Due to my respect for KFC (who the hell is Troy?!) I figured I'd write a little column here. For those who don't know, I am Seak. I am Seak on every forum I visit, so if you know Seak from any wrestling forum, that's me. I've been a wrestling fan since the early 90's, although my first show was in the late 80's, I was just too young to remember it. I've been to countless ECW shows when they were in Philly and NY, my biggest claim to fame is sitting next to hat guy....TWICE! I've attended more WWF/E shows than I can remember, and I've been to a few indy shows, mostly JAPW and ROH.
The purpose of that opening paragraph is to show that I am indeed a lifelong wrestling fan. I was a Hulkamaniac, knew what Austin 3:16 says, thought Taz was really going to kill you, and I'm still here now. Needless to say, I have seen Era's come and go. One thing I have learned through the years is that many times WrestleMania seems to be the starting and ending point for them. Well ladies and gentlemen, I think we have just reached that point once again.
Every Era has a name, the Golden Era and Attitude Era being the two best known, and I believe we have just entered the Entertainment Era in full steam. Sure the WWE has been heading towards this change for a little while now, but they seem to have taken the plunge and went all in at WrestleMania and the days that have followed. They are no longer known as "World Wrestling Entertainment" as they now go simply by "WWE" in an attempt to further themselves even more from being a "Wrestling" company. The goal by VKM is to be recognized as a "Global Entertainment Company." The larger than life WrestleMania's, the introduction of Tough Enough as an unscripted reality program, and yet more talk of a WWE TV channel are all more and more things building up to further WWE as a company.
Is this a good thing? Is this a horrible thing? I'm sure most internet fans will shit on the idea of a wrestling company trying to be more than a wrestling company, and I almost fell into that category myself. Why would Vince shun the business and the core group of fans that have made the company what it is today? Why would he take a business that his family has been in for generations and try to get away from it? That's bullshit, and a slap in the face of every wrestling fan that has paid hard earned money to watch his product!
Or is it?! If we take a look back in time, to before many of us were born, Vince came into power of a little wrestling company his father started. Right from the start Vince had visions of being bigger and better. Back in those days the wrestling business was all about territories. Every territory had their place and nobody ever crossed into another. Yet this wasn't enough for Vince, he wanted his WWF to be bigger than any territory, and he did what he had to do to make it so. The first WrestleMania is widely looked at as the first major accomplishment towards this goal. While wrestling has always featured Supercards, WreslteMania was promoted as more than a wrestling card. Unlike Starrcade (WWF's competitions biggest card) WrestleMania went into a cross promotion frenzy with the likes of MTV and got celebrities from all walks of entertainment to take part in the show. It ended up being the most watched Closed-Circuit (The father of PPV) program up until that time. Yet at the time many wrestling fans, and countless people in the business, saw this as a horrible direction to take the business. But if you really think about it, who's going to be watching Starrcade this year?
While WWE continues to try to separate themselves from the wrestling business, they seem to be doing damn good with their wrestling product. They put HHH in charge of finding talent to bring into the company, and does he go get another body building, zero wrestling experience nobody? Nope, he gets Mistico. What do they do with Mistico? They change his name to Sin Cara and debut him by taking out Sheamus. Meanwhile you have Alberto Del Rio wrestling for the World Title, and the absolute unexpected and unprecedented happens.....John Cena challenges Miz for the WWE Title at WrestleMania........and Miz walks out still champion! Say what you will about the actual quality of the match, but just the fact that Cena is not the champ today says a lot!
So this brings me to my final point. On April 3rd 2011 we watched WrestleMania 27. On April 4th 2011 we were told what the Main Event of WrestleMania 28 will be, and we were told it will be Rock vs Cena. An entire year has been given to build the biggest match of this generation. Not to long ago we got to see The Rock take on Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania, and it was a spectacle like never before. It brought fans from the past and present together in what was a beautifully amazing scene for all who had the privilege to witness it. Now after 7 years, 8 by the time it actually happens, we finally get a Rock match at WRESTLEMANIA! For my age group, we had Rock and Austin. Austin has been back on countless occasions, but not Rock. Finally we get what we've been asking for over half a decade! Meanwhile, this generation of new fans has had John Cena. Now we all get one full year to watch the build to this match unfold for us. This is something that has never before been done, and with as long as this company has been around, with almost 30 WrestleMania's done, it is damn rare for a something to be done for the first time! And this first time situation is once again bringing the past and present together, and I for one am expecting another masterpiece!
