THE VIEW FROM DOWN HERE – FEEDBACK

Columns, Features, Top Story

I’m back.

 

So what? I hear you all ask. Yeah, my columns got so few hits last year that I was being outdone by news items about former Divas breaking their fingernails. Still, where have I been then? Apart from a few half-arsed comments in the Roundtables, I’ve been pretty quiet, I know. Well, in January I got a leg infection. For those who don’t know, I blew out my knee a few years ago. As in, compact dislocation, all 4 ligaments snapped, “you’ll never walk again, son” type of internal destruction. Within 18 months I was back doing sport, back in the wrestling ring after 2 years. Anyway, in January I got some sort of staph infection and a bit of septicaemia in that leg. The pins in my knee seemed to attract the infection really well. Knocked me out of action for a long time, and now I have finally caught up with my life (such as it is).

 

One thing, though: having so much time unable to even walk properly, I got to watch a lot of DVDs and videos and online videos. (Unfortunately, I have yet to get an RCW show this year.) I saw a lot of stuff. Some of it was good. A lot of it was terrible. But I got a sort of renewed interest in wrestling. Starting in a few columns I’ll be taking a look back at the last year that wrestling can be said to have actually, genuinely changed. But before then, some things to finish off 2012.

 

So, without further ado: Feedback time!

 

Now, I don’t get a lot of comments on my columns. It’s not like I write about things that cause massive arguments between Blair and everyone else in the known universe (which I find odd, because 9 times out of 10, I agree with Blair… but that’s just me, I suppose). But I do get the occasional comment, and I get quite a few emails.

 

Now, here in Australia (yes, I am Australian… sorry) Disqus seems to work when it damn well feels like it and very rarely any time else. So the Australian readers who read me have trouble leaving comments. And a few, who feel strongly, like to send me emails!

 

I won’t use any names here, though, because that’s not what I do. And I have corrected spelling, grammar and punctuation, because that IS what I do. And I’d like you to be able to read them.

 

First:

“I don’t get your love of Australian women wrestlers. They look like some one’s been sucking a dog backwards through a straw.”

 

Okay, I’ll admit, some Australian female wrestlers may not be cover models for Vogue. But if I wanted to look at cover models for Vogue, I’d buy Vogue, not watch wrestling. The skill of Australian female wrestlers craps on that of what I’ve seen in WWE and TNA in 2012. Even those who have wrestled in the USA and are overhyped (especially by themselves) and aren’t as good as others here are still good. And as for looking unpleasant? Sorry, but

 

ss[RCW’s own Savannah Summers, Photo taken from NHBGirls, taken from PWWA]

 

Next, someone whose initials are JH:

“How can you seriously compare the wrestling in that little indy fed you so slavishly follow with what the WWE gives us? You’re just a mark, but you think you’re so clever. The matches you talked about aren’t even as good as the worst 2 minutes squash from Smackdown. You’re just an indy mark loser.”

 

First, let me say, correcting this gave me a headache. Next, I got rid of all the swearing. Third, this person doesn’t live in Adelaide, and hasn’t seen RCW (the fed he’s talking about), so he can kiss my arse in that regard. However, this is how I can compare them: I want to be entertained. And what entertains me is good in-ring work with psychology, selling and a vague sense of realism or the suspension of disbelief. When I see John Cena smiling and happy after Brock Lesnar kicked three shades of crap out of him, that just isn’t real. It doesn’t entertain me. Me. I am not the WWE’s target audience, and that’s fine. Doesn’t mean I don’t want entertainment. WWE struggled last year to give me entertainment.

 

Some one else who identifies themselves as “living near Melbourne”:

“My God, those stories of yours suck. How in the hell are you a published author?”

 

Thank-you for reading. But, really, it just means what I produce isn’t what you want. And I can equate that with not enjoying WWE programming as much as I used to. Don’t buy the books I’m in, don’t read my columns, enjoy your Twilight fan fics and have fun. I don’t care.

 

Next, from some one called “Nu1fan”:

“Undertaker is the best wrestler the WWE has ever had. Your hatred of him can’t change that fact. The greatest wrestling match ever was his match with Michaels. It was great. The match with HHH this year was MOTY. If you don’t like it you can’t be a wrestling fan.”

 

If JH’s gave me a headache to correct, this one gave me an aneurysm. I am assuming “motty” was MOTY, and “micels” was Michaels, and… never mind. Punctuation and spelling, people! Ahem, anyway… In my damn opinion: Undertaker is NOT the best wrestler ever. Not even close. I understand you are his fan, and I can appreciate that. I am a fan of Meatloaf, and have long since given up trying to justify my liking for his recent albums to anybody. Same goes for you and Undertaker. And sure, after watching the wrestling clinics he had with Giant Gonzalez, King Kong Bundy and Underfaker, you may have a point. But the fact of the matter is, I liked the 2 Michaels’ matches (not sure which one you’re waffling on about), but did not think they were ‘great’. Again: In my damn opinion. The greatest match ever, though? Really? Mind you, if your spelling and grammar are any indication, you’re only 10 years old, so you haven’t seen much wrestling. And HHH/Undertaker bored me. Especially when compared to the fun I had watching Punk/Jericho and Rock/Cena at the same show. Yes, I am admitting I enjoyed a Cena match.

 

And having a 10 year old email me leads me on, finally, to this:

“You, Douglas, CB, Gojira, and the rest don’t know a thing about wrestling. All Inside Pulse is is a bunch of middle-aged men talking crap because the Attitude Era doesn’t exist anymore. Buy DVDs and live in the past and leave the writing to people who care about the product and are with the times.”

 

Uh-huh. Sure. For the record, I thought the Attitude Era sucked. But how can you write about something without historical context, especially something like wrestling where the history is alluded to all the time? You look at CM Punk’s elbow and say “Wow! That is a cool finisher!” (as I have read on another site, calling it one of the best high flying moves in the WWE today), but what about Shawn Michaels’ version? Or the greatest version ever, Randy Savage’s? You need context and a sense of history to say, yes, it’s good, but… Or even, compared to Savage’s, he needs some work. Columnists in any sport or entertainment cannot write without historical context. A twenty-something year old who says that Beyoncé is the greatest female singer of all time (and I have read this on an entertainment website) should be laughed at, then made to sit down and listen to Ella Fitzgerald, Mama Cass, Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin and any of two dozen more artists.

 

Okay, enough ranting and raving. Nice way to start the year – taking issue with things people have said.

 

I am sure I’ll get more abuse, and that’s fine.

 

I’ll just sit back and enjoy the view.

 

Australian. Father. Perpetual student. Started watching wrestling before Wrestlemania 1. Has delusions of grandeur and was known to regularly get the snot beaten out of him in a wrestling ring. Also writes occasionally in other Pulse sections.Thinks Iron Mike Sharpe is underrated. http://stevengepp.wordpress.com