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July Wrestling Catch-All


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I was watching the King of the Ring set because it's now on Netflix up here in Canada, and watching over a few years, something stuck me.

 

When you watch WWE now, you get variations on the same guy over and over again.  Like, is there really any great difference between John Cena/Sheamus/Chris Jericho (face who makes corny jokes); Randy Orton/Ziggler/Miz (face who makes less corny jokes and acts kinda intense); Tensai/Brodus/Ryder/Santino (Goofy face who does something silly and isn't taken seriously), then on the heel side you've got Del Rio/Rhodes/Sandow (pompous heels who brag and act superior); Barrett/Axel/Ryback (heels who act serious and don't make jokes); and joke heels like Fandango.  I mean, if one guy gets suspended, you can literally plop two or three guys into his spot and not miss a beat in a storyline.

 

But, you go back just a few years and you've got such a variation of characters: Austin (Intense, ass-kicking face); Rock (Cocky face who brags); Triple H (Intense intelligent heel); Mankind (homicidal heel or face with no care for his own well-being), Kurt Angle (cocky but goofy heel) but even further down the card Rikishi (ass-kicking fat guy who likes to rub his ass in people's faces); Ken Shamrock (ass-kicking MMA guy); Jeff Hardy (small high-flying face); Val Venis (wrestling porn star).

 

I mean, it just feels like everyone is playing a unique role.  If you're running, say, a Steve Austin-Kurt Angle feud and Angle gets hurt/suspended, you've got to abandon the feud because there is no one just like either wrestler.  But nowadays, it feels like there's just Cocky Heel #2 vs Intense Face #4 and there are 5-6 guys who can just be rotated into either spot.

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I remember a lot of fans on here being royally, deeply offended by Umaga playing a "savage" character.  I remember a bunch of folks going "It's a good thing Samoa Joe didn't come to WWE, because this is the gimmick he'd be saddled with".

 

This always made me feel vaguely racist, because I could never take Miami Heat jersey wearing, corn row sporting Jamal seriously in AJPW, but loved every second of Umaga in WWE.

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Then why on earth do they bother watching it? The WWE is what it is. Until Vince dies/retires, I hardly see that changing, & there's still alternatives out there for them if they don't like what the WWE is producing.

The people chanting Husky Harris and Goldberg are less cynical than you are?

 

I'm sort of an outlier.  I like wrestling in general, but I watch the WWE with a friend I've known for over half my life who also enjoys watching bad things.  Every week, we get together and watch RAW, Impact, and some bad movies / TV we scrounge up.  I wouldn't (and don't) watch either WWE or TNA by myself.  I get a lot of enjoyment out of this, which is why I continue to watch, but I doubt my experience translates to most fans.  Maybe those people have specific wrestlers they like to watch and support, or they've been watching RAW for so long that they feel obliged to keep watching.  Who knows?  There's also, I would venture, a significant number of people at any live event that don't watch regularly or stopped watching altogether, but have knowledge of what has happened in the past.  In any of those scenarios, those people are the types that might shit on something.

 

I'm also going to break from the ranks here and say that, thus far, the Wyatt family is a pretty lame gimmick so far.  It seems to be a combination of hillbilly (which is always midcard death) and cult (the last two cults being the failed Punk-led Nexus and the midcard Smackdown act Straight Edge Society).  There's very little depth to the gimmick thus far, pretty pretentious, and it's hardly a new direction or change in tone for the WWE writing style.  Someone dissatisfied with the product would obviously love to chant something to take it down a peg.

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I had a conversation with one of my younger contemporaries in the business, and she didn't understand how someone in wrestling could NOT watch wrestling(which is me in this case, obvi).  I had a hard time explaining that I treat it like any other tv show or movie.  If I think it sucks, I don't watch it.  I'm close to a year removed from watching any American wrestling, save for a show here and there, just to test the water and see if it is safe to dive back in.  So far, nothing has really brought me back.

 

This made me wonder, am I missing something?  My local friends seem to really be enjoying the WWE pr0duct these days, but every time I watch it, I just don't get it.  Have I outgrown wrestling, or has it just morphed into something I don't like and just passed me by?

