The glass is half full. The glass is half empty. Both of these perspectives are correct. Simple enough right? Wrong. An entire culture has been dedicated to studying the balance between Black and White. Imagine if you will the infamous icon of comic book geeks everywhere, the yin/yang.
The yin is Black yet includes a little white and vice versa. The balance that is evident in the world can be easily explained through this concept. This logic even includes the wrestling world.
Heels are Black, faces are White. But what about you as a fan? Do you sit on the yin or yang side of the fence?
The yin fan will yell at their TV as HHH delivers another 20 minute promo. The heel is what drives this fan to watch wrestling. Blacks will cheer for the bad guy and bitch about him too. Usually drawn to WWE’s Black show, Raw, yin fans are vociferously loyal to the product. If there is nothing to complain about then the show is not worth watching. If you have seen WWE TV recently, there is plenty of fuel for this fire.
As an Internet fan, you are probably driven by the blood lust that is so common in the Internet Wrestling Network (we are definitely not a community). Cheering for heels is what a yin fan does, while chanting BO-RING at live shows is a close second favorite pastime . By understanding the yin, we are able to clearly identify the yang fan, or in Internet terms, the marks.
Do you remember John Cena’s two tone tights? If you do, you are probably a yang fan. As a fan of the White side, you would be able to easily appreciate a below average showing of Smackdown or Raw. You understand that bad moments and average shows only make the bright moments brighter.
Yin followers bitch, moan and love every second of it. Usually while wearing their old Stone Cold shirt, they enjoy sitting with their buds on Monday night, sucking in every second of Diva TV time and lamenting the advancement of any storyline not involving HHH. What else could a yin complain about if that was not happening?
Yangs love SD and their resident White guy, Teddy Long. Yins love to hate Bischoff and his crack staff.
Yings see the Apocalypse of pro wrestling on the horizon; while Yangs see future World champions in Bobby Lashley and Ken Kennedy…Kennedy. There is hope for these fans where no hope ever existed for the yings.
One without the other could never exist. So the next time you find a columnist’s work too annoying or too positive, s/he is only doing their duty by adding a little Black/White to your life.
This week’s homework: Which side of the fence are you on, the yin or the yang?
Last Week’s Homework – What could elevate Smackdown! back to being a top-tier show?
More great responses, let us get right to it:
The most direct response as from Antonio Figueroa
It is a simple, 2-step plan.
1- Restock the US division. Right now, the US division is Benoit and Jordan. No good. Since RAW is in DESPERATE need of tag teams, trade a few mid-carders like Paul London, Spanky, and Heidenreich to RAW, and bring Rob Conway, Hurricane, and Matt Hardy to Smackdown!.
2- Rearrange the Heavyweight division. Kick out Rey (its HEAVYWEIGHT for a reason, so that Cruiserweights can’t compete for it) and trade him to RAW, and knock Batista back down to mid-card where he belongs. The Smackdown! heavyweight division would then include- JBL, Eddie Guerrero, Undertaker, Booker T (brought up from mid-card), Christian (same thing), Edge (traded for Rey), and Chris Benoit. It would give Smackdown! a heavyweight division far more diverse and vastly superior to that of RAW.
Excellent, Frankie D. has an idea that I like a little too much:
If they hired wrestling fans, then the storylines, feuds and even the matches will be of the best quality because true wrestling fans (not marks) have more knowledge about wrestling then the writers they have hired combined. During the Taker/Orton segment on Smackdown I thought of at least 3 different outcomes that would of been more enjoyable then Taker knocking Orton into the coffin.
This idea is unique and hits home:
The 2 ideas I’ve come up with are making all characters ridiculous and using only nick names, IE advertise No Mercy as Latino Heat vs The Animal and actually announce it as that Rather than announcing it as Eddie Guerrero vs Batista. The other idea is to go overboard in selling the titles, IE the Heavy Weight Champ gets to make matches, give champs power.
Thanks Joe Blackshield for the good reply.
