AUGUST WRESTLING DISCUSSION THREAD

[JohnnyJ]

I hate to do this every month, but this month the masked man said CM Punk used a steel chair and the ring steps in a post modern fashion. He's got to be trolling at this point, right? I mean, he can't be serious any more. It's like someone gave Gonzalez a masters in Literature and made him write for Bill Simmons.

 

I saw that too and rolled my eyes. The Masked Man comes off like a writer who has a casual knowledge of wrestling and somehow ended up writing about it.  It was probably the only thing he ever wrote which elicited any kind of response so he stuck with it. He is constantly trying to overarticulate and overcompensate because of it.

 

He'll put together three paragraphs of utter nonsense, throwing in some big words, and talking about themes which are 65% in his imagination.  Then to show that he is knowledgeable about this stuff he'll start dropping Ox Baker and Bo Dallas references.

 

It's a shame too because the Masked Man's spot on Grantland is probably the premier wrestling writing slot in terms of readership.  Simmons could've put someone great there.

 

In that same article, he describes Punk as exhibiting.

[nate]

 

In that same article, he describes Punk as exhibiting.

 

 

Like a monkey with a red ass, ready to fuck other monkeys?

 

Wait, I have that confused with "presenting."  Carry on.

[jstout]

He strikes me as one of those psuedo-intellectual types who would do their English master's thesis on pro wrestling. But I think Grantland would rather have someone who doesn't really know a lot but writes it "well" as opposed to someone who knows what they're talking about but isn't a great writer (Meltzer, for example).

[odessasteps]

From the few interactions i havebhad with him, he seems a long time fan. But the brooklyn hipster gimmick is a tad too strong for me.

Also, nothing wrong about writing about writng acsdemically about the rasslin.

[Overly Critical Man]

Seems to me, Bill Simmons probably hired him because he agreed with him that Bret Hart sucked because he had "wet hair".

[Matt D]

And that terrible, terrible theme.

[JohnnyJ]

Simmons also pointed out that one of the things Hart had over Hennig was the whole Hart family thing. If only Mr. Perfect came from a long lineage of wrestlers...

[Brian Fowler]

I assume that ratings breakdown is the 18-34 numbers, not total viewers.

[Tromatagon]

So why does everyone think Simmons and the Masked Man are different people?

[mco543]

 

I hate to do this every month, but this month the masked man said CM Punk used a steel chair and the ring steps in a post modern fashion. He's got to be trolling at this point, right? I mean, he can't be serious any more. It's like someone gave Gonzalez a masters in Literature and made him write for Bill Simmons.

 

I saw that too and rolled my eyes. The Masked Man comes off like a writer who has a casual knowledge of wrestling and somehow ended up writing about it.  It was probably the only thing he ever wrote which elicited any kind of response so he stuck with it. He is constantly trying to overarticulate and overcompensate because of it.

 

He'll put together three paragraphs of utter nonsense, throwing in some big words, and talking about themes which are 65% in his imagination.  Then to show that he is knowledgeable about this stuff he'll start dropping Ox Baker and Bo Dallas references.

 

It's a shame too because the Masked Man's spot on Grantland is probably the premier wrestling writing slot in terms of readership.  Simmons could've put someone great there.

 

In that same article, he describes Punk as exhibiting.

 

 

This is a theme with internet sportswriters these days. A lot of them write in such a pretentious, arrogant, and pompous manner that it's awful reading. It's like because they write for a sports site or blog and not the New Yorker they have to overcompensate for it. Bill Simmons is turning into the worst thing to ever happen to sports writing because he seemingly spawned an entire generation of horrible, horrible, clones.

 

If you guys think the wrestling discussion is overwrought and horrible you should check out some of the people from Basketball Twitter.

[LooseCannon]

This is why I read Deadspin.

[odessasteps]

This is why I read Deadspin.

For whom the masked man used to write

[LooseCannon]

 

This is why I read Deadspin.

For whom the masked man used to write

 

 

But I routinely skipped the Dead Wrestler of the Week feature.

[Overly Critical Man]

So why does everyone think Simmons and the Masked Man are different people?

The Masked Man's articles don't contain nearly enough obscure references to 80s movies that no one ever watched for him to be Simmons.

