TWhitefield
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From The Desk Of Eric Wright
As I C It: Edition # CS2003-002
Topic: "Traditional" Professional Wrestling vs "Sports Entertainment"
That's right... the man who blew the lid off the Juarez corruption scandal... the only REAL journalist in Professional Wrestling is back with another issue of As I C It.
Now, I know that some of the so called "Insiders" are wondering why my column is appearing here in the "Fan Discussion" section of the CSWA message boards instead of on the front page of the Tribune. The answer is simple. It’s because unlike SOME people, who CLAIM to be journalists, I stand by my reports and don't shy away from criticisms and feedback. In fact, I thrive on it. Frankly, it’s far too easy to throw out comments then hide behind the firewalls that protect this website. Further, some discussions are far too easily dismissed by the powers that be rather than throwing it out to the people who pay the bills. That’s right, the fans that fork over the thirty or forty bucks to sit in a crowded arena next to some fat guy named Burt with hot dog chili on his T-shirt and the wrestlers who bust their asses to put ‘em there. And, I think that this is one such discussion. That being the great debate over the merits of “Sports Entertainment” versus those of what some refer to as the “Tradition” of “Professional Wrestling.”
Of course, this discussion isn’t new. Surely it’s been brought up a thousand times over the last twenty years. Ever since Cindi Lauper first put “The Guiding Light” Captain Lou Albano in a music video the discussion has raged. Currently, this very debate has been worked into an angle for the NWA-TNA programming. It’s a hot topic, and one that both wrestling purists and casual observers have considered for over two decades. This reporter is no different, and I give you my thoughts on the matter as both a wrestling columnist as well as a fan of the craft.
First, we should establish that neither “Sports Entertainment” nor “Professional Wrestling” could or have ever been mutually exclusive. When Gorgeous George strutted around the ring in a way that was far too flamboyant for his time… it was “Sports Entertainment.” And it distinguished him from his peers. But, when he took Lou Thesz to a thirty-minute time limit draw, people quickly forgot about the flamboyance and enjoyed what two skilled “Professional Wrestlers” could do.
When Ric Flair paraded twenty women to ringside in Chicago for a match with Ricky Steamboat… that was “Sports Entertainment.” But, when the bell rang, it was all “Professional Wrestling.”
Like I said… the industry has never been exclusive to one or the other. And GOOD booking means finding a GOOD balance of both. Unfortunately, “Sports Entertainment” has become a quick fix for BAD booking.
Vince Russo said in a worked mic spot (though I’m sure he believes it just as much off mic) that he was the greatest writer in the history of the industry. Now, I’m sure that there are those who would agree. After all, his writing kept the WWF afloat when WCW was dominating the ratings with the New World Order, right? Prior to Russo going to WCW, I heard some people call him a creative genius. Sorry, but this reporter says BULL S#!T.
Did people tune in to see Austin get drunk and swear up a storm? Yup. Hey, I admit it… I watched it too. Did they tune in to watch Kat expose herself to a pay-per-view audience? Yup, they did. But, does the fact that people watch make it good? I’m sure Vince Russo would say yes. But, if, as Russo contends, ratings are the end all be all of “good booking,” I ask you… why stop there? Think about it, what draws more attention than a good three car pileup on the interstate? Come on… admit it, you all slow down and get a good look when you see a windshield with a cranium sized bloody hole in it. If all we care about is ratings rather than the supposed roots of the program (wrestling)… WHY didn’t the WWF announce on Monday Night Raw that they would SHOW Owen Hart splattered all over the ring on Smackdown? Surely that would have garnered PHENOMENAL ratings. But, they didn’t. Because, supposedly, there are some lines that just shouldn’t be crossed.
