>>17543217It's the fakeness of it all.
I don't mean that matches are worked and therefore fans are idiots.
I mean that back in the 80s and 90s, the wrestlers were real people, relatable to real people, doing normal real things for valid real reasons.
They weren't acting, they weren't reading a script, they weren't playing Shakespeare, and they weren't trying to look fake.
Today's talent however, most of them don't understand where the word work comes from. "Working the crowd". It's showbusiness. It doesn't mean "let's do fake shit", it means "let's engage the audience directly and suspend their disbelief".
You don't engage with the crowd by doing 7 tollpays through the ropes onto a guy who told you your mom's ugly (and walk away like it didn't hurt anyone), you engage with the crowd by escalating personal tension into a fight.
Sporting competition is just a vehicle for that tension. Dusty's best work was done because other wrestlers betrayed him and he worked taking it personally, not because they wanna do bangers and he's a nice guy.
Dusty's also relatable. Bigger guy, common background, just working his way to the top. Not a 5* athlete from the NFL.
Top athletes are not relatable to the audience. Gymnasts are not relatable to the audience.
What both do however, is nicely choreographed fake shit. The shit that nerds overanalyse and families underappreciate.
