hey man. i got into wrestling for good in august 2024 (with assistance of supereyepatchwolf's wrestling video essays and the mountain goats's album beat the champ) and i had to contain it somehow. my main is @fitmc so just don't get surprised about that
- if i had to narrow down my favorite wrestlers, well, for one, how could i. but i'm in the ballpark of hangman adam page, orange cassidy, chuck taylor, will ospreay, kyle fletcher, speedball mike bailey, and whoever is currently experiencing pathos
- i tag all the wrestlers i post about except for when i don't
- i do NOT tag for blood/general wrestling-incurred injury/sexual innuendo or out-uendo. my bad.
- i write fanfiction on ao3 and it's mostly good
- i am a debuted wrestler for T4T Wrestling, an indie promotion first cropping up in los angeles. i also may be the steward of its fandom?
talk to me! my inbox is always open and i love hearing about new wrestling things in this world. i'm kind of bad at responding though
divider credit | url from southwestern territory | blog title from fire editorial
there's something to be said, i think, about modern fandom's increasing fixation with paratext versus canon -- whether that's something as substantial as entertainment articles, actor interviews, comments from showrunners, bts footage, and deleted scenes or something as insubstantial (and often misleading) as an actor's body language while they do promo, unsubstantiated rumors of displeasure or friction between the cast and/or the writers, and full blown conspiracy theories ("there's a secret unaired episode that will make everything right" is a popular one right now). maybe it's obvious to say that this probably stems from an audience that is fundamentally dissatisfied or disinterested in the story they're being told and instead privileges the story they've convinced themselves they've been told by virtue of their fandom experience. in other words, that there's a kind of enmeshment that happens for some of us where the meta-analyses, headcanons, and fandom chatter (which often takes a kernel of truth from canon and runs with it to often fascinating but not always legitimate readings) becomes blurred with what is actually canon to the media we're enjoying. at least, i can certainly trace where this blurring of boundaries has shown up with me in my long history with fandom, particularly when i was coming of age.
i think it's uncomfortable, but often necessary to recognize when we're watching a show or a film or reading a book or playing a video game with different expectations or desires than the story ever promised to fulfill. simply, you can't draw blood from a stone, you know? and I think this idea, however simple, is often very easy to forget when you're in fandom because fanworks are innately transformative. in fandom, we draw blood from stones all the time. we re-imagine characters, relationships, universes in whichever way we deem fit so that we can experience wish fulfillment. but as the fourth wall between fandom and the creatives behind media becomes thinner and thinner, the boundary between what is the job of storytellers (to tell a story), what is the job of the audience (to receive the story or opt out), and what is the job of fandom (to connect with one another over shared imaginative and transformative reception of the story being told) is getting muddied to detrimental effect. coupled with the rise of hyper-individualism and the increasing commodification of fanworks into traditionally published forms, this is where we get a real wave of entitlement from fandom -- this sense that the storyteller owes something to us by virtue of our fannish devotion and that perceived failure to meet our desires is worthy of a host of outrage and abuses.
i think this is where paratext comes in and why the notion of what is or isn't canon feels perhaps more debatable now than ever before. i think it's born from a blend of hyper-individualism effecting how we think and behave as audience members, the increasing sense of entitlement that is borne out of such individualist thinking, the vanishing of the fourth wall between fandom and the mainstream as well as the creators of media that fandom enjoys, and a growing inability to accept the story you're being told on its own terms (and go happily and exclusively to fandom to remedy the urge for something more). because, really, what paratext offers is a sense of legitimacy -- usually when it conveniently upholds what you privately wanted in the first place. if the show you love isn't giving you enough to substantiate your ship, you can get your fix through an actor's interviews, their exposure to fanfiction and fan art, and their perceived approval of the ship. their opinion, by virtue of their literal proximity to the show, legitimizes your own. if the movie you love doesn't do enough with a character you find interesting, a scrapped plan for what the character might've done or a deleted scene might do the same. etc etc.
