Wacky Wrestling Theory 02.26.09: The Big End Theory, Part 4 - Watching Old Wrestling

Posted by Jake Chambers on 02.26.2009

Who needs all this new crappy wrestling that’s on TV when you could be perfectly happy watching old wrestling matches for the rest of your life? We’ve got the access and we’ve got the technology, so let’s send a message to the powers that be that their live wrestling shows suck, and dedicate our time from now on to watching taped wrestling from the past!

Ring of Honor is a pro-wrestling promotion known for revolutionizing the way wrestling is presented to the mainstream audience. The strange part is, all they really did was focus on the basics of wrestling and storytelling: continuity, feuds with longevity and meaning, and actual athleticism. Why is this refreshing in the 2000s? Because pro-wrestling producers who follow ‘New Theory' have been so obsessed with making money that they forgot how to make good wrestling. ‘New Theory' basically treats the audience like zoned out, Friday night blockbuster, movie theater-going teenagers who are just there for the experience of being out. Ring of Honor came along and decided they would produce wrestling like it was a stage production, hoping that they would find an audience receptive to quality and craft. Great, more praise for Ring of Honor, right? I'm sure they've heard enough of it from dorky fans like me, but actually this is all just background for another aspect of the pro-wrestling business that ROH has opened my eyes to: wrestling doesn't need to be watched live.

Hopefully you didn't just shit your pants when you read that statement, but yes, it's true, pro-wrestling can be enjoyed perfectly well when the program has been pre-taped. ‘New Theory' certainly doesn't want you to believe this, and those who have been brainwashed by this theory will desperately argue that live wrestling is needed in order to give the feeling of immediacy and surprise. Probably the reason why live wrestling is so coveted by ‘New Theory' has to do with the fact that live wrestling doesn't have to be good in the long run, just good enough for that moment to produce a certain television rating or pay-per-view buyrate. Actually, the WWF didn't even want to have every episode of RAW live, as they were going along perfectly fine with four taped episodes a month and the fans were as happy as could be. The wrestling and the storylines were fine at the time, actually the in-ring wrestling was more focused and interesting than any of the terrible 2-4 minute matches you could see on live prime time TV these days. So why is live wrestling so great? It all goes back to the roots of ‘New Theory,' the old WCW. Ted Turner was a businessman, not a blue blood wrestling fan, and although he did not run WCW he put people in place who were instructed to put WWF out of business. Their concept was to air live wrestling against taped wrestling, and thus they could focus the writing and production of their episodes as a direct attack to the WWF shows that were already produced. During this era, the in-ring wrestling and the continuity of feuds and storylines was secondary to the business of producing television. These business people wanted to drill into the fans that this was live, and live programming was the attraction, while ignoring, or just plain forgetting, about putting on a good wrestling show. The WWF was able to win because, well, they were blue blood wrestling pedigree, and they successfully combined the ‘crash' television concept of live shocks and surprises with quality wrestling matches. This actual victory was so grand, that now the people inside the company that grew wealthy during this period have actually morphed into the business people they were fighting against in the WCW war. Thus, the reliance on live wrestling, or live-wrestling-like programming, is the backbone of ‘New Theory' and is one of the painful aspects of being a wrestling fan today.

