The latest from Stephen Platinum

 

The latest from Stephen Platinum

- Platinum is the owner/promoter of Platinum Championship Wrestling

The Circus Comes to Town - Being on the Fringe, Variety and the Influences of the Carnival on Professional Wrestling

Dr. James Naismith was the inventor and father of basketball, taking the concept of a child’s game he saw, adding a peach basket to throw a ball into, and a few rules, laying the foundation to the madly popular money machine known as the National Basketball Association. While the game has changed and grown, at its roots lies the ideas Naismith founded – you put a ball in a basket and score, and there are rules governing the game.

At the Bronx in the 70’s a number of young, black men provided the birth of rap music and the hip hop movement. At parties and small clubs, with the simple tools of record turntables and microphones, an entire musical style of incredible influence on both entertainment and culture at large was born. And no matter how much money and airplay follows rap and hip hop music now, at the core it has elements of those early days – the beats, the call and response, the telling of a story.

So pro wrestling has changed over the decades, from the money hustle of the carnival days, where wrestlers would take on all comers (marks) to get money, often using plants in the audience to encourage the marks to participate. There was often the allure of the exotic and the unusual, as the carnival workers themselves often came from different cultures, different places in the country and the world, and often were on the run from the law or “decent society” and found a home in the fringe world of the carnival. The carnivals themselves influenced one another in style and technique as employees would go from carnival to carnival, and some groups would see what worked well at other places and attempt to emulate them.

Pro wrestling is obviously a very different thing today. But like the connection between the modern NBA and Dr. Naismith, and the modern hip hop empires and the Bronx in the 70’s, all of pro wrestling in the United States still have elements of those traveling carnival shows.

I’m going to look at the national promotions of note -- World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Total Nonstop Action (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH) as well as the local promotions of note Rampage Pro Wrestling (RPW), NWA-Anarchy, and Platinum Championship Wrestling (PCW). I’m going to analyze and grade the promotions in three categories:

Fringe

This is how outside the societal and industry norms the promotion operates. How much risk do they take? How “cutting edge” are they? Do they have an element of danger? How counter-culture are they?

Variety

This is about how varied and diverse the promotion is – is there an appeal of people of varying ages? Ethnicities? What about genders? How complex and varied are the aspects of the promotion and associated shows?

Influence

Are they an imitator or an innovator? Are they the promotions that people want to wrestle for?

Obviously, with the local promotions there are different levels of standard then the national promotions.

Other promotions of note that I am not going to discuss in the interest of time include Dragon’s Gate USA (DGUSA) on the national scale, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), Alternative Pro Wrestling (APW) and Mid-Georgia Championship Wrestling (MGCW) on the more regional level.

The Overall Grade listed next to the promotions themselves reflect how tied into the promotion is to their carnival roots.

WWE Overall grade: B+

Fringe The WWE is the industry standard, and a multi-national, publicly traded company. Those factors alone are going to hurt their fringe factor. While Vince McMahon Jr. famously has uttered things like “may we never be known as f***ing legit,” it’s clear that the WWE is very conscious about appealing to a wide a fan base as possible. The move towards a PG rating for their television, McMahon’s famous declaration about being “The Walt Disney of wrestling” and other things make it clear that the WWE has attempted to shed the very notion of being fringe. However, it’s still pro wrestling, and the WWE certainly isn’t above using wrestling’s “outsider” or “kitsch” factor to get attention. Grade: C

Variety WWE has a nice spread, especially with the advent of two separate brands, of having a variety of ethnicities, gender representation and different looks. They try and have a “something for everybody” feel to their shows, and are very conscious of trying to appeal to a variety of demographics. However their in-ring product has a very same note feel, both in terms of match story, wrestling styles and even length of matches. They are trying to have the safest, widest appealing wrestling product made for television which doesn’t lend itself to experimentation or variety. Nonetheless, the WWE does the best job of representing any number of groups and have the most colorful show in many definitions of the word. Grade: A-

Influence They are the group that most every wrestler wants to work for, if they are being honest with themselves. Wrestlemania is the premiere event of wrestling. The WWE does things on a wide platform first, and everyone else follows. They now run all new talent acquisitions through their developmental system, further streamlining and homogenizing their product. They’ve made it so when people think pro wrestling, they think WWE. They have taken elements of other promotions in the past, but by and large they are the trend setters and the brass ring. Grade: A

TNA Overall Grade: B-

Fringe Promoting themselves as wrestling’s alternative to the WWE has led TNA to do some things different than the industry leader. They are attempting to have wide appeal, but also seem interested in having the image of wrestling outlaws in so far as it differentiates them from the WWE. They are on a network that tends to operate on the fringe of basic cable. They are attempting to have programming that breaks out of the norm (Reaction) and use new media methods to promote (Dixie Carter’s twitter page) to mixed results. Grade: B

Variety TNA has a much more varied product in-ring than the WWE, when they have wrestling on the show. They have a variety of looks and different types of people on their shows, and tend to take far more risks than the WWE. Their wrestlers and wrestling personalities are given more latitude in the matches they wrestle and the promos they cut which gives a more spontaneous and varied feel to their shows. Grade: A

Influence Clearly TNA in terms of presentation are WWE-lite. Many of their wrestlers come from ROH, and have brought that style of wrestling to much of the undercard. TNA isn’t a career goal for many wrestlers, just a necessary step. Most angles feel rehashed, and most gimmicks feel like they’ve been done to death. When they do stumble upon something that works, often TNA quickly alters whatever it is (changing an over wrestler from face to heel or vice versa) derailing momentum and blunting the possible influence and positive feel to things. Grade: D-

