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WRESTLING COLUMNS

Focusing on Wrestling's Positive Aspects
May 30, 2004 by Gladiator


I've noticed - and appreciated - the focus on positive aspects about wrestling in recent Online World of Wrestling columns. It as made me even more eager to start writing for the site, and in doing so I have decided to keep the theme up. In this column, I am going to argue the case of many hated wrestlers, regardless of my opinion on them.

And there is no one more hated by the wrestling writers on the internet than my first subject. He goes by the name of Bill Goldberg. Now, I myself am not Goldberg's biggest fan, to say the least. However, as we h ave all stated once and again, 90 percent of the WWE viewers are your average marks. And in the mind of a mark, Bill Goldberg is a must-have in the business. As marks, fans buy into his invincibility and crave more and more of it. Like any other business man, Vincent Kennedy McMahon's first priority is the almighty dollar. And like it or not, Bill Goldberg is a result of this outlook.

Next up, is a man who I share a non-popular opinion about. My next subject is Triple H, and I don't have much of any problem with him. I do admit that some(most) of his title reigns were longer than they should have been, but I have no doubt in my mind that he deserved the World Heavyweight Championship at any time. His one flaw is the fact that he held back extraordinarily talented wrestlers like Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero back for so long. But now that many superstars are getting their long anticipated pushes, and he's been putting youngsters like Shelton Benjamin over, I have no problem at all with him. Hunter Hearst Helmsley is an excellent wrestler with better ring psychology than anyone in a long time.

Our third subject is a personal favorite of mine. His name is Brock Lesnar. Personally, I do realize that his gimmick was ruined towards the end of his short-lived career, but that wasn't his fault. Lay the blame on the WWE creative department. They ruined his gimmick when they put him on the stick, and you can't hate someone for having bad mic skills. He makes up for them in the ring, where he blends sheer power with a great amateur background and a dash of aerial maneuvers. His ditching the business may show a minor flaw in character, but he left the rocky business of World Wrestling Entertainment to pursue his dream in becoming a professional football player. I can't blame him, and I can't see why anyone else should be able to.

My next subject is more-so a division. The Womens division, to be exact. Now, going through old and new columns of various web sites, I hear over and over again that the WWE divas have no talent. Sure, some of them are there solely for eye candy and story-line development(Though story-lines with vallets aren't as well-thought out as they were in later days.) But close to half of the divas are a third of the WWE's in-ring talent. Victoria has extraordinary ring abilities, as do Lita, Molly Holly and Trish Stratus. Gail Kim's abilities seem to be improving week after week, and their good looks don't hurt. So I see nothing wrong with any of the women in the WWE.

And finally, the RAW announcers: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. Despite popular criticism of the two, they are the voices of recent wrestling. J.R's excellent analagies from the old days may be wearing off, but he's still an extremely intelligent guy. And King, though he may seem immature, is loved by the WWE fans. J.R is also a huge part of the business back-stage, and most of the WWE's good storylines come from him. I can't imagine what RAW would be without them, and I encourage the WWE to keep them going.

Thanks, everyone. I know this is a controversial article, so feel free to reply and express your opinions about these guys and others. Until next time, and have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

by Gladiator..


Joe Huber wrote:
Major props for your column Gladiator. It was short, sweet, and entertaining. I like the trend of positive columns on OWW. It's fairly easy to pick apart WWE, wrestling & wrestlers, but it is a challenge to write positive things about them. It takes creativity and the ability to go against the flow of the mass negativity in the wrestling columnist world online.

I must say I am a major Goldberg fan, but I hate the word mark. I've found it used too often in an insulting manner. While I may love Goldberg I understand the criticism of him. I just find that with wrestlers, as with any other athlete or entertainer, we all have people we like and hate. It's a matter of your own personal taste. Speaking of hate I must say I do despise HHH as you said for holding back wrestlers that are currently getting the push in the WWE. I feel he uses his power behind the scenes to keep himself in the spotlight. I must give props to Hunter though for helping to put over Shelton Benjamin. I love that HHH jobbed for Shelton. It's Shelton's time to shine and HHH's time to help build new stars instead of pushing himself.

I agree with you about Brock Lesnar too. It's his life, let him do what he wants with it. Also, Gladiator you have done something I wish I had the ability to do. Write positively about the women's division of the WWE. I noticed a nice upswing in their in-ring, mic abilities, and entertainment factor with the women in recent times. I thought the Molly Holly shave at Wrestlemania XX was funny and classic. I think a lot of people were surprised that she was willing to make the sacrifice. I even came around to liking the Trish/Y2J/Christian storyline after despising it for so long. The women still have a long way to go, but at times I find them even more entertaining then the men. They really have an early feel to wrestling with no chair shots, rarely cheating etc. It reminds me of wrestling in the 1980's.

Despite my complaints about JR & Lawler I agree with you again. They are entertaining. My only real complaints about them is when they lose focus and talk about everything other then the match that is taking place. I think they do have the ability to help sell the wrestlers even more when they are well focused on matches and angles. Also Lawler cracks me up with some of his wilder comments. His is the comedy element that Bobby Heenan used to bring to WWE.

Another great column. I like the trend with positive columns. Being a fan of a lot of my fellow OWW Columnists is one reason why I am inspired to write for OWW. I hope all of us columnists can keep up the positive talk and that we can inspire fellow OWW fans to write as well. Who knows how many wrestling fans there are out there who have different ideas and columns just waiting to entertain us all. My advice is: have courage. As Nike says : "Just Do It!" :)
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