From the moment we establish that those limits exist, we force writers to come up with ways to compensate. And that’s where “creative geniuses” are born. Catering to human conditioning and instinct is NOT creative. YES sex sells. YES vulgarity sells. Why? Because it caters to the urges that most of us have on some level or another. But, does that make it creative? No, it doesn’t. I can offer a man who’s been in the dessert for three days a glass of water, but that doesn’t make me a four star chef. Some may call Vince Russo a genius… I say he’s nothing more than a glorified water boy who chose rely on the talents of men like Austin and the Rock to peddle vulgarity rather then actually think up something CREATIVE that would put people in the seats.
A ten year old could have come up with the same television (and judging from some of what I've seen in FWrestling over the last twelve years, many ten year olds have) that the WWF pupmped out during that period. And we won't even go into the BAD gimmics they've attempted to pass off as "wrestling" over the years.
No, this is not exclusive to the WWF/E. Anything from WCW involving Hogan, Vader, and Kevin Sullivan prior to the nWo was certainly just as bad (or worse). But, the era of drama over action had already arived.
There are three things I can think of that are unfortunate about the way that “Sports Entertainment” versus “Professional Wrestling” has been played out in the arenas and on the screen.
The first is that Russo (or whoever was writing the WWF product at the time) actually succeeded in saving the company. Despite the fact that it has failed miserably virtually everywhere since (including the WWF/E), the success of the concept through the 90s has cemented it’s presence in the industry.
If it had died on the vine then, we wouldn't need to have this discussion now.
Second, that those who have attempted to counter “Sports Entertainment” with “Professional Wrestling” simply haven’t been creative enough to do a good job of it. WCW would have deserved all the praise in the world if they had succeeded in putting up numbers without the smut. Unfortunately, the in ring talent (Hogan) and the writing staff (Hogan) simply didn’t have the ability.
You cannot counter Kurt Angle with 15 different versions of Brutus Beefcake. Sorry, it just doesn't work.
And third, the image that “Tradition” and “Professional Wrestling” always seems to take on when the cameras run. While part of me did and will always mark out when guys like Dusty Rhodes, Larry Zbysko, and Ricky Steamboat pop up, these guys are NOT the face of “Professional Wrestling” in this millennium. Guys like Chris Benoit, Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Low Ki ARE.
Wasting five minutes having Angle and Benoit go back and forth in a childish rant is made worth while ONLY by the fact that you know it will eventually result in a match of the year candidate (NOTHING makes anything involving Al Wilson worth while). And they do it by WRESTLING. When the bell rings, the gimmick stays in the locker room and the work rate prevails. But phenomenal talents like “Triple X” are wasted when they’re forced to put over guys like Rhodes and the Road Warriors (thankfully that hasn't happened... YET). And Styles’ talents will be wasted on a match with Zbysko. If it were a one-time situation it would be different. Unfortunately, it won’t be.
The worst part is that I’m not quite sure, with respect to NWA-TNA, who is ultimately to blame… Russo, Jerry Jarrett, or somebody else... Whoever are responsible needs to understand one thing… and understand it quickly… “Tradition” does NOT have to mean OLD. And, when they put great young talent like Daniels and Low Ki in with guys who, though I loved them a decade or two ago, are now retired, they FORCE people to accept that somehow “Sports Entertainment” is better than “Professional Wrestling.” Which, I’d be the first to go along with it if weren’t for the fact that “Sports Entertainment” also pushes guys like David Flair, Mike Samson, The Big Show, and a vomit eating Tommy Dreamer down our throats whether we want it or not.
The sad part is that the NWA (and its various divisions) has some fantastic talent. People who daily work matches that are, quite honestly, better than almost anything the WWE puts out. But, unfortunately, most of these guys will probably wrestle their careers away in high school gymnasiums rather then in front of a national audience because guys like Russo honestly believe that necrophilia and sixty year old men dying from too much sex is better TV than “a couple of guys jumping around the ring for sixty minutes.”
Sorry, Vince, but all it does for me is make we want to flip the channel.
