As a kid growing up, Pro wrestling and superheroes were synonymous.
This might be a stretch to some older or younger generations, and probably an abomination to most comics buffs and purists, but hear me out.
Comics and Superheroes back in the day were pretty hard to come by. You only had certain malls that carried comics, and most of the time they were far away from home (my home anyway. Them’s the breaks for being a Manila Boy). Be that as it may, I couldn’t get enough of them, but the opportunities to get a comic or follow a series regularly were not readily available as a kid (Afterall, how can an 8 year old kid get enough allowance to make his way to SM Megamall just to buy comics on a monthly basis?) . Therefore, other forms of media were required to satiate my obsession with superheroes.
I remember the first wrestling match I’ve seen on TV – it was that of Ahmed Johnson and Goldust. I believe it was a pay-per-view event that happened a month or 2 prior to its airing on Star Plus (Yes kids, back in the day Pay-Per-View events didn’t air simultaneously with the US live broadcast).
I don’t believe I watched the entire thing. I only saw the promo, and probably some parts of the beginning of that match, I didn’t even know it was called wrestling, but that was enough to captivate me. Here you have two guys muscle bound men, one with a fancy costume, the other in his underwear, beating the living crap out of each other because of some simple pre-determined storyline, using highly stylized fighting techniques. They even had signature tag lines, phrases, and finishing moves, there were also good guys and bad guys. You tell me that doesn’t sound like your typical Image superhero back in the day. How could one not relate them to superheroes as they go flying from the top of the ring and crashing into the Spanish announcer’s table?
Needless to say I was hooked.
Those pre Attitude era wrestlers, as well as the Attitude era were the best times to have been a wrestling fan.WWF used to put out all the stops, and the wrestlers back then were incredibly gutsy and was willing to go through crazy gimmicks to make a match memorable and unique. Buried Alive matches, Inferno Matches, Ladders, Cages, Hell in the Cell; Wrestlers falling off the top of the hell in a cell cage only to come back and be choke slammed back into the ring through the top of the cage. Submission matches that had the winner decided by default because the opponent has lost consciousness because of too much blood loss. Or Iron Man matches that went on for an HOUR without anyone scoring any pin or submissions, only for it to resume for a sudden death match. These matches were as epic as fights between Superman and Doomsday, or Batman against Bane, only this happened on a weekly basis, and it was free (as long as you had cable of course). The stories that lead to the matches, as well as the storytelling in the matches themselves captivated me.
My interest in wrestling has waned over the years, not because I learned that it was fake mind you, but because the stories doesn’t seem to hold up to the caliber it used to be. The wrestlers generally do not seem as interested in developing a storyline in the match as much as they want to throw power moves at each other. Its not the same as it used to be I guess since there is less reason now to be edgy and risky since WWE is basically a monopoly.( No more old school arm locks or tests of strength. No more hurricane rannas and drop kicks or high risk maneuvers. No more blood.) That, and because superhero comics actually grew up with me, while wrestling stories never really did. There are still the occasional gems I’ll admit, but they don’t happen quite as often anymore.
Be that as it may, it doesn’t diminish the fact that in its own way, these guys were my first definition of superheroes, and somehow whenever I write or draw superhero stories, I take a bit of the elements I found interesting in pro-wrestling and I add them on.
This might be a stretch to some older or younger generations, and probably an abomination to most comics buffs and purists, but hear me out.
Comics and Superheroes back in the day were pretty hard to come by. You only had certain malls that carried comics, and most of the time they were far away from home (my home anyway. Them’s the breaks for being a Manila Boy). Be that as it may, I couldn’t get enough of them, but the opportunities to get a comic or follow a series regularly were not readily available as a kid (Afterall, how can an 8 year old kid get enough allowance to make his way to SM Megamall just to buy comics on a monthly basis?) . Therefore, other forms of media were required to satiate my obsession with superheroes.
I remember the first wrestling match I’ve seen on TV – it was that of Ahmed Johnson and Goldust. I believe it was a pay-per-view event that happened a month or 2 prior to its airing on Star Plus (Yes kids, back in the day Pay-Per-View events didn’t air simultaneously with the US live broadcast).
I don’t believe I watched the entire thing. I only saw the promo, and probably some parts of the beginning of that match, I didn’t even know it was called wrestling, but that was enough to captivate me. Here you have two guys muscle bound men, one with a fancy costume, the other in his underwear, beating the living crap out of each other because of some simple pre-determined storyline, using highly stylized fighting techniques. They even had signature tag lines, phrases, and finishing moves, there were also good guys and bad guys. You tell me that doesn’t sound like your typical Image superhero back in the day. How could one not relate them to superheroes as they go flying from the top of the ring and crashing into the Spanish announcer’s table?
Needless to say I was hooked.
Those pre Attitude era wrestlers, as well as the Attitude era were the best times to have been a wrestling fan.WWF used to put out all the stops, and the wrestlers back then were incredibly gutsy and was willing to go through crazy gimmicks to make a match memorable and unique. Buried Alive matches, Inferno Matches, Ladders, Cages, Hell in the Cell; Wrestlers falling off the top of the hell in a cell cage only to come back and be choke slammed back into the ring through the top of the cage. Submission matches that had the winner decided by default because the opponent has lost consciousness because of too much blood loss. Or Iron Man matches that went on for an HOUR without anyone scoring any pin or submissions, only for it to resume for a sudden death match. These matches were as epic as fights between Superman and Doomsday, or Batman against Bane, only this happened on a weekly basis, and it was free (as long as you had cable of course). The stories that lead to the matches, as well as the storytelling in the matches themselves captivated me.
My interest in wrestling has waned over the years, not because I learned that it was fake mind you, but because the stories doesn’t seem to hold up to the caliber it used to be. The wrestlers generally do not seem as interested in developing a storyline in the match as much as they want to throw power moves at each other. Its not the same as it used to be I guess since there is less reason now to be edgy and risky since WWE is basically a monopoly.( No more old school arm locks or tests of strength. No more hurricane rannas and drop kicks or high risk maneuvers. No more blood.) That, and because superhero comics actually grew up with me, while wrestling stories never really did. There are still the occasional gems I’ll admit, but they don’t happen quite as often anymore.
Be that as it may, it doesn’t diminish the fact that in its own way, these guys were my first definition of superheroes, and somehow whenever I write or draw superhero stories, I take a bit of the elements I found interesting in pro-wrestling and I add them on.
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