Ellis ColemanI watched the program and at first agreed that the comparisons to WWE seem pretty bogus, but then I started thinking of it from an editor's viewpoint -- professional wrestling was the most relevant connection to be made with the move and the program's younger demographic. The writers and editors on the show had done what they needed to do to make the story profitable.
Jason Bryant of USA Wrestling -- who is the unquestioned leader of social networking in the wrestling community -- voiced his frustrations and asked that "just once" the mainstream media not mention the professionals when recounting these infrequent events. He's right, the mention of professional wrestling does devalue the nuance of Coleman's achievement, but that's not the real failure. Leaving these moments unanswered stymies the progress of the sport. The fault for allowing wrestling to remain a static set of repeated messages about professionalism, cutting weight and tight clothing is the fault of those in charge of creating messaging and branding, myself included.
I've worked as a freelance print journalist for three years and in that time have published one wrestling-centric in a major newspaper or magazine (H/T: Jim Casey of FIGHT! Magazine). The problem wasn't that every pitch lacked a compelling storyline -- I pitched Anthony Robles, Cornell's ascension and Cael Sanderson. The hangup for most editors was that amateur wrestling doesn't compel their audience, that behind the achievement is just tights and weight loss. Amateur wrestling as currently packaged cannot be sold to the mainstream media as a stand-alone product. The wrestling community shouldn't be flustered when Ellis Coleman gets on ESPN2 for an effort that is both named like a professional wrestling move and that authentically replicate the absurd athleticism typically only executed through choreography -- it's what compels the editors and interests the most viewers and we've given them nothing else to discuss or understand.
Amateur wrestling needs to ask itself if it is willing to track towards a more professional style of wrestling (celebrations anyone?), or if we do a complete and total re-branding that includes themes that are both easily transmittable to our core communicators like Jason Bryant and repeatable by our athletes, coaches and fans.
What are the new ideas? That's unclear right now. Wrestling is cluttered with entrepreneurial enterprises that add value to our connectivity, profitability and messaging (e.g. RIOT and Flowrestling) but the intellectuals in our community have so far been mum about new ways to capture a wider fan base for the sport. The leading organizations have recently created alliances between the powerful organizations in our community, most notably the Hall of Fame and USA Wrestling. That new power structure should help the thinkers and journalists within the sport create an improved message that every wrestler, coach and parent can repeat to sarcastic friends, nosy neighbors and pandering reporters. "Oh, like with the tights … God, I knew a wrestler who use to always spit in a cup ... Like the professional guys, right? The response can't simply be a personalized defense and assertion that this is "the real stuff." We need ideas.
I'd like to see more individuals marry the entrepreneurship of the wrestling community with serious thought and debate about messaging. My work on Wrestling Roots aspires to introduce lots of new ideas about wrestling at-large, but the site is young and still too broad to direct the message. Still, there is no greater intellectual force internationally than the American amateur wrestling community. We have the wealthiest and most popular traditional wrestling community in the world and it's time we start using our intelligence, connectivity and energy to affect major change in our community, or else we can leave it up to ESPN to cultivate our message (hope you like Royal Rumbles).
Coleman's takedown was a missed opportunity. Had these discussions started three years ago one of it's youngest and most charismatic stars could have responded with a pointed re-direct to his ESPN antagonist -- maybe he could've been coached for his media appearance and reminded on how to respond. What impact could Coleman have had if he'd been given a better message? Who watching that morning might have been convinced to give wrestling another look? What decision-maker in Washington D.C. or at a college in danger could have learned something new and influential? We'll never know because the conversation turned to our hyperbolic cousins in the WWE leaping from tight ropes and slamming each other with chairs.
I find it interesting that Coleman's move is called the "Flying Squirrel." In college my roommates and I were interested in purchasing one for our apartment (we called it a "sugar glider"). The man at the pet store told us that they were awesome pets, that they might get a little loud but give them the platform and they could soar across the room. "I thought they could fly," said one of my roommates. No, the owner corrected it just takes them longer to fall to the ground than other squirrels.
Flying squirrels don't fly, and without better ideas and messaging, wrestling will never take off, just take a longer time to fall down.
T.R. Foley's website WrestlingRoots.org documents traditional wrestling styles from around the world and he recently returned from a three-month research trip to Mongolia.
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