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Respecting the wrestling business

Posted: May 18th 2009 By: mikeiles

When I started in pro wrestling in 2004, I learned very quickly to "respect the business". There are a lot of different meanings to that statement. To some it means shaking every wrestler's hand when entering a locker room. But this editorial is not about handshaking.

I will be totally honest right now. Wrestling does not pay my rent, keep my electricity on, put food on my table, or keep the water running. It is merely a hobby. In real life I am a manager at a call center. Real exciting right? But on weekends I am living out a dream I have had since I was a kid. I know I am NOT going to be the next Jim Ross or the next Howard Finkel (longtime WWE ring announcer). I also know that neither TNA nor WWE is looking for a manager like "The Kingpin". And I am OK with that.

Oklafan was basically started because of the love for wrestling. But now Burnham, myself, and the rest of the staff are merely living out our dreams of being a wrestling journalist. Not one staff member gets paid for working for Oklafan. In fact, sometimes being a member of staff can be a headache. Every year we have to defend who was voted the #1 wrestler in the Oklafan Top 50. I have been on hour long phone calls arguing with people about a so-called Tulsa biased or a so-called Oklahoma City biased (when I was working for IZW in OKC). I have argued in locker rooms with wrestlers over Oklafan. But I know I speak for Burnham that despite all the bickering and the headaches we get regarding the site, we wouldn't trade it for the world.

Because as I said, we are living out our dream as well, much like the wrestlers do. Because we are a small staff (4 counting Burnham and myself),we can't be at every show every weekend. We all have real jobs. So sometimes we have to rely on other people, such as promoters, fed owners, wrestlers, and fans, to get us results from shows we cannot attend. We also accept stories from various sources.

Now I can get to the part about respect.

It has come to our attention here at Oklafan that a certain fed and booker has been sending us results for shows that have not taken place. While I won't reveal the fed or the booker by name, rest assured we have removed the results we know as false and removed the federation from the list of active feds in the state. To be honest, I also wanted to remove that booker's bio from our site as well, since he is a wrestler. But I digress. Personally, I feel the person that sent us fake results to get them posted doesn't respect the business. That may just be one man's opinion though.

Don't get me wrong. I know that professional wrestling has scores of show results that didn't really take place. For example, if you really think Pat Patterson won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro to become the 1st WWF Intercontinental Champion, then I might have a bridge in Brooklyn I might be willing to sell to you real cheap.

This is the 21st century. The information highway is running rampant. Results from shows are sometimes posted immediately after the final bell of the main event of some shows. At the TNA show in Oklahoma City in January 2008, I was posting the results real time, as it was happening, using my cell phone.

To be honest, I don't know why the fake results were sent to us. And frankly it doesn't matter. They have been removed. We still would like fans, wrestlers, promoters, and bookers to send us stories and results. We do ask that if you send us results, please let them be legit.

Tags: Mike Iles, WWE, Jim Ross, TNA, C. M. Burnham, IZW