My husband runs an indie wrestling company. He's been a die hard fan since he was a kid and even though, at this level, it's not a lucrative business those who participate do it for the love they've had since they were kids. I watched wrestling casually growing up and most of my knowledge of the business comes from my husband and watching some of the old stuff he'd recorded when he was younger. I don't wrestle myself, but I run the sound equipment for our company and it's always fun. My husband started out wanting to actually wrestle, but shifted to refereeing, However, his real talent was for booking the right guys and writing storylines.
Wrestling writing is a cousin to soap writing. In the movie Ready To Rumble, Oliver Platt's character describes wrestling as a dance with a little soap opera thrown in. If you're a student of the business, you would agree that it's a shame that everyone knows this now, but it's not far from the truth. Much of today's post will mirror yesterday's post. I must point out that it was better back in the old days.
The difference between wrestling writing and full out soap writing is the vehicle in which the story is carried. In soap operas, the story is told by the characters in the dialogue with their activities as a visual aide. In wrestling, the stories used to be told in the match itself. There wasn't a lot of talking back then. The bouts would be long, grueling, and realistic. Even after Gorgeous George added some flamboyancy it was only a small part of the story. When guys started jumping off the turnbuckles it was not done very often at all, so that when it did happen it produced a devastating effect for the audience to enjoy. Where I said yesterday that storylines could last for a year, in wrestling, matches lasted for an hour or more.
And it wasn't just the old timers that had long matches. Even as recent as the mid 80's, the matches could still go for an hour with the right guys. The wrestlers themselves could tell the story as they worked in the ring and could make it interesting for an hour. That takes amazing talent on the part of the wrestlers. But the writing itself organized these matches. The storylines could last for a year or more with a particular championship passing between the same two wrestlers over the course of time. This video above of Steamboat and Flair is one from their epic trilogy of matches that lasted an hour for the prize of the NWA big gold belt. A good guy versus a bad guy was the main storyline of wrestling.
Belts were beautiful and prestigious prizes worn around the waists of the victors like crown jewels. The wrestlers' characters were not deeply developed because all that mattered was the belts and which ones were worthy to hold them. There were men whose only job was to lose matches to the stars so they could make them look even more magnificent, and they were not only happy to do it, they were good at making the stars shine. Women were utilized in secondary roles, mainly as valets. When there was ladies wrestling though, it was a special treat that was made just as believable with truly athletic women who had complex matches as well. When promos were made, they were made to a camera with an interviewer present to hold on to the realism of the sport.
But, like yesterday, times change and people's attention spans shorten. They no longer have the patience to watch two men duke it out for an hour. If you're lucky, you'll get 30 minutes, but only if there's a lot of props and drama. Mat wrestling and submission moves are considered boring because everyone has become used to high flying moves and the use of weapons. I'm pretty sure they require the lady wrestlers to get breast implants and compete to have the most sexualized look as they don't do a lot of real wrestling moves anymore, but pull each others hair and do acrobatics off the ropes and this is considered equality because it's not just a man's thing anymore. There are no "greats" anymore. Everyone is a star now; there are no more
people who lift up the greats to a status of awe and legend. As to the storylines, the belts are thrown around like toys and they aren't the ultimate prize anymore since wrestling writing has become more like soap opera writing. The wrestlers are all in relationships of either men and women or bullies and weaklings. When the objectives are clear, like a belt, the race for the prize only lasts a month -til the next pay-per-view. Promos are made like cartoons now. Everyone is carrying their own personal microphone on them to the ring and everywhere else and the backstage is looked on now from a third person view... as if watching private conversations instead of direct challenges. There is no attempt at realism anymore, and even though I know that nobody is under any illusion that it could be real, that's not the point in my mind.
Like soap opera writing, wrestling writing has degenerated over the years. I'll try to tie the two together tomorrow.
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