Have we reached the Event Horizon?

[Guest notJames]

Prelude: For those of you who never heard the term, the Event Horizon is the region marking the outer boundary of a black hole, inside which the gravitational force is strong enough to prevent matter or radiation from escaping.

 

In light of recent events (Austin's no-show, the re-working of the last RAW episode, Shawn Michaels' "shoot comments), the general consensus around the 'Net  is that the fit is hitting the shan, and that all these backstage events will eventually spell the downfall of the WW_. The product is stale, there's no direction, the inmates are running the asylum... the list goes on and on and nothing seems to be making anyone happy, including the wrestlers. The disillusioned faithful are ready to boycott, and the smarmy gloom and doomers armed with their "I told you so's" have their favourite targets sighted, their objects of blame readied for the kill.

 

HHH is holding everyone down

The McMahons don't know when enough is enough

Austin is turning into the very thing he hates

The Kliq has come back to kill us all

 

The IWC is staring at the WW_ from above and has charted its inevitable course down the drain. With this much chaos abounding, there seems to be no direction left to steer.

 

But, what if this is the direction they've intended to steer all along?

 

Now bear with me, because this will all sound far-fetched and pie-in-the-sky. Hell, even I'm not completely convinced, but it's at least a little interesting...

 

Back in the days of healthy competition, the WWF was known for keeping a reasonably tight lid on backstage goings on, unlike WCW, whose denizens were notorious for leaking even the most miniscule of items to the IWC. I'm not saying the WWF was immune to the dirt sheets, but it seemed for a long while that for every WWF story that came out, 15 different stories came out from Turner Land. Smarks chomped at the bit to enhance their love of the sport with all the insider stuff they could devour. Of course it didn't matter outside the smark community. Life went on in Marksville, happily cheering whomever  Vince and Eric forced us to cheer. Business was booming and everyone was reasonably satisfied.

 

Fast forward to the present. Now with the competition summarily swallowed whole by McMahon and Co., they find themselves running out of ideas. All the great feuds have been settled, all the dream matchups blown off, all seven plotlines rehashed and recycled ad infinitum. Buyrates and ratings are down, legions of once-loyal fans are now finding other distractions. Funny how more and more stuff is leaking out lately...

 

(I know... this is the part where everyone's shouting "Here we go with the Grand Conspiracy Theory again"... just stop rolling your eyes and bear with me for a bit longer)

 

I'm not saying that this is some gigantic plot that has been brewing for months or years, hell, not even weeks. I don't think the WW_ writing staff is capable of having this much foresight. What I am saying is that now seems the best time to shoot the moon and try something a little crazy, a little dangerous. People have been clamoring for innovation, for a bold new direction, for something to keep us all coming back.

 

Now, think about how many times you log onto this forum. Or to WWE.com. Or 411Wrestling.com. Or CRZ.net. Or (admit it) onlineonslaught.com

 

We're in an era where practically 2/3 of every household in the Western World has Internet access.  You can judge that by the many smark-like signs that crop up during the TV broadcasts. Backstage rumours are all the rage. Even Vince and Co. are getting in on the act, breaking kayfabe left and right with their website. Because they know that no one's fooled anymore. No one buys love triangles or injury angles or any of the stuff that sold tickets two decades ago. People today want real, whether it's Survivor or Fear Factor or even Tough Enough. They want in on what's "behind the Gorilla Position". And all they have to do is do a simple search on Yahoo...

 

So what am I saying in 5000 words or less? I'm saying that we've reached a point where there is nothing to kayfabe anymore. We're all pretty much sucked into the Event Horizon, smarks and marks alike, and are seeing every ugly detail inside the black hole that is the wrestling industry. Nothing escapes anymore. Hell, they don't even try that hard anymore to conceal the fact that Nash wasn't suspended for real, or that  Matt Hyson really has parents who are married.

 

So why not create a new kayfabe?  Why not create an entirely new environment where viewers not only get their entertaiment between the ropes, but behind the curtains. Why not leak all the stuff you're "not supposed to hear about? Why not tell Austin to book a flight out of Dodge (but don't tell anyone) or tell X-Pac to pitch another hissyfit backstage about working Heat and RAW. The fans read this stuff every week, and then tune in to see how it all pans out. In its first two weeks, Confidential garners both decent ratings and verbal praise from the IWC, mostly for HBK's "revelation" about never coming back. And lo and behold, it was enough of a smokescreen for him to hide behind just before coming back, completely unforeseen by the 'Net community

 

For all those who despise Austin for jumping ship or Vince monopolizing airtime yet again or HBK railing against the Rock, for those who complain when they hear the writers have nothing concrete planned for the upcoming PPV or even for the next TV taping, they'll keep coming back because all these rumours are so up in the air that you have no choice but to tune in next week, if only to see if Austin is really gone.

