WWE Brain: Defining and Changing the Melodramatic Narrative

[fakeplastictrees]

 I've seen people get completely worked up at the fact that AEW is around and serving up pro wrestling. What makes this discourse *ahem* 'interesting' is, what some have termed WWE Brain. What is WWE Brain? I am sure someone smarter than me will come up with a nice Oxford dictionary definition, but it essentially boils down to two things:

1. WWE is pro wrestling and provides the correct version of pro wrestling

2. WWE dominionism

While both can be discussed and dissected till the cows come home, I thought it would be fun to list out some of the things this generation of fans (and some who believe they are in Vince's will) believe to be true.

- A debuting wrestler MUST have video packages/vignettes

- A lost in your first ten matches, after being signed, means the company lost faith in you and/or there are backstage politics involved

- Dark & Dark Elevation are on the exact same footing as Metal, Jakked, Velocity, Main Event, post 2000 Superstars, etc.

- Do not listen to the fans. The fans are wrong. Don't listen to them and if you do then you are 'pandering' and that's a bad thing

I'll leave this here. I hope to get other people's thoughts. Let's add to this list!

[Loss]

To me, what's annoying is the criticism that the companies aren't treated the same by fans and reporters. Of course they aren't, and why would they be? One company has a history of lying and doing awful things. The other is far from perfect, but hasn't approached nearly that level of bad behavior. So if people want a consistent standard, here it is -- both WWE and AEW are judged based on their track records.

[sek69]

If someone isn't 6'3 and jacked, then they aren't a real pro wrestler and are just "cosplaying". That particular nugget seems to have stuck with people more than anything, 

[fakeplastictrees]

This is part of it.  WWE and TNA traumatized a generation of fans and for a long time people waited for the other shoe to drop with AEW. I will 100% admit that I was one of those people. Overtime, AEW has shown who they are, defined their product, and established a track record that speaks for itself. However, none of this matters to some. Thinking on this a littler further, and it seems this just goes into a deeper subconscious decision of tying one's thoughts to feelings (in the most unhealthy way) and failing to recognize and deal with the reactive abuse. And now, perhaps more than ever, the 'casual' fan is used as the biggest disingenuous phase and talking point online to discredit actual AEW success. Forbidden Door sold out United Center and did over 100K buys, but the WWE Brains could not handle it and complained about how a sold out United Center and 100K PPV fanbase needs to do something else to reach the 'casuals'. I guess this part falls into contempt for the fans. Projection, deflection, yuck! 

[fakeplastictrees]

3 minutes ago, sek69 said:

If someone isn't 6'3 and jacked, then they aren't a real pro wrestler and are just "cosplaying". That particular nugget seems to have stuck with people more than anything, 

Oh God! Yes! How could I have forgotten the most obvious one! Oh yeah and AEW has 'no stories' aka (as touched on in my first post), the overall layout, introduction, and character development of the wrestlers. I would say AEW and WWE is definitely a great contrast between soft world building and hard world building.

[Strummer]

The size issue stands out the most to me. Still having this size/credibility debate means that nearly 2 generations of fans were brainwashed and conditioned to accept Vince's ideal body type for his wrestlers.

also these fans seem to know exactly what these "casual" fans want to see and what they don't 

 

 

[sek69]

Also the belief (which mostly comes from the Russophiles)  that long matches are Actually Bad and hurt business in the long run. It will be interesting to see how this plays out considering Uncle Paul is having longer matches on his shows now.

[fakeplastictrees]

Blood in hardcore matches is bad! A real hardcore match doesn't need blood! Blood makes everything look so fake!

[sek69]

7 minutes ago, fakeplastictrees said:

Blood in hardcore matches is bad! A real hardcore match doesn't need blood! Blood makes everything look so fake!

Blood with turn off the casuals! Won't someone think of the casuals!

Loss made a great point on Twitter that Casual Wrestling Fans are like the mythical unicorn voters that all politicians are courting after/afraid to offend that no one can actually point to existing. 

