When So Much Wrestling Reveals Who We Are As Fans

The times, they are a’changing, and with that comes new realizations about who I am as a wrestling fan. As you may imagine, after spending all 33 years of my life on this planet loving professional wrestling, I was pretty secure in who I was as a fan. I’m a “WWF Kid” at heart, but I always make room for the other guys. I’m not a huge fan of spotfests, but that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy a good car crash match from time to time. I try not to go to extremes with my points of view regarding “what” wrestling “is,” and that usually keeps me from freaking out whenever any promotion that I’m watching does something that I don’t quite agree with.

However, this was a much easier way to go about things when I basically only watched WWE and TNA, with a sprinkling of CMLL on the weekends. Each was different enough from the other that I didn’t have to worry about much. WWE was for stories, TNA was for athleticism, and CMLL brought me the lucha goodness. And it was good.

Recently, however, the landscape of televised wrestling took a drastic turn, and these last couple of months have made me realize a couple things about myself. The first being, that I’m a huge hypocrite.

I’ve touched on this briefly before, but allow me to delve further into this. As a fan of wrestling, I have a deep, deep love for everything that Low Ki does. Since the very first time I watched him wrestle, I have really dug his work.

Pardon me, but I’ll probably be talking in much smarkier terms than what you may be accustomed to from me. I like being a mark, but that doesn’t mean I’m not “smart” about certain things, either.

As I was saying, I love Low Ki’s work. I love that he’s not a grappling based wrestler. I love that his strikes look amazing. I love the double stomp. I love that he takes himself (and his character) seriously, and that sometimes causes him to leave situations he’s not totally happy in. But most important to me is simply that I enjoy watching him wrestle. I really think Low Ki is amazing.

So I sometimes feel a bit odd that I can sit there and talk about how great Ki is, but in the same breath, I can then turn around and spit the fire of one thousand suns towards Davey Richards. If you remove personalities, the similarities between Ki and Richards aren’t very hard to see, at least in my opinion.

Both throw a week’s worth of kicks in their matches. Both can be somewhat selective on when it’s time to sell a move. Both have a bit of a chip on their shoulder (speaking more in character here, but I can see it in real life interviews at times as well). Both garnered a ton of indy cred before moving along to TNA (and beyond). Both have reputations (depending on how much validity you give any given report) as being somewhat difficult from time to time.

But I, as a fan, absolutely love Low Ki, and absolutely hate Davey Richards. The wrestlers; I have no real life hate for a guy I’ve never met. That would be kinda silly. But it still perplexes the shit out of me because outside of a really lazy “I just like Ki and hate Davey” explanation, I have no rational explanation as to why I think one rules the world, and the other ruins wrestling every time he gets into the ring.

The Davey conundrum took a dreaded turn this past week when, while watching a Dalton Castle match on Youtube, I saw him do a sequence that I’ve specifically called out Davey for doing, saying that it’s the dumbest move in the world.

You know the sequence. Davey is in the ring with two opponents. He kicks one hard in the head, staggering him. He kicks the other in the gut, causing opponent #2 to double over in pain. Opponent number one eats another kick, this time causing him to basically hold his own partner in a front facelock from the way they just happened to end up. One more kick/dropkick from Davey to the guy not doubled over, and you have just made a man ddt his own partner against his will. I hate it.

But, I love Dalton Castle. So when he did it, I simply had a minor “Holy fuck” moment, instead of the usual “OH MY GOD THIS IS THE DUMBEST SHIT I’VE EVER SEEN!” moment I have when Davey does it. So, I simply have to accept the fact that I’m a gigantic hypocrite, and move on, because I can’t think of a real good reason why what is okay for some is never okay for Davey, and I just don’t see myself coming around becoming a fan of his. Which, at some level, is a bit of a bummer, as Davey quite literally does things in the ring that I enjoy… as long as he’s not doing it. I even think his double stomp off the top is leagues below that of Ki’s. Such a hypocrite.

It’s hard to accept these things about myself, but I’ve decided to give Davey another shot. Maybe I’ll end up being a fan of his. Maybe not. But at least I tried.

Along with the realization that I’m a hypocrite, however, has been something even more shocking to my system. This new idea is something I’d literally never considered before, and the first time I really gave it any thought, it kinda hurt me as a wrestling fan to my very core.

