 |
| Too doughy for WWE? The story would be laughable if it wasn't believable Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
There are two HOT NEWZ RUMORS going around right now. Neither of which I think are confirmed by people legitimately nested in the respective companies, but let's for one moment assume that they are true and talk about the implications within said companies. The first is that Eric Bischoff has been named the head of TNA Creative on an interim basis in the wake of the firing of Bruce Pritchard. The second is that Kassius Ohno is in some hot water down in NXT because of his "lack of dedication" to going to the gym. Again, I'm not sure if either story is true (although the former seems to have legs), but both represent an attitude of recursion in both companies.
With TNA, it's going back to the well with a guy in creative, regardless of how temporary it is, who has a track record for being a one trick pony whose trick has gotten old. This isn't someone hiring Paul Heyman. It's Eric Bischoff, the guy whose fixit idea is "book an invasion angle." Additionally, he misses the mark on what the "fix" actually should be. The moves they made with Bischoff on board - going on the road and trying to do Monday nights - were made with the goal of competing with WWE, which is an awful fix for a company that has no idea why WWE is in the position they're in. The goal should have been to "make money" and "create their own niche."
With WWE, the problem is more insidious and a lot harder to mock because of its pervasiveness within the culture. WWE right now is succeeding by putting the guys who can perform out in front regardless of how they look. It flies in the face of having Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, and Bray Wyatt in top positions when their body types are closer to Kassius Ohno than Mason Ryan. That's why it's harder for me to believe that Ohno is on the outs with management because of gym time rather than some other reason if he is even on said outs.
But again, we're assuming these reports are true for the sake of narrative, and it's easy to believe that WWE as a company, even with Vince McMahon now sharing power with people whom fans like me assume "get it," erroneously or not, still thinks that everyone wants to see Adonises and nothing but Adonises. It's recursion against progress, and it's one that blows up and sends WWE back down the path of the Bret Hart/Steve Austin/CM Punk on top rather than trying to hammer in the square Heidenreich peg into the Hulk Hogan round hole.
That's why for however well WWE presents a show or has a hot period, or whatever hot indie guy TNA pushes to the moon, I can never be totally trusting of corporate entities. So many of them in the real world make it big on originality and misunderstand that it was the intestinal fortitude that took them to the top, not an exact idea that they now have to recreate. In wrestling, the track record is so blindingly bright on corporate stupidity that I will believe that a company like WWE or TNA thinks forward when they actually think forward for more than a month at a time.
Again, I have no idea if either of these reports have veracity. For all I know, Ohno missed TV tapings because he got a bad case of food poisoning and isn't in the doghouse at all. Or yeah, maybe it is true that he's in the doghouse for being doughy. I don't know. But the fact that it's easy for me and for so many other people to believe that they're true is troubling. It's something WWE more than TNA has to work on, because let's face it, TNA is almost a lost cause at this point, right?
However, I doubt they will. Corporate entities get by on whatever it is they get by on, especially ones as huge as WWE. In the meantime, they leave unrealized potential on the table. It doesn't take reports that may or may be bullshit to verify that, because the proof is in how the product presents itself each week. I am rooting for this kind of attitude to die in WWE, and even assuming these reports that Ohno is in trouble for a bullshit reason doesn't dampen my enjoyment of the show one bit. I like being proven wrong. But I've been proven right with WWE so many times that I can't get excited for anything past the upcoming pay-per-view. The fact that that's a hard and fast rule for any pro wrestling company that gets too big to fail can be outright depressing sometimes.
With TNA, it's going back to the well with a guy in creative, regardless of how temporary it is, who has a track record for being a one trick pony whose trick has gotten old. This isn't someone hiring Paul Heyman. It's Eric Bischoff, the guy whose fixit idea is "book an invasion angle." Additionally, he misses the mark on what the "fix" actually should be. The moves they made with Bischoff on board - going on the road and trying to do Monday nights - were made with the goal of competing with WWE, which is an awful fix for a company that has no idea why WWE is in the position they're in. The goal should have been to "make money" and "create their own niche."
With WWE, the problem is more insidious and a lot harder to mock because of its pervasiveness within the culture. WWE right now is succeeding by putting the guys who can perform out in front regardless of how they look. It flies in the face of having Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, and Bray Wyatt in top positions when their body types are closer to Kassius Ohno than Mason Ryan. That's why it's harder for me to believe that Ohno is on the outs with management because of gym time rather than some other reason if he is even on said outs.
But again, we're assuming these reports are true for the sake of narrative, and it's easy to believe that WWE as a company, even with Vince McMahon now sharing power with people whom fans like me assume "get it," erroneously or not, still thinks that everyone wants to see Adonises and nothing but Adonises. It's recursion against progress, and it's one that blows up and sends WWE back down the path of the Bret Hart/Steve Austin/CM Punk on top rather than trying to hammer in the square Heidenreich peg into the Hulk Hogan round hole.
That's why for however well WWE presents a show or has a hot period, or whatever hot indie guy TNA pushes to the moon, I can never be totally trusting of corporate entities. So many of them in the real world make it big on originality and misunderstand that it was the intestinal fortitude that took them to the top, not an exact idea that they now have to recreate. In wrestling, the track record is so blindingly bright on corporate stupidity that I will believe that a company like WWE or TNA thinks forward when they actually think forward for more than a month at a time.
Again, I have no idea if either of these reports have veracity. For all I know, Ohno missed TV tapings because he got a bad case of food poisoning and isn't in the doghouse at all. Or yeah, maybe it is true that he's in the doghouse for being doughy. I don't know. But the fact that it's easy for me and for so many other people to believe that they're true is troubling. It's something WWE more than TNA has to work on, because let's face it, TNA is almost a lost cause at this point, right?
However, I doubt they will. Corporate entities get by on whatever it is they get by on, especially ones as huge as WWE. In the meantime, they leave unrealized potential on the table. It doesn't take reports that may or may be bullshit to verify that, because the proof is in how the product presents itself each week. I am rooting for this kind of attitude to die in WWE, and even assuming these reports that Ohno is in trouble for a bullshit reason doesn't dampen my enjoyment of the show one bit. I like being proven wrong. But I've been proven right with WWE so many times that I can't get excited for anything past the upcoming pay-per-view. The fact that that's a hard and fast rule for any pro wrestling company that gets too big to fail can be outright depressing sometimes.