2010 Pro Wrestling Thread

I'd love for this to be true, but I just don't see any indication that the WWE is ready to get rid of the kiddie shit. I've even read tweets from Steve Austin saying the PG era is a great business decision.

I don't really understand it, but people have said that the PG era has dramatically increased corporate sponsorship money and merchandising, which has more than offset any losses in ratings and/or PPV buys.

From my early childhood through about the 10th grade, I was a very loyal pro wrestling fan, watching just about every show of the week. I guess I stopped watching on a regular basis around the time of Wrestlemania XV. I don't really know why I stopped watching around this time. I guess I just got bored with it.

Anyways, around the start of the new year, I decided to give pro wrestling another shot, and have been a pretty loyal follower, watching most of the PPVs and Raw on a regular basis. My cable company doesn't carry the channel that Smackdown airs on. So far, my biggest criticism of the current WWE is that it's so...damn...repetitive.

I don't think I even mind the "PG" rating. I liked WCW and WWF wrestling long before the Attitude era. Pro wrestling doesn't need nude women, cursing, and blood in order to be entertaining. There needs to be compelling characters, storylines, and meaningful matches.

It seems like every week the "main event" of Raw is some haphazard tag team match featuring singles performers and/or a singles match that ends in a DQ or no contest. It's horrible. Additionally, the amount of matches that end after interference, if they have an actual end at all, is ridiculous.

For example, the "Wrestlemania Rewind" themed Raw prior to WM XXVI:

Triple H v. Orton -- No contest after Sheamus, Cody, and Ted interfere and beat up both opponents.
HBK v. Jericho -- HBK wins via countout when Jericho intentionally walks out on the match.
Big Show v. Cena -- Big Show wins via pinfall when Batista walks out and distracts Cena.
Sheamus v. Evan Bourne -- No contest after Sheamus attacks Evan Bourne before the bell rings.

THIS IS ALL ON ONE SHOW!!!!! The two matches with clean finishes were Batista's squash of Kofi and the Divas match, which, IIRC, was also a squash.

Also, if you want your product to be more "family friendly," fine, but WTF does Jerry Lawler have to be a FACE!?!!?!?!??!?!!? He's garbage as a face announcer! If I hear Lawler proclaim the Divas "Smart, Sexy, and Powerful!" one more time, I'm gonna break something. Since the 80s, there have almost always been some combination of heel/face announcers on WWF TV. They've always had great chemistry. Monsoon/Ventura, Monsoon/Heenan, King/Ross, Heenan/Vince, Ross/Heyman (I guess Heyman is somewhat of a tweener). I'm sure there are other examples. Lawler doesn't have to be screaming "PUPPIES!!!!!" every time a female appears on screen, but, dammit, why does he have to be a face?

 

I understand the WWE's decision to go PG at this point. If you think about it, right now the company is in a major transitional mode. Guys like HBK, Taker, Jericho, HHH, e.t.c. are either gone, past their prime or approaching the end of their prime and, because of this, the company needs to groom new guys that can carry their shows but also attract casual viewers.

At the same time this is happening, a lot of the people that followed the Monday Night Wars are beginning to tune out. Maybe it's a new-found maturity, maybe it's because things like UFC are more attractive to young adults, maybe it's just because fans in their 20's are sick of it but, for whatever reason, the bulk of the WWE's audience now consists of people over their 30's-40's who will follow regardless of what happens and people under the age of 16 who are just getting into it for the first time.

This translates to a simple approach really. Groom your new guys and do so in a way that sucks in the new generation of fans. For guys like us, it sucks because we were there for the Attitude Era and we know how much more fun wrestling feels when it seems like the feuds and battles are legit and the heat is real. For these new fans, they're there as much to see the Superstar babyface as they are to see the illusion of heroes conquering bad guys.

Give it some time and you'll see the demographic change again. Once this current generation grows up a bit, and especially if TNA actually turns into a real competitor, the WWE will need to adjust accordingly and that's when you'll get a new wave of things that 10 years ago would seem like everyday normal items (I.E. Cursing, blood, boobs) but, to this new generation, will seem brand new and unbelievable.

And I'm OK with that. I long ago stopped pining for the days of Austin vs. McMahon. Now, all I want to see is a compelling story and some good characters/matches.

And besides, WWE is still, pound-for-pound, better entertainment than just about 95% of what's on TV anyway.

 

There was a NY Times article a couple of days ago that discussed the WWE's guest host concept and their change to the PG rating:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/business/media/10wrestle.html?scp=1&sq=WWE&st=cse

In the story, Trips discusses how he is now a father of kids, and he wouldn't have wanted them watching the Attitude Era stuff. So, I'd think that part of the PG reasoning is Trips and Stef are now realizing it's not so much fun as parents to be showing them raunchy programming.

I knew that someday the WWE would look back at some of the things they did with the Attitude Era (Mae Young giving birth to a hand, anyone?) and wonder what the hell they were thinking. And as a parent myself, there was no way I would have let my kids watch Attitude Era WWE either if it was still on.

But as a wrestling fan, I miss some of fun stuff. As ucacm said, it is just too repetitive. You don't see Austin driving a beer truck, or Rock throwing a belt off a bridge, or any real wild brawls anymore (last one that I remember was Kofi/Orton at the Garden). It's gotten too tame. I don't want to see the sex stuff, but I wouldn't mind some blood now and then, especially in a cage match.

It looks like the WWE has evolved with its audience, in a way. The kiddies who grew up on Hogan in the 80s became the college kids in the 90s who wanted hardcore stuff. Now, they are parents who want the nice tame stuff again. Those kids will eventually grow into WWE fans, and want harder stuff in the next decade.

 

I really liked Smackdown again this week, especially Swagger's promo. The confrontation was long and drawn out with him and Big Show, but I think he is finally getting over pretty well as a smarmy, cocky heel. The show also ended well, with the intense beatdown of Mysterio, and started great, with the back-and-forth match between Kofi and Christian.

 

Swagger has been amazing the past couple of weeks.


"The World Famous Perry Deli" had me rolling, as well as "OU DEFENSIVE SCOUT TEAM PLAYER OF THE YEAR" and "NOT BOB!" when Show hit the poster with a bat.

 

*watching SD on DVR*

I absolutely love this Swagger promo...I'm wondering how much of this is legit, since the WWE actually likes to highlight its wrestlers' real backgrounds. Swagger's a smart guy apparently, so I'm curious.

 

I can tell you most of them aren't, but he was a Tulsa World All-State football player in 2000, and he was academic All Big 12. He was only an All-American once according to OU's media guide.

Here's a pic of him wrestling at OU against OSU's Steve Mocco, a 2008 Olympian who whupped Swagger/Hager pretty much every time they met:

 

Looks like they borrowed those singlets and head gear from the Steiner Brothers.
And is it just me or does the OSU guy kind of look like Vader?

 

I don't watch TNA, but saw this link on another forum:

Holy shit. One of the most epic promos ever. This guy might get me to tune in to Impact.

 

That was great. Hemme sold her aggravation quite well, too.

 

Anderson brings it almost every time he's on the mic. Watched Sacrifice last night, and this just amazing. The fans took the 'asshole' bit and ran with it during the match. 'I'm an asshole,' 'We are assholes,' and 'Let's go asshole (in response to 'Let's go Hardy'),' with the *clap clap clap-clap-clap* of course.

 

Utterly fantastic.