So here we are. A year long WrestleMania build, Tough Enough being restarted and completely different than NXT, international stars being brought in, and great names from the past coming back. Ladies and Gentlemen I'd like to welcome you all to the Entertainment Era. I'll personally sit back and enjoy the show.
The purpose of that opening paragraph is to show that I am indeed a lifelong wrestling fan. I was a Hulkamaniac, knew what Austin 3:16 says, thought Taz was really going to kill you, and I'm still here now. Needless to say, I have seen Era's come and go. One thing I have learned through the years is that many times WrestleMania seems to be the starting and ending point for them. Well ladies and gentlemen, I think we have just reached that point once again.
Every Era has a name, the Golden Era and Attitude Era being the two best known, and I believe we have just entered the Entertainment Era in full steam. Sure the WWE has been heading towards this change for a little while now, but they seem to have taken the plunge and went all in at WrestleMania and the days that have followed. They are no longer known as "World Wrestling Entertainment" as they now go simply by "WWE" in an attempt to further themselves even more from being a "Wrestling" company. The goal by VKM is to be recognized as a "Global Entertainment Company." The larger than life WrestleMania's, the introduction of Tough Enough as an unscripted reality program, and yet more talk of a WWE TV channel are all more and more things building up to further WWE as a company.
Is this a good thing? Is this a horrible thing? I'm sure most internet fans will shit on the idea of a wrestling company trying to be more than a wrestling company, and I almost fell into that category myself. Why would Vince shun the business and the core group of fans that have made the company what it is today? Why would he take a business that his family has been in for generations and try to get away from it? That's bullshit, and a slap in the face of every wrestling fan that has paid hard earned money to watch his product!
Or is it?! If we take a look back in time, to before many of us were born, Vince came into power of a little wrestling company his father started. Right from the start Vince had visions of being bigger and better. Back in those days the wrestling business was all about territories. Every territory had their place and nobody ever crossed into another. Yet this wasn't enough for Vince, he wanted his WWF to be bigger than any territory, and he did what he had to do to make it so. The first WrestleMania is widely looked at as the first major accomplishment towards this goal. While wrestling has always featured Supercards, WreslteMania was promoted as more than a wrestling card. Unlike Starrcade (WWF's competitions biggest card) WrestleMania went into a cross promotion frenzy with the likes of MTV and got celebrities from all walks of entertainment to take part in the show. It ended up being the most watched Closed-Circuit (The father of PPV) program up until that time. Yet at the time many wrestling fans, and countless people in the business, saw this as a horrible direction to take the business. But if you really think about it, who's going to be watching Starrcade this year?
While WWE continues to try to separate themselves from the wrestling business, they seem to be doing damn good with their wrestling product. They put HHH in charge of finding talent to bring into the company, and does he go get another body building, zero wrestling experience nobody? Nope, he gets Mistico. What do they do with Mistico? They change his name to Sin Cara and debut him by taking out Sheamus. Meanwhile you have Alberto Del Rio wrestling for the World Title, and the absolute unexpected and unprecedented happens.....John Cena challenges Miz for the WWE Title at WrestleMania........and Miz walks out still champion! Say what you will about the actual quality of the match, but just the fact that Cena is not the champ today says a lot!
So this brings me to my final point. On April 3rd 2011 we watched WrestleMania 27. On April 4th 2011 we were told what the Main Event of WrestleMania 28 will be, and we were told it will be Rock vs Cena. An entire year has been given to build the biggest match of this generation. Not to long ago we got to see The Rock take on Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania, and it was a spectacle like never before. It brought fans from the past and present together in what was a beautifully amazing scene for all who had the privilege to witness it. Now after 7 years, 8 by the time it actually happens, we finally get a Rock match at WRESTLEMANIA! For my age group, we had Rock and Austin. Austin has been back on countless occasions, but not Rock. Finally we get what we've been asking for over half a decade! Meanwhile, this generation of new fans has had John Cena. Now we all get one full year to watch the build to this match unfold for us. This is something that has never before been done, and with as long as this company has been around, with almost 30 WrestleMania's done, it is damn rare for a something to be done for the first time! And this first time situation is once again bringing the past and present together, and I for one am expecting another masterpiece!
So here we are. A year long WrestleMania build, Tough Enough being restarted and completely different than NXT, international stars being brought in, and great names from the past coming back. Ladies and Gentlemen I'd like to welcome you all to the Entertainment Era. I'll personally sit back and enjoy the show.
I can be more than just spam and lols, and I'm here to prove that!