en-us http://www.keithwatanabe.net/index.php Keith Watanabe's Website http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/7/14/8f8080632ffe915a259150f3f145b7be.html
"Wrestling should be a great industry. It should put smiles on faces. Hell, 80% of the time I've watched Fit Finlay wrestle this past year has been fun. And to me, who may know the industry a little better, by and large, my opinion is it is filled with sheep, cowards and people who in the end are so afraid of what they deep down know is the truth that they will not-so-gladly sacrifice families. In the end, they are avoiding what they think they are doing, which is actually protecting their business."

I don't think Meltzer ever had a "real" job where you go to a place on a daily basis, have some crabby manager and a bunch of top level execs whose only interest is the bottom line. I think he ends up oversimplifying how people ought to be in the industry because he only really studies a single industry.

It's so easy to say "rally the troops! We're going to go to war against McMahon!" But the truth is that you don't bite the hand that feeds you. This pretty much applies to any industry and life. One reason why wrestlers try to keep their personal lives private is because you end up exposing things like Benoit's secrets when the shit hits the fan. The end product of wrestling is what you see on TV/the ring when you buy a ticket for a show. That's where our judgment lies.

How the business performs and manages sustainability are totally irrelevant to a degree in my opinion.....at least from a realistic point of view. That means, as a business, it will attempt to do whatever to maximize it's profits. It's that simple.

I've worked in about 10 different companies and several different industries, coming to the realization that businesses in the end have only one goal: money. The employees are irrelevant, the people buying the products are irrelevant, even the product itself can be irrelevant so long as people are stupid enough to continue purchasing the product. If people stop purchasing the product, that implies the business is stupid and needs to tune its operations and product line to once again manipulate people into thinking that it has a service or good that is needed.

Sounds simple? This is just basic business for people who have never held a real job and understand what it means.

That said, the people who work for a company, besides the owners and shareholders, are nothing but pawns that help tune the business. They are irrelevant and can be replaced easily. With that mentality in mind, any employee must do what it takes to preserve their position in a company so long as they wish to keep it.

Now things are more interesting because at this point we have multiple competing agendas.

I work in the finance industry at the moment (annuities) and I'm certain my readers (the few that exist) can enumerate the times I've ranted about how unethical my company is. It's not just my company either but most of the corporate mentality. Do you think that it's really ethical that a company tries to get some dumb, fragile, old person to give up about $20000 in promising them that 5 years later, their return will increase only by 1.5%? Well, that's what my industry does. If you think the product stinks just on those lines, you should enter my office. Here's one of our HR policies:

- Must give notice at least 1 month ahead with the consensus of the manager.

HUH!!??!!?!?!

You're telling me that another person has the CHOICE to decide upon MY life? My career? I'm just a silly programmer working for a company that started only 6 years ago. Why the hell would such a policy need to be imposed on me?

How about the 53 hours that I pulled in one week only to be reprimanded by my project manager that I wasn't being a team player? Or the fact that my manager won't let me take a three week vacation despite the fact that I'm already owed around 18 days of holidays? Or the fact that some people in my company are protecting a vender rather than their employees for the job? Or that the project should be delayed so that we can properly finish things?

This is business Meltzer. No one gives a crap about employees. The only employees that get to have any say are the senior management. That's just how it is.

Business is ugly. That's why it's business and people are "professionals." If people were just "people" working for some place, we could talk back against our bosses, go home whenever we feel like it, delay projects against upper management's wishes, etc. businesses wouldn't last long. I doubt the WWE's roster and company could be sustained with the whole lesser road schedule, lack of pain prescriptions, having bloated people on stage, etc. You're asking for a pipe dream. Do you want to go back to the era where people spent 10 minutes in a headlock? Or the 2 minute squash matches that just showcased some goon doing their five moves? Another competitor would come up, armed with the knowledge of what fans demand now, and provide that level of excitement that the WWE was missing in the 80's.

I'm all for wrestling cleaning up with less deaths (Benoit and Eddie impacted me hard). But to say that the industry is going to be this idealistic thing is just silly. I bet if you walk into any famous people's homes that one idolizes, you could easily dig up bad shit on them. You probably wouldn't want to either because the minute you do, you'll stop idolizing them and their career is dead.

