Thursday, September 3, 2015

Pieces of my childhood are dying edition



Just like Terry Funk, every time it looks like Inside The Wrestling Ring has retired it keeps coming back for more! 

So much has happened in the world of professional wrestling since my last blog but there are four things I want to focus on right now. More and more I'm losing bits of my childhood and quite frankly I don't want to stand for it anymore! We lost two of the greats of my youth and then were rocked by two more scandals. We will discuss this all starting right now.

First the death of Dusty Rhodes on June 11th rocked the wrestling world. I admit that I was not a big fan of Dusty the wrestler, but he was such a vital part of wrestling when I getting into it that it saddened me. Dusty had such a huge impact on wrestling backstage. There are few people in this world that had the mind that he had. What I most respected about Dusty was that he was never the most in shape guy. He had a lisp so his promos weren't always the best. It didn't matter. He overcame all of it to be one of the best of all time. I have nothing but respect for him, his family and his legacy in the business.

Then we lost the Hot Rod. That was a hard one for me. Growing up my all time favorite was Randy Savage. But Rowdy Roddy Piper was always in my top 5. Again, he was never the most in shape guy.  But I don't know you can find a better talker (especially at that time) than Piper. His promos were just amazing. So much so that they had to give him his own talk show, Piper's Pit. Piper's Pit had so many great memories over the years. From the coconut over Snuka's head to his encounter with shock talk show host Morton Downey Jr to countless others. Every time he picked a microphone, there was magic. We will never see another Piper.

Now it's time to take out that number 2 pencil. Turned it around and starts erasing! I do not agree with the WWE's system of "erasing" people from history. It can't be done. Sorry to be the one to bring that to people's attention. Whether we agree with what Hulk Hogan said on tape seven years ago or not, he can't be erased from history. We know what he did. We know about his epic battles with Andre The Giant, Randy Savage, Rowdy Roddy Piper, etc. We know to eat our vitamins and say our prayers. We know about the red and the yellow or the black and the white. Was what he said right? Nope. Not at all. I don't condone using that word one bit. But to delete him from the history books is not right either. 

However he's not the only person being erased from history. Hogan's tape was from 7 years ago, but we have to go much further back to erase Jimmy Superfly Snuka.  I had heard many times over the years he was a suspect in the death of his girlfriend at the time. Nancy Argentino died 32 years ago under a suspect situation. What I don't understand is what took the authorities 32 years to make this arrest? He was the only suspect in what looked like abuse. Regardless if you go to the WWE Network and type in Snuka, you will get a result. Tamina Snuka, his daughter. Clearly this is a much different situation than Hogan. But again, if this is something that has been 32 years in the making than maybe WWE should have been more prepared for this as a possibility.

Regardless it's a shame to watch pieces of my childhood get erased or know that I won't ever see them again on my screen. 


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