Should there be a certain amount of wrestling experience required before joining the "mainstream" companies?

For most Professional Wrestlers, there is a certain amount of Professional Wrestling experience needed to get into a "mainstream" promotion.

And that is set-up to prevent a lot of bad cases from seeping through the cracks. But just like with other sports, Professional Wrestling still has its exceptions. It's pretty widely known that WWE typically goes for male wrestlers that have been in the business for a minimum of five years, but exceptions like Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and others do get taken in because they are either exceptionally good or are beyond the basics to a point that they can be on television quicker than others going the regular route.

And in the case with females, the timing is different because not every female in Professional Wrestling is setting out to be a Professional Wrestler, not to mention that the competition between females is much smaller, so their requirement for actual experience is even shorter, if even existent in some cases, than with the males.

Also, with some places like WWE and even CHIKARA and Dragon Gate having their own training facilities, the time is heavily accelerated because those specific training facilities can mold Professional Wrestlers into any type of wrestler they want to be. Some have more freedom for development than others, but for the most part, the trainers and mentors at these developmental places can teach people in training whatever they want them to know and the style they want them to utilize.

I - Yes, but they will have to adapt. Some styles outside of WWE prepare Professional Wrestlers for hard strikes, while others prepare them better when it comes to improvising moves in matches, as well as executing them cleanly (note Evan Bourne's Shooting Star Press compared to someone like Billy Kidman). WWE's style is extremely generic for the most part, mainly punching and kicking with slams that aren't the most dangerous, and WWE thrives more on the actual "story" being told as opposed to the actual moves being done.

II - A combination of both. The holder of the title is much more important than how the promotion utilizes the title's existence, however, the promotion also plays a factor, as they also have to push onto fans the importance of that specific "World" Title. An example is with Samoa Joe's past TNA World Title run. TNA did a terrible job making sure fans knew Samoa Joe was "The Man with the Gold" in the company, and they focused more on other storylines instead of helping to keep Samoa Joe's World Champion status higher than everything else. That alone hurt the prestige of the belt, as at times, even fans couldn't even remember if Samoa Joe was still champion or not.

Another example is Nigel McGuinness' title run at some points. Nigel McGuinness was not put into any really big rivalries to help him be a better heel champion and to make fans aware that he was still ROH's main Champion. The Age of the Fall storyline also stood over Nigel's reign in importance, which hurt his status as champion. It was to a point that the only way Nigel got attention was by beating out the other World Champions with the length of his title reign.

III - I don't have many memories of "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, but I do remember seeing some of his matches in Japan, and the guy was a legitimate monster. In WWF and WCW, he seemed to not get far as much more than a "former football player", and being with both Jim Ross and Oklahoma was just bad for his image. But aside from that, I remember some of run from Japan, and even a few of his matches are up on YouTube and the like. Here is one of his matches vs. Stan Hansen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0h6Gt7z6F8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXJrDhvyHUw&feature...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu_4yFMk1Ns&feature...

This is an ongoing problem because the funnel has gotten smaller due to a lack of territories where a young talent can build his or her resume, make money and then "graduate" to the big leagues. Since the industry began changing in the 1980s, it has gone from feeder systems into a number of major organizations into almost like the "Bonus Baby" system in Major League Baseball before there was a draft; a young talent now learns while in the show and may wash out quickly if he or she cannot get a handle on things very quickly.

The WWE style is so scripted that the performers are essentially like an oldies band playing the same set they did when they were hot makers 25 years ago; creativity is negligible and not memorable.

I thought Vince did a good job in de-emphasizing the straps in the Attitude Era - heck, some of the stars were better without the gold, anyway - and the aftermath has been scaling back and trying to make them worth something, again. I don't think they have - or will - regain the prestige once held....the straps are props.

With Dr. Death.....it's what he did over the years when battling cancer that must be in the forefront; he gave hope to many, many people by projecting a positive attitude and not giving up; his heroic fight while continuing to work in the industry will be a beacon for years to come.

