Lance Storm on Angles & Storylines (2006)

[MrHashasheen]

The way wrestling used to be promoted, Angles were booked on TV to create interest in a match that fans would then pay to see on PPV. The booker decided that (just as an example) Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage for the IC Title will be a match at WrestleMania III. They then had to book an Angle that would put these two people on a path that would intersect at WrestleMania.

This is key; an Angle is what’s created when two lines intersect, and that intersection point is the single most important point of the Angle. That point is a wrestling match and what you sell on PPV. They had Savage injure Steamboat and dominate the IC Title picture in Steamboats absence. Then Steamboat came back and vowed to not only win the title but get revenge for the beating he took at the hands of Savage months earlier.

The WWF was not selling a Storyline here, they were selling a match, and the Angle was the means by which to make fans care about that match. The week before WrestleMania no one was thinking, “Where does the Savage - Steamboat Storyline go from here?” Everyone was thinking how great it’s going to be to finally see Ricky Steamboat kick Randy Savage’s ass.

They were selling the match not the Storyline; it was the conflict that would be settled that night that was the be all and end all of this Angle. Fans needed to see WrestleMania III in order to see the Savage - Steamboat Angle come to a head. Fans needed to feel that this match was the conclusion of the Angle in order to make them willing to pay for it.

Fast forward now to Hell in a Cell this past Sunday, because it was the promotion of this show on The Score here in Canada that drove this point home for me. John Cena and Nexus are currently in a Storyline. They aren’t on a collision course; they have been in each other’s business for months in a weekly episodic Storyline. We are all but told each week to tune in and see how this Story unfolds. When I watched SmackDown this Friday there was a bit during the commercial break where they plugged RAW, by all but saying, “John Cena faces Wade Barrett Sunday at Hell in a Cell, tune in to RAW on Monday and see how this Story unfolds, will John Cena join Nexus or will Nexus disband.” This is where it all became crystal clear to me. They are no longer selling the matches, they are selling the Storylines, and even if they write great Storylines and I get into them, I don’t have to actually see the matches to keep up with the Storylines.

Thought this made an incredible amount of sense, especially as I look at my own viewing habits and realize Raw/Smackdown don't get that much tv time from me most months.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Sorry for the title, mixed up "six years ago" and 2006 for some stupid reason.

 

[Alex]

This is part of the reason I don't watch Raw anymore. That and over here Raw is a few weeks behind on the WWE network.

I can watch the PPV and they do a damn good job of summarising the story on the promo before the match.

 

[Blade]

Yeah, no, I'm gonna have to call bullshit on this one.

Sometimes there's more to the story than Good defeats Evil. Especially nowadays. Look at AJ Styles vs. Roman Reigns. It was interesting and layered, and something that just would never fly in the 80's, where shades of grey were uncommon.

Storytelling has changed hugely in the last two decades. And it's not just in wrestling, either. In 2016, we love long-form storytelling with twists and turns and characters coming and going. Just look at the most talked-about TV shows on at the moment: Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Mr. Robot -- they're all serials.

This isn't the 80's, where everything resets at the end of an episode or season. We as an audience are so excited by where a story might go. How will sideplots affect certain characters? What has been foreshadowed? Our taste in TV has matured significantly, hence the golden age of TV.

Savage vs. Steamboat was a movie. Cena vs. Nexus was a season of a serial TV show. They shouldn't be compared.

I'm annoyed I had to waste this post in the Spam section. But yeah, bullshit.

 

[therockiswwf]

This is part of the reason I don't watch Raw anymore. That and over here Raw is a few weeks behind on the WWE network.

I can watch the PPV and they do a damn good job of summarising the story on the promo before the match.

I'm pretty sure Network Raws are delayed by 30 days for every region.

WWE is great at explaining nearly everything. So great that usually you don't need to watch every week because eventually they will recap it.

Though they still have stories that go deeper if you watch every week. Like AJ/Cena. AJ's motivation to attack Cena stemmed from losing to Roman and realizing maybe The Club can help him. I don't remember them ever stating this outright but I assume if you don't keep up with Raw, you would miss that detail.

You don't have to watch every week to know what is going on but you'll miss out on the fine details. That's how I look at it.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Honestly it doesn't matter if you miss any given Raw now because they're going to recap it at least 3-4 (probably 10) times on the next Raw.

 

[rbv13]

Honestly it doesn't matter if you miss any given Raw now because they're going to recap it at least 3-4 (probably 10) times on the next Raw.

A good deal of recaps have always been prominent to the WWE production. They've come in different forms throughout the eras but they've always been there. What has changed is the number of in house plugs but that is to be expected as the audience consumption trends change. What makes Raw Not Musr See TV is the ease in which the information can be obtained rather than sitting through five or more hours of programming in a given week. Plus WWE generates fifty-two weeks of "original" storytelling. The glam is going to fizzle at times.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

A good deal of recaps have always been prominent to the WWE production. They've come in different forms throughout the eras but they've always been there. What has changed is the number of in house plugs but that is to be expected as the audience consumption trends change. What makes Raw Not Musr See TV is the ease in which the information can be obtained rather than sitting through five or more hours of programming in a given week. Plus WWE generates fifty-two weeks of "original" storytelling. The glam is going to fizzle at times.

There have always been recaps but not as many as we've seen here lately.

The reason Raw isn't must-see TV is because you saw it last week (as in they do the exact same thing every week). There needs to be more shocking moments, such as debuts, title changes, returns, or swerves. How about a stipulation match on Raw such as Steel Cage, Ladder, or FCA? That would make it more interesting and make it more likely for me or most viewers to tune in.

 

[rbv13]

There have always been recaps but not as many as we've seen here lately.

The reason Raw isn't must-see TV is because you saw it last week (as in they do the exact same thing every week). There needs to be more shocking moments, such as debuts, title changes, returns, or swerves. How about a stipulation match on Raw such as Steel Cage, Ladder, or FCA? That would make it more interesting and make it more likely for me or most viewers to tune in.

I don't have actual numbers, no way in hell would I ever do the research, so this is an observation but I'd be willing to bet replay/recap time as relevant to overall production time would hold steady throughout the eras. Thinking back to the '80s/early '90s the match times were much shorter. Nearly fifty percent of the television programs revolved around the Control Center.

As for your shocking moments we have had a handful on Raw but in the grand scheme of things it makes little sense to give them away on cable television. The goal is to drive Network subscriptions. Thus they save most of the big ticket items for those events. Raw had been a great platform for debuts and returns.

WWE has already made a mockery of their gimmick matches. Adding them to simple weekly programming will only further water down those types of matches. Impact Wrestling highlights gimmicky matches on a regular basis. They've gotten to the point where they are essentially meaningless.