wrestling / Columns

That Ain’t Wrestling! – A Look at What, Exactly, Brings Us to the Show

February 8, 2016 | Posted by Dino Zee

The last week saw both Jim Cornette and Vince Russo offer their thoughts on Lucha Underground and, to the surprise of roughly no one at all, they were on completely different sides of the fence. And while they were speaking solely on Lucha Underground, what they said could easily apply to professional wrestling as a whole, and how they feel professional wrestling should operate.

Cornette got things started, saying: “It’s a TV show… It’s a movie. It’s not wrestling, it’s not a sport. They make no pretense of even attempting to make this shit believable. The production is incredible. It looks like Scorsese directed it. The cinematography is wonderful. it looks like a John Ford western, whatever the fuck. I can’t say enough about the production. And it’s another nail in the coffin of wrestling being taken seriously as a sport or anything that’s not completely predetermined. There’s nobody on the face of the planet who could watch this shit and believe there is any legitimacy whatsoever. It shouldn’t be called pro wrestling at all. It’s a movie and they’re wrestling in the movie. That’s all it fucking is. That backstage horse shit that obviously takes multiple takes to shoot something like that. Nobody’s believing these people. It’s a scripted performance of a movie or a TV show. That’s all that shit is.”

Vince Russo, on the other hand, offered the following take on Lucha Underground: “A little bit of everything for the entire television viewing audience to get into. We have three females on the show. All beautiful, exotic, strong, powerful women. Now non-wrestling women viewers are going to be drawn to their roles. The guys are going to be drawn to these women. They play just as an important role in the show as the men. You can’t say the same about the WWE. At Lucha, there’s a strong female presence. If I’m flipping through this channel and see this woman taking on this monster. I’m stopping. It’s going to be a car crash. The wrestling business needs to dare to be different. If you’re safe, you’re stale.”

Before we continue- I guess, just to cover the bases, we should add that there’s a chance that either of them could be working us, playing their characters (Cornette’s being that of an old grump who can’t let go of 1988, and Russo’s being that of a guy who loves everything about wrestling except for, you know, the wrestling). I personally don’t think that’s the case, but for those who need to scream WORK!!! at everything ever, there you go.

What I enjoyed about these two takes the most was just how two guys who clearly love professional wrestling can have such absolute polar opposite reactions to the same show. Even better, if I can touch on my column from a couple weeks ago, both are just opinions, neither more right than the other, but both will be argued as absolute fact by those who agree.

But when I look at what Cornette offered, I’m actually surprised by how backwards his opinion would appear to be in comparison to what he believes wresting should be.

Jim Cornette is the guy that slapped Santino Marella for not properly following kayfabe. When I watch Lucha Underground, I see an entire company devoted to their particular brand of kayfabe, 100%. Pentagon, Jr (just Pentagon from here on out) isn’t some guy that shows up backstage, puts on a mask, and gets into character. He’s Pentagon, the most evil dude alive, at all times. In fact, that’s one of the things I love the absolute most about Lucha Underground – these aren’t actors playing a character, these are guys who are presented as they are, who want to wrestle and hurt their opponents. There’s no boys, no cute videos of the entire cast lip synching with each other… none of that. It’s purely what you see on TV.

For someone like Jim Cornette, the Protector of All That’s Kayfabe, to crap all over Lucha Underground, to call out believability when he’s given us things like Leviathan, Demon of the Deep, or the frickin Boogeyman… well, it’s just hard to listen to what he’s saying. And sure, this is probably where the He’s working you! stuff might make sense. Is it just because the backstage segments are shot nearly independently of the rest of the show? How can one be so devoted to kayfabe, and then hate the company that follows it so much? I honestly don’t know.

https://youtu.be/-mZjwytve9s

Meanwhile, there’s Russo’s quote. And honestly, for the most part, I don’t have a total problem with what he had to say, which is a rarity for me. I’m not a huge Russo fan, but I don’t find him to be the worst thing to ever happen to wrestling, either. However, his idea that “if you’re safe, you’re stale” amuses me when I consider that he found one route to success as a writer, and then never veered from that one route ever again, even if it meant failure after failure wherever he went.

