Should "real life" be incorporated into storylines?

[The Crock]

Wrestling is based on storylines, most of which are fake. Every once in a while, though, a bit of "real life" shines through. Should that be allowed? Should "real life" be incorporated into storylines?

I say... Somewhat. I'm okay with people bringing in their wife for a cameo or something, but if they delve into legitimate heat between the performers from outside of the ring, it's over the line. Look at the Jarrett/Angle love triangle. That SHOULD NOT be a storyline. That is a deeply personal issue they had, and now TNA is airing all over world wide television for everyone to see, it's just not right. Another example is the Edge/Hardy/Lita love triangle. Hardy lost his job over this, although he got it back shortly, then they decided to keep going with the angle. I wasn't a fan of the angle and I thought it was insane. Hardy was extremely angry and unstable, he could have really hurt someone in the ring and then what do you do? If you're the WWE or TNA and one of these storylines leads to a real fight in the ring, what are you supposed to do? It's unprofessional and it shouldn't be a part of the product. The fans know wrestling is fake, there's no need to bring this element of "realism" in to draw them to your product.

Like I said though, it's not all bad. If you do minor little things and refer to a real life event that isn't extremely personal then I don't see a problem. Calling a guy by his real name, that kind of stuff, totally fine. That being said, they can take that liberty too lightly and then heat can come from that. If angle goes down and a botch occurs in match, i.e. Sid/Steiner, and heat comes from that, I don't see why you shouldn't use it. The fans saw it, you can weave that into a "you injured me" type of angle, but again, if there is a risk of it getting out of control you've got to stop it.

Thoughts?

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Incorporating real life storylines into wrestling do carry risk. Sure the Matt/ Edge/ Lita storyline worked and the Angle/ Jarrett saga seems to be working but that is because they are true proffesionals who can rise above personal differences to entertain the audience. But can every pro wrestler be so open minded? I think not and that might lead to something disastrous.

Also while there have been some storylines that have worked, there have been others that have not. Remember how shitty Hawk's and Scott Hall's drinking problem storylines were? Those storylines did nothing for their addiction problems either.

So yes they do carry risk and sometimes I guess wrestling promoters are inconsiderate enough to take that risk. After all their only prerogative is to earn money.

I don't mind seeing "real life" being incorporated into storylines especially if it is done in small doses. But I do feel that it could be risky and might cause some harm that might well have been avoided.

 

[Final Form Snyper.]

With life imitating art story lines there is the usual heat between wrestlers. Kurt and Jeff might be able to work together but you cant be telling me that Kurt isn't "pot shoting" Jarrett any chance he can. With something like the very real scenario of Edge/Lita/Hardy the injury factor is increasingly high because Hardy would be more willing to shoot on Edge and injure him...... because taking a man's girlfriend (of how long, 6 years or something?) will most of the time result in some form of retaliation.

While I do think that a real life meets pro wrestling storyline can be done effectively, I do think that there can be more negative results than positive because in these circumstances a serious injury might be incurred as an act of revenge.

 

[Ferbian]

I don't necessarily think it's needed. It has been done in the past, and it has worked with guys like Bret Hart / Shawn Michaels, Matt Hardy / Edge, sorta Chris Jericho / Shawn Michaels (Chris Jericho in 2003 talking about how he practically build himself to look and become Shawn Michaels number 2) and Laycool / Mickie James.

All decent to good storylines that worked out fairly well. However there are plenty of storylines that has worked out just fine without real life material being incorporated, something like Evolution was great, Edge vs Cena and many many many other storylines.

Overall, I don't mind the incorporation of real life material, however it's not needed. I will welcome it if it's involved, but I'm not gonna search for and demand it.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

If everbody is ok with it, why not. I mean here we have two scenarios:

- The Hardy/Lita/Edge saga. This was the kinda controversy they needed to push Edge. I kinda thought it was weird that they didn't have a longer feud as Hardy's pops were getting huge at the time. Was a golden time to bring Matt Hardy into the big leagues. So yes, reality here propelled a wrestler.

- Orton crashing Eddie's low-rider. I understand this is not exactly what the OP is talking about, but the point I wanna raise is that, giving this real life conjecture to get Orton some heat was a terrible idea. Maybe the Guerrero family including Vickie gave their blessing for this, but this is was appaling. And so was JoMo telling Animal, his partner was dead. These kinda 'real life' angles don't get you heat, they end up turning the viewers off.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Hardy was extremely angry and unstable, he could have really hurt someone in the ring and then what do you do?

