E:60 - Making or Breaking a Superstar - Where is the line?

[Logisticalbooker86]

I just had a chance to watch E:60 Behind the Curtain. If you have not seen it, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I usually don't wax philosophical, especially about pro wrestling but the special made me wonder about a few things...

Should we as fans be more respectful of talent trying to make it? Before I saw the E:60 special, I thought Adam Rose sucked. The documentary made me care about him, and was a sharp reminder that some wrestlers are just trying to make a living and feed their families.

Now, I am all for a raucous crowd turning on things if they suck. It is the only way to change things nowadays. The audience has basically been forced to become WWE's harshest critic.

With that said, a portion of the hardcore fans seem to forget that "Superstars" are really just human beings trying to make a living.

Should the WWE Universe go easier on the roster with so many new guys trying to move up? Or is audience criticism always fair, and wrestlers should either man up or move on? Impatience made Xavier Woods entertaining as hell, it helped the Rock make himself into an icon....

Still, a nice guy like Adam Rose is circling the drain. Wrestling is a competitive business, and I could go either way on my own question.

What say you guys? I'm perfectly fine with the Adam Rose is not entertaining so too bad for him argument. PS - Rose came up with his gimmick.

Final Edit - I'm perfectly fine with the "I paid for my ticket so I will do as I please" response here. I just think it could make for an interesting debate.

 

[SoulTrain4]

I think the documentary humanized those guys a lot and it was necessary. We get caught up in gimmicks, who wins or loses etc so much we often forget these are normal guys trying to make a living and trying to live their dream.

I will say that it was a wake up call for the IWC mostly as they are way more critical and uptight about things.

Hopefully there's more appreciation for ALL the talents not just the "main eventers", truth be told it takes all of them plus more to bring us what we take for granted weekly.

 

[ASKane]

I respect almost every superstar as people but when it comes down to it, when I watch RAW I am watching a Sports Entertainment program and what I want to happen is as the name suggests be Entertained. Adam Rose does not entertain me and while I have respect for the guy playing him, the character is not one I want to see. I think programs like this are good because it lets you learn who the people behind the character are but at the end of the day they will get booed, cheered or no reaction based on their entertainment value and Adam Rose doesn't entertain me or a large chunk of WWE's audience. I wish him all the best with his family but will not stop disliking the character until I am consistently entertained by him

 

[Navi]

I find this really sad that it would take a documentary to make some people realize that these are just guys doing a job, and that they are human beings.

Some people work nine to five, some work in blue collar jobs or white collar jobs. It doesn't matter where you work, you should be respectful of everyone.

When it comes to wrestlers they are playing a character. For example I love Adam Rose, his entrance music gets me dancing in my chair, and I just like the whole gimmick. It was great in NXT, and still like it today. But I can't stand Bray Wyatt. Not Bray Wyatt the person, but the character he plays on the stage, we now call a wrestling ring. Doesn't mean I don't have respect for him and what he does, I just don't like it, and as a fan, don't do much when he comes out. I do however take out my cell phone like everyone else does.

They made the decision to go into this business, and they full well know that some fans will like them and some won't. This is a business where you have to develop a thick skin very quickly. If you can't then you won't last. You are only unfortunately as good as the fans perceive you to be, and they will turn on you in a New York minute. It's the nature of the beast, some can take it and some can't.

 

[pipebomber]

I respect almost every superstar as people but when it comes down to it, when I watch RAW I am watching a Sports Entertainment program and what I want to happen is as the name suggests be Entertained. Adam Rose does not entertain me and while I have respect for the guy playing him, the character is not one I want to see. I think programs like this are good because it lets you learn who the people behind the character are but at the end of the day they will get booed, cheered or no reaction based on their entertainment value and Adam Rose doesn't entertain me or a large chunk of WWE's audience. I wish him all the best with his family but will not stop disliking the character until I am consistently entertained by him

I couldn't agree with this statement more. WWE my whole life has said that in this business the fans make or break you. If you didn't know this was a business where you were gunna have to deal with hostile crowds and people saying you suck then you are in over your head before you get started. As for Adam Rose (or other but as he was the example I'll use him) I respect him. I respect anybody for going out there and doing what they do, but if Im not entertained, then they are failing at their jobs.

