HereticPB
01-22-2005, 02:58 AM
I would like to tell you about myself towards wrestling my view on wrestling and what I think is wrong with it then I will ask for your input on what is wrong.
Well about me, I grew up watching wrestling since I was about five years old. I grew up on WWF and WCW. I used to watch the WWF wrestling shows on Sundays on the USA Network I believe it was Superstars. My uncle would always take me to the WWF when it came to town and even one time got a chance to go back stage and meet and take pictures with wrestlers. I got a cool picture with the Ultimate Warrior. One day I noticed WCW on TBS and I got hooked on that. Fast-forward to now, I am an avid fan and enjoyed the crap out of the Monday night wars flipping back and forth between channels. I am truly sad that I just caught the tail end of ECW but that was great wrestling. I have wrestling figurines of many past wrestlers so I guess you can say I am into it.
My views on wrestling: You hear it all the time wrestling is gay two men sweating grabbing each other that is sick. You must be insane or gay. I do not see it as that. From the 50’s to current, Wrestling has been a mainstay for America hell even a past time though a quiet one. Wrestling was huge in the 50’s even on TV. In the 60’s and 70’s, wrestling was in a down time or a dip it was not huge. Then the 80’s hit and it was an explosion all these cool, awesome, bigger than life characters were all over. Near the end of the 80’s it was sliding down in popularity it took till about 1994/5 to start becoming a big deal with the start of the Monday Night wars. To get to the point, I see it as the Romans did as Entertainment though in those days, the loser died. But I see it as two guys trying to kick the crap out of each other for a purpose, a goal, a belt, to be the best. Wrestling is an interesting entertainment idea and is sports to some extent and many of these guys are so acrobatic and the moves are so damn awesome that it has to get respect.
What I think is wrong with the WWE in a type of an outline. I believe several things are wrong with the WWE today. The problems vary between writing, character development, the look of the show, music themes, matches, and etc.
1 – The Power of Threes:
What I would like to call the simplification of the Shows and PPVs or what I would think is called the power of 3’s. Now what I mean by this is there should be 3 dominating shows that the WWE promotes, sales, and produces. The Three shows should be Raw, Smackdown and a third called Extreme. There will be no Heat or Afterburn or the other show WWE puts on because frankly, I do not know about these other shows cause I do not watch it as they are not important to the story of the big two shows. Each show will be 2 hours each and will be spread evenly across the week say Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each show will have talent that will be able to move freely between the shows while some lower card talent remain respective to the shows. This would create feuds and other stories that cross the franchises as well as move the low card talent to higher aspects of the bigger stars by allowing them to work. Each show will have their own announcers that will play towards the action, the story, and the crowd. Another Idea that has not been used in awhile is a special show like a mini PPV on like Saturday nights. I remember WWF back in the day having a show on NBC late night called Saturday Main Event and WCW with I believe it was Starcade that was free on TV a couple of times.
PPV’s are an interesting topic. I believe it is time for Wrestling PPV’s to be three hours long and you can see it is working with TNA as they are playing with 3 hours. This gives more time to have a match that is quality and showcases all talent and not just a few. Going back to the Power of Threes format, the PPVs will have 3 parts for the 3 shows. Each hour will go to each show meaning Raw gets an hour, Smackdown, and Extreme or so to make it not restrictive they can mix and match like they do already. The PPV will have 3 announcers eac announcer is from their respective show.
There will only be 12 PPV’s a year and only three shows. Why this? Because it allows the shows to build the PPV matches as well as build talent to the story. By having limited shows and PPVs it creates opportunity for better match and story development, which I will get into in section 3.
2 – Match/Show pacing:
What I have seen of late, is varying match or show speeds. Some shows seem extremely hot due to the crowd being pumped because of the show moving quickly with great matches. Other times there are great matches but the show just drags on and on. This is due to the pacing of the shows. The shows need to have a high energy and fast pace. And to do this is to cram the show with effective high quality matches. To do this, the ring size needs to be smaller allowing for quicker pace matches as what can be seen from the days of WCW with the Cruiserweights. The guys were flying around crazy and this is due to the small ring, which allows them to get moving faster and springboarding higher. Also to improve the pacing is to return to the ways of Vince McMahon, Vince Russo and company idea of Crash TV where things are happening left and right during matches. Run-ins that disrupt matches, or other matches or fights happening during a match say like out side the ring or in the crowd. Or doing things during matches similar to Carlito Caribbean Cool with his petition thing on Smackdown.
