Wrestler awareness of things not in their bubble

[goc]

Yeah, I am reduced to recycling my material. Seriously, I think chances are high that Flair has no idea that Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi became stars and headed All Japan after Jumbo retired. Is there even proof he knows who Kenta Kobashi is? I know they were going to do a handshake for some indy once, but I'd be shocked if he's ever seen one of his matches.

When Flair did his first shoot interview with High Spots he didn't even know Jumbo had died.

[pantherwagner]

There was this odd WrestleAid (or something like that) show more than a decade ago, and THE SANDMAN of all people walked to Jaguar Yokota, very respectfully went to shake her hand and told her something along the lines of "it's an honour to meet you, you are the greatest ever".

 

Yokota politely smiled and thanked him and walked away. She had no idea who Sandman was.

[El-P]

There was this odd WrestleAid (or something like that) show more than a decade ago, and THE SANDMAN of all people walked to Jaguar Yokota, very respectfully went to shake her hand and told her something along the lines of "it's an honour to meet you, you are the greatest ever".

 

Yokota politely smiled and thanked him and walked away. She had no idea who Sandman was.

 

That's a great story. Gotta love Hak.

[Jingus]

I'm trying to decide which one's weirder: Hak knowing Yokota, or Jaguar never having once heard of The Sandman? I guess it's not bizarre for an old ECW vet to know Japanese talent, considering how often the workers would hang around Feinstein's office and watch tapes. But either Yokota has a terrible memory, or she just doesn't watch American wrestling, cuz Sandman worked for EVERY top company of the modern age (WWE/WCW/ECW/TNA) in relatively high-profile roles.

 

When Flair had Austin on his podcast, Flair's co-host had to correct him on Austin/Hart from WrestleMania 13 not being a 60-minute match. Flair then admitted he'd never seen the match.

 

That one kind of boggled my mind mostly because of just how iconic that match is, plus, it did happen on the biggest show of the year for the rival promotion (the one show you'd think everyone watched).

He pretty obviously confused Bret's matches from 12 and 13, and wound up with "Bret worked an hour with Austin". It's not shocking that any WCW guy wouldn't care about Mania 13, considering how firmly WCW was in control of the war at the time. I did LOL a little bit at Austin laughing that he'd never done an hour-long match in his entire career.

 

Is there even proof he knows who Kenta Kobashi is? I know they were going to do a handshake for some indy once, but I'd be shocked if he's ever seen one of his matches.

Kobashi debuted a year after Ric's last matches in All Japan, so if they met it would've been when Kenta was just one of the young boys hanging around ringside for the pull-aparts. Flair pays so little attention to what's going on in the competing companies in American wrestling, I doubt he gave a shit about whatever Baba's Boyz were doing when he was working for Inoki in 95 and 96.

[Loss]

It even raises the question of if Flair knew WCW was ahead at that time.

[pol]

Seems like the vast majority of wrestlers these days get into it because they were fans, which I think was less the case in the past. Even then, I don't think most of the guys have a particularly expansive knowledge of the wider world of wrestling.

 

It's frustrating seeing how many bad decisions have been made throughout wrestling history because guys in positions of power were attached to their way of doing things (which is usually whatever they learned when they were coming up) because they don't have the knowledge of all the varied ways wrestling can work.

[Happ Hazzard]

Flair was always a fan. Patera said that he always had a huge stack of wrestling magazines in his room when he was at college.

[Loss]

Yeah, I think that's the biggest issue. Most problems or unknowns in wrestling have precedent, but I guess because of the no off-season nature of wrestling, they don't even really learn from their own successes and failures most of the time, much less anyone else's. The nature of the beast is just to keep plowing ahead.

[Wade Garrett]

It's a job. it carries a higher profile than most jobs but that's what it is.

 

I think we tend to forget that because of our fandom and the nature of the business and those who choose to do it for a living.

[Jingus]

Flipping burgers at McDonalds is a job. Wrestling is something entirely different. It's something which, for the past two or three decades, is nearly impossible for most people to make a living at doing. The vast majority of wrestling trainees never ever make a full-time living in the ring. If all they wanted was a job, there's lots of jobs that are much easier to do and probably pay more too.

[Johnny Sorrow]

If it's what a person does for a living then it's a job. No matter how difficult it is.

[Jingus]

People don't work in show business just to make a living. Not when it's so difficult to break in, so difficult to succeed once you are in, and so easy to fail and never make a dime. That's an entirely different type of living-making than just getting a regular job because you gotta pay bills.

[Wade Garrett]

It's a job that they choose to do. Why is that so difficult to understand? Pro Wrestling isn't the only hard job to break into and make a decent living at.

