How many new things can you do?

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

Alright, I recently read the latest editorial by Mark Madden and the base of that was that we want new ideas. We want fresh ideas, fresh stuff, different angles, things that we haven't seen before. And I agree, obviously, who wants to see the same product that we have seen not just a week ago but also 15 years ago.

The solution that is offered here is for the currect creative to be fired and someone like Jim Ross, Heyman, Jericho etc be in charge of it, without the family being over the shoulders all the time. I also tend to agree here. There minds are perfect for pro wrestling because they indeed live and breathe pro wrestling.

But here comes the kicker. What is there left that is new and exciting? The past couple of years, WWE tried the dancing gimmicks. They tried it with Fandango, who got an incredible reaction for the first months, then he was moved to a mid-card-jobbing kind of guy, leading to his reaction to become dead. That's why we need another dancing gimmick, right? But I digress. The point here is that the WWE, intentionally or not, tried to create something different, but it didn't catch up. Over the years, we have gotten Authority storylines, superhero storylines, villains being on top, people stealing others' girlfriends and I could go on for days. Is there anything new that can be done?

I can't see that. Everything has been done in the past in some way. Sure, you might be able to change it up a little bit (Shield) but the base concept remains there and it has been done before. Bryan got the Austin-rebel character, while HHH was VKM#2. Punk was kind of a new guy with his pipebomb gimmicks, but its roots go back to Austin and his anti-authority gimmick. So, when someone says that we need original ideas, new stuff, fresh gimmicks, what exactly are they proposing? I'd like to hear those ideas from you guys, because frankly I can't think of many new gimmicks/storylines etc.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

When it comes to pro wrestling, the options of what stories, angles and gimmicks could be termed "new" is pretty limited. If you're someone that's watched pro wrestling for most of your life, like me, there's very little that can come about that you haven't seen before to one degree or another.

Based on a lot of what I read in forums or from various dirtsheet writers, it seems that a lot of people don't seem to want original or new. Oh, they might claim they do, but all they do is bitch whenever they happen to get something that's different. When Brodus Clay made his return to the main roster with his "Funkasaurus" character, smarks and writers alike railed against it. Why? Based on most of what I remember reading, they wanted Clay to come out as this stereotypical, one dimensional, super heavyweight, monster heel. Essentially, they wanted him to be what something more akin to what he was upon his first brief run on the main roster before heading back to WWE developmental. I'm not saying that "Funkasaurus" was the greatest thing ever, but I thought it was imminently preferable to the typical monster heel. Clay worked hard with the character, showed that he had a good deal of personality and that he could be more than a 350 lb. bruiser. But, as seems to be standard operating procedure, numerous people online condemned Clay without even giving him a shot. They'd already made their minds up and were determined not to invest in him no matter what.

Also, as it pertains to edgier content, there's not much further the envelope can be pushed without going into X-rated territory. We've seen angles where women were "forced" to strip down to their underwear by Vince, where they've worn nothing more than pasties, high heels and the flimsiest of thongs imaginable, we've had numerous busted up wedding angles, we've had anti-authority rebels of all shapes & sizes, we've seen "satanic rituals" performed on Raw, we've seen two guys portraying extremely effeminate, homosexual tag team partners, we've even seen simulated sex with a "corpse" named Katie Vick, etc. Most of those have been vehemently panned by fans, critics, writers, politicians and celebrities alike. Over a year ago, WWE "poked fun" at Jerry Lawler's heart attack in an angle involving CM Punk and Paul Heyman and people freaked the fuck out. Lawler had given his personal okay several weeks earlier and even though it was all scripted on top of that, people were acting as though WWE had viciously insulted them on a personal level. Do I even need to bring up the controversy with Zeb Coulter & Jack Swagger?

 

[Catacomb]

if all the characters are developed into their own unique personalities then it becomes a lot easier to tell new stories or a fresh take on new stories. wwe does not establish new personalities, look at the newest debuts. rusev is the 80s foreign gimmick, rose is another dancer, one of about 15 dancers on the roster, the bull fighters are tito santanas outdated gimmick from the 90s, its all just old stuff rehashed for the 100th time. to say that you can't tell a new story or every story has been done is the mark of an uncreative writer.

 

[Freedom Fighter434]

I think in regards to new, what they really mean is new ways of doing old things. Like taking certain gimmicks in new directions, or certain storylines given new twists.

For example, typical idea for dancer gimmick like Fandango is dancer who has a temper, so they freak out when certain things happen but won't actually get physical. Taking a different approach to a dancer gimmick would be like Brazilian ju-jitsu. It is a martial art purely based on rhythm. So what if Fandango had been debuted as a dancer with martial arts training prior to his dancing career? Gives him a wider skill set and can create a different background story along the lines of "lived in a rough neighbourhood, but always wanted to dance", so then you can go further into his past.

A different take on the storyline is the Daniel Bryan v Bray Wyatt one from Jan. Instead of Wyatt actively trying to turn Bryan, what if Bryan wanted inside the Family to turn Harper? Gives the Family some issues to contend with and new promos and content Bryan can explore in the program.

When people say new, there isn't a lot of new stuff you can do in wrestling now. New just means different, a change from what we know. It's not really new what people want I find, just different. The guy above me says a lack of creativity is what means there are no new ideas, but for new ideas you need new gimmicks, and it seems NXT guys make their own gimmicks now, a lot of which are new, so there will be new stuff soon.

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

if all the characters are developed into their own unique personalities then it becomes a lot easier to tell new stories or a fresh take on new stories. wwe does not establish new personalities, look at the newest debuts. rusev is the 80s foreign gimmick, rose is another dancer, one of about 15 dancers on the roster, the bull fighters are tito santanas outdated gimmick from the 90s, its all just old stuff rehashed for the 100th time. to say that you can't tell a new story or every story has been done is the mark of an uncreative writer.

