The Million Dolar Man: Ted DiBiase

Professional wrestling isn't as good as it used to be. It's more popular today than when I was a kid, but it's lost what made it entertaining. Characters like The Million Dollar Man and Razor Ramon made wrestling entertaining for me. Most characters didn't even have realistic sounding names. Tatanka, Doink, Bam Bam Bigelow, Irwin R. Scheister, Adam Bomb, Diesel, 1-2-3 Kid, Mister Perfect, and so on.

Ever since the rise of Steve Austin, a tidal wave of "realistic" characters have taken over pro wrestling. These characters have realistic problems, like love triangles, money issues, family trouble, and so on. Gone are the conflicts caused by a Japanese manager waving a Japanese flag and taunting Americans. Or IRS stealing Razor Ramon's gaudy gold chains. Or The Undertaker fighting The Undertaker.

To me, the realistic characters only intensify how fake the actual wrestling is. All the special effects, blood packets, and breakaway glass might make the wrestling appear real, but we all know it's fake. I'm sorry, but seeing two realistic guys fight each other in a fixed fight isn't appealing. Watching a clown (accompanied by midget clowns) fight an Indian...THAT'S entertainment!

Maybe with MMA and UFC, which feature real people fighting real fights, pro wrestling will get back to ludicrous characters like Ted DiBiase and Mister Perfect. We can only hope.



-The Commodore