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Wrestling With your Conscience

Wrestling with your conscience.

“Stop, stand, still, foot on the ball, eyes on me. Right, all move around the square, big toe, little toe, keep control of the ball. Let’s go.” As I barked out these instructions at the top of my voice, my eyes were quickly scanning the group of boys and girls in front of me. The youngest was 4, the oldest 8, the vast majority 6 or 7 years of age. 25 young souls taking part in the delights that are a Soccer Camp. For 3 days they attend, for 6 hours at a time. At the end of the third day, it is hoped that they will have gained some new skills, acquired some tricks, had bags of fun and got value for their parents hard-earned money. The reality however is quite different. For working on ball control, drag-backs and shooting accuracy takes second place to splitting up fights, settling disputes and comforting the upset and unhappy. Taking control and responsibility for two dozen children is a draining experience in many respects.

The first day is exciting, getting to know them as quickly as possible. The second day is tougher as the naughty and mischevious start to show their true colours. By the third day, you’ve had enough of sly Ben, can’t wait for demanding Derek to go home, and as for angel-faced Jay, well, he’s fooling nobody. Yet it isn’t all doom and gloom for there are many special moments along the way. Some children, even in such a short space of time, endear themselves to you. Little Pat, with the face of a scamp and a heart of gold, lovely Helen, 6 years old and a professional footballer in every sense, and Elliot, a natural who doesn’t give you a minutes trouble. 25 of him and you could get the cigar’s out. But the overiding memory of the 3 day camp has to be the excitement created by an activity far removed from the beautiful game.

Getting 25 children to listen is a very difficult job at the very best of times. But throw in the names Batista, Rey Mysterio or The Undertaker and you have their undivided attention. The phenomenom that is the WWE, (World Wrestling Entertainment) has crossed the Atlantic and is creating quite a stir in Britain. All dates are immediate sell outs and the revenue generated run into hundreds of millions of dollars. And as a parent, the influence of these wrestling megastars is disturbing me greatly. My own son is a massive fan and we went to the Manchester Evening News Arena to see the show for ourselves. At £62 per ticket it was an expensive evening. But the traumatised look on his face as “The Boogeyman”, a man who eats live worms in the ring and leaves them like a calling card on his opponents body, will always stay with me. As I held him close, attempting to reassure him that it was all make believe, I couldn’t help feeling stupid as I had paid over £120 to see my son sob uncontrollably. The rest of the show was as entertaining as it was unsound. Female wrestlers are called Diva’s and are the ultimate sex object. Wet t-shirts, mud wrestling and bikini matches are the norm and at times it resemble soft porn.

Vendettas are common place but are settled in the most unsatisfactory manner possible. For there is no honour in the WWE.Assaults from behind, weapons, 3 v1, and handicap matches are all mainstays of the programme. If the remit is disturbing people, then they are doing a brilliant job. But the messages, obvious or subtle, go against the grain of basic decency. Cryme Time are a black team of wrestlers who steal and are always in trouble with the law, Eugene is a wrestler with mental illness who is always mocked and ridiculed, whilst John Cena, a clean cut, clean living former US Marine, is the ultimate peoples champion. Sexual innuendo, bullying, racism, its all there in spades. And the kids love it. But what harm is it doing? Are we poisoning the minds of our youth in the name of entertainment?.

We all know its staged, but watching somebody being reduced to a bloody mess is disturbing, whatever your age. And the way it is done, often from behind or with the element of surprise, gives the message that this is the way to settle disputes. What happened to reason? Diplomacy? Respect? I teach my children to stand up for themselves and to protect their own human rights. But if my son attacks somebody in the school playground, jumps on a girls back and pulls her hair until she screams, or beats somebody until he draws blood, should I be surprised?. And this is what makes me feel so uncomfortable. For buying tickets is to buy into the whole madness that is WWE.

Back to the coaching camp and there I am, day 2 and already struggling for games to keep my young footballers interested. So, whilst moving around a 30x 30 square, keeping the ball under control, the players awaited my instructions. If I shouted Batista, they had to do the actions of the great man mountain himself, pretending to fire off a few rounds on a machine gun. If the command was Rey Mysterio, they had to scream 6 1 9 at the top of their voices, the signature move of Mr.Mysterio. And so on and so forth. The game? Complete success, perfect, a hit, a smash, result. My coaching chest was puffed out as I commanded my arena. Concentration was total, enjoyment guaranteed. And yet I never felt truly comfortable as I knew, yet again, I was compromising my principles. I may well have used commands like Nigger, Paki or Slag to get their attention. And whenever I was struggling, I returned to this activity to regain my composure, gather my thoughts and remind myself of my coaching prowess.

What am I to do? Ban it from my screen and risk my son being excluded from the gang? Or carry on regardless, hoping that the example we set is the one they choose to follow? Or, option 3. Which is to shut my eyes, convince myself its only the wrestling that he enjoys, and that the sexist, racist, homophobic stuff goes totally over his head. A moral dilemma. A modern moral dilemma.

About the Author

In the history of World Wrestling Entertainment, who’s got the saddest retirement and why?

I asked for retirement, not death. So u get my point.

