Monday, December 17, 2018

Thoughts/Opinions On Couple Things I Wanted To Air Out (Mostly WWE)


Some random thoughts and opinions I've decided to churn out of my system since I've been asked certain things, or just some shit has been nagging to be talked about. Besides how many other wrestling sites or writers would dare say the things I do? I'll give you hint, none really.

Someone asked me, “What would it take to get you to watch WWE shows on a regular basis again”?

A fucking miracle.

Now the many people who have known me for years will be cracking up laughing at that reply, because they know that's exactly my sentiment for that company's shows. They need a miracle and it's been shown time and again that Vince McMahon, doesn't want fans like me anymore interested in his programming. I used to watch it, hell one of my go to things from that company was when Ricky Steamboat faced Magnificent Muraco and he and Mr. Fuji 'hung' Steamboat with a belt. Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch as a tag team there is another. Flair when he showed up there wearing the NWA World Title belt was a shocker nobody saw coming. But then? We started getting Dusty Rhodes wearing polka dots, Dick Slater as “The Rebel”, you see how this is starting to go down hill?

Plus look at how they've fucked up when they golden eggs that would've maintained interest for a long time to come, But because WWE has no damn clue on how to properly promote something they never created to begin with, They fumbled stumbled and fell on their face with having the NWA, ECW and WCW invasion angles. One look on Youtube, SMW vs USWA or even ECW vs USWA are proper examples of how invasion angles are done.

Which brings me to another question I've been asked quite a bit recently. “If you were in charge of WWE what would you do”?

Now my answer nearly ALWAYS pisses off the Fanboys and fanatics of WWE, but fans of other promotions see what I'm talking about. If I had total control, to do whatever I wanted to do with absolutely NO INTERFERENCE? Figuratively light a stick of dynamite, blow the shit up and start again from scratch.

Scripted promos? Thrown out the window. Non Wrestling writers? Told to hit the bricks. All the goofy dumb assed cookie cutter gimmicks and story lines that aren't getting over? Put in a dumpster and set on fire. Because the bottom line is you don't need members of the owner's family out there taking up space and time that could be better utilized for actual wrestling talent. Cut RAW down to two hours, hell even one hour and simplify a lot of the micromanaged things that are too micromanaged to begin with. Contrary to what Dave Scherer of PWInsider said in an answer to a question sent in to him (more on that, in a minute) You CAN, write and book a straight ahead wrestling show with simple angles and story lines, created by guys who KNOW what gets over. You get guys like Michael Hayes, Arn Anderson (ESPECIALLY Arn Anderson), Dibiase, Rotunda and you book it simply. No stupid skits where a forklift turns over a car, or a cement truck fills the owner's Corvette with cement, you don't NEED that kind of wasteful crap to get over a product if you book it simply and solidly.

Even if the company doesn't work with other wrestling companies, you can 'acknowledge' them with an interviewer asking “What brought you here to the WWE”? “I've wrestled around the world and it's HERE, in the WWE where I hear the toughest competition is and so I've come here to prove myself and rise to the top here.. Seth Rollins (using his name as an example) may THINK he's the best but when he faces me in the ring? He's going to know why I... Am the best and if anyone else has a problem with that? I'll be in the ring in two minutes, I dare someone to come out and say something”.
So simple but for some reason in the WWE, SSOO challenging.

Let the talent develop their own or utilize their own mic skills. Bullet points go a LONG WAY, so just give the bullet points. “This is your match, this is your opponent, go”. And allow the talent to get the angle or reason for the match over. How fucking hard is that to accomplish? If by some chance the guy doesn't have strong mic skills? Then you get a Truth Martini, or a James Mitchell or a Beau James, who DO have strong mic skills to be the manager, and let THEM utilize their promo talents to get the thing over. I know for a fact when the WWF's training Dojo was headlining WWA New England shows back in 1998 the members of those Dojos weren't having their promos written word for word for them there. I know this because I worked for WWA New England back then and had ALOT of access to watch the Dojos in action before fans were allowed in. While my friends Dave, Kevin and his son left to go eat somewhere after we helped set up chairs, tables, ring, etc. I was the one who stayed behind, sat in one of those chairs and watched, intently. I watched and I asked questions. I asked Tom Pritchard, Bruce Pritchard and Dory Funk jr. (as well as Cornette when he worked the Dojos as well) TONS of questions. They never got tired of me asking and Tom actually appreciated the fact I did ask what I asked. If you're gonna get smartened up, get smartened up all the way if you can and who better to do that than guys who know the shit. So not once ever, was a promo scripted for a WWF Dojo member on a WWA New England show. THEY, were allowed to utilize and develop their own mic skills. What a hell of a concept, eh?

Now Dave Scherer said (and I wish I still had that screen shot so I could post it as proof), that and I'll pretty much quote it, “A straight ahead wrestling show in my opinion can't be done now”.

RREAALLYY NOW, Is TTHHAATT a fact.. It “Can't be done” BUT.. AMW, Reality Of Wrestling, Defiant Wrestling, OTT Wrestling, PROGRESS Wrestling, WWA In Kentucky, Supreme Wrestling in Indiana, MEW in the UK, West Coast Wrestling Connection, World Underground Wrestling, ECPW, Bert Prentice's USA Championship Wrestling, The USACW in West Virginia, and I can go on and on listing other companies, DO IT ALL THE TIME!? Explain the logic of “can't be done” when the listed companies have been doing it for a long time now? Obviously Scherer again has shown he doesn't really know what the fuck, he's talking about if he can say that, and I can show example after example of how wrong he is on it.

Bottom line is, it can be done but companies like WWE and Impact Wrestling for some reason, it's too much of a challenge for them.

I'll be writing another article for the Australian based Feed The Gorilla Fanzine. It'll be an article on the late Dale Pierce, who was well known in many Indy companies in Arizona, California, Ohio and Washington state. It'll be an interesting piece on an interesting individual that I had the honor of knowing personally, and getting a lot of insightful advice from, some of which I still use to this day.

As I posted earlier, I'll be watching RAW tonight for the first time in a LONG LONG time. WHY would I bother to waste my time like this, KNOWING how much that product sucks ass? More to prove my point home that no matter what they do, especially with this “Vince McMahon announcement” won't be enough to maintain my interest. I'm pretty much guaranteeing I'll be grabbing my remote and changing the channel over to Football. Not even Houdini can perform enough magic tricks to get RAW good enough to watch all the way thru. I won't have to 'look for' a reason to change the channel because of how they present their shit product? The reasons will come and I won't have to look for them.

That's about the one thing they are consistent in doing well, presenting a shit product that has a long time fan like myself? Always looking for something better than them to watch. Sad, but that's just.. The way it is and it's on them and their failure to present something entertaining. Some day they might get it right again, but I'm sure, it won't be tonight, LOL!

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