When I was six years old, my grandmother introduced me to the world of professional wrestling by bringing me to a wrestling show at the Tampa Sun Dome. Since that day, I was addicted to wrestling and became such a die hard fan - that my walls were completely covered with wrestling posters and my room was turned into a virtual sanctuary to the sport.

After being a fan of wrestling for many years, I was lucky enough to "break in" to the business and since my first day in the locker room in 1994 - have interviewed virtually every wrestling superstar of the last seven years and have attended many wrestling matches and functions as the host of a television show about wrestling.

But as of late, my die hard devotion for the sport that has been an enormous part of my life for the last 25 years is all but gone - and while it pains me to say this - I blame World Wrestling Entertainment - and the recent direction they have taken the company.

Wrestling, unlike most other sports, does not have a season. Instead, the WWE puts on two shows each week, along with countless "house" shows or arena shows and one pay-per-view each month. In order to meet such a demanding schedule, the WWE must keep the product alive and interesting. I personally feel that since the early half of 2003 - the WWE has done anything but that.

I fondly remember when the WWE acquired their direct competitor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in early-2002. Immediately following the purchase of WCW, the WWE became "the only game in town" and had the rights to incorporate all of the logos, story lines and superstars of their former competition into their existing product. For a while, they did just that - with an "Invasion" angle that was one of the most exciting periods in the company's history. After that incredible coup - they pulled another one by bringing back Kevin Nash, Scott Hall - and Hulk Hogan to the WWE. Now, the WWE truly had all the cards. With no competition, all of the top superstars in the wrestling industry - and the rights to every single federation's logos and story lines - they could have created story lines, plots and events that would have been the greatest in the history of the sport - and would have set the wrestling world on its ear.

But instead - they decided to "split" the RAW and Smackdown brands of the company - and in doing so - lost many of their die heard fans - including myself.

When I was really into wrestling, Mondays and Thursdays meant doing nothing but watching RAW and Smackdown. Now, I have not seen a wrestling show in close to a year and have no desire to. By "splitting" the company, they had created two different "brands" that were exclusive to themselves and would never cross over. So now the amount of superstars they had were literally cut in half - because by having each brand independent of itself - the same wrestlers on each roster have been wrestling each other over and over again.

I think this was the fatal blow to the WWE that has resulted in lower merchandise sales, fewer fan attendance at local "house" shows - and a very significant drop in pay-per-view buys. In fact, while the WWE's programming was the highest rated on cable television last year - it is lucky to make the top ten now. And I truly believe that it was because of the roster "split".

Besides the "split", another self-inflicted blow to the already suffering WWE was when they began to push the sexual envelope. The main demographic, or most popular type of viewers of the WWE, are males 18-34 years of age. And seeing the ratings slowly plummet, the WWE decided to cater to that market by adding sexual flavor to their story lines. The strongest - and most disturbing example of them doing this - was when WWE superstar Dawn Marie married superstar Torrie Wilson's father because she wanted to make Torrie hate her. The day before the marriage, Dawn Marie told Torrie that she would not marry her father - if Torrie would have a lesbian affair with her at the next pay-per-view. When I saw that pay-per-view, which I believe was the last one I saw since - instead of the wrestling matches and plot lines I was used to - I watched two women in lingerie French kissing in a hotel room.

As I watched the "action" unfold, instead of being excited, which is what the WWE had hoped for since I was part of their main demographic - I was freaked out and appalled. All I could think of while watching it was that if one wanted to see lesbians - one can turn to the Playboy channel - because wrestling was not a place for this to be going on. I also thought about the children that were watching and wondered what their parent's answer would be when the child asked why two half-naked women were kissing each other on a wrestling show?

As a wrestling fan for 25 years and as someone who has been involved in the wrestling business for ten years - I sincerely feel that if the WWE wants to return to the glory they once had - and reclaim their lost fans, including myself - they need to abandon the roster "split" and return to the "WWE vs. WCW" story line that saw huge ratings in the past. By having many of the top superstars and "office executives" of the WCW currently on the payroll, and by owning the rights to all of the WCW logos and names - they have everything they need to turn RAW and Smackdown into "WWE vs. WCW" and return to the ratings and fan base they once had. Based on the fact that die hard wrestling fans would have cut off their limbs to see both federations battle before the purchase of WCW by the WWE, based on the ratings that the "Invasion" story line generated - and based on the fact that the Nielsen rating for last week's Smackdown was a 2.8 - a far cry from the ratings they received in 2002, which reached close to 7.0 - a return to the "WWE vs. WCW" story line would be the fuel they need to re-light the fire that burned inside many wrestling fans - including myself - until they extinguished it.

I wish them luck - because I really miss watching wrestling...