[MikeL05]

I have two major points.

1) Regarding the Ultimate Warrior... he was one of the most wrestling-incompetent wrestlers ever. His mic sessions were mind-numbing. And, in real life, he is a true lunatic. Fine.

That said, he was an absolute freak who could do things that no one else did - IE in his prime, gorilla pressing guys and actually throwing them, instead of letting them drop over his head. Also... this guy absolutely BROUGHT IT every time he came into the ring. I understand it was sort of his character's nature to do so... but there are few wrestlers that I've ever seen who absolutely refused to take a night off and half-ass it.

2) HOW TO FIX IT: I noticed a few years ago two trends in wrestling, both of which suck. #1, they have stopped giving people gimmick names and gimmicks as a whole. Now everyone is "John Smith" or whatever. I can't tell the damn guys apart, and I have no interest in watching them because they're all the same to me. #2, sort of in the same line as the previous, they are tending to take some of the more humorous characters and make them a lot more "serious". Remember when Edge and Christian used to be funny? Good god they were hilarious. Then they split up, and became angry super-serious guys. And wouldn't you know it, they're not good enough in the ring to stand out anymore.

Actually now that I write this, I do agree with the idea too that clean matches should be strived for more. Back in the day, it was absolutely no big deal if someone lost the Saturday afternoon main event. I didn't think less of Earthquake if he lost to Ultimate Warrior on a weekly show... I still knew anything could happen that next PPV or that next week for that matter.

But the personality/gimmick thing is, to me, the big issue. Someone like the Million Dollar Man would be great now... great gimmick, pretty funny in an evil sort of way... and yet he pisses you off a bit too and you kind of f'ing hate him. Or how about Jake the Snake and the Undertaker (ca 1992)... those guys defined ring psychology, and had distinct personalities. Now every damn wrestler is just some random angry muscle guy, as far as I'm concerned. They're no different than the ass clowns I see at the gym every day.