The Current Landscape of Professional Wrestling is it changing?

I am a former 606 poster who went by the name of ‘I’m just a sexy Kurt I’ll make your ankle hurt’ and I have been following 606v2 now for a few weeks since the end of the aforementioned forum and thought it was about time I made my first offering on this site.

The current landscape of profession wrestling is at a critical juncture and the tides of change look to be on the horizon both in WWE and TNA with such impactful story lines currently coming to fruition in both organisations we could be well be on the cusp of some of the best work the business has seen since the 90’s…or is this another false dawn…I guess that is up to my esteemed fellow 606v2 posters to discuss and decided.

TNA has made so many steps forward in its attempts to bridge the gap between its self and the promotion up north however for alls in innovative concepts and ideas it really is struggling to deliver on television. To many storyline that go no where, to much happening, face and heel changes all of the place, pushes fro people who just don’t deserve it, to sum up TNA in two words ‘A Mess’. However going back to the concepts and ideas that they have (which are their good points) the behind the scenes segments with just a wrestle and a camera this is breaking down the barriers between the wrestlers and the fans giving insight into their world. The whole X Division revival focusing on matches that the fans want to see and the performers that the fans want to see brining in the likes of Austin Aries, Lo-Ki, having Daniels and Styles facing off, RVD vs. Jerry Lynn, who doesn’t want to see these matches? The wrestling matters tag line because even though Vince doesn’t want to be associated with that word the fan and performers do and quite frankly it does matter, in ring action is why millions of us tune in week in week out, it why kids jump around on trampolines and beds copying what they see because wrestling matters. TNA is one big frustration so much of what it does should work but it just doesn’t.

WWE is a monster a fire breathing, city destroying, cash pooping monster that just devours wrestling fans and then spits them out with no thought of ‘did that work for them?’ or ‘is this what the fans want?’. It keeps churching out Cena title run after Orton title run after Cena title run after Orton title run…and so on. But if you’re lucky your get a real wrestle someone who is naturally talented both in ring and on the mic as champion like Christian but you can only have him for five days! This current storyline for MITB between Punk, Cena and Vince is really interested, the promo cut by Punk on Raw a week back was nothing short of the best we’ve seen for some time and although this was an obvious ‘worked shoot’ it really did breakdown the lines between scripted and off the cuff. The creative team really do stand on the brink of something excellent here which could see a new mega star elevated, a heel turn of the baby face king, Vince back working storylines the possibilities are great and I for one think the landscape could well be about to change…

Your thoughts

If I had my cynic's hat on I would say this is a false dawn for both companies; however if I was to put my optimist's hat on then yes we are on the cusp of something great.

Now I know that answer is sitting on the fence but the problem is you can never be sure, both companies have failed to deliver so many times before. My personal feeling is that they are turning the corner. TNA are trying desparately to capitalise on WWE's entertainment diversification. There has been a big drive recently in TNA to appeal to the disenchanted wrestling fan that is tired of being taken for granted by WWE. There is a distinctive anti-PG feel to the product, which on the whole is a positive thing, although sometimes they take it too far. The wrestling is far better than WWE in general with a very talented roster. At the moment the consistency of the product has been improving and the BFG series is a stroke of genius to hit home the the company's policy that 'wrestling matters'. It has also elevated the prominence of BFG as the flagship PPV of the company, a leaf I've wanted TNA to take out of WWE's book for a long time now.

Similarly, WWE have finally seemed to have pulled the trigger with Punk, however this could all be too little too late if Punk is genuinely leaving. It has been good to see other guys come through the ranks and get their main event spot, such as R-Truth and now that Ziggler has a title again things seem to be moving in the right direction. I genuinely hope Christian manages to win back the WHC at some point from Orton, otherwise I fear this will just be a wasted feud, with another predictable and pointless rub for Orton. If Orton was a tennis player he'd be Novak Djokovic, the winning streak he's been on this year!

Time will tell...

Well i seam to have created a hot discussion topic here with this article...LOL!

I've got to agree with some of your points (talkingpoint) such as R-Truth's push he really is devloping as a character and his in ring performances are being helped by the heat he's generated. Ziggler has got all the potential to be a big star based on his look, skill set and talent inside the ring (which imo is a must), he just needs to work on his promo's and devlop his character to a level where people actually care about what he's doing outside of the ring

The BFG series is really interesting and it takes into account wins and loses which at the end of the day is what should matter when naming a number one contender for your show piece PPV.