wrestling / Columns

Hitting The Mark 11.09.10: This Column is Not Sexist

November 9, 2010 | Posted by Len Archibald

Hello, all! I hope the weekend treated you all well. Me, I was stuck with weatherstripping duties at my house. Blah. The wife and I checked out Due Date – it was a bit on the formulaic side, a little bit like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but a good time was had by all. I wonder how Robert Downey Jr. felt doing that “trip out” scene about halfway into the movie.

I am one step closer to bringing a full-on film festival to my little town as tomorrow I meet with the director of the Performing Arts Center to discuss details. If you are a budding filmmaker and are looking for a way to get your foot in the door, keep up to date here and my movie column for details in the coming weeks and months.

Speaking of my movie column, did you know I write for the Movie Zone as well? Check out “Around the World in 24 Frames” every Friday! This past week’s column was dedicated to the 1980 P’alme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, Akira Kurosawa’s spectacular looking Kagemusha!

If you want to check out a hard-hitting promotion that is a balanced mix of in-ring goodness and “sports entertainment” spectacle, come down(up) to Lima and take a look at W.A.R. (Wrestling And Respect) Wrestling. Their next show, “Cold War” will be held at The UAW Hall on Saturday, December 4th. The main event will be a Steel Cage Match to determine the WAR Heavyweight Champion as Dusty Dillinger takes on Kaden Assad. Also, my personal favorite WAR performer, “Poison” Appollo Starr collides with “Mr. EGO” Cody Hawk in an old-school Indian Strap Match – AND WAR presents its first ever TLC Match! The bell rings at 7:30pm, so stop by and take a chance on an indie show. Even if you live nowhere near the Northwest Ohio region, I feel it is beneficial to any wrestling fan to support their local independent wrestling promotion.

I want to give a fond farewell to Jeff Small, whose final Small-For-All column went up today. I wanted to think of something that was a fitting tribute to the man who had a strange, disturbing, yet fascninating crush on The Great Khali and Patrick Swayze.

द ग्रेट खली का कहना है कि जेफ छोटे इसे पसंद करती है ऊपर Hershey राजमार्ग. मैं यह जानता हूँ क्योंकि जब हम एक तीन उसे और पैट्रिक Swayze (आरआईपी) है कि वह क्या अनुरोध के साथ रास्ते में शामिल थे. अजीब बात है, लेकिन वह कुछ नहीं के लिए पंजाबी प्लेबॉय के रूप में नहीं जाना है!

Lots of great thought-provoking (on a wrestling website? Say it isn’t so…) comments last week, so let’s get to them!

I see your point. The anonymous nature of the internet gets out of hand, Ser Drake makes fun of this.
Part of it is really people being bitter, I think. They see a woman they feel is out of their reach, so they make all these derogatory comments to make themselves feel better. It just makes it more obvious why they have trouble getting a date. With offensively defensive attitudes about women like that, who would really want them.

I can’t say that I find all women highly attractive, though I can usually understand why others find the particular looks I am into attractive. However, I am not hesitant to say that I am happy that TNA did not continue with Rosie Lottalove. Good God.

Mickie and the other Knockouts presented a fine jeans commercial though. Mickie in cut-offs. Velvet Sky and Angelina Love in tight jeans. How did TNA not get Levi’s to sponsor that segment? Just throwing money away TNA. Just throwing money away.
Posted By: Guest#3399 (Guest) on November 02, 2010 at 01:35 AM

I have been made “aware” of the infamous Ser Drake, but has never read anything he’s done. I’ve stated that I have my own preference, as does anyone would. I did see that jeans commercial you spoke of, but never looked at it that way until you mentioned it. It was a very nice moment. Between you and me, I would LOVE if you actually had to register at 411 to leave comments – it would kill the whole annonymous thing dead. At least we would merrily point a finger at those who lack, let’s call it…”Tangible Social Qualities”.

1. People in the IWC like to make negative comments about everything they can.

2. The WWE doesn’t give us much reason to care about the Divas so that’s why their matches are bathroom breaks.

Its mostly 1 but there’s a little bit of 2. Another good column by the way.
Posted By: gpjunk (Guest) on November 02, 2010 at 02:15 AM

1. I have noticed that – and it usually doesn’t get to me, but this particular “trend” did. I don’t know why…maybe being surrounded by women all my life pressed my internal buttons.

2. I think you may be half-right. I think the WWE does try to give fans a reason to care, but it isn’t reciprocated as well as expected. Think of Natalya – who is, in my mind – a very capable worker, and I feel can connect with a live crowd – but is being thrown to the wolves based on “name recognition”. I almost feel that fans have been desensitized (spoiled) to a particular way of thinking when it comes to female performers. It’s a revolving door: One woman gets pushed, she doesn’t get John Cena-like reactions, so she is pushed aside for the next woman. Rinse and repeat. There was something with Trish and Lita…something with Mickie James and Victoria…even recently, something with Beth Phoenix, but I think overall fan apathy, along with some underlying misogyny (from both sides) has led us down the road we are currently on. That’s my .02, anyways.

