Gone are the good old days.
Gone are the times when wrestling actually meant something. When you didn't have to KILL yourself to get people to watch you. The good old days of Good vs. Evil are gone, now it's just meshed together and the guy who smashes the most heads with a chair is the most popular.
Look at Monday night wrestling now. Gone are the good matches. Instead we are now presented with 2-5 minute quick matches that rarely tell any story and are meaningless. Why should fans care about a 3 minute match. At that point, it’s the actual WRESTLING that is gone, and all anyone really cares about I suppose; is the outcome of the match. With the exception of the great main events the WWF produces, as well as many of their PPV matches. While often they are a bit too fast paced for my liking, AT LEAST, that pride for performing still exists. So I guess these kind of matches aren’t gone, they’re just declining in number.
The antithesis to everything I believe in is the WCW cruiserweight division. Who’s the bade guy, who’s the good guy? Does anybody have a character? Do matches tell a story? NO. It’s moves moves moves moves moves moves moves moves. And now, every indy cruiserweight feels they have to mimick that same stuff in their matches.
The ring psychology is gone.
Ring psychology is THE essence of professional wrestling. It’s what makes a match a battle of Good vs. Evil. Or it’s what makes a match between two “friends” exciting and meaningful to watch. It’s why people chant “Rocky”. It’s why people CARE about the match. Aside from all the hype put into matches before they actually take place, it’s the flow of the match, the psychology of the match, that makes people get into it as it takes place. I’ve always thought, a good match is like a good movie. It should be well done throughout, be put together so as to have a good beginning , rising action, and a great ending. How many times have you seen a movie where the whole thing is just one big giant action scene. It just doesn’t work, it would get old.
I’m an athletic guy. I can do moves heavyweights can’t. I’m lean and muscular, but not super huge. I do some moves off the top rope. Well then, I MUST be a cruiserweight right??!! I must flip and hop and skip and twirl all around the ring in my matches like a Mexican jumping bean or something. I am a cruiserweight right? I can’t work with bigger guys because my “style” is too fast for them right? I don’t know any ring psychology because I’m just a cruiserweight, and our psychology is to run around the ring and do a zillion high spots in a row, because we’re cruiserweights dammit, and that’s what we do. Right? GOD DAMN WRONG!!!!
I work hard to make my matches NOT a high spot fest. THAT”S NOT WRESTLING!!! I like to PERFORM, not look like I’m competing in some kind of Olympic gymnastics competition!! I can’t tell you how many promoters have labeled me as a cruiserweight, and when they do put me in with a heavyweight, it’s so I can do cool cruiswerweight moves on them. I worked for this one guy, and each time I wrestled for his promotion, I did my best with who he put me up with, and it wasn’t a bunch of high spot matches. In fact my first match there, we blended psychology with good crisp moves and a couple well placed high spots, and we had some of those fans literally out of their seats. I talked on the phone with that promoter one time and he said, “Jason….I’m gonna put you with So and so… now he’s a heavyweight (like it was some kind of warning) and I figure he can just stand there and you can flip all over the ring on to him.” Jesus H. Christ…doesn’t anyone pay attention! Flip around??? What the hell is that?? I’m not trying to sound egotistical here, but I’ve consistently been involved in the best match of the night on many of the shows I’ve wrestled on. I’ve consistently been one of the most hated heels or most liked baby faces. Yet I’m still just a cruiserweight right? I still just flip around right? I can’t be in the mix and actually be a draw for the promotion can I?? Fuck that.
Shawn Michaels was the best wrestler ever for a number of reasons. He put his all into everything and demanded perfection. EVERY punch, EVERY Irish whip, EVERY slam, he put his all into. He made things look real, and often times, there was actual reality in those moves. He’s a hardcore wrestler. Not tables and ladders hardcore, but hardcore because when he took a post with his shoulder, he f’n took a post with his shoulder. How many times to do watch TV and see a guy take a bulldog “face first” onto the mat, yet there’s about a foot between the mat and the guys face. I can’t tell you how many times I see on TV weak ass punches and kicks and bad selling. It’s like a lot of guys don’t care about it anymore. I do. Shawn Michaels did.
Shawn Michaels had the ability to make anyone look good. Funny thing is, so do I, but I’m just a cruiserweight so it doesn’t matter. Shawn Michaels weighed around 200 lbs and was WWF heavyweight Champion. I weigh 190 with room to grow. But I’m just a cruiserweight.
I took this long break from wrestling because I wasn’t putting my all into it. I’m getting ready to come back, and my god, when I do I will be so much better than I was before. I’m not playing around anymore. I’m bringing back the psychology of wrestling with me. I’m bringing back the selling and delivering of moves so they look real. I’m bringing the ART of wrestling back with me.
I give so much praise to the guys on the indy circuit that DO care, that DO work hard, and that DON”T do crazy spot-fests and can work GREAT matches. I praise the guys that care about ring psychology and performing as characters for the fans. I praise the guys that put their all into every punch, every kick, every slam. Guys like Chris Benoit. Most importantly guys like the stars waiting to break out from the indy circuit and become the big stars we all know they will be. Guys like Adam Pearce, C.M. Punk, Colt Cabana, Danny Dominion, Ace Steele. I praise Carmine DeSpirito of Mid American Wrestling for being the first god damn promoter to take me out of the cruiserweight mold and to take a chance on me as more than that. To take a chance on me as a character, as a main guy, as a draw, as a main eventer. I’d like to think if you asked him he’d say he’s glad he did.
