The 411 Wrestling Top 5 11.21.12: Week 196 – Top 5 Most Hated Things About Wrestling

Francisco Ramirez
5. Fall of ROH – What the hell happened? Oh right, the Sinclair deal. Let’s face it, ROH is in shambles, what once was the Indy to watch is now a shadow of its former self. Talent has left or been vocal, PWG, in my opinion, is now the Indy fed to watch, and Sinclair has no idea what they are doing. This basically sucks, for the lack of a better word. Kevin Steen is a damn good champion, and has been working his ass off to get where he is at. Young guys like Cedric Alexander, Caprice Coleman, Michael Elgin, Mike Bennett, and Adam Cole, are working hard and are obviously the future of the company, but what future is there in a company that can’t get their IPPV’s working right, their booking is lacking at best, and I hate to say it, production wise, ROH looks like shit.

4. WWE Naming – CM Punk was so lucky, he kept his Indy name, unfortunately he would be the last. I’ve always enjoyed how Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, and even Benoit at one point would at least have their past accomplishments mentioned. Their exploits internationally and at other promotions gave them added backstory and depth. They built their names from the ground up and when they arrived at the WWE they were someone. Now guys like Chris Hero, Tyler Black, Claudio Castognolli, Bryan Danielson, Colt Cabana, Incognito, Pac, and Joe Hennig, have been renamed, rebranded and their past has been wiped out. While starting with a clean slate isn’t entirely bad, the names themselves are pretty disappointing. Antonio Cesaro has to be the best of a bad situation, the name isn’t as bad as let’s say, Scotty Goldman, and obviously he’s done good for himself. Yet, he’s basically seen as a rookie. Mention that he has held titles in Europe, U.S. Indys and competed in Japan, now he holds more weight than being billed as a former Rugby player.

3. Lack of a Cruiserweight Division – This goes for TNA as well. I miss the WCW Cruiserweight division. The X-Division filled that void at one point but now it’s far from it. Unfortunately much of this has to do with a lack of talent that can work the style. WCW struck gold when they brought in Mexican and Japanese talent. WWE is content with Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio. TNA still has some good X-Division wrestlers, but it’s far from what it used to be. At this point, I guess it’s best to keep the Cruiserweight Championship on Hornswoggle.

2. Social Media – I know there is no way in hell that we are going to see the end of this, but can it at least be toned down a bit? Twitter, Tout, and Facebook mentions are rampant now. You would thing Mark Zuckerberg owned the WWE. I understand we are in an age where social media is as common and as much a part of life as a handshake, and used correctly it can be beneficial. Does it have to be shoved down our throats though?

1. Gimmick Match PPV – Gone are the days when feuds would build up to a huge climax with a Cage Match, or Hell in a Cell. Instead we have a PPV for the Hell in the Cell, one for the Elimination Chamber, Extreme Rules, and Money in the Bank. Instead of building towards these type of matches, we just have to count down the days. In essence this neuters the gimmick match. We are a few weeks removed from the Ryback and CM Punk Hell in a Cell match. Instead of being built up to something special, or at the very least a big deal somewhat like the Undertaker and HHH Hell in a Cell, we just saw CM Punk and Ryback in the cell, not because it was a blood feud, but because that was the theme of this month’s ppv. Kind of lame when you think about it.

Jack McGee
5. Secondary Titles Not Meaning a Damn Thing – I don’t know about a lot of you, but I grew up in an age where the secondary titles meant something. I used to love the old NWA-WCW rankings, the TV Title holder was the top contender, in theory to the US Title, and the US Title holder was the top contender, in theory for the world title. In the WWF, the IC champion was a guy that was mad over, a great worker or someone on their way to the next level. But the bottom line is that they meant something, they were something you could get behind, follow and love. But today they are generally treated like shit, and that is a shame. Not everything had to go old school, but there are numerous elements from the old school that could be used to make this day and age a hell of a lot better.

4. Forgetting the Past – One thing that becomes more and more obvious in present day wrestling is the fact that the past is constantly neglected. From forgetting important events in wrestling history or certain performers for various reasons to the fact that some companies cannot even get their recent history correct, it is simply ridiculous. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, there is nothing wrong with learning from your past or using it correctly, I just wish it was done more often.

3. Wins & Loses Not Mattering – In this day and age, wins and loses in pro wrestling don’t mean a damn thing, and that is one of the biggest issues with the booking. Look at Del Rio, he wins matches clean with a finish and he gets over, then they do back and forth booking for him, and give him 23 title shots over the summer when he constantly loses title matches the same way, and people wonder why people now feel that he is stale. People wonder why Ryback got over, and it is simple, he won matches and killed people while doing so. It got people interested in him. He wasn’t having a ton of back and forth matches with back and forth results. It is very simple, but it seems lost on most of wrestling in 2012.

2. Lack of Championship Protocol – This may be more of a pet peeve, but I hate how the champions are treated. This is not about wins and losses; this is about the protocol as it were. The world champion NOT being in the main event of PPV events, that is absolutely ridiculous. Champions dragging their belts to the ring like pieces of shit are another thing I hate. Carry that bitch on your shoulder or wear it, when you treat the belt like shit, fans will as well.

1. Pyro and Theme Music For Run Ins – I absolutely hate this, and 99 of the time, it completely takes away from the effect that a good run in has. There was nothing like back in the day, the Horsemen beating down a fan favorite like Dusty Rhodes, fans looking upset and looking around for help. And then the slow roar starts from the back of the crowd flying through the audience until it hits a fevered pitch as the Road Warriors hit the ring to clean house and save the Dream. Instead, the audience is treated like mentally challenged monkeys, trained to react to music and fancy pyro.

