The strength of one’s fan base ultimately determines a lasting impression of something even in its death. After all best to leave fans with a good impression or risk them demonizing it years after its death and kill any potential for money to be made. This is why ECW’s fans are still notable to this day as they continually pay money for anything with ECW and Hardcore in the title. And with a strong fan base comes investment in an ongoing product that sparks anticipation for its next edition.
In case you haven’t been visiting Cool Wrestling News, which you should be doing, recently in the “think of the first thing that pops into our heads and claim that it was from an inside source” that I like to call wrestling rumors it emerged that WWE may be considering adding a woman to the Wyatt Family to take up the Sister Abigail mantle. This is, of course, NOT a new story: People have been speculating on it ever since it was first mentioned which in my opinion shows both a positive and a negative.
As was mentioned fan investment and by extension speculation resides in the core strength of an audience in being able to maintain a watchable serialized product. How many times have we as a viewer or a reader kept indulging in something with the in vain promise that you will stop after one more that will never come to fruition. And with wrestling being so entrenched in the idea of fantasy booking and it’s never ending presentation it makes a fan base speculation all the more likely.
So before we look into the plus and minus of the power of fan speculation let’s hang the “I’m not presenting myself any differently” banner above the rest of this article and move on:
A big positive in wrestling fan speculation is a rather simple one in that it shows investment in the storyline. And by speculating on the storyline, be its next direction or even other people that could be involved, they are showing their attention to see how the story will unfold on the next show. That’s what a wrestling promotion ultimately wants and is also what some promotions like Global Force Wrestling have almost built their core groundwork upon by opening their doors to a fans imaginative booking.
It’s a good case of showing enough but not too much in order to spark a specific reaction from their audience. That way they don’t need to do anything beyond what they have already done: The seeds have been planted and the audience is the one watering it with speculation and anticipation acting as free publicity for whatever the promotion is intending. To me the strength of a wrestling show can be measured on how many topics end up sparking from it be it for the purpose of praising or criticizing.
Unfortunately this brings us to the negatives of fan speculation: You see for as much as we as fans will try to present ourselves as these intellectuals who can begin sentences about wrestling with the words “Well obviously…” a majority will retain a rather vivid and impressionable mind without little provocation for the subject matter (but tis the beauty of a wandering mind I guess). As wrestling fans, even as human beings, we want to be the one to figure out the answer to a question. Why? To both express your knowledge skills and for the simple reason of Bragging Rights. And since the continuing preservation of certain wrestling clichés long-time fans, and to lesser extent casual fans, are trained to connect the dots in order to discover the payoff that may be being hinted at.
Much ado about nothing often unfortunately. With the mentality of being a detective in training and due to the fantasy booking integration of a wrestling product you may find some of your fellow fans and even yourself trying to figure out the meaning behind something that is said or done that might have no deeper meaning.
We have seen it with Sister Abigail in speculating that she is a woman to be revealed as opposed to a character motive to Bray Wyatt, the Sword of the Shield was speculated to be its leader when in reality was intended to be an effective line in a promo, The Nexus and people finding a clue in believing that Michael Cole may have some involvement because he wasn’t attacked (You doing okay TLD?). Essentially fans will attempt to add a mystery element to something that sometimes doesn’t warrant a mystery.
Fan speculation is almost a key driving factor into the strength of a wrestling product and it allows fans to engage to present their own ideas and theories as to how they believe their favorite storylines will ultimately progress. However in some cases it is important to remember that speculation from one specific fan can often be influenced by their own personal preference for how they would wish for it to go along with their own fantasy booking scenarios. I’m not decrying wrestling fans for doing it in fact it can potentially be some of the greatest fun you can ever have…so long as you don’t ignore the logistics and practicality of why the fuck ROH would allow CM Punk to further a WWE angle on their show.
[Zak Fellows is not a practical or logical man]
Because it always comes back to fucking Phil doesn’t it?