RIP DEAN RASMUSSEN

[For Great Justice]

To talk about how good DEAN was at his craft, I can honestly say without an ounce of hyperbole that he belongs on the Mt Rushmore of pro wrestling writers.

Of course there’s Meltzer, and there’s Bill Apter. But at a time in the late 90’s / early 2000’s when the influence of Meltzer and less talented clones like Scott Keith drove the general internet wrestling fandom ethos in one direction, DEAN and by proxy DVDVR represented that counter culture of “no, we don’t want to see Lance Storm perfectly execute moves; we want to see Jerry Lawler punch a motherfucker in the face”

And that was massive. And I think it shaped all of us and how we view wrestling. It can’t be understated.

[writeradam84]

As I said on Twitter, hearing of Dean's passing saddens me. He sounded like a true gem of a guy from all accounts. 

I started thinking back on it more last night and this morning too. I remember reading DVDVR issues from the mid-2000s and a lot of the stuff I read on there was Dean. I went back on the Internet Archive this morning and read a few too. His joy and passion in writing about whatever was fantastic. One of them I read, he was talking about a Barry Windham tag match from SuperBrawl 92, then in the same paragraph, starts talking about a phone call he made to Rippa about something, completely goes off topic, and then somehow comes back to the match itself. Just from that I could tell he was having a great time.

I'm going to dig through the Internet Archive to see what else I can find and just try to read a bunch of those today as it's a slow day at work.

Hearing about Dean's passing as well makes me want to try to infuse more enthusiasm into my own writing as well, which I'm definitely going to try to do as a small tribute to Dean. I may not know him as well as a lot of you do. I never talked with him or really interacted with him online. However, I share my condolences with those who do know him and were friends of his.

[JLSigman]

Gods, I needed a minute.

Yes, I came to the board way back in the late 90's for the wrestling stuff, but Dean also posted about everything he loved. His first "Bang the head that does not bang" thread introduced me to SO MUCH indy and non-American metal that I still listen to today. When I had health problems, he said he'd pray for me, and that meant a lot coming from a dude I met once at a wrestling show in the middle of nowhere, North Carolina. Because he meant it.

Rest well, Dean. Watch those matches and do the heavenly write-ups.

[Zimbra]

A quintessential picture of DEAN

[supremebve]

RIP. I've been here a very long time and DEAN is one of the first voices I really latched onto when I found the board. I've been around the internet wrestling community since the mid to late 90s, and so many people act like wrestling is some sacred cow. DEAN talked about wrestling how I felt about wrestling. He treated wrestling as a fun past time to share with friends and I always loved reading his thoughts. I'm going to miss him. 

I hope people around here know how much this board means to me and the role it fills in my life.  I don't believe I've ever met anyone here in person, and I live a pretty full life outside of the board,  but this little corner of the internet has been a consistent part of my life for a long ass time. I have been through multiple jobs,  relationships,  friendships,  etc., and through it all this board has been a constant. I want you all to know that I appreciate you and enjoy arguing about the dumbest parts of wrestling,  sports,  video games,  and all types of other shit, with all of you. 

[Log]

I hate this term, but Dean really was an influencer. Of course I mean that in the most positive of ways. It's a fact that we all wouldn't be here doing what we do here without him. He had a way of making the most ridiculous or even mundane things about wrestling seem exciting and novel. 

Also, let's not underrate how absolutely hilarious he was. He's literally one of the funniest writers I've ever read. He'd have me chuckling like an idiot at my desk at work all the time.

I'll miss reading his writing on wrestling, but mostly I'm sad for his family. He began almost every show review with some activity he'd taken his kids to or something he'd done with them. I know a lot of you knew him personally, and while I didn't, he always seemed like a great dad to me.

My heart goes out to his wife, kids and any other loved ones missing him right now.

[The Comedian]

Mr. Ras-moose-en,

You know I was a fan since I first saw your CONTENT~! in '99. Being The Comedian, I had to pay my tribute to you with a rib. Hopefully, once you're settled into whatever corner of purgatory God sticks Cowboys fans in, you'll look down and, among all the love, you'll get a LOL out of a donation from an old "friend" of DVDVR.

Thanks for a quarter century of unbridled enthusiasm pal...

[Greggulator]

I have no idea where he wrote it. But Dean once wrote something like "I'm drunk enough to admit that I was gay." That's one of the funniest things I've ever read in my life. A lot of my other favorite Dean stuff is how much he loved Queen, which then bled into the Japanese Queen tribute act named Kween. 

I don't know who discovered what. But I'm pretty sure Dean brought the world the Antichristo promo, which is where the "number one and the best" line he used came from. I use the "number one and the best" like in my own life quite a but. I've showed so many people Ken The Box over the years as a love of the ridiculousness of wrestling.

Dean was also the first person I remember talking up the insane Dirty White Boy angle where whoever his valet was at the time was asking Tom Pritchard for help because DWB was hitting her, and it was all a ruse that led to a near hanging of Doctor Tom. It's truly an angle of its time. 