Hopefully we won't see this as much with Vince gone, but I get tired of the "stupid WWE gimmick names don't matter,  they're just names" as if it wasn't the #1 branding a wrestler has and a poor one can negatively effect their career path. The Rock would never have been as big as...well The Rock if he was never allowed to evolve past being Blue Chipper Rocky Miavia.

[Loss]

There was a time when long matches were a turnoff. For the last decade (at least), most long matches have built an audience with time. Danielson's second match with Garcia was an extremely rare exception to that, which I blame on the two-out-of-three falls stipulation telegraphing that it would go long, which is a different issue. But long matches growing the audience is a big part of the reason Daniel Bryan got the chance to be Daniel Bryan in WWE. It shows that a lot of "WWE Brain" types haven't paid any attention to what works since the late 90s and just assume that literally everything since then hasn't worked because your choices are either Attitude Era-level business or death, I guess.

[Loss]

Also, to be clear, I absolutely think (know) casual fans exist. We see it when something like Punk-Moxley does 300,000 more viewers than usual. It's just that I find people project a lot of things on to that ideal that just have to do with their own tastes.

[Dav'oh]

1 hour ago, Strummer said:

nearly 2 generations of fans were brainwashed and conditioned to accept Vince's ideal body type for his wrestlers.

Bodybuilder-types aren't a Vince invention, though. Hackenschmidt and Londos were famed for their physiques - the Adonis has always been a template for pro-wrestling. They were the Chippendales of the 1950s. Wrestlers were always bigger/stronger/meaner/crazier than your average Joe...until now. I've known grandmas who would smack the fuck out of a Dante Martin-type (you probably have, too). "Larger than life" is no longer fully applicable to pro-wrestlers, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.

[sek69]

MMA pretty much destroyed the myth of only chiseled Adonises can be ass kickers.  The biggest PPV draws are Floyd Mayweather and Conor MacGregor who are small dudes. It's one thing when Rey was debuting amongst the giants, but we've had nearly 30 years of smaller guys in wrestling so it's really crazy to me people are still stuck on this. 

[Dav'oh]

Floyd and Conor are chiseled Adonises, and have both benefitted from a dearth of charismatic heavyweights. I was around when the Four Kings (amazing boxers, all of them) and some Mexicans were the hottest things in boxing...then Mike Tyson came along and all bets were off. 

Of course I'm stuck on wanting the people portraying ass-kickers to be physically intimidating. Lighter-weights in pro-wrestling (how did MMA and boxing enter a conversation about a fictional sport?) have always been gimmick matches - you had your heavyweights and then either a midget or ladies or lighterweight or tag-team or wrestling bear match to break it up. I don't think Vince brainwashed anyone - pro-wrestling has always had an emphasis on size, strength and physique. It's escapism. Hogan v Andre is two Gods clashing; ReyRey vs Dante is two kids in the playground. Two amazing kids, but two kids I could punt forty yards with either foot.

[EnviousStupid]

2 hours ago, fakeplastictrees said:

- A lost in your first ten matches after being signed means the company lost faith in you and/or there are backstage politics involved

And here I thought Road Dogg had made it official that wins and losses don't matter in the fed :)

Would defending 50/50 booking also count when it comes to feuds? There are some obvious outliers even just this year (Cody beating Rollins on 3 straight PPVs), but to my knowledge it has always been associated with main-roster WWE.

[sek69]

11 minutes ago, Dav'oh said:

Floyd and Conor are chiseled Adonises, and have both benefitted from a dearth of charismatic heavyweights.

Yeah but they both are like a buck fifty each. If alternate universe Conor entered pro wrestling instead of MMA, WWE Brains would be screaming how unbelievable him winning matches would be. 

[Embrodak]

2 hours ago, sek69 said:

Yeah but they both are like a buck fifty each. If alternate universe Conor entered pro wrestling instead of MMA, WWE Brains would be screaming how unbelievable him winning matches would be. 

I mean weight classes are a thing in real fighting for a reason. It’s one thing to say that one can allow a degree of flexibility for a Rey Mysterio or Daniel Bryan or Shawn Michaels, a generational talent, but “small guy who can hang with heavyweights” should also probably be used sparingly if one is to maintain any pretense that this is worked combat, rather than an athletic burlesque that has combat as a loose theme.

