Interesting feedback on the "cartoon" column

This was from a longtime ITR reader who practically begged for anonymity (thanks, Bryan!). He made the following "wrestler/fictional character" comparison:

Canadian Bulldog v. Road Warrior Animal

Common characteristics: Amazing and unstoppable at beginning of career in the eyes of many (including this reader) but some fans took a little time to turn on to the originality, took a gimmick a bit too far, only has a job because of who he "knows" in the front office

Oh Bulldog how I have enjoyed your articles. The subtle yet poignant humor that was created. From the very first time you took Ric Flair's trademark "Whoo"
and turned it into "Whew," I was hooked. Simple and effective, just like The Road Warriors. Animal and Hawk went up against the small pretty boy tag teams, no-sold most offense and beat the holy heck out of them. Simple, effective and so far ahead of their times that a minority of fans saw their presence as a detriment: Online Onslaught in Bulldogs case and wrestling in Animal's case. The numbers of these
dissenters dwindled as time went on.

Throughout their respective careers ITR and The Road Warriors stayed dominant. Even though it was the same shtick every time (getting wrestlers names wrong or
using the exact same power moveset every freakin' match) it always seemed to stay fresh. There was even a revitalization late in the careers of both from
surprising inspirations (Sunny for Road Warrior Animal and Ted L. Nancy for Canadian Bulldog).

However, there came a time when both took a gimmick too far. Animal's LOD gimmick should have died with Hawk, but apparently that couldn't be so. If Animal
was going to be a part of an organization run by his brother, then LOD needed to live as well.

Bulldog's relationship with Rick Scaia . . . well let's just say that we can blame Bulldog's attempt at the overused gimmick of "compare wrestlers to ________" on Mr. Scaia just as much as we can blame it on Bulldog. This shoddy attempt to continue the tradition is weak in many ways. The comparison to cartoon characters (something your average wrestling fan knows quite a bit about) isn't as intriguing as
Japanese challenge foods or Olympic skaters (both of which probably fall outside of a wrestling fans Venn Diagram of tv watching habits). Even some comparisons
themselves were tenuous (Kurt Angle and Elmer Fudd? C'mon! Off the top of my head, Kurt Angle and Storm Shadow: both have shiny heads, can easily side with
good or evil, and can beat just about anyone in under three minutes - unless they are retarded in Angle's case or mute for Storm Shadow).

Hopefully the parallels end here. It seems like any attempts for Road Warrior Animal to continue on in his wrestling career will only lead to further sullying of
the legend of The Road warriors/Legion of Doom. Thank you Johnny Ace! Bulldog's future doesn't look as bleak. As long as his management doesn't hamper him
with more silly overused gimmicks he should be able to rebound and perhaps dominate the Internet Wrestling Community again.

Do I think Bulldog will rebound and continue his grand legacy? BANK ON IT!!!


Also, like Animal, I also have the whole mohawk/facepaint thing going on....

All I'll say is this: I wouldn't blame my attempt at the column on anyone but myself. The Rick gives me (and the other OO writers) complete creative control with our stuff (though I did have to drop the strap once in Montreal) and never suggests or tells us what to write about. So it was completely my own idea to continue on the rich "comparison" column legacy....