ROH Overall Grade: B+

Fringe Ring of Honor promotes more of a pure wrestling product than the other two prominent national promotions, and covet their often cult-like fans. They harken back to the success and style of Extreme Championship Wrestling in many ways – being unapologetic about what they are, and emphasizing their wrestling style over most everything else, almost to their detriment. ROH doesn’t have crossover appeal as of yet, and seems only marginally interesting in attaining that. Grade: A-

Variety ROH isn’t just a wrestling promotion at this point, it’s an implication on a style of wrestling. It’s the most hard-hitting in-ring style in the United States, and physically breathtaking. But watching a ROH card can often be an exercise in endurance, especially for a casual wrestling fan. Every match seemingly is trying to steal the show. The very style of wrestling limits who can do that style. Coupled with a de-emphasis on gimmicks for the most part, and ROH doesn’t have a varied feel. Grade: C+

Influence For many aspiring pro wrestlers, wrestling for Ring of Honor would be the attainment of a dream. Their style of wrestling and promotion have spawned many copycats in the United States, not seen since the heyday of ECW. Their top wrestlers invariably find work with the other national promotions, insuring that their influence will continue to be felt on a national scale. Grade: A

RPW Overall Grade: A-

Fringe RPW, under the influence of Jimmy Rave, have adopted a more Ring of Honor feel to their shows, which runs counter to their audience and what they are used to. They are re-educating their fans, however, and aren’t above the occasional outrageous stunt to go along with solid, easy to understand angles in order to create a buzz about their promotion. They are unapologetically carving out their own feel and identity in the wrestling scene, almost daring fans to come along for the ride. It’s working. Grade: B+

Variety Rampage Pro Wrestling has a number of different looks to their show. They feature the best mat based wrestling perhaps anywhere, but certainly on the Georgia scene. This “old school” feel combined with the obvious ROH influences makes for the best in-ring product perhaps in all of the Southeast. In spite of being a TV ready promotion, they have matches of all lengths and varieties. The women in RPW are virtually non-existent save for their ring announcer. They mix ring veterans with up and coming talent incredibly well. Grade: B+

Influence Rampage has become the promotion that people want to work for. The booking is seen as efficient and moving in the right direction, their television show is tops in the area, and it’s a good environment in general. Elements of the Rampage style of doing things is finding its way into other promotions, and for good reason. Grade: A

NWA-Anarchy Overall Grade: B+

Fringe Anarchy presents shows in the widest range of places as special events including Dragoncon, the very celebration of fringe culture. Anarchy’s place in the wrestling world is less certain that it was even two years ago. Once a place that clearly functioned as a developmental promotion due to it’s incredible booking and high level of talent, Anarchy often feels like a promotion looking for a strong direction with a fan base that almost appears to continue to come out of habit more than a genuine love for the promotion. However, the sheer talent level at Anarchy and the ability of that talent to experiment and try different things out, often very successfully, gives Anarchy the outlaw and dangerous feel that they retain to this very day. Grade: B-

Variety They are the promotion that gives you the most varied looks, and blends the more seasoned and established talent with the newer talent the most seamlessly. All levels of talent operate at Anarchy, with talent that makes it to TNA and the WWE continuing to cut their teeth at Anarchy, in a variety of different ways. At it’s best, Anarchy really gives something for everyone. From the sheer emotional connection the likes of a Shadow Jackson has with the audience to the ability of longtime manager Jeff G. Bailey to provide heel heat to any of his charges, Anarchy at its best is wrestling done right. Grade: A-

Influence Anarchy has been the promotion that aspiring wrestlers in the area want to wrestle for. Their system of paying dues and how you get onto their cards have been famously strict for this reason. Lately, though, Anarchy finds itself at a crossroads. Forced to move the very dates of their shows to not run against Anarchy, and with an impending sale of the promotion, Anarchy’s stronghold on wrestling in the Southeast has loosened somewhat. Nonetheless, still the standard in the area with the best in-ring talent. Grade: A-

PCW Overall Grade: B+

Fringe From the ashes of World Championship Wrestling in Atlanta, Georgia, PCW runs weekly shows at Acaedmy Theater as well as monthly shows in famous local concert venue the Masquerade. They’ve run shows in everything from high school gyms to avant guard artistic venues to nightclubs. PCW is the hustle promotion that do whatever they have to do to get publicity and attention, and have been very successful in that regard. Nonetheless, they are also the most approachable promotion, geared to get an audience that’s not necessarily composed entirely of pro wrestling fans. Grade: A-

Variety In short, PCW is variety. Comedy blends with more serious moments. Women and a variety of ethnicities abound. The PCW audience itself it the most varied in perhaps all of wrestling, and the PCW product reflects that variety. The in ring styles are incredibly disparate, and influences from theater, pro wrestling’s past, and pop culture abound. Grade: A

Influence There’s no promotion quite like PCW, nor do any of them particularly seem to want to be PCW. PCW is increasingly the promotion that wrestlers are interested in wrestling for, but certainly not to the extent that they wish to work for NWA-Anarchy or RPW. That’s likely to change over time, but PCW is an acquired taste and wrestlers, by and large, haven’t acquired it yet. Grade: B-

In the end, a certain grade implying some kind of “carnival street cred” doesn’t indicate success or failure for a promotion. However, it’s important for wrestling as a whole to remember that there’s a reason wrestling has survived for over a hundred years while other entertainment and sports forms have died off. Within the elements of the carnival lie wrestling’s continued success and revival. Vince McMahon Jr. has often been called “The P.T. Barnum of the modern age” and as much as he and the WWE may want to hold pro wrestling at arm’s length, they and all other wrestling promotions would be wise to remember that P.T. Barnum was a success, and aspiring to achieve what he did is a virtue, not a vice.