too many people responding to my silly thread abt dropout and aew as if this is a venn diagram with a small center but both these things are examples of wildly popular relational arts.
maybe I'm too autistic about intersubjectivity to not think of it this way but these are the most basal instincts of a human person and its because we are obligate gregarious creatures. wrestling is this weird beautiful taproot into all of that. farming affective investments through blending these things in some sort of way
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 😁
the thing about my reading of being a Heavyweight and engaging with Titles (especially upper card titles) as effectively engaging with consensus masculinity, and that speedball's obsessive relationship with honor & nonengagement with heavyweight status are effectively nonbinary. and speedball's major tag partner betrayals have had some sort of element of this, being a Heavyweight and Winning and a performative separation from the abjection that happens to them due to their unconventional engagement with that consensus
kevin wants to be a main eventer, wants to win the world title and be jet2belts, doesn't want to 'trust the process' anymore. its honor without glory. and he hoped speedball would go with him! and then they don't. him joining the DCF is ostensibly for making matches, the farthest swing from speedball's honor, play dirty to get to the top any means necessary
jake being the most Heavyweight Title successful of speedball's major tag partners but also having health & medical bills that require reaching for higher payouts and such. being an indie wrestler isn't sustainable like being a tv wrestler. being in DCF is kf financial backing. jake isn't like 'this is what i have to do to Be A Man' but like. 'this is what I have to do to survive' which is like. unconscious avoidance of abjection yeah? something about how our conditions are constructed and reconstructed... has anyone else noticed this...
because consensus masculinity is constructed and enforced, going where the friction isnt means going where conformity is. there's an element to both jake & kevin not wanting to leave speedball behind but being somewhat coerced into doing so. wanting them to join them in climbing the ladder, in engaging with the consensus pathway to success, effectively in engaging with consensus masculinity because of the ways that they are treated for their queerness. but that's not what's authentic to them
and just because you are told over and over that you have to exist 'correctly' to succeed and to survive doesn't make it true. there are many forces at work trying to convince you that your authenticity is wrong and must be punished
[today's scraps from part of my ongoing Thoughts on jetspeed storylines & gender]
so like. the significance of místico being the one to help out jetspeed more successfully & harmoniously than hangman to me is related to gender in that its like. how highflyer is a class positioned as less-than heavy in american wrestling but is class positioned above heavy in lucha. is very something about othering & cultural gender & american hegemony
hangman is much more gender-conforming in accordance with american wrestling expectations & this is ultimately always his downfall. místico is gender-conforming within lucha but this makes him less gender conforming within american wrestling. so in a functionally similar way that speedball is gendered by failure-to-be, místico is also gendered by failure-to-be, but also not really *needing* to be because you can be the best in your own context (which is related to my thoughts on speedball & kenny because .)
so. místico gendered by failure-to-be, speedball gendered by failure-to-be, hangman failured by needing-to-be, kevin still figuring it out
+ then there are some related/adjacent thoughts im pulling on like, the tangibility of their gimmicks/personas. that hangman is a cowboy which is highly tangible and místico is magic which is intangible, but speedball is kinda just. a guy* ? in terms of like what their gimmick is (& their persona is intrinsically tied to hong kong cinema which has different standards of realism/tangibility i will get into at a later date) and kevin's persona is kind of nebulously scifi but also ultimately just a guy.
so the significance there in terms of gender is that while místico is other-gendered by culture and magic (magic also being somewhat tied to exótico which is also a gendered class within lucha) speedball is other-gendered with much less, like, plausible deniability to point to in terms of why (like I could say that being french-canadian is part of the othering, and it is, but also not the only part or even most)
... heelball marina parallels? (Please please please expand on them?? I'm so interested??)
you're never going to believe this but all my thoughts on this r related to Gender again
beyond just the barefootedness lol they're both kind of weird outsiders even among martial artist technician wrestlers, their styles are pretty singular. nobody does it the way she does it which when its a woman is seen fundamentally differently than if youre a guy* and the way that speedball is gendered as guy* is highly conditional and I think is essentially shifted for their heel presentation
was talkin last night abt the way marina is with gender like. shes in a stable with all dudes, dresses less flamboyantly than any of the other women, uses 'mothers milk' & gets called a 'matriarch' but isnt really mothering (if anyone in dr is its claudio lol) she just uses motherhood as an aesthetic, a tool, a taunt. she yells at people to do better. shes the mother that punishes you for a bad report card. she wants you to always be improving & learning.
