What makes a "Good Wrestler"??

This is something that has bothered me for a while, but after reading the recent 'Rants & Raves" I felt moved to write about. Now I would like everyone who reads this to respond whether it be here, on Jimmy's board, through email or wherever. I seriously would love to hear people's logic on this, be it workers, fans, whoever.

What in YOUR OPINION makes a good wrestler? It's really hard to determine what people are looking for that makes a "good wrestler". Because the guys who are the most over and draw the most money are very rarely great "wrestlers" (at least by definition) however they are great "workers" (which is a whole different ballgame) It seems the "smart fans" go for the more technical type wrestlers (i.e. Benoit, Low Ki, Guerrero, etc.) while guys like Hogan and Goldberg have drawn more money but are looked down upon by the "smarks" for their lack of technical skills. Now, I'm not exactly talking about the ECW crowd that Burcham was refferring to, there a whole different breed of "fans" altogether. I'm talking about the people who criticize the "workrate" of the old school guys but jerk off to ROH tapes of Low-Ki and CM Punk.

First off, the term "workrate" was created by sheet writers and internet marks and didn't previously exist in the business. Back in the day, promoters didn't give a shit about who was the most technically sound, it was all about who put asses in the seats, and realistically the guys who put the most asses in the seats wasn't always the most 'gifted atheletes. Take Jerry Lawler for example, by the smart marks way of thinking, he is a piss poor WRESTLER, but by the numbers of how many years he stayed on top in Memphis, how many weeks he sold out the Mid South Coliseum(he outdrew freakin Elvis) and the ratings drawn for Memphis tv, he is one of the greatest WORKERS of all time. Kamala, Bruiser Brody, Andre the Giant, JYD, The Road Warriors and countless others sold out buildings all over the country for years and they never worked any one hour ironman matches, had little to no "technical" skills but made the business millions of dollars, but these smarks shit on there legacys because they can't match workrate with Bryan Danielson or AJ Styles!?!?! I think that's a crock of shit.

However on the flipside, for all these old people who bitch and moan about how they need to go back to the old days and how it's a shame wrestling is all about "entertainment"now. I hate to tell you but it's always been about ENTERTAINMENT. Maybe they have gotten out of hand with some of the stupid shit they try to pass off as entertainment but the fact remains, all the outragous characters who ever drew huge houses despite there lack of pure "wrestling" skills prove the business has ALWAYS been more about entertainment than wrestling skills (you old timers telling me midget matches didn't expose the business years before Vince did) and that's fine, if you want to watch 'WRESTLING', watch amatuer wrestling.

In case my point isn't clear, I think there is a need for all the different types of wrestling to be able to have something to suit everybody. At every show, there is someone in the crowd that came to laugh, someone who came to see a technical match, someone who came to see blood, and someone who came to see there's cousin's boyfriend who just got trained by a guy he works with at the local grocery story. So you need something for everyone. The thing that pisses me off is when people say "So and So sucks cause he only does four moves", or "That guy can't work" even though he's one of the most over guys in the promotion. What is your basis for these statements? So all this makes me wonder judging by all the crap you read on the internet bashing this wrestler and that wrestler. What the hell do you want?? What are you looking for that makes a good wrestler? Is it the number of moves he can do? Is it the fancy tights he wears? Is it the music he comes out to? What is it?

Please give me some feedback, either on the boards or at my email address genejackson@charter.net

I will discuss what I hear as well as who I think the top 5 workers of all time are.

Untill then,
GENE

"War Machine" Gene Jackson

Well it's official........

I spoke to Tia last night through email and Cheap Heat is no longer apart of HollywoodJimmy.com. Nothing against them I just don't have the time to update it regularly, there's no hard feelings or anything and she's gonna put a link to this blog on the links page and I will post on there message board when I do updates here.

I will probably post some stuff later today or at least in the next few days as there are several things to talk about, the ECW PPV, Raven wins the NWA title, amongst others.

Again check back soon for updates

GENE

I've got your Cheap Heat right here.....

Well as it turns out due to a conflict with my work schedule I will not be in Tupelo this saturday for the benefit, I wish that I could be there, it sound's like it's gonna be quite a show. I hope it does very well and is able to help out Cody and Josh with what I'm sure are outrageous medical bills.


As for Jimmy's little tirade Sunday night on the board about me updating my column, I say f*** him, pull my column off the website, I don't give a shit, there's enough "fat retards" posting there already without my two cents, and speaking of which congrats on finally updating your shit for the first time in monthes. Pot meet the f***** kettle there buddy.

As for the people crying on the message boards about the "death of Memphis Wrestling" because Corey Maclin lost his tv deal and can't get another, I've got news for you, Memphis Wrestling died ten years ago and nobody told you. Memphis Wrestling died with the USWA and it ain't been back from Power Pro to all the shitty incarnations since, they are all trying to breathe life into something that is dead and gone and will NEVER be the same again, no matter what channel you put it on or how many has-beens you trot out there. It's over with, done. Speaking of dead promotions trying to rise from the grave........

