Post by Cibernético II on Jan 2, 2008 22:02:07 GMT -5
from James Mitchell's MySace page:
www.myspace.com/TNADEVIL
www.myspace.com/TNADEVIL
I get numerous emails and MySpace messages from both well meaning drama queens and crap-disturbers who want to know how I feel about various negative critiques written on the internet about myself, wrestlers I have worked with, and the wrestling companies I have worked for over the years. Whether their motives are pure or malicious, they are wasting their time if they think I am bothered by it.
Although I will follow them up with some additional thoughts, there are three quotes which sum up my view on critics of all stripes.
Read the following quotes carefully.
Walk away from the keyboard and think about them for a while.
Come back and read them again.
If they make you stop worrying about my feelings being hurt you are one of the well meaning drama queens.
If they make you angry or bother you on some level you are one of the crap-disturbers.
Either way, I'm a big boy. I can handle myself. The same goes for any successful member of my industry.
"Music critics hate Van Halen and love Elvis Costello because they look like Elvis Costello."
David Lee Roth
"Everybody wants to get in on da act."
Jimmy Durante
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt
In my view, most critics and pundits are just that because they long to be part of a pursuit they may genuinely enjoy but, for various reasons, can't. It gives them a sense of being connected and playing a role in something greater than themselves, whether they are conscious of it or not. They get a "rub". This includes 95% of all unemployed, disgruntled wrestlers who lash out at former colleagues on the internet.
It strikes me as unrewardingly masochistic for people to spend time obsessing and bitching about something they despise instead of productively pursuing an interest that brings them pleasure. Such behavior is no different than an angry ex-lover who can't get beyond telling everyone that their former mate was an asshole.
I've never met a critic of mine in person who didn't immediately start back-peddling on their negative opinions and I've never brought their opinions up, either. Why would I validate their existence? They just nervously tremble, look mesmerized, and offer to buy me a beer or a meal while I politely smile.
I've never met an internet wrestling critic who possessed my charisma and screen presence or one that would have the balls to go toe to toe with me in an ad-lib, "shoot" promo contest. Perhaps such a person exists, but I believe there is a greater likelihood of discovering Big Foot, The Loch Ness Monster, and a chupacabra all flying in a UFO over the Devil's Triangle on their way to Atlantis with a cure for both cancer and AIDS.
I think it's safe to say that my internet reviews over the years have been 85% positive, anyway. That's because, unlike most internet wrestling critics, I'm damned good at what I do. That's why I get paid. That's why I am constantly cyclically winding up as the only nationally televised wrestling manager when the others fall by the wayside.
Some folks may not like my stylistic approach or be offended by my devilish persona and that's fine with me, but anyone who claims that I am not exceptionally skilled at what I uniquely do is showing how little they know about my job description.
The only negative criticism I seriously consider is that which is made by people more successful than myself because I have something to learn from them. Unlike self-appointed internet wrestling experts, I've never stopped learning and I've been in the industry nearly twenty years.
As long as they continue to watch me on television in order to write their rants, critics keep my Neilsen ratings consistent. In their zealous quest to harm me, they wind up helping me.
Ratings affect my career. Message boards don't. That's why I would like to say to the minority that constitutes my personal critics, by all means, continue to watch and bitch about me in your blogs and message boards. Please accept my sincere thanks for your support.
Ain't life grand?