By Jon Cudo, PWTorch Specialist

TRUE: CODY RHODES WOULD HAVE BENEFITED FROM THE TERRITORIES

We are watching the evolution of Cody Rhodes every week on TV. We tune in while Cody tries out new laughs, phrasing, timing, and subtle character changes. While it seems Cody is slowly finding his way, it makes me think of all the characters who never did this in front of a national television audience. They just appeared on camera; ready to go.

Before the national expansion era, wrestlers (sports entertainers) like Cody would have bounced from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine trying out new laughs, phrasing, and timing all along the way. By the time he arrived on a national show, all of these character traits would have been flushed out. We would see the finished product, performed by a confident performer who had done it all before.

Imagine a young Macho Man Savage on national TV trying out new phrases each week, changing his voice, or changing his look. He would have looked like an awkward novice. Instead, the Macho Man appeared on the scene larger than life, polished and confident. This was due in part to his time spend honing his craft in the territories.

So far the new developmental schools have not been able to create an environment that allows this same kind of growth.

Today's wrestling is bigger, flashier, and more homogeneous. However, it is missing the polish that pyro, make-up, and HD cameras cannot create. It's the polish that comes from practicing your craft, live, time and time again, in front of different audiences until it becomes part of you. Like what touring wrestlers had before the national expansion.

Cody Rhodes would have benefited from this, as would nearly all of his counterparts. And so would viewers.

FALSE: WRESTLING BENEFITS FROM TV TIMESLOTS

It has been said that wrestling might be best with a 90 minute TV block, since an hour seems too short (see ROH) and two hours can seem too long.

What wrestling really needs is a break from the two or three hour formats. Even a break from the two hour Monday night block with a predictable 10 minute overrun.

TV is changing. The old model of advertising is being questioned and even the typical 22 minute (of a 30 minute block) formatting is no longer set in stone. CBS has invested in writers creating webisodes of new shows, none having a set time window to tell their story. A new show might be 22 mins, but is just as likely to tell it's story in 12 or 36 minutes.

Freedom from writing around these blocks of time would do wonders for wrestling, in-ring work, and wrestling bookers. Imagine a match that isn't cut up by a commercial, turning a six minute match into a three minute match with commercials. Or a segment that goes on forever, likely because they need to fill to the top of the hour. Your don't live life in exact seven minute windows (at least I don't), so it makes sense that it's difficult to make it happen in wrestling or storytelling. Currently matches seem unimportant since you leave them for commercials (unlike ANY other sporting event) when you have to time around commercials. Matches also feel more scripted and less real when they always seem to fit snuggly inside the standard TV format, without overruns (or predictable overruns or time left over like happens all the time in other sports).

Looking at Impact Wrestling last night, I felt like the James Storm and A.J. Styles segment was an unneeded diversion from the Kurt Angle-Storm storyline. The story is cleaner and more effective if you trim out several minutes of Storm acting out of character and accusing Styles of crossing him, instead having Storm call out Styles only to be attacked by Angle. While I don't know if they would tell that same story if time wasn't a factor, it just seemed like the story would have been been told in four minutes than in eight. TV formatting called for eight and we got what we got.

Imagine a show that had commercials or product placements between matches and was only as long as the announced and promoted matches and interviews took. Nothing stretched to fill time and nothing cut out so we could be pitched Slim Jims and Skittles. There is a way for advertising to fit around the product, or become part of it... and that new TV formula will eventually find it. It will allow for better stories and better in-ring action, and televised wrestling and viewing will be better for it.

TBD: CENA TURNS AT MSG THIS WEEKEND

What remains from the poorly booked Rock return, their weakened opponents, and a flat storyline is the reasonable question of if John Cena will turn heel. For one of the few times in recent memory, Cena seems truly ripe for a turn. His character has run its course. A large segment of fans are rejecting Cena as a babyface. A "big four" PPV has been booked, with a huge marquee star return, all at the greatest arena in the world. So have all the stars aligned?

In the past I marked this as high as a 40 percent chance; now I think it looks like a slim chance. Chance enough to make this a must-see show, but I think the chance of a turn is now under 20 percent. Cena has shown no sense of internal conflict. He doesn't seem to be weighing a heavy burden of his current role, a conflict with friends, or a shared interest with foes. Even his interactions with Rock seem to only show a disappointment with Rock, not a fulcrum that could shifts his world view.

None of the fantasy booking ideas (which occasionally are accurate) like a Nash-led third generation NWO, a faction with Truth and Miz, or a Cena revolt with John Laurinitis make any sense or have any active clues that connect the current story to events of two or three months ago.

While TNA has turns for shock-value only, WWE tends to make actual turns logical and noteworthy (except for Sheamus, Edge, John Morrison, and all the others who turn by just smiling more). So while the turn seems ripe, WWE booking seems to have lost interest in it or has moved it off the table.

The window is open for a Cena turn in a way it has not been before. Ever. The question is will they jump through it, and the answer may be determined this Sunday night in New York.

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