Spiderman is nothing new. Joint Promotions had a Spiderman back in about 1985. He actually made it onto TV as part of a Triple-Tag match (that's a six man tag for youse youngsters raised on the Yanks). About the only blue-eye - sorry, babyface - masked wrestler I can remember from my childhood.

Like I said, it's hard to pin down where Brian Dixon stands. When he wants to run a classy mainstream promotion, All Star can be magnificent, as it was in the late 80s/early 90s. At heart tho, Dixon is still very much a 1970s indie promoter who if he has to will take shortcuts in the name of survival.

Johnny Saint also got work all over the world. He defended his world lightweight _title_ at the Tokyo Dome for crowds of 60,000-ish in the 90s. Yet Saint was very much an improviser - he drew on his shoot skills and technique to freeform great bouts. He was at his best in those clean bouts against other babyfaces. Saint and before him George Kidd actually got main event slots in face vs Face clean-match world lightweight _title_ defences.

Ostensibly, it would seem incredible that the question should even be asked! 8O

Realism is the endangered species of professional wrestling these days. Obviously I exaggerate to make a point, which is that wrestling is above all supposed to resemble a real fight. Does a bunch of mindless highspots actually resemble a real punch-up? Would someone be able to overcome another in MMA this way or in the local pub? Sure wrestling is entertainment, but it's supposed to look real. That's what always got people hooked on it in the first place.

Dynamite Kid gets a lot of awed respect for the sensational highspots he did. The truth, however, is that Dynamite usually only did two or three highspots per match. The rest was either mat wrestling or brawling. And, he knew WHEN to do the highspots. Spots can make a match better when done at the right moment. But there has to be a story.

If McMahon's show is all people see, and is perceived as that to aspire to, obviously that's going to translate into one's performance. This is one of the biggest problems with wrestling today. I haven't bothered following McMahon's offerings for the last five years for this and other reasons but my point is that realism isn't as respected as it once was and I hope I've made that point. Thanks for reading.