Wow, this blog now has over 300 readers, for which I have to say a huge thank you to you all. It's great writing for people not just in the U.K but also in the U.S.A, Russia and across the world. We're starting to make a real name for ourselves people, so keep on reading and passing the word. That said, don't expect me to cry with thanks anytime soon, if you do then you'll be sorely dissapointed.
Now, I've recently learnt that Extreme Rules 2012 was such a mess and disaster because it was booked on the fly. For those not in the know, this means that the results were changed last minute and even up the point where the wrestlers entered the ring. If you're booking on the fly then you make it up as you go along. So for all we know Brock Lesnar could have been booked to beat John Cena originally, and then some dick decided that it would be better to cut a story line which would have benefitted WWE in the long term, short and replce it with something which will have much less of an impact in three months time.
We're all aware that Raw is booked on the fly, you just have to watch it to know that the show is all over the place. There's no structure to it and that the people in charge do a bloody good impression of not knowing what they're doing. What other moron books matches with people like Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston in to last just three minutes, so they can then have a 20 minute segment which is just talking?
The reason behind the on the fly booking is that WWE, in recent years has prefered the television drama element. Vince and Kevin Dunn who is the Vice President of WWE actually prefer to make drama rather than wrestling. Which is why they hire former television writers (no joke) to write the storylines for the company. WWE insist that their writers must have years of T.V experience before they even hire them. It doesn't matter if they know nothing about wrestling, as long as they know how to write T.V drama. Can you believe it? That's like the American NFL hiring atheltes from other sports to play as long as they have experience in some form of athletics. Lunacy.
Of course this explains why the weekly Raw and Smackdown episodes are so dull and repetative. Maybe WWE and TNA for that matter should hire fans who know what they want to see and who know what needs to happen, to write for them. What would they lose?
I recently read a comment that made me laugh. It was on another wrestling website which shall remain nameless and if the person who wrote it is reading this, then what a moron you are. The comment read like this: "Why don't you just admit that WWE can surprise us instead of blaming on the fly booking for something that you said would happen that didn't." Absolute prick! Firstly, I believe the person who wrote this is another expamle of the breed of fan who cannot tell the difference between wrestling and entertainment and secondly, it has been a long while since WWE even came close to surprising its audience. In fact the only surprise we've had in the last year is how shallow and single minded the people in charge are.
I can this because I have been a wrestling fan for 22 years. I've seen the best and I've seen the worst. I've stuck with WWE through thick and thin and I can tell you that when WWE do things right then there's no better programme to watch. But when they do it wrong...what a balls up it is. There has been nothing on WWE T.V in the last year that has surprised me or delighted me. I'm not just having a cheap shot at WWE, because everytime I tune in I hope that WWE has corrected their mistakes and done something to prove to the world that the business hasn't just decended into a laughing stock for the rest of the world. Each time I see WWE just add fuel to that fire.
Now the moron who made the above comment obviously watches for the entertainment and I'm betting my money that he's a John Cena fan. The sort of person who thinks cartoon faces and shirts that belong on the front of cereal boxes pass for wrestling, instead of those of us who have been watching for years and can tell between entertaiment and wrestling. This all alludes to the point I made earlier. WWE prefers a television drama feel instead of a wrestling show feel. It's a widely known fact that Kevin Dunn knows very little about wrestling despite being VC for many, many years. The man can put a VT together like no one else, but you ask him about the actual wrestling side of things then you'll be waiting for an answer for about as long as we've been waiting for WWE to surprise us. Dunnis the man who insists on spending over half a million dollars on firework pyro at Wrestlemania and pushing the wrestling back for the singers and whatever other performers decide they need five minutes of exposure at the expense of wrestling. You know what's worse? Vince McMahon, the man who reveloutionized the business, allows him to do it. To make it even more damaging, they say that when Dunn steps down his son (who has been modeled into his father) will step into his shoes.
Over in TNA, I'm convinced they allow the wrestler to just make it up themselves. They don't, but for anyone who has seen Impact will tell you otherwise. They don't just have no structure, they have no writers capable of writing for wrestling. A name most of you may know is Vince Russo. Sacked from WWE, hand a hand (with his awful writing and storylines, and his penhance for pushing celebrities and personal friends instead of wrestlers) in the fall of WCW. Russon was hired as a close friend of Jeff Jarrett, to take the mantle of head writer when TNA started up. Russo has since been fired and I doubt you'll find a person in wrestling today, apart from the Russo family, who think that decision was wrong. He was responsible for angles such as the electrified cage stint which looked like something you'd find on CBBC (a childrens channel in the U.K) and of course the terrible storylines in the main events from 2002 - 2011. Enough said.
What really made me laugh though was what Russo is planning on doing next. Get this people. Vince Russo, who is hated in every wrestling company around the world. After writing a book about how wrestling did wrong by him and numerous shoot interviews on those who employed and then fired him, is planning to open up wrestling seminars and lessons on how to write for wrestling televsion. What the...? Does he not understand? He can't do it himself, how can he teach someone else to and where will the pupil go after the lesson are over? WWE insists their writers have years of mainstream T.V experience, TNA wouldn't employ someone who was trianed by Russo and if you mentioned the name Vince Russo in Ring of Honor then I'm not totally sure you'd get out of the building alive. Jim Cornette, who is a man I respect hugely, hates Russo (Russo made his life hell for years in WCW and WWE and tried to get an injunction against Cornette when Jim wrote him a letter which was less than flattering). Since Cornette is a big decider in ROH today then Russo and indeed anyone who chooses to listen and learn from him are walking into a dead end.
On the fly booking isn't all bad though. It can change a match or angle dramatically as long as long as it's used sparingly and in the right situation. It can prolong feuds, it can change the course of wrestling history (imagine if WWE had have booked the Lex Luger vs Yokozuna match at Wrestlemania 10 on the fly, changed the result and Lex Luger would have walked out of Wrestlemania 10 WWE Champion). WWE should use the on the fly booking again it could help them in the long run. TNA however should stick to a course and see it through. I'll save the recent TNA stuff for another time, let's just say that on the fly in TNA would consist of whoever is friends with Hulk Hogan getting whatever they want - even if the result is booked differently to begin with.
Onwards and upwards...
