Well,
Well, Well. Marty2Hotty's first wrasslin' column, and it happens
to be on a fansite of the savior and most successful writer
in the history of professional wrestling: Vince Russo. Let
me introduce myself for those who don't know who I am. My
name is Marty2Hotty, and I am (one of) the anti-christ(s)
of Professional Wrestling Internet message boards. Over the
course of the last six months or so, I have posted fanatically
on message boards defending Vince Russo's style of entertainment.
Why? Because I truly believe in my views, as well as Russo's,
and it just sickens me to read all the negativity that exists
on Vince Russo.
I've
read enough bull from 'reporters' and Internet 'fans' for
the life of me. After over three long years of crap the World
Wrestling Excrement put out, I, everybody I know, and millions
of viewers around the world have boycotted the entertainment
known as "Wrasslin'". But, in about July of 2002, I basically
started really getting back into wrestling again. Because
the best wrestling writer, Vince Russo was back, and with
his friend's (Jeff Jarrett's) start-up promotion: NWA TNA:
Total Nonstop Action. I was absolutely shocked when I read
that Internet fans wanted a product that was light years behind
today's society. I didn't know politics was going to get in
the way of Vince Russo saving the business. It did, and it
annoyed me to death.
Without further ado welcome to the era known as Martytude. (Yes,
I got the idea from Mattitude when Smackdown was watchable a
few months back). By the way, this column is not meant to be
some intellectual drivel. I'm not writing a university essay
here. I'm talking about Professional Wrasslin'. It's casual
talk, it's casual discussion, it's how normal people speak,
and it's not some literary analysis on Shakespeare's Macbeth.
I'm talking to the 7.1 million people that watched wrestling.
I find it absolutely hilarious that there are "intellectual"
debates on "Professional Wrasslin'", especially when all the
"Internet wrestling fans" talk about Wrestler A's grapple or
rest hold. Do you people realize that the masses treat this
business like a complete joke? They were proud to be fans in
1997-99 (The Vince Russo WWF Era) when wrestling was at its
peak. I saw people wearing DX and Austin shirts at the malls.
Old men, Girls (Yup, Girls watching wrestling), every demographic
was enjoying the WWF product back then. Hell, walking down the
street, I heard people yelling Rock catchphrases. In 2003, wrestling
has almost completely faded. "They" don't watch anymore. "They"
don't talk about it anymore. Why? Because the stuff on Monday
and Thursday nights is poorly written and it insults the viewers'
intelligence. As far as I'm concerned, the WWE can do 100% entertainment
or 100% mat wrestling and it'll still suck. WWE's product has
been going a downward spiral for the last 3 years and it is
all because one writer decided to leave the company.
Vince Russo was writing in the WWF from 97-99: a.k.a the most
popular brand of entertainment over the last decade, as it took
the ratings to new heights. Only then, Vince Russo was given
consistent time to turn a company completely around. WCW screwed
Vince Russo on many occasions. When a company screws Vince Russo,
the company screws themselves. WWF 2002 screwed Vince Russo,
well... look at their product now. The WWE's current product
speaks for itself: The drizzling shit. NWA TNA screwed Russo
back in late 2002, but once again, much like WCW, they went
crawling back to the savior. I just hope they give him time
to turn the company around; if NWA TNA screws Russo, TNA will
once again be screwed. I hope they do not make the same mistake
as the last two major wrestling promotions did. Under Vince
Russo, I have confidence that this start-up promotion will really
take off. It's all up to Panda to get the word out.
Why do I like wrestling? Why do I still believe that this business
can still flourish? It's very simple. I watch because it is
different. I like the glamour, the live theatre aspect, the
crowd interaction, the pyro, the themes, the characters, the
entrances, the Russo-style storylines, the entertainment, EVERYTHING,
and obviously millions of viewers (at one time) thought that
too. When Russo wrote wrasslin' in 97-00, It was a must-see
show. 2 hour wild ride on a weekly basis. I mean, where else
can you get that? Hell, the crowd in the stadium goes nuts over
badass characters, T&A, etc. They fall asleep or become very
quiet during 'bell2bell' matches. I enjoy watching the 'brawls'
in wrestling, but on mainstream television, matches have to
be kept short and to a minimum, basically just enough to tell
it's story (See WWF 97-99, WCW 99-00 Russo). Russo made it so
that the viewer had to stay on the channel. 7 million viewers
had their asses glued to their seats not knowing what was going
to happen next. In mat wrestling matches, if I know they are
just going to wrestle for 20 minutes, I'm going to change the
channel to something else and come back in the 19th minute to
see the finish. It's nobody's fault that society has become
like that. It's just that (like Russo said) there are too many
options. There have been many instances with my friends where
we tuned into wrestling, a normal (WWE) match was on: The channel
is changed immediately to a basketball game and was never turned
back to the match. It's simple. You have to attract the viewers
that are NOT watching and get them hooked, like Attitude did
in 97-99. The "core" audience is always going to be there no
matter what they say, that's why you see a 3.3 rating every
Monday night. Wrasslin' alone will not and will NEVER accomplish
that kind of popularity, hell, if you aren't blind, you'd notice
that it was never about the wrestling that got a company over
during the last decade. Everything has to evolve. You need compelling
storylines (Russo) to back up the wrestling, you have to give
the masses something to think about before putting out a match
(I.e.: Stone Cold starting a Raw by driving a zamboni to the
ring and attacking Mr. McMahon), you have to keep them thinking
about the product. Wrestling has evolved, and there's no reason
to go back in time. The fans want something different. Major
Gunns vs. Midajah in a mud match is entertaining. Vince Russo
vs. Ric Flair is different (Major heel non-wrestler vs. Traditional
Veteran). Vampiro vs. Dr Death while Oklahoma does commentary
in the cage is different. A show needs VARIETY! That is the
only way to succeed. D-Generation X, Stone Cold Steve Austin,
The Rock, Sable... Did they get over on their 'wrasslin'? I
don't even have to answer that.
