Reforming the National Wrestling Alliance

The once-proud wrestling promotion is under duress as it loses members and potential stars due to--what else--politics. The conclusion of the "Seven Levels of Hate" series for the NWA title went from being a golden opportunity to rebuild the promotion to an outright embarrassment.

I wish I had the money to orchestrate my own hostile takeover because this organization is in dire need of a real one.

So, what would I do as head of the NWA?
First, I'd tell the territorial promoters that "business as usual" and "things have always been done this way" no longer cut it. It was laziness by the territories in the 1980s that led to the company's demise nationally as WCW and the WWF caught the nation's attention during the Monday Night Wars in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Second, a five year plan will be drafted to bring the NWA back to relevance. The best way of reaching this goal is getting a decent cable television deal. Once the company is nationally available, then proper promotion can be done. Frankly, the weekend morning/evening shows need to be brought back because no one needs to think of another copycat program on a weeknight when most people have to work the next morning.

Third, emphasize the athleticism of the wrestlers. Frankly, it's the whole "sports entertainment" aspect from WWE and TNA that now has professional wrestling in its current rut. Distinguishing the former from the latter will win over disillusioned fans who still haven't returned to wrestling since WCW and ECW folded in 2001 and bring new fans into the NWA fold.

What to do with the hierarchical structure?
Currently, there are 30 territories--that's right, thirty of them. This creates way too many headaches and the potential for promoters to have their own self-serving agendas that may harm the NWA.

I would cut the number of territories to six

• Atlantic
• Southeast
• North Central
• South Central
• West
• International

If this still presents a problem, then and only then, will I take the step to combine the remaining territories.

Flagship or no flagship?
That would be another dilemma. Who would become the NWA's flagship promotion? Hollywood was in line to be the flagship until it got kicked out last year. I would forego naming anyone as a flagship promotion and treat everyone equally.

The title structure
Singles

1. World Heavyweight Championship
2. North American Heavyweight Championship (upper midcard)
3. National Heavyweight Championship (lower midcard)
4. World Junior Heavyweight Championship (220 pounds and under)
5. Territory specific titles

Tag Teams

1. World Tag Team Championships (top teams)
2. North American Tag Team Championships (up-and-coming teams)
3. Territory specific titles

Women
This could be a bit tricky given the number of independent women's promotions that could outshine anything that the NWA has to currently offer. The Women's World Championship would remain but serious evaluation would be done to determine whether other titles need to be added.

TV and PPVs
The TV show would at first focus on all of the territories. As the product gets more ingrained in the public's minds, territory-specific show would start airing. When it comes to special events that involve all of the territories, seasonal Clash of the Champions-style showcase events would air every three months. These showcases will serve as a precursor to pay per views. Although Internet pay per views will be used, TV PPVs wouldn't be a factor until Year 5.

Venues
Since the NWA would be starting from scratch, smaller facilities will be used at first while the company eases into major venues. Big venues could be used for the showcase events as the company prepares itself to return to PPV.

A pivotal moment for hip hop culture

Commercial rappers have to change their tone starting now. Daveed Nelson and Jason Whitlock were right to denounce the overall state of hip hop. What has passed for hip hop in the last 17 years is heavily tilted in favor of negative stereotyping—which may have not only led to George Zimmerman getting away with murder but Zimmerman’s supporters resorting to ugly tactics to demonize Trayvon Martin and black people in general. Over the last decade, rap music has heavily focused on the negatives—bling, thugging it up, treating women as sex objects, glorifying illegitimacy, excessive drug use. As long as blacks go along with what the ratchet rappers are selling, then, the stereotyping of blacks by other races will continue. Yet, there has been a bit of backlash to the Whitlock column locally (a nighttime DJ and a gossip reporter were both bemused by Nelson’s statements) and nationally (two allhiphop.com postings that paint Nelson as out of touch and another member of the Last Poets distancing himself from Nelson’s comments).

Young Jeezy and Pharaohe Monch were the first two rappers out the gate with post verdict songs last Monday. I’m not concerned with underground artists following the latter’s lead, it’s the mainstream acts keeping up with Jeezy that concerns me. They need to stop rapping about strip clubs, pill popping, and cars and they need to start addressing the ills of the black community and work with bona fide leaders to provide logical solutions.

I am tired of the hip hop community refusing to either give or receive constructive criticism while making excuses for the way things are in today’s rap scene because it is a disgrace that there is no more originality on commercial radio today. Rather than defending the status quo, these people need to listen for themselves. While the worst features of black America continue to be exported to Africa, Africans—for the time being anyways—continue to reject materialistic rap music while using rap to address various issues in their countries and on the continent. Speaking of which, it’s a telling sign that even artists from the motherland have called out their much richer American counterparts.

Given hip hop culture’s short attention span, it has to seize the opportunity that it has to reshape how other races should look at us as a race. If the Trayvon tributes/Zimmerman dissing songs are forgotten a year from now rather than being a catalyst for change, then rap music will deserve to go the way of jazz (once prevalent but now treated as a novelty) or disco (its original form long dormant).

The video of Scott & Madelyn three-peating at the World Bodypainting Festival

http://www.spykeheels.com/2013/07/11/scott-fray-usa-1st-place-at-world-airbrush-award-wbf-2013-portschach-austria/

How Hip Hop Culture Lives Up to Anti-Black Stereotypes

"Everything old is new again"
Peter Allen

The above quote can most certainly be applied to hip hop culture because it has moved backwards in the last two decades. I will now dissect the modern comparisons that were once used by bigots to denigrate blacks from the 19th century to the Civil Rights Movement.

Here are the four most common stereotypes being replicated today:
1. Blackface. Racists don't need to lampoon black people when rappers are experts at doing it. Countless songs and videos feature these artists cooning it up. Flavor Flav's VH-1 show was just the tip of the iceberg.

2. Sambo. Portrayals of lazy, irresponsible, and carefree people are very common on songs and in videos.

3. Mandingo Negro. Rappers endlessly brag about how many women that they have slept with, exhibit sexual bravado in the form of being a "player," and love using phallic (about themselves) or gluteal (about their conquests) descriptions.

4. Sapphire. Online videos on YouTube and websites like World Star Hip Hop show loud-mouthed women cutting men down to size.

My response: What is the black community going to do to combat these horrible stereotypes?