Okay, so I guess I should move on to my next topic of discussion. It involves the entertainment format of modern day professional wrestling once again, but this time it is about the writing. Do not worry; I will not rant about how awful the writing is in WWE or TNA. To do so would be unfair to the many talented members of the production teams who work hard to give us an exciting new product every week. WWE has the unenviable task of not only writing up three separate shows, but they also have to make sure the shows are able to work around each other.
In most forms of entertainment, whether it is in the movie theaters or on television, there are two main genres: tragedy and comedy. A show can be either humorous or serious. It can make you weep tears of joy or tears of sorrow. Sometimes a show is made to fall into just one category while other shows manage to use both as a means of entertaining their audience. Professional wrestling shows are part of the mixed bag variety, but wrestling is an entirely different entity when it comes to how the entertainment is executed. Much like a sitcom, there is a live audience that makes remarks about the events shown in front of them as well as a televised audience that views it from a similar, though less personal, perspective. If something funny happens, we respond to it with laughter. Yet like a more dramatic soap opera, there are characters that we learn to love who must overcome tough obstacles, and in order to reach their goals, they have to do things that make us either love them or hate them. These two show types are always in a constant shift, and in the WWE it is up to guys like Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and Kevin Dunn to make sure that all the storylines work for both fields of television within the span of one to two hours.

Unfortunately, it does not always work as planned.

As a result, the audience is given a wide variety of show types that maintain an average response rather than having a single show type that everyone can either love or hate. Shows like WWE and TNA often stick with the former because it is a safe zone, and it guarantees them that enough people are watching the product that they will either break even, or preferably, make a profit. Confused? So am I. Let me see if I can make this concept a bit simpler for everyone, including myself. I would hate to not understand what I was writing about. Like that has never happened before.

Again, let us take a look at a typical WWE show. Raw, the WWEs flagship show is also one of the biggest examples of a variety show. You have the serious stuff (with serious voices included in box), the comedy stuff (re: Hornswoggle), the kid safe stuff (re: re: Hornswoggle), and the sexy stuff (Horns--err, I mean the Divas.) Of course it is not just a bastard son of a Leprechaun that represents the lighter side of professional wrestling. Right now the more comedic moments include the use of the guest host of the night, a random wrestler who is not used but has a silly gimmick or characteristic that makes him appealing to watch on the screen, and awkward pauses. Basically anything that makes Michael Cole laugh like a hyena. All that considered, let us move up a half hour into the show. Now we have, say, Sheamus kicking John Cena in the head twice causing the EMTs to come down and carry him to the back. Suddenly everything is so serious and deadpan that I feel like I am watching a tragic scene take place. A half hour ago a midget was feeding drug inducing cereal to Cheech and Chong.

Is that enough variety for you?

If you did not like the emotional attack on the wrestler segment, then you liked the midget with cereal segment, and vice versa. The show is designed so that everyone can take something they like out of it, even if it only lasts for a few minutes. There will be other parts that most everyone hates, but as long as that kid sitting at home in his John Cena pajamas and wearing his Rey Mysterio mask likes it, it stays on the program. That kid is going to watch it, and as a result, he, and other children like him, is going to raise the buyrates and make Vince a very rich man…well, a richer man. It is good for business. If the WWE shows went in one direction, and was 100% comedic or 100% tragic, too many people would tune out, and the show would suffer.
As a writer, I understand the concept of storytelling. I understand that there needs to be an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a resolution. I also understand that a character that is not well developed and does not relate to the common man in any way, will be cast aside and forgotten. These are the basic rules of telling a story that have been around for literally thousands of years. A story needs to capture its audience by keeping them entertained and making sure they understand what is going on in the story. It is very hard to maintain this audience. Vince knows this, and he also knows that more of the same will eventually bore his fans. Yet on the other side of the coin, people are going to criticize a form of entertainment that changes on the fly. Every wrestling promoters goal is to reach that happy medium where things are different, yet the audience wants to stick around and see what happens to the same people the next week. They willingly cast aside the traditional means of telling a story if it means keeping the fans happy. To be frank, wrestling shows are like cartoon shows.

Makes you wonder how literal Bret Hart was being with the title of his book.

Lets be honest here. Who really takes wrestling as a serious show these days? The Undertaker/Shawn Michaels feud is about as serious as wrestling gets these days, and even then you have a geriatric boy toy wrestling a zombie creature of the night. Professional wresting is not taken seriously, and it never was taken seriously to begin with. The very concept is rather silly when you think about it. I know a lot of fans out there want wrestling to be taken seriously, but when you look at even half of the roster, how can you? You have men wearing funny tights, wearing colorful masks, summoning controlled pyro, bringing barb wired weapons to the ring, acting like rock and roll stars, using funny voices, and even being accompanied by people who look like they belong at the carnival freak show. And to top it all off, there is little to no continuity for wrestling shows. With so many episodes it would be easy to understand that not everything is going to be referenced again. But when the commentators or the wrestlers openly ignore or cast aside a person or event that was the center of attention a couple months ago, you wind up with more plot holes than all the Star Trek Next Generation movies combined. Yet for all these silly moments, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who one day want to be just like these guys. There is something about professional wrestling, something that even I, a lifetime fan, fail to completely understand. Part of it might be for the money, but starting out can only earn you a few bucks a show. If I had to bet I would say it is for the fame, but even then most wrestlers wind up becoming obscure references; footnotes in the big book of wrestling. Along that way they will likely use enhancements, or be forced to confront their demons, and die before they reach their fifties. If that is what fame is, I do not want to be a part of that. I think it is also safe to say that nobody wants to get beat up for a living…unless you are into that kind of thing. Hey, I am not one to judge.

Where was I? Oh yeah, genres of wrestling.

So what does the future hold for how wrestling is presented to its fans? I would say it is going to be more of the same. If something is not broken, why fix it? Much like how the WWE went into the Attitude Era as a result of poor attendance and low ratings, they will need to encounter a sudden decrease in sales in order to reinvent the product. Perhaps TNA will be enough competition for the WWE to undergo this change, but that is still a long term goal that will not be met for at least a couple years. For now, I would get used to how WWE handles its stories and characters. Even if the guest host phenomenon eventually dies down, you can be sure that Vince will have something equally entertaining up his million dollar sleeves. Because for Vince, it is all about the mon-eh.

Here are my main points of discussion:

-Wrestling is neither a sitcom nor a soap opera. It is a little of both.

-Whether the show is humorous or serious, someone is going to watch it.

-Basic storytelling rules do not apply on a wrestling show.

-Wrestlers are silly, yet we strive to be like them.

-Vince loves money. It is good for business. Deal with it.

My Final Statement: Professional wrestling cannot be compared to most other television shows. It is its own category, and because of this, it should be loved and cherished for standing out from among the bland, formulaic shows we are more used to watching.

That is all I have to say for this week. Please tell me what you think. Can the format of a wrestling show change to some degree, or will it remain the same due to the need for a certain number of attendance/marketing numbers? If you have any other ideas for what my next Silver Lining should be, or if you just want to break my walls down, e-mail me at tagibbs4@yahoo.com
So until next time, remember that every ring is bound to have a silver lining.