Fair to Flair

Jason Mann

themendaciloquent — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:00:44 -0400

By day, Jason Mann is a mild-mannered Central Ohio copy editor getting by in the crazy world of newspapers. By night (and often very early in the morning), he’s a blogger and podcaster who shares the love and knowledge for pro wrestling that he’s gained as a fan since 1986. In March 2010, he began a podcast and blog with friends Seth Roy and Josh Hachat called Wrestlespective, which specializes in analyzing past matches and stories. He can also be found in constant conversation about pro wrestling on Twitter. In addition to wrestling, he also loves NBA basketball, classic movies, and learning about new things.

Wrestlespective: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Subscribe to posts / Subscribe to podcasts / iTunes

K Sawyer Paul

themendaciloquent — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:57:12 -0400

K Sawyer Paul is a novelist and graphic designer living in Toronto. His wrestling-based writing has included The Moss-Covered, Three-Handled Family Gredunza, Fake Vince McMahon, ~~Footnotes of Wrestling~~, and International Object. His goal is to spread the idea that professional wrestling is a complicated and misunderstood art form.

K Sawyer Paul: Website / Twitter / International Object / International Object Podcast / International Object Twitter

Thomas Holzerman

themendaciloquent — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:50:00 -0400

TH is a graduate of Drexel University with a bachelor of science in materials science and engineering. However, despite that predilection towards development of the right side of his brain by trade, he’s always had a soft spot for writing. At Drexel, he wrote for the Triangle, the school newspaper, for three years, as well as handling copy editing and online publication. He got into the blogging game writing an e-wrestling blog known as Random Ramblings of an E-Fed Lifer.

However, along with writing, his passion is professional wrestling. A fan since his youth, TH cut his teeth mostly on the WWF in the late ’80s and early ’90s before adding ECW to his fandom in the later part of the decade. Now, he consumes any pro wrestling he can, and writes about it wherever they’ll let him. When not watching, writing or pretending to be involved in wrestling, TH spends his time raising his family, dabbling in being an amateur chef and yelling at his television whenever one of his beloved sports teams, the Flyers, Phillies, Eagles and Sixers.

TH: The Wrestling Blog / Camel Clutch Blog / Twitter / Tumblr / Subscribe

Razor

themendaciloquent — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:47:33 -0400

Razor is a lifelong wrestling fan, from the days of watching in his grandfather’s living room to his career path, wrestling has run parallel with his life. In 2003, he entered to world of broadcasting with hopes of becoming the next Jim Ross, and that path brought him to his second love, radio. Throughout his radio career, Razor’s worked in almost every format, from oldies to alt rock, and officially made it in the business when he was fired for the first time in late 2006.

Before his return to radio in the fall of 2009, Razor decided to use his broadcasting background with something related to wrestling, and after years of being fed up with the traditional wrestling media, Kick-Out!! Wrestling was born. The site’s official podcast, Kick-Out!! Radio was launched in June of 2009, a one-man show discussing current events in the world of wrestling with the occasional slice of ridiculous.

Kick-Out!! Wrestling: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Tumblr / Subscribe to posts / Subscribe to podcasts / iTunes

Logan Stallings

themendaciloquent — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:46:07 -0400

Logan Stallings (also known as Garcian Smith) is a Psychology student at the University of Florida. He’s working on an English minor. In his spare time he likes writing prose and poetry, as well as fantasizing about wrestling Chris Jericho and stealing all of Raven’s gimmicks.

Logan Stallings: Twitter | Tumblr

Mitch

themendaciloquent — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:41:59 -0400

Mitch now has two fake jobs. In addition to playing in a band for a living, Mitch started Pizza Body Slam in the winter of 2009 in an attempt to create a wrestling blog that wasn’t completely hideous and “wienery.” Somehow, months of making fun of David Otunga has landed Mitch a spot as a contributor with Fair to Flair. Mitch spends his free time watching Michael Hayes music videos and getting teary-eyed (only the odd time, he swears) at Shawn Michaels’ video packages. Please don’t judge him.

PizzaBodySlam: Website / Twitter / Tumblr / Subscribe to posts

The Joy of Discovery

wallsofjericho — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:25:38 -0400

Saturday, April 6, the East Coast Wrestling Association held its 16th annual Super 8 Tournament. The tourney, the notable participants including Gregory Iron and Tony Nese, has been a launching pad of sorts for independent wrestling talent in America. Previous participants have included Billy Kidman, Austin Aries, Christopher Daniels and Bryan “Daniel Bryan” Danielson. While the tournament itself produced some memorable moments and excellent wrestling matches, it wasn’t the only thing that took place in Newark, DE that night.

The last match before intermission was a three-way match for the ECWA Unified Tag Team Championships. The champions, the Midnight Sensations, were a team that was billed from a future where humans have colonized one of the moons of Saturn. One team of challengers were a standard, indie-style tag team called Fusion DS. Then, there were the Flatliners.

How does one relay the teaming of Matt Burns and Asylum? They’ve been described as “Canadian as s**t” by one person in the business, which may or may not be a compliment. I’d pretty much call them hosses, because they’re both objectively big guys. Sure, some people are “indie” big, but both these guys looked like they had bodies fit for a higher level than the ECWA. If their frames were more WWE than bingo hall though, their ring attire was more 1995 WWF than anything else. Sporting half-pink, half-green singlets with a stylized close-up drawing of a gorilla on the front, the Flatliners looked like they’d have been more at home across the ring from High Energy on Superstars in the early-to-mid ’90s than anything else.

One cannot totally judge a book by its cover, obviously, but if the exposure had stopped there, I still would’ve been impressed with these guys. When they started wrestling though? Yeah, I was smitten. They were everything that was good about classic tag team wrestling with a lot of what is fun about the independent scene today thrown in. Asylum at one point had one of his opponents in a stalling suplex, while Burns was on the apron counting the seconds which his partner had the victim upside down. Mid-countdown, Burns tagged in and assumed the suplex hold, and thus the roles had become reversed when Asylum started his own count.

Later on in the match, all four of the other people in the match were perched on the top rope, trying to coax Burns off his seat on the top turnbuckle with a superplex. Asylum turned to the crowd for approval before adding the extra muscle to bring the four men - and his partner - crashing to the mat in a hextuple superplex that almost shook the entire building. Then, if that wasn’t enough, the two played Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who’d complete the dive out of the ring on the other four guys. Basically, the Flatliners were two big galoots having as much fun as anyone could have in a wrestling ring for the amusement of me and everyone else in that building.

The best part about the whole thing was that I was discovering a new favorite wrestling act completely by my own surprise. No one told me before the event to look out for these guys. They’re not overexposed in all the high-level indies along the East Coast. They were a true unknown to me, and there is a certain satisfaction one gets from being the guy who “discovers” something awesome before most of his friends. Sure, there’s a level of hipster attitude mixed in with that feeling, but then again, who doesn’t like being the first to hop onto a new thing? Who doesn’t want to be the one who shares something awesome with their friends rather than being the who’s always partaking in what others are sharing?

I had an epiphany during this match, and it was one of the best wrestling-related feelings I’ve had in my life. I hope everyone is able to have one of their own as well.

TH writes The Wrestling Blog and broadcasts The Wrestling Podcast. You can find him on Twitter, or at various other spots around the Internet. He also loves Chikara, and quite frankly, thinks you should too.

Edited by Jason Mann.

The fourth issue of Fair to Flair quarterly is all about women...

themendaciloquent — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:58:00 -0400

The fourth issue of Fair to Flair quarterly is all about women & wrestling. We want to explore this issue as thoroughly as possible. We feel that women’s wrestling is unfairly criticized, unfairly run, and unfairly represented, and the issue will tackle major issues pertaining to women’s wrestling today.

Pre-Order Issue 4 for $20.

Pre-order the print issue and immediately receive a link to download the epub version, which you can read on any iOS device, Sony Reader, Nook, Kindle, or desktop computer. And by immediate, I mean immediate. No more waiting for me to respond via email. It should begin downloading the second your Paypal purchase is finished.

