Oil:Water as Internet:Wrestling
It seems that Ric Flair was onto something when he complained about Internet fans knowing too much about the business. If you think about it, he has a valid point. Replace Ric Flair with you and the Internet fans with your parents. You don’t want them in your business. If you are an adult fan, place yourself in Ric Flair’s shoes and replace the Internet fans with your clients.
A doctor will tell you nothing is more annoying than a client that knows a few medical terms. Conversations in that office could fill hours of reality TV slots. No one likes a know it all; especially ones that do nothing but type away at their keyboards because they are too pathetic to fill their time with other activities.
Enter the Internet wrestling fan. The arrogance that many websites possess is off of the charts. We get “news reports” about what the WWE is planning on with out a source ever being mentioned. We get “reporters” that paraphrase news from other sites and then add their own two cents and present it as fact. For weeks reporters reasoned that Jericho would obviously lose to Cena because of his impending tour with Fozzy. And yes, these reporters were right.
But what about all of the times that reporters “spoil” matches for us and are wrong based on that same logic?
The WWE constantly finds itself in scramble mode trying to keep information secretive but not to much avail. Reports flood the Internet about how wrestlers feel about certain situations, yet there are no names attached as many know that their jobs would be at risk for revealing insider information. This excerpt is a classic example of how Internet journalists can spoil WWE storylines:
Because the wrestler has a history of using his website to work Internet fans, one should take this particular tease with a grain of salt. The likelihood of Jericho having worked out a deal with TNA is not very strong, and the odds are that the graphic was merely a comedic attempt to generate publicity.
If Jericho were to sign with TNA, however, it would greatly shock WWE officials. The impression he gave upon leaving was that he had no desire to sign with TNA and would return to WWE in 2006.
What sources are presented here? How does this journalist know that the WWE officials in question would be shocked?
It is work like this that has tainted the efforts of the WWE writing staff and forced the WWE to look to alternative methods to make their storylines viable.
The WWE has gone so far as to try to manipulate fans through their own web site. Leaking news about Brock Lesnar visiting Titan Towers was a likely preemptive move to avoid the misinformation that has would have likely spread throughout the Internet world. Kane being “arrested: by Cleveland police was a desperate experiment to trick the naïve much like the Matt Hardy swerve angle tricked the know-it-alls.
In the early 90s it was only necessary for the announcers on WWE programming to say it was so for us to believe it. Now we sit at our computers giving live accounts of PPVs, Raw and Smackdown to gauge each other’s opinions. Could you imagine sitting in a movie theater chatting on AIM to get people’s opinions about the joke you just heard? Absurd, is it not? Yet many of us do that twice a week, every week.
The Internet has given this columnist’s voice ears to hear the rants that used to fall flat at the foot of the TV stand. And it is the eyes and ears of readers like you that have helped to take something away from wrestling. With forums and columnist positions readily available for anyone wanting to write, we no longer watch wrestling as a source of entertainment. Many Internet fans are now watching wrestling for an idea to spark a column or a forum thread. Instead of being entertained, we have become skeptics. Armed with bootleg backstage information and a few insider terms, we have become insufferable know-it-alls, which in reality, know shit. Wrestling was entertainment and the reason so many columnists fall by the wayside is that it has become a job. Add one more to the scrap heap.
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Random Thought
If the roster split were to end, you would be left with a card full of superstars and none of the junk we are sometimes forced to watch as we wait to see if a star would be born.
Here is what would likely remain if the shows were rejoined:
Batista Big Show
Booker T Carlito
Benoit Edge
Christian Snitszky
Eddie G. HHH
JBL Cena
MNM Kane
London Angle
Orton HBK
Rey Rey Shelton
Steven Richards
Regal Jericho
Undertaker
25 wrestlers, excluding females, would remain on the roster. If the WWE were to create realistic divisions, including tag teams, you may expect better performances out of your wrestlers. Also, prior to the roster split, we were blessed with great tag teams because the title picture was so crowded. Teams like Jericho/Benoit, HHH/Austin, Rock/Foley, and Kane/Undertaker put on great matches in the mid card and kept the shows hot from beginning to end. The roster merge would require the elimination of the cruiserweight division, but does that division even exist outside of Velocity?
Even though talented workers would be lost, it would not be the first time talent has left the WWE airwaves. You may even argue that the talent let go is misused now anyway and would be better off in another promotion.
With the future of Heat and Velocity up in the air after the WWE’s return to USA, this might be the golden opportunity we are all waiting for.
