From: v070qg5d@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Eric M Chmiel)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
Subject: Re: Redefining the business (was Re: Weekend Syndies WHIFF and WCW)
Date: 23 Jul 92 05:42:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

>  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.  
> 
>                                                          Herb...


   The unbelievable trick McMahon has pulled off is that he has actually
made wrestling the second most important part of wrestling.  All these big
matches like Andre vs. Hogan (arguably the biggest match in history), Hogan
vs. Warrior, etc. are incredibly lousy matches that Barry Horowitz and Mike
Jackson could blow out of the water on their worst day.  Still, nobody cares
about this (apparently) because they get the rediculous spectacle of superhero
cum comic book matches that the WWF specializes in, and that's all they really
wanted anyway.  The wrestling is purely incidental.  IMHO, the Watts style is
rejuvenating to wrestling because it brings the sport closer to its roots and
closer to truly good entertaining wrestling, not just entertainment.  In time,
if WCW continues to put out a product that lacks comic book appeal (as they
had under Kip Frey) and is superior IN THE RING to the WWF, they will 
unquestionably get the results they want (higher buy rates for PPVs, better
ratings on TV,, better house show attendance, more $$$).  But they must
consistently avoid WWF cirus tactics to do this.
   Now, if it weren't for the fact that most if not all marks consider the WWF
the "majors" and WCW the "bush league" I'd really be excited about Watts and
WCW and North Amerian wrestling's future.

*************************************************  "Bowling isn't a sport, 
Eric M. Chmiel***********************************   it's a disease."
*************************************************       -Gov. Jerry Brown