The Problem with Old Time Stars
(Note from Glen: So let me start off by saying yes, I’m back, but I’m not going to be on any shows any time soon. I want to take more of a “Joey Styles” approach to the Suplah, and just work behind the scenes with the website and stuff. Yes, I did quit. I had some personal issues to deal with, and I’ve finally gotten through it. For a while I didn’t really care about wrestling, or podcasting, or anything of the sort, but after having some time to myself I’m happy to be back. The direction of the show being “By Annoyed Fans, For Annoyed Fans” didn’t sit well with me, just because lately the little I’ve seen from Pro Wrestling has been good, and it’s hard to fit the mold for what the brand is becoming. But after the disaster that was Night Of Champions, I finally felt pissed off again, so I figured “eh, I’ll ask Liam if i can come back for a bit”)
For anyone who’s been watching wrestling for longer than 10 years, there’s a lot of us, and yet few of us really left out there. We’re the guys that grew up and became accustomed to many different generations of televised wrestling, and the different superstars to dominate that era and made it what it was. Whether it was Hogan for the Golden Age, Shawn Michaels for the New Generation, Triple H for the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Era, or someone who’s been around for all of them, The Undertaker; the only man who holds the right to say he defeated Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold, The Rock, John Cena, and Randy Orton; and even duel with younger stars like Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and even Bray Wyatt, while all of these icons were in their prime. Plus we have the ECW-era stars that hang around now like the Dudley Boyz, Rhyno, and Rob Van Dam. And right now we have Sting competing and giving it the feeling of WCW or ECW in the 90’s.
Clearly some of these guys haven’t lost a step, but it also looks as if they have to push their bodies even harder to truly make it seem like they’re all 20 years younger. The old saying goes; “Like a fine wine, it always gets better with age.” This is something that applies more to knowledge and experience, but of course bones and marrow do decay, and they become weaker with time. These wrestlers that made yesteryear as great as it was are unfortunately being relied on to help boost the newer generation, but yet only to some avail.
This past Sunday at Night of Champions, which in my mind was a failure and a disaster of an event due to the booking, among other things that happened, we got to witness Sting face off against Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I went into this match thinking they would be lenient on The Icon and not make him perform any ridiculous stunts or take any more risky bumps. But unfortunately, Seth Rollins is a younger, more athletic, and acrobatic type of performer. He’s more of a risk taker, unlike hardly anyone from Sting’s Jim Crockett days. Even in WCW he didn’t have much contact with the cruiserweights, he only battled with the heavyweights. And of course there’s his time in TNA. Though he had many feuds against the older talent like Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Christian, Jeff Hardy (who was more toned down), and Bobby Roode. He also had his bouts with AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, who are being criticized as of late for botching their finishing moves. But in the end, Sting never took risky moves like going through the announce table, and taking a powerbomb on the corner turnbuckle. The second attempt at that move ultimately is what injured his neck, possibly causing him to end his career, according to what Dave Meltzer is saying.
Below is an update from his manager Steve Martinez on his condition from his offcial FB:
"As many of you may already know, Sting is undergoing treatment for the injuries he sustained in last night’s match with…
Posted by The Real Sting on Monday, September 21, 2015
It reads:
“As many of you may already know, Sting is undergoing treatment for the injuries he sustained in last night’s match with Seth Rollins. Doctors will continue to evaluate his condition, but he is a man of remarkable health and resiliency, especially at his age and with all he’s endured throughout his stellar career. Therefore, we are optimistic he will have a speedy recovery and return to full health soon. Sting has kept his body in excellent shape, due largely to the guidance he’s received from his personal trainer Jeff Cavaliere (ATHLEAN-X), and we trust this will prove beneficial to the recovery process. As a side note, we later learned the greatest damage to his body took place before the match was over, but being the true professional he is and among the hardest workers to ever step foot in the ring, he insisted to see the match through to the end.” -Steve Martinez
Now this is just sad. Yes he’s in a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match, putting a younger guy over, so in the storyline it makes sense. But to have to have a legendary 30 year career, being one of the most iconic stars of all time, and having to possibly retire because of an injury like this is sad, plain and simple. Now, not everyone gets the Ric Flair treatment with their retirement. Although Shawn Michaels did, and it almost seemed like this was how The Undertaker was going to go out (although that’s not the case, but I’ll get to him in a bit). But now, a larger portion of the veteran workers in the company deserve it, even Sting (after only being with WWE for less than a year).
Now there’s another guy in WWE who’s facing similar issues, this of course being The Undertaker. The Deadman, like The Icon, has hit middle age: he’s 50 years old. He’s dealt with way more injuries in his career than anyone can count, and he’s shockingly still going. Albeit, he only wrestles once or twice a year, making it feel like Christmas whenever he’s around. Yes, he has built up muscle, and made himself look far better and healthier than he has looked in recent years, I give him so much credit for that – turning himself around and making himself more “Phenom”enal, even at 50. On the outside he does seem better, but on the inside I’m sure his internal countdown is ticking away faster and faster every time he wrestles, especially against ruthless and aggressive opponents like Brock Lesnar, who’s background speaks for itself, and who also has a tendency to forget that he’s not in a real fight and that he’s not really supposed to hurt his opponent. Careers can be end without proper professionalism or ceremony in the ring. After his match with Brock at WrestleMania 30, The Undertaker suffered a concussion and had to be medically evacuated. Now we look at SummerSlam after the rematch: he looks completely exasperated and collapses on the stage going to the back. Now again, I’ll remind you of Sting getting seriously hurt because of a risky move at NOC. It gets worse. Undertaker is going to face Lesnar one more time, and now it’s going to be inside Hell In a Cell.
My point is that these older guys seriously should not be taking these insane bumps when they can cause so much damage to their now-frail bodies. I always think it’s cool watching the younger guys face the older legends in these dream matches, but rarely does the ring chemistry allow these different generations to work well together.
These two are by far my absolute favorites from the 90’s generation. I do care about their legacies and think it would be a damn shame to see them be remembered for their sudden retirement. These guys are the cornerstones of the industry, and should be protected instead of being abused for ratings or numbers. Or maybe I’m wrong. It’s Taker AND Sting who have too much pride to hang up their own boots. Maybe these guys actually want to die in the ring? It might make sense to them, but it would suck the life out of the entire industry to see that happen. WWE really needs their knowledge and resources right now to further the company into the future, not their bodies (Dark Knight Rises reference).
This is not how I want my generation to go out, to keep going until they literally can’t walk or move. There has to be an end for both of them. I believe the silver lining is finally having a match with each other to end it all, but that’s looking very unlikely at this point. At least guys like Triple H, Kevin Nash, JBL, Booker T and Shawn Michaels know when its time to take care of themselves, and focus their energy on developing the future of the business. But I fear still that something bad could happen to guys like The Dudleys, Kane, Big Show, Goldust, Mark Henry, Chris Jericho, or any other guys that don’t know when to give it up.
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