With a special “Best of” compilation airing on RAW, this gives me a perfect opportunity to address a situation that I have come to be downright disgusted with, and that is the ongoing battle between the internet wrestling community (IWC for short) and the WWE. You see, a few months ago, I pursued something that I dearly wanted, and that was to have some sort of a steady writing job, even if it’s complete voluntary and I do not get paid for it at all. I don’t get anything out of this, I don’t get anything in return, but you know why I do it? Because it’s fun. Because I can voice my opinion to the people who venture about these wrestling sites. And I do it to critique the WWE, not in a way where I say “WWE sucks and it always will without –insert name here-“ but in a way that I would like to believe is fairly professional.
For the past several years, the wrestling community online has become a hostile group, I admit that. Many of us want one thing, don’t get it, and blame the WWE for a poor product. There are many extreme cases where young kids think they know everything and attempt to let it be known. This is where guys like Triple H, JBL and even Vince himself come into play. For the past few months, I read some wrestlers (especially all aforementioned names) calling down anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who so much as utters one phrase against the WWE. In fact, these guys classify us all into one group: 12 year olds who have mastered the keyboards enough to spew out our anti-WWE campaigns, just because we wish we worked for WWE. Don’t believe me? Read any of the anti-internet rants from the likes of Hunter and Bradshaw. It baffles me completely. And you know WHY they hate us? Because most of us attack them, and heck, they just can’t take the criticism.
Over the past few months, I have grown to like and even respect both Triple H and JBL. It’s not because I want to kiss their asses if they ever read this, but it’s because they have proven to me what they are worth. But to have them classify everyone who uses the internet and visits wrestling sites into one group of single digit-aged, double digit Iqed people is preposterous. Is it so hard to say just some of us are? If they ever did say that, they hide it well amongst their bashing of our opinions.
And what is the matter with our opinions? We praise some smaller guy like Shelton Benjamin moreso than Triple H, and suddenly we’re all a bunch of babies who wish we worked for the WWE? Where is the logic in that at all? What this proves to me is what many already think, and that is that Triple H must have his own way at all times. It’s funny, because he doesn’t even realize that he’s only feeding our hunger. Oops, I said “our” instead of “their”. I didn’t mean to group us all together. See? Was THAT so hard? Apparently so, because Triple H would rather it if all of us just went away.
Another theory is that we’re getting too close to the truth. One guy says that Triple H doesn’t want Orton near the top of the wrestling ladder, and suddenly he flips out because it’s the truth. I’m not saying it is, but if someone said something about you that was unflattering but very true, wouldn’t you want to point out that they’re wrong pretty quickly? Heck, you would never want us to get too close the truth, would you Hunter?
You must be able to understand my sheer frustration here. I come online each week to express my feelings on a show that I have watched for YEARS. I support all that the WWE has done, and have been there for a large portion of its run. Why? Because it’s damn entertaining, and damn fun to watch. But if it was perfect all the time, that would be a bore, wouldn’t it? Getting EVERYTHING we wanted. Eventually, our opinions would change anyway. So, I come on here to discuss what went wrong, but what everyone forgets is I also discuss what went RIGHT. Ah yes, selective reading. You see, a guy like JBL will skip over all of my praise for being the longest champion in eight years, or how I am deeply glad that he has been able to develop his character into a strong top heel on Smackdown. He dwells on when I was skeptical of his run in the WWE as a champion. That really angers me. No, I’m not saying he has ever read any words I have written, but he must have read something from many others (many have and still do believe that isn’t fit to be a champion) to go on an attack on us, the fans.
Let that segway into my next point: attacking the fans. A large portion of WWE’s fans check out the multiple wrestling sites, to check out news, rumors and columns, such as this one. So, why are people like Triple H and JBL allowed to verbally attack us, and make us feel like we’re not even fit to watch their program? If I wanted an audience for my show, I sure as hell wouldn’t attack the fans like that. Be lucky we’re watching the damn thing, because believe it or not, the WWE has lost a LOT of fans over the years. I remain loyal to them because they have been a part of my life more than many other things. I never jumped toWCW, and I have not jumped to NWA, so why shouldn’t I be able to express myself about the product I see, in the hopes that maybe someone would read it, and take a hint sometimes. I know they wouldn’t, which is why I have another big reason to write this column: for the people who read it and enjoy it. My words don’t hit it big with ALL readers, but I would like to think someone enjoys my column whenever I put it out there. If so, I thank those people a lot.
