Greetings, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and healthy New Year and to thank you for your ongoing support, insightful comments and suggestions.
Last week, in our annual year in review edition of Hart Beat Radio (on PWPNation.com) we presented our listener’s choices in various categories, including Best and Worst Wrestler of the Year, outstanding pay-per-view of the year and whatnot and was pleased and gratified with the incredible number of our fans who chose to participate and submit their input.
As part of our year end survey, we also asked our fans to offer their perspectives on things that they would like to see “more” or “less” of, in the WWE in 2017. I was intrigued with the results, as there was a wide range of opinions, some about what I expected, but others that were pretty surprising.
Since, for whatever reason, there tended to be more things that fans would rather see less of rather than more of, “addition by subtraction,” I guess you could call it, we’ll start with those things, first.
A vast majority of our readers said that they would like to see far fewer pay per views. Back in December, just after the WWE had presented their third pay-per-view in less than a month, we speculated on whether the WWE might be going to the proverbial well too often in that regard, and judging by the feedback we got, that seems to be the consensus amongst the fans.
Several of our readers opined that they were more than satisfied when the only pay per view was Wrestlemania – which was kind of like the WWF’s penultimate showcase event, their version of the Super Bowl, in which the major storylines reached their climaxes and the WWE pulled out all the stops as far as celebrity guests and all the accompanying hype and hoopla was concerned.
Just as many fans, however, informed us that, later on, when the WWF decided to add the other so-called “majors”, including Summer Slam, Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble – kind of like their version of the so-called Grand Slam – as in golf and tennis, they liked that even better.
Now though, with a pay-per-view seemingly every few weeks and most of them not being much more than over-hyped versions of what we might see on RAW or SmackDown, most of our respondents asserted that the novelty of pay per views, in general, has begun to wear exceedingly thin.
As far as the pay per views themselves are concerned, a common complaint we heard was that back in the day, when there was originally a select few pay per views, such as WrestleMania, the performers were the cream of the WWF’s crop – only the best of the best. These days though, most pay per views seem to be overloaded with nondescript jabroneys – most of whom probably wouldn’t have come close to cracking the roster back in the day, and, adding insult to injury, we already see most of those guys on a regular basis on RAW and SmackDown already. In any case, most of our readers felt that the WWE should raise the proverbial bar as far as who’s allowed to compete in major pay-per-views and that, as a rule, pay per views should be reserved for the elite stars in the WWE and not all the undercard riff-raff.
Not to digress, but several of our respondents also expressed their displeasure with the WWE choosing to continually refer to virtually every performer in their stable as a WWE “superstar,” regardless of whether they happened to be raw rookies, hapless jobbers who hadn’t won a match in years, or washed up old retreads who were hanging on for dear life. Many disenchanted fans asserted that the term “superstar” should be applied only to the select few who deserve to be called that, otherwise, it only detracted from their hard earned elite status.
Beyond the fact that there were far too many pay per views, another common complaint was that there were way too many titles and title bouts, these days in the WWE, and even more marginally talented nondescripts who seem to be wearing championship belts at – so much so that there wasn’t much distinction, anymore, in even being or having been a champion, which seems to be defeat the whole purpose, in my candid estimation.
One fan from Jersey pointed out that back in the day, when icons such as Muhammad Ali, Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson proudly wore the heavyweight boxing title, it was an honor reserved for the elite and the iconic but later on, when an assortment of charismatically and athletically challenged stiffs, such as Buster Douglas, John Tate and the Klitschkos were pushed as champions, boxing began to lose its appeal and is now in the proverbial toilet and appears to be headed toward extinction – which the brass in the WWE should make note of.
Not to digress, but I can recall not that long ago, when the WWE world title was reserved for only a select few icons – like Hogan, Savage, Flair, my brother Bret, Shawn Michaels and the Rock – which was one of the reasons why world title meant so much and why, if and why, when the title changed hands, it was such a big deal. Nowadays though, with a myriad of meaningless belts that almost seem to cancel each other out and a host of marginally talent nondescripts being pushed as champions, it’s becoming increasingly hard to take them or their titles seriously, which can’t be“what’s best for business.”