If you want to change things, talk about changing and regulating corporations as a whole. Change society. Social engineering. Make it so that people can rise up against organizations and not be cowards and give more rights to employees in general. I don't see wrestlers as special except that they can do a few physical things I'll never be able to do. But as employees, they are not different than me. Why treat them as anything special unless I can receive similar benefits? My life isn't so glorious. I don't get to see the world. I don't get this huge paycheck, my name in magazines, a ton of girls and invitations to parties with special celebrities. I work equally hard in sacrificing myself just to get a shit benefits package at the end of the day. My employer abuses me too, making me work long hours, no recognition, no bonus, constants threats, a low moral work environment. What makes a wrestler so goddamn special that they ought to get the lifetime million bucks package? Why can't I get the same thing? Hey, my dad is in a fucking nursing home. Did his company provide him with anything? Did the government? No, he was just a shit employee that the company canned because they thought he was old and useless. So these goddamn wrestlers think they deserve all this continual star treatment when they retire. Get a fucking IRA and save your money or buy some annuities rather than snorting your life away. I don't see why I should feel any ounce of pity for the choices they make if they go down the wrong path and suddenly end up in the grave. They have millions of fans who love them. My poor dad doesn't even get one visitor and he's probably done more than these self pitying shitbags. You sold your soul to the devil (McMahons) and you wanted the glory. This is how the business is, this is what the fans want, this is what you get. Don't glorify it, don't expect more. If you do want more, save your coins, invest in your own company or cause and promote it heavily.

And if you want sympathy from me, you do something directly for my dad like fix his paralysis, get him a nursing home close to my home, or make me famous and rich so that I can help my family. I know most of you don't give a shit about anything outside of the range of what goes in your arm or nose in reality, so don't expect respect from me when you're old and crippled and whining about how an industry should still give you money and glory for your service. That's life, get used to it.

And Meltzer should get a real job rather than leeching off of others. That way, he understands the pain of being an employee and why us "cowards" can't do a lot.]]> Sat, 14 Jul 2007 21:58:53 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/7/14/8f8080632ffe915a259150f3f145b7be.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/20/8cac31be13d9edbe1680b187a132fe21.html it's damn true. Global Impact is what TNA ought to be: a true difference in presentation of pro-wrestling from the WWE. TNA's modus operandi is to be the standout product in pro-wrestling in America; however, while they wish to be the anti-WWE, many of their shows suffer from copying many ideas from the WWE. And not the good ideas either.

However, Global Impact was a warm welcome of doing the right promotion of pro-wrestling. No insulting of the Japanese promotions. No stupid angles. Just showing good wrestling, promoting with how people really felt and attempting to educate rather than preach what pro-wrestling can be.

Kurt Angle vs Yuji Nagata was one of the best pro-wrestling matches for free TV in TNA. It ended clean and was a decent match. It also got Angle over as a world-class athlete. Not him as the conniving rat, but the bad-ass wrestler with a ton of confidence. This is the Kurt Angle I think people want to see as the top dog in TNA. If TNA would only promote Kurt Angle in this manner, there would be a huge amount of respect for him as the champion and that they would make the TNA championship more legitimate.

This show made me to see more of this feud between TNA and New Japan Pro-wrestling because it did a good job of giving people a good taste of pro-wrestling in Japan in the way it should be presented. Mike Tenay and Don West did a better job, especially TNA who is better as a fact based, wrestling historian rather than a used cars comedian salesman that he's being line fed in TNA at the moment.

What I think this show also made clear is that the current booking committee needs to be fired, restructured and/or given no more authority on doing the booking and storylines in TNA. I have no problems with the core talent in TNA; they actually are good wrestlers when you take away the garbage that the bookers try to sell. The problem has perpetually been the fact that the booking/story writing committee is utter crap and need to be held accountable for not increasing the growth of the promotion. TNA has made some decent business decisions like partnering with Japan, promoting the Knockouts division, getting certain talent like Christian (who is the best pure wrestler in the promotion at the moment), managing to expand their TV slot and holding more shows outside of Florida. This has allowed TNA to grow their audience. However, from a TV point of view, their audience is stagnate. The potential growth they could receive has been stunted by the lack of competence from the booking committee. Now, something must be done in the near future to correct these actions.
]]> Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:13:54 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/20/8cac31be13d9edbe1680b187a132fe21.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/23/a6d793e72dd251d71a406dc5420b01bc.html
Russo obviously is an awful writer, but in some ways he tries to make it painfully overt that he's attempting to utilize some simple writing formulas. Like "developing" characters on screen and occasionally giving them "reasons" for being. For instance, linking Abyss to James Mitchell through parenting. Or adding the "dimension" of character to why Tracy Brooks would become a valet for Robert Roode.

Pro-wrestling is one of those formats that really does not need character depth or large amounts of explanation. It's something that needs to avoid the stigma of being scripted or fake. Heck, the headline on Yahoo even labeled Brock Lesnar as a "fake wrestler" for his upcoming UFC bout. Isn't that quite a stigma? You're marketed by the fact that you have no legitimate ability, not the fact that you have great athletic prowess.

Despite these stigmas, someone like Russo chooses to hurt the credibility of wrestling. It's very counter intuitive in nature, but again I think he's just using it for an easy paycheck and will attempt to break into other avenues of TV if his programming ever becomes successful or if the company folds. It's a shame he cares so little for the business, but it's even sadder than TNA does not have the scrotum power to kick him out once and for all.]]> Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:11:11 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/23/a6d793e72dd251d71a406dc5420b01bc.html