The Cobra Strikes

The one true constant for any thing that continues over time is that change is inevitable.  People change, societies change, and with it pop culture changes.  The only way for stories to continue to survive is to change with the times.  There are some stand alone stories that can stand the test of time.  There is no arguing that.  There are also ongoing stories that feel the hit of the times and have to adapt.  Comic books feel that kind of hit every couple of decades.  Stories and details have to be updated to continue to flow with the readers.  Even the way stories are told has changed over the past century.  

Films made back in the 1920's have a harder time finding an audience because of technology and fan appreciation.  Even going so close as to the 1990's, stories that were told then are now joked upon and mocked for its inaccuracies.  The audience has gotten smarter and are always looking for something new.  

Prowrestling is no different.  It has been on television for decades in countries all around the world.  It is a sport that has changed over the years due to technology.  Television opened the world to wrestlers from Japan, Europe, and Mexico.  There were new styles that began to mix and create an entire new show.  It is still being seen today.  

As time went on the sport of prowrestling began to change as well.  It began to evolve less as a sport and more of a show.  Welcome to the world of Sports Entertainment.  Its a blend of acting, wrestling, stage show, and audience participation that exists no where else.  

Today, the WWE leads the world in sports entertainment.  The company has gone so far as to drop the World Wrestling Entertainment and go simply by WWE.  The much remembered and loved Attitude Era of the late 1990's is over.  The WWE has taken a stance for PG television and bringing in the youth as its audience.  

This isn't a bad move.  Times are tough for everybody and getting children to enjoy your show is a sure way to build an audience for the future.  It harkens back to the time of the 1980's when colorful characters entered the ring with over the top personas and matches.  Hulk Hogan grew to stardom because his audience grew up with him.  How many Hulkamaniacs are now in their thirties thinking back to the old days?

The problem lies in only going half way with change.  The current era of sports entertainment tries too hard to remain in the Attitude Era.  That goes for both WWE and TNA.  They need to move on.  No longer will people be bashing each other's heads in with a chair.  People aren't bleeding as much.  Science has shown what a concussion can do to professional athletes in every sport.  We as a people have gotten smarter.  So because of what we know, why are their still PPV's that tease the extreme world of yesterday?  It's nostalgia that will never live up to what we remember because physically it can't.  

The question now is, where do we go from here?  It is time to embrace the fakery that sports entertainment has for so long been seen as a mockery.  Fake is not synonymous with bad.   Every fictional story ever told is fake.  Avatar, the highest grossing film ever, is fake.  Borat, a reality looking show based on a foreigner coming to America, is fake.  Fake is not bad.

The WWE has already toyed with the idea of bringing in concepts that only work in film and television.  Some back stage scenes contain continuity cuts, lighting effects, and post editing.  There are characters that break the laws of reality, i.e. Hornswoggle and even at times The Undertaker.  A change to embrace the entertainment part of Sports Entertainment could be the way to go. 

Enter Santino Marella.  His character as of late has become the closet thing to a cartoon character than anybody out there.  He plays by the rules of reality but his actions, mannerisms, and in ring performance is much more comical based.  He plays to the crowd with light leg sweeps, he as been shown to do no luck ducks, and his finisher, The Cobra, is truly unbelievable but people love it.

His character does not blend well with the more serious toned main eventers that the WWE is used to.  It is because he is only in his work.  He has a teammate Vladamir Khozlov, sure, but no real challengers that can bring the same kind of stage presence in the ring.  

We need more of these type of performers.  People who can put on a show throughout an episode that is clearly fake.  Once we start accepting the fake, we begin to move on.  Tell a fictional story that involves the backstage and cumulates to the ring later in the night.    

Back in the 1960's in Mexico, there was a luchador named El Santo.  He stared in over fifty films as himself.  He was a wrestler defending the world against vampires, martians, mummies, and other creatures.  In most of his movies he would take time to go perform a match.  Many of the matches came to become a part of the story.  He once unmasked his opponent to reveal a werewolf.  It's utter nonsense and B-Movie stuff, but these films were loved by many.  

Sports Entertainment can bring that B-movie feel into it's own storytelling.  There is always room for a little fun amongst a two hour show showcasing different performers.  Especially in the case of a sketch type show that WWE is.  Intermingle the serious with the absurd.  Show a variety of storytelling and variety of cast.  

Santino Marella and others have the potential to bring about a new chapter in Sports Entertainment.  It can become a true show no longer bound by rules of real and fake.  Those rules are old hat and need to be replaced sooner rather than later.