Wrestling is Like Pro Sports

[waylonmercy]

I always think of wrestling as pro sports. When pro sports teams are in the dumps for the standings they do house cleaning, move their aged, expensive, talented players for youth and rebuild. Some of those prospects they reserve in return will develop into nothing and be released, some will develop into average players and a few will develop into superstars.

As this relates to pro wrestling, Paul Heyman said the first thing he would do if he took over TNA was to release all the 40+ wrestlers with the exception of a few. I am sure the few he keeps would have included Kurt Angle. The rest in my opinion should be young talent who want to make a name for themselves, should be hungry to evolve, will cost TNA a great deal less $$ since just like in pro sports, they haven't proven a thing yet many have tools but not the polish, and should be humble.

By keeping a few top notch talent, say Kurt Angle and ... well if I had to choose one and had Heyman running things it would be RVD since I believe Heyman understands RVD and could possibly keep him happy. Angle can put on a great match and RVD can be very exciting and had a charistmatic aura about him. I'd also keep Ric Flair in a role of trainer in the ring, on the mic and as someone who travels signing autographs and I would turn him face in a second.

TNA already has established talent who have grown with the company, they have their own developmental system, WWE is releasing young talent from FCW here and there that has gotten some of the best training around, and there is little competition in North America so there is plenty of untapped talent out there in the independents.



Do you agree with me? Do you disagree? Please be courteous and constructive.

 

[karanbest4]

wrestling is not Pro Sports for simple reason that i think it is SCRIPTED none of the pro sports are scripted or pre-determined and entertainment Comes before the real Sport

 

[waylonmercy]

Maybe you should have read what I wrote about hte correlation before commenting. My whole entire comment was how pro wrestling should be like pro sports in that they should re-build like pro sports team do instead of TNA signing old talent and limiting their development.

 

[KevinCarsner]

karanbest4's response is quite possibly the worst response I've ever seen to a solid thread. Talk about perpetuating ones ignorance.
Anyways TS I agree with you, I think WWE tries to distance itself as much as possible from seeming like pro sports in an attempt to distance themselves from competing with the UFC. Unfortunately it has been detrimental to their product overall, and adding realistic elements be they big or small details, would help so much in suspending disbelief. Heyman has always understood how to walk that fine line. It pains me thinking about how petty the higher ups at both companies both must be in order to ignore the brilliance that is Paul Heyman's mind for wrestling. Neither companies authority figures and/or puppet masters want to admit that there is someone out there that understands better than they how to make the product more appealing unfortunately. Adding Paul Heyman was TNA's only chance to realistically compete with WWE IMO. Heyman with a bank behind him is a scary prospect for WWE, too bad Dixie listened to Bischoff and Hogan instead.

 

[PlayTheGameHHH]

wrestling is not Pro Sports for simple reason that i think it is SCRIPTED none of the pro sports are scripted or pre-determined and entertainment Comes before the real Sport

Wrestling is a pro sport simply because of the athleticism involved, and it is competitive in the sense that it's a competition to be the best, the strong survive and the weak are moved to Superstars and NXT or they're released. It's probably one of the most physical sports in the world, you and I probably wouldn't even make it past a couple of training sessions.

 

[waylonmercy]

OMG, my thread had nothing to do with competing with pro sports or UFC. The purpose of my thread is that TNA should adapt the same mentality as pro sports in that, if the product is slumping or at a low, they should get rid of the old, expensive talent and bring in fresh young talent to keep the product from further spoiling and hopefully discover a wrestler who will strike lightning and increase attendance, buy rates and ratings. Hulk Hogan isn't creating a buzz, nor is Sting, Flair, or any talent older than 40. The mainstream media doesn't really care about them anymore. Brooke Adams is creating more a of buzz because she's in the running for some award that TNA was asking fans to vote for her. That is the publicity they need. Anyways getting back to my point, WWE did something similar in the mid 90's by slowly bringing along CHristian/Edge/Rock while still keeping Michaels/Undertaker who were able to carry the show.

 

[ABMorales787]

Well as of now, TNA is doing the opposite of holding back talent. They've reached a point where grabbing a big WWE talent is no longer a gamechanger and is just business so focusing on the younger talent is norm.

Thing is though, the athleticism and abilities of the wrestlers are not what draw the people in. It's their personalities and actions. It's why guys like Austin Aries, Jeff Hardy and James Storm are such huge assets to them right now. Austin may be a tremendous wrestler, but it's his antics in the middle of a match that draws the people to cheer for him even though he's a heel.

I don't wanna offend the product or the fan's of it, but that's what holds ROH back. They wanna stay as a sport and keep things as simple as possible, but it hold their progress as a major company because there's nothing to draw you to it. Being a sport is not enough for pro wrestling to grow. It's an art based on sport.

 

[The A]

I actually think wrestling is more like pro sports than people would like to admit. They say pro sports isn't scripted BUT.... You see where I'm going. How can we be so sure? How come games seem to stop at the perfect time for commercials? If you watch subjectively like I do, you start to see things that make you wonder, was this game/fight fixed?

Wrestling is my sport. It's made for the sole purpose of entertainment. I could just be crazy, but I think they do what they have to in pro sports to not only entertain people, but to make time for commercials. Wrestling has to be the only sport besides baseball where you get more of the sport than commercials. People bet on sports and I'm sure there is someone up there taking advantage of it. Call me crazy if you want but I think more of pro sports is fixed than we think. Check this vid out its about game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals between the Almighty Lakers, and the Kings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XmeA5VmhX4

 

[GameOver]

wrestling is not Pro Sports for simple reason that i think it is SCRIPTED none of the pro sports are scripted or pre-determined and entertainment Comes before the real Sport

you couldn't be less accurate.
There is cheating, betting scandals in all major sports. When there's money involved people will do whatever it takes to win, ie throw a match which is little different then a pre-determined or choreographed outcome.

and OP had it somewhat right, televised sports have to abide by timelines and the networks schedule breaks every 10-15 mins at a point where it doesn't heavily interfere with any major action going on

but WWE shedules the action in ring to accomodate for the commercials not the other way around (for the most part). As for the comment WWE gives more action then commercials, well that's only partially true as i said they still do 5mins of ads every 15mins (at least) no different then any other sporting event. Hence why Raw's 2hrs is only 1hr 30mins of actual onscreen and 30+mins of commercials. TNA Impact is far worse (atleast what they televise in Australia) they still cut to breaks every 15mins but the show is only 1hr 40mins without ads.

WWE stars don't have sponsorships, pro stars do. other then that it's still a physical activity that few people could do on a full time basis and be successfull