What’s up O-sters? This is officially my first commentary for Tha O Show. I just want to start by saying that I’m happy to be a part of Tha O Show. I think this site is great, and we should all keep supporting pro wrestling. Especially indy wrestling ... which the guys at Tha O Show go out of their way to do.I must apologize for my "laziness" concerning this commentary. It is partially stolen. HOWEVER, I "stole" it from myself. So you can’t call me that lazy! This commentary is a rendition of a blog I wrote over at myspace.com/codydeaner.
Feel free to go over there and check out some of my other blogs. I’ve taken parts of my previous blog and edited it. What you see here is the result of taking some stuff out, keeping some stuff in, and adding some new ideas.
So grab a Labatt 50, a pack of Podium Gold cigarettes, and let’s get started ...
I'll start by saying that I was a HUGE Lance Storm mark when I started wrestling. In wrestling school, I wanted to do a Canadian gimmick like his, and fashion my technical ability to his. As it turned out, I just couldn't wrestle like him. He's too good and too smooth. I'm more choppy. So I've developed my own style, but Lance Storm will always hold a special place in my wrestling heart.
Anyways, the reason I'm talking about Lance Storm is because I'm going to start by quoting one of his commentaries: "I think the one thing we can all agree on is that TNA is an important part of this industry. The North American wrestling scene really does need a non-WWE option. By having a second option there are more places for the boys to work and more leverage in getting a fair deal. The same can be said for fans. By having a second option fans can pick and choose the product that they like and send a message to promoters."
Well said. I totally agree. This goes back to when the "Monday Night War" was around. Wrestling was hot, not only because there was more options, BUT, because these options made the companies come up with new, innovative storylines in order to compete.
Storm goes on to write, "I think TNA's existence also benefits WWE. Vince has always been at his best when he has an opponent. Vince is a warrior and a competitor, without an adversary a warrior can't stay sharp. WWE hit it's all time best when WCW was kicking its butt. I'd love to see Vince get backed into a corner again, just to see the way he comes out swinging."
Again, I agree. I think we can all agree that right now, the WWE product is just not what it used to be. Nowadays, I don't have to set my VCR to tape RAW with the fear I am going to miss something. The product isn't intriguing enough to me for me to want to do that. And I think most fans feel the same way.
Storm then goes on to write, "This raises the all-important question; can TNA grow enough to compete with WWE? To be honest I doubt it, and I don't think competing should be their goal, at least not for a long time."
I actually agree with this too. I think a lot of fans think that TNA is competing with the WWE, and that they should be. I disagree. TNA just doesn't have the money or the platform to compete with the name power that is the WWE. The WWE is marketed so well that it has replaced the term "pro-wrestling."
If you say pro wrestling to the average person, they think WWE (or WWF) before they think of anything else. Storm actually talks about this same thing in his commentary. So if you want to read his commentary, click here.
So, the topic of this commentary is COMPETITION. I would LOVE to see TNA be the WWE's main competition, but I don't think it is. And overall, I think that this is hurting the WWE product right now. Here's why ...
The WWE is now a TV product. It used to be a traveling carnival act. TV was only used as a means to push the house shows and bring in $$$ by people buying tickets to the house shows. So, Jake Roberts would beat up Joe Smith on "Superstars." If you wanted to see him beat up Randy Savage, or Ricky Steamboat, well ... you had to buy the ticket to the house show.A student of mine at the PWX Wrestling School told me the other day that he thought the WWE should go back to more "squash matches" instead of giving away "PPV matches" for free on TV. I totally disagree. Why? Because the business has changed. The WWE is now mainly a TV product, not mainly a traveling carnival act. This is a result of The Monday Night Wars.
When WCW came about, THEY were a TV show. And that was their focus. Producing a TV show. WCW house show numbers were in the toilet, so Bischoff decided NOT to focus on house shows, but rather focus on their TV product in order to create more brand awareness. THEN, after the brand had better recognition, THEN they would start doing house shows again. It ended up being a smart move. The result of this was that the "squash match" format went out the window. WCW wanted to make intriguing television in order to increase ratings. It worked.
