Below are a selection of quotes and info that could prove interesting but ultimately only fat that i need to trim off;
In the 1970s and 80s, professional wrestlers lived in a world of blood, brutality, and bad paydays. They adhered to a territory system that divided the country into 20 distinct parts, each of which they would tour until their act got stale. They traveled by car, splitting beer, gas, and pills, before arriving at shit-box motels to pass out in beds too small for their 300-pound frames.
Nowadays, pro-wrestlers are paid eight-figure sums, tour the country in plush tour buses and break character to console teary young fans at ringside.
James Nolan (2015)
Hogan, a flag-waving tank who told kids (his "Hulkamaniacs") to take their vitamins and say their prayers, was a long way off the territories' blood and guts. Wrestling remained serious there, but in WWE it became embarrassing and cartoonish, with personas including garbage men, dentists, hockey players, prisoners, and clowns.
James Nolan (2015)
The product has become stale—it lacks diversity and is again disconnected from the world around it, with wrestlers being taught to look the same, work the same, and act the same in their training camps (a far cry from the territories), and then by a team of writers.
James Nolan (2015)
When my parents told me that wrestling was fake, it phased me for a second, but ultimately the dynamic of good vs. bad pulled me back in. This dynamic is everywhere: the Bible, Shakespeare, Greek myths... We identify with it so strongly because it simplifies life into the perfect equation of good equals us and bad equals our pain—and when good inevitably wins, we feel like we've beaten our pain, even if only fleetingly.
As fans get older and become more knowledgeable, this dynamic remains: there's always some wrestler who we feel is deserving of more—the hardest worker, the nicest guy—who we identify with in the hope that, one day, he'll get what he deserves.
JAMES Nolan (2015)
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wwe-in-decline-james-nolan-395
Americans in general love three things: politics, drama and sports. While 'legit' sports will always be superior and rightfully so, legit sports cannot give people all three of those things mentioned above. Sure they can give you sports and in turn this can be turned into drama. What they can’t do is tell you a story like wrestling. Pro wrestling isn’t called a male soap opera for nothing.
All you would have to do back then is read your local paper, watch TV, or listen to the radio. If there were any crisis' or problems going on in the country, you can bet somewhere wrestling would put an angle on it. In the '40s, wrestling would often use the world wars as its base to generate heat amongst the fans. Of course the blond-haired, blue-eyed babyface would always save the day for the good old U.S.A.
Even as late as the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, they were still using society and politics to hook the fans. In the 1980's the WWF used the cold war. Hulk Hogan, the clean cut, pro U.S.A. face would often square off against the evil Russians and in the early 90's during the Gulf War it was Iraqi sympathisers. Hogan would also fight the rich big wigs when Reaganomics's was at its worse,battling such guys like the "Million-Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Shyster (I.R.S).
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/362592-how-pro-wrestling-has-survived-over-100-years
- FOREIGN HEEL REFERENCES -
http://www.weeklystandard.com/pro-wrestling-and-the-end-of-history/article/11968
Jacques Rougeau’s ‘Mountie’ gimmick would boast of being able to “always get his man” and things got even sillier when the real Royal Canadian Mounted Police threw their toys out of the pram resulting in the announcers stating “This man does NOT represent the Royal Canadian Mounted Police!” As part of his pre,post or during the match illegal activities he would “shock” his opponents with a cattle-prod after defeating them (with audible electric ‘shock’ noises dubbed over, so the viewer knew what was happening) sometimes hand-cuffing them to the ring ropes so they coudn’t escape or throwing water over them immediately before hand. During an Intercontinental title rematch against Roddy Piper, The Mountie’s attempt to use the cattle prod on him was foiled when Piper revealed a rubber vest under his t-shirt and would win the match by using the shock stick on The Mountie.
