D-Generation Gap

Every Tuesday night, the wrestling forums that I have been apart of for over three years, Online World Of Wrestling, has a internet radio show called OWW Radio.  This week there was a topic on there that I would like to address because of the fact that it has to do with the people who watch wrestling, their knowledge of what is good and what is bad, as well as the history of where wrestling has been and where it is currently.

The host, Nick Anthony, spoke directly about a “generational disconnect” so to speak.  How fans of the current WWE product under the age of 20 do not know what good really means because they have no sense of history when it comes to the business.  Children don’t care about what came before John Cena and Randy Orton, and while part of me can’t help but think, they’re kids let them be ignorant, my heart bleeds for this industry and it pains me to see people actually enjoy WWE’s piss poor comedy bits and non-existent wrestling on their “entertainment” product.  They don’t really know what a 5-star match really looks like because they’ve probably never seen one or never knew they were watching one because they’re accustomed to watching a leprechaun dance around the ring causing problems with two of the top guys about gimmick infringement!

I would not even come close to considering myself a wrestling scholar.  In my 25 years of life, I can say that I’ve been watching wrestling for over 20 of them.  I have a shelf full of wrestling DVDs and books from WWF/WWE, TNA, and some indy feds, so I can’t help but feel I’m somewhat educated on the past, but even I could learn more.  Yes, I was a child once, and I did have my favorites like Hulk Hogan, one of the forerunners for every “Superman-like” baby face.  However, as I grew, so did my preference for what was entertaining and who was a good wrestler.  I started enjoying wrestlers the likes of Bret Hart, The Million Dollar Man & Mr. Perfect.  The guys who worked their tails off and were technically sound.  While I did enjoy the Attitude Era with The Rock making jokes about sticking his shoe up someone’s ass, and Stone Cold Steve Austin flipping the bird to his boss, they did most of their job on the microphone which is only half of the battle.  Now Rock & Austin weren’t bad in the ring by any stretch of the imagination, but it was their characters that put them on the big stage, it was just that I started to appreciate the “common man” type wrestlers who didn’t always need to talk and could tell their story through their actions in the ring.  I found a common ground with these wrestlers because in the real world, you have to prove your worth, and not just talk about things.

Now I know I don’t fall into that category that was spoken about on the radio show, but I also do not fall into the older category who can really say that they remember what 70s-80s wrestling was like because of the fact that those memories are very distant or non-existent for me.  I know what I do about the business from watching television programs and DVDs, reading wrestler biographies, and also from the people I’ve met in the short time I have been working with independent wrestling companies.  The business has evolved and now caters to what will make them money while the purity of the sport of professional wrestling has gone by the wayside on a national stage.  Seeing companies the likes of Ring of Honor gives me hope that they might actually bring professional wrestling to the art form it once was.  They do have some wacky characters of their own, but when it comes down to it, those same wacky characters can wrestle their asses off and don’t have to have someone force feed them lines to say while on camera.  I encourage anyone who reads this to go to a local wrestling show and support them.  They are like you, common people who happen to have an uncommon extra job.  They work hard to entertain their crowds and don’t make a lot of money for their bumps and bruises.  Their characters come from pieces of who they are and the words that are spoken are not manufactured by some overpaid Hollywood writer, and guess what, the children I see at the shows LOVE IT!

This post probably sounds a little convoluted and a bit of a rant, but it’s something that gets overlooked a lot.  There’s the old saying, “Those who do not learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them,” well, pro wrestling has never been perfect, but neither is life!  We do fall down, we do f**k up from time to time, and we do get back up & push on.  If you just tell a good story in the ring, people will appreciate it, whether your a child or an adult.  When it comes to pro wrestling, sometimes I can’t help but think that the big brains in wrestling have forgotten their own history, and I wish that people would look back on it with respect and emulate it for modern audiences to appreciate.  As for the fans, open your eyes and your minds.  While WWE may currently entertain you, sometimes for people like me who appreciate the path the legends of the business paved, it can really piss us off!  Pop in a DVD, read a book, go to an indy show, and see for yourself what REAL wrestling is, was, and always will be!