Post by stu on Nov 3, 2008 9:09:03 GMT -5
(I posted this in the miscellaneous folder too, but wanted to get this group's feedback as well)
I recently read some fascinating stuff on British wrestling and its heyday of the 60's and 70's. In that presentation of professional wrestling, they used specific weight classes, 7 of them in fact, much like they have used in boxing over the decades. Mexico still uses specific weight classes as well, although they aren't as etched in stone as they appeared to be in the British heyday.
I've always been intrigued by using weight classes in this game, in my presentation if you will of professional wrestling. I come at professional wrestling as being also a fan of old time boxing. I loved the glory days of the middleweights and welterweights of Sugar Ray Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, and Duran, and wonder why this couldn't also be the case in professional wrestling.
In this country, McMahon has presented us one style over the decades, and up until relatively recently, it has been a style dominated by big men. I think that's shortsighted, and MMA is proving that there is an appetite out there for smaller "wrestlers" (if you want to equate MMA fighters with wrestlers) in the buying public. Witness the popularity of the UFC's light-heavyweight division, or even fighters like B.J. Penn.
I keep toying with this notion of dividing up my fed into weight classes. Has anyone tried doing this, not just in the POW with the MMA version, but in a fed that is wrestling-based? Has it worked for you? If you haven't tried, I'd be interested in knowing opinions on how it might work from you folks.
It would take some getting used to, but I can see in my "minds-eye" a fed where the World Lightweight Championship is taken quite seriously, and is a major championship. I think the World Heavyweight Title would still reign supreme, but the other weight classes...and subsequently a lot of other wrestlers...would have more of an opportunity to shine and get over.
The other thing I'd have to get used to is the Buddy Rogers, Jim Londos's of the World being "Cruiserweight" champions, due to being lower weights, but that can be overcome.
I recently read some fascinating stuff on British wrestling and its heyday of the 60's and 70's. In that presentation of professional wrestling, they used specific weight classes, 7 of them in fact, much like they have used in boxing over the decades. Mexico still uses specific weight classes as well, although they aren't as etched in stone as they appeared to be in the British heyday.
I've always been intrigued by using weight classes in this game, in my presentation if you will of professional wrestling. I come at professional wrestling as being also a fan of old time boxing. I loved the glory days of the middleweights and welterweights of Sugar Ray Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, and Duran, and wonder why this couldn't also be the case in professional wrestling.
In this country, McMahon has presented us one style over the decades, and up until relatively recently, it has been a style dominated by big men. I think that's shortsighted, and MMA is proving that there is an appetite out there for smaller "wrestlers" (if you want to equate MMA fighters with wrestlers) in the buying public. Witness the popularity of the UFC's light-heavyweight division, or even fighters like B.J. Penn.
I keep toying with this notion of dividing up my fed into weight classes. Has anyone tried doing this, not just in the POW with the MMA version, but in a fed that is wrestling-based? Has it worked for you? If you haven't tried, I'd be interested in knowing opinions on how it might work from you folks.
It would take some getting used to, but I can see in my "minds-eye" a fed where the World Lightweight Championship is taken quite seriously, and is a major championship. I think the World Heavyweight Title would still reign supreme, but the other weight classes...and subsequently a lot of other wrestlers...would have more of an opportunity to shine and get over.
The other thing I'd have to get used to is the Buddy Rogers, Jim Londos's of the World being "Cruiserweight" champions, due to being lower weights, but that can be overcome.
