So, today I might surprise people a little, but I'm gonna write about pro wrestling today. I watch pro wrestling somewhat regularly and enjoy it a great deal. At first, when I came to it a few years ago, it just amused me. It's a soap opera for men - and often a pretty homoerotic one - with the most ridiculous storylines this side of Passions. After awhile, it was the business and how it runs, the backstage gossip that interested me. I don't think there's a genre of television where the performers have so much control over the storylines, the outcome of the matches. One's career can be very different depending on who you know, who you're married to, and so on. And lastly, I came to really appreciate the athleticism - sure - it's pre-determined and all, and it's often silly - but check out A.J. Styles leaping from the cage at about 2:36 in this video and tell me it doesn't take some form of skill and talent.
Anyway, this week past, TNA Wrestling (Total Non-Stop Action... I dunno) went to prime time on Thursday on Spike. It used to air at 11 PM, and went to 9 PM. I was immediately struck by some differences - which I suppose was to accomodate the move and increase viewership... while not alienating people who have been watching all along. I am not sure that TNA was entirely successful.
Wrestlers rely on gimmicks for a storyline - and these gimmicks remain pretty constant, whether the character be 'good' (face) or 'bad' (heel). They do change from time to time, but the difficulty is in changing a gimmick in a way that people can still accept and that doesn't assume your audience has the long-term memory of a gnat. There were a few changes that seemed just to come out of left field - and one of these was the transformation of anarchic good ol' boys Kip and B.G. James from the James Gang into the VKM. I could tell you what it purportedly stands for - but it doesn't matter. It -really- stands for Vincent Kennedy McMahon, the head of the WWE. Though I very much enjoyed the ragging on the WWE the were doing initially, I began to think - wouldn't TNA be better to take the high road? Kip and B.G. were popular (over) before - and that was without them declaring war on the E. In the end, I think the lesson there might be - on any show, it's stupid to give the competition -too- much attention.
But who knows - it might work. I just think maybe they ought to be sticking to the stuf that makes them obviously superior rather than pointing out the fact that the competition is evil.
Also, something cool - I saw Gail Kim use Trish Stratus' moves and went, 'Cool!' then 'Aw. She's really retired.'
There's the bad and the good and lots of the weird and bloody and mediocre - but wrestling's an interesting business. You might hear about it again from time to time.
EDIT: I have found out what happened with the weird gimmick changes in the prime-time debut - Vince Russo, aka 'The Final Nail in WCW's Coffin' is now doing the writing/booking (Match planning). God help us all.
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