Wrestling as Soap Opera

[Swiss Ultimate]

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.