Remember when you were little and wanted to eat candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Your parents told you that doing that was bad for you. It would rot your teeth and make you sick. Sometimes you would still eat an assload of candy and the results would be exactly what they had predicted.As wrestling fans we always think we know what’s best for the business. We’re all such great bookers that if only TNA or WWE hired us their ratings would be saved and wrestling would once again become a cant miss product! If HHH were gone wrestling would be good again. Stone Cold needs to come back and face Hogan.
If Cena went and filmed a movie all would be good with the world. Wait till Vince Russo leaves TNA. Then they will be a threat to Vince McMahon!
No.
None of those things are the answer to saving wrestling. As fans we are that kid that cries when he gets a belly ache from eating whatever he wants. We don’t realize it but wrestling gave us exactly what we asked for. They put some tig ol’ bitties on the screen and their ratings went up. Guys like Stone Cold and DX did their thing by being bad guys you cheered for and ratings went up. The Rock did fifteen minute skits that we still talk about to this day.
Then it happened.
More chicks wearing nothing with minimal skill appeared. There were no longer clearly defined heels and faces but guys that all acted like Billy bad asses. We got skits, skits, and more skits. Don’t you see? We created this monster.
Now the problem is that we aren’t happy for things we ask for. We wanted Cena to lose the belt, right? Well, he did. But we don’t like the guy that won. No, we wanted someone else to get it. Who? We don’t know. Just not Sheamus. I for one have no problem with the guy. I like him. I don’t think he’s too new or inexperienced. I want to give him time to improve even more. But as fans our kneejerk reaction is to shit on anything that is different while bitching that nothing changes.
Really?
We hate that the tag titles are an afterthought. They give the straps to DX who are comprised of two of the top guys in the business. Still not good enough. We wanted John Morrison to drop the Intercontinental belt so he could move on to the heavyweight title. Not only does he drop it but he drops it to a new guy that needs a chance to shine. Still not good enough.
No wonder bookers don’t know what the hell to do!
They serve us what we asked for and we turn our noses up at it. Jim Cornette was on Tha O Show recently and said that he is going to change ROH and bring out the best in the guys there. Sadly even I raised an eyebrow at hearing that statement.
I liked ROH (remember, I used to cover it) and I have liked Cornette since I was a little kid. Growing up I never picked up a tennis racket without thinking about shouting about what my mama told me (don’t judge me because if you were a true wrestling mark you didn’t put on a robe without going “Wooooooo!!!”) Cornette is trying to give us what we want and I dare say need but how many of us will honestly even give it a try?
We really need to figure out what we want from wrestling. We cant just say that we hate everything about it but keep watching just to go on sites and bitch about how we will never watch again. I’ve tried to stop but there is always something that brings me back in or keeps me interested. Even if its just that one guy it still gives me hope.
Right now its Sheamus. Before him it was Orton. Years ago it was the Rock. Remember him? He was Dwayne Johnson. A guy everyone booed and shit on and look at what he became. I’m just saying give these new guys a chance. You never know when you will get not the next HBK but the first John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler or Sheamus.
"You cant always get what you want
But when you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need."
-The Rolling Stones
8 comments: on "Are You Not Entertained?!"
Good article, I've been preaching the same thing for a while now. Honestly, I'm entertained by a lot of the stuff I see surprisingly. Granted I barely watch Raw now and that's usually the only wrestling program I can bring myself to watch. Monday nights are boring as shit.
I heard Dan and Donnie shit on the Slammy episode of Raw when I --for the most part-- liked it. Sure there's stupid shit that boggles my mind like the stupid Batista segment and the weirdo booking in the main and some of the really bad Cole stuff, but as a whole show it did enough to keep me entertained. We shit on the product a lot, but if you really look at it most of the matches they air are decent and even the shitty workers usually don't have matches as bad as undercard indy matches. I should know, I was the one having those shitty undercard indy matches.
But seriously, I couldn't agree more with you. We shit on a lot of stuff that we ask for and maybe it's because I've kinda transitioned to a casual fan but the product on TV really isn't even THAT bad.
Thanks, Wildcat. One issue I beieve is the cause of some much complaining is that we remember things like cartoons, TV shows, and wrestling with this false memory. If you go back and watch some of that stuff its not as good as you may recall. The Attitude Era was full of skits that took up most of the show. A lot of matches from the 80's would get shit on HARD if they aired on a Monday night.
