What’s the story?
WWE Hall of Famer Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler weighed in on the recent controversy surrounding Rip Rogers and Randy Orton’s tweets on the current state of indie wrestling during his recent episode of Dinner with The King.
“I think the problem that Rip and Randy have is what the young guys think they need to do to get noticed. It’s what the young guys do in these matches that bothers guys that have been in the business a while.”
Lawler, who has been wrestling almost fifty years since 1970, also gave an update on possible retirement plans.
“When the non-wrestling appearances become more and more than the wrestling appearances. But I do not have a set end date when it comes to retiring from wrestling.”
In case you didn’t know…
The controversy started when Rip Rogers tweeted his opinion that all indie matches are just a series of flips and dives, but the story really picked up steam when it was retweeted by The Viper, Randy Orton.
The current WWE champion pulled no punches when stars from the independents such as Will Ospreay and even former WWE stars such as CM Punk and Bubba Ray defended the indie style, tweeting a somewhat sarcastic apology.
The tweets have sparked a huge debate among wrestling fans about the merits of the ‘indie’ style compared to the WWE style.
The heart of the matter
Randy has been at the top in WWE for nearly fourteen years. He’s accomplished everything there is to accomplish in wrestling and wrestled every recognisable star in the modern era but the wrestlers in the independents are starting from the very bottom. Lawler suggested the style they wrestle is at the expense of ‘selling’,
“The young guys, like they said, they have a tendency to go out there and try to squeeze in every single move that they know. So in order to fo that, you’re not going to have time to sell anything.”
Lawler suggested that the current style of independent wrestling is not what made wrestling so successful in the first place which is why some veterans have posted criticisms online.
Parallels from history
This isn’t the first time in wrestling history that there has been a disconnect between the old guard and the new generation of wrestlers.
Bruno Sammartino, one of the greatest of all time, refused to work with WWE for many years after he felt the business had become too far removed from what it once was, focusing too much on entertainment and less on wrestling.
Of course, WWE would go on to have their most successful period with The Attitude Era but it remains to be seen whether the current generation of indie wrestlers can prove the old guard wrong in this particular instance.
Author’s Take
The debate between the indie style and a more traditional style of wrestling is not a new one. Stars like Will Ospreay and Ricochet have been making the headlines with their matches for a number of years now and it has left the wrestling world divided with their opinions.
What must be said, is that these guys are immensely talented athletes and people are paying to see them, so there is clearly an audience for them and as long as they are making money doing what they love, you can’t really hold that against them.
However, if they ever do make the transition to WWE, it will likely be a style they will need to tone down when the focus becomes less on match spots and more on storytelling.
Whichever side of the fence you sit on, it’s important that there is a wide variety of styles of wrestling for today’s audience, so there is a little bit of something for everyone. We look forward to seeing what these guys can accomplish in the future.
As for The King, he’s such a huge legend in the business and has earned the right to retire when he wants, he still loves wrestling and appears to be in good health so there’s no reason for him to hang up his boots just yet.
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