We placed almost every part of this journal on the website over the course of March, as we celebrated our first women’s wrestling month. Please support these great writers you’ve enjoyed over the past month by pre-ordering the print journal. You’ll receive a beautifully designed softcover book containing every issue, plus a photo essay by Leslie L of Dirty Dirty Sheets (if you’ve seen that site, you know his photography is best in class). Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll find in the journal:

Thomas Holzerman contrasts Beth Phoenix and Tamina Snuka to Sara Del Ray and Aja Kong.
Stephen T Stone pins a bright future for Kharma.
Logan Stallings remembers Jazz, one of the toughest women wrestlers in history.
Trey Irby defends fart humour, Natalya, and broad storytelling.
Andrea Marshall proudly defends the female gaze on professional wrestling.
Lydia Cyrus remembers inspirational female wrestlers and how they help her in life.
Mike Lortz re-introduces us to Isis the Amazon.
Lacy Fidler tells three killer stories about recruiting women as wrestling fans.
William S Young writes about being a guilty male fan, who hasn’t given women’s wrestling it’s due.
Joe Drilling reviews the greatest all-women pro wrestling video game, Super Fire Pro Wrestling: Queen’s Special.
Yours truly interviewed rising star Mia Yim.
Ashley Durham champions Kharma as the future of WWE proper.
Cewsh gives an important and well-researched history lesson on women’s wrestling pioneer Mildred Burke.
Lex Roberston takes on gender cues, GLOW, and Elizabeth.
Finally, Leslie L showcases over a dozen beautiful, world-class photographs of women wrestlers all over the world.

Pre-Order Issue 4 for $20.

Epub is a standard format compatible with all PCs, Macs, iOS devices, etc., If you do not have an epub reading app on your PC, Mac, or Android device, we suggest the Sony Reading app. For iOS devices, iBooks works wonderfully.

$20 pre-order includes worldwide shipping.

Your physical order will ship within 10 business days. Please contact us by email with any questions.

❖ Hubris, Focus, and Wrestlemania XXVIII

themendaciloquent — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:23:19 -0400

❖ Hubris, Focus, and Wrestlemania XXVIII:

It isn’t often the case that a wrestling show feels cohesive. Generally, PPVs are 5–9 matches, all containing separate stories. Wrestlemania XXVIII felt, to me, as one long, repeated message. It was highlit in every match, suggested in every scene, and showcased from every camera angle: Do not, under any circumstances, take your eyes off the ball.

This message was clear from the opening video, which was focused on the two main events in a way almost no Wrestlemania opening video has been in many years. It showcased two focused dreamers growing up, working hard, and achieving their goals. The Rock and John Cena are separate men in separate generations, but as WWE Superstars, they tell a parallel story. These men are at the top because of their focus and drive, because they didn’t let anything stop them. That’s a strong message.

We have to talk about Daniel Bryan and Sheamus. Many wonder why, if a fast match had to occur, why it was not Show vs Rhodes. I think I can explain. But first, let’s talk about why this Wrestlemania began with this match. The opening contest of the show can rile up a crowd, but is also, in special circumstances, there to set the tone. Daniel Bryan and Sheamus was the second kind. It was there to say, “every match tonight is going to be a variation of this simple equation.”

What’s the equation? Focus vs Hubris. Every match on this card extented and toyed with that idea. It began simply, and quickly. The dominant Sheamus never took his eyes of his opponent, while Danial Bryan—by demanding a kiss from his girlfriend—did. It cost him. End of story.

I know people are going to ask if I consider the Rumble curse broken. Yes, Sheamus cashed in his Rumble win and picked up a world championship. But he did it in a way that, if anything, damaged the reputation of the title. What is that thing he’s carrying around? It’s not a championship under the defintion that I understand.

As for why Big Show and Rhodes went on third and were given time, I can offer two suggestions: for the Big Show to have a “Wrestlemania moment,” it has to come after people wonder if he will not. They had to, for a few minutes, create tension that Rhodes may deny him. Rhodes needed to toy with Show, so that we could see that Rhodes’ intentions here were not just to win, but humiliate.

The losers here were not all villains, as heroes are sometimes known to fall to hubris. That’s what happened with Orton, as he took too much time with what he—and everyone else—felt was an easy foe. That Kane’s victory was clean shows who the more focused of the two was. Kane knew exactly why he was in that ring. Nobody knows what Orton was even doing here.

WWE undoubtably wants each audience member to feel different things throughout the evening. Jubiliation is an obvious one, this year. The set, tone, and atmosphere was reminiscient of a great party, almost more ‘Summerslam’ than Wrestlemania. Palm Trees, neon signs and banners, orange and green and white everywhere you look for a mile around and nearly straight up. No fewer than a dozen times WWE showcased the arena in full-view from above, as if to suggest the full force of their universe. “This is what a good time is,” it said. That is, until the sun set.

The Undertaker and HHH were in a no-win scenario. The Undertaker has been in arguably the best match on the card for the last five years, and they’ve learned from 23, 25, and 27 that not putting him in the main event can severely diminish the show as a whole. Here, just over a quarter into the show, is the only place it can really happen. It’s placement also telegraphed the ending somewhat, but they did their damndest to make us believe otherwise.

You could tell simply by the entrances who was more focused. HHH’s involved another ode to cartoon barbarianism, with green lights and skulls and yada yada. It was there, and then it got deflated or something and immediately forgotten. The Undertaker’s entrance was spartan, especially for him, though no less grand. His jacket, full of spikes an excellent goth texture, ensured that Chris Jericho would not win best entrance attire. Finally, Undertaker’s haircut—a short buzz with a single line of slightly thicker hair down the middle—added another layer. He stripped away everything that might distract or get in the way.

Not that HHH didn’t exude focus, but he was focused on the wrong thing. He was determined to end the Undertaker. That meant steel steps, steel chairs, and sledgehammers to every part of his opponents’ body. That meant accosting Shawn Michaels into ringing the bell. But because there’s so much difference between hurting a man and defeating him, HHH’s hubris shone through.

This is as good a time to mention it as any, but Michael Cole stayed well within the bounds of his job. He, too, was focused on his task instead of petty arguments and twitter (which, I believe, was mentioned perhaps only twice and early on). Adding Jim Ross to the match gave it an enhanced sense of gravitas, though some of it was maybe too thickly delivered (‘carcinogenic right hands’ may sound cool phoenetically, but paints a very odd picture).

So often, we forget that there’s a third performer in the ring. The referee’s job is to be invisible until needed. A special guest referee’s job is generally to fuck something up that a normal referee would get right (or be super strong, though that’s almost never the case anymore). Shawn Michaels has a history of fucking things up as a referee, but that wasn’t really the case tonight. Instead, Shawn treated his place in the ring as an opportunity to showcase his ability to look tortured. Shawn Michaels is not one of the greatest performers in history just because of his cockiness and charisma, but also his depths of sorrow. Michaels has a range in a way that nobody else does. We’ve seen him emotionally pained before, but this was thunderous. As he became increasingly powerless to stop his best friend and his greatest rival from killing one another, the weight of the world pushed him down. He could barely contain himself as he cowered in corners, waiting for the end.

Last year, I wrote about how wrestlers should take more bows. HHH, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker took a bow before exiting. They knew that simply standing there, holding one another up, would elicit applause. I wish more wrestlers understood that. After a stirring performance, wait. The crowd will applaud you. They want to show you that they love this, too.

The 12-man tag suffered the exhausted crowd, but someone had to go on next, and I’m just thankful it wasn’t the ladies again. Once again, focus one the day. All the Miz wanted was to get a match at Mania. He got it, and he delivered. All Ryder wanted was for Eve to like him. That’s not a great goal for winning wrestling matches. It should be noted that Eve didn’t really do anything here except want to get in on Ryder’s chant. Zack’s the one who turned his back on a determined villain.

The video before the Women’s match was strange. It began with a video package about how great it was to be a Diva, as if they were actively recruiting. “See the world!” “Experince life!” “Have fun!”

Once again, focus won the day. The first thing I noticed about Maria Menounos was how small she was. I don’t mean skinny, as she clearly had muscle structure; I mean petite. You often forget, watching wrestling, just how much larger these people are. Also, how tanned. Maria wanted to win the match, broken ribs be damned. Beth and Eve wanted to look mean and pick on the little celebrity.

One note about the ladies match: I don’t think Maria was having any fun. It’s very possible that she was in real agony the entire time, and even Eve and Beth going easy on her may have been too much.

The night was sparse on interviews. It was even sparser on video segments. Of the main events, only Punk and Jericho received a highlight video, and nobody from any of the main events appeared before their match to speak. Though one could say that there isn’t much need since everyone they’re selling to is already watching, I’m sure there were some who wished to hear something from The Rock, at least.

But we did get something from Punk. Not a speech, but a short meeting with the new GM of WWE proper. John warned Punk about having anything other than a wrestling match. Read between the lines: don’t take your eye off the ball, professional wrestler. Focus.

