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RIPPA

By RIPPA
in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

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JohnnyJ

JohnnyJ

Posted
Posted

 

Speaking of the lack of backstories in wrestling, I don't think it's a coincidence that the last few wrestlers who got over in a meaningful way (Bryan, Punk, Ambrose and even...Ryder) had easily relatable stories from outside the WWE machine that added to their personas.

 

Sorry but what "easily relatable stories" did WWE get across for Bryan, Punk and Ambrose?  I don't mean the guys' backgrounds that smart fans already knew; I mean what did WWE do to get these guys' stories across?  Punk started as a pseudo MMA dude whose "only addiction is competition."  Anything else, character-wise, he had to fight to get across for the longest time.  Bryan had zero backstory except, I guess, some conflict with his NXT veteran, and Ambrose was just a guy in The Shield, 3 dudes who came from nowhere with barely any gimmick except for some nebulous "hounds of justice" schtick. 

 

All these guys were defined by whatever they did in WWE storylines after their debuts, not by any backstory that writers supplied them.

 

 

That's the point. WWE is so poor at fleshing out characters that most guys who make it have backstories from outside the WWE machine.

 

For example, I've watched just about every Raw for the last five years. The only thing I know about Kofi Kingston is he smiles a lot, has an aerial moveset, is a tough out in battle royals and may or may not be from Jamaica. 

 

He was also Punk's road wife but that's another story for another day.

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JCM

JCM

Posted
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I don't know if you guys have heard about this Dean Ambrose guy but he's the best in the company at it and has been since the Shield turned face. He was the face in peril in all their tag matches despite being resident scumbag when they were heels, it was fucking cool.

Yeah my favorite performances in WWE this year are Ambrose's face in peril stuff against the Wyatt's. Him and Harper together is just gold.

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scraylo187

scraylo187

Posted
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RE: Backstory, one of my favorite promos this year was Seth Rollins talking about why the Shield would have fallen apart without him, because you got really vague insights into the backgrounds of Ambrose and Reigns. Not outright origin stories, but enough information that ties to why they do what they do and are who they are. It was nice. Or maybe we're just THAT starved for details, I dunno.

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Cristobal

Cristobal

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Yes, Bryan was mega over, and I feel like it was genuine, but in the context of the match itself?  I don't recall many times where the fans were dying for his comeback.  His comeback DID get the desired reaction though, so I guess alls well that ends well.

That crowd was dead the entire night for absolutely everything until the comeback came.

Not just "not a great crowd" dead, I mean utterly lifeless.

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sydneybrown

sydneybrown

Posted
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Hot damn I just had a revelatory prediction: they're gonna redebut Bryan and Ambrose together at the same time to run out and break up some heel asswhoopin'. Watch the roof come off the place.

 

Well, it would be cool if they did, anyway.

 

Jesus Christ, I hope not.  That means we wouldn't see Ambrose again until 2015.

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SirSmUgly

SirSmUgly

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Waaaah put Bryan in the Rumble!!!! Waaahh make Daniel Bryan win the Rumble!!! 

 

This is an odd talking point to me. WWE crowds sit on their hands for most of the year. This wasn't just smark-filled crowds trying to sound cool on television. Regarding that Bray/Bryan vs. Usos cage match, this was a random RAW crowd in....let me check...Providence, Rhode Island that was super-fired up every time Bryan did anything at all. Watch that RAW and there was mostly silence except for Bryan.  

 

Same thing with the Rumble crowd. I mean, I guess you could say that NYC and Philly fans came to Pittsburgh and that explains the reactions to Bryan (and to no Bryan in the Rumble), but Bryan was getting the same reactions at Elimination Chamber in Minneapolis.

 

It's hard to say that this pattern indicates fans that just wanted to get themselves over - and if you watch the shows, they aren't chanting cute phrases or anything like that. They are just really behind Bryan. 

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E.J.

E.J.

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Posted

 

Waaaah put Bryan in the Rumble!!!! Waaahh make Daniel Bryan win the Rumble!!! 

 

This is an odd talking point to me. WWE crowds sit on their hands for most of the year. This wasn't just smark-filled crowds trying to sound cool on television. Regarding that Bray/Bryan vs. Usos cage match, this was a random RAW crowd in....let me check...Providence, Rhode Island that was super-fired up every time Bryan did anything at all. Watch that RAW and there was mostly silence except for Bryan.  

