Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins got hired to be part of TNA’s creative team. If he has good ideas, his lack of experience with fake wrestling won’t matter.
But he won’t have good ideas.
Well, more than John Gaburick, maybe.
Corgan is obviously very creative in other mediums. But, despite his unimpressive history as an indie wrestling money mark, it’s unlikely his creativity will flourish at TNA.
First off, it’s TNA: The place where ingenuity goes to die.
Freddie Prinze Jr. was a fairly accomplished actor who tried his hand at booking with WWE. He failed. Bob Mould of Husker Du – a more kick-ass band than Corgan’s, BTW – was a rocker who tried his hand at booking. He failed.
Mould was part of WCW’s creative team when I worked there. Good guy. Extremely bright. Enjoyed working with him. But his ideas were far out. I vaguely remember one that would have seen Kevin Sullivan die, and then be resurrected. Or maybe abducted by aliens, and then returned.
Yikes. Crazy train.
You can be too clever for wrestling. Good booking has layers of subtlety, but the ideas need to be basic. You need to consider the audience’s lack of sophistication. Even the more intelligent marks check their IQ at the door.
I wonder if anyone at TNA will have the guts to tell Corgan a particular idea sucks? That’s a key to booking, too: Weeding out idiocy. Will Corgan’s TNA colleagues defer to the “big rock star”? Does he understand that he’s a novice?
I don’t see this working.