Jericho took advantage of the new lose-title-by-DQ ruling early by bullying Punk. Thankfully, the gimmick was abandoned five minutes in, and the two best technical wrestlers to ever hold the WWE Championship proceeded to wrestle in the acceptable five-snowflake fashion. Someone in the front row brought a sign that said “CM Punk & Chris Jericho: The Art of Professional Wrestling.” I’m of the opinon that everything here, from best to worst, is art. But if we can all get ‘art’ to mean ‘great’, I’ll take it.

The final set of moves that led to Jericho’s submission—and subsequent comforting head scratch—involved a pair of small packages, no doubt a callback to the first perfect Wrestlemania match: Steamboat vs Savage. We live in a good age. Jericho lost not because he failed, but because he succeeded in becoming as close to Randy Savage in 1987 as possible, and Savage’s character had to lose. Jericho and Punk danced, and won together.

Brodus Clay: This is what happens when you cheer for something you don’t fully understand.

If you listen to Jason and I talk about the main event of Wrestlemania last year (and you should), you’ll hear me suggest that The Rock and John Cena’s story has been disappointing because it isn’t really for wrestling fans, but instead people who like feuding celebrities. That may sound like the same thing, but it is absolutely not. You’ve heard of the term ‘casual wrestling fan’ or ‘casual video game player’ or what have you, but I think Rock vs Cena was for the ‘casual person’. It was broad, obvious, and simultaneously opaque. There were no layers to this story because this story was not built to have layers.

The wrestling fan sees Rock and Cena as a wasted year, but the casual person sees Rock and Cena posters and commercials all over the place and is given as early and often notice as humanly possible to think about buying this show. It was the greatest pitch WWE has ever made to people who couldn’t care less about wrestling.

That is, of course, why the Rock won. They are absolutely not concerned about John Cena’s drawing numbers as the loser of Wrestlemania XXVIII. In fact, it’s a side bonus for them. If he had won and he’d stuck around, who would he fight? Now, Cena’s been knocked back down. He can start over. He can do something different. He can be challenged.

Besides, I thought we all hated it when Cena won all the time? Pick a side, marks.

Rock vs Cena was why this show was so cohesive. Imagine Wrestlemania XXVIII was the first wrestling show you’ve seen in your life. You have no idea who these characters are, or why you should care. But you’ve been sold on this vague notion of Wrestlemania because Rock vs Cena posters were everywhere and it felt like a big deal. How do you make someone like that choke down 4 hours of fake fighting? Make it all mean something. Communicate a theme, and weave the narrative through. That’s why Bryan and Sheamus was a storytelling device that was echoed throughout the night. That’s why The Undertaker stepped on HHH’s sledgehammer, smiled, and decked him in the neck. That’s why John Cena, filled with false pride, tried to hit The People’s Elbow on the Rock and was punished. Wrestlemania XXVIII, as a whole, needed to be digestible.

It also had to be unbelievable, because this is a fantasy land. Have you ever seen a night filled with so many faces unable to believe their eyes? With Bryan, anger; with Orton, panic; with Michaels, harrow; and finally, Cena, with a mountain of defeat. WWE wanted us to feel these things, too. They wanted us to having trouble believing this show.

It’s the 25th anniversary of Wrestlemania III, which was the last time the world was really watching. Wrestlemania XXVIII may have finally taken them back there.

Related content:

The Power of Gender Cues in Pro Wrestling by Lex Robertson

themendaciloquent — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:54:21 -0400

In her book, Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference (W.W. Norton & Co., 2010), Cordelia Fine challenges notions of innate, hard-wired gender distinctions. Her argument is compelling, especially when she turns to research that demonstrates the power of social priming and cues to influence outcomes. For example, many groups of people were given standardized tests, and some of the groups were primed by verbal cues indicating that men typically perform better than women. Groups performed just as they were primed, with men outperforming women when given the cue. When the groups weren’t given these kinds of gender-based priming, there were no gender distinctions in test results. Fine does an excellent job of arguing that our minds are not hard-wired computers, but subject to change, adaptable, susceptible to even the subtlest of influences. Perhaps, she suggests, they are even more susceptible to subtle cues than explicit messages.

While reading Delusions of Gender, I began to wonder how pro wrestling had influenced my thinking about gender and my attitudes, as a man, towards women. As a pro wrestling fan, mine is a familiar story. I was enchanted as a child (in the ‘80s), disenchanted as a teenager (in the ‘90s), and, through independent promotions, I have recently rediscovered that old enchantment as an adult (in the ‘10s). I choose that word ‘enchantment’ carefully. The scripted realism of pro wrestling combines the passion and intensity of sport with the imaginative fantasy of fiction. There’s a reason non-fans get a thrill crowing about how pro wrestling is ‘fake,’ and a reason fans get a thrill. Pro wrestling, when done well, doesn’t require willful suspension of disbelief; it can win us over, anyway.

Part of that enchanting nature is the combination of the explicit with the subtle. Pro wrestling shouts and it whispers all at once. The action draws the audience’s attention, but attention is held by the greater context. We keep watching to see the battle between right and wrong, heroes versus villains, revenge and justice. A suplex is never just a suplex. Pro wrestling is never just ‘entertainment.’ It has too much power over the hearts and minds of its audience.

When I was a child in the 1980s, pro wrestling sent out different messages about women and gender. My hometown promotion, World Class Championship Wrestling, featured valets like Sunshine and Precious. They weren’t exactly meek and delicate, but neither were they wrestlers. They’d feud and start fights between their men. They had some matches that were mostly cat fights, with screaming, clawing, and hair pulling, sometimes in mud pits.

There was also a short-lived, campy television show called Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, which, even in prepubescent innocence, I understood to be more about the Gorgeous Ladies than the Wrestling. Even as a kid obsessed with pro wrestling, I couldn’t take G.L.O.W. seriously.

What I took most seriously, and most prominent to most children at the time (and ever since), was the World Wrestling Federation. No woman stood out more at the time than Miss Elizabeth, the quiet, doting valet and wife of Macho Man Randy Savage. She was a symbol of hegemonic patriarchy, steeped in chauvinistic chivalry. She dressed elegantly, knew her place, and stood by her man. She was regarded as a possession by Savage, whose jealousy over her would propel some of his most memorable feuds. Her portrayal was hardly progressive, but, on the other hand, she was never made to get on all fours and bark like a dog, she never gave birth to a hand, didn’t have a recurring striptease segment, and there were no storylines built around her flatulence.

Besides Elizabeth, WWF had some women wrestlers on its roster. Women like Wendi Richter, Leilani Kai, Sherri Mantel, and Rockin’ Robin were actual wrestlers I could take seriously. They competed for the WWF Women’s Championship. They weren’t called ‘Gorgeous Ladies’ or ‘Knockouts’ or ‘Divas.’ They were called ‘women’ and ‘wrestlers.’ This got through to me, and I’m confident that it contributed, in some small way, to the values I’ve embraced as an adult. WWF wasn’t exactly beating anyone over the head with a feminist message. They were just giving a little bit of TV time to women who could wrestle. This is a subtle cue to the audience: judge these women by their in-ring performance and on-the-mic behavior, not by their bodies or sexuality.

Today, there are many talented women wrestling in independent promotions in North America and in Japan. The first to grab my attention, in my reintroduction to pro wrestling, was Sara Del Rey. Del Rey’s performances speak for themselves, as her skill and psychology can produce a great match with anyone in the world. That includes men. It’s easy to forget, watching Del Rey take on Claudio Castagnoli or Mike Quackenbush, that we’re not supposed to expect a woman to compete with a man, much less beat him. In its portrayal of Del Rey as a Grand Championship contender, Chikara, no matter how silly it might appear at first glance, proves to be very serious. Chikara understands the enchantment of pro wrestling and the message it sends when Sara Del Rey, and other women, compete with men. This is a message I’d like for the kids in my life to receive.

Shimmer Women Athletes is another independent promotion that sends a powerful message. Shimmer’s stated goal “is to provide the most skilled women pro wrestlers with a forum to truly shine as athletes and perform at the most competitive level.” There is nothing profound or revolutionary about this concept, but it stands out as something positive and uplifting. Any company could do what Shimmer is doing by treating women like women, like people. Women should be called women, and, as wrestlers, they should be portrayed according to their skills and characters. It seems pretty simple, but the effect could be world changing.