I’m going to say one that I doubt many will acknowledge but hopefully they will agree with how sad it is. I’d pick my all time favorite Bret Hart’s. It was just piled on and on and on and on. 1st WWE pretty much pushes him out the door and forces him to go to WCW. Then Vince didn’t even have the common courtesy to be the boss and tell Bret “I’m sorry but we’re not doing it your way. I’m in charge and your not walking out with the title”. Instead Bret’s ultimate farewell to WWE was him being screwed of the title with his own finisher in his hometown where the fans adored him. And the saddest part is; this wasn’t even his retirement. He went to WCW where he spent a few unhappy years there wishing Vince had let him stay in WWE. That’s when the unthinkable happened. Bret’s brother Owen died in WWE while Bret was in WCW. It was a tragedy and tore Bret’s life up. Then came the retirement. The retirement that was unexpected and tragic. Goldberg faced him in a match just as Bret began liking WCW. Bret was had a great tribute match to Owen against Benoit and had a moment he liked where Goldberg Speared himself into a steel tray. But after these moments Bret was kicked in the head and got knocked out. This eventually led to the saddening stroke of Bret Hart. After years of unlucky events all leading to this, it ended with Bret leaving the sport he loved unhappy but still able to perform. Bret’s career was snagged away from him and is part of the reason it took so long for him to feel right by returning to WWE. You’ve heard it in his promos how he stayed awake crying at night unsure on whether he would ever be able to walk again. Bret’s experienced more tragedies than anyone I know in pro wrestling history and 1 of the saddest is when he was retired due to an injury. He had never once injured a superstar and his career was taken away due to an injury.

Luckily this story has a happy ending. He made a triumphant return to WWE and in my opinion had a great rivalry with Vince. Sure his Wrestlemania match wasn’t great, but there is a reason fans applauded him on that night and didn’t chant “boring”. He is a walking miracle. Because he can walk, talk, and even move around and wrestle a bit after all he’s been through. For weeks I prayed this match happened and I’m still glad it did. I didn’t think Bret would even be able to move in that ring, but mark my words he has been or was in training. When he was 1st kicked in the gut and attacked by Batista I can’t lie; he looked like $hit! He couldn’t move and was very fragile. Then he came out a few weeks later and shocked me by running about and attacking security in a very believable way. And I still think that Bret gave a fine performance at Wrestlemania. Sure it wasn’t a classic, but he was still able to execute moves he did in his prime. I commend him for simply performing when a normal man wouldn’t even be able to get out of his bed and move on with his life. He then looked to have ended his career on a happy note by finally getting what he wanted. Winning the title in his hometown and respectfully giving it up. I think it was a great completed circle. And this story is still not over yet. He is now on Cena’s team and with 6 other men who can help him out; if Bret remains in training like I think he was, I think he could impress us all with a great performance. He definitely has it in him.

So in conclusion, with the 2 terrible years leading to his retirement I would undoubtably claim that he has had the most saddening retirement of all time. Luckily, 10 years later he was able to come back and have a very happy ending.

But while we’re on the process allow me to do something I don’t normally do. I answer several of your questions and you should know I’m not 1 to use my big boy words; but FFUCCK RIC FLAIR!!! WWE gave it all to him and I am disgusted with him. He had worked about 7 years total in WWE in a career lasting almost 30. He only won 1 World Title, 1 Tag Title, and 1 Intercontenental Title on WWE and spent all of his glory days somewhere else. AWA, running NWA, in WCW where he clearly stated he hated, and now TNA. Him wrestling in TNA makes me sick. He had a classic with HBK that WWE allowed him to have, and then honored his entire career when most of his achievements occurred somewhere other than WWE, and they honored him like a hero. WWE gave him a night most men dream of and never get. I’m fine if he wrestled again in WWE, but the fact that he did in TNA instead makes me sick. He was involved in a few storylines after his retirement on WWE but still didn’t wrestle. Then he goes to TNA and gives his last matches. Flair, have some sort of respect please! WWE honored you, you should have at least had 1 match in WWE before going to TNA. Man I wish he were respectful toward the company that has done so much for him. I’ll admit it, that tribute video WWE made for him with the song Leave the Memories Alone by Fuel gave me goosebumps. Now I watch it in disgust. I have lost a great deal of respect for Flair and deserves to have his legacy trashed just a bit; concerning WWE’s new chop ban. Sure I don’t like it, but I can see where WWE is coming from. WWE honored him greatly and Flair spat in the face of HHH, HBK, every other WWE superstar, and WWE itself. I know I didn’t pick Shawn for my answer, but he had a respectful retirement. He honored his last match and gave all of his glory years to WWE. He deserves the respect and I thank HBK for everything he has done. He deserves respect more than a lot of other men but esspecialy Flair. And I actually think HBK COULD wrestle another match. he definitely has it in him, but it’s the fact that he wants to honor his match he had with Undertaker; which is entirely understandable. But after all, he is Mr. Controversy. He could be saying us to be his usually unpredictable self and shock us all with more unexpected match. I doubt that will happen but whether it does or doesn’t I will always respect HBK and I can now confidently say Flair has disappointed me. He doesn’t deserve the saddest retirement whatsoever.

So overall; rambling aside, Bret Hart in my opinion had the saddest retirement

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