[nate]

I miss Hyatte, since we're talking about writers influencing hacks who cop their style.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

Oh shit, I forgot about Hyatte. Always loved his Nitro reviews as a kid. I remember being hyped as fuck when he resurfaced on DOI of all places.

[SirSmUgly]

Writing from an academic standpoint about wrestling is fantastic and gives an enjoyable added texture to why certain things in our fair sport become popular. Wrestling is pretty much a reflection of the power fantasies of the fans, and those change based on social, economic, and political issues, like concern about foreign powers invading America, the economic elite cheating their way into the champion over more honest and hard-working people, or some dude getting jealous eyes and stealing your girl so you have to elbowsmash the shit out of him. 

 

The problem with The Masked Man is that he sees himself as Roland Barthes, but he writes more like Barthes after a severe brain hemorrhage. 

[nate]

Oh shit, I forgot about Hyatte. Always loved his Nitro reviews as a kid. I remember being hyped as fuck when he resurfaced on DOI of all places.

Yeah, I miss reading his departure articles when he would go from website to website. Scoops, 411wrestling, DOI, there was another one I'm forgetting, then his own blogspot I think. Each time riding the coattails of former glories.Edit: Replace "there was another one ..." w/ Inside Pulse.

[JRGoldman]

From the few interactions i havebhad with him, he seems a long time fan. But the brooklyn hipster gimmick is a tad too strong for me.Also, nothing wrong about writing about writng acsdemically about the rasslin.

I would encourage everyone to try and write about wrestling academically. I would also encourage said writers to learn the meaning of terms they bandy about. Really, I think that people should learn that writing clearly and correctly about simpler ideas makes you seem more intelligent than throwing random words around when they don't actually apply to any idea you are writing about. For the record, I really like Dead Wrestler of the Week.

[prboyle]

 

 

I hate to do this every month, but this month the masked man said CM Punk used a steel chair and the ring steps in a post modern fashion. He's got to be trolling at this point, right? I mean, he can't be serious any more. It's like someone gave Gonzalez a masters in Literature and made him write for Bill Simmons.

 

I saw that too and rolled my eyes. The Masked Man comes off like a writer who has a casual knowledge of wrestling and somehow ended up writing about it.  It was probably the only thing he ever wrote which elicited any kind of response so he stuck with it. He is constantly trying to overarticulate and overcompensate because of it.

 

He'll put together three paragraphs of utter nonsense, throwing in some big words, and talking about themes which are 65% in his imagination.  Then to show that he is knowledgeable about this stuff he'll start dropping Ox Baker and Bo Dallas references.

 

It's a shame too because the Masked Man's spot on Grantland is probably the premier wrestling writing slot in terms of readership.  Simmons could've put someone great there.

 

In that same article, he describes Punk as exhibiting.

 

 

This is a theme with internet sportswriters these days. A lot of them write in such a pretentious, arrogant, and pompous manner that it's awful reading. It's like because they write for a sports site or blog and not the New Yorker they have to overcompensate for it. Bill Simmons is turning into the worst thing to ever happen to sports writing because he seemingly spawned an entire generation of horrible, horrible, clones.

 

If you guys think the wrestling discussion is overwrought and horrible you should check out some of the people from Basketball Twitter.

 

 

When it comes to pseudo-academic musings on rasslin', I think a good percentage of the blame has to be attributed to Henry Jenkins. That said, The Masked Man doesn't have a fraction of Jenkins' writing chops or ability to make simple arguments seem complex through obfuscation. Instead, we get ingenious concepts like the postmodern chairshot.

[JRGoldman]

I think I'm going to start a podcast called postmodern chair shot.

[odessasteps]

IIRC, i think i wrote a political science paper as an undergrad about how wrestling villains reflect the cultural zeitgeist of the era (nazis, russians, arabs, etc).

I also got to the Bowling Green popular culture department the year after Ted Hobgood was there, who did a bunch of academic writing on wrestling.

[cool arrow]

Per today's WO update: Ryan Drago's WWE name is Simon Gotch, and Samuray Del Sol is now Kalisto.

 

I assume the Neutralizer won't be referred to as Gotch-style anymore.

[Gonzalez]

 Samuray Del Sol is now Kalisto.

 

 

 

?

 

No Ronin, Bushido, Shogun, or hundreds of other cooler names that have to do with Feudal Japan?  

[cool arrow]

You... do know he's not actually Japanese, right?