It is a little bit, TNA uses a very similar format to WWE, TNA is a bit more edgy and doesn't label or try to put on a PG showing, but the basic format is the same, I wouldn't call TNA pure wrestling, because they use the Sports Entertainment Format that WWE uses, even though TNA doesn't like that term, they are still using that formula, they have heels and faces, they have the promos, they have all the storylines, the only thing I see different is it is marketed to more of an adult audience. There are plenty of Overly gimmicky matches, The King of The Mountain match is a ladder match with so many rules to it, that it is overly gimmicky, for anyone who doesn't know what a King of a Mountain match is, it is a reverse ladder match usually with 5 or 6 wrestlers, where the wrestlers have to climb up the ladder and hang the title belt to win, oh but it isn't just that simple, the only way the wrestler can become eligible to be able to get a shot at hanging the belt is by pinning one of the other wrestlers first, also, if a wrestler gets pinned, that wrestler has to go to a penalty box, and stay in there for like a minute, there is a lot going on in that kind of match and this is usually the main event for one of TNA's top PPV, a casual fan or first time viewer of the match probably wouldn't understand it at all, so, yeah, when a match needs too much of an explanation, it is overly gimmicky, which is a case of a few match types in TNA. With Hulk Hogan he is only there to bring in some extra ratings, hopefully this stays the case, and most of the attention still goes to TNA's "Home Grown" talent, which is where it should be.

Theoretically, WWE and TNA management shouldn't just throw a guy into their shows just because he looks good or fits a gimmick they have in mind. Case in point, Vladimir Kozlov. He certainly had the right look for the monster heel they wanted him to be. But, as we saw, not the experience and training needed to pull it off. So, he was "demoted" to a lesser position for "on the job" training. Training he should have received before he was put on WWE TV.

On the other hand, if a new guy has "it" (the talent, the self-confidence, the skills, the poise), there is no reason NOT to put him out there, or have him spend a specified amount of time training. Case in point, Jack Swagger.

And on rare occasions, a "natural" shows up at the door, needing very little training at all. Case in point, Kurt Angle.

What this is leading up to is: there shouldn't be a "set in stone" specified amount of experience a wrestler needs to get in to the "mainstream" companies. Kurt Angle didn't need "5 years" in the indys. He probably didn't need much more than an 8-hour orientation class and he was ready for the main events. Angle is a very rare case, though; most will never be at Angle's level no matter the training and experience they get. The point to that is, had Angle been forced to spend X amount of years toiling away in the indys, a lot of great matches and great entertainment would never have happened.

Each wrestler should be taken on an individual basis. Vince and his staff (TNA management, as well) have the experience and know-how to determine which wrestler is ready for the "big leagues" and which needs more experience in the "minors". Although Vince ain't perfect in this regard, he's done pretty well so far at putting guys on TV who don't fall on their faces. Same with TNA. If a guy can come out of a wrestling school ready for the TV main events, then he should be given that opportunity. If, after 5, 10, 15 years in the indys, he still can't work a match very well, he shouldn't be given entrance into the "big leagues". There shouldn't be a set amount of experience required; it should be all about talent, skill, self-confidence, and poise.

I - The "WWE style" of wrestling is: don't get fancy, this ain't ROH or Japan, just punch and kick for awhile and don't bore the audience with a lot of pretty chain-wrestling and counter-moves; stick to the basics; if you have a "spot monkey" move or two, that's cool, but the audience ain't looking for no "clinic" out there. You ain't Chris Benoit or Bret Hart and if you try to be, the audience will boo you and chant "boring!". Just brawl for several minutes then hit your finisher.

Sure, knowing different styles will make a person a better wrestler, even though they won't get much chance to show those skills, and those other skills might come in handy to regain an audience he's lost with the "scripted" match.

II - ANY Championship is only as good as the wrestlers contending for it. I guarantee you, if you and I were to wrestle for the WWE Title tonight, it wouldn't make any difference what "awesome" storyline or match stipulation Vince and his people could come up with, we would "stink up the joint" and which ever one of us won, the fans would not care about the title. BUT, if Shawn Michaels came out immediately and challenged the winner. He would kill that winner and the fans would care about the title again. The point being, the Title doesn't make the wrestler, the wrestler makes the Title.

III - My favorite "moment" from Dr Death was seeing him military press Terry Gordy, all 300 pounds of him, ten times in a row, during a match they had in Mid-South (later called the UWF) in the mid-80's. I can't pick a "best match" because, unfortunately, I have seen very little of his work in Japan; most of what I've seen is just him squashing jobbers on TV.