But at least he kept most other things consistent, not focusing on the in-ring product (and why would he, that’s not what he likes) and instead focusing on how the product has something for everyone, and zeroing in on how the women are treated in Lucha Underground, which is absolutely a stark contrast to WWE’s Divas or TNA’s Knockouts. There, only Awesome Kong is ever treated as someone who can hang with the guys. In Lucha Underground, both Sexy Star and Ivelisse have found success against the men.

So really, this begs the question of what wrestling is supposed to be. When one show can so divide the fan base in regards to general opinion, are they doing something right? Are they doing something wrong? Is there any way to put out a product that a great majority of – if not all – fans can band together and enjoy?

As a fan, my favorite part of professional wrestling is the actual wrestling. I’ve always preferred matches to anything else, and that goes back to my childhood. Promos are cool, skits can be fun, but the marquee has always read Wrestling, and so that’s what I tune in to see.

That said, outside of matches, I’m pretty much fine with everything else. I love WWE’s circus show that sometimes has wrestling. I love TNA’s wrestling program that tries like the dickens to be an entertainment show. I love Ring of Honor’s Hour o’Matches, and I feel the same way about CMLL’s lucha shows, too. And, as I’ve said repeatedly now, I love Lucha Underground’s crazy, insulated world where everything we knew no longer exists, and the only rules are the ones they create.

That said, there are definitely things in wrestling that bother me. Slapping legs for impact moves is one of them, oddly enough. It’s such a stupid, little thing, but leg slaps can take me out of a match like nothing else if I’m in the right mood. I hate seeing spots get repeated after something was messed up. It’s fine to make a mistake – it’s human to do so. But to just go right back to the plans afterwards? That always looks like two guys repeating dance steps, and not two guys in a battle.

I also kind of get bothered by kayfabe, in the sense that no one can seem to agree anymore as to how it should be used, and whether it’s even relevant anymore. We’ll give Lana grief for putting her engagement on social media and ruining kayfabe, but we’ll also talk about Triple H putting the belt on himself, instead of talking about Triple H winning the Royal Rumble to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion. We the fans love to have our cake and eat it, too, provided the cake is convenient and we don’t ever have to explain our love for it.

But isn’t that part of the fun of being a wrestling fan – not having to explain it? When you have friends railing against how stupid and phony it is, and you just get to say Yeah, well, I like it, that can be one of the best feelings in the world.

That’s with non-fans. With fans, I think it’s more than fair to expect a little extra analysis into why you like what you like, and don’t like what you don’t. And to that end, I don’t think it’s unfair for people to expect you to be some level of consistent with your thoughts. Sure, sure, there’s always times where it doesn’t all add up – I’m not a big AJ Styles fan, but I love PJ Black, for instance – but overall, you try to keep your general world view of wrestling consistent.

That’s what got me with Cornette. I could see him having an issue with the in-ring matches, because yes, it’s lucha and so yes, it’s a bit more choreographed than what we might see elsewhere. But the dedication to kayfabe is something that I’ve admired about Lucha Underground from day 1 – their commitment to their world. Hearing Cornette give no attention to that facet while tearing down everything else (except the production) was just so odd to me.

So, to close, I’ll pose the questions: What do you like about wrestling? About WWE? About TNA? About Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, New Japan, or Lucha Libre? What is wrestling, in your opinion? What’d you think of Cornette’s take on LU? What about Russo’s? Are you an in-ring action fan, or do you prefer the sports entertainment side of things?

Remember, it’s all opinion. There’s no right answer. Well, unless it’s “I love Davey Richards.” That’s always the wrong answer, ha.


PUT SLICK IN THE HALL OF FAME!!


It’s All Wrestling. It’s All Silly. We All Love It.

article topics :

Jim Cornette, Vince Russo, Dino Zee