The Torch lets idiots write editorials.
rspwfa2 posted this excerpt from an editorial over at the Torch:"The younger guys need to be given the ball. ... The older guys have had their run ... They are taking the spots away from the younger guys."
Now, although there is some truth to those criticisms and both WWE and TNA could do a better job creating new stars, the fact of the matter and the harsh reality of the situation is that most of the new stars (with few exceptions) are not that good. Most of them are at least adequate in the ring, but when it comes to the things that make the money (image, promos, style) many of them simply do not match up to the generation before them.
The idea that a multi-million dollar company (in TNA's case) or a close to a billion dollar company (in WWE's case) should voluntarily give the ball to individuals who have not demonstrated their ability to carry the ball on their own is silly.
It is almost insulting to suggest that wrestlers who have given ten or more years of their lives to the wrestling business and who have made millions of dollars for the companies that they have worked for should unceremoniously give their spots up to wrestlers who don't even know how to cut a promo.
The rest of the article is filled with idiocy in that same vein.
This is the biggest Catch-22 in wrestling and, to make a labored analogy, feels like something one of the town hall crazies would say when voicing their opposition to health care reform because the corporations have never steered us wrong, you Nazi! The young guys aren't ready to be top level main eventers because they can't cut promos and don't carry themselves like stars! People get the ball by getting themselves over and taking it! OTHER MIXED METAPHORS!
Let's break this down.
"The idea that a multi-million dollar company (in TNA's case) or a close to a billion dollar company (in WWE's case) should voluntarily give the ball to individuals who have not demonstrated their ability to carry the ball on their own is silly." - With very few exceptions, no one is ever truly ready to be a main event guy. I have an undying love for the Rock that is only outmatched by the love I have for my wife, and even I can admit that the dude was not ready when they strapped the rocket to his ass. The same can be said for Stone Cold, initially, too. And once they are "ready" that's never a guarantee that they'll get to the top-level. Take a look at CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Jeff has been delivering the best stuff of his career and can finally be considered a dude on top(1)...but it was probably a year and a half too late as a win against Randy Orton at the 2008 Royal Rumble would have been that shove he needed. CM Punk, meanwhile, is almost there, in part because of the Hardy feud. The problem remains with the company. WWE doesn't have the attention span to stick with someone in order to make them a main event guy. Triple H was soundly rejected by the fans for almost a year when he was being groomed for world championship run and for a time after he won it. However, they stuck by him (long before he was boning Stephanie and had cemented himself into the McMahon clan) until the fans accepted him as a star and main event player. The illusion of stardom is sometimes as important as having the natural charisma to be a star. Fans have figured out lately with all of the stop and start pushes of guys (MVP, Evan Bourne, Carlito, John Morrison, R-Truth, and so on) that getting behind someone is a waste of time if they're just going to be made to look weak on the next show. Where before average joes could be made into stars by a single strong win, now they need a series of them before the fans have faith that the company won't cut the push off at the knees.
"Most of them are at least adequate in the ring, but when it comes to the things that make the money (image, promos, style) many of them simply do not match up to the generation before them." - This is true at the moment but also deceptive because this is the first generation of wrestlers that will be brought up in a vacuum. The rising popularity of MMA will have more impact on pro wrestling's future than any other factor. Athletes, especially collegiate wrestlers, that would normally consider a go of pro wrestling in the WWE are now going to see bigger paydays in MMA and the chance to compete "for real" with less of a chance for grievous bodily harm. However, I don't want to veer away from the point the writer is making; few up and coming wrestlers have any say in any of their image, promos or style. Promos are their own deal, but with the death of true competition, there's no chance for a new wrestler to have influence over his image and style. If by chance a wrestler finds success in creating those things, it's a foregone conclusion that the aspects that made them noticeable in the first place will either be drilled out of them or unavailable by the time they're sent to the main roster. Bryan Danielson, a guy considered by many to be one of the best non-WWE wrestlers around, just came to terms on a contract but it's a guarantee that the 30 to 60 minute matches designed around working in a stiff manner with spots meant to play off of MMA submissions and striking will be a thing of the past along with his distinctive entrance music.
