Wide World of Wrestling- Retirony, Part III

Welcome to the Wide World of Wrestling. If you are a new reader, this is where I aim to explore the context of the shows seen on and off screen, comparing and contrasting with history to show its flaws and positives. This is about the issues and processes of today and the impact that has on the fans and the business.

In the first part of retirony, it was explained how the concept can apply to pro wrestling and looked at the undisputed master of retirony, Terry Funk. The second part featured a look at the conventional notion of retirement, looking at some of the factors determining when such retirement should occur. In Edition #13, the conclusion of the three-parter on retirony looks at the factors influencing wrestlers returning. When is it considered more appropriate? What makes it more of a crime in the eyes of fans?

How they left makes a big impact on how they would be received in returning. The obvious recent example is Ric Flair. Returning rather quickly to the ring after a huge retirement that included both a match that was the highlight of WrestleMania XXIV and a touching segment on RAW where he was farewelled by the current roster of WWE wrestlers, as well as legends including The Four Horsemen.

Due to his leaving in a way in such a practically perfect way, his return has attracted a lot of criticism. For fans, his return tarnishes some of the memories of his retirement, because it no longer has the finality of a real one and it is very unlikely his final retirement would match this one. In retrospect, watching the match again would lack some of the emotion, as you know it wasn’t the end. Retirony is present here, since the fact that he has returned after such a great match makes that match worse.

Fans like to see wrestlers, especially their favourites, go out in a well-deserved show of respect and last hurrah that honours the wrestler’s career and the fans for supporting him or her. When  a wrestler returns after making a grand exit, it can feels like that was the best chance they had to go out in a blaze of glory, which frustrates fans because they cannot expect that the future will meet the standards of the first retirement.

There is retirony in that the more you are loved by the fans, the more the more they oppose one’s return.

Unless of course, like Terry Funk, the retirements have sneaked by and before you know it, retirement causes little more than the batting of an eyelid and the view that the show is a tribute rather than a genuine retirement. Funk first retired in Japan, many years before his second retirement. His second and third retirements were in very different circumstances. His second was after his first run in ECW and few were aware of his retirement in Japan. Both were big affairs. The third, just a year later in 1998, was after a run in WWE and those last WWE runs are generally understood by the audience. After the third, retirements had lost impact when it came to Funk, so likewise his returns had little adverse impact.

When the retirements are smaller, there is a greater chance that if they were to return they could top their retirement. Big retirements have more of that sense of, ‘it’s all over,’ as they amplify the feelings smaller retirements engender and are more memorable and thus more treasured- even when it is in a bittersweet way. Setting aside for a moment what the wrestler wants to do and whether they have still got it, the wrestlers fans want to make a return, where retirement is not a barrier, are the ones who made less of a retirement.

One of the names still in demand for a return, even after all these years. Image Credit: WWE

The Rock, Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin are three names that a selection of fans have wanted to return. Despite the fact that Stone Cold may be unable to wrestle anymore and that all three haven’t shown interest, these three have been wanted in part because they haven’t had any retirement which really said, ‘This is it, no more from me.’ These three, in fact, all had no retirement ceremonies. That can help promote desire for a return because their career doesn’t seem truly closed. For some time, that was especially the case with The Rock and still is to a lesser extent.

It is felt that more could be done by them without hurting the career they already have. In addition, as a retirement promotes the association with not wanting to wrestle, or not being able to wrestle anymore, low profile exits promote the feeling that they might still have it. Austin’s appearance at WrestleMania XXV

Time makes the transition from retirement to wrestling again more accepted by the fans. This is particular the case when a big retirement hasn’t occurred. Tatanka and Johnny Saint are instances of making a return after a sizeable absence from the ring-though in Tatanka’s case he had been in semi-retirement rather than retirement. Others, like Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco, made returns to primarily non-wrestling on-screen roles. In Brisco’s case he had been involved backstage for quite some time prior to his on-screen reappearance.

When, Terry Funk style, a wrestler returns to the ring a short time after retirement, as Ric Flair has done, then it is even worse for fans because the memory of the retirement is still fresh and the return flies in the face of the retirement, demeaning it for some. In a show of retirony, this does not apply to Terry Funk. When wrestlers return after a sizeable period of time, fans of that wrestler feel that the concept of retirement has been respected, in a sense. A return means that this is an entirely new chapter of their career which preserves the meaning of the retirement.

