Where Did Professional Wrestling Go Wrong?
No, really---serious question.
posted by Teflon at 11:50 AM
4 comments
8.27.2008
Teflon
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4 Comments:
I gotta tell you, Tef, I got back into WWE recently. I readily admit that it's little more than a male-centric soap opera, but I've really been enjoying it. They got me a couple of years ago with one of their tributes to the troops.
But I'll tell you what's wrong today. When I watched it as a kid in the early '80s, it was a lot of fun and meant to be family fun. Today, they've got too much lanuage and too many girls wearing next to nothing for me to be comfortable letting my kids watch thing show with me.
That's my problem with it.
I think you're right on.
I started watching it back before the WWF became big, pre-"Wrestlemania". I particularly enjoyed the low-rent wrestling spectacles featuring the Von Erich clan.
There was an excellent documentary a couple of years ago on them, particularly on the death of Michael von Erich. This coupled with a documentary on Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake really bookended the wrestling era for me---from the lows to the highs back to the lows again.
At its best, pro wrestling is pure Americana. At its worst, it's pure excess and self-destruction.
That's what makes it so compelling as a mirror to our society.
Well, I misremembered the second doc: it was about Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
Oh yeah, I was there pre-Wrestlemania, and a little bit afterward. Living in the south, I had NWA (now TNA) all around me. Rick Flair, Dr. Death Steve Williams, the Fabulous Freebirds and the Road Warriors were always in shows in Biloxi. It made it feel more local (they were based out of Atlanta). But then the WWF grew so large, NWA became WCW and were engulfed. Kind of sad, but it is capitalism. The local-area wrestling today is just training grounds for WWE. Here in Memphis there is a very robust Mid-South Wrestling program. Pretty neat actually.
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