Welcome to this week’s edition of The Thompson Perspective here at www.rasslinriotonline.com. Before I go any further, I have a confession to make. This column was created without the best intentions. I’m bitter okay?
I lost the “Announcer of the Year” poll in the 2007 RasslinRiot voting, so this year I’ve decided to become a columnist on the site to ensure that I have a better chance of winning something. Alright, I’m just kidding, but I thought you would all get a laugh out of that.
This week, I want to discuss what a “good wrestling match” is.
For those of you who have followed the business during the past 20 years, you have seen some incredible matches. Let’s go way back to 1987. Many consider the Ricky Steamboat – Randy Savage match for the WWF Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania III to be one of the best of all-time. I would certainly agree.
Likewise, the series of matches between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat over the NWA World Title two years later still stand up as mat classics.
The difference between the two? The Steamboat-Savage match was mostly pre-planned while the Flair-Steamboat bouts were called on the fly.
I prefer calling matches on the fly out in the ring. I used to try to remember a bunch of different spots when I was managing early in my career. I was so preoccupied with remembering every little detail that by the time I got to the ring, I was nervous and I gave what I feel was a lackluster performance. A few years later, while I was managing Bobby Eaton on various cards across the country, we typically came up with a couple of spots to do and let the rest happen. It feels so much more natural and it comes across to those watching as being more natural. A lady once stopped me in a Wal-Mart in a town I managed Bobby in and said, “You always cut promos and do things with such conviction.” I told her it was because at that time I AM that character. I believe in what I’m doing and it translates to the audience.
Back to my point. I can’t say that the Savage – Steamboat match was bad because it was laid out beforehand. However, keep something in mind. Both Savage and Steamboat were great in-ring generals and at the time they were working 300 shows a year for the WWF. They were also working each other around the loop and had a chance to test out some of the things they planned for Mania III on house show cards. By the time they made it to March 29, 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome, they knew that what they set up would work. I’m sure they eliminated some of the things that they discovered didn’t work in other cities. So while the match was “laid out beforehand” it was also “worked out beforehand.” It wasn’t like they delivered something and just crossed their fingers hoping it would work.
Now, I want to tie this in with something local. While I was booking Chris Bryant’s WFAC promotion for a brief time in Newport, Arkansas, a worker asked me if it would be a good idea to review the previous week’s card and tell everybody who had the best match and why. It was a valid request. However, as a booker I have to think about something when it comes to “rating” matches.
My main concern is did the combatants do what I asked them to do?
Go back to the Savage-Steamboat, Flair-Steamboat matches. If EVERY match on the card was similar to their battles, then their match wouldn’t be remembered so vividly and wouldn’t mean as much.
Let’s say on a card with Flair-Steamboat, you also had a tag match with the Midnight Express and Fantastics. In addition maybe Paul Jones vs. Jimmy Valiant. Add in the Road Warriors vs. Powers of Pain. Maybe a couple of other undercard matches.
Here’s my point. Not all of those matches are going to be like the Flair-Steamboat bout. From a pure workrate standpoint, the Midnights-Fantastics match will come close. Then you are going to have the entertainment aspect of “Handsome” Jimmy and the big brawl, power moves fest of the Warriors and Powers. It’s a good balance.
Not everyone enjoys just plain wrestling or even good solid wrestling. So you throw in a match that is fun and a power bout and you have a great mix.
I’m not going to pretend that in Newport we had anyone who could deliver Steamboat-Flair. That would be stupid on my part. But I designed the card to feature my heavyweight champion in more of a wrestling match, struggling to keep his title. Underneath I had two risk takers going at it and somewhere in between there was some comedy with a stupid gimmick that I really didn’t love, but based on the guy’s in-ring ability it was the best way to get anything positive out of him.
So who had the best match? It’s not really fair to chastise the guys in the entertainment/gimmick based match for not having the classic of the night. They did what they were told and accomplished the goal. That to me makes the match “good” in that sense.
If the boys work hard and give the booker what he asks then I think everyone who did this should be praised. The boys should all work hard to do their best, but trying to overwork and be called the “best” just for the sake of it can hurt the overall card.
As a booker, those of you reading this need to remember to give a complete package. It’s like a baseball lineup to use that analogy. I’ll pick the St. Louis Cardinals, my favorite MLB team that should be your favorite team. Albert Pujols is arguably the best all-around hitter. He strikes out only a few times and delivers good power numbers. So when you see him batting third instead of clean-up this year, remember that manager (or for our purposes “booker” and please never use that stupid term “shot caller” around me) knows that Albert can’t bat for everyone. So the manager will place him in position to deliver the best results. He’ll have a good batter following him to “protect” Albert.
I think we all get concerned about our own performances and being the “most over” that we forget that fans in this area buy a complete package. No promotion in the Mid-South can rely on having a brand name like “World Wrestling Entertainment” and even TNA or ROH to a lesser degree. We have to have a package of matches that fans will care about. We have to have a team of guys who want to see the whole meal as delicious. Not a good entrée and then crappy dessert. It all goes together.
So my definition of a “good” match is this – one that delivers on the goals of the event, has good wrestling in the sense of its placement on the card and makes the whole show better overall and not just the individual performers in that particular contest.
Now that I’ve mentioned food, I think I’ll go cook some! Take care all!
(Brian Thompson may be reached by e-mail at bptbookings@yahoo.com)
