Breaking Ground: how the importance of WWE’s latest series is understated

WWE's new Network series Breaking Ground is truly ground breaking....
WWE's new reality series goes behind-the-scenes at NXT./ credit: youtube.com
WWE's new reality series goes behind-the-scenes at NXT./ credit: youtube.com

WWE’s new reality series goes behind-the-scenes at NXT/ credit: youtube.com

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast week, the WWE Network premiered a new series, Breaking Ground, in which the premise is taking a behind-the-scenes look at NXT, the developmental branch of WWE, which has created such a huge following with fans and within the industry that it’s essentially it’s own brand at this point.

Within the first two episodes, which are smoothly narrated by William Shatner, we’ve gotten a glimpse into the Performance Center and the purpose it serves. We’ve been introduced to some talent and the struggles they’ve faced: Dana Brooke and her current plateau in her training; Tino “Sabby” Sabbatelli and his struggles to gain clearance from a concussion; “Tough Enough” runner up Zamariah “ZZ” Loupe and his attempts to get on the same level as most of his class. We’ve also seen just what goes into the three-day tryouts that WWE holds when recruiting new talent, why William Regal is reputed as one of the best talent coaches WWE has had in decades, and why Jason Albert was the perfect fit for head trainer following Bill DeMott’s sudden resignation this summer.

Since the launch of the Network, it has struggled to meet expectation, with the initial numbers being far lower that what was initially projected. To compensate for this, WWE has repeated offered free months for new subscribers and have created new, original content that has been very hit and miss. The biggest draws have been NXT, the monthly PPV events, The Monday Night Wars, the company’s digital library and the occasional live broadcast of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s podcast. The programming is starting to come together; both Table for 3 and Culture Shock have been very well received by fans, as has Breaking Ground and it does give the future of the Network promise.

As of right now, NXT is by and far the biggest show on the Network, and the most important (at least in my humble opinion). Breaking Ground has the potential to actually be just as important, if not more, than NXT. The reason being this: the curtain has been drawn.

Professional wrestling gets a lot of his history from the days of the carnival circuits. It’s where you’d go to actually see it and a lot of the industry’s terms are derived from carny lingo, such as “mark” and “work”. It was, up until the two decades (with fans and critics citing The Curtain Call as the death of kayfabe), a highly protected industry with a lot of its workers preferring to keep trade secrets under lock and key, despite the presence of dirt sheets. Within the past ten years, the rise of the IWC has shed a lot of light and given fans more insight as to how the industry works, but a lot of this does go off of rumor and hearsay.

Breaking Ground is pushing the envelope by allowing viewers into the life of NXT and showing them exactly what it takes to actually work for the brand and company. Through this, we’re allowed to gain an understanding of just how complex professional wrestling actually is and the years of training and dedication that goes into these live action performances and what everyone puts themselves through to achieve their dreams and entertain us at the same time.

At its core, that’s what this is – high-energy improv performance art. These are professionally trained athletes who have to be able to execute moves and illicit emotions from the audience on the fly. Even if the outcome is predetermined, they still have to call it all in the ring with the referee actually directing.

With movies, you get take after take to get it right and hours of setup for minutes of film, plus months of post-production and reshoots if necessary. In live theater and musicals, there are scripts and rehearsals and call times and routine and you hit your mark and bow for the applause. None of that is simple, by any means. But there are buffers and you’re able to make mistakes. Both mediums are highly regarded and respected by consumers.

However, in professional wrestling, there’s very little room for error, especially with WWE as they have roughly six hours of television programming each week just for the main roster and you have to deal with last minute rewrites and matches getting pulled or times getting cut or whole programs getting shifted and if you screw up that’s it, everything is on camera. Taped events, you at least get to hope that it can be fixed in post-production. What you see in the ring, be it WWE, NXT, CZW, ROH, NJPW is the first take, each time, every time. But the industry as a whole still gets a lot of slack from non-fans, as it’s still perceived as “fake”.

Though obviously the show is geared towards fans, with Breaking Ground, even those who aren’t fans can gain a deeper appreciation for all that goes into this. The show utilizes vulnerability; you’re being let in to view an industry that is highly misunderstood, even by it’s own fan base. How often do we fans get into discussions and see others state, “I can write this better” or “I can wrestle better than (insert talent’s name)”? How often have we ourselves thought that? We take everything we see for granted, especially when we’re witnessing results we may not like.

Maybe my hopes are a little lofty, but I do want to see this series do well. I want to see it do so well, in fact, that it maybe gets special airings on USA or NBC as to draw in a new audience. Breaking Ground can be the show that dispels the myths and gives it straight to the viewers: this is not easy. This is work. This is blood, sweat, and tears. This is life and love. This is what we do for you.

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Just another WWE smark in a IWC world gone mad. Find me poppin' off on Twitter some Mondays, most Tuesdays, for Smackdown PPV's (Let's not forget the Big 4!), and a whole hell of a lot of wrestling RT's. You've been warned. Got something to say to me? lauren.rae.83@gmail.com
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