1. Are you proud of yourself when you get tons of ‘hits’ on an article loaded with babes and boobs? Sad…

2. The Steph pic is good, but also not of her. Sorry buddy. Nice try though.

3. Next week, can you actually spend time on writing a well-thought out, researched column and not just click on Google and look for hot chics?
Posted By: Points (Guest) on November 02, 2010 at 02:29 AM

Every writer on this site has that “one” commentor that has to make a point (pun intended) every week like the column is supposed to be written for and cater to their specific point of view; Ladies and gentlement, I offer you “Points”. 1. Yes. I write for a website in which its success is based upon the amount of “views/hits” it receives. It’s not sad, it’s business. I’ve said multiple times that I lack shame. You expect too much from me. 2. That point has been made, and I’m thrilled to be your buddy. I need as many as I can get. 3. Just for you, next week, I’ll click on Google and find twice as many pics. OH YOU DIDN’T KNOW? I don’t create columns with the thought process, “hmmm, what would ‘such-and-such’ like for me to discuss?” Sorry I don’t cater to your ego – mine is big enough. Here’s Greg De Marco’s “Wrestling 5 & 1”. That might be more down your alley…or not. Thanks for giving me a hit!

This may come off as a cheap shot, but here it goes: the IWC had adopted the American way of thinking. When things are good, the IWC says they’re mediocre. When things are mediocre, the IWC says things are bad. When things are bad, the IWC says things are horrible. You get my point? And as the comparison to the American people, as a veteran and former Marine, I feel I have seen my fellow countrymen make mistakes in how they think. No matter how good things actually are, it’s always the negatives, no matter how slight, that are highlighted and blown up.

And really, another thing is that some people just can’t think for themselves and formulate their own opinion and instead latch on to what someone else says and regurgitates it and then someone else does it and then people are seeing it as a majority opinion and therefore it must be true and jump on the bandwagon. I have yet to see a single Diva or Knockout that wasn’t way out of any of our leagues. All those women are drop dead gorgeous and should be seen as such and anyone who says differently is either gay, an idiot or jealous that they can’t look like her or can’t have her.

And on one final note, Santino has become my favorite as of his stuff with Sheamus. I remember being out of sync with what was going on in WWE from about 2007-early 2010. Got my hands on a copy of SVR 2010 and saw Santino in the CAW RTWM and couldn’t stand him. But he is truly the best comedy face in a long time. I might have missed it but have him and Show ever worked together? I think that could be rather entertaining.
Posted By: El Marco (Guest) on November 02, 2010 at 02:39 AM

Oh, I’m not going to attempt to dissect your POV of “The American Way of Thinking”. I will thank you for your service, though. I do agree that the glaring issue of the internet is that what is percieved to be individual thought – upon further inspection – becomes a stew of mob-mentality talking points. Cynicism has run rampant over the past few years, especially in Western Culture – and until sanity reigns supreme and people understand that The Rapture, nuclear holocaust, President Obama revealing himself as the Antichrist and the end of civilization as we know it will not be arriving in the next 24 hours, I don’t know what to do. It’s sad that I actually have people in my family stocking up canned food to prepare for “It”. Whatever “it” is, I don’t know. I wonder if “it” is the same as “THEY”? Perhaps “it” is the same “it” that all the pundits claimed that Obama didn’t get as the elections came and went. Yes, I watch Jon Stewart. I also watch a healthy dose of Fox News and get a kick out of Bill O’Reilly and his Network-esque rants, in case someone wants to label me a commie-socialist liberal hippie. Wow, that’s about as far as I’ve ever gone on a political tangent. Who knew?

Back to actual wrestling…Santino convinced me last week with his encounter with Sheamus that if he wanted to, and had the right set of people surrounding him – could carry a sitcom of his own. Something like Perfect Strangers 2010. I am of the thought process that the Bravo show Austin & Santino really should have been a sitcom starring Steve Austin and Santino Marella. Have Santino be Austin’s long-lost brother who moves to Texas. Hilarity ensues. I’m wrtiing a pilot now!

