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| Mark Madden's Wrestler of the Year, everyone! Photo Credit: WWE.com |
It’s only September, but the choice is obvious. I’ve decided to name my 2012 WRESTLER OF THE YEAR.
The choice is OBVIOUS everyone. Man, why even write the column then?
He is former WWE superstar TYLER REKS.
...THAT WAS OBVIOUS. Man, that's it, no more column. Oh wait, there's more?
Reks is no mark
"Look at me, I know how to use INSIDER TERMS. HA HA HA."
...and had the good sense to quit.
Look at you, Mark Madden, breaking cliches and redefining what it means to win! Here I go thinking quitters never won anything.
Reks sees the fake wrestling business...
As if we couldn't see his angle before, Madden really shows his hand about how he thinks of the wrestling industry. Again, why is WrestleZone paying him to write about something he hates.
...for what it is: Fading fast, and having extremely limited opportunity.
Ratings seem to have leveled out across the board, WrestleMania had a high buy and companies like Chikara and ACW are posting good numbers. So I wouldn't say fading fast is the right word for it. Reks did have a limited opportunity in WWE, but that's because it's so hard to get in WWE because they suck at that kind of thing.
The spotty-faced teens & college dropouts who make up so much of the IWC won’t enjoy reading this...
Probably because most of us don't like to be talked down to or identified as something we're not.
...but FOR THE WRESTLERS, fake wrestling was much better in the territorial days, and when WCW provided a viable second option.
"Back in my day, we walked uphill to AND from the arena in the snow to watch Killer Kowalski wrestle in a 3 hour broadway, AND THAT'S THE WAY WE LIKED IT."
There were literally HUNDREDS MORE JOBS in the territorial days. You could suck one place, but learn; go to a new place and be better; repeat as necessary. Travel was more reasonable.
You can still do that now. It's called the independent circuit.
Few made millions, but guess what? FEW MAKE MILLIONS NOW.
So, it's still as hard to be a megastar now than it was then. BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER.
There’s little chance, period. You’re looking to please an audience of one. Being good isn’t necessarily enough. Good whim, bad whim, you’re at VKM’s addled mercy.
There is Dixie Carter's addled mercy. That's not much better. There's also Japan and Mexico. And, oh yeah, THE INDEPENDENT CIRCUIT.
Reks isn’t. Not any more. That’s why he’s WRESTLER OF THE YEAR.
I understand the point here. Good for Reks to realize that he wasn't going to make in the wrestling business and get out while he still had his body and family. But if this isn't the most condescending, patronizing way of trying to make it, then shit, I don't know man. Unlike Madden, most of us still like wrestling and would like to see guys in the business succeed there and make money.
Reks wants to be a husband and father. No more AWESOME ROAD TRIM. That’s bigger than any sacrifice he could make in the name of fake wrestling success.
LOL, he just called ring rats awesome road trim in all caps. Man, for a guy who thinks the wrestling business is dying, he sure has a high opinion of the women who want to sleep with wrestlers, especially low card guys who never get on TV.
By the way, it's 2012. Who the fuck still uses the word "trim" to describe a woman's genitalia?
You’ve got to be a mark to become a fake wrestler. To stay a fake wrestler, you’ve got to be AN EVEN BIGGER MARK.
But don’t believe me. BELIEVE THE NUMBERS.
In the four major pro sports...
Wrestling's not a sport.
Look, I think wrestlers should get paid more and treated better, but wrestling is far less lucrative than at least football, basketball and baseball, especially when factoring TV contracts. That being said, when every single male wrestler was making six figures in the middle of last decade, I'm not sure that they're in a dying business.
In the four major pro sports, if you’re good, you get ahead. Not so in fake wrestling. You serve at the pleasure of someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing.
One man built a national company and made a shitload of money off the professional wrestling industry. The guy critiquing him was roundly regarded as one of the worst announcers in history during the phase when his employer was sinking and thinks that Impact Wrestling booking him for a house show would "draw" more than anything else on the card except Kurt Angle. Yes, Mark, I will fully cede to you know that Vince McMahon doesn't know what he's doing at all.
The only people who really benefit from the fake wrestling industry as much as they should are the McMahon family, and they benefit FAR MORE THAN THEY SHOULD. The wrestlers are marks. The McMahons fleece them right along with the customers.
But don’t hate the McMahons for what they do. Heck, it’s one hell of a deal. It’s just history. The pimp always makes out best, and in a big way.
Madden accuses the McMahon family of robbery, but tells us not to hate them in the same breath. Yep.
Tyler Reks said NO MO’. Tyler Reks: 2012 WRESTLER OF THE YEAR.
Runner-up: Davey Richards.
Yes! Davey Richards is such an admirable guy because he's promising to leave the wrestling business despite already reneging on a similar promise a couple of years ago.
It's clear that Mark Madden holds wrestling, its fans and its employees in such disdain and disregard. Yet, he gets paid by a wrestling website to project these opinions to the masses. Is this bizarro world?
It's not even like Madden is offering solutions. The ROH column praised Davey Richards for thinking about leaving the industry. This one praises Tyler Reks in the most condescending way possible for his leaving. Okay dude, we get it. You hate wrestling and you hate wrestling fans. Stick to spouting bullshit about Pittsburgh sports on your radio show.
And once again, this isn't to denigrate Reks or his decision here. He got out before wrestling sucked him dry without giving him anything of equal or greater value in return. It's just unfortunate that his story is being perverted because a bad writer hates the people he works for.
