What kind of monkey are you?

I once read about an experiment that took place to understand behavioral patterns.

In the experiment, five monkeys were placed in a room with a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs, a banana was placed in full view of the 5 assembled monkeys.

One of the monkeys then attempted to climb the stairs to rescue and eat the banana. As he did so, all 5 monkeys were sprayed with jets of freezing cold water.

Shortly afterwards, a second monkey made for the stairs and banana. Once again, the jets of cold water sprayed the monkeys.

This time however, no more monkeys attempted to climb the stairs.

Several hours later, one of the monkeys was removed from the room and replaced with a new monkey.

The new monkey saw the banana and instinctively started to climb the stairs going for the banana.

However, the original 4 monkeys had other ideas and attacked the new monkey to stop him from getting them all wet.

Several hours later, another of the original monkeys was replaced. Once again, the newcomer was also attacked when he attempted to climb the stairs. What was really surprising though was that the previous newcomer took part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

The experiment continued and a third original monkey was replaced with a new one, leaving only two of the original monkeys that were sprayed. As with the previous newbies, the monkey went for the stairs and was duly attacked by the other four. At this point, half of the monkeys in the room had not seen the consequences of climbing the stairs or had been punished.

The fourth and fifth original monkeys were also replaced and the new ones went through the hazing of being attacked.

Each new entrant didnt know why they were being attacked and more interestingly, the monkeys who were doing the attacking had no idea why they were attacking the new monkeys. By the end, all 5 monkeys knew to stay away from the stairs even though they didnt actually know why.

A large part of the IWC are the 5 monkeys. They don't know why something is cool, awful or even indifferent. They are just beaten up by the rest of the IWC if they disagree.

How many times have you read a comment on the internet by someone, knowing full well they havent watched anything other than WWE. There is nothing wrong with that (just watching WWE) but at least dont try and be one of the 5 monkeys.

Independent thought is so much more worthy than regurgitating the view of a 30 stone blogger who rates Jushin Liger as the greatest of all time. Nothing wrong with that, just don't repeat it as gospel unless you do the ground work and agree with it for the right reasons. Don't beat up the monkey going for the stairs - respect their choice.

So what is the point of this rambling feature? (get used to it, all my features ramble - the last one I wrote was about how you liked your steak cooked for Petes sake!)

Well its to tell it how YOU think it is. Don't hate certain wrestlers (or organisations) without watching them. Don't rave about indie stars if you havent seen them. Don't think that the wrestling world begins and ends with WWE.

Head for the stairs goddamit!

So to put it in context, what would I implore you to have a view on (and I mean a view, not a repeated consensus)?

Cena - Is it easier to hate him because you are told that its cool to boo?
Dean Ambrose - Have you actually watched him?
Benoit - was he that good technically? Have you seen any of his work outside of the 'E?
TNA - Is it any good or is it, like Cena, easier to not watch it and repeat the common IWC consensus?
Austin Aries - Is he better than CM Punk at the moment? If you think no, have you actually watched him over the last few months?

You get the idea.

So go grab that banana and don't listen to those other four monkeys.

Cena - Is it easier to hate him because you are told that its cool to boo?

I like Cena, he's not the best wrestler, he's not the best mic worker, he struggles to sell moves at times, but over the years he's been involved in some fantastic matches and really top level rivalries.



Dean Ambrose - Have you actually watched him?

Probably every match in FCW he's done, every promo possible prior to that from CZW and a fair number of other matches from the indies. If I'm a monkey for Ambrose then I'm the King of the Swingers, the jungle VIP.

Benoit - was he that good technically? Have you seen any of his work outside of the 'E?

Yes he was extremely talented technically, yes I had during his time in WCW which he was far better in IMO fighting cruiserweight matches. Not his biggest fan though as he generally bored me.

TNA - Is it any good or is it, like Cena, easier to not watch it and repeat the common IWC consensus?

I do keep trying to give it a go, I usually last about 20 minutes.

Austin Aries - Is he better than CM Punk at the moment? If you think no, have you actually watched him over the last few months?

He's usually the reason I manage to keep it on for the 20 minutes.

I consider you to be one of the mad scientists conducting experiments on the monkeys.

I am just the guy with the fire hose (yes that is a euphemism)

Cena - Is it easier to hate him because you are told that its cool to boo?

I am a Cena fan, think that when he is good he is really good though I don't think that he can hold a feud with anyone... he needs to have them chosen selectively and the 'E have been guilty of throwing him in with anyone.

