“Hau Kola” Hello My Friends! Welcome to another campfire at “Tatanka’s Pow Wow”. I hope you all had a great holiday season with Christmas with your families and loved ones and brought the New Year in the way you wanted to for 2002. The last quarter of my year was very busy starting with a Europe Tour in October that lasted for 2 months with about 50 shows in 60 days. Boy if you weren’t in shape you would get in shape on these types of tours. I was over in Europe for the same company in June but for only 1 month so this was a test for me also because we would work about 15 days straight before taking a day off. Even when I was at WWF the biggest tour internationally would only last about one week and a half so this topped the cake. Last year I performed 6 international tours and found out today that it paid off more than I expected with an e-mail from Europe letting me know that a company called Wrestle Call had been doing a contest that all the fans voted for to pick the number one over seas wrestler and I was chosen as “The Number One Over Seas Wrestler” among other Superstars of the wrestling world. A blessing I did not expect but I’m very thankful for, appreciate, and thank the fans all throughout the United Kingdom and Europe that voted for me. As a wrestler and an entertainer one of your goals is to leave the people satisfied and excited about your match and looking forward to your return to their town or country.
Update on my book is that the exposure and sells of it are going very well. I have just done three radio interviews over the last 24 hrs last weekend that gave the book much coverage in the United States and also internationally as far as France. All the info you need is listed on my site as to where to get at NativeTatanka.com. Thank you so much for your support and a needed book that gives people encouragement for their own personal lives instead of just talking about wrestling. My new members area will be open soon called “Tatanka’s Tribal Members” and will promise to be an exciting area for fans worldwide. Again you can go to NativeTatanka.com to view a short real audio video of just some of the great things you will have access to as a Tribal Member. Additional features of membership are three 8×10 photos personally signed by Tatanka, Private Chat Room, Private e-mail address to NativeTatanka.com that will only go to me and only answered by me, discounts on merchandise that is also COMING to NativeTatanka.com, and of course many matches of me and great Superstars of the WWF on online video. Don’t miss out on this membership because fans worldwide have already been acquiring and waiting for the opening date of “Tatanka’s Tribal Membership.”
Does wrestling need a change? Well let’s look at the TV ratings. When WWF first hit it big they broke cable ratings and did 8.0 on The TV ratings and even maybe a little higher and WCW was doing 4.0. Vince’s ratings dropped a little after time but stayed around 6.0 with WCW doing around 3.0-4.0 still. As we all know WCW eventually went out of business and Vince controlled the market totally but his ratings did not go up as expected. Also where did all the viewing audiences of the WCW go that was still watching their program when it went off the air? At one time between Vince and WCW with Vince doing 6-7 ratings and WCW doing 3-4 ratings that made a total of about 10-11 points on the TV ratings for Pro Wrestling. Now just recently Vince did a 4.5 and the office was excited because they were at 3.7 weeks before that.Where has the TV viewing audience of wrestling gone to? That is about 6-7 points that is missed totally from the wrestling viewing audience which resembles about 7 million homes with an average of 3 people a home making a total of about 21 million people that is not tuning in to wrestling anymore. Why? Have the fans got tired of the interviews filling most of the show, the behind the curtain scenes, the women involvement in only a sexual direction, and all the things we have seen on the WWF for years. You know most will say, “Well you know wrestling goes in 5 year cycles and it is in it’s down cycle now and will come back up soon.” As far as what I know about companies and the corporate world it is better to be steady and moving forward step by step then up and down like a roller coaster ride. Yes, companies do take losses but not major losses unless they make some mistakes of their own! It was WCW’s fault but to have one company has hurt our business greatly not only for the fans but wrestlers also. You know there is a correct way to build a successful company and things should not be up and down all the time because there is something wrong there with the planning and thinking. There is always a quick way to success but it is a lot harder but better in the long run for a stable company to build it step by step and with proper planning and deciding on what you will offer all the time. Let’s take an example not with wrestling but whom we all know. McDonald’s does not have the best hamburger in the world but they have developed a system and they never change for anything and every time you go no matter where you are in the world you know what you are getting and isn’t it funny that they always continue to grow and never go up and down or take major losses. You know I believe 100% that what you sow will always come back to you the next day, the next month, or the next year, or even at times years later but it does come back to you. Why do people all over the world acquire great success then some how something??? comes along which causes them to lose it all. It happens all the time, just do your research and you will see for yourself. Has the wrong portrayed picture on wrestling came back to bring down the success of wrestling. When WWF had all the great success in the early 80’s to late 80’s and they were doing everything on the road and letting everything go did it come back in the 90’s to finally bring the company down to a point of almost bankruptcy and losing the number 1 spot to WCW around 97. It should not be such a big level of success and then a big level of failure. Without me getting into preaching here there are many scriptures in the bible that talk about everything I just went over.
You know Vince McMahon has great talent and capable of doing great things in wrestling but it is time for a change and a change that everyone can watch and also be proud of watching and not be concerned about our children watching on Monday Night. If we have to tell our children, they cannot watch then what is wrong with the program. If we tell our children, they cannot go into a bar or a place that says for 21 or older only what is wrong with that place. Same with wrestling and the message it has portrayed. Yes; it has to be entertaining but it was entertaining in the 80’s but behind the scenes was the problem then. The story lines and the characters were good versus the bad guy and eventually good overcame evil, which it will always do all throughout history of this world. Look at the pop Sgt. Slaughter got just a few nights ago; many say it was one of the biggest of the night and it was because people enjoyed that era and time of wrestling and many want it back world-wide. Many as I have proved have turned it off until a change comes. It seems to me Vince is testing the water by Sgt. Slaughter, Mr. Perfect, and other characters of the past recently being involved in the WWF when most said they were to old but they are there now and receiving great response and some that are close to signing now from the previous years of WWF. The fans want to see not OLD but the Old School Style of Wrestling. Many non-wrestling fans joined the party when WWF became so successful in 1998-2000 but they were not the loyal fans that have been watching it for years and will stick with you and be loyal to Pro Wrestling. I believe a change is coming and it is very clear that a change is needed. I saw a paper the other day that had a story on the front cover talking about how bad wrestling is doing now and that maybe it was going to be it’s demise for good and totally be done. Wow! After all the success over the last few years to be where it is today. Doing a 4.0 it will not go out of business but what a far cry from where it was. Visit me at NativeTatanka.com for all the latest updates.
Thank you and God bless you,
Tatanka