 

I can sympathize with some of this thread, but there does seem to be a converse “AEW brain” where rules of thumb and best practices that have guided the business (not just WWE) for decades are just not applicable at all if they come into conflict with enjoyment of the product.

[sek69]

40 minutes ago, Embrodak said:

I can sympathize with some of this thread, but there does seem to be a converse “AEW brain” where rules of thumb and best practices that have guided the business (not just WWE) for decades are just not applicable at all if they come into conflict with enjoyment of the product.

That's far I suppose, but the idea that a smaller guy absolutely can't be seen as a believable wrestler, let alone a star, I think is a direct WWE Brain symptom. It's often a self-fulfilling prophecy for when WWE squanders someone talented because they didn't fit the narrow idea of what they consider a star. If WWE didn't think they were a star, then they can't be a star somewhere else. Then when that person *does* become a star elsewhere, it goes against what daddy Vince taught them. 

[MoS]

3 hours ago, Dav'oh said:

Floyd and Conor are chiseled Adonises

They look exactly as chiseled as Dante Martin, and less chiseled than WWE-era Mysterio and someone like PAC. If you think your grandma can punt Martin, then she definitely can punt those two as well. The small wrestlers would also look very chiseled on the weighing scale if they cut 15 pounds of water weight in 24 hours. Most MMA fighters do not look very chiseled. Chucky Oliveira is right now a bigger draw than Francis Ngannou, who looks like a Greek God and who also speaks better English than Oliveira, another traditionally important factor in American pro wrestling.

Oscar de La Hoya became a massive draw when Tyson was still fighting and could still be called in his athletic prime, although not his technical prime. 

That said, while Vince took size to a new level - and more than size, he loved height and bodybuilder physiques - size was not something that he invented as an important prerequisite for pro wrestling. Sam Mushnick initially thought Ric Flair was too small to headline St. Louis (even though Jack Brisco had headlined St. Louis, but he was a legit excellent amateur wrestler). 

[Johnny Sorrow]

2 hours ago, Embrodak said:

 

 

I can sympathize with some of this thread, but there does seem to be a converse “AEW brain” where rules of thumb and best practices that have guided the business (not just WWE) for decades are just not applicable at all if they come into conflict with enjoyment of the product.

AEW Brain is the same thing as WWE Brain. It's weirdo vocal minorities on social media who for some reason, especially the WWE ones, become almost Straw Men for folks to complain about. Every time I watch any of the shows, or when I'm at a live show, I never run into people like this. I've been to a ton of WWE shows and the one Dynamite they ran here and I'm sorry, they aren't the audience. That's an audience who probably don't leave the house much. Even the AEW shows show that these types of fans just aren't  relevant, important, or worth "taking down". It's shooting fish in an internet barrel. Especially since none of these people are here at PWO. What's the point?

But I suppose there needs to be a new thread here for this since the "Empire Is Falling" one has been "falling" for two years, so have at it? I'm just happy that there's so much great wrestling going on now. I'm watching WWE and AEW weekly and loving both, and a year and a half ago I was barely watching any TV wrestling outside of WWE PPV's because it was a tradition to have BBQ's once a month for them.

 

[NintendoLogic]

5 hours ago, MoS said:

That said, while Vince took size to a new level - and more than size, he loved height and bodybuilder physiques - size was not something that he invented as an important prerequisite for pro wrestling. Sam Mushnick initially thought Ric Flair was too small to headline St. Louis (even though Jack Brisco had headlined St. Louis, but he was a legit excellent amateur wrestler). 

It was actually Pat O'Connor who thought that. Muchnick thought Flair was the second coming of Buddy Rogers when Larry Matysik showed him some tapes.

Anyway, you can definitely see WWE Brain when people discuss Adam Cole's physique, including on this very board. I've also seen people complain about AEW champions not receiving automatic rematches after losing the title. As far as size goes, boxing and MMA have absolutely shown that smaller fighters can draw, but it's important to remember that they're facing fighters in the same weight class. Smaller guys beating up much larger opponents almost always looks at least somewhat silly. Thankfully, that's not as much of an issue in modern wrestling since size has gone down pretty much across the board. Look at how Billy Gunn, who was never thought of as particularly big in his heyday, dwarfs virtually everybody in AEW.

