“We’ve embarked upon a far more innovative and contemporary creative campaign that is far more invigorating and extemporaneous than ever before”
– Vince McMahon’s Attitude era promo, Dec ’97.
WWE have always enjoyed stressing how they’re much more than just a wrestling promotion, they’re an “entertainment” company first and foremost. They’ve always been quick to promote new ventures and are always keen to outsource personalities for projects other than their regular commitments in the squared circle. Now more than ever before, we see superstars heavily featured in movies & TV and as goodwill ambassadors at charity functions and such. We’re constantly updated whenever the WWE juggernaut gets behind new entertainment or media platforms and that’s all well and good; but what I’d like to see them do more of is start to expand on the main product which attracted people to the company in the first place and no doubt generated massive revenue. Actual wrestling.
Granted, the above mission statement was what Vince said in 1997 but it’s surely still relevant now in 2013 as it implies they’re all for providing innovative and entertaining programming concepts and ideas for the “WWE Universe”. So why not try something new? Why don’t the WWE try and shake things up a little? Not an all-new programming campaign or “attitude” change like they have done in the past, but rather a few fresh ideas, to keep people entertained no less.
Every week on WWE TV, month after month, year on year we see 1-on-1 bouts, rushed divas matches and thrown together clusterfucks after a run in results in the show’s GM “spontaneously” booking a six-man tag as the only conceivable way of resolving a situation. Lazy.
Which is why different match stipulations are always so hotly anticipated whenever they’re announced; they give us something fresh and exciting to look forward to and always heighten anticipation for the show on which they feature. This is because it’s bound to offer something different within the context of an event than just another bog-standard straight one-fall match.
There’s been that many different match types devised throughout the years all offering something unique and we’ve all got our favourite stipulations. From classic feud enders like a Steel Cage match (with all it’s Cell/Chamber cousins) to Loser Leaves Town/Retirement matches to variations on the “Death Match” theme like Anything Goes Streetfight, Last Man Standing, First Blood, Falls Count Anywhere, Buried Alive, Ambulance, and we could go on…..
Then there’s all the bouts which expand on the regular one-fall rule, instead fought as 2 out of 3 falls, Best of 7 series, Iron Man or even elimination style matches like 3-way dance, Fatal 4-way, 6-pack Challenge and Gauntlet matches.
Most of these still prove hugely popular with fans and the reason for that is simple. Every week during the course of regular TV programming it’s more or less the same old formula. So when something out of the ordinary is promoted it obviously gets our attention.
However, for my liking there’s nothing quite the same as an entire show (or even a large portion of the card) being dedicated to a unique match type. It’s these “Concept” shows which I believe we really need to see more of added to the event calendar, and where the WWE should definitely try to exercise some of it’s creative muscle.
Nowadays, with more hours of regular programming than ever to write each week, it’s only logical that we’re seeing more and more of the same matches and feuds repeated than ever before on WWE TV. Concept shows though, keep things fresh. They have the potential to shake things up and give us new and exciting match-ups between opponents that have been kept apart up until that point.
We see it every year at the Royal Rumble where an elimination gives rise to a dispute between the opponents involved. This leads to a brand new feud which means new matches and new possibilities. The Royal Rumble is in many fans’ eyes the greatest match concept ever devised. Granted, it’s just a glorified Battle Royale but it offers something that fans can’t see at any other time during the year. That’s why the concept works even now, 25 years since it’s creation and why it is still so universally popular; because it is such a change from what we’re used to seeing.
Wrestling fans like variation. We like originality and we like to see fresh match-ups and scenarios. So that’s why I’d like to see a few more of these proper concept shows each with their own unique format, scattered throughout the course of the year. Sure, keep the big guns like WrestleMania and SummerSlam but I believe the likes of shows such as Payback, Night of Champions and the TLC pay per view could definitely do with a revamp.
The Survivor Series has always been my favourite concept pay per view for this exact reason. Like the Royal Rumble, it’s a once-a-year event. We get to see amazing alliances as our favourites team up and battle combinations of opponents they rarely would get chance to at any other time.
We’ve seen some cracking teams over the years. Andre’s awesome monster factory in 1987, Hogan joining forces with fellow super-faces Jake Roberts & Demolition in 1989, the DX/Hardys/CM Punk clean sweep in 2006 and let’s not forget the fantastic “wild card” match at Survivors ’95. A radical idea at the time, as enemies were made partners and stable-mates found themselves on opposite sides. The Survivor Series idea itself is glorious in it’s simplicity. Essentially expanding a 1-on-1 scenario like wrestling into a team-sport where the actions of your team-mates could ultimately affect the end result (are you listening Bad News Brown?). In essence it’s just like any other legitimate team-sport.
Then there’s the annual King of the Ring tournament. Definitely a popular concept in it’s day albeit one which has ultimately fallen out of favour. However as shows like Elimination Chamber prove, they’re now so well-established on the events calendar that they dispel any fears that these more gimmicky shows are unpopular and also add weight to the argument that doing something different once a year as a special event can definitely spike a PPV number.
And recently, we’ve even seen WWE test the water as regards gauging the popularity of old match-types with their NWA/WCW War Games anthology DVD; putting the feelers out there to assess whether revamping such a format would prove popular. Although it’s still unlikely that a match of this type would feature at the new “Battleground” Pay Per View in October of this year, despite the buzz surrounding such a revival.
