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Dirtsheet Exclusive: The Gimmick Spectrum
Topic Started: Oct 22 2016, 09:46 PM (402 Views)
John Morris
In-SPEAR-ational
(OOC: Just a reminder. This is a breaking kayfabe post. Bringing it up in character should NOT be a thing. Just felt the need for a disclaimer. If your characters were meant to reply IC to this, it would be in the promos section. And as another mention, John Morris the character is NOT the person who is writing these, but rather just some random people who work for a wrestling site/magazine. Just needed to clear things up.)


THE GIMMICK SPECTRUM

Welcome to another IBW Dirtsheet, brought to you by your lovely crew! Today, we'll be looking at a common topic of controversy in IBW, simply because of how vast it is. Which is why we've even given it the name of "The Gimmick Spectrum". Watch a weekly show of RAW, or Smackdown, and what do you find? Best Friends. Sell-Out Corporate Men. A take on Modern Day Athletes. An Italian Fast Talker and a Skinny Giant. What do they all have in common?

They're Wrestlers.

Now, I'm not saying WWE programming has never featured non-wrestler gimmicks... a prime example being the Wyatt Family as of late... But they TYPICALLY play by the rules and have the characters to their weekly programming follow the normal rules of life. Even their "Beast Incarnate" is just a wrestler who's big and tough. It gives it a more realistic feel to it. Your segments are witty back-and-forths, or interviews, or in the rare occasion a backstage attack. But you know what? It feels real. And it has to. WWE is on ESPN, which means they have to come off as authentic as possible. However, it's always been like this. Authentic wrestlers, with the exception here and there. Look at every notable name, and aside from 'Taker and Kane (and if you consider him big enough, Bray Wyatt), every single 'big' WWE wrestler has just been a wrestler.

And yet, they all have something different and unique about them, enough to set them all apart. Go down the list. John Cena. HBK. HHH. Chris Jericho. The Rock. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Bret Hart. Hell, even the recently returned Goldberg. They're just guys in a wrestling ring with a personality.

And that's how wrestling works. Or at least, the formula for it to work.

Then, you look at IBW.

Ever since OBW days, the company has always had a... different formula for its gimmicks. With a common contract inclusion of Creative Control, OBW has always given its roster a bit too much power in deciding their angles without limits. At first, it wasn't that bad. You had one 'psycho', but everyone else stuck to being wrestlers. Manny Fresh. Christian Malice. John Crow. Ice. Sidster. Seize. Super Krmi. MVP Lux. All of them were just normal wrestlers. It worked.

Fast forward a year. After a wrestler infamously pulled off the "riskiest move since Pillman had a gun" by tossing a woman off a building with a hidden harness, things quickly went south. The Psycho did... stranger things... More out in the open. Monsters began to pop up like weeds. Even the normal wrestlers took a dark side. The majority of big names were still 'just wrestlers', but you had some truly disgusting acts which should have gotten talent fired from OBW. Biting chunks of people's skin, holding knives to interviewers throats, and the fact that everyone and their mother liked to beat-down random people in the back. Normal wrestlers remained supreme, and everything weird and strange lost all effect.

Then, for some reason, despite being irrelevant, the monsters came by the dozens. There were good, there were bad, and there were ugly. The good ones, such as Armageddon, will always be known as a success in OBW. The bad ones will mostly be forgotten, or at the very least never-mentioned again. Even notable superstars took their turns at being "dark". Christian Malice, Rapp3r, John Crow, and even for a brief moment Manny Fresh took a violent and twisted turn. Rapp3r's American Psycho HEAVILY being criticized as "everything wrong with OBW's creative control", was shut down pretty quickly (if I recall correctly, the stint only lasted four months, which is quick numbers for it being a Main Event gimmick).

But, fast forward to now, and what do you see in IBW? You do see wrestlers, and let me be the first to tell you that those are the ones that are prospering and relevant. James Parker. Super Krmi. Task Force. Mat Emeralds. All current, and recent champions, have been normal wrestlers. But in IBW, the monster and crazy gimmicks still exist. And it's sad that so many of them do, because they are stealing the authenticity of the product. And you don't believe me?

Look at aggressive heels in WWE. They may attack a rival backstage. Or beat someone they don't like down post-match.

Now, look at aggressive heels in IBW. There are two types. One type, such as Task Force, may beat down opponents backstage or post-match. While it is a bit more than it should be, it's still expected.

Then, there is the ultraviolent type. Who kills men on the streets by throwing coins off buildings, or beating up CFO's "simply because".

You know which wrestling show is taken more seriously? I'll give you a hint: it's the one with the White Trash as Tag Team Champion.

There is such a thing as overkill, and IBW (and OBW) are a PRIME example of it. Their spots used to be too over-the-limit, their gimmicks are a bit too gimmicky, and anywhere there is violence it has to be taken to near gore levels. And that may sell in action and horror movies, but it doesn't really sell in Wrestling. It's not the wrestlers fault... If they stopped when it first stopped selling tickets. However, the talent (and management) are to blame whenever they're constantly allowed to run loose and do whatever they'd like, despite it making the company look bad. The real losers aren't even the fans here; it's other IBW talent.

How? Well, think about it. If Task Force wanted to do something 'brutal' for wrestling standards, it would mean close to nothing in IBW standards. If they wanted to hit a guy with their finishers one by one by one, big deal, that happens just about weekly. Yet in WWE, if a wrestler hit his finisher on an opponent three or four times post-match, it would catch easy heat. If an angry Ayden Starr wanted to swing at an angry interviewer, then guess what? That interviewer will thank her for being gentle. Yet in WWE, if Brock or really anybody even PUSHED an interviewer it would make ESPN news! So really, by going ultraviolent, you're stopping normal heels from looking good as vicious because they want to still be realistic.

So what do I suggest? Well, every solution starts somewhere. This one with both management and the roster. Wrestlers: think about what would happen in reality first. And if you ARE supernatural, pull it off well and originally for the sake of your fellow wrestlers? And Management: stop pushing what's bad! You're only hurting your own product!



That's all for now. Please, just act a bit more realistic, and maybe you'll have a shot to go bigtime.

~Dirtsheet Crew
"It's Complicated."

"I wouldn't say that."

"I absolutely would."


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