Like everything else, wrestling has changed over the years. While the improvements are easy to point to, one of the side-effects of wrestling becoming a billion dollar industry is that the sport has become increasingly dangerous.
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In an interview with Comicbook.com to promote an appearance at Astronomicon (tickets here), Goldust discussed the state of professional wrestling, specifically how today’s style is geared around high-octane spots that can make for a crowded disabled list. To Goldust, wrestling has never been this hazardous.
“In the ’70s and the ’80s, what wrestlers were doing back then, yes, they’re taking bumps and they’re busting up their bodies and things like that, but now, we got these cages, they’re falling off. We got tables they’re going through constantly, chair shots, all this, very dangerous maneuvers where you can possibly break your neck or something like that,” he said.
But even though career-ending injuries may be easy to come by, Goldust knows that all wrestlers, including WWE Superstars, are taking these risks to be adored by fans.
“They put their lives on the line, man, because of their love for the business and entertaining the fans,” said Goldust. “That’s why we do it is to put smiles and make them … to gain a reaction from this crowd, you know?”
In recent years, WWE legends like The Undertaker have admonished the new, high-risk, style of wrestling, actually calling it a “huge problem.” To the old-timers, this new generation of wrestler have bypassed the foundation of the sport—storytelling—in the name of top-rope fireworks. But Goldust understands that things change and that this new philosophy has its place in wrestling.
“The business changes, and we don’t all have to like the change, but it’s, ultimately, the business is changed,” he said, “But, that being said, I don’t like it, and I’ll tell you why. Because without the new school that we have right now, or without old school, there would be none of this new school, so it started somewhere, right?”
However, Goldust will always be a subscriber to the roots of wrestling. And even though he admits that today’s style is likely here to stay, he misses simpler days.
“The old school is storytelling. The slow, “Let’s get from point A to Z and tell a story about it,” started this whole thing, and then it’s progressed from that to all this crazy, all this 15 million flips and this and that and no rhyme or reason for moves, and then you do every big move in the book out there just for a crowd pop and then you get beat by a freaking roll-up or something, which makes no sense to me,” he said.
Astronomicon will happen on February 8-10 in Sterling Heights, MI. Alongside Goldust, you can catch Scott Hall, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Scott Steiner, and The Boogeyman at the event.
Photo: WWE
