Wrestling needs emotion again...

[James Steele]

Professional wrestling has been considered the "male soap opera" for quite sometime, but it has been missing that one crucial element over the past few years...emotion.

The only real emotional moment over the past few years, for me personally anyway, was WrestleMania XX when Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit closed the show as WWE and World Heavyweight Champions. Also, the only real storyline that have drawn true emotion out of me were the night Flair challenged Triple H for the World Title. Many storylines have had potential to use this emotion factor to their advantage, but WWE always has to take it over the top.

You look at the Austin vs. McMahon saga, and it used emotion to expand upon its overness. Whenever you get people emotionally involved in a storyline, they are going to eat it up. People love being taken on an emotional roller coaster through wrestling because they can get the high of experiencing all those emotions without having to go through the hurt. Austin vs. McMahon was about a guy who represented the average joe who was fighting to be on top and stay there against those who thought they were "better than" him. Everybody has experienced a person feeling above them, but rarely do you get to fight them and prove them wrong. This emotion added to the love of the Austin vs. McMahon saga.

You watch any promo with lots emotion you will get into that character and either love him or hate him for those emotions he portrays. Ric Flair's promo when he returned to WCW shows this. Ric Flair was loved and adored, but him just pouring out his soul made the people love him even more. When a storyline, promo, or whatever shows emotion and evokes those emotions in the viewer then they [the viewer] are more likely to get lost in those emotions and this losing themselves in the show and being "hooked". WWE has had so many great chances to use this powerful tool, but they always have to take it over the top or dumb it down. Most wrestlers have a true passion for what they do, and if you let them use that passion to evoke emotion in the viewer than you will have a guy who can get ratings. You have a guy who can get buyrates. Emotion is the key to getting wrestling fans lost in the product, and those are fans who won't change the channel.