Austin talks about preparing newbies for TV

Fighting Spirit Magazine is featuring quotes from a recent article by WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a recent issue of the magazine where Austin talks about WWE needing to better prepare younger wrestlers before they are put in high profile situations on television.

"Today's guys are very impressionable, and don't really call it in the ring anymore. Some of the guys don't know whether to Poopie or wind their watch; when they get in the ring, they have some basics, but they've always been told exactly what to do before they go out there. Back in the day, we were calling it all in the ring; we didn't have anything to be nervous about, because we didn't have to remember anything. All I had to do was listen to a hellacious worker like Billy Joe Travis or Jimmy Jack Funk, trusting them to help lead me through it.

"The guys today are on a big stage, and none bigger than WWE. It's up to the promotion to bring these cats in light, establish them, and help them get over. You can't just bring in someone new and expect them to work a Wrestlemania calibre match right away. If you give someone a monster push right off the bat, but don't give them the base knowledge, it makes no sense to wonder why they Poopie the bed. These kids are exposed after a few weeks of TV, because they don't have the experience of what to do in that situation. The more knowledge you have, the better chance you have of being successful."

says a man that signed for, and was regularly featured on, a mainstream wrestling promotion in only his second year of wrestling.

also, poopie?

Kid Vicious wrote:says a man that signed for, and was regularly featured on, a mainstream wrestling promotion in only his second year of wrestling.

also, poopie?

" Back in the day, we were calling it all in the ring; we didn't have anything to be nervous about, because we didn't have to remember anything. All I had to do was listen to a hellacious worker like Billy Joe Travis or Jimmy Jack Funk, trusting them to help lead me through it."

Yeah, I don't disagree with that. My point is that he says "you can't just bring in someone new and expect them to work a Wrestlemania calibre match right away" and yet he was expected to, and was able to do so, almost from the get go. He got a solid push on his USWA debut (his first federation) and was straight into the US title scene after his WCW debut. Barely into his second year of wrestling. If he can do it, why can't anyone else?

I'd also say that nowadays the guys get even more so of the 'WWE' style through NXT than ever before, guys like Chris Hero having to spend a year etc with newbs when he himself has trained over 60 wrestlers and could teach most of the main roster a few things.

Exactly Hero. Some of these guys have spent years on the independents, then go through the WWE machine at FCW, and then NXT. They're anything but green when they make their big screen debut. And if, as a business, you've spent a lot of money getting them to that level, wouldn't you want to see how the mainstream crowd react to them?

I totally get what Austin means. Some guys suck and get the push too soon. But then that's always been the case.

Austin's spot on, I'm sure he isn't talking about guys like Kassius Ohno, more like guys like Mason Ryan who was brought up far to early and it was painful to watch, some guys get it, some don't, I don't think the WWE need to throw them into the deepend to see if they can sink or swin, that kind of thing should be easily noticable by any half decent road agent, although those guys are propbably to terrified to tell Vince a guy is nowhere near ready yet incase Vince re-asigns the Roady's to cleaning duties or something

yeah, but it's not like it's a new thing is it? ted arcidi anyone?

''The more knowledge you have, the better chance you have of being succesful''

I don't necessarily agree wit that.

A lot depends on what gimmick the WWE saddles you with and whether you have the charisma to get over with it. Take someone like Jack Swagger. He ticks a lot of boxes, he has an amateur background better than most, he has a good look and his gimmick should be good enough to get over but he isn’t charismatic enough to get over and as soon as he opens his mouth his gimmick loses legitimacy. Dean Malenko, Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley. All great in ring but didn’t have the charisma or mic skills to make it.

On the other hand you have your Batista’s and John Cena’s who ooze charisma and have a gimmick to get themselves over but are they ring generals with knowledge to put on a 5 star match? Not a chance.

Tensai is another example. Poor guy spent years mastering his craft in Japan and had the potential to be a big monster heel but has become the latest comedy act.

Just because you might have the knowledge doesnt necessarily mean you'll make it.

Sometimes too you get guys that pretty much tick every box and still don't for whatever reason make it. Guys like Elijah Burke, good moves and ring awareness, excellent mic skills, good look to him, just for whatever reason didn't appeal.

wasn't Elijah Burke meant to be an absolute tool in the locker room?
at least according to CM Punk he was.

Or Christian. Ticks every box. Fans love him. Great talker. Great worker. Well respected by everyone. But Vince just doesnt have faith in him to be a regular main eventer.

The list is pretty much endless of guys who seem to have the potential to be big stars but don't quite make it.

For example, you could compare William Regal and JBL, I'd say they're both equally charismatic, both spent years as mid carders or in tag teams in WWE, I'd say Regal was better in the ring but JBL just hit the right gimmick at the right time and had a super over opponent in Cena at the peak of his main event run.

However I agree with Austin, he's saying you have a better chance of being successful with knowledge, which is true. He's not saying it's the perfect solution, just that it improves your chances which it obviously does.

He's also saying that guys these days are far to mechanical, they have far to much to remember, every match certain guys have on RAW are just same old same old regardless of opponent, nothing fresh, nothing new, that's because everyone has the WWE style and all of them plan their matches move by move, nothing looks different

What I think Austin is saying is that far to much expectation is placed on the heads of these young guys, they get the WWE treatment, they're flavour of the month, ad soon as Vince realises he's not ready, whixh is usually about two months too late they're then banished or made a fool of, the reason these guys don't get over is because they sometimes have to much to remember instead of being in the ring with a wily old general who can see the match they're having isn't connecting with fans so will change it up, the new generation from what we see don't know how to do that, going from what we've heard and read they're not taught to do that, Austin I don't think was having a go at Today's Wrestler, he was having a go at theway they're developed, everyone these days seems to be more focused on pushing young guys, there's no need to rush, if a 45 year old is good enough then run with it

One thing it's worth remembering is that when Austin wrestled for USWA, he wrestled several times in the same week, often in front of a moderate TV audience but in several different areas with different local audiences who had different tastes.

This gave him plenty of ring time to develop himself and forced him to keep his matches fresh, which he learned to do often under the guidence of grizzled veterans.

These are opportunities that to put it simply, don't exist anymore, while indie wrestling has a presence it's much more limited than the territory system, very few shows and almost none of it on TV, only the lucky (and extremly hard-working) have an opportunity to travel round and gain a rounded experience.

This puts more emphisis on WWE to fine tune anyone it recruits and be mindful of a years experience probably accounting to 20-40 matches in a year with no TV experience rather than Austin who probably wrestled over 100 times in his rookie year.

I've felt for a long time now that the WWE could and probably should look at ways to create their own Territory system, have a WWE Mexico, WWE UK, WWE Japan, WWE Canada and a WWE Europe and have cache markets for all these separate entities, it would give guys far more prespective than they currently get, it would give guys a chance to 'tour' within the WWE itself and find out what works for them and their respective characters, I also think it gives fans a sense of loyalty which will see them either continue their support of the WWE or actually grow to like it instead of other altenatives currently available