By Marc Donmoyer, Lounge Fellow
Jun 28, 2004
Source: PWTorch
Quality is worth more than quantity, or so I was told in elementary school.
I was on the phone with my friend last night, and he kept asking me about TNA. I told him I hadn’t been keeping up. He was disappointed. He said he missed my reviews. He doesn’t even get the PPV’s, but he always reads the reviews. He was excited to see Impact. He said the new six sided ring was pretty sweet. He explained to me the title situation. He told me what was going on, because I was clueless. I said I’d been busier then ever, hadn’t been keeping up, missed it. I told him I hadn’t even kept up with WWE lately.
He told me it’s really bad. We both had a laugh as we realized The Great American Bash was on as we were having the conversation. We didn’t even care, we hardly even knew, we certainly didn’t buy it.
I know the internet wrestling community gets painted with a big brush of negativity, and that “we’re” prone to criticizing, but I gotta believe the feedback on this one. What, in god’s name, is the WWE thinking? I don’t work there, and perhaps there’s a sound business plan to putting on tons of crap PPVs, but it seems dangerous in the long run. There’s just no need to add more PPVs to a once a month schedule, especially when they’re as uninspired and lacking as this appeared to be.
I was somebody who felt adding PPVs to the already cluttered WWE schedule would ultimately be a good thing. I figured people would adjust; feel like they have more options available. You could still see 12 a year; you could just pick what you wanted. The television shows would be the vehicles, the PPVs would be the destination. Throw in a couple of big inter-show shows and you’ve got steady PPV business. This plan, however, was dependent on one thing.
The plan was dependent on finding a way, and filling up the rosters, enough that each show had a unique flavor, and that the PPVs each had a purpose. A Raw PPV and a Smackdown PPV should be different. It should be like WCW vs. WWE, hopefully in its heyday. Instead it’s two brands that are painted different, but made of the same material. Basically it’s come down to one brand will suck while the other is good. One will have a hell in the cell while the other has a “Texas Bullrope Match.” It’s deplorable, it’s dangerous, and it’s not the formula needed for the future.
If the WWE really wants to separate the brands, they need to start taking risks. I’m not just referring to the over-the-top antics of Smackdown, which is a start in terms of real brand separation; I’m talking about the “WWE Style.” I know it’s been harped on a million times in the IWC, but it’s time the Cruiserweight division becomes special. It’s time they compete with TNA’s X-Division. I’m not just talking about spots, I’m talking about a hybrid of WWE storytelling and breathtaking high spots. It’s time for RAW & Smackdown to stop following the same set of rules. Only then will the two brands start to feel unique, to gain their own following. Right now all I see is the WWE Stretching itself so thin it’s pathetic.
One of the advantages of the brand split was the ability to take more than a month to prepare for a PPV. It gave the individual brands a few PPVs that they could spend time building to, to help compensate for the lack of the double roster. It was a winning formula. The formula we see now is a losing formula, one that’s come to hasty, and one that’s off to a very bad start.
I’m so annoyed by it I’m interested in finding a way to start watching TNA again. At least they need an audience, and will fight to get one. At least my friend wanted to talk about them. The WWE seems to feel their audience is so safe, they can just keep selling their product without concerning themselves with the quality.
Instead of quality, they’re focusing on the quantity, and that isn’t worth our dime, or our time.
Email Marc at Marc@Thescallywags.com. He’s a wrestling fan. This column isn’t about not liking the WWE, it’s about not liking 20 PPVs a year from one company.
© Copyright 2004 by TDH Communications Inc.
|