https://ringthedamnbell.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/top-five-foreign-objects-in-wrestling/
Wrestlers from the Polynesian Islands were almost invariably portrayed as uncontrollable savages even as babyfaces, of which a large number of them belonged to the Anoa’i; a family of professional wrestlers originating from American Samoa including, Afa & Sika, Haku,Tamu, Yokozuna, Rikishi Umaga ,and by association, The Rock. Family members have comprised several tag teams and stables within a variety of wrestling promotions, with notable famous characters including The Wild Samoans. The Islanders and the Headshrinkers. “Take your pick. Seriously, nearly every Samoan in wrestling history, from Afa and Sika to King Tonga to Tonga Kid to Umaga and almost every other one in between, has been pegged as a barefoot, skirt wearing savage who swings from tree to tree, eating raw fish and cracking coconuts against his rock hard skull”
(The Wrestlecrap Book of Lists By R. D. Reynolds, 2007)
It is possible to be foreign and not a Foreign Wrestling Heel; however, as soon as a wrestler shows any pride in being from a country that is not the US, they’ll end up becoming one. Canada's Bret Hart, for example, wrestled the majority of his career as a ‘face’ until his 1997 heel turn, when he became proudly Canadian and launched a feud with all American fans and wrestlers. This led to him being a hated heel in in the States. Also, the Foreign Wrestling Heel didn’t even need to be an actual foreigner. Simply looking foreign or having foreign ancestry is often enough for a wrestler to be given a Foreign Wrestling Heel gimmick. Yokozuna was a prime example of this.
“From the earliest days of the sport, in every fairground or VA hall where a ring was erected and a crowd assembled, there were semi-athletic butterballs on hand to shock and awe the audience with their mind-boggling bulk, put on display like their carnival sideshow forebears.”
(sourced from http://deadspin.com/5522985/dead-wrestler-of-the-week-yokozuna)
Vince McMahon, has been always a fan of the physical oddity and in 1992, from this esteemed tradition, came Yokozuna. Led to the ring by long time scoundrel manager Mr. Fuji, who was already a one-stop shop for Asian stereotypes; Yokozuna, a ‘champion sumo wrestler’ was played by 580lb Rodney Anoa'I, an American Samoan, who had never competed as an actual sumotori.
However, he was now managed by the formal kimono-wearing Japanese character Mr. Fuji (in reality a Japanese American), who would accompany Anoaʻi to the ring with a Japanese-style bamboo flute theme music, waving a Japanese flag, tossing salt from a wooden bucket, and were even escorted out by geisha girls for the Pay-per-view matches. McMahon had repackaged Anoa'i as a nominally Japanese powerhouse that set a new bar for racial caricature
As a villain, Yoko was a pure product of America's bizarre cultural moment in the 1980s and early '90s, when uncertain geopolitics left Hollywood to ponder the potential ascendance of the
Asian workforce. Many movies like Gung-Ho(1986) and Rising Sun(1994), which present Japanese businessmen (to different degrees) as employing inhumane, unfair business practices in order to take over the American econmy.( Embracing Differences: Transnational Cultural Flows between Japan and the United States. Iris-Aya Laemmerhirt .2013) The Japanese were premised on being menacing exotics with queerly dainty methods, here to destroy America from within. Sometimes geopolitics breaks kayfabe, notably with Sgt. Slaughter during the Iraqi-sympathizer storyline of 1990. Yokozuna was a part of this tradition as well, if a few years behind the curve.
http://deadspin.com/5522985/dead-wrestler-of-the-week-yokozuna
Between 1980 and 1981, Robert Remus wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as heel character Sgt. Slaughter. Famously he was a Drill Sergeant in real life in the United States Marine Corps; he shouted at the crowd, calling them maggots, bellowing at them to stand up. They immediately hated him. However in early 1984, Slaughter's career took off after he turned face and defended America's honour against the hated Iron Sheik, a character built off the back of the Iranian hostage crisis when 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days (November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981) after a group of Iranian students who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
The Iron Sheik, an Iranian citizen who praised his home country and bashed the USA, is considered to be one of the greatest heels of all time. His villainous character peaked during the 1980s WWF wrestling boom and his rivalry with Hulk Hogan turned Hogan into one of the greatest television heroes of the decade.
Sgt.Slaughter and the Iron Sheik engaged in many matches throughout the year, However, with the emergence of Hulk Hogan as the WWF World Heavyweight Champion and lead face within the company, Slaughter left the company. At the time of his departure Slaughter was easily the second biggest "face" in the company, surpassing even André the Giant with his popularity rivaling that of Hulk Hogan's. At Madison Square Garden in 1984, Hogan became the first wrestler to escape the Sheik’s signature move the “camel clutch” and went on win his first WWF title. The victory gave birth to what became known as “Hulkamania,” as Hogan’s phenomenal popularity led to a golden age for professional wrestling.
