klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
Before I start this, let me emphasize this again to try to cut down the number of idiots that don't read something they respond to: THE LIST IS JUST A SAMPLE. THERE ARE MORE NAMES THAT FIT THIS AND THE NAMES ARE INTERCHANGEABLE.
To me, this is the biggest flaw in today's wrestling in both major companies. Let's take a look at some names in both companies (in no order):
Gunner
Crimson
Trent Barreta
Heath Slater
D-Von
Michael McGillicutty
Those are just some of the names that fit this criteria. All of these people have one major problem that goes with all of them: they have ZERO distinctive traits about them. We know next to nothing about any of them. Let's see: Gunner used to be in the military and is intense. Crimson is undefeated and intense. Barreta has wanted to be a wrestler since he was a kid. Slater is a "One Man Rock Band"....whatever that means. D-Von is just D-Von. McGillicutty's dad is Mr. Perfect and they have different last names.
What else do we know about any of these people? None of them (or a vast majority of the rosters for that matter) have any characteristics to them at all. I have no reason to care about Trent Barreta. There's nothing interesting about Gunner's character. See what I'm getting at here? Let's take a look at some opposite example to show what I'm talking about.
Austin Aries: the guy has had what, 4-5 matches in TNA and has talked 3-4 times. We already know a lot about him. He thinks he's better than everyone else, is there to make money and not because of a desire to wrestle, he calls himself the best man in the world and he doesn't agree with the code of the X-Division.
Alberto Del Rio: he debuted over a year ago but he works for this. We got a TON of vignettes about him and how rich he was. That played out on TV and through things like the cars and Rodriguez, we get proof of him being a rich man. Also he talks about destiny and then wins two matches that guarantee him world title shots. In short, we were SHOWN these things instead of being told about them.
For an earlier example, let's look at Val Venis. I've been watching the Raws where his debut is talked about. We see him on the sets of his porn movies and interacting with girls that look like porn chicks. He talked like a smarmy, slick guy that thought he was the greatest thing ever. He used innuendo and sex jokes and we immediately knew everything we needed to know about Venis. The minute he debuted he was a developed character and we had a reason to be interested in him.
The same was true for Razor Ramon back in the early 90s. Remember the stuff at the restaurant where he was rude to waiters and talked about how great he was with his signature accent? You automatically knew what you were getting and he had a distinct character immediately. It may not have been great or fully finished, but it was something that set up apart and we saw him acting it out. That's how you introduce someone. Don't just have them debut and say he's a pompous jerk that thinks he's better than everyone else and is from the streets of Miami.
What it boils down to is merely telling us that Gunner is intense or that Slater is a One Man Rock Band doesn't mean anything. We need to see these things happen. Imagine if in 1996 we were merely told Steve Austin was a rebel. Imagine if he had some stupid nickname like The Texas Rebel or Texas Outlaw or something like that. It would have totally crippled his character. We saw him rebel against Bret and against tradition through both his actions AND HIS OWN WORDS.
For a more modern example, let's look at Sheamus. Sheamus has been called a warrior and a fighter and a brawler since he debuted on Raw. When he first got there, he broke Jamie Noble's back (or something like that) and made him retire. We saw Sheamus being ruthless and hurting someone. It makes him look like an evil person. Since then, Sheamus has never backed down from a fight. The only time he didn't fight was when he had all seven members of Nexus staring at him. Now he's a face with the three words of I'll fight him. In short, Sheamus has acted like a warrior and he's more believable as one also.
As a final example, look at Bully Ray. Now when he first went off as a solo act, I thought it was going to be nothing short of a joke. However, Ray has acted his part to perfection, being an out and out jerk to everyone and living up to his moniker of bully. We've seen him bully people and act like one of the most evil people in wrestling for months. The character works and it works because we've seen him do these things instead of just hearing about them. By comparison, D-Von is just D-Von and is floundering.
In summation, the way to have a successful character is through having him have an actual character. Far too often this isn't happening anymore and a lot of the time it's because we don't see the characters doing anything. Instead we're told about it and these characters seem to fail far more often than not. Give them time to develop, which is done through a combination of TALKING and actions.
