Ken Resnick on Verne Gagne's Reaction to the First Wrestlemania; Bill Apter on the Evolution of the Business
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On the latest edition of Wrestling with History on VOC Nation, Ken Resnick and Bill Apter discussed lead up and reaction to the first Wrestlemania, as well as the difference in psychology with today’s product. Here are some highlights:
Apter on why he is still active into his 70s: “Part of the reason I still cover this is because I’m a fan. I don’t even say mark, I don’t use any of the inside jargon.”
Resnick on the Lashley/Riddle segment on Raw, and the lack of believability: “If you look at it again…when Bobby Lashley stomps on Riddle’s foot, the camera was wide enough (to show) he missed his foot by two feet. It wasn’t even close, and then Riddle sold it as if his foot had just been crushed with a sledgehammer. I was kind of thinking back in the old days, we heard the term bantered a lot ‘if you don’t feel it, don’t sell it.’… When they went to it I was a little surprised that the camera was back far enough that you could see it… In the old days, Vince probably would have gone (crazy) about that… Coming up in the kayfabe era when you did everything you could to make it believable, and then you see something like that, you just go ‘oh come on.”
Apter on the evolution of the style of the product: “The moves are different now (and) the psychology is different now. (In the past) a guy or girl might work on one body part, but right now that’s not where pro wrestling is. It’s faster, they go after every body part. It used to be that killer instinct; if you hurt that guy’s leg, you went after (it) and wound up with the figure four leglock. The whole match was you going after that guy’s weak point. It doesn’t happen anymore today, even in AEW (or) Ring of Honor, you rarely see them concentrate because the matches now are faster moving. It’s a different pace…Again, they’re trying to make a TV show that’s entertaining, not a sports program.”
Apter on Vince thinking differently than other territory promoters leading into Wrestlemania: “These other promoters tried everything they could to stop it by putting on classy wrestling, but what this did was it brought into prominence fans that had no idea what pro wrestling was about anymore – they thought it was the old seedy arenas – and (Vince) promoted this as a worldwide spectacle, not a wrestling show. Even Jim Crockett, who I used to talk to everyday, said ‘we’re not doing this stuff with all these stars, we’re a wrestling company.”
Resnick on Vince taking a calculated risk on Wrestlemania: “I wasn’t involved, I was still in the AWA. But when you think about it, Vince even then with the risks he took was such a great marketer. It was at Madison Square Garden so who did he have? Billy Martin from the Yankees was involved, he had the Rockettes involved…he was really smart. That pioneered really locking in rock music and wrestling with Cyndi Lauper… If you think about what happened in terms of WWF wrestling following Wrestlemania…he had all the chips pushed into the middle of the table, but he knew exactly what his hand was… I’m not a huge Vince fan, but I don’t think he gets the credit for putting that whole package together and then what they brought out of Wrestlemania for what they moved forward with.”
Resnick on Verne Gagne’s reaction to the first Wrestlemania: “It was just a spectacle, it was a one off, nobody was going to care… It was poo pooed in the beginning, it was poo pooed right after… He got a request from the New Yorker; the New Yorker Magazine wanted to do an interview with him (to get his opinion of Wrestlemania)…and Verne said ‘Yeah I turned them down; now all the sudden they want to know about wrestling. For years they wanted nothing to do with us and put us down, I’m not doing it.’ That was the difference in attitude. Vince would have sent a limo to pick up the writers.”
Wrestling with History is part of the VOC Nation Radio Network and drops each Wednesday on all major podcasting platforms, iHeart Radio, and Radio.com, as well as a video version that airs on YouTube. Pro Wrestling Journalist Bill Apter and former WWE and AWA broadcaster Ken Resnick team with former Philadelphia Radio Personality Bruce Wirt to talk about wrestling’s past, present, and future.
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Link to the show here:
https://vocnation.com
VOC Nation provides daily, interactive talk radio, geared toward the professional wrestling community.
Notable show hosts include legendary pro wrestling journalist Bill Apter, former WWE/TNA star Shelly Martinez, former WWE and AWA broadcaster Ken Resnick, former WCW performer The Maestro, former TNA Impact talent Wes Brisco, Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Brady Hicks, independent pro wrestling and Fireball Run star Sassy Stephie, and more!
Since 2010, VOC Nation has brought listeners into the minds of the biggest stars in pro wrestling and entertainment. Subscribe to the podcasts for free on most major directories, and visit vocnation.com for live programming.
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