the industry

 

I hope that if Brian Cage goes back to WWE and if he does he must be The Mechiche.    He really has not done anything in AEW he did some stuff with Team Taz and was the FTW champion but otherwise I think if he wants to have a run in the WWE he should do it.   Also the WWE should bring in his wife Melissa Santos.   But Brian only should do it if he is allowed to be The Mechiche otherwise he should not pursue it.   There are AEW fans who want the WWE to go away and they can like AEW but I do not think they have thought through what would happened because the WWE fuels the industry.   I am not even suggesting they should be WWE fans but no fan should want the WWE to go away.   I feel sorry for AEW in some respects but at the same time the company has caused a lot of their own problems because the company has only appealed to the "smart marks" which will always be there.   If AEW wants to only appeal to the "smart marks" then the company has accomplished their goal.   What Triple H and the WWE have always done is appeal to the causal fan who like wrestling but they do not go on the internet they are not trying to figure out what is real and what is not they just want to be entertained and that is has as their fandom goes.   So if a causal fan of the WWE comes across AEW one night they more than likely will be confused by the promos and the in-ring because AEW has always brought up rumors and the things on line during promos:  such as: pipe bombs babyfaces and characters and winking at the audience which is confessing and a turn off to the causal WWE fans but the "smart marks" eat it up.   The differences: between the WWE and AEW right now are: Triple H  and the WWE will always try to appeal to the causal fan because he realizes that the "smart marks will always be there but with AEW and Tony Khan  and the company will only appeal to the "smart marks" with smart mark booking and in my opinion their audience will not grow unless the company tries to appeal to not just the "smart marks who already love their product they have  try to appeal to the general WWE audience that does  not care what is real and not they just want to be entertained which is something that has been lost.   

positves

 

There are positives aspects to the modern professional wrestling business such as: time away for injures and concussions and just time off in general.   Also there really is not a wrestling war between the companies anymore which was discussed on Squared Circle Psychobabble hosted: by Ralph and Micheal Valente.   Which is a great podcast because they both give their opinions and prospectives without trying to be experts which has ruined a lot of this pastime for me.   They both come off as: fans.     What I mean by an expert there is only one opinion and prospective allowed.   They were talking about how fans created this wrestling war but there really is not one because talent in AEW congratulate talent in WWE and vice versa so those are positives.  

believability

 

I think the best way for me to summarize this if a talent has a promo memorized or written out they are not reacting because they are not listening to the crowd or their opponent they are acting because they are trying to remember what they wanted to say.   The audience can sense this and are not going to react in the way the talents may have intended.   I know that talent have to do what the person who is writing the checks tells them to do but if the talent does not believe what they are saying the audience will not believe it either.   It is about learning  how to project and reacting to both the audience and their opponents.  

I hate the term character

I hate the term character in professional wrestling I hate the term phrase babyface and heel in professional wrestling because once the fans started using them they meant absolutely nothing.     I hate the term phrase script or going off script.   I hate the term performance art and performance  artists which is constanly being used in AEW and outside of the WWE.   I really wish the term breaking character would stop being used at all costs because professional wrestlers are already characters without being characters.   It is a light that goes on and when that light goes off so does that magnification.   If something goes wrong they can act accordingly.   For example: William Regal  said on his podcast: Gentlemen Villain podcast that “Daren and Chris Jericho get along fine but William Regal and Chris Jericho never get on”.   Notice Regal did not use the term character but he made a distinction between the two.   I know that these terms and habits are hard to break and fans are always going to do what they want to do and the thing I have noticed about fans they do not want to hear any different opinion or prospectives other then their own or they get offened.   In politics it is the exact same way but I do not buy into the it’s all good now mentality of the modern fans and writers of the business who critique it  and I am not  asking or suggesting fans  to think of this form of entertainment as being real but I think every fan would enjoy this pastime more if they did not over think so much of it.   No one does that with a movie a TV show or a play unless I guess they are critics and I have no problem calling professional wrestling a show I prefer a theatrical event without the participants acting instead of acting they are reacting.   Which is the distinction.   Professional wrestling used to be in  a genera all by itself because of the mystique and uniqueness to it I fear it has gone extinct.   

Real

 

I think fans of professional wrestling want what they are seeing to be real or they want to be drawn in by it.   Why else do fans talk about and get excited about a so called “shoot” promo because they are not used to it?   But the so called “smart marks” will not admit that.   That is why talent when they go to the ring they must believe what they are saying which I know is not easy because the events are usually live and they only get one shot.   I think in professional wrestling the promos are more important than the in-ring performances because the promos are what give fans a reason to care.   In the history of the business the talent who drew the most money was not always the best bell to bell in ring performers.   I have absolutely no problem calling myself a mark instead of a fan because the term mark goes all the way back to not just professional wrestling but carnivals circuses and fairs.   My  philosophy of professional wrestling that the talent are not characters I am not suggesting that they should act the exact same way when they are performing remember it is a light that goes on and when the light goes off so does their projecting and reacting.   Thank you Jim Cornete for your column: Character Actors for giving me a completely different prospective on what this has always intended to be.   I have the up most respect for Jim Cornete.  

never claimed to be an "expert"

 

Here is the thing about me I never have claimed to be an expert on professional wrestling I never have tried nor do I want to be an “expert” I have my opinions and observations.   I am not trying to hurt this art-form nor have I tried to take the fun of this I know professional wrestling is entertainment.      But I still do not think any professional wrestler who ever drew money or connected with the fans and was serious about the business ever played a character in fact no professional wrestler should ever view what they are doing the exact same way as: playing a “character"  in a movie play TV show or any other form of entertainment.   Every professional wrestler should view what they are doing as: projecting or reacting to as a light that goes on and when that light goes on they magnify their personalities to the absolute maximum.    An example: Eddie Guerrero when that light went on Eddie was charismatic and he was magic.   But when that camera went off so did his projecting or persona.   This art-form is similar to theater but the distinction between theater and professional wrestling people who watch a play accept that the participants in a play are playing a part but the fans view the talent in professional wrestling that is who they are.   I am not suggesting that professional wrestlers should stay in “character” they should only magnify their personas when the light goes on.   My goal has been to try and preserve what professional wrestling was indented to be which I fear has been lost by the performers in the business and by many of the agents who just accept that this is the evolution of the business I understand that things change but the fundamentals never change those fundamentals need to be passed down otherwise there is absolutely no reason to do this.