Creativity Block

I am currently reading the book The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels, in the introduction an excerpt from a Greg Gagne interview was inserted. He tells the complete truth of the development of new characters from WWE Creative. Last year, Gagne was given a job as a trainer/agent for World Wrestling Entertainment. An agent's job is to provide advice, give pointers, train, and develop new talent. Gagne claimed that he was told by Stephanie McMahon, heiress to the company and head of the Creative Department, to make some new characters out of the young talent in the WWE training territories. He was shocked by the order because he felt that a young aspiring talent shouldn't be told to do this that, but rather they should use the color of their own character that they were born with. For example, he was particularly shocked when WWE Creative ordered to make Paul Birchall, who had already once been a regular on Smackdown, to take on a pirate persona. He and his colleagues were put in the position to send Birchall form Ohio Valley Wrestling, a developmental territory, to WWE as a full-fledged scallywag. Not long after being promoted to Smackdown, the character was deemed a failure and he was sent back down. Gagne's point of view is that WWE's young talent is often fired or demoted because their given persona doesn't work out with audiences. He believes faith is lost in the wrestler, but the blame is wrongly placed on them. The writers should be blamed as well as Stephanie McMahon for such absurd ideas. It has taken Birchall nearly two years to work his way back up to the big leagues after the sea-savvy character was scraped. That two years could have been added on to his career which had a very bright future. He had a short run in 2005 in WWE as a British heel which is what he returns as this year. It turns out in real-life he is really British and feels comfortable as a heel. So in reality, WWE shouldn't shy to far from a wrestler's real-life personality for their in-ring personality. A pirate doesn't impress the fans. Neither does a garbage man, a dentist, or a striking baseball player (all former WWE characters.) When these characters are written into T.V. today, WWE returns to the way it was in the early-90s, writing in awful gimmicks and boring angles. The period in which gimmicks were the core of the roster in WWE, 1993-1996, was the worst period for WWE financially. Don't people learn from the past? All this is driving at is there is no reason for senseless gimmicks. Take The Rock for example. He is arguably the most famous WWE star in history. His first character in the business was he wouldn't constantly smile under the name of Rocky Maivia. After a while, the gimmick was getting booed by fans even though he was a face. He quickly realized reactions and made WWE aware of his desire to be himself. Once he made the change, he was an instant success. The moral to the story is WWE and wrestling companies all over the country, more times than not, reality trumps fantasy.

The Retirement Angle

In November, Ric Flair finally made his return to WWE after several months of contract negotiations. On November 26, he was giving the fans what seemed to be a retirement speech. With a tear in his eye though, he said that he "will never retire." The fans rejoiced until Mr. McMahon came out and confronted Flair. He told the Nature Boy that he won't retire, as long as he keeps winning. The first match Flair loses form now on will be his last. This angle was actually put on McMahon's desk by Steve Austin. So far, Flair has stood up to the challenge, beating Umaga and Randy Orton, neither via pinfall or submission. Last week on Raw, Ric was put in another match by Vince McMahon against his great friend, Tripe H. They squared off in the ring last night on another edition of Monday Night Raw. The match was very emotional for it was in Greensboro, N.C., the Ric Flair capitol. The fans love Ric in Greensboro. All through the night, Triple H was giving sympathy towards Flair whilst at the same time he said he was going to put it all on the line. Then, the match started. Flair performed better in this match than he has been in recent years. Triple H was also on top of his game. Just as it looked like Flair's career was nearly over, because Triple H was going to pin him, William Regal ran out and thwarted Flair in the head with brass knuckles. Flair's career will go on, but for now, Triple H isn't able of participating in the Royal Rumble (another stipulation of the match.) Earlier in the night Regal had squared off against Vince McMahon's "son" Hornswoggle. Vince had told him to teach Hornswoggle a lesson by roughing him up. However, when the match was under way, Regal couldn't bring himself to hit Vince's "son" (for those who don't know, Hornswoggle is a midget.) Therefore, Vince slapped Regal in the face and told him it was actually a test to see if he had any guts. The possible storyline with him hitting Ric is that Regal is disgruntled at Vince and wanted to ruin his plans of making Ric retire. That seems like the best way to go, although there are several other potential angles. I think the retirement angle is a great one as well as the angle in which Randy Orton attacks Jeff's recovering brother Matt out of spite. WWE is beginning to pick up on good angles and the shows are becoming more entertaining. Thumbs up to WWE creative for turning Raw around.

In Memoriam 2007

Mourning Those We Lost in 2007








In Order of Pictures: Bam Bam Bigelow, Mike Awesome, Bad News Brown, Ernie Ladd, Arnold Skaaland, Sherri Martel, Nancy Benoit, Chris Benoit, Tor Kamata, Karl Gotch, Bronko Lubich Brian Adams, The Missing Link, Billy Darnell, Enrique Torres, and The Fabulous Moolah.
Others Who Left Us This Year: Flash Barker, Cowboy Lang, Bob Luce, Jim Melby, Tracey Richards, Ray Stern, Black Shadow, Angel Azteca, Cocoa Samoa, Abe Coleman, Sonny Myers, Sandy Barr, El Caballero Rojo, Princess Tona Tomah, Boogie Woogie Brown, Biff Wellington, Lita Marez, Ronnie P. Gossett, Frank Fozo, Frank Butcher, Karloff Lagarde, Isak Rain, El Gran Markus, Dave Sheldon, and Mr. Gillis.
All of those who have passed away this year will be dearly missed and remembered.