Sometimes I have a hard time understanding wrestling fans to a degree. It has been a constant theme for years now, of fans wanting change so younger talent has chance to run with the ball. I understand that point and am a firm believer in that concept. Here is what I don’t understand is how many of these same people will be nostalgic to want to see guys like Kurt Angle or Bully Ray another run in WWE? Why on earth should we do such a thing? I am tired of the lifetime achievement runs for people. I will even go as far as saying I do not need to see Hulk Hogan ever again on my television screen. The fact that he got mad by Brock Lesnar calling him grandpa I find very hilarious. Will someone please inform Mr. Hogan that he is 61 years old? Can they also let him know that in reality he is the only one that wants to see him wrestle another match? I get some people actually would not be opposed to it, but it would be for some selfish reason to relive something that frankly does not exist anymore That's right Hulk-a-Maina is dead as far as in the ring wrestling matches. Sorry to break the news to all of you out there that were holding out hope for another Hogan title run.
This also applies to Sting for me as well. I personally could give a damn if he ever wrestles a match in the WWE. In some ways, I would think of him as a complete sell-out jerk for doing so. I admired that Sting stayed away from the WWE, went out on his sword so to speak with WCW, choosing to go on to TNA instead of the WWE. Here is the fact of the matter, I do not need to see a guy in his mid-50's taking a spot from a guy in his 20’s at Wrestlemania. I need that guy in his 20’s to have that match at Wrestlemania so he can have that big match in his 30’s when that guy in his 50’s could be dead in the ground, but sure as hell not wrestling. Even Ric Flair who I love a great deal I would never want to see in a match now. His time has passed a long time ago.
You as a wrestling fan need to decide do you want change or do you want to re-live your history. If you want to re-live history there is this great thing called the WWE Network and I don't know if your aware, but it only costs $9.99. There is a place for history in the modern product. What we saw at this past Wrestlemania with Hogan, Austin and Rock was a cool way to acknowledge history and get the same pops as you would booking any of them in a match. In the proper place, it is very cool to look back on history. It just is not in a ring with a match with a guy 20-30 years past his best days. That is not helping advance the business it is merely feeding someone’s personal ego and the fans that are willing to turn a blind eye and just cheer for the nostalgia and not see the flaws in an old stale act.
You can’t be an advocate for change with one hand and demand nostalgia with other. It is by its very nature counter productive. There are odd exceptions to every rule and one that springs to mind is Randy Orton’s legend killer gimmick. Still even in that very few of those famous things involved matches. A couple exceptions were a match with Hulk Hogan and a match with Mick Foley. This is a great two guys to contrast how a legend should be used. In the end, Foley went into it with the mindset of his match with Orton to make Randy a star and take Randy to a new level with fans in terms of Orton’s toughness and ability to be evil. Mick succeeded in that goal. Hogan meanwhile had no care for Orton as much as he did himself looking good in the match. That is always Hogan’s concern and it has never changed. He only puts "over" people when he is forced into it by circumstance or situation. Hogan’s concern was Hogan, not the future of this young kid who was going on to be a huge star for the company. Many of the other legend killer things were just great segments like the time Orton spit in the face of the legend Harley Race. No match happened but that act was so disrespectful it accomplished the goal.
I found it completely amusing that Triple H of all people was being painted as the bad guy for not wanting Angle back. If you pay attention to the behind, the scenes at all, Triple H said years ago that WWE had zero interest in anyone involved in TNA at the time. So why this is a newsflash to anyone I really can’t say. Now technically Sting was in the company at the time I believe, so WWE did fudge the truth in Triple H’s statement a little, but for the most part WWE feels it does not need anything TNA has.
Why they feel that way is to the credit of Triple H who has totally over hauled the developmental system of this company to create the brand NXT and the performance center in Florida. They have some incredible and younger talent there that is just waiting for the chance to get to the main roster. Why should Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, Tyler Breeze or a number of others wait while a Kurt Angle or Bubba Ray gets to do some pointless victory lap?
Are you for change or are you not. Anyone that is for both is like it or not a hypocrite.
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