THE WILD WILD WORLD OF PRO WRESTLING

When I was a kid growing- up in the south I couldn't wait to wake up on Saturday morning's to watch wrestling. Tuning in my Uhf channels and playing with the antenna until I could pick up local and traveling shows, the good guys and the bad guys were clearly delineated, the bouts in those days often ended in blood. As I grew up and traveled around the country I knew that I could always find wrestling on Saturday and Sunday mornings. There was Baron Von Rashke, Jerry Lawler, the Von Erics' from Texas who first experimented with the soap opera for men concept. Sunshine and Precious, Wendy Richter, Killer Kowalski, The Fabulous Moolah. The Crusher, Fred Blassie, Yukon Moose and Haystacks Calhoon. And on and on.

Gradually I discovered wrestling's roots. To my surprise I learned that in the 1950s wrestling and bowling were two of the most watched programs. Wrestling helped build television, which was being- boycotted by major film companies keeping their product off the air and limited sports coverage occurred as the sports world waited to see if tv was a fad. (There were more fights than baseball games in the early days). Gorgeous George was the first television wrestling star to emerge and had a profound impact on James Brown.

George would strut around the stage admiring himself and shaking his long blonde hair wearing a cape emblazoned with his name which he took off as the bout beg-an. During- the bout his opponent would knock him down, and all would appear to be lost. As the ref counted him out, his attaché would come forward, put the cape on his shoulders and pat his shoulder as if saying, "Better luck next time". Well, before the ref could hit three that cape was tossed off and George would burst forward at his opponent with new found strength. This would be repeated several times during the bout and Brown made it the finish of his soul music act and has kept it in ever since.

Wrestling, like country music, was the entertainment of the working class. Provincial in its appeal, looked down on by the more sophisticated it reflected the world of the common people. Gradually the working class in the United States started to fade away in size and significance affecting both wrestling and country music. Just as the New South now had singers who had grown up in an integrated town with no cotton pickers in sight and factories replaced by office buildings listening to the music of Lynrd Skynrd instead of Hank Williams Sr., the good versus bad world of wrestling- was also forced to change or die off. The United States was leaving the advanced industrial world for a post industrial one. Most working class people had seen great problems arise from programs started with the best of intentions, and had begun to see the world more in gray than black and white.

Now I'm going to explain some of the riffs and terms used in wrestling. "Baby Face" or "Face" refers to the good guy. "Heel" is the bad guy. "Juice" is a blood match, usually caused by the wrestler slightly nicking their foreheads with a tiny blade - which when mixed with sweat looks like a blood bath. It isn't. Occasionally you see wrestlers pat each other, that is the signal for the next move. That move can be rehearsed of just part of the wrestlers moves, his riff.

There is a link between musicians and wrestling that those who ask, "Is wrestling real?" fail to get. When musicians get together for an impromptu jam session they riff off each other, wrestlers do the same. They may not have met before the match, but if they have their riffs down they can still put on a good show. When it works wrestling is a ballet of violence as thrilling and "real" as a film by John Woo, Sam Peckinpah, or Jackie Chan. No one stands up at a film and yells, "Hey those people in the movie aren't really dying" because they have a suspension of belief. So do wrestling fans. Even those I have met who insist the feuds are real are never stupid enough to actually want to bet on a wrestling match. So watching a match is best done if you watch it the same way you would a film or tv show. Wrestlers are not simply actors, however. You try throwing a three hundred pound guy up over your head who does a double somersault out of the ring to the mat on the floor while continuing to act.

Brother, that is about how real it is. People can and do get hurt. TV commentators who ask a wrestler if what they do is real are revealing their stupidity by failing to see what is involved in what the wrestler does. The newsperson has no reason to be as smug as their questions suggest.

The Von Erics were a famous Texas wrestling family which unfortunately began to be wiped out by steroid use, depression, suicide and more. This wasn't the story line of the show, this was actually happening to the real family.

