Greetings.
There’s an old saying that, “imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.” By that token, I guess the Hart family should be flattered, given that the primary theme at the recent WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view was the ladder match format and the main event at the WWE’s upcoming Battleground pay per view features a Triple Threat match for the world title, because both of those concepts originated in my dad’s Stampede Wrestling promotion.
My old crony Danny Kroffat and my dad were the ones who came up with the ladder match innovation back in the 70’s and the triple threat concept – which I originally called the Bermuda Triangle Match was something I came up with when I was the booker for the promotion in the 80’s. Funny enough, I can recall that when they used to come up to Western Canada back in the day, the WWE brass used to derisively sneer at damn near everything we were doing in Stampede Wrestling and tell us that none of our unconventional innovations would ever fly in a major league promotion such as the WWF.
I also remember that, back then, our promotion was predominated by smaller guys such as my brother Owen, Chris Benoit, Jushin Liger and Brian Pillman – none of whom weighed more than 200 pounds. Most of the WWE agents (or “stooges”, as Harley Race used to sardonically refer to them as), such as Jay Strongbow, Red Lyons and Arnold Skoaland used to disdainfully refer to those guys as “midgets” and asserted that they were way too small and unimpressive to ever make it in the WWF – which was predominated at the time by the likes of Hulk Hogan, Big John Studd, Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, Kamala, the Legion of Doom and the Ultimate Warrior. Ultimately, Owen and the others would prove the skeptics wrong and go on to become cutting edge world renowned superstars.
I’m not sure if the WWF considered us to be a threat or what, back then, but in due course, they would go out of their way to systematically get rid of Stampede Wrestling and all the other regional promotions or “territories” as they were called, even though we were the ones who were developing most of the talent for them and also coming up with many of the most compelling innovations. That would be about the equivalent of the National Hockey League, in its infinite wisdom, back in the day, choosing to wipe out junior and minor league hockey, because they thought they were cutting into their action. If such had proven to be the case, one can only ponder where the NHL would be today.
Since the elimination of promotions such as Calgary, Portland, Amarillo and Minneapolis, it’s no coincidence that pro wrestling – specifically the WWE, has not only seen a pronounced increase in gimmickry, wanton extremism, tits and ass and other frivolous crap, but also has experienced a corresponding decline in the quality of wrestling and the number of wrestlers who can actually compel and captivate an audience with their in-ring skills.
What’s really frustrating is that, with the explosion, during the past couple of decades, of cable television and social media – which have proven to be tremendous propaganda and marketing vehicles, pro wrestling should presently be in the throes of a huge period of global growth and not be struggling to remain afloat.
While the quality of wrestling and the number of great workers has declined appreciably because of the WWE’s megalomaniac quest to dominate the industry, perhaps the most egregious mistake on the WWE’s part was when they chose to systematically eliminate all the regional territories goes – which decimated pro wrestling’s grass roots.
Back in the 70’s and 80’s, there were probably thirty or more wrestling promotions in North America running on a regular basis, where wrestling fans and their kids could come out, every week in various cities and towns and get their “fix” of great wrestling. Such is, sadly, no longer the case, with regular wrestling shows damn near anywhere in North America, a thing of the past.
Beyond that, if and when the WWE comes to places like Calgary and other cities for live shows – which is only once every year or so, if that, unless it’s a television taping or a pay per view, it usually proves to be a sterile, take the money and run charade, which only further disillusions and turns off the poor fans, who, lest anyone thinks otherwise, are still the ones sustaining our business.
Aside from that, there’s, unfortunately, not much else to sustain die-hard wrestling aficionados who want to indulge in live wrestling anymore – save for illicit “backyard” promotions, most of which I have nothing against, but, nonetheless, consider to be more of an embarrassment than an enhancement for our sport.
The powers that be in the WWE, would, of course, have you believe that their NXT promotion is serving the purpose of re-sewing the seeds at the grass roots level and turning out an ample supply of dynamic, new, cutting edge superstars for the future and that our sport has never been in better shape, going forward. The last time I checked though – correct me if I’m wrong or off base here, damn near every one of the really “over” new workers of recent genre, including Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Luke Harper learned how to work in small, off the beaten path Indy promotions – the kind the WWE has been going out of its way to put out of business and not the sterile confines of NXT.
Aside from that, most of the others who have ascended to legitimate super-stardom during the past decade or so – such as Randy Orton, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, David Hart Smith, Paige and Charlotte, were second generation wrestlers and while some of them may they may have spent some time at NXT or other WWE finishing schools, such as FCW and Ohio Valley, most of them learned their craft from having grown up in the business – just like myself and my brothers Bret and Owen and so many other second generation wrestlers.
In my other line of work, as a high school history teacher, one of the things I came to learn is that virtually every great dynasty in the history of the world – from the the Roman empire, Alexander the Great’s domain, the Mongol, the British, the French and Spanish empires and whatnot, has eroded or collapsed from within – due to complacency and internal rot – and not from outside forces. That’s something the McMahon “dynasty” should take note of and act accordingly.
At the beginning of their weekly RAW and SmackDown shows, you may have noticed that they proudly proclaim “the WWE – Then, Now and Forever.” Not to be pessimistic, but, unless those running things down in Stamford get their heads out of the sand and stop bullshitting themselves (and everyone else) that everything is in great shape and they start taking some initiatives to rebuild wrestling’s decimated foundation, I have serious doubts about our sport’s glorious future.
On that dubious note, I’ll call this a wrap for now, but will look forward to hooking up with you next time for more Hart murmurs.
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