In a recent interview with Pro Wrestling Illustrated (via ProWrestling.net), Mr. Anderson does his best CM Punk and says pro wrestling needs to evolve. Don't tell Triple H, though! He also defends the need for frequent heel and babyface turns, which, if you've watched TNA for more than 10 minutes, you know happens entirely too often.
Here are his thoughts:
"Here's where sometimes people don't understand the full story. There are reasons why somebody will suddenly change from heel to babyface, from a logistics concern. Maybe somebody is hurt and maybe somebody needs to fill a spot that was originally intended for somebody else. And we can't think of somebody else to fill that role, so we need you to fill that role. Part of me thinks that wrestling needs to evolve again. There's this thought that, in wrestling, it needs to be black or white. You're either a good guy or a bad guy. I don't know anybody in my life that is wholly evil or wholly good. With Breaking Bad, or Sons Of Anarchy, or Weeds-you look at these shows and there's a guy who is a chemistry teacher who sells meth. Is this a good guy? By society's standards, no. But we look at the TV show and we can sympathize with him. So I don't know what the answer is. But I do believe that sometimes in the wrestling business, it's almost forced. And it can be insulting to the wrestling audience, whereas on a TV show like Sons Of Anarchy, you decide. But in wrestling, it's ‘Hey, I'm the bad guy. Boo me,' or ‘I'm the good guy. Cheer for me.'"
I'm a huge fan of Breaking Bad and it's preposterous to compare the stellar writing and creative team on that show to the Vince Russo led squad working storylines for TNA. For starters, every aspect of Breaking Bad is broken down and delivered in its purest possible form. We, the audience, are allowed to connect with each character on the show -- and there are many -- on a base level that feels a lot more real than it actually is. To that end, Anderson is right, pro wrestling very much needs to do something similar to this.
The problem is that can't happen when characters are jumping in and out of different gimmicks and occupying different roles on television each week for the sole purpose of swerving the audience. Character growth is a must but an out-and-out role reversal can and will kill all the heat any one guy may or may not have.
In that sense, pro wrestling badly needs to evolve. But it goes back to the people in power thinking short term about what will work today instead of what will work in a year or two. That mentality will continue to fail.