by Michael .A. Hurst

Created on: November 24, 2008

As the Wrestling entertainment industry becomes more and more open-books, behind the scenes type dvd's etc-we are starting to get an idea of what it was like to be a professional wrestler in the 70-mid 90's. Back in those glories days, where fans generally believed everything was real from storyline to in the ring; where bad guys could only travel with bad guys and good guys with good; and where you got on TV if you were at the very top of the very top business.

Most wrestlers up until the noughties, spent hundreds of hours and dollars driving around their own territory-Mid-South, Mid-West, North-West and so forth-making less than a couple of hundred bucks, but doing it simply for the love of entertaining and the adrenaline the sport gives them. Some even had other jobs in order to support their families, so it meant the world to be able to go and showcase their talent at the biggest company in the inudustry, WWE.

So when a wrestler works his butt off for five plus years finally gets above being a jobber (someone who loses to put over another superstar) to someone who is mid-card, maybe winning a few matches and earning a few extra bucks, it means a heck of a lot. Then maybe, after the fans either love him or love to hate him, gets that big push (gets over with the fans) to become Champion, they cherish with their lives, putting their heart and souls into representing their company-the highest possible achievement for an active wrestler, because it means you are on top of the ladder and the company is practically resting on your shoulders. They literally broke their backs to get to the top, and often for little reward.

Nowadays, we have people who have only been at a training school for a year and, just because they have a muscular or big physique are automatically pushed into the spotlight, and often in today's scene are given a title, in order to get even bigger. They are trying to have the belt make the wrestler, when it is the wrestler who makes the belt. And so the superstar, though he may appreciate it, he doesn't quite have the understanding of the effort that it has taken other who have paved the way for them. Example, you would be more over-joyed if you earned a million pounds rather than someone giving it you; you would take care of the earned million whereas you would be tempted to blow the easily recieved million. Fans don't like to see new wrestlers a huge push to the top of the ranks.

Also there is the whole, changing of the belt, I mean to look at the current WWE title-with the spinner-it looks a joke, a huge square joke that looks ugly and doesn't look like something you would wear with pride around your waist or over your shoulder. The Belt that was around between 1993-1998 was a real belt that was great to look at and would without a doubt have been an honour to hold.

All in all, it is a mix of: a lack of well honed talent; an overstating of the superstars as they are forced on the fans and aren't as interactive with the fans due to being made into superstar celebrities; and superstars not showing enough pride at wanting to have the actual belt itself.

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