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Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Describing pro wrestling aka sports entertainment

[VIDEO] You know why I thought of this? In the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Cmdr Benjamin Sisko described to some aliens known as "the prophets" the game of baseball. That's the scene you will see above. I like how simply he describes a game that he's passionate about, although the heyday of baseball was hundreds of years in the past. He was born in the wrong century I'd say.

Well I do consider myself a baseball fan although I'm sorry to say once the Cubs had been eliminated from contention, I hardly followed the post-season (where the Boston Red Sox defeated the LA Dodgers in the world series). I guess it's time for me to recognize that I'm just not a huge sports fan although as of late I became far more of a fan of pro-wrestling, especially the "sports entertainment" of WWE. And I'm glad for my subscription to the WWE Network.

Either way if I was in Sisko's shoes how would I describe to the prophets professional wrestling?

Professional wrestling is a performance art that mimics a combat sport such as boxing or mixed martial arts. Often it's a mixture of athleticism and theatrics as most of the performers in wrestling often portray larger than life characters.

The theatrics often is heighted by storylines that either emphasizes personal issues between the performers or often a championship is involved. Often the performers are put into two categories either good guys or babyfaces and bad guys or heels. For the most part in storylines the heels' jobs are to get the babyfaces over. For the most part babyfaces - especially at the main event level - are the ones who are expected to be the faces of a given wrestling promotion.

Most performers have an athletic background. Often they may have played a team sport such as football (which is very common) or they may have a combat sports background. A performer might have a background in mixed martial arts or in a martial art such as karate, judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu etc. Often another background for most performers is in amateur wrestling.

Often the matches are choreographed usually by the performers themselves. Usually the matches will end in a pin fall with the referee counting one-two-three with the wrestler's shoulder on the mat. Or they may end in a submission. Less commonly there may be a disqualification often due to an outside competitor's interference, usage of a foreign object, or other rules infractions.

Finally another part of the theatrics is the promo. Wrestlers often give speeches that usually to promote an upcoming match. Often this promo is given in front of a wrestling audience or usually on the broadcast medium of TV (or perhaps a stream service). The promo often serves to heighten the theatrics of a particular storyline between performers.

I think I wrote more than enough on this subject. Knowing me it's probably still not concise enough. However, I think this explains the "sport" of pro wrestling.

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Virtual Railfan: Hooligan is back on the La Plata, MO tracks

[VIDEO] To break up the posts about "sports entertainment" especially with the sad announcement that Roman Reigns had to give up his WWE Universal Title on Monday so that he can take some time off to treat his leukemia, time to share a Virtual Railfan video.

VR has a number of vids featured "hooligan" who's real name is John Misur who has been seen in not only on two occasions in La Plata, Missouri - a live feed you can actually watch on the railcam page. He also has been seen in Barstow & San Juan Capistrano, California.

Often he doesn't seem to have a crowd with him, however, on this recent vid you see above he had a nice crowd with him. His shtick when is the next train, push ups, and then stand behind the yellow line. And let's not forget if you can hear him speak he holds up legible signs for you to read as he puts on his show for those "virtual railfanners". :)

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

I still can't believe it #ThankYouRoman

[VIDEO] As I watch SmackDown Live this evening I felt the need to write in long form my thoughts on last nite's Monday Night Raw were Roman Reigns announced that he is again ill with leukemia forcing him to relinquish his WWE Universal Title. I took to twitter immediately when I heard it in a post that didn't go viral but it was a tweet of disbelief. He told us that he had been living with that illness for 11 years and it had returned.

Needless to say as he starts to treat his illness Reigns will take some time off and it'll be time to determine the next Universal Champion. What I rue right now is that while I would salivate over Braun Strowman taking the title he has to go through a longtime former champion in Brock Lesnar. And Lesnar had often been rumored to be returning to UFC so while I don't expect him to regain the title, who knows if WWE will book him to win the title.

Besides there are others who should get the belt for example Seth Rollins, after winning the intercontinental title twice and then winning the tag team titles last nite (where he also got assaulted by his Shield cohort Dean Ambrose) I think Rollins should have the opportunity for the championship. Besides Rollins did hold on two occasions the WWE Championship. So it's time for him to get another world title run. And of course he's shouldn't be the only possibility that I could see is ready for that opportunity.

Anyway I got somewhat distracted here. What about Roman? Well I wish him good health and while the main event picture on the Raw brand would have to be reshuffled I can see the changes happen once he does return. To start after coming out to the WWE Universe on Raw to announce his diagnosis might certainly turn the corner for his character. How can anyone boo him once he returns from his title fight against leukemia?

