I wrote a bit about
my still fairly new love of wrestling a few Wrestlemanias back.
Here’s some background for those who don’t know – I came over
to my s/o’s house one day, and he was watching some old wrestling
matches he’d found. I had no idea who most wrestlers were, but like
most people growing up in the Attitude Era, I knew about Stone Cold
and the Rock. These two were not Stone Cold or the Rock. They weren’t
flashy superstars with catchphrases or beer. They were two strong,
stoic men in black trunks moving smoothly from move to move like it
was as easy as breathing for them. They were quietly competent and
utterly enthralling to watch.
They were Dean and
Joe Malenko.
At least, I think it
was a match between Dean and his brother – it could’ve been
another match where Dean Malenko had someone pinned against his chest
while he was laying on the mat and then lifted them up like they
were nothing and without using his hands.
I was in awe. I was rapt. I was immediately and irrevocably hooked.
My
s/o was embarrassed, offered to turn off the match. I declined and
sat down on the bed to watch the rest of the matches on the disc.
Then
came the test every partner seems to face when coming late to the
Wrestling party: Hell in the Cell: Undertaker vs Mankind.
I’m
squeamish. I don’t like blood. For those unaware of the content of
this match, I will say this: when asked about how he felt, looking
down at Mick Foley’s unmoving body, the Undertaker replied “I
thought you were dead. I thought I’d killed you.” Foley is
missing teeth. He’s also missing memories from years of repeated
head trauma, but this match did not kill him. It just… looks like
it did.
There
are other horrifying matches out there – Abdullah the Butcher was a
master of gouging open opponents and himself and dripping his
possibly (most likely) Hepatitis C positive into the mouths of other
wrestlers, Sid Vicious (not the musician, the one also known as Sycho
Sid) once had a femur snap during a commercial break, and if you’re
faint of heart you should never, ever look up the Vader/Stan Hanson
match in Japan…
But
for every terrifying, bloody match, I’ve seen maybe a dozen amazing
feats of muscular perfection. I’ve seen Macho Man Randy Savage fly
from the top rope, Ricochet and Will Ospreay effortlessly vaulting
themselves to new heights and flipping more times than Olympic
divers, Dean Malenko or Zach Saber Jr twisting opponents into holds
so complex they seem to be bending where joints don’t exist. I’ve
seen shows from the WWE, WCW, Ring of Honor, World Class Championship
Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan, AAA Lucha Libre, and
the impeccable DreamSlam 1993
(but not the MMA style fight
in the middle, I just wasn’t into that).
My
love of Pro-Wrestling has brought me more than just an alphabet soup
of companies to follow, it’s brought books, art, and games into my
life. Through Xavier Woods’ “Up Up Down Down” and the Young
Bucks’ “Being the Elite”, I’ve been shown new entertainment,
which prepared me for the sudden return of the NWA as helmed by (of
all people) Billy Corgan.
My
love of Pro-Wrestling has even made me new friends, who have, in
turn, introduced me to new things, like Sumo wrestling. Like most
people, I thought it was just a bunch of boring naked fat guys
slapping each other. It’s decidedly more energetic and brutal than
that. There was more blood and more pain in the last basho
(tournament) that I watched than I’ve seen in organized sports. It
was truly something to watch.
I’m
rambling this week, it seems. I’ll include a few links to the
YouTube channels I’ve mentioned, but aside from that, I think I’ve
said all I can say about wrestling for now. Hopefully next week I’ll
have something down about a particular wrestler or Pay-Per-View or
even company. Who knows?
As
always, Go Enjoy Something!
FC
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are now moderated, so if your comment doesn't appear right off, it's just bc I haven't seen the email yet sorry!