A Need for Chaos, How MMA Lead to...Dive, and Benoit Pro Wrestling.

*Blog post started on December 17, 2020.

I guess life is just boring. It could be doing my best to follow social distancing protocols. It could be me needing to lay off the booze to show my PA that I have been trying to be healthier. When I have been on my own for the past month, how else am I expected to create any excitement?

The lack of opportunities to socialize has been driving me mad. My latest tattoo ideas have been the cheery ode to Wax Trax Records's best German signee, KMFDM (Kittens Make For Deadly Minions) and one that will state "Fuck Serenity". It is not an anti-Whedon (I suppose that would be warrant the "FYR" idea idea I have been working on) just an expression of displeasure that my best friend's grave has the "Serenity Prayer" on a cross that was placed there.

This may stem from me not being religious anymore and the belief she was not faith dependent either. Perhaps she became that way after she tried to fight her demons, but she ended up succumbing to them anyhow. Where was the fucking power then you cloud-riding asshole?

What can be said is that I am longing for tangible chaos. My cats can only cause so much trouble. Some hairballs and a few spilled drinks is all I am getting. 409 makes those challenges too easy for me. The moment I became calm when I was trying to make sure my friend was safe was the moment when her illness took her. If there is nothing for me to fight for, what is the point of living? How long can one remain content?

I suppose that is not the perspective of a grown up. My only responsibilities are my cats and my bills. Grown ups have kids that they need to see to adulthood so that they may receive grandchildren to spoil. The point is, you are always working for something when you are a parent, so you shall not find many moments when there is not a fight. As someone focusing of creative and social goals, not being able to pursue any sucks.

Do I envy those who have surrendered their freedom to the young? I envy the tangible relationships with partners, but their path, no. Parenthood is something I think you must want. It is an easier path to immortality, but I know enough bastards who would like their kids to not know about their previous generation.

If we think about the memory element of existence, those without kids are trying to obtain memory on a grander scale. Or at least they better be. Then again, I suppose being the town drunk could make one known for a couple of generations beyond them. It might be why my family has never truly supported me in my wrestling exploits. That lacks something tangible for them as the most they got from it was me being mentioned in "Wrestle America" magazine.

Or they saw a few matches of mine in Peoria, and realized that I had not been trained by Norman "Apocolypse" Callaway to be memorable. I was his website designer, so he thought it was privilege for me to be allowed in the ring. He does not need to look cool and he is a mark for pursuing a career in the business anyhow. Learning anything memorable from him would be impossible and would also question why he was at the top of the card regardless if he had the pen. I could get personal with his life's decisions when I knew him, but I do not know the man now to see if it worked out.

Olivia Galindo @oliviagalindo·Pinterest

The top of the card is where the story is at, and that is why Next Generation Wrestling (and later Midwest Impact Pro) was not very memorable. Peoria could not come up with the original story lines to warrant long drawn out matches. If you came back, it was because of those on the undercard who questionably sold and relied on ...dive.

Why does the "Quit Diving!" argument come up in quadrennial cycles? Randy Orton seems to have mellowed out since 2016. Perhaps it was the MMA elbows from Brock Lesnar knocking the saltiness out of him. Lesnar seems to love to work with the flippy guys more than heavyweights. If Jon Moxley offered some more small guy offense, Brock may have gotten excited to work him at WrestleMania 32.

I did not want the Disgruntled's Real Championship Wrestling blog to become an AEW fan site (Unless the Impact and NWA involvement requires the DRCW sanctioning body to replace all these extra belts), but with AEW being the only indie style out there (Sorry Ring of Honor. You might want to start dropping ads during local news broadcasts on Sinclair.) that is always fresh (Crowd-free wrestling cannot be aired, look at the pre-Thunderdome ratings.). Because all the best indie talent is showing up there, you have to expect...dive and selling without embellishment. With that being established, can Jim Ross really be complaining about this style not being his kind of realistic?

With divisive electoral politics being pushed out the locker room, maybe Jim Ross needs to have something for the boys to get frustrated with. All of Orton's ...dive talk was before Trump's presidency.

