"But is it good?" The Only Worthwhile Debate In Modern Pro-Wrestling

Watch pro-wrestling long enough, and you begin to recognize the patterns of wrestling matches and the tropes of the medium: the heel cheats, the babyface "comes back", groups and teams inevitably betray each other, veterans "pass the torch", and on and on it goes in an endless merry-go-round of (hopefully) joy and wonder.

Eventually, you may even want to see some of these patterns and tropes at work because they provide a sense of comfort, a return to your once simplistic, romanticized view of right & wrong.

Roman Reigns And The Dangers Of Deserve

Almost every day I see comments from frustrated professional wrestling fans claiming that Roman Reigns "doesn't deserve" all of the opportunities WWE has given him. This comment is incredibly reliable regardless of how Roman Reigns evolves and regardless of how his booking changes.

At this point, if a pro-wrestling fan is reciting the same laundry list of criticisms that have been leveled at Leati Joseph Anoaʻi over the past two years, I tend to question their true intentions as it relates to their love of professional wrestling.

THE RAW REVIEW

Pro-wrestling is storytelling.

Everything that goes on in a pro-wrestling show is symbolic, a literal representation of something figurative (like theater, film, television etc). The simulated combat of a pro-wrestling match, while resulting in very literal pain, is a metaphor for a real-world sport, a personal conflict, a war, a familial struggle, an identity crisis, or (often in WWE’s case) corporate negotiations. Because pro-wrestling is storytelling, the medium’s symbolism and iconography can be incredibly powerful. Over time, audiences are conditioned to associate maneuvers, phrases, gestures, expressions, and even objects with particular performers or scenarios. The best professional wrestlers tend to be those who use their symbolic power to their advantage, manipulating the audience to incredibly intense Moments of Pop.

THE RAW REVIEW

RAW REVIEWSTim KailJune 2, 2015seth rollins, dean ambrose, roman reigns, professional wrestling, wwe blogs, pro wrestling blogs, pro wrestling podcast, the shield, the reality era, wwe network, monday night raw, the raw review, the work of wrestling

THE RAW REVIEW

RAW REVIEWSTim KailMay 5, 2015sami zayn, sami zayn debuts on monday night raw, professional wrestling, pro wrestling blogs, wwe blogs, womens wrestling, give divas a chance, wwe network, nxt, new day, tamina, naomi, the bella twins, seth rollins, roman reigns, dean ambrose, the shield

WHY I WANT TO LIKE ROMAN REIGNS

I’ve always liked Roman Reigns.

I’m a twenty-eight-year-old married man.

My favorite wrestlers are performers like CM Punk, Sami Zayn, The Rock, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Mick Foley, AJ Lee, Lita, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte, and Roddy Piper.

I’m fairly certain I could be labeled a “smark”, and, like many who write about pro-wrestling on the internet, I have my fair share of criticisms for the WWE.

DEAN AMBROSE & ROMAN REIGNS: THE TEAM WE NEED

Lately, SmackDown has existed as background noise in my house.

This has less to do with the quality of the show and more to do with the fact that Raw’s three-hours saturates the viewer. By the time SmackDown comes around to HuluPlus on Saturday, I’ve already seen a minimum of four hours of WWE “content” (usually more as a result of perusing the WWE Network and YouTube). There is no other television-narrative I devote that much time to. Every other show I watch is either twenty minutes a week or forty minutes a week. Like most, I occasionally binge-watch a show, but such shows are always focused on the same characters or the same, consistent narratives. The WWE has yet to catch on to the viewing patterns of today’s generation, and the fact that more and more audiences are responding to psychologically driven, serial narratives with relatable characters in interesting situations.

DEAN AMBROSE vs SETH ROLLINS: HELL IN A CELL PREDICTION

EDITORIALSThe Good WorkerOctober 16, 2014WWE 2K14, dean ambrose, hell in a cell, machinima, pay-per-view, prediction, professional wrestling, roman reigns, seth rollins, simulation, the shield, video games, wwe network

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