The Burden of Proof: Wrestling Fans vs Wrestling Professionals

 “There’s this weird thing in the business I feel like that happened. I’m not really sure how it happened where if you didn’t become the champion or you didn’t become the John Cena character you robbed this guy’s career like I don’t recall Roddy Piper being ‘the guy.’ Like I could go down a list of who’s who of Hall Of Fame performers that some could make arguments that they were the best in the world or the best at what they did at that moment in time or their all-time favorite character that never got past the middle card if you look at it honestly, right? Today you would look at those people and say ‘oh my God this Hall Of Fame worthy career I can’t believe it took them this long to put them in the Hall Of Fame.’ But the truth is if you went back and looked at it today you would have said: ‘ah he’s midcard for life man’ or ‘they screwed him and never gave him his spot.’ I don’t know how that changed and became the thing.

“Not everybody is gonna be ‘the guy’ and not everybody’s gonna be ‘the girl’ not everybody is gonna be the champ and it’s not about, ‘well they should get their turn that’s just the funniest thing of all time it’s like saying you should get a participation medal. That isn’t it at all.”

 Being more in depth, he also mentioned:

“There’s no ‘deserve’, everybody works hard. I hear that sometimes it’s like ‘oh he’s the hardest working guy in the business.’ I don’t know anybody on our roster that doesn’t work hard. Well, I do actually […] but there’s a lot of people who do work hard. Most of them, 99% of them work their asses off day in, day out just like everybody else does and they’re proud of that and they work hard for it and they should be excited and rewarded for successful careers. To me, making it to the WWE is the ‘wow.’ Being successful, making it to the main roster you know making it to these TakeOvers, ‘wow.’ Making it to the main roster, ‘wow’ and being there for a long period of time. Successfully doing it, not getting injured, making money for your family taking care of your family for generations like all that is ‘wow’ and phenomenal and that is success.”

 “So I think sometimes when people look at it and say, ‘all these NXT guys fail’ I haven’t seen too many who have failed, you know?”

This mindset is indicative of why there’s a disconnect.  Wrestling experts, people who have spent their entire lives in the wrestling business and are tasked with building and maintaining the business that we love, often say things like this.  There is an understanding from wrestlers and backstage personnel of what wrestling really is – a scripted entertainment show of simulated combat which is meant to tell stories and entertain.  On the other hand, fans are so passionate about the product that they often tell the very wrestlers and backstage personnel that they’re wrong.  That their opinions that this wrestler should be pushed more, or that this booking decision was wrong, or that this storyline should be done a different way is more important and correct than the booker’s.  So, not only do wrestling companies, WWE in particular, have to continue to keep the business successful and put on an entertaining show, but they also have to adhere to an unreasonable yet passionate fan base who wants only what they want.

So, how does New Japan do it?  How do they find a middle ground between critical acclaim and monetary success?  Well first, they are owned by a billion-dollar company.  WWE is a billion-dollar company.  Secondly, and most important, they have doubled down on their style.  Due to it’s no frills style and reliance strictly on it’s in ring product, they’re able to cater to the style that fans want today.  They lack the inherent entertainment value, spectacle, and pomp and circumstance of the WWE; they offset that with a gritty, real, hard-hitting product that focuses on its performer’s talents.

Neither thought process are wrong.  Both have proven successful, but only WWE has the tremendously loud criticism to deal with.  But, with statements like the one above made by decision makers like Triple H, it’s clear that the reasons for the decisions being made aren’t going to change.  In fact, fans aren’t thinking on the same level that wrestling professionals are; they never will.  It’s easy to understand what wrestling is, but it takes a real stint in the business to understand wrestling.  And that’s something that, much like the battle between wrestling fans and wrestling professionals, will never change.

FIN

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