Feel for you man and totally agree. When I was a kid your willing to go a lot further, but the variety aspect of the Vince McMahon product is too much of a focus.A little bit. Moreso that most of it is so preposterous now you can't take it seriously. At all.
To me it operated with a very simple agreement between the promoters (and wrestlers) and fans. We'll go along with it (as fans), and are happy to suspend our disbelief, as long as you don't make it too obvious, you don't insult us, and you give us a reason to invest emotionally in it. Three great examples:
1. Steve Austin v The Rock. We believe Steve Austin is a beer drinking redneck, because, he's a beer drinking redneck. We believe The Rock is a unique athlete who trashtalks, because, he's a unique athlete who trashtalks. Put them together, give them a match/title/reason to fight, we'll watch it. It doesn't need to get any more complex than that.
2. Ric Flair v Terry Funk. Ric Flair beats Steamboat to regain the NWA Title. Terry Funk comes out of the crowd and says - this is really complex - I WANT THE NEXT TITLE SHOT. Simple. Not hard to understand. That leads to a killer feud, sold-out houses, and two of the best PPV Main events you will ever see.
3. Kurt Angle v Chris Benoit. This wasn't even a feud at all per se; they were tag-team partners at the same time. They put them together a couple of times (starting back at WM17), and not surprisingly they clicked. By Royal Rumble 2003 you didn't need a convoluted story, or a diva, or Vince Russo insanity, it was an even simpler premise: two great athletes who you wanted to see fight, because you were curious who would win. That's it. That's all you needed to know to follow it. When they locked up at the Rumble, they had to follow a botchfest between Scott Steiner and Triple H (no surprise there). The crowd booed it out of the building. But 30 minutes later they gave both these guys a standing ovation.
But what do we get now? We get told endlessly that they are 'performers'. The matches make zero sense. The angle makes zero sense. The promos are scripted and horrible. Everyone looks and talks the same. Then people wonder why less people follow it now than at any other time in history. Not hard to see why.
Keep the premise simple, keep the product simple. As you say about the UFC, it's pro-wrestling with legitimate fighting. They're doing it much, much better.
Would definitely recommend NXT if you haven't checked it out much better story telling. There is some hit and miss stuff because they are learning but it feels much more real. The Zayn Neville build a prime example.that was like nearly a year build up to the final blow off match at r evolution which was incredible.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk