Shining a Spotlight 5.13.10: Different Times

Eras

I tend to divide my relationship with wrestling into specific eras. This is just my own take on things, really, but might explain to some how I view the business:

1970’s: Before my time so I only catch up via old tapes and books.

1980-1985: The classic territory days with Mid-Atlantic doing well while World Class was tearing it up as the best promotion around with amazing action.

1985-1990: The glory period for a lot of fans: WWF was riding high off of Hogan and its wild characters; NWA and Crockett were rising with Flair and the Horsemen tearing it up; the AWA was still in there doing their best while UWF and WCCW were also trying to give fans some alternatives; and you had various small territories to pull in fans. Kayfabe ruled so you believed what you saw on TV with no hints to the backstage goings-on.

1991-1994: The down period where I felt my interest wane. With Hogan gone, WWF went through some trials although Bret Hart’s reign was good but then the downer of Yokozuna. Meanwhile, WCW was in chaos with incredibly stupid angles and characters (especially in 1993). The USWA and Smokey Mountain tried to give some independent pushes but it was a bad period for a lot of fans.

1994-96: My interest picking up a bit which is ironic giving how bad WWF and WCW were. WWF had Diesel pushing the company down in ‘95 with bad booking and matches but bounced back with Shawn in ‘96. Meanwhile, WCW was a laughingstock under Hogan despite the rise of cruiserweights and mid-card bouts adding some merit. Of course, ECW began to breakout with its wild style that provided a much needed alternative.

96-2001: Another glory period as the Monday Night Wars ignited incredible creativity on both sides. I was partial to WWF even when they were losing as Austin, Rock and HHH all took off big time and the “Attitude” era shifted the business. WCW was worse starting in ‘99 despite their amazing talents while ECW fell to the wayside but still did their best to entertain.

2001-2005 The down period again as with WCW and ECW gone, WWF stagnated under stupid angles and such although ROH and TNA were beginning to rise.

2005-present WWE managing to strike a balance between entertainment and wrestling while TNA did rise well with big stars despite poor booking and ROH is also giving things a good run.

I’m sure others have their own opinions, but that’s how I basically break down my wrestling viewing past. I can’t explain my exact reasons but it is telling how they are tied to parts of my life like high school, college, etc. I freely admit that as a kid, I was more partial to WWF’s style than the NWA’s but I enjoyed a good Flair/Windham Broadway as much as the next guy. Growing older and becoming more knowledgeable about how wrestling was fixed made me a bit smarter as a fan and thus enjoyed it a bit more.

It’s telling how I am able to see it in different ways now than I did then. Back in ‘95, I never realized just how bad Diesel’s reign as WWF champion was. The guy seemed cool and pitted against big guys so it seemed to be a cool time. I did see how bad WCW got under Hogan but wasn’t until later I realized just how horrible it really was. That need of hindsight is always important to judge things but at the same time, can be a bit too judgmental.
　
Judging Eras

In his book Drawing Heat the Hard Way, Larry Matsyik makes the great observation that fans and wrestlers may moan about how much better wrestling booking was a decade ago but he’s sure that “folks of the ‘70’s complained about the ‘80’s, folks of the ‘80’s complained about the ‘90’s and folks today will complain about 2020.” Now, it might be a bit frightening to consider how the business can get worse in the next few years but then, it can be subjective to how “good” or “bad” things are.

As I pointed out above, a lot depends on how you feel during certain eras of the business. 2000 seems really hot to fans now because it looks so much better than WWE today. That can be true although they still had stupid angles and gimmicks as well. Looking back, you can see that making the tag scene pretty much about the Dudleyz, the Hardyz and Edge and Christian did hard a lot of the division and hot-shotting the IC belt around devalued that title. Of course, it was tons better than the nightmare of WCW as it began its downward spiral and ECW was also circling the drain. You had great action but you need to balance that with what else was going on.

Again, it depends on how you got into things. To a lot of fans, the Crockett era of Flair bouts that so many revere can be stagnant and boring. To those watching at the time, the Michaels/Ramon ladder match at Wrestlemania X was stunning to watch as you had never seen anything like it before on a big stage. Fans today, used to wilder TLC battles, sniff at it as downright dull. A lot of the ECW stuff you see in tapes can be pretty messy to fans but back in its time, it was groundbreaking in how wild it was.

Indeed, I’ve always felt ECW has been a bit too lionized by fans. It was great, yes, but a lot of what made it amazing was its time. When WWF and WCW were mired in cartoonish angles and characters, this promotion did its best to showcase real action while seemingly not treating their fans like idiots. I say “seemingly” because it’s now clear how Heyman worked the crowds just like McMahon or Bischoff. As Raven nicely put it “the smart fans who think they know everything are the easiest ones to con.” It’s great the ECW faithful have that love of the company but it also gave them an air of near-snobbishness, that ECW was automatically better than all other promotions. I still remember the hypocrisy of fans at “One Night Stand” 06, chanting “same old shit” at Cena while cheering RVD, a man who hasn’t changed his moveset since 1999.