[strobogo]

The size thing to me is less about the actual size of the talent and more about how they are booked/work. Adam Cole should not be doing Frye/Takayama spots with Luchasaurus or controlling Keith Lee with a headlock for much of the match. Alexa Bliss shouldn't be dominating Nia Jax. On the opposite side, Rey Mysterio shouldn't run through whatever guy a foot taller than him. Which he doesn't, which is part of the reason everyone got over his size 25 years ago, because he works in a way that makes sense for his size. 

So many talents today will work the same way against every opponent regardless of size and weight differences. And it looks real dumb when it's something like Adam Cole and Luchasaurus trading shots.

[fakeplastictrees]

9 hours ago, Embrodak said:

I can sympathize with some of this thread, but there does seem to be a converse “AEW brain” where rules of thumb and best practices that have guided the business (not just WWE) for decades are just not applicable at all if they come into conflict with enjoyment of the product.

I agree. The tribalism and 'need' to defend pro wrestling outside of Vince's vision, has gotten way too silly and has led to some fans turning into grifters. It's a sad state of affairs, but not unexpected. WWE, to some fans, represent the old way, and the old way must die ASAP and by any means necessary (expect for the parts they like of course). Out with the old and in with the new! Combine attitude with the smoke and mirrors futurism incorporated into the WWE product. And I am with @Johnny Sorrow on this one. AEW has been awesome and appointment television. Back in the day, I use to hate watch wrestling. In my twilight years, time is of the essence. If I don't like it, I don't watch it. Makes for an enjoyable experience for those wondering! Which brings me to another way of consumption and the correct way to view pro wrestling.

#Thunderdome

 

[Coffey]

14 hours ago, sek69 said:

If someone isn't 6'3 and jacked, then they aren't a real pro wrestler and are just "cosplaying". That particular nugget seems to have stuck with people more than anything, 

To me, as I fall into this category, it's not about being tall & jacked. It's about looking like you're not just a regular Joe. The One Man Gang, in example, certainly wasn't *jacked* but you weren't running into someone like him in everyday life. So paying to see someone that you otherwise would never see, makes sense to me. It's like special attractions. Maybe it's a bit of the old school mentality when there were territories & people would pay to see André come to town & the children could laugh at the midget matches. But where we're at now, with just a bunch of wrestlers like Kyle O'Reilly, Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, Tomasso Ciampa, Bryan Danielson, etc. where they're just normal looking guys that are great wrestlers, it gets boring. I don't want a bunch of Warlords or Ultimate Warriors running around either but I just like when there's more diversity. I would never deny that someone like Rey Mysterio, Jr. is an all-time great that completely changed the industry but also, suspension of disbelief only goes so far, you can only tell the David Vs. Goliath story so many times & a lot of these other talents can't hold a candle to Mysterio. I think it's equally a bad look when someone like Billy Gunn shows up & makes your entire roster look like children.

As a fan, I flock more to wrestlers like Miro or Brody King & I'll always have an affinity for hosses. I don't think that's WWE Brain or solely a WWE thing but it honestly might be engrained in me due to them, I guess. André predates WWF. Although yeah, WWF did have an entire roster of giant guys on steroids in the 80's. 

[Migs]

I think one of the fundamental WWE Brain things, which feeds into some of the things on this thread (re: casuals, what works on TV) is that the number one goal of a wrestling company is the broadest amount of success possible. Whatever has the most views is empirically good, and every decision of other companies (AEW most freqently, of course) is viewed through that lens. Which... is not really how art works? Nor is it even true from a business perspective when you're not a public company - the only real goal is for the owner to be making enough money to justify continuing ahead. If Tony Khan wants AEW to do some things that turn people off it fulfills his artistic vision - he can! And we can judge if its good or bad not based on the ratings but based on our subjective tastes.

(Of course, Vince also turned a ton of people off with decisions that were focused on his preferences and not those about what drew, but that's been covered elsewhere.)