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Greatness, Bruno, and Ric Flair

Posted: Jan 24th 2009 By: mikeiles

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Albert Einstein

The issue of greatness will always be a measure of great argument, just as much as it is the application of subjectivity and personal bias, let alone belief and perception.

In terms of professional wrestling, there are a few interesting opportunities in the region to acknowledge greatness, and to otherwise make some comparisons.

In the next month and a half, two appearances will be made in Western Pennsylvania, notably in Elizabeth, PA, a town 15 miles south of Pittsburgh.

One is an appearance by Ric Flair, sponsored by url=http://www.highspots.com]highspots..com[/url] and the International Wrestling Cartel. The IWC isn?t exactly international, although it has defended its main belt (the Super Indy Title) in Japan, and the New Japan promotion once committed to a defense of the IWGP Junior belt (by now WWE contracted talent, and former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Low Ki.)

Flair, by most accounts, is the most glorious wrestler in the past twenty five years. The internet pundits, nitterati or glitterati, depending upon your own personal point of view, rave and rave about Mr. Flair.

Ric is no longer with the WWE, the promotion that dominates the professional wrestling scene, even though he had the highest profile match (arguably, I must add, to avoid the nitpickers) at last year?s WrestleMania XXIV. After a dispute over the summer, the WWE and Flair parted ways, and ever since, he?s been charging upwards of $75 for fans to sit ringside, watch him in action and/or have autographs and/or interact with ?The Man.?

Another appearance, on March 20, is by the Ring of Honor promotion, which has strong links to the movie, ?The Wrestler? ? which, tangentially, should be rolling out locally within a week or so!

ROH is, in my own humble opinion, the greatest wrestling promotion around.

(Well, if we?re not talking about exclusively women?s professional wrestling, in which I?d call SHIMMER the best!)

We can debate up and down about whether the WWE is better than ROH. On most every substantial, financial or attendance result, ROH loses by ten miles. In terms of perceptions of passion, talent and matchmaking, I?ll go with ROH, but die-hard WWE fans aren?t going to bother debating me.

So, let?s turn back to Flair? and the question of greatness, and the simmering battle between blow-hards and die-hards.

Recent events in Pittsburgh, namely an article in the Post-Gazette by Dean Fleischman, have suggested that Bruno Sammartino be honored at the new Hockey Arena being built, with a plaque, a street or statue, dedicated to the greatness of the man, his importance to Pittsburgh, and the drawing power he exuded.

A recent show by the Pittsburgh NBC TV affiliate listed Bruno as the 36th most important Pittsburgher.

The debate was taken up, in typical smarmy nitpicking, by a certain local (and once national) radio DJ/sports talk host, who questioned Bruno?s greatness, due to his local drawing power.

Somehow, when Frank Sinatra sang, of New York City, ?If I can make it there, I?ll make it anywhere? the concept gets lost in parochialism. If you want to read Bruno?s life story, his 1990 autobiography is being reprinted, and is available at www.rasslinriotonline.com, at a cost of $24.95 plus assorted niceties.

Many people question the book, because of Bruno?s steadfast adherence to keeping professional wrestling true to the fans and the nature of its entertainment form. While I can understand that sentiment, I reject any sense that it takes away from the book?s honesty, integrity or worthyness.

Bruno?s greatness is only exemplified by the book!

The question of how to measure greatness hasn?t been made easier in modern times. We live in the world of YouTube, where seeing is supposed to be believing, even if seeing isn?t the whole picture, or is taken out of context. We live in the world of Wikipedia, where fictions can be massaged into facts, and opinions often masquerade as truth. We live in a world of the Internet, where thoughts travel at speeds unheard of, and yet picking and choosing what to read, understand and digest are even easier than reality? or research for that matter.

On top of it all, we live in an industry not just dominated by a single entity, but one increasingly dominated by a fanbase that only knows that singular entity. Which isn?t so much a condemnation of the WWE, but an acknowledgment that professional wrestling is the WWE, and seldom strays from that position? even if the WWE isn?t merely the WWE, but an evolution of the WWF before it, and the WWWF before that.

That sentence, to many of today?s fans, is likely undecipherable.

Can we compare apples to apples, or apples to oranges, or even time frames to time frames? Sure, the times they are a-changing, to quote Dylan. (And I mean Bob Dylan, not Dylan Thomas or Dylan from 90210, or the Dylan we call Hornswoggle.) The way professional wrestling works these days, a week is like a month is like a year in old school terms.

Old School. Heck, for all the debate about greatness, Old School, in professional terms, is something potential of a great tangent. But for our purposes, let?s not call Hulk Hogan of the Old School, and let?s agree that Lou Thesz is way Old School.

And let?s not start to quibble about the greatness of either of those two pillars of the sport.

Because neither stands up to the man I speak of.

But there I go again.

We can speak of greatness, but what is the measure, and by what logic do we speak?

In the ?conventional wisdom? it has become not the number of years of being a Champion, but the number of times that Championship was lost.

In the ?conventional wisdom? we speak of Regional Titles with aplomb, but conveniently overlook that the largest part of a certain great?s title reigns occurred in the East?

In the ?conventional wisdom? celebrity status trumps all. Being plastered on TMZ is far more important than an ethnic social club celebration. Being arrested, divorced or hiring high profile lawyers trumps the quiet respect of a legend secure in his own history. Being Infamous trumps being famous any day.

As most political pundits observe, ?conventional? wisdom is often something to ignore. The accumulation of opinions, cherry-picked facts and fast moving talking heads who merely blather their own carefully constructed arguments. The worst of these fans tear down greatness, inserting their own opinions as the basis for measurement.

But how does one measure a man?

Greatness, in the sports world, has been turned on its ear in recent times. Is Mark McGwire great despite his ?supplemental? issues? The slugger is likely to find it hard to get into the Hall of Fame in his sport. Likewise, Barry Bonds is vilified in many circles. The NFL has former superstars that had greatness written all over them, and have tarnished, if not destroyed, their reputations through varying degrees of criminality.

Should we measure greatness by acts, actions and reputation?

Should we measure greatness by records, financial considerations, and achievements?

The strange thing is, either way, one simply cannot compare the likes of Ric Flair against the likes of Bruno Sammartino.

For Bruno, it comes down to integrity and the facts: Dominance, duration and dedication on one man?s part; his real life merits; his legacy in-ring and out; his campaigns to clean up the industry at a time when it made him a pariah; his steadfast determination to avoid hypocrisy and selling out.

We can all be, according to Bobby ?the Brain? Heenan, ?Fair to Flair? but to be fair, we must point out the warts and the spotlights. And, to be fair, there are far too many blemishes, far too many questions and far too many issues to be raised in making the case of greatness.

For me, I?ll take the Living Legend over The Man any day of the week.

Tags: Ric Flair, WWE