Two questions

[Loss]

(1) Is there anything about modern day wrestling that you think is better than wrestling from 5, 10 or 15 years ago? If so, what is it?

 

(2) If you think wrestling right now is missing something, what do you think it is?

[Mad Dog]

(1) Is there anything about modern day wrestling that you think is better than wrestling from 5, 10 or 15 years ago? If so, what is it?

Bigger variety of moves is a plus.

 

(2) If you think wrestling right now is missing something, what do you think it is?

Emotion. It's especially true of the WWE as it comes off as scripted and even the heated feuds don't seem to really have any hatred behind them.

[Guest savagerulz]

(2) If you think wrestling right now is missing something, what do you think it is?

Legitimate competition between companies.

[Coffey]

Is there anything about modern day wrestling that you think is better than wrestling from 5, 10 or 15 years ago? If so, what is it?

The production values continue to improve, even on the Indies. Video packages are always good.

 

If you think wrestling right now is missing something, what do you think it is?

The "big draw." When wrestling is at it's best, there's always that one guy that you can point to and be like "he's the guy." You had Hogan in early WWF and Flair in early NWA/WCW. You could slap guys in the ring with them, like Orndorf or Luger or Sting or whomever and they'd gain instant credibility. Wrestling doesn't have that now. You have Cena getting the superman push and Triple H still on top. When you throw a Rob Conway or whomever in the ring with them, they aren't stars at the end of the match like they would've been if they were in there with a younger Flair.

 

There's also not any real compelling storylines or a top faction. Whenever wrestling has been good, there's been both. The IV Horsemen with everyone chasing after Flair's title, for example. The nWo fending off Sting, DDP & Goldberg.

 

Good managers seem to be a lost art in WWE too.

[Loss]

I'll admit that I posted this mainly to talk about Question #2, but I thought I'd make it more balanced to be fair to people who enjoy current wrestling.

 

What prompted this post, of all things, was watching DiBiase/Virgil from Summerslam '91 last night. Not a great match, but the heat was off the charts. A four year storyline was culminating between a great worker having his last hurrah and a never-was guy with no talent, but they blew the roof off the place. And Piper. My God, Piper. Just incredible acting at ringside, dare I say better acting than anything anyone in WWE has done since probably 1997. This midcard match seemed like life or death, because Piper worked himself into such a frenzy on commentary and whether you believed wrestling was real, you believed Piper meant what he said.

 

I think above all else, that's what wrestling is missing at the moment. Great dramatists up and down the card. Color commentary that gets over not just the story, but the *personalities*. Logic and slow build.

 

Anyway, the whole match is proof positive that with the right booking, anyone can look good. I'm sick of hearing why this person or that person can't make it, because throughout wrestling history, there have been some major slugs that have gotten over in a big way because they were presented in a way where they seemed important.

[kjh]

One thing that is better, which is taken for granted now, is that there are many more competitive matches and major angles on free TV. But to expand on Loss' point it's a bit of a double edged sword though, because everything is so rushed now and familiarity breeds apathy. You can't have matches like DiBiase vs Virgil today, because bookers won't have the patience to keep a double act together so long before splitting them up because they have so much TV time to fill. And 15 years ago matches like that felt more special because you didn't see DiBiase work a competitive TV match virtually every week.

 

I've been thinking about this recently with regards to why recent UFC PPVs in North America are drawing so well compared with most WWE PPVs despite WWE having a much bigger TV audience to draw from. If you want to see Liddell or Ortiz fight you have to pay to see it, while WWE's top stars wrestle each other for free so often why bother to buy PPVs when the booking is so mediocre.

[anarchistxx]

What's missing from WWE is things to care about. That's why I'd rather watch HH/Cena than Mysterio/Finlay. I care about HHH and Cena, and I bring up Mysterio/Finlay not because it was a bad match, far from it, but because it's being pimped as great and it didn't interest me at all. Same with Benoit/Finlay, despite my love for Benoit. Same with the entire Backlash card. Had, say, the Shelton/RVD match been performed 6 years ago between Guerrero and Jericho, and they'd done the exact same match, I would have been much more bothered.

