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September 8, 2005

Hello again. It’s been a rather strange week, hasn’t it? First, to all those who lost their homes in the hurricanes, my heart goes out to you and you’re in all our prayers.

Over the long weekend, I had the chance to revisit a show that is near and dear to my heart. It covered the history of wrestling, from it’s carny beginnings to it’s almost current (I believe it was done in the 90’s) state.

One thing that came right out and slapped me square in the face is the fact that, just like every other sport out there, the participants all have tremendous egos. Ego plays a part in all of our lives, to one extent or another. After all, as has been stated before, we are all the hero of the story of our lives. For, without a certain amount of ego, we’d never accomplish anything as we wouldn’t think we were worth it.

However, sometimes the ego takes over and we start to believe our own press releases. We start to believe that we are indeed the greatest thing on earth and that people live or die just to hear what we have to say, to watch us in action, or to touch the hem of our robes.

I read once that Humphrey Bogart used to get beat up on a regular basis because he couldn’t separate Humphrey Bogart, the actor from Humphrey Bogart, the person. He became so wrapped up in his on screen personae that he would carry it out to the real world and get pounded because he didn’t have the horses to back it up.

One of the greatest heels in the business, “Classy” Freddie Blassie, used to wallow in it. He loved the hatred. He revelled in the fact that he was perceived as such a nasty individual that he would purposely carry it forward with him in public.

So, when does it get in the way? When does the ego get in the way of a decent life?

We are all familiar with the story of Jim Hellwig, also known as the Dingo Warrior, aka The Ultimate Warrior. He appears to have slipped into that shadow world where it’s hard to distinguish reality from fantasy. Hellwig seems to have completely given himself up to the whole Ultimate Warrior world and seems divorced from our concept of reality.

As I mentioned earlier, I watched the history of wrestling and something was brought out to startling contrast.

Contrast the lives of Andre the Giant and Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan).

Andre was truly the “gentle giant." He could have won any title he wanted because who’s going to take it away from him? From everything I’ve read and from watching his interviews, he seemed like an amiable individual who was having a good time. Even in the end times, when he was put over as a monster heel, I think that the sweetness was still there.

In his final match, he was wrestling Hogan for the title. It was going to be a changing of the guard, as it were. The arrangements had been made, Andre was going to put Hogan over. Then Hogan allowed his ego to get the better of him and let his alligator mouth override his hummingbird ass. He made the mistake of pissing Andre off!

Why would anybody do such a stupid thing? Why would you go in, knowing that the man you’re facing could crush you like an insect and who was going to put you over and then piss him off? Hogan had a couple of things in his favor that night. Andre was near the end of his life, though nobody really knew it. And Andre was a man of honor. He had agreed to put Hogan over and he was going to do it, but I think he made a bit of a statement in the process.

The rest, as they say, is history. The Orange Goblin was born and he has continued to attempt to inject himself in every championship picture afterward. All attention must go to Hogan.

Why?

Ego.