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The Viceland Wrestling Documentaries


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45 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Seems new to me, but pretty interesting. Maybe I got the two events crossed up in my addled brain. 

The one RIPPA posted is a more famous story that even kinda made news in the states because it was wild (seeing as it was two minis). There was even an independent film made based off the story.

The Abismo Negro and the circumstances around his death was probably just speculation from that time. So you're likely thinking of the right thing.

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Yeah IIRC it was investigated as murder at first and either I didn't find out about the investigation's results or just forgot. I think I also heard about the minis murder but forgot about it too. Ack. 

The funny thing is I was thinking about the minis case "this would make a really interesting short film" and go figure it ended up as a very interesting full-length. I'd watch that subtitled or not.  

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I still think if they are going to do puro, Misawa would be the best starting point. Legitimately huge star, and you've got both the AJPW/NOAH split and the tragic in-ring death, plus you can dive deep into the high risk style and how it led to the tragedy.

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On 1/15/2021 at 1:37 PM, RIPPA said:

Add the Johnny K-9/Bruiser Bedlam one as all but certain.

From the new WON

 

Remember Corny's line on him: "He's the nicest murderer you'll ever meet!"

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21 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

I still think if they are going to do puro, Misawa would be the best starting point. Legitimately huge star, and you've got both the AJPW/NOAH split and the tragic in-ring death, plus you can dive deep into the high risk style and how it led to the tragedy.

I dunno.. when you got Rikidozan getting stabbed with a urine soaked blade in a Japanese night club, Misawa seems a little too... neat?
Now Haybusa... that's a story

I mean I'd want them to cover Plum Mariko but that ain't gonna happen

James

 

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On 1/17/2021 at 11:56 AM, J.H. said:

I dunno.. when you got Rikidozan getting stabbed with a urine soaked blade in a Japanese night club, Misawa seems a little too... neat?
Now Haybusa... that's a story

I mean I'd want them to cover Plum Mariko but that ain't gonna happen

James

IMO You need some type of narrative thread. I think sort of the issue I had with the Road Warriors one is it was basically a retelling of a very long career (an anachronistic retelling at that) with some other stuff sprinkled in. 

For all the talk of how physical that style was, Misawa managed to wrestle for about 30 years. Plum Mariko wrestled like a third of that, and Emiko Kado wrestled all of two months before dying. So to me, I think the best option for a Japanese one is just an all encompassing one (well as much as you can cover in 40 minutes) covering the rise and fall of Japanese pro wrestling or joshi puroresu from the mid to late 80s to the mid 2000s. I feel like everyone who is a hardcore wrestling fan knows how the territory era came to end and basically came down to Crockett and Vince McMahon before rolling into Turner owned WCW and WWF until 2001. I feel like you can cover all the notable events using the narrative of how Japan went from the wet dream of tape traders everywhere to how politics, bad management and booking, the physicality of the different styles, and the sweeping under the rug of certain incidents brought everything down across the board much like what happened to the U.S. and U.S. adjacent territories. That way if you want to end with the Misawa death, you have a much better context of why that matters as opposed to a man having a long, super successful career before dying.

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Misawa's post-2000 run was somewhat tragic besides his death: he always was trying to push himself away from the spotlight but business necessity brought him back again and again.

Another angle to tackle Japan would be to look at the brutality of the dojos. You have three deaths (Hiromitsu Gompei in NJPW 95, the fallout (or lack therefore) lead to Hiroshi Hase leaving NJPW, Giant Ochai in WJPW 03 and apparently there was a death in one of the UWF promotions as well) to start with, along with lots and lots of horrible stories.

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12 hours ago, Robert s said:

Misawa's post-2000 run was somewhat tragic besides his death: he always was trying to push himself away from the spotlight but business necessity brought him back again and again.

How many of those guys actually step away though? It's either they get pushed out or they no longer can physically do it. They goes double if you actually run a company that's trying to establish an legit fanbase and you're one of the key components.

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Don't know what the source is but reddit is reporting:

  • Pillman
  • FMW
  • XPW
  • Nick Gage
  • Collision in Korea
  • The Smith Family (Grizzly, Jake, Sam Houston, Rockin' Robin)
  • Bruiser Bedlam

I know that negativity, conflict, and awfulness sell, and we just love to slow down and stare at a car crash, but God damn I really wish Vice would bring back "The Wrestlers" to serve as some sort of positive counterpoint to all this. 

Edited by Technico Support
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That could be just as sleazy as the sleaze thread

You know, looking at that lineup, I think will be a far less maudlin season. Besides the Pillman and Smith Family stories, most of these are far more lurid than depressing. They'll probably get their highest numbers yet. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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18 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I bet the Reddit list comes from this thread

It comes from a Mance Warner tweet, where he shared a picture from some random website. Later, the producers said on Twitter that they're almost halfway through filming the FOURTEEN episodes. So that's only half of the episode count if those are in fact real.

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20 hours ago, Technico Support said:

The Smith Family (Grizzly, Jake, Sam Houston, Rockin' Robin)

Sorta related to this: After listening to a story Arn told on his podcast about Sam stopping Baby Doll from getting the boys (IIRC Flair, Dusty, Arn, Tully, and Crockett Jr.) food when all the restaurants in town were closed down for the night, it makes me wonder why some of the 2nd and 3rd gen wrestlers are cursed or shunned but others are way more accepted. It's easy see why Angelo Mosca Jr, Erik Watts, and David Sammartino didn't make it but folks like Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes did. However, Sam wasn't that bad as a worker AFAIK. He wasn't the worker Jake was, but still solid. Based on how folks talk about him (especially Arn's tone in telling the story), it seems like folks didn't like him because he was "punching above his weight class" so to speak in going out with Baby Doll. That's kinda fucked up and a hell of a hand to be dealt especially when your family patriarch is Grizzly Smith. He couldn't catch any breaks.

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