Ring of Honor built their company on a business model of providing a unique pro-wrestling federation experience without the necessity of watching a live weekly television show. They put on shows that were so realistic in appearance there was no need for cartoonish shocks because you were too busy trying to figure out if that action or event that just seemed so real was actually real. It all started with RF Video, the wrestling fan's source for tapes, particularly ECW content and international federations, during the 1990s, and they deserve to be remembered for exposing North American wrestling fans to so much quality content at a time before the internet and DVDs made it all so easy. After ECW went under, RF Video needed something to keep their business going and thus they created a wrestling promotion that would be sold exclusively through their tape selling network. Now, I'm no bark but I can appreciate the simplicity of this business model, as well as the freedom it gave the producers to promote the kind of wrestling that they actually loved and watched to the fans of those kinds of matches that they'd been cultivating for years. These ‘pure' wrestling fans are the ones who supported ROH and made it into the goldmine of quality that it has been, yet sadly at the same time a much less artistically positive cultivation of fans of live television wrestling entertainment was being generated over in the WWE, as the purveyors of ‘New Theory' decided that television viewers were easier to please than wrestling fans. While ROH focused on the wrestling, WWE (and TNA by copycat default) focused on image creation, marketing, and branding, in order to maintain long-term fiscal security. That's all fine and well for the thousands of employees in the wrestling industry, but what about those of us who are fans and just want to see good, big time wrestling? Do we have to sacrifice mainstream wrestling? Sadly, it's already happened. There can be no denying it, ‘New Theory' has irreversibly pushed out wrestling fans for the sake of ‘male soap opera' entertainment viewers, and it's time to accept that notion and pry out of their oppressive grip. Thankfully, Ring of Honor has shown us that there are safe alternatives, and reminded us that pro-wrestling doesn't need to be watched live to only be good.

There was a time when I would drive two or more hours just to get to a video store that I heard a rumor might have a copy of an old Superbrawl or Beach Blast. There were times when finding tapes of Clash of the Champions or Saturday Night's Main Events was as satisfying as a blowjob. Generally, once a show was done it was history to be read about in wrestling magazines, rather than re-experienced. We were all at the mercy of the television executives, and not specifically wrestling producers, to provide us with the wrestling that they wanted us to see at a time that was convenient to them. The digital age has put an end to that tyranny. Not only has the ROH business model prepared us for this time by mentally breaking down the reliance on live television for quality wrestling programming, but now we have access to limitless hours of old wrestling without even having to go outside of the home. Of course, ROH is not the only company to take advantage of the DVD industry, as the WWE has also mined their extensive libraries for incredible ‘best of' collections that can satisfy any fan for hours on end with fantastic matches and documentaries, along with their incredible 24/7 specialty channel. The problem is that the WWE still has to rely on the format of ‘New Theory' for producing their regular programming. So what? There may be a source of power in complaining about terrible programming, but there is also a sense of relief that you don't need the show anymore. You could be a full-time wrestling fan and never once have to watch RAW, Smackdown or Impact again. This was not always an option to wrestling fans, but it is now.

Sadly, ROH is on the verge of embarking into a realm of ‘New Theory'-ish TV production, as they thoroughly mess with their once seamless continuity with a new set of television tapings that will not be available on DVD and will clash with the timelines of their DVD and PPV releases. Regardless, the damage to the ideology of 'New Theory' has been done. My ‘Wacky Theory' doesn't believe that I, or you, need to rely on any authoritative company rule to tell me/us how and when to enjoy pro-wrestling. Certainly, the case can be made that with the use of DVD purchases, WWE 24/7, and youtube, an individual wrestling fan can be the general manager of their own pro-wrestling promotion. For example, maybe you would be like me, and wonder what the fuck TNA has been doing with Samoa Joe for the last two years. Instead of wasting my time watching in horror as Samoa Joe is wasted again and again, I can instead re-live his two years as ROH champion by watching the ROH DVD collection in place of weekly Impact episodes. I personally guarantee that for the next two years you will not be disappointed even one eighth as much as you would as a TNA Samoa Joe fan. Are you bored of the meaningless, self-created, brand battle between RAW, Smackdown and ECW? Well, you could watch every episode of RAW and Nitro again from the Monday Night War era and you'd be fulfilled for years. Pro-wrestling content does not sour with age, you can still watch the first Starrcade or Wrestlemania and trust me you'll have much more fun than if you watched the last few years of Wrestlemania or ‘New Theory' inspired pay-per-view. So, I challenge you, the pure wrestling fan, to take up the ‘Wacky Theory' model and abandon your reliance on the dictatorial product served to you like pabulum, and create your own wrestling viewing universe using old matches and shows.