McMahon’s Millions is an interesting concept, although I’m not sure it will attract long term viewers. Long term viewers will be attracted by compelling storylines and some kine of explanation for why this television show is so different than other television shows. Right now, wrestling is a television show. Should a television deal no longer exist, the industry will change drastically. There is no need to explain to sitcom viewers why there is an audience that laughs. Dramas do not need to explain that they are putting on a show for you.

Wrestling is “sports entertainment.” That is a great term for professional wrestling. It has elements of sports with what appears to be a competitive contest, but has predetermined results. What sports movie or TV show doesn’t have predetermined results? The thing that separates wrestling from all the other shows is the audience. The audience in wrestling is part of the show. They are acknowledged by the performers and they are very important to making a show good or great.

Perhaps the WWE could pull some kind advertising campaign explaining that the audience makes the show, kind of like the NBA sometimes calls the spectators “The 6th Man.” Maybe they could pull some kind of synergy with a show like “Friday Night Lights” (although that may have been canceled). Start putting an audience at a show like “Friday Night Lights.” It’s a predetermined sports entertainment show. Maybe WWE could push the idea that the audience is a character — audience participation that actually matters. The only show where you are encouraged to voice your opinion live as the show happens.

Wrestling is a unique show in some respects. However, it really is not that different than a lot of television shows. All the industry has to do is explain to the general public that professional wrestling is a TV show where you will get action, drama, suspense and where you the audience get to impact the course of events. Maybe some kind of “You have the power” campaign. It’s a rough idea, but I’m sure someone at WWE or TNA (probably WWE since the TNA brain trust is used to create incredibly convoluted match stipulations that can even turn off a wrestling fan — ahem, “King of the Mountain”) can figure this out.

What were the point of these people? Why have nonwrestlers in wrestling? Managers had the ability to spark feuds quickly. Managers had the ability to turn heels into faces very easily. All it took was one double cross by the manager or some back talk from the wrestler and there was tremendous character growth. The manager could easily recruit a new wrestler to take on his former wrestler. It was a simple formula that is missing from today’s product.

Managers also played a role in the creation of stables. Things like Bobby Heenan’s “Family” could mask injured wrestlers. Should a wrestler get injured during a feud, just substitute the wrestler with another stable-mate. The managers also tied together odd combos like Haku and Andre the Giant to give direction to the talent.

Stables help write feuds. You don’t have to be a creative genius to figure out the dynamic between a singular babyface versus a heel stable. It also allows for the singular babyface to create new alliances with other faces. This is very simple stuff that makes for good stories. NWA did this style of story numerous times with the legendary Four Horsemen.

Managers and stables shield inexperienced wrestlers from being exposed as poor talkers. Two great examples are Brock Lesnar and Batista. Lesnar was given Paul Heyman as his “agent.” A simple “Shut up, Paul!” and the crowd started getting behind Lesnar. Batista was able to be an enforcer while Ric Flair or Triple H would do most of the talking. These two slowly learned how to do a decent promo. No one will confuse the two for The Rock or Hulk Hogan, but still they did not have to speak and ruin their images. Bobby Lashley while in WWE did not have a mouthpiece. His soft-spoken nature did not match his impressive physique. WWE even put in “soft-spoken” in his entrance video. This did not help create the monster face WWE was hoping for.

Professional wrestling has forgotten to use classic formulas to create a compelling product. There is room for alliances and managers. These two elements help create good storylines and help the talent mature into more complete performers.

Raw:
Some decent feuds and some good talent. Lousy execution. Y2J and HBK could be tearing it up with excellent heel promos. Unfortunately, Jericho seems to be phoning it in. Someone just become a heel already. Kennedy’s feud with Regal is eh. It does not make any sense why Kennedy went after the GM instead of buddying up to him to become some kind of champion.

Speaking of champions, what’s with the Intercontinental Championship? Jericho is the champ, but that title has become so utterly worthless that it is a shame. The WWE United States Championship and WWE Women’s Championship mean more than the once prestigious IC belt. The main event level with Triple H and Orton is going as expected. Triple H feuds are repetitive. If you’ve seen one feud where Triple H is champion, you’ve seen them all.

ECW:
ECW. What can you say about ECW? I guess the biggest thing going is the Mike Adamle experiment. The guy is trying to learn, but I think WWE could have gotten some mileage out of a “terrible announcer” gimmick. ECW is the land of the undying feuds. The ECW champion will face the former champion every week for a month is a theme ECW has had for some time now. See CM Punk/Chavo, CM Punk/Johnny Nitro (later Johnny Morrison).

Smackdown:
Smackdown – the haven for wrestling fans. MVP and Matt Hardy could be WWE’s new Rock and Triple H if they do the WWE handles this properly. MVP is very entertaining on the mic and puts together good matches regularly. The Edge/Undertaker feud is continuing with Edge being the best heel going today. I find it odd that he’s effectively playing Triple H with the whole dating the boss angle. Edge reminds of Ric Flair. You believe that Edge could lose to any one of his opponents, but Edge still manages to squeak out victories using a variety of methods.

The held up World Heavyweight Championship storyline has been done before. I am not sure I understand why the WWE would interrupt what was going to be the Undertaker’s long reign. Maybe Taker wanted to pad his stats by winning the championship for a third time.

The Skinny:
WWE’s wasting talent on Monday night but at least Jeff Hardy is back, no one watches on Tuesday night, and Friday has decent wrestling and storylines on both the midcard and main event levels.

I don’t know this guy, but it’s a good review of the show.

On an aside, having the U.S. champion and Intercontinental champion face off in a free match as a part of KOTR is another mistake. That match could have easily been built up as the meeting of the champions. Nope, another hot-shotted angle.

At least there were some good matches to come from this year’s tourney.

Did you buy an HD-DVD player? Feel like a loser? We show you how to make you feel less like a loser with your HD-DVD Player!
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]]> http://stateofwrestling.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/what-to-do-with-your-hd-dvd-player-now/feed/ 1 I.A. http://stateofwrestling.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/killing-time-054-titan-of-television/ http://stateofwrestling.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/killing-time-054-titan-of-television/#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:17:48 +0000 Iyaz http://stateofwrestling.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/killing-time-054-titan-of-television/ ]]> Listen Now!

It’s the final Killing Time of 2007. Today, J.B. hosts “The Titan of Television” featuring I.A. “The Titan of Television” is a segment where J.B. asks I.A. television related questions. This episode revolves around the popular television show “Growing Pains.”

• How many Seaver kids were there?
• What was Boner’s real name?
• What did Ben get on Christmas?
• How did Krissy get her name?
• And more!

File Size: 3.9MB
Duration: 8:32

There is a ton of new stuff planned for 2008. Happy New Year!

Direct Download: Killing Time 053: Sultan of Some Cinema.

Good Ol’ J.B. is up against a whole bunch of questions. In case you didn’t know, J.B. is the Sultan of Some Cinema. He knows virtually everything there is about every movie that has ever been made. He doesn’t know everything (otherwise, we’d call him the Sultan of Cinema).

J.B. doesn’t know the questions ahead of time and is forced to deal with difficult movie trivia while I.A. (the host of this particular segment) tries his best to confuse the man known as J.B.

File Size: 2.8MB
Duration: 6:02