 

Same thing with the Rumble crowd. I mean, I guess you could say that NYC and Philly fans came to Pittsburgh and that explains the reactions to Bryan (and to no Bryan in the Rumble), but Bryan was getting the same reactions at Elimination Chamber in Minneapolis.

 

It's hard to say that this pattern indicates fans that just wanted to get themselves over - and if you watch the shows, they aren't chanting cute phrases or anything like that. They are just really behind Bryan. 

 

 

It's not so much of a talking point to me as much as it seems either 1.) Blatant trolling or 2.) Hilariously bad attempt to undermine Bryan's main event push.

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Hooks

Hooks

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In that case, tell us Tracy Smothers stories then.

 

I know this wasn't directed at me, but since I have also worked with Tracy at times over the years, I thought I'd share. 

 

Years ago when I was working for the HWA, Tracy was coming up and doing our weekly shows for a stretch of a few months.  Aside from always being professional and extremely nice to everyone, from "vets" to rookies to announcers to refs to bell ringers to security guards, etc, of course he was also always the best thing to watch on the show.  He could do the same promo or schtick every week and it was always over.  We did a weekly TV show and even though his promos always got recorded, we knew we couldn't use them for TV because it was a one hour show and his promos generally went 20  minutes or so before the match even started. 

 

Not sure if he still does, but he would always bring a green worker or manager or someone on the road with him.  Basically they'd drive him, set up his merch, etc, and in return he'd get them booked on the show for maybe a small payday and more importantly, the experience of traveling with him and learning from him.

 

For a few weeks he was bringing a guy around as his manager that called himself The Internet Terrorist.  He dressed in a suit and carried a laptop which he would occasionally open and type on during a match, turned in a way that the crowd couldn't see it wasn't even powered up.  I remember one particular match where Tracy objected to a call the referee made and stopped the match and grabbed the mic for a mid match promo, as he often did.  He got out of the ring and took the guy's laptop, opened it and sat it on the apron, clear to everyone that it wasn't even on. He did some fumbly exaggerated typing and said he was "officially filing a report with HWA management about how biased and terrible the referees of the HWA were, and while he was at it, he was sending an e-mail to Dave Meltzer burying the HWA!"

 

It struck me as so funny then and still does to this day.  I'm ten years into the business now and still going, and I've been on shows with many legends, and still, the period of time when I got to regularly work on shows with Tracy are the highlight of my time in the biz so far. 

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Cristobal

Cristobal

Posted
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This is an odd talking point to me. WWE crowds sit on their hands for most of the year. This wasn't just smark-filled crowds trying to sound cool on television. Regarding that Bray/Bryan vs. Usos cage match, this was a random RAW crowd in....let me check...Providence, Rhode Island that was super-fired up every time Bryan did anything at all. Watch that RAW and there was mostly silence except for Bryan.

I could've sworn that was in Baltimore.

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ivpvideos

ivpvideos

Posted
Posted

 

This is an odd talking point to me. WWE crowds sit on their hands for most of the year. This wasn't just smark-filled crowds trying to sound cool on television. Regarding that Bray/Bryan vs. Usos cage match, this was a random RAW crowd in....let me check...Providence, Rhode Island that was super-fired up every time Bryan did anything at all. Watch that RAW and there was mostly silence except for Bryan.

I could've sworn that was in Baltimore.

 

 

Nope that was Bryan, Harper & Rowan teaming up against Mysterio and the Usos. The crowd had zero idea how to react to Bryan because it was right after he joined them.

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JohnnyJ

JohnnyJ

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I just can't believe after lighting up crowds across the country, saving the WWE from the orton/batista disaster and carrying Mania on his back to a very respectable buyrate people are debating whether Bryan was just a bunch of smarks being smarky.

I can't think of a more ridiculous talking point that routinely pops up.

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Raziel

Raziel

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I just can't believe after lighting up crowds across the country, saving the WWE from the orton/batista disaster and carrying Mania on his back to a very respectable buyrate people are debating whether Bryan was just a bunch of smarks being smarky.

I can't think of a more ridiculous talking point that routinely pops up.

Hate makes people powerful.

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