Truths & Lies: Biggest Myths In Wrestling Debunked

A myth is a widely held but false belief or idea.

Without getting too technical, the only two words that matter there are ‘false belief.’ As wrestling fans, we know that we do not know anything but that we like to pretend we know everything. Makes sense, right? Well, consider this to be an offshoot edition of my weekly Truth/Lies column where I dig into myths/theories and decipher them using logic…and my brain. Either one works.

I have been meaning to write this column for over a month now, but bigger news stories kept popping up. Since it is about the “all-ighty ollar,” those things took precedent at the time. Now without everything getting settled and the holiday season in full effect, no better time than now! Before getting to it, how about some reader feedback for old times’ sake? Sure, bring it on!

Reader Feedback

Tally Whacker: ……………………..You know what I miss? Big League Chew.

Me too! Lucky me I found some a few weeks ago…yummy. Since Justin Bieber was such a big talking point last week, who am I to disappoint his fans?

JJSpill16: I like this guys columns, but, even more than that, I like that he is the biggest “heel” for comments, and simply for the daring and shocking use of… logic and common sense, like the HHH of the internet. Keep up the good work sir

Just being myself. No heel, no face, no tweener – just me. I said that from day one. Thank you for the praise!

anti_smar: As usual, Watry speaks the truth…

And as usual, the smarks can’t stand it because it hits too close to home. Well done, sir!

It can be tough sometimes. Eventually, people learn. Eventually. Not yet though! All you have to do is read the comment section from last week’s column for the evidence. Cuss words, insults, and even gay slurs in the year 2014 – all over a wrestling column! The beauty of fake user names behind a computer screen. Unbelievably sad…

Timmie J Kenneh: Smarks can’t stand it or understand it … they must pick the two bottles of poison. But look at It this way WWE fans. Roman is backed by the WWE/Triple H to be the future. Seth is backed by the investors that buy stock, Ambrose is backed by the IWC. We could get a massive Summerslam main event next year if Roman wins the title at Wrestlemania.

I am a fan of all three members of The Shield and have said many times 2015 could see them all transition in and out of the main event scene. Heck, all three could stay in the main event all year battling over the WWE World Championship. Sounds good to me. All are unique, all are worthy of that chance, and like you mentioned, all fit a criteria for the company and their bottom line.

WrestlingRealist: Seems to me they are all backed by everyone. Its just the iwc is just as prejudice toward larger build athesticly appealing guys as they accuse wwe to being prejudice against small less appealing guys. End of the day wwe will push who makes them the most money, the iwc….nope they would ignore the “fans” just as much.

Always is fascinating to watch play out. Money? Profit? Crowd pops? Merchandise sales? Who cares about that stuff? As long as you came from the wrestling independent scene before signing with WWE, that is what matters.

McThulhu: If the Ragsies taught me one thing, it’s that this site welcomes and nurtures trolls.

What are the ragsies? Help me out here. Not sure if that is a compliment or what…

AG Awesome: I gotta give him props this week. The excellent choice in Christmas music gives this a 9.75 out of 10 on the troll scale. Color me impressed.

I do enjoy Christmas music. The CHOICES of said Christmas music, well…yeah. You got me! Just having a little fun. I do not listen to any of those singers.

Mark Schoeman: As somebody who had real doubts about the network at it’s inception (and was largely shouted down at the time by all the hardcore fans who were certain of it’s runaway success), I’m far more bullish on it’s eventual success.

A subscription model is it’s own animal with it’s own challenges and overnight success is a best case scenario, but not a necessary one. I think arguably the single biggest hurdle to the network is consumer behavior. You ask anybody in any business who delivers a product one way for 30 years, then changes how customers receive the product, and ask them how difficult “change” is for their clients. I think the 100k Survivor Series PPV buyers is emblematic of that struggle. Think about it: These 100K could have watched for free…and for the same money could have bought the network through Mania. Buying a stand alone PPV that could have been watched for free with money that could have gotten all PPV through Mania, including the Rumble is irrational and illogical…and not unexpected when predicting the power of consumer behavior. They’re used to watching on cable/satellite, they’re used to the simplicity of just clicking a button for a one-time purchase with no forms or commitment and comfort overrides what they know is a smarter purchase.

