You may have noticed I haven’t exactly been keeping up with getting a new column up every week. And I apologize for that. Part of it’s been personal reasons. But also, it’s that I noticed something of my own.
I haven’t had anything to say.
Weird right? I mean, this is a column about professional wrestling. There’s almost ALWAYS something to say about professional wrestling. And yet, I haven’t been able to come up with a thing. It’s not writers block, it’s more like… well, I’m almost loathe to say it.
I’m satisfied.
Obviously, there are plenty of things that could be better. I can’t pretend that for a minute. But it seems to me that it’s the same things that have always been there and always will be there to arm chair quarterback. I’ve touched on almost all of them at one time or another here. The loss of some of the more “old school†aspects of the business (managers, for example). Under used talent. Over used talent. Too little actual wrestling. Good booking choices. Bad booking choices. And on, and on, and on. But I feel like that continuing to write about these same topics over and over is beating a dead horse. It’s not interesting to write, and I’m sure it’s not interesting to read. Sure, I could go off on rants about the dark and dingy aspects of the business, maybe get my self all worked up over a minor drunk in public arrest and what the drastic consequences might be, but really, that’s not the type of thing I care to write about. Plus, believe it or not, I’m finding that I’m enjoying what I’m seeing more than usual.
Maybe it’s the taste of Monday Night War in the air rekindling nostalgia. Believe it or not, I’ve actually been watching TNA. And yes, there’s still plenty to make me groan. Yet I’ve been able to enjoy the show, and actually want to see where they‘re going with some of what they‘re doing. For example, in my last column, I expressed concerns over the forcing of fan favorite AJ Styles into a Ric Flair heel mold. And yet, in the weeks since, it’s been working for me. Flair seems more energized than he ever was in his last few years of the WWE, and Styles is going all out with the personality change. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him show up as a platinum blonde some time soon, as rumored. Factor in Samoa Joe as his first major feud over the title, and you have something I actually I want to see despite it being a match I’ve seen before, and want to see it enough that I’ll put up with the embarrassing presence of the Nasty Boys and Bubba the Love Sponge. And the misplaced focus on the guys Hogan brought in, while still not entirely corrected, at least seems to be getting kept separate from guys like D’angelo Dinero and Desmond Wolfe, who are busy engaging in number one contender tournaments while the veterans feud amongst themselves.
Or maybe it’s that we’re past the Royal Rumble and heading towards Wrestlemania, a time of year that almost always has the WWE tightening the reins on it’s storylines and maintaining more of a focus on where they‘re going. We’ve seen the return of Edge, and have the now traditional “who’s he going to to face†suspense, suspense that is furthered by the fact that the guy he seems to have the best issue to move forward with is Chris Jericho, who currently is not holding either World championship. The Seamus experiment, while stuck in neutral, is not doing as much damage as it could be because Seamus himself has stepped his game up accordingly. Shawn Michaels is knocking it out of the park in every way. So is CM Punk, as he and his Straight Edge Society (an idea that I, as a Straight Edge kid, had been dreading from the moment Punk showed up in the WWE, and yet has have consistently been one of if not the most entertaining part of Friday nights) shave their way to what most expect to be a hair vs. mask match against Rey Mysterio. We even had a perfectly booked blow off to the Piggy James storyline in the Women’s division, who would have ever expected that? Even the guest host idea has become palpable, with William Shatner possibly being the best host they’ve had since Bob Barker. Oh, and let’s not forget the return of this guy you might of heard of called Bret Hart.
So yeah, I’m actually too busy enjoying what I’m watching to write criticisms of it. No, maybe I’m not enjoying the majority of everything. But I just can’t bring myself to keep beating any one of the many dead horses floating around the wrestling industry.
At least right now.
