Vince Russo's Shoot and the State of Wrestling Consumerism

Why pay money to hear THIS guy talk?

Vince Russo did a live "shoot" interview for Kayfabe Commentaries on WWNLive iPPV on Friday night. Given that the highest selling iPPV in WWNLive's history is the Gail Kim shoot, it's not surprising why they would go to the well again, this time with a more polarizing figure. I wouldn't be surprised if this surpassed the Kim interview. To me, that is too funny, because for the better part of a decade, fans would bitch and moan and complain about how Russo killed the industry, and yet they're going to pay money to hear him talk about his thoughts about the industry? Getthefuckouttahere.

I won't chide people for ordering this or any shoot interview. We're all imbued with at least latent curiosity about how the nuts and bolts of our art are assembled. That being said, I wonder how many other forms of sports or entertainment have their backstage things outdraw the actual product on the field/pitch/arena/television screen. The closest analogue I can think of is the HBO 24/7s for big boxing matches or the NHL's Winter Classic, or their Hard Knocks show, which goes behind the scenes at a NFL training camp. My guess is that the numbers for each of the main events would beat those for the nuts-and-bolts looks pretty comfortably. Then again, maybe I'm comparing apples to oranges here.

For one, WWNLive usually airs indie events, while Vince Russo and Gail Kim are both people who operate on a mainstream level. The sample size is pretty small. I would also venture to guess that if WWE were to pull back the curtain on its events that it wouldn't even come close to touching the same amount of viewers as WrestleMania would. Also, sport has the advantage of an unknown outcome being decided in the field of play. Other scripted dramas don't have the stigma of being "fake", even though they portray a life as real as the ones wrestlers live while the cameras are rolling.

Still, it is disheartening when one provider's best revenue generator is to have jaded ex-WWE or TNA employees come on so they can either dish dirt or be accosted by fans who want to know why they did what they did to ruin their entertainment. I hate to say "just sit back and enjoy wrestling", because that's kind of antithetical to the entire atmosphere I try to promote. We should be thinking about critical quality and we should be wanting answers to questions that are left unanswered.

That being said, how much can Gail Kim or Vince Russo tell us to satisfy those desires? Furthermore, what would do better to further ensure that good art is being made in a wrestling ring, watching either Kim or Russo dish about how bad shit was in a mainstream wrestling company or spending money on what quality wrestling companies are doing in the here and now? Personally, I would rather give my money to Chikara or Anarchy Championship Wrestling than put it in the pockets of a company that pretty much preys on the dissatisfaction of the stereotypical Internet fan and the people they pay to provide content.

Again, that's not to say that hearing people talk about what goes on backstage isn't interesting. I just think it does feel predatory in nature and that not everyone who is consuming wrestling and wrestling related products is necessarily a wrestling fan anymore. I get wanting closure, but I don't get the desire to pay for that closure over buying something that could help erase the bad memories of being a wrestling fan with newer, better ones to draw from.

It's entirely possible that there's overlap between those who buy both and those who only buy the shoots, but given the numbers comparisons, it's pretty clear that more people would rather be mad at the bad personalities and companies than be happy with the people producing good. Whether that's human nature or not, I'm not sure, but personally, I just think it's a bit short-sighted.