They say when opportunity calls, you should answer. Not recognizing the area code popping up on my cell, and assuming that it was Toyota calling to verify my car payment for the umpteenth time, I let it go to voicemail.
"Christopher, this is Chris Cash, I’d like to talk to you about writing a column for Wrestlezone."
I realized that I should give fate the benefit of the doubt in the future. After a few rounds of phone tag, we exchanged pleasantries and made the usual wrestling fan "feel it out" chit chat. A few minutes in, Chris asked me a question that I wasn’t quite prepared for.
"So what do you think you’d like your article to be about?"
Panic! What do I say? What’s an article? What’s this mysterious talking device I’m holding?
My id suddenly rang in with its two cents.
"You don’t know anyone in the industry, so you can’t really provide news. They already have Mark Madden and a slew of other commentators that are infinitely more qualified than you. You live in California. WRESTLING BARELY EXISTS IN CALIFORNIA…"
In what I’m sure was only a split second but what felt like an eternity, the idea, (well, an idea) came. Some of you may have seen a brief piece that I contributed about a month back before The Bash Pay Per View on the history of Rey Mysterio and his mask. That piece seemed to flow pretty well, and to be honest, I was a bit shocked to see that no one had thought of anything like that.
Now, granted I’m no wrestling genius, but I do think that a lot of us, myself included, seem to forget a lot about wrestling’s past when we are watching the present unfold. Why don’t we hear Chris Jericho backing up his claims of being "the best in the business" with his many accomplishments in Japan and WCW? Why do we recognize all of Goldust’s championship reigns as Dustin Rhodes, but not William Regal’s?
It’s a very exciting time to be a wrestling fan, but are we getting the most out of our wrestling?
Like I said, I’m no wrestling genius.
I’ve never booked a show in my life. Then again, it is my article, and my article isn’t going to just be about what I’d book, but why I’d do it. Kind of a "Why not me?" of the wrestling world.
What would happen if Dolph Ziggler would have just kept beating the Great Khali with a chair? Why doesn’t the Main Event Mafia further tout their previous company experience over the "small potatoes" of an Orlando Soundstage? Are CM Punk and John Morrison the next Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels? Oh yeah, I totally went there…
For my first article I needed something…big. For my first full article, I’ve picked the two biggest men in wrestling, both literally and figuratively, though separate.
At his Hall of Fame speech, the Nature Boy brought the seven-foot, near 500 pound Paul Wight to tears with the statement that he was "the best big man in the history of the business".
That would definitely be the tallest of tall orders.
How has the former giant lived up to the greats before him? Can the world’s largest athlete compare to legends like Andre the Giant, Bam Bam Bigelow, Earthquake, Big Bubba Rogers, Big Van Vader, and the many more that have gone toe to toe with the 16 time World Heavyweight Champion?
Make sure to read next time as I delve into RIC FLAIR and THE BIG SHOW.
I look forward to writing for the great community here at Wrestlezone, and thanks to everyone for giving me the opportunity.
Feel free to email me at chrismariscal@gmail.com.
"Johnny, what’s that poking me?" – Shane Douglas in the picture on the left.
"Who rocks? IROC!" – "Johnny Ace" Laurenitis in the middle picture.
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it…" – George Santayana…referencing the picture on the right.
