Why is pro wrestling so needy?
 

The pro wrestling industry is very insecure.

I don't know what it is, but the second any performer gains a certain amount of steam, people are deeming them 'the next this' or 'the new that.'

There's this desire to be accepted by the mainstream that is beyond desperate. I could be wrong, but I feel like on the 2 occasions it happened (the middle 80s and late 90s) it happened naturally. Of course, Vince keenly leveraged important relationships and the POWER OF HULKAMANIA BROTHER, but the parts were in place.

And with the Attitude Era, Austin/Tyson was perfect. Regardless of mainstream acceptance, Steve Austin was plain awesome and would have had a great run whether he was featured on MTV or not. (The same would go for Hogan).

Even the performers are weird with their neediness. I was listening to Edge and Christian (Whom I love) and they're pathetically prattling on about how great Baron Corbin is. Not because he's actually great, but because he gets shit on for being the mediocre/boring (albeit competent) performer that he is. "BARON CORBIN IS GREAT GUYS I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU HATE HIM, PLEASE LIKE HIM" were the vibes I was getting.


Furthermore, when the War Raiders were named Viking Experience, I see these endless tweets from Mick Foley practically BEGGING fans to give it a chance. It was some of the saddest shit I've ever seen. And telling them how they were wrong for hating it. It was the most awkward string of tweets. Like stfu, who fucking cares?

Same with guys who bitch about fans not liking Roman Reigns.

These are just examples.

In conclusion:

Why can't wrestling just fucking let things be what they are? If somebody's a great performer, let them be that. Don't worry about them being Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan. The rest will take care of itself if what they're doing is working. They can succeed based on different metrics other than taking the mainstream media by storm or flipping the industry on its head.

And if fans don't like something, they don't fucking like it.

"Ambassadors" can't tell them they're wrong for not liking it. I'm not going to change my mind on Roman Reigns being bland because X-Pac told me he's "ACKSHULLY A STAR."


What a weird, stupid business.

Probably something to do with wanting to stay in Vince's good graces, just in case.

Slightly related, Corbin could be good if his promos weren't so fucking wooden.

in some cases, yes. But they also don't need to broach the topic. I genuinely think, for instance, that E and C like Baron Corbin. And therefore, we all MUST like him.

He's fine. I've seen his matches and there's nothing wrong with him. But there's also nothing 'right' with him if that makes sense. He's a typical WWE character with 0 depth and nothing to sink your teeth into. A typical channel changer.

I think part of it is these guys (the ambassadors) drink the Vince Kool-Aid. He's the only game in town so "he must be doing something right." So, Baron checks all the boxes of being a 'good' performer. Minus actually being any good.

I don't really feel E and C begging for people to like Corbin. If someone didn't like Corbin, then heard them discuss him, then started liking Corbin because of it, their problems reside erstwhile.

It's the need to say "Actually guy, Baron Corbin is really good" that miffs me. They then go on a tangent implying that fans know nothing. The term "begging" was hyperbolic, but the fact remains that there's a reason fans don't like him and it's not because he's secretly unbelievably talented. And these voices complaining about it won't change that fact.

If these guys are good or WWE is great, let it all speak for itself. If someone is a great talent or has a real connection to the fans, avoid the "ARE THEY THE NEXT FLAG BEARER" discussions. If fans shit on something, defending it to the hilt is pointless. Read Foley's tweets about Viking experience. My god, the mental gymnastics he was doing.

At least with WWE, a lot of it has to do with Vince and the company being very petty in general if things don't go exactly their way or feel insulted.

Wrestling in general isn't really that different compared to sports and other popular stuff like video games and comics when it comes to having its share of defenders and detractors for every single thing that happens. Same for anointing anyone who shows potential as the "next ____" since that also happens a lot in sports.

it's true. people want to feel a part of something special, so the second they sniff someone has a hint of potential they jump on it. Bray Wyatt cuts a creepy promo and he's the next Undertaker. Becky Lynch is an anti-hero, she's the next Austin. Then people compare their exact trajectories despite them being totally different performers.

I find it's worse for wrestling because it isn't accepted in the mainstream so the people involved are desperate for anything that even has a modicum of crossover appeal.

It would seem some of yesteryear's stars cheerlead for today's talent, because they view it as "repaying the industry" or something-such.

Their practice is diametrically opposed-to Hulk Hogan's politicking, which would often entail the "burying" of talent, rather-than the constant uplift that certain WWE Legends feel obliged to bestow-upon today's upper-midcarders and quasi-main eventers.

One thing (of many) that gets me is how fans supposedly don't know what they're talking about if they've "never been one of the boys". You don't throw yourself at the ground for a living, so you can't tell what is good and what is dogshit.

"The Viking Experience" and renaming Hanson and Rowe was just arbitrary and unneccessary. It was blatantly arbitrary and unneccessary. The initial change from War Machine was expected, since War Machine isn't a WWE team name (plus all that nonsense with the MMA asshole pulling an Ultimate Warrior when he got butthurt about Rhino using it as a nickname). "The Viking Experience" was a change for the sake of it. And it sounded stupid; even being way too stupid for the realm of make-believe stuntfighting. And they got called on it sounding stupid and being arbitrary.

Corbin was supposed to be BFD from day one. He got the Goldberg push in NXT in short squash matches, and it soon became apparent why; because he wasn't that good. Once it was exposed how not good he was, the fans caught on and weren't buying it. But because he's a pet project, the company doubled down on the man. Imagine playing roulette, betting on red, and then someone says "hey, the table is rigged to always land on black!" and after learing that, you keep adding more money to red for every spin hoping that will change.

And that's what it comes down to a lot of the time: they take the wind out of their own sails. They like to blame the fans for not buying what they're selling, and then continue to try to sell that shit at an even HIGHER price. They have a penchant of ruining any talent as an attraction that doesn't "fit the plan" without bothering to figure why that talent is disrupting the plan to begin with. Most of the time, they'll just dismiss it as "flavor of the month" and try to do what they were doing anyway. Can you imagine if they booked like they do now in 96/97? People think Phantasio sucks? Bullshit, that's tremendous! We can sell mime masks to kids! Give him the title next PPV. Why is everyone bringing Austin 3:16 signs? He's not a star. Have him job to Justin Hawk Bradshaw for the next three weeks and then take him off TV, we have a show to run!

Pretty sure they see Becky Lynch as a disruption to Charlotte's perpetual coronation- and that's one of the biggest reasons *why* she's so over, because she is.

That time everyone boo'd Batista and cheered Roman wasn't really because Roman was that over, it was because everyone wanted to see Daniel Bryan win, and smashing Batista over for a championship looked like the direction they were heading at the expense of the person everyone wanted to see. When Reigns stopped that, it was more of a "thank god Bats lost that obvious shit" and the company took it to mean "sweet, everyone loves our golden boy", because they aren't even looking at their own story - or lack thereof - that well. They drop the boat a lot, and it is made way more obvious how much they do so since NXT is a wrestling show booked like a wrestling show with characters and plots and angles and personaltiy, but the second someone gets called up to the main roster, they get distilled down to a simple thing and they are supposed to just "be over" off of that forever.


And they don't realize it, but what they're actually selling is hope. As in, we keep watching hoping whatever we invested in will have a satisfying outcome. Most of the time, that absolutely doesn't happen. But when it does, it's great, and keeps us hooked. Like gambling.