RE-POST: The Internet & Professional Wrestling (Orginally Written in June 2002)

In this edition, I am going to discuss two wrestlers, one British, one Canadian, and the way that the Internet has reacted to them over the past week or so.

Let's start close to home, with the British wrestler - the Zebra Kid. I consider Roy Bevis to be a friend of mine. A lot of people agree with me that Roy is perhaps the best young wrestler in Britain today. Personally, I think he would go down a storm in the WWE. He has the looks, the ability, the charm, and the charisma to go right to the top in the wrestling industry, given the right push, the right amount of publicity.

A few weeks ago it was announced that Zebra would be making his debut for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, regarded by many as the best wrestling promotion in Britain, at their "Carpe Diem" show in Walthamstow, going into a four-way dance with FWA stalwarts Mark Sloan, Scotty Rock and Paul Travell, with the winner getting a shot at Sloan's All-England championship.

I had arranged to attend the show some weeks before, before Roy had even been booked to appear on the show. When I heard he was appearing on the show, actually a couple of weeks before "Ricky from Norwich" telephoned Alex Shane's radio show, I was pleased, and a little excited.

The day of the show arrived, and that morning, I spent a couple of hours looking through the fan forum on the FWA web site (www.frontierwrestling.com). I was eager to find out what the views of the die-hard FWA fans were on Roy's upcoming appearance.

The die-hards were not happy. In the absence of perennial favourites Jonny Storm, Jodie Fleisch and Doug Williams, who were away competing in the States, the die-hards just couldn't understand why the FWA were bringing in an "outsider".

I found some of their comments rather interesting. They not only seemed to insult Roy, but many other UK wrestling promotions as well, in particular Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling. They just couldn't understand why a promotion as apparently successful as the FWA would want to hook up with any other company.

I read these comments with some interest, especially as none of them knew that the Sweet Saraya, WAW World and Unified British Ladies Champion, was due to make an unannounced appearance on the card also. I wondered if I should have said anything, but having been sworn to secrecy by the FWA's Elisar Cabrera, I decided not to.

Those of you who have logged onto the WAW web site (www.waw-uk.com), or other British wrestling web sites and read my review would have seen that I enjoyed the show. Some parts were good, some weren't, but without a doubt, Roy stole the show that night. He went into that match, confident as always, with the fans in attendance not really knowing what to make of him at the start. But after he pinned Sloan, following an elbow off the top rope, he had the fans literally eating out of the palm of his hand.

I didn't get back to my computer until the following Tuesday. After writing my review of the show, and sending it off to various parties, I returned to the FWA web site to see what the die-hards thought of the show.

The phrase "what a difference a day makes" couldn't have been more apt here. While very few made mention of Saraya's run-in on the FWA's number one lady Nikita, I would have to say that about ninety-five percent of the fans who posted on the fan forum were full of praise for Roy and his match that night. There was hardly any mention of the missing Storm, Fleisch or Williams. I also read two reviews of the show, and everyone agreed with me about that night - the Zebra Kid stole the show, without a doubt.

It was amazing how Roy had gone from being the most hated man ever to set foot into an FWA ring, to being the best thing since sliced bread. So what was this an example of? What can be learned here?

Now let us talk about a certain Canadian wrestler, one Chris Jericho. Because of my other commitments over that weekend, I didn't actually get to see King of the Ring until the following Wednesday, when Sky Sports repeated the broadcast. The first match of the show was the semi-final match between Jericho and Rob Van Dam.

Even though I had seen these two face each other a few times before, I had high hopes of this contest, and indeed, it did not disappoint. Twenty minutes of no-stop action between two evenly match opponents. In recent months, both men have been accused of putting in sloppy performances, but this was without a doubt the best showing from both men I have seen in a long time, and it was definitely the match of the evening, if not one of the best matches I have seen in the WWE this year.

But it appears that not all of the fans were happy with Jericho's performance that night. And Y2J was not happy with them.


In a statement on his web site (www.chrisjericho.com), Jericho lambasted the so-called Internet "smart marks", for constantly criticising him, and in particular, criticising this match. While many fans congratulated him on his efforts, it seemed that many more were harsh in their comments.

Jericho announced that he was through with the Internet fans. He had had enough of the smart marks constantly insulting and criticising his efforts in the ring. And I have to admit, I agree with him.

Frankly, the Internet is full of assholes, always wanting to give their opinion or something or other. The wrestling industry in particular seems to attract a large amount of this sort of person, people who really know very little about what they write.

You are probably wondering why I am seemingly insulting you, the reader of this article, by saying this. I openly admit, at times in my Internet writing career, I have been one of those assholes, and in recent weeks, other assholes, smart marks, call them what you will, have openly criticised me and my work, my attempt to promote a certain wrestling promotion.

While I am not comparing my situation to Jericho's, I can sympathise with the man. Jericho puts his heart and soul into the wrestling business. He puts in one hell of a performance, in one of the best matches I have seen in a long while, and he still gets lambasted for his efforts. In everything he said in what will probably be his final on-line commentary, Jericho was right, one hundred and ten percent.

It's no secret that the WWE is not what it should be right now. Everyone, including good old JR himself, knows this. Wherever you go on the Internet, you will read something telling you this, be it from a wrestling journalist, or a smart marked fan posting on a fan forum somewhere.

And this is one of the reasons I don't write about the WWE on a full-time basis anymore, because week after week, all I would probably do is write about how this sucks, how this is a piece of crap, and how this could be done in a much better way.

I was a smart mark, but now I've smartened up a little. I'm at a time in my life, in a situation, where I really don't want to be spending my time writing negative thoughts all the while. There are really far more important things in life to worry about right now.

Mr. Jericho, you have my full support. You were right on the button.