In case I haven't mentioned this lately, Jim Cornette is the coolest man alive. His late commentary is on "hardcore" wrestling. Read the whole thing; it will change your life, but here's a excerpt...
So what has been the fallout of "hardcore" wrestling today? For the wrestlers, shorter careers, higher injury rates and painkiller addictions. The fans have been numbed to seeing people get hit with objects, so you have to hit someone THREE times as hard to get a THIRD of the response. For bookers, many of the tools they had to shoot angles or draw money have been taken away now that everyone has seen everything. For the fans, it's meant a lack of credibility to anything they see, thus a lack of interest or emotional investment. For the general public, the opinion of wrestling and wrestlers is at an all time low with the steroid issues, the Benoit scandal, and the release of the movie "The Wrestler", where the aforementioned Combat Zone Wrestling is highlighted in the scene where a staple gun is used (In CZW, they actually DO that for REAL.) And anyone who sees it thinks "What stupid goofs those wrestlers must be", and those of us who used to proudly proclaim to anyone in sight we were in the wrestling business now walk around in public with our heads down so as not to be recognized, for fear people will think WE used to partake in that type of activity. All because people who didn't have the talent to BE pro wrestlers were allowed to be, because of the deregulation of having no strong territories and promoters to protect the business from itself. Twenty years ago, we PRETENDED to hurt each other, and the fans believed it. Today, we REALLY DO hurt each other, and the fans think it's fake. Who are the marks now??CommentaryLabels: Wrestling