3 Writing and Character development:
The writing of all the shows is completely horrible. I see it, as Soap Operas with like the former Man Show thrown in. Which is good on their own right but when you combine them it kills it. Wrestling is a Soap Opera if you can believe that it has a story a start beginning, and end. They get you hooked, keep you hooked and drop you an ending. At least, they are supposed to. What I see in the WWE is they are plopping you, the fan, right in the middle of something and the fan, you, are scratching your heads saying HUH? Yes,they do start ideas and they try to keep you hooked but then there is either a stupid ending, or end with no explanation, or no end at all just here you are that is it. The writing has to improve in ways of story and character development. The WWE needs fresh writers that know about Wrestling know about creating stories, and getting those ideas across the TV. What the WWE has now is old school wrestlers, owners, owner’s family members, and sitcom writers being the creative team. They need creative writers that can think and create stories that are interesting that can capture the mind and make people say “Ohh, that was interesting”. Know I know this is hard to do when wrestlers get hurt and they have to change the story on the fly but it has to be done correctly or the show is going to be crap with 3.7 to 2.0 ratings.
Character development is crucial and important for creating characters and WWE can at times create some cool characters like Undertaker (Original, Lord of Darkness), Mordecai, The Brood, Papa Shongo, etc. The problem I see most now is characters that are being created with their real names. I find this stupid and quite boring. Would you rather cheer for Steve Williams or would you cheer for Stone Cold Steve Austin? Would you cheer for Paul Levesque or The Game? Would you cheer for Randy Poffo or Randy Macho Man Savage? Terry Bolea or Hulk Hogan? These days we have Shelton Benjamin, Simon Dean, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, etc. The last two were characters before moving to WCW with their real names. If it were not for Razor Ramon or Diesel would people be cheering for Nash or Hall? I guess this would be kind of going back to the days of old with characters or what Triple H hates and calls cartoons in his Making The Game: Autobiography/ Body building book. One thing I do agree with H on is reality but with the cartoons thrown in to use his word.
4 – The Look of the Show:
I feel it is time for the WWE to change the stages, music, and openings again. The stages are getting stale. The music for the opening of Raw especially needs to change though it is good. I think they should go back to the old Raw music for Raw and something different for Smackdown which I believe just changed. I believe the Original Raw theme would fit for Raw again or use their music connections to get a hard band to recreate the original Raw theme or modify it. I suggest Godsmack. In fact if you listen to Godsmack’s Vampires you hear the Raw theme or something close to it. I believe it is time to put the ring in the spot light and not the crowd and the ring. Which means turning the lights out around the crowd but a big spotlight on the ring like old style Boxing or Wrestling and of course like I stated above a smaller ring. I also think, as for the Raw part is to put the announcers back on the floor near the ring and make the breakaway tables cool again.
5 – What do you think?:
What do you think of my ideas? What do you think is wrong with the WWE? What specifically? Why? If there is something that another wrestling group is doing and is well liked say that. Is there anything from the past that might help or any other ideas that are bubbling out there?
Well about me, I grew up watching wrestling since I was about five years old. I grew up on WWF and WCW. I used to watch the WWF wrestling shows on Sundays on the USA Network I believe it was Superstars. My uncle would always take me to the WWF when it came to town and even one time got a chance to go back stage and meet and take pictures with wrestlers. I got a cool picture with the Ultimate Warrior. One day I noticed WCW on TBS and I got hooked on that. Fast-forward to now, I am an avid fan and enjoyed the crap out of the Monday night wars flipping back and forth between channels. I am truly sad that I just caught the tail end of ECW but that was great wrestling. I have wrestling figurines of many past wrestlers so I guess you can say I am into it.
My views on wrestling: You hear it all the time wrestling is gay two men sweating grabbing each other that is sick. You must be insane or gay. I do not see it as that. From the 50’s to current, Wrestling has been a mainstay for America hell even a past time though a quiet one. Wrestling was huge in the 50’s even on TV. In the 60’s and 70’s, wrestling was in a down time or a dip it was not huge. Then the 80’s hit and it was an explosion all these cool, awesome, bigger than life characters were all over. Near the end of the 80’s it was sliding down in popularity it took till about 1994/5 to start becoming a big deal with the start of the Monday Night wars. To get to the point, I see it as the Romans did as Entertainment though in those days, the loser died. But I see it as two guys trying to kick the crap out of each other for a purpose, a goal, a belt, to be the best. Wrestling is an interesting entertainment idea and is sports to some extent and many of these guys are so acrobatic and the moves are so damn awesome that it has to get respect.
What I think is wrong with the WWE in a type of an outline. I believe several things are wrong with the WWE today. The problems vary between writing, character development, the look of the show, music themes, matches, and etc.
1 – The Power of Threes:
What I would like to call the simplification of the Shows and PPVs or what I would think is called the power of 3’s. Now what I mean by this is there should be 3 dominating shows that the WWE promotes, sales, and produces. The Three shows should be Raw, Smackdown and a third called Extreme. There will be no Heat or Afterburn or the other show WWE puts on because frankly, I do not know about these other shows cause I do not watch it as they are not important to the story of the big two shows. Each show will be 2 hours each and will be spread evenly across the week say Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each show will have talent that will be able to move freely between the shows while some lower card talent remain respective to the shows. This would create feuds and other stories that cross the franchises as well as move the low card talent to higher aspects of the bigger stars by allowing them to work. Each show will have their own announcers that will play towards the action, the story, and the crowd. Another Idea that has not been used in awhile is a special show like a mini PPV on like Saturday nights. I remember WWF back in the day having a show on NBC late night called Saturday Main Event and WCW with I believe it was Starcade that was free on TV a couple of times.