 

And that's how they hook you now.

 

I'm not saying that they're all just catering to the smarks to spite the marks because there is no difference between the two anymore. Sure, the drooling yokels boo Angle while the smarkypants raise altars for him, but they're all in on the act. They paid for their tickets, they bought their foam fingers and What? t-shirts, and now they're joinng in on the action, no matter who they cheer for.

 

Vince may be short sighted and naive and manipulated by politickers at times, but he's a pretty shrewd businessman. He knows that the future of his industry rests in the hands of the fans who sit at their keyboards week after week and talk about what they liked or abhorred. He's seen the results of both great product output and lousy booking, and he's not completely blind to the reactions of his fans, even when (or especially when) they're leaving in droves with their wallets untouched. He is, in his own words, a "calculated risk taker", and what better time to risk it all when you have nothing to lose?

 

Yeah, I know, lots of holes in the theory (which I expect you all to point out, as I am extremely verbous but not so big on hard facts -- if such a thing exists in this make believe world of ours). And I know it's the ultimate work and no one is smart, shrewd, or talented enough to pull it off.

 

But what if they are...?

 

May we all live in interesting times...

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Interesting. None the less:

 

1) If this is a work, it isn't working. As Kieth so sarcastically pointed out "Yeah, I'm sure lossing to The Osborns is all part of Vince's big plan"

 

2) This has been tried, more or less before, and didn't work. Vince Russo attempted worked shoot angles in WCW where rumors of Golberg being incredibly hard to work with spred all over which climaxed at Golberg "walking out" in a supposed shoot that just alienated everyone from the product even more. No one wanted worked shoots.

 

The Pilman/Sullivan quasi-shoot feud. Did this really do anything to help business? It fooled quite a few people into thinking it was a shoot, yet did it really help anyone? The Benoit/Sullivan program that followed essentially became a worked shoot, and it really did nothing for either man in the long run.

 

3) You point out the coincidence that WCW used to have rumors slip all the time, yet you seem to think that in the WWE's case, it's a work. What gives? What difference is there between WCW and WWE that says one is really working the internet on purpose and the other wasn't? WCW went out of business, which obviously was not part of any plan, just like the WWE's fall in business couldn't possibly be part of any plan, at least not one aimed at success.

 

Like I said, interesting read, but that's about as far as I can go in praising it.

[Guest notJames]

All those instances you pointed out were from a time when the Internet wasn't so much of a force as it is today. And it's not just the hardcore smarks that are in on it. A lot of my more markish acquaintances are reading the 'Net a lot more than they did back in the day. Sure, I don't have hard numbers telling me just how many people use the 'Net as a wrestling supplement, but there just seems to be a greater population of 'Net fans than before. And now just seems to be the time to try to work just a little ibt  bit.

 

I'm not saying it's what's needed or even wanted. Hell, how many times hs Vince put out something we desperately wished he didn't? But in this new global community, where information travels in a heartbeat, who's to say it might not work, given the perfect circumstances?

 

And just as a little bit of evidence to support my Swiss cheese of a theory, how many people out there, having seen or heard about the HBK interviews on Confidential could have predicted his return?

[Guest]

It wouldn't surprise me if at some point they tried to turn some of this mess into a storyline, and I've enjoyed some of the quasi-shoot stuff in the past, but this looks to me a lot more like the building imploding than someone just opening a few of the windows.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

This is just too 'out there' for me to comprehend.

 

The Wwf for a while now has been hating on the internet, so why would they all of a sudden start to put stock in it?  

 

Would they do it just to screw with the internet fan?  And if so, is that wise?

[Guest RickyChosyu]

All those instances you pointed out were from a time when the Internet wasn't so much of a force as it is today. And it's not just the hardcore smarks that are in on it. A lot of my more markish acquaintances are reading the 'Net a lot more than they did back in the day. Sure, I don't have hard numbers telling me just how many people use the 'Net as a wrestling supplement, but there just seems to be a greater population of 'Net fans than before. And now just seems to be the time to try to work just a little ibt  bit.

 

I'm not saying it's what's needed or even wanted. Hell, how many times hs Vince put out something we desperately wished he didn't? But in this new global community, where information travels in a heartbeat, who's to say it might not work, given the perfect circumstances?

 

And just as a little bit of evidence to support my Swiss cheese of a theory, how many people out there, having seen or heard about the HBK interviews on Confidential could have predicted his return?

