Sports Entertainment vs. Old School

[Guest OSIcon]

A Sports Entertainment vs. Old School storyline has great potential to work well, but Russo amd TNA do not have the first clue on how to do it.

 

The storyline is essentially young vs. old that has been done many times very effectively. The only difference in this storyline is that age doesn't define them, attitude/wrestling style does. The "young" in this case would be the sports entertainers. Their defining characteristics are that they are more vulgar, "in your face", are into talking and being a star more so then wrestling a technical masterpeice, and wrestle a more hardcore/big move style. The "old" would be the old school guys. They should be defined by a sense of wrestling tradition, they wrestle a traditional/old school style of wrestling, don't cut long or "in your face" promos, ect. That way you have the two sides well defined without using ANY shoot crap. You can define the Sports Entertainment guys without having to get all shotty and talk about writing and crap like that.

 

The next step would be to have the Old School guys and Sports Entertainers really stick to separate forrmats. The Old School guys should just cut normal wrestling promos. They can be intense (and funny) because promos have always been that way. However, they should focus on wrestling, have no shoot stuff, and not be vulgar or anything. When two old school guys wrestle, they should wrestle a normal wrestling match. Not even real old school/traditional (even though that is what guys like Henning and Jarrett should wrestle next week), but just norma wrestling matches that stay in the ring, using wrestling maneveurs, little brawling, ect. On the flip side, Sports Entertainment guys should cut promos and skits that are more 'WWF Atitutde-era' in nature. Like Russo telling Athena to take her clothes off (only the part of the interview...the rest was garbage). They should use profainity and be explicit in their promos. When two sports entertainment guys wrestle, they should do brawling, big spotty moves, hardcore spots, ect. You should be able to turn on the show and by seeing how a match is going or a promo is going, which side people are on. This way both sides are defined and there has yet to be a shoot comment. Last night, Piper (an Old School guy) cut a very sports entertainment-ish promo that outshinned Russo's in many ways. Likewise, the Old School guys wrestle nearly a same style as their sports entertainment counterparts. There is no diffrientation that way.

 

The most important part of making an Sports Entertainment vs. Old School work, would be the matches the two sides have against each other. Actual matches have been and always will be the centerpeice of feuds. If your matches does not tell a good story as it pertains to the larger feud, then the feud goes down several notches. When wrestlers from opposite sides face off, you should be able to tell who is on what side by how they handle themselves. The Old School guys should wrestle. Meaning, they try to go for headlocks, take downs, suplexes, ect. Basically anything that you would see in an old school match or a normal wrestled WWE match. They just wouldn't be hardcore or overly brawling. The Sports Entertainment guys would rely on more flashy (although not any more effetive moves), hardcore stuff, and a good bit of punching/kicking. You then are able to tell the in ring story of SE vs. OS. Which style prevails inside the ring? As the story progresses, the wrestlers may have to borrow some tactic from the opposition in order to keep up. There are many ways matches can play out. The Old may have to adopt to the flashier or more brawling-oriented way of doing things. A sports entertainer may realize in a match that he has to go back to the basics if he wants to beat his old school counter part (maybe his hardcore offense can't be used in that certain match or his flashy moves are missing/not being effective). There are NUMEROUS posibillites.

 

However, none of this will ever happen in TNA. First off, Russo will stick to the shoot stuff. But beyond that, they don't have enough wrestlers who could do the essentail in ring work to make the thing a success. The Harris Brothers and BG James are no where near talented enough to be able to wrestle a match that really conveys the fact that they are on the 'sports entertainer side'. Not to mention that all of those guys have decidingly old school styles in the ring. It would have to be done with guys like Jarrett, Jerry Lynn, Styles, and even a guy like Curt Henning. Henning, while looking terrible recently, still wrestles a very traditional style. That is what is needed. You can't have guys like the Harris Boys representing the "new and exciting sports entertainers" when they wrestle a basic old school style. I think the only two guys I could see having good matches in a SE vs. OS sense are Jerry Lynn and Styles. I could see Lynn playing the Old School X-division guy very well, using a more basic but effective offense, while styles does is wacky moonsault DDT's and such. Harris/Storm could make a good Old School tag team, but I don't think they would have anyone to play off.

 

Anyway, the basic storyline of Old School vs. Sports Entertainment is a very solid on. However, TNA is going about it wrong in just about every way possible. I have been a TNA fan since they started and was very optimistic. My optimism began to die off about a month and a half ago and has continued to decline ever sense. If this is their big angle that is going to make them, I don't they will see a one year aniversary (unless something changes of course).

[Guest RedJed]

The angle has been one week in, basically, and its hard to say what the direction will be long term. You can't expect everything to be defined in one week. This company is notorious for eliminating certain mistakes from the shows in due time........EX: Johnsons, Bruce, Dupps, etc.

 

I agree with most of your post on how they should do things, but one thing......Road Dogg definately does NOT wrestle an old-school style though. He was a good pick for the SE side since he was nothing until the Road Dogg gimmick came along with all of the catch phrases, and silly moves as well. As far as the Harris Boys, I doubt we will even see them wrestle much once this angle gets going, they will probably be more Russo's bodyguards than anything. Scripting a promo by Bob Armstrong which he said they completely blow workrate-wise makes me think that too.

[Guest dreamer420]

If they take the angle and make it old school wrestlers vs. new school wrestlers then we are going to get shitty matches because of the difference in styles. I don't think the angle would be very successful that way. I would like to see Russo take a handful of wrestlers and have him try to lead his SEX stable to the top

[Guest eirejmcmahon]

To be fair, pulling off a meta-fictional angle in wrestling is a near impossible task.

 

At heart, you have to play off the fake, scripted side of wrestling as the core of the whole angle while at the same time building towards actual matches - which you're going out of your way from the start to point out have pre-ordaned finishes.

 

If you scaled it back a bit, with one group viewing the titles as honourable belts with a strong, import lineage behind them squaring off against another that sees the titles as a means to an end (sex, drugs and all the good stuff) you'd have an easier job of working within the confines of a wrestling show.

 

So I wouldn't fault the creative team for stumbling with this angle, I personally don't think it's the kind of thing that can be pulled off by anyone.

 

Having said that, they're only a week into it, I'd give them at least 4 shows before damning the angle, if you're inclined to watch them at all after the last show anyway.

[Guest dreamer420]

I really hope you won't be watching anymore then, since all you have done is bitch about the show since it ended.

[Guest cabbageboy]

I actually liked the show last night aside from the bizarre Owen remarks. But I have to wonder what exactly is Russo's defined role? I mean, is he a heel manager? A booker? They need to clearly define what Russo IS before they can do anything.

[Astro101 0]

I don't think they've really given him a "role" yet. He's just the guy who ruined wrestling trying to bring S.E.X. to TNA.