James Wright
5. Knockouts Neglect – This is something that has always really gotten to me, in both TNA and WWE for different reasons. For TNA it is simple, the Knockouts division was diverse and interesting, and what’s more, one of the most popular aspects of TNA, and yet where is it now? Abandoned in favor of has-beens and WWE rejects, for all the strides that TNA has taken in the right direction my mind boggles at why they would all but get rid of their most successful division. With the WWE caring more about modeling rather than wrestling experience TNA have been in prime position to scoop up some of the best women’s talent in the business and yet they only seem to take on ex-WWE divas, albeit sometimes the more skilled ones, and the women they do have seem to be slipping through their fingers. I know that everyone blames Bruce Prichard for this, but why was this one man allowed to destroy something that clearly worked?

4. Diva Decline – WWE’s side of the women’s argument is slightly different, sure there is still a sense of general neglect, but things have been that way for about ten years, with only brief intervals where divas action would be showcased, they were never really the main event draw that the Knockouts were in TNA at one point. To me the thing to dislike about the WWE’s handling of its women is how they used to have a somewhat clear division between those that were there for show and those that were there to wrestle. Women like Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler would have a bra & panties match, not try to compete in a serious wrestling competition. So when WWE went PG and had to abandon these titillating matches, did they get rid of the redundant girls who were there for show and focus on the women who could actually wrestle? No, instead they tried to make these plastic Barbie dolls into wrestlers themselves, and I would argue that there is not one case where they have succeeded. The most annoying thing about this is that it isn’t even necessary, we as men will take what we are given, we don’t need to look at lingerie models, clad in tiny spandex shorts, which is apparently far more PG than lingerie despite leaving about as much to the imagination. Just give us women in the ring who can actually wrestle and we will give you money, because in the end talent is just as attractive as breast implants.

3. Poor Announcing – I get that being a wrestling commentator is a damn hard job. The travel is just as relentless as any wrestler’s and the need to be entertaining is just as high, and you have to do it for up to three hours straight, but surely that is the point, you need people who can meet these tough requirements because the announcer is the primary way that the audience at home receives and processes information on characters, matches, and storylines. If instead you use the same worn down people who can only spout the same tired old clichés rather than actually inject some much needed life into your product then it is going to suffer. JBL is a good example, he is only really a passable announcer, but because he is fresh and occasionally uses real facts to get a superstar over the IWC are treating him like a revelation. I know it is hard to find quality new announcers, and I know the WWE are trying, but then they put Michael Cole on both shows as ‘the voice of the WWE’ which shows just how far the company has to go before they come to the realization that the people basically selling their product to the masses just aren’t really interested anymore and mostly just try to get themselves over.

2. TNA is WCW – Despite the more promising aspects of Impact as of late I am worried that this is something that is never going to go away simply because the promotion has the same problem at its roots and that is that it is a wrestling promotion owned by non-wrestling people. This leads to them letting the talent have way too much creative control. Now sure the WWE is too much the other way, not allowing talent to get over on their own and giving them carefully scripted promos, which might mean nothing by the next week thanks to the latest creative shake up. But at least they avoid certain has-been stars from hogging the spotlight and don’t have their current stars do crazy things like inner monologues for no reason, or let a man destroy a whole division, no matter how successful it was.

1. Blind Obedience to Merchandise Sales – Now I get it, wrestling is a business, so you have to go where the money is. The thing is that sometimes you become blind to what actually makes money and what you simply perceive makes money. In the case of Jeff Hardy I will give him some slack as he legitimately, for whatever reason, seems to have a connection with a lot of fans and has been consistently over and selling merchandise in TNA despite his druggy antics and not being in the main event for months on end. Maintaining merchandise sales despite this speaks of his real money making potential. But in the case of John Cena I have heard time and time again how he ships the most merchandise and makes the most charity appearances, all the while people, and the WWE themselves seeming to forget that this is because he was shoved down our throats so much to begin with that it is no wonder that his crappy merchandise is the most popular, after all there is so god damn much of it! Add to that the kids, kids will buy anything, do you remember the return of DX? With all the kids cheering them blindly without having any clue as to why? Buying all the merchandise and wearing all the, at times not appropriate, t-shirts. If you put something across to the average kid as being awesome, they will think it is awesome, not all kids and not all the time, but in general. My point here is that Cena keeps on being looked upon as the top draw because that is the position he was placed in, the man is seriously lacking in charisma compared to someone like the Rock. The worst part is that no one else has been given anywhere near enough of an opportunity to shine, just look at C.M. Punk, in his brief time in the sun he managed to outsell Cena in merchandise and looked to be the next big thing, until the WWE decided to put HHH into the mix, put Cena constantly in the main event and water down the Punk movement so much so now many of us here in the IWC have forgotten all the great stuff he did as leader of the SES and call him over-rated. The man was awesome! And he is capable of being that again, and I would argue that other stars could easily step up and sell like Cena, if they were just given the sustained push he has been given. In the end I think that this whole idea that ‘Cena will stop being the main event when his merchandise sales drop’ is madness because of course the kids are going to buy the shirts of the top guy, the only question is how many more might sell if some other guy was allowed to be seen as the top guy for awhile? It is my opinion that the answer could be a hell of a lot more, but will we ever actually get to find out?