From the Podium: A Fresh Start

[Leonard]

Chapter XXI: A Fresh Start

There’s no question about it, the professional wrestling product is suffering big time at the moment. Yes, ratings are holding steady, and the big “celebrity guest host” thing over on Monday night’s program is bringing a bit of mainstream attention, but it seems to me that the McMahon empire in particular is ignoring the wrestling fan in its bid for a spot among the Hollywood and mainstream sport elite. It’s no secret that professional wrestling has a niche target audience. In the quest to be recognized as a “legitimate” form of entertainment (if you ask me, it’s just as legitimate as any other television program, but I digress), that niche may very well be abandoned in this day and age.

My point being is that the professional wrestling business needs something to really bring itself back to the day of old, without seeming too nostalgic. This redubbing of the “Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection” (except it’s Freddie Prinze, Jr. instead of Cyndi Lauper) isn’t quite doing the trick, even though I’ll admit that Shaquille O’Neal did a promising job on his night. I do believe, however, that Vince was on the right track with the idea that started the whole celebrity host debacle—the “sale” of Monday Night RAW to Donald Trump was possibly the best idea that never got a chance to progress.

Even though I wasn’t much of a fan by the spring of 2002, I still was aware of the huge brand split that was taking place in the WWE between Ric Flair’s RAW program and Vince McMahon’s SmackDown! offering. I managed to tune in to RAW on the night of the first-ever “draft,” which saw the two owners battling it out for the top stars of the company. The fact that the proceedings on this night was enjoyable, by this point, to a non-fan says a lot about the entertainment factor of the brand split, as well as the vibrant personalities of Flair and…yes, McMahon. Looking back on the resulting brand split, the opportunity was set for established superstars to continue being top dogs, while also allowing new and mid-to-low card wrestlers to break through the proverbial glass ceiling and make names for themselves. Additionally, the two shows were different enough from each other, despite being under the same “WWE” umbrella, that they essentially became quasi-competition for each other. This was no accident, since the McMahon promotions were the only major North American wrestling promotion remaining after the purchases of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling.

After a few years, and after many new and mid card athletes, including Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Dave Batista, and others, got their chance to shine at the top, the two shows increasingly began to look like the same programming once again, just with different personnel bringing the “entertainment” each week. I thought the problem was to be resolved in the spring of 2006, when the “new” ECW was brought into existence. For a while, the third brand displayed a different type of attitude than the older brother brands, almost in a nostalgic sense. When the WWE believed that this didn’t work, ECW became a lesser third brand. After the addition of SuperStars on Thursdays, the WWE produces six hours of “original” entertainment every week. The problem is that those six hours are essentially the same show, (again) just with different personnel.

How does this relate to the current product? Exactly…why would one want to watch six hours a week, when you can essentially watch one program and get the gist of the whole week? Then what should the WWE do to rectify this issue? Well, I’m no master businessman or booker, but I believe that the three brands need to differentiate themselves from each other. This is where my Donald Trump buying RAW comment comes back into play.

The three brands need to be permanently split into definitive “types” of shows. RAW needs to continue to be heavy on entertainment; SmackDown! on pure wrestling; ECW on exposing younger talent. Also, that “ugly duckling” brand needs to embrace its “hardcore” roots by adopting a new alternative style. Would it bring back old ECW fans? No, but it would further separate it from the other larger brands. Let’s give the Tuesday night brand another hour, too. Also, each show needs to have an individual look, with unique sets, referees, commentators, and color schemes. Now, let’s talk kayfabe for a moment. Vince McMahon needs to sell SmackDown! and ECW. We all know that he loves RAW the best, so he may as well cast off the other two programs so that he can put all of his creative energy into the “flagship” show. Unlike the Donald Trump storyline, however, I would suggest that some legitimacy be added to the programs by “selling” to somebody involved in the wrestling business.

It’s no secret that pay-per-views would “finance” each brand, so my suggestion would be to hold six events outside of the “big four.” Each enterprise would then be allowed to “host” two of those six, inviting extra-branded athletes at the owners’ discretion. Brainstorming, this is how I would likely make that work, giving WrestleMania and SummerSlam two months of build-up:

January—Royal Rumble
March—WrestleMania
April—Backlash
May—One Night Stand
June—The Bash
August—SummerSlam
September—Unforgiven
October—Anarchy Rulz
November—Survivor Series
December—Starrcade

Okay, by the looks of that, it blatantly looks like I’m trying to turn this into WWF/WCW/ECW, right? Yeah, so? Moving on…

First-tier championships:

WWE World Championship
World Heavyweight Championship
ECW World Championship

Second-tier championships:

Intercontinental Championship
United States Championship
Television Championship

Other championships:

Women’s Championship
Cruiserweight Championship
Hardcore Championship

The Tag Team Championships would remain unified, for obvious reasons. While tag champs floating around doesn’t exactly personify three separate entities, I believe that trying to maintain three separate tag divisions would be more detrimental than it’s worth (which says something about the state of tag team wrestling in general).

