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As the reality sets in over Bryan Danielson's retirement, and those tears that so very many of us fought back during his speech last night on Raw fade, a moment happened where every one of us, from pro wrestler to production staff, pod casters to dirt sheet pundits, were in the same house for the first time in a long time. We were all collectively there attentively watching and sharing a moment about the sport of kings – its history and its legacy, its joys and its pains – and we did so because it is real to each and everyone of us on a level that sometimes we forget as we get lost in the minutia that gravitates around our passion to watch this sport grow and flourish. I get it. Hell, I'm guilty of it myself more often than not. But the takeaway is that we had a moment only equaled by Mike Quakenbush's speech about the state of the business, and how this art form remains in its infancy still. If this is true, (and the rule of thumb would suggest that it is where what wrestling was back in the 40's and 50's is not what it was in 80's and 90's, nor what it is evolving into in the 10's and 20's) how do we as a proactive (more often than not, hyperactive) community build from last night's moment moving forward?
1. Rebuild the territories
2. Incorporate or remove niche based wrestling
3. Return to the trade craft
4. Provide a narrative
5. Continuity, Consistency, and Character Development
Rebuild The Territories:
WWE is already taking steps to grow the talent pool as it were. Recent events including the myriad of injuries to most of its top guys have painted the larger issue left over from WWE becoming the sole superpower in the world of wrestling in a specific relief. More is more, and WWE, as it struggles to grow the branding of the network and of NXT, has gotten caught in this never ending quicksand of more faces, more content, or drown mentality. So much so that rumors and accusations abound about how WWE is trying buy talent in bulk from various organization, all but shutting down these smaller promotions if and when it happens. Where guaranteed contracts were all but unheard of prior to the Monday Night Wars, cross promotional contracts are becoming a thing spearheaded by TNA as it struggles to stay relevant in their new television deal.
The problem initially started by buying up promotions like ECW and WCW only to strip them down and sell them off for parts. In doing this as WWE has discovered is that you lost that talent pool of 'ready for primetime' talent to call up from the minors if and when you needed them. Its no secret that WWE continues to struggle in cultivating appealing characters. After all, most of their memorable stars came from elsewhere with the gimmick and the necessary seasoning to get over. You only have to look as far as the Wyatts, the Blood Brothers, or even New Day to witness how bad or inconsistent packaging of a performer the WWE continues to be. And this ultimately leads to characters that will be easily forgotten. Rest in Peace Hornswoggle. We barely knew ye.
So how do you remedy this? WWE has already begun this process with recent acquisitions of Bullet Club members, and Austin Aries with more still to come as Triple H himself and others search the globe for fresh faces and raw talent. This is also in conjunction with an open casting call for new 'talent.' But these are slow moves where broad strokes are necessary. So what do we do else more potential talent fades away in the obscurity of TNA?
Truthfully, the NXT brand is going to be the reinvention of the territorial era of the sport as the brand continues to grow and begins touring more. Such facilities as the one at Full Sail will begin cropping up over the next few years in California, Canada, Mexico, Texas, Japan, and England as a matter of necessity for the WWE to survive its own undoing. These new training facilities, I would hope, will focus more on their own style and content rather than becoming a homogenized 'finishing school' as the WWE has been known as for decades. After all, who wants to watch multiple shows of the same exact thing (Raw, TNA, Smackdown, ROH). Okay, perhaps I am wrong on this last point. Just the same, diversity is key as it holds WWE accountable for the lackluster product it puts out. It, like any other artist, needs competition to stay active, culturally relevant, and consistent which it hasn't been since the turn of the century.
But fair enough. I maintain that WWE, over a period of fifteen to twenty years, will have rebuilt out of necessity that which Vince tore asunder out of hubris under the NXT banner. Its too smart of a business venture that offers nothing but rewards for Vince to ignore. The only fallout from this would be that as wrestling, like any sports team, goes through a rebuilding process, it will be awhile before wrestling can hit a coveted third golden age in the sport. Realistically it might take longer where the rippling effects of destroying the territories has yet to subside.
