Quote:
Originally Posted by James Steele
If pro wrestling was just about technical wrestling, I'd watch Greco-Roman wrestling tournaments instead. You can hold a couple of shitty promos against The Rock, but I could hold most of Bret's promos period against him. As a pure technical wrestler, Bret has almost no peers. Sadly, Bret was so average in every other aspect of pro wrestling that The Rock tops him for me. The Rock has had a bunch of kickass matches, awesome promos, amazing moments, etc. Shawn Michaels, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair were all over the top but it fucking worked. It got over and they connected with countless people to become the names you think of when you think of professional wrestling.
When you say "pro wrestling", Bret Hart isn't one of the first names that comes to my mind (he pops up pretty quick but not at the very first thought) but The Rock is. The Rock's overselling and over-the-top mannerisms never took me out of his matches or made me roll my eyes. Kung Pao Bitch was stupid, but it fucking worked. Fruity Pebbles was stupid, but the son of a bitch made it fucking hot. The Rock damn near did a double backflip when he took the Stunner, but it worked and didn't tarnish their matches but helped accentuate it. Realism is good and important, but over-the-top has its place and it can add to matches. Did Terry Funk screaming "OW, MY EYYYYYYYYYYYYE!" or "OW, MY LEGGGGGG!" ruin his matches? Did Shawn Michaels overselling ruin his matches or accentuate them and actually get you to understand the pain he was experiencing? For me, it added to the matches. It added to the drama, the story, and my attentiveness.
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The over-selling I mentioned was the lowest on the list. I actually do enjoy watching Rock take a stunner. It doesn't resonate with me as more than just one moment though. It doesn't help the rest of the action. It just kinda makes me chuckle at the silly over-sell. The over the top way he did stuff as simple as a punch took me out of the match itself a lot though. Not to mention the predictability. I remember watching countless Rock matches thinking "Let's just get this over with so we can see the outcome." I don't remember ever seeing a Bret match that I was more interested in hurrying up to the finish to see the outcome than in watching the story unfold.
As for "... but it worked." I don't judge wrestlers myself based on how many people go crazy over silly phrases, naughty words or a man singing bad karaoke in the ring. Just like I don't judge movies by how many people go to see them. Larry the Cable Guy is not a comedic genius... but dammit, it works. Kudos to him. I'm not about to consider him the greatest comedian of all time for it.
That was just a rant on current Rock though because it was being discussed. I'm factoring that in a very small amount.