I hope he gets over, said Vince after he heard a superstar receive a huge ovation. This wise observation perfectly sums up the friction between fan and entertainer. In 2016, we are beset on all sides by wrestler hate and loyalist factions. Its hard to tell who the top guy is anymore. You cant make a new superman if you cant get the crowd united behind one guy. Why is this factor a hindrance to the reality era? Its actually not. The obstacle here is not the divided fanbase, but the system based on one individual wrestler. Be it Sammartino, Andre or Hogan, this system, lets call it the top guy system, was a large factor in building the foundation for the WWE empire. It could put mulleted, moustached arses in seats like nobodys business. Today however, we live in the golden age of the internet. Expecting every demographic worldwide to compromise is silly, so maybe the days of putting the machine behind one guy are over. We may need a competitive landscape, where everyone has their day and nobody is safe. We may need everybody to get over if we want wrestling to survive in the reality era.
Eddie is a writer, cinephile, TV fan and wrestling abuse victim from Newcastle. After receiving his film degree in London he returned home to lift boxes in the vein of an 80s montage... It's not as fun as it looks in the films.
