How Do You Present Wrestling TV In 2019?

[FMKK]

We talk a lot on WWE threads about how their entire format is stale and a hangover from the late 90s, albeit with some modern idiosyncrasies bolted on. Either way, it's very much out of date and needs shaken up if they're to garner the sort of genuine excitement about their product that can lead to a ratings turnaround.

Going into this autumn, we have Smackdown debuting on Fox and there have been rumours about the network wanting a more sports focused presentation. It also seems likely that we will have another big time wrestling TV show coming onto the market courtesy of AEW. They've been very successful at using Youtube and other mediums to get their characters over, although it has also been speculated that their show could be modelled on WCW Nitro - a cool aesthetic to be sure but still a throwback to the 90s once again.

So with two new wrestling presentations coming to our screens, and thus two opportunities to reboot tired formats, what should wrestling television look like in 2019? Do we go back beyond the 90s for a more traditionalist approach or filter in ideas from different mediums and genres to give a more 'reality approach'?

 

This is a talking point we hear a lot and I'd be interested to flesh it out a bit more and get the thoughts of the good people of PWO.

[SomethingSavage]

Take a lot of the YouTube specific content and find a way to funnel that onto your television program. Take chances. Be willing to present, promote, and produce these performers in bold, diverse ways.

Stop replying on extended wrestling matches, strictly for the sake of filling/killing time. It's lazy and uninteresting. So your die-hard wrestling analysts are into it. Cool story, bro. But they're going to watch REGARDLESS. It's not like they'll tune out completely if you don't deliver three 30-minute matches every single week.

Utilize more interviews, mini-docs, training montages, and video packages to introduce, debut, and spotlight your key characters.

Remember what makes pro wrestling angles great in the first place. It isn't necessarily "real sports feel", worked shoots, or whateverthefuck. It's much more basic than that.

Hype. Suspense. Anticipation. These key elements are the lifeblood of the promotional business.

Stop obsessing over star ratings, match criticisms, and microscopic details. Focus on building up wrestlers, establishing their identities, and then bringing them into direct contact with one another at a predetermined time & place. That's literally it.

[Loss]

When long matches do happen, they should either be limited to the main event of the show or matches for one of the secondary championships. It would also be cool if they could start getting match-specific sponsors so they can avoid having commercial breaks during the matches themselves. 

Also, not everyone has to be on TV every week and promos and feuds should be about personal grudges and relatable issues that transcend wrestling instead of everything being a play off of whether or not someone is "deserving", a management favorite, is good enough to be in their spot, is mad about their push, etc.

I could point out a lot more that comes down to my personal tastes but wouldn't make much difference either way, but I do think those things would make a difference.

[Coffey]

You know all of those WWE.com exclusives where a backstage interviewer catches up with a wrestler backstage during commercial breaks or whatever? Put those on the fucking show.

A couple of promos Briscoes style wouldn't hurt either. As in, not in the middle of the ring holding a microphone for 15 minutes. But like sending in a tape of their response kind of thing. From on location.

Also, it's the little things that kill me & make it all feel overly fake or overly produced. The people standing 3/4th of the way toward watching the backstage monitor because it looks better for the camera shot. The people in the rings always having to face the hard cam or moving their moves in that direction making 1/4th of the crowd feel invisible, the catchphrases/buzzwords. The quick camera cuts & constant zooming. Just headache inducting. 

Three person commentary. Gotta go. 

Honestly, I think it's time they ditched the color brand association too. It's part of the reason why everything feels stagnant. RAW HAS to be red. Smackdown HAS to be blue. Why? Just make a nice set that looks modern & feels fresh.

 

Here's something I would love to see: 

Wrestler A - Good Guy.

Wrestler B - Good Guy.

Wrestlers B beats up Wrestler A. 

So now Wrestler B is a Bad Guy and Wrestler A is a good guy.

Some time down the road, Wrestler B becomes a good guy again. 

WRESTLER A SHOULD STILL HATE WRESTLER B. Ditto if Wrestler A becomes a bad guy.

Even just adding that continuity would go a long way. Or at least do some sort of segment where they make up but Wrestler A is still weary or whatever. 

The babyfaces are all stupid & too cookie cutter. Like a wrestler shows a ton of personality as a heel & as soon as they turn face, they forget all of that stuff.

 

No more authority figures. Either heel or face. If you have to do something like that, we should know about matches ahead of time & just have "the WWE committee" or whatever that are never shown but occasionally acknowledged. 

 

Here's a big one: treat your fans with respect. Don't insult the intelligence of the viewer & also don't assume that you have to replay everything after every single commercial break. The people are watching the show. They know what happened. If someone channel flips over, that's what the commentators are for. Tell them what happened.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

6 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

Stop replying on extended wrestling matches, strictly for the sake of filling/killing time. It's lazy and uninteresting. So your die-hard wrestling analysts are into it. Cool story, bro. But they're going to watch REGARDLESS. It's not like they'll tune out completely if you don't deliver three 30-minute matches every single week.

