Professional wrestling, brought to you by pop culture and the make believe world of mass media.
“The Wrestler”
Season 2, Episode 12
1/7/1962
Yes. Mister Ed had a wrestling-themed episode. Sadly, it didn’t involve Mister Ed wrestling against a human wrestler. They could’ve at least used him as part of a grand spectacle of an entrance. Then again, it was 1962 and that sort of thing would’ve probably caused granny plants in the audience to faint.
2015 wasn’t the greatest year for wrestling legends in terms of breaking news stories. Two of the greatest entertainers, Dusty Rhodes and Roddy Piper, passed away. Jimmy Snuka was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter of his then-girlfriend, Nancy Argentino, 32 years after the fact. And, even though former Hulkmaniacs thought it impossible, Hulk Hogan was able to further desecrate his legacy and contribution to professional wrestling by adding to his already long list of personal failures and embarrassments his dropping of the n-word. Multiple times. Seriously, you would’ve thought it was one of the Hulkamania commandments after “take your vitamins.”
Thankfully, this site focuses on wrestling in pop culture. So even when it’s bad, it’s not going to leave you depressed and questioning everything you kayfabe believed in. And luckily, 2015 was a good year for pro wrestling within the canon of pop culture.
Continue reading “2015: The Year of Wrestling in Pop Culture”
Tired of getting the same mainstream, high quality, detailed little plastic wrestling men Mattel keeps putting out? Do you prefer five points of articulation as opposed to twenty-something? If you answered yes, no, or the more realistic, don’t care, you should still check out these infamous lines of bootleg wrestling action figures only most hardcore collectors are familiar with. They might even make the perfect gift this holiday season.
With the new wrestling-themed comic book Ringside coming out this month, and every other wrestling and comic book blog having already conducted an interview with Ringside creative team: Joe Keatinge and Nick Barber, I figured I would take a different approach to celebrate its debut. Instead, I’ll take a look at past notable comic book wrestlers. Here’s hoping Ringside’s new top draw is just as memorable or, at the very least, searchable on Google.
The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco
11/5/2003
Season 5 Episode 6
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s spin-off show, Angel, tackles Aztec demons, Day of the Dead lore, and numbered luchadores who happen to be brothers and are not named Los Villanos.
Yes, that’s a long ass title. But how else can you shorten, “Hey, here’s a list of pop culture stuff that involves pro wrestling with a horror/supernatural slant that would be perfect to watch, read, or play in the spirit of Halloween”? Exactly. Now, do yourself a favor and check out the list.
The fact that you can become just as popular as Hulk Hogan in the 80’s, and do an even better job at transcending pro wrestling and cementing yourself a spot in pop culture, without the full backing of the WWE, speaks volumes of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s endless talent and charisma. Nowadays, it’s clear that Piper not only made better life choices than Hogan, but he also made better career decisions when it came to acting on TV and film. My favorite part about seeing Piper in other forms of media was his interpretation of different wrestling gimmicks, even when they were simply an extension of the Hot Rod himself. So, here’s a look at the top 10 Roddy Piper wrestling-related appearances on TV and film.
Continue reading “Roddy Piper’s Wrestling-Related TV & Film Appearances”
After three months of inactivity and real life getting in the way, I’m back with a new 10 Count! and what better way to celebrate the Halloween season than with a look at wrestlers masquerading as other wrestlers, be it for revenge or… yeah, it’s usually for revenge. These aren’t alter ego gimmicks, like The Yellow Dog or Mr. America, but one-time performances that resulted in a surprise unmasking post match. So read on, take your fill and let the spectacle astound you.
While I’m sure there’s quite a bit of manga and anime based on wrestling, or puroresu, they’re not all easy to come by. Luckily, thanks to my Hulu Plus subscription, I stumbled across the oddly sexually-charged, hard-hitting, competitive world of joshi wrestling that is Wanna be the Strongest in the World. And it was a lot better than I expected.
After having heard Buddy Landel on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast recently, and getting to know more about him other than my limited knowledge of his cup of coffee that was his WWF run, I realized he was an entertaining story teller and another tragic “what could’ve been” wrestling tale, and not just some poor man’s Ric Flair. So in honor of Buddy Landel, I figured I’d post this brief cameo of his in the movie Box of Moonlight. RIP “Nature Boy”.
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