I don't know if they ever had a match but I would loved to have seen Williams wrestle Chris Benoit, one of the few who I would place in the Doc's group of "toughest wrestlers ever". It would have been like watching a tiger fight a Grizzly Bear.

Of course. You need experience performing in front of people and in front of the camera. You can't just throw an average joe out there who's never been on TV before and expect him to do even semi well. He's gonna choke and get nervous. It will intimidate the sh*t out of him/her. Even the worst WWE/TNA wrestler or Diva, or someone who think doesn't belong where they are in either company, you have to admit one thing.....they all have confidence to perform in front of the world on national TV, and I forever give that to even guys I can't stand, like Orton

1. The 'WWE style of wrestling' is their own style of wrestling that no other companies use. What exactly the 'WWE style' is, I don't know because I've never been to FCW or went thru OVW where I would learn it. It's well known that most guys who get signed to deals must learn the WWE style and are expected to master it before getting the call up to the main roster

2. I think both, and it's a two way street. The perfect scenario is a guy who the majority of fans respect, whether they are heel or babyface, holding a title that has been held by other solid guys for years, and has a history of being pushed. The Intercontinental title USED to be this, but for the last several years, has been a shell of it's former self. Guys like Curt Hennig, Kerry Von Erich, Bret Hart, all former IC champions. Then years later, it goes to midcarders like Albert. We get a shining star every now and then like Morrison who holds it, but WWE usually manages to put it on the backburner after a few weeks. I remember at times the IC title matches and feuds overshadowed the World title matches

3. This is a VERY insignifigant moment in Dr. Death's illustrious career, but it cracks me up so I'm going to list it anyway. Ed Ferrara, who later went on to play the Oklahoma character in WCW as a mock on Jim Ross, actually played this character for a one-shot deal in WWE on an edition of Sunday Night Heat, during Jim Ross' brief heel run where he was complaining about being mis-treated by the company. Well, Ferrara is doing the J.R. imitation in the ring, only for the REAL J.R. and Dr. Death to come out. Dr. Death gives Ferrara one of the sickest looking back suplexes I have ever seen. If anyone remembers this, post a link if you can find one. That was probably the highlight, for me, of Williams' very brief WWF run

Happy New Year to you as well

well anytime you have to unlearn or adapt it can be frustrating for those who only were tought thier way. Often times you are programmed to do things the way you are tought. Its not impossible it just takes a while. for example, I have 25 years of martial arts training ok and I was always taught to stifen up and be tight, tight muscles and moves. Well inw restling you have to be super limp and soft so my tag team partner has to be extra patient with me while I'm adapting.

II. I would say the title holders becasue even if a company is redundant , repetative ect. Its the champ wrestlers that get the fans aroval , also the wrestlers take to heart the belt they hold ratehr than the company who often can make a veteran disposable if need be.

III.I could only quote what Ive seen him do in awa and wrestlemania..

In fact I cannot recall dr death enough to answer this Q. sorry.

Any time he faces colonel de beers, slaughter or larry zybisko or the claw I was impressed.

did he face kerry von erich?

Happy belated New Year 2010 to you also.

I didn't actually know that the policy had changed with the experience being 1-2 years now then 5years. You can tell the difference with some of the younger wrestlers whether they are on WWE or on TNA. I do think however that they should have kept the experience lever to at least 5 years because to me watching for such a long time can tell the difference between good talent to great and most in the beginning have just mediocre. If they did lower the experience level than I could see them lower it to 3-4 but are the wrestling companies that hard up on talent to have to lower it to just 1-2 year because of it doesn't make since. I have not really seen FCW or OVW but it should stand. Maybe if the wrestler had some exceptionally talent or even if they have a wrestling background (like their family is/was in wrestling) than I could understand them having only a limited amount of years but that should be the exception but not the rule. Especially to the women wrestlers because thought I do enjoy them clowning around every now and again especially when they get May Young into the action but I want them to have some wrestling ability and be the athlete they should be in the ring and not just a pretty face. I cannot really see too much pro side of either company really lower the amount of time that a wrestler spends developing their talent. I can only see the positive note on WWE or TNA having their wrestler talent the best to become part of the company. If they are then us fans will get behind them and support them with whatever gimmick they choose because of them being talented in the ring.

