Is there really such a thing as old school and new school, what classes as old school.. Ohh here it comes. This old chestnut again...
We could go back in time, to the Greeks and Romans and the wrestling they used to do, it was competitive but was also entertainment. They would put the big guy (fan Favourite) with the little guy, just so the little guy could be squashed. There was of course the competitive side to it, who was the best, but these events were ran like shows, jobbers and clown types to build up the main events.
Here in the UK, Cumberland and Westmoreland wrestling, been going for centuries, it never got to the scale of the Greek and roman competitions, but still a lot of the grappling moves used in today's wrestling be it pro or amateur were derived from Cumberland and Westmoreland.
Early 1900's, wrestling for gentlemen (I have the seen the book of instruction) Very slim gentlemen would grapple each other, performing an array of submission and throw type holds. The wrestlers would wear tights and stocking feet, different colours would mark out who was who. Again a lot of locks and hold came directly from this period.
1950's England, Carnivals used to have the Boxing challenge, they would challenge people to box their stars and win cash prizes. Many councils and parishes in the UK did not like this and many started to ban the brutality of these bouts. Now the men of the Carnivals did not want to loose their workers so they would set up the rings and turn them into grappling contests. This is what I would call old school. The Carnie men and women would WORK the crowd with pre arranged and pre determined matches, to get people interested and get them into the old boxing tents. People would challenge the ex boxers to grappling contests. This proved a massive hit in many towns and cities across the UK. My grandfather used to tell me all about it. It was the show that people were enjoying, the opening matches and then move up to the bigger blokes taking ont he big blokes from the local communities. Tag Matches were formed and the warnings for headbutting, biting, scratching, 3 warnings and you were out, normally met by several large Carnie workers at the back of the tent.
Then came what people seem to call old school, Dale Martin & the Crabtree's took wrestling in the UK to a new level, turning it into a large show, hitting halls across the UK, Heels and Faces would work the crowd. With a TV deal, Wrestling in the UK took a bigger leap into life. Fathers and Kids would sit down to watch the show, dads would sit there and say this is all fake, but would stay glued to the screen. The likes of Big Daddy and Haystacks, Kendo, Roach, saint and McManus would entertain us week in and week out. But the product started to go stale, audiences at shows and TV dropped and eventually ITV pulled the plug. They still ran the shows, but with out TV and the wrestlers wages to pay, the promotions fell apart and wrestlers retired. Small promotions still ran the regular shows. A lot of the showmanship today was derived from the world of sport _style_ of wrestling.
In the 80's & 90's the WWF started to make waves on SKY TV, the American _style_ of wrestling was hitting the shores, it was fast and exciting, big entrances and clever production, most importantly HUGE crowds. Youngsters people like myself would watch and get excited at the likes of Hogan, Andre the Giant etc. The warnings had gone, the wrestlers would use the ropes and turnbuckles, some would fly off the top. The moves looked more dangerous than before and entertainment wise it was great. With that came the WWF tribute shows, and to be honest after seeing a few they were dreadful, halls would be packed to see the undertaker and L.O.D. only they were not the real thing, poor quality look a likes, parents did not know that they were being ripped off by this, and thought it was the real deal. So now the tribute crowds have died and people are wise.
In the past few years, with the growth of the internet and trans Atlantic tape traders, we in the UK have been introduced to a lot of the American, Japanese and Mexican _style_ wrestling, _style_ of hardcore and extreme wrestling have hit the shores. High flying luchadore wrestling become the norm.
Today, there are several promotions in the UK, doing their own thing. RBW & Premier have stuck with the days of Dale Martin, public warnings and rounds, Hammerlock a lot of mat _base_d, ground attack wrestling, promotions like FWA, wZw, AIWF have moved more towards the American _style_ of mixing everything up, hardcore, mat _base_d, lucha etc.
The thing is there is no such thing as old school and new school, its called a progression, evolution, like everything in life things have to evolve. We went from radio to B/W TV to Colour TV no doubt it will evolve into something better in years to come. People/Fans will always like and dislike certain things that are on offer, people like to go on about the old day and how great it was. I am sure my children in years to come will say off the old days were great. I know I do.
To put an end to this post. As long as the fans are happy and the wrestlers are happy working with the promoters in their _style_ then there should be no bitching or falling out over what some call OLD SCHOOL and what some call NEW SCHOOL. After all what is old school, Romans, Greek, Cumberland, dale martin, tributes, American, hardcore?
Gary
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