The sad state of Pro Wrestling

I've been a fan of pro-wrestling most of my life.

I remember being at my uncle Art's house in Iloilo City when I was about 8 years old or so and watching wrestling with my Uncle Ed and cousins. And we're talking old school here --- Superfly Jimmy Snuka, Bob Backlund, The Magnificent Muraco, Tito Santana, Killer Khan, Pedro Morales, Sgt. Slaughter, etc.

As I got older, I kept up with it, and I was a pretty big fanatic. I was a Hulkamaniac, cheering for the Hulkster because he was a Real American, and he fought for the rights of every man. I was a fan of the over-the-top, cartoon aspect of the WWE (it was still the WWF at the time), but they had some guys over there who could REALLY work inside that ring: The British Bulldogs, especially Dynamite Kid, who I still think is one of the top 6 in-ring performers I have ever seen (along with Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, Keiji Mutoh, the original Tiger Mask, and of course, the great Ric Flair.) Macho Man Randy Savage was a phenomenal worker as well, as were Superfly Snuka and Backlund.

But if you really wanted good in-ring action, the NWA was the promotion to watch. The popular saying goes that in his prime, Ric Flair could go to the ring with a broomstick, have a match with him and make that broomstick look like the best wrestler alive - that's how good he is. Barry Windham was just as good as anybody in the ring too. Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat (his matches with Ric Flair is the stuff of legend), the Midnight Express, The Rock and Roll Express, the Steiners --- the list kept on going. The Road Warriors, not the best workers out there, but man were they made to look awesome by their opponents.

The point of this I guess is that I'm more of an old school fan, but I enjoyed the WWE Attitude Era as well, with Stone Cold and the Rock leading the way. But that time has passed and the WWE seems to still be stuck in that era.

Stephanie McMahon being head of creative has been a disaster. And it's not entirely her fault - Vince McMahon IS the WWE and he's just as out of touch. Why the hell do you have Hollywood writers booking the WWE? Wrestling is not high art. At its core, it's basically 2 guys who are supposed to not like each other (or at least have a health respect for each other) trying to beat the living bejeezus out of each other.

These stupid backstage vignettes --- it works if you have larger than life characters like Austin and the Rock. But when you have too many of those with inferior characters, then you are losing focus on what should be the main priority: in-ring action.

And now, even in-ring action has taken a huge turn for the worse. The art of ring psychology is dead. Yeah there are still guys who can work it -- Michaels, Angle, Samoa Joe, HHH when he is inspired. But for the most part, there's just no rhyme or reason to how wrestlers work in the ring these days.

Eh. It's just sad. You know why MMA is so popular these days? Because they follow the most basic premise of KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. UFC is the best at this - they have 2 guys, they give a basic premise of why they should fight or hate each other (and it does not involve stupid lame angles) and then they have them fight. But not before they build up to that fight and they do a good job of protecting the fighters they are trying to build up.

You have WWE who was building up C.M. Punk as the next big star and he was catching on that way. And now since he is in the outs politically because his main supporter is gone, he is not being protected anymore, having him lose in the dumbest of ways.

And on the other hand you have UFC - a few months ago they signed Rampage Jackson and CroCop Filipovic. Rampage Jackson is the only fighter who has ever beaten Chuck Lidell whom Lidell has not beaten in a rematch. So of course they are building up to that. What do they do? They put Rampage in a match vs. Kevin Eastman (who has beaten Rampage, but ages ago). Eastman is a good fighter but there was no way he could beat Rampage without it being considered a huge upset. But at the same time, he's not a stiff. In short, Rampage is protected: he is in the Octagon with someone whom he is expected to beat, but that someone is not so bad to the point that people will count it as a "nothing" win. And that's exactly what happened. The eventual match with Lidell is still on track.

I admit to not having watched pro wrestling for months now, although I still keep up via the internet. I know I'm not the only long time fan discouraged by the state of things either. Hopefully something will light the spark of creativity again - just like the NWO did for WCW, or Austin-McMahon did for the WWE, or maybe just the rise of a once in a lifetime talent like the Rock. And hopefully it'll be soon.