As Cordelia Fine argues, our perceptions and attitudes are easily swayed by subtle cues. Pro wrestling often sends out very distinct cues that perpetuate misogynistic stereotypes. Dismaying as that reality is, pro wrestling fans can find hope in the power pro wrestling demonstrates with its subtler cues. We can ask for the very least, that women be taken seriously as wrestlers and not objectified for the cheapest possible reactions. We can demand more, that wrestling promotions recognize the responsibility that comes with their power and use their unique format to promote equality. Enchanted children, little boys and little girls, the kids in our lives, are watching. Pro wrestling is giving them cues that could have a lasting effect on their attitudes toward women.

Lex Robertson lives in Spokane, Wash., where he works as a board-certified hospital chaplain. He has a Master of Divinity degree and runs a wrestling gifs blog on tumblr, Hair Match. He watched wrestling from the early ’80s until “The Fingerpoke of Doom” and has recently rekindled his fandom through independent promotions. He is a fan of ROH, Chikara, Shimmer, and DGUSA.

Edited by K Sawyer Paul

The Life And Times Of Mildred Burke by Cewsh

themendaciloquent — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:17:24 -0400

The topic today is one close to my heart as, in honor of Women’s History Month, we honor Mildred Burke, the greatest female draw in wrestling history and the mother of women’s wrestling worldwide.

The funny thing is that you may not have heard of her, and you may never see any of her work, yet she is one of the most influential wrestlers to ever live and is almost solely responsible for women’s wrestling becoming a reality. So who is this lady who grabbed the wrestling world by the balls and held on? As with so many stories like hers, it’s not about who she was. It’s about what.

When Mildred Burke was 18 years old, she was a waitress on an Indian Reservation in New Mexico. To hear her tell it, she met a dashing man, looked around at the place, and said “Nuts to this” and headed for the big city with him. Lucky for us she did, because that man introduced her to the world of professional wrestling. Later on, despite being married with a child, Burke began dreaming of becoming a professional wrestler, being the sort of woman who vicious face beatings came naturally. On a lark one day she went and introduced herself to a trainer by the name of Billy Wolfe and asked to train. Now remember, this was 1935. It wasn’t exactly a golden age of equality for women, so when Wolfe saw this woman barging into his place thinking she was as good as a man, he decided to screw her over to teach her a lesson. He sent one of his boys to body slam her to show her what was what and make her run away crying. Instead, Burke promptly picked him up and planted him down with a picture perfect body slam—reportedly one handed—and asked to be trained again.

Thus began a partnership between the two that would lead to Wolfe and Burke traveling the country together and eventually getting married. She shoot-wrestled over 200 men during this time and lost only once, becoming the very first NWA Women’s champion. She held the Women’s World Championship for a whopping 17 years. Thanks to her, an entire movement for women’s wrestling began to grow with her at its head, and for years it seemed like things couldn’t be better for her. Her marriage to Wolfe took its toll and she eventually sought a divorce. Unfortunately, this was 1952, and getting a divorce from him meant that not only was she shunned from many places, but Wolfe kicked her out of the National Wrestling Alliance. After the NWA tried to convince her to get back together with her husband (at which point she allegedly sent them a picture of her middle finger) it was agreed that Wolfe would sell Burke their territory, and would not run his own promotion in competition to her for at least 5 years. He waited about 5 seconds.

Wolfe then began offering Burke’s wrestlers 75% of the house to come and work for him, which was a totally ridiculous amount devised clearly only to bankrupt Burke. It worked. When she tried to convince the NWA to choose her and her money-drawing over the guy twiddling his mustache like Snidley Whiplash in the corner, she was promptly told that no woman was allowed to be present at an NWA conference and forced her to wait in the lobby. They ruled that no woman could own a wrestling promotion and gave everything to Wolfe, and then theoretically went home to kick puppies and steal candy from babies and other acts of cartoonish evil.

Then, in a scene so ridiculously pro wrestling that it’s hard to believe it really happened, Burke wrestled Wolfe’s daughter in law Julie Byers for the title in a shoot fight that Wolfe rigged with a corrupt referee.

Burke lost the first fall, and then chaos ensued during the second so that no actual end to the match ever happened. Wolfe told the NWA that Byers won, though, so they crowned her their new NWA Women’s champion. Burke, though, believed that she was still the champion and took her actual title belt to her newly founded World Women’s Wrestling Association. She defended the title there until she retired in 1956. Through her tireless efforts to promote women’s wrestling worldwide, it became the official championship of All-Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling, the promotion where women like Jaguar Yokota, Akira Hokuto, Manami Toyota and Aja Kong plied their trade. Their incredible achievements would never have been possible had not Burke brought the concept to their country and personally endorsed it every step of the way.

In the twilight years of her career, Burke trained wrestlers, and had a hand in the development of everyone from the Fabulous Moolah (who was her protégé) to Bertha Faye. To this day, her name remains virtually blacklisted from the history books thanks to a lifelong smear campaign by her husband and the National Wrestling Alliance never acknowledged her accomplishments. But Burke couldn’t be bothered to care. No matter what obstacles people put in her way, she still managed to be the mother of a women’s wrestling worldwide. And her influence lives on today.

Oh, and Billy Wolfe died horribly of pneumonia over in 1963. Burke would go on to outlive him by 26 years. So you know, happy endings and that.

Cewsh is part of the reviewing team for the wrestling blog Cewsh Reviews, along with fellow team members Vice and Mrs. Cewsh. He has been watching wrestling since the Ultimate Warrior was fun crazy instead of sad crazy and he has a distinct passion for wrestling anywhere it is to be found. Rumors that he was the inspiration for Michaelangelo’s David remain unconfirmed.

Edited by K Sawyer Paul

Article Sources:

Greenberg, Alan. “Mildred Burke… She Never Met her Match.” Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] 17 April 1981.

Ellison, Lillian. The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle. 1st ed. New York: Harper Collins, 2003.

Leen, Jeff. The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend. 1st ed. New York: Atlantic, 2009.

The Hero We Both Need and Deserve: How One Woman Could Save WWE by Ashley Durham

themendaciloquent — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:00:06 -0400

WWE hasn’t had a great couple of years. Whether it be because of the controversy surrounding the death of Chris Benoit, the retirement of many of the stars from the Attitude Era, or Linda McMahon’s ill-fated Senate runs, the WWE has hit setback after setback. There have been thousands of articles in the past few years focusing on what the WWE can do to recapture the glory days of the late 90’s, and how the WWE can bring in the fans that have abandoned the sport in the name of UFC. And while some of these are well-written, well-thought out articles, it’s time to face the truth; the Attitude Era is gone, and it is not coming back.

But just because the Attitude Era is gone, doesn’t mean that the WWE still can’t do what it used to do best; provide exciting entertainment that we couldn’t wait to discuss with our friends Tuesday morning. While there has been some entertainment with the return of Chris Jericho, and there has been fresh, exciting angles (that were ruined, true…thanks a lot, Oz), we are still salivating at the prospect of the WWE taking one of these fresh, exciting angles and committing to it. The problem, though, is that the audience—and WWE as well—are looking either to the stars of the past to reignite our passion for the sport, or to ‘indie’ stars such as CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and the Kings of Wrestling to take the reign from their predecessors. We, and the WWE, do not realize that what we need is right in front of us, ready to rise and turn the wrestling industry on its head.

Her name is Kharma.

Kharma is not some unknown entity. Our jaws dropped when we learned that the awesome, awe-inspiring Awesome Kong had signed with WWE, and we clamored for her to come in and revitalize the Divas division. If anyone could do it, it would be her. But I’ll let you in on a truth that some of us, especially female fans, don’t want to admit; the Divas division is a lost cause. This was especially difficult to admit to myself, as I’ve been watching wrestling for 20+ years, and in that time and I’ve seen firsthand what Vince McMahon and his staff really thinks of women. As much as I hoped that Kharma would breathe life into a division that often showcases the worst of what our society thinks of women, it can’t be denied that there is no saving this division.

So when Kharma made her return at this year’s Royal Rumble following one of the most lamented leaves of absence in the history of the sport, I nearly pissed myself, I was so excited. And while there are some of us who would sell our kidneys, our mother’s kidneys, and our bank teller’s kidneys for Kharma vs. Beth Phoenix at Wrestlemania, it dawned on me that Kharma isn’t the one who could save the Divas division…Kharma is the one who could save the entire WWE.

Picture this… it’s the 2013 Royal Rumble. The thousands in attendance and the millions watching at home are counting down the clock. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…cue the maniacal laughter. Out comes Kharma, dressed to go to war. She steps in the ring, hits the Implant Buster on the unfortunate man who dares to approach her first, and out they go. And out goes another. And out go another, and another, and another. Out they all go, until there are four left standing. Three of the WWE’s brightest talents, maybe Dolph Ziggler, maybe Cody Rhodes, maybe Randy Orton…and Kharma.