Do you know what I hate? When people speak of Russo-WCW, they
say "Oh, he put the title on himself and David Arquette, he
made Fat chick thriller, etc." or some shit like that. Do the
Internet columnists and 'traditional' fans honestly think the
viewers give a damn what happens to a PROP? To a title that
represents a circus entertainment known as Professional Wrestling?
Everybody else treats this business like a joke, and there are
actually people on the Internet that are mad that a "wrasslin'"
title is on someone else other than a Wrassler? You have got
to be kidding me. As long as it is entertaining, the fans don't
care, I don't care and I have been a fan since the late 80s.
When I read the anger about Arquette, I honestly could not believe
my eyes, I thought it was a joke but eventually I realized that
the Internet fans are seriously angered by it. You've got to
be kidding me. As for Russo's shows as a whole, why won't the
'traditionalists' actually watch how the story unfolds? You
have to actually watch the little, but important things that
Russo brings to the table: such as the flow, the entertaining
segments, characters, dialogue, shock value that make us go
"holy shit", well-written promos, short and compelling matches
that won't result in the casual viewer checking out what's happening
on the other side. NOBODY mentions that about Russo. Either
they don't understand entertainment or they are just plain ignorant.
Only the purists hate what he has done to the business because
he doesn't put 100% focus on "old school wrasslin." The stuff
"they" want will push the masses away because it has been done
a billion of times in the last 40 years and surprise, it's blatantly
fake. I agreed with almost everything Russo has done when writing
WWF and WCW (INCLUDING Arquette, even the way the title went
on Vince Russo could have happened in that particular situation).
Put some damn reality back on the shows. Russo made a tremendous
point: Look at your TV Guide and see what every major network
is doing. The current trend is Reality-Television, we do not
know when it will end or how long it will last, but it's the
current big thing, and the wrestling product should be there
with them. It's 2003, it's entertaining to the masses, and it's
what gets people talking the next morning. Look at your calendar,
it's 2003, not 1963, a lot has changed.
I like the occasional X-Division 'match'. But if it dominates
the show, again, it gets VERY tiring. There are moves that make
me go "Holy Shit". But to be honest, a lot of the time, I get
bored during the matches, and when I have a tape, I fast forward
through it. I'm sorry, but that stuff won't appeal to my friends,
my brother, his friends, friends that are girls, their parents,
their cousins, kids, old men, etc. You know why? We have seen
an overload of matches over our years of being fans. There will
be one or two moves that make them go "holy shit", but people
prefer to be offended or see something DIFFERENT. It has always
been about seeing something different. There needs to be VARIETY:
some comedy, some suspense, some sex appeal, some good wrestling,
risqué storylines or segments that lead to matches, etc, some
that has absolutely nothing to do with wrestling that leads
to no matches, anything humanly possible to get the people interested
in the product. The trick is to have as many people as possible
watching your show. Maybe have Vince Russo face The Road Warriors,
and have a lot of entertaining stuff go in the match. X-Division,
like any other match, is live-theatre; we all know it's staged.
It's just how creative you can get. The matches itself, if dominating
an entire show, can get very tiring. "I pretty much want to
know the end of the mat wrasslin' match as soon as it starts"
I hold by that quote for most kinds of matches (except different
types of matches like Ms Hancock vs. Major Gunns or something,
then I want to see it in FULL). I rarely can sit back and say
I enjoyed a mat wrasslin match based on the 'in-ring' technicalities.
I just feel that during the matches, I have to TRY to enjoy
the matches. That won't cut it on mainstream television. You're
not supposed to TRY to enjoy it; it's supposed to spontaneously
entertain you. If it entertains, the viewer stays, the second
it gets boring, the viewer is not going to stay on the channel,
they're going to change it to "The Bachelorette" or something
else more appealing to them. You can't let them do that. It's
either entertaining to them or it's not, and quite frankly I
don't find a straight mat wrestling match entertaining anymore,
no matter how creative they can get, especially when I have
grown up and watched it over and over again for over a decade.
