The Work Of Wrestling podcast turned ten years old this past January. It’s hard to believe I’ve been podcasting and writing about any subject with consistency for that amount of time. In so doing, I’ve produced several episodes I’m proud of but none more so than The Third Law.
Read MoreI'm sick with a bad cold. I've missed a couple days of work. Sore throat, congested, hacking up phlegm as my nostrils turn raw. It's incredibly unpleasant. All I've done is drink tea and sleep. I'm starting to feel better - it's been about six days since the symptoms began. I've tested negative for Covid. The biggest casualty of this sickness is this week's RAW Review. Try as I might I couldn't summon the strength to give much detail or fully fleshed out "takes". I'm exhausted and occasionally in pain. I apologize to anyone who was hoping for more. I figured what I did manage to produce was better than nothing at all. I'll bounce back next week.
Read MoreThis week’s Monday Night Raw, another middling, mostly pointless episode, ended with an intense dialogue between Cody Rhodes and CM Punk. It was a well-acted scene with several well-constructed statements, mainly that Cody Rhodes is no longer “chasing” CM Punk but that it was now Punk “chasing” Rhodes.
One would be forgiven to surmise, based on this scene, that Punk v Rhodes will headline WrestleMania 41. In fact, I’d argue this scene necessitates Punk face Rhodes for the title at Mania. Otherwise, why am I seeing it?
The characters have an interesting history and the imagery and soundbites would make for a fantastic pre-match vignette. Everything about their interactions over the past year, culminating in this promo, lays the groundwork for a championship match.
And yet, I don’t buy any of it.
Read MoreFor the second to last episode of 2017, Work of Wrestling podcast returns to the original three-part format of the show!
For the Lock-Up, I review everything in pro-wrestling that I've seen in 2017. I focus primarily on WWE, discussing some of the highs and the lows, what stood out to me as particularly memorable and what WWE can do better (from The Festival of Friendship to the squandering of Bayley).
Read MoreThis year's Survivor Series fluctuated between "fine" and "fun". Nothing was terrible, but nothing was too memorable, and in-between existed a lot of legitimately good fun.
The basic conceit of Raw and SmackDown facing off in competition would resonate more if the stakes were clearly outlined and involved more than "bragging rights".
We might know the motivations of the characters when they're outside the squared circle (i.e. Kurt Angle wants to keep his job, Shane McMahon wants SDLive to be more than the B-show), but we don't know what an actual win in the wrestling match itself signifies. The concept of "why" any of this is happening doesn't have an instantly accessible answer beyond, "Because!"
Read MoreWatch pro-wrestling long enough, and you begin to recognize the patterns of wrestling matches and the tropes of the medium: the heel cheats, the babyface "comes back", groups and teams inevitably betray each other, veterans "pass the torch", and on and on it goes in an endless merry-go-round of (hopefully) joy and wonder.
Eventually, you may even want to see some of these patterns and tropes at work because they provide a sense of comfort, a return to your once simplistic, romanticized view of right & wrong.
Read MoreOn April 1st, WWE Announced they will air a Global Women’s Tournament this summer with 32 competitors from 17 different countries. The Cruiserweight Classic and United Kingdom Championship Tournament were both critical successes for WWE Network. The single elimination tournament format created stakes based in reality for those involved and was portrayed as legitimate sport, real people with backstories all vying for a championship and the opportunity to be seen by the WWE Universe.
Read MoreOn the latest episode of The Work of Wrestling I go into detail about why Charlotte is one of my favorite wrestlers. Inspired by her stellar heel promo from the May 25, 2016 episode of RAW where she renounced her father Ric Flair, I go into detail about why she's such a great heel Champion, why The Four Horsewomen are the best performers in the entire WWE organization, and I also break down that promo line by line.
Read MoreThis week on The Work of Wrestling podcast I give my review of the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, focusing primarily on the excellent main event championship match between Roman Reigns and AJ Styles.
Read MoreThis week I'm joined by my friend Brian Ariotti to discuss the intersection between the art of comedy and the art of professional wrestling.
In addition to sharing stories about working at Ringside Collectibles, Brian talks about his top five favorite wrestlers (which includes The Boogie Man), how he feels about maturing into adulthood, and he shares some useful insights on how to avoid becoming jaded and how "life experience" can positively affect the way we consume art.
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