“People will believe until you give them a reason to disbelieve” -“Dirty” Dutch Mantel
“I can’t make them believe wrestling is real, but I can make them believe I’m real” -Johnny Valentine
Those quotes go hand-in-hand, as they each involve the ability to invoke genuine emotion within the pro wrestling business to draw, which is the entire point of the industry. The genre, which originated from the carnival circuit, uses character and storylines to connect with the audience. The ability to get the crowd to identify with the baby face, particularly to conquer a villain with heat, is a formula that has worked for decades. Sure, the narrative can take many different forms, but at the end of the day, if the audience believes in the baby face, they will flock to the box office to support him.
As you peel back the layers of the onion, more details can be revealed as far as why something works well and why other pitches to the crowd are panned. For example, The Ultimate Warrior got really over with the audience for a relatively short time. Yes, the colorful presentation and the intensity were tremendous, bur beyond that superficial level, the crowd couldn’t connect with the rambling nonsensical promos, which is why his title reign was brief, especially compared to the expectations he had as the next top star after Hulk Hogan. On the flip side, the most famous example is probably “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, which allowed him to become the biggest star in the history of the business. Sure, the vast majority of the audience of the Attitude era knew what they were watching in the ring was a show, and maybe those trademark sloppy stomps in the corner didn’t quite connect every time, but it was fun and entertaining every time the crowd had the chance to see Austin on Monday Night Raw.
That’s where such an important distinction is made, the audience didn’t have to believe everything about pro wrestling was real, they just had to fully believe and thus be fully invested in the Stone Cold character for the company to draw major money. It was easy for the audience to do because they saw a wild Texan stomping and drinking beer on television, and the real-life Steve Austin didn’t go around beating up his boss, but he actually is a red neck from Texas that reflects a lot of similarities to his character. When it’s easy for the performer to portray their character, it’s just as easy for the audience to connect with them.
That’s why, as I wrote about Vikingo’s injury recently, that maybe there were too many risks taken to the point that it doesn’t have the same effect it once did on the narrative, but still presents the same level of actual danger to the performers. The cruiser weight division in WCW brought dazzling spot fests to national television, the X-Division in TNA was an evolution of that style in many ways, and All Elite Wrestling has more high spot wrestling on main stream television than any other time in history.
Of course, the Attitude era itself had a lot to do with pushing the envelope too far in terms of too many high-risk bumps and the concept of crash TV that moved the shows so fast that eventually more risks were used to keep the viewers from changing the channel. Still, the modern era has move dives, more major bumps, and ultimately, more risks that any other time in the history of the business. The fact that the injury rate is so high on the AEW roster, or that many of the New Japan veterans had such a toll taken on their bodies is proof of that.
That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see the pile driver, a move that was legitimately banned by the WWE for several years, used as a serious maneuver on Smackdown a few weeks ago when Kevin Owens used it on Randy Orton. The fact that the move is rarely ever seen on WWE programming in the modern era made the occasion stand out, but the fact that Orton was put into an ambulance afterward maximized the effectiveness of it.
While I doubt that the WWE could put the toothpaste back in the tube so to speak on recapturing the seriousness that many devastating moves once had, if they continue to protect the credibility of select maneuvers like that pile driver, they might be able to get more modern fans to invest in that seriousness, and thus have more to work with when the writing team scripts angles. If management continues to protect the credibility of the pile driver then in a few years, it’s something in the tool box that they could use to add another level of intensity to a feud. Reportedly, Kevin Owens will challenge Cody Rhodes for the WWE championship at some point to give Rhodes someone to work with before Wrestlemania season, and the entire premise of that storyline, even if Owens isn’t slotted to win the title, would be to make him seem a credible threat to the title. If the challenger doesn’t have a realistic chance to win the belt from the audience’s perspective then it’s just another match on the card.
Granted, Owens is being used in the role that he was mostly used for previously in his career, he’s great at making his opponents look good so he will work with Cody the same way he worked with Roman Reigns earlier in his title run because he can make the champion look strong. That being said, the fact remains that the office will have to make him look like a dangerous threat to the title to sell the potential championship match so in this scenario, the pile driver was used as the move to emphasis how dangerous of a character he is on the show.
Again, I’m not saying that pro wrestling can go back to throwing someone over the top rope being perceived as a career-ending situation, but the ability to maximize what is done during a match or an angle should always be a priority, especially because that can theoretically maximize the amount of money it draws for the company.
Unfortunately, in many ways, the horse has left the barn. The audience has seen too much and been exposed to too much behind-the-scenes for some of the most basic, but most effective tactics, to be used in pro wrestling again. But as I said, I think there are certain aspects of the industry, with the pile driver being an example, that can be used effectively again since it was so long ago that it was a part of WWE programming. Speaking of the pile driver, a perfect example of something being overused and thus losing its effectiveness in the modern era is the Canadian destroyer. Despite being invented by Scott D’Amore, it was Petey Williams that made the move famous, and sadly he became typecast with the move, with the rest of his stellar skills often ignored. When Petey brought the move to TNA in the early-2000s, it was one of the most devastating moves that wrestling fans had ever seen, and the reaction for it was always incredible. Fast forward two decades and there are often multiple Canadian destroyers used in matches during AEW shows as just another move during a spot fest. So, maybe it’s time for the pro wrestling industry as a whole to elevate not only the amount of risks taken within a match, but also how those risks should be perceived by the audience because protecting the credibility of a maneuver can add another level of intensity to a storyline.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
