Wrestling with the Fandom
Photo Credit: WWE
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Welcome, all my Wrestle Buddies. You may remember me from my last article, outlining how I wanted to shift the focus of our wrestling interactions into something more positive. So, I figured for my first article; I should go over something I’m well versed in, writing.
Now, I know what you may be thinking. “Albert, even the most hardcore of wrestling fans can name like 3 WWE writers; why focus there?” Well, truth is that the writer position is the most unforgiving position in pro wrestling. Did the talent go off-script? It’s the writer’s fault. Did the segment go over time? Yep, that’s on the writer too. Most stories of the writers’ rooms that we hear are mostly laden with chaos and anarchy. Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman arguing over every point of a story and who should “go over,” writers burning out and being belittled in meetings, etc. This is the life of a WWE writer. Don’t believe me? Ask former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz. Don’t want to ask him? Then go read his book. I did. And it’s one of the best wrestling books I’ve ever read.
There’s a big reason why I decided to write this article. And the biggest one is the constant tweets I see on an almost daily basis about how WWE and AEW (and every other wrestling company that ever existed will exist, or maybe a figment of people’s imagination) is that wrestling fans could write better stories and more compelling television than what we are currently seeing. If you’re reading this and shaking your head ‘yes’ in agreement with that statement, this article is for you. If you chuckled and just kept going, this should be a fun way to spend some downtime.
First, I want to get this out there. I have applied at least 4 times to be a writer for WWE. This is with a minimal amount of qualifications, so I never got my hopes up. I graduated from Broadcasting school, meaning that I can write news copy and radio and TV ads. I also have a Bachelor’s degree in English, being a trained writer of novels and scripts. I’ve assisted in writing a movie that is on Amazon Prime, I’ve written several scripts myself, and I recently completed a first draft of a play I hope to get on stage in 2023. I’m not bragging, and I’m just listing my credentials to let everyone know that I somewhat know what I’m talking about. And what am I talking about? How almost none of you wrestling fans would last as a writer on any wrestling show, ever.
Was that a little harsh? Maybe. But I’m not here to mince words. A lot of you will make a point, talk about an angle or a wrestler, come up with a story and think, “I could do this all day.” And, sure, you could! Hell, that idea or story could be one of the best anyone has heard! But could you do that every week for 52 weeks while having every idea you come up with ripped apart, scrutinized, or maybe even laughed at? Can you fully understand that what you may want to see on your wrestling show isn’t the same as what everyone else wants? To put it in perspective, I’ve seen about 8 Twitter polls about who should take the World Title from Roman Reigns. Some say, Sami. Some say, Cody. Some say Rock. Other names like Finn Balor, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens are thrown around as well. And that’s just 2 titles. Imagine the rest of the show?
A good wrestling idea is only as good as where it ends up going. Eric Bischoff talked on his podcast, 83 Weeks, about how he would get pitched from writers about a cool spot or angle, or gimmick. And he would ask them where it would be going over the next 6 weeks. Yes, Sami winning the title from Roman would be a MOMENT IN TIME! But what happens when Sami becomes the champion and doesn’t have the Bloodline to work off of? Does the steam dissipate quickly? Is Sami just as entertaining saying “Yeet,” “My Dawgs,” and “Ucey” without the Bloodline surrounding him? That all needs to be taken into consideration when talking about being a writer. Yes, a cool angle is cool, no matter what way you look at it. But we’ve seen plenty of cool things on WWE TV almost get forgotten due to the inability to build off them. A great example is how cool it was to see Braun Strowman and his feats of strength on a semi-weekly basis on Raw. Braun flipped ambulances, cars, trucks, and limos. Hell, he even used a grappling hook to pull down a structure on top of himself and Brock Lesnar and got speared by Lashley through the set. As cool as they were, WWE failed to capitalize on Braun Strowman’s popularity as they were doing all they could to get Roman Reigns over with the crowd. This led to people feeling Braun’s title win over Goldberg at Wrestlemania was too little too late, and Braun was released from WWE soon after.
Angles are cool, but momentum is a must. Roman and the Bloodline have so much momentum that when a segment may not hit as well as the previous, they’re given some slack from the wrestling audience. The same goes for MJF. We know his promos are always off the charts, so if one isn’t as good as his last 3, we’re okay with it because we know he’ll come out, guns blazing once again next time he gets a mic in his hand (I can’t recall a bad MJF promo, by the way). If you can come up with a cool story and want to share it on Twitter, awesome! I’m not here to stop you. Hell, I may even tell you that it’s pretty good and say I’d love to see it. But the second you diminish the work that the writers for WWE (apparently, according to the internet, AEW doesn’t have ‘writers’, so that’s why I’m focusing on the WWE right now) do, then you’re the worst kind of fan. We all get mad at Vince McMahon’s penchant for tearing up scripts and re-writing TV. And in a lot of ways, rightfully so. But we also don’t know if those changes made were positive for what we saw on TV or if they were the worst things on the show. There’s no way of knowing.
