Here is the latest blog entry from noted crazy person Vince Russo.
If Wrestling Doesn’t Grow It Will Ultimately Die
by VINCE RUSSO
Truth.
Something that people just don’t want to hear. The one word that the majority of us have a real hard time dealing with. If you talk about it, or even bring it up, many times it will cause you to have “heat” with others. Nobody wants to face what they don’t want to deal with.
All this talk this week about the Ring of Honor/TNA/Destination America soap opera means absolutely what to professional wrestling? Here comes the truth that nobody can handle and it will surely generate yet even more Vince Russo heat–the answer is NOTHING . . . it will mean absolutely nothing. Over the past couple of weeks the dirt sheets have headlined the “news” with leaks of inter-office e-mails from within the headquarters of Destination America, and for what? What does it mean? Aside from turning the lives of those that work for TNA upside down, none of it means !@#$%. Nothing will change. Nothing has changed in the wrestling business for the past 15 years, with the exception of the popularity of the business waning steadily year, after year.
NOBODY cares about wrestling anymore other than those who care about wrestling. I don’t care about wrestling despite the fact that I’ve been watching since before I ever hit puberty. There is just nothing there–absolutely nothing to look forward to. It is bland, it is uneventful, it is . . . well . . . wrestling. In the last 15 years, everything has changed when it comes to entertainment. Reality TV has taken over the airwaves, traditional television has been taken over by cutting edge programming on paid networks, music has changed, sports has changed, but yet, the only thing that remains the same is professional wrestling. Just this past week Rusev didn’t leave the ring to go after another wrestler who was making out with his girl in front of him, simply because for the last 50 years, that imaginary wall continues to surrounded the ring preventing one wrestler from going after another for who knows why.
While it’s a joke . . . it’s also very sad.
What is Ring of Honor going to bring to Destination America? It’s simple—straight forward wrestling that only straight forward wrestling fans care about. What is TNA bringing toDestination America? Straight forward wrestling that only straight forward wrestling fans care about. Remember all the talk about “pulling the curtain back”? That lasted for about two weeks. And, because nobody at TNA had the Spauldings to dare to be different, the ratings have not gone up one iota since day one, thus putting TNA in the current position it’s in.
Truth.
Another ridiculous contract signing on RAW this past week. Yet, another wrestler was taken away in handcuffs only to drive the vehicle that took him from the building . . . back to the building. More Triple H and Stephanie . . . yada, yada, yada. No casual television viewer in the world is going to sit there and watch this ridiculous snooze fest for three minutes, let alone three hours. A total lack of vision has left the wrestling business dying a slow death for the past decade and a half, and now I’m supposed to care that Ring of Honor is coming to Destination America? That sounds just about as exciting as root canal work.
So, go ahead and hate because it’s the truth and the fact is that you can’t handle it. Because, the REAL TRUTH is that I want to be a wrestling fan again. I want to have something to look forward to on Monday nights and Wednesday nights for that matter. What I don’t want is for professional wrestling to suffer the same fate that roller derby did years ago, when it was once a very popular form of sports-entertainment.
Somebody has to step up, really, and to set the record straight—I’m not talking aboutLucha Underground. Thank the wrestling gods that company has made a concerted effort to present the wrestling fan with something different. And, the way they are doing that is by treating Lucha like a television show, rather than a wrestling one. WWE, TNA, ROH,none of them have a clue how to do that, nor, do they care to. They just rather sit there and watch the patient slowly bleed . . . until he can bleed no more.
The truth hurts, yes it does, especially when we chose to ignore it, rather than do something about it.
Every Saturday and Wednesday, Vince Russo on CSRWrestling.com. You can follow Vince daily through daily video/audio podcasts and blogs on vincerussobrand.com. Also follow him on Twitter @THEVinceRusso, and Facebook at officialvincerusso.
