The Disappearing Art Form of Pro Wrestling

The greatest pro wrestlers have always been larger than life, the stars that defined generations, that carried companies and gained the adulation of millions of fans have always been masters of the art form of pro wrestling, an art form that transcends in ring ability it encompasses character, persona, charisma, gimmick, politics, mic and promo skills. This is an art form that has been disappearing from the industry and it’s left me feeling disillusioned with the entertainment form that has inspired and interested me for nearly 20 years.

Performers such as Dusty Rhodes are a far cry from the generic, robot like, lazy developed ‘stars’ that are offered up today. The American Dream debuted in the wwf in 1989 with his yellow polka dotted clad common man gimmick (all his own ideas) which in my opinion is one of the best wrestling gimmicks ever. Rhodes had the charisma and personality to pull it off and this is the bottom line of my train of thought, where is today’s larger than life charismatic personalities that have the ability to hold the audiences attention and to get them on the edge of their seats with a microphone or even the raising of an eye brow?

Check this promo from Rhodes…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxC3oAD1iUg

For me this is one of the most emotional and powerful promo’s ever, my point is that the majority of the current rosters of the two biggest wrestling promotions don’t have one iota of Dusty Rhodes charisma, he makes John Cena the face of the largest company look like an amateur.

The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Hogan, the undertaker, HBK I could go on and on, all major stars that were masters of the art form of pro wrestling, the aforementioned all had that IT factor all had that ability to use a character and gimmick mixed with personality and charisma to get over massively, and my question to you is why don’t we see this to the same extent in modern day wrestling? We’ve had a few obvious exceptions in Punk and maybe Cody Rhodes coming through but I just fail to see the attributes that made wrestling so appealing in the past in the likes of Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, Zack Ryder, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan etc etc

Is this down to development of talent or simply due to the stars of today just lacking what it takes to recreate the art form in the same way? Is in ring ability and athleticism now the way we should appreciate wrestling? Or like me do you want to be entertained in a way that the history of the industry was built? For me story telling encapsulates the essence of wrestling and keeps me wanting more and it’s the gimmick based personalities that deliver the best stories.

Fantastic article and the Dusty Rhodes Hard Times promo is one of my fave promos of all time so cheers for posting it up.

WWE is a factory of vanilla at times but through the mire of Orton clones there are a few glimmers of hope.

Punk is the most obvious guy, promo wise I believe he could hold a mic against anyone in the business past or present, Cody has come on a great deal from his time in the Orton cloning machine of Legacy and in FCW there's Moxley who hopefully will soon be showing a global audience his mic skills which compare very well to Piper and Pillman.

Great article, totally agree, I feel that Vince McMahon became so absorbed with gaining main stream acceptence that he took his characters down the more reality based route a'la MMA styled fighters, in doing so he has really stripped down a lot of what made Pro Wrestling great and also left a lot of guys hung out to dry due to them not having a strong enough gimmick to support them and sometimes hide behind.

I wouldn't add Dolph Ziggler to your list, this guy has been unbelievable for the last year and a half

Why is this? I've had this discussion a few times, for me it's not down to lack of ability it's simply down to lack of development, far to many guys now are thrown on World Wide TV when they've only been in the business for five minutes, they are taught the one style, the WWE style in FCW and that's the reason we see a conveyor belt of 'type WWE' Wrestler come through, same size, build, look and move set with the obvious exceptions to finishers.

It's simply not logical in my opinion, no longer do guys tour Japan, Mexico, Europe or Canada, they have no real territories anymore to hone their skills and learn what works and what doesn't

If you look at the guys creating a buzz in FCW at the moment it's Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Antonio Cesaro, all guys with big indy links and guys who have honed their craft all over the World, the WWE simply couldn't ignore them but if it where up to them, the WWE manufactored guys would be the guys making thee noises not the 'outsiders'

It's painfully obvious though, even in the development so hopefully the WWE will re-think their game plan although that's more hope than expectation

@gaffer sure dolph has had a great year, he's come on leaps and bounds in the ring and his mic work is improving since his pairing with vicki. However is dolph just another example of great athleticism and sporting prowess? Does he have the potential to competently use the overall art form or even master it? My conclusion of dolph is the he's a extremely talented in ring performer but as stated in the op is this how we should appreciate wrestling now?

He's still learning on the job to be fair, he seems to be a natural and from the outside looking in it looks like he's got direction and a path he believes his character should take, his athleticism is a big part of it but if you take Mr Perfect as an example, his gimmick wouldn't have worked without the athleticism, I fully believe he has the ability be a big success, his athleticism is a big part of that but I feel he has the potential gimmick to make it interesting, if it where all about athleticism Shelton Benjamin would be the Hulk Hogan of this era IMO

Gaffer I'd be interested to know what your favourite promo of all time is? I've already posted up my dusty Rhodes hard times interview and I was always a big fan of the rocks skit on Jericho "uncle jimmy Joe Jericho with glass eye!" and obviously austins post kotr wining promo

Got to agree with gaffer, the lack of viable alternative Federations is a real drawback for modern pro wrestlers.