But not all is lost because the longer the network is around and the more comfortable these folks feel about “change” the more likely they will eventually come around and give the network a shot…but that leads to the biggest challenge of the subscription model: retention…however even on this front, I see what amounts to a bright spot.

So the last quarter featured the bad news that WWE was at only 730k subscribers. Sure that’s below the publicly declared “break even” point of 1 million…but look deeper. That 730k represented a net gain of only 30k during the quarter, since over the life of the network, 300k have canceled. In other words, WWE has gotten to the break even point, changing the behavior of 1.3 million customers (and just how many of these were CPU illegal streamers whose money WWE wasn’t getting at all?) and do we know how many people watched the free periods without subscribing?

The churn rate is keeping growth down, but if I’m WWE, I’d much prefer to have that problem compared to keeping and holding every subscriber and still falling short. If that was the case, I’d be far more worried because the battle to gain AND hold subscribers is still big. However, cancellations means enough folks are open to the network to take it into the black, now WWE just needs to figure out a way to keep them…and if you look at the network, there’s plenty of room for improvement

WWE can expand/organize the library offerings, produce relatively cheap, original programming, the video service can be improved with segment/matches clearly delineated, NXT could produce more programming again on the cheap, etc. In other words, the people who tried the network are much easier to get back than those who are still holding out…but the hold outs are just as attainable, it just takes time.

The bottom line is WWE set their expectations of 1 million subscribers at the end of year 1 and they hit that number in October, well before the end of year 1…but couldn’t hold it. Of course that’s not good…but it’s not a unexpected issue and in the big picture WWE has to feel good about the network moving forward…at least I would if WWE was my company.

Bingo! See folks? Now THIS is a quality comment with actual feedback and can disagree with my viewpoint at the same time. Difficult I know but also no offensive language. Honestly, you said it perfectly, so I have nothing to add. I know you have emailed me in the past stating you have no desire to write columns, but you get my recommendation should you ever want to. I only read three columnists on the internet (all three know who they are as we talk regularly) but would definitely add you to the list.

Rob: They added it. Just to my knowledge, it isn’t on tablets. It is on a main computer.

This was about a resume option on the WWE Network. When I use Roku, it is there, so I guess it was added recently. Happy they did, as that is very helpful.

dreamman0: Does it even occur to some of you that it takes effort and courage to write for an audience who you know will criticize you no matter what you do? You are going to hate what he writes no matter what he says and he knows it. Yet he puts his words down for you to read and attack. I doubt he is making a living wage for his time and efforts . So why is he doing it knowing you will dump on him? Ego, desire for attention, feelings of superiority? If any of those are true then your just feeding what you hate about him by attacking him. I think he really enjoys writing about something he loves. Is that such a bad thing? Would YOU put up with this abuse and keep writing multiple articles every week? If you answer yes, then show us what YOU can do rather than telling us what he did wrong. I dont think Watry is the best writer in the world but I do appreciate his effort and courage in putting up with people who are unwilling to even attempt what he is trying to do. Being a critic of someones elses work is easy, doing that work better than them is not.

Thank you. In 99.99999% of the cases, the folks in the comment section are in the comment section for a reason.

Stelio Kontos: I keep thinking these columns will get better.

Eventually, I’ll learn……..eventually.

Always remember: You are in the comment section of my column. Not the other way around.

A.O.: You lost me at Green Bay Packers playoffs.

Sorry, season ticket holder in Wisconsin here. I still have the Denver Broncos winning the Super Bowl come February 2015, just like last year. Right, just like last year! Remember that debacle? Speaking of debacles, here we go…

Biggest Myths In Wrestling Debunked

LIE: Competition will only make WWE stronger.

Huge myth.

No need to go into major detail with this one – it is simply not true. Maybe it was 15 years ago but newsflash, the Attitude Era is long gone and not coming back. Completely different era. WWE exists so far above and beyond anything else in wrestling right it does not even register what happens outside of their bubble. TNA Impact Wrestling took their one and only shot in 2010 and were shown the door after two months. WWE did not change anything and went business as usual. Their television programming stayed the same, as did ratings, attendance, etc. Even in 2014, there is TNA, Ring of Honor running on live pay-per-view again, New Japan making noise, Lucha Underground, and whatever the heck Global Force Wrestling is. Guess what? WWE is not changing one bit, nor showing any signs of the fabled competition will make WWE step up their game and get better that many foolishly buy into. No, not true one bit folks. Sorry! WWE will be great on its own…and yes, it will be not-so-great on its own.

