Links for May 2009

Below are links to some wrestling-related blog entries & articles that I found interesting during the month of May 2009.

• Rantables: A Character Shattered. I have similar feelings about hearing Umaga speak perfect English on Smackdown.
• Stunt Grannie: 10th Anniversary of the Death of Owen Hart
• [Insert Meaningful Title Here]: Current Situation in the World of Fake Violence. He used the “F” word (fake), but I’m still linking anyway . Echoes some of my previous rants (here, here, and here) about not pushing younger stars.
• Wayne McCarty: F1rst Wrestling: The Return 09. Jerry Lynn vs. Sean “Lightning Kid” “XPac” Waltman on June 19th, 2009.
• The Buzz: Great Moment in Pro Wrestling History – Genesis of the nWo. Hulk Hogan turns heel and joins the nWo in 1996.
• Wrestlegasm: The Dirtiest Job on the Internet… is being a fan blogging about professional wrestling.
• World Wrestling Fan: Montreal Screwjob. A recounting of the incident in Montreal between Vince McMahon and Bret Hart.
• The Buzz: Great Moment in Wrestling History — Macho Man Reunites with Miss Elizabeth. Ohhh yeahhh!
• Heelzone: WWE Releases Mr. Kennedy… Kennedy! Green Bay wrestler Mr. Kennedy (Ken Anderson), who just made his return to TV last week after being out for ten months, gets the axe. WrestleZone claims that the last straw was when he almost reinjured Randy Orton’s shoulder.

As I run across things, I’m also going to be adding them to my Delicious bookmarks page (http://delicious.com/drdarindavis). You can also find the last 10 of them on the right side of the page towards the bottom.

The Dummy

Last week on TNA Wrestling, Mick Foley fought a “match” against a cardboard cutout of Rocky Balboa.

That reminded me of the Sharkey/Fox wrestling camp back in the late 1990’s when someone introduced “The Dummy” to the roster of wrestling trainees.

“The Dummy” was sort of like a mannequin, except that it wasn’t the hard plastic kind you would normally see in an unnatural pose in a store window. This one had some kind of a wire-frame skeleton that was covered in padding and wrapped in a skin of fabric. Not quite burlap, but something close. I’m not sure what the official name of this contraption would be, but it looked like it was something that fabric could be pinned to. An oversize pincushion in human form. It had a torso, a head, and some skinny arms and legs that were sort of posable.

The Dummy was ranked just below “the rookie” on the seniority scale of the trainees. If someone was working on perfecting a new move, they might work it into match with one of the “veterans”. If it was the first time trying the move out, the veteran could tell them NO (possibly running the risk of being called a pussy). If that happened, then the move would instead be tried on a rookie. The rookie already got to do fun things like setting up the ring before the shows and tearing it down after (and of course doing the same at the wrestling camp if the camp ring was being used at the show). Why not inflict more punishment to make them “pay their dues” for the privilege of someday also being able to say NO (and also possibly being called a pussy).

However, there was some fine print and a hidden clause in the unwritten rules of the wrestling camp. If the move was potentially too dangerous even for the lowly rookie, the move would be attempted instead on The Dummy.

When wrestling The Dummy, the only person at risk for getting injured was yourself, which was acceptable since you were the one trying to do this crazy thing in the first place. The Dummy could take a punch, although he wasn’t the best at selling.  He never refused a beating, probably because he didn’t have a mouth or the ability to do hand gestures.

Some of the better guys, like Austin Aries, could have a pretty entertaining match with The Dummy. It always reminded me of a quote that people had said about Ric Flair 15 or 20 years ago: “Ric Flair could have a great match with a chair.“

The Dummy couldn’t refuse, but that also meant that he couldn’t tell you how much it hurt. That part seemed to be the job of Terry Fox. If you tried a move with The Dummy and it looked like it was really stiff, Terry would shout out, “You kiiiiilled him!“.

Nobody wanted the reputation of working stiff. You wanted to work “snug”. There is a big difference. If you ended up “kiiilling” him, good luck finding someone to take that move in a match. Now would be a good time to look around and see who didn’t show up to camp that day. Maybe they would be willing if you told them, “I worked on it in camp- the guy didn’t complain“.

Remembering Shirley

Last week, my childhood friend Carey’s  mother passed away. This was the second close friend in a little over a year who lost a mother.

His mother Shirley was very creative. She ran a ceramics studio (which is how our parents met), she painted (watercolor and acrylic), sewed, crocheted, did needlepoint, made clothing, and was a terrific cook.

During junior and senior high school I practically lived over at their house in the summer, eating three meals a day there for several day stretches. She always used to say, “I need to put some weight on you. Fatten you up.” It eventually worked, but that was a few years later

Even though I rant a lot about how bad wrestling storylines can be, one thing that I’ve always liked about wrestling was being able to tell a story within a wrestling match (or across a series if you were lucky). A match should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. As a rookie, you sometimes started in the middle, or you ended in the middle. Over time you figured out how to get the crowd involved and let them influence the sequence of events, building up to a finish that they would react to. They might end up happy or angry, but they reacted if you did it right.

I’d like to think that some part of me was influenced by the creative people in my life, and Shirley was one of them.

We will miss you.

Links for April 2009

Below are links to some wrestling-related blog entries & articles that I found interesting during the month of April 2009.

• Parallel Dimension: The Road Warriors: The Life & Death of the Most Dominant Tag Team of All Time. Review of a DVD set of the Road Warriors. Mentioned how Eddie Sharkey (he was also my trainer) trained them in the basement of a church.
• Ed Mayes: Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair. One of their classics from the late ’80s.
• Defy This!: A to Z Wrestling. A scan of a few pages of what I thought was an overseas edition of WWE magazine. Turns out it was an article for a music magazine (see comments below) covering wrestling from A to Z. Definitely not complete by any means, but a fun read.
• Lulu.com: A Fool for Old School. A collection of 20 columns, originally published at The Fight Network and Live Audio Wrestling websites. For sale at Lulu.com
• The Post and Courier: Mania a Show of Hits and (More) Misses. Review of Wrestlemania 25 by Mike Mooneyham.
• Sean’s Place: Wrestlemania Memories. Sean shares his top moments of previous Wrestlemanias.
  
• Rantables: Raw and Draft Thoughts. More thoughts on the recent WWE draft.
• Wayne McCarty: 8 Stupid Questions for Brody Hoofer. Wayne interviews Brody Hoofer, a fellow Sharkey trainee.
• Rantables: Top 5 Worst Finishing Moves.  I would add the Samoan Spike to this list, but he has it on his list of Top 8 Best Finishers.
• Wrestling DVD Reviews: Andy Kaufman Breakfast with Blassie/I’m From Hollywood. I saw these a few years ago and liked them. Sounds like there is some extra footage in the Commemorative Edition.
• JimCornette.com: Jim Cornette Commentary- “The Write Stuff”. This was the basis of my recent post, The State of Wrestling Today.
• Dwarf and the Basilisk: RIP Buddy Rose. Former AWA, WWF wrestler “Playboy” Buddy Rose passed away at the end of April.
• WrestleZone: Promoters Claim Scam by Dale Gagner. This piece of work was promoting when I was actively wrestling. Never worked for him, but heard of some of his dealings, especially his unlicensed use of the AWA name.
  

As I run across things, I’m also going to be adding them to my Delicious bookmarks page (http://delicious.com/drdarindavis). You can also find the last 10 of them on the right side of the page towards the bottom.