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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EVENTS AND STORIES
The rapidly devolving state of WWF programming leads me to meditate on the
nature of storytelling. It's a phrase which gets thrown around a lot,
storytelling; but for my money it's something rarely glimpsed in wrestling
programming, and on those rare occasions when it is seen, something to be
treasured. There's something qualitative which separates the Austin/Hart
story of 1996-1997, for an example, from the sorts of "series of events"
(which nicely acronyms to SE- how 'bout that?) which constitute the bulk of
federation programming today. Storytelling is in fact a very distinct and
special thing, one which, when broken down to component parts, is actually
fairly easy to identify. Before I call something a true story, here's what
I look for; and to illustrate better why I'm so deeply hating current WWF
programming, I'm going to measure Austin/Hart and Austin/Undertaker on
these criteria:
A Beginning. This is really the easiest part of the formula, such as it
is, to fulfill. This can be as simple as "I want your title" or as
complicated as you want it to be, just so long as it rings true as a
legitimate psychologically motivating issue of conflict (or, alternately,
agreement). It's really not so hard. Austin/Hart and Austin/UT both succeed
at this basic task: Austin/UT began more or less over the simple issue of
the belt, while Austin/Hart began over Austin's calling Hart out, eager to
prove himself against the departed legend. Both make sense, though
UT/Austin is hampered by the fact that anyone paying attention to the
basics of wrestling promotion understands that there is precisely zero
chance of UT winning. It's not Austin's time to lose yet, not now, and not
until the Rock returns at Wrestlemania 18 if they truly want to maximize
the potential revenues from this angle, or make it a true story.
A Middle. Austin/Hart's beginning ended with Austin's fluke pinfall loss
to Hart at Survivor Series 1996, on a reversal of his own Cobra Clutch.
This demonstrated three things: first, that Hart still had it and could
hang with the young gun Austin; second, that Austin was at the level of
Hart and could go toe-to-toe with him for a full 20:00+ minute match; and
third, that the feud was to continue given the essentially inconclusive
ending to the first match. Simultaneously, it created a natural flow out of
The Beginning into something else, while at the same time providing a
legitimate payoff to the promises already made- read "clean finish".
Characters were developed with the insanely obsessive aspect of Austin's
character emphasized, and eventually with the vaunted Wrestlemania 13
double-turn, which has been extolled and repeated ad nauseum since then, so
great was its success. Austin/UT hasn't had a middle; what we've been given
in its place is a succession of isolated events which have done virt. nil
to actually advance anything. UT takes over Austin's locker room; nothing
comes of it. HHH and Austin beat down Kane, repeatedly; nothing comes of it
other than an excuse for more beatdowns and something for HHH to go after
on Sunday. UT's wife is "in a car wreck"; I will guarantee nothing comes of
it. None of these events have any larger meaning as development either of
characters or events; they're all little more than short term "heat
building" techniques designed to beak up the otherwise monotonous flow of
20-minute promos, and, theoretically, provide a quick jumpstart for a PPV
with no other innate source of interest due to mediocre main event matchups
and no continuing storyline interest, owing largely to the evolving failure
of Steve Austin's heel turn. The essential problem is that everything now
is essentially the same as it was at the start of this feud, and nothing is
likely to change anytime soon. No characters are substantially different,
and the grounds for contention are the same; the status quo ante is
maintained, and that is a condition fundamentally opposed to the nature of
the storyline, which is grounded above all in evolution and change.
