As each calendar year comes to a close, people from all over the world ponder the things they will or won’t do in the coming year to better themselves. Some give up their beloved chocolate, others vow to stop cussing, and alcoholics from America to Australia promise to ditch the bottle. They call it a New Year’s resolution, and most everyone makes them. To the same token, most everyone wishes that they could make them for somebody else.
That “somebody else” tends to be the person’s significant other. My girlfriend wouldn’t blink to make me stop farting in the New Year, while I wouldn’t hesitate to make her stop talking for the entirety of it (I kid!). Honestly though, I’m a wrestling fan. If my girlfriend is my significant other, then WWE comes in at a hairline short of that.
So I ask you, my dear readers… if you were the WWE, what would your New Year’s resolution for 2012 be? And no, it can’t be giving up chocolate, you racists.
If I possessed the power to make a resolution for WWE in 2012, I’m not sure I would know where to start. So many possibilities, so many weighty options that could each make the WWE the wrestling company that I dream about. I would love for them to push the younger talent, but I would love for them to make an effort to bring in veteran competitors as well. The tag team division needs a major lift, so I could make the resolution to give it extra attention. Then again, is that really fair? The same could be said for the Diva division! Okay, so I guess I need to make this resolution more broad, one that would affect the WWE as a whole… I’ve got it!
In 2012, the WWE should vow to let EVERY one of their Superstars loose.
Don’t understand? Let me explain. Recently, I watched the new Stone Cold DVD set in its entirety from start to finish, and followed it up with a YouTube search frenzy, digging up anything I could possibly find on “The Texas Rattlesnake”. Through this, the one thing that stuck out to me was the realness that oozed from his promos and overall personality. His feelings of anger and intensity were palpable; you could almost feel them with him. His body language projected such authenticity, and his words seemed unique and straight from his stone cold heart. No two promos were alike, and not one promo was forgettable. His character was incredibly well thought out, down to the each little mannerism, be it the attitude in his strut to the ring or the wry smirk when Vince McMahon informed him he would have to compete with one arm tied behind his back. And oh, there definitely is a reason for this.
Austin wasn’t handed a script. Austin never recited anyone else’s words. He molded the character on his own, chipping away at the granite in order to create the Stone Cold that we know and love. The WWE could learn from their past and give people the freedom to be creative and think outside of the box, not hand their characters to them in a packet of paper.
Recently, it seems like this is finally starting to happen, albeit for a select few. All of us remember “The Summer of Punk”, where CM Punk tossed away the script and started giving us promos that rocked the wrestling world to its core (is it a coincidence that CM Punk donned a Stone Cold shirt it his famous June 27th shoot promo?). Punk showed us something we had been starved of for far too long: authenticity. Those words were his. We have also seen guys like Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryder crafting their characters on the internet via Z! True Long Island Story, which were eventually brought onto TV.
But there is a gap, a gaping gap. The promos and character of CM Punk are so natural, so real that the wrestlers who’re handed their lines seem like crappy cartoon characters in comparison. Take Jack Swagger, for example. You can make that guy say “All-American American” as many times as you please, it’s not going to get him over. Let him show his emotion, let him speak inject his words into the character. If they don’t cut the mustard, he can be coached. But successful wrestlers cannot be planned out on paper. They need that personal aspect. Ask the most popular wrestler in recent history, Steve Austin. It worked for him.
Jack Swagger isn’t alone in his blandness. So many other cookie-cutter WWE Superstars that are fed their lines and characters lack real identity. They lack those unique aspects that separate them from the pack. And how could they? They’re being manufactured by the same, questionably ingenious people. While they flounder, stuck in a shell of a real character wrestlers with the ability to be creative flourish.
So, WWE, there is your New Year’s resolution. Take the creative freedom in a character that guys like CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler get, and spread the love. Give everyone that chance to succeed. Close that noticeable, unacceptable gap between the free and the scripted. Maybe then you’ll have a company full of not clones… but individuals.
But hey, that’s just me. What is your New Year’s resolution for WWE in 2012? Feel free to leave them in the comments section!
(Also, if you have any requests for article in the future, e-mail them to me at pagano_evan@yahoo.com.)