Random wrestling thoughts
Jan. 22nd, 2010 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seabird78I may have to eat what I said about The Miz being awful. I'm one episode behind on Raw, but in the last one I watched he showed signs of having tremendous promo skills.
At a quick glance, the guys from Beer Money, Inc. can be easily mistaken for HHH and Shawn Michaels. At least, that's true when they're wearing their wrestling gear.
Even though WWE has me saying "meh" right now, I kind of appreciate that they're taking a business-as-usual approach in the face of new competition. I don't know if this is a sign of supreme overconfidence on their part, or if they can see the writing on the wall and know that TNA is not as much of a threat as it thinks it is.
I've been drawn in to TNA because a lot of their in-ring stuff is more exciting right now, and because the writer in me enjoys trying to stay one step ahead of their booking team, seeing if I can accurately predict what they're going to do next. So far, they've kept me on my toes, and as of this writing I plan to keep watching, but it's starting to look as if Hogan and Bischoff are not as fresh or as innovative as they initially claimed. They've been good at sending me down the rabbit hole to chase different possibilities, making me say things like, "Wouldn't it be cool if they did this? Insert idea here." But it's still too soon to know if the narratives they're building are going to come to a satisfying climax or if the suspense they've created so far is just their way of manipulating the fans to distract from the fact that they've created a convoluted mess and they really have no idea what they're doing.
The Pope shows a HUUUUUGE amount of promise, IMHO.
Really, TNA's greatest strength is their young, home-grown talent. Motor City Machine Guns. A.J. Styles. Christopher Daniels (okay, maybe he's not "young" but you know what I mean). Eric Young. But aside from A.J. most of these guys seem to be getting overlooked under the new regime.
I understand TNA wanting to capitalize on the identities of guys who might be able to attract fans who have not previously watched TNA. They offer familiarity. A reason to get engaged with the product. But don't say you're doing something new and exciting when you're just riffing off a gimmick that was first seen and developed elsewhere. Like Sean Morely, for instance. Yeah, people, myself included, know and love him as Val Venus. But you're telling me he can't be reinvented as something new? I mean, the guy can work, he's got a good look...surely he can be repackaged into something that doesn't call back to the late 90's, right? Same goes for Mr. Kennedy. I never saw him on the indys, so I don't know if the whole booming voice thing was something he came up with, or if that's something he was given when he arrived in the WWE. But the dude can work okay. And he is great on the mic! Surely, it wouldn't be that hard to use those skills in a way that hasn't already been done, right? Maybe the reason this bothers me so much is because I get the sense TNA creative is trying to take ownership of these ideas. Indeed, stealing is an essential aspect of storytelling, but if you're gonna do it at least be willing to cop to your offense, ya know?
I don't mind A.J. as a heel. However, I DO mind him trying to pass himself off as a smooth-talking, womanizing, Flair Jr. It's just NOT him and maybe for me this grates so much because I've spoken to him in person and I know he's a good God-fearing boy, who doesn't cuss and probably loves Jesus more than his wife. Maybe in time he'll be more convincing. I hope so. But for now all I can do is watch him kiss the evening-gown ladies on the cheek and snicker because it's safe to assume that when the cameras stop rolling he reverts back to being a genteel southern man who tips his hat and says, "M'aam."
Re: the ressurrection of the screw job. Really? Is that the best you can do? I'm trying not to hate on it yet, because maybe, just maybe they'll take things in a different direction, but my knee-jerk response is to get annoyed and feel as if my intelligence has been insulted.
Criticisms aside, I will say that televised wrestling is doing something it hasn't done for me in a quite a while. It's strong-arming my attention. It's making me care enough to develop and express strong opinions. It's reminding me of the passion I am capable of feeling for this business, and motivating me to exercise this passion by either blathering away on here or channeling my thoughts and ideas into my novel. Not a bad end result, methinks. Almost makes time spent watching mediocre wrestling worth my while.
At a quick glance, the guys from Beer Money, Inc. can be easily mistaken for HHH and Shawn Michaels. At least, that's true when they're wearing their wrestling gear.
Even though WWE has me saying "meh" right now, I kind of appreciate that they're taking a business-as-usual approach in the face of new competition. I don't know if this is a sign of supreme overconfidence on their part, or if they can see the writing on the wall and know that TNA is not as much of a threat as it thinks it is.
I've been drawn in to TNA because a lot of their in-ring stuff is more exciting right now, and because the writer in me enjoys trying to stay one step ahead of their booking team, seeing if I can accurately predict what they're going to do next. So far, they've kept me on my toes, and as of this writing I plan to keep watching, but it's starting to look as if Hogan and Bischoff are not as fresh or as innovative as they initially claimed. They've been good at sending me down the rabbit hole to chase different possibilities, making me say things like, "Wouldn't it be cool if they did this? Insert idea here." But it's still too soon to know if the narratives they're building are going to come to a satisfying climax or if the suspense they've created so far is just their way of manipulating the fans to distract from the fact that they've created a convoluted mess and they really have no idea what they're doing.
The Pope shows a HUUUUUGE amount of promise, IMHO.
Really, TNA's greatest strength is their young, home-grown talent. Motor City Machine Guns. A.J. Styles. Christopher Daniels (okay, maybe he's not "young" but you know what I mean). Eric Young. But aside from A.J. most of these guys seem to be getting overlooked under the new regime.
I understand TNA wanting to capitalize on the identities of guys who might be able to attract fans who have not previously watched TNA. They offer familiarity. A reason to get engaged with the product. But don't say you're doing something new and exciting when you're just riffing off a gimmick that was first seen and developed elsewhere. Like Sean Morely, for instance. Yeah, people, myself included, know and love him as Val Venus. But you're telling me he can't be reinvented as something new? I mean, the guy can work, he's got a good look...surely he can be repackaged into something that doesn't call back to the late 90's, right? Same goes for Mr. Kennedy. I never saw him on the indys, so I don't know if the whole booming voice thing was something he came up with, or if that's something he was given when he arrived in the WWE. But the dude can work okay. And he is great on the mic! Surely, it wouldn't be that hard to use those skills in a way that hasn't already been done, right? Maybe the reason this bothers me so much is because I get the sense TNA creative is trying to take ownership of these ideas. Indeed, stealing is an essential aspect of storytelling, but if you're gonna do it at least be willing to cop to your offense, ya know?
I don't mind A.J. as a heel. However, I DO mind him trying to pass himself off as a smooth-talking, womanizing, Flair Jr. It's just NOT him and maybe for me this grates so much because I've spoken to him in person and I know he's a good God-fearing boy, who doesn't cuss and probably loves Jesus more than his wife. Maybe in time he'll be more convincing. I hope so. But for now all I can do is watch him kiss the evening-gown ladies on the cheek and snicker because it's safe to assume that when the cameras stop rolling he reverts back to being a genteel southern man who tips his hat and says, "M'aam."
Re: the ressurrection of the screw job. Really? Is that the best you can do? I'm trying not to hate on it yet, because maybe, just maybe they'll take things in a different direction, but my knee-jerk response is to get annoyed and feel as if my intelligence has been insulted.
Criticisms aside, I will say that televised wrestling is doing something it hasn't done for me in a quite a while. It's strong-arming my attention. It's making me care enough to develop and express strong opinions. It's reminding me of the passion I am capable of feeling for this business, and motivating me to exercise this passion by either blathering away on here or channeling my thoughts and ideas into my novel. Not a bad end result, methinks. Almost makes time spent watching mediocre wrestling worth my while.
