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…
Category: Wrestling Theory & Criticism
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…
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…
First, I must say that New Day’s entrance has been one of the moments I wait for in these past few weeks of wrestling. Bouncy Kofi’s little skippity-hop down the aisle fills my heart with joy, and I was delighted this week by Big E carrying a sign which simply read “Booty!” Xavier Woods, too, makes me so happy as he just hollers on and on like a loud spaz. What an ironic position the…
Look, hear me out here: I too was initially bitching and moaning about the perplexing botch/screwjob ending of the Brock Lesnar/Undertaker match at Summer Slam. But after sitting with it for a few hours, I was still captivated, unsettled, left wondering what the fuck. “WTF #Summerslam” I tweeted, and then soon realized that was exactly the sentiment I was supposed to carry away from the match. Here’s the thing we tend to forget about wrestling…
With all the kerfuffle about what Rusev says in his entrance, I just realized it’s been a couple months since Sheamus started yelling something when he enters the arena. I think Heel Sheamus is a marvelous douchebag, and yet somehow I never stopped to worry about his passionate battle cry. Me, the IWC’s resident linguistics nerd! A quick cruise around the internet uncovered a number of discussion threads about it, one of which pointed me…
To those who would criticize Sheamus as Money In The Bank winner for being too midcardish and uncool to deserve the honor, I would suggest you take a look at it from a different angle. First, in defense of Sheamus, he is really a spectacular douchebag heel if you think about it. That’s what I’ve been calling heels like Seth Rollins, just ridiculous wrestling characters who are so great because they are so successful at…
Happy Money In The Bank Day everyone! Today The Work of Wrestling features an editorial I wrote about the deconstruction of John Cena by Kevin Owens. Click here to go read it! And if you’ve arrived here after reading my piece on John Cena and Kevin Owens, a warm welcome to you. If you scroll down a little, I’ve transcribed and commented on the recent memorable KO promos, and earlier I wrote about the ethics of…