[Happ Hazzard]

Any job becomes just a job eventually, no matter how starry-eyed people are at the outset. It just becomes routine.

[Slasher]

I think it is like professional sports, music, film, etc. It is a passion that you manage to make a career out of. You won't ever hear Peyton Manning say "I got to go to work." So in that context I think I understand where Jingus is coming from. But if you call it a career or chosen profession, you have bosses to answer to, you are part of a bigger entity where you get paid for your services. So it's a job as well.

[Jingus]

Pro Wrestling isn't the only hard job to break into and make a decent living at.

How many jobs outside of show business are THIS hard to make a decent living at? How many industries are honestly this tiny, with barely a few dozen individuals in the entire country who make a full-time living at it, yet still have thousands upon thousands of young hopefuls trying to break in?

 

Any job becomes just a job eventually, no matter how starry-eyed people are at the outset. It just becomes routine.

Of course, but that's not my point. Nobody in the modern age goes into wrestling because it's just a way to pay the bills. NOBODY, not for years now. Brock Lesnar is the last guy who even comes close to matching that description. (Well, aside from certain Divas who were hired out of bikini magazines, but that's a different subject.) 99.99% of wrestlers today are doing what they do because they were such huge fans of the show that they had to become a part of it. If you just need a job, there's endless other ways to make money (often, much MORE money) which won't eventually require you to get surgeries and cause brain damage due to daily physical abuse at your job.

[WingedEagle]

It's a job. it carries a higher profile than most jobs but that's what it is.

 

I think we tend to forget that because of our fandom and the nature of the business and those who choose to do it for a living.

 

I think this is the answer for a lot of wrestlers. Its also not like a sport where they actually have to worry about winning the next day and thus no coaches or need to scout film. When they punch out they want to go home, hit the bars, do whatever. They're just not all fans seeking out more than what else is on the monitor backstage, if that. No wrong or right to it but many of us are probably bigger fans than a lot of wrestlers.

[goc]

I don't think it's fair to say that most of us are bigger fans than a lot of wrestlers. Our only way to get out wrestling fix is to watch footage or fantasy book. They get their fix by wrestling 3-4 times a week. It doesn't surprise me at all that most guys when they have their off days don't watch, especially a guy like Flair in his prime who would have pretty much never had time to.

[Mad Dog]

One of my favorite things about Austin is how into watching wrestling he is.

 

He's a complete wrestling nerd. That was my favorite part of the Scott Hall episode was hearing them nerd out on wrestling.

[Jingus]

Its also not like a sport where they actually have to worry about winning the next day and thus no coaches or need to scout film. When they punch out they want to go home, hit the bars, do whatever. They're just not all fans seeking out more than what else is on the monitor backstage, if that.

Oh yeah, of course. That's just plain old burnout, and it can happen to everyone. In my first year announcing, I would arrive hours early at the building just to hang out and talk rassling with whoever was there; by my fifth year, I barely even felt like showing up anymore, and sometimes simply didn't. (Partly because we were running most of our shows in this horrible crackhouse of a ghetto hotel; but still, simple repetition over the years had taken its toll.) Of course doing anything for long enough can suck all the joy out of it. I'm just saying, nobody but the likes of Kurt Angle actually enters professional wrestling for monetary reasons while not knowing or caring about the artistic-passion side of things.

[DR Ackermann]

The thing about Bret not knowing anything outside of what he and his dad were involved with is annoying to me because Bret makes a lot of judgements in his book that he has no real basis to make. I wouldn't care otherwise, but he trashes Baba, British wrestling, Southern wrestling, Flair and more in his book. The statements he makes are clearly from someone who hasn't watched much of that stuff if any.

[elliott]

I hope to one day meet Nikki Bella so I can ask her if she preferred RINGS or PWFG.

 

Hahahahahahahahaahahahaha! Holy shit! Quote of the century.

[Matt D]

Someone asked the Bellas about Grado at a media event in the last week I think. I know I saw a quick video clip.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm trying to decide which one's weirder: Hak knowing Yokota, or Jaguar never having once heard of The Sandman?

How in the hell would Jaguar Yokota know who the Sandman was? Do you really think Yokota in the midst of training all of the late 80s/early 90s girls, making her comeback and starting her own promotion, had any idea what was happening in the US? There is zero chance that Yokota knew who the Sandman was for the simple reason that there was zero chance that the majority of workers outside the Michinoku Pro guys knew who he was

[Loss]

It's actually pretty common for creative professional types to follow other stuff going on in their field. Not doing it is pretty rare actually. It's arrogant, especially when, as DR says, they think they are qualified to make sweeping statements about who the best guys are in the business when they ignore entire swaths of it.