It is rather important to preserve the meaning of the retirement because when that is lost, by removing the sentimental feelings associated with the retirement, one doesn’t think of their return as highly. One suddenly considers their retirement to have been at a lower level and this reflects on their return. Retirements are quite emotional and that is where a lot of the appeal comes from. Wrestlers should aim to give retirement respect before returning, which in turn respects their fans.

Returning after a sizeable period of time also indicates that the decision has been carefully considered- just as the retirement was. Retiring in 1996, British wrestler Johnny Saint returned in limited capacity 11 years later. Even in his late 60’s his appearances showed that he still has it what it takes. For the English wrestling audience, his return was to be praised rather than condemned. Readers may feel that by the time one is over 60, a wrestler is too old to return, but Saint has proved his capabilities.

The British legend gained respect with his comeback. Image Credit: Wrestling Clique

The timing of his return made it more acceptable, in retironic fashion. If he had returned earlier, the age concerns would still be there and if it was too soon after his retirement, that would be impacted. It would also seem that either the decisions to retire, to return, or both, were not fully considered. Thus a return would be viewed with more of a wait-and-see attitude, even after his first appearance, as hasty decisions can make it seem like they only returned for a short run, or that they haven’t truly determined whether they still have what it takes for more than a couple of matches.

Time makes a return easier from a creative point of view when it comes to major promotions. What it can say about motivations and capabilities aside, as in the cases of Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco, time simplifies creative aspects.

Both Brisco and Patterson had sizeable careers before they retired from the ring in 1984. They shifted to working backstage for the then World Wrestling Federation. After the Montreal Screwjob, in 1997 they returned on-screen as the right hand men of Vince McMahon, doing his bidding. The amount of time in between the end of their wrestling career and the start of this phase of their career meant that they could easily be the bumbling heels they were without having to worry about continuity with their careers as wrestlers.

WWE often ignores continuity, but for the fans, the space in time meant that they could understandably look as weak as they did against other wrestlers. Since WWE still referred to the achievements of them as wrestlers, notably Pat Patterson’s role with the creation of the WWE Intercontinental Championship, the time in between retirement and return meant that there weren’t so much in the way of logic issues regarding how they could suddenly become so bumbling after being so very competent.

That issue was largely solved by their being obedient yes men to Vince McMahon, but that change was made to some extent believable because of the time factor of when they retired and when they re-emerged. McMahon could gain power over them and corrupt their on-screen personas as a result, since were now dependent on Vince to provide for them. The time factor meant that viewers didn’t think of them as much as wrestlers, in turn hiding the remaining logic and continuity issues.

Care should be taken with the major promotions when considering a return if the wrestler was accepted back purely because of what that they did in the past. Returning to retirement doesn’t always bring nostalgic value. Sometimes it is just the return of a wrestler who has some history, but isn’t a well-loved, widely-known wrestling great. As shown in the case of Tatanka, returning to a major promotion can lead to getting lost in the roster. Unlike Road Warrior Animal, who returned for a LOD revival storyline with Heidenreich and then faded away after turning heel, Tatanka returned from retirement to go to the WWE again, though in a number of ways the two are very similar.

The comeback trail soon went downhill for Tatanka. Image Credit: WWE

Tatanka had been best known for a WWE run that included a near-two year long undefeated streak in a run between 1991 and 1996. His appearance in the Eugene Invitational, a segment parodying the Kurt Angle Invitational, where his gold medal was on the line, was for fun and meant to be for one appearance only. It was a touch of nostalgia for the fans who remembered him, but Tatanka was not known to the newer fans of 2005.

His appearance led to a full-time return but didn’t lead to anything significant. He was a wrestler who had a place in WWE history, but unlike “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan or Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, didn’t have as much personality or history with his character that made that made writing easier without having to think hard.

Tatanka was making a return but was a more obscure figure- he couldn’t be used the same way wrestling legends could. He had to be treated like a regular wrestler as he wasn’t as much of a nostalgic figure. Though he was on the comeback trail, the way he was being used was very much that of a wrestler working his way in the card.

