Legitimate wrestlers vs Pro-wrestlers

Question
Hello Michael, Joe, Turn Buckle guy and Dave,

this is general question and i am asking to both of you. Why legitimate or real wrestlers are not being given importance in WWE and TNA, even then where they have more wrestling moves and holds than ordinary pro-wrestler? Since 80's i remember the legit wrestlers were neglected and instead big, heavy, muscular wrestlers (or rather actors# were being promoted. said wrestlers lack true wrestling abilities and their in ring performance was limited to clotheslines, slams, kicks and other non-impressive moves. The biggest example is of Hogan, Warrior and several others of their era. Infact i read in Bret Hart's biography that Bob Backlund refused to lose title against Hogan just because of his non-legitimacy. Iron Sheikh won the title and Hogan defeated Sheikh in that case to become champion.
number of wrestlers are their who were true wrestlers and also got huge popularity that people even remember them today but wrestling federations didnt give them their right spot #with the exception of Kurt Angle and Undertaker). Brock Lesner, Ken Shamrock, Sylvester Turkey, Bobby Leshley etc. are few of them. Even in current crop, from true wrestling point of view John Cena, Edge, Jericho and even HHH...they all suck. I know they are good on mike but i think in "WRESTLING", priority must be given to WRESTLING ABILITY first then to any other attribute.
Same attitude i have noticed when Hogan taken over TNA. Before that there was a great difference between WWE and TNA in-ring wrestling style. TNA wrestling was full of moves, hard hitting, submission holds but since Hogan's arrival...all the wrestlers who had such abilities were being pushed aside. Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Danials and Desmond Wolf are some names and specially about wolf, he is such an amazing wrestlers that i would count his "3 Degrees of Pain Match with Kurt Angle" as one of the great matches of decade. All the "X-Division" level wrestlers vanished and in-ring wrestling has now become dull, slow, traditional and much more like WWE style. Wrestlers like AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy seems to forgot that whats their true style of wrestling was which gave them popularity. I can not compare AJ Styles current matches with his last year 3-way match with Samoa Joe and Danials, its totally change.

Sorry if the question is lengthy, but i want to know the expert's opinion on such wrestling controversy.

Answer
Hi Ahsen.  Thanks for the questions.

Vince McMahon has generally favored taller, muscular wrestlers, which was the case when he first went national with Hogan as the main guy.  Vince wanted his own style of 'wrestling', and that's basically how 'sports entertainment' evolved, even if it wasn't a widely used term until several years later.

During the Hulkamania years, the taller, muscular wrestlers fit the mold for what Vince was trying to promote, in that the product at the time was aimed more at kids, and had more of a super hero type of feel too it.  Wrestlers of today still have gimmicks, but back then, they had much more of an outrageous, cartoon feel to them.

I think wrestling is still a big mans game at this point, although not as much as it used to be.  The problem that bigger guys have is that they have a harder time wrestling a much more tractional wrestling match.  A lot of them don't have the amateur background that a lot of the more technical wrestlers do, and conditioning wise, they aren't built to have those type of matches.  Bigger guys tire easier, and you have to be in great shape to wrestle technical style matches consistently.

With all that being said, I think it's more difficult for a technical style wrestler to get over with the crowd.  Look at a guy like Shelton Benjamin.  He's a great wrestler, but he never found that one gimmick to get him over with the crowd.  Now look at John Cena.  He's not the greatest technical wrestler, but he found the right gimmick, and he took off.  I think bigger, muscular wrestler have an easier time getting over, just based on their look, and because more of their matches feature high impact moves.  Look at Goldberg, and for a more recent example Sheamus.  Both of these guys were over pretty much right away, and they basically came out of no where.  

I have to comment on what you said about Cena, Edge, Jericho, and Tripe H sucking.  I will say Cena is over more because of his gimmick then his wrestling ability, but it's working for him.  Edge isn't really a technical wrestler either, but I wouldn't go as far as saying he sucks.  Triple H in his early years was a very good technical wrestler, but he muscled up so much that he became more of a brawler.  Jericho I completely disagree with you on.  Even though he is consistently involved in major storylines, I think he's still underutilized.  You could put him in any type of match with any wrestler, and he's going to bring it.  

As far as TNA under Hogan, that's just the way he does things.  It's what's worked for him in the past, so he's trying that concept again.  Yes, some of what they are doing has more of a WWE flavor to it, but it works for WWE.  There are several wrestlers who aren't getting the push they probably deserve, but that's all part of TNA trying to figure out which direction they want to move in.  Even though the product has changed since Hogan came on the scene, TNA still delivers some high quality matches.  Case in point would be the series of matches between Beer Money and Motor City Machine Guns.  Like I said in a previous answer, that was the best tag team wrestling I've seen in years.

Thanks again for the question.  Let me know if you have anything else.

Have a great night!

Dave