This article needs like 50 more pictures of A.J.
Posted By: Gator#6752 (Guest) on November 02, 2010 at 03:24 AM

I couldn’t do 50, but here’s 1/10th of that…






Consider me a fan…

As quite possibly the only female regular to this site (gee, wonder why?), here are my two cents…
My own personal beef is that a majority of women in WWE & TNA are 1) constructed of plastic & silicon and 2)booked to be treated as eye candy first and a wrestler second (if at all). So, naturally, the predominately male audience reacts accordingly. Unfortunately, there’s not much incentive these days for a female viewer to watch these days, unless they are the female equivalent to the male types you mentioned. And yes, those do exist. You have *no* idea how “lonely” (metaphorically speaking!) it was for a girl growing up as a “workrate freak” type of fan . Sure, it certainly helped me connect with the guy who later became my husband, but my friends all thought I was weird. Even those I knew who did watch wrestling (secretly…I’m 32, and in the 80s & early 90s it was sort of frowned upon) either watched because of a brother or later boyfriend. I guess that’s the one GOOD thing I can say about the Attitude era (which otherwise was a HUGE annoyance to me…I almost quit watching at that point)..it let fans like me be more open about actually being a fan. Too bad the aspects of the “sport” I’ve loved since I was 9 is nearly completely gone.

BTW… that was kinda funny about the comparison to Days of Our Lives you made last week, as I once made a similar comment on a One Life to Live message board I frequent, as I was comparing then-writer Michael Malone to Vince Russo…VERY similar in styles.
Posted By: MissyNEVERWearssocksWithShoes (Guest) on November 02, 2010 at 03:38 AM

Thank whatever it is (God? Amino Acids? Me sitting in a bubble with the tree of life as I attempt to find a cure for an ailing disease) that made you to come on here and leave a female perspective. Is there something to be said of those fans like yourselves who are left out in the cold? I have met my share of female “workrate freaks” like yourself – so I assure you that you aren’t alone. I admit that you represent a contingent of wrestling fans that I’m not sure any mainstream wrestling promotion has been able to fully grasp (even SHIMMER has had issues, and I’m not going to get into WrestleLicious): the female fan who prefers Daniel Bryan to John Cena. I will be bluntly honest with you: 99% of promoters do not have any idea how to cater to you. Most feel that they will get their female fans based from a good looking, chiseled male performer. The “WOOOO” Girl, if I may. The ones who will “make it rain” at a Chippendale Club. Which creates a paradox, if you think about it because to them, the MALE performers are treated as eye candy first and a wrestler second. That’s the issue with any form of business – there’s always a devil’s advocate, and it’s impossible to please everyone. I am truly interested in your POV on not just your perspective of female wrestlers, but wrestling in general – you may have sparked an idea for a future column.

Your comparison with Soap Writers as opposed to Wrestling Writers is stupefying, simply because my wife complains with the writers of Days just as we would complain about the bookers here. The parallels between the two forms of entertainment are uncanny and scary. To be perfectly honest, when professional wrestling was hitting its mainstream stride in the 80’s, soaps (especially of the prime-time variety) were just as much of big business – and I’m surprised that there wasn’t a more conscious effort to cross-brand between the two. (Imagine the Iron Sheik interrupting Luke and Laura’s wedding!)

I also want to add that I don’t mind women being constructed of plastic and silicone – my Crohn’s Disease has me hopped up on a ridiculous dose of steroids, vicodin, phenergan, benicar, sucralfate, sulfasalazine, bentyl and dexilant, so I’m full of as many processed chemicals as they are. I’m lucky I can even type this as I’m probably feeling a major high 95% of the time.

You’re aware the picture of Nattie is photoshopped? I hope you’re also aware that wet t-shirt photo you think is of Stephanie McMahon is a well known fake. Wait to go journalistic integrity man!
Posted By: miss necessary (Guest) on November 02, 2010 at 01:23 AM

Way to go stuck up bitch you sure showed him!
Posted By: Ryan (Guest) on November 02, 2010 at 05:48 AM

This little back-and-forth was just entertaining to me. I had to show it some love. Let’s clear the air right now: try as some might, nothing anyone says about me or this column is going to get a rise out of me. I will read your insults and chuckle, simply because…well, probably because of the various pharmaceuticals in my system. That’s the 1-2 on that. Next!

10. Good hard-hitting match between Tara and Mickie James this past Sunday at TNA’s Turning Point PPV. You will read below over my thoughts on female grapplers and fan interaction, but if this feud catches on and the fans actually give it a chance (big if on the second point), TNA’s Knockouts Division might have found the spark it lost when Awesome Kong and Gail Kim were no longer the focal point.

9. I don’t know what it is…If his father has lit a fire under his ass or something, but Ted DiBiase has been extremely motivated and has been moving with a crispness, aggression and precision that I don’t think I’ve EVER seen from him. Could he finally be living up to the lofty potential bestowed upon him? Did Aksana just steal the Million Dollar Belt…for herself? LOL!

8. I have to give a major “big-up” to the Hulkster this week. Yeah, he’s nowhere near the wrestling GOD he was once was, but there are moments when he still has it. I admit that even I thought Hogan lost it as that video with him showing his junk in front of Jimmy Hart and his DAUGHTER – but it seems as if it was all a ruse to get a…rise (hahaha) out of those who follow his career. Nice to see he can still put one over us.