It's not a coincidence that Punk seems so fresh as an actual Main Event player. Punk has had such a varied wrestling education, he is comfortable in all aspects; e.g on the mic, in the ring, facing hostile crowds, playing up to bizarro crowds all the while being either face or heel.

MtotheC wrote:Gaffer I'd be interested to know what your favourite promo of all time is? I've already posted up my dusty Rhodes hard times interview and I was always a big fan of the rocks skit on Jericho "uncle jimmy Joe Jericho with glass eye!" and obviously austins post kotr wining promo

I've always been a big fan of Cactus Jacks "Cane Dewey" promo in ECW from around 1995

Really good read... Although cant agree Dusty 'yellow pokadot' Rhodes was a decent gimmick it was a career killer!!

It's interesting that Ziggler should be brought up. Remember 8 months ago when he had his hair cut & had no dye in it? He looked like just another Orton rip off fast forward to today & he's in the top 3 most exciting guys on the roster. I'm guessing management don't have the confidence in talent to 'be themselves' anymore (I'm not sure why). Promos are scripted to the word & essentially a wrestler has to be what some Hollywood script writer tells him to be. He has no chance to let his own personality shine through...

I must that bit about Dusty.

All his own idea? I've always been under the impression the whole polka dot schtick was a rib from Vince yet it worked simply because Dusty was so over and so charasmatic

What I ment was the common man gimmick was his own idea and one of the best ever. if I'm right (please correct me if not) the whole ridiculous coloured attire was a way of the wwf ridiculing Rhodes, yet as you rightly say gaffer he was so talented that he made it work.

That's something I never understood and never will Brady... Having Hollywood script writers essentially booking pro wrestling, surly people like Paul heyman, jim Ross, jim cornet and people like this who actually know what wrestling should be about, they can appreciate where the business has come from and what works and doesn't work, maybe the three I mentioned aren't the best but there the first three I could of.

MtotheC wrote:That's something I never understood and never will Brady... Having Hollywood script writers essentially booking pro wrestling, surly people like Paul heyman, jim Ross, jim cornet and people like this who actually know what wrestling should be about, they can appreciate where the business has come from and what works and doesn't work, maybe the three I mentioned aren't the best but there the first three I could of.

I'm guessing it's a combination of a few things... Vince wants to see himself as an entertainment mogul rather than a wrestling promoter to me it's as if he's become ashamed of his wrestle roots. He's doing everything he can to hide this (simply calling his company WWE, coining phrases such as Sports Entertianment' etc) employing Hollywood script writers as a pose to pure wrestling guys will no doubt enhance this idea. Another theory is wrestling guys of yesteryear are 'out of touch' in Vinces mind with modern society. This I believe was a concept that catapulted Vince Russo from editor of WWF magazine to lead writer on Raw, because guys like Ross & Cornette were too 'old school' & were around the booking in the flat period of 93-95

I agree the passion and cadence of the famous "hard times" promo makes it more memorable than most. It stands out above modern day promos because it feels so unscripted. At times, that isn't necessarily a good thing (Rhodes rambles and loses his train of thought a couple of times) but overall it makes for a really impassioned attention-grabbing promo.

I would point out that this promo is from years before Dusty's WWF stint. The legend has grown over time that Dusty came up with the polka dot outfit and common man gimmick himself, but I would take that with a pinch of salt if only because it seems so typical of Vince McMahon to have saddled him with that gimmick. I'm surprised that people are talking as though his WWF stint was a success; it's pretty much the least notable period of his whole career, and was about as spectacular a fall from grace as I could imagine for a former three-time NWA world champion.

Onto Dusty himself; the great irony was that, while Dusty was talking about his family's hard times, and eating pork and beans in alleys, he was actually living an incredibly lavish lifestyle, spending Jim Crockett's money (money which Crockett didn't have, it turned out) to fly himself and his cronies everywhere by private jet, amongst other things. Dusty was also about as one-dimensional - as a wrestler and a booker - as you could get. Whilst incredibly charismatic, with a mixture of influences from Mohammed Ali to televangelists to James Brown, there may never have been a more selfish, self-centred figure in the history of the industry. His repetitive booking, backstage politics and hogging of the top babyface spot long after fans had tired of his act put Crockett out of business.

As for his "man of the people" schtick, Sean Waltman recently told a story of how, as a ten year old wrestling fanatic, he was sitting backstage prior to a local event when Dusty walked into the room. Waltman excitedly asked for Dusty's autograph, and received a simple "No" in response. There are various stories around of how Dusty was far removed from his everyman persona, but that one might be the most indefensible.