In 1990, Slaughter was interested in returning. McMahon told Slaughter he wanted a heel, and his new gimmick would be that Slaughter turned on the United States due to the political situation in the Middle East growing increasingly tense, the decision was made to have Slaughter support the Iraqi cause; not for the actual political reasons themselves involving Kuwait, but more for the fact that Slaughter liked "brutality" and the Iraqi government was "brutal" while the US regime was said by Slaughter to have become "soft" and "weak". Slaughter teamed up Iraqi military general (kayfabe) General Adnan and Colonel Mustafa (formerly known as the Iron Sheik). As part of his character change, Slaughter began wearing Arab headdresses to the ring, adopted the ‘Camel Clutch’ as one of his finishing moves, and was (kayfabe) photographed meeting with Saddam Hussein. He pledged a new allegiance, to President Saddam Hussein and decried everything that America had become. He even started wearing boots that resembled the Iron Sheik's, with curved points, that had been allegedly sent to him by Hussein himself.
As Slaughter was portraying a turncoat, the fans were so incensed that some went after him personally. The hated reached its peak after he won the WWF Championship from the Ultimate Warrior at the 1991 Royal Rumble, due to outside interference from the Macho King Randy Savage. The following morning, Slaughter was told that a fan had phoned the WWF informing them that he planned to Sgt. Slaughter, Vince McMahon, their entire families and blow up their houses. Slaughter wife's briefly fled the house in fear and Sarge was told by the company that he and his family could only return home after accepting a personal security team of four armed men. The threats were so intense he also wore a bulletproof vest at all times. WrestleMania VII later that year was originally scheduled to be held at the outdoors Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The event was moved to the adjacent indoors Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena after poor tickets sales, sold on television as being for security reasons related to the Gulf War and Sgt. Slaughter's storyline defection to Iraq.
McMahon had also asked him to burn the American flag, but Slaughter refused to, suggested instead that he burn one of Hulk Hogan's trademark yellow vests. After finishing the feud with Hogan in late 1991, in which Hogan had won back the WWF title belt, Slaughter became a face again, appearing in vignettes next to American landmarks, saying, "I want my country back" and becoming tag team partners with ‘All American’ good guy and fan favourite ‘Hack Saw’ Jim Duggan.
(http://whatculture.com/wwe/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-sgt-slaughter?page=9)
In the middle of 1987, a new type of bad guy entered the WWF. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase wanted to use his wallet instead of his wrestling ability to become champion. He wanted to buy the title from Hulk, but Hogan refused. Plan B for DiBiase was to get someone to win the title and then give it to him. The man he chose for this act was Andre the Giant.
Hogan and André met again almost a year later, on Feb' 5, 1988, in NBC's 'Main Event'. Thirty-three million viewers tuned in to see André get his revenge as Hogan was pinned even though he'd clearly gotten his shoulder up after a count of two. Then a second referee appeared in the ring that looked identical to the referee that cost Hulk the title. As it turned out, the Million Dollar Man's money had bought not just André's services, but the betrayal of referee Earl Hebner who had been given money to "have plastic surgery" to pass for his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's officall referee. While all this confusion was going on, Andre gave the title to Ted DiBiase.The next week, President Jack Tunney ruled the title vacant and that a tournament would be held at WrestleMania IV to fill the vacancy.
Every young wrestling fan learned about injustice on this day. For many of us, this was perhaps the most infuriating, gut-wrenching moment in television history. We could halfway understand André as the bad guy, a foreign giant with foreign motives, but we couldn't comprehend his need to cheat to win. After the match, André relinquished the belt to DiBiase, and we were apoplectic. He was not just a villain, not just a cheater, but now he was a sellout. He was no better than any other WWF bad guy.
http://deadspin.com/5500057/dead-wrestler-of-the-week-andre-the-giant
Forward to WrestleMania IV in 1988 at the Atlantic City Convention Hall ,New Jersey ,though on the broadcast and television advertisments it was billed as being held in the Trump Plaza because the adjacent casino hotel was the event's primary sponsor. Andre and Hulk would fight to a double disqualification in their match. The tournament final featured Ted DiBiase vs. Randy Savage ,who was Hogan’s best friend at this point (kayfabe). When Andre started to interfere in the bout, Hogan came out when Savages' manager (and eventually wife in kayfabe and rea life) Miss Elizabeth pulled him out of the locker room. The match ended with Hogan costing DiBiase the title and Randy Savage becoming the new WWF champion.
http://prowrestling.about.com/od/thebiggestrivalries/a/andrevshogan.htm
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