Sometime last week, WWE producer and former WWE star Road Dogg responded to a fan on Twitter in regards to wins and losses. The fan was venting his frustration over the way that Kevin Owens was being booked as a heel as well as him losing on TV so often. Road Dogg responded to the fan by saying that wins and losses don’t matter in WWE, and that it is more about character development. I would say that wins and losses don’t matter like they should or like they used to. I think that is what explains WWE doing their constant 50-50 booking. Having the same guys trade wins back and forth, everyone is at .500. It doesn’t hurt anyone, but no one gets elevated either. Jim Ross said on one of his podcasts a few weeks back something along the lines of “You can’t drive a mile, and then drive a mile back because you won’t get to where you need to go”. I get that wrestling is fake and all, but it is still supposed to be a parody of a true athletic competition. Competition will always have winners and losers. If wins and losses don’t matter, then why is everyone fighting? At the core of professional wrestling, and even “sports entertainment” it’s supposed to be about two people who don’t like one another settling their problem in the ring. That is the way it’s been from the beginning with Frank Gotch, George Hackenschmidt, and all those peeps! It should be “Hey that’s a nice belt you have, and it means you are one of the best, I think I am better than you. Let’s fight for it”. Let’s look at the WrestleMania III, what if Andre the Giant was simply trading wins and losses with people during his build up to his match with Hogan for the title? That would have killed any momentum he had as the top heel facing the champion. As we all know, Andre the Giant was billed as being undefeated for 15 years prior to his match with Hogan (he really wasn’t, just in WWE canon). When Hogan defeated him, it was a huge moment in WWF history. Hogan not only retained his title, but he defeated the unstoppable Giant. I know what some of you are going to say, “Anthony, that was 1987”. Ok, I will fast forward to the 1990’s. Goldberg was tearing things up in WCW with that undefeated streak where he destroyed opponent after opponent. The always win, never lose formula has always been a staple in professional wrestling. When Goldberg lost, it killed all of his momentum. That loss set off a chain reaction of epic fail in WCW.
Let’s fast forward to today. At WrestleMania XXX, would Brock Lesnar beating The Undertaker be such a huge moment if the Undertaker was 17-4 at WrestleMania going into that match? Of course not! I guess the point that I am trying to make is that while I get what you are saying, Road Dogg, and I know you probably know more about wrestling than I ever will as I am just a fan who writes my views on what you guys do, but you are wrong. As long as pro wrestling is a parody of competition, then wins and losses will always matter. That is why the NWA used to actually have a ranking system just like boxing, MMA, and all OTHER forms of competition have rankings. A top 10 would do just fine even in a machine like WWE. That way when guys wrestle each other, it makes every match important. Just because wins and losses don’t matter anymore because the machine says so, that doesn’t make it right. It’s time to go against the grain, and bring some things back to let everyone know it’s a competition at heart. I would be cool with WWE bringing back squash matches featuring enhancement talent to allow some of the guys who don’t win on TV that often to get some wins. Raw is a 3 hour show, do one squash match each hour where a mid-card guy defeats some local indy guy. SmackDown can do one each hour also, and then shows like Main Event and Superstars, you can have them all be matches featuring enhancement talent except for a main event match featuring top mid-carders. I was watching NXT last week, and noticed that they use a lot of local enhancement talent and guys not under contract to fill their cards and do jobs. It gives the guys they are trying to push in NXT wins, and it gives the local guys and guys not under contract chances to have matches on WWE Network that everyone will be able to see for just *sighs* 9.99. Triple H gets it in that regard. I give him props for that! It’s time to stop giving everyone participation medals and shit. What’s the fun in everyone winning? If wins and losses don’t matter, that means championships and accomplishments don’t matter. WWE should be careful here. You have one of your employees saying that wins and losses don’t matter. If you guys don’t care, then why should we care as fans? When we don’t care, you get worse than cheers and boos. You get indifference. In any form of entertainment, apathy is the worst kind of response you can ever get. Wrestling has always been at its best when it’s unpredictable. Let’s get back to that! As always you can hit me up on Twitter @whosantcox with your thoughts and opinions, and I am also now goofing off on Instagram under the username “UltraGoldenAnt”. Also, check out Kayfabe Kickout on Facebook as well World Wrestling Junkies. Catch you next time, wrestling fans!
*Kayfabe Kickout (2012 - 2020) has since rebranded in July, 2020 and is now known as 'Pro Wrestling Slam!'
Follow us on Twitter @PW_Slam, to get the latest news in the world of professional wrestling, like us on Facebook, subscribe to our Official YouTube Channel and follow us on Instagram. To submit wrestling news email prowrestlingslam2012@gmail.com and be sure to check out our Official Pro Wrestling Tees Store to pick up some Pro Wrestling Slam! Merchandise, also be sure to listen to the Pro Wrestling Slam! Podcast on Anchor.fm.