BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) A GOOD HARDCORE BRAWL
I’m not a gore fan. I don’t want to see some crazy death match at all. That is not wrestling. It’s a cross between live action stunts and sadomasochistic fetish porn. I like when a feud or rivalry builds up to a point where they want to kill each other. Then a “gimmick match” is instituted or the match is deemed “no rules”. From there, two wrestlers just beat the hell out of each other. There is weapon use, brawls around the ringside and venue, a little blood, some eye-clinch worthy “danger spots”, and just a wide range of excitement and emotion. As long as the brawl tells a story, I’m all for it. It’s those gory, sloppy, and uninspired “death match” shows that ruin the idea of “hardcore”.
(THREE) THE VIDEO GAMES
I loved the old wrestling video games. The arcade games rocked, but THEN the personal consoles came into play. At first there was the generic looking games on Nintendo and Sega. I was really into “WWF Royal Rumble”, “WWF RAW”, and even the horribly fun “WWF Wrestlemania” The Arcade Game”. As time went on, the games got a little better and then just stopped being fun. I’m probably just too old for games. The games just got stale and repetitive. I think the problem is that we got everything we’d want in a wrestling game and then it became a run of the mill sports game like a Madden or Live… They don’t make NBA Live anymore, do they?
(TWO) COOL MASKS
There are the cool lucha masks. I’m sure these are the masks most people think about when bringing up wrestling masks. I still like the American ones. I dug Vader’s “evil jockstrap”, Kane’s red mask, Mankind’s mask, and evil the old Mortis mask. The craftsmanship on these masks was elaborate and in a few cases iconic. I’m not saying there needs to be a mask on everyone. Too many masked characters in a promotion can be pretty boring and takes away the novelty.
(ONE) BATTLE ROYALS
The technical wrestling aspect of a battle royal is rare. It’s typically a big spectacle and a big brawl. There are spaced out spots that typically result in elimination or sometimes a “tease”. It’s a standard thing in wrestling that a lot of people take for granted. It’s a simple way to put someone on a show without having to put them in a match. Throw-a-way battle royals are fun in the sense of a spectacle, but a battle royal with something on the line can be awesome. The Royal Rumble is the most famous of the battle royal, but even the smaller ones that are given some time at the end and with the proper teases can be really fun and helpful in advancing or starting a good rivalry.
|
