I am about to proudly admit something that my partner will wish I had kept to myself.
She doesn’t understand it and probably finds it embarrassing that she is in love with a guy who enjoys it as much as I do.
I like Professional Wrestling.
I watched this much maligned form of entertainment from a very young age, (probably younger than I should have looking back at it now), alongside my father who would catch it on Saturdays when he was home. Every Saturday afternoon we would tune in to Stampede Wrestling from Calgary, best known as the home of the Hart Brothers, Brett and Owen (RIP).
We cheered the “Faces” (Good guys) hated the “Heels” (bad guys) and enjoyed the battles that would play out over the 8 to 10 minute matches. I was amazed at their strength, the great shape the wrestlers were in, the gimmicks.
Then it moved onto watch World Wrestling Federation matches with dad, which was Stampede Wrestling on steroids (very apropos as it turns out). Everything was bigger and better. The wrestlers were larger; the managers were louder, the personalities wilder. I bought the gimmicks hook line and sinker...totally lost in the storylines that were being told on a weekly basis.
It wasn’t until I got older when I started seeing the unseemly side of the wrestling world. The stories about the men BEHIND the characters I would see every week became more interesting than the wrestling itself. Thankfully this also coincided with many of the wrestlers becoming involved in writing their own books or the release of documentaries.
“Beyond the Mat” was perhaps the best of the documentaries, albeit slightly depressing, predominantly because of the story it shared on Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
Easily one of my very favourite characters, mostly because he was the first of the “heels” I liked. Dangerous and mysterious, at any second he could end a match with his patented finisher, the “DDT”, he would then take his massive snake “Damien” out of the army bag he would bring to ringside and drape it all over his felled opponent. Even when he lost I thought he was unbeatable... unstoppable...larger than life.
The documentary changed all of that. What was shown was a man, decimated by addictions to drugs and alcohol, an estranged relationship with his daughter, desperately trying to hold on to a past that had long since left him behind. The bright lights that shone on him no longer highlighting the character he was, but pointing out the shell of a man he had become.
I hadn’t watched that movie in years...but today I was given a look at the next, and certainly not the last, tragic story in the world of professional wrestling, in the form of a special ESPN feature/documentary called: “The Wrestler:The Scott Hall Story”.
Just like in “Beyond The Mat”, this video features a wrestling legend who has fallen victim to the success he enjoyed in his glory days, where alcohol, drugs, sex were abundant, and cares were few and far between.
It goes deep into the story about his youth, highlights of an unseemly past, his entry into the profession the rise to the top of the mountain and the painful and heartbreaking fall that cost him more than it should cost anyone.
His choice to continue as a professional wrestler, barely a shell of his former self at the age of 53 is not the exploitation that has me so angry. He is making this choice for himself and even though everyone, himself included, knows he should stop...he continues on. It is a free world and it is his right to live it as he wishes.
It is not the fact that this video was produced that bothers me either. It is these types of videos that humanize the individuals that we make out to be heroes all too often. We need to see that even those individuals that we think “have it all”, have their own issues that they need to deal with. Pitfalls that if left unchecked, could destroy even the most grounded individual. Seeing the tears in his eyes...seeing the pain in the eyes of his son...it was enough to bring tears to my eyes as well. As a father myself, it bothers me a great deal to see how he chose the life on the road and the drugs over his family. I pity him and what his life has become and what he has had to live through, but I have also lost a lot of respect for him.
It’s not even the fact that his own son who has had a ringside seat to watch his father’s life being destroyed that bothers me, or the fact that Scott Hall is pushing his son and encouraging him to get involved in the profession.
No... My anger is directed squarely at the wrestling promoter who took advantage of Scott Hall at his lowest point.
A man who sees an intoxicated, drugged up, shell of a wrestler that was supposed to be his star performer of the night and instead of doing the moral and HUMAN thing by telling the crowd that had gathered that Hall was not fit to perform, decides to disregard the wrestlers his health and dignity and send him out through the curtain so that he wouldn’t have to give refunds.
This scummy promoter and miserable excuse of a human being claims that he was “showing the world who Scott Hall was”, like he was doing the world a favour. He claimed it was a business decision for his promotion. But even that is a joke, as I can come up with at least two other solutions to the problem.
A) Flat out tell the crowd that Scott Hall is unable to perform during the show that night and deal with the fallout. As Hall was later diagnosed as being under the influence of drugs, the promoter surely would have been able to sue for failure to perform and get back every dollar he lost in gate fee refunds.
B) Have him show up on the evening, not as a performer, but as a former star who could sign autographs for the fans who wanted to see him. Set up a table and let the fans visit with him and get something signed and be on their way.
Neither one of these suggestions is ideal. Hell, they flat out suck for the fans. I know I would be disappointed to not be able to watch one of my favourites (although for my money I would much rather have the older stars that I love taking part in option B as a rule when they are brought into independent promotions. Leave the wrestling to the younger guys...but I digress). But if the option is to not see one of the stars of years past, or witnessing the humiliation that Scott Hall lived through (by his own hands)...there’s no question I’d rather not see him at all.
Both of those suggestions, though not ideal, are smarter business decisions because:
A) You don’t put yourself at the risk of being sued by the Hall family should he die while performing in the ring when CLEARLY he was in no shape to be involved in physical activity of ANY nature, never mind wrestling. He very easily could have died right there in the ring...I can only hope that isn’t what the promoter was wishing for, since clearly it would have thrust his little operation into the limelight...a clearly evil thought indeed.
B) You don’t embarrass your promotion by putting out substandard entertainment for the dollars the fans pay. Tell me wrestling fan, would you EVER spend another dollar with a company that thought it was ok to make you watch that embarrassing display? I damn near didn’t make it through the 30 seconds of highlights in this documentary, never mind the whole damn match.
But I don’t care about the business aspect of this. What bothers me is that this jerk couldn’t be bothered to do the human and moral thing and keep Hall from performing.
He chose the dollar over the human being.
I discovered over time that wrestling's dark side is filled with exploitation and horrible stories that are almost enough to sour me on watching ever again. The event on April 8th, 2011 displayed in "The Wrestler" was the pinnacle of exploitation and shows just how selfish a man can be.
Sadly, Scott Halls behaviour shows that too.
No comments:
Post a Comment