"It is almost insulting to suggest that wrestlers who have given ten or more years of their lives to the wrestling business and who have made millions of dollars for the companies that they have worked for should unceremoniously give their spots up to wrestlers who don't even know how to cut a promo." - A promo is a guy going out to the ring with a few bullet points that need to be covered in order to put over the program they are working with someone else and, in doing so, sell tickets to shows and/or get folks to buy pay per views. Unless we're talking specifically about Triple H, Shawn Michaels or Chris Jericho, the wrestlers of today are not cutting promos. This includes Cena, Batista, Orton and everyone else down the line to Santino Marella and Chavo Guerrero. These guys are reading scripts. Some do it better than others, partly because they can give a natural delivery to the dumbest shit possible (John Cena) or because the writers obviously like their character more (Santino Marella). For everybody else, the art of the promo is lost to memorizing lines that the writing staff gives them.
"It is almost insulting to suggest that wrestlers who have given ten or more years of their lives to the wrestling business and who have made millions of dollars for the companies that they have worked for should unceremoniously give their spots up to wrestlers who don't even know how to cut a promo." - YEAH! It's awesome watching guys in their mid- to late-forties and beyond continue to cling to past glory while they continue to physically deteriorate. It's a business! The guys that are on top now are there because other folks either gave up their spots or were forced to do so. The same six to seven guys have wrestled for one of the two championship belts at Wrestlemania for the last five years. It took Cena, Orton, Batista and Edge between four to ten years to get to their current level. Meltzer, Heyman and everyone else under the sun have said it before but it's worth repeating that even if WWE started in earnest to create new stars right now, the mindset of fans and the nature of monthly pay per views and the over-saturation of television would all mean that it would take at least four years to have someone become a main event player.
In conclusion, being a wrestling fan is frustrating, in large part because of other wrestling fans.
(1) And, of course, he's burned out on wrestling, so he let his contract lapse and wrestled his last match on Tuesday night for at least a few months, if not years.
Now, although there is some truth to those criticisms and both WWE and TNA could do a better job creating new stars, the fact of the matter and the harsh reality of the situation is that most of the new stars (with few exceptions) are not that good. Most of them are at least adequate in the ring, but when it comes to the things that make the money (image, promos, style) many of them simply do not match up to the generation before them.
The idea that a multi-million dollar company (in TNA's case) or a close to a billion dollar company (in WWE's case) should voluntarily give the ball to individuals who have not demonstrated their ability to carry the ball on their own is silly.
It is almost insulting to suggest that wrestlers who have given ten or more years of their lives to the wrestling business and who have made millions of dollars for the companies that they have worked for should unceremoniously give their spots up to wrestlers who don't even know how to cut a promo.
The rest of the article is filled with idiocy in that same vein.
This is the biggest Catch-22 in wrestling and, to make a labored analogy, feels like something one of the town hall crazies would say when voicing their opposition to health care reform because the corporations have never steered us wrong, you Nazi! The young guys aren't ready to be top level main eventers because they can't cut promos and don't carry themselves like stars! People get the ball by getting themselves over and taking it! OTHER MIXED METAPHORS!
Let's break this down.