the match I have seen between them is rly fun but also notably while speedball isnt doing their heel presentation for the audience, they do some of the taunting they tend to do just for marina. at one point shes expecting them to do a topé sui and they just hit the ropes to do a little flip and bow just to piss her off. this is done in a friendly way, kind of to say 'youre taking this too serious'
marina did mma but is known for judo & bjj specs, speedball did tkd but also has been learning more judo & bjj lately...
heelball is stoic and precise in a way similar to marina, speedball in general highly values honor and what they deem the spirit of the rules, which is related to the death rider ideology, they both want to constantly be improving and getting better, they both are weird outsiders idk words are getting away from me rn
I was asked by @hellsite-nine to do some analysis on this video! so here's what I'm noticing, my thoughts + a transcript
kevin answers most of the questions first. this is different than how it has been in the past. he's very relaxed, and visibly more confident lately! he answers basically all of the social niceties things (like 'thank you for being here/thank you for having us') is dressing well & wearing sunglasses indoors 😎
body language from speedball is very hesitant & deferring. they pause several times, offer up answers to kevin several times, try to gather their thoughts
kevin is much more willing to criticize hangman, even in roundabout or subtle ways, than speedball
kevin is willing to acknowledge that hangman lost them their titles, speedball explicitly states they dont think thats fair to say
this is progress from where he was in the immediate aftermath of losing the titles, blaming himself where speedball was the voice of reason & reframing it to be about the team
speedball is in a similar place kev was then, coming off the match with mjf and blaming themself/the limits of their strict moral code
speedball's reticence to criticize hangman is related to how the match with mjf went, a desire to take people in good faith.
(also related to hangman's orbiting around kenny)
(I could say kev's distaste for hangman is relevant to his orbiting around swerve. or similarities to clark)
speedball once again saying they're so grateful for hangman's help and. this is the second time they've... misremembered his house as the one on fire as opposed to the truth
they're trying so hard to hold compassion for hangman that they're kinda not making sense, not seeing things clearly, bending the truth until it breaks
(the benefit of the doubt is political, and gendered, this type of social housekeeping is feminized labor)
(I could read a neurodivergent lens to it as well, for example the rigidity to their moral code & genuine confusion as to why others dont hold to it)
(both these are relevant to infantilization)
its notable to me that speedball is where kevin was a month ago, that they are not hierarchically above him either naturally or artificially. jetspeed are equals, they are push and pull, a flow and rhythm
they accomodate each others brain needs in this interview, we see kevin offering kindness and gentle touches when he sees speedy having big feelings and we see kevin hesitating on an answer like he couldn't find the words so he asks speedball to help
they are supportive to each other, that is the jetspeed rhythm, that is what got disrupted by Hangman while he was there too, but Místico holds that rhythm with them!
there are a few things that kevin says/does here that read very much as age indicators to me, the use of the word 'swag', the referencing hannah montana, but I could not find any particular age indicators in speedball...
TRANSCRIPT
Because, you– you were champions of— the Trios champions— with Hangman Adam Page, and then with Mistico, what is the difference? Do you feel the difference?
Oh the energy is way different. Hangman Adam Page, he brings a lot of piss and fire and vinegar on his side, and he's just angry all the time, whether it's for good reasons or not. Hangman Adam Page is a... he brings a different side out of Jetspeed. And then with Místico, you hear that theme song you know, [it] just raises your vibration, he just relaxes you. And you just get a feel of that Lucha Libre culture, that Lucha Libre swag, and we just go in there and just do our thing.
I try very hard to lead with empathy, so I don't want to throw anyone under the bus, okay, and I completely understand where Hangman Page is coming from— he's a former AEW world champion, he was champion for a very long time, a great champion. And everyone relied on him to be the face of AEW and then came MJF, and everything that he's gone through like having his house set on fire [sic.] in AEW. and everything Max said about him, did to him, literally tried to ruin his life for months, it's all it's all terrible. And it's a lot for him to be chasing the men's world championship that MJF has, but also being trios champion with us, he had a lot on his plate, and we kind of felt that a little bit. And ultimately you know I'm not gonna blame him for us losing champions. I'm not gonna say he did anything wrong, he was great and helped us tremendously, did his best all the time, but I feel like with Místico we're on a whole other level.
