Fans do care and would like to see some changes,to start enjoying the shows again….
WWE FANS THAT DO CARE......
I was reading some of the letters that were posted regarding Vince's decisions
and leadership with WWE. At many points I can truly relate to what some of the
others have been saying about where the product has been going these days. I
see the company reaching back into the bag for old storylines and angles that
made the WWE flourish throughout the late 90's which drew a large mainstream
audience. But that is where the problem lies I believe; trying so hard in
getting the mainstream audience excited that the faithful "diehard" WWE fans
are getting let down.
Now dont get me wrong, mainstream is what makes success in the wrestling
business, but this is not the way to get it. A company that tries to bring out
something that was so radically popular ten years ago, dust it off, give it a
spit shine and then feed it to the fans, it never goes quite as expected. Old
news is no news....at least not news that has been so recent in the minds of
fans (mainstram and diehard alike). So in the process of failing with getting
a broader mainstream audience, the "diehard" fan is truly upset at what s/he
is seeing. And then before long, no one wants the product or they look
elsewhere for it.
Storylines and angles are a great touch to wrestling but not as important as
the wrestling itself. We need to get back to the wrestling aspect of the
business. People interested in the angles are watching a small portion of the
shows. If the wrestling is good, it would be the entire show.
Jerry Springer was a red hot show...but only for a couple of years because
there is only so much that can be done with a show of that nature before
viewers see that same or close to the same story over and over again and then
they dont watch it anymore because it isnt interesting anymore. So they turn
on Oprah or etc.,so they can see a regular talk show like they used to, then
in 15 years time they will switch it back to a show like Springer because new
opportunities have been given to push the envelope some more since that time
and now its interesting again. It seems to me that the wrestling business has
had to alternate itself just as fads and fashions repeat themselves over the
years to keep the new audiences interested.
When was the last time you heard "Hey that Mysterio-Eddie storyline was
awesome" or how about this one " That Snitsky-Lita-Kane ordeal was
Excellent!!"...if you did I'd be shocked. What I have heard is how great the
Hell in a Cell was with The Game and Shawn Michaels and how they beat each
other into a bloody pulp, or how about Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle? They
made even the mainstream fans appreciate what they were seeing. Something
tells me that exciting wrestling is what is going to breathe life back into
the WWE if they concentrate on that. Enough of the Divas and their scantily
clad ways, if someone wants sex there are a million other more revealing ways
of seeing it other than WWE.
Enough of the "I'm the almighty and powerfull boss and you are the face so
over with the fans that I am going to try and break you" It's old news, it
doesn't make for interesting television anymore. Why are people sucking up to
all of the legends and the Classic Superstars etc.? Answer, because they miss
what wrestling used to be and embrace what feels like it is back again. They
still are going to enjoy seeing Hogan, Snuka etc., but it's not the reason
people are buying into the Legends push. I wish that someone with authority
could see that red flag. If you had the choice what would A fan buy, a recent
WWE pay-per-view or Wrestlemania 6? Which one will sell quicker? I'd put my
money on WM6 because people remember how cool wrestling used to be.
Well, with everything said above I hope that you found this read somewhat
enjoyable (maybe even amusing..). But I have been a wrestling fan since 1985
of WWE-WCW-NJPW-NWA and I too have been experiencing a heavy heart when it
comes to the WWE. The problem lies in the wrestling aspect and once
concentration is shifted toward wrestling rather than crummy storylines WWE will flourish.
Regards, Chris Triplett 618-267-5937
Oh I just had to reply to this.
First of all, I want to thank Terri for the comments on the site.
For Eli, here we go..................
First of all, you must not have read my entire letter. If you did, you would have read where I told McMahon & Company that I was one of their biggest defenders. I would constantly say that McMahon was a genius and came up with some of the most creative ideas to get a character over. But now, I don't think his company is putting in the same effort. The one thing that I would always say set WWE apart from WCW in the past was that WWE tried to make everyone on their roster (the actual contracted wrestlers) into a star. They had jobbers that would be used as enhancement talent on the Saturday morning shows to make their stars look better. WCW used some of their contracted stars as permanent jobbers and never really promoted the undercard properly. I think that when the Monday Night War came about, this was one factor that made WWE eventually win. While WCW made the entire show about one angle (the nWo and their latest target), WWE had multiple stories going on each week and each one was promoted and made to feel important (Val Venis vs Kaientai with the "choppy choppy" angle comes to mind).
Are you actually having fun each week watching RAW or SmackDown? Do you get that thrill of not wanting to wait until next week to see what happens next? Where are the cliffhangers to end each angle? Wait a minute, where are the angles? I can name you all current feuds/stories in WWE without having to even think. There are that few of them. Cena vs Bischoff/Angle. Waiting for the Eddie heel turn on Batista. Ortons vs Taker. Austin vs WWE (McMahons & Coach) (which just started this week). Flair vs HHH (that one just started too) Benoit vs Jordan (does that count?!?) Trish & Ashley vs Victoria/Torrie/Candice (now I'm just reaching) There are exactly ZERO mid-card feuds (maybe Benjamin & Kerwin, but that doesn't get much TV time and again I'm reaching). There are exactly ZERO cruiser feuds. There are exactly ZERO tag feuds (wait, there have to be more than 4 or 5 tag teams before they can have feuds).
