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SLAMMIN' SYNAPSES: ART OF THE STORYLINE

Hi everyone and welcome to my first installment of Slammin' Synapses right here on PWInsiderXtra. First a history of this column and me. My name is Albert Gourrier...36 years old...been a big wrestling fan having had the 'sickness' since 1982 since the day I was wandering the dial and came across Andre the Giant facing three men in a handicap match...been hooked since. I have seen pretty much everything come down the road. Currently I ring announce for a local fed called Scott County Wrestling and have an on-line radio station called Pro Wrestling and More radio (www.pwam.2ya.com) (www.live365.com/stations/albertarmageddon). Give it a listen one day when you have the chance.

I used to write this column for a newsletter called PW Hardcore many many years ago (Thank you Kevin Hagen wherever you are) and the thought occurred to me to try to bring it back. Mind has been active with a whole bunch of thoughts and I would like to share some of them with you. I will try to come at you once or twice a week depending on work and life schedule. There will be times I will have a little to share...there will be times when it will seem like an epic novel...some will echo the guys here on PWInsiderXtra...some will be my own...in either case I thank you for taking time out of your day to read my stuff...and speaking of which, it's time to embark on my first article written here.

Art of the Storyline

To me, if you're going to put out a successful wrestling fed, you will need reasons for people to watch your product. You need the wrestlers of course...wrestling with great psychology (which I may visit in a future column)...and story lines people can and want to become invested in. As they say here, you have to find a finish for your story (like a final match at Wrestlemania) and build backwards. This is where I am headed...now how do I get there? Making it up on the fly with no end goal does not benefit you because most times it will come across in your product and will make your audience wonder if you're headed some place else. Always have an end and be committed to it (unless someone gets injured or fired...but then you can find an alternative way to end the story you started).

Ask me the one storyline I remember more than anything and I will always come up with a simple story. One that got spread over two or three weeks...but the problem I had with it was that it was never ever resolved. Dusty Rhodes was the U.S. champion...Larry Zbyszko was the Western States Heritage Champion and Baby Doll was managing Larry. Larry wanted the U.S. championship and Baby Doll came up with an envelope that had something on Dusty...however it never came to an end and many questions were unanswered...what was in the envelope?...what could have had such an effect on Dusty?...thing is we will never ever know. Unless some fed out there wants to revisit it and come up with their end (if you do I take full credit for that :) ), it will remain unanswered.

Wrestling is always compared to being a soap opera but if you watch soap operas...the key to a successful soap opera writer is that who knows the characters whole story for the time they were introduced and know how to tailor a storyline to that character. Any change to that character (someone else is his/her father...he/she is really your sibling..etc.) can be done but at the same time that character's history isn't discarded. Many times a different writer will come on (I will revisit an article I wrote called Passing the Pencil at a later time) and completely ignore all that has led up to current time which winds up not only killing momentum but also dissuades the audience. If any of you remember a show called Dallas...Bobby Ewing (played by Patrick Duffy) was killed. The next season went on with a storyline based around that and began other story lines as well...the audience accepted it and the show went on. At the end of the season as its' cliffhanger...Pam Ewing (played by Victoria Principal); Bobby's wife would wake up one morning and find Bobby in the shower. It was revealed next season that it was all a dream. After this, the fans of the show were very upset and felt very manipulated. The show never recovered after this and started a decline. If anything this will show why it is never a good idea to completely ignore the character's and story's past. BTW, making someone someone's brother, father, etc. is something I would never recommend for future stories because it locks that person in as that person (see Kane or Abyss) for the rest of their career. See the effect it had in World Class when they came up with a Von Erich who wasn't a Von Erich. That blew up in their face and had long lasting effects.

Just throwing things on the wall seeing if it sticks will never work for you unless you are willing to work with...mold it...sculpt it and give people a reason to want to view it and be a part of it. Just throwing things up there and then walking away from it leaves a mess and looks like trash...and we all know how people react when they walk in with trash all over the place. It turns them off and makes them look elsewhere.

Also a storyline doesn't have to be complex either...it can be very simple...as someone once said at one time...a Diamond Dallas Page vs. Johnny B. Badd match got built around Johnny getting to the venue late because he had 4 flat tires. Don't convolute it...remember KISS...Keep It Simple Stupid. Also, for as structured as it should be and I know I might be going against everything I've written so far...drop the scripted interviews...wrestling interviews are so much more fun ad-libbed.I can just imagine the Road Warriors, Ric Flair, or Dusty Rhodes having to do scripted interviews back in the day.

In closing...remember...there are people out there that want to view your product...there are also people out there who haven't who get curious and tune in. The key is to cater to your hardcore viewers...but (and this is something lost on many) you have to cater to your newer viewers by giving them a reason to view and want to view it again. Granted, there was no storyline around Andre facing three guys (other than he was the kind who could), but the stuff that wrapped around it kept me interested and keeping me a fan for over 25 years. Thank you for joining me for my first installment of Slammin' Synapses...join me next time when I talk about a favorite of mine...wrestling music. Until then, in the words of Gorilla Monsoon...so long from ringside.


Please send any correspondence to me at AlbertArmageddon@aol.com. Thank  you.