Interesting Article by Dr. Tom Prichard

The Doctor's Note: What's Wrong With The Business? By Dr. Tom Prichard Feb 16, 2006, 10:43

One of the biggest questions or topics of conversation about pro wrestling these days is “what’s wrong with the business?”

I don’t think there’s one clear cut answer. I have my own ideas about what is wrong but my opinions aren’t always filled with solutions, therefore they come off more as complaining rather than explaining at times.

Number one, we can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Why would the new generation of fans want to watch sports entertainment or pro wrestling on the independent scene these days? I ask myself that question every time I attend an indy show. What are these people doing here? Well, most are family and friends. Others are just looking for a night out and some decent entertainment.

Too many independent guys flat out don’t get it. I hear stories all the time about “I deserve a belt, I’m gonna have to talk to the promoter about paying me more than $10!” $10?! Some of these guys should be paying the PROMOTER for letting them be on the card that night! Everybody’s a Superstar! They can’t be beat in front of 20-30 people because it will kill their “heat.” GIVE ME A BREAK! PAALEEZE!!!

It really was a lot harder to break in 20 years ago. These days a wrestling school pops up and some guy who knew a guy who knew a lady who used to “date” a guy who ushered at the matches at the high school and bought one of the wrestlers a coke one time is now a certified trainer!!! Then his “students” truly believe they are superstars who can demand top dollar and should be treated with respect because they wrestled in a National Guard Armory in front of 17 people twice a year! Anybody who has been in an independent dressing room in the last year in Tennessee will attest to this. That is if they have been anywhere and made a living in the wrestling business...EVER. Not just wrestled on the weekends and still live with their mom or grandmas. But actually got off their skinny (or fat), lazy asses and traveled the country and took any and every booking there was to take REGARDLESS of what the payoff was, JUST to get their name and reputation known.

I come across both kinds. The ones who ask me what they should do to get to the next level and then follow through. Then there are more of the ones who talk a great game but wake up at 11 am, eat biscuits and gravy, watch Jerry Springer and Cheaters and then meander into the gym 2-3 days a week. They talk about how bad they want it and how they are “gonna talk to the promoter because I’m gettin’ screwed” bullshit. It’s the same old story of you keep doing what you’re doing and you’re going to keep getting what you’re getting.

Attitude. Respect. Determination. Ambition. You can’t just wish and hope you’re going to get somewhere. Ring of Honor. Jim Kettner’s Super 8. TNA. Japan. East Coast. West Coast. Google. Network. Make contacts. Do you want to make it to the “show?” WWE? Is that what you REALLY want? Once you get there, then what? More importantly, what exactly is your plan to get there? Who knows about you outside those 20 people that watch you at the flea market or armory? Again, who really cares past those same people who watch you and then post on that company’s message boards? Really, think about it. Wish in one hand and shit in another.

The competition is extreme. Why would those who make decisions in other, higher profile companies want to employ some punk with a disrespectful, know-it-all attitude? They wouldn’t. I’ve stuck my neck out a few times only to kicked in the head. These real respectful, humble guys turn out to be prima donna pricks that have totally shit on their opportunity. That caused me to be a little more particular in who I recommend or endorse. Especially for overseas tours.

Others I have recommended or helped have really made the most of their opportunity. And they have remained humble, ambitious and real. Oh yeah. Real.

Too many guys on the indy level are pretending to be something they’re not. Hell, even on the larger stage there’s people trying to be something they’re not and that translates into nobody believing in the product on all levels.

What’s wrong with things today in my opinion is what was right (and wrong) with things years ago. After reading the Superstar Billy Graham book, it was obvious there was a lot of wrong going on years ago. But that’s what made guys like Graham so special. They were outlaws. They were dangerous. They were real. What you saw was what you got. Crazy, insane and as real as it got.

I don’t recommend the lifestyle that Superstar and many of his peers lived by back then. But I do remember watching and following the careers of him and his counterparts and when they walked into the arena they were special. They carried themselves as such and looked every bit the part of wrestlers. They didn’t look like the paper boy.

Pro wrestling has never been everyone’s cup of tea. I liked it better that way. It appealed to real fans, but not the masses. There’s more money on the main stage no doubt. Once cable TV came along it was inevitable that the business couldn’t be contained. It was good and bad on many levels. The good was it made a few guys rich. The bad is it made a lot of guys think they could buy a pair of boots and trunks and just be “rasslers.”

I don’t like everything the business has become but I understand it and why it has to be this way. It’s a big corporation and corporate people are running things. If you want to be in the game, you’ve got to play the game. Then again if you just want to play pretend, then there’s a stage for that too.

A lot to talk about (and with no help from David Burcham)

I wanna talk about something that's been on my mind lately but first let's cover a few things going on in wrestling right now.

Christian Cage wins the NWA World Title!

While I do feel the belt needed to be off of Jarrett (we'll see for how long though) I think they may have jumped the gun on putting the belt on Christian, they could have let him chase it for a while to make the win more meaningful but I guess change is good.


Bret Hart agrees to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame

Well Ol' Bret continues to sell out little by little to Vince. A couple years ago he said he would NEVER have anything to do with Vince or WWE again but the idea of his good name being tarnished on a dvd (ala Ultimate Warrior) was too much for him to bare so he came back and not only did the dvd but gave a few 'photo ops' shaking hands with McMahon. Now he's decided to come be inducted into the Hall of Fame, which I think is great but if he's gonna do this kinda stuff then he needs to lay off the 'WWE is evil' shit in his interviews and fan q&a's. I'm sure it's only a matter of time(if not at WrestleMania 22) that McMahon will have him talked into doing the in-ring confrontation he's been trying to sell him on for a while now.

