The Elite - Storytellers of Pro Wrestling

The Elite - Storytellers of Pro Wrestling 

I'm a fan of pro wrestling and within pro wrestling there at many different genre's and many different ways of telling a story.

I don't believe that there is one way to tell a story in pro wrestling,just like in TV or Entertainment, Drama or a crime show they all have different ways of telling a story,how the TV Show presents itself, how they present their characters and how they tell you that story.

Think about TV shows you love watching, Netflix shows you like, they all present themselves in different ways and just because you like one show doesn't mean you'll like a different show on a similar subject if it presents itself differently and doesn't grab your attention.

It is the same in Pro Wrestling, every company will have their way of presenting themselves and within that every wrestler will have their own way of presenting themselves, the way they look, they way the talk, their cadence and facial expressions and its you the fan that will gravitate to some characters and dislike other characters based on that presentation.

Wrestling as it moves forward has to diversify itself, I don't believe now that simple storytelling is enough because in 2018 wrestling is battling so many other forms of entertainment and battling to gain fans who have so many options in their lives to keep them entertained. 

To get new fans and to keep current fans wrestling has to evolve the storytelling aspects have to evolve in order to keep their attention and to stop wrestling insulting people intelligence. I believe that a mixture of these elements is key. 

For me Storytelling in Pro Wrestling to me it comes down to 3 different categories 

Straight Wrestling

• Some fans prefer one way of being told a story over another. Some fans in Pro Wrestling don't like a story at all, they just want to see wrestling, they go to a show see wrestlers wrestle and all they want to see is wrestling, story isn't important to them.They want to see believable, credible characters and bouts that they can invest in.

Traditional Story Arc

• Other fans want to have a story to follow, they want to have a reason to be able to go to a show, a reason to invest in the characters and a reason to see their conflicts and a conclusion to those conflicts, they want a story they can follow, whether it be show to show, week to week, or PPV to PPV. This includes wrestlers getting into physical conflicts, wrestlers cutting promos (talking to the audience, doing an interview) talking about their match or what they are going to do to their opponent. This is similar to the way WWE traditionally presents its product.
  

Social Media, Straight Wrestling, Story Arc and Entertainment 

• This to be is they newest version of storytelling in wrestling where wrestlers, companies and promoters are using all the tools available to them in order to gain fan interest and to get fans to invest in them. The storytelling happens on social media, it happens at shows, it happens in videos, it happens in the ring and it is a more encompassing modern way to tell a story in pro wrestling.
  

To get new fans and to keep current fans wrestling has to evolve the storytelling aspects have to evolve in order to keep their attention and to stop wrestling insulting people intelligence. I believe that a mixture of these elements is key. 

Kenny Omega, Matt and Nick Jackson have taken pro wrestling and combined all the 3 elements described above and created their on style and added a 4th Element to it Athletic Wrestling. So here's and equation

Straight Wrestling + Story Arc + Social Media + Video + Entertainment + Athletic wrestling = Kenny,Matt and Nick Jackson.

Recently I saw a tweet which said these 3 men don't have wrestling physcology and cant tell a story. 

Below I break down why I think that statement is 100% wrong and why I think The Elite are creating their own way of telling pro wrestling and engaging fans, 

Kenny Omega, Matt and Nick have been so clever and how they have delivered there version of Pro Wrestling to the fans, they have used all avenues available to them in order to capture the attention of the fans and to build their brand and their business, they are the number one sellers on Pro Wrestling Tees and in Hot Topic.

Kenny, Matt, Nick have changed professional wrestling they are melding together elements of storytelling that they want to use and combining them to create and tell their stories.


Kenny, Nick and Matt alongside Marty Scurll, Cody Rhodes, Adam Page, Brandi Rhodes and more all appear in a youtube show called Being The Elite. They all use this show to create entertainment but importantly they also use this show to carry forward angles that you might see in Ring of Honor or New Japan Pro Wrestling. 

Its a very smart thing to do because it means that fans can invest more in what they are doing and also means that fans can see a storyline develop more and have a more personal feel due to limited time that they have on TV or NJPW.

They alongside that also tell stories in the ring 

Lets look at some recent examples of this

The Young Bucks vs Rappongi 3k - Wrestlekingdom 12 

The Young Bucks Nick and Matt Jackson used straight wrestling storytelling, a story arc and Athletic wrestling they are known for  in their match and told the story of their match around the condition of the body part.

Their own unique twist on it was that 1 member of each team was going to have an injury to that body part.

Traditionally one team would work on a body part ( an arm, a leg etc) of their opponent and the story would be told around that body part until the opponent could get to the corner to make the tag to their partner who was fresh.

Sho for Rappomgi 3K and Matt Jackson from The Young Bucks both got back injuries and as a result both had difficulties in their match so they had taken a traditional element of wrestling and added their own twist on it. Both Sho and Matt could not do the moves that they could usually do, so the match took a different direction with both teams trying to zone in of the back of their opponent in turn that changed the physcology of the match

It was a different match because it was based around submission, where traditionally Junior Tag Team Matches are based around athletics, it showed to me the broad range of The Young Bucks and their thought process.

Not only that but the next night at NJPW New Years Dash they used the same story in their 6 man tag Match with Nick, Matt and Kenny taking on Rappongi 3k and Cheeseburger..

Both Matt and Sho again couldn't wrestle to the best of their ability - carrying their story from last night and Sho submitting in their match previously to the next show a very clever thing to do and very entertaining in the process. 

  

Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho - Wrestlekingdom 12

A prime example of using everything available to you to tell a compelling story and to have an incredible match on the largest stage in pro wrestling. Chris Jericho has to be given a lot of credit here too, he also utilised everything available to him. 

Omega vs Jericho feud actually started out on Twitter, with someone tweeting and telling Chris Jericho that Kenny Omega was better than him, that then seemed to inflame Jericho who would trade insults, Tell Omega he hadn't made it to the big stage and what he had achieved was nothing and Making threats to Omega Job and telling Omega that Jericho knows his boss Gedo and could get him fired. 

 Kenny Omega was left in the ring after a match he had for IWGP US Title and then the lights went out and a video appeared on the screen a countdown began and Chris Jericho appeared and challenged Kenny Omega to a match at Wrestlekingdom 12.

No one saw what was coming next, after The Elite defeated Rappongi 3K,in Fukouka, Kenny was again alone in the ring the lights go out and then Chris Jericho is in the ring and is attacking Kenny Omega.

Jericho made Omega bleed and Jericho also hit one of his signature moves the Codebreaker to Kenny Omega and also to fellow Winnipeg native and NJPW World Color commentator Don Callis, before Jericho stormed out.

Don Callis in a neckbrace following Chris Jericho Attack the day before

Following this the next day Omega and Jericho brawl and fight at NJPW press Conference from Wrestlekingdom 12 where Kenny Omega attacked Jericho and Jericho threw a table at Omega.

Kenny and Jericho were very smart, they utilised a lot of different elements, modern technology, video, a traditional wrestling story plus they added the stipulation of a No DQ match, and added athleticism, violence and believability to their match to bring together the best match at Wrestlekingdom 12.

Kenny Omega, Matt and Nick Jackson are trendsetters they are creating a new way of taking in wrestling, you for fans to digest matches and appreciate the art of pro wrestling. 

They are evolving wrestling and helping to move it forward without innovators like them wrestling wouldn't be as great as it is or have the buzz it does have in 2018 

Thanks for Reading

@jon422002

Jonathan Orchard