Now, I don’t have a whole lot more to talk about on the subject, but answer me this: why do they feel the need to attack us, the internet wrestling community, whenever we have an opinion that may not go with their master plan? They don’t bother elaborating on what we, the fans, get wrong in our assessments of the product. I won’t deny that a portion of the IWC is 12 year olds who don’t have much of a clue of what they are saying. There are also many 12 year olds who DO know what they’re saying, as well as many of all ages who have a clue about what they say regarding wrestling. So, instead of giving us reasons why they think this, they just turn into babies and whine about the same point over and over. If you read a column by JBL, or a transcript of an interview with Triple H, it’s usually the same generic response. “These internet guys think they’re so high and mighty that they have the freedom to express themselves on something they know nothing about.” Hold the phone, we know nothing about what it’s like? Maybe not what they go through, but few people who are fans will actually denounce the wrestlers for what hard work they put into the show. I’ll sit here and argue for weeks about how Ric Flair is a joke now, with the same tiring routine every match, but I respect what he has done for his career in wrestling. No doubt about it at all.
“They’re just 12 year olds who can use computers, and they think they have a certain power. They just wish they worked for WWE.” Now, I already touched on that one, so I’m done with it, but do you see what I am getting at? We give them a negative review on something, or talk back about a certain mistake, and they get incredibly defensive. My guess is they only hear about what some of us say, and immediately defend themselves.
When Roger Ebert gives a review on Steven Spielberg’s latest film, and decides that he doesn’t like what he saw, and explains what went wrong, does Spielberg immediately give his retort, that goes something like “Roger Ebert is just a fat, old man, with no expertise on the movie industry. He doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about, and he only wishes he worked in movies.” No, no director would ever express themselves that way. Sure, maybe he thinks it, but he never would come out and say it. So why is wrestling any different? Why, I ask, why? It’s not. It’s not perfect, it’s not always great, and sometimes it barely passes as a decent two hours (or three, if a PPV). We know what hard work Vince, and many others, put into the shows each and every week. But that is not a reason at all to say that we don’t know what we’re talking about, when we talk about wrestling. I’m not saying all wrestlers are like that, but the few that think the IWC is just a bunch of pimply faced geeks, with a small room in their parents’ basement, should really get themselves one hell of a reality check. They may create the shows we watch, but guess what. Without us, they’re wouldn’t be a WWE. No one would watch. I think they should give us a lot more credit than they give us, because I get offended when a man like Triple H cries about how we are just little kids with no knowledge of wrestling.
My dad worked for over 25 years, in a hard, grueling job, that really killed a large part of him. He is now unemployed, thanks to them screwing him out of a job, and at the age of 50, he really doesn’t have a whole lot of strength or energy to do a job that he is qualified for. The WWE superstars work over 350 days a year, at a job that can be life-threatening at all times, and they work to do a great job for the fans. Do you realize the difference? Most of these guys in WWE wouldn’t even stop to congratulate my dad on the hard work he has done, nor would they stop and congratulate many others for the hard work they have done. Triple H spit in the face of people who have to work at fast food places, who have to make ends meet at a boring, horrible job, not because they want to, but because they have to. So, if they want to say we don’t know what it’s like to have to work over 350 days a year at a job like that, maybe they should realize that even though they put in a ton of hard work every single day, it is, after all, just another job. The only difference between the hard work they do, and the hard work my dad did is that they are getting paid a HELL of a lot more than my dad got paid.
He watches wrestling with me all the time. As I get older, it becomes harder and harder to find a father-son activity, but we always watch wrestling. It’s something we enjoy. I have the feeling if I told him what some guys say about the fans who surf the internet like me, giving my opinion on wrestling, he would probably never watch it again. If he knew that they think they’re immune from negative critiquing, just because they work long and hard all year, then he would laugh. Cherish what fans you have, Triple H. Cherish who will take the time to watch you, JBL. Because no matter what stupid things can be said about the WWE, they still watch, week in and week out. I do. My dad does. And millions other watch every single week. You guys put in a lot of hours for the fans. 99.8% of the population puts in long, hard hours for only their family. Just remember that.
If my rant went on a little too long, I’m sorry. I thought I would take some time to talk about that, while Raw takes a week-long vacation, and Smackdown heads to Iraq. I truly hope to see Smackdown in Iraq this Thursday, and I also have three more columns on the way, all taking a look back at 2004. So, I order everyone who is anyone to send me in your favorite moments of 2004. Please no more than three, but at least one will do. Any less won’t cut it. Send them to carl_macqueen@ns.sympatico.ca, or if you really don’t want to copy and paste that, just go up to the top of this page, and you’ll see something like “By Joey X”. Click on the Joey X part, and it should take you to some sort of e-mail you use. Either way, get them in, and get them in now! For now, I am Mr. X saying to have yourself some happy holidays, in a totally non-denominational sort of way. Buh-bye!
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