Anyone (read: rebelling against boredom, school going Indian boys with regular access to television) who grew up around the late 90s to the middle of the first decade of the 21st Century will agree when I say that by comparison, the quality of professional wrestling broadcast on our 'sports' channels was far superior then, than it is now. I remember a time when the belief that The Undertaker had indeed returned from the dead and could be controlled by none other than the man with the 'lamp' was rampant among the masses, fact that it was an urn notwithstanding, and I clearly recall friends of mine discussing Debra/Sabel with a passion reserved these days for the exhaustive list of Messi, Dravid, Tendulkar and Federer (almost a Gillette ad, no?). Wrestling today involves lame taunts, relentless post-luchador athleticism, plant driven crowd reactions and R-Truth, interspersed with Rambo-style career reboots, most recently for one-time dahling The Rock, replacing what the stuff we imagined gladiators to be made of.
Pro-wrestling has gone from Hulk Hogan to Bret Hart to Shawn Michaels to Stone Cold to The Miz, somehow by the way of Ric Flair. That facet of the quality of programming that inspires believability in said 'sport' has declined to degrees far worse than most Indian politicians these days. There is reason to believe that it might be a case of the onetime 'Federation' aiming their marketing gun at the kids, who became their primary target audience, and are mostly into their rather enjoyable console game version, like an effort to replicate the game experience in real life programming, in a twisted inside-out joke, something similar to a reverse lampshade.
I wonder if the rate that we're losing touch with quality, en masse, is a direct function of the numeric growth of our species. It's either that, or money is indeed the root of all evil.
No it's not all that bad. Apart from the number of TV channels that run 'Telebrands' late at night. Or the constant re-run/nostalgia mode that our sports television is in, subjecting viewers to worn out tapes of Australia-India tests from the past, as if there isn't going to be enough with the several tests that are going to be 'live'. Or that we have seven tasteless shows across said sports channels that offer the Premier League highlights bouquet garnished with some alarmingly pathetic 'insight' from some suspect experts, Steve McMahon, despite his Scousiness, notwithstanding. Really, who exactly is Shebby Singh again? And why exactly is a Bruno Mars concert on TV in India? Does no one care about these things?
It clearly runs deeper than Chetan Bhagat, this symptom of the malaise. Even Dutch football isn't what it used to be, and deny it if you like, but deep down, you know that it's a sign that the Gods demand sacrifice!
In the universe I come from, you have to be born between '85 and '89, last century, to qualify to save the world and a sense of humour is an aphrodisiac the equivalent of the perfect LBD. Also, I wonder if someone's already thought of starting up a kindness consultancy.
Pro-wrestling has gone from Hulk Hogan to Bret Hart to Shawn Michaels to Stone Cold to The Miz, somehow by the way of Ric Flair. That facet of the quality of programming that inspires believability in said 'sport' has declined to degrees far worse than most Indian politicians these days. There is reason to believe that it might be a case of the onetime 'Federation' aiming their marketing gun at the kids, who became their primary target audience, and are mostly into their rather enjoyable console game version, like an effort to replicate the game experience in real life programming, in a twisted inside-out joke, something similar to a reverse lampshade.
I wonder if the rate that we're losing touch with quality, en masse, is a direct function of the numeric growth of our species. It's either that, or money is indeed the root of all evil.
No it's not all that bad. Apart from the number of TV channels that run 'Telebrands' late at night. Or the constant re-run/nostalgia mode that our sports television is in, subjecting viewers to worn out tapes of Australia-India tests from the past, as if there isn't going to be enough with the several tests that are going to be 'live'. Or that we have seven tasteless shows across said sports channels that offer the Premier League highlights bouquet garnished with some alarmingly pathetic 'insight' from some suspect experts, Steve McMahon, despite his Scousiness, notwithstanding. Really, who exactly is Shebby Singh again? And why exactly is a Bruno Mars concert on TV in India? Does no one care about these things?
It clearly runs deeper than Chetan Bhagat, this symptom of the malaise. Even Dutch football isn't what it used to be, and deny it if you like, but deep down, you know that it's a sign that the Gods demand sacrifice!
In the universe I come from, you have to be born between '85 and '89, last century, to qualify to save the world and a sense of humour is an aphrodisiac the equivalent of the perfect LBD. Also, I wonder if someone's already thought of starting up a kindness consultancy.
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