7. I have to say I am pissed…PISSED to see Dolph Ziggler put his grimy lips on my Kaitlyn on this past NXT. I am devastated and crushed. It was good to see JTG back on television, as he appeared as cannon fodder to the IC Champ on SmackDown. JTG’s character is one-dimensional but he tries hard and is mildly over with the live crowd. I think Ziggles and Kaitlyn can play up a modern-day Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth. Kaitlyn wouldn’t need to get too physically involved, but she gains an enough steady reaction that could definitely help Ziggler as he moves up the ladder.

Speaking of my Goddess…


Sweet mother of mercy…

6. So, there’s lots of opinions on the “concussion” angle TNA is running with Mr. Anderson. I’m nowhere near as offended as some around here are. Concussions are a hot-button topic in the sports world so it would make sense for one wrestling promotion to jump on board. It’s not like we haven’t seen this in the past (see Micheals, Shawn) so why some fans’ panties are in a wad over it, I’ll never understand. Kudos to TNA also for banning direct chairshots to the head as well.

5. Twist of Hate. I can dig that. Hardy. Is. SLOWLY convincing me that he can make this heel turn work. To be honest, his…let’s call it “alternative” look and lifestyle is more fitting for a heel. If he can overcome the obstacle he’s faced time and again in regards to his mic skills and hone into whatever dark place he has inside him and turn the volume up, Hardy can be big business for TNA just as he was for the WWE. Good match between him and Morgan at Turning Point and I’m shocked (but pleased) to see Morgan take the clean loss. That will do wonders to build Hardy’s credibillity as champion.

4. Damn, The Miz must have had a ball in Manchester, as I think that is the most over with a live crowd he’s ever been while watching last night’s RAW. They ate up everything he did. Good for you, Miz – you’ve worked hard and deserve the reactions you’ve been getting lately.

3. I need to give serious props to David Otunga this week. I’m so digging this *NERD ALERT!!!* Starscream/Megatron vibe between “The A-List” and Wade Barrett. On SmackDown, he was clearly the highest profiled superstar – arriving as the de-facto leader of The Nexus in Barrett’s absence and I think he stepped up to the plate. This was the most passionate he’s been on camera in a while. This whole subplot within The Nexus storyline is giving the fans a reason to care about Otunga. I love the fact that even though Nexus wrecked havoc, under Otunga’s leadership, they were more chaotic but couldn’t pull out the dominant performance they would have under Barrett’s. Someone made a comment that they would love to see Otunga toss Barrett out of Astrotrain – brilliant. STAAAARSCREEEEAAAM!

2. In reading Aaron Hubbard’s Top 10 Eddie Guerrero matches, I think a particular aspect of Guerrero’s career went over nearly everyone’s head: has anyone noticed that Eddie’s rise to the top of the mountain the WWE was purely organic? Sure, he arrived with much fanfare – but he still basically started from the bottom up, bouncing in the mid-card as IC and Tag Champion and as US Champion before getting involved with Brock Lesnar that culminated in (my opinion) one of the best matches of the decade. One of the saddest “what ifs” of wrestling is thinking about what a Guerrero/Triple H or Eddie/KBK feud would have been like – I think it’s elementary that H would have brought the wrestling boots to make sure he could keep up with Latino Heat and Shawn Michaels is Shawn Michaels. They probably could have gone broadway and created perhaps the greatest wrestling match in history. Damn, I’m now ridiculously sad just thinking about that. RIP, Eddie.

1. In my opinion, the Motor City Machine Guns have officially arrived as the premier tag-team in professional wrestling. Sure, everyone boasted (including myself at times) that they were already the best for some time now, but handing Team 3-D a clear, decisive loss in the middle of the ring will do immediate wonders for the Murder City Duo. I’ve always felt that Sabin and Shelley had that intangible quality that separated good wrestlers from great ones and I personally got goosebumps seeing Alex Shelley kick out of the 3D. Great effort by the two teams, probably the best tag match I’ve seen in a long time. Not everyone can say they’ve beaten Bubba Ray and D-Von clean – and NO ONE else can say that they retired arguably the most prolific (certainly the most decorated) tag team in history. A big thumbs up to the Guns!

The Spark

I was originally going to get into a four-part retrospective of particular moments in pro-wrestling history that sent me to a place of pure Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch Good Vibrations wrestling bliss, but last week’s column sparked so much debate that it got me thinking and it spilled over to this week. The trick to any style of creative writing is that one needs to be able to keep current and go with the flow when inspiration strikes.

…I completely agree with you but I don’t think it is all that surprising. We all know and see that the WWE lost interest in finding the most talented female wrestlers a while back and decided that it would be easier to find hot girls and teach them a few wrestling moves. There is the odd one like Natalya who was brought in for a mixture of family connections, name recognition and also wrestling skill but mostly (Alicia Fox, etc) they are entirely hired on their looks.

