Hey everyone, I had planned on doing a Christmas related column today but due to the lack of festiveness in my family I couldn't get the creative juices going. Instead I'm switching to the age old debate. Has the Internet ruined Pro Wrestling" Since everyone reading this must be a net fan I think it's an interesting topic to write about. One thing's for sure, I wouldn't be writing this if there was no internet.

One common mistake that often causes huge problems within wrestling is taking the Internet fans and tarring them as every fan. Although there has been a huge rise in net fans since 2000, it really is only about 20 percent of all fans that actively take part in online shenanigans. People seem to forget, although this may be a stereotypical view but none the less, people seem to forget about the small town family or single older aged man that just go to watch wrestling when it's visiting their local town. Sometimes promoters start booking for the Internet fans when they really should be taking note of the towns they're running in. You wouldn't believe how many promoters have gone out of business because they forget good ol wrasslin and start signing talent praised on the internet, or adopt methods of putting over they're shows because it impresses the internet fans not the local yokels.

Something I'd like to point out is a good portion of the internet wrestling fans are the fans that watch the shows illegally, downloading off websites, paying a small fee to watch live ppv's on underground streaming websites or using p2p clients like bittorrent to get events hours after they air.

Someone could have the latest WWE PPV the next morning absolutely free contributing nothing to the sport whatsoever then they go post how crap it was, infecting everyone else. To put it bluntly if a promotion listened to the Internet, which they often are these days, they would be giving them exactly what they want and they wouldn't be paying for it.

It's not just promoters that are plagued with this illness. A larger number of the wrestlers themselves take the internet far too seriously and listen to anything people are saying, whether that be how crap they are, (so they push themselves too far), or they are witness to their personal life being discussed like wildfire on message boards and such. Sometimes it's their own official site that causes the problems, look at Sean "X-Pac" Waltman's website.

That's caused its fair share of problems over the years as news hungry fans often read the latest goings on in his life. Chyna used to wake up every day to some new filth posted about her and her ex's problems and they often argued over the internet. Use the phone damn it. Don't make the net more, sleazy than it already is. This kind of thing can take over someone's life.

Look at The Honky Tonk Man, he used to spend the whole day on the internet reporting insider dirt.

Occasionally you'll hear about a wrestler who responded to comments made about them on the Internet when they really should be focused on their job. Reporters not message board noobs but reporters often cut down certain wrestlers just to get their two minutes of fame from coach on byte this. What some reporters don't realize is that when they post a negative story that may have some truth to it, readers just get the basis of it, aka "Lita is a slut." Or "Goldberg injures wrestlers," then for years to come people's opinions will be tarnished. "Hey TNA may sign Goldberg." Someone may reply, "Ohh no Goldberg just injures people." This may be a little funny to some of you but I'm just trying to break down how dirt spreads like wildfire and ruins fans opinions.

All the time dirt sheet writers post useless news that just buries the business and the stars that work in it. I won't lie; I do the same nearly every day. Some websites exaggerate the stupidest stories just to get some extra visitors so their little virus pop-up's get them a little extra cash. Wouldn't it make more sense to exaggerate the good things and hide the pointless and bad things" Wouldn't more people watch a sport that was spoken highly of" In turn wouldn't that get more hits because it's more popular" Am I using too many rhetorical questions"

Far too often wrestlers who are bashed on the Internet take it to heart. They see all these other so called amazing wrestlers getting praised while they "are just another big guy," or are "Three move wrestlers," Or just "crappy hardcore wrestlers with no in ring talent." I'm sure you wouldn't want to be dissed on the Internet because people think you can't do your job. In turn this may cause wrestlers to push their limits, change their style or just get plane depressed when really they are selling seats fine and are probably bigger than any of the Internet praised grapplers. An example of that would be Goldberg or Triple H.

A lot of the new wrestlers trying to break in to the business are from the "net fan," generation and this causes far too many problems. Since the Internet seems to put over high spots, athletic wrestling and other styles far off the old school basics, these young students jump in at the deep end often thinking they know it all. They think they know what wrestling is all about and how everything backstage and in the ring works. Boy do they get a shock! You hear about jobbers going up to their established opponents explaining what they are going to do in the match and what would work or even what crazy spot they want to get it. That is not how it works! You lean the basics and listen to what your opponent wants to do. From Jerry Lynn, "This kid came up to me saying he wanted to get all this shit in and that, before I pinned him he wanted to do a triple back super leg lariat bomb with a three mile rotation. I kindly smiled and said the running powerbomb is fine." This isn't directly associated with the internet but the mind frame people get in to after spending a year on the internet is quite amusing.

This is the paragraph where I say ok it's not all bad. And it's not. It educates people on the history of wrestling and breaks down important industry changing events. It helps federations promote and get over their product. A lot of the time it widens fans eyes to other styles of wrestling that they never knew about but its not far after this that the problems begin. Some people feel they have been educated too much, me for one. I sit their watching raw and fall in to the over analyzing trap. I can no longer enjoy it because my mind is being subconsciously critical of the match. I may have read the spoilers beforehand so I know what's going to happen. The list goes on. I'm no longer a full on fan, it's my duty to watch it. If any of you are in this situation I advice you not to watch any wrestling for a month, then watch it again for a month with no Internet interaction.

Hmm this didn't quite turn in to the column I wanted it to but I'll end with the following. Most of us would fail as a writer, promoter or wrestler. There's what is known as the wrestling bubble that you have to fit in to. When you sit there criticizing a certain thing, remember you don't know the situation or talent involved. Just enjoy wrestling, don't spend too long discussing on the Internet, don't take reports all that seriously and buy events and DVD's when you can. As for, is the Internet ruining pro wrestling" I'd say no, the fans are using it to ruin it for themselves and everyone else and the promoters, stars and alumni are using the Internet to make it even worse.

by Keelan Balderson ..