Take up thy wrestling boots and walk #115 - Production values in wrestling
Submitted by Pt2 on Saturday, September 24, 2005 at 2:39 PM EST





Welcome once again to the column that didn’t know and has an ass that calls somebody but only Monday to Friday during regular business hours, Take up thy wrestling boots and walk. I’m the man with the market on wrestling footwear cornered, Pt2, back once again to talk about the jewel in the crown of happy living - professional wrestling.

These intro’s get worse. Next time, I might just make fun of Jim Herd and go straight into the column. That’ll probably be more popular. Sorry for the lateness on this one, I know I’m a couple of days behind schedule, with any luck, I can get back into a regular rhythm of writing soon.

For those of you who don’t know, here in the UK on Sky digital we have a channel dedicated to Pro wrestling, and it’s called the wrestling channel. Some one has a great imagination, obviously. But I’m not going to complain about the name, since if it was called Uncle Franks make over tips I’d probably never have found it. But I digress.

Basically, this channel gives us the opportunity to see more than just the WWE. While people without this luxury are stuck with a choice between WWE programming, live events in their area, or attempting to track down DVD’s, we can see wrestling from around the world, from the dizzying heights of TNA wrestling and NWA title defences all the way to wrestling in arena’s that makes the production values of ECW look awesome. I’ve probably spent more time watching wrestling in these dark arena’s shot with cheap camera’s in the past year or so than in the previous twenty. And watching recently, I’ve been thinking. How important are production values in wrestling?

You ask the TV companies, and they’ll tell you pretty high. From the ECW DVD, one of the things mentioned as a contributing factor to the financial downfall of ECW was that TNN (now Spike TV for those who don’t keep up) insisted on ECW upping their production values. ECW had a rabid, obsessive fan base that laments on the demise of their baby to this day - that audience is going to find, and is going to watch, ECW. They had lived through bad production values for years, and had stuck with Paul Heyman and his product for years - but apparently, despite this fan base, it’s not enough for the Network. You can’t just have the people who watch saying you are the best in the world - you have to look like it to.

Another guy who would probably stress the importance of production values in wrestling would be Eric Bischoff. Now I know that about a third of the people reading this will write off anything Bischoff says as rubbish as a matter of principal, but do you really think that nWo angle or not, Nitro would have been on top for 80 weeks or however long it was if Bischoff hadn’t pulled WCW out of the grungy arena’s and filmed their TV in Florida? Bischoff improved his production values, then sold the company to stars like Hogan, Savage and Luger - and when they came and saw a professional looking show, people stayed and ratings went up. And Bischoff took that trick from a pretty good source.

Lets be fair, isn’t that all Vince McMahon had done some ten years earlier? Improved the production values of his shows and lured the top talent away from other regions by impressing them and showing them how much more money they could make with this more professional outfit? Sounds the same to me. The WWE and WCW in part have been made by their commitment to a professional look. When you see these wrestlers in those surroundings, you think “these are the best wrestlers in the world”.

Which brings us back to the stuff I watch on the wrestling channel. With the exception of TNA and some of the Mexican/Japanese stuff, the quality of the Television broadcasts are so far below what we are used to as fans of major wrestling promotions that it really does highlight some things. In fairness the matches are no less enjoyable - I’m just as enthralled by great storytelling and just as annoyed by pointless flips with no meaning if they happen in front of 100 people as if they happen in front of 80,000. But for some reason, you do get a different feeling watching it - You’re not as overawed by what you see, in a way. When I watch RAW, and you have the pyro, the huge arena’s, the flashing lights, you get the feeling that the people in the ring are so good at what they do they have reached that level, the pinnacle, and everything you see plays a part in making that picture. When you sit down and think about it, the wrestlers are probably not the best. I’ll take Taka Michinoku over John Cena every day if we are talking about ring work. But remember one thing - your not supposed to sit down and analyse every last thing when watching wrestling. It’s not the way it works. Would you enjoy half the movies or TV shows you love if you did that? Probably not. They tell us the story.

And when you have two groups telling you that their wrestlers are the best in the world and one presents there wrestling in a much more professional manner, it’s much easier to buy into their story - find a casual fan and show him Batista then show him a guy working in a regional promotion - and they will pick Batista every time. I even know people at the height of the Monday night war who refused to consider the ECW champion a world champion because of the obvious gap between them and the big two. I’ve never gone to that extreme myself, but I can sort of understand it.

Obviously, if you are producing good storylines and good matches on a consistent basis, then poor production values aren’t going to kill your company. The quality of the product is ultimately what is important, and if you are providing quality, you’ll be around for a while. Look at ECW if you want proof, they lasted for years, and it was TV’s demands on them for better production that started the sinking ship. On the other hand, you can have all the fancy flashing lights and fireworks that you want, but if your product is pathetic and full of “twenty six old ladies on a pole wearing mule costumes and carrying Singapore canes” matches, your not going to survive either. Production isn’t the end of it all.

But it is a big component, especially when it comes to luring in the more casual fans, and keeping them. In a state of rivalry, it might even give one side the edge. That could be one of the reasons why TNA gets more attention, while in their infancy Ring of Honor was looked on more favourably, and by same portions of the audience, still is. Of course there are other factors to be considered..... but maybe it’s best to leave that for other people to talk about.

It may sound like a very businesslike thing to say, but in wrestling, as in a lot of things, if you want people to believe you are the best, you have to look like the best.

Or be the best by a large margin, and one of those is easier than the other. I’ll leave it to the promoters themselves to figure out which.


OK, that’ll do it from me this time. Thanks very much to everyone who’s voted over at www.wrestlingdanshof.co.uk, the turnout has been excellent for this induction. We hope to get a few more names on the ballot, so if you haven’t nominated yet, feel free to check it out and have your say!

Any feedback is appreciated. takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com

Time to wrap this one up. Take care.

Pt2








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