10 Things In Wrestling That Can’t Be Taught
OR, why Big Cass probably isn't going to make it.
You can teach mic skills - or at least, one can learn how to cut a promo within the current scripted context.
It’s no longer left to the independent contractor to get over of their own accord (yet another reason, incidentally, why the term “independent contractor” is a complete misnomer). In WWE in particular, with virtually every performer instructed to orate scripts written on their behalf verbatim, it is possible to, at the very least, fill airtime without making a prat of oneself. In theory, this leaves no margin for error. In reality, this homogenises the roster and inhibits those who actually possess the ability naturally. In WWE, the dreaded term 50/50 is not limited to the match results decided arbitrarily by a company with no long-term creative direction.
AJ Styles was never a natural promo; nevertheless, through the punishing graft of reciting Vince Russo’s twaddle in TNA for years on end, the Phenomenal One has become more than serviceable on the stick, compensating for a voice that isn’t exactly phonetically pleasing nor authoritative with a studious approach to registering his words. To underscore that point, his “A-J-Styles!” catchphrase is unimaginative, but is timed well enough to persuade fans to chant along with the staccato delivery.
You can teach that.
You can’t teach…
10. Charisma
This is the one. This is the criteria that separates the stars from the hands.
Consider Jerry Lynn, an innovative, athletic worker capable of ungluing crowds into a frenzy. That frenzy was conditional. With an act perfectly calibrated to steal the midcard, Lynn did not project the intangible charisma with which to ascend to the ranks of headliner. He was a great hand that stood no chance of ungluing those not already predisposed to reacting to a pro wrestling match, irrespective of how good that pro wrestling match was. Lynn was an anonymous promo, projected zero star power, and possessed little in the way of cool, what with his 1980s heavy metal hand signals looking far behind the times in the Nu-Metal clime he came up in.
Certain wrestlers simply command a reaction by breathing in the crowd with their eyes closed and nostrils flared. Big Cass can only remind everybody of his sole selling point to the point of parody in an attempt to mine a postmodern source of heat amongst an audience that resents him for it.
It doesn’t work, because he doesn’t radiate anything in the way of charisma. The Realest Guy In The Room cannot command one.