Gradually story lines began to appear to cover up the reduced emphasis on wrestling, the most famous being the trailer trash battle between Sunshine and Precious. As this was occurring, the man who remade, saved and brought wrestling its widest demographics across the board audience in history took note. Vince McMahon had hit on the idea of attracting kids (and thus have an audience for life) by having his wrestlers appear larger than life, closer to superhero and villain types. But he was still trying to figure out how to attract older audiences as well.

He hit on women's wrestling. Don't ask me how he hit on it, but somehow he got the idea to have Wendy Richter managed by Cindy Lauper, who at the time was still not eclipsed by Madonna and was the top American singer. As soon as Lauper agreed to do it wrestling reached the hip Hollywood crowd.

Comedian Andy Kaufman had made wrestling part of his act, but wrestling at that time only confused the Hollywood elite. The same people who said wrestling was fake were baffled when Kaufman "wrestled" wrestling great Jerry Lawler. It didn't matter that Kaufman "tag's" Lawler after tucking his head under before a pile driver, or that Kaufman is seen on Letterman moving the leg of his chair off the platform long before Lawler knocks him to the floor; even people who knew wrestling; better wondered if this one time the feud was real. (I say that 20 years later, the fact that so many still think so makes that one of Kaufmans best jokes.)

Cyndy made liking wrestling ironic. Suddenly Mr. T was in the ring and Dan Ackroyd was in the audience. The World Wrestling Federation was now cool to the cool, so whether you wanted to cheer one wrestler or laugh at both, it was ok. Hulk Hogan became the biggest wrestling star in its history, eclipsing easily Gorgeous George. In those days, there were really two story lines going at once, and Hogan had lots of power. Today there are often 5 or more story lines going, so no one story is all McMahon has to rely on. When Steve Austin was nursing a stomach injury carried over from his football days earlier this year leading up to WRESTLEMANIA # 15 there was still plenty of story line going on to interest the fans and sell lots of advance tickets. Even though for a while no one was sure he could make it. In the early days, an injured Hogan would have caused the cancellation of a Wrestlemania.

His power was so great it is alleged on several websites that Hogan upon seeing Japanese women wrestlers doing their intense and incredible shows for the WWF began pressing for the removal of the women. (Japanese women wrestlers, who often start as children to learn wrestling, are easily the best and most acrobatic of wrestlers, male or female on earth. They are non stop in both action and ability, and even toning down what they can do for their far less experienced American counterparts leaves the audience astonished.) My guess is, and it is only a guess, was that Hogan didn't care for the tits and ass approach that Vince has always played up while so much WWF marketing then was for kids. It is true that Hogan is not a great wrestler in terms of his moves, it hardly matters because in terms of showmanship he is unmatched. He makes everything sound exciting, and he made every match he was in an event. There will never be a star like him again, partially because McMahon is now wise enough to have many story lines going.

Stone Cold Steve Austin drinks beer, whups ass and stays an individual. He is not close to being a good guy the way the wrestling term once was defined. But his image, that he is who he is without apology, that he resists the corporation and his word does not bend appeals to those who know the world is made up of greys. If he has the manners of a biker, well, he has a code. And today, maybe having a code is all that matters anymore. No matter what it may be.

Well friends, country songs are no longer about hating liberals and your job and losing your wife. Now they are about achy breaky hearts and stunning' southern belles who sins in tight clothes and grew up down south with enough money to spend on dental work and plastic surgery. Wrestling has been forced to look for a larger market and it too found it, larger that wrestling had ever known before. And it keeps growing. Adding black magic, the entire McMahon family ( who are actually very good), betrayals, flip flops but always fun. No it isn't exactly the wrestling I grew up with. But that audience is long gone. And now that Hogan is gone from the WWF the women have returned, although we are still waiting for a couple of really good wrestlers among them to emerge. The way Sable looks it isn't necessary right away. I think she could sell tickets if she just stood in the center of the ring for ten minutes. But if Vince gets around to it, I'll buy him a beer.

Cheers,

Michael Flores

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