It's Not Fun Anymore

In my last column, I wrote about how attitudes towards the wrestling business, particularly the attitudes of the fans, had changed over the years, and how, for some, wrestling didn't seem as fun as it once used to be.

This is going to get quite a bit of heat, but I really do think that the fans themselves are part of the reason that the wrestling business isn't fun anymore, particularly those with access to the Internet. Although I still consider myself a wrestling fan, it really infuriates me when all other fans seem to do is pick apart everything that goes on in the industry. They think that just because they've watched a few videos and have been to a few shows, they think they know it all. They've forgotten how to enjoy the product.

But the conduct of the fans isn't the only reason that wrestling isn't fun anymore. There are people in the industry who have to take the lion's share of responsibility for what is happening.

Everyone is down on Triple H at the moment. The Raw World Champion just can't do anything right in the eyes of the fans right now. But just think back to his match with Ric Flair this past Monday. I've been very critical of Flair this year, saying that I thought he should have retired a few years ago so he could protect his legacy, and not spoil it by outstaying his welcome. Triple H worked his ass off last Monday, and Flair, for the first time in years, looked a million dollars. It was the best Flair performance I've seen in years.

A lot of people blame Triple H for the sorry state of the WWE at the moment. But the question is, is he? Would getting rid of The Game really solve all of the perceived problems on the Raw brand? The answer is no. Triple H is not the reason why the wrestling industry is on a supposed down turn at the moment. There are many reasons why this is happening.

In recent months the WWE have come to realise this. In the past few years they've more than let us have a peek backstage. They've let us have a look in the offices, at the day-to-day running of the company, and at what it takes to become a WWE star of the future. Now they've realised that perhaps they've made mistakes here, and have tried to rectify such mistakes.

The first of these came some months ago, when JR's weekly Ross Report was pulled from the WWE website. The WWE stated it was because of JR's hectic weekly workload, but many more say it was because JR would talk about the day-to-day running of the company, that he revealed too many secrets of just what went on at Titan Towers, and that certain wrestlers felt slighted when he didn't "put them over" on the Internet.

Then came the cancellation of Tough Enough, the series that took a look at just what it took to become a wrestler. The first series was a great success. Guys such as Maven, Chris Lewinski, Nidia, and Josh Matthews now earn a living in the WWE, while other winners have tried and failed.

As the series went on, word got out that several WWE superstars were annoyed at the way that people were getting contracts because they appeared on the show. The old saying that these kids "hadn't paid their dues" kept coming up. Why should these kids get an easy route into the WWE when they had to work their asses off in the indies for years just to get a preliminary match on Heat or Velocity, or a cut-price contract working in the developmentals?

Going back to the Internet, it's not just the fans who should take the blame for what is happening in the wrestling industry. It's the wrestlers themselves. It seems like almost every wrestler in the world has their own website, and on their websites, some of them write about their travels, and their matches. This is all fine, but some of them go a little bit further, talking about the inner workings of the business, and of the wild parties they attend. One wrestler recently told of how, during a tour, another wrestler offered to buy him a blow-job in a brothel. Is this really the sort of thing you want associated with the wrestling industry? I'm not saying that wrestlers should be painted whiter than white, but is this really the sort of thing they should be revealing to the world? I think not.

A fine example of perhaps revealing a little too much about the inner workings of the wrestling industry comes from right here in Britain. Alex Shane, the public face of the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, began to write a regular column for his website earlier this year. At first I used to enjoy his column, but recent efforts have left me scratching my head a little.

Alex doesn't just wrestle for the FWA, but helps runs the company, a sort of general manager if you will. However, in his regular columns, Alex doesn't just write about upcoming shows or his opinions on other wrestlers, he writes about everything, including some things about the running of a wrestling company which, in my opinion, should remain behind closed doors. Revealing how a wrestling company is run is like a magician revealing how he did his tricks. For me, it takes something away from the product. After all, do cops who eat doughnuts want to know exactly how those doughnuts were made?

In conclusion, I will say that I stand by everything I have said in this column. I work in the wrestling business, and enjoy what I do. But I have to agree with some wrestlers who told me recently that it just isn't fun anymore.