TRUTH: A face SHOULD always stand tall in the WrestleMania main event.

I stand by this idea and hope it continues.

You want a heel to win? Do it at the other 11 pay-per-views. You want some screw job or funky finish? Do that for the other 364 days out of the year. When your biggest event of the year arrives and WrestleMania goes off the air, there should be fireworks going off with the big face celebrating. For the most part, that actually has been the picture for the past 30 years. Even the rare exemptions are not 100% exempted. Take a look:

WrestleMania 16 had a heel win the main event (Triple H), yet a face (The Rock) stood tall when the show went off the air.

WrestleMania 17 had two faces wrestle in the main event, but a heel turn allowed Stone Cold to win over a face Rocky. However, in Texas to win back the WWE Championship? Hard to say Stone Cold was anything resembling a heel that night.

WrestleMania 27 had a heel win the main event (The Miz), yet good guy Rocky beat him up afterwards and posed as the PPV signed off.

As you see, every single WM has had a face stand tall with the only exemption being 2001 where really, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon seemed like the faces as Jim Ross made the heel turn. Come 2015, I want more of the same. Whatever match closes the show, I am picking the face to be victorious and/or stand tall. Just how it should be for Wrestle FREAKIN’ Mania. Send the fans home happy, as the old saying goes. As for the other pay-per-view events…

LIE: WWE likes to send the crowd home happy for PPV events.

Another often brought up theory with absolutely no merit.

TLC just ended with Bray Wyatt winning.

Heck on a Deck in October ended with Seth Rollins winning.

Night of Champions ended in a mess.

Summerslam ended with Brock Lesnar being a dominant heel.

Elimination Chamber earlier this ended with Randy Orton as WWE World Champion, and Michael Cole screaming in disgust at another screwy win.

Oh, then there was the TLC 2013 headline bout with Randy Orton beating John Cena. There was Survivor Series with the heel winning the main event, a whole Fall season filled with garbage endings, Summerslam 2013 closed having Daniel Bryan get screwed out of the belt, and even Extreme Rules 2013 with Brock Lesnar defeating Triple H (again) in a steel cage. I could go on and on here with examples. Heels win main events on PPV, just as faces do.

There is no such thing as “oh, WWE likes to send the crowd home happy.” That is mainly for live events and/or a Tribute to the Troops show. Not monthly pay-per-views. If a story line calls for a heel to win, he will win. If a story line calls for a face to win, he will win. There is no set rule for main events and their endings.

LIE: If you stand tall on RAW six days before a PPV event, that means you will lose the PPV match.

Team Cena celebrated on the Raw before Survivor Series just last month and even put Triple H through a table to put the icing on the cake. They won at the PPV and got rid of HHH.

Seth Rollins stood on top of the Cell to end Raw right before the October PPV. He won the main event match that Sunday.

Brock Lesnar looked as intimating as ever before Summerslam this year. He crushed John Cena in grand fashion at the pay-per-view to become the new champ.

Daniel Bryan, John Cena, and Brock Lesnar looked strong six days before WrestleMania XXX on WWE Raw. They each won their match on the big stage.

Same with Batista before the Royal Rumble (which he won) in January 2014 and countless other examples. Seriously, I could sit here all day long and list every feud and every little match. Sometimes it fits, sometimes it does not. Again, no set rule to base anything off of. In other words, it does NOT matter who stands tall on Raw or Smackdown heading into a pay-per-view. Just another myth/theory that started somewhere online and has stuck throughout the years. Not true. Try again folks…

That will do it for today. Covered enough. Pretty sure there are more, however I will let all of YOU give me more examples. Surely, I left a few well known myths from the wrestling world out of the column. In the meantime, there is a bunch of year end stuff on the way that was finished a week or two back. Always fun, even if lists/rankings are not my thing. Be sure to check that all out.

Until then, hit my music!

Self Promoting Finale

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