As fans we see their matches every week but as the quality went downhill we didn’t have anything wrestling based to judge them on and so all that was left was looks. The WWE knows this and plays it up with the matches they put on, the costumes they wear and the photoshoots they make them do. If looks is all there is to judge them by then that becomes the focus of the criticism. If you’re watching a Kelly Kelly match then you’re not interested in who will win or how, just what she looks like and if that isn’t up to standard or (God forbid) you just don’t find her attractive, then when you talk about the match you’ll talk about her looks. It’s not that we want to but what else is there to talk about?

The WWE has set up the woman’s division to be judged on looks and the IWC does just that. We judge the men on talent and skill and the women on looks. Maybe that’s wrong but it’s not like we have a choice. As you said yourself we all find different people attractive so if you don’t like the look of a female wrestler and you see a photo on 411 then why not say that you think she’s not hot? Ok, so in absolute terms she’s probably a smokin’ hotty that you’d kill for but people commenting aren’t judging by whether they could actually get her but by judging her against the other female wrestlers (or on this site celebrity females in general) looks and in those terms it’s perfectly okay to say she’s not hot as in the commenter’s own opinion she honestly isn’t as hot as whatever girl he does find attractive.

Sorry for rambling but I wanted to make the point that if we look for perfection in our female wrestlers looks it is because we have been told and taught that looks are ALL that counts for a female wrestler so what else would we judge her on? WWE is guilty of this but it’s also the wider media which treats women as pieces of meat and sees their worth as linked to their attractiveness.

And finally lets face it, it’s the internet so every opinion you hold dear to you, the opposite opinion is held by hundreds of people and most of them are 15 year old boys with too much time on their hands.
Posted By: Rasher (Guest) on November 02, 2010 at 07:18 AM


You are not rambling, and I thank you for your opinion. There are good points you make, and there are some that need to be investigated deeper. A combination of factors; yours and Missy’s comments, along with the underlying nature of last week’s column that kind of created the thought process for this one. I think there is an issue that needs to be dealt with when it comes to not only our overall perception of women in wrestling, but how we as fans tend to sabotage our own best interests without even being aware of it.

You claimed that “the WWE lost interest in finding the most talented female wrestlers a while back”. I would dispute this. Remember last week when I mentioned Alundra Blayze – then made the segue way into the “current diva look”? Notice there is a particular glaring moment that is missing? Of course, I wouldn’t mention it because it was not needed at the time. I think it needs mentioning now. I don’t think that the WWE “lost interest”, but was put into a situation that burned the company, and I’m not quite sure it has still recovered.

The point of this column is not to discuss the “backstage” issues, but your comment forced me to re-examine a particular chapter in the history of professional wrestling, and more specifically, the WWE. It is perhaps the most famous/infamous moment in regards to women in mainstream professional wrestling. Alundra Blayze, for two years from 1993-1995, was the female face of the WWF. She competed in a very athletic style, and was getting fairly good crowd reactions.

Then she left for WCW, returning to her original ring name of Madusa. Now the wheels are turning. Let’s play the theory game: Is it possible that the WWF, and by proxy, Vince McMahon – was truly behind the idea of athletic women competing and being treated as equals? Take into account that these were the days of the steroid scandal, and the WWF/E needed to clean up their image. This was the same time where the “smaller” performers – such as Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels – were looked upon as the “go to” guys because their in-ring prowess was pretty much guaranteed to entice excitement in the fanbase. Perhaps Eric Bischoff’s idea of tossing the WWF Women’s Title in the trashcan during that December 18th, 1995 episode of Nitro spelled the death-knell for that style of female catch-as-can grappling? Notice the history of the WWF/E Women’s Title draws a blank from 1995-1998? Why wouldn’t the WWF just award Bertha Faye the title and start new? Is it possible – not likely – just possible, that Vince McMahon decided that he would never take the chance to be burned like that again? Why build a female competitor up in such a way only to derail you? The WWF was ” =” close to going out of business. When you are that close to the brink, you remember the mistakes you made. Now, I’m not saying that the WWF/E was *right* – only playing devil’s advocate to argue that maybe the mindset that led to Sunny, Pamela Anderson, Sable and Marlena was justified. Again, that’s not right – but Madusa had pro-wrestling bleeding from her and had a decent fanbase. Perhaps all this time the WWE has been attempting to not only “erase” the idea of truly competitive female wrestling, but attempting to re-write the history books. Do a search on wwe.com for Alundra Blayze – you’re not going to get far. In fact, I couldn’t find any detailed mention on WWE.com, WWE On-Demand, or any affiliate about that period of WWF/E history, save for The Rise and Fall of WCW. It’s like it never existed, right? Suddenly, we have Sunny who looks outstanding in a bikini. Hmmmm…