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Thats something I've always been perplexed about. It seems from reading bios, reading Twitter, etc that a lot of people in professional wrestling cease watching it once they become wrestlers. If you're a guy like Luger or whoever and was never a fan it's one thing but when you grow up as a huge fan it's just weird to me.

I'm not saying they should be like me and watch nearly everything on TV plus shit online but to just not watch any of the product once you enter the industry is so foreign to me.

Same with wrestlers refusing to pay to see a WWE show or whatever. I don't get it.

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That isn't QUITE the case with me.  I just stopped watching because I thought it was awful lol.  I started wrestling 10 years ago and just recently gave up on it.  In regards to your argument, I agree.  It's dumb to stop watching it just because you are in the business yourself.  If that is your only reason, then you were probably never truly a fan.

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Thats something I've always been perplexed about. It seems from reading bios, reading Twitter, etc that a lot of people in professional wrestling cease watching it once they become wrestlers. If you're a guy like Luger or whoever and was never a fan it's one thing but when you grow up as a huge fan it's just weird to me.I'm not saying they should be like me and watch nearly everything on TV plus shit online but to just not watch any of stuffing instead of potatoes once you enter the industry is so foreign to me. Same with wrestlers refusing to pay to see a WWE show or whatever. I don't get it.

A lot of them are lying. Because when you're in wrestling, everyone has to pretend they hate wrestling. It bugs the fuck out of me. We do a shitty job of defending our business.
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Wow. This sounds like a must-see.

 

 

On one hand, Piper being crazy.

 

On the other, my utter loathing of shows about supernatural nonsense like ghosts*

 

*Note:  This is only about things passing ghosts off a real in the real world.  Supernatural nonsense in fiction can be fucking awesome.

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Is he any good in the ring? That's mostly what I care about. The promos are range fine for psychobabble, and are more interesting than general cocky heel promos we've been getting, but if he wrestles like Kizarny then...you know. What's he done in FCW/NXT that's worth watching?

 

EDIT: Elbowdrop's...signature...ridiculous.

Yeah, I couldn't remember the exact wording of the quote. So I paraphrased after a night of no sleep. It was my signature before the board went down, & well, I can't think of anything better for a new signature! Besides, I'm largely a nondescript lurker so I need that continuity. Also, really agree with you on "if there's someone I like I'll boo or cheer them if they are heel or face & if there's someone I find dull I'll just keep quiet". 

 

 

The people chanting Husky Harris and Goldberg are less cynical than you are?

 

I dunno about that. I mean I may be cynical about the nature of the WWE not really changing much, but at least I don't go out of my way to act like a prat when other people are trying to enjoy something. Which is what these people are doing, consciously or not. It's like if I go to see a band, but the support group aren't to my taste, I don't shout "witty" things at them, I shut up, slope off to the back or to the bar or somewhere & wait for the group I paid to see. Because I've been the person there for the support band & know how much it irritates me when other people actively try to ruin their set.

 

What's really more cynical, going out of the way to make your friends chuckle at potential the expense of other folks enjoyment, or just saying "hey, I won't watch something I don't have any interest in any more? Because there's only so many hours in a day.

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In my (admittedly limited) dealings with Indy wrestlers I've picked up the idea that admitting you watch WWE or talking about wrestling "like a fan" makes you a mark.  It's probably just easier to not watch or say you don't watch and act above it than it is to get razzed about being a mark for the business or whatever.

 

I love wrestling, and some of the wrestlers I know personally I like a great deal as people, but it really and truely is a fucked up, weird, stupid business.

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Is it cynicism if the WWE fucks up their booking so much? Every time I put my hand in boiling water it gets hurt. You wouldn't call a person cynical if they said "No thanks, I won't put my hand in boiling water - It'll suck."

They seemingly get more stuff wrong than right, and the stuff they do get right eventually gets mucked up later. I don't think anyone can deny this is the case.

The best part of the WWE is the wrestling segments. There are some incredibly talented dudes putting on quality matches. It's nearly everything surrounding the two guys in the ring that isn't working, and it makes it in credibly frustrating to sit through a whole show like that.

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Is it cynicism if the WWE fucks up their booking so much? Every time I put my hand in boiling water it gets hurt. You wouldn't call a person cynical if they said "No thanks, I won't put my hand in boiling water - It'll suck."

