Creative Has Something For You: Summerslam Edition

We’re all guilty of it. Who wrote that angle on Raw? Why the hell is (insert worker here) getting pushed, and why is (insert another worker here) getting de-pushed? Why did they put the belt on that guy? That was a terrible segment. This storyline sucks. What are the creative team smoking?

…Creative. That’s where the majority of the blame falls for most of the above. It’s not fair to solely lay the blame at their feet when something goes array, but even for someone like me who genuinely enjoys the WWE product for the most part, I still think the creative team often aren’t creative enough with their output. That’s not just an attack on WWE’s writers per say, it can apply to several different wrestling promotions at any point throughout their respective histories.

Deep down, we all have different tastes in terms of what we want from a wrestling show, be it an independent venture from a high school gym or a Wrestlemania in a massive stadium. We all like to have a crack at fantasy booking in some form or fashion. It happens on this very site every single day, in almost every column that myself and my esteemed colleagues put out, and from nearly every single reader in the comments sections. Sometimes we do it without realising.

Using WWE as a prime example, but by no means the exception, we often get so frustrated at WWE’s creative team and how certain performers are used, abused, and not given the opportunity to break through the infamous glass ceiling. Or, you may have seen an angle that started brilliantly and then turned out to be really quite rotten due to a variety of factors.

Maybe there’s a particular character who you felt has been misused. Or, to the contrary, you think he/she is being used brilliantly and nobody else agrees with you.

The aim of this column is to serve as a facility to be creative. A hub, if you will, of ideas. I want to hear YOUR ideas. YOUR angles, characters, plots, storylines, you name it. It could be anything from a t-shirt idea to a pitch for a Wrestlemania main event program.

I anticipate this will be very much a work in progress, but I’m looking forward to it. Readers of 411, welcome to the first edition of the column currently known as (working title) ‘Creative has something for you.’

Your submissions

Every week, this column will look at reader submissions for booking ideas, character ideas, storyline ideas, etc etc. You get the picture.

Here’s what I’m looking for as a rough guideline – Using the template below as a reference (don’t feel like you have to stick to it or use it all), have a crack at the following:

Category: Angle/character/gimmick/promo/storyline, etc. Basically what the idea is for.
Featuring: Any specific worker/workers you may have in mind.
The idea: What’s it about?
The rationale: What’s the goal for the idea? Does it have specific aim, I.e to get somebody over, to expand a gimmick, or simply just to have a little fun?
Previous examples: Similar ideas you may have borrowed from to form your own idea.

Send your suggestions to me either via my email address ([email protected]) Or feel free to just reply in the comments at the bottom of the page. I’ll collate them all over the course of the next few days and we’ll properly kickstart this feature next time out. I look forward to seeing what you conjure up.

Marking the book: Summerslam 2014

I’m not the most prominent member of staff here at 411 in terms of content (both in quality and quantity) but if you’ve ever read my articles before, you’ll know I tend to keep things pretty positive. It’s not an agenda I’m pushing as such, but I genuinely enjoy most of WWE’s current product and I have no problem verbalising about it, even if some people are baffled as to why I enjoy some of things I do.

You may not be surprised to read that I enjoyed Summerslam immensely. I thought it was exceptional from an entertainment standpoint and the match order was perfect. The crowd was hot throughout, the matches themselves ranged from solid to brilliant, and the majority of the booking was on-point throughout the whole night.

Brock Lesnar’s utter cannibalisation of John Cena was real shock and awe stuff. Nothing will top the breaking of the streak in terms of leaving you gobsmacked, but the fact that Cena was completely pulverized throughout left a similar impression. You felt genuinely uncomfortable, especially after all the German suplexes and the toll that must’ve taken on Cena’s neck.

I think Cena has to be commended for taking such a beating like that. As much as I’d hate to be on the receiving end of it, Brock’s offense looks so believable, largely because he doesn’t appear to protect his opponent much and therefore it looks real because, well, it basically is. I have my reservations about that, but it looks incredible.

In terms of the booking, it keeps the unstoppable aura about Brock Lesnar very much in the present tense. But Cena is such a big star that he can actually afford to take a twatting like this and still come back from it. And think about it: Every Cena title opportunity he gets now is automatically a huge deal because he’s trying to equal Ric Flair’s 16 titles record.

