No blood, no chair shots - next stop 'wrestling'!

[Izzy]

WWE BANS CHAIR SHOTS TO THE HEAD
http://www.pwinsider.com/article/45988/wwe-bans-chair-shots-to-the-head.html?p=1

By Mike Johnson on 2010-03-17 09:12:02 A report by the Hartford Courtant revealed that World Wrestling Entertainment officially banned chair shots to the head at the onset of 2010.
The article stemmed from the ongoing political warfare in Connecticut stemming from Linda McMahon's campaign to become Senator.  One of McMahon's political rivals, Rob Simmons, who has been taking shots at McMahon's campaign being based around her background running World Wrestling Entertainment, questioned whether McMahon would testify at a local education committee about preventing and treating concussions among High School athletes.

In researching the article, writer Daniela Altimari received the following email from WWE spokesperson Robert Zimmerman:

"In January 2010, WWE amended its Talent Wellness Program, specifically regarding the ImPACT™ Concussion Management Program originally instituted in 2008, eliminating the use of folding chairs or props to "strike" an opponent in the head.  Prior to this policy change, The Tables, Ladders and Chairs event in question took place on December 13, 2009.  "Incidentally, no performer suffered a concussion during the TLC event."

The company's concussion program features annual examinations of talents as well as evaluations of whether they can return to active competition following head trauma.

The verbiage involving chair shots reads as follows:

*The WWE has eliminated using folding metal chairs to "strike" an opponent in the head.

*The WWE penalizes through fine and/or suspension the following:

-The intentional use of a folding metal chair to "strike" an opponent in the head.

-Any blow to the head that is deemed an INTENTIONAL act.

*The fine and/or suspension will be directed by the EVP of Talent Relations.

[Hammy]

Unless I'm misreading it they aren't saying "No chair shots" merely, none to the head, which considering the effect is a great idea, as much as I miss blood too, stuff like this should be the "Icing on the cake", whether a product is great or not won't come down to this, this stuff won't save a product and the lack thereof won't kill it either.

[Izzy]

It's just one more thing, there comes a point where u have to draw the line - it's almost been forgotten that wrestling equates to violence

[BlowUpYourVideo]

I agree with Hammy, but I do find the whole 'PG' thing a bit confusing. I mean, professional wrestling is based around the basic concept of two guys fighting each other. Seems strange to try and take that idea and make it 'family-friendly'. I don't mean they should go nuts and have barbed wire and full frontal nudity and people nearly getting killed each week (which is what Bruno seems to think wrestling these days is like...) but doing something similar to the Attitude era would surely be popular (especially for those of us who missed it the first time around). Iis marketing towards kids really that important? Why not market towards 18-40 males? Pro wrestling, by nature, isn't designed for kids.

Hmm, I got a bit off-topic there.

Perhaps just having less chair shots would be a solution. Or is there a safe way to hit someone in the head with a metal chair??

[Izzy]

Always thought you could design a chair that could be used without injury - if it has virtually no weight and wasnt swung like a warhammer I feel the injury would be minimal and the effect impresive

WWE uses these heavy chairs which are clearly inappropriate.

Anyway, Linda's senate campaign at work again - if she doesnt lose we'll have a decade of this nonsense

[James Lofton]

I agree with Hammy, but I do find the whole 'PG' thing a bit confusing. I mean, professional wrestling is based around the basic concept of two guys fighting each other. Seems strange to try and take that idea and make it 'family-friendly'. I don't mean they should go nuts and have barbed wire and full frontal nudity and people nearly getting killed each week (which is what Bruno seems to think wrestling these days is like...) but doing something similar to the Attitude era would surely be popular ....

What? This is a byproduct of the "Attitude era". Those that embrace that era of wrestling should be embracing this.  Ten years ago fans were let in on the joke, and now you're realizing the punchline isn't funny?

Kayfabe virtually destroyed, drowning in skits, spoilers all over the place, actual wrestling taking a backseat, and you're surprised that it's been reduced to this?

You cant embrace Austin talking to a crowd for 20 minutes nonstop, an 80 year old woman giving birth to a hand, and then be mad that a few years later it's "PG". One leads you into the other. While the late 90s had blood and was a bit more violent, old school fans saw this bullshit coming a light year away.

What's happening now is a natural progression from that era. For years fans have wanted less wrestling, more entertainment, and Vince is giving you what you want. Now you have kids who grew up on that era, so its now being catered to them.

