wrestling / Columns

Giving Thanks to Wrestling

November 29, 2014 | Posted by Dino Zee

It’s Thanksgiving. Well, as of this writing, it’s the day before, and this will probably get posted a few days later. Either way, this week I just want to list the things I am thankful for as a wrestling fan.

I’m thankful for Lucha Underground. For years, I kept a peripheral view of the lucha libre world, mainly watching AAA action, and occasionally checking out CMLL. Last year, I jumped back in, following CMLL while AAA was not widely available via television. Once I felt like I was “back” in the lucha scene, I found myself missing the AAA wrestlers that I had become fans of. Guys like Cibernetico, Mesias, Chessman, El Zorro, and many more. Playing the Heroes del Ring game on my PS3 only made me miss them more. When the launch of the El Rey network was announced, along with the inclusion of a new Lucha Underground show, I was instantly hoping that El Rey would find its way to DirecTV. And, lucky for me, it absolutely did.

Lucha Underground now gives me a weekly wrestling show free from many of the usual shitty practices one can find in televised American wrestling. There’s much less talking, much less skits, and much more building up characters, matches, and a direction that I as a fan can immediately understand. It’s not for everyone, especially if you’re a psychology snob, but if you’re not, and you still haven’t checked out Lucha Underground, I’d highly recommend that you give it a shot.

I’m thankful that TNA isn’t dead. All jokes about it only being “in hospice now” or whatever aside, I’m happy that the partnership with Spike coming to an end didn’t mean the end of TNA for right now. I’m not one to look into the future and constantly hope for the end to come, but if that’s your deal, enjoy, I guess.

I’m thankful that I get to continue watching MY BOY Ethan Carter III, James Storm, Bram, Low Ki, Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Kenny King, and many more each week. I’m thankful to have a second option on my television (not the internet; television) for American style wrestling that’s easily available and isn’t just another WWE show.

Maybe Destination America turns out to be the worst place they could have landed, but I left my psychic helmet at home today, so I’m just going to do my best to watch every Impact, every week, until this apparently unavoidable end of TNA comes. Or it doesn’t. You know, either way.

I’m thankful for NXT. Admittedly, I’m not up to snuff on my NXT, but I’m trying to ease into it and learn the names of the future. However, what I’m more thankful for, has been watching the way WWE Developmental has changed. What was once mainly a factory of the same musclebound guy in trunks and a dumb name has become a place for some of the biggest names in indy / international wrestling to make a pit stop before giving it a shot in WWE.

Like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and Cesaro before them, we now have Kevin Steen, Prince Devitt, and even freaking KENTA all putting in time down in NXT as they hope to one day make the big stage. Hell, even Sami Zayn- the former El Generico- has done well in NXT and may be looking at a call up soon.

Seeing WWE get back to planning for the future after spending the last ten plus years repeating “Cena and Orton” with their fingers in their ears has been a nice development. Whether we place the credit squarely with Triple H, or with a company as a whole realizing that it needs to build future stars if they are to continue to thrive, someone somewhere in there made the right decision.

I’m thankful for watching history get made. Seeing Sting debut at the Survivor Series this past Sunday will live forever in my brain. I’m 33, I grew up with Sting, and I never thought we’d see him in a WWE ring. I honestly thought for a while that he’d never sign, just to keep his position as the “best guy to never go to Vince” as his accomplishment. Maybe he’d do a legends deal and show up for a Hall of Fame induction, but I never thought he’d be doing anything active.

Yeah, he’s old. No, he’s not the best wrestler anymore. Still, as a lifelong “little Stinger,” Sunday night was a great reminder of why I love wrestling. Sometimes, the “real life” just doesn’t matter to the show we’re actually being given. Sting facing off with Triple H was amazing. Sting dropping Triple H was even better. The fact that they’re both semi-retired guys whose primes are passed didn’t cross my mind. You’d have to be quite the cynics to not like it. OR, for you “or…” guys, you just don’t like watching old guys wrestle. I still say it’s the former.