Anyhow, let’s continue to assume that Vince McMahon will keep the entertainment-based RAW. He needs to find somebody that could both run a wrestling promotion, as well as believable as a buyer from a financial standpoint. Let’s break it down, then. We need one guy that can manage a group of actual “wrestlers,” and one guy that can cultivate younger guys and bring back a vision of “hardcore” that the original ECW prided itself upon. Oh, look at that, it seems that the finalists’ applications have just arrived…


SmackDown! Owner Candidate Number One, Bruno Sammartino

Stats and Credentials: 73 years old, involved in the wrestling business since 1959. Two-time WWE Champion. Inductee of WWWA Hall of Fame, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, and Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame. Recipient of the PWI Stanley Weston Award.

Sammartino is likely one of the greatest wrestlers that nobody knows about in today’s generation of fans. He was very much an old-school athlete, and could bring some of that flavor to the Friday night brand. There are two slight problems with Bruno taking the reins of the show. First, as I mentioned just a second ago, not very many people know him (even though some know the name), and so the name wouldn’t immediately attract more viewers. Secondly, he hates the current product (a fact he has made well-known through interviews and a general boycott of the product), and likely hates Vince McMahon even more. As entertaining as it would be to see Bruno and Vince go head-to-head, I don’t think it would happen in a million years. He’s also fairly old—while he does bring plenty of experience, we may need somebody slightly more hip to bring in the crowd.


ECW Owner Candidate Number One, Tommy Dreamer

Stats and Credentials: 38 years old, involved in the wrestling business since 1989. Two-time ECW Champion.

Tommy Dreamer is ECW, plain and simple. He’s been with the company from the beginning to the very end, and even came back for the reincarnation (ECW-lite, or MECW). He was rewarded for his “company man” ideology with a moderately-successful ECW Championship run. Dreamer, being perceived as just a regular guy, could attract those blue-collar fans that could relate to such a personality. The problem lies in the financial situation—will anybody really believe that this guy, who’s supposedly just like the rest of us, could possibly buy a brand from a wrestling company (even if it is the “ugly duckling”)? I didn’t think so.


SmackDown! Owner Candidate Number Two, Ric Flair

Stats and Credentials: 60 years old, involved in the wrestling business since 1972. 16-time world heavyweight champion. Inductee of WWE Hall of Fame, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum, and NWA Hall of Fame. Recipient of the PWI Stanley Weston Award.

The “Nature Boy” is one of the most prolific personalities in the history of professional wrestling. Being fairly technically sound, as well as very charismatic, he would be a good fit for the show’s main focus, while also bringing in viewers based on name recognition. I don’t care what some people say—Ric Flair equals good news for the wrestling business. Two problems arise for this applicant, as well. First, seeing how quickly Ric Flair Finance went down the tubes, I have my doubts on how well we can believe Flair as the head of a “company,” not to mention that his “stylin’ and profilin’” ways may not be best suited for being an effective authority figure. Another problem lies in the fact that Ric isn’t exactly in a financial position to buy a brand, so it may not be very believable. But, you’ve got to admit, it would be pretty awesome, even if it would be a rehash of the 2002 scenario.


ECW Owner Candidate Number Two, Paul Heyman

Stats and Credentials: 43 years old, involved in the wrestling business since 1987. Inductee of Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

Who better to take over the extreme brand than the man who started the revolution himself? Paul Heyman would provide a long-overdue unique quality to the brand that hasn’t been seen since the original version. Fans would likely eat this up, especially if Heyman was given legitimate creative input. The inclusion of Paul on the brand would aid in bringing some of those original “hardcore” ECW fans back into the fold, and helping boost the rating of the show. The problem here lies in the fact that there is no way Paul Heyman would want anything to do with this, as he’s a pretty successful guy outside of the wrestling world nowadays. I don’t believe that there is any way, short of Vince McMahon dying and/or selling the ECW trademark, that Paul would get involved.


SmackDown! Owner Candidate Number Three, Bret Hart

Stats and Credentials: 52 years old, involved in the wrestling business since 1976. 5-time WWE Champion, 2-time WCW Champion. Inductee of WWE Hall of Fame, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum, and NWA Hall of Fame. Recipient of the PWI Stanley Weston Award.

