2009 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

Young versus old hasn't worked yet. By necessity you have to make the young guys faces because they're the plucky underdogs that want their shot at the brass ring, and the old guys want to keep them away. Which is why Millionaire's Club vs. New Blood has no chance at working, even if they had the best writers and bookers ever booking it.

It also, in its own way, proved why Main Event Mafia vs. Whatever Name They Settled On For The Young Guys in TNA failed so miserably, because since the MEM had the established names, they were more over and people cheered them over -- Rhino and Team 3-D and Styles and whoever. Of course, fantastically horrible booking killed it (why did Joe join them again? are they the Frontline or the Originals or what? why were Rhyno and 3-D on the side of the young guys?), and that combined with other confusing elements (who the hell is running the show?) to make sure it wouldn't add any viewers. And now Rhino and Team 3-D are doing their own young vs. old thing, only representing the old paranoid guys scared that they're getting pushed out. Maybe they can hook up with Steiner and reform the MEM, since he's being booked to still think the thing exists).

And face/heel combined elements rarely works. nWo vs. WCW was believable within the context because you had these invaders, and everyone hated them, and they were willing to put aside their differences to work for the common good. Like Independence Day, except half the Earthlings switch allegiance in A SHOCKING SWERVE and it goes on too long with no satisfying conclusion, and for some reason they keep making sequels. But for those first few months, it was platinum-plated awesome.

But it hasn't worked since. The Invasion angle was a total turd, because nobody wanted to cheer for WCW (as noted above) and you never got the idea they were ever a threat to the WWF way of life. Nobody buys Raw vs. Smackdown-related stuff because nobody believes anyone cares THAT much about branding, and then you get weird dynamics (why are we supposed to boo Cryme Tyme on Raw when they "invaded" just because they're wearing Smackdown shirts when they've never been potrayed as anything but faces? why do good guys and bad guys want to team up,and how can they team up?) Since there's no tradition of parejas increibles in the U.S., attempts to do it on any great level usually fall flat. The closest you get is the old "two guys who want the same singles title somehow win the tag team title" angle, but that's been done to death in the last 10 years.

The upshot is that omnibus angles need to have something really compelling to drive them. nWo vs. WCW had it. Young vs. old and Brand A vs. Brand X don't. It hurts character development because everything is geared towards something bigger, so why bother building up individual feuds within it? And even if they do, it's usually forced so badly that nobody buys in.

 

tl;dr.

 

14.5 inches. This isn't USA Today, dammit.

And if you really hate tl;dr, never ever read a Wrestling Observer cover to cover. Last issue was more than 40,000 words. On a slow news week.

 

I haven't seen, let alone read, a WO in years.

 

Part of the reason why the NWO angle worked originally was that the Internet wasn't as prominent. It was only just starting up. Fans didn't really know about hirings and firings of wrestlers.

I remember when Scott Hall first came out to interrupt Nitro. It was like, "Holy shit! What is he doing there?" You weren't quite sure if it was part of the script or not.

Now, there's so much that is open about the business, it's rare to see any surprises. The last shocker I can recall was Cena's return at the Rumble.

 

And even that was being posted different places on the net. At least people speculating it was him did.

 

Someone refresh my memory (I.E. I wasn't watching during that time period). What was so shocking about Cena's return?

 

He was expected to be out until that Wrestlemania, possibly not returning until the summer, but he showed up as the No. 30 entrant. It was a rare shock in that everyone knew he was there, of course, but nobody knew he'd be coming out.

 

WWE is apparently going back to two brands:

Credit: PWInsider.com

It's been reported this week that major changes are coming to WWE in the early months of 2010, with the ECW brand likely being shut down. According to a report, WWE also has big changes in store for the Smackdown brand. The feeling is that RAW has enhanced its identity with the Guest Host concept and Smackdown needs something of its own to stand out. While nothing official has been decided on yet, it's believed that any big changes will take place after year ends.

 

The odd thing is that ECW had established a reasonable presence as the national developmental brand, with Punk, Kingston and Sheamus moving on to bigger and better things. Of course, it's hard to develop new workers and new gimmicks and try them out in relative anonymity if they're getting national TV time, whereas someone debuting from or returning from Florida Championship Wrestling with a new gimmick can come in with a fresh slate.

Not sure what they would do with Smackdown to give it its own identity. Use it to hit the Hispanic market harder? Make it the adult brand of the two (even though Raw, with the later start time and the cable network clearance, seems like that would be the R-rated show)?

And if MyNetwork TV goes down, as many are expecting, they're going to need to find a place for Smackdown. Maybe they kill ECW and give Smackdown the SyFy spot?

 

No chance SD becomes the adult version of WWE since its long been billed the family-friendly version of wrestling.

 

The big problem with the ECW brand was ... the name. I never really got behind it because, to me, ECW means the old ECW of the 90s. If they would have put the current show on with a different name to use as a developmental show, I wouldn't have had a problem with it. But keeping the show called 'ECW' just doesn't seem right to me.

The other thing is, since Raw has the guest host, Smackdown shouldn't. You need some sort of divide, although seeing wrestlers switch from one brand to another at the drop of a hat doesn't help things. (Seriously, are we really supposed to care that Jericho may not end up on Raw anymore when he'll probably be back on a month after he loses the tag titles?)