Wrestling - Are we wearing rose tinted brains?

http://v2journal.com/2/post/2013/01/wrestling-are-we-wearing-rose-tinted-brains.html


Are We Wearing Tinted Brains?

by Rob Lee

I am going to delve into my past and examine a rather strange question. I will try to be as politically correct as I can but if I offend anyone I apologise. I am not intending to offend anyone in any way with this as I am a writer who is very open minded Is wrestling spreading out to those with disadvantages hurting it? I will look at examples of stereotypes and ways of life that have been represented in wrestling throughout my time as a fan.

There have been many representations of livelyhood promoted throughout the world, from beach boy Sting in WCW to the true gangster known as New Jack some have succeeded and some have not. There are many classes and areas of people that have been represented as well, from The Bluebloods to DDP when he won the lottery and lost everything not long afterwards. Then there are those I am looking at today. They represent a unique group, a nation or a mood.

Little People

I first remember seeing them being used in skits to antagonise a heel such as The Rock antagonising Booker T in 2001. Back then I found them funny as I was still a teenager but then fast forward to the introduction of Palmer Cannon on Smackdown. He introduced "The Junior Division" to WWE television and it got me intrigued as to what they could do in terms of matches. What were their skills like? I then saw the backstage comedy segments and I was just confused, are they going to wrestle? Well I remember them wrestling but they were taken off the air a few weeks later and having just watched two matches on youtube I can see why. No-one seemed really interested in them, they were mostly comedy matches and while they did showcase some skills it was not much. Their greatest representative is Hornswoggle and he has only really been used in comedy roles right from the very start, the only time I thought he could be used seriously was when he won the Cruiserweight Title but I was sadly let down by cartoon antics. I thought he would be a representative of how size does not matter in the wrestling world and start talking but his other issue of being a stereotype for Irish folklore has killed any chance of that ever happening. Unless he pulls a Kerwin White and somehow gets everything together but not in this lifetime. I have watched clips from Micro Championchip Wrestling and Micro Wrestling Federation and I know about the Mini-Estrella titles in Mexico so there is still some popularity for them and the matches I have seen show they can get some decent matches done. I feel that the representation in the WWE has hurt them a lot and they will never be on par with the regular wrestlers because of this.

Wrestlers with missing natural limbs

The people who have had an accident or a disease that has resulted in limbs being amputated that still wrestle. I admire these people quite a bit and I respect their drive and determination to do what they dream of doing. Zack Gowen being the prime example of this drive as he made it all the way to the WWE and wrestled such stars as The Big Show and even Vince McMahon himself. I was rooting for him all the way when I saw him wrestle McMahon and that brings up a question. Can wrestlers like Zack today only be used as the underdog when being brought onto television? Well it would depend on the severity of the amputation and their style of wrestling. Gowen is a natural cruiserweight and he is scrawny in my opinion so him being an underdog was a natural choice. The only other example I could find was Kerry Von Erich as he had his foot amputated in 1986. He still became Intercontinental Champion and carried on wrestling until his untimely death in 1993. He could still wrestle his kind of match and even if Kerry had lost most of his leg I could have seen him carrying on wrestling his own unique style. My opinion on amputee wrestlers is that you are no less a wrestler in my opinion and no less of a person, if you love what you do, keep on doing what you love.

Fetishes and lifestyle choices - continued on http://v2journal.com/2/post/2013/01/wrestling-are-we-wearing-rose-tinted-brains.html

Kerry von Erich wasn't pushed as an amputee though. He wasn't 'the Texas pegleg' Kerry von Erich.

Kind of like how the Rock isn't pushed as a black man...

Khali is pushed due to his disability of giantism though (and that he brings in viewers from India)

I am not how you could book little people on par with the regular wrestlers anyway.

I mean Rey Mysterio gets abused should he beat a Big Show, Mark Henry for it being unbelievable but at least he has speed and freedom of movement as his weapons. horns waggle without trying to be offensive does not have this and so how can we ever believe that he is realistic competitor.

I would say though that hornswaggle has had greater pushes by beating Sheamus all for the purpose of allowing him to speak alone, than many get in there whole career.

Midgets are funny, fair play to them making a few quid and having a sense of humour about it.