Posted in: Just Business Just Business #39 - Like The Good Old Days
By Plan
Nov 25, 2009 - 7:54:59 PM
#39
Like The Good Old Days
My name is ‘Plan and I’m switching this bad boy up.
See some time ago before I made the Main Page I had a far more straight up approach to my writing. It’s how I made my name. Originally, this was going to be a third and final part to my “Truth” columns but that fell through when I came to realise the potential third round actually…had…no point to it. The result? I just cut it out of my schedule.
So here we are. This is me writing as I used to write. The old format is showing up and I’m going to be exploring an issue you Main Page readers may have already seen me touch upon during my time in the dock in Mazza’s Smarks Court series.
A while ago I had an epiphany. The wrestling fandom has evolved much like the wrestling business has evolved. Now we have the very thing I write to you as a part of; the Internet Wrestling Community. One of the biggest gripes to do with the IWC that many have is their tendency to “cheer the bad guy because it’s cool.” Well that may very well be a truth, albeit a somewhat exaggerated one, but so is the fact that such a phenomenon is no longer inevitable.
One man has cracked the problem. One man has become a pioneer. So…for the first time in a very long time I take great pleasure in saying…let’s get down to Business.
“Seeing the wind turns the rudder.”
In short, the problem here is us. You and I and everyone else reading this column now or in the future. We’re Internet Wrestling Fans. You and I are the types who cheer the baddies and boo the goodies. We’re the bane of every wrestling booker and many wrestling performers.
When I attended the recent Smackdown! tapings in the United Kingdom, as Jericho made his way to the ring the fans near me had no qualms in chanting his name. There was even a sign proclaiming its holder to be a germ incubating tapeworm. Many condemn such fans for making it harder for wrestling to work as an art form; how can they build matches effectively around the face/heel dispositions if the fans remain largely adamant to do whatever they want to do?
Back in the day there was a fourth wall between us and them; we know it as “kayfabe”. When the fourth wall was still intact, even older fans were reduced to the condition many so contemptuously label as markdom and the result was a capability to enjoy wrestling exactly the way many feel it is MEANT to be enjoyed. Such a sentiment is one I do not necessarily agree with but I’ll get to that momentarily.
Then came the fruition of the internet, the increasingly widely spread availability of insider news letters. Particularly since the turn of the century and its first decade which saw the welcoming of an age of instant communication the availability of spoilers and whispers on feuds and backstage issues has torn down the fourth wall. Websites such as the one you are sat reading right now have torn open the fabric of professional wrestling as an industry. It is an issue I am inclined to care far more about than the holes being torn in the planets o-zone layer. Now this doesn’t just piss off industry insiders, from Good Ol’ JR to any number of pro wrestling athletes, but it also has a propensity to piss off a large number of fans, presumably the older generation in particular. To qualify what constitutes the “older generation” I refer to anyone who was a fan at the time when that fourth wall was very much intact.
The result is the problem. It has become practically impossible for a good heel to maintain his status as a heel. More than once the crowd have forced the company’s hand in turning an over heel into a face…ironically, making the crowd then hate said face. Of course, the first example to come to mind here is John Cena. Currently, Chris Jericho and CM Punk are having a hell of a time to get people, at least those any age above 18, to jeer them.
When the perennial fuck up called Jeff was around, it was much easier for Punk. Now it’s a very different story. The phenomenon is of course not limited to those two men, nor to the WWE, nor to 2009. It also certainly doesn’t help fix the perceived low quality product currently permeating pro wrestling’s mainstream.
“Referring to the past is not joking about the present.”
Personally, while I admit in an ideal world it would not happen and while I often go on tirades to those unfortunate enough to know me in real life about the heel chants that regularly spark to life in arenas, I don’t consider it a disease as such.
Everything evolves. Many are ready enough to admit that the industry itself is the type to evolve and morph and alter to fit more readily in with the current state of the world yet they seem unable or unwilling to admit that with the evolution of the industry will come the evolution of its fandom.
Fans were once contended with not being in the know. There was no desire to figure out the mystery swamping pro wrestling or to delve into its murky depths. But as I said earlier, we live in a different time now. Now news can break in a second and show up not only on the radio and the television but on your laptops on the train or your iPhones on the bus; information is at our fingertips in seconds and the result is a world where none of us are satisfied with NOT knowing, particularly my generation, the bridge between the over 30s and the under 16s.
Point being I’m willing to bet a large number of fans are unsatisfied with not knowing when the ability to know is entirely available. You see the spoiler; you click on the spoiler. This doesn’t make modern wrestling fandom any lesser than the wrestling fandom of yesteryear; it isn’t worse, just different. And there’s a satisfaction to be had in reading the spoilers or listening to insider rumours.
