American Wrestling Crowds…OWNED?

 

Written by: Maurice D. Proffit

Thank you 2/6/2012 edition of Monday Night Raw for being a very lackluster and underwhelming show because that motivated me even more to talk about something that has been itching my brain since Thursday 2/2/2012.

So any wrestling fan, that takes his wrestling somewhat seriously, you were well aware that TNA Impact Wrestling was being broadcasted from Wembly Arena in London England last week. Queue “Rule, Britannia”

RULE BRITAINNIA!!!

Living in a current day and age where TNA is normally the punch line and/or but of all jokes, I like to consider myself a “TNA Apologist”. I don’t necessarily take part in the constant bashing of the organization. Is it flawless? FAR from it! Is it perfect? FAR from it. Can I put together a global wrestling federation on their level? FAR FROM IT! And that’s the reason why I don’t beat it up to much. While people focus on its negatives, I take into consideration how far they have come and their direction. I look at those attributes and it makes me hold on to the bumpy ride even longer. There have been plenty of times where I would just look at the product with absolutely disgust and/or embarrassment. And I’m asking myself, “Why in the hell would they air this?” But in all fairness, I’ve asked those same questions and visited those same feelings about the WWE as well. So, I cannot be hypocritical. So now here we are at the Impact Wrestling that is in London. And just from the mere opening of the show as they are panning the crowd, I am HOOKED AND SOLD. Never, and I mean NEVER have I seen a TNA audience with so much electricity and so much passion. Gorilla Monsoon coined the phrase “The Electricity in here is so thick, you can cut it with a knife”, and my sentiments were exact for this London crowd.

Eat your F*ckin heart out Impact Zone, We own you!

Did it matter that Bound for Glory back on Oct 9^th 2011 left us with a very sour taste in our mouths, considering how the PPV finished? No. Did it matter that TNA is the hub for what is called “The home of Russo booking?” No. Did it matter than almost a year ago; Jeff Hardy made his way down to ringside at the Victory Road ppv, to face Sting in a world heavyweight title match, but was higher than a Boeing 757?

Dude wait, is the belt thingy on the line or my bong?

No, it didn’t. To these fans, “To hell with the past! We just want to see some wrestling.” And at the end of the day, isn’t that what it’s all about? Wrestling. Isn’t that the reason why we tune in on Mondays and Thursdays? Why we buy the ppvs? Why we buy tickets to the arenas? Isn’t this the reason why we do these things? For the in ring wrestling? Now, I hate to do this, but I must prove a point, let me compare the UK Wrestling Audience to the United States Wrestling Audience. Black/White difference. And I feel that there is a black/white difference because the WWE has raised and set the bar to a level where only they can reach. Now, is this a bad thing? Absolutely not. This is 2012, in order to progress, we have to accept modernity. But why is it that American Wrestling fans have difficulty with distinguishing the difference between a multi-million dollar product vs a successful yet meager product? It’s like if it’s not the multimillion dollar product, it’s not worthy of being on our television sets.

Yeah, F*ck Off! We’re not going anywhere!

Example. When I was I college, my now wife (who was then my girlfriend) were hanging out in my dorm room (QN: We were on campus during the summer working and going to summer school and there were times where we had a lot of down time, just so you don’t think we never used our time wisely, lol) and I had an ECW wrestling tape that I was borrowing from a friend of mine and I wanted to show her. She had never been exposed to anything outside of WWE, but she was a good sport anyway and told me she’d check out the tape. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the PPV, but it had an RVD vs Sabu match on it, that (to this day IMO) was a classic. I wanted her to watch that match, because I knew she would appreciate it. Just a few days before, we watched RVD vs Eddie Guerrero on Monday Night Raw in a ladder match, that just stole the show and to this day is her favorite match of all time. We watched the RVD/Sabu match, and I noticed that I was the only one who was really into the match. As a matter of fact, she asked if we could turn it off because it was “boring”. BORING?!?! Seriously??? I asked her the problem and she said “it looks bootleg and low budget.” Well…yes, it is very low budget. But the beauty of ECW is what was lost in the glamour was made up for it in the ring. That wasn’t enough for her. She wanted lights, pyro, a stage, 14,000-20,000 person stadium, big original music, great camera work and set designs. Her bar of what to appreciate with pro wrestling was set so high, that no other org (even the original ECW) would not be able to reach that standard.

