Hello everyone, welcome to Wrestling Appreciation Month here at insidepulse! Unlike the previous few weeks, I’ll be forgoing my usual Tivo Gems and questions/challenges to make way for reader’s stories about how they got into wrestling and why this still watch it.
For the week I declared November a holiday month, check out this column I wrote a few weeks ago about how I got into wrestling.
READER’S STORIES
We’ll start with a short story from BTso Shuk Yi Billy:
Just read your article, and i have to share what got me hooked into wrestling : Exposed! Pro Wrestling’s Greatest Secrets. Yes, that show was the first time I watched anything related to wrestling. Now, I am a die hard wrestling fan.
A very odd way to get into wrestling, but we’re glad to have you a part of the team!
Steve Masters’ story goes like this:
My first match was Flair Vs. Jim Powers, ’91. Also my first wrestling show period. Ten minutes to the end, my great grandmother, who I was living with, walks in and tells me to turn that trash off. I was about five, so I took her advice. I never saw another match. About three months after Flair-Powers, Hogan and Flair both were in Jacksonville FL doing some charity work. I met them both outside the hospital where my great-grandfather was. And that would be the last time I saw any form of wrestling until Wrestlemania X7.
I had just moved to Ft. Worth TX when my cousin walked up to me and said he had some tickets to Wrestlemania X7. Knowing nothing about wrestling, I asked “What the hell is that?”. And for the next seven hours, he gave me the best history lesson on wrestling I’ve ever had. So, a week later, I was sitting shotgun as we drove down to Houston. We stayed the night there, then went cruising the enxt day until three when we headed to the arena. A few hours later, I was sitting through one of the best live experiances I’ve ever had. I was hooked from then on in and went to almost every show I could. I was there when Rikishi got thrown off the Cell. I moved to Austin and met wrestler after wrestler training around the city. Undertaker, Bradshaw, Austin, HBK. I met Paul London before he graduated from Westlake High School and attended a few shows with him, though as lackey of one of London’s friends. A couple years ago, I discovered TNA and Ring of Honor, as I was desperatly searching for an alternative after WWF lost it’s dignity. I’ve taken some lessons at HBK’s school for wrestling. At the moment, I’ve got a computer full of nothing but wrestling matches, segments, interveiws, and whatnot. I’ve got half the Shopzone hanging in my room. I’ve gone from being an ignorant child knowing nothing of the complex art of wrestling to being on the path to entertaining thousands.
Awesome! Not too many people get to go to a Wrestlemania as their first live event.
Remember, I’m publishing these stories so all of our other readers will think about why they like wrestling or flashback to what their first exposure to this great sport was. Also, maybe we can stop bickering and that “this sucks” and “it was so much better __ number of years ago.” Let’s just watch the shows and be entertained. Yeah, now and then a Bob Holly will have a match, but they can’t all be Angle-Benoit at Wrestlemania 17.
DECONSTRUCTING THE MOVESET – WHY WE CHEER
There’s something inside all of us that gravitates us towards certain performers in the ring. When they walk out from the gorilla position into the entranceway, something inside of almost all of us screams from the inside to raise your voice in joy because there they are, right in front of you.
But why? Why, when I see Mick Foley, do I need to cheer? When I watch Wrestlemania XX (ding!) on DVD, why can I still feel myself needing to scream out to see Chris Benoit beat HHH for the title?
It’s not terribly simple formula, and no company has really nailed how to manufacture a perfectly well loved or well hated character, but peering through all the shades of gray to find what makes us want to cheer or love these athletes.
Of course there are always exceptions to the rules, but let’s look at this with broad strokes at first.
Let’s start with right and wrong. Everyone has a sense of what is right and what is wrong ingrained in them from childhood, whether it be through religion or the law or family morals. Everyone knows basic right from wrong. This is the first thing we look for in our wrestlers. Do they do what we think is “right”?
Like Degeneration X’s music suggests, let’s break it down in no particular order: ability, alliances, the return, humor, sacrifice, history, enemies, valet, connection, love of the crowd.
Ability: Everyone knows a great wrestler when they see one. And everyone can respect great in-ring ability. Some examples would be Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Triple H, and even still to this day Ric Flair.
Ability goes a long way in the squared circle, since generally, that’s what makes it through your matches. By the time you get to the big leagues, everyone’s got ability, but not everyone is great. The Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels feud was the perfect example of ability vs. ability. Two different styles, but both men knew how to get it done in the ring. Bret’s technical side alongside his mat wrestling against Shawn’s speed and high risk style provided us with one of the greatest feuds in wrestling history.
Alliances: You can have all the ability in the world but still get booed by the crowd. Why? Well, take a look at who you’re hanging out with in the locker room or coming out to the ring with. You can spend a million hours in the gym, but if you want the crowd on your side, make sure to pick your friends carefully.
Let’s look at Randy Orton, post title win over Chris Benoit. Since beng dropped from Evoluion, he’s aligned himself with Chris Benoit, Shelton Benjamin and Chris Jericho. And ever since? The crowd has forgotten he spit in the faces of Mick Foley and Harley Race, and also claimed to have ended Shawn Michaels career (something that’s already been done more than once). Through careful friend picking you too can be loved by the crowd my friend.
The Return: Ah the return. How we all love thee. There’s no greater feeling is there when we see a wrestler for the first time in a little while. This an easy way to boost the crowd’s reaction towards a wrestler or to make a face out of a heel. This is also the same for jumping ship to another promotion or in the split roster’s case, show to show.
