Old School vs. New School
By: Matt Hyson
Everything always changes and pro wrestling is no different. I really believe that my generation is the last group of “old-school” wrestling fans. The term “old-school,” to me, is wrestling from the pre-WWF take over of television. Wrestling changed forever when Vince bought out all the territories and went national with the power of cable television. Everyone knows the story; he took Hulk Hogan and the WWF to a national setting and brought wrestling into the mainstream media. He also confessed to wrestling being “entertainment.” This happened mostly to avoid the scrutiny of athletic commissions and massive financial payouts. When that happened, pro wrestling was forever changed into “sports entertainment” and removed the need for wrestlers to claim “real fighting.” Once a wrestler only had to look good and sell gimmicks there was less need to sell tickets with actual wrestling. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
In order to explain what I’m getting at I’m going to tell you how I felt about wrestling as a fan. My earliest childhood memories are of watching Saturday morning wrestling. I have three older brothers and after the hour of WWWF we would spend the day in tag team wars. This was the mid-1970s and Tony Garea and Larry Zybysko were my idols. I was always Larry and my brother Chris was Tony. My two older brothers were Mr.Fuji and Prof. Toru Tanaka. We’d do all the kid wrestling stuff using the sofa cushions for a mat and the back of the sofa as the top rope. Once in a while, if Mom and Dad were out, my oldest bro would grab a handful of flour and blind us just like Fuji’s salt.
As a kid I really did believe it was real. Maybe I was naïve or stupid, but back then it was debatable. The wrestlers never exposed themselves. The interviews weren’t the yelling, screaming, over-the-top experiences they are today. The baby-faces were mostly soft-spoken, polite men discussing their upcoming opponent with respect. Just as the true baby-faces of “real” sports (Tom Brady, David Robinson, Derek Jeter) they were down to earth guys who stressed the good things in life. Training, dedication, loyalty to the fans were all traits face’s used to endear themselves to the fans. Of course, there were characters but the colorful faces were still humble human beings. We, as fans, simply liked them.
The bad guys sure were bad. When rules were enforced in pro wrestling the heel would get heat with little things. Pulling hair or tights behind the ref’s back, getting disqualified on purpose, foreign objects---these things would raise hatred from the fans. It was the fact that they had to cheat to win that brought out jeers. A heel very seldom could out wrestle a baby face and win. Hence, they cheated. Fans knew there was no way a bad guy could beat a good guy in a square fight. Whenever a heel came to the ring, the crowd hated them. As a kid I truly hated Capt. Lou Albano for his interfering ways. I really wept when Zybysko turned on his mentor Bruno Sammartino. I felt the hatred when Peter Mavia attacked Bob Backlund. I felt these emotions so deeply I begged my parents to take me to any of the live matches. I had to see Jimmy Snuka take his revenge on Ray Stevens. To miss one of these feuds in action was to miss my hero’s redeem themselves, and that I could not have.
This leads me to another point. Television was used to promote the live shows. Very seldom did main event match-ups air on TV. Instead, the angle was set up and the matches could only be seen at your local arena. By having to go to the show live, the fans would be part of something magical. Now, TV is used to sell pay-per-views. Live events aren’t stressed nearly enough as more revenue comes from the ppv’s than selling tickets. To me, what makes pro wrestling special is removed from the equation. No matter how good a show is on TV, the feel of being part of the show is lost by not being there live. And since every big match can be seen without leaving home, nothing ever happens at house shows. Today’s non-televised events are often slow and boring. When I was a kid, everything happened at the live show.
Where I’m going with this is that fans (and wrestlers) lose that emotional experience of live events. Today, the young fans look at pro wrestlers the same way they view comic book characters---like fiction. No one truly feels the pain when a baby-face is robbed of a victory. No one feels the explosion of relief and happiness when the heel has been exposed as a villainous cheater and loser. Pro wrestling, for me, was always an emotional roller-coaster. Today it’s merely sports entertainment. Do people “really” want to see today’s heel’s physically harmed? Back in the day, a good heel had to park six blocks away and have a secret escort to get out of the arena. Why? Because a mob of fans would be waiting in the parking lot with bats, knives and guns trying to get a crack at him. I’m not kidding. Heel’s had to fear for their lives when fans truly hated them. But that was the emotion that made wrestling great.
I’m not saying anything is better or worse. I’m certainly not saying today’s fans don’t care as much, as they are as loyal to the sport as ever. What I’m trying to get across is that the emotional link between fans and wrestlers has turned into something different. Now that fans are aware that the wrestlers don’t really hate each other and that they aren’t really trying to hurt each other the emotions don’t run as deep. There’s still thrills and adulation, but very seldom death threats and must see events. I miss it. I will always take an emotional roller-coaster of a show over a story-less collection of choreographed matches. I don’t think today’s generation will ever be able to feel as deeply as the old-school fan, they don’t have as much invested in the outcome. It’s just the way it is. Maybe times will change and the live event will become the cornerstone of wrestling again. But we can never undo “sports entertainment” and, no matter what, will never get fans to the emotional frenzy of old school.