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Other News: Dutch Mantell officially opens wrestling school; Mantell blogs on today's wrestlers not looking as "tough" as previous era

May 15, 2010 - 3:36:53 PM
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By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

dutchmantell_1.jpg
-- Dutch Mantell, the former TNA writer and long-time wrestler & wrestler booker, has officially opened a new pro wrestling school in the Nashville, Tenn. area.

The University of Dutch Pro Wrestling Academy is accepting applications and students to train and learn directly from Mantell. Mantell is offering a one-year course with "creative financing" for students interested. Email dirtydutchmantell@gmail.com for more details.

-- Mantell has a new blog on his website, dutchmantell.com, discussing the make-up of current wrestling stars compared to old-school wrestling stars. Mantell made the observation that some newer wrestlers don't look like they could win a fight and aren't perceived as "tough."

"All of the new guys all look the same or to me they do. They're all 5'10 to 6'2 tall, wear similar attire, have great bodies and all, more or less, wrestle the same. ... Nice looking guys but, for the majority of them, they don't look like they could break an egg," Mantell said.

"Put photos of the new guys in pro wrestling up against the some of the new guys in MMA and you can see a difference. A huge difference. If a guy in pro wrestling wants to be perceived as rough and tough, I'll have to say that the major promotions today aren't doing a very good job at it."

Mantell also tells a classic story from Eddie Graham's Florida promotion in the 1970s when he got into a fight at a 7-Eleven in the middle of nowhere. The story is at dutchmantell.com.

Caldwell's Analysis: The topic of how pro wrestlers look today requires much more than a few paragraphs of analysis, as there are plenty of external and internal factors in-play. Bottom line is corporate wrestling is looking for "stars" and not "wrestlers." They want stars who are more appealing to the masses and not necessarily "wrestling fans" who look at whether a wrestler is actually tough or if he could win a fight. It's just a different environment.

But, one of TNA's biggest money-drawing matches on PPV in company history was Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle at Lockdown 2008. It was two BAs matched up against each other to see who was the toughest fighter in the promotion. It made money. It's basic pro wrestling.

Meanwhile, WWE has built a brand so powerful that they can make just about anyone a star by slapping the "WWE label" on a wrestler and then reinforcing and reinforcing and reinforcing to the audience that "this guy" is a big star and you want to spend time & money to see what he does on TV, PPV, and house shows. It's a different environment, but Mantell makes the point that individual match-ups can make money when the audience buys into two guys having a real fight to see who's the tougher wrestler. It's basic human nature to want to see who's stronger, faster, tougher, better, etc.


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