I like the concept behind the Adam Rose gimmick, But they need to try not to over think things, and be flexible. He's the fun happy go lucky party guy who always has an entourage? great... why is his entourage a cheeseburger and a bunny? (I think that part was way over thought) He should have just been the party guy who came out with a big group of good looking people partyin and dancing all around him. Make it look like wherever Adam Rose is at is where you wanna be. I don't wanna be at a party with a cheeseburger and a bunny, something weird is goin on there and I don't wanna find out.

This thinking isn't new. Do you think that The Undertaker would have succeeded if he would have spent a long amount of time with Brother Love? I don't, He needed a few tweaks before he was the undertaker people wanted him to be, he needed a creepier manager who didn't preach about love.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

To be fair WWE spends too much time making the "Superstars" rather than focusing on what makes the guys special but this showed why Trips is better than Vince at it... he gets Rose, Woods and Graves... and most of the NXT talents and what makes them special. Vince just sees the characters.

The most fascinating part for me was Bill DeMott... for all the slating the guy got (and they clearly couldn't show any bad stuff), the stuff with he and Rose was actually very touching. You can tell everyone in WWE "gets" Ray Leppon and wants him to succeed... if Steph and Hunter did all the Connor stuff, you know they get his kid's issues as well.

Corey Grave's tale was also very positive in the end and Woods currently being a tag champ put the spin on it. I can't help but feel the focus would have been better on Neville, but I guess he had literally just joined when it was beginning to be filmed.

At the end of the day this is the kind of "peek" behind the curtain WWE should allow more of... not controlled by them, telling the real story... look at Rose and his multi-accents... that's a hell of a trait to have that we'd never have known about... and that Woods is a Triple H boy all along... Hayes and Duthy came across as pricks however.

 

[Logisticalbooker86]

Navi - I hope you know I did not mean to imply that it took a documentary to remind me of a twist on an age old saying...Wrestlers are people too! Seriously though, all the men and women in the wrestling business deserve respect, regardless of where they work.

My point was that I use to find Adam Rose borderline intolerable with the lollipop in his mouth, not to mention the cheeseburger and bunny as pipebomber pointed out. As someone else said, the documentary also made me reexamine my view of Bill DeMott. If he did do the things he stands accused of, he deserved to get canned. It's hard to find empathy for him since so many people spoke against him.

Raw is three hours so that more guys and gals have a chance to make it. And advertising revenue of course. I don't want party time all the time - but maybe I will now hope it happens more frequently for five to fifteen minutes a week.

Everyone gets caught up in the show and forgets these are regular guys now and then. It's why John Cena is so polarizing. It's also one of the biggest reasons Roman Reigns does not have the WWE title as we speak.

THTRobTaylor - I agree that old Freebird came across as a prick. Doc Hendrix needs to remember where he came from.

 

[Catacomb]

I think the big thing to come out of this is
In one hour ESPN made you care more about a jobber than WWE's months and years of effort.

 

[healyz84]

I don't really care if the e:60 special 'humanized' certain wrestlers, point in fact, in wrestling as in any business, if you do not do your job, you should be booed, or fired. Someone like an Adam Rose for example, does not nor will never entertain me. Is it not his job to entertain? I am not alone in believing that Adam Rose is not entertaining, therefore I should boo him and think he sucks, it is my prerogative as a consumer.

Now for a lot of these guys, it may not be their fault. They could given a horrible gimmick to work with, they may be written terrible storylines, have little to no tv time, and so on. But you know what, the good to great wrestlers/entertainers find a way. They push the boundaries, they make a crappy gimmick somewhat entertaining, they will use whatever in their disposal to make a storyline and what is written for them as good as possible. And these are the guys to be cheered, these are the guys who get more tv time, get the title shots, the merchandise, and so on. Sure politics come into play, but you also need to earn it as well.