I can understand your feeling that 1996 is a little too early to draw from, but 2000 wasn't THAT long ago. I don't think two years is enough time for the industry to change to a point when a strategy that basically drove a company into it's grave could actually help business these days. I realize more marks are on the internet now, and with business dropping the smarks are becoming a large demographic just because they have more of a tendancy to stick around than the marks do.

 

I think what's more important is, how many people actually watch confidential? How many people care about what Shawn Michaels has to say about Montreal, especially this long after the fact? Again, I realize the increase in the internet's affect on business, but I don't agree with you on how drastic it is. Yes, Shawn Michaels did probably fool some people, but what happens when the fans get tired of the WWE crying wolfe and stop believing any rumors that come by? It wouldn't take much, since they've been working the internet for a while now just for kicks, like starting the rumor that Malenko was going to Japan right before the radicalz jumped ship, or Bischoff trying to convince everyone that the Giant was Andre's son. It's been going on for a while, and it usually makes absolutely no difference either way, so how could an entire product be centered around it?

 

I know this is all in theory, and is solely for discusion, by the way. I just get into debates like this, so it can appear that I don't know that it's all hypothetical.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

I thought Malenko and Benoit were both going to participate in the 2000 J-cup...

 

Maxx Payne had an interview on the LAW and said something that really stuck.

 

"The next evolution of the business is opening the curtain and letting the fans in." (Paraphrased of course)

[Guest buffybeast]

Even though more and more households have internet access, the vast majority of wrestling fans do not read wrestling smark sites.  Most are still in the dark.

[Guest muzanisa]

I thought it could be a work when I first heard about it, the thing that make me think it isn't is Worked shoots don't earn any money.

Also the WWE doesn't give a shit about the internet and Austin is right in as far as the writing sucks. I think he should have been professional and not bailed but there is no way he and Lesnar should have been in the same ring for free at this stage of Lesnar's career.

Then again if I was a multi millionaire who wasn't happy at my job anymore and was being treated badly (IMO) and seeing all the pricks from the Kliq getting their own way by bitching and whining and never being punished I might not stick around either.

[Guest gangsteruwa]

I said it before and I'll say it again.

 

Political B.S. = the new kayfabe

 

It started with the montreal screwjob and continues up to Austin's walkout.  They are trying to make us (the internet fans) look stupid by believing that there is turmoil, when in actuallity there probably isn't.  Then again maybe thats what they want us to think.

 

Oh shit there are guys with black suits coming up my drive way.  They look like Patterson and Briscoe.  Oh no, they have guns.  Shit they kicked down my door.  NO you bastards!!!!!!  NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  DAMN YOU McMahon!!!!!!!!!

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Maxx Payne had an interview on the LAW and said something that really stuck.

 

"The next evolution of the business is opening the curtain and letting the fans in." (Paraphrased of course)

Yeah, and wasn't he, more or less, fired for trying to pitch that idea to Vince MchMahon? Even if such an idea even has a chance of working in the ideal environment, it's obvious that most workers don't want it to happen.

[Guest papacita]

I dunno whether or not this Austin thing is a work, but I do feel that WWE throws a lot of "kayfabe" info out there for the sole purpose of working the smark community.

[Guest Steve J. Rogers]

Even though more and more households have internet access, the vast majority of wrestling fans do not read wrestling smark sites.  Most are still in the dark.

 

I was JUST going to mention that.  That is also one of the reasons why all those "worked shoots" in WCW failed, because a large majority of the fans didn't know what was going on, or cared.

 

BTW that subtle arrogance about a fan base can be said for wrestling as a whole during the 90's and today.  Look at it this way, for the most part, untill Smackdown debuted as a regular broadcast in the summer of 1999 (I'm not counting the preview in May of that year) you did not have a regular slot on over-the-air TV for wrestling since the last days of the old Saturday Morning specials so if you didn't have cable or some sort of dish/digital TV setup you had to rely on tapes and trying to search the listings for odd hour shows of various syndicated programs with the hope one of your local over-the-air-channels A) broadcasts the shows and B) had them on a decent hour (I've seen Worldwide, Shotgun Saturday Night, Superstars, ect being aired at times at all sorts of pre-dawn times)  

 

And don't think there aren't many wrestling fans, or people period over the years that couldn't afford, or just plain won't get cable or digital/dish systems (especially in today's economy, entertainment outlets are usually the first to go)

 

BTW don't get me wrong, wrestling HAD to go cable in order to find its audience and most of pro sports eventually went cable (right now the NFL is probably the only sport that is not 70% (or so) shown on cable) but I'm just pointing out how thats a sign of completely ignoring what may be a good chunk of your audience