The next minor point I want to make is if one TRULY feels that the WWE is promoting a superficial outlook on female wrestlers, why would he/she re-direct that venom towards the female performers themselves? It isn’t Kelly Kelly’s fault that she is “limited”. It isn’t Kaitlyn’s fault that she was involved in all of four “matches” before she was thrown on NXT. Both of them, like all other “Divas” were hired for a job. Some were discovered to work for the WWE. I applaud the ladies, because it is obvious that they are trying to make do with what resources they are given and there is genuine effort involved – they are still attempting athletic feats that I know I’m incapable of. If one feels that the WWE is promoting a “look” or “style” you disagree with – that isn’t the fault of the individual female performer – but of the company that hired her. Is it fair to find fault with the individual female performer’s LOOK because of her in-ring STYLE? One has nothing to do with the other.

The Challenge: The Minority of the Minority

From the Nov. 2nd Instant Raw Analysis:

To any and everyone who hated the Pee Wee Herman segment with The Miz:

Please stop watching all Pro Wrestling. Now. You are not just marks, you are the worst kind of marks… the ones who THINK they are smart about… well, ANYTHING that deals with how Pro Wrestling REALLY works. Billy Bob two-Teeth sitting in the front row of any random indy show in Tennesse is smarter tahn any wrestling “fan” who complains about the Pee Wee Herman segment.

If you hated the Pee wwe Herman segment you are either too stupid to realize that you know NOTHING about the true nature of Pro Wrestling or you are too big of a coward to admit it.

You are the minority of the minority of the minority of the minority of all wrestling fans who have ever lived on the face of the Earth. YOU… the marks who THINK the are smart… are the fans that all of the workers make fun of the most. Especially those who you consider Internet darlings. they are the workers who hate and ridicule you the most.
Posted By: Guest#8626 (Guest) on November 01, 2010 at 11:59 PM

This is a particular comment that was directed my way, and it was intriguing – not because of the actual content (yes, I personally thought the Pee-Wee/Miz confrontation was hilarious – sue me), but the underlying accusation – and it got me thinking – something I probably don’t do enough of.

Perhaps, if I may make a bold suggestion – if a fan would like to stick it to the WWE, or TNA in regards to the level of treatment female workers have in this industry – the collective fanbase needs to put their money where their mouth is. Support SHIMMER – and I don’t mean just read about the results of a show. Buy tickets. Purchase DVDs. Get the merchandise. Don’t show your support just vocally or through the words you type, but show it with your wallet. If there is one thing we all know about professional wrestling, mainstream or independent, is that it goes where the money goes. What kind of revolution could be created if it was SHIMMER, and not affiliate Ring of Honor, that was the undisputed #3 promotion in North America? What if fans could get together at a RAW, SmackDown or Impact and wear apparel inspired by Cheerleader Melissa, MsChif, Sassy Stephanie (OH-IO) or Sara Del Rey? I personally would be tickled-pink-giddy if from the outset of NXT Season Three, there was a LOUD, ridiculously vocal contingent of fans who chanted “KONG’S GONNA KILL YOU~!” that lasted the *entire* episode.

What I’m going to say next is going to be a harsh, brutal, yet honest assessment of fan participation from my point of view. The reason – the only reason – why mainstream professional wrestling doesn’t take female performers as seriously as many would like is because we don’t truly take it seriously. Read JP Prag’s Hamilton Ave. Journal; when was the last time you saw Diva-inspired merchandise crack the Top 20 list? When was the last time you caught wind of a female performer in the WWE that you truly attached yourself to? Chant her name? Go apeshit crazy when her entrance music hit? Why does the WWE always go back to Trish and Lita even though neither has really done anything relevant in over four years? Because they get a reaction. Because people CARE about them. I’m not saying that one should just give a Steve Austin WrestleMania X-Seven pop for every Diva that comes down the ramp, but, c’mon – you need to give someone…ANYONE a chance before something catches fire. It’s said that the WWE doesn’t care about women’s wrestling: Make them care.

When the majority of wrestling fans – the truly passionate ones – the ones who are willing to pay their good money on this industry – already have it in their mind that every Divas match is going to be a “bathroom break”, you play a hand in female progression in this industry going backwards. You don’t think the higher-ups notice the scores of people who exit the ring area when the Divas wrestle? You don’t think the “Divas” themselves don’t notice? You don’t consider that it is impossible to have it both ways? The WWE – or any mainstream wrestling organization for that matter – is not, will not and should not take women’s wrestling seriously as one would like for them to be in the future if you aren’t serious about it now. Do you think Daniel Bryan would even be employed, much less be the current US Champion if there weren’t the terribly obvious chanting of his name after the “Tie Choking Incident”? He would have been a blip on the radar, a footnote, forgotten as quickly as Lucky Cannon. He wasn’t, though – because most chose to care.