Dean Ambrose - Have you actually watched him?

Basically, no. I have heard that he is good and have seen some limited promos and things but overall I want to wait and judge him on the basis of what he does when he gets to WWE - makes it more exciting for me.

Benoit - was he that good technically? Have you seen any of his work outside of the 'E?

Haven't seen him outside the WWE and I certainly don't feel that I have enough knowledge to judge him or others on technical ability. I was never a huge fan of his though.

TNA - Is it any good or is it, like Cena, easier to not watch it and repeat the common IWC consensus?

Watch as much TNA as I can, though that is less than WWE. I think the product is good on the whole and while some negatives there are a lot of positives.

Austin Aries - Is he better than CM Punk at the moment? If you think no, have you actually watched him over the last few months?

What I have seen of him is brilliant. Can really see him being the one to take down Roode in 4 - 6 months if Roode gets built up as a strong heel champ. A lot of the issue for me is that I haven't enjoyed Punk/Jericho... people assumed it was going to be a classic but for me it wasn't and I didn't find the in-ring stuff gripping either.

So Adam, am I a monkey?

I agree on Josh's point over Punk, for me WWE have done the very thing that they made so many times a mistake with Cena and just stick the title on him.
He should be constantly the guy chasing the title, not the one holding it for months on end.

Hero wrote:I agree on Josh's point over Punk, for me WWE have done the very thing that they made so many times a mistake with Cena and just stick the title on him.
He should be constantly the guy chasing the title, not the one holding it for months on end.

It is the issue so much with the WWE. Fans pay money to see the face win or overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. If the face always wins or is too strong then why pay money to see a result when you know what will happen?

Good answers Josh.

For the record, the article wasn't to get you to ask me if you are a monkey! It was to try and get people to be honest with their opinions.

Which you have.

Have a banana

what happened to the other banana?

Cena - Is it easier to hate him because you are told that its cool to boo?
Hate is a strong word, I'm very apathetic towards him both his character and his abilities, fair enough he is a hero to a lot of younger fans and does very leucrative buisiness for the WWE but he's a symbol of the stagnation that has gripped the WWE in recent years

Dean Ambrose - Have you actually watched him?
Got to be honest I hadn't heard much about him until he signed for WWE, probably because I'm not a huge fan of CZW, but since I've been introduced to him, I've scoured youtube for his promos and he's the closest thing to Roddy Piper I've seen in years, in ring he's look pretty good, though thats going mainly from his FCW matches, though thats probably all that matters any more

Benoit - was he that good technically? Have you seen any of his work outside of the 'E?
I rate Benoit very highly, even above Bret Hart, I always thought there was something very real about his performance, a blood and tears struggle, rather than clean cut, smooth as silk moves you get with say Hart or Steamboat, I've seen a fair bit of his work as Pegasus Kid/Wild Pegasus as well as some of his stuff in WCW, though I haven't seen a much, if any of his ECW work

TNA - Is it any good or is it, like Cena, easier to not watch it and repeat the common IWC consensus?
TNA has certainally improved in recent months, the Roode/Strom angle has worked out much better than I expected (though they bungled it at the start) but for me it's still somewhat lackluster, the tag, xdivision and womens groups have been neglected to the point where they are not the highpoints of the promotion like they once were, and with my time to watch wrestling becoming more and more marginalised it's still behind Raw and FCW on my list of things to watch

Austin Aries - Is he better than CM Punk at the moment? If you think no, have you actually watched him over the last few months?
I have watched a fair bit of him over the past few months, and he has carried on his great work from ROH, he's a fantastic wrestler and a great promo, is he better than CM Punk, I'm not sure he's certainally dining at the top table, but Punk has been one of my favorites for a long time now and he unlike Aries (through no fault of his own) has proved that he can carry himself at the very top and has the aura of carrying the WWE Championship which, kayfabe or not is still the crown in the world of pro wrestling for me

PS I'm a cheeky monkey

Im not going to answer the questions as I interpreted them as examples.

I think Im pretty honest in my observations in the wrestling world without following a bandwagon.

Well Im not going to answer the Benoit question as I dont want to get crucified like earlier!

I never hated Cena. He is one of my favourites. I also refuse to jump on the hate bandwagons for people such as Big Show, Heath Slater, The Great Khali or any of the divas. I choose to like them for the good things they bring to the table rather than hate them for the bad things.

I will admit to being a WWE purist though. I dont watch any of the other shows and I am not ashamed to admit it. WWE all the way for me.

Can I have my banana with custard please?