And sure, maybe Kharma doesn’t win the Rumble. She doesn’t have to. At this point, her strong showing, the strongest of any woman that’s ever entered the Rumble, creates not only a buzz amongst the WWE universe, but does what WWE needs the most; brings in a new audience: the casual female fan.

Wrestling is not a lady-friendly zone, especially not for those of us who call ourselves feminists. We not only see our gender portrayed in horrific ways, but we’re forced to listen to wrestlers insult each other by calling their opponents a ‘woman’, which is apparently the worst thing in the world to be. We are constantly demeaned by male fans for our choice of favorites. We are endlessly accused of knowing nothing about the rich legacy surrounding the sport, and are cruelly mocked for expressing any sort of desire towards male wrestlers, even though the first words out of everyone’s mouths are in reference to how ‘hot’ a particular diva is. When you combine this with the fact that we endure blatant attacks on our reproductive rights from our government, we make less than men even when we have more education and job experience, we live with the threat of sexual assault and even death every time we leave our house, no one is more aware that this is a man’s world than women. Every day, we are reminded over and over again that the fight is too much, and we are powerless against a system that is designed to keep us from reaching our full potential.

Where wrestling comes in is that the WWE used to have their finger on the pulse of the social climate in our world. How else does this explain the popularity of Hulk Hogan, or the meteoric rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin? WWE used to be the best at tapping into markets with the promise of a hero that represents them, allowing the disenchanted and the frustrated to live out their dreams through these heroes that could do what they could never do. The female audience may be the most frustrated of all, and by allowing Kharma to brush aside the Divas division and not only step into the world of men but dominate and prove she belongs there, she becomes what women struggle to be. She becomes the hero through which we could live our fantasies.

Of course, there is always the possibility that the traditionally male audience may buck at this, and there could be a backlash. As the wrestling fan becomes smarter, they may become more socially conscious. But even if the male audience holds misogynistic beliefs, not even they can deny the talent and the strength of Kharma. When you appeal to the most base, ugly parts of an audience, they’ll fulfill these expectations. But when you give them the opportunity to face these prejudices and tell them to conquer them, you’d be surprised at how many do exactly that.

In the end, Kharma is only one woman, and it shouldn’t be her responsibility to shoulder a stale product. But there are always trailblazers, those lone warriors that kick open the door for other warriors to step through. We need Kharma to reach that glass ceiling to show others that it can be done. I don’t think anyone would ever expect performers like the Bella Twins to hold their own against male wrestlers, but once Kharma shatters that ceiling, it leads the way of others like Sara del Ray, Kana, and Rachel Summerlyn to make their way to the WWE to help Kharma to save wrestling. It leads to intergender matches and storylines that once again mirror the realities of those who watch the show. It once again becomes exciting, interesting, and most importantly of all, relatable.

Do I think that WWE realizes what a goldmine they have? Not at all. It’s clear that WWE, and Vince McMahon, thinks that they have everything under control, that they know what they’re doing. But if they just dreamed a little bigger, not only would they be better for it, but we, the fans, would be better for it. And maybe, just maybe, us lady fans wouldn’t feel so damn embarrassed or disgusted every time we tell someone we’re a wrestling fan.

Ashley is one of the elusive female fans that, like Bigfoot, has been rumored to roam the Earth, but whose existence has yet to be proven. She has watched wrestling for 20+ years, and routinely hears Tazz’s theme music in her head every time she steps into a room to feel more like a badass. When she is not slaving away at corporate America, she writes, hangs out with her cat, and routinely blames TV shows like Boardwalk Empire for ruining her life.

Edited by K Sawyer Paul

K Sawyer Paul interviews professional wrestler Mia Yim

themendaciloquent — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:31:46 -0400

What made you interested in being a professional wrestler? Tell us a little about your background, how you got into the business, the kind of character you enjoy playing.

I first started watching WWE when I was 8 years old. I use to watch with my sister and father. I grew up a tomboy so I was always interested in Football, Wrestling, Hockey, etc. I wanted to play all those sports but they were considered “Boy” sports. I saw Chyna and Lita on WWE and found out that I can do that too. I was 18 when I enrolled myself into a training school. I been involved with sports all my life. I am a second degree black belt, and also a volleyball player for 8 years (Got a scholarship for it for college). I started training under John Kermon and Bobby Shields. They taught me the basics and gave me a great foundation. They been my mentors since day 1. I trained for about a year in a half before I had my first match. I soon started training at CZW, under DJ Hyde, Drew Gulak, and Blk Jeez and the ROH Academy with Daizee Haze and Delirious. I gained so much more knowledge and insight of the sport the more I got training, especially from two totally different types of companies.

My character is Joshi based. I have became a huge fan of Puroresu (Japanese Pro Wrestling) and looked up to Japanese wrestlers such as Aja Kong, Manami Toyota, Hayato Jr, and Koji Kanemoto. I started to develop my character bit by bit the more I watchs Puroresu. I then went overseas and trained at REINA and Zero1 and got more experience wrestling that style. I enjoy Japan and everything they have to offer. I would love to live there and pursue a wrestling career there.

Now that you’ve performed in wrestling for some time, what keeps you going? What keeps it challenging, and what kind is your dream wrestling role?

I always try to challenge myself whether it is with training or dieting. I always keep myself busy so I can look forward to the next weekend. I aim for certain goals, and once I achieve them, I make a new goal. This is my passion and I just past my second year wrestling, it is still fresh and extremely fun for me. i take this very seriously, and it pushes me everyday. Daizee Haze gave me lots of information about nutrition and diet so I try to apply that to, not just to my career, but to my general lifestyle. I have lots of goals I still like to accomplish such as making a name for myself in Japan (or just making a name for myself in the sport) and to wrestle some of my idols.

You mention the term sport in regards to wrestling. Do you feel that wrestlers still consider what they do a sport? To frame that properly, I mean to say, do you consider the “legitimacy” of wrestling to still be in play? Or is the structure, choreography, and fan reaction the sportive elements now?

I like to call it a sport because to me, it is considered a sport. I know that has some choreography to it, but athletics is still involved. You see cheerleaders do choreographed dances and participate in competitions. Just because there isnt a scoreboard doesnt mean it is not a sport.

So much stress in wrestling is placed on telling a story. What kind of stories do you enjoy telling? What kind of reaction are you hoping for?

I am not involved in alot of storylines currently as I am still new in the business. I have been involved in some, and it just just trying to get over who the good guy is and who the bad guy is. Depending on the role, if you are a bad guy and you get hate and boos from the crowd, that is what you are looking for. As a good guy, you are looking for support and/or sympathy from the crowd. I enjoy playing both, but to me, being the good guy is a lot more easier in my opinion.

What do you feel women’s wrestling brings to the table, as something different from men’s wrestling? Is there a distinction in styles, in what can and can’t be done?

I dont think we bring anything different, if anything, I feel that women try to bring the same stuff to the table as males. I am huge on equality in the sport.Of course a guy may be bigger and stronger, but just because one is a female dont mean they should automatically be opted out of a match with a guy. Women wrestlers (Not the eye candy), in my opinion, just try to have the same type of matches and on the same level as the men.

To extend that idea, how important do you feel novelty is in wrestling? I think this is an interesting distinction: In sport, it’s generally valuable to be able to properly execute a playbook. In performance art, it’s generally valuable to hit marks and evoke emotion through repetitious movements. But in wrestling, there appears to be an expectation to see something new out of performers on a regular basis.

Bringing something new is expected, but why do something new if you perfected a certain attitude/move that wow the crowd everytime? There are plenty of people who change up way too much, and it will just confuse everyone and wont be memorable. If you stick to one particular thing you are good at, you will be known for it.

I’ve got this theory that eventually, there won’t be a male or female division: we’ll just have wrestlers, and wrestling skill—not strength, speed, etc—will be the thing that separates performers. I’ve noticed this happening on the indy scene with increasing consistency, and I think it’s only a matter of time before a woman wins a major world title. What you make of this trend?

I HOPE this happens. I have wrestled plenty of indy companies such as CZW and Anarchy Championship Wrestling that looks at every wrestler as a wrestler, not a female or male. We all are treated the same, given the same opportunities. I only hope this continues to spread throughout the world. Who knows, maybe one day it will be a common thing.

Finally, I’d love to hear your thoughts on wrestling as a whole. Are you happy with where the industry is? If you were in charge of things, what would you change?

