Wrestling needs ZZ Loupe

I am a wrestling nut. I’ve been one throughout the entirety of my 28-year life.

It started with my fandom of legends like Macho Man Randy Savage and Andre the Giant. As I got older, it morphed and evolved into a fascination with Shawn Michaels, which then evolved into a fascination with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Today, it’s Rusev, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens and others who’ve caught my eye.

But throughout the past year or so, my interest in WWE has waned and I don’t watch nearly as much of it as I used to.

It’s not that I don’t want to indulge and lose countless hours of time in front of the TV watching Monday Night Raw. It’s just that it’s not as entertaining as it used to be. The storylines are stale. The characters all lack uniqueness and the five hours of TV WWE owns per week make for an incredibly watered down product that never has urgency or importance. If I miss a show or a segment, I can just catch another one just like it the next time around. There’s too much wrestling on TV. There’s no other way to slice it.

Looking down the pipeline, there doesn’t appear to be much relief in sight for the future. WWE has bankrupted all of its significant competitors around the globe. They operate as a near-monopoly that does what it wants, when it wants – to hell with what the fans like, because the fans have nowhere else to go.

WWE has its own training center where it breeds tomorrow’s stars. But because there are no other voices present in that character development, we’re left with a ton of guys wrestling in developmental organizations who all look, talk and act the same. They’re cookie cutter copies of “the mold” – a mold that stinks and is losing more and more of its TV audience by the minute.

But there just might be light at the end of the tunnel in the struggle. Looking down the pipeline, I do see a character who has the opportunity to be something fans can gravitate toward and rally around. I see him on my TV every Tuesday nights on WWE’s reality show “Tough Enough,” which airs on the USA Network.

I see him also on social media and even around the Houma-Thibodaux area from time-to-time as I walk around the campus of Nicholls State University.

I’m talking about Zamariah “ZZ” Loupe, who I think has the look, personality and ‘it factor’ that it takes to be a star in the wrestling business.

ZZ just knows how to make people happy. A Cajun boy who grew up chasing alligators and playing in the swamp, Loupe has a certain charisma that can’t be taught or measured. You just can’t help but to like him.

When I first met the guy, he was a football player at Thibodaux High School. It was a blistering hot day in August and the Tigers’ football practice was about to begin. He was an interesting looking kid. He’s still interesting looking today. He had long, shoulder-length blonde hair that wasn’t quite cut into a mullet, but was certainly pretty close.

As I was walking to the fieldhouse, ZZ was walking to the practice field. As we intersected, he stopped me.

“You with the paper?” he asked.

Once I said yes, his eyes lit up. As our brief conversation ended, he gave me a one-liner.

“Get a good picture. I’ll be the one on the sidelines passed out in the heat,” he said with a laugh.

That type of wit and natural charm is a must in the wrestling business. If you can win over people, you can find success. I have no doubt that a sarcastic, witty, wise-Alec with experience giving swamp tours can win over a sold-out arena filled with wrestling fans looking for a good time.

But more important than those other intangibles are the look, and Loupe has that, as well.

He’s not build like those other cookie cutter WWE clones. He’s different. He’s a common man. We already discussed the shaggy blonde locks, but Loupe also isn’t a physical specimen. He’s shaped just like most-other teenagers around the country.

By not being an intimidating physical figure, it helps the audience feel close to Loupe, much like it did to the late-great Dusty Rhodes. He, too, used his charisma and figure to relate to the audience in a more personal way than most-other stars could.

Of course, a lack of in-ring experience could hold ZZ back and keep him from his goal. He has to learn the holds and has to be able to withstand the physical beating that comes with the territory. But for a kid who is still just 18, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he can find his way.

Throughout the early tapings of ‘Tough Enough,’ I see a guy with the pizazz and wit to be a successful player in this industry for a long time running.

A guy like that is what wrestling fans need to be freed from the tyranny that is today’s substandard product.

He may not win ‘Tough Enough,’ but WWE should sign him and mold him for the long-term even if he doesn’t.

We need ZZ.

We haven’t seen a glowing personality like this in the business for quite some time.