Enjoy.....

[BlowUpYourVideo]

What's happening now is a natural progression from that era. For years fans have wanted less wrestling, more entertainment, and Vince is giving you what you want. Now you have kids who grew up on that era, so its now being catered to them.

Well, hopefully at some point they'll realise it's not that popular and change their approach. For me, I wasn't a fan yet during the Attitude era, so I only have the videos to go by.

And I think that people only want 'entertainment' if it's actually..... well, entertaining. I see nothing with that since surely that's the whole point of professional wrestling. I don't think people want it to be completely outrageous, I just think they want WWE to realise that a large part of their audience isn't kids and they wanted to be treated as such. Surely there's a good mix to be found of wrestling and entertainment??

I agree that things like spoilers and all the reports of who's doing what backstage haven't been a good thing. They just take away the enjoyment of a lot of it.....

[Izzy]

I think what's hurting WWE is the total lack of focus - it's says it's PG but worries about the older demographic, it attempts to keep the older demographic happy (ie with Bret) then has joke sections with midgets

WWE needs to decide what it wants to be - sports entertainment or pantomime - then stick to it. If ur aiming at 10 year olds don't use Bret, if ur aiming higher - don't do the crap

WWE is trying to be all things to all people and failing everyone

I just can't watch the stuff anymore

'say Shawn, why do we act like there's no camera here?'
'i dunno Hunter, let's do a dance with a leprachaun!'

yey, ratings gold

[BlowUpYourVideo]

^I think that's what it comes down to. And IMO wrestling is naturally more marketable to..... well, not kids. Aim for an older audience!

[Hammy]

From JR's blog:

Nice to see WWE focus on eliminating chair shots to the head of their athletes. I blogged about this several weeks ago which I am sure means nothing in regard to this decision being made. Some asked if I thought this mandate was ‘politically motivated’ to which I emphatically say hell, no. It simply makes common sense and the overall health of the competitors has to be any companies utmost priority.

[slashsfro]

I agree with Hammy, but I do find the whole 'PG' thing a bit confusing. I mean, professional wrestling is based around the basic concept of two guys fighting each other. Seems strange to try and take that idea and make it 'family-friendly'. I don't mean they should go nuts and have barbed wire and full frontal nudity and people nearly getting killed each week (which is what Bruno seems to think wrestling these days is like...) but doing something similar to the Attitude era would surely be popular ....

What? This is a byproduct of the "Attitude era". Those that embrace that era of wrestling should be embracing this.  Ten years ago fans were let in on the joke, and now you're realizing the punchline isn't funny?

Kayfabe virtually destroyed, drowning in skits, spoilers all over the place, actual wrestling taking a backseat, and you're surprised that it's been reduced to this?

You cant embrace Austin talking to a crowd for 20 minutes nonstop, an 80 year old woman giving birth to a hand, and then be mad that a few years later it's "PG". One leads you into the other. While the late 90s had blood and was a bit more violent, old school fans saw this bullshit coming a light year away.

What's happening now is a natural progression from that era. For years fans have wanted less wrestling, more entertainment, and Vince is giving you what you want. Now you have kids who grew up on that era, so its now being catered to them.

Enjoy.....

I would say that the late 90s blood and violence  came as a result of the ECW infleunce.  I would say that the WWE got damn lucky that there were good workers that let them get away with the skits and other junk.  I miss when there was an actual main event wrestling match that ends shows on a weekly basis instead of a main event interview or some segment that advances the angles.

It's sad that skits/interviews have basiclally become accepted norms in the weekly wrestling shows.  Unfortunately, WWE does just enough (some decent PPV matches that feature actual wrestling) to keep me still watching although I haven't seen a Raw from start to finish in years.

Regarding Linda's senate campaign she has nosed ahead of her Republican primary challenger in the pollls but when matched up against the main Democratic challenger that she might be facing in November, she gets creamed.

[James Lofton]

I would say that the late 90s blood and violence  came as a result of the ECW infleunce.  I would say that the WWE got damn lucky that there were good workers that let them get away with the skits and other junk.  I miss when there was an actual main event wrestling match that ends shows on a weekly basis instead of a main event interview or some segment that advances the angles.