Is AEW's style really realistic? I would say yes on most levels. The main events tend to be long drawn out wars. Every move counts so much more, so you do not see as many HIGH spots when compared to the undercard. Main event implies the best are competing, so they should also be the wisest. If everyone is wrestling the same style, their wisdom allows them to work around the flashy moves. Their challengers best be aware of that and save the big spots. Kenny Omega is a little too happy with his V-Trigger, but otherwise, a finisher is a finisher.

You know Kenny Omega is not going to win with one V-Trigger. He is going to win with the One-Winged Angel. Paul Heyman said it best on the Stone Cold Podcast. If you do not see some one kick out of a sparingly used move, the move is more valuable. All AEW has been doing is changing what moves are important. Jake Roberts is still working there despite the overuse of the DDT. If he starts bitching about its lack of effectiveness, then I arguing against it not being a finisher may be valid. Anyhow, no one hits a DDT like The Snake (or Raven).

Stay out of Eddie Kingston's ring JR.

Until you realize who the main eventers are and are not, then you realize where the flippy shit can occur. You should be expecting inexperienced performers in ANY sport to be trying to do too much. That is what make the sport exciting. There are a lot of moves that you do not want children hitting each other with, but it TV-14 so if your kid nails another kid with a Canadian Destroyer, kudos for his ability to shoot spike a child like that, but the fault falls upon you.

With that said about the Destroyer, it is an unrealistic move, so kicking out of that is acceptable on those grounds. But back to the concept of realism, as long as the team has one move which is more brutal than their others and it gets the win, is that not what the sport's structure was founded on?

Because of this, if you win the match after a dive to the floor, that would be bullshit. Thankfully, I have yet to see that happen. So why are we complaining Jim? Is it because we need that voice of dissent and Cornette is persona-non-grada?

Wrestling is spectacle on television. The dive into 13 people is spectacular. A few more punches thrown while the crowd coils up, bitching about realism can be made redundant.

My final argument for the current style is my fledgling love of mixed martial arts. When I spell out MMA, I realize my love may have been for No Holds Barred (which pro-wrestling needs to realize NHB does mean weapons should be barred). Once I started training as a pro-wrestler, my time to devote watching that sport was greatly diminished. That did not really matter because it was nothing like the sport I had grown up with.

Until UFC 4, Gracie vs. Severns, matches did not go longer than five minutes (at least fights that were aired). That is because real fights do not last longer than that. If you cannot game plan an opponent, you throw whatever you have at them and hope something sticks. The counter argument is that you can plan for any opponent with the internet, but every match on the card cannot be a methodical, slow-paced fight. Wrestling can guarantee that. MMA cannot.

Once the sport became about cross-training and considering judges' opinions, the sport lost its charm to me. Styles make fights. That is the same in professional wrestling. How is the super heavyweight going to catch the high flyer? How is Bret Hart going to get Yokozuna to tap out to the Scorpion Deathlock? Which is better: Flips or Fists?

I loved to watch Pride and Dream because of the showmanship and the undercards were going to offer you something totally different than the main event. If everyone is practicing the same style, every fight can end up being the same. In MMA, you cannot throw a different top rope move into each match to place a stamp on it.

In the end, it all comes down to the booker. If they place too many similar bouts together, you have a right to be upset and to change the channel (or unsubscribe to their streaming service). AEW has been able to avoid that with the exception of "Dark", but that is more of an issue of the large volume of similar matches. Right now, the state of Wednesday Night Wrestling is good. I would say thanks for the warning Mr. Ross of where wrestling can end up, but I think you are just nostalgic for the style you broke in with.

It is not necessarily nostalgia for a style. I think it might be a yearning to see the legendary matches again. Those are not going to happen. Let Steve Williams defeating Big Bubba Rogers be its own thing and do not expect performers 35 years removed from that try and replace it.

With that said, has anyone tried starting a promotion where the classic matches are recreated move for move? I think it may encourage newer fans who do not want to spend $9.99 to support a company otherwise funded by Saudi blood money (As a Newcastle United fan, it feels good that I am not a hypocrite with that statement.) might want to look back into the history of the sport if there was an event like that. They can find new performers to be inspired by...

Until they learn about the cancel culture moments. That does not stop me from proposing Benoit Pro Wrestling.