Nobody here can deny that Bret Hart appearing on WWE programming would equal ratings. It’s well known that Bret and Vince have progressed in burying the hatchet, and it looks like that a “truce” may even be called between he and Shawn Michaels (although I wouldn’t hold my breath). The next logical step would be for the “Hitman” to appear on programming in some capacity. What better way, then, for him to do that than to have him swipe the Friday night program right out from his “nemesis’s” nose? The rivalry practically writes itself. I, for one, would be a more faithful watcher if Hart was an authority figure of SmackDown! Hell, when I hear the Hart Dynasty’s theme, the opening riff still makes me wish for Hart’s presence. For me, there’s no bad side here, if Bret was willing to do it.


ECW Owner Candidate Number Three, Gabe Sapolsky

Stats and Credentials: 36 years old, involved in the wrestling business since 1993.

Gabe has become quite a name on the independent circuit, particularly due to his work as booker of Ring of Honor Wrestling. He may be the guy able to morph this new ECW into an updated version of the original extreme promotion. There are several problems with this idea, however. First, outside of the Internet Wrestling Community, for the most part this name is not even known. Secondly, he doesn’t have a whole lot of “big time” experience to his name, so he’d really be putting himself to the test, especially if he were to also be a booker behind the scenes. Finally, I would find it hard to believe that he could buy something this expensive from Vince McMahon. However, if the WWE wants to take a gamble on a guy with a solid (albeit short) resume, this is the way to go.


The owners would each inherit the current rosters, but would be able to make trades once a year (which would occur where the yearly Draft currently does). Any combination of the owners listed above would provide an interesting dynamic for competition, especially on cross-promotion events such as the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series. Also, giving each program a strong leader that clearly matches the fervor of the show will display a solid foundation of what that particular program is all about. My goal would be, essentially, to recreate the excitement of the late-90’s, featuring three major brands competing against one another. I’d be interested to see how it would turn out, whether or not the actual “buying the brand” story arc would be the way they’d go about it.


Oh, the last part of my plan is to make TNA Wrestling the fourth brand. Please don’t hurt me, BCR…



And so ends the first post-band camp edition of FTP. I hope you enjoyed reading my brainstorming of ideas as much as I did actually brainstorming them. This was more of a think piece...but I’d love to hear your thoughts on what I presented. Just know that I do realize that there would be some minor kinks to work out, but I just saw the “big picture” idea in my head and wanted to put it on “paper.” Up on the docket next is another edition of “What Happened To That Guy?!” followed by one huge “WWE Family Guy” column to tie up the loose ends there. Finally, Chapter XXIV will see the beginning of the huge “Music and Wrestling [working title]” series that has been requested (any suggestions for the actual name of the series would be much appreciated). I’m really looking forward to bringing my true expertise to the forum. Again, be sure to tell me what you think, either here at the forums or at lenjr04@gmail.com.

Until the next downbeat…

[Super Chrisss]

Good to see you posting again Leonard! I too was wondering what happened to the Family Guy segment, but now that you have it all planned out, I won't change your game-plan.

As for the column, this was fantasy booking at the finest, mainly because just about everything you suggested could and SHOULD happen. Maybe the real and only problem is Vince McMahon himself. Would the present WWE product really go from bad to wrose with Shane or Hunter in charge? I highly doubt it, but that's a topic within itself.

Great work Leonard, read you next time!

[UNCfan]

I agree with you about ECW needing to feel different. I think they should make ECW PG-14 and let it be for the existing fans from the attitude days. Good, and realistic fantasy booking.

[Box Car Rocco]

I love fantasy booking and this was no different. Well actually it was... You tied your fantasy booking into the current product while still managing to shove stats and facts at us. Making the brands different does sound good as it would give a bit of variety in the product.

Oh and I'm happy as long as there is TNA .

['Plan]

This was gloriously wonderful stuff Leonard! The plans you laid out were certainly very original and very unique. It would most certainly greatly refresh WWE and create that competition that the original Draft was intended to do. I did enjoy the competition between Steph and Eric in late '02 with all the "talent steals" and one upmanship and those splendidly melodramatic confrontations they'd have on ppv. I didn't like how Raw kept stealing all Smackdown's best guys and Smackdown kept getting shitty ones in return though.

I digress. Your solution is interesting and doable for the most part. I think it's fair to assume Vince will never think so creatively or radically as this and that's a damnable shame. Bret as Smackdown owner would be.... *Markasm!* Unfortunately he has stated his wrestling character to be dead and even if all bad blood was laid to rest I still wouldn't see it happening.

A long time ago I did a similar column seeking to sort out the Brand Draft but my simple solution was much simpler. Kudos for the creativity, for the logic and for the very interesting read! Keep up the good work my friend.

[Freeman]

Hello Leonard,

This was quite good, I definitely think that a return the infant stages of the Brand Extension is a good idea. Back then, it felt like Smackdown was equal to RAW, rather than just being the number two show the whole time. Some of your ideas would certainly freshen up the product, and make for more interesting viewing. However, personally, if you're going to have a mid card title on ECW, I think the return of the old ECW Television title would be better than the Hardcore title. I also think that three seperate tag team belts would be a good idea, if they could only put some effort into re-establishing the division.

