From: hekunze@jeeves.waterloo.edu (Herb Kunze)
Subject: Redefining the business (was Re: Weekend Syndies WHIFF and WCW)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 15:18:59 GMT

In article <3487@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>, prpst2+@pitt.edu (Paul R Perdeus) writes:
> >Liger vs. Armstrong wasn't too bad if it weren't for all the mat wrestling.
> >No moonsaults.  I guess Liger only shows off during PPVs?

  In Japan, Riger does many of his hot high spots every night.  He was 
  certainly not the reason that the match was worked this way.  You better
  start to get used to the mat wrestling, 'cause that's what we're
  going to be seeing a lot of.  After watching enough Japanese stuff
  on tape, I've started to get into submission moves and such.  The 
  crowd pops like mad for armbars, leglocks, and other mat moves.  
  I've picked up that conditioning and get a little excited by this
  stuff too.  It will take some time for this style to get over here.
  Fans have to be (re-)educated to believe that those leglocks and armbars
  can lead to submissions or pinfalls.   
  
> Excuse me?  I must have seen a different match.  I thought this was one
> of the LAMEST most boring name vs. name matches I have ever seen!  The
> World's Light Heavyweight Champion vs. probably the best light
> heavyweight in the world and this is what we get?  Boring....  If
> you have it on tape listen to the crowd during this one.  No cheers,
> no boos, nothing.  It's like everyone is carrying on a conversation with
> the person next to them. 

  Read the above paragraph again.  The fans watching that match, or either
  of the Steiners vs. Gordy & Williams matches, haven't been educated to 
  respect those moves and this style of wrestling.  It wasn't boring at
  all IMO.  The crowd noise or lack thereof has only a minor impact on
  my feeling about a match - it can maybe add or detract a 1/4* from
  a match rating.  Ignorant fans who chant "boring" during a mat wrestling
  segment of a match or who chant "USA USA" whenever an American wrestler
  faces a Japanese wrestler need to be educated.  

> >Why would I want to latch into a PPV if
> >there are no good matches to watch on a syndie?
> The reason you get a PPV is BECAUSE they are better than the syndies.

  That's what we've been conditioned to believe over the past few years.
  House show attendance is in the bucket because nobody thinks that 
  anything will happen at them and sometimes several of the advertised
  matches don't even happen.  If the quality of the TV matches were
  better that may actually attract fans to the PPV too.  The problem
  is that names would have to lose TV matches.  Again, we've got to
  re-condition fans to believe that, with obvious exceptions, anybody
  can beat anybody on any night.  For the most part, monster heels
  and unbeatable faces shouldn't exist.  If the work is hard and the
  wrestlers are good enough, fans will just want to see a great 
  wrestling match.  You save certain confrontations for your next
  PPV, though.  The heat for the PPV matches can come from angles, sure,
  but a key motivation should be the skill and work of the wrestlers
  involved.  You get that skill and work over by having great TV
  matches.  This could actually boost TV ratings, PPV buys, and 
  house show attendance.  The only problem is that some of the big
  name wrestlers wouldn't be able to get over in this environment
  and there may not be enough wrestlers left over that can survive.
  That's because nobody has been grooming wrestlers to work and have
  skill (especially as areas like Calgary and Portland suffer and
  close down).  And that's because the big organizations have spent
  too long pushing size and power over ability and work.  The skilled
  wrestlers that learned their trade in North America almost all end up
  working in Japan (Chris Benoit, Dan Kroffat, etc.) having some of
  the best matches in the world.  We, on the hand, get to see "stars"
  like Ultimate Warrior, Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, etc.,
  who can't have a match that holds a candle to their Japanese
  counterparts.  

  It would be nice if we ordered PPVs because we like the product,
  not because we're desparate to see something that possibly have some
  quality linked to it.

                                                          Herb...
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling