Wrestling Doesn't Make Any Sense!

This post-Attitude Era has yielded some of the weakest World Champions of all time. Gone are the days of Savage, Hart, Rock and Austin proudly carrying the belts. Now, we have guys like JBL, Khali, Sheamus, Jack Swagger and I'll even include two guys I like; RVD and Jeff Hardy.

The reason is simple.

With regards to the latter two, their title reigns seem so passing that you kind of sit back and say (very vaguely), "Oh, yeah...I remember him as champ". You know, you don't really associate them with the belt like you would Bret Hart and that's the promotions fault.

What are they doing?!?

What we need to do is go back to having one or two properly built up title contenders because at the moment, the WWE seems to have things all backwards.

You don't just throw the World Title on some random newbie to make him a star. A star is something much more than that. You build the newbie into a star to make him worthy of the World Title. Giving the belt to someone undeserving is plainly just having a nobody as your champion. It's not constructive.

Can you imagine Rocky Maivia or The Ringmaster as champion? No! These characters were developed into worthy contenders over time but that is something the WWE has lost all recollection of.

Allow me to explain.

Let's compare Jack Swaggers push to a proper push. Firstly, Swagger made his debut on ECW in September 08. Within four months he won the ECW Title and would follow that up with complete crap-tacular performances at the big PPV's. Reduced to nothing more than a jobber, he lasted only two minutes in the Royal Rumble this year. So he's a nobody, right?

Wrong! He's WWE's World Champion ten months after debuting on RAW. How are we supposed to buy this? How are we as fans, supposed to connect with this?

Now, let's look at Stone Cold Steve Austin's push.

Austin debuted in December 95. He would follow this with WINS at the big PPV's; King of the Ring (where he said his now infamous speech), Summerslam etc, you get the idea.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call BUILD-UP.

People started to take an interest, cheer Austin on and bring signs to the show. But does this mean he was ready to be World Champion?

No!

Ten months after Austin's debut (the same amount of time it took Swagger to become champion), Austin was still feuding in the mid-card and he wouldn't even touch a title (tag team) until May '97.

All this kerfuffle avoids from the one worrying observation though.

In the time it took Austin to become a tag-team champion, Jack Swagger is now World Champion. That's nonsense. What you see in Swaggers case, as far as I'm concerned, is bullsh*t.

On the other hand, what you see in Austins situation, is a proper push. It was a slow and steady build-up that added dept to the character and allowed fans to connect with Stone Cold and his journey. His rise through the ranks and his initial inability to conquer a World Title only increased emotion and anticipation for when he would finally triumph, such that when he did (two years later), it felt momentous and ushered in the start of an new era - "Attitude!".

If there was ever a book wrote about how NOT to push a guy, then the countless of the WWE's new "stars" could be perfect protagonists. Sheamus is not a good example of great creative writing but Austin was and that's why he resonates so much more than these "here today, forgotten tomorrow" props that the WWE has continually produced over the last couple of years.

And that's the problem, there is no star power anymore.

Nobody should be World Champion before they've had time to establish their personality with the fans. But lack of personality is all over wrestling today and not just confined to the WWE.

I hate the fact that TNA are trying to match up these young guys with established veterans. Now, it seems like a great idea but the issue here is that the pairings they've made, are not very good.

AJ Styles looks ridiculous trying to be The Nature Boy. He is clearly better as a babyface. Wouldn't it be better if we could remove Abyss and match Hogan up with AJ Styles? Can you imagine AJ pimped out in the now infamous red and yellow?

And who would accompany Ric Flair? How about Desmond Wolfe!
Now that makes sense. But making sense is something very rare in wrestling today. How can the monster Abyss be paired up with the All-American Hulk Hogan? Again, their personalities just don't match.

AJ Styles does not make a good heel. He does not make a good Nature Boy. Having him on Hogans team is far more interesting than seeing him in a fluffy Ric Flair robe.

But let's stay with this "making sense" thing for a second.

These pairings that I've just mentioned are reminiscent of recent Survivor Series'. Remember when WWE used to actually put teams together that made sense? Yeah, me neither because it was so long ago.

It seemed that recent teams were just thrown together as filler at the last minute. No thought went into them at all and that is kind of where TNA find themselves with this new match-up thing they're doing.

Let's get one thing out of the way, here and now.

All we get are empty promises. A few years ago, I was hearing that Carlito and a few other up-and-comers were the next big thing. Now, I'm hearing that Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston are the next big thing. I say to hell with that!

What we're getting is an endless cycle of completely forgettable characters. Remember at Wrestlmania when Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes walked out for their match? The crowd just sat there with a look on their face like they were just going through the motions. In fact, Randy Orton got a huge pop and this guy is supposed to be the heel?

Let's face it, these guys are NOT star material. Randy Orton held that match together. He IS star material and I must say, he did a very admirable job.

The same thing with tag teams. It's been said over and over again here on B/R that pairings just don't compliment each other. Where is the chemistry of the Hardy Boys or Edge and Christian, Demolition and ?
Now we get John Morrison and R Truth, Big Show and Miz. Why are these people together? What is their goal?

Very little people know the business as well as Vince McMahon. He's been there, seen it, done that, wore the T-shirt. But God damn, something is wrong in the industry and it has absolutely nothing got to do with the new PG Era. Censoring blood, sex and bad language is one thing, but to accept the crap your creative team is churning out today (regardless of what era it is) is a downright insult to anyone who's been a fan all these years.

"Celebrity" guest hosts...I mean, come on...

Standards have dropped significantly. The reason hiring Hollywood writers is a bad idea is because wrestling is on-going. There is no ending. Fueds come and go but as soon as one rivalry stops, it seems both characters instantly forget who they've just spent the last two months beating the shit out of. In truth, it sounds like a worthwhile concept but in hindsight, you'd get a better storyline from a five year old child throwing paint on a blank wall.

One final point.

I am neither a WWE mark nor a TNA mark. I enjoy both shows and I watch whatever is more entertaining to me on the particular night. However, ratings are the most inconclusiveve statistic ever to be recorded. How can we judge which product is better based on how many people actually watched it?

Here's an example.

I'd be willing to bet a hell of a lot more people tune in to see American Idol than another generic show (take your pick). Does this mean American Idol is the best thing on TV?

NO!

Wrestling just doesn't make any Goddamn sense anymore.