wrestling / Columns

Smashing Impact: On Billy Corgan, TNA, and Social Progressivism in Professional Wrestling

May 22, 2015 | Posted by Wyatt Beougher

Introduction: On April 27th, 2015 it was announced that TNA Wrestling had hired Billy Corgan, of Smashing Pumpkins fame and Resistance Pro Wrestling infamy, to be their Senior Producer, Creative and Talent Development. Since the announcement of his hiring, nearly everything that Corgan has said in interviews speaks to a man with a vision for TNA, one that could potentially silence a lot of the justified criticism the company has endured over the past handful of years.

As a disclaimer, I am a Smashing Pumpkins fan, and I’ll admit to not knowing enough about Resistance Pro to have an opinion on Corgan based on his time as part of that promotion. I do know that he genuinely seems to be a fan of the business, and from his interviews, he has said a lot of things that long-suffering TNA fans should want to hear: focusing on wrestling, working on coherent stories and characters for all talent, developing their own talent, and soliciting input from talent on how best to get them over. Those are all things that would greatly benefit TNA in my opinion, and I think a lot of fans would certainly agree with me. That being said, there are also a few things that Corgan has said that have me worried. I’m going to highlight some of the quotes from the various interviews that Corgan has given since joining TNA, and give my thoughts on them.

And, as a second disclaimer, this column was originally written prior to the news that Destination America may or may not be cancelling Impact. Until it’s confirmed, I’m choosing not to write a eulogy, and will instead treat it as speculation, no matter how well-informed it may be.

“I’m fully committed to using my 30 years of entertainment experience, along with my deep-rooted passion for pro wrestling, to take on the thrilling challenge of creatively contributing to IMPACT WRESTLING, finding and developing new talent, and working eye-to-eye with the best-of-the-best. For as cultures currently evolve at great speed, so must pro wrestling meet and supersede such expectations to thrive.”

This was from the original statement to announce Corgan’s hiring, and it’s mostly the vague, complimentary stuff you’d expect to hear from a new hire. The last sentence though is the one that interests me the most. There have been times in TNA’s existence where all but the most diehard fans can admit that they’ve been almost embarrassingly Southern, rooted in the past and seemingly oblivious to the changes in American cultural views and ideals over the past twenty or thirty years (obviously, the recent Bill DeMott fiasco shows that TNA aren’t the only company who make this mistake). I wrote a column last year about how if WWE wanted to “go mainstream” and be seen as more than the lowest form of scripted entertainment, they needed to tap into the zeitgeist of popular culture like they did during the Attitude Era, and Corgan’s last sentence here leads me to believe that his goal is to do just that. While we’re on the subject of modernizing their booking practices…

“There is a tremendous opportunity to go into really fresh, new directions.”

“There are ways to explore those themes in ways that are productive, create new stars and show that value-based ‘babyfaces’, no matter what their background, no matter where they come from, can draw new audiences and inspire people in new ways.”

“Those social and cultural issues that are sort of a ‘don’t’ go there’ subject” will result in themes that will feel more meaningful to current audiences. “I think there’s an endless supply of things in our culture where people are dealing with race or with gender, et cetera, and you can get into these things in a way that is both revelatory and enlightening. Treated the right way, ultimately, the good guy wins. The right ideas win.”

These quotes were taken from an interview with Fox News, and Corgan was talking about developing characters who deal with issues of race, ethnicity, and gender. First off, if Corgan is legitimately serious about this, and he is committed to portraying characters from different backgrounds as the babyfaces and not the heels, that will be a huge step forward, not just for Impact, but for American wrestling as a whole. My concern here is that TNA doesn’t exactly have a sterling record for being socially aware or progressive, whether it was Orlando Jordan’s poorly-handled bisexual gimmick back in 2010-2011, (an admittedly heel) Bully Ray leading Brooke Tessmacher to the ring on a leash just a couple of years ago, or the much-debated angle that saw a face Bully Ray stalking Dixie Carter for weeks, breaking into her house, and eventually powerbombing her through a table.

