Part 3 of the Road to R-Evolution: Part 1 | Part 2 When people talk to me about the wrestlers they love, one of the emotions they mention over and over is pride: a deep, suffusing pride. “When he looks out at the audience chanting for him and his face lights up, I just feel so proud of him.” “When she walks to the ring with that swagger, I’m just so proud.” “When they held…
Category: Wrestling Theory & Criticism
The Golden Lovers – neither of whom have officially self-identified as queer, or straight, though Kenny’s made a lot of references to dating both men and women – have, over nearly a decade, made queer romance the center of their professional personas in a way no tag team ever has.
There are very few wrestling romances with happy endings, let alone queer romances. However, the Golden Lovers have avoided this cliche, treated their relationship with total solemnity and sincerity – even when they were on opposite sides of the ring.
Wrestling is haunted and one of the things it’s haunted by is racism. The convenient shorthand of racial stereotypes have always had currency in wrestling. The way Eddie Guerrero handled this in all his markets was to lean in.
On January 9, 2018 at 9:00pm GMT, the Oxford English Dictionary entered the word jabroni into their grand log of linguistic posterity. My initial excitement quickly faded into what I can only describe with an Office Space gif— via GIPHY —when I realized the OED had completely phoned in their etymology, which conflates two words with a glaring missing link and neglects crucial, well known instances of its use. It’s readily apparent that the whoever’s…
There are few who better embody the ambiguity of wrestling than Best Friends. The Best Friends are the duo of Trent Beretta, born Greg Marasciulo and Chuck Taylor, aka Chuckie T, aka DUSTIN, born Dustin Lee Howard.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are going to be back in action again in the next few months, and everything is going to be great. That’s what Kevin thinks, at least, and we know because he’s told us so. When Sami Zayn went out with injuries to both of his shoulders in May 2018, Kevin spent the next five months reminding us of his best friend, Sami Zayn over and over again. If Sami were…
This is a story about one of the greatest feuds and rivalries in wrestling, the story of the relationship between a man and one who hurt him so deeply he carried the grudge like a live coal for years until he could achieve his bitter vengeance. It’s the tale of a relationship full of abuse and degradation, leading to utter annihilation. It’s a story of hatred and revenge. Strange as this may sound, it may…
It makes a busy wrestling blog proprietor’s day when a stranger shows up out of nowhere offering a shrewd critical take on the art of blading. Please enjoy this piece by new contributor Kid Mankind, and be forewarned: there is blood. There are three ways to bleed in a wrestling ring. There is an accidental split of the skin – maybe a baby face landed a lucky hit on someone’s nose, maybe the jagged edge…
Creating a sudden heel turn is easy: all you need is a steel chair. Or a kendo stick. Or a window. In a pinch, in fact, you need nothing but two treacherous hands and a darkened heart. Admittedly, for a heel turn based on betrayal it helps to have a friendship to betray, and those are harder to come by. Those take time to build: months or years of effort, dozens or hundreds of happy…
I’m in the front row. I’m also in the back row. I’m in The Row. DDT Pro shows in my town are held in municipal sports centers, in rooms small enough that along one side of the ring there’s only space for a single row of chairs, and that’s where Dan and I are sitting. The Row is my favorite place to sit at DDT Pro shows, because my view of the ring is completely…