Making matters worse, many rightfully pissed off fans lamented the fact that damn near every title change these days seems to invariably involve some kind of illicit finish, with outside interference, use of foreign objects, the referee getting kayoed and assorted other contrived crap almost being the rule, rather than the exception– which only further disillusions the fans an cheapens the cachet of the titles even more.
One fan from Australia pointed out that when Ronda Rousey – who was as big a female star as the UFC has ever had, dropped her belt, it was a right in the middle of the octagon job, but he expressed doubt that anything like that would happen in the WWE – especially if the person dropping the strap had been a major star, or was a buddy of Hunter or anybody else in the office. While it should be noted that comparing the UFC and the WWE is like comparing apples to oranges, the fan from down under, nonetheless, makes a compelling point.
On another tangent, I was intrigued that so many of our readers seem to be turned off entirely by women’s or Divas (or whatever the WWE calls them these days) wrestling, in general. One disenchanted fan from Ohio, pointed out that not that long ago, lady wrestlers (as he referred to them as) along with midgets, wrestling bears and whatnot were a special attraction, who would make an appearance maybe once or twice a year and he felt that should still be the case. He also pointed out that back then, girls – like Wendi Richter, Joyce Grable, Princess Victoria and Vivian Vachon, could actually wrestle – unlike most of the “glorified strippers,” as he ruefully referred to them as, who masquerade as women wrestlers today.
As for things the fans would like to see more of. Many fans said that they`d like to see a lot more actual wrestling and less of all the other stuff that seems to be construed as wrestling these days – for both the men and women wrestlers, including assaulting each other with weapons, brawling outside of the ring and doing excessive over-choreographed stunts or high spots, as we used to call them.
Not to digress, but one of the main reasons why there’s so little wrestling these days and so much of all the other contrived crap is that it back in the day, it took years, not weeks or months to become proficient at old school style wrestling. After having paid your dues in some hard scrabble gym, such as the Dungeon or the Wigan Snake Pit, you then had to painstakingly do your apprenticeship on the road, learning everything, from chain wrestling, ring psychology, relating to the crowd (and making them relate to you), how to make it look real, how to interact with “the boys” and all the other intangibles – which is no longer the case, today.
These days, for every great “old school” worker – like AJ Styles or Randy Orton, there are two or three guys like the Miz, who seem to get by on smoke and mirrors and don’t appear to know the difference between a wristlock and a damned wrist-watch. I might add that the fault doesn’t really lie with those less than stellar pretenders, but with the people pulling the strings in the WWE office – who are the ones pushing them and putting belts around their waists and, in so doing, keep lowering the bar.
On another tangent, several of our readers asserted that they`d also like to see more consistency in the enforcement of the rules, by the referees – who, more often than not, appear to be incompetent buffoons who don’t know what the hell they’re doing. To be honest, I feel sorry for the poor, hapless referees, because they’re just the low man on the proverbial totem pole and are just doing what they’ve been told to do trying to. All too often though, they get thrown under the bus or are made to look like complete fools – by the wrestlers and the misfits orchestrating the ill-conceived schematics. Needless to say, if nobody takes the referees seriously, then it’s hard to take any of the other aspects of the business seriously, either, Again, correct me if I’m wrong, in that regard.
Our readers also said they’d like to see more of the Undertaker, Bill Goldberg, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owen, Chris Jericho, Cesaro and, somewhat surprisingly, the Titanic trio of Vinnie Mac, Triple H and Shane O’Mac. On the flip side, a considerable majority of our readers said they’d like to see considerably less of Sheamus, Paul Heyman, the Miz, Heath Slater, the Hype Brothers, Stephanie McMahon and, somewhat surprisingly – Daniel Bryan and Mick Foley – both of whom seem to have fallen from favour with the fans in their present roles as the inept, flaccid supposed bosses of SmackDown and RAW.
In any case, the fans have spoken and I tend to agree with the fans on some things, while in others, while I can appreciate their sentiments, I don’t necessarily hold the same opinion. That’s neither here nor there though, as it’s the powers that be in Titan Tower that need to be taking into consideration what they fans want to see “more or less” of, and acting accordingly, although, that’s not necessarily going to happen. In any case, our fans have voiced their opinions and I’d like to thank them all for their input.
On that note, I’ll call this a wrap, but shall look forward to catching up with you all next time for more Hart Murmurs. Until then, take care and keep the faith!
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