Token Wrestling Rambling

Hey guys… I’m not drunk as of this writing, but everything after this initial paragraph will be more of the usual. Anyways, if you know me, even a little bit, you know that I happen to be a bit of a fan of that whole, “professional wrestling,” thing. Some of you reading this only know of me due to my fanaticism. At any rate, I’m sure I’ll have more ramblings on the subject in the future (hence, the new category) the title of this was just the first thing that came to mind. Again, you can probably expect some more sometime. Either way, enjoy. And stuff.

REMINDER: I’M NOT FIXING ANY TYPOS BECAUSE I’M DRUNK AND IT WILL MAKE THIS BLOG MORE SILLY AND INSTRESTING

Oh wrestling. You really are a many splendid thing, aren’t you? Vinnie Mac and your ego and lack of even trying anymore. OK. That’s a lie. I suppose. It’s complicated just as wrestling is in general. But you see, that’s the point. Wrestling is complicated but no matter what form of “professional wrestling” you turn to, it’s all about entertainment.

The “wrestlers” are just like any other actor you watch on any other TV show. They’re  characters portraying something that they’re not. Sure, it take a HELL of a lot of athletic ability to do what the guys do. Yes, they DO sacrifice their bodies (for those of you who don’t know, yes, wrestling is indeed, staged and scripted – it is, however, by no means “fake)”>.  At its roots, wrestling is all about entertainment. In the early years… say… 1900-1930’s-ish (whenever pre-Gorgeous George may be), the audience would come to be wowed by the altheticism of the sport. Gorgeous George brought into another aspect of the ever-evolving busieness, that being a gimmick wrestler. Wrestling then became the ultimate showdown between good and eveil. Enter Vince McMahon (Vinne Mac). And you’ve got the global, ginormous spectactle that is sports-entertainment.

Entertainment.

(No reference to Anderson there, I promose).

I like anyone else turn on my TV to be entertained. That is unless I just want some background noise. But, in general, if I turn it on I’m looking for entertainment. (Yes, the news is entertaining). Wrestling was once apun a tome a form of entertainment for me. Now a days, I tune in to HOPE for something close to entertainment. And it’s not happening. From either companies, to the surprise of at least one person reading this.

WWE:
WWE (or WWF as some of you may know it) is the global sports-entertainment phenomenon. It’s a juggernaut in bothers sports AND entertainment. There is no question about it. Dispite my great lack of interest in what has been happening around the world that is WWE (aside from small somethings here and there), I respect the shit out of the place. I mean, you have to. Without the WWF, Vince McMahon, probably Hulk Hogan and a few others, I never would have been a wrestling fan in the first place. You would have never, ever, ever, EVER even remotely cared about “professional wrestling.” They are the be all end all in the business. With good reason.

My recent bveef with the company? It doesn’t entertain me. In their defence, they’re not trying to entertain me anymore. See,going on three years ago, they decided to make their programming rated TV-PHG. (HEZ STUK IN DA @IT2D ERA~!… shut up) Generally, they’re attempting to keep their addience an family program. Mostly, they appeal to yougn kids.

And I’m going to say this right from the bat… I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH IT. None. Whatsoever. It’s smart business for them at the moment. But, at the same token, I don’t like being sppoond fed anything. At all. This is what they’ve done with several of their characters. John Cewna. Alberto Del Rio. The “Nexuxs” group. They all have been shoved gown our throats. This is a trend that started at the end of what is called “The Attitude Era.” Beginning with Brock Lesnar’s three month push to the moon. Lesnar was followed by Orton. Orton was followed by Cena. I don’t like it. And I never will.

Don’t get me qwrong, WWE has pulled out some amazing stuff in the last couple of years. I mean, ANYONE who happened to tune into the build up for last year’s Undertaker/Shawn Michaels match could have related to it. This is a topic for another day. But… I’m just throwing out an example.

Bottom line: WWE isn’t catering to me, thuisly, when I turn on my TV, I don’t expect too much from them. But hopefully, they’ll pull some golden nuget out of their elimination chambers (Shoot me now, I’m quoteing John Cena. 🙁 )

TNA:
TNA is a fairly new, kinda sorta upstart company that is pretty muc hthe ONLY thing that comes REMOTELY close to competing with WWE (here… we’ll try this TNA is to WWE as Rhode Island is to Alaska, even that may be giving TNA too much credit). With an idcreibly stacked roster, TNA could and SHOULD go places. But they don’t. For nine years, nearly, they haven’t. And this is incredibly disappointing.

It used to be that you could blame all of TNA’s faults on Vince Ruso (he too is a subject for another time). However, I’m not even sure what the blame could be placed on anymore. The coupling of Vince Ruso and Eric Bischoff? I dunno. Eric is a really good guy in his position. But… yeah. I honestly have no idea anymore.

At the beginning of 2010, it appeared ats though TNA was finally about to turn a corner. Yet, they’re once again stuck in the same place they’ve always been. Sure, they don’t have ANYWHERE NEAR the finances that WWE has. But they don’t need it. Perhaps you could place some of the blame on the marketing of the company? I dunno.

But yeah… at the beginning of last year, I was TOTALLY into the company. Things were AMAZING. Seriously. They were faultless up until October 10, 2010. When they held their “Bound For Glory” event. Things just started to get entirely TOO convoluted and once again, the staye of their product is in shambles.

BOTTOM LINE: I do enjoy watching TNA more. They aren’t tied down by a TV-PG rating, and they cater to me a little bit more than WWE could dream of at this point. At the same time, I’m losing confidence in them by the week.
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Alright. I’ve been on about it quite a bit so I guess I should explain things that entertain me when I watch wrestling.

1. The wrestling match. The wrestling match NEEDS a good story to go along with it. One that I care about. And no, “story” has NOTHING to do with shitting acting you may watch during the entirety of the program. Sure, that may play a bit into it. More than a bit even. Before the match takes place, there had BETTER be a build up that I care about (this will be explained whenever I go into the Shawn Michaels/Undertaker match). During the match, stories can be told. From the simplicity of one wrestling targeting a specific body part to set up for his finishing maneuver, to things said/done that accentuate the character (one sec… I’m not drunk enough. I spelt accentuate correctly). To the announcing quality to… LOTS of stuff. There must be something about the match that makes me interested in it.

2. The characters. Seriouslyu. If I don’t care about these characters on my screen, why the hell bother? Things that could play into my caring of them, their gimmicks (what their character is all about, from a walking dead man, to a rich snob, whatever), how they portray themselves as these gimmicks, things said/done to play up these gimmicks, and lastly who they ACTUALLY are behind the scenes. I could explain this a bit more, but nah.

I totally had more thigns to add to this, but they’re not coming to me.

Oh well. I guess I’ll end things with a preview of my next wrestling blog.

MY TOP 10 FAVORITE WRESTLERS OF ALL TIME
10. SNITSKY~!
9. Santino Marella
8. Scott Hall
7. Randy Orton
6. Shawn Michaels
5. Chris Benoit
4. Kurt Angle
3. Chris Jericho
2. Sting
1. Bret “The Hitman” Hart

Excuse me while I get more drunk.