WWF responded by getting away from that format also. It worked. Eventually what happened was two TV shows competing for one audience. All of a sudden it was all about the RATINGS. Shawn Michaels once said that it was weird the first time he ever heard the office talking about ratings. Before then, wrestlers only heard about "the gate" - how many tickets they sold to the show that night. All of a sudden, the focus was put on RATINGS. This changed the business forever.
So where does this leave us now? The WWE evolved and is now predominantly a TV product. Yes, they still have house shows, but the success of those shows depends on and is based around the product they put out on their TV show. The TV show is the focus. Everything revolves around it.
Herein lies the problem with the current WWE product. They are no longer competing for the wrestling audience. They are now competing for the general TV audience. They aren't fighting for the viewer that might watch WCW Nitro. They are now fighting for the viewer that, instead of watching "Raw", is watching "Fear Factor", "Survivor", "Monday Night Football", "CSI", etc. They aren't fighting for the hardcore wrestling audience because they already have them. These people will ALWAYS watch wrestling. Even if they don't like the product. (Or so the WWE thinks. More on that later.) SO .... the WWE has started to go out and try to get the "other" fan.
So what do we see? ..... We see the "Diva Search" in order to lure the American Idol fan. We see "Tough Enough" in order to lure the "Survivor" fan. We see The Boogeyman eat worms, in order to lure "Fear Factor" fans. We see Paul "The Pirate" Burchill in order to lure the "Pirates of the Caribbean" fan. (I don't know about that last one, but dammit, that's the only thing I can think of to explain that ridiculous gimmick). All of a sudden, the WWE is competing against a plethora of television shows instead of competing against another wrestling show. That's why we see so many things on WWE television that make the average wrestling fan go, "What the hell does that have to do with wrestling?" The answer is: "it doesn't." It's usually just the WWE's attempt at putting something familiar on their TV show in order to lure that non-wrestling fan to the show.
However, I think that the WWE has gone so far with this idea that they are now starting to piss off the HARDCORE fan. Before, the hardcore fan would watch anything the WWE would put out. Now, the hardcore fan has become so alienated from the product that they aren't watching anymore. That's bad.
That's why I think we need TNA to succeed. The WWE needs another WRESTLING show to compete against. Not another reality show to compete against. OR, even another "sport" that is similar (i.e. UFC). The WWE is obviously scared that they are losing fans to UFC. And they should be. Because I think they are. UFC is HUGE right now. However, I don't think that means the WWE should start putting Russians on their show that know how to shoot-fight and that "Love the Dubble Dubble E."
People love pro wrestling because it is a unique form of entertainment that is not duplicated in any other form. People watch pro wrestling to be entertained in a way that no other form of entertainment can supply. People don't watch wrestling to see who is going to get knocked out. They watch the UFC for that.
Likewise, people don't watch the UFC to see who can do a triple jump moonsault. People watch wrestling for that. I think grouping pro wrestling in with the UFC just hurts the wrestling product. Why? Because it just emphasizes the fact that wrestling is "fake." (Notice how I use " " here. I still hate this term, but you know what I mean.) The fans already know that it is "fake". They don't want to be reminded of this when they watch.
I was talking to Greg "The Hammer" Valentine a few months ago and he told me that "The people that buy a ticket to watch wrestling WANT to believe that it’s real." It’s true. They don’t want to be reminded that it isn’t really "real." If wrestling is put next to a "shoot-fight" it becomes abundantly clear that one is scripted and one is not. THUS .... this hurts the product because any fan that MIGHT tune into the WWE because they like UFC will not stick around because of its similarity to UFC. If anything, they'll see how "fake" it is in comparison and changed the channel. However, they will stick around if the matches are good, and the characters are unique, intriguing, and simply not lame.
Unfortunately, there isn't much making the UFC fan want to stick around. Maybe if they watched a Benoit-Finlay match they'd stick around.