Claims it leaves nothing to be excited about are ridiculous. If you read that CM Punk wins a match against Rey Mysterio on a Friday night in what is pertained to be an outstanding Match of the Year candidate, are you telling me that there’s no reason to be excited simply because you know Punk wins? Sure, it takes that adrenaline rush of the finish away a little more but to know the last page is not to know the book it concludes. How often is it said that the destination is not as important as the journey it takes to get there?
But I’m in danger of digressing too far here. My basic point is that the fandom evolves and so the fact that it has become nigh impossible for a good heel to REMAIN a heel is not a bad thing; it’s simply a natural product of a natural evolution of the fandom of an industry that is constantly changing. It was an inevitable change and not necessarily a lamentable decline.
The only real negative ripple it has created is the devolution of the modern fan’s understanding of pro wrestling. Such a comment is a vicious and sure to prove unpopular generalisation but from personal experience it seems to be largely true. You may go to a live event and you may cheer the heel…but then you’re not really a “proper fan”. To be a “proper fan” you must surely want your favourite wrestler to succeed as best he can at his job, to prove they are the best at what they do, if Jericho doesn’t mind me stealing one of his lines. If that is the case, then the real way to voice your support for a wrestler who is a heel, the real way to help them succeed as best they can in the role they have as a bad guy, is to boo them and jeer them and chant that they suck.
Not because you think they suck, but because you think they are excelling at their job. Hate who we are meant to hate if you truly adore them. The same shouldn’t be said of the babyface by any means; by all means, boo your Cena’s and your Jeff’s right out the building to let WWE know they’re not doing their jobs properly. But by cheering the heels you adore, you’re doing exactly the same albeit to your favourite wrestlers.
That’s my take on the problem anyway.
“If you’re poor, change and you’ll succeed.”
So in the current world, how does an excellent heel such as Chris Jericho or CM Punk, get to REMAIN a heel and get the fans to hate them? They have to transcend that kayfabe barrier like we have done yet continue to work within the limits of kayfabe; a difficult balance to strike for sure. In simpler terms, they have to transcend the IWC; pre-empt our opinions and make us hate them.
Problem being the more they do that, the more names they call us, the more times they insult us, the more times they cheat to win the heavier we chant their names. The old fashioned heel won’t cut it anymore, not in this day and age. Even the age old reliable heel of the flag burning, nation deriding disposition fails to have the proper affect on any fan usually over the age of 18, sometimes over the age of 16.
There was a time when what was despicable made you a disgusting human being and a man not worthy of anyone’s attention, respect or admiration. Now, what is despicable in this case simply makes you good at your job; makes you consider the nature of the human condition a little, doesn’t it?
So…you have to get to the root cause of the problem. Fans have a much greater knowledge of how wrestling works and the vast majority of the fan base now centre their opinions not on the perceived moral fibre of the men that perform in the ring, but on the technical aspects of their performances. Was his promo any good last week? How’s the work rate? Is he innovative or technically sound or just a little bit sloppy? Does he look the part? Can he act the part? Does he deserve to be where he is, has he paid the proper dues?
As a result, any heel who wants to go back to the old school, any modern heel who doesn’t want to simply BE a heel but rather wants to BECOME a heel must take that into consideration. How do you make people centring their opinions on one’s performances hate you? Do you act bad at your job? No. That creates the wrong sort of resentment; kills any heat you may have built up for yourself and if you do that, you become bad at your job, you don’t become a heel for the current age.
One man, though, has struck the perfect balance. He is a pioneer. I’m just here to open people’s eyes to what a miraculous achievement, what a GENIUS creation this man has made. The heel of the past was a man who just had act immoral to succeed. The modern heel was a man who acted immoral and gained the adoration of the mature fan base. The postmodern heel, as a natural extension of the nature of the beast, must take the adoration of people and turn it on its head.
There is only one postmodern heel and many readers I feel are about to roll their eyes because his name is Randy Orton.
“Save the dead horse as if it is still alive.”
Usually I now get to presenting a plan to fix the problem; this time, however, the problem has already been fixed. Randy beat me to it. He saw what no one else has been able to see or to implement, not even those we herald as true experts like Chris Jericho or Triple H or Ric Flair.
Now I know what you’re thinking. How the fuck can I continue to flog this issue like a dead donkey when I’ve said my peace on it and been proven to be right. If you’re reading this Mazza, go back and re-read that last sentence please. I want to be smug. But nevertheless, I have defended Orton to the death and there I succeeded. Having opened your minds, allow me now to open your eyes.
Let us assume, logically, that the theory that Orton’s in-ring performances declined in quality is a cold hard fact of reality; that is to say that the slow pace, the “boring style”, was not done on purpose as a conscious move by Orton as a performer. This is what many believe is true and that it wasn’t really until the Bragging Rights pay per view that Orton found his magic again. Now let us also recall the nigh universal praise Orton received in lieu of his performances as WWE Champion at the end of 2007 and also as the number one contender heading into Wrestlemania amidst his amazing feud (at least at the start) with The Game earlier this year.