Speaking of Wrestlemania, I have to say I'm disappointed. While the WWE has sucked pretty bad for a few years now they've always been able to pull something out of there ass for Wrestlemania that gets you interested. This year they really don't seem to have anything that's gonna be a can't miss match. The shit with HBK/Vince/Shane is just coming off like a desperate thrown together angle for a meaningless Wrestemania match, which it probably is since rumor is Shawn Michaels wanted to wrestle the Rock at Wrestlemania but Rock turned it down because he legit dislikes Shawn for being such a prick when he first broke in. We'll see, maybe they will come up with something.


Axeman has heat!!!

Damn man, what's with all the Axeman haters on the message board? They've been roasting him for weeks now. Give the guy a break, he writes a good column, if you don't like it don't read it. Now as for the people who are taking him to task on claiming he worked for World Class in the eighties, can you really blame them? If you go on record making a claim like that then you should be prepared to back it up. As someone who has hundreds of hours of World Class Wrestling on tape myself I would love to know the details of Axeman's stint there, so come on Axe, show the proof and shut them up already.


Here's an Example of what's wrong with wrestling today

Look at this, it 's ending soon so I hope the link will still work but some dumbass indy promoter has Ebay auctions to be a manager on his show. You can pay $200 bucks to manage Raven, Abyss, or the New Age Outlaws, or they can pay $125 to be the ring announcer.
Here's a link:
Click here to become a wrestling manager!



"Hey Gene, Rhino took your ring name."

Well, I recieved several emails from people informing me that TNA has started calling Rhino, "The War Machine" and have even trademarked the name for wrestling. I guess this is supposed to upset me but I don't really care. I stole the name from when Ray Traylor used it in the WarGames in 1987. As for it being trademarked I really don't think I would get caught using it on some show in Mississippi or Alabama in front of 30 people but to make people happy I will drop it all the same. I have no intention of wrestling anytime soon if at all so it's really not a big deal. I've been working on some more stand up material and plan to go back to the Comedy Club in Birmingham in March or April.
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Okay, like I mentioned at the beginning. Here's what's been bugging me. It really sucks that wrestling fans of the present and future will never know what wrestling really is (or was). I mean think about it, fans who have only been watching 8-10 years don't really know what wrestling was really all about. It really hit me recently when I was talking to a young guy at work(17 or so) and came to realize that his idea of "old school" wrestling is the nWo. He said he started watching wrestling around '97. He says he watches RAW and wonders what the big deal about Ric Flair is? Think about it, he's right. If you didn't know Flair's history and have only seen him in the past few years as Triple H's bitch you would wonder that too. Or what about the fans who hear people talk about how great Memphis Wrestling was and it's rich history but all they've seen is fucking Corey Maclin working the main angles for the past three years. (Honestly, Koko B. Ware vs. Corey FUCKIN' Maclin in a Cage!?!? and they wonder why they can't draw in Memphis anymore) Back to the point, these fans have been brought up on an entirely different "wrestling" than most of us did and the bad thing is, it can never be fixed. You can't bring back kayfabe. You can't slow the matches back down and make them mean something, you can't put the real emotion back that used to be there. Now most could care less who wins or loses they just want to see if they can spot how many times someone 'fucked up' or 'blows a spot'. It's all about how many moves someone can perform rather than any emotional attachment. People have been told it's fake to the point that no one wants to believe anything is EVER real because God forbid they be "worked". For Christ's sake there are people on messages boards who think Eddie Guerrero's death is a work and he's gonna do a run in at Wrestlemania. (although who can blame them since his name has been thrown around on tv more in the past few weeks than some of the midcarders currently still there.) So much was done during the 'Monday Night Wars' that gave them short term ratings boosts but have killed wrestling in the long run. Plus it's obvious how much real wrestling fans long for the old days of wrestling, that's why the sales of the dvd's with old footage are doing so well, and their Classic Wrestling Figures are such hot items, fans want to cling to that last memory of the sport they once loved. As for the young people you can watch the dvds but you still can't understand or appreciate how it used to be, just watching random matches most find them boring when compared to todays X-Division type stuff. Alot of the matches from the past don't hold up as well without seeing the monthes of buildup that led to them. That's another thing, most angles have a FOUR WEEK build then a PPV match and then it's on to the next one. I guess there really was no purpose to this other than to vent and see if I get any feedback from people who feel the same way. So if you agree or have an opposing view, I would love to hear it. Seriously. genejackson@charter.net


You know some jerkoff on the message board made some comment, something to the effect of. "Gene Jackson is an ass, he acts like he know's the business when he doesn't even work any shows." Not exact, but it was something to that effect. In response to that I will say, that yes I am an ass, no argument there. However, I do know something about the "business" and I've got news for you. Most of the guys who work shows every weekend don't have a damn clue about the business. I think most people who have read my columns for a while will tell you that while I'm not a good wrestler by any stretch, I do however know and understand the business. Not from working but from studying it my entire life. Since I was a small child I have watched and read everything I could get my hands that had anything to do with wrestling. Not just watched it as a fan, but studied it. What people do in the ring, how people react, why they react that way. You don't have to get in the ring to "know the business". Dave Meltzer has never worked a match, but he "knows the business". Bill Apter is not a worker, but he "knows the business". So while you may be right that I'm an ass, and no I don't wrestle much these days, I do understand the business and what it's about, which more than I can say for a whole of people. (and the sad thing is, they don't even know)

Thanks for Reading.

GENE

BOOGIE 3:16