Wrestling with Emotion - What's the deal with these hostile takeovers?!?!

Wrestling with Emotion…

The Art of the Hostile Takeover – Why do so many wrestlers want to put their employer out of business?

Aces and Eights -
The latest group to want to put TNA out of business in "two, three weeks tops."

The “hostile takeover” angle is one of professional wrestling’s favorite angles to run. The angle is usually a company-encompassing angle that last months, even years, and involves everyone from the biggest of main event stars to the lowliest of curtain jerkers. Dating back to the mid-1990s and the UWF invasion of New Japan Pro Wrestling, the invasion angle is one that every promotion seems to take great pleasure in running. Some of the most famous angles in professional wrestling’s last 20 years are invasion angles – the nWo vs. WCW, the 2001 WCW/ECW invasion of WWF, the Immortal/TNA war. 

There has always existed one problem with this angle though. Maybe it is just because I am “that wrestling fan” who takes things to seriously and “overthinks things” but I cannot help it. The problem I keep having with these angles is that they all make no sense on one level – if your invasion is successful and you put the company out of business, you are going to be unemployed too. 

It doesn't matter if we're unemployed.  We made tons of money.  Thanks, guaranteed contracts!

When the nWo wanted to take over WCW in the late 90s, they repeated their intention to put WCW out of business. The same was true during the WCW/ECW invasion of WWF. If these invasions were successful, that would leave the invaders without a job. Think about it. WCW was the host company for the nWo. The nWo appeared on television shows airing because of contracts signed by WCW management (Ted Turner, at the time, owned both WCW and those networks so WCW was all under one giant corporate umbrella). In the case of the 2001 WCW/ECW invasion of WWF, WWF management signed those TV deals with Viacom. Therefore, even if that invasion proved successful under the leadership of Shane and Stephanie McMahon, the kids would be without a television deal for their brands because their father, Vince McMahon, signed the deals with the distributors. If the invaders were successful in either invasion, they would only earn themselves a spot on the unemployment line because they would lose their largest source of promotion and exposure: television. 

This little oversight of logic is a major flaw in what the professional industry considers its “go to” long-term angle and I consider the most overused wrestling angle since the Dusty Finish. 

Currently the two promotions I follow the closest are both deep into their own hostile takeover angles. Since June 2012, TNA has fought off the invasion from the biker gang known as Aces and Eights. Finally, after nine months, Bully Ray revealed himself the leader of Aces and Eights at Lockdown. Filled with disgruntled TNA employees and a few former employees (storyline-wise), Aces and Eights want to end TNA Wrestling in the same vein Immortal wanted to control TNA Wrestling from 2010-2011. Meanwhile, Ring of Honor Wrestling has a faction of disgruntled employees intent on destroying the company in the form of SCUM. Initially angered by then-ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette, Kevin Steen, Jimmy Jacobs, and Steve Corino formed SCUM with the intent of taking over and destroying Ring of Honor – a quest that has continued even with the removal of Cornette from power in the company (both storyline-wise and in reality) and the additions of Matt Hardy, Rhino, Rhett Titus, Cliff Compton, Jimmy Rave and subtraction of Steen. 

S.C.U.M. in happier times before they lost the ROH World Championship and kicked out Kevin Steen.

At this point, I have watched both angles play out for 10 and 11 months respectively. Both angles have offered some great matches, especially in Ring of Honor where Steen’s outstanding World Championship reign ran alongside the early months of this angle. However, I find myself also bored with this tired angle. Since the late 1990s, I have watched this angle play out multiple times with every invasion stopped by the heroes. The nWo imploded. The WCW/ECW invasion fell to the WWF (and Vince McMahon’s ego). John Cena killed the Nexus by himself. Immortal fell when Sting defeated Hulk Hogan in a street fight and Hogan “saw the light.” Nobody has ever successfully completed a hostile takeover of a company in wrestling. Why? Because, logically, a successful takeover and destruction would ultimately mean the invaders would only make themselves unemployed. My early point stands are the logical barrier stopping any of these angles from ever playing out in favor of the invaders.

While the nWo version of this angle was the closest to perfection, it was not perfect. Also, it was not so great that every company has to run a version of the angle every 2-3 years from now until the end of time.

Factions are great. Plenty of factions have existed in professional wrestling without the sole purpose of a hostile invasion. The Four Horseman were not intent on destroying the NWA. DX rebelled against authority without trying to take over the company. The Heenan Family, the First Family, Evolution all wanted to establish their dominance through championship gold. So, do not interpret my complaint as the idea that factions in wrestling are bad because that is not what I am saying at all. What I am saying is that wrestling needs to lose this idea that every company needs a group within wanting to take over and destroy the company. It is illogical. It is mind numbing. Most important of all, it is lazy. The wrestling world has watched this angle for almost 20 years now. Do something different so that maybe the wrestling fans around the world would do something different and stop complaining… nah, complaining is the American way.