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Consider the Source
If you're making an effort to keep up with independent wrestling across the country, you naturally rely on the Internet. This week has been exceptionally painful, as it seems the latest list of "top wrestlers," as rated by grown men wearing musty, old lucha masks, is making the rounds.
I don't have a problem so much with the list as I do with the reactions to the list. And I wonder why they'd take the time or even bother looking at it.
Check out the actual list- it shouldn't be too hard, since most of these guys have decided to paste it everywhere, including and especially places it's not wanted. Then take about five seconds to think about the people that are creating this list. This is the sixth attempt at coming up with a list of 500 different wrestlers to be reviewed and rated, and they can't even get the names right on guys they've already reviewed (ie Jushin Liger spelled Jushin Lyger in consecutive years). And people take this shit seriously?
Really- have you honestly
heard of 75% of the people ON the list? According to the "experts"
who made the list, you should, and that conceit
creates all sorts of unnecessary problems and situations. Sorry, but no
one, NO ONE, outside of the dozen or so guys who made up the list know
who the fuck Yoshinobu Kanemaru is, and no one cares. But Kanemaru, who
apparently isn't the latest Iron Chef, is actually "rated",
and rated above guys like Chris Hero, who is probably the best big man
in the indys today. Completely nonsensical.
All ribbing aside, I really don't have a problem with people making a list. The list should automatically be laughed at anyway since Simon Diamond is nowhere to be found on the list, moving these reviewers past the realm of masked marks to the area of being fucking idiots. Diamond's one of the best workers in the world and these goofballs don't rate him? Please. The real problems come when people who really should know better, and of course the marks who really don't, take the list as anything more than a bunch of guys sitting around watching tapes and thinking they're wrestling's answer to Siskel and Ebert.
Lance Storm actually wasted valuable Web time discussing the list last year (sarcasm intended). Storm's making six figures working for the top wrestling company in the world. What the hell would HE care about any list? Actual wrestlers like Jacey North and Sam Panico actually wrote humble comments about being so grateful (??) to be on the list- as if it would actually help their career or that these biased mizarks would really know how good or bad a wrestler really is (North's bland, Panico's got potential ;). That's right- they're kissing ass. And doing a piss poor job of it.
APW, shockingly, takes the prize with the time and dedication they gave the list, going so far as to creating a banner featuring the APW guys who were on the list. Their head "trainer", American Dragon, came in at number eight, which should tell you everything you need to know about the validity of the list. He's got no charisma, he's so unrefined and unpolished in the ring that he's gotten seven concussions in two years, his punches are unintentionally hilarious (love those rapid fire love taps he gives his opponent's stomach in the corner), and his facial expressions are laughable. But he's rated higher than Kurt Angle, who is probably the best pure athlete on the list and who's done more in his time in the ring than Dragon ever will. But APW saw fit to put that ranking on a banner. "We're #8!" What an accomplishment. And rating Larry Blackwell on any list is a disgrace to the business regardless- and he's rated #482. Blackwell's a talentless fat load who embarrasses the business and himself every time he wheezes to the ring.
Meanwhile, this sorry fed's got two whole shows scheduled for the entire YEAR, but this list is more important to them than actually getting off their asses and booking shows for their workers and whatever stooges/fans are left after their seven month hiatus between shows. Talk about some whacked out priorities.
Advice to any wrestler out there: As with any list or any review...consider the source, then really think about your response.
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Jim has been watching
wrestling for over 20 years and has followed and reported on indy wrestling
for over 6 years. He's also a fan of the New York Giants, New York Yankees,
St. John's Red Storm basketball, Alabama Crimson Tide football, and the
New Jersey Devils, but please don't hold that against him.
Contact Jim at BilJim2@aol.com
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Previous Columns:
Watching Tazz is Tough Enough
Seven in Two
Getting Your Moneys Worth
How Not to Run and Indy
If That's What it Takes, They Don't Have It!
Customer Service in the Wrestling Business
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The comments and statements do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
Brett Schwan and the Wrestling Clothesline (although many times, he comes
damn close!)
