Boys and girls, men and women, creepy fat guys in their moms’ basements looking up porn but switching to The Wrestling Voice when mom and her cats come downstairs to wash your sheets, and you know why…I’m back! I haven’t written a column in awhile. It hasn’t been because I have had nothing to say. The title of my column is Yes I Still Watch Wrestling and that’s what I was doing. I was watching. There was RAW on USA, SmackDown! on CW, ECW on SciFi, TNA on Spike, and WSX on MTV. It was a buffet of testosterone and supplements. For a brief moment, it started to feel like when I was a kid. I felt like I rode my bike down to the strip with my friends for lunch and had so many options.
The WWE products saturated the airwaves as they have since the 1980’s. The WWE is like the McDonald’s of pro-wrestling...it isn’t the most delicious but everyone eats it. Everyone complains about it but they all love the fries. I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s just mass produced to appeal to everyone. No guy on death row asks for a Big Mac for their final meal, but when your hungry and not in the mood to look around...it hits the spot! No one questions where the food comes from and who makes the menu. They just wait in the drive thru and take what’s given to them.
I can tell you everything that everyone else, including me, has said: they have spread the talent out too thin, it lacks originality, they haven’t developed new superstars, and Vince McMahon is the Devil! But at the end of the day when there is no football on, it is comforting to sit on the couch and be entertained. You know the menu and you know there will be something there for you. But still…No Triple H, only two good heels: Edge and Randy Orton, both of whom are being under utilized and misused, John Cena: the champ we all love to hate, and Batista: master of three moves…you get the quantity, not always the quality!
TNA was like a Carl’s Jr. that just opened up in your neighborhood. It was new and fresh! Sure, you could find some of your old favorites in new wrappers but it had new flavors and a different take on things you already knew. Maybe that would be all you ate for a couple of weeks but after awhile they didn’t add any new prizes to their kids’ meals. If anything, it started making you miss the old Mikey D’s further down the road. But when McDonald’s becomes stagnant again…you know it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump away.
I grew up watching wrasslin and that’s what TNA is, but it’s like getting a kids meal when your starving…it’s not enough. I remember watching the hype about Bobby Roode and thinking he had the potential to be in the title hunt. He hasn’t been given the opportunity or camera time to develop. Where is Ron Killings? Rhino has been relegated to the background! TNA had the best tag team division out all the shows and now there are only two tag teams that are getting air time. I am glad that Kurt Angle hasn’t been handed the title as of yet…but he isn’t Hulk Hogan in the 90’s elevating the WCW to the top of the business; he has only given them a chance.
Wrestling Society X was Hooters. It was hip and daring and you didn’t want to admit that you ate there. You knew the food sucked, but you weren’t there just for the crappy wings that might still have a feather on them (True story). It was exciting and every now and then, you might actually have a good meal.
Wrestling Society X reminded me of the cheesy regional wrestling of my youth. Was there talent?...definitely! Was it entertaining?...most assuredly! Was it believable?...hell no! I watched some amazing athletic moves that I had never seen before. I saw pile drivers again for the first time since the WWE banned them. You could feel the potential and you could taste the possibilities! On the same token, I saw power cables, and more dynamite than on a Mexican soap opera. But like most things with potential… it wasn’t given the opportunity to live up to it.
Well that’s it for now. I hope you enjoy the buffet of wrestling that has inundated the airwaves! I just hope that we don’t get too full for awhile.
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