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| OH TEH NOES QUACK WINS AGAIN OUTRAGE!!!!!!!!! |
One of the most famous examples of this in wrestling pertains to "god booking". The most classic example of this trope setting the IWC ablaze with rage was Triple H marrying into the McMahon family and coincidentally beginning his rise to the top as the coolest, toughest, manliest, smartest and did I mention coolest guy in WWE. People saw this and immediately equated god booking with bad wrestling. I'm not saying that it wasn't bad TV, it really was. But people misunderstand the reason as to why it was bad, not because it was a guy booking himself to win a bunch of matches (again, no matter how true that was, it was the perception) but because it was bad wrestling television. What happens when the guy writing/booking the show actually gets it and puts on great wrestling?
Hint, it's already happening.
Mike Quackenbush is Chikara's most senior wrestler. He's also the booker, trainer and auteur of the entire place. He's also one of the winningest wrestlers on the roster and a guy who wrestled in the main event of the company's first iPPV. From where I sit, Quack is one of the best wrestlers on any scene, a legitimately likable guy who projects a fatherly persona and who does his best not only to make sure he's protected, but his pupils, guests and the product on the whole too. Don't tell that to the small but very vocal contingent of fans who think he's worse than Triple H for not jobbing in every match he's ever wrestled in under the Chikara banner.
On the surface, yes, this is a similar situation to the supposed Triple H god booking (again, we don't know if Trips really had as much pull as we accuse him, even if I feel it's naive to believe he had NO influence whatsoever). Removing all context and all critical and artistic merit from both products, yes it's exactly the same. However, that kind of comparison has absolutely no worth in any argument whatsoever, and those who think it does are blind.
The fact is what Quack does within Chikara actively enhances what is put inside the ring. He's a great wrestler, he shares spotlight and it always feels like he's part of the show rather than the whole show. Plus, the entire product is great, at least from where I sit. I couldn't say that about 2003-06 WWE. Case in point, last night at High Noon, if Quack was really a glory hound, if he really wasn't interested in putting over Eddie Kingston, does anyone really think he would have actively worked rudo? Would he have made Kingston as sympathetic as he was in that match? I don't think so, not one bit.
The point remains that even if Quack had won last night, odds are it probably would have been in a way where it was eminently satisfying to everyone involved, at least the people who don't sit in the crowd and nitpick at who wins and who loses. Remember, people like Quack and want to see him win without knowing that he's the man behind the scenes that he is.
I don't know, maybe I'm just feeding the trolls too much here, but my Lord, one of the things I hate most is a lack of perspective and shoehorning in concepts to criticize a legitimately good product because of a sense of consistency that some uptight jerk on the Internet feels like he or she has to apply across the board. Yes, Mike Quackenbush books himself to win matches. No, that's not a crime.
If people can't deal with that, then sorry, I'll tend not to take their opinions on wrestling seriously at all.
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, Chikara and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography
