I’m going a little off my usual topics here today and talking about professional wrestling. But, I grew up as a massive pro wrestling fan, so don’t expect this to be the last time. You’ll have to forgive me, because just like any other grits ‘n gravy southern raised boy I loved me some wrasslin’. Loved being the key word there.
Today I’m going down some dark roads. The dark roads that lead me to fall out of love with pro wrestling. We’ll go from American Dreams all the way to living hands that are the love children of a powerlifter and a geriatric. You’re gonna have to bear with me, but it’ll be worth it. Trust me.
The Golden Age(in my opinion), the American Dream, and Kayfabe.
Now, I recognize the attitude era in the 90s as a great period of pro wrestling. But the thing is, I feel like this era was also very top heavy. There were certainly some stand out midcard talents, but that was almost exclusively in the WWE. And by the 90s, professional wrestling was done pretending to be a real sport. We’ll go into the abandonment of kayfabe a bit later, but I will talk about it’s virtues here.
Back in the day, kayfabe mattered big time. Kayfabe was the industry term for being in character and living your gimmick. “Good guys” known as babyfaces and “bad guys” known as heels wouldn’t be caught dead together outside of a ring, for example. And even if there were people who suspected, there was still plausible deniabilty. This is something I sorely miss now a days.
Being able to believe in what you’re watching makes it so much easier to invest emotionally. And that’s how I’m gonna segway into possibly the greatest gimmick(character) of all time. Dusty Rhodes, the American Dream. Dusty Rhodes was a character that embodied everything you would need in a traditional American hero and then some. He was the common man, and that was who he fought for. When Dusty hit the ring, you knew that he was hitting the ring for you too. This even went for the black fans of pro wrestling, even in the south. Dusty, either through business wiles or genuine care, made an effort to connect with the black fans, a pretty untapped market in southern wrestling outside of a select few.
And Dusty lived his gimmick. He wasn’t an adonis by any means, quite the opposite. But that made it easier to root for him. There was just something about the little plumbers son, 265 pounds of blue eyed soul, that whipped crowds into a frenzy. You can credit a lot of that to natural charisma and a rogue’s gallery of heels. I’d have to argue that a lot of it comes down to the fact that you could believe it. The WWE doesn’t lack talented people today, but it’s hard to put toothpaste back in the tube once it’s gone. When Dusty bled, a nation bled with him, because America didn’t see in Dusty an actor. They saw an athlete in the ring fighting tooth and nail against the odds for every person in the stands.
The Death of Kayfabe and the Attitude Era
We all know now that pro wrestling is predetermined. We know everything from how a match is put together to why which person is picked to win. It wasn’t always this way, though. What changed?
Well, on february 10th of 1989 the facade died. In front of the New Jersey Senate Vince Mcmahon stated that professional wrestling should be defined as “an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators rather than conducting a bona fide athletic contest.” This was to push a bill to remove professional wrestling from regulations applied by athletic commissions.
And even if you had suspected this in the past, everybody knew from that point on. This is what I meant by saying that the tooth paste can’t go back in the tube. And don’t get me wrong, this isn’t to say that pro wrestling died in the 90s, though it did take a massive dip in popularity until later in the decade. It was just changed, and could never go back to having the appeal of a true athletic contest.
The strength of this era instead came from two places. The first was shock value, which the company known as ECW had in droves. It never reached the size of WCW or WWE, but it had a fanatic cult following. This was ultimately unsustainable though, and the company was never able to break into the mainstream. The second strength of this era was sheer talent and paradigm shifting characters. You couldn’t kick your boss’s ass, but damn it you could watch stone cold do it to vince!
Then there was the Rock, the people’s champ, the man you loved to love or loved to hate. Mankind, the Undertaker and Kane with the help of Paul Bearer. Shawn Michaels coming into his own, and Triple H and Chyna alongside DX. Couple these massive stars with the phenom that was the NWO (along with many, many more) and you had an era that was rich with talent. It couldn’t last forever, though.
The Ruthless Aggression Era to the Present
Shortly following the end of the attitude era, the WCW buyout, and the aging out of many stars came a kind of second wind. This is the era where you saw stars that weren’t massive, mainstream draws but could keep the loyal followers of professional wrestling tuning in. This is where Batista, Randy Orton, John Cena, and others took the reigns and carried on with steady performances for about a decade, leading into today.
Now, if I’m honest, I could tell you almost nothing about pro wrestling. I know that there have been a few stars that made some small waves in the mainstream, but not many. CM Punk managed to snatch the splotlight for a fight in the UFC. Daniel Bryan also had a good mix of charisma and athletics that helped him gain a following, but injury cut that short. Apparently, Bryan’s getting a second run, but you have to wonder if it’s too late. No, most of what I see now from the WWE is bad news.
If I had to guess, I’d point to the unsustainable nature of the 90s in professional wrestling. The ECW style of extreme violence would never work in the mainstream, and took a massive toll on people’s bodies. Not to mention that relying on mega-stars is no way to have a sustainable business. Will pro wrestling ever make a come back? We’ll see. Maybe when Vince passes and it can take on a new face. For now, though? It doesn’t look great.