Incorporate Or Remove Niche Based Wrestling:
There is nothing wrong with niche based wrestling such as Lucha Underground, ROH, Progress, Chikara, or Evolve except for the fact that they are examples of what is wrong with the sport right now from a marketing standpoint. I refer to it as the Jim Cornette equation. Either ECW in its height takes over, thus destroying the years of tradition, of trade craft, and all that carried wrestling forward as it re-educates fans to a more contemporary, smash mouth style, or it dies under the boot heel of its more established predecessor as the case was. After all, there can only be one where each style act incongruous to one another in all that we think or feel about the sport of kings. Simply put, its an issue of logic and how far it can be stretched before it becomes implausible. Specifically, how can a simple ddt, piledriver, or the like be enough to put a man down for a 3, or even a 10 count after the same man is unaffected by repeated chair shots, strikes from a sledgehammer, fire extinguisher, etc. Its not, and therein lies the problem. So at some point this type of show has to implode upon itself or wrestlers commit to actual coliseum type blood sport else it becomes a caricature of itself rather than performance art testing the bounds of a person's want to buy into a particular mythos.
So to resolve this, there are two ways to tackle this aspect of the business – either you double down by putting all the niche based wrestling under one umbrella (say WWE buys them up hypothetically) and you run with it offering these varying themes and styles allowing your audience to decide on their own what to watch before each particular style fizzles out where there is only so many ways it can reinvent itself through the Jim Cornette equation, or you incorporate elements of each into your overall product as WCW did during the rating wars that made them immensely successful. You cannot have both where such entities cannot and will not coexist without causing further damage to a product that, by its very nature, seeks mass appeal rather than target specific recognition to gauge its level of success.
Further, it isn't outside the realm of plausibility to incorporate the campiness of a Chikara with the athleticism of an ROH, or even the novella narrative of Lucha Underground into a TNA and/or WWE product. Shades of which have been done before, and, as I will discuss later, if a particular theme is committed to, no matter how implausible it might seem on its merits, can lead to a profitable outcome. But everything in moderation as the saying goes.
Return To The Trade Craft
This is, in effect, the 'Shit On The Sport' era as I have sardonically dubbed the modern product. One that has little in-ring psychology, or matches that little care to illicit a visceral reaction that extends beyond the skill and grace that goes into a methodical spotfest of stuntmen like acrobatics while mindless fans whom never watched an actual wrestling match in their life chant 'This is awesome.' Did that one hurt? Kinda hit you where you live? I thought so.
To quote Jim Cornette upon this very topic – '… no one goes to see the stuntmen in a movie.' But more than that, 'the matches' as they were once colloquially referred to, do not offer a crescendo in reaction as each match builds toward the main event sending fans either into a euphoric state or a riotous rage depending on the outcome as they once did. Nor do you hear stories of how the heels (does such a thing exist anymore?) had to be sneaked out of the building and carted away in the trunk of an unmarked car else they would be knifed, shot, or otherwise cause mass violence. Such trade craft and or devices have, as Scotty Riggs recently confided in me, died out with only the memories of which resting with what few veterans that remain. Additionally, former great Rip Rogers suggested to me in a conversation – “These boys are getting rich doing what they are told to do (so why rock the boat?)”
Perhaps, but it doesn't have to be that way. The result of which has produced a byproduct referred to as Sports Entertainment which offers little sport where most of the shows are dominated with talking segments by guys (or girls) with little to no skill upon the mic, or vignettes that in no way enhance the product, nor pushes the storylines forward. A most recent example highlighting the disparity of in-ring skill (including promos, character development, and charisma) pitted the Rock against everyone in the back of the WWE roster, and virtually everyone working through the ranks to get to the 'big dance' that is the WWE. As the ten o'clock hour kicked off on Raw with Rock vamping to the audience, former wrestler Lance Storm responded to a question asking how long the WWE should like the Rock go off script – “For my money, the rest of the show.”
