>>15872819It's important to keep in mind that a lot of these guys back in the day were rejects from more legitimate sports. They fell back on wrestling because they couldn't make it elsewhere.
The upshot of this is that there were a lot of dumb guys and a lot of guys who weren't dumb but realized they had to be in it for themselves because no one else was looking out for them and they had to grab what they could get. It was a carny business.
It's not hard to see politicking arising naturally in such a business. As for whether it is bad or good, that's a tough call. It's certainly not healthy, especially in a "sport" where people have to work as a team to make matches look good. But the attitude meant that when someone took a worked swing at you, you made it look good because if you didn't the next one might not be quite so worked.
