“Shooting For The Wrestling Fan’s Attention”

“Shooting For The Wrestling Fan’s Attention”

by Michael Parisi

In the early days of professional wrestling there was always a shroud of mystery blocking fans from the truth behind the industry. Wrestlers kept their craft as a closely guarded secret and if you dared to call wrestling fake, you just might end up like John Stossel. In the 1980’s that all changed when Vince McMahon Jr. decided to lift that shroud and reveal to the world that wrestling was predetermined. It was the beginning of athletes becoming superstars and wrestling becoming sports entertainment. In recent years, most fans will agree that wrestling has become a bit stale and very predictable. I’m one old school wrestling fan who longs for the days of watching Bob Backlund, Don Muraco, Ric Flair, and Dusty Rhodes. Pro Wrestling used to be filled with adventure and suspense, it had riveting storylines. Does anyone remember when Andy Kaufman through a mug of water in The King, Jerry Lawler’s face on Late Nite with David Letterman? Andy Kaufman was a genius at not only working the crowd but also working the boys. Andy Kaufman became a master of staying in character both on and off camera. He took his love for professional wrestling to great extremes, and he was so good at it that he had his closest friends concerned for his well being.

Since the days of Andy Kaufman’s antics there has only been a few wrestlers to really pull off a “worked shoot” superbly. Brian Pillman lived his “loose cannon” character and had an entire dressing room full of wrestlers buying what he was selling. Pillman worked them all, from WCW to ECW, and finally over to the WWF. There seems to be a “worked shoot” trend subtlety sweeping the wrestling community. CM Punk is the most notable example as he has single handedly set the WWE on fire again. There hasn’t been this type of water cooler talk since the days of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now, as mainstream as the CM Punk contract controversy was, there are a few interesting heated situations taking place under the radar in the independent scene. Apparently there has been some trash talk between Ricky Morton and Kevin Nash recently, and in a few short months those two individuals will meet on opposite sides of the squared circle. There are some people talking that this meeting could turn into an all out shoot. In the world of wrestling, you are learned to question everything. While I’m sure the heat is real between them, there is also the theatrics of this business at hand and to coin a term from Eric Bischoff, “controversy creates cash”! This is true even at the independent level.

There’s another interesting situation that’s been brewing on the world wide web. You know the name of “The Universal Heartthrob” Austin Idol as he’s known as one of the best promo men of all time. Here’s a name that you’ve never heard of before, Michael Joy. He’s a horror journalist who works for the website, Horrornews.net. Michael Joy made an outrageous claim in a recent interview with Austin Idol, saying that Idol could have saved the life of fellow wrestler and plane crash victim, Bobby Shane. Austin Idol snapped, calling the claim baseless and hung up on Michael Joy. I’ve read a lot of comments that it’s a simple case of Michael Joy going into business for himself, but I believe there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Here’s a few things that you need to take into consideration. The day after the interview, Austin Idol posted it on his own website. If I were Austin Idol, I think the best way to deal with this jerk would be to simply ignore him and not give him the satisfaction of getting this so-called interview published. It didn’t stop there, as Michael Joy responded via video blog to Austin Idol and Austin Idol again retaliated on his own website, Austin Idol Live! I’m curious to see who makes the next move here and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this entire fantasy wasn’t concocted by Austin Idol himself. Think about it.