The first time I knew of him was as one-third of The Shield. And they started off as heels that would swarm against the faces of the WWE and then they themselves would turn against the authorities of the WWE and turn face. And then for various reasons they split and Reigns (who by most accounts was considered the quiet muscle of the trio) began to be pushed as the new face of the WWE. Perhaps the fans sensed this strong push and didn't share the love with Roman. Even worse Reigns didn't always deliver good promos that were probably written for him by the creative team of WWE. [VIDEO]

Of course in the wrestling business the main thing you want from the audience is a reaction. If they won't react to you, then it's certainly going to hurt you in the long run. Besides one of Reign's relatives - The Rock - understood this. The Rock who was once known as Rocky Maivia was this awwschucks type of baby face who loved to smile for the crowd and honestly I probably rooted for him when he debuted. However little did I know back then is that the crowd just responded to him negatively he was getting booed he got his reaction though it wasn't the type that a face should get.

Well eventually The Rock became a heel and changed his persona and became not only the people's champion, but a big time movie actor as well. And who knows Reigns at the right time could make that transition.

I could write more about this, but I want to be sensitive. I suffered from Reigns fatigue because this year it had once too often became the main event Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesner. Reigns finally got the title off of Lesnar and was finally glad to see him take it. So now once Joe successfully beats leukemia again, I look forward to what he does in the WWE Universe once he returns!

BTW, what did he say to fans when he beat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. This shows you how the crowd often reacted to Reigns at least before Monday nite. I liked how he just said his one line and then dropped mic and left the ring. If only you could've seen this broadcast live and seen him walk to the back as the broadcast team continued to hype the rest of the evening. [VIDEO]
 

Friday, October 12, 2018

Obscure WWF Superstar Waylon Mercy


[VIDEO] "Lives are gonna to be in Waylon Mercy's hands"

Waylon Mercy is one of those characters from 1990s World Wrestling Federation that I barely remember if at all. Inspired from Max Cady of Cape Fear, Mercy is a performer that comes into the ring shakes everyone's hands and once the bell rings becomes a maniac. You can see it when he finishes off his opponents with a sleeper hold.
[VIDEO] As I share one of his matches with you, in this case from WWF Superstars - syndicated throughout the nation in the 1990s - you see Vince McMahon put Mercy over. Yeah that Vince McMahon who became a wrestling character in his own right as the megalomaniac owner of the now WWE was in the early years a play-by-play man. And he put over Mercy as a maniac one the match starts which is what a play-by-play & color commentator are supposed to do.

Unfortunately as with many of the vaguely memorable characters of the WWF of the mid-1990s Waylon Mercy - as portrayed by longtime wrestler Dan Spivey who also wrestled in WCW - was nothing more than a mid-card act. WWF Superstars was a program that mainly showcased squash matches and often the matches rarely featured anyone of great note. I can't even tell you if Mercy even wrestled on Monday Night Raw (actually he wrestled another memorable character from 90s WWF Doink the Clown on Raw).
[VIDEO] The thing is I saw a shoot interview with former WWF champion Sycho Sid who noted Waylon Mercy. McMahon had been trying to get that character over for years and started with Mercy and then ultimately developed into Bray Wyatt. So Sid sees a connection between those sports entertainment characters.
[VIDEO] Well I have a tough time seeing it. Mercy I couldn't even see as a cult leader as Wyatt was. If Mercy had developed the way Wyatt had who knows what direction the gimmick could've gone. Perhaps it's possible that Waylon Mercy was ahead of his time. Of course I also learned the character didn't last long because Dan Spivey got injured and was ultimately forced to retire from in-ring competition.

Sunday, October 7, 2018

"2001: A Space Odyssey" 50 years...

[VIDEO] I sat on this post for a number of months and it's time to share. This is one of my favorite films of all time and have only seen it on the big screen once. The year is about over so it doesn't look like I'll find a 50th anniversary screening of this Stanley Kubrick classic anytime soon.

I had a psychology teacher in high school - GO FALCONS - who gave me a basic explanation of this movie. Well it disappointed me at the time, but now I get it - that man has become the tool. Man has grown dependent upon the tools he created.

Let's think about this it starts with our primate ancestors after encountering this mysterious object known as a monolith they use a bone from a dead animal carcass to not only hunt, but to assault another group of our primate ancestors. This primate ancestors throw this bone in the air and suddenly this bone becomes a satellite. So the tools of humanity evolves and become technology that we depend on.

Thankfully we haven't created this all-powerful human like computer that could prove capable of killing its own human creators. Hopefully 2001 with is slow pace, pre-Star Wars special effects, lack of dialogue, or even stunning visuals will be cautionary tale about the evolution of the computer. The computer which is just another tool created by man.

Here's an homage to 2001 from the YouTube channel VideoSpaceFX who recreates the intro of this classic film. You see an eclipse from a perspective beyond the moon. [VIDEO]
And I didn't recognize that on April 3, 1968 was when this classic was released according to wikipedia.