If Hardy didn't want to go along with the angle, he could have refused. In fact, he wasn't even with the company anymore when he signed on to do the program, but he re-signed with them to do it. Although he was legitimately angry, he followed the script that called for Edge to win the majority of their matches. In fact, he seemed far more stable at that time than he does now.

But the angle kept me tuning in every week, wondering if the whole program was going to erupt into a shoot fight. We knew that a lot of the spoken feelings of the three participants were real and that made it doubly interesting. I can appreciate the attitude of some posters who feel the whole thing was over the top......but man, it was fun to watch.

Another "real life to TV" angle occurred when Ric Flair had that road rage incident with another driver. Did WWE act as if the confrontation never happened? Hell, no. Instead, we immediately saw Edge clad in Flair's robe (as if Ric wears it while he's not performing in the ring) and confronting the other driver outside their cars, screaming "Woooo!" at the guy every few seconds. Personally, I loved it and hope WWE can keep thinking of ways to bring the real world into the storylines.

 

[Miko]

If the wrestlers involved agree why the fuck not? Takes a lot for folks to get excited about wrestling anymore and the companies are doing their best, even if it is an "Oh shit" reaction from people because Edge brags about banging Lita in front of Matt Hardy. Wrestlings got to compete with real fighting now, so why not use legitimate reasons for these guys to beat the shit out of each other. Propelled Edge's career really well.

 

[harrythem]

The only time I have an issue with real life getting involved in wrestling is when it can effect the wrestlers children.

Edge/Hardy/Lita didn't bother me because - a) they seriously fucked up that feud from the first moment Hardy cut that stupid scripted promo explaining it and b) it was just adults involved.

I've got issues with Jarrett/Angle because Karen's now on tv. when it was just Kurt and Jeff they could kinda just swing over it but now Mum and Dad are (very likely) going to be airing their dirty laundry on tv, I worry for those kids....

Real Life can be interesting but, more often then not, it's far to hard to explain the real life issues in the parameters of wrestling without pretty much ruining kayfabe

 

[The_Gizzame]

If done correctly I have no problem with it. It can pontentially lead to some good T.V. moments that appeal more to the smarks. The Matt/Edge storyline was kind of cool for example because you had Matt calling them Adam and Amy instead of Lita and Edge and it was kinda cool and different at the time.

 

[Disturbed]

I like the idea of bringing real life into pro wrestling. I was into the love triangle in 05 so much. That is why I looked forward to watching Raw week in and week out that year. These real life feuds on television are highly entertaining and are enjoyable to watch. You can't really blame WWE for starting the Love triangle real life program because Hardy made it public and everyone found out about it. The Anlge/Jarrett feud that is going on does not bother me in TNA. I actually like it. I think it brings the real life aspect to Impact every week. Jarrett and Angle don't have to much heat on each other that I know of so I say continue it and make something out of it.

 

[Calderownz]

It depends on the circumstances, obviously. If it's too personal and is going to make working the angle difficult for everyone involved, it's probably not worth it.

However, if it's something that TV could blow out of proportion if the event isn't as big as they will make it... why not? Fans will like the realism, and the rea life aspect of it is obviously easy fodder. Not to mention that fans couldn't say it should or shouldn't happen a certain way. It'll be perfect in that regard.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I'm going to go with the majority and say it depends on the circumstances, and if the people involved are okay with it. Let's say that the Edge/Hardy/Lita situation, definitely had some moments, because Hardy does do some things that really make you have to stop and think "Really? Why do you do this stuff? You can really hurt yourself?!" (If you see some of his youtube stuff of his off-time hobbies...you catch my drift.) But, I think it also depends on the severity of the 'personal issue' that would be worked into the storyline. Like how socially concious etc, it would be.

Like on RAW or ECW when Jericho and Helms got arrested, their mugshots were shown, at least both those guys were good sports. However, if it was something more serious like with a diva or wwe male star involved in a storyline and came back from his or her other let's say, suffering a miscarriage, and let's allude to the Kane/Lita/Trish storyline. That would be a little crossing the line depending on if it REALLY was the case for a superstar, and with the personal politics of the audience members, and given the recent politicking on Mrs. McMahon in Congress, that could be tricky waters for any wrestling group. You risk pissing off or offending certain parties and alienating others who probably have had history with that subject. I don't know, I don't think its a black and white subject, its kind of a gray area to be honest.

