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| Dave Musgrave writes about Hall of Fame and Rey Mysterio |
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The article on the Wrestling Observer website today was thought-provoking and respectful. I write this letter of response more as a compliment to the article than as a rebuttal. The criteria to judge a wrestler as a Hall Of Fame talent was discussed. To paraphrase, it can be thought of as how good you were, how successful you were or how important you were. Many of today's talents seem to be discarded as eventual Hall Of Fame talent because they are not drawing cards on their own so much as a promotion like WWE or TNA is or is not a drawing card. While this argument has its merits, it could also be said that in an age that WWE is arguably more successful than ever in terms of revenue levels, that the promotion's overall success is being held against the individual talents. Would WWE have been as successful in the past couple of years if their headlining main eventers were Gene Snitsky, Johnny Stambolli, and Kevin Thorn? Probably not, so the top talents must be bringing something to the table. To say that individual performers do not have an impact on house show attendance could be seen as holding modern talent to a standard of yesteryear. Modern house shows do not have advertised line-ups ahead of time and they hit markets all over the world on a roughly annual basis rather than the same markets repeatedly. Is saying that modern wrestlers are not drawing cards based on house show attendance any different than saying that a wrestler from earlier decades did not draw TV ratings, pay-per-view buyrates or sell enough merchandise? Or in a non-revenue measure of popularity, enough hits as a Twitter trending topic? Perhaps they would if they performed today, but they don't and can only be judged by the standards of their time, as should today's performers. While this is not a pro wrestling example, noone can deny the popularity or drawing power of Brock Lesnar based upon buyrates. I would also like to advocate for a pro wrestler who I feel should be considered a Hall Of Fame performer by any standard other than size. Is Rey Mysterio talented enough for the standards of any era? Yes. Is he important enough for any era? He influence wrestling styles as well as the size of performers in wrestling. Is he a draw? Well, he is a big merchandise seller, he has drawn significant ratings in the Hispanic demographic and is popular among children. And in terms of house show numbers, his inclusion on tours in Mexico seems to have made the difference between success and failure in the past. Thanks to the writer for the article. Dave Musgrave Markham, Ontario Click less, mail more: Hotmail on the new MSN homepage! |
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