Come on Eli, take off the rose-colored glasses and realize that WWE is not exciting anymore. You say I know nothing about running a wrestling company. OK, I've never done it before. Big deal. I can promise you that my ideas about where WWE COULD BE right now would at least be more entertaining than it is now. Say WWE did begin rehashing all their old angles with new characters? Wouldn't you say you've already read this book and put it down? Why read yesterday's newspaper again? Make new news today and give people something fresh, or you risk losing subscriptions.
Getting back to the current state of affairs within WWE, I think you can look at RAW this past Monday and see three things that make my point for me.
#1: The promotion for RAW before it started was that the McMahons were finally united. Vince shows up solo at the beginning to start the show and wastes 10 minutes talking about JR fired and Coach promoted. That's interesting TV, right? Then Linda shows up on the tron for a few minutes and rambles about nothing. Finally Stephanie shows up to talk to Austin about his proposed match with Coach. Why didn't the three of them, plus Shane, show up together to start the show and then bring out Coach (if that is really what they want to do)? LESSON 1: What was promoted before the show never comes to fruition / angle is not completed the way it originally came across.
#2: Carlito asks for a match against Foley at Taboo Tuesday before he is in the battle royal for the 3rd spot in the main event. Ok, did NO ONE ELSE backstage catch that?!? The CAMERA MAN could've said "Hey, you guys sure you want me to tape him asking for a match against somebody else before he's in the match at the end to determine the main event?" Why did they even put him in the match if we know he's going to be involved in the show somewhere else? LESSON 2: The left hand has no frickin' clue that the right hand is even attached to the same body.
#3: The show ends with Cena & Kane staring each other down. Two men that have absolutely zero heat with each other are caught in a staredown to end the show because Kane dumped 17 other guys out of the ring. That's the cliffhanger I've never been waiting for. I can't ever care to wait to see what happens next between these two. I have no doubt that the fans are ready to dump $35 of their hard earned money to their television provider (*cough*bull$hit*cough*) to see those two plus Angle duke it out over a spinning rim on leather (don't get me started on that one either). Oh, by the way, yes Cena DID give away the ending to the match accidentally on commentary. He must've felt bad about that......COME ON! Nobody will vote to have Kane in that main event, it's gonna be HBK out of those 3! Everyone knows that. HBK can have a good match with a mop (Perry Saturn jokes aside). There is no cliffhanger, no story to keep me watching, no REAL long term planning. LESSON 3 (Contains Lessons 1 & 2 also): Promotion & Planning will get you only so far, but you have to keep the audience wanting more to have them come back for the next dose of promotion and planning. The stories suck, the build up is just for a big let down, and the lack of planning is way too evident. It looks to me like they use the rest of the week to plan and promote, but never get around to writing the show until 10 minutes before it kicks off. Ask Vince who's headlining Wrestlemania 22 right now and he'll probably say whoever's over at the time. If you would've asked him in April of 1997 (right after WM 13), he would've told you that Steve Austin would be the challenger for the WWE title at WM 14 and he was going to win. You know why? Because after his submission match with Bret Hart at WM 13, they used the next year to build him up as the toughest son of a bitch in the world. Do you know how pissed and scared Vince must've been after Owen dumped Austin on his head at Summerslam that year? He was scared he was going to lose his main event for Wrestlemania. They had planned that far ahead back then........AND IT WORKED! Who's being built for that spot this year?
So Eli, you ask me how I can call myself a true wrestling fan? I want the business to succeed. Is RAW still winning the cable ratings? I guess, but that's not good enough for me. I want WWE to be big business again. I want fans and famous people wearing their merchandise, making wrestling guestures (the crotch chop, diamond cutter sign & nWo "too sweet" wolfpac symbol come to mind), saying wrestling catchphrases ("Can you smell it" and "that's the bottom line") on TV, in movies, in print, etc. I want wrestling to go back to the mainstream popularity it once had in the late 90s. I want it to be cutting edge. When The Apprentice came out, everyone was walking around saying "You're fired" and giving The Donald's hand slide guesture. When The Chappelle Show went into it's 2nd season, everybody was walking around saying "I'm Rick James, bitch!" Hell, my parents even know that line.
The bottom line is that WWE will continue to live in the slow lane for as long as they want to because they are their own competition. Microsoft could begin to put out terrible products that kept making PCs reboot every 5 minutes if they wanted to, but then everyone will switch to Apple and they'll go out of business. Until TNA or someone else makes a run for the brass ring, WWE doesn't have to punch the gas to win the race......but why not burn on all cylinders until then and make the finish line an unreachable place?
Todd Oblak
Tags:
