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/wrestling /guests /Fury |
| Guest Columns | Travis Fury |
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VERNE GAGNE VS. PRO WRESTLING During one of my numerous (over two thousand) daily visits to the [slash] page, I spotted the hyperlink to an interview with former AWA promoter Verne Gagne. The article the link lead to just made me wanna puke. It's basically a fluff piece in which our pal Verne rips into the WWF's standards and practices division. A few facts the article failed to mention about ol' Verne. 1- Verne Gagne's AWA was crushed under the heel of the WWF in the 80's. If Vinnie Mac wants to take credit for anything, he ought to call himself "the man who ruined Verne Gagne". So of course, Verne is an impartial observer...(?) 2- Verne Gagne is incredibly old, and like all old people, is out of touch with what is acceptable and unacceptable in modern society. He hasn't booked or worked a major wrestling event in years. It's like asking Johnny Bench about the state of baseball- sure, he played it once, but in terms of todays game, he doesn't know dick. (note: I fucking hate Johnny Bench) Verne has joined the long line of extremely old, retired, ex-wrestlers who are hypercritical of the "business". I can't believe that any reputable newspaper would run an article featuring a has-been like Gagne (even if that newspaper is in Minnesota). The first line of this article kills me- "It hurts more than a tombstone piledriver." Sorry, Verne, but when you were wrestling, nobody (at least in America) knew how to do that move, much less sell it. But, I digress... After the segment of the article devoted to Gagne and some Iraqi indy worker (who makes some dubious claims about Vince McMahon), the article goes into the usual hodgepodge of quotes from "experts" (college professors and soccer moms). Of course, nothing groundbreaking is said...it's just another piece trying to blame the ills of society on the media...and not on society itself. Despite what Verne and some of the other "old guard" (aka retirees desperate for press coverage) seem to miss is the fact that pro-wrestling in America is in it's finest hour. Wrestlers are finally able to make a living as performers, rather than barely scraping by in some local promotion run by a shifty promoter and sleeping in their cars between shows. Now, being a pro-wrestler carries celebrity status, rather than shame...and I think maybe guys like Gagne are just a bit jealous. Sure, maybe the shows focus a little too much on sex, and maybe we could all do without Steve Austin destorying various motor vehicles (I know I could), but it's all worth it if, in the end, it means higher production values and more wrestling shows in better timeslots. The "business" passed Verne Gagne by in the early 80's...it's too bad he can't learn to accept it. Travis Fury freelance Mail the Author Visit my homepage |
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