Passing the Torch

[Deexter Jorgan]

Taken from storm wrestling.com http://www.stormwrestling.com/042509.html
This is far from a direct quote but Dave’s basic theory for the hot and cold nature of our business is the reluctance of top Stars (or the promoters pushing them) to pass the torch to the next generation. When a Star catches fire and gets hot, promoters are all for throwing gas on the fire and reeking the benefits of having this super hot Star. To keep this Star hot they sacrifice others on the roaster to keep them over and they ride the wave into a business boom period. When a Star becomes the main draw of a boom period he gains considerable back stage leverage and becomes able to protect his position. All the eggs get thrown in one basket and he becomes the be all and end all of company business. We’ve seen it with Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and the NWO.

Lance Storm wrote an amazing article for Fighting spirit magazine in regards to wrestlers and pasisng the torch and he touched a few points which i have to agree with, if your a TNA mark then please have an open mind in regards to what im about to say.

Lance speaks more and more about the booking of the new Blood vs the Millionaires club and how WCW booked the angle badly and compared the angle to the Frontline vs the MEM and how TNA are currently underbooking the angle in its entirty.

Now what i want to know is three things

Why is the angle being booked badly?

What do you think they should do differently?

and gove more examples of not passing the torch

I want to start something here in regards to conversation and maybe even pick peoples brains abit on this situation, I am not start a TNA vs WWE war because i believe both companies are underbooking talent when it comes to elevation, maybe this year this all will change, maybe not.

I have to agree with Lance in regards to this situation, both companies i believe are underusing talent and i dont think its the booking of the angles but the implementation that is is stopping the elevation of new talent.

I heard Paul London say in an interview that Triple H could of easily gave the team a rub when they made the save before eventually being broke up, but instead they fed the team to Triple H to make him look super cool to the fans, is that what you call a rub?, look at Kurt Angle and the MEM, the team is being booked strong destroying the frontline, yes AJ styles got a title win, yes Joe got a couple of wins from angle, but has any of the young ta
lent actually won a world title match?, has any of the frontline actually been elevated from this angle? the word your looking for is no..

Think about it, the only guys who have managed to get elevated from this angle are over the age of 40, angle, Sting, Mick Foley, Booker T, Jeff Jarret all have had a good run with this angle sacrificing the careers of AJ styles, Samoa Joe to name a few, is this right? no but i dont believe that its entirely the booking of TNA that is at fault from all of this its more the backstage politics of old wrestlers attempting to stay ontop and hold onto their spots just a littlewhile longer whilst young stars are getting older and older taking the back seat for years to come until they no longer pose of any value to the company and are eventually released..

Whats your opinion?

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

so no one actually has an opinion or any wrestler they think should pass the torch? or why they havent passed the torch?

 

[Nero89]

to me tna started by developing some major talent but bringing in big names like sting and such to win over fans, give some good matches, but mainly give the new guys a good name. but it seems to have lost that power and now is being booked worst and worst.
angle is still great but hasnt had a very intresting match since samoa. the main reason i watch is for aj though.

anyway i guess jeff and the rest of the big names are acting like hunter nowadays and want to relive glory days instead of showing how good people like aj, samoa, and the amazing xdivision really are

 

[Razor Blade Dream]

I think it is a combination of the "old timers" protecting their status and TNA solely relying ON those names to bring in ratings. If I was a casual wrestling fan that was aware of Sting, Foley, etc and saw a match between Foley and Sting I would tune in to watch. If it was Samoa Joe and AJ Styles I would go, "Who the fuck are these two jokers?" and promptly change the channel. Granted those two are fuckin amazing in the ring but to the casual fan they aren't a "name brand" like Foley or Booker T. So unless they have an open mind they are just going to wait the extra day to watch Smackdown.
And I think since these older guys know that their best days are quite possibly behind them (except Angle who WWE wants to re-sign) and they are holding on to that last shred of limelight before they hang up their boots. I'm sure most of them are saving what money they can get before they start doing convention signings or make the occasional WWE appearance to put over the newer talent they refused to put over when they were huge.
I agree that TNA's booking is shit, WWE is no better, but I can barely watch any backstage segments with TNA because it all just seems forced to me. And they constantly need to get jabs in at WWE. A few weeks ago I caught Foley doing an in-ring promo and he goes, "Nobody is talking about that OTHER show in April" which we all know he means Wrestlemania.


Anyway, I feel the passing of the torch should be damn near mandatory when it comes to guys who are established names. Undertaker might be a strong force in WWE and even win matches with up and comers but at least he gives them a much needed rub. Like when he was still in the American Bad Ass mode and he fought Jeff Hardy on Raw, it was an excellent match and Undertaker still won but he still gave Hardy the nod after the match. It was a classy move on his part.
Guys like Hogan, HHH, Austin and others are in fear of losing that spot, but if they are already established names they really don't need to worry about it that much. I think it is more a paranoia thing than anything.

 

[Azrael Cain]

It comes down to a basic human desire of feeding the ego.

Some people can overcome the desire to hold on to the smallest shred of limelight and go out with dignity, while other decide to go out pathetically.

I think passing the torch should be mandatory as well. It's doing what's good for the business, which is the sole reason why the "top dog" is where he is in the first place: because the business was good to him, and he can't even get over himself to make a new star, a position he himself was once in? Bullshit.

Like all things, it's cyclical. Wrestling is no exception.

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

It comes down to a basic human desire of feeding the ego.

Some people can overcome the desire to hold on to the smallest shred of limelight and go out with dignity, while other decide to go out pathetically.

I think passing the torch should be mandatory as well. It's doing what's good for the business, which is the sole reason why the "top dog" is where he is in the first place: because the business was good to him, and he can't even get over himself to make a new star, a position he himself was once in? Bullshit.

Like all things, it's cyclical. Wrestling is no exception.

I agree alot of guys like to bury up and comers, I know that this has been said way to many times but guys like Triple H who use up and coming stars as fodder and just allow themselves to get elevated, another guy i can use in this sense is Kurt Angle when arriving in TNA he broke Samoa Joes nose and the two went on to feud, by the time Joe became world champion he lost that killer instinct that people saw in him, that anger in his eyes that made him over, he was a dominant psycho and was reduced to a heatless sack of crap by the time he became world champion and i lay part the blame on Kurt angle, the guy who put himself first before the now former TNA world champion.