I performed comedy for a really long time, and the theatrics of wrestling, and how performers express emotion is something I absolutely stole/steal. Dean was so great at appreciating and capturing all of that -- his Eddie Guerrero appreciation on Eddie's epic Smackdown heel run was so influential in me not just looking for those things in wrestling but taking it for my own work.

That's one of the things I love most about Dean and DVDVR. I never got too into anything beyond the most easily accessible wrestling. But Dean wasn't just a fan of traditionally good wrestling. He was as big -- and probably a bigger fan -- of the absolute absurd side of playfighting. 

I have been crying today on the news. Dean was just absolutely aces. He not just understood how to have fun with wrestling, but in life in general. 

[Craig H]

Dean, you're loved more than you'll ever know. Your enthusiasm for talking about something as stupid as wrasslin' will live forever and more and more has been how I've tried and how I've seen other people try to digest wrestling. You grew up with a bunch of us idiots on here and showed what it's like to mature more than us. You didn't sink to any lows and always was this mountain of positivity. I don't know. I just don't know what else to say. I'm just fucking numb. We love you Dean and miss you greatly.

You're the Ryan Davis of the wrestling community and if I lived in a big city and had skills with spraypaint, I'd graffiti the side of a building with your visage in a mask with "DEAN~!" over it. Much like Ryan, you're still a threat. Always.

Love you big guy.

[Fighting a man with a perm]

RIP Dean and condolences to all who loved him.

His posts exuded joy, and that's a wonderful thing to put out into the world

[Godfrey]

RIP Dean Rasmussen

His joy for wrestling was a shining light during the early internet years and he will be sorely missed

[J.H.]

I have used 2 Dean quotes multiple times on women I know to let them know they are attractive and should not doubt their beauty. The fact that these women smiled and/or laughed at these lines tells you all you need to know about how funny Dean was.

James

Edited June 29, 2023 by J.H.

[MADCAP]

I found this site via Ollie’s Wrestling Resource in the late 90’s and found myself apart of the wrestling bubble after being hooked on Dean’s RAW and Nitro reviews. Thank you Dean for putting such words and phrases as “KING SIZED” and “tight paunts” and of course the "~!" into my lexicon but more importantly, thank you making pro wrestling and the IWC fun to be apart of. My sincerest condolences to his family as well. Without knowing him personally, he really seemed like a stand up kind of guy. 

[Craig H]

I'm sitting here on a fucking conference call just crying (I turned video off), looking through his gofundme, and looking at the outpouring of love for DEAN~!. 

Trying to think of a funny memory of Dean from the past and I can't do much except think about his family and him not being here physically. 

On a non-wrestling note, Dean was the first person to expose me to Tegan and Sara. This is one of those things where you have no idea where the roads or paths in life takes you, but if Dean doesn't talk about T&S, then I don't know if I ever listen to them, and many, many years later when I meet my now wife, T&S isn't one of the first things we really connect over (they're my wife's favorite band) or talk about on our first date. Maybe my musical tastes are just shittier as a result. And then I never get tickets for us to go see them and maybe I'm not with her today. Sometimes it's hard to not be a fatalist, but there's a definitely line there from a discussion of music with Dean to what my life is now and I'm eternally thankful and grateful for that.

That might sound crazy, I don't know, but that's just the type of connection I think he helped make.

[JLowe]

I saw the news last night on a quick Twitter scroll and had to keep everything inside as it was my wife's birthday and she was having a good day and we were making the most of it.

I don't know if DEAN~! literally invented the tilde-bang, but as far as I'm concerned he did. I forgot until reading this thread that terms I use in my regular life like "a million billion stars" and "number one and the best" were Dean-isms. On the other hand, I know that Dean coined the term "tiny paunts" that I use to this day when I watch wresting.

I "met" Dean on RSPW, before there was even a RSPW-M. In my mind, he was the person who created RSPW-M, but that's probably not 100% accurate. We shared a love of Juventud Guerrera, Magnum Tokyo (tiny paunts!), guys punching guys in the face, and the original Women of Wrestling. Like so many others, I asked Dean for some tapes and he obliged with a wad of puroresu, including Toryumon and GAEA, which was my first real exposure to joshi. edit to add And a best of Survival Tobita tape, how could I forget that! 

I've only ever gotten one warning from the mods on this board. It was from Dean, for making personal attacks in a thread in the Music folder. It was like disappointing my "cool" older brother, and I've tried to behave myself every since.

Intense fandom can be very toxic, full of gatekeepers. DEAN~! was the opposite of that, he was the very best of what you can be when you are passionate about something.

Thinking of his family and his friends in this hard time. I hope the memories we share about this great man give them some comfort.

Edited May 5, 2023 by JLowe

[DJ Hero Morganti]

I don't have much to say but Dean is the type of wrestling fan I always wanted to be.  His posts always brought me joy and honestly in the current environment the world is in, that's good enough. 

 

~! Dean.  You will be missed ~!

[Greggulator]

This is not even a joke. But since TK used to post here and no doubt read the reviews -- is AEW even a thing without Dean~? 

