A seven year old's view of WWE

[cuppacoffee - slight return]

Lengthy, self-indulgent post for the first time I've started a thread here.

My youngest son watches wrestling with me. He started early this year with NXT, which is great, because one hour is about the limit of his attention span, then checked out a few main roster matches when workers / storylines started crossing over (Sami, Owens, Neville, etc), then some of the highlights of recent main roster PPVs.
Since then, he's also asked to see some older stuff, as he hears about guys like Austin, Rock, Undertaker etc. I try to avoid showing him too much bloody / unsavoury stuff, mostly to keep his mum sweet, but, you know, sometimes it's kind of unavoidable in Austin Attitude Era bits.

Now, I don't know whether he watches as if it's legit, or whether he's smart to it. We haven't talked about it. I guess the same way I don't start conversations like "You know Bambi's mum isn't really dead, right? She's just a fictional character?" or, "You know Santa Claus is just me busting my balls all year to pay for this stuff, then sneaking downstairs after your bedtime, right?"
Either way, he is really into his wrestling right now.

Anyhow, he has some views and observations about wrestling, some of which I thought I would offer up here, along with my own take on them:

1) He loves Finn Balor.  He thinks Finn is brave, cool and looks amazing with the demon stuff. The only WWE merch he has so far asked for is a Finn Balor T-shirt. If Finn turns heel, it will be a disaster in my household. If other kids feel the same way, that's a lot of t-shirts they're going to miss out if they do turn him.

2) He thinks Baron Corbin's booking is stupid. Whether or not he knows the outcomes are pre-determined, he definitely understands that someone other than the wrestlers themselves decides who they fight. He can't understand why the company would be satisfied to have Corbin wrestle "little guys who have no chance against him" every single week. In his view, it's the booker's fault the fans are booing Corbin. Fair point, I think.

3) Watching Taker vs Lesnar from Wrestlemania, he observed, "You could fit 20 Baron Corbin matches in Undertaker's entrance to the ring." I don't know if he thinks that's a criticism of 'Taker, or of Corbin, but he's not wrong.

4) I mentioned to him that Steve Austin had won the Rumble 3 times, so, of course, we had to watch Austin's Rumble victories. Two matters arising from these -

a) Mick Foley is "the cleverest guy in wrestling." More people should have three different costumes so they can enter the Rumble more than once. Why does no-one else do that?

b) Austin's 2001 Rumble win was the first time he'd seen a really big blade job. Those three Royal Rumbles, back-to-back, are the only three full Austin matches he's seen. By the time a crimson-masked Austin won the 2001 match, he had decided that Austin was "insane," and "the best wrestler ever!"

5) The way they're booking the women in NXT is really working. Sasha, Charlotte and Becky are up there in his list of "wrestlers I really like," with absolutely no "they're pretty good, for girls" disclaimer. When he chops me in the chest and shouts "Wooooh!" (which he does, a lot...), it's a Flair he's imitating, but he's never seen Ric wrestle.

6) When I heard Joe was debuting in NXT, before we watched the show, I showed him some of Joe's TNA matches, so he'd understand why I was marking out. He's really sold on Joe being this killer badass. However - and bear in mind that he's just a normal seven year old kid, not an experienced producer on a WWE show, or a composer of licensed music - he thinks it's obvious that "the crowd really wants to cheer Joe, but that music spoils it!" 

[Hit Girl]

He seems to know what's what.

[Hawk Hart]

He's pretty spot on in his assessment I'd say.

[Deleted]

He sounds very intelligent for that age. It's always interesting to hear what this stuff looks like through un-jaded eyes, though this kid seems to have the smark in him.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

That Baron Corbin thing is ridiculously insightful. Your kid sounds like a badass.

[jwarr]

That Foley costume/gimmick line is genious.

[PTBartman]

Have you shown him the Scooby Doo or Flintstone cross-overs yet? I hope he can also see The Hulk Hogan Rock and Wrestling cartoons from the 80s. Are they on the Network? or VHS/DVD?

[cabbageboy]

Corbin is a victim to booking straight out of Magnum TA in 1985. Magnum did squash jobbers in 30 seconds for a long while to establish the belly to belly, but at the end of the day it's stuff like maiming Tully Blanchard and fighting the good fight vs. Nikita that got him truly over. The problem with a 30 second squash is that it fails to do anything meaningful. A jobber squash is supposed to establish the superstar's moveset but how do you do that in 30 seconds? After a point the crowd just realizes the guy getting pushed has nothing and has to be hidden in these nothing squashes. Corbin's longer matches have largely been junk too, so the attempt to transition him into more meaningful matches tanked, and now they're out of ideas and go back to him doing the 30 second squash? Doesn't work that way.

