Gavin's Wrestling's Wild-Way #5: The Past vs the Present

Professional wrestling has changed. Decades have come and gone, superstars have been made and broken, but the business itself has changed. Every era has its letdowns, triumphs, great wrestlers, great talkers, and controversy. Nowadays, controversy seems to be the only way to elicit a huge reaction. Just ask the Monday Night Wars and Eric Bischoff?s successful Controversy Creates Cash. Money has always been the motivation between who gets the main event spots and who gets the jobber seats. After all, the wrestling business is still a business. A great wrestler can put on a match that will get more people to return for another match and will get people talking to come to an event. Today, most fans come to events not out of intrigue and interest but out of loyalty and tradition. Traditional wrestling fans will support wrestling no matter how bad it gets; they simple love it. This past week, I?ve been watching some classic AWA matches; Mostly of Larry Zbyszko and Nick Bockwinkel. It got me thinking. Today?s generation of superstars don?t have the same aura as the wrestlers of past generations. They do not seem to have the same fighter?s instincts and charisma. Perhaps this is because today?s wrestlers are trained to be stars and not athletes.

The first aspect I noticed was the wrestlers? presence. The wrestlers carried themselves with confidence, integrity, poise and class. Simply put, they carried themselves like champions. This was because one day they could become champions. It takes more than winning the belt to be champion; it?s when you keep it, that it makes you a somebody. The wrestlers groomed themselves for success the day they stood foot in the ring, not on the way to a championship match. It takes a heart of a champion and a mind of champion, to keep that belt, and be great.

Secondly, it?s all in the believability. Many wrestlers today know tons of moves and have tons of flash, but not many know when to use them. A lot of veterans in the business will say you can teach many moves to anybody, but you can?t teach proper psychology to just anyone. Throughout my columns I have pointed this out time and time again.

The more wrestling progresses into production value, and television marketing, the more the wrestling product suffers. Wrestlers were able to intrigue and excite the fans, rile them up and get them cheering without music, pyros, and strategic marketing ploys. Yet today, even with all those advances some ?top? wrestlers still can?t get over. Wrestlers of Nick Bockwinkel?s calibre could get the fans to listen on the edge of their seat without raising a voice. It?s not how it?s said, but what is said. If you say something important worth listening to then people will listen. If you ramble on like Santino Marella about mispronouncing names, then you end up in the same silly segment week in and week out. Yes, entertainment is important; no doubt. But it?s how you entertain that makes good business.

Above all, being a student of the game, as an aspiring young athlete who?s yet to complete his training, but keeps his eyes open eagerly waiting for the day to start, there is a quality about previous generations that can?t be touched. Their matches were captivating, serious, realistic, and artistic. The way in which they sold the moves and sold for each other was pure grace. There was a bond between wrestlers that showed trust in one another, that they together were painting a beautiful match on the ring canvas together, and not competing to steal the spot light with every move.

Many hail Ric Flair as the greatest wrestler of all time, but if you ask other greats if that?s the case, not many would agree. Yet, even those sceptics, would say that one of Naitche?s greatest qualities was that he could make stars out of wrestlers. His matches made his opponent look great so that when he defeated him, he would look better for beating a worthy opponent. Today it seems as though the wrestler?s don?t want to help build one another. This plays a part in the selling of a match because when you make an opponent look great, you make their moves look great and Flair is one of the best bumpers of all time; Hence, his greatness. In a Nick Bockwinkel match, he took a head shot into the turnbuckle and sold it like gold. Watching that one move, made me realize how talented he was. With that one simple move he showed more art and skill than half of the wrestlers of today. Perhaps, I?m hard on the wrestlers of today, but I still respect them. However, that does not mean they are in the same class as Mr.Bockwinkel. Time and time again, I speak of the art of selling. This is because I believe this is the part of wrestling that has changed the most from generation to generation. The more I watch classic matches, the more I believe it to be true.

If you look at the top wrestlers of today, you will see that they are the more Old School styled wrestlers with a different mentality than today?s wrestlers. Nobody in the business knows how to sell sympathy, courage, and heart like Shawn Michaels. And nobody in the business sells with as much tenacity and realism as Triple H. Lastly, a huge difference in the ring with wrestlers of today from the past is in ring personality. Today?s athletes are stars with gimmicks and characters. Yet, in the past, wrestlers weren?t Sexual Chocolates and Mr. Asses; they were simply Dusty Rhodes and Ricky Steamboats. It was their in ring personalities, how they presented themselves, how they interacted with their opponents, which moves they chose to use, and their promos that defined who they were. Many wrestlers today have the same move sets, and only their finishers set them apart.

I don?t want to antagonise today?s wrestlers because they work hard to entertain us and fans like myself. They put time and effort into learning the holds and psychology. My only deal of sweet bitter complaint would be the renewal of psychology into a match the way Larry Zbyszko would taunt his opponents and the way Dusty Rhodes would seduce the crowd; as opposed to high flying. There are many great athletes today in many companies all who work hard, have great skills and much charisma. Yet, there is no denying that the past generations had possessed an aura in the ring that was lost on the way to Sports Entertainment.