By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter
Listen to the podcast
Listen to the podcast
Kevin has recently taken to using a Simpsons reference whenever I criticize/complain about something. He refers to a throwaway newspaper picture of Grandpa Simpson with the caption, “old man yells at clouds.” It’s actually annoying because it’s a go to phrase. At least he’s stopped saying, “too soon.” I’ve decided to take Kevin’s love of that phrase and turn it into a weekly segment.
The intent is to find people who complain about something and take them to task for it and not to be the old man yelling at the clouds. The first installment looks at recent Twitter comments made by wrestling veteran Vader towards a New Japan match between Ricochet and Will Ospreay. Vader had the following to say about the match.
Before I saw Vader’s tweet, I saw another tweet that included a 30-second GIF from the match. Based on the GIF, I was inclined to agree with Vader. The acrobatics of Ricochet and Ospreay, while impressive, highlighted an aspect of independent wrestling that has been slowly pushing me away as a fan for the past few years. I can appreciate the talent and athleticism involved however when a wrestling match looks more like a ballet than a fight. For me, if a match looks too choreographed it takes me out of the action and there’s no emotional impact. Instead of wanting to see who can win the match, I’m simply watching to see who can do the most impressive flip. Whether Vader’s criticism contributed or if it was their plan from the beginning, New Japan put the entire match up on YouTube for free.
After watching the entire match, I still think there are some valid complaints to be made. However, my initial skepticism of the match was unfounded. The original GIF was from the first two minutes of the match. In context it comes off as the evolution of the counter-counter- stand off moves Jerry Lynn and Rob Van Dam were doing in ECW in the late ‘90s. After that segment the match progressed into a wrestling match. Granted, a wrestling match filled with more flips and insane counters than any match involving Vader.
If you haven’t seen the match, I’d suggest you watch it and make up your own mind. Is it a competitive wrestling match or is it a perfect example of what Lance Storm once said would be justification for including professional wrestling as an Olympic sport. Is it a fight or figure skating without ice? I don’t know if Vader saw the whole match or just the GIF. If Vader had not watched the whole match before tweeting, I hope he’s taken the time to watch it and would be curious to know if he had the same opinion. If he had seen the whole match, I think he’s failed to understand wrestling has changed since he was running wild and getting his eye popped out of his head by Stan Hansen.
Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions. In this case, my opinion is Vader was yelling at clouds.
