When the UFC started, it was touted as a battle of styles, a way to see which martial art or fighting style was most dominant. Professional wrestling once had a similar sense of clashes of styles.

Today?

Today, with MMA becoming more and more a battle of fighters competent, if not masters, of multiple styles simultaneously, the fights become more and more reliant upon characters, dynamics and wordplay. They become less a clash of perceptions of skills, and more a contest of personality.

Meanwhile, professional wrestling has become an industry growing more and more to one ubiquitous style. The house WWE style dominates, and anyone who cannot competently grasp the style is shown the door. While one can always point to the exceptions, those exceptions are far from distinct.

Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy and CM Punk can be touted as wrestlers who aren’t exactly carbon copies of the house style.

Yet, are they really doing their own thing?

Hardly.

It’s been years since the first WWE ECW PPV, One Night Stand, when Rey and Psycosis tore down the fan appreciation of the nostalgia of the night, and stunk up the joint with a WWE style fight, instead of a lucha-fest that would have tore down the house.

Jeff Hardy, when he was in the WWE, certainly does high risk spots, and like Rey, does a little more, a little more often than his peers, but that’s not a style, that’s a difference within the style. CM Punk took years to get the WWE house style down. He’s still not fully grasping the concepts, one can read with him getting the starts and stops of a push, associated with wrestlers who just ‘don’t get it.’

Let’s look at Batista as well. If Dave Batista had his own style, instead of pushing his massive frame into the variety of moves that really don’t suit him well, would he still have so many injuries?

Big Show?

If Andre lived today, he’d have lost his Eighth Wonder of the World title in a year or two, after he became one more interchangeable cog in the machine, albeit one listed at 7’4”. Likewise, Paul Wight does many things just like his smaller brethren, rather than doing simple things, simple matches and only things that would keep him a dangerous giant.

Instead, he’s hitting the mat, acting like he’s just another guy, and diminishing the differences that should be setting him apart.

Bigger case in point?

The Great Khali.

Sure, he may be horrible, but what’s the bigger truth, that he’s horrible at the WWE style, or that he’s just large and largely uncoordinated? Yes, I understand that’s a fine line, but back in the day, when accentuating positives and hiding negatives reigned, The Great Khali would have seemed like a giant, not just a giant goof.

At every turn, the WWE grinds down uniqueness, and trains its wrestlers to do everything well, yet in doing everything well, few can stand up to the measuring stick. Well just doesn’t do it, when everyone does everything almost so similarly it isn’t funny. What is the difference between John Cena and Randy Orton, other than the reality that Cena can’t throw a worked, believable punch, and that coming from opposite sides of the aisle, they have different approaches to facial expressions?

Oh, yeah, they have different finishers.

Thing is, a long involved match with any two main event WWE fighters almost invariable has the same feel. Same skill sets. Same mentality. Same look.

Sure, it’s been that way long enough that no one can tell the difference.

That’s what’s sad.

But the problem isn’t just the WWE.

TNA brings in Samoa Joe, and soon enough, he’s hanging with the Main Event Mafia, wearing a goofy get-up, and while he can show more range in TNA than he would in the WWE, he’s still watering down his unique approach in order to fit in.

What’s worse, and what’s more applicable, is that TNA brings in Bobby Lashley, and within weeks, the uniqueness of a true MMA Fighter is diminished because they’d rather have him be a professional wrestler when he’s in TNA. There’s obviously no conception of working storylines, matches and angles for Lashley to show that MMA is just different.

And yes, I’m sure Vince Russo would complain that he’s not selling out professional wrestling as weaker than MMA, and he’s still not getting and love from his critics.

Point is, if Lashley was portrayed as a MMA fighter moonlighting as a professional wrestler, would he act differently in his appearances? I think he would. And for one, he wouldn’t be concerned with throwing Scott Steiner in the ring if Steiner accosted his wife, as opposed to laying him out.

And if Lashley cannot lay out a goon with a quick strike, and has to do ‘give and take’ wrestling instead, then what’s the use of even having him in the promotion?

Professional wrestling has reached a point where telling stories in the ring means hitting all your high-spots, maybe selling something for a few minutes, and then going to the finish. It means cookie-cutter bodies, a house style that allows for some differences, but not enough to look alien to the fans. It also means a sense of give-and-take in wins and losses that never allows anyone to break out of the pack.

Perhaps someone sees wisdom in promoting the brand over the characters, but almost every promotion I see fails to do much else than the house style of wrestling, ongoing matches with the same names, and seems to have a painful aversion to breaking in new faces.

I’m not sure why it’s so obvious, or maybe I just will never get it, or maybe I’m just bitter, but c’mon, how difficult is it to let someone be different?

Then again, every time someone shows a little bit of differences, it cuts off the creative writers as the powers in control, and allows the fans to dictate reactions and choose who they like.

Of all the insane things about professional wrestling today, the reality that the fans have been cut out of the picture is the one that makes the least business sense.

And maybe someday someone will figure out to capture what the fans want, instead of stifling it.

And if that happened, maybe it wouldn’t take 100 million dollars to compete at the highest levels of professional wrestling promotions. Maybe all it would take is one powerful and charismatic individual, and a mindset to roll with the fans and their emotions, and not try to force feed them a house style.

Joe Babinsack can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Dragon Gate, WSU, ROH and wow, I’m reading Hogan’s Life Outside the Ring (a book that shows there is something more faker than reality and pro wrestling.)