So, again, I come back to TNA. I really think that TNA is the only company with a chance of competing with the WWE. And I also think they are going about it the right way. They are taking baby-steps. They are starting to do more PPV's outside of Orlando. They are starting to do more house shows. They are starting to get better TV timeslots. Baby-steps. This is the way to go. If they go too fast, and take too many steps too soon, they will financially crumble, alla old-ECW.
There is one thing that TNA is doing that I think is smart. They are trying to get the WWE to admit that they exist. (Thus, you see stuff like the VKM angle they did awhile back). If they can get the WWE to admit their existence, MILLIONS of viewers will turn to Spike TV. The problem right now, is that Vince REFUSES to acknowledge their existence in any way shape or form.
Why? Because he realizes the power that his brand has. People associate wrestling with WWE. He likes that. Jeez ... why wouldn't he? He doesn't WANT there to be an alternative. If Vince even so much as utters TNA on WWE TV, he'll make TNA millions of dollars. Which I think is awesome, but Vince doesn't.
I heard that’s why Monty Brown is Marcus Cor Von. Vince doesn’t want people to do a google search of Monty Brown and "discover" TNA. We are starting to hear faint "TNA" chants on WWE TV. Awesome. I think that's great. Hopefully those chants will get so loud that the WWE will be forced to acknowledge them. Then the competition factor will get that much more interesting.
In the end, I think the obvious thing is that the WWE needs competition if the current state of pro wrestling is going to improve. And more specifically, the WWE needs WRESTLING competition. Then we will see two shows that are competing to create better WRESTLING shows, rather than reality shows, or worm-eating shows, or what have you.
I encourage any and all of you to respond to this commentary. That’s one of the many good things about Tha O Show site. The fans’ opportunity to have their voice heard, and to respond directly to what a wrestler has to say. I’m interested in all your thoughts on this.
It’s time for me to get back home to Trixie. The moped’s been acting up. I gotsta be getting home to work on it.
Until next time O-sters ... keep giviner!
COOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Cody Deaner
11 comments: on "Is TNA Really WWE’s Competition?"
Now this is how you do a strong debut, fantastic work Cody.
I loved the point about Greg Valentine. You want to believe its real, and with TNA having matches that involve caskets falling from the ceiling makes it very hard to buy into the product.
The only "competition" in any sense will be if TNA can develop a PPV audience b/c they will never be able to compete with WWE on a television level.
Sexay debut mang. Thats what an article is made of.
is it bd that i liked the pirate gimmick? i didnt really like the pirates of the carribean movies, the only good thing abot that movie was johnny depp...
the guy that did the dubble dubble e thing needs to die
i was pro wrestling for the violence ^^ and i was ufc for the blood ^^ and wrestling may be fake but the athletism isnt (bad spelling)
the keep giviner thing needs to die too *kills it*
but comments blow they never offer anything useful *shakes fist* awsome article deaner
lol put watch where was is lol
You really touched on it signguy, TNA is not a competition. It has stated from the beginning that it was an alternative. TNA "The New Wrestling Alternative" TNA may at some time grow to be competition, but Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett would have to stop being "buddies" and get one or both of em the hell out of dodge. Anybody ever wonder if TNA was failing was because it was a group of buds instead of guys with wrestling as their #1 interest. Jarrett and Mantel had the #1 goal of putting Jeff Jarrett over, not TNA, Dusty wanted to get TNA over and he's no longer with the company. I also her that Mantel is a big Abyss fan thus the push he's had and does deserve but drop the dumb shit and push him as a monster not a sometimes timid sometimes attempting murder nitwit. I've also heard that Robert Roode and Eric Young were his "projects" too, so apparently this fucker doesn't know how to use true talent. Vince Russo wants to get himself over, and has his own projects like VKM, Christy Hemme(he must look at her like he used to look at Sable), and Ron Killings(thus the reason for the dumbass gimmick change to Killings where hes a movie star).
Like Deaner said TNA is no longer an alternative, but they aren't competition there either. If Dixie Carter and Panda Energy want to save their company Jeff Jarrett, Dutch Mantel, and Jeff Jarrrett who gives the ok on everything should be sent packing. There's no way the 3 Stooges can book a successful wrestling company, program, payperview.