Anyways, a good read, my only criticism is that I think you could've done without the potential owners bit. I don't really care much for that, so I skimmed it, as it was uninteresting to me. Just a personal thing though, apart from that good effort.

[Creeping Death]

Pretty good here, Len. I agree with most of your points except for one. I don't think Flair owning SD! isn't believable. Who really knows about Ric Flair Finance outside of the small IWC? To the average fan, Ric Flair is the man, and has a lot of money. He's the limousine riding, jet flying, kiss stealing son of a gun. Of course we know otherwise, but I would still totally buy it. Other than that, I pretty much agree with everything else you said. Catch ya next time.

[Benjamin Button]

Len, I have read you before and I am glad to see you back. Looks like you have fixed all the WWE's problems. I think you did a good job giving possible owners and their stats, but my highlight of this column was you organizing the WWE's championship titles and sharing the idea that each brand should look unique. It makes perfect sense. If they buy out all their competetion they could at least make us feel like we're watching different shows.

[Leonard]

Chrisss: Fantasy booking wasn't originally my intent, but it certainly evolved into such. I do believe that much of the problem does lie in Vince's hands, as he essentially has the power to change all of the "vanilla" product that we get four to five days a week. Hunter or Shane in charge may provide a different outlook, but I don't think we'll see that happen until Vince is being buried (non-kayfabe, anyways).

UNC: Good call on the increased television rating for ECW, and giving it a nostalgic "Attitude Era" feel. I'm glad you enjoyed this, sir.

BCR: Would you really be happy with a McMahon-owned TNA Wrestling? Heh. Thanks for reading.

'Plan: You're likely right about Hart never getting on-screen again, but one can dream, right? I didn't experience much of the Steph/Eric stuff in 2002, but I heard it was pretty fantastic. Thanks for stopping by, sir.

Freeman: Under "second-tier" titles, I did mention the Television Championship for ECW, followed by the "other" category featuring the Hardcore strap. You're absolutely right, though...I guess we're in agreement! I think, especially at this point in the game, any more than one tag strap is going to spell trouble...particularly since McMahon sees it as a dead art (much like Latin to languages...). I dig what you're saying though...that's why it's fantasy booking, right? I also can see why one wouldn't like the candidates for ownership thing--again, this was just me brainstorming.

CD: Very much a valid point on the average fan's perception of the "Nature Boy." You're absolutely correct--if only the IWC knows about good ol' Gabe, wouldn't the same be true for Ric Flair Finance? Well played, sir...well played.

Ben: "If they buy out all their competetion they could at least make us feel like we're watching different shows." BINGO! I'm glad you get what I'm laying down--you just summarized the whole column in one sentence (which, by admitting such, doesn't quite validate my 2,000 word column...). Thanks for stopping by.

--Leonard

[Cult Icon]

you have never been short of good ideas leonard, and this was no different. it was very well written and there were lots of good points made. i was however a little bored towards the end, and it mostly seemed to be very straightforward w/out personality. that may be wat you were going for, but i think you may have needed a bit more spice to this. however that is just my opinion and it was still very good regardless. good work leonard, nice to see you back.

[LimeFlavored]

Bravo, sir, bravo!

This was enjoyable from start to finish, not too long, not too short. I'm sure you know about Vince's feelings on Bruno Sammartino, so that one wouldn't be so plausible, but I like the ideas about making the brands distinct. I've been hoping they'd do that since the extension started and, surprise, it never happened.

I liked the subtle use of colors, not overused and just enough to easily follow what is going on. No noticeable errors that I saw.

Keep it up!

[Freeman]

Under "second-tier" titles, I did mention the Television Championship for ECW, followed by the "other" category featuring the Hardcore strap.

Sorry man, I totally mis-read that section! Disregard that criticism, I was being a douche!

[The Maz]

Leonard, how is it going. Always happy to see a FTP posted. I enjoyed this, it was a very interesting scenario and I think it would be a very good way of running things. The look at the potential Owners was also very fun. It would have been a nice little touch to maybe put odds of their chance of getting the gig but that now I am just nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking. Very much looking forward to the music and wrestling series. I am not great with names but maybe A Grappling Symphony.

[Andy]

I don't know why, but I found the opening section to be a bit stale. I understand that it's an introduction and all, but is something that has been talked and written about over and over and over again. Apart from that, you had my interest throughout and the idea of looking at possible promoters ect was a great one. And I never noticed until Mazza said it in his feedback, but a probability on each of the men mentioned would have put the icing on the cake.