It seems these days that a few terms are thrown around improperly on a regular basis. The ones I shake my head at the most are what I call “warped palavers” as they are meant to be used as a way to justify ones stance on a topic that really cannot be defined beyond opinion. Perhaps my favorite of all is the term “compelling” because many use it to define something when the word in general is opposite by meaning. Let’s take a look at how some have misused the term in relation to these current Bethlehem tapings. I’ll cherry pick a few of my favorites from forum pages across the internet.
Stories on Impact are boring and
not compelling in the least.
Follow along with me for a minute
as I tell you this story:
There was an older man who took a new guy on the scene under
his wing. After finding some success working together, the new guy managed to
get ahead at the cost of his mentor. He took a prize away from the veteran who
was helping him and said “no hard feelings; it’s just business.” The veteran
managed to put this aside until one day the new guy secured another reward.
Thinking this wasn’t the big bonus he wanted, he gave this consolation to the veteran.
When the up and comer went to cash in his prize, the veteran snapped and cost
the new guy his big prize. Of course the two came to blows on a very personal
level, but the mental damage was done to the veteran and he would never be the
same.
A few months later, the veteran managed to fall into a
morbid mentality and began speaking in religious dialogs. He started seeking
out those he deemed weak and playing on their emotions. He managed to recruit a
protégé and an apostle to spread his word. He became violent and malicious
towards all, separating sons from father figures, adopting the lost, and even
trying to pit brother against brother. Those who were overlooked and
underappreciated would no longer be as such as he will not allow what happened
to him to happen to those he deemed worthy of his gospel…
Sounds like something out of a crazy religious thriller, but this is essentially the James Storm character over the course of 2014. This transformation and in depth story has been for one specific person on Impact wrestling. While not every week this year has been ground breaking for his evolution, I don’t see how something this deep can be overlooked when making a statement as “not compelling in the least”.
These Bethlehem tapings have NOT
been compelling at all
Coming
out of the NYC tapings, we witnessed a shift of focus for the Carter Dynasty.
With Dixie having been shelved, Ethan became a bit more volatile, fired the two
hired goons, and took out his personal hired gun in Rhyno. When we arrived at
Bethlehem, Carter turned on his employee and Spud was crushed that his best
friend was blaming him for the fall of Madam Dixie. Slowly, Ethan became more
and more abusive towards Spud, mocked him, tore his jacket, insulted him and
even fired him. Ethan took out all of his aggression for what happened to Aunt
D on Spud to the point that he had enough. Through conquering his own
self-doubt (which was reaffirmed by Ethan’s insistent degrading comments), Spud
joined EY in the tag tournament to the loudest pop we have heard all tapings.
The
EC3/Spud story has been built over the better part of a year, but the story of
Spud turning face has been told at these tapings… And it has been told very
well if you ask me. These two play off each other nicely and Spud is a great
sympathetic character in this role. The Bethlehem crowd has played into this
turn, even managing to chant “You’re a Wanker” after Spud made the statement.
You can argue that this would have happened anywhere else, and I would agree
with you. But it didn’t happen there, it happened in Bethlehem and personally,
I have found it quite compelling.
The show has been focused on too
much wrestling and that is not compelling
Since
starting at the Bethlehem tapings on October 1st through this past
Wednesday, there has been 253 minutes of “in ring wrestling” on Impact. That is
out of 720 minutes (if we say 15 minutes of commercials per hour, that’s still
540 minutes) of total Impact since Bethlehem. If we include commercials, then roughly
55% of Impact has been wrestling, but this also includes a 27 minute Full Metal
Mayhem for the Tag Titles, 20 minutes of a #1 Contender 4-way match, 17 minutes
in the Tag Tournament Final, and 17 minutes for Bobby Roode’s title win.
Therein lies the confusion of what is “too much” wrestling on a show. A 50%
split seems like it’s actually a pretty good balance. But my bigger issue with
the statement is the last part.
While I
get that many look for storylines in pro wrestling, matches like Full Metal
Mayhem ARE compelling in my opinion. The 4-way match was great and the battle
between Aries & Roode kept me fully invested. Samoa Joe & LowKi taking
on MVP & Kenny King was back and forth and well-paced. And Roode winning
the WHC back was extremely interesting (for me).
Ultimately, that is what it boils
down too, isn’t it? You see, the warped palaver that is being thrown around is
the idea of “compelling” television. Unfortunately, most of those on the
internet will not tell you that the word is purely subjective as by definition
it pertains to what you enjoy as a person. Impact has provided the key
ingredients needed to be an interesting television show; interesting characters
such as Storm, in-depth and dramatic stories such as Spud & EC3, and even
some great action with a payoff as in Roode vs. Lashley 2. Perhaps we should
look at ourselves and ask what it is that determines a compelling product to
us. When you do, please remind yourselves that what delivers dopamine to your
nucleus accumbens might not be the same for all fans. So try to steer clear of
using warped palavers in your own conversations because you might just take all
the fun out of watching a product we all love.
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