So Mike Quackenbush Might Not Be the Nicest Guy... So?

Nice guy or not, all that matters is his production
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

So, by now, word has gotten out from Chris Hero's shoot video about the things he said about his falling out with Mike Quackenbush. A lot of people wondered why Hero stopped working for Chikara out of the blue, and apparently, it was because Quack flipped his shit at him for taking bookings in Pro Wrestling NOAH. For as much as I like the guy as a performer, that seems to be a pretty indefensible reaction to someone wanting to do a tour of a major company in Japan. Basically, it was revealed that Quack was really an insular prick, a guy who's only in it for himself and for his company. The shoot caused a ripple effect of some people sharing their horror stories about Quack.

For those wanting to see me join the fray, I cannot even if I wanted to. My only face-to-face with Quack was really, really cool, and he's been nothing but nice to me in e-mail and social media. Even if he was rude to me, I'm not sure it would even matter as to my wrestling watching habits or how I view his work or his company. I'd like to think that most reasonable wrestling fans would feel the same way. I mean, why would anyone in good conscience continue to watch Impact Wrestling after the shit we've heard that goes on backstage there? The accusations against Dixie Carter and people below her are way worse than a guy (with a mental illness, by the by, in OCD) overreacting to someone taking a booking he didn't approve of.

Then again, there are people who will hold against the companies the sins of the booker. Obviously, I can't tell them who or what to support with their money and for what reasons, but I think if we really wanted to punish every booker who wasn't perfect, there'd be no wrestling that deserved to be watched. This goes from WWE all the way down to the shitty local company that runs at the VFW. I almost feel like if you're a nice guy, you can't succeed as the head of any business with very little exception. In my experience, Drew Cordeiro of Beyond Wrestling has been an exception to this rule, but every rule seems to have them.

Basically, everyone has foibles. Everyone has their bad personality traits. So Quack happens to be accused of being insular and brusque according to people who have interacted with him. How am I supposed to react to that? How is anyone? Are these revelations supposed to make me not want to like him, the character or not want to support his company? No matter how much of a dick he is reported to be, even if he was rude to me, his show, where I don't interact with him at all, is awesome.

It's the same with CM Punk. Hell, it's the same with more than a few celebrities in various fields of entertainment. Jerks exist everywhere. There's a reason why people say that you should never want to aspire to meet celebrities you idolize for the very reason that you'd be let down by the person they are behind the persona. It's not a way to defend the star. I mean, if Mike Quackenbush wronged you, I have no defense for him. I'm not he, nor do I purport to be his PR guy.

However, I can't help but feeling this is one of those situations where the genie being out of the bottle on us knowing backstage stuff has been disastrous for our experience as fans. I get that there's a big thirst for knowing what goes on backstage. The reality TV era of entertainment confirms that it's not just a wrestling thing either. So maybe I'm fighting a losing battle here. Still, I don't want to say it was better in halcyon days, but at the same time, it almost seemed purer to be able to hate Hulk Hogan because he was a shitty friend to people like Randy Savage on camera, not because he politicked his way to wins all the time.

I honestly don't know how to end this post, because how do you end it? I feel like the message is to ignore the backstage stuff, but it's human nature to want to pore through everything and get the entire picture. We can't unsee or unhear things that we've seen or heard. Still, there's something on being able to focus on the art and not give it the ol' thumbs down because it was reported that Mike Quackenbush was irrationally angry with people before. Getting angry is also human nature. Everyone's different.

I don't know. I also don't care if he's reputed to be a jerk. All I care about is whether he can produce a great show every month.