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NOV WRESTLING CHIT CHAT THREAD

RIPPA

By RIPPA
in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

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jaedmc

jaedmc

Posted
Posted

 

I wrote an essay on wrestling commentary, using a 10 minute match between Kerry Con Erich and the Warlord as an example. I'd love to hear people's thoughts on it: http://jaedmc.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-importance-of-wrestling-commentary.html

 

That was exceptional; great job dude.

 

Thanks. I've been wanting to write about it for a while, and I was randomly found myself watching that match and thought "that was kinda fun, but why?" and realized the answer was the commentary. Then I thought about how commentary makes meaningless matches feel worth your time and it's because of real world motivations. Characters today don't even have strong motivations other than "I wanna get you." If The Shield interfered in a match the Uso's were wrestling and the Usos lost, what does that mean? Yeah, the Usos lost, but what did they lose? They'll get a title shot next week. There's no concept of winner's purse, so they didn't lose money either. They just looked foolish for a moment, that wasn't even their fault. 

 

It may not sound like much, but by creating even small values for the wrestlers to compete for, allow audiences to get even more involved with the drama. It doesn't have to get uber-detailed with strict rankings and such. WCW kind of had this going on where under a wrestlers name they'd have his rank, like in boxing. It felt kind of fluid, but it wasn't necessarily arbitrary. But the UFC doesn't really have rankings, Dana takes someone who is winning and they get a shot.

 

This isn't about making wrestling serious or mimic "real" sports. It's about giving small real world cues that an audience can relate to in order to draw them in. This still works even when we all know it's predetermined,- audiences WANT to believe because it's more fun. The better you are at making them believe the more fun they'll have. Once kayfabe was broken forever, wrestling, logically so, figured they needed to go into worked shoots to hook the audience, but that muddling of realities didn't pay off, because there was one huge hole in the concept of a "worked shoot" - all that stuff before was fake, this is the real deal! Audiences can't respond to that. It devalues what came before and what will come after. So now there's not so much worked shoots - it's more these guys are just performers and they're gonna put on a good show for you tonight, which is better - just not good enough. If we're just going to pretend it's all a show, then we can just go back to pretending it's an IMPORTANT show, like we did before.

 

I could go on and on, clearly.

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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Yeah, great essay Jae. This is pretty prescient to a lot of the conversation around here about WWE: 

 

 

 

Von Erich and Warlord aren't just having an a dance for fans to enjoy, they're competing for dollars and the chance to move up the ranks to possibly a Intercontinental title shot. Winners move up, losers stay down. In current WWE, this isn't so much the case. Losers can eventually find themselves in US title match, which devalues not only the belt, but devalues all the bouts wrestlers compete in across the board.

 

Not to beat a dead horse, I just think that hits the nail on the head in articulating why a lot of people can't dig the current product.

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Skelemania

Skelemania

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You got some typing errors in the blog, Jae, proofread/edit that shit! Still, good job & I shared it w/ my friends on Facebook. :-)

 

"these moments where he compliments the him mean a lot"

"He's actually cheer leading for the guy will bashing him."

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Gorman

Gorman

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I wrote an essay on wrestling commentary, using a 10 minute match between Kerry Con Erich and the Warlord as an example. I'd love to hear people's thoughts on it: http://jaedmc.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-importance-of-wrestling-commentary.html

 

Any article called "The Importance of Wrestling Commentary" gets a "Like" from me. There have been so few great wrestling announcers over the years, and those who are considered great (Solie, JR, I would say Gorilla but not everyone would) are remembered fondly for decades.

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cwoy2j

cwoy2j

Posted
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I wrote an essay on wrestling commentary, using a 10 minute match between Kerry Con Erich and the Warlord as an example. I'd love to hear people's thoughts on it: http://jaedmc.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-importance-of-wrestling-commentary.html

 

That was exceptional; great job dude.

 

Thanks. I've been wanting to write about it for a while, and I was randomly found myself watching that match and thought "that was kinda fun, but why?" and realized the answer was the commentary. Then I thought about how commentary makes meaningless matches feel worth your time and it's because of real world motivations. Characters today don't even have strong motivations other than "I wanna get you." If The Shield interfered in a match the Uso's were wrestling and the Usos lost, what does that mean? Yeah, the Usos lost, but what did they lose? They'll get a title shot next week. There's no concept of winner's purse, so they didn't lose money either. They just looked foolish for a moment, that wasn't even their fault.

 

 

If they lose, their opportunity at becoming the faces of the company or having a Wrestlemania moment will be severely hindered. Think about all of the momentum that would be lost if they drop a match!

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Craig H

Craig H

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My feeling on Gorilla, neither here nor there, is that he's my favorite announcer but only for matches that I don't actually want to watch.

Will you stop?

 

 

I'm the only one to like this comment? Seriously?! Come on people.

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Gonzalez

Gonzalez

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My feeling on Gorilla, neither here nor there, is that he's my favorite announcer but only for matches that I don't actually want to watch.

Will you stop?

 

 

I'm the only one to like this comment? Seriously?! Come on people.

 

I didn't see anything. My monitor went out.

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Roman

Roman

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I just re-watched the Triple Threat with Goldberg, Kane and Triple H at Armageddon 2003. I remember everyone shitting all over it, including JR, but I never saw why that was. I actually quite liked that match. Am I alone in this? Was there any particular reason the majority of people hated it so much?

 

It reminds me a little of the hate Nash/HHH Hell in a Cell got. I liked that a lot as well, but I seem to be in the minority.

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Victator

Victator

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I just re-watched the Triple Threat with Goldberg, Kane and Triple H at Armageddon 2003. I remember everyone shitting all over it, including JR, but I never saw why that was. I actually quite liked that match. Am I alone in this? Was there any particular reason the majority of people hated it so much?

 

 

I enjoyed it too, everybody worked hard. I felt like they took some liberties with Kane, but that was about it. 

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Cobra Commander

Cobra Commander

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i'm not really watching much WWE, so i'm sure this is not a new idea but... would there be any chance in hell of a Incognito/Martin storyline actually working in the WWE (working, meaning "the fans don't side with the bully). Maybe if it turns out a good guy is bullying some lower card guy and it somehow spills out into accusations and leads to a turn.

 

this might be the Ryback thing, but last I recall, Ryback was bullying the food tables in the back

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LooseCannon

LooseCannon

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i'm not really watching much WWE, so i'm sure this is not a new idea but... would there be any chance in hell of a Incognito/Martin storyline actually working in the WWE (working, meaning "the fans don't side with the bully). Maybe if it turns out a good guy is bullying some lower card guy and it somehow spills out into accusations and leads to a turn.

 

Titus O'Neal secretly bullying Darren Young?

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Cobra Commander

Cobra Commander

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the only WWE guy who could pass as Richie Incognito might be pre-Wyatt Husky Harris. I'm sure there's another fat Windham/Rotundo kid out there who'd match that role.

 

maybe Kofi Kingston could be secretly bullying someone for some reason. Then since Vince is a bit latently prone to stereotypes, Kingston unleashes voodoo on the people he bullies

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