Eventually I’m sure he’ll win it back somehow. But right now, you just can’t see past Brock losing it. The conquering of the streak and the dominant fashion in which he won the belt make the thought of him losing anytime soon almost as unthinkable as breaking the streak was. The whole booking of this feud has been masterful, and they fully captured the big fight feel and atmosphere. Excellent.

Elsewhere on the card, two more new champions were crowned in Dolph Ziggler (IC title) and Paige (Divas) respectively. For the former, it’s a big win that should revitalise him somewhat, just so long as he doesn’t continue to get lost in the shuffle. If the pen were in my hand however, I’d have written in a Miz victory and would have stretched this out for a couple more months. I just imagined Miz coming out the following night on Raw, bragging about another Hollywood triumph of his in LA, having even more ammunition to be bragadocious, smarmy, and a general dick. I said in the roundtable that I genuinely think his gimmick is money if they go about it the right way. Not to say he can’t come back from this though, and he may even win it back next month.

As for Paige and AJ, I’m really glad they didn’t get the piss-break slot on the card. Ok, they didn’t get a huge amount of time, but as the feud keeps building I’m confident they will eventually. It’s the best Diva feud in a long time, and they are two genuinely talented ladies who I think are ushering in a new era for that division. Paige winning gives babyface challenger AJ a cause to fight on for the next few weeks and challenge for it once again. Also, another victory for Norwich’s own. Norwich City win a league game for the first time since March, and across the pond Paige wins the title again. One more for the good guys. (Have you guessed where I’m from yet?)

I thought the lumberjack match was a riot, and the element of the lumberjacks themselves actually added to the erratic chaos of it all. I’d have given Ambrose the win purely because Rollins already had the MITB case to fall back on, but if it leads to a rematch where Ambrose eventually gets the big W then I’m all for it.

Elsewhere, I called Nikki’s heel turn a while ago but it certainly got the designated reaction, so good for them. Orton/Reigns was surprisingly good down the stretch but I already get the feeling the fans will start to lose patience with Reigns. I have no problem with his perceived limited move-set, but he may start to become stale if he isn’t careful from a character standpoint.

All things considered though, this was an excellent PPV. One gripe: Shilling the network whilst ON the network was overkill. Otherwise, fantastic show.

EWR on 411 mkII

(note: This is unrelated to the initial part of the column, where an all manner of suggestions can be provided depending on what transpired on TV that week).

A few years ago, Leonard Hayhurst introduced EWR on 411 in his 10th Day News Report column. Using EWR as a facility to book shows using storylines and characters which had a great degree of reader input, it became a hugely popular part of his 10th Day News Reports on the wrestling section and actually ran for a few YEARS before ultimately he had to abstain because of work commitments.

I know there have been several new incarnations of the game since then, but the beauty of those original entries was that despite some of the limitations within the game engine itself, the creativity of Leonard’s writing and the reader submissions made it really special. Those of you who remember those columns will remember the rise of Stevie Richards, FATE vs The Pale Riders, and Sting and Shawn Michaels retiring on the same night to name but a few of the glorious scenes from the minds of those who penned it.

I’d like to propose a revival of this feature. With a fresh roster to chose from, a fresh set of creative minds (that being YOU, dear reader) I think we could have a lot of fun with this. I’m certainly no Leonard, but collectively I think we could conjure up some magic. And this time, I think we could expand it even further.

Back in the day, the card would be laid out at the end of each entry and people would vote on the winners for the next week, or the next PPV, etc.

There’s a number of questions I’d need to ask you before we’d start playing the game. Off the top of my head, there may be guys out of contract from WWE (I.e CM Punk) that you may want to do something with, or people you want to fire, or maybe even people outside of WWE that you’d want us to hire, I.e someone on the indes like an AJ Styles or a past legend like Vader (who was a prominent part of the last EWR on 411). Also, you may want to pinch people from promotions like RoH or TNA. But we’ll get to that next time.

Let me know what you think to the above. If it’s an idea people don’t think would work, then that’s fine. And again, while the EWR game itself is quite old, it would only be used as a basic framework for the stories we want to tell.

One to go on

Ok, so not the longest of columns this week. But once the ideas start flooding in I think we could have a lot of fun with this. Again, I’m relying on gathering as much feedback as I can, so anything you could provide would be fantastic, good or bad, it’s all appreciated and I do my best to respond to everybody.

Thanks for reading, and get sending.