Well, it had to happen I guess, I’ve finally had enough. Oh I’ve shared some of my feelings already, by commentating on various articles and columns mainly, but enough is enough, now you’ll be getting the full load. Message to WWE, fans hardcore or casual, writers and everyone else: Stop that freaking nostalgia thing, because it’s killing wrestling.
For the main reason of my current bad mood when it comes to wrestling, one has only to look at tonight’s RAW. When searching for news to post on IP, it struck me how tonight’s RAW has generated some kind of buzz. The reason for that? Could it be that World Champion Seth Rollins is getting a great segment? That Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens will start a feud that will lead him to WrestleMania? That Dean Ambrose will finally get that career-defining feud? That (god forbid) Cesaro will get a push? Of course not. The buzz is about what Michaels and Flair will have to say. The buzz is about what will happen between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar on the podcast. The Buzz is about Undertaker and Brock Lesnar being there. Let us sit back and think about this for a minute. Hell In A Cell is getting blasted before it even happens, even Brock Lesnar and Undertaker fans are doubtful about the match, and yet we all sit here, waiting for something to happen between these two on RAW so Hell In A Cell will be a bit more interesting. What’s wrong with this picture?
It’s easy to blame WWE Creative for the current flaws in their products, but are they really the only ones to blame? Why are we, as wrestling fans, still exited when we hear the big names of the past will be appearing? Why are we happy that Lesnar comes out once in a while and destroys someone? Why are we waiting for Michaels to say something? Why are we looking forward to a possible Lesnar/Austin confrontation? Why will we be exited for a possible Triple H/The Rock match at WrestleMania? Oh sure we’ll collectively blast the idea but we WILL still be exited about it. Why? And, finally, why are we still expecting Undertaker to save WWE?
Why? Because noted critic FD Swayze is right, wrestling fans ARE stupid (note from the author: since he was wise enough to question why a 50 year old man would be in a Hell In A Cell match, I hereby, as promised to him, exclude Widro from that statement. There you go, Widro, you’re not stupid. Happy?). We complain about WWE Creative not giving us reason to care or get behind the current WWE Superstar, we complain about the way Owens, Rollins, Cesaro and others are being booked, we bitch about Vince McMahon having lost his touch and living in the past and yet, who starts buzzing whenever WWE drops the names Lesnar, Undertaker, Michaels, The Rock and Austin? Right, the wrestling fans. Now who’s living in the past?
Nostalgia is a strange thing. It is often not enough from people to relive something great that has happened via DVD’s or books or whatever, they need the past to happen in the present. To put it in wrestling terms, when people are buzzing about The Undertaker re-appearing, they want to relive Undertake vs Shawn Michaels. Plain and Simple. They want to relive that moment. They want to be able to say at the end of a PPV: wow, that was great. And because someone like the Undertaker is identified with one of those moments, they are looking at him to make us relive those moments. One last time. Until the next time.
That is, in my opinion, sheer stupidity. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You want to relive Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels? Go watch the freaking match. Don’t expect The Undertaker to somehow re-make that magic against a modern day Shawn Michaels WWE has neglected to create in the first place! And it gets worse because our un-reasonable expectations and obsessions concerning big names from the past has given WWE an excuse to continue neglecting the future. RAW ratings are at an all-time low, and what does the WWE do? They prepare for more Undertaker, he’s now headlining WWE’s Mexico tour, alongside Ric Flair. They tell Triple H to prepare for an in-ring return. They bring back Shawn Michaels, Austin and the Rock for some pops that will not change a thing. They trow more money at Brock Lesnar to destroy the locker room some more. And what do we do? We cheer when Lesnar destroys Bo Dallas. We sit on the edge of our seat when the Undertaker appears. We buzz whenever the names Sting, Austin or The Rock are mentioned. In short, we give WWE reasons to continue doing what they’re doing, and that is blind us with names from the past that will never let us relive those glorious moments however much we want to.
Jim Ross once chided fans for criticizing Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar at WM or Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt. He said we should cherish those moments because there might not be so many left in the future. I strongly disagree. We should cherish the moments those wrestling greats have given us in the past, and demand new moments with the wrestlers that are supposed to build WWE’s future. But that won’t be happening if we keep foolishly hoping those names of the past will entertain us again. Hell even Hogan has noticed. Today, I read an article about Hogan stating he would love to have that one last WrestleMania match. And, let’s face it, if things continue like they are, chance of this happening are very real. Is that really what we want? No, I hear you all say, yet that is exactly the message we are giving WWE when we cheer Lesnar destroying something, when we say Undertaker’s Summerslam match was better than Undertaker’s WM match ( what does that even mean at this point?) and when we speculate about The Rock or Austin’s in-ring return. We tell them to bring back the old while we should collectively find ways to make WWE invest more creatively in their current locker room, not give them excuses to stick to the past.
And it’s not even the older wrestlers. Most fans still hope for CM Punk to return, still hope Bryan will be back, many still hope Kurt Angle will have one last match. Why not hope for a great match between younger wrestlers that are actually on the current roster? It’s very simple, as long as we buzz for those old(er) names, WWE will keep trying bringing them back and neglect the rest. Many complain about the WWE not giving us what we want, but that’s inaccurate. WWE is giving us exactly what we ask them for, we only refuse to admit it and prefer to blame Creative. Well it’s easier than to admit we really are stupid I guess…
Finally, lots of us are criticizing Roman Reigns for example, and with good reason. But look at it this way. Reigns can only improve from this point on, can the same be said of Undertaker and all those others? So shouldn’t we shift our encouragements to Reigns instead of The Undertaker? Just food for thought.
Ok for match of the week you are getting the original Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker hell in a Cell match, so watch it, be happy with it and please stop telling me how great it is the Undertaker is still around.
That all being said, it’s only wrestling so have fun and until next time!