RAW XXX (or Raw’s 30th Anniversary, in the less fun way of writing it) was another shining example of armchair bookers taking to the internet to tell everyone in charge how they would have done things differently. According to rumor and innuendo, the opening segment with the Bloodline apparently ran long for those out of the loop. In order to make up for this, WWE decided to cut the Bayley and Becky Lynch cage match by having Damage CNTRL attack Becky before the bell and lay her out. This decision was not popular, and I agree with Twitter’s disappointment that the match didn’t take place. However, what I don’t agree with is Twitter’s thought process of cutting other segments. They ranged from “Cut the Charlotte promo and Sonya vs. Bianca match” and “they didn’t need that DX segment.” Let’s say they did cut the women’s segment. It’s bad enough that a vocal minority of fans are already upset with Triple H about the booking of women on RAW. Imagine they only had one women’s segment on the entire RAW 30th anniversary? Everyone would be complaining about it, much like they already are about the match they had to cut. Hell, the Bella Twins were upset about the lack of female representation on the show. They made it known on Instagram live as well (Even though they complained about WWE not featuring Sasha Banks and there being no mention of the Bellas, despite showing Sasha in 2 video packages and Charlotte naming the Bellas in her promo).
The other idea brings me to the main point of my argument. Wrestling fans like to believe that what they like is what everyone likes. However, there’s evidence that nostalgia is what sells. WWE shop regularly sells large quantities of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, nWo, and DX merchandise. Nostalgia always brings back casual fans. And DX is one of the most beloved groups in pro wrestling history, and the segment was fun. It highlighted Imperium, making them look strong as all the legends in the segment backed down from the group instead of the old-school WWE booking of wrestlers like Damian Sandow and The Revival taking all the legends’ big moves and looking weak. Instead, we got a fun DX (plus Kurt Angle) segment, and the legends put over Imperium, and the current roster wrestlers in Seth Rollins and the Street Profits came in to make the save. Why fans want to see this get cut is beyond me. This is exactly the nostalgia we should want from an Anniversary show. I was in attendance live at Raw 25, and I loved the legends segments.
Now to combine both thoughts, wrestling fans (especially the ones on Twitter) love to tell you how important work rate is to pro wrestling. This is where I see this younger fan base being the catalyst to making wrestling less interesting. Work rate is very important, but I don’t really care about 2 guys or girls going out and having a great match just for the sake of having a great match. I need a story, stakes, and a reason to be invested in the match. AEW does this a lot, and it’s why I’m not as invested in AEW as I once was. The Attitude Era had 5-minute matches that were all surrounded by stories, and the ratings were higher than ever. Yes, the work rate is important, but wrestling fans want stories. The less story we’ve gotten, the lower the ratings are for both companies. I’ve gotten into multiple debates with fans about this. If wrestling fans cared so much about the work rate, then why aren’t we seeing AEW beat WWE in the ratings? The argument can no longer be made about AEW being new. AEW has been around long enough and has been advertised in the biggest wrestling markets. WCW beat WWE in the ratings, and WWE was around for a lot longer than WCW at that time. If this was the change in Pro Wrestling that everyone wanted to see, why isn’t everyone watching AEW? Especially more than WWE programming, which had been ripped to shreds by wrestling fans and journalists over the past 10 years.
Work Rate is also not the only way to judge the mark wrestlers leave on the industry. Going back to the Bella, I don’t necessarily agree with a lot of their comments after RAW XXX, but I also don’t agree with all the comments saying that the Bellas aren’t legends because they weren’t the best wrestlers. Why are fans so hard on Nikki and Brie? There aren’t really any reasons why. The Bellas didn’t hold anyone back. In fact, AJ Lee had her record-setting title run while the Bellas were in WWE. The Bella are also the ones who went to Twitter and management to show them that women’s wrestling was marketable, had a fan base, and deserved to be looked at in a higher profile in the current wrestling landscape. Despite not being the greatest wrestlers in the world, the Bellas were entertaining, sold merchandise, and spawned new fans through Total Divas and later Total Bella. What I find ironic is the people that say things like, “The only thing good about the Bella is their entrance.” You can say the same about The Ultimate Warrior. His entrance was what got him over. His matches lasted 3 minutes on a good night. And he was more over than all the amazing workers on the roster at that time, like Mr. Perfect and Bret Hart. Yes, the in-ring action is important, but characters are proven to be the bigger draw. Austin barely did anything more than punch and kick while he was on top. The Rock wasn’t a great technician by any means. Hogan lasted years on top, doing the bare minimum in terms of wrestling.
As a huge fan of writing and wrestling, I really would love to see WWE and AEW delve into deeper stories. And I want to see them play out weekly, like an episodic TV show. This may not be the most popular opinion amongst the hardcore wrestling fan base, but as I mentioned earlier, these hardcore fans aren’t growing. And growth is important for Pro Wrestling. So next time you want to take to Twitter and blast these shows, remember that there are writers who busted their butts to get a show on the air for you and appreciate their hard work to entertain you.
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