Now, the TNA angle may be too early to judge. An optomist could contend that guys like Rhodes and Zbysko still carry enough popularity and name recognition to help the lesser knowns get over. Will the "Legends" keep their egos in check long enough to let it happen? Maybe. Dusty Rhodes demonstrated in ECW with Steve Corino that he can do just that (although when was the last time somebody saw him wrestle other then in the TNA debut battle royal?). But guys like Scott Hall and Sean Waltman have already walked, so it remains a crap shoot.
Russo TRIED a similar push in WCW, representing guys like Billy Kidman and pushing them to wins over Hogan and others. The problem with the WCW version of this angle is that the guys they were pushing had already been held down so long that it wasn't believable that they'd be beating them now (even if it was supposed to have the feel of a shoot).
TNA has a BIT more potential in that the guys they are pushing haven't had as much BAD exposure. But, to succeed, TNA needs to drop guys like David Flair (along with some of the other WCW rejects) and develope the vast array of talent that currently exists in the independents.
The real question is whether or not the man who gave us so much BAD television with the WWF and WCW can somehow reveal himself as the "creative genius" that he thinks he is or if we'll be watching the Disciples Of The New Church be resurected from the grave, flaming cross and all.
Now, I bring up this topic because it applies DIRECTLY to what we do here in the CSWA (along with every other fed). With the media being as it is it's HARD to resist the urge to use drama to compensate for the lack of visual appeal. But, yet, for most of the last twelve years or so that I've been associated with this "industry," we've more or less managed to do just that... allow "workrate" to prevail over gimmicks and fluff. And it's a joint effort between management, writers, and workers that makes it succeed or die.
It's long been maintained by many (myself included) that "Professional Wrestling" and "Sports Entertainment" steal some of their best ideas from FWrestling. Let's just hope that they do a better job of stealing our GOOD stuff and leave the BAD stuff in the board room.
I’ll be back before you know it. Until then, you can rest assured that everything I write is 100% accurate. 100% WRIGHT. And 100% the Truth. At least, the truth… AS I C IT!
-Eric Wright
As I C It: Edition # CS2003-002
Topic: "Traditional" Professional Wrestling vs "Sports Entertainment"
That's right... the man who blew the lid off the Juarez corruption scandal... the only REAL journalist in Professional Wrestling is back with another issue of As I C It.
Now, I know that some of the so called "Insiders" are wondering why my column is appearing here in the "Fan Discussion" section of the CSWA message boards instead of on the front page of the Tribune. The answer is simple. It’s because unlike SOME people, who CLAIM to be journalists, I stand by my reports and don't shy away from criticisms and feedback. In fact, I thrive on it. Frankly, it’s far too easy to throw out comments then hide behind the firewalls that protect this website. Further, some discussions are far too easily dismissed by the powers that be rather than throwing it out to the people who pay the bills. That’s right, the fans that fork over the thirty or forty bucks to sit in a crowded arena next to some fat guy named Burt with hot dog chili on his T-shirt and the wrestlers who bust their asses to put ‘em there. And, I think that this is one such discussion. That being the great debate over the merits of “Sports Entertainment” versus those of what some refer to as the “Tradition” of “Professional Wrestling.”
Of course, this discussion isn’t new. Surely it’s been brought up a thousand times over the last twenty years. Ever since Cindi Lauper first put “The Guiding Light” Captain Lou Albano in a music video the discussion has raged. Currently, this very debate has been worked into an angle for the NWA-TNA programming. It’s a hot topic, and one that both wrestling purists and casual observers have considered for over two decades. This reporter is no different, and I give you my thoughts on the matter as both a wrestling columnist as well as a fan of the craft.
First, we should establish that neither “Sports Entertainment” nor “Professional Wrestling” could or have ever been mutually exclusive. When Gorgeous George strutted around the ring in a way that was far too flamboyant for his time… it was “Sports Entertainment.” And it distinguished him from his peers. But, when he took Lou Thesz to a thirty-minute time limit draw, people quickly forgot about the flamboyance and enjoyed what two skilled “Professional Wrestlers” could do.