I. I am not sure myself what WWE style is and I have been watching WWE for so many years. I can tell in certain situations that they are really going to the entertainment side than the wrestling part. It only bothers me when it is too too much because I enjoy wrestling so much. I know that they have to pay the bills and get as many viewers as they can but even as a kid....being a girl watching with my grandfather it didn't bother him with the blood or anything happening. I never remember him telling me it was too too graphic but I did understand that you don't do this in every day life. I did grow up in the South so maybe it was just what we were use to here. I remember them telling me even then that watching the tv that I would ball up my fist and punch it because I wanted whatever wrestler to do that to the other but even though I grew up being a tomboy, I still was a girlie girl and just knew the difference somehow even when we saw it live in person. So I can respect WWE for doing entertainment and trying to do the good towards kids but if parents do feel its too much for their kids then maybe at times they should not be watching it. It's not like its a 24-7 thing of all the gore and crazy matches like Hell n the Cell or Bull Rope Match r any of the really graphic ones you know will draw blood. Though you cannot stop accidents from happening.

II. I think it should reflect on both the title holder and the promotion. I don't think the title holders should just be to push someone up but to be to a deserving wrestler who actually can carry the belt and have worked up to it. The promotion should reflex upon the Title holder having the belt and defending it to qualified title holders. It should be hand in hand and for the fact that certain people have titles doesn't mean that they should because they not only didn't work for it or up to it they are not deserving when their are better talent still waiting for a shot to hold the title themselves.

III. I remember from such a long long time ago "Dr. Death" Steve Williams being such a strong individual in the ring. I did enjoy his tag-team matches with Ted DiBiase Sr. though. He has great power and strength over most of his opponents. I think I would have loved to see him have a match either Kurt Angle because his is a great wrestler or Chris Beniot being such a great technical wrestler. Maybe even Chris Jericho because despite his mouth most of the time, Chris is a great technical wrestler too.

I don't think there should be a strict amount of years of wrestling experience, as we see with the developmental company WWE has in FCW, I would agree that when you're interacting well with the audience, when you have a decent moveset on you, to make a transaction to the bigger league, you have to make a wider audience like you, in FCW, you perform in front of 100-odd people, in WWE, nearly 13,000 and millions more on TV, people like Swagger and Morrison had to work with what they got, Swagger got enough decent heel heat, Morrison by winning a competition and then keeping what he had going to get a response from the fans

TNA is far different with what WWE does, WWE gets in younger talent to mold them into stars, TNA goes to the Indies and former WCW, WWE wrestlers, what TNA is they listen to the fans, that's what's different about them, when you get a reaction from the fans, you know you are doing well, TNA fans, I would say, respect the wrestler and the wrestler responds, people like Daniels, Styles, Joe, Young, Roode, Storm, all of which are still pretty young in wrestling terms even though are somewhat worn down by their wrestling styles

I don't think there should be 'restrictions' of sort, I mean, it's all in the balance of the people being wrestlers and what they bring to the table, no matter how slow you enter a big league nor how fast you get propelled to, you can be a Shawn Michaels where it took nearly 11 / 12 years to win the big one or Sheamus, where he won the big one in less than a year on FCW TV and then on WWE TV (plus, a big comparison there when talking about Michaels and Sheamus, wrestling-wise and performance-wise), it's just all about connecting well with the crowd and keep on getting a reaction, when Sheamus loses the title, is he gonna get a reaction? Hell yes because he defeated Cena, Cena is loved by kids, kids will still boo Sheamus for what he done to Cena, it's almost like a circle, what goes around, comes around

1 - You can go 2 ways about this, did Wolfe have to tamper with what he's got? Nope because some fans know of him and know of his moveset. If WWE fans saw Kaval in this rumoured storyline he may have against Mysterio, will he bring his style to WWE? Nope because WWE marks DON'T know of his style, his stiff-like style, it'll be like 'What's this guy doing? A double stomp?' Heck, a double stomp may get over in WWE but it comes down to the adaptability of one superstar to not please themselves by doing their style but mixing it up a little bit to be a good enough wrestler, they way they wanna wrestler and then adapt the so-called WWE way, in getting heel whilst performing a heel-like move and plus, WWE marks won't know of RoH or CHIKARA to know what style other wrestlers do anyways

