[Pulp Fiction]

During and after the Royal Rumble... FaceBook and BGR blew up about how bad of a show it was.

So here is my list why today's pro wrestling is becoming stale.

- KAYFABE is dead
- The WWE has no competition
- We have 'over exposure'
- They have to bring back wrestling relic's to make show's interesting
- Too many PPV events to build up story lines
- The factors that made the early/mid 80's wrestling boom possible aren't present.


My soultions
- Limit the PPV's to no more than 5 a year.
(Royal Rumble, WM, SummerSlam, Survivor Series and bring back an old WCW/NWA event title)
- Use current events to build story lines.
(Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter at WM 7)
- Let a heel be a heel and a face be a face.
(It's hard to believe a character that turns feel/face or face/heel 3 times in a year)
- Bring back the jobber/squash matches
- There are no Monster heels or Baby faces
- The WWE needs some real competition similar to the Monday Night War.
(IMO, TNA will always be second fiddle to the WWE)

[Stardust]

Though I like what you are saying, everything on your list:

- KAYFABE is dead - The WWE has no competition - We have 'over exposure' - They have to bring back wrestling relic's to make show's interesting - Too many PPV events to build up story lines - The factors that made the early/mid 80's wrestling boom possible aren't present.

was exactly the same during the last revolution of Wrestling during the Stone Cold/NWO era. WWF ended Kayfabe and acknowledged wreslting was ENTERTAINEMENT during the end of the Hogan era.

Wrestling, just like many things, are cyclical! We are actually in the upswing with what we are seeing with Daniel Bryan! Have you not seen what is happening at college basketball arenas with the YES, YES, YES chants? It's coming back!

[Pulp Fiction]

Dusty.... how do you feel about My solutions?

[Stardust]

- Limit the PPV's to no more than 5 a year.
(Royal Rumble, WM, SummerSlam, Survivor Series and bring back an old WCW/NWA event title)

I don't have an issue with the WWE having a PPV 12 times per year. I don't think TNA can get by with it, but if they incorporated many of your points below, then yes, you can create enough storylines to support 12 PPV's. During the Attitude era and NWO era, fans were buying 24 PPV's per year, and felt like they missed something big if they didn't watch it. I had no interest in RR this year, because I knew the results before the PPV even went on the air.


- Use current events to build story lines.
(Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter at WM 7)

In today's Political correctness, you can't book like this anymore. I remember watching wrestling in the 70's and the white wrestlers called the black wrestlers "Boy". You can't racially or ethnically book wrestling anymore because you will have 100's of protesters outside your doors.

- Let a heel be a heel and a face be a face.
(It's hard to believe a character that turns feel/face or face/heel 3 times in a year)

[COLOR="red"]This I believe and have supported for the last several years. I like the "tweener" role, but I do not like the flip-flop characters. It makes no sense, and it only confuses fans. There is no logic behind turning guys back and forth. The biggest difference in the writers of today, versus the bookers of yesterday is that writers want to write like its a 12 episode TV drama, where the charecters change each week. Wrestling does not succeed with that type of booking.

Actually, there are no bookers anymore. Bookers were wrestling guys. They knew the business, they booked based on the emotions given by the fans to a character, and they went with it until the fans changed their interest. Today, writers write out a 3 month block, the the wrestlers are scripted with what they say and do in the ring. Writers do not "know" the business. Bring back the "Booker".[/COLOR]


- Bring back the jobber/squash matches

YES, YES, YES! This I agree with whole-heartedly. Look what it did for Ryback! We do not need to see a marqee match-up EVERY match. Build a guy up, and make him interesting. Let a guy beat up a guy badly, lift his shoulders several times when the ref gets ready to hit "three", and build some hate!

- There are no Monster heels or Baby faces

Again, you are spot on! Wrestlers are 6-5 270 steroid freaks, or 5-8 Jumping Jack stunt men. Give me Typhoon, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Big Van Vader!

- The WWE needs some real competition similar to the Monday Night War.
(IMO, TNA will always be second fiddle to the WWE)

And this one is the BIGGEST issue of all. If I were Vince, I would HELP TNA. Without TNA being a threat, WWE will continue to give us the crap that you outlined above.

[Pulp Fiction]

- Limit the PPV's to no more than 5 a year.
(Royal Rumble, WM, SummerSlam, Survivor Series and bring back an old WCW/NWA event title)

I don't have an issue with the WWE having a PPV 12 times per year. I don't think TNA can get by with it, but if they incorporated many of your points below, then yes, you can create enough storylines to support 12 PPV's. During the Attitude era and NWO era, fans were buying 24 PPV's per year, and felt like they missed something big if they didn't watch it. I had no interest in RR this year, because I knew the results before the PPV even went on the air.


