Post by Save_Us.Voicebox on Dec 26, 2007 16:44:35 GMT -5
From thefightnetwork.com
www.thefightnetwork.com/news_detail.php?nid=5742
IMPACT SCRIPT
By: Bryan Alvarez
The Fight Network
bryanalvarez@f4wonline.com
The TNA script that was leaked two weeks ago was an eye-opener.
When I first glanced at it I thought, "No surprises." But then as I actually examined it I was struck with the fact that all those problems I see every week on TNA are magnified ten thousand times in this script. I often watch Impact and think to myself, "Boy, these people have no idea what they're doing." Upon reading this script I suddenly realized that -- and I must use all caps here to illustrate the magnitude of this revelation -- THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
My buddy Vince printed out the script for me. We decided we were going to engage in some HOT THESPIAN ACTION and act out a few of the segments on our radio show. The printed-out script is 23 pages long. That alone floored me. A script for a pro-wrestling television show that is twenty-three pages long? Perhaps it's my old-school mentality here, but I cannot fathom why a 23-page script would ever be necessary, especially for IMPACT of all things. There are five pages of a Raw Homecoming script floating around on the Internet. That's for a three-hour show, and the five pages cover most of that period. How could you possibly need a 23-page script?
I could write 23 pages on this script alone, so this week I'm going to concentrate on just one thing, the fact that every single solitary promo is typed out word for word. This is what Krystal says, this is what Bubba responds, this is how Krystal reacts, this is what D-Von says, and so on. Although it doesn't seem like much, this is a humongous problem and actually illustrates nearly every major issue the company has.
What is the point of a promo? The point of a promo is to build up a match, to get people interested in seeing two or more individuals have a fight, and, in the longer term, get people interested in seeing them fight on a pay-per-view. Nowadays, the best promos in this business are either cut on UFC shows, boxing shows, or WWE 24/7. You rarely see a good money promo in modern WWE, although they do exist and sometimes are very good, and you never EVER see them in TNA. Why? Because the best promos are those where a person vocalizes an issue they have with another person, and because they believe in that issue they are able to vocalize it with passion. There is rawness to it, a sense of reality even if you know deep down that they don't fully believe what they're saying. A good example is Floyd Mayweather Jr. During the 24/7 build-up for his fight with Oscar De La Hoya on HBO this past spring he buried the Golden Boy at every turn, saying he (Floyd) was the better man and was going to whip this guy's ass. He was a perfect heel. People bought into the dynamic to the tune of 2.4 million buys. But when it was over, Mayweather was a perfect gentleman, praising De La Hoya. So when, six months later, HBO did another 24/7 series, this time with Mayweather and Ricky Hatton, I would think most boxing fans would have to know that Mayweather was merely playing his heel role again. It didn't do the business of the De La Hoya fight in the US because, well, Ricky Hatton isn't Oscar De La Hoya, but it still came close to a million buys and did even better in the UK. It worked.
With boxing and UFC promos, even though most hardcore fans of those sports understand that guys sometime play roles and say what they're "supposed to say" to build up fights, they can still get into it. In a way, there is a suspension of disbelief that goes along with boxing and MMA promos that we don't get in pro-wrestling, where suspension of disbelief is key. Why? Well, we may understand that Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn't really the rich, cocky prick that he portrays on television, but it's easy enough to believe that he is. Now compare that to, say, the TNA promo where Jim Mitchell is talking about how Chris Abyss' mom shot his father four times in the back or whatever the story is. How could anyone POSSIBLY suspend their disbelief for that story? And, moreover, who would even want to? Who could possibly care about the actions of two characters we've never even heard of or know a thing about? In the Mayweather/Hatton special, we had the mothers of both men talk about how they (the moms) would like to whip their son's opponent's ass. That was money. In TNA, Abyss, a complete freak, is under the mind control of Jim Mitchell because of something his mom, who we know nothing about, did to his dad, who we know nothing about, twenty years ago or something. This is not money. This is a failure.
As is every promo in TNA. Vinny and I read some of the script and sometimes I had to have him read his line again because I had no understanding of it the first time around. It's so horribly written, and worse, everyone's promo is written the same horrible way. Stupid sentences, stupid comments, stupid references to 1998, everyone is required to say the same stupid stuff, and they all sound stupid saying it. There is no emotion in it because they're all reading lines scripted by the same writers, and the promos never make you genuinely interested in a single thing they're selling. On top of that, because they all read the same stupid lines, nobody actually learns how to really cut a promo. When you take into account these scripted promos and the general booking of the show, it's pretty easy to see why everybody on the show is a midcarder. It's impossible for anyone to break out of the pack even if the company tries to break them out. They're still just another guy reading just another stupid promo, and everyone seems capable of beating everyone else on any given day and it never matters in the end (see Angle, Kurt and Machismo, Black). There is a reason UFC business in 2007 won't come close to 2006 levels. It was the year of upsets and most of the top stars were handed major defeats. At least UFC had no control over those outcomes. TNA has total control and manages to screw it up. When everyone is a midcarder, nobody is a star. There isn't a single real star in TNA, and every real star that has entered the company over the last three years, the most recent being Booker T, ended up just another guy within weeks.
To be successful a wrestling company needs to have superstars (not just wrestlers) who have issues with each other and are able to vocalize those issues in such a way that fans become interested in paying money to see them settle these differences. TNA's lame scripted promos illustrate everything wrong with the company and why they continue to fail in such a spectacular manner.
****
For more pro-wrestling and MMA news and analysis with Bryan Alvarez, please visit www.figurefouronline.com.
