| An ex-wrestlers take on the new ECW.
K Jay Note : Ive pulled this from the pwinsider website and find it to be a very informative piece that is well worth reading, don't be put off by the length of it.
WRESTLER’S EYE VIEW LOOKS AT ECW AND ITS EFFECT ON THE BUSINESS, THE PAUL HEYMAN INFLUENCE, JOEY STYLES WINS PROMO OF THE YEAR AND MORE
by Les Thatcher @ 11:00:00 AM on 5/4/2006
It seems the entire wrestling community is speculating on the what’s and wherefores of the ECW brand, and it may have stirred up more excitement for WWE then any of their current story lines. Naturally, until the launch no one can say for sure where they are going or how successful they will be.
One real positive is that over a dozen wrestlers will be signed to contracts and will start receiving regular pay checks. If you haven’t been out there hustling bookings on the indie scene then you can’t know what a steady grind that can be. Those contracts will also effectively take those wrestlers off the employment line, and cause TNA and ROH to make a few adjustments down the road.
The story on the street is that WWE has their people lining up show dates in smaller and medium size venues, and that could be a bigger hassle to the two fore mentioned promotions.
Ring of Honor works those type venues almost one hundred percent of the time, and the promoters that employ TNA talent also run the smaller buildings. WWE has effectively blocked competition in larger arenas for years, and with the stroke their name and size create for them. Doing so in the smaller places, if they so desire should be no problem.
What happens in Philly with the old ECW Arena should be interesting to keep track of. At least six promotions have run there over the past couple of years. If the new ECW does well there over the short haul, will they try to tie that venue up also?
Even more interesting from my view will be watching how story lines develop, and how that affects each brands drawing power. Gabe Sapolsky got his wrestling writing 101 instructions while attending the Paul Heyman School of booking. If I were made to list the writing teams of the four promotions right now in order of creativity I would have to make Heyman number one, and Sapolsky in the second slot. Third would be the WWE crew, and then TNA. Now this has nothing to do with the athletes work rate, style, or talent, but how each company’s creative teams or individuals showcase their people and how entertaining it is.
Paul Heyman has a rep of getting more mileage out of average talent. Gabe has taken wrestlers unknown, and brought them into prominence. As much as I am not a big fan of “Sports Entertainment” WWE truthfully can be fun to watch if you are satisfied with just a small amount of actual wrestling (I personally am not most times). TNA on the other hand has a strong line up of young athletes, but can’t seem to find the sweet spot creatively which will bring in new viewers with a steady increase. WWE can waste time with two hours to kill doing crazy, funny, silly, or what ever you want to call them skits. TNA on the other hand can’t afford that luxury and should cut out the deal with the referee trying to dive Larry Z crazy with news that there is a new voice of authority in town. No offense to Larry, but I don’t think the viewing public cares, and the time could be filled more productively. Now if we are trying to parallel common sense/real life here how can Abyss just pick up the NWA World Title belt and claim that Christian has to wrestle him to get to back? Where is the voice of authority when you need one? Let’s take a minute here and draw this picture in another business, Pro Football. The Denver coach grabs the Super Bowl trophy and tells the Pittsburgh coach that the Steelers have to play the Broncos again to get the trophy back!? Guess what? It will never get past that statement because the NFL commissioner will fine, and or suspend the Denver coach and have the trophy returned to the Steelers before the day is over. Yes, that angle/story line was used back when I was wrestling and I thought it was silly then, and even more so now. Over the years I have found it easier to hook the buying public with stories that they can identify with real life, and it is easier for them to get into that type of angle. In just recent history the Vince/Stone Cold deal. Everyone has wanted to punch their boss at one time or another and that made it easy for fans to buy in to that story line in a huge way. Just food for thought.
If we are awarding a trophy for “Promo of the Year” today then Joey Styles wins it hands down. His impassioned rant this past Monday night was one of the best I have heard in quite a while, and I am sure that a huge number of fans, and people in the wrestling industry jumped up at the end and shouted “Amen”. But just for a moment look at it from another angle. Do you realize how comfortable WWE must be in their position to have allowed that to air? There is some more food for thought.
Train hard, and master your craft.
Till Next Time,
Les |