We're a lot more focused we can say that we're a lot more focused.
How did you build that chemistry?
Oh we build that chemistry just we speak the same language even though I speak muy poquito espanol and his his English is not the best but we understand performance we understand the high-flying aspects that go along with pro wrestling so he does a cool thing I'm like oh how can I put my flavor on that and vice versa and you guys know Místico is working every day so he gets the reps that he needs so if he has idea for me there's no it's no question for me to try it's no question.
And Mike you recently faced MJF days ago what did you learn from that match? You know I don't I don't know what I learned. I don't think— maybe I learned that I give people too much grace, you know? I mean
I saw that
Kevin also wrestled MJF and he had him pinned for 13 seconds but [the ref] was down unfortunately. Again I give people a lot of respect, I give people their due, and I think my mistake is I respected MJF too much and I tried to give him the kind of good clean fight that I like. I like professional wrestling I like— I like sticking to the rules.
Yeah but with MJF it's impossible.
No, that's the devil you're playin with.
He plays dirty, he is the devil but I should have known he was gonna do that, and I think that's my mistake so maybe next time I get in the ring with MJF I need to.... see now that I'm thinking it, 'I need to lower myself to his level' I don't want to do that!
You're getting all worked up, don't do that, don't do that.
It's okay, it's MJF, you know?
Unfortunately.
If you describe this team [with Místico] in one word, what would it be? [pause] Two words, or three, if you want three.
If I could describe it in one word... I'm gonna let my partner take this one.
I'm gonna go international.
Took the words right out of my mouth. There it is.
I mean it's all North America, I'm from Canada, Kevin is from the US.
It's like the World Cup, it is.
It is the World Cup! Yeah.
Mexico, Canada, USA
But you know it's the best of three different countries with three very different wrestling styles, and I think that the product is just the best of all worlds.
Just like Hannah Montana, the best of both worlds. In this case all three worlds so I think we do it the best.
a few months ago I was like "I dont think I know enough adam cole lore to know why so many people are transing him in fanfiction but I will always respect the hustle" because I'm g-d's greatest 'give them a complicated gender in fanfiction' warrior so I will always respect the hustle
as I learn more adam cole lore I come to find that people treat him like a woman because people have always treated him like a woman. to concerning degrees? like, everything about his persona in ROH is compensatory for not being taken seriously because he was constantly seen as a sex object in one way or another. and that his inability to answer a question or address things directly is an expression of a fawning passivity. the constant churning of stigma management in the background, the pendulum swings as it will. and now he's several people's fridged wife.
the thing is that the first piece of womanhood is failing to be a man, whether that's at birth or constantly socially constructed. so when people on ao3 dot org treat cole like a woman they're not doing anything fuckin, DJ Hyde didn't do first, just much less lecherously. more affirmingly, even
the wrestler's gender I am thinking about today is vipress. i lov u vipress. I want to talk abt her style and persona-curation in relation to this excerpt from Barrio Libre
I Love the streetclothes style of ring gear, whether its specifically designed pieces meant to look off the rack or it is actually off the rack. there's a certain shorthand being invoked there, class positions and increased legibility of (sub)cultural flagging
comparing recent gear from vipress to an example in 2022 much more aligned with stylistic conventions of womens wrestling gear, there's a clear departure of those conventions amplifying many of those drawn-on cultural signifiers
(drew is also here. I'll talk abt drew's gender some other time 😅)
"chola fashion... proved transgressive in the normative, conservative order, bringing them a degree of freedom and pleasure. But the chola stereotype lacked the same menace [... that] the young men drew on in their practices of violence as wealth production."
although a sense of masculine styling is well within the established bounds of chola fashion, dialing more into that is drawing more onto these aspects of menace— racial, cultural, lavender— that can indicate a proclivity for violence relevant to pro wrestling
class position, sociocultural shorthands and identity flagging of various sorts are relevant to persona curation in pro wrestling going way, way back. weaving threads of shoot identity into your kneepads within the same wefts as that which is taken-on, negotiating legibility as a pretext for expectations and seeking affective investments
