IS ONE TRULY BETTER THAN THE OTHER?

You might have noticed that I haven’t been as diligent as my partners in keeping up with a weekly column. To tell you the truth, I really didn’t know what to write about. Then I became inspired last weekend. Last weekend, I went to work. For my weekend job, I work in a warehouse. This warehouse is full of wrestling fans. Those wrestling fans are what one would refer to as "marks." I sit down with these guys every Saturday and Sunday at lunchtime. We all talk about the recent happenings on RAW and Monday Nitro. The vast majority of wrestling fans in my department knows that I have a very broad understanding of wrestling and its happenings. People ask me questions about this and that and I do my best to help them. Last weekend, I came home from my job in the warehouse with the "marks" and I went online. I went to the Highspots wrestling message board. I frequent three rooms in that message board. A videotape trade forum, a Puroresu discussion forum, and a US Federation discussion forum. When I came upon a discussion in the US Federation forum, I became disgusted. The reason being that a US "mark" was being flamed to no end by a bunch of Puroresu fans. It is that flaming of one person that has inspired my latest column.

The Internet has provided today’s wrestling fan with a great look at the world of professional wrestling. Aside from being given an "inside look" at the way things are done, it has also introduced the casual fan to the more in-depth facets of wrestling. Factors that come with such delightful buzzwords: Work rate, transition, ring psychology, etc… Application of these buzzwords to the world of Sports Entertainment has limited results. The truth of the matter is that sports entertainment doesn’t hold much room for work rate and all the good fun that comes with it. The primary goal is to entertain and bring the story to the forefront. So the good people that are craving these factors within matches look towards another place, and to a greater extent, another country. Wrestling fans looking for the match over the entertainment looks towards the land of the rising sun.

Puroresu (Japanese wrestling) is the WRESTLING fans dream come true. Matches out of New Japan, All Japan, Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, and Michinoku Pro Wrestling, offer some of the finest wrestlers and wrestling matches that you will ever see. The matches are longer, the matches tell a story in the ring rather than in an interview. The moves used are more innovative than the ones used here in North America. Fans or Puroresu relish in this emphasis on wrestling over story. They consider themselves to be a fan of higher standing. It is that belief that has caused a rift within today’s wrestling fan.

The Puroresu wrestling fan has this notion that his or her knowledge of professional wrestling automatically supersedes that of a wrestling fan who only watches wrestling based within North America. That belief has got to be the worst approach a person can take on this issue. The fact that one person has experienced wrestling within both North America and Japan does not make them a better fan than another. If anything, the only advantage a Puroresu fan may have is the fact that they have a broadened view on the subject of wrestling. It’s a shame such expanded knowledge has turned so many people ignorant to the views of others. Does the fact that the sports entertainment fan prefers the story to the match make them any less of a fan? No, it certainly does not. All it makes them is a different type of fan. It is not the place of any person to sit back in front of their little keyboard and insult someone because they don’t share the same view on professional wrestling as another. It is like the Puroresu fan fails to remember a time when they knew nothing of the type of wrestling they so love.

Did we all start watching wrestling knowing who Jushin "Thunder" Lyger is? The answer quite simply is "no." We learned of him either through his early WCW/NWA Lightweight matches or through watching his excellent matches in the junior division in Japan. Now then, if the Puroresu fan had to learn who this guy was, by what right does anyone have to insult someone who has not heard of him? They have no right to insult "unenlightened" person. When I sat there at the Highspots message board and I watched four different guys brutally flame one person because he didn’t know who Jushin "Thunder" Lyger was, it made me sick. But hey, we have to boost our ego so why not just attack someone who doesn’t know who "this guy" or "that guy" is. We can send that message, and walk away from the computer in the blissful knowledge that we just flamed someone for being ignorant of the identity of another wrestler. YEAH!!! Identity is one thing, but has anyone noticed the attacks launched when one fan doesn’t agree with why another person likes or dislikes a wrestler?

In a chat forum, a guy/girl came in and said, and I paraphrase here, "The WWF chat rooms suck. All they have is a bunch of fucking idiots who don’t like wicked guys like Benoit because he can’t work the mic. All they want to talk about is Rocky and how great he is." This kind of statement is just sad. Who cares if people like one guy and dislike another? It is the right of every wrestling fan to boo and cheer anyone they so please. Whether they like or dislike a wrestler is their choice and should be respected despite the belief of others. I’m a huge Chris Benoit fan but I’m not going to start a flame war with a person that does not like him. I have no rank over another wrestling fan that states "my opinion is better than yours, and that’s it!" People that go into a chat room based on North American federations and wrestlers should not get upset when they start preaching about head bumps in All Japan, or work rate in the New Japan junior division. The fans don’t know what you’re talking about. They don’t watch Puroresu; they don’t care about wrestling that takes place in a language they don’t understand. Why is it so hard for people to realize that not everyone is Puroresu inclined? Just let the matter end at that. One person appreciates sports entertainment, where as the other appreciates matches. Then there are the few that like both and don’t bitch and complain either way.

In the end, it has and always will be the choice of the individual who determines the likes and dislikes. Some will go the way of sports entertainment; others will go the way of the hard worked match. But in the end, it is never a matter of who or what is better; it’s a matter of respect for the sport that we all love and the respect that one should have for the opinions of each fan, whether they be the opinion of one or one million.

Mail me at crippler_crossface@hotmail.com