While this is the 555th blog post about just generally anything, I wanted to take this time to actually state how I would fix the programming of WWE. Let me first start out by saying, I don't think EVERYTHING is broken, so it doesn't ALL need fixing, but there are areas that it absolutely does. I won't state that I'm an expert of the economic climate of ProWrestling, either, but I will state that after watching the product for the better part of 2 decades, I have general knowledge of what sells the product, and I am not 100% adverse to the idea of PG programming. With that, let's begin.
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Start by making the wrestlers more accessible, and let them be themselves, instead of stupid gimmick characters. Take, for example, "Michael Magilicutty," who just so happens to be the son of former great pro-wrestler, "Mr. Perfect," Curt Hennig. Sure, you can't own the Hennig name, and you don't want him to be "Perfect 2.0," though, actually that has a nice ring to it. Part of what made Randy Orton so accessible to the wrestling audiences upon his beginning, was the fact that both his father, and Grandfather, were wrestlers and we all knew him from their storied pasts. By taking Hennig away from his father's Legacy, it prevents him from using that in a great start up feud with some legendary people, like Jerry Lawler, who could easily get "Husky Harris" or "Michael Migilicutty" over with his stories of, "I knew Curt Hennig, and I KNOW Mike Rotundo...you gentlemen can't lace their boots, and it's NO WONDER Vince McMahon didn't want to tarnish their legacies with the two of you..." Then have them prove themselves through the commentators voice, building momentum, and even give them a mouthpiece LIKE Mike Rotundo to elevate them.'
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That is a just a small taste of what should be done, and that is utilizing folks that are not even on the main roster, currently, but absolutely have the pinache to be there.
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Let's take a look at something we ALL hate, which I like to call, "Minday Nitro'ing," or...ON THE FLY BOOKING.
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While you can grab the eye of a passing fan with an "OMG!" shock moment, it takes developing that moment and building upon it to really make folks believe. Here are three moments where it has worked...
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"2.21.2011" - The return of the Undertaker after an extended break. Commercials built to the culmination of this moment, and had people believing that it was going to be Sting crossing the line, if you will, and making his first appearance EVER on a WWE stage, in a WWE ring, etc. Turns out, the bells tolled, the Taker walked down, and just as he got ready to say something, HHH came out to demand a match at Wrestlemania, setting up one of many great matches at the card, though most of the show fell flat, and the match didn't even meet the hype of the second HBK/UT match (the first one was better, folks). The buildup, though, culminated in what we clamor for...we NEED that moment. Obviously, a return of a character is scheduled for Tomorrow night, "The second day of 2012...the end begins..." But for whom? While the signs point to Chris Jericho (book named "Chris," canadian maple leaf in the water, etc), this could just be a ploy to let it be the Undertaker's first appearance since Wrestlemania to set up what looks like it may be an uneventful co-main event at Wrestlemania.
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CM Punk's contract expiring... In what was the best moment of 2011, this was a significant step in blurring fantasy and reality, and singlehandedly showed that while the ratings during Monday Night Football aren't always there, that compelling television will lead to revenue of merchadise, as, immediately following his blowup speech on the company that turned into a "shut his mic off" moment, his merchandise was not just sold out, but in the first moment since Steve Austin became a household name, you started seeing people wear them on the street. However, for as great as this moment was...culminating with a great contract signing, an even better than expected match, and finally, a tweeted picture of the WWE Title in a refrigerator, Punk had the world wondering when, if, or WHERE we might see him (Ring of Honor debuted it's weekly syndicated show around that time). Here's where I would have changed it up a notch, "for the business."
Everyone knows that Vince McMahon will do whatever it takes to remain on top, from stealing talent for next to nothing because it's still more than the competition offers, to having wrestlers show up in terrible movies because he thinks they can get him and his company more exposure, to sometimes...not often, but sometimes, doing the unthinkable...like when his product was #2, behind Ted Turner, and he asked Paul Heyman if he wanted to cross promote his ECW brand on Monday Night Raw...they had matches, they had angles, and they had AMAZING wrestling at that time...what should have happened as soon as CM Punk was the WWE champion without a contract is this...Vince should have been on the phone and created a really good working relationship with Ring of Honor, and had Punk show up on their show, with the title, offering to take on their Champion, and going from there...Vince has been stealing that talent pool anyway, so why not give something back meaningful? I would have had the person who would then win the WWE Title in a tournament AT SUMMERSLAM be the guy who would take moments to crack shots at Punk, while he'd be tweeting during the commercials of RAW, so we'd all be wondering if it was real or fake... maybe even cut off the mic of the champion everytime he'd bring up,"That guy who quit on us, sitting at his home in Chicago..." (CM PUNK Chant starts...) Only to have the winner of the championship match at Elimination Chamber hold up the belt high...then have the music hit...CULT OF PERSONALITY...and CM Punk steps up, face to face with them...on Pay Per View...and slaps them in the face calling them a paper champion...and folks...you then have 4 weeks to build to Wrestlemania, with a great CM Punk Contract negotiation, face offs with the two wrestlers, and the ability to make him larger than life. Can you smell the buys?
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Finally, the third and final moment where the Rock made his long awaited return. The episode was even titled, "Leave it to Bieber..." as Justin Bieber was touted as the "Host of Wrestlemania," long before the Great One...nice swerve there...and this is one where it worked correctly. Not sure when Vince got him to sign on the dotted line, but before then, Dwayne Johnson had already opened his twitter account with a familiar "character name," and it got the world buzzing. When he dropped a little less than PG monologue on tv, no one cared, not PETA, not GLAAD, nobody. We all just watched and applauded as the great one threw out a 20+ minute promo that was worth it's weight in wrestlemania matches. This booking was done weeks in advance, though it overshadowed the main event at Wrestlemania, and even that went properly, as the Miz RETAINED his championship, in a moment that will forever be the day that Cena and the Rock FINALLY stepped into the ring together and squared off. Subsequently, now, with the match at WM28 signed, as long as Cena doesn't injure himself before then (and the dude has been pretty injury prone in his career), we have proof that 1 year in advance booking CAN and DOES sell a PPV.
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Next time, folks, we'll probably take a look at the actual 1-2-12 videos, WHO it was referring to, and whether or not it actually did it's job to bring them in.
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