05 May 2009

Returning to Speed

Was without Internet for a day. It sucked.

Amongst wrestling fans, the term 'retirement' is generally considered worthless. It means a rest, not an ending. Storylines will revolve around 'retirement' matches and how the 'retired' wrestler will be returned to active duty later on in an acceptable manner. Non wrestling fans mock 'retirement' even more, often noting it as a reason that wrestling is stupid or 'fake'.

Of wrestlers that have 'retired', many fans will point to Terry Funk as the king of 'retiring'. He had matches that were referred to as 'retirement' matches in three different decades, dating back to about 1980. In Terry's defense, in his book he notes that he never claimed those matches were 'retirement' matches, promoters will say things, and he never 'retired', at least not that often. For the sake of the argument, we'll say he's retired three times, once in each of the last three decades.

When did Brett Favre become Terry Funk? I'm crying and retired, I'm unretired but only for a year, and now I might be done again but not. Even stranger, wrestlers tend to retire as good guys, with the crowd saluting their years of hard work, no matter what kind of character they may have playing during most of their career. Brett Favre has slowly been turning 'heel' in the past few years, taking care of number one in the most over-the-top crazy manner.

Really Brett? Really? If you want a flaming branding iron, just say so and we'll get you one. Just stay home dude before you get booed out of everywhere.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Beautifully said my friend. As much as I love Favre, he is starting to piss me off. I think its more the yearly here's three hours a day devoted to Favre than the he's going to be a Viking. It hurts, but the sheer annoyance of will he or won't he may be more a nuisance at this point.