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You sir just saved me from doing a long essay on this shit. I can't thank you enough for succinctly summarizing what I was going to say. Here is my pushback on the Jordynne Grace performance art thing, and it's not so much the Jim Cornette angle of protecting the business or kayfabe. Pro wrestling straddles so many fences that calling it one thing (especially as something as general and vague as performance art) is just kinda lazy. For years (especially during the MNW), people put the male soap opera label on it. Ric Flair has said it's not fake, but choreographed. I remember the late Patrice O'Neal on radio after his very short stint as a WWE (then WWF) writer calling wrestlers "stunt men who could act'. I would say, if anything, it falls under the label of the newer TV term "scripted reality" more than performance art. Why? How many nasty double crosses have you seen in performance art? I know they seldom occur in wrestling now, but wrestling has a tradition of that. Moreover, the nature of the physicality in pro wrestling lends it to be presented in a much different manner altogether. I mean we can argue back and forth about how performance art doesn't exactly need an exact fixed outcome either if you bring up someone like Harry Houdini. My point would be there were people intent on changing that outcome for their own personal gain instead of that performance going awry through the fault of no one else. Again, I am not saying that the latter doesn't happen in pro wrestling. You look at the deaths of Oro, Plum Mariko, and Emiko Kado. The list goes on and on. Hell, we just passed the anniversary of the death of Luther Lindsay. What I'm saying is pro wrestling has a sporting aspect in that changing or directly affecting an outcome can play a role in what the landscape looks like down the line. You could say that if a TV or film writer changes the ending to something that it could change the whole entire industry, but that's way, way too general for the purpose of what Jordynne Grace was probably trying to get at. There is a big difference between Arnold Rothstein fixing the 1919 World Series and Tim Donaghy fixing NBA games and the ending to Lost or The Sopranos. I mean Paul Heyman pulling a fast one on Dennis Coralluzo during the 93 NWA title tournament, and the works of Banksy are really the same thing....Actually, on second thought, I don't buy that at all. Yes, if you put the really general label of both being somewhat controversial on it, you can tie the two together. Otherwise, it makes no sense for the two to be even related. While a variety of performances are presented as completely real, pro wrestling has always been about presenting a mixture of both real and fake elements to not only blur the lines of reality but to build on and create completely new narratives in the matter of days and weeks. It can either be super scripted and bullet pointed to death with varying degrees of success (WWE) or using more genuine, practical, and authentic speech/expressions (AEW), with the latter separating it from soap operas. Either way, everything is being built on. I mean you can call any roster in a wrestling a group of a repertory players. But shit, why stop at professional wrestling? Is any starting five for the NBA a group of repertory players? Is basketball now performance art? I mean each person in the back court and front court has their own specific duties and assignments. They "play" basketball (hence the term "basketball player") and the season (both regular and playoff) as a whole has "storylines", but I would stop short of calling it performance art. If you want to go that far though, I would suspect you are some type of hipster douchebag who is trying way too hard. With wrestling the way it is and it never being completely static, I wouldn't drop it in one bucket. It's hard for me to think about Ric Flair's comeback promo on the Nitro the day after Fall Brawl 1998 or something way more recent like Santana's sitdown interview on AEW Dynamite weeks ago and think, "yep, this is just a performance". Yeah, it's being done to FURTHER future aspects of scripted events. I won't argue that. However, the reality added it into makes pro wrestling way too complex to just say it's a bunch of neat parlor tricks, cool looking stunts, and a drama with more colorful dialogue added in. Just because it's technically something that's performative doesn't automatically mean it fits in that particular box or any particular box. So we're far past it being continuous physical magic and now bordering a touring "reality" show. Thus, I am far more comfortable calling it "scripted reality" rather than performance art. If you cast a wide enough net, you can call pro wrestling just about anything. It doesn't mean it makes sense though. With that said, I think we put way more thought into this than Jordynne Grace did.

Not sure where this belongs on the forum, but Suntori, the Japanese Whiskey company do a vodka named Haku. I have a bottle of it. It has punched my face off. It is fantastic! HAKU VODKA

Jesus? I like him very much, but he not help me hit curveball.

They should try again. It could work this time!

I was loving this story, but the ending ruined it.

OK, here's a quick story about my first day in judo class. The class was set up so the first hour was instructional and the second hour was all rolling. The first hour I learned how to break fall and we ran through the o goshi, and a kesa gatame. It was basically enough instruction that allowed me not to die during sparring. So the second hour starts and everyone is being super light with me, and kind of walking me through things as we go...except for this 130 lb. dude named Rohan. At the time, I'm 19 about 190 lbs. and in very good shape, and this 130 lb. dude is literally throwing me around the gym. He is unleashing his entire arsenal of throws and I'm getting fucked up, because until I got matched up with him I'd done maybe 15 break falls. So, there is a judo throw where you put your foot on your opponent's hip, and roll back which allows you to throw your opponent head over heels. Rohan, who is a yellow belt, which is much better than a day one noob, but is only one promotion above white belt, tries this throw on me. When he kicks his leg up, I grab it before his foot gets to my hip. I pull his head down with his gi, reach around his head, lock my hands and hit that punk bitch with a perfectplex. That dude was an asshole, and taking advantage of the fact that I didn't know enough to defend myself. Sending him on that ride is one of the most satisfying feelings of my entire life. I will take your word for your schoolyard vertical suplex, but I'm skeptical...but I know for a fact you can hit a fisherman suplex.

He's really, really not. He's best at writing non-linear headtrip obituaries anyway.

I mean, WWE does seems to bring back everyone at some point.

