WWE vs WWF: Where is the entertainment?

Gone are the days when watching wrestling used to be a staple of my daily routine. WWE, or WWF as the people like me who grew up in the last decade of the 20th century would remember, is not the same as it was before at least not for me. I hardly see Wrestling Trump cards in the hands of kids which were like must have at that time. Now perhaps everyone understands the ‘Entertainment’ bit of the wrestling and are more comfortable with the fact.

"Whatcha gonna do brother?" Hulkamania (gently)running wild

Recently I was watching a WWE show by the name of Vintage Collection that airs old wrestling matches. And it was the only reason that made me watch the show because I seldom watch wrestling these days regardless of whether it is an ageing Hulk Hogan blabbering in his hoarse “whatcha gonna do brother”-esque voice or whether it is pack of testosterone filled young guys beating the stuffing out of a helpless person with a N sign armbands on their arms which at first look like a sign of protest but then you realize –HELL NO!

WWE has been going down slowly into the slump which the people within the industry also believe in. The entertainment part which was added after they stopped using WWF, just remains in the name, not in action. The reasons are many but personally for me as a fan who used to be all for even a repeat telecast of a Raw or a Smack down, it all feels a bit tedious now.

The earlier era had a mystique about it; the larger than life characters that are perhaps non existent in the business today were the mainstay in that time. Even the persona of the wrestlers were better. No wonder that they have to bank upon The Undertaker to bail them out time and time again. Using his Wrestle Mania streak as the storyline back drop time and time again, waking up the dead man from his slumber to reinvigorate the wrestling arena. Undertaker, the most prominent larger-than-life character conjured by the WWF/WWE creative team keeps on rolling.

That is exactly my point the loss of that approach, the grander and weirder the character the better it was. I vividly remember Papa Shango because of the morbid make up and his weird voodoo tricks while none of us remember his other popular ring persona of Godfather because of him as a wrestler (we remember it because he used to bring a HO TRAIN as it was called which was a great relief to be frank). Now all you see are toned up, athletic and sturdy wrestlers.

The list of intriguing characters is long with Mick Foley and his Myriad Gimmicks, Brock Lesner, Goldberg, Kane of the earlier time, the trinity of Razor Ramon, Diesel and HBK, Rock and his oratory skills which made people cheer even though he was heel, Yokozuna- the beast , Doink for that sake and many more. Now I feel like a child in a toy store.

The old school WWF

The other issue is that no other major network is around WWE to keep it on its toes performance wise. TNA is not getting the leverage that is required. The time of WCW vs. WWF/E era was great for the wrestling fan in general where there used to be real fight to get the audience hooked to their program and increase their ratings by hook or by crook. A lot of mud slinging and below the belt attacks from both the side meant great value for money for the viewers. Clearly Monopoly or perhaps monopolistic competition has ruined it for the fan and lovers.