And while I think it's fine to find the perspectives of actors and showrunners interesting, I do think you get into messy waters when you consider these things just as legitimate as what makes it onto the page or screen -- because, factually, that just isn't true. and if you step outside of fan spaces, you often see this disconnect: i'm sure we have all had the experience of talking to a friend, a parent, or a coworker who "isn't online" and is completely flabbergasted by fandom discourse or simply never would've come up with a popular fanon interpretation or critique if you'd given them a hundred years. because casual viewership (which is almost by definition never going to seek out actor interviews, articles, social media stories, and what an actor likes or doesnt like on instagram) is receiving only the text: the story that, by virtue of the many forces that constrain, edit, and transform the myriad intentions of every person involved in the project, finally and actually made it to the screen. and i dunno, i wonder sometimes if there's something to envy in that.
If Your Scene Feels Lifeless, Someone Is Being Too Polite
Stories stall when everyone behaves. Real tension appears when someone:
• asks the wrong question
• says something they shouldn’t
• notices something uncomfortable
• refuses to drop the topic
• misunderstands something important
• interrupts at the worst moment
They want something REALLY REALLY REALLY bad, but for some reason they can't ask for it -- or can't have it even if they did ask.
They don't notice something that the audience HAS noticed (like in a horror movie when the monster is sneaking up behind the protagonist, or if someone drinks a glass of unboiled water during a cholera outbreak because they don't know about germ theory)
Takes a risk (or otherwise does something they "shouldn't" do) which the audience has to sit through for a prolongued period of time (e.g. slips away from the party to go into the host's private office and rifle through their papers before the guards catch them)
lauren berlant said "gender categories are best seen as spaces of transformation, nodal points that are supposed to produce general social intelligibility while encrusted with constantly changing noncoherent meanings" to me this is the creation of wrestling's cruiserweight class
once again it is this. more thoughts under my readmore
'cruiserweight' is the WCW coined term (circa 1996) for, generally unenforced by any actual weight measures, 'middleweight' or 'junior heavyweight' wrestling informed by varied stylistic traditions like lucha libre, joshi puroresu, and technical grappling/catch
basically creating a messy catchall box for 'anything that isn't heavyweight' in terms of style/presentation. it has coherence only in the reference to what it isn't.
these categories have long existed in their own rights but under the guise of 'actual' weight classes. it's generally shaky/sometimes kayfabe on whether weight measures are enforced or are broad sweeping loose categories (this is interesting)
in puroresu in japan there's multiple weight classes including junior heavyweight and heavyweight. in lucha libre theres multiple weight classes including lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight. these are ostensibly literally weight based, give or take
in american wrestling, heavyweight is overvalued because of the relationship to masculinity-as-prescribed, our persistent brainworms abt body image and physicality, mcmahonism as a homogenizing force
generally in american wrestling the highest valued men's world title is definitionally openweight, but functionally heavyweight in terms of stylistic traditions because of the relationship with consensus masculinity
notably, the TNA X Division is the reverse: definitionally openweight but functionally the cruiserweight title
'definitionally openweight, de facto heavyweight' is still the case for AEW men's world title. exceptions being stuntbooking 4x WCW cruiserweight champ Chris Jericho as the inaugural AEW mens champ, Bryan Danielson (special in his own way, more on that later), and recently stuntbooking D*rby Allin
american audiences are so primed to our own understanding of consensus masculinity that deviations have to be 'justified' or given a reason to exist, given a garden to grow. this intelligibility has to be created. this is the reason for the creation of the cruiserweight class
also thinking about how when Claudio Castagnoli held the generally de-emphasized CMLL World Heavyweight title and AEW commentary kept calling it the 'CMLL world title'
the CMLL heavyweight title has only existed since 1991, compared to its national welterweight title created in 1934. part of why Claudio was holding it was an attempt to elevate its status because it was so undervalued! but this is alien to american audiences
also an example of the aforementioned 'constantly changing noncoherent meanings' & small things on commentary being works, contextually shifting realities etc. but its a work because it needs to be
Bryan Danielson is a weird one because he's a grappling/technician specialist who repeatedly won people over with little to no character/storyline, his persona was more relational. did you know gender is relational
his run in WWE is famous for being weirdly counterintuitive. not pushed by the company, bullied by mcmahon, but beloved by the fans. because he connects with them. the whole 'yes' movement. etc. resonating with audiences