And as much as I’m trying to be optimistic about these specific plans for the company and disregard their past missteps as the remnants of a bygone era, it’s worth pointing out that Bully Ray, the man responsible for a large portion of TNA’s homophobic and/or misogynist content over the past few years, just returned to the company for a recent live broadcast of Impact, which was to be the first episode of TNA’s flagship program that Corgan had attended since joining the roster. (Also worth noting – Ray’s real-life girlfriend, Velvet Sky, also made her return to the company, and she was part of a poorly-executed domestic violence angle with Chris Sabin before the latter performer, who she was dating at the time, left the company last year.) For now, it appears as though Sky has re-joined the roster while Ray’s appearance was a one-time occurrence, so it’s probably not the doom and gloom sign that some people might have you believe, but in both the Sky/Sabin and Aces & 8’s storylines, neither Velvet nor Brooke ever gained even a single measure of comeuppance on the men who were controlling them.

It is my sincere hope that TNA will not only go through with angles that feature LGBTQ and/or minority characters in babyface roles, but that they will be executed with more grace and tact than the company (or, truthfully, US professional wrestling in general) has employed in the past. Before you break out the torches and pitchforks and rallying cries of “wrestling fans aren’t ready”, hear me out: these types of characters have existed, as both babyfaces and heels, for decades in Mexican lucha libre. The exotico tradition hasn’t always been particularly socially progressive, and it originally started as a way for straight men to get rudo heat in a country largely defined by its machismo and Catholic cultures. At some point in the mid-80s, though, that changed, and fans of Lucha Underground have seen the favorable reaction garnered by Pimpinela Escarlata every time he makes his way through the Temple. If Pimpi, a flamboyant forty-something known for wearing boas and looking quite a bit like Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, can win the admiration of traditionally macho Hispanic men, then there’s absolutely no reason that a more subtle take on such a character could not be well-received by TNA’s fans. The most important difference between Pimpi and whoever TNA decides to debut is that this character’s sexuality or gender identity are not their entire gimmick, but simply a part of who they are, like Kurt Angle and Bobby Lashley’s amateur wrestling backgrounds.

Sure, Angle debuted as “Your Olympic Hero”, but over the years, he has developed into much more than that; unfortunately, with an LGBTQ character, TNA is almost certainly not going to have the luxury of multiple years to flesh out the character. As such, they will need to have a storytelling direction in mind that focuses on character development before the character ever debuts. If not, they will run the risk of immediate fan backlash and the character will be dead in the water. Similarly, while pro wrestling is often classified by the broad strokes that it uses for storytelling, making the character’s sexuality or gender identity a huge reveal (or worse, a swerve) is only going to make the whole thing feel forced and unnatural. Unfortunately, that would simply be another example in a long list of them in American wrestling history (recent examples include the aforementioned Orlando Jordan and the sham wedding of Chuck and Billy), but based on some of Corgan’s other comments, I feel like perhaps he might be better mentally prepared to handle a storyline or character like this with the proper gravity.

From his interview with Esquire:

“Any culture, and I don’t care how hairsplitting you want to get, but the mainstreaming [process] is going to deal with the bias. Where it splits is where you find story. Not in race or gender, but where people are dealt with. In the workplace. If we can have a woman President. Or rock stars who aren’t supposed to be in wrestling.”

“Some of the biggest money-drawing feuds in the history of professional wrestling were based on, let’s call it ‘real things.’ You start with that foundational level, then you put that with a systemic way a wrestling company works, and somewhere in-between you get into real, sustained drama.”

“People are doing things in the ring that people couldn’t dream of 30 years ago. 30 years from now, we’ll see things we couldn’t dream of today. You want to go to the circus and see something you’ve never seen. You go to a wrestling match and want to see something you’ve never seen.”

First off, if you haven’t checked out that full article in Esquire, it’s worth a read, as Corgan comes across as someone who is both a long-time fan of the business and also someone who understands both the good and bad of how the business works. When he says he wants to use wrestling to tell “the Great American Story” and make professional wrestling a show that families can discuss around the dinner table, on the surface, it seems like an overly ambitious goal. But is it really?

