Art by Dmitriy Polovinkin
To us here at the Guild it is obvious that wrestling is on the precipice of another big boost. Especially with the rise of companies like Lucha Underground and Global Force Wrestling, as well as New Japan gaining ground in the US. We would therefore like to introduce our newest Guild member who will be adding his wrestling opinion on a regular basis.
Greetings readers,
C. Marry Hultman has given me the honour of writing a column about a subject that I love – pro wrestling. First, allow me to elaborate on my lengthy relationship with pro wrestling. I was six years old when I first discovered it. I had rented a VHS tape of WWF Wrestlemania V and was hooked forever from that point. My list of childhood wrestling memories is a heartwarming, nostalgic walk down memory lane; Pretending to be the Ultimate Warrior in the playground by tying multicoloured shoelaces to my arms, collecting WWF Hasbro and WCW Galoob action figures. Getting suspended from school because I saw someone do a ‘piledriver’ on television and decided to try the move on my friend, cracking his head open in the process, a happy childhood. Since those early days my interest in the sport has never diminished, 25 years as a wrestling fan – The Hulkamania Era, The Monday Night Wars, The Attitude Era, The original ECW, the attempted hostile takeover by XPW, the advent of ‘Ultraviolence’ and CZW, the rise ofthe next generation of independent promotions such as ROH, Dragon Gate USA and PWG. I’ve watched it all and I’ve loved it all. I’ve even worked in the industry in two different countries. Therefore, it is with certainty and educated deduction that I confidently say these next words … WWE, in 2015, is BAD! It’s very bad. It is insulting to long time viewers. It is out of touch with the modern world. It is xenophobic and offensive to millions of fans outside of America. And on a less serious note, it’s boring. It’s VERY boring. Do you remember a time when wrestling promos were between 30 and 90 seconds long? Somehow, the microphone masters of yesteryear managed to tell a story, explain a feud and show enough emotion to draw a crowd to subsequent shows…. in a 90 second promo! Why can’t modern WWE Superstars do the same, considering the average promo takes 20 minutes these days?
So what am I doing here? Is this the turning point of my lifelong fandom? Is this the part where I tell you that wrestling isn’t for me anymore? Absolutely NOT! You see, there’s a little company called Lucha Underground, I suggest you watch it. The number one wrestling company in the world must be doing something very very wrong if a life long fan like myself is looking forward to next week’s hour-long Lucha Underground taping with more anticipation and interest than Wrestlemania.
Dmitriy Polovinkin
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