Hi,
I just wanted to tell you that I think your debut article was interesting. As a relatively new fan of the sport (10 or so years) who always thought it was fake until my brother told me it was sort of a combo of soap operas & fighting...I can see where you're coming from. Now that I understand my brother's concept, it makes it fun to watch and since I understand that it's more "fixed" than "fake" (no one could EVER convince me that getting hit by one of Kane's upper-cut rights wouldn't f*cking hurt!), I have the ability to choose which show(s) I like to watch and I can turn it off when it sucks.
At my house, we wrestle. That's not to say it's the best idea for every family, but it works for us.
Thanks for listening & keep up the great work!
The "O" Show fan 4 life...
Bobby/Robert Roode could run circles around Olegs stuff, and if you'll notice, he isn't around anymore. The Double Double E will be no more, because he is history. It was storyling with him, but I doubt Jericho wanted to sound as stupid as Michael Cole while taking the time to annunciate double u double u E or F with every sentence, it took to much time, and even though in Journalism and broadcasting school you are taught to annunciate, who does it after they get where they are going? I always thought it was kind of cool the way Jericho said it, and I hate to hear Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, or any of the other guys that take 4-5 full seconds to say 3 letters.
Question how did this article become a debate on the pronunciation of WWE? Don't hate us Deaner, we mean no harm.
I'd like to pose this question. If ROH had a TV deal, or any sort of way to communicate to the mass audiences other than their website and DVD's would we even be having the is TNA competition arguement? I personally don't think so because RoH would put TNA to shame, and within 2 years would give the E a run for their money. Let me clarify, I dont mean put the E outta business, but would truly question the E's spot as #1.
I just wanted to clarify a few things based on some of your comments.
1) A lot of you are arguing that TNA isn't competition because of Vince Russo's poor creative ability. This is not the perspective I'm am arguing from. I am not looking at this as a debate on show "quality" as much as I am trying to get in the head of the "production people" in the WWE. What I'm saying is, we can argue about quality of storylines until we are blue in the face. I am arguing that the WWE isn't marketing toward a wrestling audience because they have become a TV show instead of being a wrestling show that just happens to be on TV. There's a big difference.
2) "Question how did this article become a debate on the pronunciation of WWE? Don't hate us Deaner, we mean no harm."
No harm done. And no hate given. :) Here's the thing about the Oleg guy, or whatever his name is. He is a terrible worker. Plain and simple. He doesn't deserve his spot and he just so happened to start to get over because he tried saying WWE in his first promo and he legit couldn't say it. Someone in production thought it was funny and ran with it. In the end, he will just be on the long list of large guys that the WWE signs and then drops in 1-3 years because he can't work, and will never ever be able to. End of discussion. :)
3) "If ROH had a TV deal, or any sort of way to communicate to the mass audiences other than their website and DVD's would we even be having the is TNA competition arguement?"
Yes, we most definitely would. First, because this isn't an argument about "quality of storyline" or even "quality of talent" as much as it is an argument concerning the landscape that has become the WWE - a TV show that is competing against other TV shows.
Now, if this WAS an argument about quality, we would still be arguing this too. Why? Because ROH is what you guys call "an alternative." They only market towards the marks. If it was on TV, only the marks would watch. WWE gets the mark audience ... plus a billion more people that think WWE = pro wrestling. And this equality is actually justified ... it's because WWE has done such a good job of marketing themselves as THE wrestling brand in the entire world.
Thanks for the comments guys. Keep them coming.
And this one's for you "Baby Goth" ...
KEEP GIVINER!!!!!!!!
Cody Deaner
You are the man, and this guy(me) is a Deaner mark. And by the way you look just like my uncle. I mean that in the best way possible. I now see what you mean on the RoH thing too.
RoH in a sense is the new milleniums version of the old ECW. Lets just hope it doesn't follow the path too closely. It's on a good track, and if RoH ever gets a PPV it will shock alot of people at the numbers it gets, but thats my opinion.
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