[Bo Rida]

I love posts like this.

I can't wait to hear what he makes of Joe vs Corbin.

[LuchaBella]

Aug 14, 2015 10:19:02 GMT -5 @lovehater said:

He sounds very intelligent for that age. It's always interesting to hear what this stuff looks like through un-jaded eyes, though this kid seems to have the smark in him.

Kids are honest. That's why I like to hear what they have to say. My 9 year old has a lot to say about WWE, but its not as favorable as it is about New Japan.

I like the perspective of the OPs kid.

[Super Duper Dragunov]

Aug 14, 2015 10:14:50 GMT -5 cuppacoffee - slight return said:

Lengthy, self-indulgent post for the first time I've started a thread here.

My youngest son watches wrestling with me. He started early this year with NXT, which is great, because one hour is about the limit of his attention span, then checked out a few main roster matches when workers / storylines started crossing over (Sami, Owens, Neville, etc), then some of the highlights of recent main roster PPVs.
Since then, he's also asked to see some older stuff, as he hears about guys like Austin, Rock, Undertaker etc. I try to avoid showing him too much bloody / unsavoury stuff, mostly to keep his mum sweet, but, you know, sometimes it's kind of unavoidable in Austin Attitude Era bits.

Now, I don't know whether he watches as if it's legit, or whether he's smart to it. We haven't talked about it. I guess the same way I don't start conversations like "You know Bambi's mum isn't really dead, right? She's just a fictional character?" or, "You know Santa Claus is just me busting my balls all year to pay for this stuff, then sneaking downstairs after your bedtime, right?"
Either way, he is really into his wrestling right now.

Anyhow, he has some views and observations about wrestling, some of which I thought I would offer up here, along with my own take on them:

1) He loves Finn Balor.  He thinks Finn is brave, cool and looks amazing with the demon stuff. The only WWE merch he has so far asked for is a Finn Balor T-shirt. If Finn turns heel, it will be a disaster in my household. If other kids feel the same way, that's a lot of t-shirts they're going to miss out if they do turn him.

2) He thinks Baron Corbin's booking is stupid. Whether or not he knows the outcomes are pre-determined, he definitely understands that someone other than the wrestlers themselves decides who they fight. He can't understand why the company would be satisfied to have Corbin wrestle "little guys who have no chance against him" every single week. In his view, it's the booker's fault the fans are booing Corbin. Fair point, I think.

3) Watching Taker vs Lesnar from Wrestlemania, he observed, "You could fit 20 Baron Corbin matches in Undertaker's entrance to the ring." I don't know if he thinks that's a criticism of 'Taker, or of Corbin, but he's not wrong.

4) I mentioned to him that Steve Austin had won the Rumble 3 times, so, of course, we had to watch Austin's Rumble victories. Two matters arising from these -

a) Mick Foley is "the cleverest guy in wrestling." More people should have three different costumes so they can enter the Rumble more than once. Why does no-one else do that?

b) Austin's 2001 Rumble win was the first time he'd seen a really big blade job. Those three Royal Rumbles, back-to-back, are the only three full Austin matches he's seen. By the time a crimson-masked Austin won the 2001 match, he had decided that Austin was "insane," and "the best wrestler ever!"

5) The way they're booking the women in NXT is really working. Sasha, Charlotte and Becky are up there in his list of "wrestlers I really like," with absolutely no "they're pretty good, for girls" disclaimer. When he chops me in the chest and shouts "Wooooh!" (which he does, a lot...), it's a Flair he's imitating, but he's never seen Ric wrestle.

6) When I heard Joe was debuting in NXT, before we watched the show, I showed him some of Joe's TNA matches, so he'd understand why I was marking out. He's really sold on Joe being this killer badass. However - and bear in mind that he's just a normal seven year old kid, not an experienced producer on a WWE show, or a composer of licensed music - he thinks it's obvious that "the crowd really wants to cheer Joe, but that music spoils it!" 

#3 is an amazing observation.
#6 YES. the music is the exact same thing I said. It ruined Joe. Not permanently, but I can't even begin to think how anyone on here could think it was good.

[madness50]

That is a very smart seven year old. Kids at that age can really surprise you with their honesty and knowledge. I couldn't agree more with number 6 about Joe. That music is the worst.

[wisdomwizard]

The smark is strong in this one....

[Bang Bang Bart]

It says something when a seven-year old kid has a better understanding of why a particular wrestler that a booking team is pushing on everyone isn't gelling with audiences than said creative team.

[Bub (BLM)]

I laughed at his assessment of Taker's entrance. Your kid sounds like a fantastic color commentator in the making.

