What happened to the Uncommon Wrestler?

[Guest William Ragne]

“That nation is proudest and noblest and most exalted which has the greatest number of really great men.”

—SINCLAIR LEWIS

 

IN MY OPINION, we are in danger of developing a cult of the Common Man, which means a cult of mediocrity. But there is at least one hopeful sign: I have never been able to find out just who the Common Man is. In fact, most Americans—especially women— will get mad and fight if you try calling them common.

 

This is hopeful because it shows that most people are holding fast to an essential fact in American life. We believe in equal opportunity for all, but we know that this includes the opportunity to rise to leadership. In other words—to be uncommon!

 

Let us remember that the great human advances have not been brought about by mediocre men and women. They were brought about by distinctly uncommon people with the vital spark of leadership. Many great were of humble origin, but that alone was not their greatness.

 

It is a curious fact that when you get sick you want an uncommon doctor; if your car breaks down you want an uncommonly good mechanic; when we get into war we want dreadfully an uncommon admiral and an uncommon general.

 

I have never met a father and mother who did not want their children to grow p to be uncommon men and women. May it always be so. For the future of America rests not in mediocrity, but in the constant renewal of leadership in every phase of our national life.

 

Herbet Hoover a former American President wrote those eloquent words above talking about people being uncommon. I doubt if he was a pro wrestling fan, but once again I have found that these words in some way relate to the world of pro wrestling and I hope to convey that to you the readers by my thoughts.

 

Recently as Herbert Hoover put it we are in danger of developing a cult of the Common Man, however in this case pro wrestling is in danger of developing a cult of the Common Wrestler. There is no one man that’s exudes that uniqueness that is always needed in pro wrestling. Many would argue that the Rock and Stonecold are very uncommon men. To this I say nay my friends. How can the Rock be unique when everyone acts like him in the world. Where ever you go you hear people saying “I’m going to lay the smackdown on you”, and everyone is chanting Austin’s “What” be slow to criticize because these are not the only ways in which these men aren’t the Uncommon Man and hear I will delve even deeper into the subject.

 

The Rock and Stonecold at one time with there characters cutting edge never been seen before, but over the years neither of them have evolved. Rock says the same catchphrases. Stonecold makes new catchphrases up but nothing interesting has happened to his character and I just feel that they no longer have that intangible that once made them so Uncommon. Now they’re pretty much just like every other wrestler out there.

 

It seems that’s the case with many people in the WWF today where are the little personality quirks that make people interesting. Where are people trying to one up each other with new moves? Where are people trying to differentiate themselves from the pack? The answer is there are none. Each match basically looks the same just with different players. There is no one wrestler that sticks out in people’s mind as being unique. While the Rock and Stonecold might be noticeable to the general public, everyone feels they’ve seen there same song and dance in the WWF for too long now and those people who aren’t watching the WWF are absolutely right.

 

Nothing ever changes it’s the same bland feud, it’s the same turn. Nothing’s surprising anymore. So why do we stay tuned to our Television. Sure it’s probably because we love pro wrestling, but I also think we watch waiting for something new to happen. Waiting for a new character to emerge and kick out the stagnation. It has happened in quite sometime. I for one am beginning to doubt a truly Uncommon man will ever show up in the WWF again.

 

Now I take you to the perfect example of people not caring about pro wrestling. In the town I live in when I was a freshman pro wrestling was cool and everyone would talk about it. It was good times but it started to decline because people say that it’s just stupid. They’re right. Gone are D-X, The Rock and Triple H developing characters and McMahon Vs. Austin. That was an exciting time.

 

As people at my school know I truly do love pro wrestling so we got to talking about it and one thing everyone said made them interested in wrestling was Shawn Micheals the Heartbreak Kid. Many couldn’t tell me why they liked Shawn Micheals so much just that they did. They remember his moves and his attitude, and that was the Uncommon man back then that brought wrestling back to the mainstream for the most part. They wonder where he went they want to see him on TV.

 

So there you have it the promotion had an Uncommon man possibly more than one with Stonecold and Rock on the rise now in the WWF there are none. ECW had it’s uncommon man that being Rob Van Dam as well as Sabu they had a slew of uncommon men. WCW had Ric Flair, they had Sting. They had uncommon man. At one time or another all these promotions were great with this gathering of uncommon men, now two of them are out of business, and one remains with no uncommon man. Can it be long before the WWF falls to the wayside? To a promotion when many uncommon men.  As Herbert Hoover said…

 

“Let us remember that great human advances have not been brought about by mediocre men and women. They were brought about by distinctly uncommon people with vital sparks of Leadership”.

 

Pro Wrestling as a whole should remember that.