the nonsense coherence of bryan danielson being in the same category as, say, rey mysterio. 'he's not-huge. and he's vegan which is basically gay or something. this is the same as a luchador' the sameness is in only in the notness. equally failing-to-be under consensus masculinity
if you're a mat grappler that never once jumps you are functionally the same category as an aerial high flyer. because you are not-[thing], the same way a term like 'nonbinary' as a category is a broad sweeping of countless things that simply aren't the specific consensus of what 'binary' is
FEAR NOT! for how often formal queerness blossoms from the rot of failure-to-be: things are found in the glitching & gaps of this class. the very *creation* of the cruiserweight class gave rise to careers that wouldn't have found a place the same way
it's almost like desire paths or visible mending: we draw attention to the limits of what is & what has been before. this is the creation of broad, nonbinary incoherence. a garden for things to grow
it's a category that was odd when it was made, and what a blessing we keep outgrowing it more and more, the outgrouping making the de facto ingrouping more and more incoherent itself 😁
yes, the 'junior heavyweight' class in njpw has much more room for experimentation with expression, are less discouraged from queer flagging or comedy wrestling. notably there is also a pay disparity between junior heavyweights and heavyweights in nooj
yes, 'deathmatch specialist' is a contextual xenogender, subcultural even within a subculture, and deathmatches are structured more similarly to joshi matches than other non-joshi matches
a fanworks challenge for celebrating Deadlock Pro Wrestling in the month of August. Free-play prompts for making art, gifs, videos, writing, even just text posts, whatever you like to celebrate DPW with the tag #dpwaugust
-Drank each other’s blood, do absurd hardcore matches showing a lot of trust and a lot of kink.
-There is something wrong with them
-Chemistry out of the charts. Super handsome together. Crazy crazy men.
-He drank his blood. And it's not like they're the first wrestlers to partake in a bit of blood drinking but they had to double down on the psychosexual overtones with hangman saying "you are with me forever" and swerve saying there's a part of him within hangman and they're "bound together for a long time" and this was just when the feud was getting going
-soulmates but also world's most toxic situationship
-enemies to lovers to It's Complicated, hangman drank his blood also
-they’re soulmates they’re two sides of the same coin they’re each other’s mirror image they’re a blessing and a curse upon the other and also their texas death match restructured my synapses i think
E&C
-Best friends of over 40 years and great together in the ring.
-Y’know… my best reason is that it’s kinda just hot, I don’t normally find men hot, but the selfcest with the difference in perspective on life and potential for greater knowledge of self through the experience is hot to me
-They’ve been married for 40 years I think
-They’re old man yaoi and they’re Canadian.
-They're literally my dads. But also what they've got going on currently of tag team where one is evil and one isn't and neither seems to have any interest in changing that but they love each other enough to make it work is really fun to chew on.
-Also don't forget that they're canonically vampires. They might have gotten cured when they rejected their coven leader, but every so often they do goth stuff that insinuates they are still vampires
KO x SMB
-It’s pure delusion but I think I could convince people
-hey guys. sorry. understander here. this is a one-sided ship, just to not get anything twisted; speedball at many points idolizes and hypes up kenny with very little praise or even interaction in return. kenny is an insanely successful canadian professional wrestler who found his own way in the business, took the roads less traveled, and became one of the most popular wrestlers in the world for it. kenny is proof, along myriad other unorthodox wrestlers in the late 2000s to early 2010s, that someone like speedball could make it. they want to team with him and care for him but above all they want to TEST themselves on him. after all, cloud beats sepiroth. the ultima weapon beats the one-winged angel. and basically any time speedball praises kenny he gets weird about it because of [INSERT MYRIAD KENNY OMEGA SELF-WORTH ISSUES HERE]. it's good 👍
The Only Way Current TNT Champion Kevin Knight has been challenged by former TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher
In order to maintain total fairness and disallow any possibility of cheating by way of interference, both men will be naked and oiled in the traditional Greek fashion
This match will make history as AEW's first match to air without commentary, as nobody wanted to do it
full disclosure if you think you are bad at flirting with people, i find that the easiest way to combat and fix this problem is by asking yourself this question: What would Jon Moxley say?
hmm i mostly meant like,,, picture mox flirting in the situation in which you are flirting with someone and then. say what he would say in that instance. im uncertain if this pertains to like, financial decision making, bro
