AWO Webmaster: I sat down with the AWO World Champion right after he came back from visiting Lowell, Massachusetts. I basically just let him say and talk about whatever he wanted and I asked a few questions of him.
Webmaster: So Mystery, how was your week in Lowell?
Mystery: It was great! I had a ton of fun seeing all my friends and family again. I went out like everynight and just had a blast, it really felt great to be in AWO country!
Webmaster: Im sure it was great, it was certainly great to see you again. So how are things going with school down in Florida?
Mystery: Things are going great with school, im doing my best and working really hard for that Game Design degree. Im hoping to graduate late November of this year.
Webmaster: Thats great to hear. So tell me all about your feelings on where you are now and where you will be in the future and what you plan to do.
Mystery: Well first of all I want to get through all my classes and graduate in November. Im doing my best like I said. When I graduate I want to defintely move back to Massachusetts. I want to also get a new car, but still keep my 92 Ford Tempo. That thing is my baby and there are so many planned things for it, once I get the money. Student loans are gonna have to be paid back, a new car. Its gonna all add up quick and im defintely gonna need a job right out of school. Im hoping that the job is in the gamming industry, but I doubt that it will be right away. So im just looking to get through school first.
Webmaster: Thats good to see that you have your priorities in order. So onto the next question, what is the state of the AWO at this time?
Mystery: Hahaha, I knew you were gonna get to that! The AWO is doing better than ever, we were even voted number 1 on a top 10 site not too long ago. Since then we have been dropped to number two, but we still maintain the most votes so far. We were supposed to have a little invasion of the NEWA when I went home. They were in Lowell the night I flew in, but things got side tracked and it just didnt happen. But the NEWA should watch out, cause we havent forgotten what they did to Ms. Annonymous!
Webmaster: We all have not forgotten what NEWA did to Ms. Annonymous.
Mystery: Exactly! And thats why we will one day extract our revenge on the NEWA. But the AWO is in a great state right now, all of our people are doing wonderful.
Webmaster: Good to hear that I still have a job! hahaha So now tell me your thoughts on the state of wrestling as it is right now.
Mystery: Honestly, I miss WCW. But what I think I miss most of all is competition. There simply is none out there. I miss the exciting, edge of your seat, glory days of the big three. (WCW, WWF (WWE), and ECW) Without any competition, the WWE, is basically completing itself. With their whole roster split, RAW versus SmackDown, they are trying to give off the impression that there is competition. But we arent stupid, there simply is none. With all the new upstart companies comming to the scene, you would think that competition would make a comeback, but it is so hard to make it in this business. Its so hard to get your name out into the open world. It took the AWO since 1999, when we started, to get its name out. We are more popular now than ever before, but it all took time and a lot of effort from everyone.
Webmaster: You mention competition and the lack of it. If WCW were still here today, but under its Turner banner, what do you think we would be seeing right now?
Mystery: I honestly must say that WCW would be doing a lot better if it were still around right now. The WWE (WWF at the time), were starting to diw down. They had the same story line with the same people week in and week out and it was getting a bit dull. While on the other side, you had the ever changing WCW. I must admit that with all the changes in writers and speculation of new owners, it was getting quite tiresome. WCW needed to choose one path and run with it. Even if it wasnt what the people wanted, they needed to get their minds on one way and just go with it. Eventually, I believe, the WWE would have started to suck some wind against WCW. There would have been some guys that would have jumped to the WCW ship and WWE would have lost some of its fan support. Much like what happened in the mid 90's when WCW became number one. And their will be the people out there that will say that the only reason WCW was ever popular was because it had WWE guys. While that was a big part of WCW's success, you must not forget why WWR got so popular. They had a bunch of WCW guys, and when a WCW guy would jump back over to WWE soil, it was a huge thing. WWE started viewing WCW as the thing that "people want". And of course we all know that WWE is all about giving the fans what they want. At the time certainly WCW was doing just that. If it werent for the WCW popularity in the mid 90's I doubt very much we would have had such a comeback in wrestling. There wouldnt have been a boom peroid. And look where we are right now, no boom period, wrestling is in a slump. What is it missing? The formula for success, competition. There is no more WCW or even ECW, theres only one company, WWE.
Webmaster: What do you see as the WWE's future?
Mystery: I honestly dont see much of a future for the WWE. We are in a slump and I think that it will take years for wrestling, not just WWE, but wrestling to be booming and exciting again. It's cool to have all the famous and big named stars that we grew up with and have watched for year, all under one banner. Seems like the perfect formula for all the dream matches one could imagine. But in fact its been the worst thing ever. While WWE buying WCW seemed like the perfect way to bring the dream matches to reality, it lacked just that, reality. The WWE owned WCW was not the "real" WCW anymore. It wasnt a Turner company, it wasnt independant of the WWE, it was not all one entity. The Invasion story was the worse story I think I had ever seen in wrestling. It litteraly shatteres all hopes and dreams of ever seeing the one event that would make history, WCW versus WWF (WWE). How many years have people wanted to see that? How many times have people dreamed of WCW champion versus WWF champion? Goldber versus Stone Cold. Booker T versus The Rock, nWo versus DX. It all seemed like WWE had pulled it all together for us, both WCW and WWE fans. For the first time ever all the fans could be in one place to watch both WCW and WWE compete. But again, it was more a dissapointment that anything else. Part of this I see as WWE's current state. Because they promised the fans so much and didnt deliver what the fans actually wanted. So people were turned off, people starting changing the channel. Except this was the first time people tried to change the channel from RAW to Nitro, and forgot, there is no more WCW. So what did they do? Changed the channel to other programs that are not wrestling. They turned off wrestling possibly for good.
Webmaster: A tragety and a total dissapointment indeed. So what do you do with your time now, where it was always spent with wrestling?
Mystery: I still watch wrestling, but im not as up on it as I used to be. I catch it whenever I can remember its on. For something like that to happen to me, where I used to know every minute a wrestling show was on, is just an example of how downhill its gone. It seems almost ironic that ever since pro-wrestling has gone downhill and also the love of backyard wrestling, the AWO has gotten more popular then ever!
Webmaster: It sure has and why do you think the AWO is doing so well?
Mystery: Im really not sure! It seems almost weird to me to being so well. Especially compared to all the other groups and companies out there, we are like one of the only ones that arent losing any money. Our online presence has gotten over big time, but an online presence is easy to get going, just hard to maintain. We want our fans to come back to the site all the time. We want them to post their thoughts and opinions on our guestbook. We want them to be happy, and we want them to be able to connect with us. The AWO has a very diverse staff and all of us can connect with people out their in many ways. We arent out to try and stop anyone or ruin other people's fun. We arent just a bunch of skinny 12 year olds bashing other people's websites cause they did a better job. The AWO is more of a fan friendly company. We want out fans to know that they can interact with the wrestlers all the time. Through email or instant messenger to the guestbook. We want the AWO fans to ultimetaly never be turned off, we always want them to go home happy.
Webmaster: Do you ever see the AWO getting its own TV show?
Mystery: Mark my words: in the next 3 to 5 years, I promise you this, somehow somewhere, you will see the AWO on TV! It might not be our own show, but we will make it to TV. Ms. Annonymous has already taken the first step. She has been on TV a couple times for the NEWA. But again, thats another story for another time, and another INVASION!
