Category: Wrestling

Nacho Libre

March 19th, 2006

Yeah, I used to watch professional wrestling. And not just during my youth – I watched it very closely up until about two years ago. I’m not proud of it. In fact, I’m a little ashamed. It took a wrestling sabbatical to realize that yes, wrestling is pretty lame. Sorry, friends – it is.

These thoughts of shame were compounded when I was flipping channels the other day. Without cable, I was wrestling free. I never even ran across it anymore. But now that the WWE has started showing Saturday Night Main Events again I’m finding professional wrestling being beamed into my house through the antenna instead of the cable cord. We’ve got wrestling on free television.

I stopped on the show last night to see Shane McMahon, the son of WWE leader Vince McMahon, grappling with Shawn Michaels, a former multiple-time WWE Champion. And even though I had seen Shane wrestle before numerous times, it took the clarity that came from stepping back from the product to understand that a match like this, to put it in a family-friendly way, is utter bull-poop.

Seriously? This scrawny wimp is actually supposed to be getting a decent fight from a former champion? Reality is suspended in wrestling, I realize, but stuff like this insults whatever intelligence the average viewing public still has. But this is just how it is now. Professional wrestling outfits have gotten lazy with their product, their storylines, and their overall effectiveness to sell merchandise (which, ultimately, is the only reason they’re still around).

With all of this said, I can’t help but love the idea of a tongue-in-cheek movie about wrestling. No, nothing like the horrible Ready to Rumble. Something with a little star power. Something with, say, Jack Black.

Enter Nacho Libre, starring Jack Black. A priest who moonlights as a Lucha Libre star.

Awesome.

Thanks to Dave at I stared straight into the sun for the link. Also, a big “hooray!” that he’s putting out posts more consistently. We missed you, DWiddy!


Comments: 1

Issues Considered: Wrestling

Wrasslin’

July 22nd, 2005

Though it’s painful to admit sometimes, I was a huge wrestling fan. I mean, I was very into it. Ask Kerrie — she saw the rise and fall of my wrestling addiction. I was booking my own matches, I was ordering videos of Japanese puroresu wrestlers — it was uncontrollable.

Since then, however, I’ve gotten over it. I’ve realized that I’d do a lot better taking my free time and directing it towards, oh I don’t know, fantasy basketball simulation leagues.

Mark Dursin, a close friend to Bill Simmons (my favorite ESPN.com writer), has put together an article that explains a lot about why I started to become tired and burned out by professional wrestling and it’s xenophobic and lowest-common-denominator angles.

From Gorgeous George to Magnificent Muraco, from “Rowdy” Roddy Piper to “The Unpredictable” Johnny Rodz, one thing is clear: professional wrestlers love adjectives. They’re also fond of alliteration (like Ravishing Rick Rude or Marvelous Marc Mero) and hyperbole (like the Great Kamala or Ultimate Warrior). But they really love adjectives.

And so do the fans. We routinely employ their own adjectives (many of them unprintable), not only for the wrestlers but also for moves, announcers, and especially, storylines (“angles,” in wrestling parlance). For many of these angles, adjectives such as “lame” and “uninspired” work just fine; as an example, I give you Edge and Booker T’s feud over shampoo. Some angles cross the line into “absurd,” “distasteful” and even “vaguely illegal” — like when Earthquake sat on and subsequently killed Jake the Snake’s pet python, or when Brock Lesnar pushed one-legged wrestler Zach Gowen down three flights of stairs.

For a select few angles, only one descriptor fits: “appalling.”

It’s very good — go read it here: Scraping the Bottom in Wrestling.


Comments: 2

Issues Considered: Sports, Wrestling

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