It's sad that skits/interviews have basiclally become accepted norms in the weekly wrestling shows.  Unfortunately, WWE does just enough (some decent PPV matches that feature actual wrestling) to keep me still watching although I haven't seen a Raw from start to finish in years.

I've never understood how and why it was allowed to evolve into that, or why wrestling fans embraced it in the first place. Its the equivalent of living in the 80s and saying, "Gee, I wish they would stop wrestling so much. I want Hogan, Savage, Hillbilly Jim, Junkyard Dog, and Tito Santana to talk for 90 minutes in the ring instead."

Had they tried this bullshit in the 80s, the wrestlers would have been chased out of arenas and people would have stopped watching it in droves. It just boggles my mind that people watch this, embrace it, and have the nerve to call it wrestling.

Look at the wrestling discussions here(specifically that Raw thread). People talk about guest hosts and skits, and when a match is discussed, its usually followed by a comment of how short it was. Might as well just watch SNL, a soap opera, or  the Benny Hill show. No offense to anyone watching this, but I find that quite sad.

Years from now your memories of wrestling are going to be skits.


As I have mentioned before, the only period where I watched wrestling non stop was early 80s-early 90s. Since then, it was sporadic to varying degrees, with the longest spurt being close to a year. So basically I am unable to see the step by step process of it evolving into this. I know this was fully embraced in the Attitude era, but it must have started a bit sooner. During that mid 90s era, I watched WCW through part of 96, watched a bit of WWF in 97, watched some WCW in 98 during Goldberg's reign when that "finger poke of doom" insulted my intelligence, and also started watching RAW around this same time when The Rock, Austin,etc. dominated the show. Got tired of that bullshit pretty quick, and went about three years without watching any wrestling.

As a wrestling fan, if I want to watch wrestling, I expect it to be wrestling. I'd like to know why wrestling fans in this era want it to be anything but wrestling.

In the "golden age", the ratio was about 80-90% wrestling/10-20% interviews. In this era its 80-90% skits/10-20% wrestling.

How is that acceptable to wrestling fans?

[BlowUpYourVideo]

any wrestling.
As a wrestling fan, if I want to watch wrestling, I expect it to be wrestling. I'd like to know why wrestling fans in this era want it to be anything but wrestling.

In the "golden age", the ratio was about 80-90% wrestling/10-20% interviews. In this era its 80-90% skits/10-20% wrestling.

How is that acceptable to wrestling fans?

I think that's the point, a lot of fans would like more wrestling and less talking etc. Like I said, segments and interviews are fine if they're actually entertaining and unfortunately a lot of time, they fall flat.

But I don't think there's many fans who want just wrestling. I mean, nowadays fans know it's scripted so storylines and such can make it more interesting, instead of just watching a show consisting entirely of matches with outcomes we know are pre-determined. If people wanted just wrestling and nothing else, they'd watch 'proper' wrestling. But I think people want the mix of wrestling and entertainment. Today, things are leaning more to the 'entertainment' side and there doesn't seem to be loads of fans out there who 'embrace' it. I think the majority of fans over 15 or whatever would like to see a change...

[Hammy]

To be honest, you keep using the term wrestling, heck even Vince McMahon dislikes that term, it's "Sports Entertainment"    He's basically taken wrestling, controlled the business and redefined and named it as he so wishes.

[slashsfro]

To be honest, I usually end up reading the spoilers and if there something interesting I watch it.  I remember WCW in 1996 though they were going full bore with interviews to start each show.  This happened after the huge Hogan Nwo angle.  From the WWF I remember the 1994 Owen Hart/Shawn Michaels Raw match (HBK fake concussion) that entirely overshadowed the show and placed the entire focus on the angle itself.

A few of the skits are entertaining and probably easier to produce/choreograph than an actual wrestling match.  Unforutnately they have gone overboard with this stuff (at least on the weeklies).  The problem is that the people in charge (Vince, Stephanie, Brian Gerwitz (lead "writer" on Raw) think this stuff is truly entertaining and funny and continue to push this stuff on a weekly basis.  It's too bad that Shane left as he would be one that could have brought a lot more interesting ideas to the company.  Smackdown has a bit more wrestling since those people aren't as involved with the show.

Most of the wrestling actually occurs on the PPV which is why I download that stuff.  Unfortunately, most of the good matches involve older guys (HBK, Jericho, Mysterio etc) and once those guys leave; it could get real unwatchable for me.