Agreed. Ive also been saying this same thing to local fans for years. A no DQ match wasnt enough? We got the hardcore match. Steel cage not good enough for ya anymore? Vince gives us the Hell In A Cell. Etc etc etc and so it goes. I went to some sites the day after Shameus won the strap and it was exactly what your talking about. "We dont want Cena but we dont want Shameus either"(and as a side note- I love Shameus as champ-well love could be a strong word at the moment, but Im solidly behind it). We demand more as fans and when we get it, we STILL demand more. We demand better as fans and when we get it, we demand EVEN better. I agree with Dantes comment about how it was the same shit back in the 80s and early 90s as well. We were just kids though and didnt realize it. There wasnt as many skits, but we got loads of backstage interviews, some that went on way too long(see The Ultmate Warrior). Gimicky matches with gimicky charictors...and Im sure, although there was no internet, there were guys back then demanding change. I for one enjoy the WWE product as a whole(although I will admit I was not on board with the Slammy show poor night for the most part). If you sit back at look at it in a different light, the way you say it as a child, forget that you read what was going to happen after they taped it a week before, I bet youll have a whole new perspective on it.
-Bones
Thanks for checking this out, Bones. I liked a few weeks ago when Donnie had everyone try and focus on what they liked about the shows for a couples weeks. It actually made me check out what I didnt see and look at it with positive eyes. We cant keep talking crap about it and expect it to get better.
I remember asking people to not read spoilers for the week and see how it felt to watch a show. Last year I lost my internet for a few days and shit was way different. I didnt know who was suspended, on drugs, or won a match. Everyting surprised me. But you cant stop people from looking at spoilers. But the guys covering shows you havent seen yet may see things different than you. Give it a chance still. I'm pretty much echoing you at this point.
"He was Dwayne Johnson...".
No, he was Rocky Maivia, but I know what you were going for. Easy mistake.
Anyway, as far as people crapping on the product and thinking they'd be better bookers, it always annoys me when people say that they would have done this or that, but it only pertains to a very small part of what's already there, like the last little bit of a segment. "Oh, the first 95% of this was fine, but I would have ended it by...". What they don't acknowledge is that if THEY were responsible for the entire thing, it would likely have a different beginning and middle too, that it would be your job as a writer to come up with a complete story or segment and not just "Mad Libs" an ending onto something that's already there (although storylines DO tend to get recycled from time to time). It's easy to say how you would have changed someone ELSE'S work after the fact, but to come up with something (for lack of a better term) original from scratch is a whole different matter. It's Monday (or in this case Tuesday) morning quarterbacking at it's worst. Hmmmm, I hope that made sense...
Agreed Dante,
It seems that as wrestling fans, it is too easy to complain. It's easy to complain, but it is so hard to be the man with the actual answers.
I don't know of fans of anything else that complain as much. I mean to people who ready comic books complain this much?
I fully agree. I try and stop myself from reading spoilers, but it doesnt always happen. Were living in a "need to know now era" not just with wrestling but overall. I wonder if my mom ever says "I would have written that differently" after watching Days Of Our Lives(with some of the bizzare stuff they were doin a few years ago I DEFINITLY would have...not that I watch that sort of stuff). I think as fans we just need to sit back and enjoy what were given. I think WWE has stepped up their game recently. Im interested in how the Shameus as champ thing is going to play out. I want to see where the Kofi/Randy fued ends up. Bret Hart coming back? Are you serious?? Whos not gonna watch that(and they say Vinnie Mac isnt worried about TNA?) Y2J is hillarious week in and week out. Theres ben some solid matches and ongoing fueds lately that are fresh. They are really picking things up again, in my humble oppinion, and I for one will cotinue to watch.
-Bones
Damn you PlanetBFromOuterSpace. I did mean Rocky. Sorry about that. It has to be hard to start a storyline that will not only last this week but try and build up until the next PPV. We can easily look at certain guys and see how they fucked up the character that had potential (Mordecai is the first that comes to mind followed by Sean O'Haire). But introducing something new to people that are ready to dog it immediately is hard. We as fans are just so much more harsh and cynical nowadays.
Frank, speaking as a former hardcore comic book geek (I still draw and write but refuse to pay for another new comic) I can say that I am far more critical of comics than wrestling. And dont get me started on comic book based movies. I sound like Donnie with the whole Hart Dynasty and Bret coming. The shits already written but someone will find a way to make me not wanna watch. Comic book fans are a passionate bunch, dude.
Thanks to everyone for commenting!
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