Notes from the Nosebleeds #122
June 25, 2011
By: Matt O’Brien of Wrestleview.com
Reading walls. It’s kind of a habit of mine. I have this tendency to read the random fluff businesses post on their walls. It’ my way of appearing occupied while I wait for whatever it is I’m waiting for. The night before I was up most of the night trying to comfort my son during his teething. Being up with him has given me some of my favorite memories with him. One that comes to mind was the WrestleMania project I was working on late last year and early this year. I spent hours coming through old Mania tapes and DVDs. I always thought that once I had a kid, I would watch less wrestling. In a messed up way, I have watched more wresting in the last six months than I have since I was a teenager. That night he was teething and I was up with him again. After a sleepless night and a hectic day at the office, I needed some fuel. I stopped by a coffee shop close to my work, ordered my drink, and then broke into my habit of reading stuff on the walls, pretending to look busy while the girl behind the counter made me a drink. I came across a chalkboard that the business had put up. In the middle it said “If I could have one wish it would be.” Customers who had come in would then write their wishes on the board. Some were written in big letters, some in little scribbles. Some were serious and heartfelt, while some were silly. You had people wanting to find Jesus or fall in love to people wanting to meet Justin Bieber.
On the drive back to the office I was thinking about the board. I was entertaining myself by thinking about what I would want. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much my wishes had changed over time. Aside from everything else in my life, I really began to realize how much things had changed for me as a wrestling fan. This isn’t to sound mean or arrogant in any way. When I was a teenager and in my early twenties, I used to wish for certain guys to get pushed that weren’t. I remember pulling my hair out that Chris Benoit was not in the main event, or that ECW had gone out of business. I don’t want to say I have some along way since then, I have just changed. As I thought about the board, I began to apply it to professional wrestling more and more. I thought about all the things I wish to see happen in wrestling. There really isn’t time for me to go in and say every last thing I would like to see happen but I thought I would share some of them this week.
I wish people could enjoy wrestling. It gets tiring when you go online and see people complaining that John Cena won another match or that CM Punk isn’t getting pushed. I completely understand analyzing the product and having things that you don’t like, but so many people have this idea that they know better than Vince McMahon. Most of these people have never run a wrestling promotion, let alone a successful wrestling promotion. We need to get these ideas out of our head. As much as I would like to see Sin Cara headline WrestleMania with Zack Ryder, it isn’t going to happen.
I wish wrestlers would top squabbling. I don’t know about you, but I would rather read about the work Mick Foley and John Cena have done with charities than the people Melina supposedly upset backstage or what former WWE employee is complaining about all the bad things they did. I know this stuff is bound to happen, especially when you get these people in a business that has you on the road and way from your family. Bottom line is that they are professionals, and some of them forget this at times.
I wish wrestling was viewed differently. I know this is redundant. Every wrestling fans catches grief for liking it. When you break it to someone that you are a fan of professional wrestling, they look at you like you just passed gas in their direction. I honestly look at wrestling like I do many other television shows but on a much grander scale. I think part of it is that there is this push for wrestling to be viewed as a sport when it isn’t. If we can get past that as a society, we can appreciate wrestling mush more.
I wish that Meghan McCain and Bristol Palin would have a cage match. Need I say more?
I wish there weren’t so many health concerns in wrestling. I am talking from the smallest of injuries all the way to the fallen heroes. Wrestling has become a lot tamer lately but we still see our heroes falling. It isn’t necessarily wrestling that is killing them, but the things they do outside the business that sometimes, be it fair or unfair, are linked to wrestling. I worry about a lot of these people when they get older and how their bodies will treat them when they walk away. For their sake, I wish them well.
I wish wrestling was studies in the way that other stories are. This kind of goes back to how wrestling is viewed. Stories in wrestling are like the great myths. They have their heroes and villains. Some are twisted and some are tragic. Imagine if Homer had sung the songs of Ric Flair or Randy Savage.
I wish that there were currently more successful, big wrestling promotions. Ever since WCW and ECW went out of business, fans have been searching for that next promotion to step up and provide an alternative to WWE. TNA and ROH have had their moments, but it would be great to have a promotion that is up on top with WWE, giving wrestling fans more of what they want-a quality product. While the internet has helped a great deal as far as fans finding new promotions, none have risen up to the upper echelon.
Well these are a just a few of the things I wish as a wrestling fan. It’s strange how I really didn’t care about this stuff when I was younger. It doesn’t mean I am better or worse, just that people change. Wrestling fans change. That seems to be part of the problem fans have with wrestling when something happens that they don’t like. Just like wrestling fans change, wrestling itself changes. It’s just the nature of things, we all move on, but we are careful to not lose sit of who were. After all, it is who we were that got us to where we are.
Matt O’Brien
Columnist, Wrestleview.com
mattman5436@yahoo.com