To me, this is the biggest flaw in today's wrestling in both major companies. Let's take a look at some names in both companies (in no order):
Gunner
Crimson
Trent Barreta
Heath Slater
D-Von
Michael McGillicutty
Those are just some of the names that fit this criteria. All of these people have one major problem that goes with all of them: they have ZERO distinctive traits about them. We know next to nothing about any of them. Let's see: Gunner used to be in the military and is intense. Crimson is undefeated and intense. Barreta has wanted to be a wrestler since he was a kid. Slater is a "One Man Rock Band"....whatever that means. D-Von is just D-Von. McGillicutty's dad is Mr. Perfect and they have different last names.
What else do we know about any of these people? None of them (or a vast majority of the rosters for that matter) have any characteristics to them at all. I have no reason to care about Trent Barreta. There's nothing interesting about Gunner's character. See what I'm getting at here? Let's take a look at some opposite example to show what I'm talking about.
Austin Aries: the guy has had what, 4-5 matches in TNA and has talked 3-4 times. We already know a lot about him. He thinks he's better than everyone else, is there to make money and not because of a desire to wrestle, he calls himself the best man in the world and he doesn't agree with the code of the X-Division.
Alberto Del Rio: he debuted over a year ago but he works for this. We got a TON of vignettes about him and how rich he was. That played out on TV and through things like the cars and Rodriguez, we get proof of him being a rich man. Also he talks about destiny and then wins two matches that guarantee him world title shots. In short, we were SHOWN these things instead of being told about them.
For an earlier example, let's look at Val Venis. I've been watching the Raws where his debut is talked about. We see him on the sets of his porn movies and interacting with girls that look like porn chicks. He talked like a smarmy, slick guy that thought he was the greatest thing ever. He used innuendo and sex jokes and we immediately knew everything we needed to know about Venis. The minute he debuted he was a developed character and we had a reason to be interested in him.
The same was true for Razor Ramon back in the early 90s. Remember the stuff at the restaurant where he was rude to waiters and talked about how great he was with his signature accent? You automatically knew what you were getting and he had a distinct character immediately. It may not have been great or fully finished, but it was something that set up apart and we saw him acting it out. That's how you introduce someone. Don't just have them debut and say he's a pompous jerk that thinks he's better than everyone else and is from the streets of Miami.
What it boils down to is merely telling us that Gunner is intense or that Slater is a One Man Rock Band doesn't mean anything. We need to see these things happen. Imagine if in 1996 we were merely told Steve Austin was a rebel. Imagine if he had some stupid nickname like The Texas Rebel or Texas Outlaw or something like that. It would have totally crippled his character. We saw him rebel against Bret and against tradition through both his actions AND HIS OWN WORDS.
For a more modern example, let's look at Sheamus. Sheamus has been called a warrior and a fighter and a brawler since he debuted on Raw. When he first got there, he broke Jamie Noble's back (or something like that) and made him retire. We saw Sheamus being ruthless and hurting someone. It makes him look like an evil person. Since then, Sheamus has never backed down from a fight. The only time he didn't fight was when he had all seven members of Nexus staring at him. Now he's a face with the three words of I'll fight him. In short, Sheamus has acted like a warrior and he's more believable as one also.
As a final example, look at Bully Ray. Now when he first went off as a solo act, I thought it was going to be nothing short of a joke. However, Ray has acted his part to perfection, being an out and out jerk to everyone and living up to his moniker of bully. We've seen him bully people and act like one of the most evil people in wrestling for months. The character works and it works because we've seen him do these things instead of just hearing about them. By comparison, D-Von is just D-Von and is floundering.
In summation, the way to have a successful character is through having him have an actual character. Far too often this isn't happening anymore and a lot of the time it's because we don't see the characters doing anything. Instead we're told about it and these characters seem to fail far more often than not. Give them time to develop, which is done through a combination of TALKING and actions.
