Wrestling in 2016 is in a funny place,there been some excellent highs some bewildering lows and a whole lot thats in the middle. Over the last few years I have found myself no-longer looking forward to my weekly fix of pro wrestling or Sports entertainment, and its led me to ask myself "Whats wrong with wrestling?"
To give you some background on me, I am 34 years old and I started watching wrestling when I was 5 years old it was an epsisode of WWF Superstars I think, I remember it was Superfly Jimmy Snuka vs The Barbarian I don't remember much about the match, but I remember being in awe of these giants in the ring, I fell in love with professional wrestling then and continue to love it to this day.
To give you some background on me, I am 34 years old and I started watching wrestling when I was 5 years old it was an epsisode of WWF Superstars I think, I remember it was Superfly Jimmy Snuka vs The Barbarian I don't remember much about the match, but I remember being in awe of these giants in the ring, I fell in love with professional wrestling then and continue to love it to this day.
The problem is it's not been some grand romance, it's been rocky, REALLY rocky at times, its felt like an abusive relationship at times. I've seen the superhero era, the cartoon era, the attitude era and the spotfest era we currently see today.
It is hard to see sometimes what the business has become, but lets start on the positive aspects of the biz, we have a indie scene which is doing well and means the boys and girls can make decent money outside of the WWE,TNA and ROH, there are still 2 other wrestling companies in the US with national TV deals giving talent an alternative, even if TNA do keep on doing their very best to put themselves out of business, the WWE are bringinig in top indie talent in a way they have never done before.
I try to watch as much as I can but in all honesty I do watch more WWE product than anthing else so thats what I am going to talk about here.
There is no denying we have seen some top TOP matches this year in WWE, they have finally come to their senses and brought in Samoa Joe and AJ Styles, and neither is being buried or given a ridiculous gimmick.They are even treating womens wrestling seriously...sometimes, hell people like Prince Devitt are actually getting a push for gods sake!
It is hard to see sometimes what the business has become, but lets start on the positive aspects of the biz, we have a indie scene which is doing well and means the boys and girls can make decent money outside of the WWE,TNA and ROH, there are still 2 other wrestling companies in the US with national TV deals giving talent an alternative, even if TNA do keep on doing their very best to put themselves out of business, the WWE are bringinig in top indie talent in a way they have never done before.
I try to watch as much as I can but in all honesty I do watch more WWE product than anthing else so thats what I am going to talk about here.
There is no denying we have seen some top TOP matches this year in WWE, they have finally come to their senses and brought in Samoa Joe and AJ Styles, and neither is being buried or given a ridiculous gimmick.They are even treating womens wrestling seriously...sometimes, hell people like Prince Devitt are actually getting a push for gods sake!
Thats all excellent right?
Of course it is, but for some reason, despite the amazing roster, and lets be honest they have some incredible workers, despite the fact that we are seeing 5* matches and some cracking pay per views, despite the fact that a womens match headlined a major PPV, despite ALL that I am more disconnected from the product than ever.
Why is this?
Whats wrong with this picture? How can they have all of the above going for them and still be putting out a product that is so often sub par?
Is the PG era to blame? Would everything be improved by blood, thumb tacks and bra and panties match ups? Nope.
There is a lot wrong with WWE but in the interest in keeping my rambling to a minimum I am going to restict myself to 9 points which really grind my gears;
- 50/50 Booking- this is absolute bullshit, how in the blue hell anyone is supposed to get over with this is beyond me, oh wait they aren't getting over!!!! You have to build people up to get them over, my god if Goldberg had been booked the way WWE no-one would know who he is today.
- Scripted promos- Oh sweet zombie jesus this is awful, you have guys who have no idea about pro wrestling and how to work a wrestling crowd sending the guys and girls out with long scripted promos that to the best I can tell serve only one purpose, and thats to make us sit back and think "huh Hayden Christensen's acting was acutally pretty good in the Star Wars prequels." I mean my god these are not professional actors you are dealing with, these are wresters and they are never going to learn how to really work a crowd or really "get over" with this scripted bullshit. I mean it is just horrible to listen to at times, it makes me want to take a hacksaw (hooooooo!) to my ears just so I dont have to hear any more. The guys need to be sent out with bullet points on what they need to do and just be left to get the message out in their own way, thats how you find your character and your voice. The best characters have been the onces who could be themselves with the volume turned way up. If you see a wrestler who doesnt really know who they are, then why should we care?
- No-one is getting over- Now bear with me on this, look at the roster, really look at it and tell me who in that locker room is really over. To my mind in WWE at the moment there are 3 people, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, and when hes here the Undertaker, sure you have guys who are popular but no-one who feels like a star, no-one who puts bums in seats or sells pay per views. This isn't due to lack of talent its more related to poor creative and perplexing booking.
- Creative & Booking- At the moment WWE seem to me to be a Wrestling company that are ashamed of being a Wresling company, over the years we have seen more and more people with no wrestling experience being brought in. These people have no instincts for the business and have no business in wrestling, not in top positions at least. On top of that they seem to have the attention span of a brain damaged goldfish. And my god will someone please listen to the fans, stop being stubborn and turn Roman Reigns heel, yes the boos are annoying, no its not Romans fault but its not forever you know, you can turn him back and maybe by then it will actually mean something and people will like him again.
- No-one is selling- Ok a lot of my gripes so far have been with the office but this is on the boys and girls. It seems more and more like basic in-ring psychology is a thing of the past, you have people jumping about with this mexican jumping bean style of wrestling to quote Jerry Lawler, just nailing spot after spot with no sense of telling a story, they are just living for those "this is awesome" chants. The problem is its too much, it loses its impact if I see the same guy "defying death" by thowing himself to the outside of the ring every single week in every single match. And when you have more than one guy doing this, as is currently the case, its even worse! I am all for great high spots but less really is more, these things mean more if they are used in moderation. Even the top guys don't seem to know how to sell, or don't do it consistently, the other night watching Hell in the cell I saw Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins both shrug of a superkicks like they had a cushion thrown at them, that move used to "knock people out" people have won world titles with a superkick. WTF. Ultimately it seems Wrestlers, have forgotten or are not being taught the fundementals, work a body part, sell when you are hurt, without that big comebacks don't mean a damn thing. This isnt just the wrestlers fault the road agents who help lay these matches out need to shoulder some of the blame for this.
- Cool heels - Over the last few years heels, with a few exceptions, seem more concerned with being cool, and selling their merch than they are with getting people to hate them. So if the heels are cool then why in the hell do you want the faces to win? The Miz, Rusev and over in NXT the Revival are for me some of the only people in WWE who seem to get how to work like a heel, Seth Rollins was an awesome heel until he set foot in the ring, then he worked full babyface with high spots and impressive moves galore, the business is crying out for a main even heel who the fans can really loathe, Owens could be that guy but he's not there yet.
- The audience - I don't know about you but I am so sick of the fans going into business for themselves, its just getting stupid now, Roman Reigns is a perfect example, hes not being booed because hes a bad wrestler that is clearly not the case, its not even about him being rammed down our throats anymore, hes being booed because its "the cool thing to do" and so the audience get to hijack the show, just stop.
- Kicking out of finishers - I am ok with this in moderation but it is happening all the time now and it only serves to make finishers look weak, back in the day for example the Stunner more often than not meant the end, game over, on the rare occasion someone kicked out it made it a huge deal.
- 3 Men annoucne teams - I have never liked this, I dont think it works and I think it causes more harm to the product than good.