 

[UltimateHitman]

I have to agree with the majority and say that it just depends on the situation. Sure some realism is going to overlap because, let's face it, it's going to be hard to keep every element of reality out of it without becoming outlandishly, unbelievably cartoonish. Plus, reality pretty much sells these days (or at least the illusion of reality anyway). But it really depends on the situation as well as the subject matter.

I'm not going to get into specifics and great detail, because I think everybody else has hit it extremely well and don't want to just re-hash the same points. But I do want to say that I think another good example would be in the case of celebrities involved.

When celebrities are involved in the product, you almost have to utilize real life situations, especially if that's what they're currently in the spotlight for.

I know the question obviously meant more about personal lives such as Karen/Kurt/Jarrett or Hardy/Lita/Edge and that's where I agree with everybody. If it's not a touchy subject (such as miscarriage, like LitasRevenge said or Hawk and Hall's drinking problems like rattlesnake4eva said) doesn't have a possible negative impact on other people also involved (such as children like harrythem said) and it wouldn't be a problem for the individuals involved, then fine. Just do it well and don't let it get out of hand.

If all of these things are addressed properly then, like Ferbian said, I wouldn't mind it much but I wouldn't be searching it out either. Just keep it for rare occasions and don't let it get blown out of proportion (like reality tv is these days...).

 

[Alastor]

If the participants have no problems including real life issues into the performance, then I guess there I have no issue with it. But I believe using real life situations is not required at all to tell a good story. I watch wrestling for the escapism, and if I want the drama of love triangles and backstabbing, I can choose to watch reality television. Maybe that is why wrestling has gone stale because people that used to watch wrestling for the drama are watching reality tv now but that is another topic all together.

 

[shattered dreams]

Not sure why people think "real life" only pertains to personal issues. Real life is all over the place in wrestling. It is no big secret that Vince McMahon is fond of finding a real character in a person and then expanding on that character to build a larger than life personality. Many gimmicks are based on reality in that regard. Nowadays what first time title or retirement promo doesn't break kayfabe? The fact is that there are a lot of people quite interested in what happens beyond kayfabe (the reason places like wrestlezone exist in the first place) and to ignore that would be foolish IMO. Look at Bret Hart this year, the Savage fixation, Owen thoughts and the list goes on and on. When the right opportunity presents itself I absolutely think any company should use it.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

It is interesting, but I find it just too tabloid. I mean, do I think it was right for Lita to screw around with Edge behind Matt Hardy's back (if that's what happened), no I don't. Do I think favourably of either Lita or Edge because of it, I don't. But I don't have all the info on what happened between these three, and it's not my business. I don't want to hear about the Kurt/Karen and Jeff relationship story. I'm pretty certain that Jeff and Kurt have ironed out their issues, and that's why Karen is being brought in and they're doing this storyline which I believe is much different than the situation with Edge/Lita/Matt which is the huge difference. The performers need to comfortable with it and have no issues with it. I personally think that in cases where a woman leaves a man for another wrestler in real life, she will end up looking like the villain which could become problematic. It was a problem for Lita, which might not have been really fair. I just think the writing staff should be able to do something without giving me this Young and the Restless soap opera crap.

 

[Tastycles]

No, it's fucking stupid. Wrestling is already based on stories, but the risk of bringing real life animosity into a situation is that you open up the potential for emotions to get the better of people. Obviously, not everyone is going to like each other, but if you look at the feuds between Michaels and Hart, for example, they could operate on a professional level without having to really address their actual issues as the storyline had nothing to do with their off screen problems.

What it does is puts wrestlers in a shit position, where they have to live out shit things in their life on a daily basis. It's totally tempting fate in a sport where it would be quite easy to legitimately hurt someone. In all the times people have tried to do it, it ended in a decent programme once, with Hardy and Edge. But if you look at the ultimate result of that, Hardy got a brief feud and then got carted off to Smackdown, it didn't really give his career any kind of shot in the arm, except for getting him to keep his job. I just think it's unfair on the wrestler, and because wrestling is fake, nobody really believes what they are seeing anyway, even if it is true. It's playing with fire for no tangible benefit.