There has been a never ending supply of returns to look at, but let’s look back a little bit to Jericho’s jump to the WWE. The millenium clock ticked and tocked down to his entrance on RAW, which drew a huge explosion from the crowd. Jericho had enormous potential that was wasted in WCW and he was finally gonna come to a place that he’d have the opportunity to show his true capabilities as a wrestler. The crowd saw this and was behind him 100%. It took the power of the Rock to combat Jericho’s face heat to turn the crowd against him. But if the Rock wasn’t involved Jericho would have sailed through RAW as the biggest face.
Humor: Who doesn’t like to laugh? Well, Kane. Or vice president Cheney. But besides them, who doesn’t like to laugh? occasionally, we need a good laugh while watching wrestling or else the tension would kill a crowd by the end of a night. Some characters are pure comic relief, some throw their humor into promos and some wrestler use it across the board without going too far into comic relief land. Generally if we’re cheering we’re laughing with the wrestler, not at him.
One work: Eugene. Eugene is a character we can laugh with. Since his introduction, he’s provided us with a lot of comic relief outside and inside the ring. However, Mr. Dinsmore has shown an ability to not solely rely on his humor, but also his ring ability as well. A wrestler who delves too deep into the humor side of things is headed towards the dead end of endless mid-card status. Look at Doink the Clown. Loved by almost everyone as evident in his last return to the ring, but fizzled out because the crowd could not believe he was a good wrestler too.
Sacrifice: “It’s feast or famine n the high risk district” -JR aka “Holy sh*t!” While the WWE has changed it’s style recently, it wasn’t uncommon to have more than one “holy sh*t!” moment in a pay per view. Or in the case of Tables, Ladders and Chairs, an entire match of it. This is also known as high risk style. The willingness of a wrestler to put his or her body on the line to win a match or entertain a crowd will never be ignored by that crowd.
Let’s look at the ultimate example: King of the Ring. Everyone knows what I’m talking about without giving a match, a date, or even a year. Everyone just knows. In one moment, Mick Foley’s career was changed from cult hardcore legend to worldwide hardcore legend. Nothing in his career mattered for that moment because he was willing to do THAT to his body just to entertain US. That match started Mick’s climb up the ladder in the WWE and also lead to his title victories, all thanks to a little sacrifice. Well, a whole lot of sacrifice.
As a side note, sacrifice will only get you so far. Sometimes, an attempt to put your body on the line can get you more criticism than praise. Take a look at Brock Lesnar’s shooting star press at Wrestlemania 19. I don’t think anyone thinks that the risk was worth the move. Thank goodness it didn’t completely end his career, but perhaps he was out of his normal boundaries trying that move.
History: Legends are legends. Upon seeing someone who has three, four, maybe five decades in the business and have survived is a treat. Seeing them stand in the ring and being able to connect to that time when you were a kid watching wrestling on television or how you remember the years and years of matches you watched either live or on tapes. There’s something about being able to turn to someone younger and say “when I was younger this guy could….”
Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Harley Race, Tito Santana, Jimmy Snuka, Ricky Steamboat, the list goes on and on. There isn’t much explaination needed for this category, but it’s also of import to say that completely living in the past does not work either. That’s why Ric Flair is aligned with evolution, that’s why Hulk Hogan changed his character to Hollywood Hogan for a period of time. Evolving, but staying close to your roots as well.
Enemies: Nearly as important as your friends is your enemies. Just because he or she holds the title doesn’t mean you always have to be gunning for them. Want to be loved by the crowd? Save someone from getting hurt and attack their attacker. Help someone who is getting beat down in the ring by a group that the crowd hates. Help someone win a title match that the crowd likes.
The Big Show upon his return went after Kurt Angle and the Honor Roll. No better way to get crowd support than to go after the #1 heel on the show.
Valet: Okay, so you have your friends, you have your enemies, but what else can you do? Align yourself with a credible valet! While it is cheap heat, it might just work. Why not protect a female who will, in turn, come with you to ringside to help get the crowd behind you while you have that headlock applied to your cranium.
The best example I can think of was Stacy Keibler and Test. The whole “Test-icles” thing really pushed him back into the spotlight until catching Scott Steiner from being tossed out of the main event status thanks to HHH. also, we could look at Macho Man’s first retirement match. He reunited with Miss Elizabeth and the place exploded! Macho Man was suddenly loved again!
Connection: This one is probably the hardest to define. There are some wrestlers that the crowd can connect to as one of them, maybe it was them saying that they used to watch wrestling and looked up to the same wrestlers, or just that they got their lucky break.
It’s not all that rare that the crowd has a connection to a wrestler. Maven’s got that going for him. Jericho’s feud with Shawn Michaels was flooded with a connection to Jericho, but maybe he got it all wrong, and THAT’S why the crowd turned against him. The Rock had the crowd connected to him while talking about the fall of Hulk Hogan in the WWWE. And most recent, Randy Orton had the crowd with him while talking about Ric Flair’s lap dogging of HHH.
Then there is the love of the crowd. EVeryone loves the crowd, but some wrestlers go above and beyond everyone else. One man comes to mind, and that’s the Rock. No one seems to have the appreciation for the wrestling crowd than the Rock. You can see it when he’s in the ring between movies in his smile and his interaction with the crowd. The crowd loves him and he knows it, so each time he’s in the ring he lets the crowd chant along with him.
Remember next week we’ll continue our Wrestling Apperciation Month celebration.
Make sure to check out Gordi Whitelaw’s column this week and this month as he’s also celebrating Wrestling Appreciation Month.
Also next week, more stories from YOU, the readers. Keep writing in why you love wrestling and how you got into wrestling in the first place.
