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Getting Back to The Basics

So beginning this week, the amount of hours of wrestling programming per week will increase, again.

TNA iMPACT will be presenting their first two hour broadcast in the company's short history. One would think with almost eight hours of television, the wrestling industry is beginning a swing back into prominence. A certain level, which can benefit the business in one of its most crucial eras in recent memory. A level of programming, where each brand is enhanced to similar importance of the Monday Night Wars.

However, with additional hours coming, its seems that the overall business is still lagging behind. All products, all shows, all brands, and both companies. Some may say that it is the effect of pressure from congress, as well as the recent stress to reinvent the business to gain and attract casual fans once again. The fact of the matter is that both are overdoing themselves, when keeping it simple is what truly attracts viewers.

With all of the hours of programming per week, the amount of actual in-ring product is mind numbing. Which brings me to the number three brand in North America, Ring of Honor (ROH), a company with no national broadcast. After watching ROH's first pay-per view, Respect is Earned, I was transformed from a causal fan of the product, into a believer that an actual "wrestling-first" promotion can survive. After seeing most of their second pay-per-view, Driven, I'm convinced it can.

Wrestling has become too "entertainment" based, depending on shock value way too much, which has caused a complexity of bad story lines and over the top segments. Ric Flair explained this best when he stated, "Bad products are usually a cause of people making decisions that are Hollywood writers and not wrestling people. If you don't understand how the business works, it will definitely come through the television screen."

Forget the "over the top" storylines, the insane gimmick matches, the women searches and the useless chatter. Get back to the basics. Good guys. Bad guys. Wrestling. To move forward, the business needs to go back-back to the basics of wrestling.

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