Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic

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How Disappointing
PLUS: Survivor Series Roundtable Results

So much of what wrestling fans get out of the seven original hours of programming from the “Big 2” fails to satisfy, live up to the hype, or deliver the goods in terms of action and excitement. Why do WWE and TNA continually disappoint their paying customers? Is it that they realize we’ll still keep consuming their product regardless of what sort of nonsense they serve us week after week, month after month? I wonder how much ratings, buy rates, merchandise sales, and live event attendance would have to slip before these juggernauts would consider changing their business strategy to please the fans. Will the Vince Twins go down in flames before admitting something they designed isn’t working?

TODAY’S ISSUE: Disappointment

WWE and TNA both have every advantage over all the independent wrestling organizations. They both enjoy plenty of weekly television time to hook viewers, tell their stories, and entice ppv buys. They have plenty of money at their disposal (in TNA’s case it’s Panda Energy footing the bill, but the funds are still available), and can afford to bring in big-name talent. They each produce monthly pay-per-view shows, and sell merchandise at a regular clip.

The one thing they don’t have, however, is the foresight and business sense to leverage these advantages over all the smaller promotions by delivering the finest pro wrestling action on the market. Instead, they squander opportunities, book to satisfy their own egos or the egos of their favorite performers, sacrifice young talent at the alter of “legends” well past their primes, disregard their own continuity in favor of the version-of-the-month they choose to claim as true history, and generally disappoint us more often than please us.

It’s disappointing that AJ Styles, one of the greatest performers I’ve ever seen, has been playing Christian Cage’s flunky for the past several months. TNA’s got one of the best all-around performers of this era carrying Cage’s bags, kissing Cage’s ass, and acting like a buffoon when he could be tearing things up as a main event babyface. Even if they were to turn Styles face today and hand him a lengthy world heavyweight title reign, the damage done to his credibility might be irreparable.
Styles is a victim of classic poor planning. If they had made him subordinate to Cage for a few months, suffering abuse and slowly getting fed up with it only to turn against Christian and reemerge as the conquering hero feuding with Cage, then there’d be value in the current storyline arc. But there is no long-term planning in TNA as we already know, so it’s unlikely this drastic decline in Styles’ character came about as the result of anything more than Vince Russo thinking something along the lines of, “You know, this guy’s been a face for a while now. I ought to flip that around! Change for the sake of change is extreme, Baby!”

It’s disappointing that highly decorated, experienced veterans like Ric Flair and Booker T can’t be respected enough by WWE management to keep them satisfied with their role in the company. Flair’s been off television for months due to some nebulous disagreement with Vince McMahon, and Booker T is the newest upper-card babyface in TNA. Both these seasoned old-schoolers could be enormously valuable to WWE’s young roster and vast farm system. Think of what a young buck could learn by touring the country facing off against Booker, or teaming with Flair. Imagine these former champions (and others like them) visiting FCW or OVW from time to time to deliver the equivalent of traveling seminars to the rookies learning their way through the early stages of their careers. That’s an untapped goldmine McMahon chooses to ignore.

It’s disappointing that TNA had two dynamic performers under contract at the same time and didn’t know what to do with them. Austin Aries and Roderick Strong were just two more generic jabronis to TNA, but if you know what each has done in ROH, you’ll see the folly of TNA’s misuse of these two talented grapplers.

It’s disappointing WWE programming features so many giant “monsters” when most of them can’t wrestle a solid match to save their lives. Khali, Mark Henry, Big Daddy V, Snitsky, and Mike Knox combined have about 1/3 the in-ring skill required to be a good professional wrestler.

It’s disappointing that with the load of “cruiserweight” talent TNA has on their roster, including the Motor City Machine Guns, Styles, Daniels, Skipper, Senshi, Petey Williams, Kaz, and others, they still felt the need to turn their former signature division into something of a punch line, with poor Jay Lethal carrying the X Title while playing Randy Savage knock-off “Black Machismo”.

It’s disappointing that in 2007, there are still ridiculous gimmicks like the Boogeyman and Umaga on TV every week. As JBL might ask, “How do a freak and a savage keep showing up in different arenas all over the world? How do they make it through airport security?”

It’s disappointing that TNA had Samoa Joe perfectly primed and ready for a successful world title reign with the crowd behind him, but they ruined any shred of momentum and credibility he had, nearly exhausting his appeal altogether. It’s clear to the untrained eye that Joe has lost his passion, at least while working in TNA’s six-sided ring.

WWE and TNA continue to disappoint their target audience while running things the way they want mainstream US pro wrestling to be, not the way many fans would prefer it to be. As a wrestling columnist, I feel it’s my obligation to keep up with all seven hours they broadcast each week, but it’s getting more and more difficult to sit through their shows while I have Ring of Honor DVDs Puro downloads at my disposal. Watching RAW, ECW, iMPACT! and SmackDown! has become a burdensome chore lately, and I’m not sure how much longer I can continue to endure disappointment after disappointment and keep coming back for more. When’s ROH’s Man Up again?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality.

p.s. – “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

Before you go, check out our Roundtable for WWE’s Survivor Seriers and compare our picks to the results below to see how we fared.

Survivor Series Quick Results

– Batista retained the World Heavyweight Championship
– Randy Orton retained the WWE Championship
– CM Punk retained the ECW Championship
– Cade and Murdoch retained the World Tag Team Championships
– Team Triple H defeated Team Umaga
– Team Mickie James defeated Team Phoenix
– The Great Khali defeated Hornswoggle McMahon

IP Staff Roundtable Results for Survivor Series

Andrew Wheeler

Master Sergeant, United States Air Force