POSTED -- 12/23/07
www.thefightnetwork.com/news_detail.php?nid=5742
IMPACT SCRIPT
By: Bryan Alvarez
The Fight Network
bryanalvarez@f4wonline.com
The TNA script that was leaked two weeks ago was an eye-opener.
When I first glanced at it I thought, "No surprises." But then as I actually examined it I was struck with the fact that all those problems I see every week on TNA are magnified ten thousand times in this script. I often watch Impact and think to myself, "Boy, these people have no idea what they're doing." Upon reading this script I suddenly realized that -- and I must use all caps here to illustrate the magnitude of this revelation -- THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
My buddy Vince printed out the script for me. We decided we were going to engage in some HOT THESPIAN ACTION and act out a few of the segments on our radio show. The printed-out script is 23 pages long. That alone floored me. A script for a pro-wrestling television show that is twenty-three pages long? Perhaps it's my old-school mentality here, but I cannot fathom why a 23-page script would ever be necessary, especially for IMPACT of all things. There are five pages of a Raw Homecoming script floating around on the Internet. That's for a three-hour show, and the five pages cover most of that period. How could you possibly need a 23-page script?
I could write 23 pages on this script alone, so this week I'm going to concentrate on just one thing, the fact that every single solitary promo is typed out word for word. This is what Krystal says, this is what Bubba responds, this is how Krystal reacts, this is what D-Von says, and so on. Although it doesn't seem like much, this is a humongous problem and actually illustrates nearly every major issue the company has.
What is the point of a promo? The point of a promo is to build up a match, to get people interested in seeing two or more individuals have a fight, and, in the longer term, get people interested in seeing them fight on a pay-per-view. Nowadays, the best promos in this business are either cut on UFC shows, boxing shows, or WWE 24/7. You rarely see a good money promo in modern WWE, although they do exist and sometimes are very good, and you never EVER see them in TNA. Why? Because the best promos are those where a person vocalizes an issue they have with another person, and because they believe in that issue they are able to vocalize it with passion. There is rawness to it, a sense of reality even if you know deep down that they don't fully believe what they're saying. A good example is Floyd Mayweather Jr. During the 24/7 build-up for his fight with Oscar De La Hoya on HBO this past spring he buried the Golden Boy at every turn, saying he (Floyd) was the better man and was going to whip this guy's ass. He was a perfect heel. People bought into the dynamic to the tune of 2.4 million buys. But when it was over, Mayweather was a perfect gentleman, praising De La Hoya. So when, six months later, HBO did another 24/7 series, this time with Mayweather and Ricky Hatton, I would think most boxing fans would have to know that Mayweather was merely playing his heel role again. It didn't do the business of the De La Hoya fight in the US because, well, Ricky Hatton isn't Oscar De La Hoya, but it still came close to a million buys and did even better in the UK. It worked.
With boxing and UFC promos, even though most hardcore fans of those sports understand that guys sometime play roles and say what they're "supposed to say" to build up fights, they can still get into it. In a way, there is a suspension of disbelief that goes along with boxing and MMA promos that we don't get in pro-wrestling, where suspension of disbelief is key. Why? Well, we may understand that Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn't really the rich, cocky prick that he portrays on television, but it's easy enough to believe that he is. Now compare that to, say, the TNA promo where Jim Mitchell is talking about how Chris Abyss' mom shot his father four times in the back or whatever the story is. How could anyone POSSIBLY suspend their disbelief for that story? And, moreover, who would even want to? Who could possibly care about the actions of two characters we've never even heard of or know a thing about? In the Mayweather/Hatton special, we had the mothers of both men talk about how they (the moms) would like to whip their son's opponent's ass. That was money. In TNA, Abyss, a complete freak, is under the mind control of Jim Mitchell because of something his mom, who we know nothing about, did to his dad, who we know nothing about, twenty years ago or something. This is not money. This is a failure.
As is every promo in TNA. Vinny and I read some of the script and sometimes I had to have him read his line again because I had no understanding of it the first time around. It's so horribly written, and worse, everyone's promo is written the same horrible way. Stupid sentences, stupid comments, stupid references to 1998, everyone is required to say the same stupid stuff, and they all sound stupid saying it. There is no emotion in it because they're all reading lines scripted by the same writers, and the promos never make you genuinely interested in a single thing they're selling. On top of that, because they all read the same stupid lines, nobody actually learns how to really cut a promo. When you take into account these scripted promos and the general booking of the show, it's pretty easy to see why everybody on the show is a midcarder. It's impossible for anyone to break out of the pack even if the company tries to break them out. They're still just another guy reading just another stupid promo, and everyone seems capable of beating everyone else on any given day and it never matters in the end (see Angle, Kurt and Machismo, Black). There is a reason UFC business in 2007 won't come close to 2006 levels. It was the year of upsets and most of the top stars were handed major defeats. At least UFC had no control over those outcomes. TNA has total control and manages to screw it up. When everyone is a midcarder, nobody is a star. There isn't a single real star in TNA, and every real star that has entered the company over the last three years, the most recent being Booker T, ended up just another guy within weeks.
To be successful a wrestling company needs to have superstars (not just wrestlers) who have issues with each other and are able to vocalize those issues in such a way that fans become interested in paying money to see them settle these differences. TNA's lame scripted promos illustrate everything wrong with the company and why they continue to fail in such a spectacular manner.
****
For more pro-wrestling and MMA news and analysis with Bryan Alvarez, please visit www.figurefouronline.com.
POSTED -- 12/23/07