I’m thankful for guys like Damien Sandow and Bram. They might be the two guys I trust most with any segment they’re a part of lately, and that’s incredible, considering how down I was on Sandow while he was dressing in different costumes each week. His rebirth as Damien Mizdow reminds me of when Billy Gunn and Jesse Jammes floundered for a bit alone, only to discover some magic as the New Age Outlaws. It’s always in the unlikeliest of places that one finds his place in the sun. Sandow receiving huge face pops and arenas chanting “WE WANT MIZDOW” is one of the stranger changes to take place this year, and I have loved watching it all go down. From the high of a huge Money in the Bank cash in against Cena earning him huge praise to the low of dressing in a skin colored leotard back to the top as Miz’s sidekick, the rise, fall, and rise again of Sandow is always nice to see.

Bram, on the other hand, was a different case altogether. When TNA introduced him out of nowhere as an old friend of Magnus looking to help him get his edge back, I was more than dubious to the whole thing. Why was he even allowed backstage? How does he have the power to put Magnus in actual matches? Why is any of this happening??

Soon, though, Bram started getting more involved, and ramped up the violence each and every time out. Now he’s the self-proclaimed “King of Hardcore” in TNA, and it’s Magnus- the former freaking TNA World Heavyweight Champion- that sits on the sidelines and basically cheerleads his friend. Rough for Magnus, but great for Bram, who has exhibited the mic skills, and hardcore wrestling ability to keep himself a fixture in TNA for now. I know the saints out there like to call out his run in with the law as a source of mockery, but I just can’t be bothered to care about that stuff. He’s been amazingly fun in TNA, and that’s all that matters to me.

I’m thankful for Daniel Bryan. His rise up the card last year was an incredible run to watch, as he went from Kane’s scrappy little buddy to the guy beating Randy Orton on the regular to the guy who beat John Cena for the belt. Yeah, the storyline with the Authority (and subsequent detour with the Wyatt family) were rough to get through, but we got the payoff with Daniel Bryan holding the WWE World Championship at the end of WrestleMania.

I know, the story didn’t have a happy ending. Bryan was treated as an afterthought so that Evolution and the Shield could feud, feuding with Kane in a series of backstage skits that were just atrocious, before having to leave for surgery. His absence has, as the old saying go, only made the heart grow fonder. At this point, I’ve tried talking myself into accepting the idea that his career may, quite simply, be over. Maybe he returns, but I’m not holding my breath anymore. If I end up being correct on that, I will always be thankful that I was able to watch the indy legend actually capture the imagination of a great bulk of the WWE Universe to the point that he was given the largest prize at the largest show of the year.

Plus, there was that whole “hanging out with the San Francisco Giants” thing that earned him even more points.

I’m thankful for Len Archibald.

He’s a thousand times the writer I am, and I have no problem admitting that. He’s simply made me want to be a better writer, no matter how impossible the goal of matching his quality and style may be.

When I read his columns, I’m transported back in time, and find myself re-remembering things I had long since forgotten. I like plenty of the writers and features here at 411, and I don’t mean to step on any toes with this, but Len’s additions to this site have truly been a breath of fresh air, and I enjoy his pieces each and every time out.

Finally, I’m thankful for wrestling as a whole, and everything that is included within. I’m thankful for fans who like the same things I like, and those who hate the things that I like. I’m thankful for the business marks who devour the numbers even though I think it’s pointless. I’m thankful for the guys who demand psychology, and those who think it’s overrated.

I’m thankful for the WrestleManias and Starrcades that got me here, and to the shows that haven’t even been created yet that I hope to tune in and watch.

I’m thankful for you, the readers. I’m thankful for your criticisms, your compliments, and our discussions. I’m thankful for debates, for flame wars, and for nice, respectful talks.

Because, as I always try to hammer home, whether you and I see eye to eye or not, we’re the only ones that give a shit about this stuff. No non-fan is going to give a crap if you gripe about how I think the TMZ report was ultimately proven right about TNA- only the rest of us fans will.

So, whether you enjoy my stuff every week, or whether you gripe at me every week because we disagreed about something once and your feelings are still hurt, just realize that I’m thankful for our interactions, period. Be a nice guy, be a grumpy curmudgeon, be something in between. It’s all good, and I’m thankful for it all.


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article topics :

Lucha Underground, NXT, Sting, TNA, WWE, Dino Zee