Can someone please explain to me, because truly I am at a loss as to the logic behind this assumption, how Orton could go from being at the very top of his game to being a bore overnight? Or in one month? Or even in six? It is frankly a farcical statement. The REAL cold hard fact of reality is that you simply don’t suddenly stop being good. Certainly not in the space of six months! One can decline in the twilights of one’s years but that is a slow and gradual process. Orton is not even thirty years old. He began to realise his true potential; that is something that doesn’t simply stop for a while and pick up again overnight.
So…assuming then that this was not the case. Assuming that Orton didn’t simply stop being good for the time span people levied so many criticisms his way; what does that leave us? That leaves us with the logical assumption that Orton acted in the ring the way he did on purpose. What that equates to in layman’s terms is that he purposefully got people thinking of him as boring. If they jeered him or critiqued him for utilising too many headlocks…he’d use a couple more in match two than he did in match one. If people jeered him and became impatient when he took sixty seconds to execute a simple knee drop…then he’d take ninety seconds in the following match. If people claimed he had bad delivery in his promos and hated it when he got air time…he’d keep doing exactly what he had been doing to get those criticisms levied at him.
This may seem to be a somewhat defeatist idea, right? Why the fuck would you want to start acting boring? What could that achieve other than what, on the surface, it is believed to have achieved; widespread criticism and a wave of depreciation of your abilities to perform effectively. Well, humour me here people because the conclusion I am drawing from this progression of ideas is one that will bruise the self-created ego of the IWC entity.
Empirically speaking, taking Orton’s methodology and work out the equation, it is a factual observation that the IWC was up in arms and that people were hating Randy Orton. They wanted him to go away. They cringed when he came on screen. They hated the fact, HATED it that he was WWE Champion and in many minds the sooner someone beat him for that belt, the sooner Triple H got back being one example, the better because it meant we would no longer see as much of Randy Orton. The IWC hated Randy Orton; irregardless of the reasons, that much is fact.
Now remind me of what a heel’s job is? To get people to hate them. In the past, a heel would simply act immorally to get children and adults to despise them, to wish they weren’t champion, to HATE the fact they were around and want nothing more than for them to piss off. I’m detecting a pattern.
As I have touched upon, the IWC has an ego. It, as an entity, does not like to think that there’s something it doesn’t know, that there’s something it can’t transcend, something it can’t analyse, dissect and criticise. As much as many among the IWC criticise wrestling for being too open these days, at the same time they are unable to handle the idea that they’re being kept in the dark like they were when they children. It hates it when the fourth wall is rebuilt but claims it wishes it would stay there.
Keeping that in mind then, and presuming Orton acted the way he did purposefully to get you people to hate him, what does all this add up to? It adds up to Orton becoming the first pro wrestler EVER to pull the wool over all our eyes. For the summer of 2009 the IWC despised Randy Orton with all their heart. They didn’t love to hate him; they just hated him. All of it led to heel heat; not a fake heat purposefully induced by the fans, but a REAL heat that wouldn’t lead to people chanting his name. And while until now it was believed they hated him because they saw him for what he truly was, in actual fact Orton had them hating him for what he was simply pretending to be.
He’s proven how good he is; why would that suddenly stop? Because we were chanting “RKO! RKO! RKO!” and Orton is passionate enough to not want that to happen; that’s not his job. His job is to make us HATE him and by doing what I have here described he transcended the barrier that the IWC has proven to be for men like Chris Jericho and CM Punk and succeeded, at least for a considerable length of time, in becoming a TRUE heel for the age of the spoiler, of the internet and of modernity.
Randy Orton has become a pioneer. Randy Orton has become the first of what may prove to be a new era of wrestler; the type of wrestler who sees through the IWC and spots a way to manipulate them in much the same way they were manipulated as kids. And if that does happen, then the IWC simply has to get over itself.
The industry is constantly evolving and so is its fandom. One grows to cancel the other out. Right now, we have the advantage. But I ask you to at least entertain the theory that I have presented because I truly believe one hundred per cent that Randy Orton is the first Postmodern Heel and that if more follow his example of altering their performances in a way that manipulates even those who believe themselves to be informed then the industry can retake the advantage and the IWC will become old school in itself.
I never like to tell my readers what to think, that’s not my place. I am simply asking you to try and look at the bigger picture and consider that maybe Orton is, for lack of a better word, “onto us”. Isn’t that a cool idea? To think that there is a wrestler so naturally attuned to this business, who understands it SO well, he can even beat what was previously been seen as the unbeatable spoiler.
I’ll be back soon to further analyse the modern state of professional wrestling. Don’t expect this old school styling to disappear anytime soon.