Saturday night the IWF returned.............again. From what I've read and heard it's a really good angle and I hope it works out well, but before all you "IWF Fans" on the boards start singing "happy days are here again", why don't you just let this thing play out and see what happens. I like all these guys but let's face it, we've seen it all before, they'll have a good angle maybe even have a few IWF shows but before the summer is over they'll all be back on seperate shows doing "shoots" on each other........

Well so ends the first edition of the all new "Cheap Heat" and as you can see things have changed a bit, no more being nice, no more pulling punches. I say whatever the hell I wanna say and damn anybody that don't like it. You want "heat" folks, well it's coming..........

To all the Cryin' Little Bitches......Here ya go.

Since I couldn't find time to sit and write up columns and send them in frequently I have decided to start doing all my writing here as I can drop in anytime and post things and not have to come up with a whole column at once. Hopefully Jimmy and Tia will be ok with this I emailed Tia asking her to post a link here from my column. Now maybe this will cut down on all the pissing and moaning on the boards about my column being updated, if not then the hell with them.

I'll be back on here in a day or two to comment on some things.

Lack of Updates.....and a "legend" retires........

For the three or so people who read this and my Cheap Heat column, I'm sorry I've fallen behind. I've been real busy at work and when I'm at home my computer is always tied up burning dvd's for all the trades I've been doing. I wrote the majority of a column but didn't send it cause I wasn't sure how people would react, it's not really negative but probably some things people don't want to hear, even though they know it's true. Perhaps in the next few days I will finish it up and send it to Tia, or maybe I'll just scrap and write some more lame video reviews.....We'll see. I have to say I enjoyed Storm's recent "state of the business" address and agree with it wholeheartedly, not to sound like an old timer, but things have changed a lot of the past several years and not for the better, and I think it's time the WORKERS take back the wrestling business from the wannabes and pussies who polute rings all across the country.

Also, I picked up the recent edition of Pro Wrestling Illustrated and was shocked to see there was absolutely no mention of the recent retirement of Dwight Bradford. But if they had, I think it would have looked something like this............

Mississippi Wrestling Legend: Dwight Bradford retires at age 62 after an illustrious year and a half long career.

Tupelo, MS: Wrestling fans in Mississippi were saddened at the retirement of a "local legend" Dwight Bradford. Dwight lost a match to Neil "the Real Deal" Taylor on a DWA show FEATURING JERRY "THE KING" LAWLER in which the stipulation was if he lost, he must retire from wrestling. Who could forget all the monthes of memories he provided in his great "career", like his great feud in MUWA with Neil Taylor. Not to mention when he won the MUWA title from Neil Taylor or the time he won the DWA title in a classic match with Neil Taylor. Fans will always remember the series of tag matches in Ecru, with Mega Man Rodney Grimes and Neil Taylor, not to mention his brutal bullrope match in Oxford, MS against none other than Neil Taylor. But besides his MANY.....MANY........MANY matches with Neil Taylor he will also be remembered as the man who rode Jimmy Blaylock's coatails like a rodeo champ, perhaps longer than anyone in Hollywood Clique history. But on that faithful night in Tupelo, with Hollywood distracted with managing WWE SUPERSTAR JERRY "THE KING" LAWLER, Dwight would lose one last time to.........you guessed it Neil Taylor. Let us all take a moment to reflect on the career of one of the trues greats in Mississippi Wrestling history, Dwight "Death Wish" Bradford.

Why I wasn't in Amory friday night.

On friday as I was packing my stuff to head to Mississippi for the XOW show in Amory, my wife was having chest pains and shooting pains in her shoulders and arm, so she went to her doctor. The doctor freaked out and told her that she seemed to be headed towards having heart disease and may already have it, he sent her to the hospital to have a number of tests ran, needless to say we were both very upset and concerned so I called and left a message with the booker and called and told Neil that I would not be able to make it to the show. We then went to the hospital where they did a series of tests and after a few hours were able to let us know that she didn't YET have heart disease but because of her family history of it, she could very easily develope it if she isn't very careful, they also determined that the shooting pains were a result of all the stress from her job so she was told to take the weekend off and relax. So the good news is that she is going to be fine. Thanks to everyone who has expressed concern, it's been much appreciated.

I apologize to promoter and booker of XOW if I put them in a bind friday night by not being there but I know in that situation they would have done the same. I'm looking forward to returning to XOW in June.


I also want to mentioned that I was very sad to hear of the passing of Chris Candido, I will write a little more about that in the upcoming Cheap Heat which should be out mid week.

Thanks for reading,
GENE