategy that led to the explosion of the wrestling genre in the mid to late 90’s in either WCW or WWE. Lance certainly doesn’t have any first hand experience with any of the creative, business, or strategic decisions that led to WCW virtually re creating the wrestling business as we know it to this day, For that matter, Lance wasn’t even a part of WWE during the period of time that WCW forced WWE to change their brand strategy from “Family Entertainment” and embrace the edgier “Attitude Era” that proved so successful. Truth be told, Lance wasn’t around when the success of WCW began to wane and WWE rebounded to dominate the “Monday Night Wars” in the late 90’s.
Actually…Lance wasn’t really a significant part of anything during one of the most significant periods of the wrestling business.
If memory serves me correctly (and I could be wrong here as the arrival of Lance Storm was not one of the most outstanding moments of my career) Lance showed up in WCW sometime in early 2000. Long after the wheels had fallen off WCW and the company was being pulled apart at the seams by different divisions of Turner/Time Warner that had their own agendas.
Lance was polite, had a decent “look”, was rumored to be a good worker, and most of all…was a fresh face. WCW needed that at the time. I personally liked Lance upon meeting him for the first time. Lance impressed me as someone who was honest and had a good work ethic. Lance was the kind of performer that one would hope would be successful. Someone that one could point to as a role model for younger performers that not only had “it”, but the work ethic and professionalism that would be a model for success.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Now I know you Lance Storm fans out there are going to blame politics, bad booking decisions, glass ceilings, poor camera angles, wrong entrance music, and any other of a host of reasons why Lance Storm never became a “star” in either WCW or WWE. But the truth is…despite having decent technical skills, and a good work ethic….Lance didn’t have “it”.
“It” is that god given quality we define as charisma. It’s the quality that makes performers in any form of entertainment stand out above the rest. You can’t teach “it”…you can’t buy “it”…you can’t go to a gym and train for “it”. You either have “it” or you don’t.
Lance Storm never did.
The truth is, most performers don’t. That’s why for every aspiring singer/song writer out there, only a very small percentage will ever get a recording deal…even though they may be technically more gifted than those singers/song writers who do. It’s the same reason that there are aspiring actors studying under acclaimed acting teachers for years, and who may excel at Shakespeare…and are forced wait tables to pay the bills while “Borat” is number one at the box office and Jessica Simpson is promoting her next movie.
I appreciate the honest approach that Lance took in pointing out the typos in my book. It was honest criticism and deserved. Beyond the typos however…I sensed an underlying tone of bitterness. To suggest that the real story of what went down in WCW is best told by people who were never even close to the internal decisions and politics? What basis does Lance have for making that recommendation? Does it reflect Lances’ own first hand experience? Of course not….Lance wasn’t there. No…unfortunately Lances’ criticism reflects a general frustration with the fact that Lance never really achieved the level of success in the business he hoped for. That’s understandable.
I wish Lance all the success in the world. I hope that he applies honest critique to the young people who pay him to teach them everything Lance knows about how to perform in the ring. Lance has ample technical skill to teach the basics.
But more importantly I hope that Lance can learn how to discern those who have “it” from those who never will. To take hard earned money and fuel the dreams of aspiring young men and women who have no real chance at making a decent living in an EXTREMELY competitive business is dishonest.
And it leads to bitterness.
Source: WrestlingObserver