Contrary to what those in the IWC believe, Vince McMahon does listen to the fans. What we around here must realize is that he doesn’t listen to anomalies. A smattering chant for a particular wrestler for one show by seven people isn’t going to sway his opinion – it certainly as hell wouldn’t sway mine. Despite what some want to believe, John Cena isn’t the current WWE poster child simply because Vince saw a random lineup of faces and was half-heartedly like, “Sure, I’ll take a chance to make him the face of my MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR ORGANIZATION.” In 2003-2004, he was by far the hottest act the WWE had. We made him the #1 guy in this industry, yet we as a collective whole decry his coronation. You forced the hand that made Chris Benoit not only a World Heavyweight Champion – but one of THIRTEEN men in history to close WrestleMania as the conquering hero. They say that his only run was botched, but where were you during his championship reign? Why did you become complacent after he achieved his victory? Why weren’t you more vocal then? Was it because he was put up against Kane? If you *really* were genuine about Benoit’s talents, you would have given him the “Austin Pop” IN SPITE of who he was pitted against. You should have bought his merchandise in spades, but many were too busy purchasing Evolution (and Randy Orton) wear.

When Steve Austin turned heel at WrestleMania X-Seven and basically ended the “Attitude Era”, where did you go? Wrestling didn’t suddenly become “un-cool” overnight. Why did we not give the InVasion a chance? We crapped on everything that was thrown at us – even when ECW became involved in that awesome RAW moment, we all decided to bitch ON THE SAME EPISODE over Stephanie McMahon being the “head”. Stephanie being a part of it meant nothing. It was still ECW – Rob Van Dam, Paul Heyman, The Dudleys – the performers were there. Us being the loudest detractors of everything pro-wrestling related effectively chased away the casual fan and the mainstream appeal. If the hardcore fan thought it was ridiculous, of course everyone else was going to think so – even though…and here’s the dirty little secret no one wants to talk about – They never would have known because they weren’t as invested in it as we were. What’s even more mind-boggling is that if we just had a little more patience, the main issue over the InVasion – the big names that weren’t there – would have eventually shown up. The n.W.o. arrived *three months* after the InVasion angle ended. Goldberg arrived immediately after WrestleMania XIX – and just might have arrived sooner if we truly wanted him to. WrestleMania XX ended with two WCW guys embracing in triumph. Rey Mysterio has been with the WWE for so long now, that most young fans aren’t even aware of how integral he was to the success of WCW. Hindsight is a bitch, isn’t it? And even I’m guilty of this.

So no, Kelly Kelly is not the most technically proficient grappler. Neither are The Bellas, Maxine, Layla, Alicia Fox or even my beautiful Kaitlyn. They don’t need to be, either – because it’s apparent that we as fans don’t care enough to inspire a more desired effort. The fans “put up with” the Divas, and so the effort is reciprocated in kind. The WWE and even TNA are making enough money hand over fist that the effort doesn’t need to be there. Again, that’s not right, but it is business. Maybe if these companies were convinced that there was more money to be made off the backs of more talented female competition, these ladies would be trained better, there would be a higher influx of serious-minded female wrestlers and a more concerted effort would be made to integrate them into more compelling storylines. Cheer like crazy and bring signs for AJ Lee and Naomi. Maybe instead of thinking with your bladder when these ladies come out, you can give the time (what is it, an average of a whole five minutes?) to show them that you care.

Elizabeth never wrestled in a match for the WWF. Never. A lot of us praise her like she was the Second Coming, but she never held a title. Yet, she was one of the most popular superstars – male or female – in history. That’s not hyperbole, either – ask any fan who grew up on a healthy diet of 1980’s WWF and her name will come up. It helped that she was attached to one of the most charismatic superstars in history, but even that is another bag of beans. Really, what did Elizabeth do at ringside, other than look concerned for Savage? Yet, she is universally beloved as a PERFORMER, mentioned in the same breath as Hogan, Piper, Savage and Andre during the heights of the Rock-n’-Wrestling Era.

The personal issue I have with the most vocal detractors from the IWC is the “big-talk” attitude. A lot around here like to moan and bitch about Michael Cole, “Super-Cena” and the lack of focus on long-term storytelling. If I got a dollar for every “fan” that claimed they were done with wrestling, I wouldn’t be writing this article, because I would be with Santino “making it rain.” The fact is that to a lot of those fans, professional wrestling is already dead, so it has moved on without them and they’re now pissed because it is enjoying success under a different banner of rules and with a different set of fans. Sure, professional wrestling today may not give the same highs one remembers as a youngster, but we haven’t been exactly kind to professional wrestling over the past few years, either. Every show is the “Worst. Show. Ever.” Every newcomer is “too green” or is “shoved down [your] throat”. Wrestling is either filled with drug-addled rejects, plastic dime-a-dozen whores or company yes-men. We don’t like smaller guys because they’re all “vanilla spot-monkeys who can’t draw a dime”. We don’t like all the muscle-bound steroid rejects because they can’t work for five minutes without blowing up. Everyone and everything is cookie-cutter. I’m going to ask a question, and I would like the most honest, self-reflective answer one can give me:

What have YOU done to make things any better?