It's just boring and fake to me. When tons of interesting things
happen during a match (Any Russo-written show from WCW or WWF
on television), or when there's a great story behind it (Any
Russo Monday night show), it's entertaining.
Anyways, The main storyline on NWA TNA right now is NWA's traditional
wrasslin' VS Vince Russo's S.E.X - Sports Entertainment Xtreme.
It's a real life story on-screen, as Vince Russo strongly believes
in what he says on-screen and the debate happens everyday on
the Internet. The storyline is progressing nicely. Russo knows
what the people want, and this storyline on TNA is showing it,
and hopefully S.E.X will dominate. There's now reason for old-school
talent and new-school talent to be brought in. There's actually
a story to tell now.
Currently, NWA TNA still lacks a lot of elements in order to
completely satisfy me, but I understand their situation. They
are still growing, and they are only on pay per view. It really
sucks that we can't see a full 100% Russo-style weekly show,
because that is what "I" want to see. Anything other than that,
in my opinion, slows down the show, and slows down the storytelling
and character development. I'd pay $10/week to see a Russo-WCW
2000 type show on a TNA 2003 Pay Per View. I strongly believe
it will work, we will hear a lot of negativity from the Internet,
but the fans will be there anyway. However, I doubt we'll be
seeing that soon, I blame the traditional wrestling fans for
that (TNA has to try and keep 'everybody' happy; extremely hard
to do). I really think the fans on the Internet are holding
back the company, as well as this business. They are preventing
this business from evolving. "They" do not like anything that
strays away from the "70s professional wrasslin' handbook."
Don't get me wrong, Russo and Jarrett (Even though they don't
work together) are doing a great job putting out a show for
"pay per view", I really like the shows and believe it's the
best weekly wrestling show out there, but I think it can be
better, but on pay per view, they cannot satisfy everybody.
I just wish the "core" fans supported Russo's views from day
one; before I went on the Internet for wrasslin' news, I thought
the Internet fans worshipped him like a god. In WCW 2000 (Russo-Era),
I did not go on the Internet during the entire run and I understood
and absolutely loved everything, it was easy to follow. It doesn't
take a genius to understand a wrestling storyline. TNA has evolved
the in-ring product of professional wrestling. However, TNA
still has a ways to go in terms of defining their product and
getting the word out. I like the shows, I'm excited for this
promotion, and I am also intrigued as to seeing this company
continue to grow. If/When TNA gets a weekly television Monday
night show that goes head to head with Raw, I am extremely confident
TNA will give Russo 110% control, because he will do "Whatever
it takes" to bring the masses back; and I strongly believe Russo
writing is the only way to do so. TNA on Monday Nights to hype
their Wednesday weekly pay per views should be something.
Now onto the Vince Russo character. I think he is entertaining
as hell on-screen. He is a true heel and it's great to see him
back on television (NWA TNA) after being gone for over two years.
He knows what to say and do to entertain (or piss off) the fans.
He is the catalyst and a major tool in making faces faces and
heels heels. Many of the 'traditionalists' fail to understand
Russo's on-screen role, but Vince Russo's character is crucial
onto getting the storyline going, as the NWA vs. S.E.X story
strongly revolves around him a.k.a the "Anti-Christ of professional
wrestling". The show needs Vince Russo's character and presence,
as well as his creative input. My opinion is: NWA TNA is made
to work. If Jeff Jarrett didn't start the company, Vince Russo
will be forever gone from this business (and trust me, Russo
gone will probably put an end to Professional Wrestling being
popular on a mainstream level). Jeff started this and Russo
is going to do all he can to make Jeff successful. My dream
in this business is to see Vince Russo work with his friend
and wind up beating Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Excrement
at their very own game. That is what I want to see, and with
Russo there, it is destined to happen.
The Current NWA TNA shows. I'm not fully satisfied with the
shows. To be honest, I will pay up to $20 every week to see
Russo turn TNA into a WCW 2000-like show. That's how desperate
I am for a really good wrestling show. Very little emphasis
on Wrestling, maybe one long X-Division match and the rest is
crazy ass shit. The stuff the Internet hates, but the stuff
that I absolutely love. I strongly believe this business and
the masses want that type of show more than ever. I want Russo
to write the show top to bottom the way HE wants it. It REALLY
sucks that there are Internet fans that watch wrestling just
for in-ring. I honestly think that is the main reason this business
is held down. However, I'm a patient man, I think Russo is doing
a fantastic job of satisfying the Internet fans right now with
his creative style of writing on TNA, but if and when TNA gets
a TV deal, I can guarantee that we are going to see the true
Russo-esque stuff that will bring back those viewers that aren't
watching. That's when things will be interesting, and that's
when I'll be really proud to be a wrestling fan and show the
product to everybody I know. We'll just have to wait and see
what the future has in store for NWA TNA and Vince Russo.
Until next time,
Marty2Hotty (send an e-mail)
