I've been a professional wrestling fan ever since I was a kid, when my old man used to take me to matches in Hawaii, featuring guys like Ripper Collins, Tex MacKenzie, and Curtis "the Bull" Iaukea.
As a 13-year-old boy, I was hooked instantly. And it is something I carried all the way into my adult life.
But it's been pretty tough being a wrestling fan the past few years.
You see, professional wrestling is a cyclical business.
And the cycle has been decidedly on the "down side" for the past couple of years...ever since Vince McMahon and the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) basically won the interpromotional wars of the nineties (the last time professional wrestling was really hot) and absorbed all of the competition.
Back then, at least for a time when wrestling was at it's peak, there would be competing pay per views nearly every week between the three major players in the game:
Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (or the then WWF); Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW); and Paul Heyman's revolutionary upstart group, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).
Like I said, it was a great time to be a wrestling fan.
And it all came together each and every Monday night...when WWF's Monday Night Raw would square off with WCW's Nitro on cable, in what came to be known as "The Monday Night Wars".
Since those glory days, Monday Night Wrestling has been in a steady, undeniable creative decline. Oh sure, there are the occassional weeks when you still get a decent show.
But nothing compared to the shock a minute thrills of the original "Monday Night Wars" of the nineties.
That was when the big boys of the then WWF and WCW went head to head in a constant battle of oneupmanship for wrestling supremacy...and of course, for ratings.
Meanwhile, the upstart Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) kept the heat turned way up (literally) on the big boys with it's own mix of edgy storylines, (catfighting lesbian vixens we're a regular fixture) and staged ultra violence (things like barbed wire and flaming table matches...with lots of blood).
As a reference point, I highly recommend checking out the recently released DVD Bloodsport: ECW's Most Violent Matches.
Article comments
1 - Alan Brown
I will agree with you that the performers gave it there all at Wrestlemania 22. However there are a few points I would like to take up with you.
1. The exploitation of Eddie Guerrero's Memory by the creative team at WWE is disgusting and not very proffesional.
2. Although I am an avid RVD fan you must admit that his performance of late has been pretty shabby. If he is to challenge fro the title then he needs to shape up. Although I do accept that he is just off a serious injusry.
3. Finally I would like to hear you express your opinion on the John Cena/Triple H match as you fail to do so. In my opinion it was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen in my life long obsession with wrestling. I am not for a second saying it was a terrible match. I refer to the creative teams rejection of the fans opinion by allowing John Cena to retain the title. To me it was like Vinnie Mac spitting in the face of his fans.
2 - Matt Paprocki
I agree that the Eddie thing needs to stop, and it seems like they're going to keep with it too after Chavo lost last night. They didn't do this with any other wrestler's death, and I don't see how this is any different.
3 - Glen Boyd
Hi Alan (and Matt),
To answer the three points you make:
1. Agree with you 100% on the exploitation of Eddie Guerrero. I'm not bothered at all by the stuff that pays tribute to Eddie...such as the inclusion in The Hall of Fame this weekend. The comments made by Chavo, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, and especially Eddie's widow Vickie actually choked me up and I thought the whole thing was very tasteful. Likewise, Mysterio's win paying tribute to Guerrero was also tastefully done (though I did notice the fans didn't seem to buy into it. I don't expect a small man to hold that title in pro wrestling's "Land of The Giants" for long though.
On the other hand, some of the things done in angles (by guys like JBL, even though I know it's his job to play the "heel" role) has bothered me a lot. Unfortunately, as I'm sure both of you guys know, it will most likely continue as long as Eddie's name continues to get the reaction in the arenas it is currently getting. Thats how the whole carny thing usually works. I agree 100% that this doesn't make exploiting Guerrero's name right though.
2. My personal first choice as to who should've won the "money in the bank" match for a title shot...based on workrate for the past twelve months...would have been Shelton Benjamin (speaking of whom...let's hope "Mama" is gone for good, though I doubt she is). Matt Hardy would've been another good choice since he's been pretty much buried since returning to WWE. But I'll settle for RVD, simply because he's paid his dues in the midcard for long enough and his time is due. I predict RVD cashes the briefcase in against HHH...who will be champion I believe by the time of the ECW PPV in June.
Incidentally, by your own logic (on the Cena situation)...RVD is also the correct choice since he was clearly the wrestler who the fans we're most behind in that particular match.
Speaking of which...
3. My opinion on the Cena/HHH match is simply that I, like you I'm sure, find it absolutely fascinating to watch WWE continue to try and put forth Cena as a babyface champion when the fans clearly have rejected him. And I believe I did make that very point in my review. Watching the crowd cheer the company's top heel, HHH...simply because they would probably cheer Saddam Hussein over Cena...is something I find every bit as confounding as you do. They even had Jim Ross try to pawn the fans obvious rejection of Cena off as being the product of a "a traditionalist crowd who prefers the "old school style" of HHH over Cena's "New school hip hop". What a load of crap!
As pure theatre of the absurd though, I find the whole thing fascinating in a bizarre and surrealist way. So Thats my $.02
-Glen Boyd
4 - Michael Rich
I agree with a lot of things that were said, but here's my "take" on it anyway.
1. This years Wrestlemania was a pleasent suprise, to say the least. In the past, the use of retired wrestlers coming back to Wrestlemania for "one more match" has been a little much, to say the least. Only one of those matches happened this year (Foley v. Edge). The use of talent that wrestles on a day to day basis was a welcome change that I hope they continue in future Wrestlemanias. The wrestlers under contract who wrestle every Monday and Friday (and house shows throughout the week) are the ones that deserve a spot on the "largest stage."
2. The build-up to Wrestlemania was a little weak this year, compared to years past.
3. Jim Ross, though his comments on the fans regarding John Cena were wrong, it definitely was a welcome change to the months of just ignoring the crowd. He did his best to include the crowd reaction into the story of the match. That is his job, and I think it made the match just a little bit more enjoyable to watch. If it did anything, it made truely miss the weekly encounters by the fans with the great Jim Ross. As much as I enjoy Joey Styles in that position, he's doomed to failure by having to follow one of the true greats of this business.
4. It would have been nice to see that match for the World Heavyweight title go just a little longer.
5. Triple H paid the ultimate price by tapping out to John Cena. Anyone who says that Triple H hold the younger guys down now has video proof to the contrary.
6. I am still not sold on Rob Van Dam. I do agree he has spent a career on the middle of the card. Who knows, that may be just where he belongs. I know that opinion may be unpopular there, but I am willing to accept that responsiblity.
7. Thank god there has been no Boogeyman since Wrestlemania. What an unentertaining squash match that was. You can't accuse Booker T of holding down anybody (or JBL for that matter).