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Old 09-04-2012, 11:16 AM   #1
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Wrestling as Soap Opera
I don't talk about wrestling anymore with anyone outside of the forum. Aside from the fact that it seems like adult fans are harder and harder to find I'm really not a regular viewer these days. A few times a year I pay attention to a handful of shows to see if anyone's gotten good on the mic or done something fun or unique in the ring. So when I hear non-fans bring up professional wrestling it piques my interest the same way it does when I hear people who have no clue about politics start repeating phrases they heard on cable news one time.

Wrestling in general and the WWE company in specific are oftened called "male soap operas". I believe that this meme originated during the 90s when Vince Russo came into some notoriety although I don't know for sure whether it didn't appear earlier or if Vince Russo was to blame. Regardless of who started it or when the comparisons began, the backstage segments that expanded the "storylines" from mere promos and ring-action are what people refer to when they call wrestling a soap opera.

The scripted backstage scenes were a natural progression from what people already saw in the ring. Wrestlers fighting over women, changing their national allegiance and doing dastardly things not just outside the ring but outside the arena are just a few examples of how promoters began experimenting with their programs to draw in more fans. It was especially effective when there were still people who believed wrestling was a legitimate sport. I imagine people might give more of a fuck about baseball if we found out that the star players of one team had recently become communists and vowed to win the World Series in the honor of the former Soviet Union, so this made sense that they would give the outside-of-wrestling storylines a bigger role.

However, without the facade of legitimacy, does anyone care whether Chris Jericho called C.M. Punk's sister a drug addicted cunt? Does getting "personal" or focusing a wrestler's feud on something completely outside of the wrestling spectrum really add any interest to anyone and if it does how much more than a simple "I hate you because you cheated in our last match" style angle or "I want that belt and I will do anything for it"?

I'm not suggesting that Ring of Honor's style is superior to that of TNA or the WWE either. I'm just suggesting that the backstage scenes we've grown used to (or in my case, still hate as much as I did when they first started) are not helping the product in any meaningful way. I didn't watch wrestling, even as a teenager, for the soap opera aspect, although a few caught my attention (who was the cult leader of the Ministry anyways?). I watched for the performance. The promos that The Rock, Austin and Foley cut in the WWF were compelling. Their matches told a story that was more engaging than almost anything I've seen in the last few years. When Nash and Hall got on the mic I was entertained. When Goldberg sloppily injured wrestler after wrestler and the only story was "the streak" I was more than satisfied. When Taz just destroyed motherfuckers left and right and the Dudley Boys 3D'd every one out of existence I was thrilled.

Does anyone really get as excited about a scripted backstage scene with Johnny Ace or Teddy Long? Does anyone not immediately flip the channel when they see Hogan and his daughter talking backstage? Who are they writing these stories for, really? When every single person in a story-line is interchangeable with another person because the feud isn't based on the personal differences of the characters or their conflicting goals I really couldn't care less.

Help me out here, TPWW. Enlighten me. Discuss.

It's time to make TPWW MEAT again!

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Also have some popcorn.
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Old 09-04-2012, 12:17 PM   #2
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Vince Russo owns you all,,,,anti tradition at tpppw woooo! Seriously though, it's almost becoming unwatchable.
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Old 09-04-2012, 12:20 PM   #3
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The problem DttS is that you grew up.
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Old 09-04-2012, 12:23 PM   #4
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Old 09-04-2012, 12:41 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rammsteinmad View Post
The problem DttS is that you grew up.
Is it though? Adult women still watch soap operas. However, you'll never hear them talking about the performances of the actors.

When I talked about wrestling it was about the things they did in the ring or the neat promos that they cut. It was never, "HOLY SHIT, THEY KIDNAPPED VINCE'S DAUGHTER!!!"

The things that impressed me as a child were informed by my belief that it was real. As a teenager I was impressed at the skill and pain tolerance these guys possessed in order to pull off their craft. I was impressed when someone got on the mic and knew how to cut a promo or tell a story in the ring. Even during the Attitude Era I don't recall a Soap Opera storyline that mattered to me.
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Old 09-04-2012, 12:48 PM   #6
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It's not really that you grew up so much as that you have a taste for something that doesn't really exist anymore. I enjoy the occasional 'soap opera' story but for the most part I too find them rather hard to watch. Thing is though that's where the 'product' has evolved. Unfortunately the WWE isn't meant for us anymore whether we like it or not. It's become a kid's show and a show for kids and their parents to watch. The days of the adult and teenage fans are done.

