TNA, WWE, and "The New Kayfabe"

[HMARK Center]

Just a musing I had with all the insanity going on in pro wrestling the last week.

There's a lot of speculation that WWE might be pulling the collective leg of their fan base; that maybe they were banking on the Rumble outcome causing such outrage, that CM Punk walking out is a work, etc.

The consensus is that it's the only way to really draw heat in an era where everybody hears all the backstage dirt every day; you have to actually play on real life stuff and manipulate the dirt sheets to generate passionate interest.

Thing is, most people in the WWE section also agree that, barring a major turnaround, WWE isn't handling it right, that the Bryan tease went on too long, that the Punk thing sounds difficult to salvage, etc.

Meanwhile, TNA has been running with a storyline where Dixie Carter, long looked at as a money mark who was too nice for her own good, comes in and starts swinging her influence around on-screen as a heel authority figure. Fans dislike it; it's led to a new top heel stable, more nonsensical gimmick matches, main events with little actual wrestling, etc.

Yet this past week they brought in MVP as a "new investor", a card that was almost entirely matches with at least mostly clean finishes, and MVP is flanked by two guys that non-TNA fans would gravitate to in the American Wolves.

So here's what I was musing about: could TNA be playing this up in the "new kayfabe" sense? In other words, Dixie comes in and just books and does all the things that people have spent years ragging on TNA for; a cage match that turns into a ladder match, nonstop main event run-ins, authority figure-led heel stables, etc. Then MVP comes in with guys like the American Wolves, Samoa Joe, and other guys who represent a style that's more akin to a place like ROH or another indy, and is played as the babyface because he's looking to save TNA from it's worst habits.

And if that's the case, is this a better approach to "new kayfabe" than what WWE would hypothetically be doing (if all this craziness is, indeed, a work)? Does this whole "new kayfabe" thing have a place, or is it a poor attempt to generate heat in the modern era?

I need answers, damn it!

[________ has left the building]

This what happens when wrestling killed kayfabe dead by letting all of the outsiders become insiders. In order to get real heat nowadays, you got to play up to perceptions that the smark fanbase have. Since the insider fans believe Triple H bury talent, he plays into that. I'm not 100% sold on Dixie being meta enough to play into the theory that she's a ditz. The problem with the New Investor angle is that just like all the other times a new regime took over, TNA eventually fall back to their old tricks. Too many times change was promised and forgotten soon enough.

The downside of the new kayfabe is that soon no one will believe anything is real unless the mainstream confirms it and even then, you got to take it with a grain of salt. When the line of reality and fake is blurred, you get a situation worthy of an chemically unbalanced conspiracy theorist.

[The Spelunker!]

I like the idea of it. Working the deepest fans certainly generates reaction at least.

[toodarkmark]

I think it's a bit of the kayfabe storyline becoming reality. Like Woman leaving Kevin Sullivan in real life for Chris Benoit, like their storyline, the Dixie-AJ storyline just became the truth. I'm 100% certain she is all over the sheets, the internet, and really taking into account everything. I am equally as certain AJ has fallen out of favor a bit with TNA. BUT money, fame and draw hopefully sooth those issues over and he returns.

I hope, I really really hope, that they start using the internet and the IWC to their advantage. It makes me sick how apparently if you cater to the IWC you cannot "draw". No. You are not drawing anyways, and Im certain they have realized this. MVP being Kayfabe rich and "athletic" brings a new style to TNA. He is also someone who went from the WWE to Japan and built a resume there. They are also involved with Keiji Mutohs promotion. It just seems like they may be building towards the silly, Russo-esque, Dixie is dumb world being the Heel and the indie, Japan, strong style, IWC pleasing workers being the new Faces. Having AJ come back would certainly put the entire concept over.

I enjoy it, I see where they are going, and it really is the new Kayfabe. Im hoping its successful and the heel/face time is 50% and Dixie starts to move away from the product once new starts are established.

