PG Era holding back Top WWE Star's Characters??

[sladetwc]

Message to "The Corporate Champ":

Please stop posting here on this thread. You're getting worn out by the WWE Elites. And it's making me feel bad for you.

I've had this discussion with 'wrestling fans' in my own house. They say the product sucks because it's not TV-14. I say the product is lacking in one major thing: that sense of urgency that existed when there was viable competition to the WWE juggernaut.

Without the urgency to put out the best product possible in order to win over the casual fans who were flipping between Nitro and Raw every Monday, the WWE caters to a particular niche. Cena is for the kids and the women, Orton is for the... kids and the women. And the IWC can sit and spin as far as Vince is concerned.

Let's face it, guys... it comes back to the age old argument. If you dislike the product THIS MUCH in its current state, you have to stop watching it, and get as many people as you can to stop watching it, and get as many people as THEY can to stop watching it. Oh, and you can't buy any WWE items for any wrestlers whatsoever, no matter who you like. Yes, even Zack Ryder fans would have to partake in that. Until Vince starts hemorrhaging money like he did in the past, there's no reason to change.

And now... SERIOUS BUSINESS!

 

[blkshp]

So now I'm reading two things: stop scripting everybodys promos and let the talent do more moves. I can get behind these ideas, but there may be reasons why they're not happening right now. The 1st major (and easiest) one is probably because Vince is pushing this to the younger audience who aren't dying for chain wrestling like the older audience (IWC) is. But dig a little deeper, JR says again and again how much the "death of the territories" hurt the business as a whole, and I agree. A guy like, for example Alex Riley would've been able to build and establish a character and realize his potential before coming to the WWE, and he would arrive as more of a finished product off the bat. But those days are gone and now they use FCW, which clearly hasn't been challenging these guys enough or Triple H wouldn't have felt the need to seize it and (hopefully)get more out of these guys before they get called up. I'm sure Vince doesn't have Austin, or Rock HBK, HHH, Y2J or Taker memorize too many scripts because they're the best at what they do. I also wouldn't be shocked if a few of the top talkers like Cena and Miz or even a guy like Cody Rhodes(or recently R-Truth haven't gone off script at times either. I bet if you prove you can deliver a top notch promo off script, you get more leeway. The question is, how many guys can do that? As for move sets, yeah they're a little more limited in WWE...but they always have been. Look at the Attitude Era or the Golden Age in the 80's, limited! The difference? The performers were better and more experienced, and knew how to tell a story better then the more green guys today. Austin had a big move set, but after his neck injury, he became a brawler, lots of punches, kicks, a Thesz press and a hell of a lot of Stunners. Rocky was never a technical marvel and Triple H also rarely ever pulled out new tricks that didn't involve sledgehammers. Don't even get me started on Mick Foley. The point is their characters were SO well defined that their personality could shine through in matches. Even though the Peoples Elbow was a goofy ass move, Rocky would make it look so important with that wild eyed bug eyed look, followed by slowly taking off his elbow pad...that's story telling, its telling the audience "this is devastating! You must watch this!". They all understood that back then, but today's guys are still figuring that out. Sure some get it, like Orto who goes insane with "voices" in his head before attempting an RKO. But a lot of these guys along with Vince and the creative staff (I feel sorry for them, I really do, they can't please ANYBODY anymore)don't know who many of these guys are as characters, therefore they all run together. This isn't a PG problem, this is a creative issue (which some above me have said) and the only way to improve that is if Vince eases up on the micro managing and let his creative team work with the talent to truly develop their characters and not do quick fixes like having a guy with MITB just to push him (ahem, Jack Swagger). That's what I see as WWE's issue: who is Kofi Kingston? Who is Dolph Ziggler? John Morrison? Ted Dibiase? Daniel Bryan? Evan Bourne? Mason Ryan? Trent Barretta? Drew McIntyre? Swagger? That's what's stopping them, other then being life size action figures they have no character, they're interchangable. That and the IWC (including me) micro analyze this thing to death to be honest. lol

 

[Dzone]

Frankly, it should be up to the talent to adapt to the PG rating. If they're good enough, they should be able to get over and entertain us under any rating.

Well fucking said...

Honestly don't feel the need to add but I will or this will just end up becoming another shit bag post on the likely mountain of shit bag spam posts there have been.

Although some characters in some eras don't work, honestly don't think WWE has any characters that can't work in PG and can only work in TV14 as of now. Sure if, for example, they did have the Boogeyman practically raping people everyweek or some pervy characters that sat around drinking beer and swearing for no reason, then yeah that wouldn't work in PG and would work (arguably not to be honest but for the sake of this) in TV14.

Another thing I don't get the argument that Randy Orton's character would work in TV14. I mean you think this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIhxNyJtwuE

is more TV14 than PG...