See, I’ve always been a WWF/WWE Kid. Always. Even as an adult. My youth was powered by Hulkamania, I grew up watching Bret Hart be the best there ever will be, and I’ve enjoyed the Austins, Rocks, Cenas and Ortons as I get older. But recently, as I swim in wrestling waters that now include New Japan, Lucha Underground, and Ring of Honor on top of my usual wrestling, I realize that while I will always consider WWE to be “the best” overall wrestling program around, it no longer produces my “favorite” wrestling program, and it’s not even close.

Three hours of Raw were always tedious, but it seems to have really slowed down the show lately. Three hours of Raw and we’re lucky to get 48 minutes of wrestling. Compared to an hour of Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, CMLL, or New Japan, who all go out of their way to maximize the actual wrestling content in their programs, I only grow angrier.

There’s a constant refrain that many WWE fans say: “When they get it right, nobody does it better than WWE.” And, to a point, that’s totally correct, as long as “it” stands for a complete package of wrestling and sports entertainment spectacle.

The problem is, in recent times it seems that WWE only wants to “get it right” when we’re on the Road to WrestleMania, and maybe the night after WrestleMania itself. The rest of the time? Horrible comedy segments. Horrible twenty minute interviews. Heel and face turns that have nothing to do with the people actually turning (The Bellas have gone heel to face to heel recently with no reason besides “Our opponent is the opposite tonight!”). Even if a match is set between two guys who could deliver, we usually are treated to a 6 minute affair that is littered with unnecessary interference.

It’s been a hard thing to come to terms with. To admit that I almost dread watching Raw, while looking forward to the great night of action that Wednesdays will provide. To look forward to a Saturday morning DVR session featuring New Japan Matches that are at least one year old more than a WWE Network Artist Formerly Known as a Pay Per View.

And it’s funny to me. I’m the one that always pushed for more wrestling. I’ve been one of the bigger finger-waggers at the crew openly hoping TNA dies, and I’m not even a huge TNA lover. But this abundance of wrestling has caused me to realize what many have been saying for so long, only I attributed those comments as being from the type of people who love a music act until it gets big. I figured most people that don’t like WWE were simply raging against the machine, unable to give big, bad WWE any props ever. And those people do absolutely exist. However, it’s time to grant validity to the complaints.

WWE no longer brings me the best wrestling every week. And even as far as sports entertainment spectacle goes, they might still be the best at it, but that doesn’t mean they’re good at it. It just means that TNA’s attempts at sports entertainment are even worse, while the rest of the shows barely try it at all (if ever). Lucha Underground definitely has its moments, but that show has (since day one) pushed the boundaries of what we expect from a wrestling program. It exists in a special bubble where the guys we see are not men wearing costumes, but rather, they are the characters they portray. Drago is a freaking dragon. Mil Muertes dies and is resurrected. When it comes to Lucha Underground, you can take it or leave it, but they at the very least remain consistent with their silliness, and it never takes fifteen minutes to get to the point.

It’s weird to accept that what I consider the “best” overall product really doesn’t deliver what I’m looking for anymore. I love watching match after match, and I always have. I’m a “wrestling” fan. That word matters to me. But while it’s weird, I don’t see it as some horrible thing. In the end, I’m just a source of money, another set of eyeballs. As an individual, whether I stay or go will have no bearing on any wrestling company. So, the best I can do, is make sure that I’m always entertained. And while Monday nights are now more of a routine than something I look forward to, I know that there’s always the possibility of something amazing happening, and just that thought is enough to keep me coming back.

But now, there’s a nice landing pad. If Raw is horrible, I don’t have to consider that a lost week. If Raw sucks, I can just watch Ring of Honor. Or Lucha Libre. Or Lucha Underground. Or New Japan. Or maybe some NXT on the Network. Or, yes, even TNA.

Yes, the sheer amount of wrestling has shown me new things. But I would never say that it’s ruined wrestling for me. If anything, my initial thoughts are still completely valid- more wrestling is a GOOD THING. Choices, new faces, old faces; it’s all available. In the last two weeks alone, I’ve been able to discover Silas Young and Dalton Castle, with Castle becoming an immediate top favorite. This isn’t a bad thing.

Regardless, it’s clear that with all of this content available to us, many things we held as facts- and things we may not have really noticed about ourselves as fans- may finally be brought to light. I had to accept that I’m a huge hypocrite about Davey Richards, no matter how entitled to my opinion I may be. And I had to accept that there are plenty of other guys out there, in plenty of other leagues, doing the art of professional wrestling just as good as anyone with a contract written in Stamford, Connecticut.

In the end, all that matters is whether I (we) am (are) entertained. And, with so many places to turn to for my wrestling kick, I am, most definitely, entertained.

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