[Brother Nero....Wolfe]

I don't like "new kayfabe" because I just think it's such a weird feeling to want to have. I would prefer to just be emotionally involved in the plot because of the plot itself. The big thing is that wrestlers generally aren't good actors, so they can't get us to care about the plot unless...well, unless they aren't acting. But ideally I just wish we had more in-character reasons to cheer for someone. Like someone who(extremely bad example) is trying to avenge his father's death by beating his mortal enemy who tossed him down a mountain or something.

I mean, end of the day, I can't get too invested in what goes on backstage because I genuinely don't care. I don't want a show trying to fool me into being "real" because that's the cheap, hack way out of things. I want a show with a storyline deep and meaningful enough that I can sit back and willingly suspend my disbelief because the plot is good enough for me to want to believe in it. A story shouldn't be based around making you question how much of a story it is - that's annoying. It just takes me out of the plot whenever it happens, like say, Rock vs Cena. Every time they started going on about stupid backstage crap I wasn't involved in how real it was. I was bored by how disconnected from the storyline the show presented week in and week out it felt.

End of the day, I don't enjoy new-kayfabe, no. I think the notion of kayfabe is dead and should be kept dead. Instead, I'd prefer if companies focused on better writing so that instead of having to go "Ha! Got you there for a second!" they can go "We both know this isn't real, but we are willing to pretend it is while we watch it" like any other tv show.

[JoDaNa1281]

Feb 1, 2014 14:49:37 GMT -5 ________ has left the building said:

This what happens when wrestling killed kayfabe dead by letting all of the outsiders become insiders. In order to get real heat nowadays, you got to play up to perceptions that the smark fanbase have. Since the insider fans believe Triple H bury talent, he plays into that. I'm not 100% sold on Dixie being meta enough to play into the theory that she's a ditz. The problem with the New Investor angle is that just like all the other times a new regime took over, TNA eventually fall back to their old tricks. Too many times change was promised and forgotten soon enough.

The downside of the new kayfabe is that soon no one will believe anything is real unless the mainstream confirms it and even then, you got to take it with a grain of salt. When the line of reality and fake is blurred, you get a situation worthy of an chemically unbalanced conspiracy theorist.

Maybe not Dixie, but maybe one of the writers is.

[HMARK Center]

I agree that, by and large, the idea of internet age kayfabe is a dangerous one, particularly in the hands of mainstream wrestling companies that seem to constantly walk the line of going all-in on such angles and always wanting to revert to the status quo at the same time.

I do just wonder if there's multiple ways to approach such booking, and if some methods are better than others. For example, say that TNA was doing it right now; I could potentially call that effective (always a big "if" when discussing TNA executing a game plan) because the storytelling would all be done on the screen, clear for the audience to see.

[Glitch]

I hate this because it's still clinging to the idea that they must pull the wool over the eyes of the audience at all costs. Wrestling companies need to accept that they are writing fiction and work with it. Vince seemed to acknowledge that when he made his speech about not insulting people's intelligence during the attitude era.

["Cane Dewey" Johnson]

When I watch "Thor: The Dark World," I know that Chris Hemsworth doesn't really hate Christoper Eccleston. When I watch "Breaking Bad," I know that Bryan Cranston doesn't really hate Giancarlo Esposito. When I play "Batman: Arkham Origins," I know that Roger Craig Smith doesn't really hate Troy Baker. But only in wrestling am I expected to believe that Phil Brooks really hates Paul Levesque.

[Deleted]

I'd prefer TNA's style of handling it but damn am I tired of battles for control of TNA.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2014 23:10:04 GMT -5 "Cane Dewey" Johnson said:

When I watch "Thor: The Dark World," I know that Chris Hemsworth doesn't really hate Christoper Eccleston. When I watch "Breaking Bad," I know that Bryan Cranston doesn't really hate Giancarlo Esposito. When I play "Batman: Arkham Origins," I know that Roger Craig Smith doesn't really hate Troy Baker. But only in wrestling am I expected to believe that Phil Brooks really hates Paul Levesque.

He totally does dude. Phil Brooks is the Voice of the Voiceless, and Paul Levesque is the maniuplative, soulless suit trying to silence that Voice.