The Undertaker Needs A Hostage
It's a challenge to keep the interest for a match that we have seen twice on the big stage with an outcome that is nearly automatic. They have the challenge of making the build to the match fresh and interesting enough to look forward to another encore.
Art imitating life almost always works. The best wrestling characters are extensions of the people themselves. The same criteria is successful with storylines. The stories resonate with the audience even more when the audience knows that what would normally be acting from a script is actually being launched from real life events.
Triple H saying that it is bad for business to fight The Undertaker is 100% accurate. Triple H is involved in the corporate financial side of the company. The Undertaker's WrestleMania streak is a brand and a moneymaker.
What does it take to convince Triple H to take the match at WrestleMania 28? The Undertaker needs to take a hostage. The Undertaker needs to take his own career hostage. He should respond by saying either fight me at WrestleMania or I will retire right now. The Undertaker retires and there is definitely no more WrestleMania streak/brand for business.
This would make sense in the context of the story and be unexpected. The context of the story involves the reality of business and Triple H's role with the company. Whenever you think about The Undertaker retiring, you think of it being the result of a match he lost, not a match he never had. BOOK IT!
Speaking Of Streaks……Vince Russo's Continues
Vince Russo and TNA have officially parted ways. Russo was once working as the head of creative writing. The streak continues of Russo rising to the top creative spot for a wrestling company only to be eventually fired. The firings don't make Russo a failure. In fact, the continued firings are a tribute to his ability to continue to get chances at being the head creative guy. I blame the companies for not realizing who he is and allowing him to be the top guy.
Russo is talented. Never allow yourself to think otherwise. Anybody that says Russo isn't talented is simply running with the crowd of what the popular “smark” opinion on the topic is and have never sat in a creative meeting for a wrestling television show. I have and it's hard. I have so much respect for those who work daily to create a script for weekly programming and production. Russo has the thick skin to deal with the political rigors of the business and he is a creative person.
The issue is that his creativity and personality aren't best for being in the top creative spot. He is a great compliment to have on a creative staff. Just when everyone in the room is getting stale or drawing blanks, Russo can find come up with the right creative juice to fill the void. The trouble is, it seems from all that we have learned about his personality that Russo doesn't like to be just another guy.
His brief return to WWE after the sale of WCW proved that. He knew he couldn't deal with having to pitch an idea that goes through several people for approval or modification. I think Vince Russo being apart of the current WWE creative team would be of value to them but he isn't going to want to be an equal with 16 other guys on a creative staff. I think Russo would be a value to any wrestling programs creative staff, just not as the head.
The reports are that Dave Lagana will fill some of the void that Russo is leaving. Dave Lagana seems to be the exact opposite. Russo is known for increased sports-entertainment soap opera type content, high amount of storyline swerves and gimmicks. Dave Lagana by his intelligent twitter campaign can be associated with #IWantWrestling.
I have spoken with Lagana in the past, watched the stories he wrote in WWE and read stuff he has suggested via blogs- and he is certainly a guy who stresses logic. He has a starting point and an ending point. He has this as often as you can in wrestling/sports entertainment. There are times you start a story with the idea for the end but things out of your control can alter the conclusion.
TNA has a good crop of talent. I hope the addition of Lagana will allow the focus to be on the entertaining matches TNA can provide rather than the attention being on questioning the logic of the story that is based around the match.
Now if only TNA would get rid of Hogan and Bischoff. They are gonna hold the company and Spike TV hostage for new contracts in the fall of 2012 and the company is no better with them. You get rid of both of them and give Paul Heyman complete control of the wrestling operations which includes hiring and firing. If you do that, I would guarantee that in 12 months time the product will be doing better in every measurable aspect than it was at any time prior.
As for Vince Russo- WWE is doubtful, ROH wouldn't like his style and any other company in North America doesn't have the funds to afford what he would want. I hear this “small” upstart promotion called Micro Championship Wrestling could use a creative head!
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