The industry can always be better, but then again I have only dealt with it for a little more than two years. I dont know how the indy circuit was ten years ago, so I cant really have a say. I love the industry in Japan because it is taken so seriously and it is filled with wrestlers who also have the same passion in putting on a good match. I have met people who do it to try to get on WWE or just for attention, but in Japan, everyone that I have met has the love for the sport, even if they dont go anywhere with it. I would of course change the outlook of female wrestling and make it more respected and level with the guys.

Thanks so much for being part of this.

No thank you for allowing me to do this, It was fun and I hope we can do more articles together ^.^

Mia Yim can be found on her personal website, Twitter, and Facebook. You can buy the first volume of her greatest matches here.

K Sawyer Paul is an author and publisher living in Toronto. He writes about wrestling at the newly re-designed International Object.

The Sexism of Bad Booking

wallsofjericho — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:32:59 -0400

It’s amazing to what lengths people will go to defend WWE from accusations of misogyny and sexism. Whether it’s ignorance, stupidity or blind defending of a megalithic entity that needs no defense from commoners such as you and I, whenever someone wants to write a screed on how bad females have it in WWE, someone is there to say “They have it just fine,” usually before accusing the person dispensing the offending opinion that they’re a member of the PC police.

The most common argument against calling WWE out over its rampant misogyny is that for however bad their booking of women is, their booking of men is just as bad. Removing all context from the situation, yes, in a vacuum, questionable booking decisions are genderless in WWE. Hot starts are vanquished by the extinguisher of parity booking. Stories go nowhere. The people we think should get ahead don’t get ahead. WWE is inept at creating a viable narrative for anyone they employ.

However, looking at things without context is like figuring out math problems in theoretical situations. It only does good for figuring out basic precepts to deliver basic understanding so that there’s a base to stand upon. Calling WWE’s bad booking similar for men and women is like trying to figure out whether a cow can beat a wildebeest in a footrace by assuming both are spherical. It just doesn’t add up in the real world.

The main difference between bad booking between the genders in WWE lies in the portrayal of the heroes. Look at John Cena, Randy Orton and CM Punk. What do they all have in common, besides their dangling mode of genitalia? They all get to be portrayed as good at their jobs. They get to be cool for the things they do, not for how they look. They get to show that they’re smart, handsome and powerful.

Now, look at the female heroes, if one can call them that. Look at Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox and Aksana (and up until about a month ago, Eve Torres). Were they ever considered to be “good” at their jobs? No. There’s no implicit or explicit endorsement of their worth outside of false-ringing platitudes that they’re smart, sexy and powerful. Kelly Kelly could only beat Beth Phoenix by the flukiest ways possible. A flash roll-up isn’t bad, but when you win the top title in your division via roll-up exclusively, then it becomes a problem.

Women only get to show guile or anything approaching brains if they’re of the villainous alignment. Even then, they’re knocked back down to size when they’re invariably slut-shamed by a “heroic” male, whether she deserves it or not. Sure, men get humiliated too, but my point is that they get the spoils of being able to show that they’re better. The women almost never do. They almost did when Kharma was running wild, but that was put on a sideburner for reasons beyond everyone’s control. Even then, did anyone trust WWE to do the right thing there? Does anyone trust WWE, given their track record, to do the right thing now when she finally comes back?

I certainly don’t. I mean, this is a company where, even if the writing was good, I’d feel like sexism might manifest itself. Tony Chimel and Justin Roberts certainly aren’t the best announcers ever, and they’ve made their fair share of rounds on Botchamania, but Lilian Garcia flubs something, and she’s automatically put on blast by Cena, no less, after the cameras stop rolling. In an aside, how am I supposed to take seriously WWE’s affiliation with B.A. Star when there’s bullying going on within the company?

Regardless though, stuff like all that I’ve written about above is why I, and several other people, feel justified in calling WWE out for its poor treatment of women. I bandy this stat about a lot, but it bears repeating that WWE is basically defecating on 35% of its audience when they make women seem like nothing but brainless automatons worthy only of conveying their curves. Sooner or later, that’s going to come and bite them on their own curves if they don’t get careful.

The Virtually Squared Circle: Super Fire Pro Wrestling Queen's Special

themendaciloquent — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:00:05 -0400

Hey, it’s the ladies’ wrestling issue of Fair to Flair Quarterly, and it’s also the first edition of this column to appear in the Quarterly! In honor, I chose a game that would be fitting for both occasions; Super Fire Pro Wrestling: Queen’s Special. Now, this is the first Fire Pro game I’m covering in this column, but it isn’t the first or only Joshi (aka ladies’ wrestling) game to appear in the series. In fact, there were three women’s wrestling games in the Fire Pro series (plus nearly every Joshi star of note appears in Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, which also features men). The first was Zen-Nippon Joshi Pro Wrestling Kounin: Fire Pro Joshi All-Star Dream Slam for the Super Famicom (the Japanese Super Nintendo), the second was Wrestling Universe: Fire Pro Joshi—Doumu Chou Taisen for the PC Engine CD (the Japanese Turbografx-16 CD) and this game is the third.

Now, I may be getting ahead of myself, here. For those unaware, Fire Pro Wrestling is a legendary wrestling videogame series in Japan. Of the well over twenty entries release in Japan since 1989, only a handful have made their way to the states (most recently, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, released here as a budget title on the PS2), leaving the series to languish in obscurity on this side of the Pacific. This, along with the general lack of popularity when it comes to women’s wrestling, explains this game’s non-appearance outside of the Land of the Rising Sun. In fact, only two women’s wrestling games that I’m aware of have been released in the US, and they’re both part of the same series. That series is Rumble Roses from Konami, with one installment on the PS2 and one on the Xbox 360. These games have a lot in common with the Dead or Alive series, in that they seem to be more about showing off virtual skin than actually providing a deep ladies’ wrestling experience.

This game, though? This game is not only serious about ladies’ pro wrestling, this game was licensed by the All Japan Women’s promotion. This is not normal, as all the non-Joshi Fire Pro games are not licensed, and throw together carbon copies of real wrestlers with fake names from all promotions to create dream matches and battle royales of cross promotional proportions! But for their Joshi spinoffs, the folks at developer HUMAN went out and got the license. So this game features a full rosters of amazing lady wrestlers in what was arguably the best ladies’ wrestling promotion in 1995, arguably one of their best periods.

And this roster is stacked. For the playthrough I did prior to writing this review, I used Manami Toyota, and Japanese Ocean Suplexed my way to the Red Belt. However, if I wanted to, I could have used Cutie Suzuki or Aja Kong or Lioness Asuka or Plum Mariko or even one of the two hidden characters, the legendary Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto. This is a stacked roster of Joshi stars from the ‘90s. And it is with one of these stars that you can choose to challenge the Red Belt, which is the main mode in which you fight all the other girls, one by one, until you win the AJW title. You can also form a dream tag team and aim for the tag titles. There are also other modes, like a battle royal, and, of course, Fire Pro’s famous edit mode, in which you create your own Joshi star to go after the title.

In the ring, the game plays very similarly to other games in the Fire Pro series. In fact, it’s almost identical to Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium, considered by many to be a high point in the series. The main differences are that the girls move faster than their male counterparts in X Premium, and there are a few exclusive moves, that for some reason or another, appear to have never shown up in any other Fire Pro titles. These include a few moves from Commando Bolshoi that are the kind of comedy moves she’s known for. It also includes the Nodawa Backbreaker (again, this is partially hearsay, as there are so many characters in each Fire Pro title, it would take a long time to do the fact checking here, but suffice it to say that I trust the experts at FireProClub.com).

The core gameplay is the same as other Fire Pro titles. You have three attack buttons, one each for weak, medium and strong. These apply to attacks in any situation, whether it’s hitting the ropes, coming off the turnbuckle or grappling, Y is always weak, B is always medium and A is always strong. This makes learning the controls very easy, which is good, especially since the timing and positioning of moves can be difficult to master.

In terms of wrestling realism, the game comes closer than, say, WWF Wrestlefest, but the Fire Pro series had not yet begun to have match variations that included performance elements at this point, so in that respect, it’s still similar to a fighting game. The goal is to beat your opponent, and that’s it. It also doesn’t have any gimmick match options, which other SNES wrestling games do (though their gameplay systems don’t hold up the way this one does).

