By Jon Cudo, PWTorch Specialist

TRUE: QUICK HITS NO ONE IN WRESTING KNOWS WHAT THE FIRST AMENDMENT SAYS

Impact Wrestling showed us again this week with Bobby Roode's promo that no one in wrestling knows what the First Amendment says. Not that Constitutional Law really belongs in a wrestling angle, but I can't recall anyone ever getting it right. John Cena and Bobby Roode are the most recent violators, but I would consider adding a Constitutional primer to the Wrestling 101 course in the future. I would explain the First Amendment here, but it doesn't belong in a wrestling column either... Google it.

TRUE: RING GEAR MATTERS

I gave a shout out to Kofi Kingston for some outstanding trunks at Survivor Series. I believe ring gear is an important part of telling your story and defining your character. Bobby Roode (in his Beer Money days) never dressed the part of "Money," so it made that aspect of his character silly, unrealistic, and distracting. Ric Flair's impeccable suits always helped complete the picture of a world-class star who wanted all the best things in life. What you wear tells fans something about who you are. John Cena relates to kids with his child-like attire, while C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan show their respect for wrestling with their traditional gear.

Last week on Impact we saw two examples in one match of performers who haven't put it all together. The "monster" Abyss has a custom shirt and jacket that look the part of his sadistic character, but he wears them with some off-the-rack jogging pants with racing stripes down the leg. Samoa Joe continues to wear the most ridiculous tights and has yet to find (or look for) ring gear that doesn't highlight his non-action figure body type. Neither guy has put it all together and both suffer for it.

Wrestlers like Cena and Punk have found a way to enhance and cement their character and connection to the audience with their gear while performers like Samoa Joe and Abyss do exactly the opposite. What you wear matters and needs to match who you are and what you are attempting to project as your character.

TRUE: KANE'S TARGET WAS JOHN CENA

The Tuesday review of the Kane attack on John Cena included some speculation that he was on a rampage and attached Cena because he was there. However, perhaps lost the never-ending podium comedy of the Slammy's was the final Kane video which included a fleeting shot of John Cena (and no other wrestlers) in a quick grainy image. So it appears that Kane has some issue with Cena, which will likely be explained soon.

"WHEN YOU PUT YOUR HANDS ON DIXIE, IT'S LIKE PUTTING YOUR HANDS ON STING"

I will have to take Sting's word for this and, assuming it's true, it kinda kills the fantasy.

FALSE: ROH SHOULD BE MARKETING TOP STARS

Recently the argument has been made by PWTorch's Bruce Mitchell that ROH is failing as a business because it focuses on selling ROH over marketing its top stars. The promotion can do a better job featuring and spotlighting talent; however, they are right to focus their macro marketing efforts on building the ROH brand.

In its current form ROH is a distant third as a national wrestling brand better suited to carve its own niche than to foolishly attempt to go head-to-head with WWE and TNA. It's made up of talented wrestlers who either lack something to keep them in one of the major promotions, younger talent gaining experience on their way, or performers who don't fit in the larger national promotions yet have skills suited for this smaller niche market.

The former group (like Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjanmin) has talent; putting them on the marquee hints the promotion is built on third-tier stars who lack the skills to work in the larger promotions (fairly or unfairly). The latter group is also talented, but not known outside of the very small audience that ROH already has. ROH may have drawn 350 in Greensboro, but promoting talented top-star Eddie Edwards would likely draw 35 people.

ROH is more like minor league baseball than anything else. It's a niche product, created for a passionate fan base who love the sport. Fans know they will see a good brand of baseball with a mix of stars of the future along with displaced stars. ROH is smart enough to know that top talent will drive their success, but recognize the reality that a call from WWE or TNA to any top talent will be too good to pass up. They work and travel more, but I suspect a talent you rarely see like Curt Hawkins or an undercard comedy figure like Santino Marella make more than any ROH performer. Being a talented star who believes in a movement is nice, but doesn't pay the bills forever; ask C.M. Punk, Daniel Bryan, Paul Heyman, RVD, Sabu, Shane Douglas, Rey Mysterio, or the Dudleys.

Check your local minor league baseball team's marketing campaign. Sure, they have top talent in marketing materials, but they drive their brand as fun, entertaining, quality baseball... not a chance to see this top player, since they know any player who is too good will, by definition, not be in their uniform for long. ROH is wise to build their brand first as top quality workrate performed by an amazing collection of must-see stars. It's a slow build, without the huge upside of being a two top wrestling promotion. But being a great minor league baseball team is better than not being in business at all.

TBD: THE NETWORK PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE WILL BE TELLING

I don't see the WWE Network running Nitro, Georgia Championship Wrestling, ECW, or even Nitro in order and in entirety.

Firs, I don't think there is much demand for that, not that ratings will matter a great deal, but that is a sliver of a sliver of a small piece of the viewing universe who would watch. Second, there is so much on those shows that the WWE would be wise to edit out rather than deal with the endless stream of baggage they would rather avoid. The obvious example is their rule to exclude Chris Benoit from video.

I suspect if you pull a Nitro episode from 1998 and remove all Benoit matches, interviews, promos where he is in the picture or mentioned and you immediately go from a 120 minute show to a 100 minute show. There are countless edits and situations that will make almost any edition of these shows unusable. Finally, the issue of ECW music rights is another example of video that isn't suitable for air. Good luck editing out entrances, highlight packages set to music, or videos showcasing characters build around music like Mikey Whipwreck or Sandman.

On top of that, while some storylines and matches are classic, there is a lot of bad programming. A lot of this content will likely be used, but in small segments bookended with commentary, roundtables, or used to highlight new WWE talent... not played concurrently. It's just not how WWE has ever used the library, nor is it a realistic way to produce content.

The most interesting two hour block of programming on the Network might actually occur on Thursday nights from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., overlapping with Impact Wrestling. The company line (and perhaps company reality) is that Impact is so far below us that it's not ever on our radar. However, at some point some programming wizard will say, "why not counter Spike during that time block?".

The Network could show current day WWE, with a show like NXT or Superstars, but the more interesting counter might be showing highlights of WCW Nitro. For the fans who just want something different from WWE, old Nitro highlights still have that alternative feel (along with frequent comments about how inferior the WWF is). These clips also have the familiar wrestling stars from TNA, but in their prime. Watch the 40-something versions of Sting, Scott Steiner, Nash, Hall, with younger a Hogan and Flair, and a sharper Bishcoff on the WWE Network....or tune into Impact and see this crew with 15 years more milage?

The WWE doesn't pay much attention to Impact, but this programming block will tell us something about that relationship we don't know now.

The Network seems to be a coming reality, yet how they WWE fills the hours each week is going to be interesting and remains to be determined.

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Jon Cudo is the newest PWTorch Specialist, presenting the "True-False-TBD" format. Jon has worked in the sports entertainment industry for over 20 years, including major league sports teams and Nike. He has been a life-long pro wrestling fan and has attended WWE, WCW, and ROH events in person, including backstage access at multiple events. He grew up in Minnesota and now lives in Cleveland. He runs his own business, www.GameOps.com, a web site designed to connect sports teams and event producers with ideas and tools that will enhance the entertainment value for fans attending their events.

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