By Ciaran James@TheCiaranJames
For over centuries entertainment has been the doorway to forget about our everyday life, if you can submerge yourself into an activity and forget about the struggles of life is there anything better? With a hobby, activity or addiction the urge to learn more, explore and look for the next big hit of adrenaline is always looming. There are those of us that know our limits, have the will power to stop, however there is a large portion that keep going, baying for blood if you will.
100 years ago the wrestling fan was more than happy with a grapple based style, from headlocks and submission moves the audience welcomed the entertainment. This was wrestling in its simplest form; of course, even in those days you had your faces, heels and flamboyant characters but what they did in the ring was minimal, if the customers approved why change what you’re selling? Like everything the tastes of the public changed, what was once loved, fell into mediocrity as eventually the tedious bouts consisting of opponents being stretched and rest periods was old hat. As American recovered from foreign conflict the first boom period of wrestling began, from Lou Thesz, Harley Race, Bruiser Brody and Ric Flair emerged a new type of wrestler, from the 1960’s to mid-1980’s these over the top brawlers and technical wizards changed the face of wrestling in the western world. With the changes to the way these new wrestlers performed the expectancy of the audience changed, their urges were quelled with decent booking and believable characters.
Fans immersed themselves into the serious territory system as well as the WWF’s family friendly/cartoon era of wrestling, the believability of the NWA and the not so serious WWF cut the audience in half as fan expectancy altered between the two companies. Over the course of the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s the territory system collapsed, this was more or less down to the business decisions of Vince McMahon and the old school mentality of the old-time territory bookers and promoters. Many matches were introduced over this time to try and secure the audience and sell out shows, Texas Death Matches, Steel Cage, Ladder and many more were introduced to attract the masses. Once the WWF took over the risk companies would take to attract more viewers went up, especially with the introduction of ECW in 1994, the lust for blood and violence sky rocketed. ECW in fact was the first company to really bring hardcore/garbage wrestling to the United States, looking to the be the loudest kid on the street the Philadelphia based company spread their wings. WWF took notice of the wildly popular ECW, Paul Heyman had managed to attract that 18-35 demographic, a portion of the fan base WWE is now trying to attract back since losing it in 2001/2002.
WCW delivered what fans wanted in the summer of 1996, with the formation of the NWO they attracted the audience that would propel them above the WWF. Along with that came fresh and adult/real-life storylines aimed at the smart fans, breaking kayfabe and being cool won the day, fans didn’t want to be fooled anymore, WCW raised their expectations and it stuck. WCW’s new business model eventually forced the hand of WWF owner Vince McMahon, taking inspiration from ECW, the then WWF started to change the way they portrayed their characters. Real life feuds, characters and more outrageous matches started to become common place, in October 1997 the WWF debut the first ever Hell In A Cell match, full of death defying stunts, blood, sweat and tears that upped the expectations of the viewer. To make the WWF even edgier Vince orchestrated the Montreal Screw Job the following month at Survivor Series, this gave fans the feeling that anything could happen. Along with the emergence of Stone Cold Steve Austin, DX and the Mr. McMahon character, the WWF progressed. From 1998 until present day WWE introduced, over exposed and then watered down some of the best gimmick matches ever created, from HIAC, TLC, Cage, Ladder and Elimination Chamber, somehow WWE managed to turn the fans off.
When the audience lost faith in their beloved national companies they went elsewhere, from the ashes of WCW and ECW rose a new kind of wrestling. In 2002 a handful of independent companies were born, ROH was there for your diehard wrestling fans, CZW was there for the hardcore fans and TNA was for everyone in between. These companies featuring a mixture of the same talent, went to new lengths to be different, from pure wrestling matches, hardcore/garbage matches to X-Division matches in TNA, they each vied to set themselves apart from one another and the dominant WWE. Over the next decade independent wrestling in the United States blossomed, more people also began looking at NJPW for another source of wrestling, eventually the UK independent scene took off. And it’s that which brings me to write this column. In the search for a better product fans began to witness a stronger, faster, more technical side of wrestling, the higher work rate was just what they had been looking for, wrestlers going full throttle for 20 minutes provided fans with a new addiction. This new generation of fan wanting the best wrestling, best high flyers, best brawlers and submission specialists ushered in a new type of wrestler and fan.
With the boom in independent wrestling the work rate of the self-employed wrestler went through the roof, now more than ever the wrestlers go all out to entertain the fans. These days the bar has been raised extremely high, what would have once been acceptable is no longer considered good enough. The expectation of the today’s modern-day fan has forced independent promoters to go all out when it comes to booking talent, this in turn makes the market more competitive. Wrestlers who were once affordable have priced themselves so high that some promoters/owners cannot risk the funds to employ them, this then harms the local independent promoters. I personally attend four promotions all within a one-hundred-mile radius, the talent ranges from good to excellent, the ticket price fair, but for that admission charge the audience expect the very best action and the very best talent. If wrestlers don’t work to a considered acceptable level then the audience backlash is sometimes severe, the audience can fall silent or afterwards the promoters and talent can read the opinions on line.
The amount of wrestling available to watch in 2018 is higher than ever, we have never been so exposed to so many diverse types of wrestlers and promotions. The over-exposure of talent and types of matches has left many fans immune. If you attend a number of independent shows now all the audience seem to want is multiple death defying flips, if people and chairs are not flying out the way then some aren’t that bothered. Then again, if that is what the audience want, if that’s what sells tickets and merchandise why should the wrestlers and fans protest. Wrestling may be orchestrated and planned but the risks are real, bodies bruise and heads get banged, the want of the audience has never been higher. Maybe it’s time that talent slowed down and we returned to bankable characters and worthy storylines.
Credit Michael Jarecki for the header image.
