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Religion, Sport, Pastime or Joke?

There's a saying that goes, "In Canada, it's a tradition. In Mexico, it's a religion. In Japan, it's a sport. In America, it's a joke." The saying is talking about wrestling, and I'm going to break down the specifics of why this saying has come about.

Canadian wrestlers, for whatever reason, have garnered the attention of a lot of big promotions. Christian Cage and Edge have both been champions for their respective organizations this year after being tag team champions together in the WWE. Chris Benoit and Bret Hart are recognized as being two of the best atheletes to come out of Canada. What is it about Canada, then, that makes their guys so much better than ours? I'll tell you straight up- it's their mindset. Canadians do not look at wrestling as a vehicle to put clowns, vampires, homosexuals, lesbians and all manner of trash on TV. Anyone who has watched Stampede Wrestling shows will tell you that none of that appeared there. So, too, Canadian wrestlers, as taught by Canadian trainers, do not believe that wrestling shows are meant to display the ridiculous elements of life. The recently broken-up Team Canada of TNA, for whatever else they did, kept it professional and kept their craft as wrestling. You won't hear them talking about childhood angst or how their children had to watch them get words spray-painted on their backs. Canadians wrestlers are atheletes, and they act as such.

Mexican wrestling is where the crusierweight style of wrestling began. They call it lucha-libre, and it is the definition of high risk offense. Many of the high flyers today can trace their styles back to Mexico. But Mexican wrestling is not merely a bunch of guys pulling off different moves. It's something more. A wrestler who wears a mask has the right not to have his mask messed with- a match can be stopped if this happens. Based on that alone, it's clear how seriously Mexicans take their craft. Rey Mysterio, Eddie and Chavo Guerrero are among the big names to come out of Mexico, to name a few. I, for one, have trouble imagining what WCW would have been like without all those masked guys flying around pulling off amazing moves.

Japanese wrestling is among the best in the world. Any wrestler who has taken a tour in Japan always seems to come back better afterwards. Most recently, Matt Sydal (who defeated Christopher Daniels) and Jack Evans bear this out. It cannot be held as coincidence that Chris Benoit competed in the finals of two Super J cups (94 and 95) only to gain a world title in the WWE ten years later. Nor is it a coincidence that American promotions try and find Japanese wrestlers to add to their roster (Tajiri, Funaki, Jimmy Yang/Akio, Jushin Liger and Hiroshi Tanahashi to name a few). Again, it's a matter of how they look at it that matters. Because they view it as a sport, they react negatively when the good wrestlers (faces) pull off underhanded tactics. This is not an a country where lying, cheating and stealing will make you more popular. Only your performance in the ring will do that.

American wrestling has relied on everyone else's wrestling to make them better. But it's still called a joke. Having people from other countries will not change the way that promoters look at it. Having a man fall in love with a mop (Perry Saturn and Moppy) is not strictly wrestling- it's entertainment. Making light of a situation- creating comedy- is also entertainment. It's easy to connect the dots, then, to see how American wrestling is a "joke" and not a sport, tradition or religion.

Ring of Honor is the only promotion I'm aware of that doesn't treat it like a joke. In Ring of Honor, if you can't go in the ring, you won't be in the ring. It's that simple. You won't find a sixty year old man like Ric Flair or a fifty-some year old man like Hulk Hogan plying his craft simply to raise profits. Flair's and Hogan's best days are behind them, and to assume anything else is to disregard plain facts. Ring of Honor constantly looks for wrestlers in their best days- today. Bryan Danielson didn't become- and stay- Ring of Honor champion by accident. He's champion because, at 25 years old, he's in the best wrestling shape of his career and what he does for his opponents is nothing short of legendary.

I'm referring specifically to a match where Bryan Danielson had to face Sonjay Dutt. Sonjay Dutt was basically a nobody, a nothing- enhancement talent for the rest of TNA's X-Division. He comes into Ring of Honor, and, all the sudden, he looks like a serious contender for Danielson's title. Not that Danielson would allow himself to lose to Sonjay, but Danielson made Sonjay look good enough that the match did not seem to be a waste of time, as many world title matches in other promotions- specifically TNA and WWE- seem to be.

It comes back to attitude- how they look at it. Ring of Honor could be the savior for American wrestling because they don't see it as a means to make people laugh, cry, or whatever. They see it as a means to put a good show on, to put talented wrestlers in the ring and see what they can do.

Anything less is a slap in the face of legends such as Ric Flair, who spent their entire lives trying to make sure that the wrestling industry in general would have a future.