Why is there such a lack of faith in the wrestling fans of today?
Over the last few weeks, I’ve taken a look at a few different booking situations. Together we’ve explored the potential to salvage a stagnant career like that of the Big Show, the potential for creating new stars while simultaneously restoring the tag-team division and giving ECW a niche within the WWE product, and the potential effect of letting a talent’s personality speak for itself, specifically through Dolph Ziggler.
For those of you who regularly listen to the Voice of Wrestling, exclusively here at Wrestlezone.com, or if you are even a small part of the Internet Wrestling Community, chances are high that you have an extremely low opinion of the booking situations in either WWE or TNA.
Mark Madden made the case that in TNA, the staff and talent are merely there to collect a paycheck while Panda Energy are still footing the bill. Nick Paglino made the case that Vince McMahon is out of touch with the reality of what wrestling is and what purpose it should serve.
In case you didn’t read my debut article, I’m from California. Being a kid who grew up in and out of LA, and being that I inherited the sentiment from my father, when it comes to football, we’re a Raider family. I admittedly fell out of it for a while, but these days the love is stronger than ever. I even hold season tickets.
One day it dawned on me. Being a Raider fan is a lot like being a professional wrestling fan. It doesn’t matter who ends up in Oakland or the WWE, you’re still going to root for them and hope for the best, but once they lose their luster, you have no problem letting them go, potentially long before the organization does. The rest of the sports world thinks it’s hilarious that you go in for the cartoon sideshow of either Sports Entertainment or the Silver and Black. The Raiders are a mockery of the sport of football. The WWE is a mockery of the sport of wrestling. Both the WWE and the Raiders have owners who were once considered genius visionaries in their fields, but are now far removed from their glory years due to the game passing them by. And most of all, we the fans just take all the criticism in stride.
If you wanted to continue with the football analogy, TNA is like the new upstart UFL. The only big names there are NFL outcasts like Dennis Green and potentially Michael Vick. They will fold in a few years due to mismanagement and attempted emulation and competition of a more established product. I guess that makes ECW the USFL. We could say that Rob Van Dam is Steve Young. But then that would make it complicated since the WWE is really more like the AFL in the grand scheme of things…although they did buy WCW long after the territory system…
I’m lost in my own metaphor.
Anyway, the point that I’m getting at is that Creative Teams these days are anything but that.
Chris Jericho hasn’t exactly been dealt any great storylines lately, but he has turned them all into something believable and entertaining. Randy Orton has been wrestling the same core group of guys for the last three years yet is still seen as a credible and believable champion. The Undertaker hasn’t needed to be in a title picture to sell Pay Per Views since the mid 90’s.
I’m really not one to toot my own horn, but based on the positive feedback that I’ve been receiving, the few angles that I’ve proposed would be met with the approval of at least the internet fans. That doesn’t count for much, but it’s certainly something. That’s a bit disconcerting for me though.