That’s about all there is to say about the game itself. What I did want to also mention is that the fact that three of these games came out, and were clearly worked on by people who were passionate about the material, and this speaks volumes about how differently ladies’ wrestling is treated in Japan vs the US. I’m sure there will be innumerable articles in this volume that discuss this, but videogames are a big deal. To get a license, put forth the effort, and put something out in the market with the confidence that it will sell is a clear statement that you believe there is a sizeable audience for it. And by the same token, not localizing it for English speaking territories speaks volumes about the lack of confidence in that audience (it merits mentioning that while now non-WWE games are about as rare as a dodo bird, in the 16-bit era, numerous non-WWE wrestling games came out in the US, including reskinned AJPW games that featured the male roster). I would love to see a US released women’s wrestling game. Hell, I would love to see a WWE game make it’s female characters not awful jokes who all have a walk animation like a stripper and are only useful in bra and panties matches (yes, some of the WWE games actually include bra and panties matches). Sadly, I doubt we’ll see any more, especially since Rumble Roses XX was basically a cheesecake-fest and didn’t sell very well (an estimated 100,000 copies worldwide).

But take heart, Joshi wrestling videogame players! This game is fantastic, and you can get an English translation patch online, so you can play the game and navigate the edit mode in your native tongue! It’s easily the best women’s wrestling game out there, and while that may sound like faint praise given the dearth of them, I mean it to be much more than that. It’s definitely better than any of the WWF games on the same system by an order of magnitude.

Joe Drilling co-founded and runs OnTheStick.com, a site that hosts a bi-weekly videogame podcast and an action movie podcast. He is a former pro wrestler and an actor. He loves videogames and wrestling more than almost anything, and thinks you should, too. You can follow his jackassery on Twitter @Shake_Well.

Edited by K Sawyer Paul.

Beauty in Wrestling

themendaciloquent — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:53:01 -0400

In women’s wrestling, a burgeoning problem of sorts is beginning to affect how fans regard some of the best up-and-coming wrestlers we have today (no qualification needed). In too many situations, the focus is not on the ability of the woman in the ring, but instead primarily on aesthetic appeal.

Unfortunately, and admittedly, the problem is one that I propagate myself, and I blame no one but myself. Allow me to use a personal example: I consider myself a fan of SHIMMER Women Athletes, the world’s foremost independent wrestling company focused exclusively on women’s wrestling; or, at least, I did consider myself a fan, when I didn’t really think about it. Women as athletes, bad-asses, wrestlers, serious forces to be reckoned with; why wouldn’t I be behind that? For every aspect of wrestling, there is a fan it caters to, and I don’t see why women can’t be as cool as their male counterparts.

Here’s the confession: I’ve never seen a SHIMMER match in my life. Not one. Certainly, part of that is the fact that the matches are available only on DVD, and I am a broke university student who cannot justify spending money on wrestling tapes. However, I still know who all the women are, based on character and (above all) appearance. This is the crux of the problem: Normally I, a male wrestling fan in his 20s, wouldn’t feel the need to support a company like SHIMMER by, say, buying a DVD, sculpting an informed opinion, and deciding based on merit who I pay attention to. I’ve merely seen the photos of each wrestler, and decide in that manner.¹ This does not just apply to women’s wrestling on an independent scale, either: I profess to like TNA Knockouts like Mickie James and Madison Rayne, but I’ll be damned if I can think of the last time I paid attention to one of their matches.

Despite the pervasiveness of this view in my own life, I do recognize it as at least somewhat insulting to these women. Do I judge male wrestlers the same way—aesthetically, before any other feature? Usually, no, because I let their in-ring work and personality speak to me more so than how they look. If I used the same judgment criteria for someone like Dolph Ziggler the way I would for a typical female wrestler, I’d never pay attention to him, and I’d miss out on one of the best all-around wrestlers in the world today.

Granted, the idea is different in that with women comes the added dimension of “sex appeal” to me as a heterosexual man, but I still feel that my opinion as a wrestling fan should not stop on just one level, especially since in the internet community that wrestling has built up, such a paradigm of objectivity is often strived for: We have our favourites and our hated, but we also strive to rank the “best” wrestlers in history through opinions, lists or tournaments based on their individual merit.

Is it fair for the evaluation of female wrestlers to stop at one level and not consider the other layers a single performer can have? Absolutely not. As a male wrestling fan, is this way of thinking difficult to get over? Very much so. Considering how wrestling is meant to appeal to a heterosexual male audience and how men are inundated with sexual titillation and idealism in every aspect of mainstream women’s wrestling (seen in the WWE “Divas” and TNA “Knockouts”), to try and place women at the same place of evaluation as men can be very difficult for a typical straight male wrestling fan.

However, this should not be at all used as an excuse to resist or not attempt change; to paraphrase a certain WWE Champion, if a man does not accept change, he will be “left behind”. One thing I can say about my own struggle with this issue is that there are some women’s wrestlers whom I have seen and do have my respect beyond their looks: For instance, Sara Del Rey, whom I know is a talented performer and excellent wrestler, capable of believably facing off against women and men alike²; retired women’s wrestlers such as Molly Holly and Trish Stratus are women who I find attractive, but who I also know for a fact were great wrestlers in their time; and the Joshi women athletes of Japan, a sub-culture of women’s wrestling that I am slowly beginning to understand and appreciate for their hard-nosed style. The process of educating myself and eliminating my ignorance on the subject of women’s wrestling is a slow one and one that is seemingly inherently difficult to overcome, but progress is being made because of my own willingness to do so.

So, what is the message I wish to communicate to everyone else? I am only one man in a sea of wrestling fans, and this article has been more personal than encompassing. What I have tried to express is the fact that, while the sexualized version of women’s wrestling we have been presented for years can be enjoyed, there is a much deeper role of women in professional wrestling that we as fans should aspire to appreciate.

We are a sub-culture awash with opinions, thoughts, and feelings, greatly desiring to have our voices heard and our thoughts understood. I say, let us allow the same respect to the women of the industry we love, who often go overlooked and underappreciated in the male-dominated profession of sports entertainment. Man does not live on bread alone, and a wrestling fan cannot be happy to subsist on what we are ‘expected’ to look for in women’s wrestling: Educate yourself, ask questions, and look beyond what is given to you. Seek and you will find; chances are, you’ll strike gold.

William S. Young is a Canadian wrestling fan with a Bachelor’s Degree in English, and a strong passion for professional wrestling. He hopes to become a wrestling journalist (his dream job) and compares nearly every aspect of daily life to wrestling history (ladies). He has a Tumblr blog and a Twitter.

Edited by K Sawyer Paul

I apologize for the fact that this statement sounds as sexist as it does. I do this in order to illustrate my own ignorance on the subject matter and, by extension, the ignorance that can exist among the common male wrestling fan. ↩
Miss Del Rey is someone who I actually try and refrain from sexualizing, as I personally feel to do so in the manner capable of myself as a man is a show of disrespect toward her ability and hard work. ↩

The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 46: ...And Sid Justice For all

wallsofjericho — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:40:06 -0400

The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 46: ...And Sid Justice For all:

Ian Riccaboni of Phillies Nation is the guest this week, and surprise surprise, it’s more talk about WrestleMania. It’s not all current though, as we dig into some classic WrestleMania matches and moments, including the legendary blindfold match between Jake Roberts and Rick Martel at WMVII. We also talk about Iron Sheik’s inappropriate boners, Hulk Hogan, the greatness of Cody Rhodes, our excitement levels for WrestleMania this year, the rise of one CM Punk and we even provide five times the daily recommended amount of Brutus Beefcake references. We end talking about what to expect from the Phillies offense this season, and it’s surprisingly optimistic.

Direct link for your downloading pleasure

Greed 2001: The end of the road

wrestlespective — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:58:07 -0400

The last WCW pay-per-view main event, Scott Steiner v. Dallas Page at Greed 2001, is discussed by Jason Mann and Sergio Hernandez of Cageside Seats. They talk about Steiner’s seeming mental instability, the Magnificent Seven, fans discovering Page might not be appealing, whether a fan in the crowd was Paul London, what the plans were for WCW before Nitro was canceled, and a little bit about why the invasion in WWE failed.

Download this episode of Wrestlespective. And pour one out for good old WCW.

Potential Female Fans

themendaciloquent — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:25:00 -0400

Wrestling is still a tough nut to crack for potential female fans. For this reason, meeting another female wrestling fan can be akin to a religious experience. As if angels have somehow pushed you together, you have somehow both made it to the promised land of WWE. At least, that’s what it felt like for me. I have encountered plenty of other female wrestling fans on the internet, but only in the past couple of years have I found other women in real life who could share my interest. Observing and being a part of the experiences of three of my friends encountering the WWE was incredibly rewarding, but at the same time it made me think about how the WWE does not seem to realize that it has the ability to draw in a new female audience. In recounting the experiences here, I hope to show that it is possible for women with no prior interest in the WWE to watch and enjoy wrestling, and in so doing can be valued members of its fanbase.