[Dub H]

Aug 14, 2015 11:09:48 GMT -5 Super Duper Dragunov said:

Aug 14, 2015 10:14:50 GMT -5 cuppacoffee - slight return said:

Lengthy, self-indulgent post for the first time I've started a thread here.

My youngest son watches wrestling with me. He started early this year with NXT, which is great, because one hour is about the limit of his attention span, then checked out a few main roster matches when workers / storylines started crossing over (Sami, Owens, Neville, etc), then some of the highlights of recent main roster PPVs.
Since then, he's also asked to see some older stuff, as he hears about guys like Austin, Rock, Undertaker etc. I try to avoid showing him too much bloody / unsavoury stuff, mostly to keep his mum sweet, but, you know, sometimes it's kind of unavoidable in Austin Attitude Era bits.

Now, I don't know whether he watches as if it's legit, or whether he's smart to it. We haven't talked about it. I guess the same way I don't start conversations like "You know Bambi's mum isn't really dead, right? She's just a fictional character?" or, "You know Santa Claus is just me busting my balls all year to pay for this stuff, then sneaking downstairs after your bedtime, right?"
Either way, he is really into his wrestling right now.

Anyhow, he has some views and observations about wrestling, some of which I thought I would offer up here, along with my own take on them:

1) He loves Finn Balor.  He thinks Finn is brave, cool and looks amazing with the demon stuff. The only WWE merch he has so far asked for is a Finn Balor T-shirt. If Finn turns heel, it will be a disaster in my household. If other kids feel the same way, that's a lot of t-shirts they're going to miss out if they do turn him.

2) He thinks Baron Corbin's booking is stupid. Whether or not he knows the outcomes are pre-determined, he definitely understands that someone other than the wrestlers themselves decides who they fight. He can't understand why the company would be satisfied to have Corbin wrestle "little guys who have no chance against him" every single week. In his view, it's the booker's fault the fans are booing Corbin. Fair point, I think.

3) Watching Taker vs Lesnar from Wrestlemania, he observed, "You could fit 20 Baron Corbin matches in Undertaker's entrance to the ring." I don't know if he thinks that's a criticism of 'Taker, or of Corbin, but he's not wrong.

4) I mentioned to him that Steve Austin had won the Rumble 3 times, so, of course, we had to watch Austin's Rumble victories. Two matters arising from these -

a) Mick Foley is "the cleverest guy in wrestling." More people should have three different costumes so they can enter the Rumble more than once. Why does no-one else do that?

b) Austin's 2001 Rumble win was the first time he'd seen a really big blade job. Those three Royal Rumbles, back-to-back, are the only three full Austin matches he's seen. By the time a crimson-masked Austin won the 2001 match, he had decided that Austin was "insane," and "the best wrestler ever!"

5) The way they're booking the women in NXT is really working. Sasha, Charlotte and Becky are up there in his list of "wrestlers I really like," with absolutely no "they're pretty good, for girls" disclaimer. When he chops me in the chest and shouts "Wooooh!" (which he does, a lot...), it's a Flair he's imitating, but he's never seen Ric wrestle.

6) When I heard Joe was debuting in NXT, before we watched the show, I showed him some of Joe's TNA matches, so he'd understand why I was marking out. He's really sold on Joe being this killer badass. However - and bear in mind that he's just a normal seven year old kid, not an experienced producer on a WWE show, or a composer of licensed music - he thinks it's obvious that "the crowd really wants to cheer Joe, but that music spoils it!" 

#3 is an amazing observation.
#6 YES. the music is the exact same thing I said. It ruined Joe. Not permanently, but I can't even begin to think how anyone on here could think it was good.

*grumble*I like it*grumble*

["Gentleman" AJ Powell]

Aug 14, 2015 13:23:39 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Aug 14, 2015 11:09:48 GMT -5 Super Duper Dragunov said:

#3 is an amazing observation.
#6 YES. the music is the exact same thing I said. It ruined Joe. Not permanently, but I can't even begin to think how anyone on here could think it was good.

*grumble*I like it*grumble*

It was alright, buuuut his current music's miles better. Still got a way to go with it though.

[Dub H]

Aug 14, 2015 13:44:15 GMT -5 "Gentleman" AJ Powell said:

Aug 14, 2015 13:23:39 GMT -5 Dub H said:

*grumble*I like it*grumble*

It was alright, buuuut his current music's miles better. Still got a way to go with it though.

Well,i thought people were talking about the current one.

[Madagascar Fred]

Wish I was that clever at that age

[chazraps]

I'd listen to his podcast.

I remember being that age and being blown away by the Shawn Michaels - Diesel No Holds Barred match from In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies (April '96). If you're cool with him watching a fire extinguisher and prosthetic leg get used in a fight, I'd be curious to hear a youthful take on it some 20 years later.