 

[TheNewStyle]

My only problem with the PG era is the stupid substitutes for words like "ass" and "shit" (butt, poop, urine? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!) and most of all, how watered down John Cena's character has been. This whole "never give up", kid's hero bullshit is soooo not him. The heel Cena that rapped before every match is what the true Cena is meant to be and he showed signs of that during the start of his feud with The Rock. But sadly, since he's stuck with the merchandise sales and being a hero for the kids, his character is stuck until WWE decide to take a risk and change things around. I'm speaking as a Cena fan that will still cheer for him despite the tired superman bullshit. For a while I found all this "Super Cena", "5 moves of doom" talk to be just annoying non-sense all coming from 'smarks' but when I think about it and analyze the situation - it's actually true.

 

[Shadow of Darkness]

Oh, not again the same topic about the PG Era!

i have been seeing this PG era crap for years now.

it is evident, doesn't we all know that PG Era sucks by all angles.

but still i think i have an important point to write about this.

YES, ur point is write the PG era obviously doesn't allow plenty wrestlers to express their real gimmick, but hey WWE has done that for most of the time. Only exception is perhaps the attitude era and ruthless era. And remember why, because at attitude era there was a tough competition from WCW, so Vince decided to use a completely new creative team to appeal to the real life of the fans.

and then at Ruthless era it was the time of establishing the WWE after the invasion storyline. So, vince kept the real gimmicks of wrestlers.

but hell yah, does WWE has any tough opponent write now?

no.

does wwe requires any re-establishment?

no.

so, thus it is simple PG Era is just the copy of the old GOLDEN Era and John 'Super' Cena is the PG Era's Hulk Hogan.

the whole wwe will continue to be shit!

i now rarely watch it, though keep an eye on the results.
i would recommend you guys to do the same and shift to IMPACT WRESTLING where wrestling matters!

 

[NathanFantastic]

In my own honest opinion, I do actually think that this PG era has changed the way the WWE works. The Attitude era was possibly the best thing the WWE have produced in the many decades of their history. We saw multiple faces with great talent on the roster whether it was serious, comedy, emotional or down right crazy. You had Stone Cold, The Rock, HHH, Foley, Taker and many more in the spotlight.. Now? You have Cena. I loved the Attitude era, but i dislike what is happening now.

 

[Loganity]

One Character I think it really holds back is The Undertaker in his best years he was Vicious and Satanic-like. With the show being PG the most he can do is randomly pop up in an arena.

 

[Gore Illa]

Basically what this all comes down to is better product and less buys or more buys while the product suffers?

I think letting the stars improvise on the mic could lead to better promos, however there's always a chance that an ass or damn could slip out and Vince would freak out. Believe it or not, protective mothers will change the channel and The company does lose a buy over a few cuss words. So instead of risking that, they make cliche stereotypical superhero cookie cutter promos which are either too serious (Cena or Orton) or too corny (R-Truth).

I mean there's only so many ways you can say you're the best because you won a predetermined match. The thing that made Punks promo last night so special is the fact that alot of it was what he truly felt and not something some writer made up. I think writers should give the wrestlers guidelines and points to get across but not word for word write it.

So basically, no, the TV PG rating doesn't hurt the superstars characters, cookie cutter promos do. But if they were to improv promos, then a cuss word might slip out and that hurts buys.

If you're Vince McMahon, what's more important, your livelihood or the satisfaction of the IWC who are very likely to catch the show on YouTube or download or stream any PPV not called Wrestlemania vs the kid who doesnt know how to do that?

 

[A.T.Rowl]

I was just posting about this same topic on a different page. I think that the PG era is seriously holding David Otunga back. I mark out every time he cuts a promo. But you can just tell that he is holding back, not being himself. Creative has him nearly castrated!

 

[iwinulose]

-i agree, i miss the pg 14 era, but the problem with it was people getting injured, and whatnot. yes many superstars would benifet, infact guys like jack swagger, drew, uh mason ryan, sheffield, cena, orton, big show, great khali, mark henry, kane (yes an old guy like kane would be good in the pg 14 era, cause he could rampage all the superstars again!!!), and some other guys could benifet. mid-carders could have some troubles pending on who they are up against, would kinda mark out the mid-card from the main event guys cause the big dogs play hardball.

-i can understand where people are coming from, superstars who wrestled in the pg 14 era should be able to adapt, but at the same time, it is rather difficult, you would have to be in their shoes (so to speak) to actually know whats going on and how hard it is to adapt to the new thing that the wwe does. at the same time, kids were getting entertained in the pg 14 era as well as the pg era, the only difference is that now the wwe are caring about their superstars more then they did before and not putting them in extremely high risk matches where major injuries are at more of a risk then the lower risk matches where superstars are at risk, but more injuries can be avoided. thats kinda the dilemma.

 

[wrestlingfan]

Maybe an Attitude Era won't make people happy but a new Ruthless Aggression Era I think is what most of the IWC want. Not so Attitude but not so PG. But maybe WWE is just reliving itself and that right now they're in the Golden Age or maybe the New Generation era except its 2011, and soon maybe another company like ROH/TNA will become competition and end up forcing WWE to undergo another Attitude Era. I don't know. If you don't like the PG Era, watch something else on TV. If you have cable you should know there's hundreds of other shows and channels to watch, wrestling is not the only thing.

Note: Eras in wrestling history have been the Television Era, Golden Age, New Generation, Attitude, Ruthless Aggression, and PG.