Taking Things For Granted

Whether it’s being able to watch a favorite show or even walk a short distance, we’ve all guilty of taking things for granted in life. Wrestling fans have been guilty of this as well, from being able to watch various companies or not recognizing the talent of a current star until it’s too late. While the WWE Network offers us a chance to relive those great matches and moments that we didn’t truly appreciate, many of us take the network itself for granted, complaining about missing content or piss-poor programming. In reality, the entire platform could cease to exist by tomorrow.

Here are other things in wrestling that we’ve failed to truly appreciate.

The Impact Zone

In recent years, former and even current members of the Impact Wrestling roster have voiced their opinion on shows taking place at Universal Studios. In 2006, TNA was the hidden gem that only diehards had discovered, and they packed the Impact Zone on a regular basis. As Impact consisted of great wrestling from top to bottom of the card, the crowd was ecstatic.

However, it wouldn’t last as the convenience of going to tapings drained the initial excitement of the explosive X-Division, Knockouts and plethora of former WWE names. In later years, that once passionate crowd dwindled to an audience that simply wanted air conditioning. Local fans grew numb to the product because it was never taken away from them.

WrestleMania 32

This is when fans began complaining about the length of WWE pay-per-views, specifically, WrestleMania. When I first watched it, I didn’t even realize that the show was over five hours until a week or two later. I was so hooked by the action that I hoped it would never end. Now it’s easy to bitch about a six-hour show because the quality has gone down since 2016, but fans need to just enjoy the fact that “hey, I can spend six hours at wrestling and watch the show as a fan.”

CM Punk

As a rowdy Pittsburgh crowd was cheering for Daniel Bryan, booing the returning Batista and shitting all over Rey Mysterio, the fans neglected the one man who originally represented them – CM Punk. A tired, battered and bruised CM Punk lasted nearly the entire Royal Rumble, but the crowd had already transformed into the YES! Movement. After Punk was attacked by Kane, that was it for the Straight Edge Superstar. He walked out of the company the next night, leaving an air of mystery and confusion surrounding his situation. Chants of “CM Punk!” followed WWE throughout the year, but as Batista said on an episode of Talk Is Jericho, “why weren’t you cheering him when he was here?” The YES! Movement was enough to get Bryan to the main event of WrestleMania XXX, but what if the fan base put that energy towards getting Punk his dream goal of that Mania slot?

Dave Meltzer

The Wrestling Observer founder has become the most polarizing figure in the industry. His newsletter is a mixture of opinion and news, with critics recently denouncing the latter. While Bruce Prichard and Eric Bischoff take shots at Meltzer any time they can, he remains a respected journalist whose work should not be taken for granted. While his star rating system is purely subjective, his reporting on attendance, ratings and contract situations has been tough to dispute. While some of this information is accessible to anyone, Meltzer has an understanding of what the numbers mean and can break down the information in a digestible way for his audience.

Eddie Guerrero in 2005

2005 is probably the most underappreciated year in Eddie Guerrero’s career. Not in the sense that nobody cared about his matches, but in the sense that we didn’t truly value his overall performance. His bouts with Kurt Angle and Booker T are well worth going back to watch, and his feud with Rey Mysterio is legendary. But his match against Chris Benoit at ECW One Night Stand puts him on this list – the fans took it upon themselves to shout at the balcony section full of WWE talent, completely ignoring the action in the ring. Guerrero was visibly frustrated as the match carried on, and in hindsight, that was the last major outing between two all-time greats and real-life best friends.

Jim Cornette

Whether you love him or hate him, Jim Cornette remains one of the most outspoken, passionate figures in pro wrestling. While you may not agree with his distaste in the current product, at least he provides reasoning for his opinions rather than just babbling to get attention. Sometimes, it’s important to take off the rose-colored glasses while viewing today’s wrestling, and listen to the wisdom of a 35-year veteran of the business.

NXT

NXT Takeovers never disappoint and the weekly television show consists of logical storytelling, but it doesn’t have the full support of the wrestling community. Even though the special events consistently sell out major arenas, the perception of NXT is that it’s just for the hardcore audience, and that’s supported by low ratings on the WWE Network. Obviously, the beauty of the Takeover events is that they’re designed with video packages that bring you up to speed so you don’t have to watch every week, but that may be hurting the overall product.

If those passionate crowds tuned in every week and made NXT the highest-rated program on the network, Vince McMahon would be forced to take notice. Right now, there is a laundry list of NXT stars that have been cast aside as misfits on the main roster. Perhaps the futures of the NXT performers would be brighter if McMahon viewed them in a new lens, thanks to the full support of fans like you and me.