- Use current events to build story lines.
(Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter at WM 7)

In today's Political correctness, you can't book like this anymore. I remember watching wrestling in the 70's and the white wrestlers called the black wrestlers "Boy". You can't racially or ethnically book wrestling anymore because you will have 100's of protesters outside your doors.

- Let a heel be a heel and a face be a face.
(It's hard to believe a character that turns feel/face or face/heel 3 times in a year)

[COLOR="red"]This I believe and have supported for the last several years. I like the "tweener" role, but I do not like the flip-flop characters. It makes no sense, and it only confuses fans. There is no logic behind turning guys back and forth. The biggest difference in the writers of today, versus the bookers of yesterday is that writers want to write like its a 12 episode TV drama, where the charecters change each week. Wrestling does not succeed with that type of booking.

Actually, there are no bookers anymore. Bookers were wrestling guys. They knew the business, they booked based on the emotions given by the fans to a character, and they went with it until the fans changed their interest. Today, writers write out a 3 month block, the the wrestlers are scripted with what they say and do in the ring. Writers do not "know" the business. Bring back the "Booker".[/COLOR]


- Bring back the jobber/squash matches

YES, YES, YES! This I agree with whole-heartedly. Look what it did for Ryback! We do not need to see a marqee match-up EVERY match. Build a guy up, and make him interesting. Let a guy beat up a guy badly, lift his shoulders several times when the ref gets ready to hit "three", and build some hate!

- There are no Monster heels or Baby faces

Again, you are spot on! Wrestlers are 6-5 270 steroid freaks, or 5-8 Jumping Jack stunt men. Give me Typhoon, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Big Van Vader!

- The WWE needs some real competition similar to the Monday Night War.
(IMO, TNA will always be second fiddle to the WWE)

And this one is the BIGGEST issue of all. If I were Vince, I would HELP TNA. Without TNA being a threat, WWE will continue to give us the crap that you outlined above.

I would start watching wrestling again on a regular basis if what you said in the Red started happening.

I know the WWE makes a killing by having their PPV's. Between ticket sales and PPV buys. But Have the original WWF 4 and a WCW/NWA event like Starrcade or Halloween Havoc with the period era ring and entrances.

Your right Dusty... the booking has changed. The kids of today don't know what they missed out on.

I remember when the Giant first came on the scene in WCW and he would wrestle 2-3 guys at a time on a Saturday morning show. He would pile them up and stand on them for the 3 count....... Or Sid Justice's rampage between the Royal Rumble and WM 8 match with Hogan... talk about geting some heat.

Vader, Earthquake, Typhoon, Bigelow, Yokozuna, Andre, Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, Big Boss Man, Sid Justice...... the BIG man effect is missing in today's wrestling. All of these guys Could have been 'pushed' to be a Monster Heel. Like when Earthquake put Hogan "out" for awhile before SummerSlam... he went from a nobody to a monster heel and maybe the highlight of Mr. Tenta's career with a aftershock's.

When Goldberg was on his "Streak"... he was straight up killing the jobbers, then he had 2 or 3 squash matches on Nitro against some mid-card talent and that really got some people's attention. I remember when he jack-hammered Wrath before the match even started.... the announcers were speechless.

One more thing, I wish the WWE would bring back and keep using Saturday Night's Main Event or Clash of the Champions.

[Dat Dude]

With the WWE network debuting next month I think it will be hard to scale back from the 12 PPV model now. The biggest sale in the package is getting all the PPVs live for $9.99 a month. To take that away now would be bad for business.

[Stardust]

One more thing, I wish the WWE would bring back and keep using Saturday Night's Main Event or Clash of the Champions.

It's so funny you said this! I actually made a comment a few days ago to someone I work with (Yes, even suit & tie guys talk pro wrestling )
that TNA could really break ground for themselves if they did a Live, highly marketed show on a Saturday night! TNA is Spike's highest rated show, so they will get their normal viewers, plus they have an opportunity to market to a weekend viewer who may not have any knowledge of them.

I don't think it works real well for WWE. First off, NBC has made it clear that they no longer are interested in wrestling. I think that is fair to say that none of the Big Three networks would be interested. For the WWE, they would have to do the show on USA, and I'm not sure they gain anything from it.

So, to me, the big opportunity would be for TNA to do something like this once a quarter. It would be good for both TNA and Spike!

[Pulp Fiction]

Bump

[elkcity2225]

I think the biggest reason it has become stale is that there is no real competition. The product was pretty stale in the early 90's before the Monday Night Wars started because they didn't see WCW as competition.

I also think that the product would be better if Triple H got to write it like he does in NXT. The NXT shows always seem to be better than RAW or Smackdown. So maybe there is hope for the future.