Disco Inferno On Problems With Wrestling Today, Says Fans Now Are "The Comic Book Convention Crowd"

As previously noted, Glenn Gilbertti, also known as "Disco Inferno" in Impact Wrestling and formerly in WCW, was a guest on Wrestling Inc.'s own WINCLY Podcast. During the interview, Gilbertti went in-depth about why he believes pro wrestling fans have changed their reactions to the product over the years.

In Gilbertti's opinion, the internet is partially to blame for the fan's new approach to professional wrestling. With access to so much behind-the-scenes information, he thinks the attention has been shifted way too much on the in-ring work and not the characters featured on TV.

"The fan got too smart. It's very difficult these days with the internet, and social media and everything, to not follow this business and not be subjected to the spoilers. It's just different," Gilbertti explained. "The fans have gotten behind the curtain a little bit too much, and I think, maybe a little bit more than they wanted to. They're following the product now and they're watching these shows for different reasons, it seems like, than what they used to.

"Wrestling used to be a soap opera. Every week the show would end with a question, what's gonna happen next week or something," Gilbertti continued. "Now it's different, now everybody focuses on, 'Oh, how good was that match? How good was that match, the actual match?' A lot of people don't watch wrestling just for the matches, a lot of people watch wrestling for the characters, the storylines, the interviews, the other things, but we've kind of pigeon-holed this business in to making it seem like the guys that work the best are the ones that should be prominently featured on the show, but they may not have the other skills that they need, which are the skills that get other people to watch the shows."

Gilbertti explained that he tries to keep his in-ring work and gimmick as fresh as possible, however, he originally got the idea for "Disco Inferno" from watching soon-to-be WWE Hall of Famer, The Honky Tonk Man.

"The only thing I ever copied is when I came up with the Disco Inferno gimmick, I was going to do the type and style that Honky Tonk Man did, and I basically took a different gimmick and worked that same type of way, but I've never felt like I'm going to copy anything else that anybody does," Gilbertti admitted. "Because I feel like I'm creative enough to do my thing."

Later this month, Gilbertti will face Scarlett Bordeaux in an intergender match at Impact Wrestling's Against All Odds PPV, and he's looking forward to the opportunity Impact management has bestowed upon him. Glenn continues working hard with his creative performances despite the fact that he's apparently "more hated" amongst people in the industry.

"They're putting me in this match and I have no problem with it," Gilbertti stated. "Basically, whatever creative they have for me, I'll knock it out of the park. As you can see, the response from my performances on the show these past few weeks have been overwhelmingly positive, despite the fact that I'm one of the more hated people in the business these days."

With Impact, WWE, AEW, and other promotions all vying for new talent, it's a great time to be an up-and-coming wrestler on the scene. Glenn personally doesn't see this as a revitalizing of the "Monday Night Wars" era, but his gripe is with the change of audience since that time. Gilbertti believes that pro wrestling crowds have transitioned more from attractive women and athletes to people that regularly attend comic book conventions.

"Right now is completely different [from the Monday Night Wars]. The crowd is not as diverse of a segment of society as it used to be," Gilbertti explained. "When you look at the crowd these days, I see a lot of fans and it looks like comic book conventions...It used to be the crowd didn't look like that. There used to be a lot more hot girls in the crowd, like, the high school football team would be there. The crowd looked and acted differently than it does today. The one thing that has changed over the course of time in professional wrestling is the way that the fans react to the live product. It's just way different. These days, the fans – they're like seals, it's like another brick in the wall, they all do the same chants."

Glenn Gilbertti will face off against Scarlett Bordeaux at Impact Wrestling's Against All Odds on March 29th. The show will air at 11/10 CST via Pursuit and Twitch.

Glenn's full interview with Wrestling Inc was included on a recent episode our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard in the embedded player below. During the interview Glenn discusses current compelling female wrestlers, his criticisms of female wrestlers' in-ring abilities, his upcoming Impact Wrestling match against Scarlett Bordeaux and more.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.