Certainly then, a fresh idea or innovative concept which grabs our attention and proves popular can become a staple of the PPV calendar. It’s been proven. So my question to WWE would be why not try more of them? Each one of the above shows has been established as an ever-present and now happens annually. So that got me to thinking; which other match concepts could be implemented, or even revived from the past?
And the first one I thought of was another long standing fave of mine. WCW’s Lethal Lottery/Battlebowl.
Taking over the entire Starrcade ’91 event before being shoe-horned into the PPV schedule between Halloween Havoc & Starrcade in 1993, “Battlebowl” was later revived at Slamboree ’96. This 32-man version of the idea was admittedly somewhat clunky and stop-start in terms of match quality and overall presentation. Not enough happened for large portions of the show and ill-matched or all-too-convenient “random” pairs were teamed up alongside too much low-level talent enlisted purely to pad out the roster (Arachnaman & Sgt Buddy Lee Parker, anyone?)
However, it’s the 1992 version which proved to be the prototype for an awesome idea.
Staged at the memorable Starrcade ’92 show in December that year, it’s one of my most favourite PPV’s ever. This time, using only 16 wrestlers in 4 straight tag matches with partners and opponents drawn at random, the winners advanced to a much more manageable 8-man Battle Royal AND it threw up some intriguing teams and match-ups along the way. We saw a Vader/Dustin Rhodes duo, Sting and All Japan’s Steve Williams teaming up to face New Japan stalwart Jushin Liger and not to mention the awesome Great Muta battling Flyin’ Brian whilst teaming with Pillman’s then regular tag partner Barry Windham.
Indeed, that was a memorable show and definitely one to check out if you’ve never seen before but as touched on above, how easy would it be to bring this format back to life over 20 years later? My conclusion is….it’d be very easy indeed.
As mentioned earlier, the King of the Ring tournament was a model idea. Designed to elevate one guy to main event level or at least cement his existing upper card status all during the course of a one-night tourney, this is exactly the kind of booking philosophy which could be behind a Battlebowl revamp.
Similar to the current Money in the Bank match or Royal Rumble, the payoff would be no different to the way in which those bouts are planned. The winner of a one-night Battlebowl would be guaranteed a future World title match at the next PPV for instance.
Just to illustrate how this could work, take a look at the 14 names (scheduled to compete) at the last MITB pay per view in the 2 briefcase bouts. Throw in Chris Jericho and Ryback who also worked the show in a somewhat disposable 1-on-1 contest and then, BAM!… you’ve got your 16 names to wrestle the Lethal Lottery matches.
CM Punk & Ryback vs Chris Jericho & Dean Ambrose
Antonio Cesaro & Rob Van Dam vs Christian & Jack Swagger
Damien Sandow & Daniel Bryan vs Fandango & Wade Barrett
Cody Rhodes & Randy Orton vs Kane & Sheamus
Have those names in Bold advancing to the 8-man Battle Royale finale, throw in a couple of title matches booked alongside it and there you go. You have an entirely new show.
Simple huh?
Well how about this….
After this year’s “All Star” match, I’m now of the opinion that the Money in the Bank LADDER concept has definitely run it’s course also. The idea is all used up. We’ve had entertaining ladder matches at WrestleMania’s and the idea was then expanded to fill an entire pay per view. We’ve had six, seven and eight man matches under the banner. We’ve seen giant-ladders and mini-ladders. We’ve seen stilt walking with a broken ladder and every gimmick in between. Like most trend cycles in the pantheon of pop-culture (reality TV formats, music trends, TV series etc) they eventually run out of steam, typically after about 7 or 8 years. And I think the Money in the Bank ladder match has now ultimately reached that stage.
So what better way of freshening up the MITB gimmick than giving it a bit of a revamp; Money in the Bank but with a twist? The outcome would be the same, as in granting someone a guaranteed title match at the end of it yet the overall concept would change. I believe it has to. This way, it would instil some much needed validity rather than being just a bunch of insane ladder-based spots which we’ve all now seen countless times before anyway. And also, as the recent injury to Sheamus at this year’s show attests to, the risk of losing any number of talent grows greater and greater year after year in a match of that nature as the stunts get even more crazy.
With all this said then, I believe a concept like the Battlebowl format would be just the ticket to revitalise the MITB idea. A new and exciting concept for fans to enjoy, yet still offering the same payoff which in all honesty WWE would be well served to hold onto. I’ve always liked the idea of having the overall winner being able to demand a title match within the storyline whenever they want. It is the perfect failsafe in today’s high-impact product that should the current champion suffer a serious injury and a quick changing of the guard is required, switching the title to the MITB briefcase holder allows that freedom to maintain continuity without too much disruption. It’s just the ladder match gimmick which I think has to go.
So by implementing a fresh idea, one which is able to expand storylines and throw up new possibilities; putting allies on opposite sides, having existing foes teaming up and then staging the every-man-for-himself Battle Royal finale at the culmination of the show would just be a super re-vamp to the whole Money in the Bank idea.
I’m not saying that this is definitely the best idea to implement, but I believe the WWE needs to start trying new things similar to this. Remember how intriguing the original concept was upon it’s inception at WrestleMania 2? The Elimination Chamber gimmick too, when that was first unveiled. And how about Eric Bischoff’s “Raw Roulette” idea? That too was a cool gimmick. There are opportunities to be innovative and produce exciting new concepts out there, so come on WWE….Get brainstorming!
You never know, they might hit on another winning formula. That’s what I think anyway.
– By Dave Green