An outsider's view of Wrestlemania.

[FromTheSouth]

Bill Simmons is the best sports wrtiers of this generation. He combines sports, life, and pop culture into a mashup of greatness. One of his biggest draws, for me, is that he very knowledgeable about pro wrestling. He works references into every column, and his new book, The Book of Basketball is full of references.

He wrote a running diary of Wrestlemania XXVI. I think it should be a required read for all IWC fans who take themselves a bit too seriously.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100330

In this piece, he mixes humor, hatred of Matt Styker, and knowledge of old school wrestling to a T. His analysis of HBK is spot on. He does miss a few important point, like he think the MitB winner gets a casr full of money, but it is very interesting to see what an outsider sees.

 

[Ferbian]

Reading through it at the moment, seems decent, although I must admit there's some notes that really comes off as if he doesn't take the product seriously, or just tries to be funny so that his diary doesn't come off as one big line of serious text, but he does have some points in there although, such as:

Teaming R-Truth and Morrison made about as much sense as having T-Pain sing with the remaining Doors.

Guess time will show if this eventually is just one big article of time waste, or if he actually manages to put on some proper points, although I guess he has a point in the expense of the pay per view, although I wouldn't mind having paid 64 dollars for a HQ show.

 

[Rokitka]

although I must admit there's some notes that really comes off as if he doesn't take the product seriously,

He doesn't, it's professional wrestling.

although I wouldn't mind having paid 64 dollars for a HQ show.

That's because your mom pays for it.

I'm a big BS fan, as is the majority of Boston, and always enjoy Simmon's views on wrestling. It's refreshing to read articles that aren't written with an agenda of getting the author's favorite wrestler over.

Side note: I didn't pick up on a few of those Striker quotes while watching the show live. In retrospect, he can be a bit silly.

 

[gd]

I absolutely love Bill Simmons. His columns are just about the only thing I'll read on a regular basis. He knows waht he's talking about on a variety of subjuects and is hilarious to boot. Just a joy to read.

His Wrestlemania diary is interesting simply because it's coming from a fan who doesn't really follow as regularly as the people on here do. He can give a better representation of what the casual fan is thinking.

A few highlights, his love of CM Punk, which shwows he knows what he's talking about, him making fun of all the stupid things in wrestling, which those of us who watch it all the time may not think of, and how he realized the HBK/Taker match was as big time of a memorable moment you're going to get in pro wrestling.

It's a great read that you should check out. He also has a few other wrestling columns which are definetly worth the read.

 

[Ferbian]

He doesn't, it's professional wrestling.

So? I still take the product seriously, even though I know it's scripted, and even though I know the role they put on is not real, I still watch a movie even though it's scripted and "oh shit, Bruce Willis isn't really John McClane, and that explosion is computer made!!"
And I still grow to care for the product, find entertainment in it, give myself a second to disband any knowledge of the fact that this is scripted, and to throw out a cheer whenever the good guy or the guy I like wins.

And no it's not that I should be coming off as annoyed that he's not taking the product seriously, because I'd be pissed at a lot of people around the world then, but at least I think he shouldn't come off with it so obviously in a professional article, but that's just my opinion.

That's because your mom pays for it.

You're kidding me right? I tried to pay for it myself, my mom did not, and I even if I could have paid for it, I wouldn't have my mom do it, I'm financially stable enough to pay for the pay per view, but as I've mentioned numerous times before, the damn website continued to decline my credit cards.

But as I said, I don't find 64 dollars to be a lot, and I'd gladly pay for it in order to watch a pay per view the size of Wrestlemania.

 

[The Doctor]

I liked that. I found it to be extremely funny, and I laughed out loud at several parts, such as his transliteration of R-Truth's rap. He should make this a regular occurrence, reviewing RAW, or even just the PPVs. Very, very enjoyable read.

He had a nice view of things, though I disagreed with his Striker hate. I was amused that he was making a lot of the same jokes that we were, like the ones about the Spanish announce table. Despite the fact that he thought it wasn't live and they were piping in crowd noise, it was a pretty much spot on review of Wrestlemania.

 

[Big Sexy]

I refuse to like Bill Simmons because of his hatred for the Detroit Pistons during their run of 6 straight trips to the Eastern Conference championship series, however this was a good read. It definitely gave a different perspective on things from a guy who doesn't watch wrestling on a consistent basis. He was able to combine sports, humor, and wrestling which is always a plus. I especially liked him making fun of all the stupid things in wrestling that we sometimes just let slide.

 

[Moda B Turki]

this is 1 hell of a great pro wrestling fan ...


damn i laughed so much all alone in the room XD ... the most thing that i like how much he do hate matt striker XD .. and R-truth Rap XD ... i agreed with him i though he forgot the lyrics XD ... and there is another laughable moment when john cena was telling us of Batista's Real Name that was one hell of a great Joke! XD ..

this dude is AWEOSME XD ..

 

[cm ben]

Hahahahahaha, this is totally worth a bump.

Loved the transcription of R-Truth's rap.
Loved his criticism of Cena's jorts.
Loved his Matt Striker criticism.

Read this!

 

[Ferbian]

I liked how he ended it all, good story about Shawn Michaels, even though throughout the most of it he seems in a mocking manner of describing the event, I must admit I found the ending rather good, paying a good tribute to Shawn Michaels, which we can't get enough of, now can we?

 

[Poɘt]

That was amazing. I laughed all through it. I'm glad you shared this with others because it seem a lot more fans take wrestling seriously than when I first begin watching in the late 90s. For example, when I went to school, we talked about wrestling, but no one ever got into an argument over wCw vs WWF or who can't work, etc. I think Matt Striker's lack of sense of humor at the table is why so many within the IWC love him. I remember thinking a month or so ago how it sounded like he was trying so hard to sound knowledgeable about wrestling, lol. I like him still, but he should relax more, if that's possible on WWE's announce team.