It’s why the ECW revival was always doomed to fail, because the company’s success lay in its time period and you can’t recreate that. You especially can’t do it after WWE had emulated so much of ECW’s style and attitude. Trying to replicate the past is a dangerous business, especially when you do it with the same guys. TNA wants a New World Order type group, that’s fine but you can’t put Hall, Nash and Waltman out there like they’re still the cool guys they once were. It’s just as annoying as Vince still acting the “Evil owner” or Michaels and HHH carrying on as wild guys. Wrestling has always been about recycling gimmicks but you need to freshen them up just a bit to make them more effective.
　

Different Styles

A key reason why things are different is the obvious: It’s a much different time and audience. The biggest reason why Vince succeeded with the expansion was because the vast majority of other promoters failed to grasp that their way of booking and presentation wouldn’t work in the ‘80’s as it used to. Verne Gagne was the worst at this, pushing himself and Nick Bockwinkel as champions when fans wanted Hogan on top and it cost him big-time. Likewise, Vince finally came around in the late-’90’s to how fans didn’t want the classic “good guy/bad guy” stuff and that led to the success of the Attitude era.

Today, the younger generation is that of the Twitter and texting era, kids used to getting info and such fast. Short attention spans have always been a threat but now, folks just aren’t as attuned to a Broadway bout as they used to be. ROH learned that the hard way with their bout last December and one can hope Jim Cornette realizes that going “old school” can just lead to damage. At the same time, WWE can be annoying with their reliance on more “entertainment” than sport. It’s true, wrestling has always been “sports entertainment” but WWE and TNA seem to embrace the latter part a bit too much. Both companies are still capable of putting on great matches and programs but it’s hard for some fans to wade through the dumb stuff to get at the good.

The death of kayfabe can also be a factor although not as huge as you might think. Fans are “smarter” about the business now as promoters are up front over how planned it all is. The IWC has become strong but I don’t think it’s the vast majority of the fan base. Promoters still listen to the fans in the arenas who pay tickets, not the guys who moan and bitch online all the time. But you have to keep in mind how the IWC can have skewered views of the business. James Guttman summed that up best in one of his books, on how he thought he had wrestling all figured out in 2005 but after a couple of years doing a radio show, realized that almost everything IWC guys “know” about the business is wrong. This division of the fan base has also affected how some see the business as a lot of IWC guys tend to live in the past although others are more hopeful for the future.

Some may bring up how wrestlers and the way they’re presented/pushed have changed. I admit, it does seem the “long build” style has died out as too many guys are pushed fast. Sheamus is a great example as a man who given the title way too early for a lot of fans. It’s true you sometimes have to pull the trigger and take a chance on who can carry a belt or not but it seems too often WWE just rolls the dice without thinking. TNA almost has the opposite problem in that they’ll give the belt to guys who have been around for a long time like Foley, Sting and even AJ Styles, who seems older since he’s been with TNA from the start. There’s no real sense of guys “paying their dues” anymore or being set in a real direction and too often you get the feeling bookers are just winging it.

There may be a case over how some guys aren’t able to carry it as well as workers a decade ago. Cena has shown himself capable of holding a belt well and the man’s cardio is incredible as he can do forty minute matches and still look like he just got out of the shower. But far too many others put too much into looks and caring a bit about their characters than ring work or winning over the fans. The newer class of wrestlers are guys who grew into it watching the late ‘90’s and thus don’t go as in depth for the wrestling side as the guys before them. It’s not universal but that differing style has led to a downturn in the ring work. The thing to keep in mind, however, is that it’s not really fair to judge everyone in the current roster by the Rock or Steve Austin as those are the rare types who just explode with such charisma you can’t contain it.

Of course, the promoters deserve blame too. As I pointed out above, WWE is too much into the “entertainment” aspect of things for a lot of fans, emphasizing backstage skits and comedy stuff for RAW while SmackDown isn’t much better. TNA still has terrific workers who can do great matches, provided they don’t waste an hour’s worth of air time on whatever backstage “comedy” Russo and company came up with this week. ROH benefits from the lack of air time for such things but they still work with more raw guys who suffer the same problem in the lack of proper training.

But you have to remember that a lot of this is lost on some younger fans. My nephews don’t really care about amazing work of a decade ago, they enjoy WWE as it is now to a great degree. They don’t mind some of the dumb skits or angles and go wild for their favorite workers. They also buy merchandise, masks, t-shirts and action figures which is what WWE really goes for. They are capable of recognizing when a poor RAW airs but for the most part, they’re like a lot of us when we were young, they enjoy the show itself, not go around analyzing the backgrounds or whether a guy is pushed properly or the meaning of an angle. They just love wrestling and it’s that fresh perspective promoters go for and my nephews are proof they still can get it.

Summation

The business has changed in the last decade and not for the better in a lot of cases. The business has gotten more commercial, going more for the lowest demographic of fans and wrestlers themselves aren’t as committed as they could be. Promoters go for more flash than substance and push guys seemingly without rhyme or reason. Yes, the business is different than it was ten years ago…and ten years ago, guys were moaning about how the early ‘90’s were great just as guys then moaned about the ‘80’s being so great. It’s a cycle, we always like to see the past as so much better as it was but wrestling has always had bad angles, bad booking, bad presentation and workers. It always will too but there’s still the ability to draw in younger fans. They’ll probably see things a lot different in twenty years but the fact they’re in it at all is proof that wrestling, for all its ups and downs and changes, can still pull you in and hopefully that is one thing that will never change.