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I’ve witnessed today’s wrestling fan. He wants to integrate realism into sports entertainment, and do away with kayfabe. He wants to know about the inside scoops, read the spoilers, and spend his evening having an intense argument on the comment board. He wants the people who can wrestle the best to be the top guy on the bill, and get a high off of big spots and false finishes. He wants to start a “boring” chant during a match that is simply using headlocks and wristlocks to tell a story and build a climactic finish.
But that’s not what brought us to the dance.
I love watching a wrestling match. However, I understand that professional wrestling is far more than a wrestling match. It’s about theme songs. It’s about wardrobe. It’s about promos. It’s about CHARACTERS.
Steamboat vs. Savage. Hart vs. Piper. Michaels vs. Razor. Mysterio vs. Guerrero. All amazing matches, NONE of them were the main event of the respective WrestleMania. Instead, it was Hogan vs. Andre, Hogan vs. Sid, Hart vs. Yokozuna, and Batista vs. HHH.
I have not yet heard of anyone complaining about how bad Andre the Giant is. No one (to my knowledge), or at least a resounding minority would gripe about how slow of a main event that was, or that it should have been replaced. Savage/Steamboat was not the 90,000 seat match. Hogan/Andre was.
However, somehow we’ve lost the concept of good vs. bad, hero vs. villain, underdog vs. giant. Instead, we look at who is the best wrestler in the company, and complain about how much WWE is misusing him. While this does ring true in many cases, we can not lose sight that wrestling has NEVER been first about matches. It has first been about characters. That is why Seth Rollins’ seven-month title reign is as forgettable as when it started nearly a year ago.
Yes, Lesnar vs. Wyatt would be a much better match than Lesnar vs. Strowman. However, look at it from this perspective. Since pro wrestling should still be about suspending reality and getting behind the giant slayer, how believable is Bray Wyatt defeating Brock Lesnar? Plus, you’ll have people complain that Wyatt lost another WM match, so you can’t please everyone. Darned if you do, darned if you don’t.
Braun Strowman is the closest current WWE star we have to Andre the Giant, because the Big Show is damaged goods at this point. Reviving the history of WrestleMania, better yet, even pro wrestling in general, would be shown if Brock Lesnar tries to defy the odds and beat Strowman. Moreover, an F5 on Strowman would be a much better WM highlight reel than executing one on Wyatt.
But, I guess Hogan slamming Andre is a thing of the past…
You can follow Chris Featherstone on Twitter at @cravewrestling.