Good booking is subjective though, boiling water will always be boiling.
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Someone dissatisfied with stuffing instead of potatoes would obviously love to chant something to take it down a peg.

 

I just don't get this feeling at all from the chanting.  It's like going to the local indy and thinking that the guys shouting "KANE!!  KAAAAANE!" for every chokeslam are dissatisfied with what they're seeing instead of being toolboxes.

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You guys would like WWE a lot more if you watched it all on DVR and fast forwarded through the shit. There is some really good stuff going on now.

Like I said, I just youtube the stuff I want to see. To me RAW is like 15 minutes long.

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You guys would like WWE a lot more if you watched it all on DVR and fast forwarded through the shit. There is some really good stuff going on now.

 

Like I said, I just youtube the stuff I want to see. To me RAW is like 15 minutes long.

I'm not closely following current wrestling outside of watching matches that get heavily pimped and occasionally streaming a PPV but when I was following it I watched every WWE TV show every week... in about an hour. I don't know how people sit through some of this shit. There are a bunch of wrestlers I enjoy in WWE but the style and presentation isn't my cup of tea. There's so much talking and long promos are probably my least favorite part of wrestling. I understand long interview segments on a TV studio program like Memphis (and it helped that many of those guys actually cut good promos) but all this talking in the ring ruins my immersion.

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Would the WWE have been better off keeping Eddie as a heel during his "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" phase? I'm mean so what if he was getting cheered as a cheating heel World Champion. Just line up all the goofy goody two-shoes just so Eddie can cheat his way into our hearts. But never ever turn him face. 

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Roddy Piper is on The Haunting Of on Bio because his home is apparently haunted by the ghost of Adrian Adonis.

 

Bad-ass 70s biker Adrian Adonis or Adorable Adrian Adonis? Because those are two VERY different hauntings.

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Would the WWE have been better off keeping Eddie as a heel during his "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" phase? I'm mean so what if he was getting cheered as a cheating heel World Champion. Just line up all the goofy goody two-shoes just so Eddie can cheat his way into our hearts. But never ever turn him face. 

 

Of course they should have left him as he was. But in the WWE, when someone is cheered they automatically assume he has to be made into a pandering good guy.

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Would the WWE have been better off keeping Eddie as a heel during his "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" phase? I'm mean so what if he was getting cheered as a cheating heel World Champion. Just line up all the goofy goody two-shoes just so Eddie can cheat his way into our hearts. But never ever turn him face. 

WWE didn't have a choice. They TRIED to turn Eddy heel and the crowd wouldn't let 'em outside of the Rey feud.

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To me, the 'Husky Harris' chants don't come off as people protesting the bad booking of the past, they come off as people going "Look at me, I know his old name!"  And so what if WWE gave him a bad name once, that gives fans carte blanche to shit all over everything involving said wrestler in the future?! We would never have gotten the Monday Night Wars/Attitude era (Whether you liked the wrestling or not, that was a goddamn goldmine for professional wrestling) if fans shat all over the NWO by chanting Razor Ramon at Scott Hall instead of reacting to whatever the storyline onscreen was, or if WWE fans refused to cheer/boo Steve Austin and The Rock instead chanting "Ring-master" and "Rocky Maivia!" at them.  

 

Look, if you're going to watch professional wrestling in a live setting, there's a number of suspension of disbeliefs you're already making (That the punches are really connecting; that the wrestler's stomping as they punch is just from the force of said punch and not just to make it sound good; that the referee "really" didn't see that bad guy cheating; and that a guy thrown towards the ropes has no choice but to run toward said ropes and bounce off of it rather than stop), so why would you differentiate between these suspensions and that of a "new wrestler" debuting?  I mean, you're okay with a guy running across the ring and bouncing off ropes only to get clotheslined/booted/backdropped instead of just stopping himself from running but you can't accept the fact that a debuting new wrestler used to have a different name?!  To me, being the guy chanting 'Husky Harris' at a "new" wrestler is akin to being the guy at a wrestling show who goes "You see how fake that was?  He didn't even hit him", "See? Look!  He's cutting himself with a blade" or "That move wouldn't even hurt", sure, you're right, but you're also being a huge douche to anyone else trying to enjoy the show.

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