| bunchanumbers said: Talent trumps mystique these days. Back in the day you could be a hero and you'd be loved, even if your biggest moves were a big boot and a leg drop. Fans demand more than that today. Larger than life personalities just don't jive in todays wrestling. It makes me sad. You just can't go out and rock rhinestones and tassles and be awesome. I doubt we'll ever see another Brutus the Barber Beefcake, Jake the Snake Roberts, or Isaac Yankem DDS. Maybe not even another Iron Sheik, and even trying to pull a Yokozuna would be a stretch nowadays. |
Kind of. I mean, the bar has certainly been raised. Now, you need to be good at all aspects of being a professional wrestler to get over. I don't know how sad I am about that, though, since I've never liked the Hulk Hogan/Ultimate Warrior types to begin with.
The part that I'm sad about is that there really isn't much room in the WWE to develop a character. They have these tiny windows to show who they are. Compare that to the past when they had so much more freedom in both words and actions.
I was watching a youtube video recently about when Raven appeared in WCW and how they slowly built it up with him being in the audience each week. By the time he first had an official match, he was an absolutely massive heel. Now, they just kind of throw them out there and the announcer tells us about them or they put some twitter quotes on the screen.
You look at the indies and some guys have done a great job of creating a character, kind of like in the territory days. Adam Cole is just a massive jerk. Jimmy Havoc was freaking scary in PROGRESS and made for one of the best storylines in recent years.
Cole being a racist asshole in PWG (NSFW language):
It can still be done but it's hard unless time for character development is given.