 

What's missing from wrestling as a whole is that I'm not excited to watch it. Maybe the odd match, but Wrestlemania didn't excite me, none of Akiyama's title defences excite me, despite me loving the guy to bits, most things on ROH cards don't excite me. I turn a match on, I enjoy it, it might pass the time if I don't have anything better to do, but I'm never really excited to put a match on and see it.

[Guest savagerulz]

You can't have matches like DiBiase vs Virgil today, because bookers won't have the patience to keep a double act together so long before splitting them up because they have so much TV time to fill.

 

Meet the exception.

[Guest savagerulz]

Thought I would write a more lengthy response:

 

1) Is there anything about modern day wrestling that you think is better than wrestling from 5, 10 or 15 years ago? If so, what is it?

Appreciation from fans for who puts the shows on...namely promoters that do a great job. In '91 people didn't know, or perhaps really care who promoted, and it just wasn't that big of a deal. Part of the great thing about ECW was the fans knowing who put the show on and showing gratitude. It's great that writers and promoters get called to task for shitty product, too. While I don't like the whole "general manager" thing, or too much of the "shoot!!!!!" stuff that goes on involving non-wrestlers and management, I think it's great that fans more accurately can give praise and blame where it is deserved.

 

(2) If you think wrestling right now is missing something, what do you think it is?

In a word, STRUCTURE.

 

This applies to every aspect of the business, from booking, television, how promoters treat wrestlers, how wrestlers deal with fans, how fans behave at shows. There's NO STRUCTURE and it's hurt the business, fan's enjoyment, and the wrestler's levels of skill.

 

There are tried and true ways to book a card, and they aren't followed. This has led to the titles meaning nothing, the talent being wasted, or elevated prematurely. It's a bad time in wrestling. Not from a financial standpoint, necessarily, but from a "painted into a corner" standpoint. There's a perception that everything under the sun's been done, and that they'll never be great again. Granted, there have been other times that felt that way, but because there were certain structures in place, wrestling could rebound in new and interesting ways.

 

For example...though the early 90's were bad from a business standpoint in wrestling, pro wrestling was also perceived as a mainstay of television. That perception is gone, in large part because wrestling has struggled mightily to not call ITSELF wrestling...well guess what? If you're not "wrestling" but "sports entertainment," that means you are another television show. And television shows get CANCELLED. Wrestling always prided itself not just with "kayfabe," but with the notion that it was truly DIFFERENT than other forms of entertainment. Therein lay it's aura. It developed a series of rules from training, to how things were booked, to how fans were to behave.

 

And those things weren't always good...but the things that needed changing happened. And when they did, they made for great moments, matches, cards, wrestlers, and even whole promotions. (ECW being the oft-cited example, but mid to late-90's WCW and the WWF post '96 also fit the bill). The problem was, wrestling threw out the (money making) baby with the bathwater. Instead of remembering that wrestling has always been about the slow burn, everyone whored themselves out quick and fast to make money. UNGODLY amounts of it. Remember, Stone Cold in his relatively short time at the top made more money for wrestling than Hogan has...in all of Hogan's years at the top COMBINED. That's no joke. BUT, wrestling doesn't have good training systems in place. There's no formal or consistant informal structure for youngsters to learn from vets. There's no truly young, smart wrestling minds out there with money backing and television, nor do they seem to know how to get it.

 

Wrestling is held hostage by television instead of the other way around. Guys who aren't really ready or proven are rushed to the top or rushed into heel and face turns in the blink of an eye to keep up the Ponzi scheme that wrestling has become...and that's something that doomed to come crashing down.

 

Wrestling went from creating it's own safety nets in terms of replacing talent in every aspect of the business to getting outsiders to do things they have no business doing.

[Coffey]

That's the best post you've ever made. Completely summed it up.

[Guest savagerulz]

Thanks.