Next up is Miles X from Mosque No. 7
My suggestion for Smackdown? Get rid of it. Viacom is going to kill the show soon enough anyway, and it would be great for the WWE and the industry in general. Batista, Orton, Benoit, Mysterio, Christian and a few others can go back to Raw and make it a helluva lot better, and those lower card wrestlers who are cut from the roster can go over to TNA and help them out to add fuel to the fire for the inevitable WWE-TNA war. And everyone knows, war means ratings,baby. It’s high time there was one only roster and one world champion in WWE.
Send the B-Show packing and let’s make Raw as good as it used to be.
The TNA fans are making their way to the mainstream, look out.
Among his many points, Rich Allen reaches deep for this thought:
What should WWE do about Smackdown? Well I think that it is in need of
not only bigger talent but a better place to be seen. It appears as
though if a Smackdown superstar starts to really get things going for
himself he ends up somehow switching to Raw. Now I know that Raw is THE
show in WWE but if you want to have a second show and have it at least try to compete with Raw you can’t ship anyone who really gathers a fanbase over to Raw.
And before the bell rings, Michael has to get his two cents in:
1. Rejuenating the Look: Since its inception, I believe that SmackDown! has only updated its set only 2 times or so. I am a fan of the colors, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t like the way by which the stage looks right now…Call me picky, call me anal, but I think it’s been ‘too much of the same ol’ look” for far too long. It’s time WWE rejuvenated it’s look for the Friday Night Franchise, and give it a fresher, crisper feel, in my opinion. Also, I am NOT a fan of Michael Cole, so if by chance, someone can get rid of him…PLEASE do so…NOW. I think Tazz does a tremendous job, and I feel he has certainly come quite a long way, but I don’t think he “clicks” with Cole anymore, it’s as simple as that…Let’s move on, NEXT!
2. “Na-na-na-nah, Na-na-na-nah…”: This one’s just as easy to follow-up on…GET RID of Palmer Cannon (he’s still working for Ultimate Pro-Wrestling, so, he’s got a job either way), I cannot stand this guy, and also, get a NEW General manager. I loved Teddy Long (the ref) but this far into his tenure as GM of the Friday Night Franchise, I cannot take it…He can “hook-me-up” as his “numbah-one-playa” all he wants, but I’m not for that stuff. Get another “big-name” (Mick Foley, “Stone Cold”, Stephanie, hell, even a Shane-O-Mac return’ll brighten my day) personality to take the helm of the SmackDown! brand.
And lastly…
3. New Champions, Anyone?: As much as I loved Dave Batista when he first burst onto the scene, now, he’s been down-sized just a tad. I don’t blame it on him alone, he’s only playing-up what the creative team comes up with. I think he’s done a fairly decent job at carrying the strap since WrestleMania, but now, I feel he needs to drop the belt. I’m hoping that at “No Mercy” he loses to Guerrero, because he’s a guy I LOVE watching, I can totally see him wearing the strap again, and rightfully so! And what’s with Benoit and that damn U.S. title, huh?! I say get rid of that, have him drop it to *someone…anyone* (the title means NOTHING anymore, let’s face it!), and have him and Guerrero go at it for the World Championship…That’s “SURVIVOR SERIES into the RUMBLE right there, folks!) Don’t even get me started on the Tag Team titles…My goodness, Legion of Doom, my ass…Get the belts back on MNM as soon as possible…Either that, or bring in the Shane Twins…NOW! And lastly, but certainly not least, can the WWE kill a division any-more-so than the already have with the Cruiserweight division? I didn’t think so either, but hey, they’re STILL doing it! I say take a look at who they have: London, Mysterio, Nunzio, Spanky, Funaki, S2H, Akio, etc., etc. Do what’s right, push these guys to the fullest extent, showcase their skills, and maybe…just maybe…they’d have something half-of-what TNA’s got…Simple as that…My brain’s on overdrive and I need a drink…I’m done!
Before I go…This one goes out to Aaron Rift and all the people in the back, NoDQ, this one’s for you…BRING BACK INTRODUCING THE IMPULSE…Join the Movement, people…I need my job back! 🙂
Thanx everyone for the feedback. Because of my short column, I was unable to include every piece of feedback. Keep it coming.
This week’s HW – This week’s homework: Which side of the fence are you on, the yin or the yang?
Until next time…
Eviluther99@yahoo.com
AIM – MrBrownsClass