II - A bit of both really, when you have a company that has the biggest name holding that title, it's the company and the title holder's responsibility to drive the company forward by being the best Champion you can be, whether it's booking the Champion right, hyping up your Champion or making sure the Champion treats its fans with honor and pride to where you are being a good Champion and then the company having your 100% backing and, therefore, bringing it's prestige up and everyone in that company is happy

III - I have to admit, am not a keen follower of his career, I knew of him whilst he was in WWE with JR in the Attitude Era (mind may be wrong, could've been Dan Severn) and, last year, saw his match against Misawa because I am a major fan of Misawa and after just one match, I liked his style, he was a great wrestler, good stiff wrestler and easily one of my personal favorites of Misawa that happened to involve Dr. Death, prayers still go to his family, such an underappreciated wrestler, IMO

I actually don't believe it makes much difference if a wrestler comes in with 10 years experience or no experience when it comes to making it to the main stream because you can't get the experience you need working in front of 500 people for a few years you would need to know how to work a audience of 15,000. What works for a smaller hardcore audience, like ROH for example, doesn't always translate on a much grander stage.

I'm going to take one of my personal favourites as an example of this, Delirious. Would the little things Delirious says during matches which get a great reaction work in a packed WWE/NJPW show? No because no one would hear him, it takes that part of his work away completely so his experience of working the crowd with funny comments during a match wouldn't make any difference at a big show. You can't really say experience makes much difference because for all wrestlers that make the mainstream their is still a learning curve as to how they work shows with advert breaks and other small details that revolve around being mainstream that you can't get much experience in when you are barely earning enough to feed yourself as some new wrestlers have to. Its a very different world the mainstream and past experiences don't always mean you can be set up for the big time, they help with work sure but that's not something you can't learn in the mainstream right? Don't believe me? Fine i shall prove it with an example of a wrestler that learnt his craft in the WWF and became one of the company's most popular wrestlers.

Jeff Hardy, barely wrestled anywhere outside of his backyard before making his way to the WWF. Learnt his craft getting his *** handed to him week after week before earning a contract with the company. Now he didn't need years of experience before his debut, he barely had any, but he's managed to work his way into the hearts of millions. Fans grew up with him and took his antics, life style, outlook, something anyways to heart. Now would he have been the same if he had worked outside the mainstream for the limit you propose? I doubt it his biggest selling point is the fans grew up with him, you take that away and he's another entertaining spot monkey. You take away the journey from young rookie to reckless risk taker and just introduce him to the masses as reckless you miss the connection so its actually better to have them grow on the big stage in low profile roles into bigger ones without experience, learn what works for the big crowds as the only thing you know.

I - WWE style is wrestling lite with striking to replace moves dropped, that's how i'd explain it. Instead of using moves to flow in the match they just throw punches. Learning to actually wrestle would more than likely put you in better stead than not because its easier to not use things you already know than have to learn new things down the line. Jamie Noble and Brian Kendrick talked about the WWE before Nobles ROH debut, Kendrick said its like being an artist who can't use certain colours, of course you can make something great with just black and white but its much easier with all the colours... that's a metaphor i would use for this question, if you can use all the colours before its easier to scale now and go back than it is to only ever be limited and have to learn how to use the rest.

II - I don't believe you can have one without the other, the prestige is wrapped up in who holds the title and how it is booked. You can't book a title well if the people holding the belt do not garner the respect a world champion should because then the audience doesn't treat it with the importance they should. If you have someone with great stature as your world champion it means nothing if they are booked like a joke, lose a lot and generally not treated like a champion even a Ric Flair as world champion wouldn't be looked at as anything special because the company is dropping the ball. You really can't say one is more important than the other because the wrestler needs to look worthy of the belt and the company needs to make the title look worthy of being most important in the company.

III - I honestly have no idea or knowledge of the career of Doctor Death because his best days predate my watching of wrestling and i have yet to do any real research into him, not come across his name much prior to his death so really i have little to sayon the matter but R.I.P.

Happy new year Samoan Trials... Truth Roots... whatever i don't care enough to remember it :P

First and foremost, you have to be a G-R-E-A-T actor. It's all so phony. Can't believe anyone actually believes that stuff. Incredible !