To me, it’s like everything I’ve already done in wrestling is part of a totally different life. It starts new right now. Everything starts all over. My new look I adopted isn’t me, it’s not who I am so I’m getting new ring attire, AGAIN. Now is the time to get that fire going deep inside me and to show everyone what I have. I maybe silly for dreaming this, it may be unrealistic, it may be stupid, but I dream of becoming a main eventer like Shawn Michaels. I really believe I can do it and THAT is the most important thing. Whether or not I succeed in that dream doesn’t matter because I truly BELIEVE that I am capable of achieving it.
Funny thing is, I’ll probably end up in the WCW cruiserweight division.
I love feedback, so please email me with messages to put on the message board.
2/15/01
Well guys, it’s been a while. A lot of things are changing for me and I’ve been extremely busy with school. I’ve decided to change some things, and one of those things is do devote more time to my website.
As you may or may not have noticed, in the past couple months I’ve wrestled only one match and won’t be wrestling again until my birthday, March 17th. I got very burnt out with wrestling. I got sick of driving, sick of wrestling, and most importantly, sick of the way I wrestled. I wasn’t happy with my performance. I got slower and sloppy (by my standards). I demand perfection from myself, and while I rarely get it, I was actually getting farther and farther away with perfection every match. I want to get better, not worse. I just didn’t care anymore. I wanted to go out and have a short match. I’d see guys that would WANT to work a half -hour match I wished I had that drive still. So I quit.
Right now I’m working on getting that drive back. I’ve been hitting the gym like a mad man, doing all kinds of super sets and cardio. I figure, why not get blown up at the gym, where I at least have a choice to, rather than in a match where there’s nothing I can do about it. I HATE GETTING BLOWN UP IN MATCHES!!! I won’t do it anymore. I’ll do whatever it takes not to get blown up in the ring. The super-sets are two to three exercises performed one after another, and I’m not talking about circuit training, I’m talking full blown sets with heavy weights. This really gets me breathing HARD! I’ve done cardio EVERY day, walking on the treadmill at an incline of 8 going 4.2 mph for at least 30 min., usually 45.
I want to be able to go into the ring and wrestle like I know I can. If you thought I was good before, wait until I come back. Originally I was planning on returning at the beginning of April, now I think I want to wait until the end of April, when school is over. Then I’ll be ready to kick ass all summer long. And I want to go places, not just the midwest. I want to go to the east coast, down south, wherever I can. If I come back, it will be with full commitment, otherwise I won’t come back at all. The show I’m doing on the 17th is close to my home and will be fun. But that’s it until the end of April. It’ll also be a good test as to how I’m progressing cardiovascular-wise. I hope that fire comes back, I really do. I’m ready to make a big impact.
Next week I’ll discuss the falling of ECW and reflect on my (very very very short) experience with the company. Take care! Oh yeah, I’m trying to get into WCW. I’ll be sending them a tape and resume next week. Wish me luck!
11/21/00
It's cold, very cold. It's also windy, very very windy. I hate Michigan.
I just wrestled in Alternative Championship Wrestling's first show and it was great. Definately the best indy show in Michigan in ages. I wrestled Suicide Kid in a great match. It flowed real well and had some great moments in it. Suicide Kid DDT'd me after jumping off the top rope. The impact sent my head flying into the mat and almost knocked me unconcious. Apparently the match finished just fine, although to this day I don't remember the finish or walking back to the dressing room. I don't even remember the first 20 minutes or so of sitting in the back collecting my thoughts. Kimber came back after Gavin Starr thoughtfully went and told her I was hurt. I couldn't remember any of the match or even where we were, and to top it all off somehow my bags got moved to the other side of the room which confused me greatly. I was totally disoriented and didn't recognize a lot of people. I might have recieved a small concussion but I'm totally fine now. I've never had anything like that happen before and it was interesting to see what it feels like. I hope it never happens again!
Just two weeks or so before that I took a top rope Pedigree from Adam Pearce in Milwaukee, Wi for Mid American Wrestling. Adam was standing on the top rope with me locked in the Pedigree and jumped of, holding my arms behind my back the whole time, and sending my face and chest right into the mat. I have it on tape, it was INSANE!!!!!!! I'll definately be putting that on my next video so everyone who wants to see it can do so. The wind was knocked straight out of me and I scraped up my forehead and lower jaw. It's funny becaue I thought THAT would be the worst bump I'd ever take, but just two weeks later I almost get knocked out by a top rope DDT. What luck!
Speaking of Adam Pearce, he's moving to California soon. I'd like to wish Adam the best of luck and I know he'll do great at whatever he chooses to do once he get's out there. The midwest is definately losing the best Indy wrestler it has.
I got new ring attire, which is SOOOOOO kick-ass. Go to the PICTURE page and check it out! I also got a scanner so now I'll be able to post new pics all the time.
That's about all for now. Check back next week for a new commentary!
Jason Kronan