PPV’s are an interesting topic. I believe it is time for Wrestling PPV’s to be three hours long and you can see it is working with TNA as they are playing with 3 hours. This gives more time to have a match that is quality and showcases all talent and not just a few. Going back to the Power of Threes format, the PPVs will have 3 parts for the 3 shows. Each hour will go to each show meaning Raw gets an hour, Smackdown, and Extreme or so to make it not restrictive they can mix and match like they do already. The PPV will have 3 announcers eac announcer is from their respective show.
There will only be 12 PPV’s a year and only three shows. Why this? Because it allows the shows to build the PPV matches as well as build talent to the story. By having limited shows and PPVs it creates opportunity for better match and story development, which I will get into in section 3.
2 – Match/Show pacing:
What I have seen of late, is varying match or show speeds. Some shows seem extremely hot due to the crowd being pumped because of the show moving quickly with great matches. Other times there are great matches but the show just drags on and on. This is due to the pacing of the shows. The shows need to have a high energy and fast pace. And to do this is to cram the show with effective high quality matches. To do this, the ring size needs to be smaller allowing for quicker pace matches as what can be seen from the days of WCW with the Cruiserweights. The guys were flying around crazy and this is due to the small ring, which allows them to get moving faster and springboarding higher. Also to improve the pacing is to return to the ways of Vince McMahon, Vince Russo and company idea of Crash TV where things are happening left and right during matches. Run-ins that disrupt matches, or other matches or fights happening during a match say like out side the ring or in the crowd. Or doing things during matches similar to Carlito Caribbean Cool with his petition thing on Smackdown.
3 Writing and Character development:
The writing of all the shows is completely horrible. I see it, as Soap Operas with like the former Man Show thrown in. Which is good on their own right but when you combine them it kills it. Wrestling is a Soap Opera if you can believe that it has a story a start beginning, and end. They get you hooked, keep you hooked and drop you an ending. At least, they are supposed to. What I see in the WWE is they are plopping you, the fan, right in the middle of something and the fan, you, are scratching your heads saying HUH? Yes,they do start ideas and they try to keep you hooked but then there is either a stupid ending, or end with no explanation, or no end at all just here you are that is it. The writing has to improve in ways of story and character development. The WWE needs fresh writers that know about Wrestling know about creating stories, and getting those ideas across the TV. What the WWE has now is old school wrestlers, owners, owner’s family members, and sitcom writers being the creative team. They need creative writers that can think and create stories that are interesting that can capture the mind and make people say “Ohh, that was interesting”. Know I know this is hard to do when wrestlers get hurt and they have to change the story on the fly but it has to be done correctly or the show is going to be crap with 3.7 to 2.0 ratings.
Character development is crucial and important for creating characters and WWE can at times create some cool characters like Undertaker (Original, Lord of Darkness), Mordecai, The Brood, Papa Shongo, etc. The problem I see most now is characters that are being created with their real names. I find this stupid and quite boring. Would you rather cheer for Steve Williams or would you cheer for Stone Cold Steve Austin? Would you cheer for Paul Levesque or The Game? Would you cheer for Randy Poffo or Randy Macho Man Savage? Terry Bolea or Hulk Hogan? These days we have Shelton Benjamin, Simon Dean, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, etc. The last two were characters before moving to WCW with their real names. If it were not for Razor Ramon or Diesel would people be cheering for Nash or Hall? I guess this would be kind of going back to the days of old with characters or what Triple H hates and calls cartoons in his Making The Game: Autobiography/ Body building book. One thing I do agree with H on is reality but with the cartoons thrown in to use his word.
4 – The Look of the Show:
I feel it is time for the WWE to change the stages, music, and openings again. The stages are getting stale. The music for the opening of Raw especially needs to change though it is good. I think they should go back to the old Raw music for Raw and something different for Smackdown which I believe just changed. I believe the Original Raw theme would fit for Raw again or use their music connections to get a hard band to recreate the original Raw theme or modify it. I suggest Godsmack. In fact if you listen to Godsmack’s Vampires you hear the Raw theme or something close to it. I believe it is time to put the ring in the spot light and not the crowd and the ring. Which means turning the lights out around the crowd but a big spotlight on the ring like old style Boxing or Wrestling and of course like I stated above a smaller ring. I also think, as for the Raw part is to put the announcers back on the floor near the ring and make the breakaway tables cool again.
5 – What do you think?:
What do you think of my ideas? What do you think is wrong with the WWE? What specifically? Why? If there is something that another wrestling group is doing and is well liked say that. Is there anything from the past that might help or any other ideas that are bubbling out there?