I went to an indie wrestling show in Houston and it was the most fun. It was horror themed and an all woman show for mother's Day. The finale wound up being an undead doll character named doll face who was fighting against her ghost twin for possession of the doll's body and wound up instead taking control of the producers body. I cannot recommend to everybody reading this to please go and see a local wrestling show for an incredibly good time. Glad you loved it Scott!
I've been a wrestling fan on and off since my teens (mostly getting back into it a decade or so ago), so it's always fun to see someone mostly unfamiliar with it get to take a look. We've had a pretty thriving indie scene here in and around DC, so I've gotten to see a number of people appear in front of a couple hundred people show up on TV a few years later. It's always a blst
I could feel how much fun that experience was for you through the screen. What a great piece. And look at that, another Indian person in a wrestling promotion! It's so wild to me how pro wrestling made it to India and is a pretty popular thing there. Watching WWE dubbed in Tamil is amazing.
The excited look on my face when I saw today's newsletter was going to be about indie wrestling.
I have a graph I like to use for pro wrestling fandom. When you're little and it's "real" it's skyrocketing up. There's the crash when you learn it's scripted. My favorite part though is when (if, really) you come back to it as an adult and get that new, better appreciation for it and just how impressive it is that the injuries are so rare. It's comic books and ballet. I pay my $20 and get to cheer and boo as loudly as possible and watch someone be thrown through the air.
Two weeks ago I went to three separate wrestling events here in Chicago over the span of 8 days, each telling vastly different stories. One promotion is intentionally silly, with wrestlers named Pubic Moose and Nolan the fucking Wizard. The second was a true indie promotion like the one you went to and put on a show in an arcade. Some goofy stuff like a wrestling lifeguard and a man in a foil hat yelling conspiracies while wrestling, but also massive folks pummeling each other (and me getting mad at the ref for not knowing how to put an actually dislocated shoulder back in). The final was the big AEW show at the United Center. A very silly, very wonderful week.
So, on that-- Full Swing (golf) and Break Point (tennis) are direct parallels to Drive to Survive, since they go on the week-to-week, through-the-season format.
This is a lot more like Cheer and Last Chance U--less focused on the results in competition and more on the drama.
I think there's one on the Tour de France as well. Which makes me think of one of my favorite prompts: what would be the most miserable role in the highest level of any sport (my answer is domestique on the main UCI tour).
Always appreciate the kindness and curiosity you show to worlds/things that aren’t normally your thing. Excited to dig into this show over the next couple days (just fired up the first episode) but as a lifelong fan that still travels multiple times per year for shows it’s always nice to see good folks treat this silly world with respect instead of derision
The feature piece that I wrote for Decider about Netflix's "Wrestlers" is now live:
https://decider.com/2023/09/13/wrestlers-netflix-decider-interviews/
I went to an indie wrestling show in Houston and it was the most fun. It was horror themed and an all woman show for mother's Day. The finale wound up being an undead doll character named doll face who was fighting against her ghost twin for possession of the doll's body and wound up instead taking control of the producers body. I cannot recommend to everybody reading this to please go and see a local wrestling show for an incredibly good time. Glad you loved it Scott!
I've been a wrestling fan on and off since my teens (mostly getting back into it a decade or so ago), so it's always fun to see someone mostly unfamiliar with it get to take a look. We've had a pretty thriving indie scene here in and around DC, so I've gotten to see a number of people appear in front of a couple hundred people show up on TV a few years later. It's always a blst
I could feel how much fun that experience was for you through the screen. What a great piece. And look at that, another Indian person in a wrestling promotion! It's so wild to me how pro wrestling made it to India and is a pretty popular thing there. Watching WWE dubbed in Tamil is amazing.
The excited look on my face when I saw today's newsletter was going to be about indie wrestling.
I have a graph I like to use for pro wrestling fandom. When you're little and it's "real" it's skyrocketing up. There's the crash when you learn it's scripted. My favorite part though is when (if, really) you come back to it as an adult and get that new, better appreciation for it and just how impressive it is that the injuries are so rare. It's comic books and ballet. I pay my $20 and get to cheer and boo as loudly as possible and watch someone be thrown through the air.
Two weeks ago I went to three separate wrestling events here in Chicago over the span of 8 days, each telling vastly different stories. One promotion is intentionally silly, with wrestlers named Pubic Moose and Nolan the fucking Wizard. The second was a true indie promotion like the one you went to and put on a show in an arcade. Some goofy stuff like a wrestling lifeguard and a man in a foil hat yelling conspiracies while wrestling, but also massive folks pummeling each other (and me getting mad at the ref for not knowing how to put an actually dislocated shoulder back in). The final was the big AEW show at the United Center. A very silly, very wonderful week.
Halfway through the night, I was thinking "dang, this is only $10? that's good value!"
It's just amazing how many sports Netflix is giving the Drive To Survive treatment.
So, on that-- Full Swing (golf) and Break Point (tennis) are direct parallels to Drive to Survive, since they go on the week-to-week, through-the-season format.
This is a lot more like Cheer and Last Chance U--less focused on the results in competition and more on the drama.
I think there's one on the Tour de France as well. Which makes me think of one of my favorite prompts: what would be the most miserable role in the highest level of any sport (my answer is domestique on the main UCI tour).
I forgot about the TDF one. I normally would've reviewed that but I think it came out (ironically) when I was in France.
Always appreciate the kindness and curiosity you show to worlds/things that aren’t normally your thing. Excited to dig into this show over the next couple days (just fired up the first episode) but as a lifelong fan that still travels multiple times per year for shows it’s always nice to see good folks treat this silly world with respect instead of derision