 

Is that the current problem now? Are we just too jaded by the pomp and circumstance that WWE gives us on a bi weekly basis that it almost like we expect it already and the novelty has worn off? Going back to that crowd in London England, that crowd reminded me of what pro wrestling used to be in the 80’s. Rabid crowd popping for every and all big move that took place. They even reminded me of the WWF Attitude Era crowd who just went nuts over anyone who was in the ring. I was watching on WWE Classics on Demand the other day; an old episode of Monday Night Raw where it was Jacqueline vs Sable in an arm wrestling match…a women’s arm wrestling match, and the crowd was eating up every second of it. Loved it! If we were to get right now Kelly Kelly vs Brie Bella in an arm wrestling match, the crowd would rebel and the home audience would twitter/Facebook “Worst sh*t ever” and all that good stuff. So what is/was the difference? Why is it that a live crowd cannot get pumped to see a Yoshi Tatsu vs Drew McIntyre match? Why do we pop for the entrance music but when the bell rings it’s the total opposite? I cannot even begin to tell you how much it kills me when I see people who are sitting ringside, TEXTING! C’mon man! You’re ringside at a live WWE event! Nothing at that moment compares, unless your house is on fire, and if it is, you have insurance…you can wait! There’s a world title match going on in front of you.

I know these seats were $500 but, I wonder what Brad is doing? *sigh*

How many times do I have to see the people in the first 4 rows more concerned about making sure that they are on TV by looking at the titan tron? Or what about the guy who is ON his cell phone, and simultaneously looking at the titan tron and waving at the hard camera saying “Hey! You see me!?!? I’m in the gray shirt! Yeah dude! That’s meeeeeeeee.” UGH!!!! I would KILL for your seats! And not just to I can call my buddy and tell them to turn on USA to look at me, just so I can watch the action going on just a mere 5 yards away from me. I challenge you to look for any old WWF tape from the 80’s and 90’s and find me a crowd that is dead and critical to the product. And where did the heavy heavy criticism come from? Now it’s not wrong to voice your opinion of what’s going on with wrestling, but it’s come to obsessive hate now with fans. For example, TNA had a poster that was out to promote one of their shows and there was a very slight typo on it. And the typo occurred on a line that was not even prominent. But someone on Facebook felt the absolute need to harp on this type and him and others just ripped the company apart and did everything but wish death on them. Wow, all of this over a typo? Hey genius, open ANY magazine, I promise you, you will find some. Since when did people all of a sudden become editor in chief of the New York Times???

Yes! I found a TNA typo! I Rule…(looks around moms basement)

Have we as fans really gotten to that point? Where our only reason for breathing is to hate on a product that we love? I’ve said for some time now that No on hates pro wrestling more than WRESTLING FANS. I am more than convinced by this. And it seems like it’s really on this side of the pond. True, there are those who are extremely critical over in Europe, but when we see examples of this last Impact, the new TNA spinoff “Ring Ka King” and whenever we see footage of WWE in Europe, we get the same reaction across the board. We get that energy, that passion, that excitement, that emotional investment. As Americans, are we just generally overly stimulated? Remember when once upon a time, cable TV just meant 10 extra channels in addition to 2, 5, 7 and 9? Now, I hit the guide channel and I have a channel numbers “957”. Remember when once upon a time when the sole reason for your car was to drive you from point A to point B? Now our vehicles turn on with a remote control. Open the doors with the censor of your hand, voice activated. Heats your seat individually and your coffee mug. Have televisions sets in it. Remember when once upon a time, your phone was used to… (*gasp*) make phone calls? Now a phone does everything under the sun and making a phone call is so down on the list. I’m not even going to go into the details of what a phone does now. I’m just waiting for it to microwave your food.

Whats this “Phone Call” that you speak of?

But are we just overly stimulated to a point where we cannot appreciate the dignity of simplicity? Where just a mere match between two men or two women is way under our expectations and our immediate reaction is to mock the talent? Is our attention span that bad where we as fans cannot appreciate a Broadway (Wrestling Term: “Broadway”: A match that last 1 hour or more) anymore??? Gone are those days. This is why the Divas get a 90 sec 8 woman tag on Raw! Attention spans are next to none.

Collectively, we work 10 min a week!!!

Maybe, just maybe we need to take a page from our friends in international waters and understand that they really are the fortunate ones who are ahead of us. From the Canada, to the UK, to India, to Japan, these wrestling fans are seeing something that we just will not accept that is in front of us. WrestleMania will never go on international soil due to the economics of the whole thing. But…maybe Wembly Stadium or the Tokyo Dome does deserve a WrestleMania. And we in the United States should watch on tape delay.

Add one more seat and we’ll break the 1992 record!

I’m just sayin…

 

 

Before I end this. Just want to show some love to a few SOLID bloggers that I am learning A LOT from (thank you gentlemen)

For your Baseball Fix, this man is a walking/living Wikipedia of anything dealing with Major League Baseball. Check out Matt Adams (Twitter: @2012WhiteSox) His Web sites are: http://ramblingsofbaseball.com and http://southsideshowdown.com

For your Premier English Football League fix, on opinions, topics, analysis and all that good stuff that deal with English Football, check out Ross Bell (Twitter: @RossBell1984  ) His Web Site is: http://www.johnnykashmirsrandomblog.blogspot.com/

For anyone that take an appreciation in commentary on computers, Video Games and other outlets of technology (of which i am completely clueless about but I envy the hell out of him), Check out Sekani Wright (Twitter: @Sekani2  ) his Web site is http://www.sekani2.com