Posts tagged bret hart
The McMahon Behind The Curtain
The McMahon Behind The Curtain

The opening segment of this week's Monday Night Raw is a light shining at us from the future, illuminating what the WWE could (and hopefully will) become one day. 

In it, Roman Reigns, yet again irate at the absence of his WrestleMania opponent, Brock Lesnar, took to the microphone to air his grievances.

Brock, in Roman's words, "Didn't show up to work".

This has been the essence of his problem with Lesnar, and the basis of their WrestleMania rematch. Roman, regardless of the crowd's perpetually mixed-to-negative reaction to him, always shows up to work. He "busts his ass" for the business that's "in his blood", and, just like the fans, he's sick and tired of Brock Lesnar only showing up to work "when the money is right or the city is right". He believes The Universal Champion should be a full-time member of the WWE roster; an unconditional leader of the locker-room and the company. 

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EDITORIALSTim Kailwrestlemania, vince mcmahon, roman reigns, roman reigns suspended, suspension, monday night raw, tim kail, work of wrestling, tim kail work of wrestling, wwe network, shane mcmahon, stephanie mcmahon, triple h, wwe nxt, nxt, women's wrestling, the montreal screwjob, screwjob, bret hart, steve austin, shawn michaels
Pro-Wrestling Is An Art...But It's Better When Wrestlers Don't Know That
Pro-Wrestling Is An Art...But It's Better When Wrestlers Don't Know That

Professional wrestling is an art.

That's the simple truth.

Proving and reinforcing that truth with my style of pro-wrestling-arts-criticism has always been the purpose of my writing and my podcast. It is an accurate way of analyzing the medium that quickly dismantles the age-old claim "wrestling is fake", and simultaneously positions pro-wrestling to be watched (and created) with the respect it deserves.

The idea that pro-wrestling is an art is by no means new: philosopher Roland Barthes wrote about wrestling as theater in the 1950s, Bret Hart stated with his trademark tempered pride, "There is an art to wrestling" in the 1998 documentary Wrestling With Shadows, and CM Punk told GQ in 2011, "It's truly, I believe, one of the only art forms that America has actually given to the world, besides jazz and comic books".

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EDITORIALSTim Kailprowrestling, professional wrestling, pro wrestling art, professional wrestling blog, pro wrestling podcasts, pro wrestling podcast, pro wrestling blog, pro wrestling is art, new japan pro wrestling, wwe, wwe network, ricochet, will ospreay, jim ross, bret hart, steve austin, art, movies, theater, the forth wall, reality, fiction
The Demise of the American Babyface
The Demise of the American Babyface

A prone Dolph Ziggler lay flat on his face in the middle of the ring. He struggled to regain his bearings as Baron Corbin approached with a steel chair in hand. Having just earned a nefarious victory over ‘The Showoff’ wasn’t enough; the vitriolic fire in Corbin’s heart would continue to rage until the satisfactory pound of flesh was properly extricated from Ziggler’s battered physique. Luckily Kalisto, a previous victim of Corbin’s post-match antics, raced down the entrance ramp just in time to chase the cowardly heel away and save his friend from further violence.  

This familiar pro wrestling scene took place on the first SmackDown Live of 2017 and came on the heels of a satisfying resurgence of Ziggler’s babyface character thanks to a compelling program with The Miz in the later stages of the previous year.

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EDITORIALSTim Kailbarry hess, wwe, wwe network, bret hart, john cena, bayley, babyface, heel, professional wrestling, the sapranos, john wayn, western, movies, cinemea, heroes, cinema, batman, the dark knight, christopher nolan, vince mcmahon, the new era, the attitude era
My Message To the Pro-Wrestling Journalists & Podcasters Of The Future
My Message To the Pro-Wrestling Journalists & Podcasters Of The Future

At the end of 2016 my weekly podcast, The Work of Wrestling, will go on hiatus. During that hiatus I plan on restructuring the show so that, in the future, it will be distributed in a highly focused, seasonal format. I do not yet know how long that hiatus will be and I do not yet know how long those seasons will be, but I am excited about the prospect of reinvention and return.

While I still plan to continue writing about wrestling whenever the mood strikes, it feels like a good time to offer a "see you later" (rather than a goodbye) to The Pro-Wrestling Community, particularly to the younger writers & podcasters currently honing their crafts. You are the ones who will take up this mantle, push it into the 21st Century and beyond, and change the way people think about professional wrestling (for the better). Your passion, your ingenuity, and your progressive perspectives will be needed for our Community to ever grow up.

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EDITORIALSTim Kailpodcasting, prowrestling, pro wrestling, professional wrestling, professional wrestling blog, art, art blog, wwe, internet wrestling community, iwc, IWC, wwe network, john cena, bayley, womens wrestling, charlotte, sasha banks, feminism, what will wrestling be like in twenty years, will wwe still be around, pro wrestling art, pro wrestling podcasts, pro wrestling podcast, pro wrestling blog, pro wrestling is art, work of wrestling, mick foley, steve austin, bret hart, wwf