[Vastardikai]

On one hand, the production and the booking is bad. I will give you that 100%. I am going to mention a problem that no one wants to bring up, but it's a major one that afflicts every promotion, in my opinion: Marks.

I don't mean the ones in the audience. I don't mean the so called "Smart Marks." That's another rant for another time. I'm talking about the Marks in the ring. Maybe this is a result of watching too many Al Snow shoots (he contradicts himself at times and is good at over exaggerating, but he's a more solid mind than most in this business.).

The In-Ring Action is better than it's ever been? So fucking what? At the end of the day, the casual observer (the person who doesn't watch wrestling) is going to be like "It's all fake, anyway!"

Good matches, in the grand scheme of things, don't mean shit. All you really have to do is not actually maim your opponent and be coordinated enough to look like you belong in the ring, and it will work. There's a reason why Hulk Hogan was a much bigger star than Tito Santana, despite Tito being the MUCH better worker. Do you want to know why Daniel Bryan got over with 100% of the audience? It wasn't just because he was a great wrestler. It was because he was the Underdog Every Man that everyone could relate to. He was the Mighty Ducks. He was the Bad News Bears. He was the Karate Kid. Everyone saw themselves as him and it made them want to see him succeed. If he had figured that out sooner, he would still be a Main Eventer, rather than just an Authority Figure.

I mentioned a few years ago that Rob Conway's run as the "Con Man" was actually a success, despite the silence he came out to and how he more or less went nowhere as a result of it. It was a success because he fucking tried something, which is more than what much of the talent can say for themselves. If you want that much coveted Main Event Spot, get people in the door. I don't mean smart marks. They're gonna get in the door if it was a broom wrestling a bag of shit. I mean the casual observers. They want interesting characters. And that is just as much on the talent themselves as it is on "Creative."

And don't give me shit about Zack Ryder. His biggest success is still having a job. He would have been released years ago if he hadn't come up with his gimmick. If he came up with compelling story lines that worked with his gimmick, maybe he could have maintained his momentum.

But, back to the point at hand: "Creative," as a whole, is lazy as shit. This isn't a new thing, either. They were lazy as shit when the Ringmaster wanted a new gimmick, and the best they could come up with was Chilly McFreeze, Ice Dagger, and Baron Von Ruthless. He had to get divine inspiration from his Second Wife to become one of the biggest names in the business. And he didn't get there by being the best worker in the world, which he was at one point. He got there by being the Average Working Man who people could live vicariously through when he kicked his boss' ass.

So, ultimately, the secret to making Wrestling work for this audience is giving the casual observer something and someone they would want to see. That's why the '80s worked so well. Many of the folks who were over as shit got over as shit because they were doing their own thing and not relying on "Creative." Jake "the Snake" Roberts didn't fight for titles. All of his programs were over something that struck at a personal level. And they drew more often than they didn't.