An End. Austin/Hart never really had one; sadly, the planned end blowoff
of Austin beating Hart for the title at Wrestlemania 14 was negated by the
events in Montreal. Even without that though, several satisfying ends were
created. First, the double turn match was among the best in WWF history,
and any time a match of that caliber is delivered it constitutes a payoff
of some sort on the promise of confrontation made in any feud. Second, the
duel turns in that match represented the natural evolution of the plotline,
as Hart was consumed by bitterness and turned against his former
supporters, who now were cheering Austin for in essence out-doing Hart at
his own game. The story of Hart's fall from grace and Austin's assumption
of his position as champion of the people was neatly tied up here, and the
never-completed final role reversal was hinted at in the forgotten third
match in their 96-97 trilogy, as Austin had Hart beat cleanly at IYH:
Revenge Of The Taker, before the Hart Foundation ran in. it never had the
end it deserved, but it came close enough to satisfy. Austin/UT, by
contrast, will never have an end, I wager, though it hardly matters since
it's had no meat either. It will simply spin out into some sort of
associated secondary feud, probably Austin, and, perhaps, Jericho or
Benoit, and Taker paired up with perhaps the big show. Either way, there's
no way for the baby face UT to go over, a double turn is out of the
question, and the WWF has shown little interest in clean heel wins in even
situations on PPV; hence, the betting pool is open on what form of screwjob
they'll employ this month. And that, by no means, constitutes a proper end
for a true storyline, unless it's been properly set up to have meaning when
employed, as Austin-Hart III was.
Progressive character development. As written above, the characters of
Austin and Hart underwent a radical role reversal in their feud, as Hart's
baby face hero decayed into the bitter husk of his heel character, and
Austin's workingman's hero evolved into what he was until his recent turn.
It was a psychologically authentic portrayal of two men passing each other
on different sides of the career mountain, each trying desperately to reach
for what they thought was their due, what was owed to them. It was as close
as wrestling can get to true top-notch drama. For Austin/UT, what can I
say- it's beyond obvious that both characters will be the same at the end-
UT doesn't even have much of a character to change, and Austin was showing
the signs of his current cowardliness during his steel cage match with the
Rock on RAW.
Acknowledgment of the past. Austin and Hart's storyline was carefully
crafted to evolve from one incident to the next- proper understanding of
each section of their feud is dependant on having a functioning knowledge
of previous developments. That's what creates a true story- recognition of
the past and the way it affects the future. It's an utterly elementary
concept, but one overlooked routinely by lazy and burned out writers
working from show to show, just trying to come up with enough material to
fill two hours. UT/Austin is, sadly, a prime example of this; things happen
each week, but none of them are really interrelated to previous events, and
none are particularly likely to affect anything happening in the future.
It's a series of events going nowhere, designed just to fill time
week-to-week. And the failure to play off of four years of UT-Austin
matches on PPV, and the failure to work off this as their first ever
face-heel matchup in this alignment, is inexcusable.
Evolution And Change Simply put, something important must be different at
the end of the story from the way it was at the beginning. With
Austin/Hart, one of the WWF's most popular baby faces was a heel for the
first time in nearly a decade, and a new superstar was minted in Stone Cold
Steve Austin, the character destined to lead the WWF to it's greatest
heights. When UT/Austin ends...it'll be June.
Basically, then, my point is that much of the malaise afflicting the WWF
currently is due to the abandonment of true storytelling. Obviously, this
is most apparent at the main event level, but it's an affliction which
extends to the whole of the card. How many Insta-Feuds(tm) have we seen
started in the WWF over the last year or so over nothing- Jericho/Kane over
coffee and "me no like pretty boys", Crash/Spike over "I was just trying to
help", 10,000 Dudly Boys feuds over "that theyah heifah shore would looka
better through a taybel", the E&C/Hardys/Dudleys feud that never ends
over...what precisely now? And god only knows what other horrendous dreck
designed to fill the first hour of a PPV (any given X-Factor, T&A, or X-Pac
and Roadd Dogg match occurs to mind as well). I hate Russo and all he
represented with a passion, but I'll say this for the man- at least he
attempted to interject stories into the midcard, even if they all did suck
voraciously. Frankly, at this point, I'd almost take his stupidity back, if
it meant at least some relief from the aura of meaninglessness which
pervades the WWF at present.
Shaddax
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