When Ric Flair paraded twenty women to ringside in Chicago for a match with Ricky Steamboat… that was “Sports Entertainment.” But, when the bell rang, it was all “Professional Wrestling.”
Like I said… the industry has never been exclusive to one or the other. And GOOD booking means finding a GOOD balance of both. Unfortunately, “Sports Entertainment” has become a quick fix for BAD booking.
Vince Russo said in a worked mic spot (though I’m sure he believes it just as much off mic) that he was the greatest writer in the history of the industry. Now, I’m sure that there are those who would agree. After all, his writing kept the WWF afloat when WCW was dominating the ratings with the New World Order, right? Prior to Russo going to WCW, I heard some people call him a creative genius. Sorry, but this reporter says BULL S#!T.
Did people tune in to see Austin get drunk and swear up a storm? Yup. Hey, I admit it… I watched it too. Did they tune in to watch Kat expose herself to a pay-per-view audience? Yup, they did. But, does the fact that people watch make it good? I’m sure Vince Russo would say yes. But, if, as Russo contends, ratings are the end all be all of “good booking,” I ask you… why stop there? Think about it, what draws more attention than a good three car pileup on the interstate? Come on… admit it, you all slow down and get a good look when you see a windshield with a cranium sized bloody hole in it. If all we care about is ratings rather than the supposed roots of the program (wrestling)… WHY didn’t the WWF announce on Monday Night Raw that they would SHOW Owen Hart splattered all over the ring on Smackdown? Surely that would have garnered PHENOMENAL ratings. But, they didn’t. Because, supposedly, there are some lines that just shouldn’t be crossed.
From the moment we establish that those limits exist, we force writers to come up with ways to compensate. And that’s where “creative geniuses” are born. Catering to human conditioning and instinct is NOT creative. YES sex sells. YES vulgarity sells. Why? Because it caters to the urges that most of us have on some level or another. But, does that make it creative? No, it doesn’t. I can offer a man who’s been in the dessert for three days a glass of water, but that doesn’t make me a four star chef. Some may call Vince Russo a genius… I say he’s nothing more than a glorified water boy who chose rely on the talents of men like Austin and the Rock to peddle vulgarity rather then actually think up something CREATIVE that would put people in the seats.
A ten year old could have come up with the same television (and judging from some of what I've seen in FWrestling over the last twelve years, many ten year olds have) that the WWF pupmped out during that period. And we won't even go into the BAD gimmics they've attempted to pass off as "wrestling" over the years.
No, this is not exclusive to the WWF/E. Anything from WCW involving Hogan, Vader, and Kevin Sullivan prior to the nWo was certainly just as bad (or worse). But, the era of drama over action had already arived.
There are three things I can think of that are unfortunate about the way that “Sports Entertainment” versus “Professional Wrestling” has been played out in the arenas and on the screen.
The first is that Russo (or whoever was writing the WWF product at the time) actually succeeded in saving the company. Despite the fact that it has failed miserably virtually everywhere since (including the WWF/E), the success of the concept through the 90s has cemented it’s presence in the industry.
If it had died on the vine then, we wouldn't need to have this discussion now.
Second, that those who have attempted to counter “Sports Entertainment” with “Professional Wrestling” simply haven’t been creative enough to do a good job of it. WCW would have deserved all the praise in the world if they had succeeded in putting up numbers without the smut. Unfortunately, the in ring talent (Hogan) and the writing staff (Hogan) simply didn’t have the ability.
You cannot counter Kurt Angle with 15 different versions of Brutus Beefcake. Sorry, it just doesn't work.
And third, the image that “Tradition” and “Professional Wrestling” always seems to take on when the cameras run. While part of me did and will always mark out when guys like Dusty Rhodes, Larry Zbysko, and Ricky Steamboat pop up, these guys are NOT the face of “Professional Wrestling” in this millennium. Guys like Chris Benoit, Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Low Ki ARE.