It seemed for a while that TNA was trying to recapture some of that (albeit horribly) but they just realized there was more money in copying WWE.
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Old 09-04-2012, 12:55 PM   #7
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Actually my mom is a perfect example of what's happened to you. Since I went back to college I've been living at home again and my mom's been getting into wrestling because I watch it. Thing is she still was under the impression it was real for the most part until a few months back when she started noticing small things like guys protecting themselves from hits etc. Before that she used to go nuts when a backstage segment happened. When Mark Henry 'broke' Bigshow's leg she went insane calling him ever name in the book and really REALLY getting into it. Now she's much less into the product and for the most part just ignores half the show while playing solitare.

Basically I think finding out it's not real really affects your enjoyment of the product unless you fully and completely understand it and legitimately enjoy it for what it is.
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Old 09-04-2012, 12:55 PM   #8
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I wouldn't watch any "fresh" professional wrestling show i.e something that isn't showing a bunch of old matches, isn't there to advance storylines, characters etc that didn't contain outside-of-match segments, be it in-ring/backstage promos/skits/segments/vignettes/VP's etc
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Old 09-04-2012, 12:59 PM   #9
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Really you just gotta think of it as a live action cartoon. If you don't still enjoy watching cartoon's then chances are you won't enjoy wrestling today.
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Old 09-04-2012, 01:37 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by CSL View Post
I wouldn't watch any "fresh" professional wrestling show i.e something that isn't showing a bunch of old matches, isn't there to advance storylines, characters etc that didn't contain outside-of-match segments, be it in-ring/backstage promos/skits/segments/vignettes/VP's etc
It's not backstage segments in general I have a dislike of. If Wrestler X is walking down the hall and accidentally bumps into Wrestler Y to start a meaningless short feud or if Wrestler X chased Wrestler Y into the locker-room after getting pinned through nefarious means, or Wrestler X attacks Wrestler Y during a promo...I don't have a problem with these, never have.

I'm merely talking about the more abstract angles that push the suspension of disbelief a bit too much for me and/or don't have anything to do with wrestling.

Like if Wrestler X's gimmick is that he's a wannabe popstar and he sings in the ring or breaks into song during his promos, I'm cool.

When Wrestler X has a segment where he goes to the recording studio to make an album and it's done without a match in mind, I'm less thrilled.

When wrestler x then gets a recording contract and his new manager doesn't want him to wrestle in case he injures his throat and has long conversations with the GM about...you know while I was trying to make a point about hating silly soap opera angles I kind of made one I love.

Fuck.
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Old 09-04-2012, 01:40 PM   #11
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that's the kind of dumb tongue-in-cheek stuff that usually makes it so great, the things that somebody that doesn't "get it" would take hugely seriously and then clamour to ask you that "you know it's fake right???"
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Old 09-04-2012, 01:59 PM   #12
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Yeah, but I guess it's more the stuff like the "off-camera" scenes and the occasional Undertaker segment that just ruin it for me. I get no enjoyment out of Kane and Undertaker shooting fireballs at eachother.

:/
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Old 09-04-2012, 02:04 PM   #13
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Mainstream journalists such as Irv Muchnick popularized the "soap opera" characterization of pro wrestling. Before then, people just enjoyed the heel antics with the (often fulfilled) assumption that the face in the feud would get the last laugh. We can blame pseudo-academics such as Muchnick for legitimizing the use of creative writing narratives in the booking of pro wrestling matches, as up-and-coming writers in the early 1990s (such as Russo) undoubtedly looked to how mainstream analysts characterized pro wrestling and subsequently tailored their product to match that paradigm.

Sorry for all the big terms, but at least I stayed away from the Muchnickian terms dialectic (referring to the dueling perspectives of face and heel) and demimondaine (referring to the second-class status of pro wrestling as a socially acceptable profession).
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Old 09-04-2012, 02:29 PM   #14
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So like, you wouldn't have liked The Muppets segments from last year then right? Cause that was one of my favourite Raws for a long time.
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Old 09-04-2012, 03:09 PM   #15
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First of all, this is one of the best videos ever... Loved this feud...

Second, I normally fast forward through all the scripted stuff backstage nowadays unless it has the feel of a past promo... Some promos I love, usually with Jericho, Punk, HHH, etc... Sometimes even a Cena one I like... I think it just usually depends on what people like for entertainment basically...
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Old 09-04-2012, 03:10 PM   #16
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The Muppets on RAW were great, especially the Santino/super potion schtick and Sheamus/Beaker
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Old 09-04-2012, 03:50 PM   #17
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So like, you wouldn't have liked The Muppets segments from last year then right? Cause that was one of my favourite Raws for a long time.
I can't say for sure as I didn't watch it. I like Muppets and I like wrestling...maybe I would like them together even if it throws my whole point away.
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Old 02-16-2013, 12:15 PM   #18
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I haven't watched wrestling in nearly 6 months.
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