That's what we are doing here. Everyone is demanding new stories and new characters, yet it seems that it's not easy to create anything new anymore, because everything has been done before. This thread is about pitching ideas that you people would like to see, instead of bitching about how you all need new stuff.

 

[laodaron]

Oh oh oh oh.... I know. Why not make a character of a guy from one of the boroughs in New York that likes to fight? Why not make a gimmick of a guy that's a burgler? Why not make a turkey? Why not make a cop? Why not make a prisoner and have him FEUD with the cop? Why not make a gimmick that's a semi-truck? Why not make a Tony Montana rip off? Why not make a guy who's gimmick is that he loses all of the time, but then in a SWERVE have him beat a heel who claims to be a perfect wrestler?

The point is very simple, new gimmicks almost ALWAYS flop, or, if they are successful they've been done ad nauseum. We just have to accept that in the world of Wrestlemania 1 until now, it's just not possible to be creative, new, innovative, and get over. Sit back and enjoy the rehashed success stories.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

WWE is too busy having three hour RAWs that are glorified commercials instead, that's what really kills things, at least for an old school fan such as myself. "Something new" is very subjective, because Movies, TV Shows, comics, etc. all borrow from something. WWE just doesn't give a shit anymore because in theory, they don't have to. Plain and f'n simple.

 

[Slash-LN]

Most of the time it seems like the people complaining the loudest about rehashing story lines are the last ones to come up with good ideas if they even come up with any ideas at all.

It's not like wrestling is the only form of entertainment that rehashes ideas. Look at The Simpsons for example. The show has been around so long that it's hard for them to come up with fresh ideas. In turn people complain about the show now but offer no good ideas. I would say quite a few sitcoms are the same. They have the same basic ideas they just tweak them to make them different enough to be passable.

All they can really do is build on stories from the past. Like TNA did with the Sam Shaw stuff. The creepy obsession with someone story has been done before but they took it a step further and then another step. Now they are seemingly going to take even one more step with it.

Honestly I can't think of a new story line off the top of my head that I'd like to see in wrestling so I'm just along for the ride. As long as they continue to entertain me I'll keep watching. If I see something I don't like I'll complain about it like most people do but overall I'll keep watching.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

When you're locked into a PG Rating, there aren't many "places to go" creatively. It's that simple. A lot of the things that would "work" if they re-hashed it, can't be re-hashed based on the fact that they operate under stricter guidelines now.

I'm not one of these people who think the Attitude era could ever be 're-launched' or whatever, but if they ever moved back to TV-14, I think we would have a lot less complaining about the lack of "new angles".

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

We shouldn't conflate new or original with entertaining. I'd tune in with baited breath to see Austin-Rock again or Rock-HHH again because it was entertaining and I'd be entertained to see it again. I want to be entertained. Stories, characters, promos, matches all combine to do this.

For me it's not that I've seen all this before it's that I've seen it done better. Way better.

 

[faltemer]

When you're locked into a PG Rating, there aren't many "places to go" creatively. It's that simple. A lot of the things that would "work" if they re-hashed it, can't be re-hashed based on the fact that they operate under stricter guidelines now.

I'm not one of these people who think the Attitude era could ever be 're-launched' or whatever, but if they ever moved back to TV-14, I think we would have a lot less complaining about the lack of "new angles".

Can you name one new angle that is impossible to do in the current rating but possible under TV-14 guidelines, because lot's of people say versions of this but have never come up with anything of actual substance.

The guidelines for the most part just limit what people can say, and if you haven't noticed after 10 pm most of those restrictions start to fall off.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Can you name one new angle that is impossible to do in the current rating but possible under TV-14 guidelines, because lot's of people say versions of this but have never come up with anything of actual substance.

The guidelines for the most part just limit what people can say, and if you haven't noticed after 10 pm most of those restrictions start to fall off.

A wrestler seducing other wrestler's valets, girlfriends, sisters, etc. can't be done. (Val Venis)

Forget about the porn star gimmick, feuds based on one guy's womanizing and stealing the other wrestler's girl can't happen now.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

Didn't Rick Rude and JTS Roberts feud over his wife? Rick Rude even wore the face of Jake the Snake's wife on his trunks. TV restrictions aren't the problem.

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[faltemer]

A wrestler seducing other wrestler's valets, girlfriends, sisters, etc. can't be done. (Val Venis)

Forget about the porn star gimmick, feuds based on one guy's womanizing and stealing the other wrestler's girl can't happen now.

You mean similar to how Ziggler sort of Stole AJ from Cena a year plus ago. Sure it wasn't super graphic and they couldn't be. But saying it couldn't happen is inaccurate. A storyline that can't happen because of the restrictions would have to in itself be way over the line of what you could do with a PG rating. So stealing someone girlfriend could be easily done and at worse they would just have to make innuendos instead of going out and saying what he did. Hell Punk threw the ashes of Paul bearer on undertaker then threw them up in the air like Lebron. he also made fun of Jerry's heart attack almost right after he came back. That's as hardcore as anything that happened when it was PG 13.

 

[Headman]

How about they do a story where the top WWE superstars get pulled into the future where robots and mutants now rule the ring? They could do the arena all future like and set up "time machines" at the arena entrances that fans pass through so modern day fans can see these future matches. They could call it WWE 3000!

Or they could just scale back RAW to 2 hours and focus on giving everyone something to do. And maybe not drag out storylines where nothing new is introduced and the story is never expanded upon. They can continue to rip off the past forever and it will work every time as long as they make it relevant to what's going on today. They're just ripping off the wrong stuff. But that shouldn't sleep on my WWE 3000 idea either.