Utilize more interviews, mini-docs, training montages, and video packages to introduce, debut, and spotlight your key characters.

This. 

6 hours ago, Charles (Loss) said:

When long matches do happen, they should either be limited to the main event of the show or matches for one of the secondary championships.

And this.

Wrestling TV shows have too many wrestling matches. I wouldn't want a return to the Kevin Nash booked Nitro of an hour of skits, but more time needs to be devoted to exactly what SomethingSavage says: "Utilize more interviews, mini-docs, training montages, and video packages to introduce, debut, and spotlight your key characters."

Build to matches that matter rather than having matches for matches sake, and matches to fill time. It also makes it harder to burn through the same combination of guys wrestling over and over again.

[El-P]

The way iMPACT currently presents its product is actually really good, it's a shame no one seemingly watches it. Two man both near ringside, but in an old-school setting. Usually begins the show with a hot match. No authority figure, really. No epileptic directing. Some Lucha undergroundesque cool little fuckery (although with less budget and less well done). Booking that flows pretty well with nothing overcomplicated or convoluted. A few special TV shows which allows more important matches to happen without having to go on PPV. Fun vignettes, some of which have a musical theme (LAX, Scarlett Bordeaux). I mean, it's really easy to watch and follow. Sure, there are still some stuff from the 00's that could go away, like the "Hit girl holding the mic and looking disgusted/bewildered at the heels and not doing anything else", but overall, they present a really good pro-wrestling TV show now.

As far as AEW goes, the further away they go from WWE presentation, the better it is. I used to love the Nitro era for its themed PPV and different kind of settings. Hope this comes back eventually.

As far as Smackdown goes, who the fuck cares, as long as Vince & Dunn are there, it's gonna be awful anyway. Not sure it's gonna get much better whenever Dunn is gone, but NXT is a lot more watchable (although still over-directed) at least, if not more listenable (Mauro, shut the fuck up).

[WingedEagle]

8 hours ago, Charles (Loss) said:

Also, not everyone has to be on TV every week and promos and feuds should be about personal grudges and relatable issues that transcend wrestling instead of everything being a play off of whether or not someone is "deserving", a management favorite, is good enough to be in their spot, is mad about their push, etc.

I'm not sure if this was an intended nod at NXT, but its one reason I find the show stays a lot fresher.  Part of this comes down to math as they've got a lot (and potentially more in the fall if Smackdown gets a 3rd hour) of hours to fill, and I'm not sure there's a good way to do that.  Overexposure just doesn't happen on NXT TV because 60 minutes isn't enough time to touch on every program much less burn out every potential matchup within a few months.  

Simpler is better, especially when we're running on over 2 decades of TV written around authority figures pulling levers.  I don't quite want to say anything else would be better, but its almost the case as something different would at least give the TV a new coat of paint simply because its different.

[Loss]

I like the idea of doing a crossover with a celebrity doing "human interest" interviews with WWE superstars. Each week, a deep dive on their childhoods and personal backgrounds or whatever. It can even be worked. Think the Mick Foley and Goldust sit-downs in 1997.

[FMKK]

1 hour ago, Charles (Loss) said:

I like the idea of doing a crossover with a celebrity doing "human interest" interviews with WWE superstars. Each week, a deep dive on their childhoods and personal backgrounds or whatever. It can even be worked. Think the Mick Foley and Goldust sit-downs in 1997.

It's easily done too when they film so many of those pretty high quality Chronicle shows. Like, why not show clips of Reigns doing that sort of stuff on Raw etc.?

Anyone coming into a company who's being treated as a big acquisition should definitely get that treatment over a few weeks before debut. Also, bring back press conferences instead of played out in-ring contract signings.

[Alucard]

On 4/18/2019 at 5:11 AM, El-P said:

The way iMPACT currently presents its product is actually really good, it's a shame no one seemingly watches it. Two man both near ringside, but in an old-school setting. Usually begins the show with a hot match. No authority figure, really. No epileptic directing. Some Lucha undergroundesque cool little fuckery (although with less budget and less well done). Booking that flows pretty well with nothing overcomplicated or convoluted. A few special TV shows which allows more important matches to happen without having to go on PPV. Fun vignettes, some of which have a musical theme (LAX, Scarlett Bordeaux). I mean, it's really easy to watch and follow. Sure, there are still some stuff from the 00's that could go away, like the "Hit girl holding the mic and looking disgusted/bewildered at the heels and not doing anything else", but overall, they present a really good pro-wrestling TV show now.

My thought as well when I hear people suggest a lot of things that Impact does.. excellent use of backstage segments to further stories for those who aren't wrestling that week, vignettes for debuting wrestlers, more interviews, etc. Impact has been on fire in that regard the last few years.