"The idea that a multi-million dollar company (in TNA's case) or a close to a billion dollar company (in WWE's case) should voluntarily give the ball to individuals who have not demonstrated their ability to carry the ball on their own is silly." - With very few exceptions, no one is ever truly ready to be a main event guy. I have an undying love for the Rock that is only outmatched by the love I have for my wife, and even I can admit that the dude was not ready when they strapped the rocket to his ass. The same can be said for Stone Cold, initially, too. And once they are "ready" that's never a guarantee that they'll get to the top-level. Take a look at CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Jeff has been delivering the best stuff of his career and can finally be considered a dude on top(1)...but it was probably a year and a half too late as a win against Randy Orton at the 2008 Royal Rumble would have been that shove he needed. CM Punk, meanwhile, is almost there, in part because of the Hardy feud. The problem remains with the company. WWE doesn't have the attention span to stick with someone in order to make them a main event guy. Triple H was soundly rejected by the fans for almost a year when he was being groomed for world championship run and for a time after he won it. However, they stuck by him (long before he was boning Stephanie and had cemented himself into the McMahon clan) until the fans accepted him as a star and main event player. The illusion of stardom is sometimes as important as having the natural charisma to be a star. Fans have figured out lately with all of the stop and start pushes of guys (MVP, Evan Bourne, Carlito, John Morrison, R-Truth, and so on) that getting behind someone is a waste of time if they're just going to be made to look weak on the next show. Where before average joes could be made into stars by a single strong win, now they need a series of them before the fans have faith that the company won't cut the push off at the knees.
"Most of them are at least adequate in the ring, but when it comes to the things that make the money (image, promos, style) many of them simply do not match up to the generation before them." - This is true at the moment but also deceptive because this is the first generation of wrestlers that will be brought up in a vacuum. The rising popularity of MMA will have more impact on pro wrestling's future than any other factor. Athletes, especially collegiate wrestlers, that would normally consider a go of pro wrestling in the WWE are now going to see bigger paydays in MMA and the chance to compete "for real" with less of a chance for grievous bodily harm. However, I don't want to veer away from the point the writer is making; few up and coming wrestlers have any say in any of their image, promos or style. Promos are their own deal, but with the death of true competition, there's no chance for a new wrestler to have influence over his image and style. If by chance a wrestler finds success in creating those things, it's a foregone conclusion that the aspects that made them noticeable in the first place will either be drilled out of them or unavailable by the time they're sent to the main roster. Bryan Danielson, a guy considered by many to be one of the best non-WWE wrestlers around, just came to terms on a contract but it's a guarantee that the 30 to 60 minute matches designed around working in a stiff manner with spots meant to play off of MMA submissions and striking will be a thing of the past along with his distinctive entrance music.
"It is almost insulting to suggest that wrestlers who have given ten or more years of their lives to the wrestling business and who have made millions of dollars for the companies that they have worked for should unceremoniously give their spots up to wrestlers who don't even know how to cut a promo." - A promo is a guy going out to the ring with a few bullet points that need to be covered in order to put over the program they are working with someone else and, in doing so, sell tickets to shows and/or get folks to buy pay per views. Unless we're talking specifically about Triple H, Shawn Michaels or Chris Jericho, the wrestlers of today are not cutting promos. This includes Cena, Batista, Orton and everyone else down the line to Santino Marella and Chavo Guerrero. These guys are reading scripts. Some do it better than others, partly because they can give a natural delivery to the dumbest shit possible (John Cena) or because the writers obviously like their character more (Santino Marella). For everybody else, the art of the promo is lost to memorizing lines that the writing staff gives them.
"It is almost insulting to suggest that wrestlers who have given ten or more years of their lives to the wrestling business and who have made millions of dollars for the companies that they have worked for should unceremoniously give their spots up to wrestlers who don't even know how to cut a promo." - YEAH! It's awesome watching guys in their mid- to late-forties and beyond continue to cling to past glory while they continue to physically deteriorate. It's a business! The guys that are on top now are there because other folks either gave up their spots or were forced to do so. The same six to seven guys have wrestled for one of the two championship belts at Wrestlemania for the last five years. It took Cena, Orton, Batista and Edge between four to ten years to get to their current level. Meltzer, Heyman and everyone else under the sun have said it before but it's worth repeating that even if WWE started in earnest to create new stars right now, the mindset of fans and the nature of monthly pay per views and the over-saturation of television would all mean that it would take at least four years to have someone become a main event player.
In conclusion, being a wrestling fan is frustrating, in large part because of other wrestling fans.
(1) And, of course, he's burned out on wrestling, so he let his contract lapse and wrestled his last match on Tuesday night for at least a few months, if not years.