We can only imagine how bad the WWE would be doing right now if there were a legitimate alternative to the Stamford group. Almost all of the news items (which should be taken as likely, but not undeniable) circulating around the Internet community of late have been read with mounting incredulity and you sometimes wonder if the McMahon family aren’t trying to sabotage their own company as some sort of insurance fraud scheme. Releasing ‘good’ wrestlers then keeping and pushing less talented ones, hiring writers who have no previous experience of pro-wrestling, reducing the airtime afforded to matches whilst devoting more and more minutes to non-wrestling segments or outlandish storylines and burying their heads in the sand when faced with clarion cries from fans regarding what we want to see on our screens. Divas, midgets, love-machines, bullies, giants, blackmailers, jilted lovers and pseudo-terrorists have replaced athletes as the main characterisations on both shows and the WWE seems intent on ramming it down our throats until we puke, just to see if we’re willing to pay good money for the experience.
One problem seems to be that Vince is obsessed with creating celebrities, not wrestlers. As long as they look good, talk smoothly and can either sing, act in movies or star in their own tv shows then being able to wrestle doesn’t matter too much. From a business standpoint, there is one massive advantage to this and it’s that wrestlers get injured and need time off on a regular basis whereas celebrities are protected, pampered and far easier to rely on than someone who’s lying in a hospital bed. I guess it’s only a matter of time before WWE wrestlers have stunt doubles to take the trickier bumps for them. Actually I’d go further in comparing the current state of wrestling to the film industry. The WWE represents the Hollywood studios making big budget blockbusters that are short on depth and substance but sell the most tickets and have a broad appeal outside of its own genre. The independents consider themselves to be more artistic and refuse to pander to the masses, retaining a sense of introspection and craft that will ultimately stop them from benefiting from mainstream popularity. But as film-making has shown, it’s almost an impossibility to find the perfect balance of critical acclaim and commercial success and Vince has done what he always does, preferring ticket sales to five-star reviews.
On roughly the same subject, not only are writers with little or no wrestling experience taking control of the company pen but several higher-ups, including the eventual heiress to the WWE Stephanie McMahon, are keen to provide more non-match segments at the expense of actual wrestling. Firstly, remember that everyone can write or suggest anything they want but it won’t make it on screen unless Vince endorses it, so this idea that someone is in charge with no former promoting knowledge is a complete fallacy. This change in direction is not happening because the ship is out of control but because it is being steered very specifically by someone who should know better. And does. I’m finding it difficult to see the reason why the WWE is locked into an either/or mindset. You don’t have to sacrifice wrestling to create storied, exciting television and conversely you don’t need to make the product bland just to sell technical matches. You also don’t need to have multiple heel/face turns or plot twists, just look at Eugene winning Kurt’s gold medals on Raw last week. It was uncomplicated, involved basic human emotions and was logical. You don’t need much more than that. Have you noticed how after years of anti-heroes (Austin, Undertaker, Guerrero) the faces are becoming more classically optimistic and good (Eugene, Cena, Hogan) and the bad guys are returning to their cynical ways (Jericho, Carlito, JBL, HBK)? I think this is a good move because the time seems right to reintroduce the white hat wearing good guy, as long as the structure of the feuds is reset to earlier times otherwise the faces will appear soft and ineffectual against their more underhanded opponents.
In defending the WWE (and I appreciate I’m not doing a lot of that here) there is usually an aspect that makes you feel like they’re maybe trying something different or taking risks to present a refreshed product but that’s not the overriding feeling right now. Something has gone wrong and a good match or an enjoyable Raw or Smackdown is merely a plaster over the cancer.
So there it is. Bad writing, not enough wrestling and the wrong direction. That was easy.
Unfortunately the main reason is this: the WWE and Vince McMahon HATES YOU. If you are reading my words then you are a part of the Internet community and Vince believes with all his heart that you know nothing, you think you know everything, you don’t understand, you’re not his REAL fans and you don’t contribute to the success of his product. He thinks that those people who cheer at live events, buy his merchandise, purchase the dvd’s and order the PPV’s are different from those who post ‘news’ items, write columns, visit wrestling web forums and read spoilers and match results as they come in over the net. It seems as though McMahon is starting to regret breaking the fourth wall of pro-wrestling and, because it’s too late to stuff the truth back in the box, he’s attempting to confuse ‘smart’ fans by running contradictory work/shoot storylines, even to the point of extending them outside of his own company’s parameters. Interviews with ex-WWE employees and non-storyline news reports on wwe.com are a transparent effort to out-‘scoop’ the Internet wrestling sites in the hope that fans will abandon true independent writing and shelter under the corporate umbrella, presumably so they can drip the worked element back into our understanding and regain control of our reactive process. And the proof for this? Has anyone seen a really positive statement about the Diva Search on Internet wrestling posts? No? So how come it’s one of the highest rated segments on Raw? Why is it that the majority of comments suggest that the Hardy/Edge feud is already getting stale when the fans at Raw are still going nuts for Matt’s run-ins and chanting his name ever louder? Why do the fans go absolutely mental for John Cena when the circulated perception is that he’s coming across a bit forced and fake and his ring skills need to be improved? Why should the WWE bring in and push new wrestlers when Hogan, Animal and Piper get better responses than any of the rookies? Does Vince really not know that nearly every Internet fan wants an end to the damn roster split? OF COURSE HE KNOWS. But he won’t because he’s right and we’re wrong, he’s a billionaire and we’re not and screw you for not knowing the difference.
Calm. I’m calm.
If you want a more specific example, look no further than last week’s Raw diatribe by HBK where he ‘shoots’ on Hogan, supposedly against the wishes of the management. Bear with me. In slagging off Hogan in a shoot style, HBK is not just alienating those fans in attendance but aligning himself with Internet fans who tend to be anti-Hogan because of his age and condition. Plus, can any ‘smart’ fan resist a good shoot seeing as they’re far more fun to discuss than worked promos as Hardy, Heyman and JBL have proved? Vince is creating a scenario where you have the face (Hogan) and the ‘real’ WWE fans on one side and the heel (HBK) with his newly acquired Internet following hanging on his every word in case he shoots again on the other side. Just when the Internet thinks it’s playing outside of the box, Vince pushes out the boundaries of the game and benefits from that which should weaken his product. It’s a tough pill to swallow but if you’re watching his show then you’re part of the problem and McMahon will always be pulling more strings than you. Even this column just proves what a sucker I am because, in berating his company, I am promoting it.
Thing is, this is nothing new. I know sometimes it seems as though things were simpler in the old days but it was exactly the same. Even when Hogan was at his height there was still a massive groundswell of support for suppressed talent like Rude, Savage, Piper and Hart. But looking back now it appears as though everyone knew their place and the fans wanted the undercard to shuffle quietly below him no questions asked. We’ll always be outside of the loop. Promoters, staff and wrestlers will forever have the rationale that we can say what we want as fans but “we don’t know what we’re talking about because we’ve not been there and we’ve not done it”. But as fans, we’ll always be what they’re not. We might not have been there and we might not have done it but we did buy the tee-shirt. We bought so many of them that it’s our hard-earned money that allows Vince to buy his new house or JBL to buy another stupid hat and it’s when they start forgetting this fact that we get our power back. You may run the company Vince, but we fund it and without us, there is no show. And no one to watch it.
Lee