The IWC is one hell of a psychological anomaly; at the same time the strongest, most passionate and yet most spineless set of fans. Rip me a new one – give me a hundred – a thousand sets of comments asking Larry to fire me. I challenge you, today. I challenge you to put your money where your mouth is. The internet was created to collect information faster and to make the world closer. The IWC has been here for years, but I’ve NEVER seen those involved consider themselves at the forefront of anything special. How many of you log in at 411? How many of us grew up in high school or college eating up every word that came from Chris Hyette, Scott Keith and remember 411 as nothing more than a green and black geosite run by Ashish and Widro? How many of you probably live in the same area and are completely unaware? How many of you actually go to WWE or TNA shows and make your voices heard?

The WWE recently did a “Stand Up for WWE” campaign that was the cause of much controversy and ire. Why don’t we go one better – why don’t we stand up for professional wrestling? For years you’ve hidden behind your keyboards, “ashamed” to be a wrestling fan, downtrodden and depressed. None of your heroes – Nigel McGuinness, Awesome Kong, Austin Aries, Christopher Daniels – have received the mainstream respect you feel they should have. I haven’t seen one compelling, coordinated effort other than the moaning around here to convince me otherwise. This is the IWC: the Internet Wrestling COMMUNITY – is it possible that no one has ever considered the idea of an actual community? A place where fans not only discuss their love of professional wrestling but implement an actual shift in how fans interact, not with just each other, but with their respective pro-wrestling organizations? I’m not asking for riots – but good God, is it plausible that there are 100 of you that live in Ohio, can organize to meet at a WWE show and stir shit up? Not by being a crowd to “get yourselves over” but actually be a catalyst for fan reaction? Is it plausible that there are 100 of you in New York, or Georgia, or Florida – Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Maine and Mass. and do the same? Concentrate on ONE specific goal and attempt to achieve it? Or is it actually true that the IWC is “the minority of a minority of a minority”? A place where misogynists and sociopaths convene to blather out the most mundane issues, full of virgins that live in their parent’s basement and has never intimately interacted with a member of the opposite sex?

All I ask is for you to put your money where your mouth is. One incident. One show. Find a performer, I don’t care who, but cheer the ever-loving daylights out of him/her for an ENTIRE SHOW. Bring signs that sing that performer’s praises. Don’t be complacent. Don’t just give them the “entrance pop” then sit on your hands when they are busting their ass in the ring. If you *really* CARE about that person’s success and if you *really* FEEL that person is undervalued and underutilized, you would be on your feet, going wild for every generic hold, every MOVE OF DOOM in their arsenal and at every attempt they use to rile the crowd on their side when he/she is making a comeback. You shouldn’t be seen on the hard camera, making a phone call to your “buddy” to say “Can you see me on TV now???” Organize as fans. Organize as those who somehow stumbled upon this crazy industry and latched onto whatever moment it was that compels you to log onto 411mania every day, reading the newsbits to find out if there is that glimmering hope that you will find that moment again because you lost it somewhere as you grew older.

Hell, I’ll even give you a specific duty: attend a show, bring signs, cheer wildly at every possible opportunity for Awesome Kong. You think she’s more awesome than The Miz, right? Let him know. Every time he proclaims that he’s AWESOME – follow up with “KONG! KONG! KONG!” Every time a Diva steps into the ring, chant “KONG’S GONNA KILL YOU!” for the entire outset of the match or segment. Don’t tell me it’s not possible…I lost my voice cheering (and booing) for thirty-seven minutes straight for The Rock vs. Hollywood Hogan. Convince me that you can convince Vince McMahon to bring Kong to the WWE and hail her as the revolution in women’s wrestling. I don’t care if you feel “Vince won’t use her right” – convince ME. And convince YOURSELF.

Every week from now until WrestleMania, I will watch RAW, SmackDown, NXT and Superstars, specifically looking to see if you have the power you say you do. I will post dates, times, even ticket prices for every televised WWE event from now until WrestleMania XXVII. Leave comments and email me on your individual progress and I will post it here. If a sign is taken, I want to know – but that still shouldn’t stop you from cheering. I will watch WrestleMania to see if it catches on. No one has the gonads to do it, so I will: I’m drawing the line. This is my wild experiment. Will the WWE listen to you? Is the IWC truly the minority of the minority? Or is it true that the IWC are just a bunch of “all type, no action” keyboard warriors?

The ball is in your court. I’m not going anywhere because I love pro-wrestling.


…done specifically just for “Points”…Have fun!

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Len Archibald

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