Think back to the Attitude Era – the WWF was getting trounced every week by rival WCW, so they were forced to adapt, doing away with their traditionally more cartoonish gimmicks and allowing performers to play characters who were an extension of their real personalities. They managed to find the pulse of not just wrestling fans, but also the coveted 18-54 demographic as a whole, and, as a result, wrestling entered a boom period that lasted until Vince McMahon purchased WCW. That wasn’t the true end of the wrestling boom of the late-90’s and early-00’s, but it did mark the start of a downturn in business. Long-time NWA/WCW fans were alienated by WWE’s CrashTV booking methods (which had also invaded WCW during its waning days) and constant burial of the legacy of the promotion that many of them had grown up with (under one name or another), and, without any true competition, McMahon basically stopped taking chances, content that his vision of what professional wrestling should be was borne out by being the last major wrestling promotion standing. In the decade-plus since then, both ratings and audiences (outside of major shows like Wrestlemania) have dwindled, and criticisms of McMahon’s methods of doing business have become sharper and seemingly more valid.

TNA has often been criticized, sometimes fairly and sometimes less so, for claiming to be an alternative to WWE while following nearly all of the same conventions that WWE has used. In recent years, WWE itself has fallen under attack for characters and angles that are less than favorable to women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community. If Corgan is serious about telling “the Great American Story”, it stands to reason that he would weave a tapestry of stories that represent those groups more positively, and that would almost certainly gain good publicity, a reputation as an actual alternative to WWE, and, in an ideal world, new and returning fans.

Realistically, with WWE firmly ensconced as arguably the top promotion in the world, Lucha Underground providing an alternative to WWE in nearly every possible way, and Ring of Honor overcoming their own issues with social progressiveness to put on some of the best actual wrestling in North America, TNA is facing an uphill battle, as they’re going to have to overcome their own reputation and track record in order to win over new fans or win back ones who have abandoned the promotion over the past dozen years. At this point, after several “eras” headed by various people inside the wrestling business (notably Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett in the early days, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan from 2010-2013, Russo again, and John Gaburik today), perhaps it’s going to take someone like Corgan, who enjoyed success outside of the wrestling business, to actually change TNA’s fortunes.

And any fan of the promotion who is tired of hearing “lol WWE reject” or “Your next TNA World Champion” jokes should be happy to hear what Corgan said to Dan Gelston in an interview for the Associated Press:

“We need stars that are wholly identified with TNA only, and maybe telling the types of stories that maybe have a different edge to them so that people will identify them as TNA-type stories.”

“If something gets hot and on a roll, people will talk. We have to build a vehicle that will continually provide that opportunity and take advantage of the social media atmosphere. We will win the day if we’re able to move quickly and in a way nobody’s ever tried in the wrestling business.”

This, to me, is the single greatest thing that Corgan could do for TNA: help the promotion to craft its own identity independent of WWE or any other promotion. TNA took steps in this direction from 2005 until the hiring of Hogan and Bischoff by adopting a six-sided ring, focusing on the in-ring product, and ensuring that the X Division and Knockouts Divisions were completely different from anything WWE was doing at the time, among other creative decisions. Since that time, promotions like Lucha Underground and even WWE’s own NXT imprint have made wrestling a focus and provided some incredible matches and storytelling (and Ring of Honor, which focused on wrestling before TNA was truly established, has secured a television deal with Sinclair, making them more accessible to the average wrestling fan), setting the bar ever higher for TNA. But while Lucha Underground has departed wildly from the norm when it comes to televised wrestling promotions, and they do feature women and the aforementioned Pimpinela Escarlata prominently in angles and matches, I believe that focusing on new and unique ways to tell wrestling stories that highlight traditionally underrepresented or poorly represented groups would be the best way for TNA to establish their identity, and it certainly seems like that is Corgan’s goal.

And this goes back to my earlier point – guys like Jarrett, Russo, Hogan, Bischoff, and Gaburick all cut their teeth in the wrestling business when being gay or a minority or a woman meant that you immediately had less opportunities and less of a chance to be positively represented. Billy Corgan cut his teeth in the music industry, where stars as disparate as Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, and David Bowie could co-exist on the charts, so it stands to reason that Corgan should be better equipped mentally to overcome the traditional biases inherent in the wrestling industry and actually manage to craft an identity for TNA that resonates with a larger audience, one disenfranchised by the overall treatment of performers who aren’t white, straight, and male. The biggest challenge I can see in pursuing this course of action is not finding performers to fill the roles, but rather convincing Bob Carter and Destination America to have the patience to see this direction through to its conclusion.

