Last month at my place of employment, a co-worker of mine got promoted to a supervising position. It came as no shock to me or anyone else since he had been with the company for quite some time, and had always performed to the best of his ability. In fact, we were all excited to see him rise to this new opportunity. We all knew – or at least thought we knew – that this would make the company a better place. We were certain that he would end the old problems that were plaguing us and bring in some better working conditions.
At first, everything was great. There was some new blood in management, and that in turn made things much more enjoyable for those who were lower on the workforce totem pole, such as me. Yet, just a mere few weeks into this guy’s promotion, old problems were returning that we thought were gone forever. In fact, not only we were making zero progress, but things were taking a turn for the worse. Due to this man’s new policies, steady employees who had been with the company for years, suddenly quit. Sales went down, and customer satisfaction was at a record low. In addition to all of that, there was just chaos around the office. Of course, all the blame got thrown on the new supervisor, and a lot of this was his fault.
Eventually, upper management had to come in, and relieve him of his duties. He wasn’t fired, but he was put down to his original level. In his place, the old supervisor was brought back in until such a time where his position would be filled once again. In essence, the office was right back to where it started. What we all thought would help us make stellar progress, actually brought us down even more in the end.
Now you’re probably saying, Tim, that was a great story, but what in the hell does this have to do with wrestling? Well, this whole experience really got me thinking. In a lot of ways, these series of events mirrored a lot of what goes on in wrestling, and I’m going to give you an example right here.
Anyone who is even just a casual follower of TNA Wrestling knows that Jeff Jarrett was the NWA Champion several times, and during the majority of TNA’s existence. As time went on, Jarrett became more and more boring, and fans and critics alike started clamoring for a change. They felt that TNA would never get good buyrates or ratings until someone else stepped into the title picture.
Well, in February of this year, those critics were finally appeased when Christian Cage won the NWA Championship from Jeff Jarrett. Yet, it will soon be two months that Christian has held the belt, and ratings are still the same, if not lower in some aspects. By now, word has definitely gotten out that Christian has upset Jarrett, but this obviously hasn’t clicked with the rest of the professional wrestling world. The remedy that everyone thought they had in Christian has turned into a fluke. No progress has been made. Is he a better choice than Jarrett? To some yes and to some no, but the facts show nothing has benefited TNA yet. I like Christian just as much as the next guy, but he obviously isn’t the solution to TNA’s problems as everyone thought he was.
So even though we all “thought” that Christian would solve the TNA main event situation, we were wrong. Perhaps this is why WWE should be given more credit then they get. They know what truly defines a star. Now of course this all my opinion, but if you think about it, it makes sense. WWE obviously had bad premonitions of Christian being in the main event, so they never let him reach that level. This isn’t a knock at Christian or Christian’s fans (hell, I’m a hardcore peep!) but this concept seems to reign true. Christian was given a role in WWE: the role of a mid-carder, and that’s what obviously suits him best.
In life, we all have roles that we play. Whether it’s a position we have at work, in school, or on a team, we are given roles that suit us best. Wrestlers have roles, just like all of us. Facts seem to show that Christian’s best role is a mid-carder. In WWE, fans say that Rob Van Dam should be given a push. I feel that his best role is a mid-carder. Same goes for Matt Hardy, and even the entire Cruiserweight Division, as examples. They are all in roles that suit them best, and that are best for WWE as a whole. Could you really see Matt Hardy as a credible champion? Could you honestly see a cruiserweight feud drawing in massive crowds?
As internet fans, we all claim that what we want to see will better wrestling. Yet often times, we truly never know what we want, even in real life. For example, at work, I wanted my co-worker to become supervisor because I thought it would make things a hell of a lot better. Instead, things went crashing down around him. This guy was obviously meant for the role he had already been given, contrary to what we all thought. As soon as he got his “push,” we then found out that he wasn’t the man for the job, which is the same thing we see with Christian right now.
If we always got what we wanted, what would the world turn into? For instance, everyone wanted Edge to stay the WWE Champion going into Wrestlemania. Just look at what we would have lost if that had been the case. We would have lost Edge versus Mick Foley (a match that everyone is praising as the show stealer) and we would never have seen John Cena’s best match to date against Triple H. Speaking of Cena, what would happen if he was suddenly turned heel as the whole internet seemingly wants? WWE would lose a lot of their core audience, since that’s who follows Cena. Less people would buy his merchandise, and that in turn might make prices go up. We might have to pay more for pay-per-views and t-shirts. Yes that’s a long shot, but these are the kinds of repercussions that occur when fans clamor for a change they don’t think through all the way. Edge and Cena were meant to play the roles they were given, and it all turned out for the better.
Now of course I truly believe that we can rise above roles we are given. I feel that my co-worker can definitely do the supervising job again if he gets the proper training, and more time to fill the shoes. I also feel and hope that Christian will become a better asset to TNA. He needs a bit more time to get out of his role as the career mid-carder, same as JBL needed in 2004. No one is ever stuck in their current role in life, but if they want to go higher up on the totem pole, they need more time to mold their credentials.
In closing, we all need to take a step back sometimes. We all may think we know what we’re talking about, but in reality, we seldom understand the whole picture. If things are thought through to a better extent, then everything – not just wrestling – will be much better off.
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Until next time this has been From the Eye of the Dragon…
