Post by oldschool on Dec 2, 2011 17:36:31 GMT -5
by oldschool » Fri Dec 02, 2011 6:24 pm
This is going to be one of my first-person, biased, opinionated articles, which half of you will strongly agree with and half of you will strongly disagree with. But I hope it will be a good discussion whether you agree or disagree with me. And let's try not to get too carried away, please.
I am a huge fan of C.M. Punk. C.M. Punk speaks his mind and a lot of people, including myself, strongly agree with many of the things he says. However, I have noticed that not only C.M. Punk, but also a lot of other personalities in World Wrestling Entertainment, as well as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, have seemingly jumped on the "shoot promo bandwagon". For any of you who may not know, the word "shoot" in professional wrestling refers to anything that is "real" and/or "unscripted". A shoot-style wrestler is one who possesses a realistic-looking wrestling style, such as "The Samoan Submission Machine" Samoa Joe, who is known for his Martial Arts training and fighting style. A shoot promo is when a performer "goes against the script" and "breaks character".
In the past, certain wrestlers and/or wresting promotions have been known for "not following the script", or at least not all the time. In the 1990s Paul Heyman's original Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion was known as a shoot-style promotion, both inside the ring and on the microphone. Also in the 90's and into the 2000's, performers such as Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo, Jeff Jarrett, "The Franchise" Shane Douglas, Scott Steiner, and others, have become famous (or infamous) for "telling it like it is" on live television. More recently, people such as C.M. Punk, Vincent K. McMahon, Triple H, Kevin Nash, Michael Cole, Zack Ryder, John Cena, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and the Hardy Brothers: Matt & Jeff, have become known for their "real life" rants.
Nobody wants to stay in character anymore. Everybody wants to "break character" and "go against the script". Nobody wants to portray a professional wrestling character on television. But isn't that what attracts us all to pro wrestling when we're young fans growing up?
Back in the 1980s, guys like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, "The Million-Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase Sr., Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, and so many other legends from that era, would NEVER have "broken character" like today's wrestlers do. Before the mid/late 1990's, there was still a sense of kayfabe in professional wrestling. There was still the sense that maybe it was REAL. But ever since the mid/late 90's, and especially over the past few years, 2010 and 2011 in particular, it seems as though nobody wants to have an old-school, SCRIPTED, KAYFABE professional wrestling program anymore.
Don't get me wrong, a shoot promo makes for intriguing television. C.M. Punk always has been and probably always will be a very interesting human being. I consider C.M. Punk to be a true modern-day artist. His technical, well-rounded wrestling style inside of the ring is a beautiful thing to watch, and his passion for wrestling both inside the ring and on the microphone speaks volumes about what kind of a performer and person C.M. Punk really is.
There is a time and a place for everything. Call me old-fashioned, call me old-school, call me boring, or call me correct, but it's MY opinion that the time for "shooting" is not during an actual live show. A little inside joke every now and then is good and sometimes downright funny, but the time to completely "break kayfabe" and "go against the script" is NOT during a show, at least in my personal opinion as a lifelong professional wrestling fan.
If a pro wrestling performer wants to completely go out of character and "tell it like it is", do it on your own time. Do it on the Internet. There are tons of pro wrestling websites on the Internet, as well as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, Skype, and whatever else is out there. I have NO PROBLEM with somebody voicing their opinions, but I wish that it wouldn't happen so much DURING A LIVE SHOW!
When I'm watching any kind of a scripted movie or television program, I expect the actors to STAY IN CHARACTER! Call me crazy, but that's what I expect from a scripted program.
I don't love professional wrestling anywhere near as much as I used to. Between my age, the direction pro wrestling has gone in, and life in general, it's all made me far less passionate about pro wrestling. I suppose that that happens to many other wrestling fans as well. We absolutely love it when we're kids, but when we get a dose of reality, it makes us somewhat bitter.
Just like life in general.
But the point is that pro wrestling has always been about working the fans and trying to get them to believe in what's going on, just like another scripted program.
I have no problem with somebody telling it like it is on their own time, but when I'm watching my show, give me characters. One of my favorite television shows for example is Burn Notice on the USA Network, the same channel as WWE Monday Night Raw. But I don't watch Burn Notice to see Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell. I watch Burn Notice to see Jeffrey Donovan as "Michael Westen" and Bruce Campbell as "Sam Axe". THE CHARACTERS THAT THEY PLAY ON THE SHOW.
Give me an old-school pro wrestling program with mostly pure CHARACTERS. Like I said before, a little inside joke every now and then is perfectly alright and can sometimes make for a good laugh, but when you have so many people who are trying to "be real", it takes away from the kayfabe element of the show.
I'm old-school all the way. I'm all about old-school. All the way back to the days of Frank Gotch and George Hackenschmidt in the late 1800's/early 1900's. From Gotch and Hackenschmidt, to Lou Thesz, to Ric Flair, to Steve Austin, to John Cena, I've seen and studied it all. Everybody knows that pro wrestling is scripted, so why not give the fans characters that they can enjoy rather than the real life actors who are often bitching and complaining about backstage politics?
These are just my opinions. Some of you will agree and some of you will disagree. Feel free to state your thoughts... in a civilized manner.
Commentary on thoughts by others :
I think CM Punk is great out of character. But John Cena is stuff in character. Wrestling is a lot better now than 2 years ago because people are going off their scripts.
I don't know if you've noticed but times have changed and we are in the era that evolved even more than the Attitude Era.People are tired of fictions and characters,they want the real stuff.Most importantly REALITY increases RATINGS.Thats why the Attitude Era was so successful.