Pro wrestling can be compared to performance art, but it is a facile comparison. Any performance can be named "performance art" because it itself is so broadly defined. There are similarities but pro wrestling is not fine art as it is created strictly for a monetary transaction; nor is rassling a sport, but it certainly exists in a Venn diagram of these two poles, created by a nerd who has to define and pigeonhole everything. - sui generis, RAF

William Regal's son Bailey is the newest Young Lion.

Dear lord - what's a long essay like? ?

I'm currently looking at my girlfriend (who never cared about wrestling before AEW) wearing her Orange Cassidy shirt, I'm not buying that casuals hate him for a second. Talking to people that don't follow current WWE but checked in to AEW, Orange Cassidy always comes up and it's always positive. I'm not denying or doubting that a casual could have a negative reaction to the gimmick, but speaking big-picture all my evidence is to the contrary.

Are you saying Jesus Christ can’t hit a curveball?

Someone check on @D.Z

Ron Reis and Paul Wight tried to end Hulkamania through double penetration live on PPV a quarter century ago, and we're talking about people being limited by rules and conventions. Uh, what?

1957:

Strange bedfellows

I relate to Paul Felder as much as any MMA fan with a degree in Acting (Acting!) is going to relate to him. The money's in broadcasting. Obviously. We've known how this goes since the days of Bas Rutten. He's also a natural 165'er/Moneyweight guy who could absolutely slip in to the BMF-belt chasing ranks of Marketable Action Fighters who Do Good Business (a growing market). I hope he doesn't retire, I hope he fights once a year and fights old guys in fun fights to pop ESPN ratings.

The one boss Pharaoh could never handle...

In that 30 for 30 Flair mentioned that choreographing matches has only been more commonplace for about 15 years and that was more so to benefit the camera guys and the people in the truck than anything else. That's why even now the wrestlers talk about having more freedom on house shows because its alot looser. I think most wrestling fans when explaining to no fans they bring up the ability to inprove. I remember the rapper Wale was on the popular hip hop show the breakfast club talking about WaleMania and he talked about how he was a fan of wrestlers ability to inprove and call things on the fly. I believe even if you aren't a fan, that's something that you can respect. I've listened to Nash interviews and he talked about how he and the people in his era didn't need to go over everything and how it was damn near impossible to him and his peers to remember everything move for move. There are a ton of people that have the skill to do things on the fly but the way business is structured its isn't a necessity. You don't have to be a Daniel Bryan to have that skill. Cena had that skill ( obviously because you could hear him call everything) As a wrestling fan its I think we are very careful in how we explain the business to people on the outside of the lack of respect. People probably think writers script the matches move for move. They may have an effect on the outcome but they don't have any ring knowledge. Even AEW is forcing WWE to scale back on the scripted promos, which is why we should be rooting for AEWs success whether you watch or not because forcing WWE to change. NWA as well

I like how the Brock figure in the back there has two facial expressions - raging intensity, and complete boredom.

Darby, Sammy, Jungle Boy, MJF, Riho, Statlander... I think they are all under 27. That's a pretty damn good group of "future"

Harden = all defense

I like the enthusiasm for Sammy-Darby. Darby’s got it but he needs to watch how far he takes the emo-ish ‘I’m angry’ slow banter. It’s approaching cheese whiz. Sammy is a major talent in the making, but he’s gotta find the right level of goofiness. He tends to go a little overboard right now. Also, I just like where he is as a cocky idiot who shines during the match and then gets brutally beaten. Let’s let him continue to thrive in this position before moving him up the card. Darby too is completely fine losing. He gives no fucks and just wants to dish some pain while giving himself some. He can be a big top star later. That’s the beauty of their positions - they can learn and continue to hone their style on a national stage. And get ready for the lime light down the line.

So AEW is totally also doing Lucha Bros figures now for series 2.

Nagata looks to be struggling with this celebration

Jae is in his “I’m not mad... just disappointed” phase

You serious, Clark? I played little league (and up through HS) and never once did I see this. What does god have to do with it? Is he on the bump every Sunday?

St. Pauli won the Hamburg City Derby at HSV 2-0 (first leg at home was the same result), avenging last season's 0-4 blow out loss. Good job, now please keep up the work, no need to get relegated.

In about 5 - 10 years someone is going to create a Youtube on the history of all of the Ants in Chikara and it will probably be about 4 hours long. So many ants

It feels like a second choice movie. I imagine he wrote it for Haig to have one last ride, and when he found out he couldn't have that he made this movie. I don't want to say his heart wasn't in it because it's more complicated than that. It's probably really hard to make a movie knowing the whole time you can't make the one you want literally because your friend is dying. It was tough seeing Sid as sick as he was, but man when he started delivering his lines and you could see the fire in his eyes - I got pretty hyped. CAPTAIN SPAULDING FOREVER MOTHER FUCKER.

It really does take years of work to become an overnight sensation. Nothing about his masked gimmick in here though.

“That horrible woman wants to do more! She ain’t gonna ruin my Undertaker resurrection angle one fuckin bit!”

As I was adding the weights to the OP, I saw that Felder cut a fairly decent heel promo in front Hooker's local supporter contingent at the weigh ins after the faceoff. You know what? I'm actually hype for this fight. Hooker is either going to pull off an upset and make a real name for himself or Paul Felder is going to beat the stuffing out of Hooker similar to what Barboza did on that final Fox card in Milwaukee. It should make for a thrilling all action fight though regardless.

Vince mistook Cassidy for Oran Juice Jones who he then mistook for Shelton Benjamin.

I don’t know if that’s a work, but that’s a lot of Gorilla Monsoon medical mumbo jumbo not to be.

You sure that isn’t Kenny’s secret offspring?

@NikoBaltimore Rick Rude would knock them both out with open hand slaps

I do wish we had gotten the martel/callis Supermodels team, either in wwf or wcw.

McDonald's lost its smile.