In Defense Of Enjoying Wrestling

Recently wrestling has been talked about after the outrage of fans on social media regarding the 2015 Royal Rumble pay-per-view with their #CancelWWENetwork. People were mad about the way the actual rumble progressed and especially mad at the winner. 

In these interviews and talk shows that I've been listening to that normally never talk about wrestling they give the same statements that have been said for decades now and just make me roll my eyes. Let me give a little background on my connection with wrestling. This won't take long.

I have been watching wrestling for 32 years now. I was born at the end of the 70's so I was fed a steady diet of WWF, NWA, WCW, AAA, and somehow was able to watch stuff from the South and Texas. My favorite wrestlers were Macho Man Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, Legion of Doom, and The Great Mutoh. At one point I watched 8 hours of wrestling a week which has now become about 15 minutes a week in highlights. I wrote columns for Tha O Show for six years and even got to be on shows with guys like Hulk Hogan, Iron Sheik, Ricky Johnson (The Rock's uncle), and Booker T. even though I couldn't talk to them. Its awesome to be able to listen to a show and know I am listed with them. Currently my favorite wrestling programs are PWG and NXT.

Did WWE Wait Too Long With Daniel Bryan?

Remember that one time the season one NXT guys surrounded the ring and whipped everyone's ass and tore the ring apart? Then Daniel Bryan took things to 11 by choking out that announcer with his own neck tie? That shit was intense. Next thing you know Bryan is shitcanned and back in the indies. He is brought back and kicking ass, being thrown in tag teams, and eventually fighting his way all the way to the top. He is the current unified WWE Champion.

But did they take too long to get him there? I feel that they did. I have been watching wrestling for a while and am used to slow builds. That used to be one of my favorite things about a good feud or storyline in wrestling. Hell, Sting in WCW didn't wrestle for a year that led to a clusterfuck of a match but just waiting for him to finally do it again made the wait worth it.

Jim Ross recently wrote about his feelings towards fans who appear to be abandoning Bryan now that he has the titles that he has been chasing for so long. Here's what he had to say.

“Amazing that some 'fans' are jumping off the Daniel Bryan bandwagon now that the highly skilled star has won the WWE World Title and the reason is that they feel that the 'chase' is over and therefore DB has no more challenges ahead of him. Has anyone noticed that Bryan is STILL smaller than virtually everyone he wrestles and is STILL an underdog even as the champion? Keeping a fan favorite in varying levels of jeopardy or peril works....it always has and always will. It has worked in films and in main stream sports since their beginning, which is why they keep score, keep track of the standings, and play for something at the end of the year. If Bryan can continue to amazingly overcome the odds and retain the WWE World Title in non fluke wins, when the time comes for him to lose the championship, to Brock Lesnar would be my suggestion, say at Summerslam or even in November at Survivor Series, DB won't fade away. The best pure wrestler in the world isn't going to disappear unless he is removed from TV or he suddenly forgets how to perform his craft.”

Of course I can't speak for anyone else, but I got tired of watching the chase a while before he finally won the titles at Wrestlemania 30. The screwjobs at every single pay-per-view got old. I don't mind watching a guy fight for the chance to get a shot at the belt. I will not say that he has no more challenges now that he is champion. Having him taking off TV for personal reasons outside of the ring by Kane was weak to me. Kane isn't in the title picture. Hell, who is? Orton? Batista? HHH? I can only pray that Brock Lesnar sets his sights on Bryan and they fight for the belt because those would be some awesome matches. But for J.R to think that folks are not behind Bryan anymore because there is no one for him to fight is silly.

Bryan was good before he had the belt. I'll say that the matches he had pre-beard were just as good if not better than the ones he's had in the last two years. That isn't to say that what he's doing is not good, it is just that he had more guys he was facing. There shouldn't be just two or three guys that seem worth having matches with for the belt. I look at the roster and I feel that Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, Big E. Langston, anyone in The Shield, or even Bray Wyatt should be looking at Bryan and what he has wrapped around his waist.  

Is This What You Wanted?

Is this what you all wanted? Daniel Bryan floundering in a upcoming tag team with CM Punk? This can’t be what you all wanted. These two were arguably involved in the top feuds in WWE in the past possibly two years and they are each now working together to fight the powers that be. With Punk I’m not really all that upset with whatever happens to him anymore. Punk’s DVD actually made me like him even less. But Bryan pisses me off because he made me enjoy watching wrestling again after many months of just watching Dolph Zigglerflying around the ring clips. Damn, that man can make any move look painful.

Bryan was picked by John Cena to face him for the title which led to Vince McMahon saying that he didn’t deserve such a shot and HHH supporting Bryan. It was awesome. Bryan was putting on great matches weekly and even managed to make Ryback cool again. Seriously, Ryback is not all that awesome anymore. But this isn’t about him. Its about Bryan being turned into just another wrestler I used to enjoy watching.

So Bryan faces Cena at Summerslam, and goddamn, it was great! The match had moments where I was screaming at Cena “Tap you son of a bitch! I wanna watch wrestling again!” Then he wouldn’t and I’d go “Of course you won't tap, you asshole!” So when Bryan won I lost it. I seriously lost my shit.

This was not just Bryan’s moment, it was mine. You have to understand, at one point in my life I was watching close to 14 hours of wrestling a week which has now dwindled to 4 minutes Youtube clips. If Bryan had that belt I was going to be watching every show he was on. I wanted the shirt. I wanted the belt. This guy made me a kid again! And then…

Randy Orton cashed in his Money In The Bankcontract after HHH screwed Bryan over. You know extreme highs becoming extreme lows? This was me. Truth be told, I’m a mark. I am that guy that hates being yanked back into reality when watching movies or any form of entertainment. I never refer to Edge as Adam Copeland. I’m a Black version of that “Its still real to me!” guy. Orton getting the title...belt...strap...fuck it. Championship. Orton getting the championship to me meant a few things.

1. In with the old, out with the new. Instead of seeing some great matches with Bryan being this underdog (whatever that means anymore) champion and fighting against whoever the man sent his way, we get Bryan being screwed over on TV and even pay per view for the love of it all. We get Bryan being told things that folks on the internet have said about him for years and what Vince, HHH, whoever may also believe to be true. We have his mentor, Shawn Michaels, turning on him.

2. Bryan got the belt back only to have it stripped away. This was just to fuck with me, I’m sure. I was sure they wouldn’t keep the belt on Orton. At one point I was a huge fan of the guy. But, like HHH, he started off one way, became another, and stuck that way for better or worse.

3. Midcard madness! Now Bryan is teaming with Punk to take on The Wyatt’s. I liked Bray Wyatt...when he was called Waylon Mercy. I’m kidding. But seriously, watch an old Mercy promo with Wyatt’s music playing in the background and tell me its not the same character right down to the white pants. Now while I like the Wyatt’s fine, they should be nowhere near Bryan or even Punk. Wasn’t Punk in a high level feud with Brock Lesnar? Then Mr. Perfect’s son whose name isn’t worth recalling at the moment? Then Ryback? Who’d this guy piss off? Weren’t the Wyatt’s the fighting Kane who is now a part of the HHH regime? It makes no sense!

I remember the night Bryan was screwed over for the title. I went on Tha O Show’s Facebook page and was met with so many people telling me that I didn’t know how “the business” worked. That this story line was “good for business.” I even had one guy explain to me how wrestling worked. I’ve been watching this for 31 years now. I know how it works. I know how my complaints mean nothing nor does my satisfaction because I’m not a consumer of the product.

I’m just another internet guy complaining.