Make no mistake – there will be backlash should TNA actually pursue this course of action, and they will undoubtedly lose some of their more socially regressive fans, but those are honestly necessary casualties if TNA ever wants to escape the ratings rut that they find themselves in. The simple reality of the situation is that most wrestling fans are not watching TNA in their current incarnation, and without drastic changes, that fact is going to remain the same. At that point, attracting new fans or fans who are not currently watching either WWE or TNA becomes a more attractive option for growing their fanbase. If TNA can actually start moving in the direction that Corgan has proposed and fully embrace the power of social media, they might actually have a chance at drawing in new fans or drawing back the ones who quit watching when WCW died.

Is it a tall order for a company run by a woman with no real experience in the wrestling business prior to buying this company and now shepherded by a man from the music industry whose first professional wrestling project was not a success?

Absolutely.

Is it impossible?

Not if TNA commits to a clean break from their past and focuses on being different from WWE not for the sake of being different, but for the purpose of providing equal representation to groups who have not traditionally received it in professional wrestling.

TNA was almost there, once upon a time, and it would greatly benefit the wrestling business if they could actually get to that point.

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That concludes the wrestling-related portion of this column, and the rest is going to be some semi-personal stuff that you can feel free to skip. In a nutshell, I’d like to thank Larry and Ashish for encouraging me to return to writing wrestling columns and then bearing with me when it took significantly longer for me to get back into the swing of things than I had anticipated. I’d also like to thank Len Archibald for being such a fantastic writer and forcing me to step up my game back when I was writing weekly columns. Len was very open and honest in his last column about his health issues, and it is my sincere hope that he has a speedy and full recovery. He’s one of those rare writers who injects so much of their own personality into their work while keeping it broadly relatable, and 411 is a better site when he is a part of our ranks.

Originally, I had taken a break from writing columns last November because of a combination of an incredibly hectic schedule after being assigned to a new project and seriously shoddy internet coverage where I was staying for work. When I returned home in December, I wrote a few columns, but I found it harder and harder to actually complete them, both because I was struggling to find topics that I actually wanted to write about and also because I just simply wasn’t happy with what I was writing. I’ve always tried my best to focus on the things that I liked about wrestling, but CM Punk’s appearance on Colt Cabana’s podcast, combined with a lackluster Wrestlemania season saw me growing increasingly negative about everything I was watching, even shows that I love like Lucha Underground and NXT. It was to the point where I was fast-forwarding through significant chunks of RAW, Smackdown, and Impact, and I found myself almost completely underwhelmed by Wrestlemania. With so much negativity amongst IWC columnists so readily available, I didn’t want to become a part of the problem.

I was struggling to find my voice and put my feelings into words, and ironically, it was one of the most heartbreaking moments for me as a fan that actually reminded me to count my wrestling-related blessings: Daniel Bryan being sent home from the European tour and eventually being forced to relinquish a second title in less than a year’s time due to injury. Thanks to the WWE Network, I was able to go back and rewatch a lot of the highlights of Daniel Bryan’s WWE career, and that made me realize how fortunate I am to have been a fan for so much great wrestling – I’ve been a wrestling fan since the early 80’s, and starting in the late 90’s, I sought out as much wrestling as I could find from various decades from around the world, and while there’s a lot that I don’t like about today’s WWE, the trip down memory lane made me appreciate things like the new direction of New Day and their fantastic feud with the Uppercats (Tyson Kidd and Cesaro), and, in fact, it allowed this column to come out the way that it did, as I had originally sat down to write it focusing on TNA’s sordid history of socially regressive booking. I chose to focus on the reasons why it could work, rather than worrying about what TNA had done in the past, and as a result, I feel a lot better about the end result. Thanks for reading, and, with any luck, I’ll see you again next week.

Wyatt Beougher is a lifelong fan of professional wrestling who has been writing for 411 since2011 and currently hosts MMA Fact or Fiction and reviews Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

article topics :

Billy Corgan, TNA, Wyatt Beougher