Month: September 2015

September 29, 2015 /

This little post about Eric Rowan has enjoyed a surprisingly high volume of search engine traffic since I wrote it nine months ago. Most of the search terms were something to the effect of “is Eric Rowan really that smart,” but people also googled about his artisanal grapes and wine-making, his classical guitar, and his Rubic’s Cube. In essence, everyone was thinking what I was thinking — the sheep-masked Wyatt just didn’t make any sense.…

September 25, 2015 /

I wrote this just a couple months after the Shield broke up, back when it was impossible not to fall madly, desperately in love with Dean Ambrose. He was the best thing ever ever ever to happen to professional wrestling, and the people who read this post at the time told me they thought so too. So much inauthentic narrative snafu would then send me into an embittered phase where I could barely even stand…

September 23, 2015 /

Pro wrestling will give you trust issues. The language of pro wrestling is the language of deception. Mark, work, selling, and kayfabe are little strands of carny DNA that show us wrestling’s origins — a callback to when strongmen traveled with carnivals across the United States, bilking gullible Dust Bowl Alpha Bros out of money by goading them into rigged matches. Even if one of the local hayseeds looked like he might actually win a match with the strongman, another carny (hidden…

September 22, 2015 /

Andrea here again. In honor of my hero defeating Ryback to become the new intercontinental champion and savior of that much embattled belt, here is a reblog of my thoughts on the ethics of Kevin Owens from May of this year. He’s done his best to be a real jerk, but I still think he’s a realist and a working class hero: I find myself with a contrary opinion in regards to the story we’re…

September 21, 2015 /

When Brian Pillman was announced as a playable character for the soon-to-be-released WWE 2K16 (as part of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s showcase mode), it instantly brought back memories of watching Brian Pillman on ECW when I was a kid. Here’s a guy who, even for ECW, managed to be one of the most entertainingly unhinged wrestlers on the roster (with the exception of maybe New Jack, who wasn’t so much a wrestler as a feral human who…

September 19, 2015 /

From Andrea: Mercury Retrograde is a time to do stuff that begins with the prefix re-: relax, reorganize, recycle, that sort of thing. Blogging is one of the things that goes off the rails for me when Mercury stops, so I thought I’d use this one as an opportunity to showcase some of the posts I’m proud of here at Notes on the Spectacle of Excess. I’ll be *re*blogging something every couple days for the…

September 13, 2015 /

I am excited to welcome new contributor Ryan Boyd to Notes on the Spectacle of Excess! Ryan has made a painstaking study of wrestling from the eighties, nineties, and Attitude Era (imagine the things he has seen!) and takes part in a podcast I love called Travesty of Justice, that is examining every single cringe-inducing Wrestlemania and the equally cringe-inducing and hilarious pop culture surrounding it. His first post here examines Jake the Snake’s dark…

September 11, 2015 /

We’re watching some New Japan Pro Wrestling from 2013 on AXStv, in which Kazuchika Okada and Togi Makabe are arguing over which of their styles is “real” professional wrestling. Makabe is being accused of being a “backyard wrestler” and Okada is the technician with the world-renowned dropkick. Okada said this about Makabe’s style, which leans toward street-fighting (he also wears a chain around his neck, hello signifier!): I doubt that’s “real” professional wrestling. I am…

September 7, 2015 /

I have been thinking about the deeper meaning of tables in professional wrestling for nigh on fifteen years, my friends. So I’m watching with interest as New Day further develops their “Save the Tables” gimmick. My last post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Somewhat. A thought experiment, shall we say. But I’m serious about tables, and so is the New Day. Here is a transcript of their “Save the Tables” promo from Smackdown this week: Xavier Woods:…