I have been thinking about writing a column concerning the state of wrestling today. I don't want to be one of those people that are accused of not liking wrestling. I wouldn't write about it if I didn't care. Whew, glad to have that off my chest. Watching RAW got me to thinking about this column I have been wanting to write. It involves the state of wrestling today. Is it too real? Wait. I know what you are going to say. It is fake. The outcome is pre-determined and not since Bret Hart has there been a really controversial ending to a match. I'm in agreement. I know it is all a storyline (for the most part).

What I saw on RAW this past night made me stop and decide to write this column. Spike Dudley gets double chokeslammed by La Resistance. You can see he clearly was not picked up high enough and barely cleared the ropes. He was supposed to go through a table but La Resistance missed their mark and Spike's head banged off the end of the table.

Now stop and think about that. That was real. Spike Dudley could have died right there. For what? Entertainment? Wrestling? Hasn't Vince McMahon or the WWE learned their lesson from the death of Owen Hart? They have gone too far.

Week after week we are forced fed storylines like Kane setting someone on fire or electrocuting someone's balls. Where is the wrestling in all this?

I'm sorry to say this but wrestling has gone too far. Chairs, sledgehammers, sex, tables, ladders, blood, steps, you name it and it is used on a regular basis on WWE.

Somewhere along the line wrestling has lost it's way. This is what the fans of yesteryear hunger for. Two wrestlers in the ring. Wrestling! What a wild concept that is. Also interferences in matches has become so commonplace that it is not a surprise anymore. I remember a time when a match being interrupted or a wrestler being cheated of a win was actually a surprise (like when Ultimate Warrior lost his title to Rick Rude by Bobby Heenan holding Warrior's leg down).

Has wrestling gone too far? The answer is obvious. WWE has literally killed the competition and the best ratings they can hope for is a 4.0. That rating used to be laughable even for WW(F's) competitions back in those years.

WWE & Vince need desperately to take a look in the mirror and find where the fault lies. Vince, you are the man in charge. Look at the product you put out there every week. If you aren't happy with it you got nobody to blame but yourself.

Can wrestling be fixed? Sure. Wrestling won't die no matter how bad it seems at this point and time.

Are drastic changes needed to draw back a bigger audience? Yes. Hell yes! A lot of long-term fans (like myself) and many of those I have talked to about wrestling say they miss the days of pure wrestling. It's not so much that they miss Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair (though those legends will always be embraced). It's that they miss the purity of what they represented. Wrestlers. Good and bad. Simplicity. Two guys beating each other up for the gold. Back when titles had meaning.

At times I think wrestling is too unrealistic.

The Kane angles are a perfect example of being too unrealistic. They didn't even try to sell his being burned in the fire until this past RAW and then he had only one spot of red on his neck. Linda McMahon's injury wasn't sold at all. The most she did was have a neckbrace on her desk. Either try and make us believe it is real or don't. Don't go halfway. It's like making out with a woman and you are both naked and then she decides she doesn't want to go through with it (never been in that position but it's the best comparison I can come up with).

At times wrestling is too real. Look at the injury lists on both RAW & Smackdown. Even Kurt Angle is injured and HHH though both still get in the ring. Angle get's more respect because he actually wrestles and doesn't carry around sledgehammers or Flair & Orton. Both Angle & HHH should be on the sidelines right now but the sport and the WWE can't afford to lose two more of their stars right now. HHH will be taking off soon for his marriage & honeymoon (thank god too cause this means less HHH & Stephanie!).

Now to conclude my column. Do you think wrestling is too real? Do you feel like a lot of former, or disgruntled, fans feel like wrestling has gone too far with weapons, chairs, ladders, tables, crazy unrealistic storylines, sex, wild stunts etc. Do you miss wrestling matches without intereferences, with clean-cut endings or do you find them boring? Do you prefer wrestling or the soap-opera side of it? Are you an old-school or new school fan of wrestling? Do you feel as though wrestling has gone too far? Is Wrestling too real?

by Joseph Huber ------- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WWEFansRUSA/..