He had no clear identity on the roster in 2005. The identity he had was completely based in the past- honouring his Native American identity and his undefeated streak. Likewise, Road Warrior Animal’s identity was based entirely from the Legion of Doom. After the storyline concluded, Animal was a legend, a step above Tatanka, but likewise had no direction apart from the past.

Tatanka received a great honour in being adopted into the Lakota tribe and this was shown in vignettes, character development of a sort that has largely been absent from pro wrestling. This was similar to the character development Road Warrior Animal had during his storyline with Heidenreich when he was discussing LOD and moving on from Road Warrior Hawk, What was a great opportunity to giving Tatanka’s character new direction led instead to a route similar to that of Road Warrior Animal.

There came a point where it was ‘what now?’ because the nostalgia of the LOD has been finished with and Tatanka had honoured his heritage. Unlike before when I.R.S. demanded he pay gift tax on the Lumbee tribe Chief Headdress he received on RAW, this time there was no apparent feud that could be done. The same went for Road Warrior Animal, because in both cases the two were being used for their past- not to forge a new future.

Doomed without the Legion of Doom. Image Credit: WWE

Returning from retirement without a identity that leads itself to interaction with new talent means that wrestlers can get lost in the roster because unlike wrestlers who haven’t retired, their absence from major promotions-if not wrestling itself- means that when the past cannot be re-used, they have no direction to go in.

When Road Warrior Animal turned heel, the writing behind that used a combination of generic tactics as would normally apply to low or mid-card wrestlers, as it was also used for Johnny Parisi, for instance.

In addition they used his past except this time twisting it rather than building from it, as he renounced partners. As for Tatanka, instead of a winning streak, he had a losing streak, again twisting the past in absence of truly new material. Even as their past was still being depended on, as they weren’t using the past to help propel them forward, they faded away.

Though Road Warrior Animal had been active in the independent circuit, his absence from the major promotions meant he was associating deeply with the past. It was like he was retired because he was that figure from the past who has finished with doing anything substantially new. Wrestlers should be careful in returning after retirement if all that is wanted of them is their past which cannot adapt to interacting with new talent and changed company direction.

Where and how the wrestler works impacts how much of a ‘crime’ returning is perceived to be when the wrestler returns against the wishes of fans. Again, Ric Flair is an example. When he was appearing on WWE again, albeit not to wrestle, that was not received as well as when he was appearing in ROH or managing his sons, partly because in returning to the scene of the crime, he was more visibly reminding the fans what he had done.

Intriguingly, Ric Flair has received flak for reappearing on the WWE on a par with, if not greater than, the criticism for returning to the ring again, even though his wrestling appearances have not been with the WWE. The phrase, ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ is accurate when it comes to the level of impact upon the fans. Working in the independents is considered better, since the retirement can then be viewed as genuine, as far as the major promotions go. If he were to wrestle again in the WWE, then the meaning of the retirement would be completely gone and fans have indicated they would not take that well at all. Actually, ‘livid,’ ‘outraged’ and ‘deep disappointment,’ would describe the potential reactions to any wrestling return to the WWE.

Fans just don't want to see him around WWE any more. Image Credit: Top News

Normally, appearing as a manager or in other roles like that of a company ambassador or a commentator is fine, but Flair has received negative reactions for appearing in the WWE just to have verbal confrontations or to be in the corner of other wrestlers. This seems to be because his retirement indicated retirement from the WWE in any form, though his being WWE Ambassador- which did not mean on-screen appearances, did not impact the fans negatively. Returning from retirement to other promotions appears to be a safer option if one is thought to be done once and for all with a major promotion.

The levels of negative reaction and levels of acceptance indicate that respect to the notion of retirement is what makes returns accepted. The more retirement ceremonies lose their emotional quality, the more it is opposed. Retirements and returns that appear to be well-considered are favoured and worst comes to worst, staying completely away from where they retired makes the transition easier if the retirement didn’t last long.

Wrestlers should return in a manner and in the time that shows respect to the emotions of fans by honouring the notion of retirement. If it isn’t permanent retirement, it should be one that a decent length of time. For wrestlers, this helps creatively in the major promotions as well. Retirement works best when it has some sense of finality and when a return is when they can still genuinely contribute for another chapter in their career- rather than an attaching pages to the a chapter considered to be finished.

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