Professional wrestling, brought to you by pop culture and the make believe world of mass media.
“The Wrestler”
Season 2, Episode 4
02/13/1998
In Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, Star Trek: The Next Generation’s William Riker presents dramatizations of stories that are beyond our comprehension, yet challenge us to determine whether they’re real or fake. Can you name a better topic for this discussion than professional wrestling?
Continue reading “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction”
Here are the top ten wrestling episodes you can stream on Hulu right now, as of today, March 20, 2018.
Medium: Film
Title: Paradise Alley
Bio: A mobster’s hired muscle by day and a grappler by night, Frankie the Thumper almost picked up his biggest win against Kid Salami had he not been disqualified for continually attacking Salami after the round was over. In his defense, it was the 22nd round and he was probably getting tired of waiting for Salami to finally go down.
Signature Move: Thumping.
Medium: Film
Title: Paradise Alley
Bio: The slow-witted breakout star of Paradise Alley’s wrestling league easily defeated all comers. However, his win against Frankie the Thumper will forever be tainted due to the ref awarding him the victory on account of Frankie unrelentingly beating the crap out of him after the 22nd round was over.
Signature Move: Doing what his two older brothers tell him to do.
“Heart of a Champion – July 23, 1955”
Season 3 Episode 20
5/8/1991
Watching the opening title credits for Quantum Leap made me nostalgic for 80’s and 90’s cheesy TV opening credit sequences. I’m sure I’m not the only one who pines for the days of edited footage from previous episodes with terrible music and actors turning at the right time just as their name is displayed across the screen. Why else would WWE.com decide to reimagine Raw as a 90’s sitcom? Other than that bit of nostalgia, I don’t know much about Quantum Leap other than it used to be on after Monday Night Raw back in the day. Having watched this particular episode I kind of want to binge on the entire series courtesy of Hulu Plus. Then again, I’m sure the other episodes cannot compete with Scott Bakula time traveling to 1950s professional wrestling as a kayfabe Russian heel.
The Entire Series
1/23/2011 – 7/31/2011
An animated send-up of all things pro wrestling. Mongo Wrestling Alliance enhances the stereotypes made famous by professional wrestling and inserts the tropes we’ve all come to know and love into the everyday personal lives of their characters. It’s wrestling nerds’ wet dream. Not so much for fans of comedy. Although far from a nightmare, it’s definitely along the lines of one of those abrupt jerking movements that startle you awake just as you’re knocking out.
Thanks to his Oscar win for writing and starring in Rocky, an untouchable Sylvester Stallone decided to become an auteur of sorts with regards to films about prize fighters and grapplers. Despite going all-out and not only writing, starring, but also directing, and signing the song in the opening credits, Paradise Alley was definitely no Rocky. This film pretty much explains why Stallone milked the hell out of Rocky. He was a one-trick pony. Nonetheless, not many Hollywood studios were lining up to make movies about pro wrestling. So, we can thank Sylvester Stallone for that. Also, thanks to Stallone, it’d be a long time before Hollywood warmed up to making another one. But I don’t want to rag on him too much seeing as he’s sensitive and all.
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