dablackguy
12-16-2006, 01:38 PM
One of the many things we've all said about the product is that there doesn't seem to be any clear idea on how to build wrestlers. And it should come as no surprise that no one is properly built up from this era with things the way they are, so I suggest a few changes:
1. Enough with the Undefeated Streaks
I'm all for giving someone that comes in and destroys people a run like this. But it seems like at least once a year in WWE we have someone coming into the company who just goes on this massive undefeated streak who in a year or less winds up being fodder. If you want to maintain the signifigance of these streaks and give the wrestlers time to develop, you need to stop or limit these streaks.
2. Time
Which brings me to number 2. With this wave of stars over the past few years, we've seen a number of times where a guy shows up on the scene and is handed a title. This is fine and good if the guy is going to get a consistent investment in terms of the push they're going to get. But again, we usually see these types become fodder 6 months to a year later. Solution? don't give anyone a title that quickly. Wrestling is similar to any other sport in that you need your athletes to develop, only in this field you need them to develop rounded out move sets and character traits. And getting slammed into a title scene is a very temporary solution and a hinder from these necessary traits.
3. Make us understand characters more
What I mean by that is that you have by nature of the sport a bad guy and a good guy. Why is the good guy good? Well, we're 'supposed' to cheer for him. So why is a bad guy bad? Because they're the 'cowardly heel'? This doesn't necessarily need to stop, but what should happen, since everyone is a person and not a gimmick anymore, make them more human. Yes I don't like Randy Orton because he's an arrogant asshole and cowardly, but how about some more human characteristics. Make me not like him because he's manipulative and uses people to his advantage. Make me not like him because he openly lies to people or because he doesn't care about anyone but himself. Hammer home these character points. Some of what made the attitude era so successful was SCSA and the fact that people could relate to his struggle with his boss. And that, I think, is the right idea, make character traits and feuds we can all relate to. Sure, having a guy accidentally pee on another guy's leg to start a feud is funny, but not something we can relate to. If you truly want to make this a 'soap opera for men' you have to make people able to relate to it.
4. Blur the line
And in the spirit of number 3, we have this. As real people in the real world, we all know that there is no legitimate such thing as a good guy or a bad guy. Yes, there are good and bad people, but no one is always bad or always good. I'm not referring to a turn here, merely saying that just because someone is a face, why can't they have some heel characteristics? And vice versa? The world doesn't exist solely in black and white, more shades of gray. So why are we still watching vanilla character? We know bad people occasionally do good things and vice versa, so why not display this and give the characters more feel? If we're going to have people on TV playing their human selves, we may as well have more human traits and developed characters as well.
1. Enough with the Undefeated Streaks
I'm all for giving someone that comes in and destroys people a run like this. But it seems like at least once a year in WWE we have someone coming into the company who just goes on this massive undefeated streak who in a year or less winds up being fodder. If you want to maintain the signifigance of these streaks and give the wrestlers time to develop, you need to stop or limit these streaks.
2. Time
Which brings me to number 2. With this wave of stars over the past few years, we've seen a number of times where a guy shows up on the scene and is handed a title. This is fine and good if the guy is going to get a consistent investment in terms of the push they're going to get. But again, we usually see these types become fodder 6 months to a year later. Solution? don't give anyone a title that quickly. Wrestling is similar to any other sport in that you need your athletes to develop, only in this field you need them to develop rounded out move sets and character traits. And getting slammed into a title scene is a very temporary solution and a hinder from these necessary traits.
3. Make us understand characters more
What I mean by that is that you have by nature of the sport a bad guy and a good guy. Why is the good guy good? Well, we're 'supposed' to cheer for him. So why is a bad guy bad? Because they're the 'cowardly heel'? This doesn't necessarily need to stop, but what should happen, since everyone is a person and not a gimmick anymore, make them more human. Yes I don't like Randy Orton because he's an arrogant asshole and cowardly, but how about some more human characteristics. Make me not like him because he's manipulative and uses people to his advantage. Make me not like him because he openly lies to people or because he doesn't care about anyone but himself. Hammer home these character points. Some of what made the attitude era so successful was SCSA and the fact that people could relate to his struggle with his boss. And that, I think, is the right idea, make character traits and feuds we can all relate to. Sure, having a guy accidentally pee on another guy's leg to start a feud is funny, but not something we can relate to. If you truly want to make this a 'soap opera for men' you have to make people able to relate to it.
4. Blur the line
And in the spirit of number 3, we have this. As real people in the real world, we all know that there is no legitimate such thing as a good guy or a bad guy. Yes, there are good and bad people, but no one is always bad or always good. I'm not referring to a turn here, merely saying that just because someone is a face, why can't they have some heel characteristics? And vice versa? The world doesn't exist solely in black and white, more shades of gray. So why are we still watching vanilla character? We know bad people occasionally do good things and vice versa, so why not display this and give the characters more feel? If we're going to have people on TV playing their human selves, we may as well have more human traits and developed characters as well.