 

Of course that being said, I'm sure the majority of internet savy fans (or fans who get their wrestling fix on the 'net) have their ways of getting to the net (local library, internet cafe (love to see these at bookstores and such BTW), and not to mention tons of schools from elementary to universities are wired (hence thats probably where most of the "target audience" gets their fix) ) but again, how much of the regular WWE fan base is that much of a fan to get info off of this technology.  Same with just about every other concievable form of entertainment (sports, music, TV shows, movies, ect) sure by now all forms of entertainment is aware that their internet fan base is pretty much not going away and is growing but I don't think any of them right now cater as much as wrestling seems to do.  (probably sci-fi TV shows and films as well as comic book genres are up there as well for obvious reasons)

 

Also has anyone ever polled marks to see if they actually CARE about what goes on backstage?  Put it this way, as a Met fan, and you read on a website that rumors are flying that Roberto Alomar threw a fit in the clubhouse, Rey Ordonez left the team, Mike Piazza is being benched for partying all night and Al Leiter is on the verge of being traded.  Does this enhance your enjoyment of the game?  Or would you rather be blissfully unware unless it affects the play on the field?  

 

Of course that being said the ratings are what the ratings are, in the toliet but that could be for a number of reasons (most of the fans that used to watch were really there because it was the "in" thing, no competition, just got tired, ect) but I don't think changing the rules of kayfabe is going to start an uptrend

 

Steve

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

I thought Malenko and Benoit were both going to participate in the 2000 J-cup...

 

Maxx Payne had an interview on the LAW and said something that really stuck.

 

"The next evolution of the business is opening the curtain and letting the fans in." (Paraphrased of course)

You have to understand that although these days there are more smarks than in the past, the majority of wrestling fans are still marks.  If you show the wrestlers on tv backstage hanging out with their "rival", you are going to alienate all the kids and marks who watch.

[Guest dreamer420]

political bs has been done and believe me that vince will not stand for it this time around.  the "clique" controlled the wwf back in the 90's because vince was too afraid to do anything about them in fear that they would leave his company.  look at vince now compared to then.  if shawn michaels starts being an asshole back stage I hope vince would walk up to him and tell him to fuck off.  i hope that he would do that to anyone that gets out of line.  obviously that isn't approach he is taking if these internet rumors about x-pac being a dick are true.  i hope to see everyone treated equal backstage.  if funaki gets lippy, fire his ass.  if steve austin gets lippy, fire his ass.  keep troublemakers around will fix short term problems but will only make things worse in the longrun.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

I disagree, I find it is the natural direction of being a fan to seek out as much knowledge as possible about what you love/watch.  If the Wwf 'opens the curtains', fans will begin to appreciate their effort more, begin to really respect it as a profession/art/sport beyond the "It's a male soap opera" and when you respect something, when you take pride in it, you are less likely to leave it...

[Guest Jericholic82]

well this was quite the interesting post.

 

IMO, I have enjoyed wrestling less since I have been a net fan. For example I can't watch  a match without thinking about all the politics behind it (such as an HHH match).

 

Personally I think all of us smarks have gone a little overboard.  we complain about every little thing as if it is going to change a thing.  lately I have tried just watching a show without thinking about any backstage bs or the like and just trying to enjoy it (ie not throwing a tantrum cuz a match sucked or if lance storm hasn't got the jesus push yet)

 

don't you guys think that we putting way too  much thought into our favorite entertainment?

 

anyways, I don't think that worked shoots wil ever work (WCW being the best example in 2000 with the GOLDBERG/STEINER/NASH MATCH AT NBR) cuz then they are telling us "everything you see is fake except for this, it's real"  and then the next match its all kayfabe again.

 

I know wrestling is in bad shape now, but that's just nature.  The fad has died down and Vince is not as motivated to make it better and he doesn't seem to know how.  I mean they have tried everything now (cartoon age,attitude,invasion,the split) and they have little to draw from.

 

I think we should start taking our own advice that if we don't watch it.  Obviously we are all real fans as we continue to watch no matter how bad it gets.

 

I say don't worry, everything is not as bad as it seems.  The WWE will never close with Vince's pocket and desire to be the best.  Even just the hardcore fans can keep it afloat (as seen in the bad period of the early to mid 90's).

 

And let's stop making false idols out of these net writers.  As my sister once told me "So these guys just sit and talk about wrestling all day for a living? How lame."

 

STEVE AUSTIN, YOU WERE THE WIND BENEATH OUR RING.

GOOD LUCK

WE"LL MISS YOU OLD FRIEND

 

THE AUSTIN ERA: '97-2002 RIP