[Content warning for discussions of suicidal ideation.] In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker arrives on Dagobah to begin his Jedi training. We see him meet Yoda, see him lifting objects and being lectured by his teacher, see him confront the apparition of Darth Vader. It’s implied that he’s on the planet for a month, maybe two. All this goes by in about 30 minutes on the screen; two months of Luke’s life compressed into…
Tag: Seth Rollins
I’m excited to be launching an ongoing series of interviews with wrestling fan artists on The Spectacle of Excess. To kick off the series, the fabulous Punkrockbigmouth has given us her wise insight about wrestling as art and art about wrestling. In that wrestling fandom is a microcosm of the bigger picture, PRBM is our great political cartoonist. I asked her five questions and to show and tell about her three favorite wrestlers to draw…
Greetings friends! I have emerged from the abyss with the fourth in my series of posts about the art of the fabulous Punkrockbigmouth. Check parts I, II, and III if you’re interested, and be sure to check out all of PRBM’s work on punkrockbigmouth.tumblr.com. The term “cartoon satire” doesn’t structure quite right for an -ism, but let’s get over ourselves. Not all -isms can logistically take on the suffix, and I’m just making all this…
On the Progress of Wrestling Theory in the Trump Era (and a Word About Our Stunning New Contributor)
I’ve given myself a bit of a complex about this moratorium on writing about WWE. It’s been great to force myself out of my comfort zone, seek out new wrestling to watch and figure out how to go about watching it and writing about it. The process has been slow and faltering, but highly rewarding. However, as a wrestling theorist, I simply cannot ignore a near monopolistic-sized chunk of the market that is my topic…
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…
I’m thinking about writing a longer piece about the genre of contract signings in wrestling. Really, I never would have thought the signing of contracts could be such a compelling thing to watch, but I perk up every time I hear there’s going to be one. They represent the tension between WWE’s carny and corporate elements so perfectly: two employees meet in a ring-turned-boardroom to sign a legally binding document to fight for a prize,…
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…
So if the “I Quit” match was as nonsensical as I think it was, the Rusev character has committed to its free-fall. This once determined and hard-working immigrant who treated his beautiful valet (girlfriend?) with dignity and respect is now a ranting, illogical, abusive asshole collapsing beneath his wild-eyed hubris. And why? It seems to me Rusev is being tanked because so many of us refused to boo him as a heel. Many of us…
Hello friends! I’m still trying to get a few things finished before I start blogging like a fool again, but RAW this week was so chock full of memorable promos I’m compelled to transcribe as many as I can over the next few days. On the topic of a compelling RAW, have you noticed that at this stage in the monthly pay-per-view storyline cycle, there is almost always a compelling RAW? What is it about…