The reality is that the Rock, one of those once in a generation type of talents could have done it. And he would have been wildly successful and entertaining in the process. But therein lies the problem. Whom among the WWE, the NXT, ROH, TNA rosters show a glimmer of what the Rock has? Rhetorical question aside, far more needs to be invested in product over production. A Kevin Dunn framed piece of shit is still a piece of shit no matter the amount of banners, fireworks, or other such accoutrement you dress it up in.
But be not disheartened, there are quick and easy fixes, and there are long term solutions to right this sinking ship. All of which are being ignored by the WWE model of sports entertainment that, for whatever reason, everyone else from ROH to TNA tries to emulate. One easy fix is to direct the storylines to play out in-ring with the announcers doing more than offering nonsensical filler like Micheal Cole or JBL. What made the likes of Monsoon, Solie, Schivone, or Tenay great were their ability to elude to possible turns, twists, or out and out swerves without ham-fistedly shoving them down the fan's throat further making the product predictable and more contrived than what it already is.
Less is more, unless its' not – If you are going to do talking segments, do them from various locations spread throughout the arena offering a bustling feel of activity for fans watching. This was done well during the 1980's and 90's with the WWE where this device was used effectively prior to, or even after hack writer Vince Russo co-opted it as his own in his beloved 'Crash TV.' Same can be said for the backstage, or barnstorming brawls in-ring. Have them mean something. Stage them and build them up to where people in the front row are falling out in reaction to the beat down taking place. And then get that shit on camera. That type of reaction from fans elicits a greater reaction from the fans watching at home that are insulated from what appears to be an organic 'happening' rather than a scripted scene.
Use plants … not actual plants, but return to the days of a granny in the audience smacking the shit out of a heel. But … Make. It. Believable! Sell. That. Shit!!
Rumor has it that the plant used in Jericho TV was injured during the altercation on last night's Raw, and will be out for six to eight weeks. Ridiculous right? No, feuds have been started and sustained over months due to something as silly as that, but done so where the wrestlers involved bought into the idea and sold the shit out of it. Anything can be real until it isn't. And it isn't when you don't sell it. ABC – Always Be Selling.
From wigs, to guitars, to jackets, to belts, to even invisible friends, if you, as a performer, buy into it, and then you go out and sell it, it can be real even when it clearly isn't. But we don't see that level of performance from those that would much rather be referred to as performance artists or 'talent' – such a word just wreaks of self importance and/or vanity. And it is because of such phrasing that the sport, in a sense, has become too self aware, and in doing so realizes that there is nothing inside therefore there is nothing outside to offer so they vamp... ineffectively, changing-the-channel vamp.
'I loved that damn ficus plant! I will avenge it this Saturday in the Sportatorium in a Last Man Standing Death match. Be there!' Commit or go home.
Provide A Narrative:
'While I was on the road bouncing from town to town, the loneliness got to me. I was just shy of being sober for a year. I wanted to make it to that point to prove to myself that I could do it, that I had the strength and the courage to manage it. More than that, I wanted to achieve it for those that believed in me even when I gave them no reason to do so, or even for those that didn't believe in me so I could shove it in their smug faces. So yeah, when it was three in the morning, everyone was at the bar or trolling for some strange, I filled the void by talking to my ficus. And as silly as it might seem, I honestly felt a connection with it. I shared with it stuff that I have forgotten I have buried away for years. So when you broke its leaf on Raw, you son of a bitch, that impacted me. That manifested all the hate, all the rage, all the turmoil left inside. You say you are going to hurt me? I hurt already. You say that you are going to break me? I am already broken. This Saturday at the Sportatorium I am going to show you what it's like to be broken as well – physically, emotionally, spiritually. And when the dust settles, my friend the ficus, will have its revenge. And I will have my retribution. Only one of us will be walking out of Texas. I promise you that!'