When I moved in with my friend, Cynthia, she knew I watched wrestling and she endured many conversations I had about it with my brother, but she never showed much interest in it herself. Every Monday and Friday she sat in the room while I watched Raw and Smackdown, sometimes commenting (and laughing at my, ahem, rather emotional investment in some of the matches), but mostly uninterested. Then she started cheering for Edge. Edge threw himself into everything he did, whether on the mic or in the ring. Through his promo work, his charm, and his obvious love for his job, he had the innate ability to make one believe in what he said and what he did. He made it eminently easy for any wrestling fan to like him, and Cynthia was no exception. And so, after becoming a confirmed ‘Edgehead’, she was finally able to join in the conversations previously only overheard.

When Edge retired in the spring of 2011, we were both in tears. I had loved Edge for years and Cynthia had only known him for a few months, but it was enough time for him to have an impact on her, and for her to see how much of an impact he had on the WWE. Having someone with whom I could share that moment somehow took the sting away. Edge had to go, but he left my friend with an appreciation for wrestling that my enthusiasm alone could never have inspired.

Just as rewarding was when one of my friends recently re-discovered his love of wrestling and brought along his new wife, Chantelle, for the ride. Since she had no prior knowledge of wrestling, and since her husband had to catch up on all the new faces, it was up to the WWE to provide someone who could appeal to Chantelle. That someone was CM Punk, who also happens to be one of my favorite wrestlers. In a sea of large, heavily muscled men, Punk seems normal, yet his heavily tattooed appearance and flippant attitude made him distinct. Punk is at once relatable and unique, and it is the combination of attitude, appearance, and technique in the ring that makes Punk so appealing.

I didn’t actually get to watch any wrestling with Chantelle until a group of us ordered a Pay Per View. When it came time for CM Punk’s match, I don’t know which of us was cheering harder. She was completely in the moment, engrossed in every near-fall. What started as a simple indulgence of her husband’s hobby became an enjoyable experience of her own.

During the same Pay Per View in which Chantelle and I were so vociferous in supporting CM Punk, another friend, Christina, experienced the WWE for the very first time. To say she was a bit sceptical would be an understatement, but to her credit she gave it a fair shake.

I later asked her what she thought and she admitted to being, in her own words, “fascinated by this odd world.” There came a point in the conversation where she referred to the ‘characters’ of wrestlers and then stopped, clearly unsure of whether she had committed a faux pas in addressing the resemblance of professional wrestling to a violent stage play. I assured her that there was nothing wrong with seeing wrestling that way. In fact, she had hit on the very method in which many fans, including me, view wrestling—as an art very much akin to what one can see on stage or screen, but with a load of bright spandex thrown in.

In some ways, watching wrestling is a very personal experience. The experiences of my friends show that there’s something for everyone, yet it still seems to be supremely difficult for women to find their way into WWE’s fanbase. Without a roommate, a husband, or a group of friends, Cynthia, Chantelle, and Christina would never have given the world of professional wrestling a second thought, yet with no prior interest these women all found something that drew them further into the WWE.

I was elated to be a part of the forays of my friends into the wild world of wrestling, but the more I thought about it, the more it struck me as odd. Why is it still such a big deal for me to find other women who like wrestling? I think part of the problem is that the WWE does not go out of its way to attract a female fanbase and the women who do come to live shows and buy merchandise are dismissed as being simply those who scream when John Cena takes his shirt off. While it’s true that the aesthetic aspects of wrestling are greatly appreciated, there needs to be some realization that there is so much more that goes into one’s appreciation of wrestling—wrestlers who can make us believe, wrestlers we can relate to, the sheer spectacle of it all. In short, women like the same things as men, and our interests can be just as varied. We are not a separate species, nor do we share a hive-like mentality.

The WWE needs to recognize that its product has the potential to draw in and sustain a female audience not necessarily familiar with wrestling. A welcoming and encouraging atmosphere does wonders, as demonstrated by the experiences of my friends. My hope is that one day it won’t be such a revelation when I meet another woman who enjoys WWE. There won’t be any angelic choirs or bright, white lights. It will just be another day in the life of the average wrestling fan.

Lacy Fidler is a graduate student studying History at the University of Victoria. She spends far too much time assigning entrance music and finishing moves to dead British prime ministers who should never be pictured in spandex.

Edited by K Sawyer Paul

Why Isis the Amazon will not make it in the WWE

themendaciloquent — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:28:50 -0400

There have been interesting posts this month about women who have made a significant impact in professional wrestling. One that I liked in particular was by Stephen T Stone regarding Kharma, aka Awesome Kong (real name: Kia Stevens). I am in agreement with Stone that eventually the 6’2, 272lb Stevens will eventually contend against the men of the WWE, and possibly even hold a belt traditionally held by men, given of course that there is no macho chauvinistic alpha male bullshit strike in the locker room against losing to a woman [Ed note: not likely].

Reading about Stevens and her potential and comparisons to other WWE women wrestlers brought to mind a lesser accomplished woman of similar stature: Lindsay Hayward, aka “Isis The Amazon”.

A few years ago, the 6’9’’, 245lb Hayward was signed to a WWE developmental contract, given the moniker “Aloisia” and was briefly showcased on WWE’s NXT program. She was only with the WWE for a few weeks, however, before being released and set back on the indy trail. Although there were rumors Hayward’s appearance in racy photos years earlier might have done her in, there was no confirmation on behalf of the WWE why she was let go.

My opinion is that in the pre-Kharma world of the WWE, Lindsay Hayward had no real options in the WWE, and that they had no other choice but to let her go. The very attribute that makes Isis the Amazon such a draw is the very thing holding her back from success at the top levels of professional wrestling.

Years ago, the WWE used Andre the Giant in a way that allowed territorial talents to shine while still getting maximum expose for Andre, using him as a traveling road show around the US and the world to face the best of each region. The thinking behind moving Andre was that if Andre were to stay in one place, he would have to hold a championship belt wherever he was due to his mere size. The fans would expect Andre to dominate and at 7’4 and over 500lbs, the unfortunate consequence was that at his prime few could realistically defeat him. Wrestling is a visual art, and smaller men are supposed to lose to giants, so the giant doesn’t look weak.

Unfortunately for Isis the Amazon, the WWE is no longer a one-person traveling circus. Hayward would be expected to fight her competition on a regular basis in matches that at least appeared realistic. With no women within a foot of Hayward’s height on the WWE roster when she was signed, Aloisia would have no realistic competition. As well, her lack of experience would have exploited her in any match with male competition. Could you imagine a rookie woman competing against the likes of Kane, the Undertaker, the Big Show, or anyone else in Hayward’s height range? It wouldn’t happen.

Unlike Stevens, Hayward was not able to work her way through the indies without being anything more than a sideshow. In order to put over women who stand between five and six feet tall, Hayward would have to exhibit more than just “monster” wrestling skills. As Awesome Kong, Stevens was able to hone her skills and become a capable wrestler in near-evenly matched spectacles, facing women who were above average. This was an opportunity Hayward has not had.

So why not re-sign Hayward now, with Stevens under contract? The fact is, Stevens is a far better wrestler with far more experience. Unless the WWE trains Lindsay Heyward at FCW for enough time to make her into a legitimate threat in a realistic, non-carnival sideshow wrestling match, Stevens will also exploit Hayward as a gimmick with beginner-level talent. Remember, with Stevens at 6’2 and Hayward at 6’9, seven inches does not a giant make. Hayward will have to learn the ropes in order to hold her own versus Kharma.

Maybe one day Isis the Amazon or Aliosia will make her WWE debut. Maybe she will storm into a Royal Rumble and eliminate Kharma as Giant Gonzales did to the Undertaker twenty years ago [Ed note: let’s hope the analogy ends there]. But once the smoke settles and realism permeates the illusion of professional wrestling, as she stands now, Lindsay Hayward will not be able to stand tall in the WWE.

Mike Lortz (aka Jordi Scrubbings) is a Tampa-based writer currently hanging out in Afghanistan. He has written for the Tampa Bay Times, Deadspin.com, and has been published in two books on Minor League Baseball. He is a WWE fan and steady presence in the Florida indy scene, to include a stint as Social Media Manager for the formerly Tampa-based All-Stars Wrestling of Florida. He has written about how wrestlers can increase their presence in social media, suggested using metrics to measure the worth of pro wrestlers, and recently lamented about the disconnect between writers and wrestlers.

Edited by K Sawyer Paul.