Wasting five minutes having Angle and Benoit go back and forth in a childish rant is made worth while ONLY by the fact that you know it will eventually result in a match of the year candidate (NOTHING makes anything involving Al Wilson worth while). And they do it by WRESTLING. When the bell rings, the gimmick stays in the locker room and the work rate prevails. But phenomenal talents like “Triple X” are wasted when they’re forced to put over guys like Rhodes and the Road Warriors (thankfully that hasn't happened... YET). And Styles’ talents will be wasted on a match with Zbysko. If it were a one-time situation it would be different. Unfortunately, it won’t be.
The worst part is that I’m not quite sure, with respect to NWA-TNA, who is ultimately to blame… Russo, Jerry Jarrett, or somebody else... Whoever are responsible needs to understand one thing… and understand it quickly… “Tradition” does NOT have to mean OLD. And, when they put great young talent like Daniels and Low Ki in with guys who, though I loved them a decade or two ago, are now retired, they FORCE people to accept that somehow “Sports Entertainment” is better than “Professional Wrestling.” Which, I’d be the first to go along with it if weren’t for the fact that “Sports Entertainment” also pushes guys like David Flair, Mike Samson, The Big Show, and a vomit eating Tommy Dreamer down our throats whether we want it or not.
The sad part is that the NWA (and its various divisions) has some fantastic talent. People who daily work matches that are, quite honestly, better than almost anything the WWE puts out. But, unfortunately, most of these guys will probably wrestle their careers away in high school gymnasiums rather then in front of a national audience because guys like Russo honestly believe that necrophilia and sixty year old men dying from too much sex is better TV than “a couple of guys jumping around the ring for sixty minutes.”
Sorry, Vince, but all it does for me is make we want to flip the channel.
Now, the TNA angle may be too early to judge. An optomist could contend that guys like Rhodes and Zbysko still carry enough popularity and name recognition to help the lesser knowns get over. Will the "Legends" keep their egos in check long enough to let it happen? Maybe. Dusty Rhodes demonstrated in ECW with Steve Corino that he can do just that (although when was the last time somebody saw him wrestle other then in the TNA debut battle royal?). But guys like Scott Hall and Sean Waltman have already walked, so it remains a crap shoot.
Russo TRIED a similar push in WCW, representing guys like Billy Kidman and pushing them to wins over Hogan and others. The problem with the WCW version of this angle is that the guys they were pushing had already been held down so long that it wasn't believable that they'd be beating them now (even if it was supposed to have the feel of a shoot).
TNA has a BIT more potential in that the guys they are pushing haven't had as much BAD exposure. But, to succeed, TNA needs to drop guys like David Flair (along with some of the other WCW rejects) and develope the vast array of talent that currently exists in the independents.
The real question is whether or not the man who gave us so much BAD television with the WWF and WCW can somehow reveal himself as the "creative genius" that he thinks he is or if we'll be watching the Disciples Of The New Church be resurected from the grave, flaming cross and all.
Now, I bring up this topic because it applies DIRECTLY to what we do here in the CSWA (along with every other fed). With the media being as it is it's HARD to resist the urge to use drama to compensate for the lack of visual appeal. But, yet, for most of the last twelve years or so that I've been associated with this "industry," we've more or less managed to do just that... allow "workrate" to prevail over gimmicks and fluff. And it's a joint effort between management, writers, and workers that makes it succeed or die.
It's long been maintained by many (myself included) that "Professional Wrestling" and "Sports Entertainment" steal some of their best ideas from FWrestling. Let's just hope that they do a better job of stealing our GOOD stuff and leave the BAD stuff in the board room.
I’ll be back before you know it. Until then, you can rest assured that everything I write is 100% accurate. 100% WRIGHT. And 100% the Truth. At least, the truth… AS I C IT!
-Eric Wright