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KELLER'S TAKE
A KELLER SHORT: A simple suggestion for Mike Adamle as he prepares for ECW show tonight Apr 22, 2008 - 4:36:52 PM
There are three or four ways to approach tonight's ECW TV show if you're Mike Adamle and WWE:
(1) Pretend last week didn't happen, or at least the part where Adamle said a bunch of stupid things and was completely, inexcusably, unprofessionally unprepared. And after a week of preparation motivated by shame, try to become "most improved of the week." If he stinks, though, even after a week of studying up, Adamle and WWE will look really bad because it will appear they didn't notice what everyone else did, or didn't think it was a big deal.
(2) Be self-deprecating about last week. Show a sense of humor and turn it into a running gag. After Adamle introduces the show, Tazz could chime in with a smile: "I'm Tazz. Not The Tazz, as you may have heard last week. How's it going, Mike?" Then throughout the show, have Tazz point out Mike's errors; call him out on the air. It'll be fun for viewers to see Tazz give Mike a hard time, and at least it's not ignoring the elephant in the living room. The goal here is to eliminate Mike's errors, but have fun with them in the mean time.
(3) Have Mike address viewers at the start of the show or after the first segment and apologize for last week. He'll score point if he does so and seem a little more human. He can say he got the assignment at the last moment and was fatigued from travel, but is determined to do better. Rather than make fun of him, this option would allow Adamle to save face by acknowledging last week and vowing to get better - and then doing what it takes to get better.
(4) Turn this into an angle where Adamle is cast as the incompetent announcer. This requires a backstory that would explain who hired him and why. Tazz can express disgust and discontent, but he has to go along with it. If Adamle gets better, the angle can fade. If he doesn't, he can be a heel play-by-play announcer - a heel in the sense that he doesn't respect or get the product. This would be damaging if he were on Raw or Smackdown, but perhaps ECW could get away with having lousy announcing as part of what sets it apart - as long as Tazz stepped up and did his job.
Well, there's also the option of pretending last week didn't happen by having Joey Styles back as host and never acknowledge Adamle's existence on the show. It wouldn't be the first totally dropped storyline. How are Randy Orton's concussions and Mickie James's lesbian tendencies, anyway?
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