Email This Article - Contact Us - VIP Sign-Up - Back to Home Page

|

Here are ten proposed "Booking Rules" that I suggest TNA's new booking team follow going forward...

-Only promote wrestlers, matches, and feuds that you have time to promote on TV. Don't push so much that the money-matches and money-feuds get lost in the shuffle.

-On PPV, only book focused, simpler, disciplined, logical storyline arcs and climaxes. Determine what two or three things are going to sell 95 percent of the buys, and then make sure everything else stays out of the way.

-Strip away all undercard gimmick matches. Only one-on-one and two-on-two matches for the first 90 minutes. No exceptions. If a match is important enough that it "needs" a third person involved, it must also be worthy of being one of the final three matches. And almost all main events should also be one-on-one or two-on-two matches.

-Only one ref bump every three PPVs and every six months on TV. If at all.

-Make sure any dangerous looking stunt or bump done by a wrestler is memorable because (a) it's the only one on the show and (b) wrestlers and announcers talk about it for weeks afterward. Quit allowing wrestlers (or asking wrestlers) to sacrifice for no reason other than the fleeting (and largely meaningless) "This is awesome!" chant from fans who are chanting that at the expense of being emotionally invested in the outcome of one wrestler beating the other.

-Never book a three-way or four-way match unless it occurs organically, meaning don't book a four-way match because you believe it's inherently more attractive than a one-on-one match and then fill in the wrestlers afterward by forcing multiple storylines that confuse the situation. Instead, on the rare occasion where it's natural that a feud now involves a third party, then create a three-way match. And this is likely to occur once or twice a year, no more. This will mean fewer wrestlers will be on each PPV. That's fine. Forcing wrestlers onto the PPVs at the expense of the quality of the show should stop. When a wrestler proves himself to be a genuine draw on PPV, make sure he's on every one. (No one in TNA qualifies right now.) Until then, there's no need for more than half of the roster to be on any given PPV, including top acts. Make their appearances on PPV seem more special. Make it seem like a wrestler is on PPV because "there's a big match they're involved in" rather than "they're on the roster and that's how it works." If Samoa Joe or Kurt Angle or Team 3D or Daniels wrestle in four memorable PPV matches per year instead of 12 entirely forgettable lost-in-the-shuffle matches, TNA will be serving their fans better.

-Any big-concept gimmick match should be reserved for a main event money feud that is nearing the end, and where there is a clear need for a cage (wrestlers keep interfering on behalf of the heel) or loosening the rules or something on a pole (really, let's can the whole "something on a pole" gimmick for five years and see if anyone misses it). Don't diminish the drawing power and novelty of a complex gimmick or concept match by throwing mid-carder into it. No undercard wrestler is worthy of special stips or a gimmick because, by definition, once it's worth adding a gimmick or special concept match to their feud, they no longer belong anywhere but in one of the top two or three slots.

-And while we're at it, fire anyone who swings a chair at someone who isn't protecting his head with his hands, and fire anyone who gets hit with a chair who doesn't protect his head with his hands. That should create enough peer pressure to instantly eliminate that borderline criminal act (given what we know about how the accumulation of concussions affect wrestlers later in life more than anything else, because the result isn't a physical ailment, but rather it's a mental degeneration that can lead to depression, chronic debilitating headaches, and dementia).

-Trust the wrestlers you hire to tell their story on the mic and, most importantly, in the ring within the ropes. Book the feud and then get out of the way of the pros. If you have wrestlers who can't deliver and need "weapons" and "stand-up brawls" and "ringside distractions" to get through a match, recast them or get rid of them. Hire wrestlers who don't need elaborate booking to get over their feud and don't need gimmicks to tell their story to fans on PPV.

-Most of all, change the main goal of the booking away from "swerves and surprises" and instead shift the focus to "anticipation and payoff." Fans will pay to see someone they love win and someone they hate lose in much greater numbers than any gimmick match, no matter how elaborate the rules are. And it's okay for a top babyface to lose clean at the end of a feud to a heel now and then. It's also okay for a babyface to win clean almost every time at the end of a feud because a heel should be able to get his heat back within one or two TV appearances (Chris Jericho being the current example) by denying his loss, making lame excuses, or simply agitating someone else. Give the fans ultimately what they paid to see, and realize that primarily means seeing the babyface they like beating the heel they don't. It's just that simple. There is no shame in being predictable. There is shame in being unsuccessful as a result of trying to stay unpredictable. Learn the difference between good surprises (such as a mystery partner being revealed and it's a wrestler returning from injury or making his debut who is a good fit in the storyline) and bad surprises (such as Wrestler X turns on Wrestler A with no backstory that justifies it merely for the sake of making sure "no one saw THAT coming!").

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.

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA!
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET

For UFC & MMA NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.