Posts tagged professional wrestling
Moral Ambiguity In Professional Wrestling

Is amoral art immoral?

That’s the question I keep asking myself as I consider the implications of a professional wrestling that no longer asserts good is good and bad is bad, but rather that we live in a morally ambiguous world where people simply make choices and then live with the consequences. Amorality is being neither moral nor immoral, it is showing no concern in the rightness or wrongness of something. In art, that means the author doesn’t pass judgment on the characters, but merely presents them as they are, allowing the audience to judge. Such is the moral philosophy of many modern dramas and comedies in this Golden Age of Television. From Tony Soprano to Walter White to Don Draper to Daenerys Targaryen to Barry Berkman to Kendall Roy to many more, the amoral perspective these television shows have on their leads sidesteps the traditional moral binary of good versus evil for a more fluid interpretation of the universe.

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Professional Wrestling Is Good For My Mental Health

For the past few months, I’ve been watching Monday Night Raw, AEW Dynamite, and Friday Night SmackDown every week. It’s been fun, and reminiscent of the early days of my pro-wrestling fandom where I watched totally devoted. Establishing this routine has made it easier to get through the work-week. Each day, I remind myself that wrestling awaits and it helps the next handful of hours pass a little quicker.

My favorite of the bunch is Dynamite. It’s the most inventive and naturalistic, featuring a fantastic cast of colorful characters. There’s the super serious sort like Jon Moxley and Hangman Adam Page and the hilarious sort like Orange Cassidy and The Best Friends. Unlike WWE-television, Dynamite has an actually funny sense of humor - that is to say comedy in AEW is genuinely amusing and not cringe-inducing. Dynamite also features wrestling matches with stories rather than wrestling matches as time-filler.

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The Rock Got Me Through My Teens

The Rock is my favorite wrestler. I’ve come to this conclusion after much deliberation. He’s on a short list alongside CM Punk, Bret Hart, Sami Zayn, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Mick Foley. It’s not hard to figure out why The Rock is my favorite. His ascent to WWF super stardom (and beyond) perfectly coincided with my adolescence. In those precious and impressionable years, he provided a respite from turmoil and angst. I would look forward to Raw and SmackDown every week in intense anticipation of what he might say and on whom he might layeth the smacketh down. Every new catchphrase was a significant event. Every gesture or subtle motion of his body was worthy of imitation.

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Why We Love Professional Wrestling

“You know it’s fake, right?”

Most pro-wrestling fans have heard this question in some form at some point in their lives. They’ve worked up the courage to admit they’re a pro-wrestling fan and then they’re met with peculiar stares, snorts of laughter, or the dreaded f-word, “fake”.

On behalf of all wrestling fans allow me to answer…yes! We know it’s fake!

As I’ve matured as a wrestling fan the less interested I’ve become in “regular people’s” opinions of it (or me). If someone judges me negatively, even slightly, for loving professional wrestling then it is I who feel bad for them - not the other way around. The issue of pro-wrestling’s fakeness is not a problem for professional wrestling fans. We do not attend WrestleMania and feel deceived when we notice a softly delivered punch. We’re not confused when a wrestler climbs to the top rope to spring through the air and come crashing down on their opponent. And we’re not convinced the bad guy is evil and the good guy is good. We understand what we’re watching. We “get it”.

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THE PRO-WRESTLING RENAISSANC

Professional wrestling is on the verge of a renaissance.

The signs are there, if you’re keen to see them.

This potential revival can be traced back to CM Punk’s "Shoot Heard Round The World". The effects of that single promo continue to radiate throughout the professional wrestling community and particularly in the WWE; namely in the current top program that revolves around Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. If CM Punk had not incorporated their names into that promo, would we be seeing them at the top of the mountain today? Had CM Punk not talked about Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in that promo, would The Authority stable exist today?

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THE REALITY OF WRESTLING OR: WHY EVERYTHING IS FAKE

I believe in professional wrestling.

Like any other storytelling medium, the theater of pro-wrestling can inspire, enlighten, and unite. The transcendent power of a pro-wrestling match is best comprehended by those viewers caught in The Moment of Pop - that instant where the onlooker forgets what they're watching is staged and is inspired to rise to their feet or sink into their seat.

In that millisecond of purity, all contrivance fades.

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The Road To Better Representation Of Asians At WrestleMania

On January 28th, 2018, two performers of Japanese descent, Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka, won their respective Royal Rumble matches. 

This was a defining moment both in pro-wrestling history, and in my personal pro-wrestling fandom.

When you’re an ethnic minority, growing up a pro-wrestling fan presents a challenge. 

Pro-Wrestling's xenophobic roots result in the depiction of ethnic minorities as the heels (villains) opposite the "All-American" babyfaces (heroes). We are represented by racial caricatures and stereotypes that are designed to emphasize one’s foreignness. It’s a constant reminder that we are the “other”; that the way we look, the way we sound, the way we act inevitably elicits boos.

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New Japan And Innovation In Pro-Wrestling

 

Kenny Omega drove his knee into the side of Okada's head.

There was an audible pop as boot met flesh, and Okada tumbled to the canvas, devastated. The crowd, enraptured by every strike, let out an awe-struck gasp (this knee was particularly vicious). That gasp spread out as a wave within the arena, and then fractured into light clapping and sporadic cries of "Kennnnnyyyyyy!"

My jaw was firmly on the floor. My eyes were stretched wide, straining to confirm what they had just seen.

Was this real? How could that have just happened?

Well...yes, it was real. It was New Japan Pro-Wrestling. And I was in love.

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The Magic Of Wrestling Action Figures

I held Anakin Skywalker in my hands, and I felt nothing. 

For the first time in my life, an action figure wasn’t anything more than a piece of cheap plastic. His poorly molded head stared up at me, devoid of magic. His unarticulated arm was stiff so that a lightsaber would go in and out the hilt extending from his hand, making it appear as though the blade could be turned on and off; the kind of gimmick I always hated even as a little kid. Toys with “Chop action!” buttons, bells, and whistles assumed I didn’t have an imagination. His fixed pose felt like an insult to my intelligence.

My mom sat next to me in the car, watching me open two more figures inspired by Attack of the Clones: a similarly stiff Obi-Wan Kenobi and a tiny Padme Amidala. We were in the parking lot of Wal-Mart, our custom during these sacred action figure openings.

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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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The Anatomy Of WWE Backstage Segme

I haven't watched a full episode of RAW in over three months.

I catch up by way of clips on Twitter and I skim through Hulu's already abridged version. I spend most of my time perusing the promos, the skits, and whatever vignettes there may be, cramming the broad strokes of the larger narratives so that I might be able to pass whatever WWE-quiz comes my way. Altogether, after also checking up on SmackDown, I've condensed my WWE-viewership into about thirty minutes a week (unless there's a pay-per-view and then that duration naturally increases). 

The result is that I'm a much happier human being, and I'm probably a lot easier to be around. I don't obsess about booking decisions. I don't bicker with anyone online. I don't care about anyone's criticism of my criticisms. The imagined judgements of some phantom "real pro-wrestling fan" have vacated my mind, replaced with a sense of peace and the ability to interact with pro-wrestling in a healthier way on my own terms.

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