Rant n' Rave With John Nagle

I intended to finally post my Flight of the Concords review today, but something else caught my eye.  Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has signed 55-year old Hulk Hogan to a deal.  I really thought TNA had turned a corner.  AJ Styles is champion.  Matt Morgan is finally getting pushed. Sting was going to put away his baseball bat and go back into ministry full time.  Nigel McGuiness signed with the company and was thrown into a program with Kurt Angle.  It seemed like Dixie Carter was finally ready to embrace their deep well of young talent.

Apparently not.  The Hulkamania acolytes will make the argument that “He’s Hulk Hogan.  He put wrestling on the map.”  Yes he did, but the guy can barely move.  Did anyone else read the Rolling Stone article, “Hulkamania in Twilight?” Hogan has to sit in a chair to brush his teeth.  If he is unable to perform basic tasks standing up, how will he be able to work a match?

When Hogan signed with WCW in 1994, he turned the company around.  The wrestling world was an entirely different place, still going after the casual fan.  The casual fan no longer exists.  Casual fans watch MMA now.  The people watching wrestling are hardcore.  Despite what McMahon and Dixie Carter say, I don’t think sports entertainment sells anymore.  We are lucky enough to have some really talented guys in that ring, why aren’t we using them?  I love Foley, but he’s not good anymore.  I love Flair, but he’s broken down.  I love Sting, but he’s balding.  The only wrestler from my childhood that still performs at the same level is Shawn Michaels.  I could watch him all day long, but that’s because he still can.  Hogan still has charisma, but can you imagine Samoa Joe submitting to his legdrop?  If it looked bad against Shawn in 2005, what’s it going to look like with a hip replacement?

I have a weakness for nostalgia, especially when it comes to wrestling.  When I watch an old house show from 1991, it takes me back to a simpler time.  When the first wave of nostalgia happened, I marked like a champ.  Rock/Hogan was awesome.  I loved the Rockers reunion so much that I forgave Shawn on the spot for throwing Marty through that window.  The first time DX reunited, I was onboard the express.  Slowly but surely, the waves of nostalgia eroded the images in my head.  The anti-establishment rebels of DX became elder statesmen.  Hogan was not a superhero, but a handicapped person…like me.  I got into this stuff because these guys could do things that I couldn’t; and now they are on my level.  It’s time to let it go and pass the torch to the new generation.  TNA has a deeper well of young talent than WWE, but they seem content to become the next WCW.  What a pity.