A WWE off-season

[Darth Vader 0]

It more evident than ever with the passing of Eddie Guerrero that professional wrestlers need to take better care of themselves. By that I mean going to the doctor for check-ups regularly and taking a break when they get too worn out. Wrestlers are out on the road night after night, year after year never stopping unless they get injured. Wrestler of course won't take a break even when they are too exhusted because of fear of losing the "spot". So what if the WWE took a 4-6 week break after Wrestlemania. If you send all the wrestlers home then noone has any reason to worry about losing thier "spot". The WWE has tens of thousands of hours of footage they can use to keep fans entertained during this time as well.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Then they run a risk of losing their fans who doesn't wish to return for the next "season".

[LJSexay 0]

I highly doubt they would have to deal with that kind of risk, since the fanbase is pretty stable for starters, and just by looking at other sports who adopt this off-season deal... it appears that time away from the spotlight makes for bigger audiences once it returns.*

 

 

*if the product is worth returning to in the first place.

[Naked Snake 0]

I just finished typing up an essay on this very subject for my English class.

 

Here's an except from it

 

"Physically, life on the road is just as draining. Wrestlers do not have enough time in the day to properly eat and train their bodies. Healing from the bumps and bruises takes a lot of time, and if a wrestler is competing five times a week, the nagging injuries are worsened, and the performer is more susceptible to injury. This is where drug issues come to the forefront. It has been well documented within the wrestling business, that steroids and painkillers are used by the wrestlers in order to deal with the road life. Steroids are used to make up for the lack of gym time. Painkillers are used to mask the pain of nagging injuries. Over time, the abuse of these drugs leads to serious health complications, and even death. In the past decade, several ex-wrestlers aged 35-45 have died because of symptoms linked to the abuse of painkillers and steroids. Such superstars as Rick Rude, The Big Boss man, Road Warrior Hawk, Hercules Hernandez, etc died from heart complications from steroid and painkiller abuse. The WWE needs to give wrestlers extended periods of time off, because these wrestlers should not be dying so young."

[Black Lushus 0]

Vince is killing the interest in pro wrestling just fine on his own without getting ideas from the likes of us...

[Guest Fook]

Vince would never do an off season. It would mean he'd have to lose out on weeks of income.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I'm surprised no one quite mentioned this, but I think a month and change off would also be good for the writers, allow them to maybe cement some definite ideas and not so much stuff that had a 'slapped together' feel.

 

Not to mention how hard it must be on families who have husbands/fathers on the road 250 nights a year.

 

Would this apply to TNA? I've only seen em a few times, but they just have the one taping a week in Orlando, right?

[MrRant 0]

Only way it would work is if it's a rotating say 2-3 weeks off every 4 months or so. But only a portion of the roster so that you are never completely "off". It would help with injury angles.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Cycling wrestlers would be the best solution.

[jester 0]

Cycling wrestlers would be the best solution.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I agree. It would keep programming on the air all year round, give workers a break here and there, and it would force them to make use of some guys who are just warming the bench.

[Adam 0]

I like the idea of cycling wrestlers, perhaps they could go in groups, with each wrestler getting one month off in every six, or something similar.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

It would have to be semi-random or else whenever it came time for some to leave and some to go, fans would see it coming and say "oh, then I guess so-and-so isn't winning this big match, he has time off coming up" or what if a guy is champion, will they have to stay on the road for a little longer until they lose it and then maybe get an extended break and let others in the ME scene until they come back?

 

The second scenario would be great, as it might force other people to move up in the ranks and then when a guy comes back they might do a little upper-card feud before going back to a title hunt or something.

 

They would have to do it in a way that wouldn't be noticeable to the fans. You wouldn't want them all the sudden saying "Oh, where's Big Show been lately? Hmm, must be his vacation time." I say that because whether or not the regular fans know of it - the smarter fans will.

[Fökai 0]

Figured it should be posted again to stir up discussion; I'm pointing towards the "injury and health" section he addresses...

 

A Wrestling Off Season?

 

 

April 26,2003

This subject has been coming up a lot lately. I’ve received email as well as comment board posts about it, so I figured I would look at some of the plus and minuses involved with a Wrestling “Off Season”. Wrestling is really the only sport, which does not have a designated season, and thus a corresponding off-season. Is this Good or Bad? I honestly don’t know. I can see both sides of the argument and the most important factor (the effect on business can only be speculated)

 

Business: How would down time effect the wrestling industry? Wrestling having 51 weeks of original programming (recap show between Xmas and New Years) is obviously a big attraction to our network. Giving this up for an off-season is a huge financial down turn from a TV stand point. Even a 2 or 3 month off-season would create a 8-15 week void in programming and a huge cut in ad revenue and sponsorships. This is something that often gets over looked when an off-season is mentioned. As far as ratings and arena attendeance, there are two possibilities. An off-season may rejuvenate an audience. Fans can get burned out watching each week, forever, with no break. This may be the cause of the cyclical nature of our industry.

 

Fans may get tired of keeping up every week and simply tune out, and effectively create their own off-season. With a definite season, anticipation of each new season may remain strong as well as a fans willingness to stick it out through each full season. (I was always so excited about the start of the new Saturday Nights Main Event season as a kid) The opposite effect might also be true. People are creatures of habit. A couple months off without wrestling and fans may find other interests and be less apt to tune in next year. Out of site out of mind is definitely a possibility.

