A curious thing is happening over at WWE.com. Amidst the numerous fluff articles, vapid pieces where WWE Superstars stay in character, and countless photo galleries, are a bunch of high-quality articles. Some of them are really, really good — a genuine treat for smarts, marks, and smarks alike. Since the WWE pretty much has a monopoly on the wrestling business, the company has access to wrestling legends and current superstars. It has used this access to create some fantastic oral-history articles that cover various eras and territories in wrestling. Here are some pieces that I recommend:
Ring of Honor’s Impact on WWE
What if ECW Didn’t Close?
An Oral History of Smoky Mountain Wrestling
The True Story of the ECW Relaunch
The Ring of Honor story is my favorite. Some of my current WWE favorites like Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) and Antonio Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli) wrestled for this independent promotion. It was very cool to see loads of quotes from people that are no longer involved with WWE (Colt Cabana, who wrestled as Scotty Goldman in WWE) and people that have never been involved with the company (promoter Gabe Sapolsky).
ECW’s heyday was another one of my favorite periods of wrestling. It was fun learning details about how close the company was to getting the funding to remain independent. Likewise, it was nice to read some candid commentary on WWE’s (ill-advised?) attempt at relaunching ECW as a WWE sub-brand.
True wrestling fanatics are familiar with the Smoky Mountain Wrestling territory, but there are millions of WWE fans that have no idea about the impact this indie had on modern wrestling. It’s a nice behind-the-scenes look at one of the last territories that was successful before the Monday Night Wars changed pro-wrestling forever.
When you have a chance, please check out some of these articles and let me know what you think of them. If you only have time for one, please check out the Ring of Honor story. In retrospect, the crazy popularity of Daniel Bryan’s “Yes!” chant shouldn’t have surprised me. When he was Bryan Danielson, he managed to use the simple phrase of, “I have ’til five!” to get over. I miss that…but not nearly as much as Claudio’s, “Heeeyyyyyyyy!”
Bonus Ring of Honor match: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Colt Cabana!
