I told myself my first real post would not be a rant, but I also told myself I wasn't going to have dessert last night and look how that turned out. So here we go.
The interwebs are covered with accusations of wrestlers being overrated. Some people consider Christian to be overrated. Some called the Ultimate Warrior overrated. At some point most popular wrestlers have been considered overrated. The issue I have is with the constant arguing...I have no problem with people disagreeing with the individual worth of different wrestlers, but the definition of "overrated" is pretty simple. The problem that most people seem to have is that they forget that there are three distinct groups of people involved in the "support system" of wrestlers...the bookers/creative, the internet wrestling community, and the mainstream fans. For those of you that don't know, let me run down each category individually.
*sidebar...I will refer to wrestlers as wrestlers...Not Superstars, not Divas, not Knockouts. I agree that this gives some of them too much credit, but I am just "old school" enough to dislike the term "Sports Entertainment". Until they come up with something else that fits the category, like scripted tennis matches, we don't need an umbrella term like "Sports Entertainment" to classify wrestling. Yes, I will always type "Sports Entertainment" in quotes. Anyway, back to the support system.
Bookers, or the creative team as WWE calls it, is the group of people who devise storylines, write some dialogue (good wrestlers write a lot of their own), and shape the world that the wrestlers live in. If you are an individual that doesn't believe that wrestling is scripted, this probably isn't the blog for you. When people talk about wrestlers getting a "push", this is the group of individuals that make that happen. Wrestlers become showcased and prominent because of this group.
The second group, the internet wrestling community, is most likely the majority of you readers. Some individuals may stumble across this blog and not necessarily fit into this category, but most of you will. The IWC is the group who discusses what goes on in the wrestling world, from storylines, to hirings and firings, to public opinion.
The third group is the mainstream fans. People who just watch on tv and go to shows, but who do not participate in online discussion fit this category.
Someone who is overrated is someone who has a lopsided popularity: one group is high on the wrestler but the other two are not, or considerably less so. What this means is that a lot of wrestlers are overrated, depending on who you talk to. A lot of the IWC is high on Christian, but ask creative and they may say he's overrated...same with Daniel Bryan. The opposite is true for The Ultimate Warrior...creative was high on him for a while, as well as the mainstream audience...but the IWC thinks he was always overrated.
The problem is that each group values different things.. the IWC values skill, both physical and verbal, creative values marketability and potential profitability, essentially trying to predict what the audience will like, and the mainstream audience just sees general likeability. Rarely does someone please all groups at the same time, and those are the few individuals who avoid being called overrated by almost everyone. C.M. Punk fits this category.
Essentially what I am trying to say is that if someone states that a particular wrestler is overrated, then he is probably right in some form or fashion. If there is a solid reason why a certain wrestler is not "the perfect specimen" then there is probably one of the three groups that doesn't like him or her, validating the term. And as a self disclaimer, all of the wrestlers I used as examples I have been fans of at some point in my life, and all but one of them I am a current fan of. You guys will never hear me call someone overrated, because I feel that the term has no value. I am either a fan, or not a fan of someone...I will make no judgement on whether you should be a fan of that same individual.
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