We have heard of the Gold Standard(Shelton Benjamin), and now it appears the WWE is turning it’s attention toward the Old Standard as we head down the road to Wrestlemania.
The WWE is setting up programs with either Shawn Michaels(Michael Hickenbottom) at age 43, set to turn 44 on July 22 or JBL(John Layfield) at age 42 and not too far off from the 43-year mark and one of these men is set to take on the Undertaker(Mark Calloway), the oldest of the bunch and he shows it, with the Taker ready to turn 44 on March 24 of this year.
With the Old Standard bar being set higher and higher, this could be a formula for disaster, but now you have Triple H going after Randy Orton and Triple H(John Paul Levesque) is no spring chicken, even though at 39 and set to hit the Big 40 on July 27, he is the youngster of this geezer gang.
I guess it’s no surprise to see this approach of putting veteran performers in harms way, when you continue to wheel out the Lincolns and Washingtons like Flair and Piper on Monday nights.
Ric Flair(Richard Fliehr) who checks in right at 62 and Roddy Piper(Roderick Toombs) who is not a day less than 60 years old, both bring new-found meaning to use of the term, life-time playas…..
This all brings me to the point for today and that is I got a call from Mark Vance(Mark Pulliam) this morning to let me know that he nor Harold Hadnot, had murdered anyone while involved at the Lost Dimensions Club, as I had implied here at the site back in the summer of 2007. Wrong implication. Pulliam and Hadnot are not murderers.
But, and this is a big but, Mark said he was ready to get back into the Wrestling business, and this web site had inspired him to do just that and he is looking for Rick Link. Mark Vance, also known as “The Dream Warrior II” and “The Outlaw” Mark Vance, is BACK……
I wish Mark well, and I remember being on the microphone when he won his first major title on a Thursday night at Plato’s Crash Landing and things have not been the same for either one of us since that eventful evening.
The plane has crashed and it might be time to clean it all up and put the debris back in the hanger. You have to know when to hang it up and I did many moons ago and I hope Mark Vance finds solace soon and that we don’t have to carry him away like they did Bruiser Brody and Eddie Gilbert, although none of the three are related or connected in any certain way.
Remember Mark Vance is looking for Rick Link.
Enough said.
This seems like a good place at which to get off of the plane and head back out to the hanger, behind the Heritage Greens Retirement Center.
Great article, Andy. It shows that the wrestling business has not been able to develop young talent that has caught non with the mianstream public in a long time. I also am skeptical of some of those stated ages on the wrestlers. I wouldn’t be surprised if Undertaker and Michaels are even older than they say. Actors and actresses always fudge a few years off their age so you can almost expect some wrestlers to do the same.