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“Aces Wild”
Season 3, Episode 7
09/03/2020
The Show
Disgraced Harvard philosophy professor, Jack Griffin, winds up teaching high school A.P. Biology while probably learning very little from his students, aside from coming up with more ways to make fun of them. This episode is no exception when one of them is forced to reveal his desire to become a pro wrestler.
Season four of IFC’s Maron premieres tomorrow, and since I haven’t gotten around to reviewing the episode that features “MMA fighter” CM Punk and Colt Cabana, I figured I’d just list the ten best wrestling t-shirts that Marc’s assistant, Kyle, has worn over the past three seasons. By the way, is actor Josh Brener an actual wrestling fan? Has he been spotted at PWG shows? Can he start sporting wrestling tees on Silicon Valley, as well? Anyway…
Medium: Television
Title: Night Court
Bio: The Battling Bailiff was a newcomer to the New York wrestling territory and was scheduled to make his debut at Madison Square Garden. He had previously worked as a nighttime courtroom bailiff. Some say he was the second cousin of the Big Boss Man.
Signature Move: Bailing out of a match.
Despite Dusty having more charisma in his belly-welly’s birthmark than most wrestlers, he never really hit the mainstream like his fellow 80’s cohorts, Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan, and Jesse Ventura. Although that’s not to say attempts weren’t made to have “The American Dream” use his gift to gab to sell a few goods and services via commercials.
Tag Team
Pilot
1/26/1991
In the late 80’s/early 90’s, Hulk Hogan wasn’t the only household wrestling name when it came to outside film and TV projects. In fact, Roddy Piper and Jesse Ventura were in A LOT better movies than Hogan was. I’ll always choose Jesse Ventura in The Running Man over any Hogan vehicle, except for maybe No Holds Barred. That movie is an undeniable classic to seven-year-old me. And Roddy Piper is basically pro wrestling’s Samuel L. Jackson, he’ll take any role so long as the check clears. As of this writing he has five projects in post-production.Yet, Ventura and Piper’s combined star power wasn’t enough to get their one-hour pilot, Tag Team, picked up for a full season. Which is a shame when you consider Thunder in Paradise ran for 22 episodes.
While the Cold War had been a thing since the late 1940’s, it was still a pretty intense situation in the 1980’s and, most importantly, a major part of the fabric that made up a lot of 1980’s popular culture. You had Sylvester Stallone defending America’s honor against the Soviets in the best Rocky movie since the first one, Rocky IV. Even “teenage” movie heartthrobs answered the call to arms in the war against Soviet Russia in the original Red Dawn. And wrestling was no different. Always trying to remain relevant with the times, every territory had its own Red Menace, sometimes even two.
With the 2015 Royal Rumble upon us, I’d be a fool not to make this month’s 10 Count! Royal Rumble related. With so many lists out there I figured I’d take a look at the top 10 first two Rumble entrants. These guys usually help set the tone for the Rumble. It’s even better when the two guys have some sort of backstory. This is a marquee WWE event, second only to WrestleMania, so you need to start it off with the right pair of wrestlers because, no disrespect to D’Lo Brown, are you seriously going to give a shit when the first two entrants are D’Lo and Grand Master Sexay?
In keeping with the theme of having themed Art of Gimmickry posts, today’s post will feature the Native American gimmick in honor of this past Thanksgiving Day. While few actually achieved national prominence, the reason why the Native American wrestler has been a staple in the media’s representation of stereotypical wrestling gimmicks is because back in the day it seems every damn territory had someone working a Native American gimmick. Whether they actually belonged to a tribe or not.
We all know about the Montreal Screwjob. The most controversial moment in pro wrestling history. In honor of this game-changing incident (which I’m still bitter about) taking place at the Survivor Series and this year’s Survivor Series being just around the corner and free (because screw those of us who already pay $9.99 for it), I figured we’d look at 10 other instances in which Bret Hart was also screwed out of winning a match (even though he was well aware of it happening).
Whoa, Nellie! is a 3-issue series that spawned from Jaime, Gilbert, and Mario Hernandez’ indie comic, Love and Rockets. It focuses on the friendship of main characters Xochitl “La Terible” Nava and Gina Bravo and the world of women’s professional wrestling. If you dug the documentary Lipstick & Dynamite, you’ll definitely appreciate Whoa, Nellie! If you’ve only seen the GLOW documentary, you still might like the comic book. But it definitely draws its inspiration from the early days of Fabulous Moolah and Mildred Burke. Sorry dudes, no petite models with fake boobs. Just full-figured women beating the crap out of each other.
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