Vamp Posted October 9, 2014 Posted October 9, 2014 The BBC has to answer to the nation, wrestling is already perceived as an industry of iffy people.
Pinc Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 If Yewtreemania ever crosses the pond the WWE will be nervous as hell. Without even referring to any specific rumours the sham glamour of the WWF in the 80s had a lot in common with British pop of the 70s, and you could imagine similar social hierarchies existing in each. Then into the 90s you have a bunch of wrestlers talking pretty openly in their shoots about slipping gimmicks in girls' drinks. And Jerry Lawler is right fucking there.
simonworden Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 Wasn't that the concept of Hogans Celebrity Championship Wrestling a few years ago though. Celebs wrestled each other and the best match was judged with eliminations each show. From my memory it did ok on TV
Paid Members Au Posted October 10, 2014 Paid Members Posted October 10, 2014 I was thinking something similar to the old format of NXT where the rookies were paired with a veteran only with the veteran's actually working matches with their rookies. I still think it has legs, even if Pity thinks it'll mainly attract paedophiles... If British Bootcamp's gone that direction, we'll see how it fairs when it finally airs. A show like that would have to be marketed towards a similar audience to other talent show type things like Strictly, Got Talent, etc, so would need name value better than Al Snow but I doubt it's a format WWE would be open to because going by my NXT comparison above, I reckon it was likely brought up by a writer then but we ended up with something completely different. Which then got axed anyway because they're running it like a territory not a TV show.
King Pitcos Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 A show like that would have to be marketed towards a similar audience to other talent show type things like Strictly, Got Talent, etc It wouldn't, though, would it? Every Tom, Dick and Moron in the country isn't going to sit down on a Saturday night to watch aspiring wrestlers get their headlocks reviewed. People hear a window cleaner whose nan died singing The Climb and it's a song they know and it all makes sense to them. Nobody's sitting there watching a window cleaner whose nan died do a cover of Hogan vs Savage from 1989, because they don't give a shit about that in the first place. That's why the closest thing to it is going to be on Challenge and not ITV.
Paid Members Au Posted October 10, 2014 Paid Members Posted October 10, 2014 I guarantee that if wrestling was hot at the moment, this would draw a decent audience. I'm not suggesting that this is what it's going to take to get it back into mainstream pop culture but it's a proven format. I doubt anyone had any interest at all in watching ballroom dancing on TV but the rebranding of Strictly in the wake of other, similar talent contest shows has proven that you can get an audience for anything.
King Pitcos Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 Yes, if Strictly works, anything can work... That's why both the UK and US versions of Celebrity Wrestling are enjoying multi-year success and weren't canceled after one sad series, right? I'd love Crash Holly to come back from the dead and win the WWE title from Brock Lesnar on an ITV primetime special, but I realise it's a stupid fantasy that can't and won't happen.
Sphinx Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 It just doesn't work. It's too confusing. On one hand, you should be suspending disbelief as much as you can, but then it's getting shattered by 'What did you do on the wristlock? You went for the right arm rather than the left and there was no pressure' The majority who watch wrestling don't see it as an art or care for it as an art. They sit down to watch two guys beat each other up, and want a good enough reason to watch it. Simple as that.
Undefeated Steak Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 (edited) I'm gonna have to start signing the offender's register after this post but I wonder how a semi-scripted soap opera show featuring wrestlers would work? It would have to be naturally OTT for it to have any legs. Follow wreatlers around on the road and as they hit the gym and hang out - have storylines, feuds and friendships develop. A half hour slot three times a week? For one it would help get some personas across. Secondly, we'd be able to see Dean Ambrose take on a Phil Mitchell style role which we all know would be best for business. Wrestlers getting speared in the middle of McDonald's and pranking each other would be great IMO. Take my hard-drive, officer. Edited October 10, 2014 by Undefeated Steak
King Pitcos Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 Undefeated Steak, that seems like a semi-natural progression of Raw. But the difficulty with it is wrestling's live show format. The audience for a show like that would be WWE network subscribers, and the cost of producing three half-hour actual TV drama episodes a week to be in time with Raw and Smackdown would be enormous. Well past the point of feasibility. Conceptually/creatively, it could work (although it'd require loads of recaps on Raw for people who didn't watch the soap). Financially, it wouldn't work at all.
Undefeated Steak Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 I'm going to disagree with you there, Pitcos. I don't think it would need a substantial budget at all. It would literally be filming a few scenes of wrestlers in different everyday (spiced up obviously) scenarios - you see these kind of things on YouTube. A decent camera, a mic and then just let the wrestlers do their thing. You'd probably be able to film a few episode's worth of content and then drag it out over a couple of weeks. Call it 'In Their House' or something equally as shit. I think there's a market for fans seeing more behind the scenes stuff, kayfabed as it may be. Or maybe not. Regarding the recaps on Raw etc, I don't think this concept would need to be one that progresses away from the main programming, but instead one that compliments it. I think my concept is more one that's focused on a "watch the wrestlers in real life away from the Raws and Smackdowns" as opposed to a soap opera, now I'm writing it.
Paid Members Au Posted October 10, 2014 Paid Members Posted October 10, 2014 Now this is something I can get behind.
King Pitcos Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 I'm going to disagree with you there, Pitcos. I don't think it would need a substantial budget at all. The Daniel Bryan and Shield documentaries were pretty expensive. Tough Enough was massively expensive, to the point where they can't justify doing it anymore. I'm not sure what the JBL and Cole Show costs, but it's only four or five minutes long and can get away with shoddiness. An extra one and a half hours a week of content that needs scripting, shooting and cutting is a massive cost. What you're suggesting actually seems to be a male version of Total Divas, and I think that costs about $500k an hour, possibly more.
Undefeated Steak Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 That's insane. I had no idea it cost anywhere near that amount. It shows just how much backing a promotion would need if they were to ever take on WWE.
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted October 10, 2014 Paid Members Posted October 10, 2014 Yeah, Vince/WWE aren't going to put anything out that big without it looking top quality. I imagine it's a reason why he decided against doing an EasyGroup version of Tough Enough, with Van Hammer in the Austin role.
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