 

This is a huge gamble in that rejuvenation, should it occur, might only make up for the loss during the off-season. (Booming business for 9 months may not be better than 12 months of decent business). If rejuvenation does not occur you’ve cut your revenue 25 % and risk fans finding other interests in the off-season. Head you lose, tails you break even. (I’m not sure I flip that coin)

 

The Boys: An off-season definitely sounds like a plus from the boys standpoint; a definite break in the travel schedule to be with our families and rest our bodies. Truth is however even that statement is only true on the surface and may not be a definite plus. While I’ll be the first to admit that having an off-season to spend with my family each year would be great, there is a huge price for this. If we don’t work for 2-3 months each year we are going to be making less money. 3 months of is a 25 % decrease in the number of events we work. (You didn’t think the office was just going to keep paying us as if we were working 4 shows a week did you). If I earn 25% less each year I’m going to have to extend my career in order to make that up and be able to retire. A longer career is then going to take me away from my family again (a double edged sword). Now granted if the off-season rejuvenates our fan base and keeps the other 9 months “hot” the 25 % figure may be reduced (Huge speculation here).

 

Injuries and our Health: Now this has to be a no brainer, right? An off-season would definitely be good for your body. Even this isn’t completely true. Now granted after just having last week off my body feels 100 times better, but 3 months is a long time and wrestling has a weird effect on your body. There is this strange 2-3 week time period that your body has for adjustment. When I first started working full time (everyday) I thought I was going to die. Everyday my body got sorer and sorer. After a week or 2 my body was killing me I didn’t think I could go on. Miraculously somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd week, I just got used to it. Your body develops some kind of callus and stops feeling every little ache and pain.

 

The same can be said for time off after working full time. If I take an extended break from work (I did between ECW and WCW and again between WCW and WWE) my back started to ache like crazy. After about 3 weeks my whole body ached like you wouldn’t believe. After constant abuse your body puts up some kind of shield against it. When the abuse stops so does your body’s ability to ignore it. (I can’t explain it but I’m not the only one of the boys to experience this) I’ve been working for 13 years now at least 10 to 11 of that full time and I’m still in pretty good shape. I’m not completely sure dealing with ring rust, and re-callusing my body each year would be less painful than just working year round, especially when you consider my career would likely have to be longer.

 

All in all it sounds like I’m against the idea of an off-season, which I don’t think I am. I’m just afraid of change and the unknown. I’m pretty happy with my career and the way things are going. Anything that “may” have a negative effect on that scares me. If an off-season rejuvenation would occur and business would be consistently hotter over the shorter annual season, then it would definitely be good. Annual incomes would not decrease, careers would not be lengthened by necessity, and perhaps dealing with ring rust and re-callusing my body would be worth the time at home with family.

 

The thing is, it’s such a huge if. If it had no effect or even a detrimental effect on interest a down cycle year would be financial ruin for the boys and the elusive year of retirement would be farther away than “Bin Laden/Hussein Appreciation Day” in the US.

 

Till next week

Lance Storm

[Guest JRE]

I ran the idea of cycling breaks from house shows in another thread. Just working one TV taping a week for a couple of months, No one really responded to it.

[Ultra Violence 0]

I just finished typing up an essay on this very subject for my English class.

 

Here's an except from it

 

"Physically, life on the road is just as draining. Wrestlers do not have enough time in the day to properly eat and train their bodies. Healing from the bumps and bruises takes a lot of time, and if a wrestler is competing five times a week, the nagging injuries are worsened, and the performer is more susceptible to injury. This is where drug issues come to the forefront. It has been well documented within the wrestling business, that steroids and painkillers are used by the wrestlers in order to deal with the road life. Steroids are used to make up for the lack of gym time. Painkillers are used to mask the pain of nagging injuries. Over time, the abuse of these drugs leads to serious health complications, and even death. In the past decade, several ex-wrestlers aged 35-45 have died because of symptoms linked to the abuse of painkillers and steroids. Such superstars as Rick Rude, The Big Boss man, Road Warrior Hawk, Hercules Hernandez, etc died from heart complications from steroid and painkiller abuse. The WWE needs to give wrestlers extended periods of time off, because these wrestlers should not be dying so young."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Don't hand it in yet... try and reduce the amount of repitition.... for example you use "nagging injuries" twice in a paragraph... also find other words for steroids and try and pad sentences out with more abstract language (especially the last one) also don't follow Vince's training and remove the word "superstars" if you're writing discursively you need to take a more removed perspective... on a global scale Hercules Hernandez was hardly a "superstar." I have absolutely no idea why i'm writing this but it may be worth paying attention.

[Guest Brian]

What I would do is have two three-week breaks during the year. One would obviously come during the Christmas season, when most TV shows are also in reruns, and the other during the summer. I think if they tape, say three shows each over three days, they could pull it off (with probably some kind of repeat programming prior to New Years), and maybe tack on a one-week Europe tour in the summer to make some extra cash. I know that at certain times of the year (I'm thinking early summer/late-spring after Mania), house show business probably hits a lull, so they could rotate two-week tours with those for a month. Slight breaks, like a school schedule, might provide a good deal of relief and still go a long way to sustaining business.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

In order to do this they would have to make sure all feuds were concluded before the break or risk losing heat on that feud. That wouldn't be too hard though.

 

Another problem is what someone posted in another thread about how wrestlers when they take extended time off all the pain seems to catch up to them at once. Their body starts trying to heal all the things that have been constantly kept injured and it's agony. Of course that means they need to rest and heal and they should stop for a bit, but that doesn't make it any more comfortable. Of course this is just a lose/lose situation as no matter how much it hurts they need to let themselves heal. That's one of the biggest drawbacks of no offseason.

 

However, no matter if the feuds are finalized or not, if you have someone who was just starting to get over before the break it could hurt them. Sure the same fans will be back, but they will have had time to move on to other things and become distracted. If there were a way of alternating, taking breaks in shifts so that you always had atleast some wrestlers working, then it might work without an actual offseason.

[Scroby 0]

A wrestling off season? No

 

Lesson the road traveling? Yes