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Pro wrestling bookers can make or break a wrestler's image, portraying them as unbeatable Masters of the Universe or bumbling fools with two left feet and no pain tolerance. Guess which way most bookers tend to book themselves?
Last night on Impact, for instance, Jeff Jarrett reached into the booker's bag of tricks to portray himself as the Master of the Universe (the TNA universe, at least).
Jeff Jarrett [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]
For instance, five members of the Main Event Mafia leaped out of the ring and fled the scene when Jarrett walked out with guitar in hand. Later in the show when Sting showed up with a baseball bat in hand, the Mafia didn't flee the ring. They stood there and went after Sting. Sting, of course, fended them off easily, like the Four Horsemen taking their turns setting up the bionic elbow.
But the lesson there for fans is that Jarrett and his Magic Guitar is scarier than Sting and his Baseball Bat. (Bookers have a lot of rationalizations for why what they do is the right thing in that circumstance, but in the aggregate, those "rationalizations" coincidentally come into play on almost a weekly basis for themselves and not as often for others in similar circumstances.)
But wait, says, Jarrett, I don't have an ego. I did the job in the main event. What more do you want?
Jarrett, though, didn't do just any job. He did a job that showed he's impervious to pain and will never give up. He passed out from the pain of the ankle lock after setting a world record for length of time withstanding the pain from Angle's killer submission hold. While most mere mortals tap out within five or ten seconds, Jarrett was in it for what seemed like five minutes. While most mere mortals are smart enough to tap out before their ankle snaps, Jarrett chose to suck it up because, well, his ankles don't break and he would never let the fans down by giving up.
He also pulled out two other tricks. A couple minutes earlier, he had a visual pinfall, but the ref had been knocked down. Traditionally, when a babyface scores a visual fall when the ref is down, that's a giveaway that he will be losing a few minutes later. The theory behind that is a babyface who loses a match looks weak, unless he would have won a few minutes earlier if not for the ref being down. It soften the impact of a loss to have been cheated out of a win just minutes earlier. I don't know if it works, but it tends to make babyfaces feel better about doing jobs. So Jarrett did that, but rather than lose clean, he added another insurance against looking weak.
You see, Jarrett - while locked in the ankle lock - had the wherewithal to crawl over and reach to tag A.J. Styles. He would have, too, if not for Samoa Joe yanking Styles off the ring apron just as Jarrett was about to tag out.
So, here's what we learned by Jarrett "sacrificing himself" and "proving to be a team player" by doing the job instead of Styles in last night's main event:
-Jarrett would have won if not for a ref bump.
-Jarrett would have escaped the anklelock by tagging Styles if not for Joe's interference.
-Jarrett can withstand more pain than any other Angle opponent in history.
-Jarrett's ankle's are stronger than every other wrestler whom Angle has ever faced.
-Jarrett would never let his fans down by giving up; he'd rather pass out first.
I don't know if it's a conscientious thing that bookers do to protect themselves under the guise of "looking out for the company" (using the argument that they'll never leave TNA like Christian, Chris Harris, and Ron Killings did after getting pushes and title runs) or if it's an unconscious thing bookers do when they lose sight of their own limitations and get a bit drunk with the power to portray themselves as Masters of the Universe and the toughest SOBs on earth.
From Eric Embry in the USWA to the Fullers in Continental Wrestling to Jerry Lawler or Bill Dundee in Memphis to Greg Gagne in the AWA to Dusty Rhodes in the NWA to the McMahons (especially Super Shane-O-Mac!) in WWE to WCW World Champion Vince Russo in the NItro era, it's something bookers do. Sometimes it works for a while because they're the best choice for the top spot, but bookers who push themselves as main eventers are the least likely to see when it's time to tone down their Superman push. They're also, all to often, the least likely to be concentrating on creating the next big star to take their place by planning years ahead. It's why in pretty much every single circumstance, it's bad business for a booker to put himself on TV in any role, especially that of the top babyface. Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
