A Look Back At The Wrestling Industry In 2010
2010 for the wrestling business was suppose to be the year of new, exciting things happening this year. I remember back in 2000, where there was so many new things going on for example: The tag team division in the WWE was on fire, the Attitude Era was at it’s peak, wrestlers were jumping ship from one company to another, future stars were being built, etc. So many things were changing the wrestling business. That’s the key word: Change.
I’m using my opinion to see how this year was for wrestling or “Sports-Entertainment”. This was suppose to be the beginning of
the future for both WWE and TNA; A new era. This was the year where the old, past-their-prime, and the washed-up should’ve left. But let’s look at what went on all year long for both companies.
WWE
* They elevated many new names to become something, but it was because they had no choice..
* They basically got rid of the whole “This Superstar has to be this big..” theory
* Many injuries and releases went on this year
* Veterans were taking the back seat for once
* Titles were being unified
* Using gimmick match-themed PPV’s
* Brought back Bret Hart
* Old concepts like Kane Vs. Undertaker and the King of the Ring were brought back for, like, the 800th time..
* Guest host concept – which sucked…
* Michael Cole turned heel
* PG programming
* John Cena still can’t wrestle
I’ll give WWE credit. For a “Sports-Entertainment” company, they tried many new things. Sure, ratings and buy rates were still going down but they’re slowly getting rid of the old and going in with the new. But of course they had to; Triple H and Shawn Michaels have either left or started working backstage. Undertaker’s all by himself. Kane and Big Show don’t even count since they haven’t even done much this year.
Now, to TNA. As the younger, newer promotion, I expected TNA to make some serious changes from what they’ve been doing for a few years now. Here’s what TNA’s been doing all year long..
TNA
* The booking still sucks
* They brought back super old concepts like “The Four Horsemen”, the “New World Order”, and “ECW”
* Hogan, Bischoff, Vince Russo, and Ric Flair are still working in the wrestling business.
* Ratings and buy rates either stood the same or decreased BIG TIME.
* Dixie Carter got on TV. That’s original..
* Power struggle storylines…again.
* Former WWE and WCW wrestlers continued to flood TNA.
* Championships were losing their prestige.
* Things were still not making any sense.
* They’ve chose to silence their critics rather than to take a look at themselves for any areas of improvement.
* They still haven’t taken iMPACT! on the road and continued to use the sound stage.
* The production and presentation has gone slightly up.
* They got rid of the six-sided ring.
* And still produced “Sports-Entertainment”, even if it blew their chances at becoming a real WRESTLING alternative like they were before.
* The X-Division and the Women’s division made no improvements.
All in all, 2010 was a terrible year for mainstream wrestling. Most things were going downhill while MMA had a big year in 2010. There was nothing revolutionary, explosive, and interesting this year. Instead, they’re choosing to be stay being looked down on by the general public and MMA fans when they’ve could’ve change things around for the better. A lot of fans were losing interest this year as well because of the same old thing month after month. Fans like me were hungry this year for wrestling. WWE and TNA had me starving to death from it, and so because of that, I became a fan of ROH. ROH had a fantastic year in 2010. Sure they’re still the smaller promotion, but they got big plans next year for us WRESTLING fans. Plans that will continue to set ROH and it’s wrestlers into the future as they grow. There you go…
Elvin.
