If I'm watching science fiction or cable news then where does wrestling fit? Wrestling is entertainment and has been described as a ballet of violence - yes I heard that somewhere. When I started watching it, my young mind was filled with this idea of men fighting to settle scores. That's essentially what wrestling is, a good guy settling a score with a bad guy.
Why are they settling scores? Well basically the bad guy did something the good guy doesn't like. Perhaps a bad guy cheating during a championship match. Perhaps a good guy has something the bag guy covets. My imagination couldn't run anymore wild than the imagination of pro-wrestling writers!
Well why am I writing about pro-wrestling? Monday Night Raw will celebrate 25 years on the air next Monday. And to be fair Raw is over due for another edition of old school Raw. And to reminisce it seems pro-wrestling has evolved to a high spot display of flash. Since maybe the WWF's Attitude Era wrestling has been a lot more fast-paced than it has been when I started watching wrestling.
Perhaps it's just a sign of how that art or that business has to adjust to new times. And while I wasn't there for Raw's first broadcast - as it replace another WWF program on the USA Network in 1993 Prime Time Wrestling - we see the changes to wrestling over the course of 25 years. Just got to sign up for the WWE Network and you can see archive footage of WWF programming over the years.
I can't believe we've arrived to the point where Raw is at 25 years. My favorite era of that show as the Monday night wars/Attitude era. We had two choices on Monday nights from 1995 to 2001 and we could see two different styles of wrestling from southern style wrestling to sports entertainment. And then it ended when the WWF bought their Monday night competition World Championship Wrestling. What an interesting end to a very contentious fight for dominance not just on Monday nights but in North American pro-wrestling.
This coming Monday we will reminisce. Long time fans and newer fans will think about their favorite moments. And I must say we're overdue for an episode of old-school Raw anyway..
BTW, I tend to use WWE interchangeably with WWF or World Wrestling Federation. I'm of the school of as opposed to the name change from earlier in the century which is "take the F out", my saying would be "take the E out". WWE will always be the World Wrestling Federation to me.
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