As hackney as this promo might be (sorry about that .. proving a point), this is more of a narrative than comes in the modern product. It is as if the old style of selling the feud, or building to the ppv is contrary to the overall purpose of a show, which leads me to wonder what is the overall purpose? Right now in the WWE universe I know of two feuds – Reigns versus the Corporation, and Brock versus the Wyatts. But this is kinda a thing, but not really, where Brock is facing the Blood Brothers for a chance at Wrestlemania while the Wyatts are feuding with Big Show? You understand that this makes no sense right? And had this happened back in the second golden age of wrestling the booker of the given promotion would have been bounced out on his ear. But this is what wrestling is now where the story is as incidental as the wrestling, and I'm not even sure what we are left with outside of a fucking train wreck on live tv.
I think that it is safe to say that everything seems thrown together at the last minute with little continuity to it, and therefore no credibility. Again, its the 'Shit on the Sport' era, and I don't understand why. But at least the WWE as it further embarks upon becoming the MTV2 of Sports Entertainment (hinting of music and/or videos before changing the format entirely to scripted reality based television which is an oxymoron in itself) offers the impression of storylines. TNA at this point might as well burn the house down, collect the insurance money and base their product out of England where clearly nothing of importance matters where they pop for God knows what because what TNA is doing only resembles wrestling in name alone at this point. ROH as well because who in the fuck is watching it at this point? Let me ask you something … if you finally invest in production value and no one is still watching while you take a shit in the woods, did you actually take a shit or did you piss it all away when you had some semblance of talent that could raise you up higher than being a glorified indie promotion?
Continuity, Consistency, And Character Development
For the record I am a fan of Abyss. I was a fan of NWA TNA as well where it was the last bastion of a complete show (offering something for everyone in a fast paced, high energy environment) after WCW went under. So it pains me every time I blast Abyss on twitter for Abyss being on fucking twitter. Why in the fuck would you have your heel, someone that you have clearly reinvested in where you brought in two lackeys and a valet to build a carnival themed out of be pissing away any credibility that he has by shilling the show on social media?
Seriously, I will let the dude punch me in the fucking jaw if he can give me an intelligent response because he knows better. He has been around long enough, and the shit that Rip was telling me, though true, still doesn't fly. Why not let your heel be a fucking heel? Matt Hardy, the std riddled twat that he is, is more of a fucking heel on social media than your top heel where he is on there every night shit talking and putting fans on blast. And I say good on you for doing it Matt. Now make the turn and amp it up to 11, otherwise you are just kinda douchey and the fans are right about you no selling like a bitch.
The sport lacks credibility because there is no consistency to it. There is no consistency to it because there is no character development. The above is probably the best example of which. And let me state that even though TNA doesn't know how to work a heel properly, obviously, WWE doesn't even fucking try to have a heel at this point. Whose the heel in WWE right now on 2/9/2016 and does it fucking matter? Answer: No one knows, and not it doesn't fucking matter because this isn't sports, and its barely entertaining, so what you have is a clusterfuck of spotfests and juiced athletes that won't lay off the shit long enough to get healthy.
Take a breath. Okay, good. Alright, so yeah. We, as fans, collectively shared a moment with Bryan's retirement. And the tears that were shed will fade and the frustration will return. Clearly a lot of work needs to be done to save the sport of kings. For all the negatives, there remain so many positives. The traditions and the trade craft that made wrestling what it was, and all those unique memories that galvanized us into a community of fans and friends alike, has so much power, and can inspire so much passion that for all of my own frustrations, I know in my heart of hearts can continue to be as awe inspiring as a Flair vs. Steamboat match, as dramatic as a Hogan slamming Andre, or a Superfly off the top moment. But it can also be life changing and heart wrenching all in the same moment as I watched and I wept along with countless others when we celebrated the life of Warrior one week after his final appearance on Raw. Wrestling is real to each and everyone of us because those moments have impacted our lives while giving us something cheer for, or to boo. It is visceral, it is cathartic, and it is real … then, now, forever.
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