Maybe it is. But the best part about AEW, in my opinion, is the variety and weirdo matchups that we get to have in our lives. Can you imagine what pro wrestling would be like without Dean and everyone else in DVDVR not writing about it? It was either said here or on Twitter, but so much of what the tastemakers and influencers were hyping up as "good" wrestling was and is so completely uninteresting to me. That's not say that Dean and DVDVR didn't like that stuff, because they did. But AEW isn't afraid to give us some random thing like Swerve vs. Dustin Rhodes, and that feels inspired by Dean and DVDVR's love of something like "Tommy Rich vs. Villano XIV in a German carnival broadcast in Japan."  

I have become such a fan of Orange Cassidy. I think OC is the best wrestler in the world right now. So much of that is because of OC's uncanny ability to have really quality matches with Big Bill Cassidy, Kip Sabian, Yuta Wheeler and Jeff Jarrett in essentially every week. I have no idea if OC has any idea who Dean is. But it definitely feels a lot like "Hey, Orange, you're going to face XXX next week, I know, totally random" is directly drawn from Dean and the DVDVR.

Edited May 5, 2023 by Greggulator

[Thomas Bugg]

Wow, I just learned about Dean's passing a few minutes ago   

 

#RIPDean 

[Steventon]

Sad news. I've spent the majority of my time in these circles as a lurker, reading other peoples' comments and opinions as a way of better digesting and understanding my own thoughts and feelings on whatever wrestling silliness was the topic of conversation. Even though I had little to no direct contact with Dean, I always enjoyed his commentary and insistence on writing like a total madman. As others have said, his pure enthusiasm was infectious and I am one of 100s if not 1000s who have likely been directly or indirectly influenced by his love and sharing of pro wrestling. For me, DVDVR is synonymous with DEAN. 

Condolences to his family and those that knew him, he seemed like a really great guy.

[Craig H]

25 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

This is not even a joke. But since TK used to post here and no doubt read the reviews -- is AEW even a thing without Dean~? 

Maybe it is. But the best part about AEW, in my opinion, is the variety and weirdo matchups that we get to have in our lives. Can you imagine what pro wrestling would be like without Dean and everyone else in DVDVR not writing about it? It was either said here or on Twitter, but so much of what the tastemakers and influencers were hyping up as "good" wrestling was and is so completely uninteresting to me. That's not say that Dean and DVDVR didn't like that stuff, because they did. But AEW isn't afraid to give us some random thing like Swerve vs. Dustin Rhodes, and that feels inspired by Dean and DVDVR's love of something like "Tommy Rich vs. Villano XIV in a German carnival broadcast in Japan."  

I have become such a fan of Orange Cassidy. I think OC is the best wrestler in the world right now. So much of that is because of OC's uncanny ability to have really quality matches with Big Bill Cassidy, Kip Sabian, Yuta Wheeler and Jeff Jarrett in essentially every week. I have no idea if OC has any idea who Dean is. But it definitely feels a lot like "Hey, Orange, you're going to face XXX next week, I know" is directly drawn from Dean and the DVDVR.

I thought about the exact same thing.

[Winnipagan]

I'm just hearing about this today. I can't pretend to be as sorry as some. All I can say is he put a smile on my face for a lot of days, and to his wife and kids, and his family, I can't begin to think what this means.  

 

Shine on, you crazy diamond. 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

Gutted. Just logged in and saw I caught a 'like' here, and noticed the thread title change when I opened my inbox. So beyond sorry to his friends and family, and everyone here. Mods, please let us know if there is anything we can do for you or them beyond just the GFM. 

I'm reminded of the quote Mick Foley paraphrased in his first book (I think from a Willie Nelson song) in regard to Owen's passing: There were many who knew him better, and loved him more, but I was glad to call him a friend. (I've probably got that wrong, but it's been 20 years).

Until I can gather my thoughts in more of an organized way, I've got no problem being the 100th person to say it today: DEAN will always rule the motherfucking world. RIP and thank you so very, very much for everything.

[cubbymark]

Not much more I can say that hasn’t already been echoed my so many others. But one of my lasting memories of DEAN’s enthusiasm for wrestling was his unabashed fandom for WOW’s Riot and her hot pants. I was in high school during WOW 1.0 and while it was campy and kind of bad, I still watched. It was kind of cool to see someone so excited about WOW. 
 

RIP.

[pmo]

I can't say posted here much... if at all but I've been lurking since the brown board days in the late 90s.  I never talked with Dean but I enjoyed the hell out of the DVDVRs and the general joyful madness with Highways to Ham, the ~!, and so on.  Considering the success he bread with Alumni like a National NFL writer it's kinda like a Velvet Underground thing here and he's a big part of that.  Anyway RIP to the number one and best.

[J.T.]

9 minutes ago, cubbymark said:

Not much more I can say that hasn’t already been echoed my so many others. But one of my lasting memories of DEAN’s enthusiasm for wrestling was his unabashed fandom for WOW’s Riot and her hot pants. I was in high school during WOW 1.0 and while it was campy and kind of bad, I still watched. It was kind of cool to see someone so excited about WOW.

Who knew at that time that Riot had one of the best looking power bombs in North America?

Edited May 5, 2023 by J.T.